That is not exactly the name of a map that inspires confidence. But it does look like a lot of close-quarters action with bases and airports on both sides.
Let's s see what's going to get in the way this time.
Fortunately, it seems that none of those problems are inside the shelter. No politicians made it in before we did.
While useful, it's not the question he asked. Brenner wants to know if the medical facilities are usable.
Lin proceeds to slip a little 'eat the rich' into her explaining what Brenner actually wanted to hear.
Brenner... probably noticed, but proceeds to ignore it.
I mean, most of the rich are already eaten.
Will, please pay attention when we tell you not to go to Isabella.
...Already? We just dealt with them! Like, I think diagetically, the last fight couldn't have been more than a day ago, and that's ignoring the fact AW pretends battles don't last days even if they say they do.
Excellent question.
...That raises several alarming questions.
Brenner reckons now is not the time to ask those questions.
...Not gonna lie, not seeing a way out of this one. As few guys as the raiders have here.
Good luck with that one. I don't think any civilian is saying calm with a war tank looming over them.
Isabella, meanwhile, is not going to have much like thinking of any kind, positive or negative.
...You know, your sense of humour is out of whack for multiple reasons, but I don't think I ever questioned your potential to be a mad scientist. Starting to do that now.
They don't actually go for it, but something about Isabella's happy place being Brenner's catchphrase that's all Will talks about kinda implies that Dr. Morris inspired her to think of Will.
Dr. Morris is happy to take her words at face value.
"We'd also have to get to them first."
...He might be more guinea pig than man. I think killing him is the mercy option now.
And... not much else. It looks like he's planning on doing the attacking personally.
You mean you still have your radio? You're surprisingly on top of things for a snarling Beast.
I think the only reason you fight a war is because you care an awful lot about the stakes.
...You know, even though Isabella is in that mess, that's taking things particularly personally. Very principled young man.
Smelled blood like a shark. No thoughts, only chew.
Oh yeah, we're getting another chance to play Will.
I'm sure he will.
A ton of red units on the bottom-left, our civilians on the bottom-right, and a strange number of planes on both top halves.
The weird black squares on the map are the tiles covered by the Shelter in the top-left. It is not traversible, but that only matters on turn 1 for moving our planes away from that corner. If we go back in that direction for any reason, something has gone horribly wrong.
Now then, Lin, give us advice on how to get these civilians out of danger?
...Oh. It seems we're getting started on the Tactics meetings that start to strain credulity on canon. Isabella has fished herself out of her peril- and her illness- to do a goofy shenanigans.
Usually, they do at least respect who's actually in the area. I wonder why this one's so wildly out of sorts.
WHEN?
I think it may be a bit of an exaggeration to call two infantry and a recon a "frontline". Unless you're Grit.
I like that idea. Need some indirects for that, though.
When they get here, that sure will be an issue. Keyword, "when".
How nice of the airport and factory to be on this side of the mountains!
...What bombers? That's the plane I don't have!
Hopefully you'll still be alive to host it.
My planes begin their path to intercept the enemy's.
This infantry is able to get to safety.
This one... no. That War Tank and Anti-Air are going to mulch it no matter where I put it.
In one last act of defiance, I'm putting it on this tile. It's not finishing that capture. It's the principle of the thing.
This recon is also able to find safety, thanks to its high movement.
Now then, this bunch opens by making designs on that airport.
T-Copter brings up the Mech.
Everyone else files forward. I do not load the infantry into the APC. I think I forgot I had that one.
Well, I'm going to need to build these myself, since someone didn't give me any.
You will be missed, you poor schmuck.
It seems the writers had a plan for that.
...Ah. That explains things. They're trying to tie characters to specific units again.
(Nobody go play that Tactics session again.)
And you're any more sure of that than Will? I struggle to believe you even know where you are.
I don't know where I am, but details.
I mean, he did a lot of shooting at innocents for food. I don't he cared even when he was sane.
Sounds like a reason to me, bud. Sadism, yeah, but it does technically qualify as reasoning.
