Our next stop is over here, and it's a place with an actual name, it seems.
So, let's talk about places with names in the world of Days of Ruin. Frankly, they are a small miracle by Advance Wars standards in general.
We have found, miracle of miracles, a habited area.
Will's surprise almost seems ludicrous without context. Remember that only a few weeks ago, the existence of people other than him in any numbers came as a welcome surprise.
Freehaven is not a miraculously surviving city, but rather a group of survivors who have already gotten started on this whole "building anew" thing Brenner's looking forward to.
And we get to one of those important questions in these sorts of settings: why bother? Society kinda sucks, do we really need it that badly that we rebuild it in the event it is destroyed for us?
(As an aside, it is kind of unfortunate that Will makes the observation "there is no one to enforce laws", given that this is not exactly a relevant counterargument to the position "society needs laws". Somewhat ironically, the arguments that will be posed will actually answer this question for me.)
The purpose of a society is to band together and agree "doing X, Y, and Z is kind of a dick move, guys"- this is why we developed society in the first place, and how we used it to climb up the food chain.
At this point, we start to get our first scene where Lin properly shows off her character chops, by disagreeing with Brenner on the nature of why people forming a society when reverted to scratch is to be praised. Brenner sees the enforcement of laws as an inherently virtuous action.
Lin takes a far more pragmatic approach. Overall, I find myself on Lin's side in this argument- before society, humans were no better than animals in a very literal sense. Each human was on their own, forced to rely on their own strengths and abilities and often directly competing with other humans as well as those animals who shared our diet. Forming a society allowed all humans in that society to benefit from the strengths of the strongest.
As a survival strategy, minimising the incentives your neighbours have to stab you in the back and steal the fruits of your labours is just as good, if not better, than being the one doing the stabbing.
Lin's practical approach will be a foundational element of her character, and while this conversation will end with this somewhat dismissive parting jab, the fact remains that her ability to think along these lines may one day be the difference between life and death, and the only thing we're going to be throwing at her is conversation-ending dry remarks. At some point we've gotta actually get to Freehaven.
Speaking of, poor Will. Brenner's apparently changed his mind about helping cultivate a new do-gooder and just lumping Will in with the amnesiac as "people that must have good done to them". On the other hand, the alternative would be carting the amnesiac around, because like hell either of them are going to accept separating Will and the girl.
"Open arms." Well, I guess they had a point with "arms".
There are no "sniper" units. Do they mean artillery? Frankly, I'd believe "bluffing", given the implication this group doesn't have military people in it.
Brenner, on being told there is potential of being shot at: "Take me to your leader". Yeah, good luck with that.
Look at the wonders of human decency now, Brenner. I think Lin was onto something here.
This is an interesting detail, given what we later see of the mayor, and I'm not sure the nature of how this happened ever comes up again.
Which strikes me as another one of those points against "human decency" Brenner's priding his fellow man on.
Will decides to speak up, as if there's anything he can do that Brenner cannot.
And from the sounds of it, it seems the answer to "what does Will have that Brenner doesn't" is "a face that doesn't look like a raiders'." Poor Will, doomed to not be taken seriously.
...Although that may have been a good thing this time.
All right. Now let's see how well things go for us in Freehaven proper.
I mean, what are we supposed to do about it? The whole reason we survived outside a society is because of the former, and it's the raiders who are using our uniforms.
So yeah. I believe you and the Mayor have been introduced. The Mayor, for some reason, never gets named, but make no mistake- he is a character in the story proper, and it is valid to have opinions on the man.
And already we're off on the wrong foot.
Brenner assures him he has no plans of sticking around permanently, but would like for him to show some of that human decency and adopt some new members for his society.
From the sounds of it, I think there are more civilians in that count than Will and ????, but they're about as important as the soldiers who aren't Brenner and Lin.
Already we can see that the Mayor has leapfrogged "rebuilding basic society" and gone straight to the willful misinterpretation that is a hallmark of the kind of politicians that make us second-guess this whole "society" thing.
