Part 13: Mission 4 (Setsuko) - Alien Invasion - Part 1
Setsuko Chapter 4 Part 1
Last time on Super Robot Wars Z, the Titans proved to be jerks and short sighted idiots. Glory Star ditched them, blowing up Jerid for funsies. Then they got teleported to somewhere else because, well, who knows? Weird things are happening.
Current Top Aces
1. Denzel
2. Toby
3. Setsuko
Since Denzel doesn't get the benefit of his Command skill, I give him this Magnetic Coating, which ups the Virgola's mobility by 10.
I then give each member of Glory star a point in Energy and Accuracy.
Onto the stage itself!
Our first introduction to Kappei Jin is him accosting a couple of girls he knows by calling them a "pair of pigs." Get used to this asshole.
He even follows up by trying to convince them that they should be glad for his and Chiyonishiki's (the dog's) company; it's dangerous for a couple of girls to be on a train alone, don't you know!
Poor, sweet, innocent Michi thanks him for his concern, but Aki knows the score: Kappei's staying out of his house so he can skip out on chores.
She threatens to tell his mom, and Kappei begs her not to - "When she gets mad, even the Coordinators go running!" That's certainly no good. For the past two years, since the war, they've been taught in school not to discriminate between Naturals and Coordinators. Kappei is now focused instead on how totally awesome the war probably was. If PLANT staged an attack right now, he'd be first to sign up on the front lines. Michi, poor Michi, cowers at the thought, but Kappei pulls out the "hey we gotta defend ourselves!" line. "If they come at us, I'll fight ZAFT or monsters or even aliens!"
"Your little play war with Kozuki's gang is all the war you need," snorts Aki. Kappei whines that that war is extremely serious. Just then, Chiyonishiki starts barking...
And the sky is filled with light and a high-pitched scream of space.
Chapter 4: Alien Invasion
These four were just on the moon, fighting the Vegans as part of the Federation forces, when there was a knot in space...
And they've brought their enemies, including the Emperor of Vega and his adviser Gandal, with them! But this isn't going to stop either Emperor Vega or Duke Fleed from continuing their battle and trying to take each other down.
The Emperor intends to strike down his foe and return to his base to begin the invasion anew; Duke and his team will fight him in defense of the beautiful, bounteous planet called Earth!
OK! It's time to take care of these guys. Our mission is simple, blow up all the enemies. The Battle Mastery is reduce Emperor Vega's HP down below 10,000 in three turns. Of course, we have four new characters to play around with, and they'll be sticking with us for a while, so let's have a look at them!
UFO Robot Grendizer
Duke Fleed - Grendizer/Spazer
Voiced by Kei Tomiyama.
Skills:
* Prevail(Level 2) - As the character takes damage, hit rate, evasion, defense, and critical rate will increase.
* Support Attack(Level 1) - When Ajaciant to an allied character before having attacked that turn, can perform a Support Attack after the ally attacks. The support attack will be slightly weaker then a regular attack.
* Predict - At 130 Will, hit, evasion and critical hit rate increase
Spirit Commands:
* Invincible(10) - The next attack that hits the caster will do 10 damage.
Squad Leader Bonus
*+10% Accuracy rate -10% Damage taken
Duke Fleed here is our very first Super Robot. The Grendizer will hit hard, and be able to take hits really well. The Grendizer can also transform! Docking with the Spazer, it can then fly. This gives it extra movement and a little more mobility at the cost of attack power. Use the Spazer to get up to the fight and then switch back to Grendizer and start Rocket Punching and Space Thundering things. Duke Fleed himself is a great pilot overall to, fitting his Super Robot. Strong melee and good defense, plus his Squad Leader bonus is great.
UFO Robot Grendizer
Maria Fleed - Drill Spazer
Voiced by Rihoko Yoshida
Skills:
* ESP(Level 2) - Increased hit and evasion rates. Amount increased goes up with the level of the skill.
* Prevail(Level 1) - As the character takes damage, hit rate, evasion, defense, and critical rate will increase.
* Backup Attack - Platoon attacks do 20% more damage
Spirit Commands:
* Alert (10) - The caster gains 100% evasion rate for the next attack that targets the caster.
* Trust(20) - Restore 2500 HP to an ally.
Squad Leader Bonus
*+20% Counterattack power
Maria is, well, she's always going to be a Squad Supporter. But she's a pretty decent one. She has innate Backup Attack which helps a ton for being a Squadmate, and with the Marine Spazer having Repair capabilities, she grants her squad a 10% HP regen at all times. Pair her up with her brother and things will go nicely. Her Squad Leader bonus is pretty great, pity there's little reason to use her as the leader most of the time.
UFO Robot Grendizer
Hikaru Makiba - Marine Spazer
Voiced by Chiyoko Kawashima
Skills:
* Prevail(Level 1) - As the character takes damage, hit rate, evasion, defense, and critical rate will increase.
* Support Defend (Level 1) - If adjacent to an ally on the enemy phase, if an attack will hit the ally, the character will perform a Support Defense and the attack will hit the character at reduced damage instead. The number of times this can be performed depends on the skill's level.
* Guard - At 130 Will the character will take 20% less damage.
