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[Seriyu]

Alright, let's get started. WITH MORE DIALOGUE

Yurika: Ruri, is that the same unit from the last battle?
Ruri:Yes. The Greimkaiser. Mr. Asuka said its pilot is a man named Gale.
Yurika:All right, everyone! We have to overcome this! All units, launch!

And we get our first unit selection screen! As of now we still don't have enough units to have to actually, uh, select them, but it'll come into play soon enough.

Melua:......
Calvina:Melua, are you sure about this?
Melua:Y-Yes, I'm fine. I just... Don't like this very much...
Calvina:Of course not. We still have to do this, though. Even if you don't like it, if you want to survive and protect Bellzelute, we have to fight. I'm counting on you, Melua.
Melua:Yes!



Eiji:...Loud and clear.
Gale:I'll try to reason with you one last time. If you don't surrender, you will be branded a traitor and killed. Julia will be very sad to hear that.
Eiji:...She doesn't have anything to do with this.
Gale: But that doesn't change the fact that your death will sadden her greatly. I don't want to kill you, either, of course. Eiji, please! Surrender and come back home!
Eiji:I accept, as long as Grados ends its plan to invade the Earth.



Do you honestly believe you can change that at this point?! Commander, he has no intention of surrendering. We're waisting our time. He shall be dealt with in the same manner befitting all Earthlings!

Gale:Be silent, Liutenant. Eiji... Why don't you just give up?
Eiji:...Forgive me, Gale. In order to protect these children, I have to go to the Earth. That is my cause.
Gale:You will come to regret this, Eiji.
Eiji:Perhaps, but until then...
Gale:(Julia... Can you forgive me for losing your younger brother?) Eiji, you and the Earthings cannot be allowed to escape. If you're that determined to leave Mars, then I'm afraid I won't be able to hold back, either. You'll be exterminated along with the rest of them. Is that clear?
Eiji: I'm ready.
Gale:...Karla, give the attack signal.
Karla: Yes, sir!
Calvina: Okay, let's begin. All units, engage the enemy. If you want to return to Earth, don't let the enemy get close to the Nadesico! Is that clear? Good luck!
Despite that "Don't let enemies get close to the Ndesico" thing, this is still a standard mission with standard objectives. Also of note is, if you pick Touya, he is not the commander of your forces, he's just kinda around.

TURN ONE!




First things first, I land all my units that can be landed. Why? Because if you're moving through the air, you use energy, that can be used for other valuble things, such as attacks or barriers. I've been doing this before too, I just forgot to bring it up. Probably better that I kind've ration information anyway. There is one reason to leave them in the air, and that is if they have a better rank in air terrain then they do on the ground, which rarely happens unless you: 1. Can't land them at all, or 2. Have equipped them with a part that gives them a better rank in the air. There's no denying how useful flight can BE, don't get me wrong, there just aren't a lot of those situations in these games, and certainly not in this map, where it's almost all flat normal terrain. Anyway, moving on...

... To skip the turn and let them approach, since they're pretty close to me already, and why not get the first shot off? Well, okay, I moved the nadesico up a little.

ENEMY PHASE

A skullgunner pulls in and attacks combattler.







Yep. I guess it did fairly decent damage this time, so good on him for that. A second skullgunner attacks aphrodite, damaging it for about 1.2k and getting countered for the majority of it's health. A batta does the same. Aphrodite's actually in pretty bad shape now, given it's only turn two. I need to start putting softer units on the inside of the formation at the start of the turn.

TURN TWO!

I missed the overview somehow. Basically all the enemy units moved down and to the right.

Let's discuss those companion bonuses I was talking about earlier. Look at this image here.



You'll note the blue dots and heart. Blue dot is a friendship bonus, they give a small bonus to hit and evade, The hearts give a large bonus. Frankly, I've never noticed any huge change, but to be fair I've never really looked for it either. Let's see how much this effects things, eh? First akito attacks a skullgunner, with rapid rifle. 100% chance to hit, 55 chance for the enemy to hit. We cancel that move, and move ryoko up and attack with rapid rifle. 100% to hit, 100% enemy to hit. She attacks, hits it, almsot kills it, gets smacked in return. Kay. Now remember, ryoko gets a love bonus from Akito, but Akito gets a friendship bonus from Ryoko. So let's see how much friendship effects these things...



Yow. That's not too bad. And that's just friendship! We'll see what love bonuses can do, next turn. Akito finishes the skullgunner depicted off. Buldy blasts a Batta, nearly kills it, Bellzelute finishes it off.






Mazinger Z one shots a batta with breast fire. I suppose when I said Mazinger Z was a tank, I wasn't entirely honest, because it still hits pretty damn hard too, and hits comparably with Combattler V after Mazinpower activates, sometimes even harder. Really it's only weakness is a lack of movement, which all supers have to some degree. The Nadesico blows up a batta with a gravity cannon. Still a hit rate of 100%, too. Again, prologue stages, for the most part. Annnd aphrodite finishes off a skullgunner that took a shot at her last turn. Blue earth flies up to Ryoko and heals her, with the intent of getting to aphrodite next turn, although I think she'll be fine. Layzner hammers a batta, and shoots down the missles it fires in retaliation. Combattler V finishes it off for him with twin lancer.






Baybull attacks a skullgunner, and does just above half his health, on top of having a 48% chance to be hit. That's fine for these first few stages, since the bosses don't really require more then a unit or two to kill, but it's something we'll have to get over faaaaairly soon. Izumi and Gai smack around a batta near Aphrodite A, lowering the enemy count near her to one. She'll prolly be fine presuming the AI doesn't pull a fast one.

ENEMY PHASE

A katanbo attacks Combattler V, and gets a big blast in the... hull, I guess, as a prize. Only 1.8k damage. Part of this is because the distortion field they (and we, on some units) have is one of the stronger barriers in the game, knocking off 800 of standard attacks, and a decent 1000 off of beam attacks. A Skullgunner attacks Combattler V, and he counters with the rarely seen, V laser. Let's take a look.





.... Wow. V laser could've almost one shotted him. How did that happen? I'm beginning to think there's some modifier for beam weapons that adds to their lethality somehow. Maybe they ignore a portion of armor? Hmm. I'll look into this. Anyway, it explodes in standard fashion.



As seen here. Combattler is attacked again, and one shotted in response. Big Blast is now out of ammo. I love that thing, it has such good coverage for counterattacks. Can hit flying enemies, has excellent attack pwer, has a very long range on it, pretty much a free counter. Only 3 ammo is it's main downside, and I don't think it's quite worth chucking ten will for another set of them. Mazinger is attacked by a katanbo, and counters with rocket punch. 1.5k damage. Heading back to normalcy, a batta attacks combattler V. Combattler is already at 2.9k HP, out of 7500. We'll pull him back to be repaired after this turn. Combattler defends. The final batta attacks aprhodite A, and gets knocked off the mortal coil for the trouble. The right side of the map is now clear, we could probably set up shop on that ridge there. It has a nice terrain bonus to it. Sayaka gets a level for the kill, she's at 5 now, which I think is actually more then most of our combat pilots now.

