The Let's Play Archive

Earth 2150 (trilogy)

by axeil

Part 123: Mexico





And there it is! GOLAN is deactivated! We did it!



GOLAN Communication Failure Subsystem posted:


11.1.2150:11:00:00:00

ERROR COMMUNICATION FAILURE

11.1.2150:11:00:00:05

ATTEMPTING RE-ROUTE THROUGH ALTERNATE NODES

NEW YORK...FAILED

ATLANTA...FAILED

TORONTO...FAILED

SAN FRANCISCO...FAILED

DENVER...FAILED

CHICAGO...FAILED

SEATTLE...FAILED

FLORIDA...FAILED

CUBA...FAILED

ALASKA...FAILED

MEXICO............................SUCCESS!


11.1.2150:11:00:01:00

ONE NODE FOUND. EXECUTING SCRIPTS....

11.1.2150:11:00:01:50

WARNING: UNKNOWN SCRIPT "PROJECT-ICARUS.EXE" FOUND

11.1.2150:11:00:02:00

COMMUNICATION FAILURE RESOLVED, RETURNING CONTROL TO GOLAN



from the Journal of Marcus Gordon, Former Defense Minister, UCS


November 1st, 2150

Thank god for the Lunar Corporation. They didn't disable GOLAN but that 2 second window was all I needed. My Grizzly is now untied from the GOLAN network, and I have full control of all movement and defense systems.

Of course, I'm quite lucky to have even made it to this point. A few weeks ago, GOLAN started shooting people. Not just randomly either, from what I could tell it was anyone and everyone it saw. I managed to take refuge in a Grizzly unit right at the start. I had to activate the lock-out seals to keep GOLAN from issuing any commands, but I had a problem. As long as GOLAN was online I was still networked into the system. The lockout seals are a fail-safe that would keep GOLAN from being able to open any hatches or issue any commands, but while it was online I couldn't issue any commands myself. Think of it like gridlock. I can't do anything, but GOLAN can't either. If GOLAN were to go offline though, I could establish manual control. Which I just did.

Little known fact about the Grizzly: they were originally intended to have a long-term human operations team. I designed them as our ace in the hole against the Dynasty if GOLAN ever went offline. There's enough food, water and oxygen in here to keep a crew of 12 alive for 4 weeks. For a single man? It will last me until the end of the world. Which is, of course, rapidly approaching.

I have to laugh, I didn't expect I'd be using a Grizzly to actually fight GOLAN. But nothing in the past year has made any sort of sense anyway. Sadly, this base is still firmly in the grasp of GOLAN. If I stay here long enough they'll eventually start wondering why this Grizzly isn't responding to any commands from GOLAN. So, I'm heading south, into the mountains. It's not much, but it's the only bit of the GOLAN network I see that's not online anymore. Maybe whatever the Lunar Corporation did knocked it out? Once I'm there I can run modified startup scripts that will route all communication, and thereby control, through this Grizzly.





Briefing Video: video link





Welcome everyone to the final campaign of this LP. This is Marcus Gordin. If he dies, we die, so even though he's walking around in the best unit in the game, we can't use him too much for combat.

We have no main base, we have no army and we have no friends. If Marcus is going to make it through this, he's going to have to rely on his own wits. We don't have much time, so let's get going.



Our objective this mission is to get Marcus to this spot on the map using the tunnel system. Unfortunately we are currently boxed in by the LC and can't just dig our way there.



And to make matters worse an LC attack is coming in a little over 3 days. The game has thrown us right into the fire from the get-go.



An abandoned UCS base is over here to the east. It was also knocked offline during the LC's attack on GOLAN so if we get here we might be able to get it back up and running.



We're in the mountains of Mexico so there's very little choice in terms of paths to our goal.



Our exit point is completely surrounded by the mountains. Good, in that we can just destroy the tunnel exit after we leave and the LC won't be able to pursue, bad in that we are going to find some way into the tunnel network.



This is the only path out of our area. The LC are smart and have set up a tough blockade here. And I've got nothing but Tigers and Marcus.



I manage to draw back the Moons to an ambush.



Damn. This is a pretty tough base for the first mission in the campaign.



I've taken out the mobile defenders. Maybe I can try and pierce a hole in the line?



Meanwhile an LC scout force has found our abandoned base and is going to town on it.



Okaaaay, looks like the answer here is no. We can't make a dent in this, not with a bunch of Tigers.



Run! Marcus Gordin is very low on health, this could be a really short campaign.



With everyone safely back in the base I do some more scouting. A Gargoyle notices an old bridge to the south of us.

Hmm...I wonder...



The LC attempt to attack our base but I've augmented us with Spiders and Panthers so we're quite a bit tougher now.



Holy shit. I can actually build a bridge here. If I can find some way around the back of the LC base...Wow. Let's all cross our fingers!



We'll have to follow the sides of the mountains, but I'm optimistic.




Another LC attack. We've got our defenses humming now.



It worked! It actually worked!

Except we're stuck on a plateau we can't get down from. Dang. Guess we'll need to build more bridges.



If only you could build bridges with a downward slope...





The LC attacks are getting much beefier. We're starting to lose units to the Fat Girls. We need to hurry up on those bridges...



...help. Every direction I try ends up not resulting in a path with a possible exit.



We're in sight of the back of the LC base, and we just so happen to have an exit point here. Draw their fire Gargoyles!





We're out! We did it! We built a backdoor into the LC base!




I send our strongest units over first to widen this breach into something we can exploit. Defenses are minimal, so this should be easy.



Oh man. We're doing great here. Just a bit more and the base power will be off.



Take out the HQ so they can't call for reinforcements!



There it is! The power is down. We have secured passage out of our base!



I let the boys...er robots, have some fun blowing up stuff inside the base.



The blockade out of the LC base is trivial when there's no power.



We're going to the beach! And then the underground. And then not going to be horrifically slaughtered by the LC!







We're in the tunnels, but we'll need to dig a bit to reach the old mining tunnels that lead out.



Dig faster! We're running out of time!



I send all our Harvesters towards the tunnels. They can let us know if the LC have set up an ambush. They'll be our canaries in the mines, quite literally.



We've completed the digging! Now to figure out how the hell we get through to the mountains...



Welp. Guess there were LC units down here after all...



That Mammoth is very, very dead. I hope we don't have to do any more digging.



I put the Panthers in the front to blunt the oncoming LC attack.



I think it's working, the LC units can't withstand our plasma fire.



There it is! We're through! Go canaries, find us a way out of here.



The canaries confirm that we have nothing to fear from any more LC units.



Meanwhile everyone else enters the mining complex proper.



Path finding here is a nightmare. Thank god for the Harvesters/canaries.



We've finally turned south. I think this might be the way? We only have 7 hours left so there's not much time to dawdle.



Yes! This is it! We're here!



I already sent the Gargoyles here to protect the exit in case any LC Thunderers were in the area. They haven't seen anything so I think we're good.



Our quickest units are out and enjoying the sunshine again.



This is our way forward. It will take us around all the LC that are crawling throughout Mexico, attempting to hold off GOLAN from mounting another assault on Project ESCAPE.



Marcus is through the tunnels! We've done it!





Ouch. We were nearly 1:1 on our kills:losses with the LC. That is not very good, but considering how horribly out-gunned we are I'm just happy to have survived the mission.





Steal Project ESCAPE? But that's what got Generals Fedorov and Ivanov in trouble! Can't we all just be friends...

Next mission: We turn the tables and attempt to trap the pursuing LC units.