Part 14: Madagascar

It's time to begin Operation: Save Sheela. Looks like the UCS will finally be helping us out. Thank god. And Sheela still has time to flirt with us despite her imminent doom.




Our base is already pretty well defended. However it is vulnerable to an aerial attack to the north or south so I build some Guardian towers with rocket launchers. They should be able to hold off any lightly armored air units *cough*Cossacks*cough*.



The UCS base isn't as well defended as ours but since it's at the far end of the island I doubt the ED tanks will march all the way down there when we're a much closer target.



Of course, to get in our base the Dynasty will need to move through this narrow canyon. With all those Guardians on our doorstep I think a ground assault is suicide here.

The Lunars in this image are going out to scout for the ED base. The earlier we find it, the earlier we can start harassing the Dynasty.



We now have access to the Crater heavy tank. These are the mainline defensive units of the LC army, as the Crater has more HP than any other unit the LC can make. The Crater will help keep us in long assaults. Right now a prolonged offensive will be too destructive to our Moons to be a legitimate tactic. With Crater tanks we might be able to do a successful head-on attack.



One of our Lunars has discovered the ED base in the northeast corner of the map. She is attacked by a combination of rockets, 105mm double barreled cannons, lasers and chainguns. The ED have finally started combined arms defense. I can't just throw in my air force or Fang and have the towers crumble.



Fang moves in after the death of our scout and notices the ED, despite understanding the need for different weapon types on their towers, still haven't mastered the whole "build your walls all the way around your base" tactic. The backside of the base is completely exposed. It'd be rude to not let the Dynasty know about their mistakes, wouldn't it?



Two Power Plants, and a few ED units later, the Dynasty sends in some units that can hit back. Fang retreats but the damage has been done: the ED mines have been shut off from the power shortage. Good job Fang!




The Crater is done but we can only mount a banner?

Heavy tanks in Earth 2150 can only mount heavy weapons (like the Heavy Laser we saw on the Volga last update). We'll need to research the Heavy Rocket Launcher if we want the Crater to be more than a very expensive experience booster.



I am a huge asshole. That's the UCS mineral field outside their base. Since they weren't using all of it they won't mind my mine there taking some resources, right? We're all friends here, sharing won't hurt anyone.




All our units from HQ are here and the ED is weak from their mines being shut off so it's time for a true assault. While I'm gathering my units at a rally point outside the valley leading to the LC base, ED Cossacks stumble upon us. But wait, what's that? UCS Gargoyles have come to our rescue! Thanks robot friends .



The rest of the ED defenders have followed the Gargoyles out, making the UCS assistance not so helpful. The battle is pitched but our new sonic cannon units turn the tide when the ED makes the mistake of walking right into them. Foolish.



Fang is at the vanguard of the attack since he has the strongest shields. Good thing too since the ED has repaired its power situation and added lasers to its mines. The rest of the LC attack focuses on taking out the towers while Fang draws their attacks.



Progress has been made but the defenses of the Eurasian Dynasty are starting to wear us down. I order the army to pull back to the base's northwest corner, the same spot Fang used to infiltrate the base.



From this spot the ED defenses can't hit us. We just need to take out the power plant in the corner of the base and the mines will stop firing and allow us to slowly grind away the base. And with the help of our UCS allies this should b-



OH COME ON! Neo has turned all of the UCS units against their masters. And since we're allied with the UCS that means the robots will be gunning for us too.



Some UCS units stay loyal to their programs and engage the traitor units. This should buy us enough time to consolidate our foothold on the ED base.



With the power plant down, the army begins working on eliminating the power-independent Small Towers. However, with their economy in ruins it's only a matter of time until the ED base falls.



The AI for the ED-controlled Harvesters is great. With all these units on the UCS mining fields, the UCS has no way to collect any resources. They'll need to clear the Harvesters before they can recover from the hacking attack.



Our attack continues to push into the heart of the ED base. If we take out the power plants we see there the base will be completely helpless.




Our Heavy Rocket Launcher is done! And with that we add the Crater m1 hR to our unit list. But there are two more Crater upgrades and since we don't need them right now we can get the Craters fully upgraded before we start building them.



The UCS hunts down the few remaining traitor units. I'm glad they dealt with this and I didn't have to divert resources from the assault. If I let up the pressure it'd probably be enough for the ED to bounce back.



I've got two Guardians up in the ED base. The resource field is clear, so I do the sensible thing and drop in a mine.



This is the final push. We just need to destroy the Vehicle Production Center and this mission is over. The ED doesn't have any Gruzs and without the Vehicle Production Center they can't build any more.




The ED launches a desperate attack on our base with the tattered remnant of its air force along with a few stolen Gargoyles. The Guardian towers I built in the northern part of the base pay off here. Without these towers I would've been helpless.



The only thing left in the ED base is this supply center. We destroy it in seconds. All that's left now is mop-up.



One more Crater upgrade.




Not much left to mop-up, just four Small Towers and a Power Plant. Easy pickings.



Hooray we saved Sheela! Everything is hunky-dory.

I'll wait on the battlefield until we've finished upgrading the Crater and the Heavy Rocket Launcher though. I'm sure I could go for a quick dip while we wait for the research to finish




I've walled off my resource fields so the UCS can't steal my resources. Sharing is a one-way street this mission



Our Crater upgrades are done. 1,050 HP? This thing can take a beating.



The UCS destroy the last traitorous unit. Whew. Let's hope we don't have to worry about that again.



Our upgraded Heavy Rocket Launcher lets us shoot twice as many rockets, just like it's standard mount cousin. We just need to finish the final Heavy Rocket Launcher upgrade and we can start building some Craters.



All the UCS units are hostile again, and now they're headed right for our base. I think we should listen to our friend Neo and get the hell out of here.




110 units destroyed to only 11 units lost. Fang's the best commander out there. And we collected over 100,000 CR, that'll help out the research and the ship-building.



I stick around in the Main Base to finish up the upgrades and build some units. Here's the fully upgraded Crater m3 hR.



The ED lasers are finally starting to put the hurt on our units. It's time we got a shield recharger to help our units keep their shields topped off.



Our new Crater heavy tank is ready. Isn't she beautiful?



An Ion Cannon? That sounds bad. I'm glad I have overall command after what happened with the UCS units last time. I'm going to tell the robots to change their passwords for this mission. "humanssuck" is a really bad password for your military AI routines.