Uh, how are you supposed to get an A rank in chapter 10?
It seemed to me like the mission ended automatically after turn 5. I had already eliminated all of the enemies of the ground during turn 3, so the last two turns were just spent sniping the bombs and soldiers on parachutes.
I just did this mission. I think you might have just missed an enemy, because I also wiped out everything and the mission ended at the end of turn 4.
There's nothing in the ice caves to the left, I ran a scout through them just to make sure. Dunno where one would be hiding though. Between taking all the camps and having snipers at the left and right perches, that's virtually the entire map visible.
Hm, now that I think about it, I couldn't get a sniper up on the ledge on the right side of the map during the first turn, so one of the bombs hit the ship. Maybe that's why I didn't get an A rank.
Yeah you can't let any bombs hit if you want an A rank on that mission.
Nintendo Console Codes
Switch (JeffConser): SW-3353-5433-5137 Wii U: Skeldare - 3DS: 1848-1663-9345
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As I progress through this game, I think I'm finally getting it's number. First, I didn't realize you could save in the middle of a mission? I don't know why. So lately I save at the beginning of each turn, and before I do something especially risky which I'm not sure the game actually allows.
In fact, some of the things this game does leaves me never quite sure what I can and cannot do. Like, sometimes my weapons fire will go through tree limbs. But then other times my mortar fire gets blocked by the fucking flag at a camp. Sometimes my guys can slip around each other to move. Other times some, lets say generous barriers, block a lot more of the terrain to movement than I'd have thought looking at it. Some enemies seem to be almost unhittable with ballistics weapons, dodging 4 or 5 times in a row, so I'm better off just mortaring them to death. But I don't know this until I've wasted an entire turn missing at point blank range with an array of snipers and shocktroopers. And as always, Clause can't hit fucking anything in his damned tank, so I mostly just use him as mobile cover and have my lancers kill tanks when need be. Sometimes I can interact with a mission objective by shooting it. Other times I have to walk up to it and activate it. I'm specifically thinking about the different between the Signalling Towers in one mission and the Rail Signals in another. Sometimes the AOE from grenades or mortars is enough to take out two people on the edge of the radius, sometimes it does all of 2 dmg and I would have been better off taking the confirmed kill on one than being greedy.
I'm just experiencing a lot of ludic confusion which leaves me not the least bit ashamed about some minor save scumming. But I am enjoying it more. And I'm especially digging the squad stories. Although I'm also coming up on Chapter 10, which I've heard is a son of a bitch. So wish me luck.
Man hit the VC1 mentality issue. Sigval line mission
I always hated that the missions are scored by turns. I know what i need to do to get the turn order down but basically i think it kinda cheeses the encounter. Like it was frenetic fight where i am doing flanking maneuvers to get behind Gatling turrets and pill boxes and dispatch them. then once i had gutted their defenses move quickly in to get next banner. This one seemed like the correct play is kill the anti armor turrets. then apc rush the final banner. Ugh i hate seeing the B over the mission but i also want to play my kill them all style. /end rant
Some enemies seem to be almost unhittable with ballistics weapons, dodging 4 or 5 times in a row, so I'm better off just mortaring them to death. But I don't know this until I've wasted an entire turn missing at point blank range with an array of snipers and shocktroopers.
I've not played 4, but if it's the same as previous games, all enemies have a small chance to dodge if you attack from in front of them. Aces, however, have a really high chance to dodge, and the arc they can dodge fire from is huge. So if you see a guy with a name you should shoot him from behind or use flamethrowers, grenades, etc.
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Is anyone save scumming for the Royal weapons you get after certain missions? E.G. mission 2, interlude mission between 2 and 3, etc.
At first I was thinking get 1 of each, each time, but there's way more need for rifles and machine guns than the other three kinds, so maybe that's better?
Some enemies seem to be almost unhittable with ballistics weapons, dodging 4 or 5 times in a row, so I'm better off just mortaring them to death. But I don't know this until I've wasted an entire turn missing at point blank range with an array of snipers and shocktroopers.
I've not played 4, but if it's the same as previous games, all enemies have a small chance to dodge if you attack from in front of them. Aces, however, have a really high chance to dodge, and the arc they can dodge fire from is huge. So if you see a guy with a name you should shoot him from behind or use flamethrowers, grenades, etc.
That was my tactic against selveria in VC1. flame thrower her as she would dodge often. I was noticing a mechanic in VC4 where if they don't see you and you see them you get a surprise attack indicator. I have seen that the indicator shows when being behind or shooting from grass I haven't missed on those named guys when using that. I would guess that counters their dodge.
Looks like the beach DLC is out and it's as fanservicey as expected.
On that note, is there a season pass for this game, or is it all ala carte?
I absolutely demolished chapters 10 and 11 last night. 10 turned out to be really easy for me, as Nikola, Chiara got obsessed with the Hafen, which I then wedged into a gap which they couldn't get past. Took one of the enemy camps, got snipers up on two of the highgrounds, and just coasted along to victory.
I was beginning to get frustrated though because Nikola and Chiara were dodging everything. Mortars, grenades, flamethrowers, sniper shots from surprise attack angles. It is just scripted into this mission that they can't be killed? What the hell is going on there? This is what I keep complaining about when I talk about ludic confusion, and why I've begun to feel no shame save scumming. I feel like I never know if the game is playing by the rules or not. So before I rush in with Raz and Zaiga rocking flamethrowers trying to kill these ladies after spending a turn dropping 5 or 6 mortars on their heads, I want to know if the game is playing fair or not.
The answer was no, no it's not. Let the ladies obsess over the hafen and play to the objectives.
They can be beaten that mission - if when you line up an attack it says 'surprise action' then they cannot dodge. Took them out with some Hafen interception fire and trading focal attention with mortars from a Grenadier back at base camp and the Hafen. They have the 270 degree Scout cone of evasion though.
Looks like the beach DLC is out and it's as fanservicey as expected.
I got a chuckle out of the main game's introduction of Riley, where it lampshades the fact that she "designed her own uniform" to include a skirt. Then I see Minerva and cripes, what's the writers' excuse for that? At least Riley has leggings on.
