Part 5: Crater (2 of 2)
Part 5 - Crater (2 of 2)
Where were we? Oh right, a rocket at the enemy base. Fun fun.
Turn 8
First our artillery takes a big chunk out of this tank.
Let's see if the mech is any better at combat than the infantry, shall we?
That's a pretty great result, actually. Not only finished off the tank, but also only took one damage in return.
With one tank down, we bring our first medium tank down to wipe out this APC. I'm targeting the APC first because it will do more damage to our mechs.
The 4-life mech on the lower-left city starts capturing. I'm not sure it'll actually live through the enemy phase, but I didn't really have anything better for it to do, anyway.
Looking a bit better at the roadside front now. Especially after we move the second medium tank down there.
I'm not really sure how to press ahead in the forest. One APC just stops in the middle of the map while a damaged one finishes off the enemy infantry here.
Attacking the infantry on the city with this mech would be pointless again, so everyone else just kind of slowly shuffles forward.
We wrap up the turn by getting a rocket of our own to send down the road, and another APC to hold the line in the woods.
The state of the world at the end of the player phase. Can you spot the mistake?
Yeah that mech is in range of the enemy rocket.
Luckily the forest and the rocket's relative weakness in attacking foot-soldiers combine to limit the damage. But still a pointless exposure there.
The enemy mech moves off of the nearby city and finishes off our mech.
Blue finally captures the last city near its HQ. The city on the far upper-right here is now 75% captured (the infantry has only 5 life).
The tank moves up to attack the mech, who barely survives.
The artillery and rocket don't move, but we do get another tank and APC to play with later.
Turn 9
We finally get around to removing this infantry. I absolutely did not do this first only because I was afraid of forgetting again, no way.
Merging together these two mechs gets me back one at full health that can resume capturing next turn.
Our artillery goes after the remaining tank but can't quite kill it.
While I decide if it's worth wasting an attack from a medium tank on finishing off an almost-dead tank, our new arrival goes after an infantry instead. I checked about seven times to make sure it was out of range of the rocket first this time!
We can kill two birds with one medium tank with this attack. Not only is the tank gone, but the enemy APC can't reach our capturing mech, either.
I can't do much about the city on the lake right now, since it's well-covered by the rocket. But I can get that upper-right city on our side soon.
The forest crew here is mostly just bait for Blue reinforcements, to make life easier on the road crew.
Rule #1 of Famicom Wars - you can never have too many medium tanks.
We've got a good-sized army now and only one of the APCs has taken significant damage.
Our initial advantage is down to just three cities, but those two neutral cities will be ours soon.
No attacks from Blue Moon this turn, since we didn't leave them an opening this time. Of the movements, note in particular the artillery and rocket moving all the way to the right side of the map. That rocket is now covering the neutral city on the upper-right that we want to capture.
Oh and we now have an enemy medium tank to handle.
Turn 10
I get a little aggressive here, moving a medium tank onto a blue city to attack an unprotected infantry. I kind of forget that our unit wasn't at full health, but it'll be okay.
The other medium tank picks on the other infantry, with somewhat better results.
I spent way too much time figuring out where to best place our indirect units here. In the end I settled on exposing the rocket to infantry fire (the damaged infantry units won't be able to hurt it) and keeping the artillery just out of range of the enemy APC and medium tank.
A mech moves down to start capturing this city, and at this point I realize that it's going to get hit by the rocket.
The enemy rocket is already going to hit us so might as well move the APC down to work over the enemy mech.
Another APC then finishes it off.
I don't really know why I did this attack here, nothing good can happen from it. Our already-weak APC just gets a little weaker.
This formation probably looks more aggressive than it really is. We can't advance any further or the heavy enemy units will shred us.
Another rocket will come in handy along the road, and we add in a supply to keep our indirect units full on ammo.
I'm not sure what the AI's targeting algorithm is, but it chooses to destroy this APC instead of trying to weaken our capturing mech. That's probably a decent trade for us.
The enemy medium tank has enough movement to get all the way to the troublesome lake city, and suddenly I realize I have nothing up there that can counter it. Needless to say the targeted APC here is wiped out.
That's not a terrible development, really, though. The only unit left that can really hurt us down by the enemy HQ is now this lonely tank.
The two infantry merged together, the APC moved up to block the rocket but didn't attack, and the artillery actually moved up into the forest. The enemy HQ is actually wide open but I won't be able to take advantage before it gets reinforced.
Blue doesn't have enough funds for a big unit so we get a tank and a mech instead.
Turn 11
Our artillery can only reach the APC, so might as well take the shot.
