When last we left our heroes, they were on board a plane that was crashing to the earth.
Not sure what we're going to be doing now, then.
If this title is any indication, running a hamster wheel.
The game is going to use this title for our location, but it's using a generic outdoor background, so I'm not sure I'm taking it at its word there.
Oh gods, who the fuck let these two talk to each other? If there's one person that cares even less about people than Caulder, it's the Mayor.
Not gonna lie, I'm totally cheering for Caulder here. Does that make me a bad person?
I do like how Caulder throws the Mayor's own words back in his face. And I don't think he notices.
You mean Caulder has some? I guess he does need to make sure he doesn't get infected, but even then, I have my doubts on the subject.
Knowing Caulder, this is a lie. Or, more accurately, it is literally true- Caulder does only have the single dose on his person.
Wow! What a bastard!
WOW! The Mayor shows his true colours!
...He never stopped showing them, but he was pretty good about portraying his actions about being for the good of his people. He just failed to define that accurately.
I think this is supposed to be like an insulin pump. Novel way to administer a vaccine, but probably much easier to carry around.
When you know Caulder is lying, some of the things he says to lie are hilarious.
The Mayor thinks he's in a position of power in this negotiation and tries to press on. Caulder has decided he's done negotiating with the Mayor.
I refuse to believe that he doesn't have full control over when that experiment begins.
Particularly given as those guys aren't really doing anything in particular. Maybe they just happen to be standing in a particularly favourable tactical location.
...Did he? I believe I recall him saying that turning over Isabella would be met with a response of "I stop attacking you". Where did this come into the picture?
Caulder decides to say the more hurtful response.
Now, Mayor, since when have promises meant anything to you?
Now, I'd comment on the ambiguity of what, exactly, the Mayor is screaming about here.
About the scream, not the part where he says the quiet part out loud.
But no, Caulder is very clear that he was not carrying around his antidote, but in fact a lethal injection.
Remember, Creeping Derangea plays on paranoia. If Caulder discovers he's been infected at any time, he has ample opportunity to return to the hole he crawled out of and cure himself there.
Thank goodness someone killed him. I was worried Lin was going to have to do it again.
Anyway, Caulder moves to a new location in order to kill someone we actually care about.
...You know, if you think about it, the Mayor and Cyrus are direct opposites here. Both of them are traitors to their respective sides, and both believe their betrayal was done for the betterment of the civilians (if you think about it, the same group of civilians!). The difference between the two, of course, is that the Mayor is using his magnamity as a shield for his true selfishness, while Cyrus genuinely believes he's doing the right thing.
Caulder does not dignify the Mayor with the pretence of caring of what he has to say, but he does try and get some last words out of Cyrus. Although given his tone, one gets the impression they wouldn't exactly land on more attentive ears.
Cyrus doesn't waste his last words on anything meaningful. He just tells Caulder to shove it.
Caulder decides to take this opportunity to tell him he lost, so his last moments won't be peaceful.
Yeah, good luck convincing him of that. I think the introduction of doubt is enough for his purposes, though.
Caulder professing a belief in his own immortality, or close enough to it. He probably believes that, too.
What trouble? You didn't seem to bat an eye at blowing up your big plane and your youngest daughter?
"I thought my son would be less cliche."
What, and let Cyrus choose more productive final words? You really don't feel qualified for half the stuff you claim to be good at...
Come on, Cyrus, you have a second chance to say something really cool for your final words. Don't blow it.
Anyway, map time. That's a lot of meteors and plasma, and all our red units are in the middle of the black ones.
We aren't exactly in what one would describe as a good situation.
Gage finally paying attention and realising something that Tasha told him much earlier.
Of course Tasha is the only one who saw this coming. She deserves the chance to revel in her foresight before disaster strikes.
Shame the Mayor can't suffer twice for that mistake.
Apparently Will was in the minority for not trusting Caulder. What, is his bad reputation almost entirely in classified sectors? Surely a man like Caulder would be known to the public.