Funny how literally everything but his sadism is broken.
I think his sadism got more finely tuned, actually.
On one hand, you did kind of ask for it.
On the other hand, I don't know if Will is capable of threatening.
Mostly anger, really. Fear and hate are signs of a war being fought for the wrong reasons, but it's hardly like anger is much better a justification.
I think this is the first time I've ever seen dehumanisation played heroically. I mean, he's not wrong, but still.
I mean, Morris and Isabella weren't like this, and you had no problem killing them. What's so different about Will?
AA is advancing.
As are those copters.
Economy is going to matter for him, but there's not much we can do about that.
This is the range of the B-Copter. I'm going to want to pull back from this, but also that Fighter is impeccably placed.
This is where I'm putting my line.
And, with clever positioning of my AA, I can create a cosy little hole for my Fighter to hide in and get the jump on them!
Airport is mine! Factory... working on it.
Not making the mistake of having an insufficient quantity of those again.
I think that's what I expected. I wish I had a plan for that, but my arty didn't come pre-built.
The planes are smart enough to start running away.
This is going to happen a lot, by the way.
Well, let's just shorten up those supply lines.
This Fighter's job is to find the most inconvenient possible position to hover. A part of me was starting to wonder if it would crash due to lack of fuel- air units spend fuel even if they don't move.
Setting up for the Anti-Air down there. Mostly to claim those properties.
Like this one.
B-Copter deals with the tank. Benefit of all the air units running away is that it can do this consequence-free.
Recon was never doing much anyway. I've got real walls now.
...Oh, uh, missed that guy. Should've moved the recon first...
Rig builds this, mostly for the sake of it. There's not a really worthwhile place for it on this map.
Oh, that is irritating. I was hoping for more...
This isn't helping, my position or my Power score. I don't really want this rebuilding in the background, though.
The Missiles are going to be awkward to place with all this moving around.
And that infantry is going to deal with that city. Capturing tech gets a little awkward with these missed corners.
One day these planes will be let loose. I have no idea when that is, but...
The Beast moves up, captures some properties, and continues to position his planes in defensive formation. And also withdraws that AA.
Tank interrupts this capture.
Hooray! Not sure I'll ever use it, but...
I think I don't want you trying to capture the properties I need to be building from.
Also nothing anywhere near that AA is scaring it.
OK, get rid of you, that B Copter can't get any closer.
I think I'm going to need a spare?
Back infantry starts capturing, but it seems I've misplayed and stopped myself grabbing this property my tank's on. Whoops.
Well, might as well reorganise my formation.
Yeah, that's why I needed that spare.
Mech's coming up on that tank, although that infantry doing the capture is preventing it from doing much. I'd still rather it not get up to any shenanigans, though.
I love when I do movements like this.
Already I'm joining those Anti-Airs up. Well, if the planes keep hiding, how much AA do I need?
The War Tank has come a little forward. It doesn't seem to be in much hurry, and nobody's in real danger.
And I'm even free to go do this! The sooner my air units are free, the better.
Finally working on these captures.
Hm... this is a pretty annoying combination. He sure knows how to pick 'em.
First of all, you're not doing anything on the front lines.
...Well, that is a plan. I think I'm trying to work on baiting these units out of hiding.
And express some deep frustation with them.
Bike's going to do some shooting. I think my infantry can deal with the HQ cap if I'm going for it.
The AAs do not take the bait.
Recon dents my bike. I can deal with that
Fighter finally picks a fight with me! And it even attacks my Duster!
It's been lingering so long that its fuel light is on. Imagine if these planes had access to an APC or an airport for refueling.
I believe I promised some retribution for my Bike?
With the Fighter gone, this lot is pretty sad. The only thing that can hurt my still intact Fighter is this Duster, and it's hardly going to do a good job of that.
Also this, but it is easily avoided.
The Copters are also pretty loose, especially with my anti-AA units lying around.
I can be a lot more daring in general around here.
Especially with Copters on this side.
Sending my Dusters up to meet these air units. This is where they belong now.