As a character, he gets a lot of leeway in this scene on account of having a singular point here. But he's just enough of an asshole about it that it's hard to credit him for that fact.
Brenner tells him the obvious: He's asking for the Mayor to do the right thing, not ordering him to. It's not Brenner's fault if the Mayor decides to make different decisions based on which of the two is occurring.
The sheer arrogance one has to possess to be told "these people will die without help" and think this is an accusation. Methinks this was the kind of man for whom accusations and statements of suffering went hand in hand before the meteors...
Brenner tells him to consider the reality that exists and not make up one that suits his purposes.
And then the Mayor just says the quiet part out loud. So much for a society that decided it was a good thing if people didn't have to be worried about being stabbed in the back. We've already redeveloped the loopholes.
The Mayor returns to his genuine point.
And Brenner accuses him of hiding behind it. In retrospect, I don't remember Brenner making much use of this angry sprite.
Could've had me fooled.
If you wanted Brenner sent away, you could've stuck with this argument and not come off as a complete and total asshole. Just saying.
...Every accusation is a confession, and I am given a somewhat unpleasant picture of what this man might do with weapons were he given some.
I think we're the one who'll be done a favour by not being in this conversation anymore.
Perhaps more than you wanted to be read. Assuming you still think of yourselves as decent.
Will: "I wasn't keen on being left behind before they turned out to be assholes anyway." One can only imagine what would've happened to them if this hadn't come out to start with.
Although it does seem like-
Oh, not so confident with your snipers now that there are real raiders, are you?
Surely there are more productive directions to go than following us if you just want material, right? Directions not liable to get yourself blown up by artillery?
"Of all the persistent raiders, why did it have to be this one?"
And the Mayor immediately comes crawling back for sympathy.
The mayor says this to try and scrounge up some sympathy, but all it really does is give Brenner a reason to fight The Beast unrelated to helping the Mayor.
So much for your snipers.
...Also, if it wasn't for this game still having the Wood tiles, I'd actually be moderately impressed with the sticks. Trees holding up far better than people.
You will have your protection, and the worst part is, you will walk away thinking we did this for your benefit.
Does this man ever think about anything that isn't a personal inconvenience to him?
Still Brenner in command, but today, we've got a nice chunk of units, none of them with supply issues or narrative implications of being Will.
Lin does point out we are outnumbered, and in Advance Wars, we can't go "we're surrounded, we've got them right where we want them" like we can in Fire Emblem.
Says the man who forgot to pack bullets to the last mission.
They apparently decided this would give us the tutorial on the Unit Chart. And that's the last we'll hear on the topic of the Unit Chart.
Anyway, our map looks like this. The enemy enjoys a numerical advantage, but seven of those units are armed only with machine guns, and we have more tanks than them. Our Mechs are going to be interesting units, but our tanks should be just fine.
Just in case, let's ask Lin what she thinks.
...Uh, Will, you're not in this battle. At least humour the idea that you're not the protagonist, all right?
Lin deciding to improve her reputation from the opening of the map by pretending to be a martial arts instructor instead of a military one. Surprisingly, it's the furthest out of field this War Room goes.
This would probably come off a lot better if the camera was pointed at the mountain pass in question, though. Your textbox is in the way.
Not actually a mechanic. Putting our mechs in the mountains is to make them take less damage on the defence, which is a requirement for keeping them around for more damage later.
It's basic chokepoint etiquette, Lin, not a day-by-day guide.
Yeah, this stuff isn't saved in a log anywhere.
For one, that was almost grounded. Now let's get back to having Brenner shoot things.
Those infantry are just begging for a good strike, and the nearest backup won't be able to do anything in retaliation.
Don't mind if I do. Decided to turn off animations- it'd probably help make things more coherent.