Work got busy so I've just finished getting the A-Rank on Chapter 6. That was... kind of not doable on a first pass? Like, I finished it in 5 turns the first time through, and considering you have to hold all the camps for four turns I thought that was pretty well done. But no: B-Rank. In the end, I think there might be only one way to do it, and it all hinges on turn one:
On the left of the map have the Hafen roll forward and mortar the enemies in the camp, blow the radiator on the one tank, and then mortar the Enemy Ace. Have a Scout run around through the tents, capture the camp, and kill the Lancer. Ignore the Shocktrooper - kill him after you get the bonus CP. [On turn two make sure the Hafen heads north, so you're not taking too many shots from the Vulcan and the Lancers that show up, and keep someone around to grenade the reinforcements from the southwest that like to clump together.]
On the right of the map load the Cactus with a Lancer and a Shocktrooper. Drive forward beside the enemy tank, and shoot the Lancer, before continuing as far as you can. Have the Lancer hop out, double back, blow the radiator on the tank, and get back to the Cactus. Gun it for the crates with the explosives. [There's a sniper who's a leader nearby, but somewhat frustratingly killing him doesn't have any effect on what the enemy can do - if he's alive, they'll end their turn with four CP and call a Mortar Order. If he's dead, the exact same thing happens, except they end their turn with 3 CP. Like @Namrok noted the AI seems to be pretty heavily scripted at times.] It took me three turns to get the Cactus all the way there, so I had Dan gun down a Sniper before I sent Raz to take the camp. [Note: use another Shocktrooper for this and keep Raz back at base. Whoever's here when the Vulcan rumbles through will probably die and if it's Raz you lose a CP. I ended up planning things well by calling for an Engineer to necromancer him immediately after he died, but... pro-tip.]
When that's done you get some extra CP and the "first turn" continues. I finished it by hopping the Lancer out of the Cactus and taking down the tank up top, and bringing forward Kai (shooting the southern Shocktrooper on the way) with Riley and Ryan following. After that, the AI never really presses it's advantage to take undefended bases. You can actually safely desert your start position.
Work got busy so I've just finished getting the A-Rank on Chapter 6. That was... kind of not doable on a first pass? Like, I finished it in 5 turns the first time through, and considering you have to hold all the camps for four turns I thought that was pretty well done. But no: B-Rank. In the end, I think there might be only one way to do it, and it all hinges on turn one:
No, there's another way.
When you take both camps the objective changes to 'defend for four turns or rout the enemy'. The Vulcan is not invincible, and blowing it up stops the reinforcements, the orders and the mortars. Finish everybody off on turn four and that's an A rank.
I'm hesitant on if they're really gonna do it, but oh man is the game heavily suggesting that the person to join Raz on the "suicide mission" also ain't coming back. To the point that everybody has a unique line to say when selected. And the only reason I think they'd chicken out is because this could potentially screw you out of a squad story (and the potentials of the other 2 characters by association). Still, shit's getting pretty heavy.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
Work got busy so I've just finished getting the A-Rank on Chapter 6. That was... kind of not doable on a first pass? Like, I finished it in 5 turns the first time through, and considering you have to hold all the camps for four turns I thought that was pretty well done. But no: B-Rank. In the end, I think there might be only one way to do it, and it all hinges on turn one:
No, there's another way.
When you take both camps the objective changes to 'defend for four turns or rout the enemy'. The Vulcan is not invincible, and blowing it up stops the reinforcements, the orders and the mortars. Finish everybody off on turn four and that's an A rank.
continuing on that
wipe the board by turn 2 except last base. use turn 3 to get snipers on board, move hafen to right side in track divot, move riley near right side of board and get everyone in position. top of turn 4 move someone to cap last base. get 5 cp on top of the 9 or 10 you have.
get a mortar with the elias weapon system.
its 900+ armor damage and removes ALL AP from a tank hit with its interception fire.
remove the gatling with a couple hafen 72mm shots then get Riley aimed at the vulcan's radiator. 3 direct hits and the vulcan is dead. then 4 sniper rounds on mortar guys and lancers and can be over turn 4.
Oof, chapter 15 is a pretty steep jump in difficulty. I think this is gonna take me a while to figure out.
Had an epiphany about this mission at work today (cause what else am I supposed to do there but think about video games?)
It seems to me like the Vulcan has so much HP that you're not really supposed to kill it conventionally. I think you'd need around two full rounds of all of your anti-tank units attacking it with the All Units Demolish Order applied to kill it, which doesn't really seem feasible. So then I remembered the thing they were talking about when the mission started, about the ice shelf possibly breaking when it's hit by too many explosions, and I wonder if that might be how you're supposed to destroy the Vulcan. Time to try it out!
Oof, chapter 15 is a pretty steep jump in difficulty. I think this is gonna take me a while to figure out.
Had an epiphany about this mission at work today (cause what else am I supposed to do there but think about video games?)
It seems to me like the Vulcan has so much HP that you're not really supposed to kill it conventionally. I think you'd need around two full rounds of all of your anti-tank units attacking it with the All Units Demolish Order applied to kill it, which doesn't really seem feasible. So then I remembered the thing they were talking about when the mission started, about the ice shelf possibly breaking when it's hit by too many explosions, and I wonder if that might be how you're supposed to destroy the Vulcan. Time to try it out!
Some general hints and spoilers, in case you want to figure the jist out yourself.
What they're mainly talking about are the areas marked in blue on the map, that you can walk across but will be destroyed into water if hit by say an enemy grenadier bombarding you. They're all inaccessible by tanks anyways. Now those giant cracked circles in the open there, they also can be destroyed by an explosion, but they don't do any damage and just leave a giant dimple in the ground you can still walk across. Their only use appears to be near the end, when the tank will charge up a giant wide beam attack, and if it's on the cracked ground then you can blow it up and knock it out of the attack.
Unless there's another way to do it... you pretty much have to kill it conventionally. This was my general game plan:
I ran Kai and a small team to the right, down, and up the high ground near the tank. She had the sniper rifle with 700 armor damage. Between an attack boost order and the penetrate order, it took something like 8 shots to destroy it, aiming for the radiator. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have tried being fancy with Kai and instead just gone with a lancer or grenadier.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
Oof, chapter 15 is a pretty steep jump in difficulty. I think this is gonna take me a while to figure out.
Had an epiphany about this mission at work today (cause what else am I supposed to do there but think about video games?)
It seems to me like the Vulcan has so much HP that you're not really supposed to kill it conventionally. I think you'd need around two full rounds of all of your anti-tank units attacking it with the All Units Demolish Order applied to kill it, which doesn't really seem feasible. So then I remembered the thing they were talking about when the mission started, about the ice shelf possibly breaking when it's hit by too many explosions, and I wonder if that might be how you're supposed to destroy the Vulcan. Time to try it out!
Some general hints and spoilers, in case you want to figure the jist out yourself.