And can't forget these two. Even if my Fighter is also missing some fuel.
The Beast is running out of material out front.
Building an Anti-Tank for that War Tank.
And another Copter to keep it penned in.
...Because I lost this one. Well, the AA's in range of my Rockets.
Some of the air units went up, others went down. Really making a nuisance of themselves there...
This is for that Copter!
This infantry will be my plan for a HQ capture. Don't think I'll be worried about it, though.
Missiles move for a little more area denial. I don't really think it's worth bringing them with me.
And getting rid of this before it puts an infantry on my HQ.
I carted an infantry over here, but uh, it turns out that's where I wanted to put my Anti-Tank. Oh well.
Recon's ready to return. For... any reason I might want it to.
Keeping our eye on that War Tank range will be our most important task.
You can tell I have no idea what's going to happen here.
I want the Fighter on the side with the Duster, that much is for certain. Perhaps on the top side, though.
Duster is going to make this Copter basically run out of options.
Cute, slightly annoying, adorable, and pretty close to the worst thing in the world, in that order.
Missiling that, and my Fighter is now feeling pretty invincible.
It can now pick off Copters freely.
Duster's taking its time with its own.
Rockets on an infantry feels overkill, but I don't like what I have to do about that War Tank.
Air units are required to pen these two units in- lest we forget, that's an Anti-Tank in this too.
This guy is also scary, but I can shoot at that.
Finishing this one off, to secure my Fighter's role as "penning in the War Tank."
I'd really rather the Anti-Tank didn't get in range of the other one.
Use everything you can to pen in those units.
Except this injured tank. It's not blocking anything.
AA picks this off, before it becomes its own problem.
I start capturing this city, because I can.
Artillery comes in to shoot at the War Tank if it stays where it is. Or shoots the tank.
This other city also has a free chance to capture it.
This... looks decent? I don't like that free space or that hit the Anti Tank will take, but it's what I've got.
These are the units I'm going to need. Bombers are the sort of thing I want here.
The Anti-Tank shoots at mine, while the War Tank blows up that tank.
None of the rest of these units did much with their time, though.
Artillery shot. It actually gets 4 HP, by a miracle of miracles.
...Not sure what I'll be buying, but some extra healing spots are nice.
Well, time to begin the melee-ing.
Bomber can't reach the War Tank, but this will do just fine.
Eliminating these two...
This is just going to be on blocking duty. Not sure if the War Tank can take it.
I'm going to give it reason not to try.
This is my way of blocking the Bomber from that AA, for a lack of ways to destroy it.
Mech needed some more ammo. It also needs a promotion, but it'll take what it can get.
...Sure. There's not much in it, but it's at least a warm body.
War Tank went and hid on the HQ. Understandable.
Oh please no not the duster.
Amusing. Although shoutouts to the units that blew themselves up on my units. It's very rare that you'll score a KO on the enemy's turn in Advance Wars- they're usually smart enough to not initiate attacks that will go that poorly for them.
Another AA built, that will be a problem if I have any designs of the Bomber blowing up that War Tank- which I do.
Anti-Tank continuing to set up for a potential firing line on the enemy.
Gonna start by capturing this airport, for a real surprise later.
This is just body-blocking. All the Duster is good for.
...That sure was a strategy. Surely going for the War Tank was wiser? I guess I didn't have much material to pen the AAs away from my many air units.
Especially with Mechs around to serve as ankle-biters.
And my own Mech isn't moving anywhere fast.
...OK, surely the Rocket was better served moving forward?
Like, seriously, apart from preventing The Beast from building, what practical purpose did this plan serve?
This, though, was pretty essential.
If I can destroy that War Tank and disable that construction, this is my bid for a HQ capture.
Yeah, not sure how that's working out for me.
These will help, at least.
You know, I'm not exactly going to say "get own artillery shot at" was a bad plan, since it got the War Tank off the HQ, but...
At least the AAs decided to shoot at the least threatening targets.
The south AA decided to shoot at the War Tank instead of moving and destroying the 3HP B-Copter and opening up the base for a new unit. Finally, The Beast's AI is acting in-character.
