Part 76: Mission 22 - My Own Exodus - Part 1
Chapter 22 - My Own Exodus
Kashmir’s telling his troops to get their game faces on as a defeat here would be the end for all of them – they’ll be unable to return to the Siberian Rail if this Exodus succeeds.
Kejinan notes that the guy’s pretty tense today but Jaboli doesn’t think it’s just because the Exodus is nearly done: from what she’s heard, the president himself is coming over and Kashmir messing up in front of him would probably be a career-ending move.
Kejinan isn’t very confident, though, especially seeing how they now need to deal with Zaft and the Super Robots along with the Exodus team; that said, Timp isn’t about to let them run for their lives, lest they fancy getting shot in the back and, when Kejinan asks, Kashmir says his mind-broadcasting OverSkill is still inoperable after the last battle which means they’ll have to prevail through brute force.
As they prepare, Enge sighs that they’re really unlucky when it comes to bosses and Jaboli’s planning on putting a request for reassignment if she survives this.
Time to find out, as our team has just arrived.
Our people deploy and are blown away by the mass of troops waiting for us – seems like the Siberians are going all-out today.
Gauli tells Gainer not to be afraid, lest it overwhelm him and lead to his death; the kid understands but asks why he’s tagging along with him and Gauli says he’s covering for Gain during his absence.
Inwardly, Gainer thinks that Gauli’s been acting strangely ever since Catez and wonders if he’s keeping something from him; Elchi tells everyone that the enemy’s desperate now so we shouldn’t be negligent and Jiron’s ready to bust through their lines.
Holland will just be glad to be done helping Yapan's Ceiling sneak around but Quattro says their help will push Siberia closer to being free from the Siberian Rail’s oppression – Holland grumbles that he’s well aware of that.
Sara isn’t about to show mercy to the Siberian Rail if they’re still intent on stopping their Exodus and Gainer thinks about this “THEIR Exodus” bit.
And welcome to the hardest stage yet! It may not look like it but there's a fairly tight time limit, the Battle Mastery is in effect it just hasn't revealed itself yet.
Turn 1
We have a whole bunch of enemies to deal with. There's the Breakers in Wide formation, the Siberian rail troops in Center, two Overmen boss in Tri, and three landships. One of which has Timp as its pilot, who's plenty dangerous. The enemies are fairly far away, the first turn and a half is basically going to be used up on approach... or is it?
It's time to use one last function of battleships. You can move units into them. Inside a battleships mechs regain HP, EN, and Ammo but at the cost of Will. However the biggest reason to do it is that you can move units inside the battleship, then move the battleship.
So I move everyone inside, cast Accel, and have the three ships charge forward.
The frontline of enemies head up and attack the ships. but that's fine. They can take it.
Thankfully the Overmen hang back this turn.
Turn 2
I move the battleships to the center... which means now I can deploy all my units right smack in the middle of the fray.
Except for the Minerva, which is close enough to start firing.
Fire!
For the Siberian guys I'll be using Tri attacks, Center formation is just shredded by them
Granted, it's not the most impressive yet. But Will is low and this guy's a mini-boss.
Out comes Arthun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRKV2AKb9VM
Leave low HP units like that to the enemy phase.
Toga gets another level of Counter out of it.
I'm taking out the Siberian guys first. First, they're simply not as tough as the Breakers, so getting them down first to reduce the sneer numbers of enemies is a good idea. Also they can be handled by TRIs and ALLs, unlike the Wide Formation Breakers.
Darn it Toshiya!
Amuro make up for his mistake
There we go.
Setsuko's turn!
She's getting better.
Gainer doesn't have a full squad, oh well.
Oh yeah, I gave Gauli the Minovsky Craft so he could fly in his event squad with Gainer.
No time to slow down and ponder! I got more Tri-Charging to do!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOBvLOAC_c8
Should probably expect a few more videos like this.
Gavane levels up and gets another bit of Prevail.
The Breakers aren't so easy, however. So what I'll be doing is using Center Formation to smash their squad leaders, dismantling the enemy squads one unit at a time.
I love that barrier.
Marin learns Spirit(40), a bit costly, in the process.
Shinn doesn't have a post moment TRI, so he's heading off to handle this Breaker.
And that's one 2/3rds of the way down.
Same with Garrod.
I should probably expect these sorts of things by now. Luckily Garrod's a bit tougher then the average Real pilot, plus ALL Attack reduction.
Kamille finishes off that Breaker over there, still two more to deal with.
Loran's turn.
