Our next mission introduces that last new property tile, but otherwise promises to be a pretty small and compact affair. Only six properties that give funding?
It's time for a bit of a filler chapter- while Greyfield's licking his wounds, we're going to find someone else to antagonise us.
Well, this is a surprise- the captured NRA guy who told us what was going on in Greyfield's army is just... freely volunteering more.
Now, OK, admittedly, telling us where Greyfield's deserters are going is a pretty easy trap opportunity- either the deserters can catch us or Greyfield himself can do it chasing them down. But since the NRA guy can't co-ordinate with Greyfield, it's just a chance.
And besides, if the stories he has heard are true, it's in his long-term interests to be taken there. Curing Creeping Derangea is good for all involved.
Dr. Morris being surprisingly quick on the draw on "this cure is a fraud". While yes, I can understand being skeptical, given how recently the disease has sprung about, you can't be the only still-living doctor around. I'd at least look first.
...On the other hand, Dr. Morris, at some point you've got to do an actual trial. If only to see what Creeping Derangea responds to.
Well, best to go take a look, if only to head off this avenue of mutiny later. If people are going to scream in Dr. Morris's ear for not curing their loved ones, let's not make it because he actively turned down a working cure.
And yes, they actually do use the title "Salvation" for the location. A location name that presumptuous can only mean scam, but still.
Still, the possibility is open.
This chapter is going to be a bit of a focus chapter for Dr. Morris, and he's using his time doing a lot of skepticism. As if he's not the character that believes most in the power of humour to heal.
To expel all doubt that Dr. Morris's skepticism is unwarranted, we are immediately greeted with, well... this.
Who the hell are you, and which Fire Emblem game did you sneak away from?
Presumably, this voice is being heard in less than the standard quality for conversations in an Advance Wars game.
Lin gives a justification for how this guy who's presumably not using a radio is communicating over an Advance Wars map, brings up the obvious question, and then that question never gets answered. Sometimes it's just better to leave it and trust the audience forgot.
Fanatic speedrunning his way along the danger signs of cults. Yeah, Dr. Morris had the right idea after all.
Will has a pretty good line in response to it, though. Keep an open mind, but sometimes your first impression is pretty spot-on. Not like they tried very hard to keep you from forming it.
I think this outside the field of any expertise- not "there are no expertises that cover this", but more "understanding this is not something expertise can help with."
That would be a war tank. And here we are with nothing but a tank, recon, and a bunch of footsoldiers.
We are immediately greeted with Proud Soldier, as Gage steps forward immediately to take command.
Tasha expresses her surprise at his eagerness to step up, in her own way.
Well, they're certainly going to do it if we're ready to shoot back.
Gage's choice to take command is driven entirely by the fact that he's the sort of person who could and would shoot a civilian in the face if necessary. A quality he knows for a fact Will doesn't have, but I'm moderately surprised he doesn't even ask if Lin can do it.
Admittedly, she's probably supposed to be in quarantine.
Knowing Gage, that might even be a one time deal. I'd keep an eye on him.
Gage explains the new type of tile to us, in a surprising bit of gameplay-story integration, given his specialties. A missile silo is a returning piece of terrain from AW2, where it will deal 3 terrain damage to all units within a 2-square radius of a selected tile of your choosing, as selected from any tile on the map.
Missile siloes cannot damage terrain features, in what was explained as "Lash armour" in AW2 and goes unquestioned in the games following. They also damage units regardless of whose side launched the silo.
A used up missile silo retains its terrain properties, but usually, they won't be positioned in such a way that it's worth using them as such.
Here's our pretty small map. Two of those siloes are tucked in enemy turf, but we should be able to claim all the rest. Also wow, those guys are severely damaged. Makes up for their numerical advantage, though.
This is the description of a missile silo, incidentally. Only two terrain stars this time around- they matched other properties in the Wars World trilogy.
In the War Room, Tasha and Gage return for another round. Gage probably thinks the "shooting at civilians" he's about to do is more comfortable.
...Why do you know that? More to the point, how many chapters are left in this game that this is a reasonable suggestion?
The alternative is more Lin, but given the whole Creeping Derangea situation, I... don't know how comfortable I am with that.
I mean, you clearly have national pride to spare, while Gage... I don't think he really cares. It's his duty, not his pride, that keeps him following Forsythe's lead.
I'm not sure I do either, sometimes.
Now, see, I got one part of that. I missed the second, and boy did it cost me.
Gage, if you could be so kind as to elaborate on what my error was?
Do you really think Gage is going to be saying a single word more than necessary?
...Oh wow, he's actually going to give it a shot!
...She's not wrong. I am wowed. But also, we need to get Tasha a better friend.
Gage's CO dossier, we've seen before, and while I'm in this menu, I notice that No CO is actually given a screen here if it can be called up. It even has stats on the bottom menu on page 2, not that any of them have up arrows.
Gage takes on an interesting role in combat- not that we have the funds or the time to actually deploy a CO Unit on this map, and also we don't even have any units that are boosted by Gage's CO Zone. Such a pity, given that he'd probably fit in well with my playstyle. Gage is DoR's equivalent of Grit, getting a boost to indirect attackers (no range boost passively, which helps to balance him compared to Grit), as well as an offensive bonus to navy. Because Battleships were frequently the most worthwhile unit in naval combat, Grit was a surprisingly good naval CO despite his own direct unit penalty, and they decided to lean into that when designing Gage.