Karla in her dimage, runs up and attacks baybull with knuckle shot. Since she's got a 43% chance to hit, I evade, as she could prolly one shot him, if not set him up for a oneshot by another guy (Probably gale.)



He gets hit anyway. Eeeeeeeeee.

Luckily gale stays back, leaving baybull safe. Secondary charecters, I tell yah. Still ate a "sub boss" attack, so that's not bad.

TURN THREE!




Now, let's see. I move Nadesico north, and have focus hikaru and have her attack a braver near Karla. Nearly gets him. I alert Akito (100% chance to dodge one attack), and have him finish off said braver. Works out.I focus and move coustwell up near the ridge, so Calvina can have some nice defensive terrain to attack from, and attack a katanbo with shot launcher while I'm at it. I forgot that Daisaku (one of the combattler V pilots) had "Guts" which restores all HP, so I have him use that instead of pulling it back for repairs. 5000 HP gained. Lovely. I move it to the left and clear otu the last batta, in an attempt to keep enemies from dogpiling it next turn, and immediately undoing that 40 SP's worth of healing. Eiji blasts a braver with calf missles, and baybull FOCUSES (30% to hit and evade, in case some of you less aquainted folks have forgotten, I hope this'll turn out to be enough to keep him safe in the coming turn) and finshes it off. I also move Mazinger up to help cover Baybull, he misses the iron cutter though. Gai casts wall, and hits Karla with a Gai Super Upper in return for getting knocked out by her last map. Izumi contributes to the effort, and takes her out. She escapes again. We get a Chobham Armor, a Cartridge, a Melee +5, and a Support Def+1 for the trouble. Ryoko finishes off the turn attacking the damaged katanbo with Wired Fist.










Ryoko's a pretty solid melee aesti pilot, if you hate Gai's tendency to get hit. Basically less damage for more dodge.

ENEMY PHASE!

The braver that dodged Mazinger Z's rocket punch last turn tempts fate and attacks him again.







It is a fatal mistake. Koji Levels up to five, and gets his first defensive spirit in the Wall spirit (Lowers damage from one attack to ten, a really nice spirit in a real or a dodgy super.) Mazinpower also activates. Another braver attacks Mazinger Z, and gets trashed for it. A Katanbo decides to have a shootout with the Nadesico, and takes a lump for it. The second Katanbo follows suit. Gale rushes up and attacks Mazinger Z, considering Koji's got a 38% chance to hit Gale, I defend.






Koji as ever remains optimistic. Good man. He worked excellently as cover.

TURN FOUR!




Three more units. Time to clean up. Let's test out that love bonus. With no love, ryoko has a 50% chance to be hit by a katanbo, and a 100% chance to hit. With love... ...A 46% chance to be hit, and a 100% chance to hit? That seems a little wonky. Hmmmm. Maybe it goes the other way, being near a person that loves a unit, rather then a unit that loves the one near it, gives a bigger bonus. Hmm. Either way, got something out of this. As a note friendship/Love bonuses CAN STACK! So Akito between Ryoko and Nadesico, while surrounded by Aestivalises would be getting a pretty amazing boost.

Anyway, Ryoko attacks the katanbo, gets hit, and the offensive support by baybull finishes it off. I have Koji use guts, as he was pretty banged up (Of note, Koji has like, 80 SP at this point, it's a rediculous amount at this level. Really nice.) Eiji, Combattler, and Koji soften up the remaining katanbo, (leaving it with 5 HP, wow) and Baybull finishes it off. Only Gale now. Calvina takes a shot, has a 57% chance to hit, but no counterattack. Let's see how that goes.

Calvina:The Greimkaiser... So you're the enemy ace, Ahmos Gale. Let's see how I fare against you.
Gale:Seems like that's an Earthling command unit... Interesting! I'm interested in seeing how well you can fight.




GOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL Nicely done. Cut his HP in half. Izumi attacks him and finishes him, to my surprise, with wired fist. So much for that flashy team attack ending. Oh well. We get an HE Radar.

A spark appears on gale's robot

Gale:I've taken too much damage. I can't control the unit! Their combat ability is admittedly fairly good, but they won't be able to take me out... Yes, I can still withdraw. Give the attack order to the 2nd wave!
Ruri:Enemy command unit still active.
Eiji:Gale!
Ruri:2nd wave approaching.


Look who it is!

Gale:What? Gosterro, is that you?! What's the meaning of this?! You should be under arrest for going against regulations during the last battle. Why are you here?!
Gosterro:You want to know, eh? Heheheh... I'm here for THIS!

He fires on gale's unit

Ruri: The new enemy nits are attacking the command unit.
Yurika:Huh? What?
Gale:What do you think you're doing?!
Gosterro: Ha! I'll just tell them you died in battle, shot down tragically by stupid Earth monkeys! Hyaaahahahaha! I'll take both you and that hussy Julia down with this!

He fires again, and gale's unit turns yellow, indicating neutrality.

Gale:Guh...
Ryoko:What the hell?!
Koji:They're fighting amongst themselves?!
Eiji:Gale?! Gale, please answer me! Gale!
GosterroHaaahahaha! So, Eiji! Want to go with him too? I've got one-way passes for the both of you... A trip to hell, first-class!
Eiji:You're... Gosterro?! Why did you shoot him?! He's your ally!
Gosterro: Gahahahahah... Quit your prattling! I just want to kill. There are no allies or enemies to me! Although... maybe I should finish gale's work? He was such a BORE, really... Killing you is all I care about, Eiji! Hyahahahahahaha!
Eiji:Rrghh... I'll never forget this, Gosterro!
Hyoma:What a nutjob! He doesn't care if his target is friend or foe?!
Gale:Ugh... Why... Where am I?
Eiji:Gale!
Gosterro:Tch! You're still alive, eh?! THis time I'll send you straight to hell!
Eiji:Stop, please! Everyone, we have to save Gale!
Noal:You want us to help the enemy commander? C'mon, kid! Don't you remember?! He tried to kill US, too!
David:Eiji...
Ruri:Captain, what are we going to do?
Yurika:We'll help him! What's that saying? "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"?
Gai:Oooh, that's right! I can feel the fire burning!
Ryoko:Hey, this is serious, Gai!
Prospector:But Captain, that kind of simplicity is just... *sigh*
Yurika:Even if we help him, we can't be any worse off then we are now.