Miashey levels up and hits another stage of Prevail.
One thing I forgot to mention is that the Orguss can actually transform, the transformation locks out most of its attacks but does give a major bonus in that it makes it's TRI attack Post Movement.
So let's give it a go!
There we go.
Quattro eliminates another Squad Leader...
And Kappei goes to soften up another.
The Zambot 3 is 60 Meters tall and weighs 700 tons. A Prometheus is 13.8 Meters tall and weighs 104 tons. The Zambot 3 just dropped down from the sky and impaled the Promethus with a giant double sided trident, smashing all 700 tons onto it while also piercing it with a weapon bigger then it is.
Basically the Siberian Rail doesn't pay the Breakers enough, onto the enemy phase!
The remaining Breaker leaders get blasted by counter attacks, that still leaves the squad mates but they're a lot easier to handle.
Ow.
Bello learns Invincible(10) out of it at least.
Timp takes aim at the Iron Gear, which is a better thing for him to target then most. Because he hits hard.
: Charge, Cotsett! Target the enemy landship!
: What?! YOU have a beef with Timp, too, girl?!: No, no! We’ll take that huge landship down and prove to everyone how strong the Iron Gear is!: We’ll be unemployed soon so, even if it’s a little bit, we have to get our name out there!: R-right! Yes, ma’am!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9W1YL23EPA
Timp hits like a truck. Ow.
While the Mexbrute moves up and I manage to avoid getting Kei shot down, the Planetta stays in place, thank goodness. I do not want to deal with that Overskill right now.
Turn 3
As the battle proceeds, Witz detects something approaching real quick and in comes some sort of face-less Overman, piloted by a very happy girl.
Timp recognizes Kids Munt’s little “treasure” and Kashmir sees the Dominator Overman and panics, wondering if this means that the president is angry – in that case, he’s got no choice but to go all out to win this.
With that in mind, he tries activating the Planetta’s OverSkill and chooses Gauli as the target; our people quickly start hearing his thoughts and understand that Kashmir’s doing the same trick as before.
Indeed and while he can’t use the OverSkill over a wide area, Kashmir can still selectively target individuals and he sees that Gauli’s hiding a little something; he commands him to let the voice of his mind scatter and for our group to destroy ourselves from within!
Gainer tells him to resist and to use his ninja skills to empty his mind but it’s too late and Gauli can only apologize.
: Huh…?! The voice of Gauli’s mind…what did it just say…?!
: N-no way…!
: No…! That’s a lie, right…?!
: You heard my thoughts…? …Yes, it’s true…
: That’s…
: The one who killed my parents…it was you, Gauli?!
: At the time, I thought there was no other way for the Exodus to succeed…: That’s...unforgivable!
: Gauli…you, of all people--!: I won’t make any excuses...: Don’t give me that! Just tell me something – a reason, anything! Or else, I’ll…! 
: Stop, Gainer!!: You can’t! Don’t do it, Gainer!!
: Yes! Go after him! Hurry up and destroy your teammate, Dreadlocked Overman!: It’ll be simplicity itself to crush the Exodus with their unity destroyed!
: I don’t think so…!
: Is that--!
: Too late, Chief!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JgLjm6fYmk
: UUOARGH!: Gain!
: I kept you waiting, Gainer. This here’s my new partner: the Emperanza.
: But we can talk later. Gainer, Gauli…tag in with me.: But…!: I…I won’t fight alongside him!: That wasn’t a request. It’s an order.: Or are you going to put an end to the Exodus just for your self-interest?: …: In that case, do as I tell you. Now.: …Fine. But I’m not doing this because I agree with what you’re saying.: I’ll obey because I owe you!: That works. If you want to pay me back, then work together with Gauli.: That’s just what I want!*Gainer and Gauli join Gain’s squad.*
: Damn you, Black Southern Cross…! How dare you interfere!!
: We’re fighting, so I can understand wanting to win at all costs...: But now you’ve gone and pissed me off, Kashmir…!: Try me, if you dare! What can you do with that patchwork Overman and your quarreling friends?!: I’m so damn angry right now…I can and I WILL do this!
: There’s so much rage within Gainer…
: To think he had such a violent side…
: (Yeah, that’s better. There isn’t much point in my coming here if you won’t play seriously.): Out of my way, Siberian Rail! I…I’m going on an Exodus!!
: (Gainer…)
And now the Battle Mastery pops up. Defeat the Dominator (the new faceless overman piloted by the girl) by the end of turn 5. It's really kind of difficult!
First though, let's take a look at our new machine!