What they're mainly talking about are the areas marked in blue on the map, that you can walk across but will be destroyed into water if hit by say an enemy grenadier bombarding you. They're all inaccessible by tanks anyways. Now those giant cracked circles in the open there, they also can be destroyed by an explosion, but they don't do any damage and just leave a giant dimple in the ground you can still walk across. Their only use appears to be near the end, when the tank will charge up a giant wide beam attack, and if it's on the cracked ground then you can blow it up and knock it out of the attack.
Unless there's another way to do it... you pretty much have to kill it conventionally. This was my general game plan:
I ran Kai and a small team to the right, down, and up the high ground near the tank. She had the sniper rifle with 700 armor damage. Between an attack boost order and the penetrate order, it took something like 8 shots to destroy it, aiming for the radiator. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have tried being fancy with Kai and instead just gone with a lancer or grenadier.
Thanks for the heads-up. I pretty much just took a couple of lancers, put them next to each other so they'd be able to use supporting fire, and kept shooting at the Vulcan, using an engineer after to refill their ammo occasionally. Really not much of a complicated strategy. Bit weird that there are all these enemies all over the map when the one enemy you have to kill to finish the mission is in range right from your starting position.
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
I haven't picked up VC4 yet but I have a couple questions. First, how does it live up to the first game? In a general sense, I mean. Second, I know nothing about VC2 and 3; are they necessary for understanding the story in VC4?
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
I haven't picked up VC4 yet but I have a couple questions. First, how does it live up to the first game? In a general sense, I mean. Second, I know nothing about VC2 and 3; are they necessary for understanding the story in VC4?
Plays way more like 1 than 2 or 3, as 2 and 3 were handheld with a bunch of small connected maps rather than one big map.
2 was a sequel in a high school, 3 was a side story to 1. 4 is another, different side story to 1. You don't need to have played any to enjoy any other.
Gameplay wise, it's basically the sequel to VC1 that should have been. Same exact gameplay with new and interesting additions, and tweaks to the old stuff (for example, potentials have been evened out, there's no clear cut winners or permanent ones, in other words there's nobody like Marina where "why the hell would you ever use any other sniper".
Story wise, I liked it a lot, but I think the overall story in VC1 was better. I wasn't sure for a long while if I liked these characters more, but they eventually grew on me, mainly thanks to the squad stories. There's almost no interaction with anything that happens in VC1's plot, the story is completely stand-alone and really more focuses on the Federation side of the war. If you're curious as to what the "links" are:
The main characters are from Gallia, and that's about as much as it gets brought up. One mission involves blowing up a train yard sending supplies to Gallia. When they start going into Cymeria's story, she talks about how she was rejected for "her", and a picture of Sylvaria shows up. And finally, around Ch. 13 or 14 during a cutscene involving the enemy, they just nonchalantly and with no build up say "So I guess the Prince just got his ass kicked, oh well doesn't affect our plans any", and that's pretty much the first and last direct reference to VC1's story.
And now some ending spoilers:
Belgar was a pretty weak villain overall, especially for being the final boss. Near the end, he just starts ranting and raving about some insane man crush he has on a character called "Al". Only when he mentioned the full name did I finally get that he was talking about Riley's father, Albert Miller. Then I remembered that yeah, way back they had a cutscene showing that he was responsible for killing Riley's father and the whole explosion thing. The problem is, even though they actually have this emotional connection set up between Claude, Riley, and Belgar, they otherwise never interact with each other at all. I'm not even sure anybody knew they were fighting Belgar directly in the final mission. I don't think they knew about him period. The game instead focuses all its effort on the Forsetti arc, which is pretty good. And then when that's all wrapped up, the game has a pretty emotional ending point with the whole "we can't activate the bomb after all". And if it ended there, I think it could have worked. Instead it goes "Oh right Belgar is still out there, better wrap that up". And like I said, that wrap up just involves Belgar going "Fuck you Al I love you Al let's kill everybody Al!".
Nothing much else to say other than if you really liked VC1, then you'll really like VC4.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
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knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
edited October 2018
I’m pretty sure I never actually finished VC1 so once I finish this one up I’ll probably download that one as well.
I almost feel like I’m getting the hang of things in chapter 11. But the later I get in the game, the first attempt is becoming less of an honest attempt to beat the mission and more of a trial run to see what sort of cheating bullshit the game is going to throw at me later in the mission.
knitdan on
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
So I finished chapters 14 and 15, and the hot bullshit continues in my estimation.
I was not the least bit plussed by the ridiculously telegraphed, and yet difficult to specifically anticipate ambush in Chapter 14. I think this is the point where I've fully embraced save scumming, because the game is just feeling so arbitrary and punishing, if I can, I will.
I just decide to abandon all caution and bull rush the Vulcan on chapter 15. I was doing well. I took the Hafen and Glory down to face the Vulcan, along with a pair of Lancers, my engineer and a Grenadier with anti-tank rounds. I threw down the all demolitions order, knocked his life down by more than half. Then Crymaria fucking teleports from across the entire god damned map, and takes out both lancers and my grenadier, along with the Glory. I mean fucking seriously? That's what they are doing now? My engineer brings one of the lancers to life, and by the skin of my teeth the Hafen and him take out the Vulcan.
For part two, I'm doing ok. Figure out the trick with Crymaria's staff, have the Hafen and a grenadier hold down the fort against Western aggression, send all my infantry East to circle around and come down on Crymaria like a brick of shit. For the coup de grace I have Raz command two more Shocktroopers after my Sniper had disabled her... and the bullets mostly bounce off her and then she proceeds to murder one of the shocktroopers. I try again, only this time when I press fire on Raz, a cutscene triggers showing Crymaria killing the other shocktrooper... and then Raz lost his action and never fired!
Ok, fuck that, I save scum back, and through a few iterations of trial and error realize all I need to do is run Raz up to her point black, and flamethrower her 5 or 6 times until she's dead. Everything else was hilariously ineffective. Mortars, sniper rounds, rifle rounds, SMG rounds. I guess I didn't try tank fire, tank machine guns, or infantry grenades. But it's these sorts of "There is one correct way, maybe two, everything else just gets all your guys killed. Go fuck yourself", along with all the scripted nonsense that basically forces you to save scum and/or play once as recon, then quit and try again legit knowing all the tricks it has up it's sleeve.