I would normally let you guys pick this, but it's linked to a secret. So, approve.

Calvina:Well, I see no problem with it.
Akito:Don't even joke! I'm against it! He's the enemy... the same foe who committed genocide on the people of Mars! Why the hell do we have to save him now?!
Juzo: Saving him could come in handy later. Right, guys?
Ryoko:Hey, who knows? Guess this means we can't let them shoot down that command unit, huh?
Eiji: I'm counting on you everyone!



And as they said, we now can't let gale shot down. He is immobile and won't counterattack. I believe he will constantly evade. Autopilot I guess? Who knows. Anyway, this CAN be hard, if you manage to kill Gale with a huge longrange attack from far away so his unit lands quite a distance away from you, because if the enemy forces get to him before you do, you're pretty much done, as he only has ten HP left. Luckily we are fairly close and can get our units in front of him before the enemy gets to him, which pretty much neuters the threat, depending on how far away we engage from Gale. Needless to say it can get dicey if they're fairly close to him, but even then it's just more important to push forward uniformly through the enemy forces, so a random batta can't slip past us and kill him, rather then just kinda clubbing the hell out of the center of them, and leaving two "wings" on our sides enveloping us like we've been doing recently. Anyway.

ENEMY PHASE

Buncha stuff moves up towards us. No attacks.

TURN FIVE!




Moved a few units again. The three dark ones moved straight up as far as they could, as they were pretty far out. Gonna have to move bellzelute off of that perch, given where Gale landed. Oh well. I move everyone up a bit.

ENEMY PHASE

A batta gets one shotted by a gravity cannon, and one attacks hikaru from out of her attack range in an amazing display of favorable tactical decision making. A skullgunner attacks the Nadesico too. The nadesico took no damage from either of these attacks. Its will has gone up, so it takes less damage, so the barrier it has can reduce damage to nothing now. Nice. All five Nadesico pilots get a level. No new spirits.

Another batta attacks hikaru from out of range, and a second batta bounces off of the nadesico ineffectually and explodes. A batta, following the good example of the other two, attacks akito from out of his attack range. Unfortunatly for him, he has litterally no chance to hit him.



Akito shoots down the attack anyway, presumably to make the batta feel a bit better about himself. Skullgunner bounces off the nadesico, and gets one shotted by MISSLES of all things. Wow. However, this is a good time to explain the IFS, Image Feedback System, the ability that Ruri, and all of the aestivalis pilots have. Basically, a normal unit, when its will goes up, gains very small amounts of all around stats. Maybe 1 per ten will. Nothing major, but a nice bonus on top of unlocking their better attacks, such as double gekigan flare. An IFS unit gains much better stats, +1 to every stat, for every five morale. Much better! Keep in mind stats act as multipliers for armor/mobility stats of mechs, and you'll realize how nice this can be. Ergo, by now, the missles are doing much more damage due to the increased stats from will improvements. I dunno if IFS is coming into play for the Nadesico, since Ruri is not the main pilot. I don't THINK it is. Anyway. Gosterro's small group of bravers pull closer, but gosterro stays put. He knows what's up.

TURN SIX!




They're pulling in closer, time to start round two. I have Aphrodite A, Blue Earth, and Buldy repair Baybull, for all the kills he pulled off at low HP during the last combat turns. He's almost back to max. I also arrange the girls, Hikaru, Izumi, and Ryoko for a team attack. Ranged attack formation!






Nothing too flashy, but it gets the job done, wasting that skullgunner. Now that we have the morale for it, as long as these three stay in the nadesico's gravity wave beam field, they can spam them with no downside. We will be doing just that. Gai moves into position with Akito, and one shots a Batta with rapid rifle. I unfortunatly, next turn, find out since we're in the ground frames, they can't use any melee team attacks on flying enemies, unfortunatly. Oh well. Akito takes a shot at one shotting a batta with rapid rifle, but it's left with 500 HP. Oh well. I guess Gai has nice ranged stats too. Not bad. Mazinger Z hauls up and one shots a batta with photon beam. Yeah, this is a curbstomp. Because we are rad as hell. Nadesico pulls up and finishes off a batta, leaving only the one with 500 HP.

ENEMY PHASE!

A katanbo pulls up and attacks Mazinger Z, who counters with rust hurricane, so as to make it a bit softer for the others. The first few missions really just toss battleships all over the place, it's kinda nuts.




He does the same to the second Katanbo. Mazinger does not care about your armor. Incidentally his energy is looking a little low. Hmm. Two skullgunners attack Combattler V, getting oneshotted. All of the combattler V pilots get another level, up to six. No new spirits. A batta fires some missles at the Nadesico, actually managing to do some damage this time. Insanity! Maybe the batta's have prevail, for... some reason. No more left to check unfortunatly. A skullgunner pulls up and is once more one shotted by photon beam. Not a good day to be a grunt.





Gosterro finally gets moving after his entire vanguard is in pieces. Good move there, fella.

TURN SEVEN!


Only have the overview for... some reason. Hmm. Most of the enemies are in the frame anyway. Two bravers up and to the left, along with gosterro.

I have Aphrodite, Buldy, and Blue Earth repair combattler, and have Melua use Trust (2000 HP to any unit on your side, pretty nice.) on Bellzelute, on top of Calvina focusing. Bellzelute then rushes into the fray, and blasts a katanbo with shot launcher, as it's out of range AGAIN, and it's about time it got a decent shot off I feel. IIIII am not good with sniper units sometimes. I have Mazinger fall back to Baybull, and have him resupply Mazinger, getting 145 energy back for ten will from Koji. I dunno how worth it it was, given that he had 30 energy left, and he had, so far, been one shotting enemies with photon beam, which only costs five, but eh. David got a level out of it, level five, no new spirits. Eiji pew pews a katanbo with lasered rifle, only a 9% chance to be hit with no focus on Eiji. His evasion is still holding up very nicely. Combattler V attempts to finish off the Katanbo with Super EM-YoYo, but unfortunatly, Combattler does not have a Mazinpower equivelent, and as such is kind've lagging on damage this late in the stage. Oh well. He's still not nearly as energy dependant as Mazinger, and has five pilots worth of SP on top of it. Another ranged formation attack from Hikaru takes down the Katanbo, (A team attack only uses the turn of the person that initiated it, incidentally, but takes the energy required from all pilots, 40 in this case. Every pilot also needs to have the requisite will to pull it off.) leaving one more. Ryoko fires off a Ranged formation attack, doing 4000 damage to the weakened katanbo, and Izumi launches another one, leaving the Nadesico's gravity wave beam field briefly to do so, unfortunatly not quite destroying it. The Nadesico pulls up, getting Izumi back into the field, and attacks the katanbo with missles. Still not dead. Gai rushes in and finishes it with a Gai Super Upper. He gains a level and a support attack. Maybe gai'll turn out okay after all.

