[details=Scenario 4 - Anomaly on the Jovian Front (Click to view)]
We obtained the following Power Parts from the last scenario:
- Magnetic Coating (+10 Mobility)
- Dual Sensor (+10 Sight)
In the last scenario it was mentioned that Amuro had over 100 confirmed kills. Let’s try to remember that if we ever run into the man himself.
Today’s Intermission submenu is the Skill Tree. Here we can spend our accumulated TacP – Tactical Points – on learning new skills for our pilots. On the first Skill page, we indeed have a literal tree of skills to view and purchase. We can buy as many of a single skill as we can afford, but if we want to buy skills lower on the tree, we first have to buy the skill(s) preceding it.
For example, if we wanted to buy the Focus Over Limit skill, we would first have to buy at least one copy of Potential, Spirit Endurance, Fighter’s Spirit, and either Focus+ (Atk) OR Focus+ (Def). There’s lots of skills here we won’t immediately be buying, so here’s a list to view when you get a chance.
The second page is for Parameter, used to increase the pilot’s stats and Terrain rankings.
The last page, oddly named The Special, is for skills that the game feels are really good. We have to unlock these skills as rewards for scenario-clearing (where we get a free copy of the skill), and afterwards we could buy more, but their TacP costs can be up to ten times what regular skills cost. Though we have no the special skills unlocked currently.
So why aren’t we buying any skills currently? One, TacP can be used to purchase something else a little later in the game. Two, I want to make sure that when we get a particular set of pilots that I have enough TacP to teach them a very particular skill. Can you guess which?
One last thing I’ll mention since we’re on the topic of skills, is that some skills have levels. Potential can go up to Level 10, giving maximum increases. Support Attack/Defend can go up to Level 4, increasing the number of support actions. And so on and so forth. Sometimes the pilot’s default skills will level up when the pilot levels up, or you could buy some extra copies of the skill to max them out early.
The leadership of the Gamillas base near Pluto begin to detect the Yamato on their long-range sensors. Commander Shultz is surprised that humans have been able to warp-jump through space, but does not deem the Yamato to be much of a threat, especially not enough to alert his superiors about.
For the record, these Pluto personnel are not defecting humans or anything like that. They come from the planet Zaltz, and just coincidentally look like regular humans. (Same with the few Iscandar people we’ve seen, come to think of it.) Later Gamillans will be varying shades of blue!
The Yamato crew analyze the Crossbone Vanguard’s data on their enemy’s base - another asteroid, but this one is the size of Austrailia and heavily terraformed; it’s basically a floating continent all its own. Commander Okita plans to use the same strategy against this base as during the last mission, with the mobile weapons fighting on the front line.
Discussion eventually turns to the Yamato’s newly-designed weapon; by linking the Wave Motion Engine directly to the main artillery, the resulting Wave Motion Gun would be incredibly powerful. A test firing is planned for after the current operation.
Chitose and the other pilots are given a pep talk by Lt. Kado and Akira before deploying…
You’re representing the Aircraft Squad! Show that idiot Nanbu what pilots are made of!
(The green continent is Space Austrailia; Jupiter lies below.)
Yeah. The scariest part is that they had the technology to bring all of this to our Solar System.
That’s the kind of enemy we’re up against.
I’m picking up signals on the radar! Gamillas warships, inbound!
(A whole bunch of small fry, and some newer ships in the back rows!)
A battleship, two astro carriers – multiple fighters!
Looks like they sent a welcoming party after all!
Launch the mobile suit unit!
Mobile suit unit, launch!
Again, the Grungust and Huckebein are optional units to deploy. Again, of course we’re going to deploy them!
You can see in the above screenshot that we’ve earned enough SR points for the game to change from Normal to Hard difficulty. Let’s see just how much harder it gets.
Kincade, are you sure you don’t want to pilot the X-1?
What are you talking about? When I gave it to you, you told me you won’t return it to me.