All that frustration aside, I think I'm still enjoying the game? Enough that I'm hoping to unlock all the squad stories, and maybe try the DLC. Maybe even give the first game a spin after it comes out. Although it may come that by the time I finish the main story, I'm so burnt out by what the game thinks counts as "difficulty" that I'm over it and just need a break. Because it's basically the equivalent of Doom 3's monster closets.
So I finished chapters 14 and 15, and the hot bullshit continues in my estimation.
I was not the least bit plussed by the ridiculously telegraphed, and yet difficult to specifically anticipate ambush in Chapter 14. I think this is the point where I've fully embraced save scumming, because the game is just feeling so arbitrary and punishing, if I can, I will.
I just decide to abandon all caution and bull rush the Vulcan on chapter 15. I was doing well. I took the Hafen and Glory down to face the Vulcan, along with a pair of Lancers, my engineer and a Grenadier with anti-tank rounds. I threw down the all demolitions order, knocked his life down by more than half. Then Crymaria fucking teleports from across the entire god damned map, and takes out both lancers and my grenadier, along with the Glory. I mean fucking seriously? That's what they are doing now? My engineer brings one of the lancers to life, and by the skin of my teeth the Hafen and him take out the Vulcan.
For part two, I'm doing ok. Figure out the trick with Crymaria's staff, have the Hafen and a grenadier hold down the fort against Western aggression, send all my infantry East to circle around and come down on Crymaria like a brick of shit. For the coup de grace I have Raz command two more Shocktroopers after my Sniper had disabled her... and the bullets mostly bounce off her and then she proceeds to murder one of the shocktroopers. I try again, only this time when I press fire on Raz, a cutscene triggers showing Crymaria killing the other shocktrooper... and then Raz lost his action and never fired!
Ok, fuck that, I save scum back, and through a few iterations of trial and error realize all I need to do is run Raz up to her point black, and flamethrower her 5 or 6 times until she's dead. Everything else was hilariously ineffective. Mortars, sniper rounds, rifle rounds, SMG rounds. I guess I didn't try tank fire, tank machine guns, or infantry grenades. But it's these sorts of "There is one correct way, maybe two, everything else just gets all your guys killed. Go fuck yourself", along with all the scripted nonsense that basically forces you to save scum and/or play once as recon, then quit and try again legit knowing all the tricks it has up it's sleeve.
All that frustration aside, I think I'm still enjoying the game? Enough that I'm hoping to unlock all the squad stories, and maybe try the DLC. Maybe even give the first game a spin after it comes out. Although it may come that by the time I finish the main story, I'm so burnt out by what the game thinks counts as "difficulty" that I'm over it and just need a break. Because it's basically the equivalent of Doom 3's monster closets.
Yeah I think the "gimmick" behind Crymeria is that somebody must be up close and in her little "arena" to do damage, because sniper shots and mortars from the camp, despite the fact that only the rock wall was the real distance separating everybody, did nothing.
You also luckily avoided the last "bullshit" moment of the fight. Taking a shocktrooper with a flamethrower was the right call. I on the other hand was silly enough to take a scout, mainly because Minerva had the AP to reach her. I figured a damage boost and penetrate order and 6 attack rounds would do it. Good news is she doesn't dodge like aces. Bad news is she has a ridiculous head bob making it difficult to get a head shot. And if you do hit her, she recoils so far back that if you're not aimed right, the rest of your shots will miss. And headshots are the only way to do any real damage with bullets. So I had to save scum and find the sweet spot to hit so the other 6 shots would also be head shots.
There's still some more real pain in the ass missions left to come, including another really stupid design flaw. I won't get into story spoilers, but if you're curious and want some intel on what's to come.
16: A straightforward mission. It's pretty great too.
17-1: A return of "the enemy gets to make the first move" bullshit. One character is probably going to die if a tank round decides to have perfect accuracy, and the Hafen is almost guaranteed destroyed because of the fucking tank behind it with a clear shot to the radiator. Honestly, just reload enough until the character survives, and use a ship order to bring back the Hafen.
17-2: Another simple mission, more of a basic puzzle than an actual strategic fight.
18-1: Straightforward. I really liked this one. Bring lancers and the APC though.
18-2: Final boss time, and it's not hard, just real damn annoying. I've seen videos though of people taking it out in 2 turns (more like 1 turn, the first turn is just setup). Just make sure your lancers are well equipped, keep an engineer ready, and maybe even equip a grenadier or two for armor damage.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
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knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
I had a heck of a time with 17-1
Kept losing at least one tank to Chiara immediately. Luckily it was just The APC which I’d accidentally picked instead of the Glory. Left it because I’d rather she target it, and she did so every run I had.
After her first attack she ran to hang out under an arch, so I buried her in rubble. That felt good. U til she came back two turns later.
Took Minerva and a Lancer up to the left to capture the flag and take out the tanks. Then waited for Chiara to come back and try to recapture the flag which she did. Sent Minerva north to hide so she could come back and retake the flag once Chiara left. Blew the second arch.
Third time she came back, she took out the Hafen, and silly me had already used up my ship orders so Claude was gone for the duration. I considered restarting but decided to play it out. Pushed down and up to take two more flags, which left me with the two on the east and the northeast.
Took a few turns to get my ducks in a row, lost a couple more bodies. Finally got a sniper up in the cathedral and took out a few troublemakers. Took the east flag by cheesing the baddies out of the sandbags, and popping the flag. Finally bumrushed the northeast flag with a shock trooper and luckily only had to take out 2 of 3 to get the flag.
11 turns D but I’ll take it
Had a few lucky turns where Chiara could have easily taken my main flag and ended my day but she left it alone even though nobody was even guarding it.
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
So I finished 17-1 in about 7 turns with tons of save scumming? It was pretty challenging until the end. I had one enemy camp left in the south. My plan was to scope out the scene with a shocktrooper, and then saturate it with mortar fire. But that plan immediately went out the window when I saw what I was facing.
3 snipers and 2 grenadiers practically standing on top of each other. I threw a defense order on the shocktrooper, ran him up, and scored 5 kills at once with my flamethrower. It was the most marvelous thing I've ever done in this game. Then I ran the same shocktrooper around the corner to the actual camp, saw three more guys super close together, flamed them to death in one more go, and capped the last camp.
I'm usually happy if I can manage 2 flamethrower kills in one turn. Getting 8 kill in 2 turns was amazing.
So I finished 17-1 in about 7 turns with tons of save scumming? It was pretty challenging until the end. I had one enemy camp left in the south. My plan was to scope out the scene with a shocktrooper, and then saturate it with mortar fire. But that plan immediately went out the window when I saw what I was facing.
