A Life Less Interesting

Map Analysis

The map drawn is Titan Factory , which upon first glance is quite a good Mech map.

Lots of Metal walls that my scanners can peer through, and my missiles expode against firing their glowing shrapnel of love tearing through the flesh of any nearby marines. Ah... I can't wait.

However, its also fairly Open, so my troops are likely to get terrorised by some snipers. With that in mind I've deployed my MT inside the room at the top, which gives it a few nice firing lines through the window to the south and east. I nicked that particular tactic from Palerider, as it worked well for him in our World Cup match. Ahem...

I deployed an AI and Scanner down the far southwest hoping to take out any watery fleshbags that try to run out of the lower room.

Nothing yet

No one spotted, but then that's not surprising since none of my troops can see the enemy deploys.

I'm getting the XT's in the north to take out the double doors in order for my to fire a couple of missiles through that way. Once the doors are down I'm ordering the XT's to try to take out the top row of crates. The crates lie along the path of the missiles, and ideally I want the missiles to explode as far into the room as possible. If I can shoot them out then the missiles will detonate nearer to any approaching troops. Ha ha ha ha haaaaa!

In the centre I'm moving the XT's forward in a firing line, the AI and scanner are moving towards the double doors, but not close enough to trigger them. The hunters are generally getting closer ready to spring a hit and fade attack if the opportunity presents itself.

Contact

My Scanner has spotted a Commander and Grenadier approaching my Wall Of XT's ™, along with what looks like a corner dancing grunt shooting up the centre.

There doesn't seem to be any action in the lower left room with all the crates. The grenadier could cause my troops a few problems since they are all fairly close together, so I'm going to move the two Hunters in close in order to attack the grenadier then retreat through the crate room towards my AI. They may well need healing up after the attack, although their proximity to the grenadier should put them out of reach of his explosive arsenal.

I'm going to move the XT's about in order to get some shots off at the Commander while keeping a bit of cover behind the barrels. I'm also sending a missile down that will explode on the metal wall shortly into the next turn, causing some splash damage to his men with a bit of luck.

In the top right my trick of shooting out the doors and crates worked well as the missiles carried on nicely into the room. I have no idea if anyone is in there though, as my XT's didn't spot anything. I'm going to move my 'spare' Hunter through that way for a bit of intel, and I'll advance a lone XT to see what's going on.

Shooty shooty!

Wow, a lot happened that turn....

My advance hunters did their trick nicely, they managed to finish off the Grenadier, but not before it had launched 2 grenades.

However he had a very good Commander, who one-shotted two of my XT's! The grenades finished off another and has severely injured yet another. They gave back what they got however by taking out the Commander.

In the screenie you can see the incoming missile about to explode. I'm going to move the hunter into the room for blast protection, and I plan on moving them all through the next anteroom to take on the sniper down there. Three hunters should be able to take it out, especially with their faster reaction time. I'm also advancing the AI through the lower room, while redlining the grunt that's appeared down there. My Scanner shows he is alone in there, so hopefully he will not put up too much opposition.

Up in the top right I didn't fare quite so well. The hunter spotted a grenadier and a grunt that have advanced up the inside corridor along with another grenadier. A few grenades exploded outside the doors of the internal room, taking out the hunter, and there are a few more grenades coming that way. I'm going to try to place another missile into the rooms on the top right to discourage anyone coming through that way while advancing the other XT's to see what's going on and to lay down some Op fires. The TM will then rearm, so that I can move out of that room if need be to get better firing lines towards the approaching troops. Maybe I'll have to drop back to join the AI force if things get bad over that side.

Hmm

It looks like he is regrouping at the bottom, as his troops are retreating towards the little box room. His sniper managed to run away, and the confusion this seemed to cause my hunters resulted in an untimely death.

I have an incoming grenade from the Grenadier in the centre, but I hope to kick this back towards smart bunnys troops to cause a little damage. I want to try to finish that grenadier off, and am also advancing my AI further in. Hopefully I can get it close enough to cause some panic in his ranks.

I didnt see a lot up at the top. There were a couple of corner dancing Grunts and a few incoming grenades into the centre room. I'm respositioning my XT's to try to get a better view of whats going on and sending my last tw missiles towards the corner dancers. After that its getting rearmed and I'm toying with the idea of making it a mobile MT to try to get some unexpected fire lines. The trade-off will be a lack of missiles as it;ll take ages to get it back for rearming again.

Gah!

That definately didn't go to plan.

My two hunters got taken out by the sniper I had sent them to harrass, and the XT I sent after the grenadier just sat there due to the grenadier taking shlter behind a piece of scenery. However, its job of kicking the grenade back worked nicely, as it damaged lots of troops, taking two medics down to 1 or 2 health as well. Hopefully my AI and hunter can mop them up this turn You probably cannot make much sense out of this order screenshot. I'm tryng to get the AI to move up while taking shots at anything that pops out long enough. It looks a bit messy....

Up top my XT's have been badly damaged by more grenades. They also started shooting at the distant grenadier rather than the one that was up close. I'm just going to try to get some more intel on who is about up top while getting some shots off. I'm not really sure whats the best thing to do with them.... I've decided to move the MT forward as I think it's done all it can do from there.

Grrr...

Smart Bunny did a sterling job of running away there... All my carefully plotted Redline orders were for nothing. The sniper, and both medics legged it, although I hope to take out the HQ now since its undefended. I wonder how much ammo he has left...?

