Part 4: Factory, Artillery, Fickle RNG At CYRANO

I love getting comments like these! It's good to know I've helped someone discover a great game they would've otherwise missed out on.

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Stage 3 - CYRANO

The Allied forces have scored two successive victories against the Axis, but the momentum of their initial assault won't last forever.



They will need to capture a factory to keep their weapons combat-ready, and they find one at Cyrano.



A quick glance at the map tells us this victory won't come as easily as our first two did. The enemy matches us in numbers now, but isn't it strange that they're listed as having six units but only four are on the field?



The other two are there, alright. They're in this new terrain, called a factory.

A factory is a special kind of terrain. Your units can't stop on it unless you own it, and if they stop on it they go inside. A unit that's inside a factory can't act, but on your next turn it will regain all of its health and you can bring it fresh into the fight.



Each factory can store up to a dozen units. If this were our factory, we could select one of these new weapons and dump them on a space next to it. A unit can't move the same turn it comes out of a factory, so you have to decide carefully when to send them in for repairs and when to put them back into the fray.

Anyway, we can see the enemy has two units we've never seen before. Comparing their numbers to a Bison's (50 attack/40 defense), they don't seem too worrying, but we'll find out more about them when they're deployed.



First order of business, we'll park a Charlie on our prison camp. Even if the enemy sneaks their Charlie around to capture it, they'd never be able to kill ours with his HQ defense boost.



Next step is to hit these enemy tanks as hard as we can. If we let them slip away, they'll run back to the factory and we'll have nothing to show for our battles. The factory is the key element in this map, making it the first one that actually requires serious thought and planning from the player in order to win. If you're like me, Cyrano is the first battle that asshanded you.

The surround effect is great to have here not just because of the damage bonus, but because due to the way zones of control work, a surrounded unit can only move one hex in any direction. Those Bisons aren't going anywhere.



That's a really damn good hit, even for having the enemy surrounded.




That's two enemy tanks neutered. This is already looking a lot better.



Of course, the enemy tank's in a position to surround my own now. In the meantime, the AI shows it's not going to do shit with its Charlie.



And then, the AI that always surrounds your units whenever possible...didn't surround my units when it had the chance. I'd make fun of these quirks, but in the later missions when the AI starts getting ridiculous advantages, they'll be a godsend.



Okay, I definitely came off worse there, but this isn't looking too bad. I still have three decent tank units to their one.



The crippled enemy tanks don't stand a chance in hell of getting back to the factory, but they're going to try anyway.



The AI rounds off its turn by deploying its units from its factory.

It's our second turn, and this is the critical point in the mission. The factory units will be harassing us so we've got to destroy them, but if we attack too soon they'll just head back in for repairs.

So, what do these new units do?



The Hadrian is an artillery. Its attack isn't that special, hitting slightly less hard than a Bison, but its range is a different story. It has an attack range of 2-5 hexes, so combine that with zone of control effects and when used right, it has plenty of room to sit in relative safety and plink at your units.



The Kilroy is...less impressive. It's got a little more defense than a Charlie and it's even slower, but more importantly it's carrying a rocket launcher. It can't go head-to-head with a tank, but unlike a Charlie it's got enough firepower to give a nice attack support bonus.



Obviously the factory units will cause us trouble if we let them sit, but we can't spread ourselves too thin. Let's chew up the surviving tanks for easy experience.



So far, so good.



Okay, I know this is overkill, but it's not like-



RNG!



Fine. I'll waste another attack cleaning up this enemy that I should've killed ten times over on my last one.

With that, it's the enemy's turn again.



The enemy artillery has no shortage of targets, so it decides to pound on one of my full-health Bisons.





The RNG is out for blood. A Hadrian would normally destroy two Bisons.




Okay, never mind. Apparently it's out to make the battle outcomes make no fucking sense.



The Kilroy decides to leave the safety of its rock, but doesn't attack.



Our turn rolls around again. Why don't we show it why that's a terrible idea?





It's always nice to one-hit kill an enemy unit. So nice I had to animate it, since this is a first for the LP.



Now, this tank's caused us enough trouble. Take this out and all they'll have left is their Hadrian, and that's helpless when our tanks get close.



Good start...



...and good finish. It's mopup time.



As a reward, this Bison's experience stars get replaced by one big star, signifying it's capped. Another nice first in this mission!



The enemy artillery is all alone now. Will it go for a lucky shot and try to wipe out a crippled Bison unit in a defiant last stand?



Nope, instead it guns for our Charlie that's headed towards their prison camp. It'd be a neat idea if it had any chance of killing it.



Just to emphasize how unlikely it was for it to do 4 damage to a Bison, it hits for 3 here.



Welp, time to end this.



Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that full-star units are awesome.



The AI tries a last-ditch tactic to save itself, but not even the power of RNG bullshit can save it now.



Much better.



Our Charlie's got a clear path to the enemy's prison camp now, so yep, I'd say this one's over.



Pictured: The only thing I'll be doing for the rest of the mission.



Beats what the AI's doing, though.




The Allied forces prevail again! It's nice to know we can crush the Axis even when we don't ridiculously outnumber them.

NEXT TIME: Too many fucking mountains at RAMSEY.