Time to give Caulder a nice bloody nose. I've been wanting to use the Lazurians again-
What do you mean, No CO? We're just going to ignore Tasha and Gage again? This is even the sort of map Tasha would love, too!
I want my Tasha gameplay!
A long map this time- I think this is the first time I've needed three screenshots to cover a map, but at the same time, this is the first time in a while I haven't needed two for both sides.
Tabitha is our opponent, and... well, six units with no properties isn't really going to cut it. We do at least have an infantry, but we'll need to capture a property from scratch.
For... some reason, the Tactics session for this chapter is a third round of Tabitha trying to act like Will is her servant. Uncreative on its own, but given it spoils Will survives and forsakes an opportunity to let Tasha or Gage engage with her unique brand of insanity.
Don't tell me you wouldn't want to hear Tasha take none of her shit.
"Did you say servant for the rest of my life? Well, that particular contract has expired, due to death."
Well, you can't deny that Tabitha doesn't pay her workers.
...Given how terrible the economy is on account of having been blown to smithereens, advice is probably more valuable than money right now.
Will trying to speak Tabitha's language on the topic. He would prefer this, but Tabitha's sure not going to hear that.
It turns out that Tabitha means this in "the enemy will attack the meteors like it stole their lunch money". Those meteors won't last long no matter what you do, but do make Tabitha waste her time and ammo doing it herself.
The properties she's discussing are the ones in the frame. That factory on the right will be tough to claim, but if you can pull it off...
Good luck with that. Tabitha has a fairly robust anti-air system.
Something that's a little weird to reckon with in Advance Wars, but I think she's got a point.
Even if the DoR AI is terrified of being shot at.
Will acknowledges it, but that's all he does.
...Where did that come from? I mean, it's true, but it came out of left field there.
I think Will could die and Tabitha would still think he was under her employ.
Yeah, good luck with that. Not much game left here.
Right, given the promise of bombers to come, it seems fairly obvious that our first order of business should be dealing with these missile trucks.
Surprisingly, no. Keeping this material intact is more valuable.
The Middies are perfectly safe. Well, until the meteors break. But they can do things in the meantime.
Better the Mech goes for the airport now than destroying this tank first.
Not that we'll be able to build many air units with two properties...
AA moves to try and clear out these units. It probably won't do much, but it's worth a try.
Good luck winning the war with that.
Tabitha is the opposing CO, who else? We've already recruited Penny.
But if you three are the only people left, who will you boss around?
Tabitha's movements are a bit confused, but bundling up those War Tanks only gets more and more concerning.
Also she blows that meteor up handily. Told you those won't last long.
Right, time to start capturing.
These missiles need to go. They're the ones in the way of my airport!
And duster, too.
Tank down. Well, at least that space is clear, question mark?
This space sure isn't.
At the start of Turn 3, Tabitha finally observes something that explains how this is going to be a winnable fight.
I don't think the camera actively pans over here, but it does like not being on the west side of the map.
Reinforcements! About time, I was wondering where Tasha and Gage were going...
Oh.
I do love the implication that Caulder just missed seeing these guys so obviously visible on the other side of the map.
It says a lot about this situation that Will's reinforcements are significant, given that Will left this army with nothing and Lin wasn't bringing much better.
Then again, it's not like we brought planes, and yet they turned up here anyway...
Not what we set out to do, but we sure have done it.
Caulder was actively planning on setting up a trap?
...You know, that would explain a lot. What better way to deal with Will than to exploit his protectiveness for Isabella? And it's not like Caulder wanted Isabella for her own sake- if he did, he would've kept her at his side rather than on the Owl.
And where was that Owl going, anyway?
The only explanation we get for how this happened is that Isabella's heartfelt plea for Penny to do the right thing worked.
This came as just as much of a surprise to Penny as the rest of us.