...Well, that explains that part.
I think I'm going to chip you down some more.
...Fighter's plan is to pen in the footsoldier, I think.
And make room for this. Finally, we take the suggestion to use Bombers on the War Tank.
That's probably just a waste of Power Score.
At least I'm doing things like this.
And this. It now no longer matters what I do so long as that infantry is protected from that AA.
Which is why I blow up this one. To be fair, the Mech isn't reaching the other one.
This feels like a really inefficient way to deal with this AA.
And blocking the airport, of course. Don't want any new units.
At this point, none of this matters. I've already won.
Just taking a chip of paint on the Fighter with The Beast's last breath.
Went for the HQ capture. Although the rocket probably could've done well on Power score shining.
The shame of defeat struck The Beast so badly that it seems he is... well, whatever he is, he's no longer our problem.
...Did we kill him? Or were his days already numbered when you went injecting who knows what into his veins? I'm leaning on both for the moment.
Will, with The Beast swiftly neutralised, promptly ignores him and moves on to looking for Isabella and Dr. Morris.
...Gave up remarkably quick for that one, Will. Happen to find a body to corroborate it? Isabella, especially, seems a bit too visually distinct to miss.
You can't keep a good comic relief down!
Wow, The Beast is terrible at killing people.
Things that should probably not happen in direct succession:
Now that is a win I am happy with. I'd like a few of those numbers to be higher, particularly Technique, but it is promising that none of them are below 100.
Of course now we've learned that lesson. Someday it'll stick.
Production.
Look, game, it's very hard to take the tone seriously when you don't. What point is there in The Beast's taunting when even you're acting like nobody got hurt?
"Well, he's as close as possible while still complying with quarantine restrictions. ...Closer, probably."
Well, that explains why she didn't pipe up. I imagine, all other factors being equal, The Beast did make sure he actually hurt her, even if he didn't do a good job at dealing with everyone else.
Now then... time to see if we've found the correct medicines.
Somebody has an unrealistic idea of Dr. Morris's talents.
...And his own.
I'm more worried about you and your ass, sleeping on the floor like that.
Look, game, I kinda think there's an upper limit on how many times you can do a death fakeout in one chapter. This is the second time we tried to pass Isabella off as dead.
Plus, I'm fairly sure, even by Dr. Morris's own low standards, this is a poor taste joke. Particularly given Will's... well, his puppy instincts.
Anyway, the Creeping Derangea issue has been resolved!
Glad that's been dealt with.
Oh hey, Brenner's actually calling Morris out on time and a place.
Mate, it's contrived as hell in the medical dramas, it's far worse when it's happening to you. I wouldn't even trust that joke in the hands of your best friend.
Brenner shakes his head disapprovingly, but that is the extent of the matter. Can't scold him any more than that, can we?
Lin asks the serious questions.
Not beating the "Creeping Derangea is not a virus" allegations, Dr. Morris. Nucleoside analogues are typically an antiviral medication.
Admittedly, the idea of treating Creeping Derangea with herbicide poses some obvious risks.
Brenner requests he keep the sciencing to a fourth-grade level.
Yeah, probably best you didn't tell Will that bit.
...Something's telling me you should be reassessing that "cure" you found for effectiveness. It sounds like Isabella curing herself was unrelated to the nucleosides she was given.
Brenner, you are far too trusting. Young girls do not typically undergo system resets to deal with "viral" infections.
...Actually, wait, does anyone else in our group have Creeping Derangea as a control group, or is Isabella the only one?
Hooray, she is cured!
Let's see if that holds up next time.
Anyway, moving on entirely, we have to have a word with the one person more impatient than Will.
...And yes, we have to.
Unlike Will, the Mayor couldn't care less about Isabella. Was probably hoping she died.
You know, "is the factory working" and "will we be able to grow crops" feel like completely unrelated questions. Last I checked, wheat does not come out of a production line.
Now, wait, who said anything about "we"?
Brenner hears the fact this news is going to be unpleasant from a mile off.