Worried about the medium tank, I decide our second rocket can be more useful in the forest.
We finish capturing the last two neutral cities, cementing our lead.
This APC is something of a problem. The fresh medium tank in the back can't attack it because the rocket is in the way, but also can't move past it.
I end up moving one of the front-line medium tanks back a bit to take care of the APC.
The other front-line medium tank retreats, and with the APC now gone our fresh medium tank can take its place and tear up this tank.
The rocket can only reach the infantry right now, and only deals two damage. I probably would have been better off moving it forward a bit instead.
The new enemy tank can reach our artillery, but that's about it.
Up in the forest, we mostly retreat to draw the medium tank further away from the enemy HQ.
We get another rocket and another supply, so I can have one of each on each front.
The enemy rocket fires on our mech, but it already finished capturing so will heal up the two damage next turn.
The medium tank does way more damage to our mech than I was expecting here, and also stays out of range of our rocket. So not going great up there.
I wasn't expecting the tank to do quite that much damage to our artillery, either. Oh well.
A new rocket is trouble, here. We can't attack it without exposing ourselves to the other rocket.
Turn 12
I really thought this attack would go better.
I'm not sure attacking the infantry on the city again will work out this time but it's not like I can have the APC attack the medium tank, right?
The forest rocket is tucked away on a little peninsula, out of the medium tank's range, but everyone else is pretty vulnerable.
We do get in a rocket attack down by the road, hurting the enemy tank pretty badly.
I try to get aggressive and go after the rocket, but half of that damage will just get healed up on the enemy phase and now the other rocket can put the hurt on us here. At least our medium tank is sitting on an enemy base and will get a defensive bonus.
Our other medium tank gets out of rocket range and finishes off this tank.
The last medium tank retreats to get some repairs in, and we get another rocket towards the front lines.
Since we're probably going to lose at least one medium tank soon, we queue up another one.
As expected, we immediately suffer a rocket attack, though it's not quite as bad as I feared.
I once again accidentally leave a forest unit in range of a rocket, and this APC pays the price.
Interestingly, a tank suicides to do a single point of damage to our medium tank here.
We luck out a bit here, because the enemy APC would have been way more effective but now the mech is blocking it.
Meanwhile the enemy medium tank wipes out our mech and is now free to run amok at our HQ. Luckily it can't really do a whole lot by itself - it's not like it can capture properties or anything.
Upside of forcing the AI to spend funds on repairing its units, is that it can only afford a tank this turn.
Turn 13
Our back-row rocket starts off with a little chip damage on this infantry, which parked itself on a mountain while I wasn't looking.
We pull back from the enemy HQ and take another shot at the infantry on the way by. It's not very effective.
A full-life mech is still pretty effective against infantry, though, and is able to finish this one off.
We've got another damaged medium tank that is just barely unable to kill this weakened mech.
We're out of rocket range and have a decent line protecting our ranged units. Those medium tanks are hurting but nothing that can damage them can get close to them this turn.
Meanwhile this rocket hasn't used up anything but fuel yet but why not see what a supply of it looks like?
Yup, still adorable.
My only goal here is making sure that the only thing the enemy medium tank can reach, will draw it into range of our rocket.
I slightly ruin that strategy by building a rocket that is in range of the medium tank, but our other rocket would still be able to cover it there.
Avoiding the medium tank puts this mech in range of the rocket again, but it only takes three damage.
I suddenly remember there was an infantry parked on the lake city as it moves up close to our cities, while the medium tank wipes out one of our APCs. You know, the infantry-killers.
The enemy APC retreats instead of taking pot-shots at our damaged medium tanks. The new tank moves up into the forest to cause more havoc up there. The rocket near the enemy HQ actually moves left a space for some reason - it's now out of the other rocket's cover, and not getting any defensive terrain bonuses anymore, either.
For reinforcements, Blue rolls out a tank in the back corner again.
Turn 14
The APC bait plan is successful and the medium tank here is neutralized.
This infantry isn't going to be capturing anything anytime soon either.
The mech pulls back out of rocket range and finishes off the medium tank.
Our mech on the city on the upper-right can be hit by both the tank and the rocket, but it should be fine while it's sitting on a city.
Not much I can do down by the road this turn, but I can at least remove this 1-life mech from the picture. I can't reach the rocket this turn with anything but severely-weakened medium tanks, and I don't really want to move anything into its firing range, either.
I end up merging the 2-life and 4-life medium tanks together here - they would just take too long to repair at this point.
Not really a great formation, but the medium tank and artillery that are just squatting on our cities are almost fully-repaired now.