Akito follows his lead, and blasts a braver with rapid rifle, not quite one shotting it. Hmm. If we want to keep using Akito, a small weapon upgrade couldn't hurt him, maybe a pip or two.

ENEMY PHASE!

The braver akito attacked then uses guts and heals all the damage he did. This is part of the reason. More advanced grunts, and commanders/people with unique portraits can have spirits, and are not shy about using them, when they do have them. It then closes in and attacks the Nadesico.







Wow, two hundred damage, and he got one shotted in return. Nadesico pilots even got a level from it. Level six, no new spirits. The second braver does the SAME THING AS THE FIRST ONE, AND SOMEHOW MANAGES TO DO LESS DAMAGE. WE EVEN GET A PROPELLANT TANK FROM HIM FOR SOME REASON. Gosterro attacks Akito, being, presumably, wiser then his compatriots.







Welp.

Gosterro:What?! How dare you! Damn, when I'm done with you... There won't even be a trace of you left!

TURN EIGHT!

No overview because there's one guy, and I get the feeling it'll only take one attack to finish this up. Also because I forgot.

That was not enough to make him pull back, despite his temper tantrum there. Bellzelute attacks him, since it hasn't had much luck this battle.









Finishing him. Well done. Melua get's a level, she's level five now. No new spirits. We get a Servo motor, and a Range +5

Gosterro:D-Dammit! No way in hell're you killing me here! I'll be back! Back to tear every last one of you apart, limb by limb!

He retreats.

Eiji:Gale, are you all right?!
Gale:Eiji...? You're still alive... I must have fainted. It seems your friends held Gosterro off.
Eiji:Gale, they helped you!
Gale:I... I see.
Looks like he's having second thoughts about this.

Several bravers teleport in and surround him.

Hikaru:No way, more?!
Akito:See?! That's the thanks we get for saving him!
Gale:Cease your attack. Earth forces commander, I am Cdr. Ahmos Gale. You cannot escape from Mars. I'm advising you to give up. We will not mistreat you. Drop your weapons and surrender.
Or not.

Yurika:This is the captain of the High Mobile Battleship Nadesico, Yurika Misumaru. I'm sorry, Cdr. Gale, but we have to refuse. Our duty is to return to Earth, and we'll be taking Mr. Asuka and the others back alive, too!
Gale:...Understood. Exactly what I'd expect from a proud, young soldier. In 10 minutes, we will launch a concentrated attack on your forces, one you have no hope of surviving. If you change your mind, ask Eiji to put you in contact with me. That is all.
He teleports away. Looks like they're gonna stop messing around.

Eiji: Gale, why...?

Tomorrow, ACTION TEXT!

[Seriyu]

After fixing yet another instance of "tomarrow" in the previous post, have another update.

We begin in the Gradosian Army's SPT Tripod Carrier, whatever that is.



Fleet command has given us explicit orders to annhilate Eiji and th e Earthlings. There was no word about the possibility of taking them prisoner.
Gale:...What do you think of them, Karla?
Karla:They're a bunch of traitors and Earthlings, Commander.
Gale:Is that all you see in them? I believe they're humans, just like us.
Karla:I'm at a loss for what kind of point you're trying to make, sir.
Gale:...We'll recommence the attack in 10 minutes. Get ready. I'm counting on you.
Karla:Yes, sir!

Meanwhile, on the Nadesico...



they might have fallen back after the loss of their command unit!
Yurika:I'm sorry, Akito, but I can't fight like that.
Prospector:To reward us for sparing him, he chose to hold back the attack for 10 minutes. Well, at least we bought ourselves some time...
Juzo:But that's practically no time at all!
Ruri:Several mobile weapons have launched from the enemy ship. They're surrounding us.
Koji:Damn! There are way too many!
Simone:It's all over. There are times in life when you have to raise the white flag, even when you've done everything possible to avoid it...
Arthur:Whoa, I think I've heard that before, Simone... Was that Shakespeare or somethin'?
Simone:No, Arthur... Just some advice my father gave me, once.
Prospector:Your father's the head of the reflann royal family, is he not? Those are words of serious consequence, especially at a time like this. Still, we cannot surrender. Even if we do, there's no guarantee we'll be spared.
Festenia:Wait, whaddaya mean by that?!
Inez:Allow me to explain. They annihilated the entire Martian population. That means they see no worth in the existence of Earthlings, at least as far as "Earthlings living on Mars" are concerned. Why they suddenly decided to try and capture us is beyond me, but we can't trust their word. On top of that, the order seems to have been issued on the judgement of Cdr. Gale, who happens to be a relative of Eiji's. I don't believe he would lie to us, but his commanders may not be so lenient. Since they seem to use a military chain of command akin to the UEFA's, there's no guarentee his order won't be overridden by high command.
Inez is basically the mandated plot dump charecter.

Megumi:(Don't tell me... She loves explanations?)
Eiji:...I'll go out in Layzner, to act as a decoy. Use that time to break the circle.
David:What? No! Eiji, even if you're ready to give up your life, I can't let you do that!
Roanne: I agree! Aren't we all in this together, as friends?
Gai:That's right! Nobody's gettin' a cooler death than me! Especially you, Eiji! Just the thought of you having a totally rad death is enough to make me break out in hives! ...And that's why I'm not gonna let you die!
Simone:...What the hell is he talking about?
Ruri:He's always like that. Just ignore him.
Eiji:But, at this rate...!
Izumi:I can see the Grim Reaper. Heheheheh...
Ryoko:Izumi, don't say such stupid, ominous things!
Calvina:So, Capt. Misumaru, what do you want to do? Are we going to resist?
Yurika:Hmm. Admiral, wha- Hey! Where's Adm. Fukube?
Jun: He's still on the Crocus. I thought you knew, Yurika!
Ruri: ...The Crocus has begun to move. It's approaching the Nadesico.
Prospector:Impressive, Admiral. We've got a little more firepower, now.

The ship shakes from an attack.

Aki:Aah! The enemy's recommenced their attack?!
Ruri:No. That was a shell from the Crocus.
Lovely.

Koji: Huh?!
Hyoma: What's he doing?!



If you don't... The next shot will be a direct hit.
Yurika:Admiral...? All right. I understand. All hands, take anti-shock positions! The Nadesico will be entering the Tulip!
Akito:Wait, Yurika! What are you thinking?!
Prospector:That's too reckless! The loss from a decision like that would be... incalculable!
Noal:And won't we end up just like the crew of the Crocus?! Do you want to kill us all?!
Well we could get shot from thirty different directions if you prefer.