Surprising. I thought Mr. Bear was delivering Caulder instructions. Either Cyrus managed to hack that, or this really is just her inner voice.
Who else? This is a Will map. At least We Will Prevail is exactly the kind of theme you expect to hear in this situation.
With all these new air units, I really want these missiles gone.
Establishing air superiority is the key in this early phase, and these Fighters and Dusters will be doing that.
While we don't start with any properties captured near us, AW is very much a system about momentum. We want to be capturing these further properties now and worrying about the funding when we've got units that have nothing better to be doing.
We're also going to want to capture some of these properties, especially the airports. I'm not sure we're going to build from here, but you know, options are always good.
It felt a little weird, using indirect ammo on this meteor, but it turns out opening this route faster is better than waiting for the directs. Especially since they can, you know, only shoot it once.
Case in point.
This one we're going to want out of our way faster than we want it being used as a distraction with Tabitha.
Mainly because we're trying to control these Fighters.
Let's see how Tabitha responds to a real army.
Not ideal, admittedly, but we did have to bring this to a head eventually.
She does like bunching up her units in a big knot to unpick.
See? Her bombers are doing the work of dealing with themselves by being baited to these meteors.
Giving her a quick bloody nose before these become real problems.
And finishing this one!
...Oh yeah. So much for keeping that Duster in one piece.
Reinforcements will be on the way in their own time.
But most of them are going to be coming from up here.
Getting a start on this nearer factory.
And freeing up the airport for new units.
Once I have money, obviously.
This unit really needs to be dealt with eventually.
These rockets are going to be the most irritating part of Tabitha's defence for the near future.
I throw this tank into Tabitha's mercies, mostly to slow her advance.
I also pen this bomber in. Not 100% sure on these as strategies, but it does simplify things somewhat.
Now to position those bombers.
...On second thought, best to keep their distance for now.
Not sure if this is a better or worse position to be in.
And there goes the plasma arc.
Also this meteor, for shits and giggles, presumably. It was probably in Tabitha's interests if that one stuck around.
Now then, time for Tabitha to try and needle at Will's weak points now that Isabella's gotten a little more strength.
Tabitha just completely and uncritically throwing out the same bullying technique she used on Isabella.
On the person who snapped Isabella out of it.
Tabitha managing to fail at even the most basic of empathy checks. I guess that's what one can expect when her source of morality was a walking ethics violation.
Will quietly realising that exact fact right here.
Will has actually recognised that Tabitha's lack of capacity for empathy was a learned behaviour, not a personal failure. I'm impressed.
Tabitha even just says, outright, that she's taking her father's words as her code of ethics. And probably doesn't even realise why what she's saying is so horrifying outside her echo chamber.
And Will is not the only one who'd miss her.
...Although I struggle to see anyone who isn't Lin joining him.
There can be no substitution for memories. No other Isabella will remember what she's done for Will.
...Although there might be an argument in it to point out that other Isabellas have the same capacity for good. Then again, the same might be said of Tabithas and Pennies, so perhaps that much is pedantics.
Funny, that's a sentence that's more of a Will thing. But who's counting, really?
Right, time to begin the warfare anew. Those six war tanks haven't gotten any less terrifying because their commander doesn't have critical thinking.
We'll have to pick it apart one by one. And try to avoid those indirects all the while.
I want more help on the front lines. I've got enough infantry back here Capturing.
...Well, OK, I should probably build another one.
Getting fancy with these placements.
Good thing I can take care of these.
Forming a nice wall of planes outside the missile's range. There's not much the war tanks can do to break through.
Except those two non-planes adjacent to each other.
Still, these guys still need time to arrive.
There are some of the bigger issues.
Oi! Get away from my capture attempt!
At least some of them are going fine.
I think that missile is optimally placed. Maybe feeding it planes was a good idea. Not like it getting EXP is going to hurt me- it oneshots planes at base anyway.
Building up that momentum nice and fast.
I don't care if this penalises my score, it's always amazing to land a finishing blow.