3 snipers and 2 grenadiers practically standing on top of each other. I threw a defense order on the shocktrooper, ran him up, and scored 5 kills at once with my flamethrower. It was the most marvelous thing I've ever done in this game. Then I ran the same shocktrooper around the corner to the actual camp, saw three more guys super close together, flamed them to death in one more go, and capped the last camp.
I'm usually happy if I can manage 2 flamethrower kills in one turn. Getting 8 kill in 2 turns was amazing.
Just beat the final mission. That was oddly anticlimactic at the end.
Not sure yet if I'm gonna do all the post-game stuff.
Question about the final mission:
What was the point of the big radiator on the front of the tank if destroying the four smaller ones ends the mission just fine?
It would stop that giant cannon attack, the one that destroyed that one camp. I never found it worth it though because that was the only camp it destroyed. Thing just aimed at empty space otherwise.
It took me something around 4-5 turns to beat that, ferrying 2 lancers back and forth from its dive spots (it never resurfaced on the right side of the map, at least not before I ran an engineer over to block it). The whole fight was a real pain in the ass.
The super fun cheeze way to do it though is to equip Riley with armor rounds. Move her a bit to where the tank pops up on turn 2. Then give her the attack weak point order and the blast boost order. Aim at the very top center of the tank. The first shot annailates virtually all of the tank's turrets. The second shot finishes off all 4 radiators at once, and the mission is done. It might be the best way to farm exp and money for all the post game stuff.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
Final boss was annoying as it took me forever to quite figure out what to do. And then even once I had figured it out, the game acted wonky and made me question if I had it right at all. Like I got as far as getting a Lancer up on the tanks back, firing point blank at the exposed radiators... and then I guess it must have collided with the railing? Or something? Fucking nothing happened. Figured I was doing it wrong still. Tried one more time to make sure and then everything went fine. Just one more thing to include in the constant ludic confusion this game caused.
Aside from that, the end actually impacted me a lot more than I thought it would. I thought Crymaria and Walz was pretty heavy handed. And Raz going off on his own too, and that final radio transmission. But then after that things got a bit dialed down? And the psychological breakdown of a lot of the characters got a bit more understated. Didn't do the usual anime thing of everyone pointing it out, and then the character in question ruminates endlessly on it too.
Like Miles getting increasingly convinced every battle will be the one he dies. Or Clause getting just a smidge bloodthirsty such that he'd go along with the plan to detonate Angie at all. Or Riley becoming straight up suicidal out of guilt. These were all elements that were there, but they weren't dialed up to 11 as is typical of anime, and especially anime inspired video games.
Reading some of the personality bios post game, and seeing Clause was stripped of command because he'd become unfit really drives it home.
Which makes it hard for me to dive into the post game. I keep thinking these characters deserve a break. Especially after I want to the Cenotaph and saw all it really does is allow you to remember the characters, and add them to Clause reliving his military service by reading his journal. Also the one character I can't bring back is Raz. Even other characters that died for story reasons like Christel come back. But not Raz.
As one final kick in the ass, I took Zaiga on the final mission, and he kept crying "Raz, where are you?"
Meanwhile I've just finished Chapter 10, which I assume means I'm half-ish way through the game? I've been strategically getting certain people to Corporal to maximise the Squad Stories I unlock, so I have done most of those already. I really like the Squad Stories; actually, there's something I notice in a lot of Fire Emblem games where I really like the earlier parts of the game and then my enjoyment goes down a bit as the late stages balloon and the units get nuts. So far so good with VC4, but the Squad Stories remind me of those more constrained early-game type maps (low unit count, etc.) so... yeah. I also think it's pretty neat how they take the maps and present things in such a different way to the main story's use of them. I love it. I hope (probably in vain) that we get a pack of more of them as DLC.
For the last two chapters I've done, I've managed to ass-backwards the A-Ranks on my first try through. Thought I'd write about them:
Chapter 9
The Winter Witch. I start off thinking that the map looks pretty cool, a little worried about the Vulcan being present (and especially as the briefing outright states that it might be a good idea to just try to work around it. After my write-up of Chapter 5 - where I had just assumed it was pseudo-invincible - someone pointed out that the Vulcan is far from indestructible there and I had made things a lot harder for myself). But it seemed simple enough: sneak infantry through the sides to clear some stuff, then ram my armour up the middle.
First turn I send a team to go take the left camp, which they do easily enough. I then run Fleuret (with the AP increasing boots) up to the top left of the map behind some terrain. The Hafen rolls forward and kills some people, as does the Cactus (after picking up a couple people). Both poised for action next turn. I decide to save some CP, and wait to move people right for turn 2.
The opponent's turn starts with Walz using a Revival Order, which... brings back everyone I had killed turn one, as I didn't "tag out" any of their bodies. Oh god. My people at the left camp get taken out by the zombies. Sigh. The Vulcan moseys on over to Fleuret, but can't get a clean shot at her, so uses a second CP to head back toward the main enemy camp (finishing it's move facing right, which might have turned out to be important).
At that point the game hands things back to me. I really didn't know what to do: I was unaware that the Revival Order only works on units that haven't been "tagged" (I looked it up afterwards) so in the moment I was thinking that every turn, every enemy would be revived. I decided to send the Cactus to the left Camp, but as soon as I move forward the cinematic with Crymaria plays, and now there's shit raining down everywhere. So, screw it. I just drive the Cactus right straight into the enemy camp, running over the enemies there (to knock down their cover), and park right beside the Vulcan. Raz hops out - shielded from all the intercepting fire by the Cactus - and shoots the one guy remaining in the camp. But before he can claim the camp the Cactus explodes, and I have to wait through all the info about the others inside being evacuated first. I start beating the 'A' button and somehow manage to capture the camp before he gets gunned down. Operation Complete, 2 turns.
Chapter 10
The one where the Centurion is in the crevasse and they're dropping bombs on it. This one went pretty smoothly. The key to the whole thing turned out to be sending a Scout (Odin) to the bottom left enemy camp, killing the enemy Scout there and taking it all in one action. This let me call in another Sniper and an Engineer to resupply their ammo for turn 2. The two of which managed to snipe all the bombs/reinforcements/enemy ace from the right side of the map entirely unmolested.