Overman King Gainer
Gain Bijou - Emperanza
Voiced by Otoya Kawano(Japanese), Kirk Thornton(English)
Skills:
* Oversense (Level 1) - Increases Hit and Evasion Rates, as well as the power of Photon Mat Barriers. Can activate the mech ability Overskill.
* Hit & Away - Pilot will be able to move after attacking.
* Support Attack (Level 4) - When Adjacent 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.
Spirit Commands:
* Sense(20) - Casts both "Strike" and "Alert" on the caster.
* Snipe(15) - Increases the range of the caster's weapons by 2 for one turn. MAP attacks and weapons with 1 range are not effected.
* Focus(15) - Increases hit and evasion rates by 30%
Squad Leader Bonus
+1 Range to weapons other then 1 Range weapons and MAP Attacks.
Overskill
Automatically casts Accel at the start of the turn, Photon Mat Barrier power increased by 200.
And Gain has met his full destiny. The Emperanza is good enough to be a Squad Leader, especially with long range sniping and a good post movement TRI attack. Of course, even if you don't want to make him a leader holy crap put him in a squad no matter what. Look at that Overskill! Free Accel every turn once it gets going, that's amazing. The Overskill alone makes the Emperanza a unit that should always be used.
Heal up the Iron Gear a bit. Maria is quickly becoming one of my favorite units simply due to her massive SP pool and the ability to just spam Trust while in the TFO.
Kei heads over here to hit the landship.
Kei's really held back by piloting such a small unit at times. Only 3500 damage or so between both attacks.
With Kei out of the way I can have the Elichi fire the Potan Cannon! Which is one of the better MAP attacks in all honesty just for being very easy to aim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADcSw8ZeAsQ
There we go, MAP Attacks are always handy.
With that done it's time to start hacking away at some of the tougher enemies. Let's start with the weakest of the four bosses we've got on the field at the moment. Time to shoot down that Mexbrute!
The last thing we want is for him to be able to use his own TRI Attack, so we're going to start by taking out his squadmates with our own TRIs and ALLs.
Part way there.
Quattro takes aim to finish off his squadmates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es1BoE1wgSA
That's part of the problem solved.
Kappei uses Spirit to get the last bit of Will he needs to hit with the Moon Attack.
As painful as it is to deal with Overmen, at the very least they tend to have low HP, so once you can get down and actually hit them they go down quickly enough.
And Maria learns Accel(20)!
Jiron's turn!
If only he had crit...
So Marin finishes him off.
Time to take care of more random grunts!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HorQ2lecEpQ
"Whuh?! It's flying with a snowboard?!"
I think I can leave that guy for counter killing.
The Glomar refills Eureka's energy after that.
Garrod gets ready to soften up this Breaker with Luna's help
I really need to remember to switch Luna around for Support Attacks more.
And Garrod learns Luck(35), having one of the cheaper casts of the command.
With that done Shinn moves up to hit this landship.
Very nice.
And Talia takes care of the last hit.
Their ranks are thinning, Amuro takes aim at this Breaker.
Thanks to that crit he's able to oneshot the guy with Attack Again.
Gainer moves up and smacks this Breaker, doesn't beat it though.
Kamille beats it though and Loran handles a second one.
This gives Dike another level of Prevail.
And I think it's time for Setsuko to just kind of erase something.
And I finally end my turn with Athrun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8onJmqflRok
He learns another level of Support Attack out of it while Witz gets another level of Prevail.
With the enemy phase comes the Counter kills
Sara levels up and learns Invincible(10).
Ow.
Kashmir seems pretty far right?
Wrong! Because now he's moving and his Overskill is active so guess what. He has Zeal, so he could get up here right away, and he has Strike, so King Gainer can't dodge, and he has alert so I can't hit him yet.
: Hey, you! You’re going to fight me without avenging your parents?!: …!: Gainer…: Hurry up, then! Destroy your parents’ killer!: Gainer…right now is--!: I know! First off, let’s take him out and put an end to all of this! What are you doing?!
: My parents and this battle are two separate things! Let’s do this, Siberian Rail!
And thus the squad barely survives by defending. But remember, that was with him far out of Kashmir's reach so he only got one of his two actions in. Oh yeah, Gainer getting shot down is a loss condition this stage!
And of course the other Overman guns for Gainer too.
Fortunately she's not near as terrifyingly accurate.
: This Overman’s movements…have I seen them somewhere…?: (Hee, hee, hee…Let’s have a real battle, King.)
Whew. Next update later in the week.