Facts or it didn't happen, Mayor. You didn't know there was food at all before this conversation began.
Brenner responds with an assessment born of actual logic and reason.
I would like to hear a single civilian echo your reasoning.
...Are the civilians here, actually?
...Yes? Have you forgotten The Beast already? At least let us bury the corpse first!
Brenner: "Are you going to make an argument, or do you just want to listen to the sound of your own voice?"
Lin: "I think it's both..."
The Mayor decides that, now that Brenner has done the hard work, that he shall be the only one to reap the benefits.
Given some of the elections I've seen, I'm not sure that's a tautology.
Lin immediately observes that a democratic vote is biased in favour of the civilians from the word go, and if the Mayor's arguments are taken at face value, he knows exactly what is going to happen if he does it.
...I'm not sure I get this one. Are the wounded supposed to be unable to vote? Or is this meant to be an argument about the Mayor discarding our wounded for his own ego?
The only one suggesting there is a dictatorship going on here is you.
Some decisions require proper vetting, as much as I'd like a world where everyone is educated enough to have a reasonable opinion on every option in an election and be able to select their favourite one for reasons other than they like the guy selling it.
Brenner is beginning to get sick of this argument.
Lin has been so sick of it that she decides, if the Mayor's going to act like they're using their weapons, she's going to use them, higher ground be damned.
Brenner politely requests not to be party to this.
The Mayor plows ahead with his idea, and hopes we all follow along with it.
It is at this point in the conversation that he realises that "we" includes the civilians that he's been betting will vote in his favour.
What are likely the same civilians threatening us with non-existent snipers earlier have decided that actually, the Wolves can be trusted. It's about time.
...Did you listen to them after telling them the plan? Or did you just say this and hear what you wanted to hear the first time?
It turns out that the civilians who aren't the Mayor understand the concept of sacrifice and gratitude.
The vote has passed.
And despite all bleating to the contrary, it turns out that we win the democratic argument as well.
Lin takes the time to be smug about it.
If there was any justice in the world, the Mayor leaves to yell at some clouds, and we lock the door behind him.
Brenner then turns and addresses the civilians directly.
From the sounds of things, Brenner was gearing up to have a conversation with Will about Isabella's death before she caught Creeping Derangea.
...That is, if he wasn't preparing Will's tombstone as well.
That's probably the sound of Brenner deciding not to let the Mayor kill himself on his own stupidity. One can only imagine how the soldiers, named characters included, would have reacted had the civilians voted otherwise.
Lin probably would've shot the Mayor himself before he was done counting.
Anyway, that's enough depressing conversation, let's go back to Will and Isabella's happy reunion.
Somehow, I get the feeling Isabella is aware Lin's been suspicious of her. (Tactics room notwithstanding.)
Still don't, really.
...If you didn't come in with amnesia, I'd ask some serious questions about the quality of your last caregiver.
Uh, Will? She caught Creeping Derangea after her amnesia.
You know what? Fair. I mean, given the circumstances, the people in your old memories are probably all dead anyway, what would remembering them give you other than grief?
We'll wait for someone to come forward and say they knew you first before we worry about that.
Aww. I think you'll want a few more memories than the last few chapters, though. Some time without The Beast bearing down us would be nice.
Whatever it is Will wanted to do with that reveal, he got forestalled by the awkwardness of realising that Lin has been watching them.
I mean, she's responsible for recon. Not being seen is part of doing that job well.
...I notice that's not an answer to the question.
Will points out that, while he's not planning on conversing about subjects harmful to the Wolves, he is planning on speaking from the heart and would rather not have any voyeurs.
Lin doesn't give a shit.
Will will have to confess his love some other time.
Not that I really think he needs to.
They actually have a pretty nice CG here of everyone celebrating. Reminds me of the post-Crystal Calamity CG in Dual Strike, although these guys only have rations on the table. I am sorta side-eyeing that drawing of Lin, though- it's probably because of the angle.
Next time: We'll find somebody to ruin this.
No comments:
Post a Comment