The notable thing was what happened with the two bratz who showed up again. On the first turn - after using the Hafen to knock down the snow bank, machine gun the Lancer, and then park in a good place for intercepting fire - I had Minerva bring Kai and Aulard up to the closest sniping spot. Kai cleared the first turn's para-enemies, and killed the Sniper on the right side of the map. When the enemy bosses moved up, the one just repeatedly shot the Hafen (which was never in any serious danger from her). But the other one went straight for Kai, running up and shooting her point blank in the head with her crossbow. Luckily, I had Aulard next to Kai, so on my turn I just selected him, very quickly hitting 'R' (only taking one shot from the crossbow), using the Revival Ragnaid on Kai, and then very quickly hitting 'B' (before he took a second shot). This repeated, with Kai being shot point blank, and Aulard using his foul necromancy. As both of the bosses seemed thusly sufficiently distracted, the rest of the squad cleared the map.
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knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Son of a fuck
I got all the way to chapter 18 without realizing Engineers can replenish squad member’s ammo just by running up to them.
(I learned this at the same time I found out it is technically possible to finish 18-1 in a single turn)
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I just found out (during Chapter 11) that the Large Clip Sniper Rifle having '3' under Ammo, and '3' under shots fired doesn't mean that they'll chew through their entire Ammo in one action. Which is what I had assumed, and why I had avoided using them.
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knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
I’m still kicking myself over the engineer thing
I thought they were just for fixing ladders and sandbags and tanks
I don’t recall ever being told they would replenish ammo
And then I watched a YouTube video and BOOM mind blown
You know how many battles I messed up because I ran out of ammo on a key turn
Lots
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I couldn't figure out how engineers disarm mines for the longest time. My first thought was that it might be automatic, so I just ran an engineer over a mine, killing him. It took a while for me to get the gumption to try again. You basically have to slowly, ever so slowly, approach the mine until the prompt appears.
It isn't often I'd rather disarm the mine than just walk around it. But sometimes it has been a lifesaver when it comes to clearing the way for the Hafen.
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knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
edited October 2018
The only time I ever used an engineer to disarm mines was one Aulard mission (might be a squad story) where you basically have to if you don’t want to lose a tank.
Got the final mission done. Cheesed the fuck out of it, maybe I’ll try and do it the way they intend some time later. But it was still satisfying. Oh, you sprung this last minute crazy overpowered BS on me? Well let’s see how you like getting dead in 2 turns!
knitdan on
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I couldn't figure out how engineers disarm mines for the longest time. My first thought was that it might be automatic, so I just ran an engineer over a mine, killing him. It took a while for me to get the gumption to try again. You basically have to slowly, ever so slowly, approach the mine until the prompt appears.
You don't have to move slowly. Mines in this game explode when you move off them, not onto them. You could sit right on top of a mine and disarm it if you wanted to.
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In fact, some of the things this game does leaves me never quite sure what I can and cannot do. Like, sometimes my weapons fire will go through tree limbs. But then other times my mortar fire gets blocked by the fucking flag at a camp. Sometimes my guys can slip around each other to move. Other times some, lets say generous barriers, block a lot more of the terrain to movement than I'd have thought looking at it. Some enemies seem to be almost unhittable with ballistics weapons, dodging 4 or 5 times in a row, so I'm better off just mortaring them to death. But I don't know this until I've wasted an entire turn missing at point blank range with an array of snipers and shocktroopers. And as always, Clause can't hit fucking anything in his damned tank, so I mostly just use him as mobile cover and have my lancers kill tanks when need be. Sometimes I can interact with a mission objective by shooting it. Other times I have to walk up to it and activate it. I'm specifically thinking about the different between the Signalling Towers in one mission and the Rail Signals in another. Sometimes the AOE from grenades or mortars is enough to take out two people on the edge of the radius, sometimes it does all of 2 dmg and I would have been better off taking the confirmed kill on one than being greedy.
I'm just experiencing a lot of ludic confusion which leaves me not the least bit ashamed about some minor save scumming. But I am enjoying it more. And I'm especially digging the squad stories. Although I'm also coming up on Chapter 10, which I've heard is a son of a bitch. So wish me luck.
I've not played 4, but if it's the same as previous games, all enemies have a small chance to dodge if you attack from in front of them. Aces, however, have a really high chance to dodge, and the arc they can dodge fire from is huge. So if you see a guy with a name you should shoot him from behind or use flamethrowers, grenades, etc.
At first I was thinking get 1 of each, each time, but there's way more need for rifles and machine guns than the other three kinds, so maybe that's better?
That was my tactic against selveria in VC1. flame thrower her as she would dodge often. I was noticing a mechanic in VC4 where if they don't see you and you see them you get a surprise attack indicator. I have seen that the indicator shows when being behind or shooting from grass I haven't missed on those named guys when using that. I would guess that counters their dodge.
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-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
On that note, is there a season pass for this game, or is it all ala carte?
I absolutely demolished chapters 10 and 11 last night. 10 turned out to be really easy for me, as Nikola, Chiara got obsessed with the Hafen, which I then wedged into a gap which they couldn't get past. Took one of the enemy camps, got snipers up on two of the highgrounds, and just coasted along to victory.
I was beginning to get frustrated though because Nikola and Chiara were dodging everything. Mortars, grenades, flamethrowers, sniper shots from surprise attack angles. It is just scripted into this mission that they can't be killed? What the hell is going on there? This is what I keep complaining about when I talk about ludic confusion, and why I've begun to feel no shame save scumming. I feel like I never know if the game is playing by the rules or not. So before I rush in with Raz and Zaiga rocking flamethrowers trying to kill these ladies after spending a turn dropping 5 or 6 mortars on their heads, I want to know if the game is playing fair or not.
The answer was no, no it's not. Let the ladies obsess over the hafen and play to the objectives.
No season pass.
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I got a chuckle out of the main game's introduction of Riley, where it lampshades the fact that she "designed her own uniform" to include a skirt. Then I see Minerva and cripes, what's the writers' excuse for that? At least Riley has leggings on.
Work got busy so I've just finished getting the A-Rank on Chapter 6. That was... kind of not doable on a first pass? Like, I finished it in 5 turns the first time through, and considering you have to hold all the camps for four turns I thought that was pretty well done. But no: B-Rank. In the end, I think there might be only one way to do it, and it all hinges on turn one:
On the right of the map load the Cactus with a Lancer and a Shocktrooper. Drive forward beside the enemy tank, and shoot the Lancer, before continuing as far as you can. Have the Lancer hop out, double back, blow the radiator on the tank, and get back to the Cactus. Gun it for the crates with the explosives. [There's a sniper who's a leader nearby, but somewhat frustratingly killing him doesn't have any effect on what the enemy can do - if he's alive, they'll end their turn with four CP and call a Mortar Order. If he's dead, the exact same thing happens, except they end their turn with 3 CP. Like @Namrok noted the AI seems to be pretty heavily scripted at times.] It took me three turns to get the Cactus all the way there, so I had Dan gun down a Sniper before I sent Raz to take the camp. [Note: use another Shocktrooper for this and keep Raz back at base. Whoever's here when the Vulcan rumbles through will probably die and if it's Raz you lose a CP. I ended up planning things well by calling for an Engineer to necromancer him immediately after he died, but... pro-tip.]
