War Report : !!SCIENCE!!

[khadgar]

I am about to start my third game in, and I have finished exactly zero of the previous two games successfully -- I think I am ready for some ridiculously stupid builds.

DAY 1

First up; four science exos on hard difficulty! How will the rookie exo pilot Tuck fare? Lets find out, as I take a look at beautiful port city. I see a hacking mission one mission out blocked by a hostage rescue. That seems right up our alley, so we're going to go ahead and attempt this rescue mission after some quick starter outfits. Worst come to worst, the hostages will serve as distractions while we make our escape to greener pastures.

MISSION START

Overview: The mission exit is right there to the west, and I don't really know the victory conditions... kill all enemy bots, or just book it? I guess I'll make a beeline there first, since I can't imagine I'm supposed to kill all the enemy forces. Here goes nothing. A quick jaunt north and it's our first loot! A shield generator? That's not science, and we're already distracted from our plan of making a beeline to the exit. Onwards! Our first real combat to the west ends without taking a shot. Unfortunately 1 cryo to the northwest was destroyed. I didn't like HIM anyway. I notice 2 loot containers to the northwest as well, and I decide to not risk stepping on the mission end. I'll need all the loot I can get to get enough SCIENCE to pull off a victory. Lets do it. Room clearing is going quite well; I'll savor it while it lasts. I'm sure my measly weapons won't demolish the waves of enemy bots for long. Oh no, the mission exit doesn't work? I guess I have to clear the field. Oh well, I was prepared for this eventuality. Suddenly, without warning, disaster strikes-- two science exos down because of a misclick while typing this battle report. Well, we knew it would be risky to write up the after action report as we go, but we didn't think it would be doubly fatal. Note to self - from now on, take screenshots first, write words later. Lost one more exo to a fuel container mishap, but we beat the mission! I am assured by a calming and sexy voice that, although my exos have taken a beating, the engineers will take care of it. I have a feeling that myself and the engineers will get to know each other quite well over the next few days.

DAY 2

Nothing particularly interesting revealed on the map, so lets equip my exos and get to some hackin'!

MISSION START

This map is gigantic!. I can only see about half if it at a time at max zoom. Fortunately, the goal is right there, so I should be able to clean it out quickly in case we need to make a hasty retreat. I suspect that, along with aforementioned engineers, i will also become quite familiar with hasty retreats. Time to get to some strategery. We move a few rooms in... maybe the end goal isn't so close after all. On the bright side, we've destroyed perhaps 10 enemy bots without a single casualty. Take your victories where you can get them, I suppose. It's apparently a trap!! Nothing happened though, so crisis averted. We push towards the mainframe, 'just in case', and encounter a few hallways loaded with bots. Time to use some science!. A sentry deployed here might help us out eventually, and even gets a Mk II scanner right off the bat. Scanners sound useful and sciencey. A quick whistle and the sentry proves its worth, handily taking care of every bot that comes at me. Thanks bud. I think I'll name it Randolph. I decide that Randolph alone won't deliver me to the mainframe or victory over the bot hordes, so I attempt a more advanced science experiment; the single-slit experiment. As the bots approach the single slit hallway, their parts begin to diffuse into the atmosphere, lending credence to my hypothesis that this was not a terrible idea. We move on.

Had to destroy a perfectly good computer terminal because I didn't have enough hacking points (who'd have though with 4 science exos you would run out of hacking points?, but I've reached and destroyed the mainframe!. I guess I should at least make an attempt to gather up some more gear while the enemies are still easy. A short while later and we've cleared the map. Well, 'cleared'. There is still so much loot left, but with the doors requiring 6 hacking points and our exos only having 9, this led to the great hacking-point famine of 2013. Must remedy this if we are to stand a chance on future levels. On the plus side, we've had a 400% increase in our number of surviving exos this mission -- the engineers will be so happy!

DAY 3

We were really hoping to see one of those gizmos that gives you epic computer-slot gear, but no such luck yet. I guess the office building is a good bet, as it has small loot containers - those are the ones not behind locked doors right? That isn't really leveraging our strength as science exos (hacking) but apparently that didn't really work so well for us last time anyway. Oh well, all we can do is try our best.