Oh boy, the Fighter is in range.
Oh well, I don't exactly have the ability to pull the line back. We'll just use AAs to block and- wait that's Tabitha? Yeah, this is not going to go well.
I'm sure there were better ways to deal with this.
That Mech is making a bid for the Factory.
I feel that's a bit insane, but we'll see how things look next turn.
War Tanks definitely feeling the pinch.
This bomber is having fun. Annoying.
Oh, that's really annoying. I want to be building planes from there now.
Right, I'm sick of you.
This is a free capture right now, assuming I can keep my plane wall up.
The missiles actually withdrew a bit, even!
Means I can make a real bid for this.
Yeah, there's an open side going on there right now, but it's only a tank on that side.
The Fighter does need to dip out to stop Tabitha from claiming that airport.
...OK, that tank is no longer going to be there.
Still, Mech's job is going to stop this inf from the steal.
And the last thing I need is one of these things flying around.
APC to give the Mech a shield. Also an infantry to be bait.
We have a spare.
OK, those are some irritating approaches... especially Tabitha.
And here my AA is way too far away to do anything about her.
Still, this is mine now. I think it'll be a lot easier to make headway with this under our belt.
Also this.
Irritating. A fighter will just be shot down.
Still, a dent is a dent.
And the replacement is already here.
APC backs up for some more meaningful kind of unit to take its place.
And Will has arrived.
With indirect reinforcement.
We're getting to a point where I want my Bombers safer than my ground units. Especially with Will here.
Figuring out how to handles these rockets will be the main next step.
Well, and properly denting these.
This lot is working on that income.
And there goes that Fighter. We are going to have some issues this turn.
Tabitha drops by down here, for some reason.
Which works out surprisingly well, given the Missiles are here.
Also, I notice my front line is surprisingly intact given how weirdly it's shaped.
Do wish I could do more about this, but I guess that means Tabitha is looking pretty harmless.
Gonna pen her down anyway.
Now, let's try to be more careful of this again.
Rocket has its time to start shooting.
Dangit, not quite far enough to reach. Anti-tank in the way means this isn't a good idea, either.
Still, we can pick off a little bit of this, and also hide Will inside Rocket range.
Will does a lot of legwork even if it's not his cannons doing the shooting.
Funny place to put a bomber.
That's not going to happen, I just want the APC to block my flank.
New rockets, placed a bit too far away to matter, but close enough that Tabitha may get spooked.
I don't quite have enough money to build a replacement plane here, so I block Tabitha from escaping with an infantry drop.
Well, that's a dink on Will. We'll need to worry about that in a bit.
...That is more worrying, though.
These guys are nice and gun-shy, though.
Right, deleting you before you can get any funny ideas.
Hiding my APC. The Temp Airport thing as a misclick.
Some more fuel for Will's CO Power gauge.
And finally taking the first shot against these damned missiles.
...Well, from over here.
Rocket gets a chance to fire off a shot.
The other rocket moves closer, ready to move the pressure to that Anti-tank. That Bomber is also nice and unthreatened by anything around here.
Although Will does have to withdraw this turn.
I think we are nice and sheltered from Tabitha's units in every way that matters.
Anti-tank went for my own. No matter, that was just keeping Tabitha honest and- that's a War Tank with Tabitha on board.
Tabitha wears down the anti-tank. I'll have better answers for tanks in a bit.
Like Rockets and Bombers.
Tabitha's War Tank is currently being gun-shy, and we can reduce the number of other War Tanks in our vicinity to zero with some well-placed shots.
Still a three turn capture.
There'll be some shuffling, trying to get an infantry wincon set up. I haven't decided who'll be doing it yet.
Irritating. That's basically the next big issue to deal with.
Especially with this gone.
Should've considered having the infantry do it. I think the inf was dealing with its matched number.
Tabitha is nice and out of range.
This inf... probably going for the rocket.
It did.