When that's done you get some extra CP and the "first turn" continues. I finished it by hopping the Lancer out of the Cactus and taking down the tank up top, and bringing forward Kai (shooting the southern Shocktrooper on the way) with Riley and Ryan following. After that, the AI never really presses it's advantage to take undefended bases. You can actually safely desert your start position.
No, there's another way.
continuing on that
get a mortar with the elias weapon system.
its 900+ armor damage and removes ALL AP from a tank hit with its interception fire.
remove the gatling with a couple hafen 72mm shots then get Riley aimed at the vulcan's radiator. 3 direct hits and the vulcan is dead. then 4 sniper rounds on mortar guys and lancers and can be over turn 4.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Had an epiphany about this mission at work today (cause what else am I supposed to do there but think about video games?)
Some general hints and spoilers, in case you want to figure the jist out yourself.
Unless there's another way to do it... you pretty much have to kill it conventionally. This was my general game plan:
Plays way more like 1 than 2 or 3, as 2 and 3 were handheld with a bunch of small connected maps rather than one big map.
2 was a sequel in a high school, 3 was a side story to 1. 4 is another, different side story to 1. You don't need to have played any to enjoy any other.
Gameplay wise, it's basically the sequel to VC1 that should have been. Same exact gameplay with new and interesting additions, and tweaks to the old stuff (for example, potentials have been evened out, there's no clear cut winners or permanent ones, in other words there's nobody like Marina where "why the hell would you ever use any other sniper".
Story wise, I liked it a lot, but I think the overall story in VC1 was better. I wasn't sure for a long while if I liked these characters more, but they eventually grew on me, mainly thanks to the squad stories. There's almost no interaction with anything that happens in VC1's plot, the story is completely stand-alone and really more focuses on the Federation side of the war. If you're curious as to what the "links" are:
And now some ending spoilers:
Nothing much else to say other than if you really liked VC1, then you'll really like VC4.
I almost feel like I’m getting the hang of things in chapter 11. But the later I get in the game, the first attempt is becoming less of an honest attempt to beat the mission and more of a trial run to see what sort of cheating bullshit the game is going to throw at me later in the mission.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
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I just decide to abandon all caution and bull rush the Vulcan on chapter 15. I was doing well. I took the Hafen and Glory down to face the Vulcan, along with a pair of Lancers, my engineer and a Grenadier with anti-tank rounds. I threw down the all demolitions order, knocked his life down by more than half. Then Crymaria fucking teleports from across the entire god damned map, and takes out both lancers and my grenadier, along with the Glory. I mean fucking seriously? That's what they are doing now? My engineer brings one of the lancers to life, and by the skin of my teeth the Hafen and him take out the Vulcan.
For part two, I'm doing ok. Figure out the trick with Crymaria's staff, have the Hafen and a grenadier hold down the fort against Western aggression, send all my infantry East to circle around and come down on Crymaria like a brick of shit. For the coup de grace I have Raz command two more Shocktroopers after my Sniper had disabled her... and the bullets mostly bounce off her and then she proceeds to murder one of the shocktroopers. I try again, only this time when I press fire on Raz, a cutscene triggers showing Crymaria killing the other shocktrooper... and then Raz lost his action and never fired!
Ok, fuck that, I save scum back, and through a few iterations of trial and error realize all I need to do is run Raz up to her point black, and flamethrower her 5 or 6 times until she's dead. Everything else was hilariously ineffective. Mortars, sniper rounds, rifle rounds, SMG rounds. I guess I didn't try tank fire, tank machine guns, or infantry grenades. But it's these sorts of "There is one correct way, maybe two, everything else just gets all your guys killed. Go fuck yourself", along with all the scripted nonsense that basically forces you to save scum and/or play once as recon, then quit and try again legit knowing all the tricks it has up it's sleeve.
All that frustration aside, I think I'm still enjoying the game? Enough that I'm hoping to unlock all the squad stories, and maybe try the DLC. Maybe even give the first game a spin after it comes out. Although it may come that by the time I finish the main story, I'm so burnt out by what the game thinks counts as "difficulty" that I'm over it and just need a break. Because it's basically the equivalent of Doom 3's monster closets.
You also luckily avoided the last "bullshit" moment of the fight. Taking a shocktrooper with a flamethrower was the right call. I on the other hand was silly enough to take a scout, mainly because Minerva had the AP to reach her. I figured a damage boost and penetrate order and 6 attack rounds would do it. Good news is she doesn't dodge like aces. Bad news is she has a ridiculous head bob making it difficult to get a head shot. And if you do hit her, she recoils so far back that if you're not aimed right, the rest of your shots will miss. And headshots are the only way to do any real damage with bullets. So I had to save scum and find the sweet spot to hit so the other 6 shots would also be head shots.
There's still some more real pain in the ass missions left to come, including another really stupid design flaw. I won't get into story spoilers, but if you're curious and want some intel on what's to come.
17-1: A return of "the enemy gets to make the first move" bullshit. One character is probably going to die if a tank round decides to have perfect accuracy, and the Hafen is almost guaranteed destroyed because of the fucking tank behind it with a clear shot to the radiator. Honestly, just reload enough until the character survives, and use a ship order to bring back the Hafen.
17-2: Another simple mission, more of a basic puzzle than an actual strategic fight.
18-1: Straightforward. I really liked this one. Bring lancers and the APC though.
18-2: Final boss time, and it's not hard, just real damn annoying. I've seen videos though of people taking it out in 2 turns (more like 1 turn, the first turn is just setup). Just make sure your lancers are well equipped, keep an engineer ready, and maybe even equip a grenadier or two for armor damage.
After her first attack she ran to hang out under an arch, so I buried her in rubble. That felt good. U til she came back two turns later.
Took Minerva and a Lancer up to the left to capture the flag and take out the tanks. Then waited for Chiara to come back and try to recapture the flag which she did. Sent Minerva north to hide so she could come back and retake the flag once Chiara left. Blew the second arch.