Inez: The Nadesico has the Distortion Field. The Crocus didn't.
Also that.

Yurika:Admiral... You're doing this so we can escape, aren't you?
Akito:As if! He's just doing what's convenient for him! He wants us to take the blame for the mission's failure while he escapes on his own!
well you see sir the Nadesico flew into a tulip inexplicibly and then I defeated the gradosian army with a single ship, medal please

Chizuru:But if he stays, the enemy will kill him.
Kosuke:Or he'll be made a prisoner, at the very least.
Minato:We're entering the Tulip. I wonder if we'll survive this one?
The ship shakes again.

Ruri:The enemy's begun attacking. The Crocus is turning around. It's covering us.
Yurika:Admiral, I neeeeeed you! You can't die here! I'll be totally helpless!
Fukube:I don't have anything more to teach you. I'm only doing this to protect something important... Something hidden inside each and every one of you.
Akito:And what's THAT?!
Fukube:I cannot say. But all of you definitely have it. I'm sure that someday you will discover this for yourselves. I wasn't a good Admiral. I wasn't even a good person. Let me tell you this, though: The Nadesico is your ship. Its anger, hatred, sadness, happiness, and love... ...All of that is now yours.
Ruri:The Crocus has exploded. The enemy force is firing on us.
Well, there went our cover. I think this is the only time an anime monologue has directly endangered the protagonists.

Yurika:Oh, no... Admiral...!
Inez: The explosion has damaged the Tulip. The gate will close soon.
Calvina:...We won't make it. We'll be hit by a Gravity blast before we get through. Well, so much for that. We lost the gamble.
Festenia:We'll make it! I know we can, I know we can, I know we can...
Ruri:An Aestivalis has launched from the stern deck.
Three guesses as to who it is.



Akito:Gai?!
Ryoko: When did he...?!
Gai:Leave this to me. Y'see this Nadesico here, alien scumbags? You're not gonna shoot it down without taking Gai Daigoji's life first! Ooh, I'm on fire! On fire, I tells ya!
Akito: Wait, Gai! What are you going to do?!
Gai: Final Blow! Gekigan Final Attack! I'm gonna take this Artillery Frame and Detonate it on top of the enemy ship! That should give you enough time to get the Nadesico out of here! Target Acquired! Here I come! Finaaaaaaaaal Blooooooooow! Gekigan Final ATTAAAAAAACK!

It explodes.

Koji:He did it!
Akito:That was great, Gai!
Ruri: He's stuck there.
Gai:Gah! Now, Uribatake! Send in a Zero-G Battle Frame! I'll use a Cross Crusher and return in the nick of time!
Uribitake:Uh, what? "Cross Crusher"?! The hell are you talking about?! Besides, there's no way I can send you anything in here!
Gai:Whaaaaaaaat?!

Another Explosion.

Akito: Guh... Gai?!
Inez:The entrance has closed. The enemy can no longer follow us... It appears that, at least for the time being, we're saved. Now the question is... What are we going to do?
Ruri:Thanks to Mr. Yamada, the Nadesico is safe. But, it seems his operation failed.
Akito:GAAAAAAAIIIIIII!
I genuinely kinda feel bad for Akito here.

Yurika: Akito... I don't know what's going to happen from here, but... ...All hands, remain on standby!

We've lost both Gai and Fukube, unfortunatly. Maybe we'll see them again someday...

ANYWAY. Standard selections. We have....

82405 money. ANy upgrades to be done?

Modules are - Melee+5 Range+5 Support defense +1 (gives another support defense slot)

Parts are - Servo Motor, HE Radar, Chobham armor.

HE Radar adds one range to every attack that doesn't have a range of 1 to begin with, or is a MAP attack. Probably our first really significant part. Now, for charts. I'm adding a chart of units that have upgrades, and what stuff they currently have. If a section is blank, they don't have anything added in that section.

Upgrade costs:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

HP
1st pip = 2000
2nd pip = 4000
Goes up by 2000 each pip.

EN
1st pip = 1000
2nd - 3rd = 2000
1st pip is 100, from there on every two pips it goes up by 1000.

Mobility
1st pip = 5000
2nd pip = 8000
3rd = 10000
4th = 13000
5th 15000
Every first pip goes up by 3000, second pip by 2000, 3rd by 3000, etc. Alternates.

Armor
1st pip = 3000
2nd pip = 8000
3rd = 8000
4th = 10000
5th = 15000
6th = 20000
7th = 25000
Increases linearly from there.

Weapons.... are all over the place, depending on how many weapons they have. Just ask to upgrade weapons, either before or after normal upgrades and if possible I'll throw it in. I'd save a about 15 thousand even for the initial upgrades.

Unit Upgrades/Parts/Modules:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Modules, if nothing is mentioned, they cannot be equipped with modules.
Yurika: 2 Empty Slots
Ruri: 2 Empty Slots
Hyoma: 2 Empty Slots
Izumi: 3 Empty Slots
Calvina: 2 Empty Slots
Koji: Defense +5, 1 Empty Slot
Sayaka: 4 Empty Slots
David: 3 Empty Slots
Eiji: Evade +5, 1 Empty Slot
Akito: 2 Empty Slots
Roanne:3 Empty Slots
Noal: 3 Empty Slots
Aki: 3 Empty Slots
Ryoko: 2 Empty Slots
Hikaru: 3 Empty Slots

Parts.
Nadesico: Booster, 3 Empty Slots
Combattler V: 2 Empty Slots
Mazinger Z: Chobham Armor, 1 Empty Slot
Aphrodite A: 4 Empty Slots
Baybull: 4 Empty Slots
Aestivalis Akito: 3 Empty Slots
Aestivalis Ryoko: 3 Empty Slots
Aestivalis Hikaru: 3 Empty Slots
Aestivalis Izumi: 3 Empty Slots
Bellzelute: 2 Empty Slots
Buldy: 4 Empty Slots
Layzner: Servo Motor, 2 Empty Slots
Blue Earth: 4 Empty Slots

Upgrades, If a unit is not mentioned, it is not upgraded at all. If a stat is not mentioned on a unit, it is not upgraded at all. The format is as follows

Unit Name
HP: Number of pips filled/Max Pips
EN:Number of pips/Max Pips
Mobility: "/"
Armor: "/"
Weapons: "/"
Swap: "/" (Only on battleships, allows us to swap out a deployed unit with a nondeployed unit, honestly not terribly useful. I just added it to the upgrade price chart today because I honestly forgot about it! If you could swap out predeployed units we'd be talking, but you can't unfortunatly.

Nadesico
EN: 3/10

Mazinger Z
EN: 2/15 (He has a max of 15 on all stats, this is a part of the benefit of favoriting a series. As a note with our current money, we could max out Mazinger's Energy stat entirely, all 15 pips, and still have 14k left over. EN is REALLY cheap.)