MISSION START

Overview: the map looks entirely east-west. It's 2.5 screens long, but the goal is closer than that. Good, good. Lets get to looting! The very first enemy I kill rewards me with this tasty popup text. That sounds pretty science! can't wait to load it up onto Sheila (my science exo is named Sheila: ALL FOUR OF THEM ARE SHEILA). Speaking of named things, Randolph has a friend now. This friendly reprogrammed tigerbot should hopefully help more than hinder. I haven't thought of a name for him yet, I'm not sure if I should let myself get too attached to someone who could bite the dust any second. On second thought, their morale might get low if I don't make them feel welcome. Did I say them? There are two friendly tigerbots now, Tony & Detroit. Hopefully I don't decide to reprogram any more of these guys, I'm quickly running out of tiger-related names. Fortunately the problem will solve itself as my virus points deplete.

Tony & Detroit enter the next rooms and without a scratch, the rooms are now empty. Way to go guys! You're definitely going to get dismantled very gingerly at the end of this. No scrapyard for you two! Or, at least that's what I would have said, had Tony (or was it Detroit?) not stepped on a mine and died in the line of service. Farewell brave bot, you shall be missed. On the bright side, the name Tony is now open again! Leading the charge, I follow Detroit all the way to the end, where he even helps me destroy the thing. What was this thing supposed to do again? Oh well, it is dust now, and our mission is complete without me firing more than a couple shots. Will this strategy continue to work on future missions? The commander claims he was right to put me through the training program. "I had my doubts," he said, "but you're doing us proud." To that I say; NEVER DOUBT THE POWER OF SCIENCE!

(to be continued)

 _{(PS: sorry for posting a bunch of replies in a row [if all goes well, that is] but who really cares right? not me that's who!)}

[khadgar]

DAY 4

After a good rest and repair, our exos are once again ready to venture out into the city to help thwart the bot progress. I don't remember what new things we uncorked exactly, but I don't see anything too good unfortunately... oh well. I guess I'll just make it my goal to hit the fuel depot to open up as many more missions as possible as fast as possible, until I find some goodies. To that end, to the shieldworks!

MISSION START

Quite a small area, so it seems. Cakewalk. Started the mission by reprogramming a commandbot, and suddenly all my exos have ~400 shields!. Woohoo! The other two bots I reprogrammed didn't fare so well and are already dead. So much for viruses this mission. We're starting to encounter mastermind bots everywhere... that's no good. Randolph and his pals are really saving my bacon here, helping to even the odds against the bot army's multiple actions per turn with multiple actions of my own. I'm just about to whistle, if I don't make it home, tell my wife I said hello. Fortunately, there was no need, as Randolph XIV did exceptionally well in not being targeted in any way by anyone ever and cleaned out almost all the bots without the mines coming into play. Oh well, mines aren't as fun as the turrets, this exo pilot is discovering. I hacked a blue-ish security terminal at some point, and it informs me that all enemy bots within sensor range receive +2 range and are invisible... uh, what? I guess all great science experiments are prone to backfiring. However... All mishaps aside, we clear the rest of the map with very little difficulty. Also worthy of note is the fact that either hacking seems to have gotten significantly easier, or we've just gotten a lot better at science.

DAY 5

There's no time, I'm going straight for the fuel depot (no major world map developments)!

MISSION START

Uh oh, that is a LOT of enemy bots all right there. I'm not sure how to best tackle this. I ask randolph for ideas. He starts whistling a catchy tune. Upon hearing the whislting, all the enemy bots just give up. Neat. As we progressed through the floor, we discovered a very interesting effect. Apparently, if one enters stealth mode before switching exos, they don't use up any of their stealth while still denying enemy bots a chance to act--Clever girl. Nothing else eventful happens, and we've won.

DAY 6

Two 'hacker' missions, as well as a science station on the horizon! Hooray, now we're talking. I outfit my exos and roll out like some sort of automatic robot?

MISSION START

More of the same. I set up a deadly trap (that's three 2x action turrets!) and whistle my way to victory. Has science gone too far?

[khadgar]

DAYS 7-14

We have so much science we don't know what to do with it all. We fight through mazes of twisty little passages, all alike, but none can grant us the devices we seek.


DAY 15

We attempt to assassinate some bosses, but they have so much shielding that we entirely run out of ammo across all 4 science exos before we can dispatch them. Shit. Perhaps a strategy reworking is in order.

DAY ? ? ?

The war has addled my sense. I am a man of science, not war! However, it's all been worth it! We have achieved !!SCIENCE!! The time has finally arrived to End. This. War.