I thought we might need some more capturing power down at the enemy base so I picked up another mech and an APC to carry it along.
Remember how I thought this mech would be okay just sitting on the city?
Yeah, way wrong there. Oops again.
The AI and I are doing some kind of weird defensive dance down at the bottom of the map, as all of the Blue units retreat into the corner. I guess they don't want to approach our rockets, either.
And Blue Moon builds a medium tank in the middle of that formation, on a city that I didn't even know could build things. There's a new mech, too. Also that damaged infantry way up top retreated back to the lake city.
Turn 15
Rockets aren't very good against infantry, but that's only in comparison to everything else. They're still good enough to get the kill here.
For some reason I throw the mech into the APC here, even though it won't be able to unload anywhere useful.
The strange blue bunching in the far corner lets us set up a solid front line on top of their cities, backed up by rockets and artillery. In the upper corner there's another loaded APC headed down with a mech.
You really can't have too many medium tanks. And another mech, why not.
The weakened mech soaks up the attack from the enemy medium tank, who is now in range of all of our indirect units.
Meanwhile our damaged medium tank fends off the enemy tank.
The APC sneaks into the spot where our mech used to be, and puts the hurt on our artillery. So the APC did 5 damage here. It's only supposed to be able to do 3-4. I think what happened is, when the artillery was damaged earlier, it didn't actually heal up all the way. Instead it was somewhere between 9 and 10 life, and just displayed as 10. And then this attack took off that extra bit of partial life.
Blue's ranged units continue to move up into the forest, leaving the HQ all but abandoned. The only new unit is an infantry, despite plenty of funds.
Turn 16
You can't tell which rocket is targeting the medium tank here, but it doesn't matter because they both do and the medium tank is quickly destroyed.
While one medium tank retreats, another goes after the APC.
The third goes after the tank, leaving not much in our way down here.
I once again learn that footsoldiers shouldn't attack APCs. At least the artillery is safe now, I suppose.
Maybe loading up the mech in the forest wasn't a waste. It gets unloaded directly onto a city, and now they can both get healed next turn. Though I am kind of curious if the mech would have also been healed if it stayed inside the APC.
More mechs and APCs for another capturing rush.
I figured I'd need them because this mech for sure got killed here.
The tank sneaks through to our rocket this time, but it's too weak to do any damage. Literally none.
I'm not sure what happened here, but the enemy artillery moves up even further into the forest, close enough to attack our rocket without getting hit in return. The enemy rockets inexplicably move into range of both our medium tanks and our rockets, and don't even park on a city for extra defense. This one move basically ends the map.
I maintain that last statement even with a new medium tank and APC in the way.
Turn 17
Our biggest problem is going to be either wiping out the scattered enemy units in the forest or getting a healthy mech down to the enemy HQ for a capture.
Our mechs by our HQ show off Mario-level jumping skills to get into the APCs.
One rocket neutralized.
There goes the other one. Both of our medium tanks are also parked on enemy bases, which I believe gives them the same defensive bonus as cities.
Our rockets are in a target-rich environment, but in the end I go with finishing off one enemy rocket and then hurting the medium tank.
We've got a new mech down to start taking enemy cities, and possibly the HQ later. I've left one of our rockets pretty open though.
To deal with that possibility we buy another
No surprise that the first thing the AI does is dish out some damage of its own against our rocket.
What I did not expect was the APC actually finishing it off, however.
As result the new APC is able to move in and hurt the rocket that I thought was safe.
The remaining enemy rocket also gets in some chip damage on our fresh medium tank.
These forest vehicles can't catch our rockets so instead march right into their range.
I am not sure why, but the AI ended its turn without building anything here, despite having plenty of funds.
Turn 18
The turn starts with attacks from our forest rockets.
Our APC follows up with three more damage on the artillery, and the newly-healed mech follows up to finish it off.
Both medium tanks are at 9 life and I'm attacking from a city, so I thought this battle would be less even than it turned out.
At least this rocket is gone now.
Still took more damage there than I expected.
An APC attacking a tank isn't the best option normally, but this tank still only had 1 life left so it worked out.
The mech starts capturing this city, though I'm not sure I can keep it protected.
What is wrong with our medium tanks this turn? APCs are only supposed to do 1-2 damage to medium tanks, but this one did three. Must've been another partial-life thing, like the medium tank was really at 5.2 life and not six.
Somehow sending our rocket down at the bottom further into enemy territory is the safest place for it. More reinforcments arrive along the road to try and finish off this map.
We add in another rocket and a tank just in case this map keeps dragging out.
Of course the enemy medium tank only takes one damage while attacking our APC.
