Battle Mastery: Winning condition met within 5 turns (Rein Weissritter's HP reduced to 80%)
It looks like Vigagi died in the attack on the Moon Cradle. The other Inspectors haven't responded yet, possibly because the Einst are swarming the White Star. Your two ships meet up, characters talk about what happened on the two routes. Excellen seems to have gone over to the Einst.
Kyosuke talks to Kai and some other guys about that shuttle crash he and Excellen were in. Gilliam investigated the incident: that shuttle hit something. The brass thought it had been an Aerogater recon ship, but no wreckage was found. Excellen was found completely uninjured, while Kyosuke was hospitalized with injuries that weren't serious (for him). He remembers trying to protect Excellen from the flames, but nothing else before they were rescued... no, wait, he saw something falling on her. Gilliam suggests that the shuttle had hit an Einst, but the klaxon cuts him off.
An unknown mech with some sort of stealth field is approaching, probably an Einst. Kyosuke launches before Captain Lefina can even give the order. The unknown mech turns out to be the Weissritter, with certain Einst enhancements that give it a bat-winged semi-organic look.. Everyone can tell there's something not quite right about Excellen. Kyosuke calls her on it, and the ships are trapped in some sort of energy field that blocks the launch bay.
Excellen summons a squad of Einsteisen and Kyosuke prepares to take her down. The guys trapped on the ship encourage him to rescue her and he gets a big pile of free SP commands, including a big Will boost and Accel.
The Riese is able to charge right around the squad of Einsteisen directly in front of you and bring everything within Neo Chakram Caster range. I'd estimate her HP at 120K, so a couple good hits with Valor should bring her down to 80%, but the small fry need to go first. Incidentally, Dr. Radom was NOT kidding about expanding the Claymores. Kyosuke has 8 shots at range 4 with the “basic” Claymores, 12 with Ammo Save.
On turn 2, Excellen is slightly scratched with only two Einsteisen still standing. I move in for a quick Bunker Revolver hit on Excellen, and barely fail to finish off the last Einsteisen before turn 3. When my next turn begins, the Kurogane crew learn that the energy field surrounding them is very similar to a TK field created by someone's will. I finish the last grunt, and prepare to finish this bit of the map. It takes all three shots of Claymore Overlord, but I get the BM on turn 4.
Alfimi warps in with a large pack of assorted Einst. It turns out that Earth is the “land of beginnings” and that she “wants peace,” which may just mean humans are being noisy neighbours and she's trying to get that one idiot down the street to turn down the bloody [insert terrible band of choice here]. Excellen has come to her senses and turns off the energy field, but the hatch is still stuck. Lamia blows it open and immediately launches, along with Bullet and Kusuha in Ryukooh.
Once I have all my units out, it's time to mow down the grunts and then take out Alfimi before taking Excellen back. Everyone casts Focus and charges. Incidentally, the G-Impact Stake is nothing like the Alteisen's weapon; it looks more like a rifle that drives a stake forward and reminds me of Haken Browning's Nightfowl from Endless Frontier.
The closest Einst go down in one turn, and it takes another turn or two to finish the other two clumps. Bullet earns hi ace bonus, +10% hit and critical rate. I move Kyosuke away from the fight to recover SP, and to draw Excellen's 3 Support Defenses away from Alfimi. Alfimi expends her two MAP shots, and it's time to start smacking the poor girl around with HTB shots. Well, it would be if Ryusei had enough Will. Good thing Ring's right beside him with Rouse. Alfimi drops a Thurster if defeated, but she retreats somewhere north of 20K.
Now all that's left to do is rescue Excellen. There's a red ball on the head of the Rein Weissritter that seems to be a receiver of some kind. I have to bring it below 5% without shooting it down. Good thing Sean has Mercy. As it happens, I knock her down to a good spot and let Kyosuke's Revolver Bunker finish the job. The Regisseur starts talking, something about the pure not being born from the impure, Kyosuke being incomplete, and the Weissritter is released from Einst control.
Arado confirms Excellen's identity by asking what she said the first time they met. It's the bunny suit, of course, and she promises to break it out once things settle down. Seolla's is less than happy to hear about this. Then she gets all flustered when Excellen offers to loan it to her. Ryusei says no one else can be this annoying, it has to be the real Excellen.
Aboard the Hiryu, Kusuha and Radha examine Excellen and she seems to be in good shape. She even grabs Masaki's familiars as “Yes” and “No” flags. However, she remembers nothing about her captivity and doesn't know why the Einst kidnapped her. The Standing Stones in space are probably a door to the Einst dimension, though individual Einst can teleport just fine; maybe it's for something else.
The Rein Weissritter inherits regular Weissritter's upgrades, and I again apply +2 ammo for fixed weapons. I've upgraded all the mechs I intend to use, so I just shuffle weapons and parts around a bit. Gilliam takes the Graviton Cannon so he's not completely useless in boss fights; too many bosses have Beam Coat for the Neutron Beam to be effective and most of my other mechs have “Supreme” type weapons to get around it.
One secret thing I forgot to mention in the last post: The pile of special parts you get for defeating the Inspectors on stage 15. NOT worth it for me. It requires a lot of luck and save scumming since most of your characters will run out of SP very quickly and have a very hard time hitting the Inspectors, especially Aguija. And I think they all have good levels of Prevail, which makes the last few thousand HP very difficult to take off. The parts are good, but not good enough to sit there rolling the dice all day.
