Part 50: Canada

We're in for another long mission. The ED campaign, while being easier than the UCS one involves a lot more drawn-out missions.



Our assault on the UCS is going quite well and we've now made it to a major research base in Canada. At this rate we will be inside what used to be the United States in mere days. But the UCS have three separate, very well-defended research bases here. It's not going to be like an attack on Stanford or ACME Labs.



We're not given very much to start with, so let's get something set up at the LZ.





As I pointed out last mission, the Siberia and Caspian cost the same, but the Caspian is faster and can go in water. For that reason, we'll be using it as our main tank this mission.



I've got a ZK Taiga in position for one of the mining tricks that was shown off in the thread.



Shit. The UCS have plasma weapons now. We are starting to lose our technological edge.

We also have news from the space station. All those carry-over minerals are really helping out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXPCqmWBK2U



Our one advantage is that the UCS still haven't gotten the LC's shield tech. Once that trade happens our laser weapons will lose a lot of their potency.



Our base is done and the mining trick looks to be working quite well.



Since there's a ton of minerals at HQ and nothing to research I start building an army of Caspian Ls.



The ED army has found one of the UCS bases but it looks like there's a naval presence at this base. Good thing I'm building all those Caspians.



There's also a bunch of Gargoyles.



And Tigers and Large Towers with rocket launchers.

The attack here is a compete failure. I give lots of credit to the UCS here for finding a great choke point and stuffing it full of rockets.



But the joke is on them. We can build our tunnel entrance outside the base, sneak in and steal the plans and no one will be the wiser.



Hmm. Looks like the UCS have put a few units down here to patrol.



Okay that's a lot more than a few. I think we may need to attack this base after all Damn it.



The Caspians will move into the rear of the base via the sea. I doubt the UCS planned their rear defenses as well as their front defenses.



There are only a few boats protecting this approach. They pose no threat to such a large group of amphibious units.



The Caspians are ordered to run lights-off and start to thrash the base. They've cut the power to the Refinery and the WPC and VPC aren't long for this world.



Unfortunately they've put a bunch of Large Towers in the middle of the base. This attack force doesn't have enough firepower to take out the towers or the power plant before being destroyed themselves, so I call for a tactical retreat back to our base.



They're chased by some Gargoyles but thanks to their high speed the Caspians are not at risk here.



I manage to sneak a Gruz behind the enemy lines using the passage you see in the northwest of this picture. Hopefully there won't be a bunch of Panther Ps in these tunnels...



We luck out. This tunnel is not connected to the main system. I can wait and bring in enough laser units to deal with any Panthers we run into.



Open the tunnel my Gruz! Let the Panthers come, we are ready!



Oh. I guess the Panthers are off doing something else?



There's our previous tunnel location. I'm guessing the Panthers are still up there, so let's move past there very quickly.





You'd think with all these glowing walls there'd be something interesting here. And you'd be wrong. The data we're searching for isn't here, we'll need to go deeper into the UCS tunnel system.



Eh, at least we get some energy recharge artifacts.



Looks like we've made double the progress on sending materials than what Igor was expecting.



Well shit. Looks like the Panthers have found our Tunnel Entrance. This is now a suicide mission for all our Caspians since there's no way out.





But to their credit, the Caspians keep on searching for the artifact. Of course I also didn't tell them their only way out was destroyed. That's need-to-know information and they don't need to know.



They do need to know that there's an ambush of Spider Ps in this room. Fortunately they're all laser-equipped and the Spiders don't have any shields.



A crashed UFO? That sounds like it would be useful...

Despite all clever tactics it looks like we'll need to destroy the UCS bases anyway. This is where this mission becomes a slogfest.



The UCS research bases, now aware of our presence begin hitting my base with everything they've got.



To make matters worse, the Panthers have found our Caspian crew and have begun eliminating them.



Oh and the base is getting dangerously close to being overrun by the UCS. All in a day's mission I suppose.



Due to the massive size of this map I've established a resupply base with limited production capabilities right outside the first UCS base. In the event the base at the LZ is destroyed, we'll be able to continue operations from this base.

I've also built a bunch of Grozny helicopters. We're going to need air power to take out these UCS bases.



See, look how much more effective that was than using our ground forces. Please ignore the fact that our ground forces have been mostly destroyed due to UCS attacks.



With the power to the base cut, I send in my last half dozen or so tanks to clean everything out.





The Groznys and Caspians have found the second UCS base and cleared out some of the naval screen. This base is enormous though, we'll need a good plan to take it out. Let's see if the other one is any easier to crack.





That's a big NOPE.



We'll be building a simple resupply base here. Just an Aerial Supply Depot and a few Small Towers for defense. We'll be using these towers to help clear the last of the naval screen



Good job towers/Groznys! All the boats are now at the bottom of uh, whatever Great Lake or river we're supposed to be at.



Hey, it's another completely undefended power plant! Wonder what we should do with it...



The Grozny is continuing to build the resupply base.



With the power plant destroyed, our tanks can destroy the Fortresses unharmed.



One more power plant down thanks to the work of the Groznys. But the Large Towers are still shooting our tanks.



Oh that's why. Well what's one more power plant on the kill list?



Good job Groznys! All the survivors can have the food ration of their fallen comrades.



Like every other base in this game, once the power is cut it's trivial to destroy.





On the way back to the forward base, I try to destroy some of the Gargoyles around the last UCS base. The Groznys take some damage but they're able to eliminate a few Gargoyles, making the next assault a bit easier.



The main problem with this final UCS base is that we have no land connection. So it's time to build bridges.



And would you look at that...there's an untapped mineral patch here! Igor will be so happy.



The Groznys are softening up the base. It looks large and intimidating but there aren't a lot of defenses on the western half.





We now have 4 different bases on this map. I think that's a record for me.





A concentrated attack is all we need here. I'm getting really sick of this mission guys, let's end it and all go home. Drinks are on me for anyone who makes it.





Shit maybe I should offer free booze more often. I've never seen ED soldiers tear through a base so fast.



And with the destruction of the last Small Tower there is no threat remaining to our forces. Great job everyone!



A Mercedes? How the hell do they still have Mercedes!?



Hey look at that, another untapped mineral patch. It'd be a shame to leave those here. I build a new mining base there.



Now time to hit end mission and go...wait what? We killed all the UCS scum here! How can there still be enemy uni...



Oh. Oh no. No no no no no



I send down one Caspian L. This better be enough...



I think this mission has already taken something like 2 hours and I really don't want to spend another hour killing units that are trapped underground.



There were a few Spiders hiding right next to where we found the data. I have no idea why they didn't attack when the rest of their brethren did. Maybe they were all in sleep mode?



Oh my. That's a lot of Panthers.



The Hammer of Thor takes care of them. *cough cough* But I think he died in the attack so we'll never see him again. What a shame.



Alright, let's go home everyone.







I decided to show the money score sheet as well. All 5 sides spent around 330k in resources. That's a third of an evacuation ship. I bet this evacuation would be going a lot better if everyone was just working together.



We haven't had a resource collection mission in a while. And I'm a bit confused as to why we're collecting resources when we've already got a surplus. But if Igor says we need resources, then we need resources. To the Amazon we go!