Bellzelute
EN: 2/10
Weapons: 2/10

Layzner
Mobility: 1/5

And finally

I ramble about concerns and whatnot with our current robot situation.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Kay, as mentioned in the update, Akito is having trouble one shotting random grunts, even at max will, with the IFS skill. On the upside he's dodging VERY well. Bellzelute is doing fairly well, a bit more damage couldn't hurt. Mazinger Z is doing fantastic, maybe a bit more energy though. Annnd Aphrodite A could use a bit more armor.

Do note that again, these are fairly minor concerns at this stage of the game, and even late into the game, an unupgraded unit with no equips can still hold out fairly well assuming you've been using it, and you don't just toss iti nto a pile of enemies, so take this more as suggestions if you just can't think of anything to do with the money. Likewise if you are holding out cash for a future unit you really wanna upgrade heavily, that's fine too.

I'll see you all in a few days! Lemme know opinions and such. especially on that HE radar, as it's actually uhh, meaningful. Not that upgrades aren't, of course.

[EuchreJack]

The HE Radar has to be put on the Bellzelute.  It needs all the range boosting we can give it.

Strap an armor part on Aphrodite A, no sense wasting actual money on it.

I'm not certain I want to spend money on the Aestivalis.  Will there be maximum unit numbers in future missions?  If so, the Aestivalis seems to be a "use all or none" type of robot.  As stated, Akito would probably rock if he was surrounded by Aestivalis, and we've seen the power of the three Aestivalis ladies together, but we're talking four units that need to be deployed.

Despite all that, I'm sort of tempted to help Akito out.  But how much will reliance on the Aestivalis force cripple us?

[Seriyu]

Aestivalises are.... decent. I'd call them fairly middle of the road, but I dunno about that, the distortion field is PRETTY good, but on the other hand, Gai, the best user of the field, due to his fairly high defense is now gone.

But yes, the only way you're going to get major damage out of aestivalises is team attacks, due to their small size they take a damage penalty on most enemies (most enemies are M), and Akito just lost his team attack partner. We will eventually have an upper limit on units.

However...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Later on we will be getting a guaranteed upgrade to a single aestivalis. The game puts Akito into it, but we can swap anyone we want into it.There's also another, even better unlockable aestivalis later on in the game. So if you really want to use Aesties, there are a handful of upgrades later, one of them guarenteed.

[Seriyu]

Reminder, update is tomorrow (or maybe the day after, depending on how my dentist visit treats me), so if anyone hasn't gotten their two cents in, now is the time!

EDIT: IT will be tomorrow indeed.

[Seriyu]

Update on the way, HE radar going onto bellzelute, Chobham armor going onto aphrodite A, Second servo motor going onto Layzner, All the cash staying put.

Melee +5 going onto Hyoma
Range +5 going onto Calvina
Annnd Koji gets a support defense +1.

[Seriyu]

Annnnnnnnnnd weeeeeee'reeeeee baaaaaacccccckkkkk

Short text this time.





Wake up, everyone. Hey, you. Helloooooooo... Wake up, everyone. Captain, this is no place to take a nap. Wake up.


Mostly to note that this font has a "heart" charecter.

Ruri:Captain... Captain! Wake up, Captain!
Yurika:Huh?! Ah... Why, good morning Ruri... What happened? Where are we?
Ruri:We've returned to normal space. No abnormalities detected. It appears we've returned to the Earth Sphere without any serious issues.
Megumi: Ugh.... Whoa, we're back? We've returned in one piece?!
Prospector:So it appears...

The ship moves closer to earth...

David:We've returned, huh... Hahahaha, take a good look at that! We made it back to Earth, guys!
Arthur: I can't believe it! I never thought I would live to see it again! Have we REALLY been saved?!



I'm terrified that I'm going to wake up back on Mars any minute now.
Uhhh... Maybe supposed to be pinch? Hmm. U is right next to I on the keyboard.

Arthur:P-Please don't says stuff like that, Roanne. David's an awfully suggestible guy...
Simone:*chuckle* You guys are just too much! Still, if we've really managed to make it back, then...
Eiji:So... That planet is Earth.
Anna:That's right, Eiji!
Aki:That's our homeland, the planet you wanted to see so much.
Koji:*chuckle* So, how do you feel?
Eiji:Happy. Truly happy. It's a beautiful planet, just as I expected. I came here to ensure that it retains that sparkle.
Yurika:Too bad it's in such a dire state right now, but aaaaanyway... ...Mr. Eiji Asuka, allow me to welcome you to our planet!
You don't know the half of it. Or the tenth of it, for that matter.

Inez:I think it's still a little early for that, Captain.
Noal: Yeah. The Jovian Lizards ae roaming the Earth Sphere, and there's also the PLANT-Federation war going on. I wonder what's going on back on that blue orb of ours...?
Ruri:Still confirming.
Calvina:Well, there's the Earth...
Festenia: ...You don't seem to happy to see it again, Calvina.
Calvina: It's not that I'm unhappy to be back, it's just that...
Melua:Just... what?
Calvina:...Returning here doesn't have much meaning for me.
Katia:......
Akito:Wha...? Hey, where's Akito?
Juzo:Isn't he locked up in his room? He's sure been through a lot, lately.
Megumi:Yes, especially after what happened to Mr. Yamada...
Yurika:Akito... The only one who can comfort him is me, his lover. Wait for me, sweetie! I'm coming! Wait. Ruri, what was that just now?
Ruri:Seems a nearby UEFA battalion is engaged in battle.
Ryoko:Already?! So who're the opponents? Jovian Lizards? Or maybe ZAFT?!
Noal:Doesn't matter who it is. We gotta avoid contact with the UEFA, no matter what.
Prospector: Indeed.



Yurika:They're fighting amongst THEMSELVES, then? Well, since this is Nergal's only warship and all...
That's an.... odd conclusion to come to.

Koji:Don't forget that the Mechabeasts and Reclaimers can't get into outer space.
Note: Mechabeasts are the primary antagonist of the Mazinger series, we haven't seen any yet. If we'd picked Touya, the first mission would've been fighting them with the Mazinger crew. Reclaimers are from Brain Powerd, and are hunting those plates that the random cutscene earlier with hime and brain was detailing. Yuu was a reclaimer. Anyway.

Ruri:Living heat signitures detected. Whatever it is that's fighting the army isn't comprised of mobile weapons. They're probably lifeforms.
HMMM.