These two infantry, perfectly positioned such, served as a nice tutorial about the benefits of defensive terrain. The one on the mountains took an entire 15% less damage! I... don't think terrain bonuses are meant to be flat, but it sure did look like they were there- I could almost believe those three extra terrain stars gave +5% defence each!
On this map, that might be a little hard. All the terrain is out of the way.
Fortunately, the mechs are able to finish the infantry off regardless of terrain.
I move up the artillery. This looks like a good spot for avoiding retaliatory fire.
The Beast up to his usual antics. These consist of generally moving his units.
Brenner and Lin's reaction is to give us a Terms tutorial. One of these days that might matter, we'll see.
Hm... the idiot's put his artillery in front, but it doesn't matter this turn. We'll see how that goes for us later on.
The recon is easy prey. I make sure to destroy it with the artillery, to level it up. I want that thing doing as much damage as possible with every blow.
This is as far as I'm willing to move my units. It remains to be seen how this will work out.
The Beast reveals a shred of intelligence, and arranges his units in the most annoying formation possible. The artillery at the back of the formation, the tank guarded on all sides from direct fire, and its own side exposed to retaliatory fire. At least he didn't put it in front like last turn.
Well, that tank has to be shot at no matter what. We'll figure out the direct attackers.
The recon in front is nice and exposed, and I invite the Mech to finish it off. It's the only unit it could reach.
I decide to leave my units in artillery range, doing damage more quickly. Ultimately, I think this was a mistake, but not for the usual reasons. Fixing the mistake was probably better done by changing from what directions the tank and mech attacked from destroying the recon.
Just as well we got short by the arty, since Will has some dialogue for a tutorial.
Lin explains the Joining mechanic, where we can combine a unit into a damaged unit of the same type to refill its HP. Excess HP is converted into funds, and such mechanics will be more important when we can replace the units. For now, that 4 HP tank is probably more useful separate.
Brenner has a much cooler line for this sort of thing. Helped, in part, by the promise he can actually do it.
Right, time to figure out how to solve this. That recon going and hiding in that forest probably cost me the most of any move this mission, and a part of me wonders if maybe having the Mech attack the artillery was worth it. I decided not to do it because that'd just expose the mech to the Bikes and probable destruction, but it is a Mech...
This is where things start going a bit downhill. I need to get past this Bike, and I also need to have enough ability to move past and hit the Artillery. The only unit that can do that is the full HP tank, and it won't oneshot.
I'd like the other Mech to be finishing, but also without that tank moving out of the way. There was presumably a better way to finished the last turn.
And this sure isn't helping things, having these units not moving in range to do damage. You can see how switching them would've solved problems, though, right?
Look at that bike, hiding behind the rest of the units. I am not finishing this turn.
At least I can destroy these two.
Sighs.
The Bike drifts closer, thankfully. Not that I think it could've gotten away from the tank.
A win is a win, but I feel really awkward about those last few days. I could see the imperfection.
...So anyway, Mr. Mayor, about those snipers...
Third mission and I've already scored less than 100 points on one of my scoring metrics. Still well above S due to the easy Technique score of these early missions, but I saw that knock to my Speed coming well in advance.
It doesn't sound nearly as impressive given the outcome that just happened.
...At base camp? I suppose it is a portable fixture...
OK, given later reveals, I'm surprised Lin isn't doing the recon personally, but I guess she wanted Will to feel useful.
As would I. But also, no I wouldn't. Unless it comes with several apologies.
I'll believe it when I see it.
And there's the rub. Well, let's see what we're working with this time...
...OK, never mind. As conditions go, "do something about the raiders" is probably one of the more agreeable ones.
The Mayor somehow finding the most insulting way to phrase this thought. Not only is he implying Will is incapable of defending himself, but he's also implying Brenner will only care about them if his own personal investments are involved. A position that I can't imagine Brenner taking well.
...Well, that sounds perfectly agreeable. Although I wonder what the plan is to make sure no new raiders seize that army base after we chase The Beast's out.
Next time: We play as someone other than Brenner.
No comments:
Post a Comment