Third time she came back, she took out the Hafen, and silly me had already used up my ship orders so Claude was gone for the duration. I considered restarting but decided to play it out. Pushed down and up to take two more flags, which left me with the two on the east and the northeast.
Took a few turns to get my ducks in a row, lost a couple more bodies. Finally got a sniper up in the cathedral and took out a few troublemakers. Took the east flag by cheesing the baddies out of the sandbags, and popping the flag. Finally bumrushed the northeast flag with a shock trooper and luckily only had to take out 2 of 3 to get the flag.
11 turns D but I’ll take it
Had a few lucky turns where Chiara could have easily taken my main flag and ended my day but she left it alone even though nobody was even guarding it.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
3 snipers and 2 grenadiers practically standing on top of each other. I threw a defense order on the shocktrooper, ran him up, and scored 5 kills at once with my flamethrower. It was the most marvelous thing I've ever done in this game. Then I ran the same shocktrooper around the corner to the actual camp, saw three more guys super close together, flamed them to death in one more go, and capped the last camp.
I'm usually happy if I can manage 2 flamethrower kills in one turn. Getting 8 kill in 2 turns was amazing.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Not sure yet if I'm gonna do all the post-game stuff.
Question about the final mission:
It took me something around 4-5 turns to beat that, ferrying 2 lancers back and forth from its dive spots (it never resurfaced on the right side of the map, at least not before I ran an engineer over to block it). The whole fight was a real pain in the ass.
The super fun cheeze way to do it though is to equip Riley with armor rounds. Move her a bit to where the tank pops up on turn 2. Then give her the attack weak point order and the blast boost order. Aim at the very top center of the tank. The first shot annailates virtually all of the tank's turrets. The second shot finishes off all 4 radiators at once, and the mission is done. It might be the best way to farm exp and money for all the post game stuff.
Aside from that, the end actually impacted me a lot more than I thought it would. I thought Crymaria and Walz was pretty heavy handed. And Raz going off on his own too, and that final radio transmission. But then after that things got a bit dialed down? And the psychological breakdown of a lot of the characters got a bit more understated. Didn't do the usual anime thing of everyone pointing it out, and then the character in question ruminates endlessly on it too.
Like Miles getting increasingly convinced every battle will be the one he dies. Or Clause getting just a smidge bloodthirsty such that he'd go along with the plan to detonate Angie at all. Or Riley becoming straight up suicidal out of guilt. These were all elements that were there, but they weren't dialed up to 11 as is typical of anime, and especially anime inspired video games.
Reading some of the personality bios post game, and seeing Clause was stripped of command because he'd become unfit really drives it home.
Which makes it hard for me to dive into the post game. I keep thinking these characters deserve a break. Especially after I want to the Cenotaph and saw all it really does is allow you to remember the characters, and add them to Clause reliving his military service by reading his journal. Also the one character I can't bring back is Raz. Even other characters that died for story reasons like Christel come back. But not Raz.
As one final kick in the ass, I took Zaiga on the final mission, and he kept crying "Raz, where are you?"
For the last two chapters I've done, I've managed to ass-backwards the A-Ranks on my first try through. Thought I'd write about them:
Chapter 9
First turn I send a team to go take the left camp, which they do easily enough. I then run Fleuret (with the AP increasing boots) up to the top left of the map behind some terrain. The Hafen rolls forward and kills some people, as does the Cactus (after picking up a couple people). Both poised for action next turn. I decide to save some CP, and wait to move people right for turn 2.
The opponent's turn starts with Walz using a Revival Order, which... brings back everyone I had killed turn one, as I didn't "tag out" any of their bodies. Oh god. My people at the left camp get taken out by the zombies. Sigh. The Vulcan moseys on over to Fleuret, but can't get a clean shot at her, so uses a second CP to head back toward the main enemy camp (finishing it's move facing right, which might have turned out to be important).
At that point the game hands things back to me. I really didn't know what to do: I was unaware that the Revival Order only works on units that haven't been "tagged" (I looked it up afterwards) so in the moment I was thinking that every turn, every enemy would be revived. I decided to send the Cactus to the left Camp, but as soon as I move forward the cinematic with Crymaria plays, and now there's shit raining down everywhere. So, screw it. I just drive the Cactus right straight into the enemy camp, running over the enemies there (to knock down their cover), and park right beside the Vulcan. Raz hops out - shielded from all the intercepting fire by the Cactus - and shoots the one guy remaining in the camp. But before he can claim the camp the Cactus explodes, and I have to wait through all the info about the others inside being evacuated first. I start beating the 'A' button and somehow manage to capture the camp before he gets gunned down. Operation Complete, 2 turns.
The notable thing was what happened with the two bratz who showed up again. On the first turn - after using the Hafen to knock down the snow bank, machine gun the Lancer, and then park in a good place for intercepting fire - I had Minerva bring Kai and Aulard up to the closest sniping spot. Kai cleared the first turn's para-enemies, and killed the Sniper on the right side of the map. When the enemy bosses moved up, the one just repeatedly shot the Hafen (which was never in any serious danger from her). But the other one went straight for Kai, running up and shooting her point blank in the head with her crossbow. Luckily, I had Aulard next to Kai, so on my turn I just selected him, very quickly hitting 'R' (only taking one shot from the crossbow), using the Revival Ragnaid on Kai, and then very quickly hitting 'B' (before he took a second shot). This repeated, with Kai being shot point blank, and Aulard using his foul necromancy. As both of the bosses seemed thusly sufficiently distracted, the rest of the squad cleared the map.
I got all the way to chapter 18 without realizing Engineers can replenish squad member’s ammo just by running up to them.
(I learned this at the same time I found out it is technically possible to finish 18-1 in a single turn)
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I thought they were just for fixing ladders and sandbags and tanks
I don’t recall ever being told they would replenish ammo
And then I watched a YouTube video and BOOM mind blown
You know how many battles I messed up because I ran out of ammo on a key turn
Lots
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
It isn't often I'd rather disarm the mine than just walk around it. But sometimes it has been a lifesaver when it comes to clearing the way for the Hafen.
Got the final mission done. Cheesed the fuck out of it, maybe I’ll try and do it the way they intend some time later. But it was still satisfying. Oh, you sprung this last minute crazy overpowered BS on me? Well let’s see how you like getting dead in 2 turns!
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
You don't have to move slowly. Mines in this game explode when you move off them, not onto them. You could sit right on top of a mine and disarm it if you wanted to.