I did, but-
You’re the Crossbone Vanguard’s ace pilot now. There was a lot of talk about the Skull Heart on Jupiter. Besides, Kato said it himself. You must carry out the orders given to you.
I guess you’re right.
Let’s do this, Tobia! We’re all in this together!
In order to get back at Weapons Officer Nanbu?
And live up to Captain Kato’s expectations?
She’s right!
All units, commence operation! The assault on the Gamillas Empire begins now!
In an escalation of the SR Point condition from last time, instead of 4 enemies in 3 turns, now it’s 15 enemies in 4 turns! Luckily for us, the enemy is fielding a bunch of Melanca spacecraft that are frailer than mobile suits.
We finally start a scenario far enough away from the enemy forces that we can’t attack or be attacked on our first turn. So in lieu of violence, we’re going to have all of our units take a scenic cruise of Space Austrailia while riding aboard the Yamato!
Your non-battleship units can dock and redeploy from battleships, adhering to the following rules:
- To board the battleship, a unit needs to be able to move on to its exact map square.
- Boarding ends the unit’s action (but not the battleship’s).
- Boarded units recover HP, EN, and weapon ammo at the beginning of every player phase.
- The battleship can move next to units and, instead of attacking, use the Recover command to pick up any adjacent units.
On our first turn, we have everyone board the Yamato, and move it the maximum distance towards the continent. On our second turn, Yamato sub-pilot Shima has enough SP to cast the Accel Spirit Command (+3 move for one movement), and then Yamato moves even further forwards.
You can see in this screenshot just how far we’ve been able to move from our starting position to deep within enemy territory. Now, all of our units can launch from the Yamato and hit as many enemies as possible, maximizing our chances at grabbing the SR Point. Sortie dialogue:
The real battle with the Gamillas fleet starts now.
Don’t do anything brash, Kodai. No matter how much you may want to avenge your brother-
When have I ever acted brash?!
Enough! Both of you! We are at war!
Y-yes sir!
Cannons, prepare to fire!
(Based on the data, I doubt that their scale is this much. The test fire may need to occur ahead of schedule.)
As a member of the Yamato crew – No, as a human from Earth, I will not stand for this anymore!
(Cecily’s battle won’t end, even if we do defeat them here. This is just the beginning.)
I’ll be back soon, Akira! I’m going to fight hard enough for both of us. I’m counting on you, VangRay. Work with me!
I had heard the stories, but seeing it for myself really creeps me out. Let’s kick these greedy gardeners out of the Solar System once and for all!
Gamillas… Their technology is beyond our imagination. But technology alone doesn’t win battles! Let’s show them what we’re made of!
THIS is what I was referring to when I said the F91 is some kind of hate-sink!
There’s enough Melanca units on the continent that we can take 15 of them out without having to even touch the battleships, but we’d be foolish to not watch out for the two Polmeria-class battleships…
…and this one Destroia-class battleship. It’s best to let our battleships (Yamato) take on enemy battleships; battleship weaponry isn’t the most accurate, but when attacking other battleships (which have near-zero dodging ability) this is no longer a problem. It’ll also serve to keep Okita from taking experience/kills from our other units.
When we score the SR Point (or when turn 5 rolls around), we also score some positive reinforcement:
This strategy is proving rather effective.
We’re breaking the enemy’s front line while the battleship behind us wipes out the rest. This is a first for me, too.
It would never work without this combination, either. You need a balance of heavy fire from the battleships while mobile suit units hold the front line.
I’m picking something up on the radar! Enemy ships are flanking us!
Enemy reinforcements inbound!
An enemy battleship is headed right for us!
So they want to take us head-on, do they?
Intercept and evade! Quickly!
Shima, we need time to get the main cannon ready! You’ve got to find a way to dodge the first round of incoming fire!
Sometimes the in-game positioning of certain units turns serious cutscenes into silly cutscenes.
The Yamato’s under attack!
Not if I have anything to say about it!
Chitose!
You’re crazy, Chitose!
But I have to do something, or else Earth will fall! Please, VangRay! I need your help, now more than ever!