Naval specialty is a quality ascribed to CO Drake from the Wars World trilogy, but I think Drake's equivalent is a different character in this game. Gage isn't really Grit and Drake.
Oh, by the way, this War Tank has no ammo and only really has the gas to move for three turns. Not that its machine guns couldn't oneshot a footsoldier anyway, but it's a paper tiger, really.
Best to take my units far away from it, though.
Capturing properties? The healing might actually be impactful.
Launching a missile silo. The terrain damage introduced in this game is obviously in play, but otherwise this is how they have always functioned. The ability to use a missile silo on the turn you step onto it is also retained, but given how a few functions in this game require being stationary, I was almost worried.
I move this tank here, in a bid to keep it separate from any units to make it a non-tempting target for a missile salvo.
Can you spot the square that will allow the enemy to shoot at four units, including the tank?
The enemy actually plays No CO, rather than Wasteland Scourge. I dunno, I'm getting more of a Wasteland Scourge vibe from this army.
Speaking of Wasteland Scourge, it seems Davis was one of the defectors from Greyfield's army heading to Salvation.
He also expresses a side of himself that we never really got from him before. Up until now, Davis being browbeaten by Greyfield seemed like Davis just being too much of a coward to stand up to the man. With this line, though, it becomes apparent that Davis was actively seeking Greyfield's company for protection.
Kinda hard to pity him as a result.
Will does at least recognise him. Given he hasn't spoken up since Brenner died, a non-trivial ask.
Right now, though, there's a bigger bully in the playground than Greyfield- Creeping Derangea.
He also introduces another element of the Creeping Derangea plot point. One that's more for the characters than the player, though.
The only visible symptom of Creeping Derangea is a mark that heralds the imminent appearance of the lethal flowers. From the sounds of it, it's not even the sort of symptom you can make plans around.
I think this is hysteria, though- the mark is a day or two warning, rather than an hour or two.
Will having a surprising amount of trust in Davis. Well, admittedly, it's not like he was in much of a hurry to be committing any of the harms Greyfield has done in Will's direction.
This is the last we see of Davis. It's not even explicit whether he met his end by bloom or by Gage's guns. Not the worst person to go, but definitely the worst way. Hopefully we don't have to see that again.
So yeah, this side took both missile salvos. There goes my tank, and much of my offense with it.
The AI still goes for the property captures, but with all its units on 5 HP, that's not going to happen.
And now there's a tank bearing on me on this side. I should probably have shot my opening missile salvos at the tanks and saved dealing with the War Tank for turn 2.
The good news is that there's not a lot of material over here, either. The bad news is that missile is looking quite unattended.
This is why we shoot the missiles at the small tanks.
Better late than never, I suppose.
And some more missiles to basically shut down the tanks. Now to pick off infs.
One property to heal with, and one property that wishes it was providing healing.
These were... probably not the correct decisions to be making. Recon probably should've gone for the tank.
Loser.
Will notices an opening to try having some reasoned discussion with the fanatics. If nothing else, a motive is better than none.
And, rather surprisingly, the Fanatic has one.
His reason? That people are so desperate that they would rather hear easy answers than ones with any actual evidence.
...Is he wrong there?
Will is a bit too optimistic to get what he's going for here.
There is no convincing some people of the truth when they desire to hear good news.
It almost sounds like the right thing to do when he puts it like that. The choice is to let these people believe they're going to die or let them believe they're going to live until they die. One of those is objectively better than the other one for them.
And that is an argument that catches Will off-guard. It's in itself a form of idealism, if one couched in some deeply pessimistic origins.
With that said... there is a third option here. Actually give the people a real answer.
Especially when you're going to demand, you know, cult-like obsession in exchange for salvation. At that point, are they really the ones who are getting the better end of the deal?
I'm hardly going to stop this, aren't I?
Damaged units finishing damaged targets. Hey, if it does the job...
This recon is having a better time of things. It's worth noticing that the Fanatics have two Comm Towers of Atk/Def bonuses, but it's clearly not doing enough.
See how much better the numbers are without the missile salvo?
This mech is going to be laughing about this for years.
Hilariously, this infantry is probably the unit that scares me most, mainly because it can probably KO my Bike.
Fortunately, it decides to take the bait. I can deal with this.
In retrospect, I thought I could tweak this move in order to win a turn earlier than I do. Looking at what exactly I'm doing here, though, I'm not sure if my units are in position to pull that idea off.
Meanwhile, I've got the nice start of a rout being worked on.
Also wound up getting this city. Little late, but at least it helps the infantry.
Now then... there's one thing that can stop me winning in two turns.
This infantry shooting this bike. If there was a way to move the bike without exposing it to enemy attack, I could've capped the HQ with it.
Fortunately, it only does 3 damage, so I can still cap the HQ in three days. With that said, I can also probably rout in that time.
This property feels like a waste of time, given the time limit.