Spirit Commands:
* Scan(1) - Reveals an enemy squad's stats without having to fight them
Squad Leader Bonus
-30% Damage taken when Support Defending
Yeahhh Hikaru is pure support, even moreso then Maria. The Marine Spazer has a resupply ability. This means that Hikaru can refill a units energy and ammo, at the cost of 10 Will for them. It's not post movement, which can be a bit of a pain. On the plus side any squad she's in will gain a free 10% Energy regen.
UFO Robot Grendizer
Kouji Kabuto - Double Spazer
Voiced by Hiroya Ishimaru
Skills:
* Prevail(Level 2) - As the character takes damage, hit rate, evasion, defense, and critical rate will increase.
* Resolve - Pilot starts the stage with +5 Will
* Will +(Damaged) - Pilot gains 2 Will every time they are hit by an attack.
Spirit Commands:
* Alert (10) - The caster gains 100% evasion rate for the next attack that targets the caster.
Squad Leader Bonus
*-20% Damage taken
Kouji is a great pilot stuck in a mediocre unit. The Double Spazer is the toughest and most agile of the Spazers, but it's still a Squad mate unit. Heck I'd say it's the least useful of the three because it doesn't have any Repair or Resupply capabilities. He'll do well in it right now due to his stats, but that machine is holding him back.
Right, now that we know our new guys, it's time to get through to Emperor Vega. First we have to go through these grunts.
Kouji gets the honors of being the first to blow up one of these things.
They're hilariously weak.
They're basically one shotted.
Except for Hikaru, the weak link in our chain. Even she nearly kills them.
But even then she dodges at 60% hit rates, good job I guess?
Aki's trying to get Kappei to get away from the battle, but he thinks it's the best thing ever. You don't get to see UFOs every day!
Whoa, UFOs? The girl thought they were just ZAFT mecha, but that's stupid, says Kappei. Everyone knows tube ships and saucer ships are UFOs. It also seems like the one with the horns is on our side. "Go, go, hero aliens!" cheers Kappei. "Beat up those evil aliens!"
>
Back onto the enemy phase, this guy's trying to get revenge on Hikaru.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GV1sOwaKSg
It doesn't really amount to much, but there is something of note here. The Vegan UFO grunts are voiced by freaking Nobuyuki Hiyama of GaoGaiGar fame. That's hilarious.
All the courage in the world doesn't mean much when you miss the guy who wants you to hit him, and is then one shot by his weakest attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5OJtD0Dacc
These guys exist solely to bring our Will up.
Remember that the Drill Spazer regenerates 500 HP a turn.
Long story short, every enemy UFO that attacked us died, leaving only these three by virtue of not getting in attack range.
Kouji's finally noticed Kappei cheering. This is no time for spectators!
Maria's miffed that the Federation hasn't send them backup. As it turns out, Hikaru's been trying to contact their base, the Extraterrestrial Research Lab, for the whole battle with absolutely no response. They haven't been taken over by the Dinosaur Empire, have they? Kouji is sure Ryoma and Tetsuya have still got a handle on the Dinosaur situation. But then, why can't they reach the lab?
And Hikaru is reading more mecha on approach...
The Glory Star is glad to see a familiar face again - "Woo! In the middle of the storm, we find the lord of space!" cheers Toby. Does this mean we're back in our universe? Denzel orders an analysis of the surroundings.
It comes back as 82.3% consistent with Fujisawa in Japan - low, too low to make sense unless this is a different Fujisawa.
Duke calls up the Federation robots and requests backup, and it definitely sounds like he's in the same boat we are. As we discuss that, Kouji interrupts that they don't have all day. It's the enemy leader, this is no place to be chicken. Denzel admits he's got a point; parallel universe or not, the Vegans are hostile invaders and it's our job to fight them. Besides, as soldiers, we have to protect those civilians!
OK! Glory Star is ready to start smacking aliens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCk6oBsmAtE
Darn it just barely survived.
Annnd the RNG decides to start messing with Setsuko, great.
Back to the easy part of blowing up Guy UFO.
And now they're gone too.
Let's use Scan to get a good look at our main enemies, Emperor Vega and Gandal.
Vega here is piloting his battleship, with a lot of HP for this stage of the game. Luckily, we only have to remove 15000 of it. And then I forget to look at Gandal's stats.
Onto the enemy phase, we start getting targeted by the big guys.
Geez Duke! Did you steal Setsuko's luck?
Denzel finishes off the one that hit Setsuko last turn.
Gandal targets Duke.
: Duke Fleed! All I have to do is destroy you and the Earth will lose its greatest weapon and be forced to surrender!
: But I won't let that happen! I will not die until peace is restored to the whole universe!
: Gandal! You must destroy that accursed Duke Fleed at once!: I know, Lady Gandal! Let me handle it!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPisXT26Mq0
Yes, Gandal has a tiny woman named Lady Gandal living in his head.
Next Vega himself aims for Duke!
: Get ready, Emperor Vega! The Vegan Imperial Army will be destroyed today!
: Silence, Duke Fleed! Because of you, my daughter Rubina was...: Rubina wanted peace! You're the one that dashed her hpoes!: I hate myself for being powerless to save her... but I hate you too, Emperor Vega!: To save this planet... and to restore peace to the whole universe! Emperor Vega, I will destroy you!
And hey, we're about a fifth of the way already with one attack.
Of course, I have to do all that damage in a single turn now. Will I make it?
...find out next time!