What?!
Generating action list.
Now I should definitely be able to use the battle tactic that Ensign Murakumo taught me!
Chitose has unlocked the VangRay’s new Tactical Charge Maneuver Rekka attack. It’s powerful, post-movement, has plenty of ammo, and comes with the very useful special effects Ignore Size and Barrier Buster.
That was insane!
What kind of combo was that?
I-I can’t even believe it myself!
My assistance made that possible.
What are you, anyway?
Main OS? Then that means you’ve been installed all along! Why did you wait until now to tell me that!
I am designed not to provide unnecessary information in the middle of tactical operations.
You could at least tell me before takeoff?
What are you doing, Chitose? That wasn’t the last of them! Keep fighting!
Leave this to us and return to the front lines at once, Chitose!
Roger! Did you hear that, Nine-Nine? And once we get back, you’ll have to answer to me!
The safe return of this unit is up to you, pilot. May you fight with valor.
I’ll only say this once, OK? You don’t make it back to the ship in one piece if I don’t so step up and give me a hand!
A couple of new enemies have appeared to the south, including one battleship. By this point your units should have a stockpile of ExC points built up, so it should be no problem to Boost Dash them over southwards and start hitting things.
Remember that the Yamato, being a battleship, has access to a set of Extra Order options. The first, Emergency Retrieval, costs 1 ExC and allows you to retrieve (board) any allied unit within 8 spaces. Have a unit attack, and then you can Retrieve it as the Yamato moves closer towards the enemy reinforcements.
Chitose and her new friend get more sortie dialogue:
Enemies approaching. Calculating velocity and distance. Enemy weapons include-
H-hey, hold it! I don’t care how much data you have, all that’s going to do right now is confuse me!
You’re not going to learn how to operate me, are you?
I hate to admit it, but you’re probably right! We’re stuck with each other now, though – got it? Now lend me a hand! I’m not going to die today!
Understood. I will do all I can to ensure that you live.
The remaining enemies get taken out, and that’s mission complete!
That’s it! The enemy forces have been destroyed!
Not yet, they haven’t!
I’m picking up more signals on the radar!
(That’s a lot of battleships!)
Oh man, that’s bad!
They were still sitting on a force this large?
It’s unfortunate, because this would have been the perfect opportunity to show off all our VR training.
Yes sir! All units, return to the ship!
(They do.)
All units have returned, sir!
Retreat, Shima. Get us away from the floating continent.
Understood!
We’ve reached the outskirts, sir!
Well this is escalating rather quickly!
What!
We’ll test fire the wave motion gun using the Gamillas base as a target!
With all due respect-
We have no idea how powerful the wave motion gun is, and this is an incredibly volatile situation. Wouldn’t a test fire be too risky, Commander?
Officer Sanada-
It’s OK, Kodai.
Crew, prepare to attack! Turn the ship hard to port and point the bow at the floating continent!
Switching to emergency mode in case of the power reboot!
Very well. Let’s show them exactly how large the power disparity between us really is!
Mori, where is the continent’s heat source?
It’s concentrated in the valley!
Good, give me the coordinates! Kodai, you know what to do!
Yes, sir! Aligning the ship’s bow with the center, sir!
Enemy ships approaching!
Ignore them! Aim for the base!
The Wave Motion Gun was powerful enough to destroy the base and the entire continent in a single shot. Some of the crew are thrilled at having the power to fight back against the Gamillans, but others are shocked at its sheer destructive power.
(This kind of power could destroy the universe. Have we acquired the very flames of the apocalypse?)
With Jupiter free of any future threats, Tobia and Kincade make the decision to permanently join the Yamato on its journey to Iscandar. Chitose tries to communicate with System Nine-Nine, the mysterious OS that made an appearance during the last battle, but doesn’t make any progress…
Next Update:
- Conflicts of interest!
- Also conflicts that require super robots to resolve.
- First contact with actual, non-human-shaped aliens![/details]