I don't like that Mech having a Wood, so I pull back, seeing if they'll stand somewhere I can seize a proper advantage on.
This position will do.
I win next turn, and they can't stop me. This is just for Power and cleanup.
Although I'm not sure "Power" is the way to put it.
And then there's what I did to this poor recon. Should've committed to HQ capture at that point.
But hey, at least I captured the property!
And lost the recon. That was an unnecessary hit to my technique.
HQ capture won out. Didn't really have a plan for that mech at all, and that was the problem.
Gage promptly and without question shoots the guy. No death scene, just a moment to eliminate him with extreme prejudice.
I was expecting Power and Technique to be lower while my Speed was... well, not good, but like, 90s, low 100s. Not what I was expecting, but I'll take it.
Salvation shall come with saving lives, not by soothing deaths.
Stats. Wow the Fanatics had a lot of dudes.
And probably more than that, if the leader's words are anything to work with. He certainly wasn't lying about that, even if he was about what he was actually doing.
"The Worm" that he's been spending so long talking about. You almost kind of forget it's not just an idea, but a real thing in the world.
Will seems to be under the assumption that the Worm is a person, a character. I kind of feel like, if he was, he might've contributed to the battle.
Lin isn't entirely sure how to break the news of what the Worm really is to him.
It does take him some time to notice.
The Worm, as it transpires, is very small. Lin probably had her own moment when she verified it with the people of Salvation.
I am honestly surprised the people of Salvation could point her to the Worm with a straight face.
Just as a reminder as to what, exactly, the Worm was supposed to be before we actually reveal it.
It doesn't get art. It's literally an ordinary earthworm.
There is, however, something fascinating about the fact that the particular choice in mundane object used to fuel the Fanatics was an earthworm- a creature that, before the meteors, is known to people as something that preys on gardens by burrowing underground and eating the roots. To the sufficiently desperate, one assumes that the plan for The Worm was to have it burrow under their skin and eat Creeping Derangea before the flowers sprouted. The plan makes sense, if you're willing to overlook a few holes in the theory.
And these people were willing to overlook a lot of holes.
Well, unless you're into earthworms. I think this one's better off where we found it, though.
...So I'm confused, did the people know the Worm was an earthworm, or is this reveal affecting them, too? I'm assuming different civilians, but it's doing a job of obfuscating just how exactly this cult was set up.
Dr. Morris steps up, to have his turn playing the role of inspiring figure. He does a particularly bad job of things when he claims there's no "u" in a word that clearly has one. I'm not sure what's worse- the idea that this was a translation that didn't work, or the idea that Dr. Morris is legitimately willing to overlook that in the name of a bad joke.
And, of course, the real issue- those flowers aren't going anywhere.
Dr. Morris realises the important thing he can be doing is giving these people real hope, and steps up to do exactly that.
...Although that might be a bit too much real hope.
Dr. Morris tells them what they need to hear- the truth. The end of Creeping Derangea is nowhere in sight.
And, surprisingly, does not go for the low-hanging fruit of "you'll have to BE patients!"
So then, time to see how reasoned argument works out for Morris.
Dr. Morris goes for telling them, slowly and deliberately, the whole truth. He will also be sure to only tell truthful statements, never trying to massage the truth for his patients' benefit.
He even tells them the ugliest part- that his offer of any success at all will never be perfect. That there is every possibility, if not guarantee, that his efforts will not save everyone.
With that said, he will make sure that a cure exists at all, so that the only people who die die waiting. With real hopes.
And in the meantime, they should accept reality, and know that it isn't as bad as the doomsayers make it appear.
Will decides to finish the onboarding himself, and let Morris get on with actually providing that hope.
Anyway, that's quite enough of that business.
We need to discuss the less hopeful parts of what's going on.
I was saying about omen of impending flowers? Lin's situation has gotten much worse.
We know her flowers are coming at any moment. And we have no clue whatsoever when that will be.
Understatement of the apocalypse right there.
We can only cross our fingers we'll have enough of it.
...So what do you think you're doing to help Dr. Morris? His attempts to cure the disease are definitely expertise-based, our contribution is mostly "making sure nothing gets in his way."
Lin tells Will that "above and beyond the call of duty" has an upper limit.
Lin has dragged a young boy into watching her die entirely because she doesn't have the heart to be a commander her troops can trust. The fact that she's so insistent Will not kill himself for her own life speaks to the fact that, deep down, she really does care about other people.
But even now, Lin doesn't understand what drives Brenner and Will.
Dr. Morris told the infected that they needed to have faith in him in order to keep going. Will is living those words.
Will abandoning this army now would be telling the infected that Dr. Morris is not going to succeed. And that is the last thing Will is ever going to do.
Lin realises that Brenner chose correctly in choosing Will as a protege. If Brenner wanted to continue the legacy he most highly prized, Will was the person both able and willing to see the world his way. And Brenner would be doing everything Will is.
And to the end, Lin vindicates the other side of that coin. Realism is good for setting expectations, but you still need some optimism in order to actually keep going. And clearly Lin is getting her dose of that from Brenner and Will.
Next time: Can we pretend that airplanes in the dusty sky are shooting stars?
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