Part 28: Bonus: Super-Melee

So! Today, we won't even be loading the game.

It's time for a SUPER MELEE!



Super-Melee is simple - you pick a fleet for each side, then you fight until one fleet wins. Ships have point costs - my fleet's a big bigger and nicer than the AI fleet, because I'm not very good at this game.

I'll be using this to show off some ships that either we never saw, or that just aren't available in the main game



VIDEO: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT



First fight is Fury VS Mauler, which we've seen before. I squeak out a narrow victory.



Next, the Cyborg is already bringing out the big guns - a Dreadnought sweeps in to take Crow down.



If they're bringing the big guns, then I'll do it too.



Introducing the Utwig Jugger! I just got access to this thing.



The Jugger's secondary is a barrier field that absorbs (almost) all damage. It drains energy quickly, but also converts enemy projectiles into energy.



The primary attack is six small energy bolts, each doing 1 damage. It fires rapidly, and costs no energy.

Note that the Jugger doesn't naturally recover weapon energy. The only way to spend it is to keep the shield up, and the only way to regain it is to get hit while the shield is up.



In other words, with good reflexes, the Jugger is literally invincible, and can fight for days.



A Jugger can take down a Dreadnought without taking a single point of damage.



The enemy sends in an Androsynth Guardian!



The Guardian's primary weapon is a cloud of bubbles.

Really, I could easily win this fight, but I'm here to show off a bunch of ships, so I deliberately get lazy with my combat.



I still win, though!



The Jugger finally falls to an enemy Avenger.



Next up: The Supox Blade!



The Blade is fast, manaeuverable, and has a second layer of mobility from its secondary ability, which lets it strafe left, right, or backwards.



Its primary weapon is a rapid-fire stream of green bolts, each doing 1 damage. A simple but fun ship.



In short, it's the perfect weapon for hunting Ilwrath. There's maybe one ship that's better at it.



The enemy sends in their Earthling Cruiser!



Once again, in the interest of showing off lots of ships, I throw the fight.



Now to reveal the actual way to use an Androsynth Guardian!



The ship's secondary transforms it into Blazer mode, flying at incredible speed and without inertia. In this form, it can outrun just about anything, and damages whatever it touches, but it can't attack otherwise.



Blazer form gradually drains weapon energy, and continues without stopping until you run out. So, the Guardian is most vulnerable right as it comes out of the attack.



Oops.



Presenting the Chenjesu Broodhome! Rolling in unfortunately close to the Marauder.



The Broodhome's secondary takes a full battery to use, and deploys a De-energizing Offensive Guided Interceptor (DOGI). This will chase the enemy ship relentlessly, going as far as to dodge away from the front of the enemy ship to stay alive.

Every time the DOGI bumps the enemy ship, it loses 10 weapon energy.



Primary is Photon Crystal Shards, which do heavy damage on a direct hit, but when you release the fire button they detonate into a ring of weaker shards.



In the end, the two ships annihilate each other.



In Super-Melee, the VUX Intruder always warps in right next to the enemy ship, pointing towards it. However, there's no enemy ship in the battle!



So, I send in the next ship, the Mmrnmhrm X-Form!

Spoilers: I hate this ship.



The X-Form's gimmick is that it's two ships, swapped between using the secondary button. The Y-Wing Form is extremely fast, but can barely turn, and its weapon is pairs of weak, vaguely homing missiles.



The X-Wing form is slow, turns on a dime, and fires short-range but powerful lasers.



The X-Wing form sucks, and the Y-Wing form lends itself to long, torturous fights where nothing interesting happens for ten minutes at a time.



After a while, I approximately suicide.



Next on - the Melnorme Trader!



The Trader's primary weapon is a charged shot - as you hold down the button, it turns green, then blue, then purple, then red.



The secondary is a confuse ray - more on that when I can land a hit with it.



The intruder is small, and the Trader is slow and turns like a dying whale. So, getting a hit off is hard.



On the other hand, the full charged shot is the most powerful weapon in the game, clocking in at 16 damage.



If you hit a ship with the Confusion Ray, its controls are disrupted - attacking and thrusting still work, but secondary power is locked and it's stuck spinning in one direction.



Unfortunately, this doesn't hurt the Podship all that much, since its only weapon is a high-accuracy homing attack.



Next: The newly-unlocked Syreen Penetrator!



The Penetrator's gimmick is a siren song that lures enemy crew into abandoning their ship, after which they can be stolen by the Syreen.

Kinda weird that it works on the Podship, but hey.



Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay close enough to it to keep pace with the Podship's damage output, so down I go.



In competent hands, the Thraddash Torch is the best ship in the game.

You've probably figured out by now that this doesn't describe my hands.



The Torch's primary gun is puny, but its secondary is a speed boost that leaves a trail of killer plasma behind it, damaging anything it touches.



I then proceed to spend the next six years failing to hurt the Podship as it regenerates up to full health.



And then die.



Rapidly running out of ships, I throw down a Yehat Terminator!



The Terminator's secondary is a powerful force shield, capable of blocking nearly any attack. The only damaging attacks that can break it are planetary impacts and the Glory Device.



The Twin Pulse Cannon does damage shockingly fast, and makes short work of almost anything once it's in range.



And so my team claims victory!



There's still one ship I totally forgot to include, but we'll probably see it soon, one way or another. So, that wraps it up for my Super-Melee showcase.