The grenader also got away so I'm in pursuit with my hunter once more.

A wayward shot from smart buynny has blown a handy hole in the room whre my MT is holed up. Its handy as it gives me a nice firing line down towards where I think his troops are collecting. Lets see if my missiles will finally achieve anything...? I'm moving the XT;s out of harms way as I think they might be the target for this coming turn...

One HQ down

The HQ is history, although judging from the direction those two grenadiers were running in he must have another one down the right hand corridor. I'm moving the AI and Scanner towards the bottom right as I need to try to get some more points on the board.

My MT took some fire that turn, but I cannot see where it's assailant is exactly. It looks like its a Commander near the area thats getting shelled by missiles. The two grenadiers retreated towards the top right room.

There is also a sniper taking lumps off my HQ, so I'm trying to give it some hassle from my remaining XT's and hunter.

Looking up

Things too a nice turn. The missiles I had sent in towards the unknown assailants seemed to pour a heap of damage upon a commander in that region. I can see him hightailing it out of there before the next missile strikes. The metal ridges will give him some protection there so I dont think he'll take any more damage.

My hunter avoided the incoming grenades nicely, and helped take out the Sniper that was harassing my HQ. I'll take the opportunity to rearm the MT while the HQ still lives.

I've also uncovered his other HQ which I should be able to threaten with my AI. His grenadiers are both headed that way, so hopefully they are empty. By moving the AI in towards the HQ it also means that his sniper, and commander will have to get very close to the AI to attack it, giving my tank a nice advantage.

I'm sending the Hunter back for rearming, and am contemplating giving it a repair with the AI if I get a chance. It only has 1 health left and I think it may well come in useful later to hunt down any remaining troops.

Stupid Stupid Stupid!

I'd totally forgotten I still had a missile in flight. It exploded on the route my Hunter was taking back to the HQ, taking it out. How dumb was that!

Also, the Grenadiers have made it to the HQ, meaning I can expect a few grenades getting sent towards my AI this turn. Will I be able to withstand the attack?

I'm also moving the two XT's at the top into the right hand corridor so they can help attack the HQ and Grenadiers.

Not a glowing success

The grenadiers had more ammo than I expected and sent three rounds each towards my AI. I was lucky in so far as the first set blew out the wall s behind me as the second set exploded further away, but there is still another set in the air. I dont know how much damage my AI can take, Im not even sure I can afford to take out the HQ from this close... So, instead I'm closing in on the grenadiers in an attempt to finish them off. The XTs at the top are helping out again.

I can see his grunt taking aim at my XT's through the small window, so I'm wondering if he's going to try to persue. I'm going to fire a missile down towards that area to hopefully take out any pursuers. I'm just hoping that too any stray shots dont hit that HQ, taking it out and my AI with it. If I can get rid of the Grenadiers then I can hopefully take the HQ out after moving the AI round the corner to safety.

His other attack squad has been healing up, so I think they are going to want in on the action soon.

Smartbunny was right...

His opening comments were "This is going to be an explosive round....." He certainly got that right.

The grenadiers got off a few more shots, one of which caught on my AI as it approached. This blast took out the AI, the HQ and the grenadiers. Also, one of their grenades took out one of my XT's and has badly wounded the other.

That leaves me with 1 XT, 1 MT and a scanner against his troops.

He also has a sniper closing in on my Scanner, so I'm hot-footing it out of there, hopefully I'll avoid getting shot in the back.

I'm going to try to use my last XT to get some intel on his position i the right hard section in the hope that I can use my missiles to good effect. There are a lot of metal walls there, and his troops are pretty bunched up.

Safety

... of a kind.

The sniper doubled back so my Scanner was able to move without getting spotted. The Commander is approaching but I should be able to move to a hidden position before he can get a glimpse of me.

The positions of the other troops mean I might be able to get a couple of missiles off and take out the grunt and medic. The current score is 16:17 which means I may go into the lead. I dont think I'll be able to give him the runaround for another 18 turns though...

17 each

My missile took out the medic and has badly wounded the grunt. His Commander looks to be running off towards my HQ with the other medics in tow. His sniper is also moving up the outside corridor, either planning on attacking my MT or HQ again.

I'm going to shoot another missile towards the grunt, then one towards the doorway the sniper will pop out of. That'll leave me with a single missile...

I'll need to try to rearm if at all possible but failing that I'll have to try to give him the runaround if I can get ahed on points. This doesnt look good to me...

Oh dear

Well, that didn't quite turn out how I'd hoped.

His Sniper doubled-back, so the missile Id sent flying that way went into thin air. Also, the grunt ran up nice and close, taking it out of the way of my missile damage. The grunt then destroyed the MT (although he did get killed in the explosion.

That leaves me with a single XT against his remaining troops. A single XT with a single point of health...

I'm moving it back towards the HQ a little as its also only got 8 ammo left. Just in case this XT has some Terminator code in it and decided it wants to kill all those pesky marines then it'll need to reload at some point. Wishful thinking...?

Oh Dear - Take 2

Smart bunnies Commander made good time legging it around the map, arriving just in time to destroy the explosive barrels next to my HQ. Ok, maybe not the best deployment choice there, but it served its purpose for a while... I think I'm going to have to go toe-to-toe with the Commander here, hopefully using the Scanner as a diversion.

This could well be the final turn...

Thats it

My XT didnt even get a shot off, how disappointing...

You can view the wholegame here