Yes, I know...kind of a rapid finish to this thing. Having a free day and not much else to do, I used the time to pound the Scourge and AI into submission.
Those earlier photos were taken around 9:40 in-game time. I got half an hour until the next CPA hits. Time to clear things.
By the time the CPA fires, I've taken out another Mark VII Armory and Spawner. My friendly Scourge have been doing a warp gate killing thing bringing me another 10 AIP.
Hive and Boom Boom are on the eastern flank, other golem and remaining fleets covering the rear. I keep one reserve force to stay on the MDC and watch around it. CPA launches, I take a deep breath...
Not 550.
Not 500.
Only 470.
Thanks goodness for that. Biggest single attack was about 150 strength coming in at Ekrhi. Kind of awkward covering that because of the wormhole and structure layout there, but it's held.
Back to the cleaning. I shift some more forces to the front to keep things covered as I push deeper and deeper in.
I take out every visible Spawner(1 more, except the one on the homeworld) and Armory(2 more) that I can see, plus grab the one remaining DC I have eyes on. The Scourge from this point on are no threat and nothing more than an annoyance. They try an attack or two but Vega holds them off since I focus my forces on Aka and Pommel and leave the route open to the choke for them.
It's 11:43 game time and everything is cleared and ready for the homeworld attack. For the curious, here's a screenshot of the homeworld right before the assault:
2 Parasite, 1 Heavy Beam/Shredder/Tethuida, rest are chaff. The Sabot by the Aka wormhole will be annoying against the golems though.
So, a decision to make...push or wait for the CPA. If I wait, I'll have to keep watching those Scourge and keep patrolling...plus who knows what the CPA is going to be.
Screw it, I'm going for it. Switching out every station except Ekrhi for a MilII and building extra turrets...18 matter converters, only 2k/sec metal coming in. Attack launched at 11:43:16 game time.
Assault fleet:
Armored/Hive Golems
Boom Boom
Both Battlestations
Mobile factory for repairs and rebuilding losses from Boom Boom.
Total strength: 268
I start with the Hive coming in through Pommel to knock out the Scourge spawner. They choose to instead knock out the Concussion post and tractors first, but eventually it goes down. Jumping the two golems in and out to reset targeting helps with all the drones flying around. The 1st parasite post also bites the dust.
After that, I shift the golems to the Aka entrance and Boom Boom moves to Pommel. The hive is useless at Pommel now because the Gravity post gets priority and wipes the Yellow Jackets...so this is a job for siege units.
Golems distract while Boom Boom jumps in. Unload ships, target post, fire, reload, move to next. Rinse/repeat with the golem jumping and Boom Boom jumping out as well sometimes. This knocks out the rest of the posts...one small problem. The CPA.
I'm not going to finish this before the CPA fires...so be it. Adding a few extra matter converters to cover a station loss and pressing on.
CPA fires...HAHA! Only 320 strength. I don't care in the slightest.
When the last post goes down, I move the golems to the north side of the gravity well and also jump in my battlestations and mobile factory to get some speed repairs and let the decoy drones run around for Phase 2 chaff. Oh, and now a Wormhole attack coming in at Bowen. At least it's there and not somewhere more critical.
CS Down. Phase 2.
By keeping the Hive in back and the Armored in front to eat the spawning ships, I kite Phase 2 around the gravity well for the next 10 minutes with Boom Boom firing into the soft underbelly.
Victory is mine at 12:20:50.
Ending Techs:
Disruptive II
Fusion II
Generalist II
Concussion V
Engineering III
Metal III
Mil II
Forcefields II
Citadels II
Minefields II
Sentries II
I'll have some more things later, but for now I hope you enjoyed the ride.