Aki:Lifeforms? What do you mean?
Izumi:Aggressive movement from the still-life-forms... How strange... Heh... Hahahahahaah!
Ryoko:Enough with the... whatever you call that, Izumi!
Inez:They seem to be some kind of unknown lifeforms, native to space. Or... perhaps they're some kind of biological weapon?
Hikaru:Maybe they're the REAL Jovian Lizards!
It's kind've troubling to me that Hikaru of all people came up with the most stable, logical answer.

Prospector: I'm not so sure about that...
David: Eiji?
Eiji:No, they definately aren't Gradosian.
Yurika;Sooooo... What are they?
Ruri:Federation forces annihilated... They're coming our way.
Time to find out!

Hyoma:They're going to attack us?!
Yurika:Well, yeah, isn't that obvious?! Phase Transition Engines, full power! We have to escape!
Minato:No good! The engines are still heavily damaged from our time on Mars!
Ruri:Output at half capacity. We cannot run away.
Yurika:Hmph... In that case, prepare for combat at once! Concentrate engine output in order to maintain the Field. All hands, to battle stations! Be ready to attack the enemy as soon as they're in range!

In the hangar...



Ryoko:Maybe you should come to the bridge next time, dumbass! It's the enemy! Some unknowns are attacking the ship!
Akito:Enemy? Unknowns? Ryoko, what do you mean?! Aren't they just some Jovian Lizards or something?
Koji: That's exactly why we're so confused. First they trashed some Feddies, and now they're gunning for us. Seems like they're some kinda space lifeforms or somethin'.
Akito:Space lifeforms?!
Noal:We don't have time to discuss this now! We'll straighten everything out once we get back to the Outer Space Development Group! For now, all we know is they're coming for our heads, and we gotta defend the ship!
David:Eiji, Roanne, you come too! You've finally made it back to the Earth you yearned for so desperately. There's no damn way you'reg onna die now!
Eiji:Roger!
Calvina: Prepare for takeoff. I don't care who, just get out there!
Katia:Calvina...
Calvina:What is it?
Katia: I suspect you already know this, but we simply act as your interface with the machine's system. All we can do is follow your lead, one at a time.
Calvina: Yeah, I gathered.
Katia: But since you're the most battle-hardened person out of the four of us, we want you to choose which one of us goes with you. That okay?
Calvina:Oh, I see... Understood.
Festenia:So uh, do I get to go today? Huh? Huh?

Yep! New choice. Pick one of the three. We will be using the one you pick for the entire game, because if I recall correctly, if we don't we lose a decent attack later down the line. They're all decent decisions frankly. And yes they're all wearing rediculous clothes.





Spirits are...

Melua: Cheer - Give an ally double exp for their next action (Primarily used to increase exp from bosses. Excellent, but I often forget to use it.) Trust - Give an ally 2000 HP. She adds 300 armor and 1 movement. Movement is always nice, and armor isn't terrible either. Not terribly relevent to Bellzelute as a mech, but still nothing horrible. Melua is a "support" subpilot, having a lot of buffs and general enhancing spirits.

Katia: Bless - Give an ally double credits for their next action. See cheer. Break - An EXCELLENT spirit, that bypasses any defensive subskills for a single attack. For instance, break would go through the distortion field katanbo's have. Wonderful Wonderful Wwwwwwonderful spirit. Adds 1 Weapon range and +10 mobility. Obviously the most immediately relevent for Bellzelute.Katia is... honestly kind've supporty, with some kinda odd offensive spirits. Somewhere in the middle maybe? I've never used her.

Festenia: Guts - Restores HP to max. Fury - Causes all attacks on the turn to be a critical hit. Fairly decent offensive spirit, and Guts, while not terribly good for a real robot (You could probably get close to a full heal in most cases with trust, for half the SP, with how low their HP is, and bellzelute is no exception, with a startlingly low 3800 max HP) is still an excellent safety net if the RNG decides to smack you upside the head via hitting you with a 3% chance to hit, which will happen way too often. (Which is to say, like, twice, maybe) Adds  200 weapon strength, and 10%(?) to crit rate. Obviously the offensive subpilot, not a terrible choice. I'm willing to bet she will get the best spirit in the game for offense, which we will cover when we get there.

Make your decisions! They each have different spirits, and each give a different bonus to the robot. I'll be back in a couple of days. This IS the last major decision for a bit, so don't worry. We'll be back to killin stuff right after this decision.

[USEC_OFFICER]

I'd go with Melua, since you can never have too much movement. Katia would be okay too.

[Burnt Pies]

I vote Katia; the range and dodging boost will be much more useful on a Real Robot than Armour is, and while I like the movement boost, I feel it loses out to range.

[EuchreJack]

Agree with Burnt, range is too awesome to pass up.

[Frumple]

Yeah, for Belz, you usually want to go with Katia; not enough reaction (? Th'attack after move stuff. I'm not entirely sure why my brain is wanting to call them that) weapons to really benefit from +movement and attack/crit is usually <<< +movement or weapon range stuff. Mobility is also usually better on a real than armor, as BP says, too, soo... play to dem strengths.

There's definitely times when some stacked up movement bonuses can make things particularly silly, though. Just... not as silly as stacked weapon range bonuses. Yesh I wants to hit from like thirteen squares away, wheeee. Yeah, yeah, I could probably have a higher effective striking range with more movement, but I think I'd rather sit on this 30% EN regen tile and just spew death at you from over here.

[Seriyu]

As I am terrible with long range weapon positioning, I'm happy with how this went. To be fair, like Frumple said, movement bonuses are pretty awesome too, but lack of post movement weapons and all that. Real update tomorrow, but a bonus update later today going over all of the potential starting mechas, and detailing precisely what makes granteed a horrifying engine of destruction compared to the other two units.

Anyone that has not voted yet can still vote!

[Seriyu]

ALRIGHT! So since we had to take two breaks in a row in rapid succession I decided I'd throw up a bonus update, going over what COULD HAVE BEEN.

Namely, the other starter robots.

BELLZELUTE

As we all know Bellzelute is a ranged real robot, and it is a mighty fine one at that. You can see its animations and image in the robot roll call in the second post if you've managed to miss all the screenshots of it so far somehow. Primary weaknesses include a lack of post movement weapons, which can make it kind've painful to move around once you run out of targets, either having to risk moving past the defensive line and taking a few knocks to ensure having SOMETHING to hit next turn, or hanging behind the defensive line and risking not managing to hit anything because the supers have already kicked around everything nearby. Overall excells early on in the stage when the opposing units are still closing in on you and the super robots haven't managed to start killing off a unit a turn a piece yet. Generally something to keep things under control in the early parts of the stage, basically keeping real robots a little more secure while your more defensive robots rack up the will for the bonus defensive stats required to really tank stuff.