Few more loading stops to make back her.
Just picking up levels cleaning up our rear lines.
I think we've just about claimed this part of the land.
Should have the Bombers for that, if I don't throw them at the anti-airs.
Can even work on these!
Gonna want more of these for the Anti-airs, though.
I like what she has the option of targeting from here.
Particularly when she only throws one of her units at me. Shame they hit Will, but...
I think this is more to deprive money from Tabitha than give it to me.
APCs are better for supplies than transport at the moment. I think a rout is looking likely.
Time to throw a hammer on the anvil.
And just obliterating these units.
I am liking this arrangement.
..I am liking this arrangement a lot less. I've got units on reserve, though.
Oh well, time to knock down this HP a bit.
And what better way to get started than using this half HP Will for the rest of the army.
Not that these rockets have been helped any, but the thought was there.
I feel like this should feel more impressive than it is. Something about dealing 40% damage with a Will War Tank in CO Power just rankles.
Especially when I take about that much on the rebound.
This is a more standard amount of damage to be dealing.
And here's the Bomber to make everything better.
Wish a few more of my units were closer, but I think we're basically done with Tabitha now.
At least I have one more dink to make, and can protect the Bomber in the bargain.
...What are you doing back there?
At least we have a replacement Bomber for the one I misplaced.
Oi! Get off Will's back!
Or, you know, into range of my rockets. That works too.
At this point, I'm just not picky with what I use to finish off units. We've got Tabitha on the ropes.
Do kind of wish that I was getting easier kills, though.
I was hoping that the resupply meant you landed the KO.
This one could manage it, though. If I moved the infantry out of the way first.
That's an open base, but I'll have to live with it.
"Just" a War Tank.
In Rocket range.
Nature takes its course.
And one last bit of overkill for the road.
Tabitha complains about the fact she lost, like a petulant child. To be fair, that was an unfair trick we pulled.
Caulder proceeds to abandon her entirely. This is a rather low-key way to conclude Tabitha's role in the story, but well, we're just about to enter the final map...
And Caulder leaves to go set up his troops.
Huh. Given how much trouble I had the first few attempts, I was not expecting to pass with colours flying so highly. Like, I was thinking this was an S-Rank-shaped run, but not with my Speed score in the 120s.
"Excuse me for not asking sooner, I just had to clean up your messes."
Big numbers for this map. And such diversity!
...Wow, and I'm still over 100 on Technique? I have no idea how that happened.
We somehow crash-landed in range of Cyrus, enough to get final words out of him. To be fair, I imagine Cyrus was brought to Caulder rather than the other way around for that final dressing down.
Cyrus is rather content with how things went for Will. Although what exactly he thought would happen on the Great Owl is anyone's guess.
It would be a novel use of Dr. Morris's talents to treat a normal injury for a change, wouldn't it?
Oh, he's actually on the way? One would think he was in Tasha's group and not Lin's.
Anyway, time for us to take on a burden from the one member of the villainous faction with sympathetic aims.
...Harder than it sounds, given all the Creeping Derangea, but we've done a very good job of it thus far, how much harder can it be?
Caulder's clones are disposable and interchangeable. No doubt hundreds of them have died in experiments that failed to disprove the null hypothesis. Cyrus wants a fate grander than that. And more than that, he wants to have had agency in bringing that about.
Will promises him that much. We were doing it anyway, but it's always good to have more good reasons in our pocket.
Cyrus sweetens the pot by giving us a direction and some real, genuine hope- that Caulder does actually have an antidote we can reverse-engineer for Creeping Derangea. All we need to do is claw it out of his hands.
Will notices that Cyrus is running out of words.
You did good, Cyrus. Far better than your sisters.
Let us only hope this will be as easily done as said.
That's the last Tabitha battle down, and we get her in our roster. It would've been interesting to get some thoughts from her about that fact, though. Or really, get more out of her at all.
Next time: Let's see if we can't get something out of Caulder.
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