Kind of a futile gesture from this tank, who does five damage to the APC but takes three damage in return.
I don't remember if I showed a supply getting attacked before, so here you go:
APCs aren't very good at it.
Some APC-on-APC crime here, but it works out in our favor.
Those are all the attacks we had to face this turn. There are actually only six enemy units left, but they're sitting on a pile of cash for buying more. Let's see what they get...
Ugh a tank and another medium tank. At least we're close enough to get first crack at them before they can hit us.
Turn 19
I really thought our APC would do better there.
Anyway, here's a rocket blowing up a tank.
Suddenly we're pretty unopposed in the forest, though I don't think those units will matter much from here.
The once-again-repaired artillery finishes off this APC.
Oh and our mech was left unharmed and is able to finish capturing the enemy city.
Fresh medium tanks are always welcome, and this one moves up to get rid of another enemy APC.
Our APC started off already damaged or this fight with the mech would've gone better.
Always funny to see an APC kill a medium tank, so let's watch:
Somehow the medium tank was still firing and destroying individual APC icons even after it had been destroyed.
The only things Blue has left are the two new vehicles it just built and two weakened footsoldiers. And our own heavy hitters haven't even acted yet.
The first attack doesn't go great.
So I take this 3-life medium tank and merge it with the 5-life one that just attacked, to give it some more stopping power.
I stall for a couple minutes and then eventually decide that the other medium tanks are better off staying on the enemy cities to pull out the enemy units, instead of attacking them on the base and HQ. Really I should have done that with the first medium tank, too.
Yes, another medium tank.
I swear my medium tanks are cursed. No way we should have taken five damage on a city there, and only done two damage in return.
The tank for some reason decides to attack the mech instead of finishing off our medium tank. It only does two damage, which the mech will heal up next turn anyway.
The mech on the lower-left tries capturing our city, but it's hurt and will take four turns to do so. We aren't going to give it that long.
A new rocket, but I'm pretty sure we can handle it before it can hurt us this time.
Turn 20
Two shots from our forest rockets finish off the infantry.
The nearby mech proceeds to start finally capturing the lake city.
I told you that mech wouldn't last long.
Our medium tanks are beat up but these two are able to take out the enemy rocket (along with a helpful salvo from our own rocket down there).
I'm going to be short on a wipeout again but we do get in some more damage on the medium tank, now that it's not on a tile where it can just repair the damage.
A mech moves up to start capturing another city.
No point in having this medium tank retreat for repairs, so I just merge it with another one. Our two APCs down there also merge together.
More capturing.
The remaining mech does a bit more damage to this tank.
I wasn't kidding, you can never have enough medium tanks.
Blue only has two units left, and they're both too damaged to really hurt us.
They gang up on our APC and can't even kill it.
The AI had enough money for a rocket but that didn't work out for it last time, so instead we'll have to deal with an APC and a mech.
Turn 21
First step is completing capturing the three cities we started taking last turn. That'll cut into how many and what type of units Blue can keep buying to get in our way.
The tank is blown up by our rocket reinforcements.
The medium tank falls to our medium tank. Just the two new units left now, but I leave them alone rather than weaken my other medium tanks further just yet.
I really hope I don't need this medium tank.
The mechs scratch each other, the APC doesn't even bother to attack, and Blue Moon thankfully can just barely not afford a medium tank, settling for a tank instead. Capturing those three cities this turn worked out here.
Turn 22
After the rocket and artillery soften up the enemy APC, our APC is able to finish off this mech.
Finishing off our opponent via wipeout takes forever due to how hard it is to remove fresh units that come out sitting on bases. These two medium tanks combine for just five damage here.
I was mostly just getting them out of the way, though. Our little tank that we built four turns ago moves up to destroy the APC.
The mech can't reach the HQ, so I have it start capturing the base for no real reason.
Anyway, a fresh medium tank is just barely able to reach this last tank and mercifully end the map.
22 turns is a terrible score for this map. Not being able to use infantry definitely slowed us down, but I also got bogged down at the end just trying to get through the enemy reinforcements each turn.
Our CO this time around is Samsoon, who looks a whole lot like Samus from the Metroid games. The enemy CO is Goemon, who seems to be a Japenese folklore reference of some kind similar to Robin Hood. We had a massive funds advantage but I can't say that we used it all that efficiently.
Ugh terrible score there. Sorry everyone.
Next up is "Triangle". I really don't like the look of that map - vehicles can't cross rivers, and I pretty much exclusively use vehicles. To add to the difficulty, the challenge for next map will be Limited Supply, where we can only deploy one of each unit type at a time. See you there!