Battle Mastery: All friendly Barrelions survive
Excellen and Ryusei have arrived at Muta Base and are waiting on the Hagane. It seems Arado has officially joined up, but he's still in hospital on the Moon.
- Excellen: Maybe Radha is teaching him yoga, like how to twist himself into a knot or breathe fire.
The klaxon sounds and it's another DC attack. The Shirogane and four Barrellions will hold the northern half of the map, with Excellen, Ryusei, and Octo Squad to the south. You lose if any enemies enter the base. And, naturally, Lee is an asshole about giving your characters their orders. Giganscudo moves very slowly, so Tasuku will be sitting as a reserve to take out anything that gets too close.
I hate this chapter. It's just one pain in the ass after another, especially the BM. If I pass the stage and one of those fuckers dies, I'm not retrying. At least they're more durable than Lion Fs and F-32s. Quite a few of the B Ms in the teens are a pain in the ass to acquire, which is a big part of why I've always finished on Normal.
Anyway, we start with the Giganscuro immobile and the Shirogane as useful as a screen door on a submarine. The only enemies are a handful of jets in the south and they'll enter the base within two turns or so. I transform the R-1 and fly it southwest with Excellen; Leona's Guarlion Custom goes southeast with Katina and Russel following in their Gespensts.
Once the jets are down (around turn 3), Lions and Guarlions appear in the southern corners. Annoying and fast, but not too bad. The southwestern Guarlion drops a Servo Motor. I take the last enemy down on my turn so I don't get enemy reinforcements dropping on their turn. It's usually a good idea to deny them that free move.
That goes double since the reinforcements are 9 Barrelions that spawn just outside the base and your guys are way out of position. Oh, and your allies are suicidal. Lee still refuses to move the Shirogane, though it'd be far more useful if it was actually in range of anything. Most of the enemy won't approach until the friendly Barrelions are gone (it seems the game spells this with just one l, not two like I thought).
The Hagane finally shows up one turn after the Barrelions, but your mechs spawn a good ways from the fighting. Leona and the Gespensts have rushed up the eastern side of the base, while Tasuku runs up the center to throw a few Giga Blasters around before running out of energy. Everyone else is on the west, where a bit over half the enemy are. Somehow, all four allied Barrelions are still alive when Lamia cut the last enemy to bits.
Just when it looked like the attack is over, one more mech arrives: It's big, mean, and carries a giant sword. The pilot Wodan Ymir wears a samurai-style helmet with a face mask and calls himself the Sword of Magus in a voice much like Sanger Zonvolt's. He heads straight for the Alteisen, calling it the Gespenst Mk III. Somehow, Kyosuke doesn't die from this. The base is rather less lucky... and then a swarm of Randgriths come up with even more units on the way. Time to fall back with the Alt needing major repairs.
While waiting for their mechs to be refueled, the crew debate whether that big mech with drills on it is actually piloted by Sanger. Katina thinks it is, but the ATX crew don't want to believe it's him. Kai, who's known him longer than everyone else, thinks there's something off about the familiar movements. The mech itself is very similar to the Grungust Type-3 still being adjusted at TLI. The crew are interruped by Colonel Van Vat Tran making a speech much like the one Dr. Bian Zoldark made at the beginning of the DC War. The Neo DC declares its goal of uniting humanity against the alien threat with the Scythe of Harpe and denounces the decadent and corrupt Federation. There is much scheming among the viewers, and the stage ends with you receiving a Chobham Armor and an Apogee Motor.
I'd like to talk a little about Wodan Ymir. He's basically a copy of Sanger Zonvolt as he appeared in SRW Alpha Gaiden, right down to the mech and devotion to Magus. Pretty cool opponent, but a pain to take down if you have to fight him.
In the intermission screen, Leona learns SP Regen and Gunfight 4; her last skill slot will be empty until I decide what her final mech is. She has Hit & Away and Attacker naturally, so she starts out better than most. Her Guarlion Custom gets Mobility and Energy upgrades since the Sonic Breaker attack is powerful and power-hungry. She also gets an M95 machine gun so she has a weapon to shoot on the move.
Katina learns SP Regen, but is still a few PP short of Attacker. I've never really used her or Russel much. I also move her to the R-Blade and shuffle weapons around a bit.
Russel gets SP Regen and Resupply since he's one of the best support pilots out there and he'll be humping that Supply unit from here to the Moon. He gets Katina's red Gespenst with a few upgrades.
Tasuku learns Attacker and SP Regen. I suppose I'll get him Infight eventually to help with Gigan's slowness. Gigan gets HP, energy, and armor upgrades. It's not my favourite unit and tends to drop out before the end-game, so I won't go for full upgrade on this.
R-1 gets fully upgraded because I'll be using it all game long. Its special bonus is +200 attack to TK weapons.
Lamia kill count: 45; ten to go, but she's absent for several upcoming chapters.
Kai kill count: 29; level 17