COUSTWELL


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js3BAuffh9w

Coustwell! Probably my favorite of the starting robots, a melee based real robot. Higher movement, more mobile then Granteed, the other melee based robot (not that it helps it that much, but we'll get to that in the Granteed section. Ohhhh will we.),uses evasion as it's primary defensive stat, but still can take a hit, doesn't hit quite as hard, but still hits plenty hard for a real robot. Very similar statistically to the G gundam units that have not appeared in the main LP up to this point, namely less evasion then your average real, but much more damage and heavy melee damage capability. Fairly useful for the entire length of the stage, as it has plenty of post movement abilities, and they are all fairly accurate and damaging. Overall, the weakness is, natch, a lack of specaliziation. It tries to take hits, and dodge, and do close range damage all at hte same time, and as a result is fairly sub par in all of them, compared to the other two original robot selections. Probably, from a minmaxing point of view, the worst original robot, because real robots need some serious armor to even think about taking more then two hits, and coustwell is no exception. As a result the splitting of the defensive stats between evasion and armor REALLY hurts it. Still dangerous enough to serve you plenty well through the entire game however, as a sub par original robot is still an excellent robot.

GRANTEED


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUmSYFNNVdc - Kind've clogged up with enemy animations too, sorry. Only video I could find.

GRANTEED. This thing is a monster of the highest calibur, and perhaps the most ridiculous original robot in the history of super robot wars, and note, original robots have a history of being amazing amazing units, and if not that, at least in the top five. The IDEA behind Granteed was to be a generic super robot. Heavy armor, high attack power, can't evade worth junk, low movement. Where did it take a turn for the crazy? It's armor is TOO HEAVY. If you are upgrading granteed's armor, weapons and HP, as you should be, the thing can litterally tank an entire stage and one shot every unit, barring perhaps the boss, MAYBE, in one counterattack each, usually with the one mid range weapon that doesn't use energy, which also contributes to the problem. Weakness? Well, if the design plan had stayed sane, like every super robot, large amounts of grunts, getting worn down over time, running out of energy etc. You've seen this with mazinger, usually running out of energy by the end of the stage, and thus leaving him defenseless. On top of this, the subpilot most suited for granteed, Melua, adds MORE ARMOR (a negligible amount, though), and ONE MOVEMENT. Which ups his movement rate from 6 to 7, seven being the average movement rate of a real robot. There went his only legit weakness. Slap a couple of boosters on him to invalidate every other memeber of your team, barring perhaps Mazinger as a pinch hitter for nasty situations, which is what granteed should've been more like, as a note, if they wanted him to be sane. Heavy armor, decent attack power that becomes respectable when mazinpower activates.

If you wanna smash through this game with no effort, Granteed is your robot.

Annnd this is shorter then I thought so let's go over the original pilots, which the differences between are, frankly, kind've underwhelming.

Calvina is obviously meant to be a real robot pilot, what with having a history in the military and seemingly being far more grounded and logical then your average GIGA DRILL BREAAAAAK BREAST FIAAAAAHHHH GETTA BEAAAAAAAAAAM GOLDION HAAMMAAAAAAAHHHHH DIVIDING DRIIVVAAAAAHHHH super robot pilot. However, the fact is Calvina's spirit commands would've CHANGED to accomodate granteed if we'd picked them. So, really, unfortunatly, Calvina and Touya are, statistically at least, mostly the same.

With that said, Touya takes less of an upfront role in the plot, he does not become the commander of the nadesico's forces, and instead basically hangs back and grapples with the concept that he has been thrust into a war that he has very little comprehension of, on top of the story starting with the original robot litterally FALLING OUT OF THE SKY AND CRUSHING HIS SCHOOL BENEATH IT. Plotwise, he's a... little bit more Super Robotty, but really, he seems to be more gundamey then anything.

And with all that said, the LP continues tomorrow, with any luck.

[Seriyu]

Something has metaphorically dropped out of the sky onto my head, so I'll be posting half an update today and the rest tomorrow. I was meaning to try this out anyway so it's not a huge deal. Anyway, we'll be using Katia.

[Seriyu]

A bit of dialogue left from the pre dialogue segment, but we'll go right into the battle after that, no worries.

We select Katia.

Calvina: No, Tenia. Katia, hurry up and get ready to launch. We're scrambling shortly.
Katia: Right!
Akito: (Dammit, what's everyone doing?!) A transmission?
Megumi:Akito, are you all right?
Akito: Megumi?
Megumi:Don't worry! Other people can't see this transmission. That dear ol' Prospector found a message in the Admiral's quarters that seems to be adressed to you. Looks like he intended to die on Mars right from the start, and also-
For some reason the idea that they have to specify when a private radio band (Is that the right term? Signal maybe?) is being used is hilarious to me.

Akito:Is that supposed to make everything all right? Am I supposed to FORGIVE him?! He should have lived! He should have lived in shame for what he did to the people of Mars! Hell, he even managed to get Gai caught up in his mess!
Akito is kind've at an emotional high right now, understandably.

Megumi:Akito...
Akito:Dying to protect friends... That happened in Gekiganger, too. That's what that TV show was all about. Sure, he saved our lives, but...
Megumi:.....

Akito: The way everyone's acting... It's bizzare! They're not even sad about what happened. Gai was our friend! HE sacrificed his life for our sakes, but everybody's just so happy to be alive that they can't even find time to give a damn about him! I don't even see anyone wanting to do their best on his behalf! I'm the only one who's busy grieving... ...It's the worst!
Megumi:That's not true, Akito! You aren't alone! It's been incredibly painful for me, too. But, if you weren't here, Akito, I... I don't know what I'd do...
Akito: Megumi, I...

The battle is joined!

Simone: They caught up to us, huh? They must really want the ship!
Ruri:Omoikane's analysis has finished. They're definitely alive. And... ...They also definitely aren't from Earth.
Jun:Genuine space monsters, then?!
Yurika:The enemies are confirmed to be space monsters, everyone! Don't worry about how weird they look! Just make sure to give them a good spanking! Beat 'em to death, too, while you're at it!
Yurika as always, chooses... interesting terms, to say the least.

Another unit select screen shows up, but again, we don't have enough units for it to be an actual decision, so much as "hit the A button twelve times". Our predeployed units this mission are Akito. Being predeployed primarily means that you cannot swap him out of the battle. You can however stow him away in the Nadesico. Handy if you haven't been leveling a predeployed unit up.

Katia: Calvina, They'll be heading straight for us soon enough. There's no mistake... It's an attack! We don't know who they are, but there's no doubt they're the enemy!
Just another reminder that the enemy is, in fact, the enemy, I guess.

Calvina:So I can feel things that I shouldn't be able to when I'm with you, huh... Understood. I'll believe in you. All units, those are our enemies! We're not sure what they're capable of, so attack with full strength!
The whole "not sure what they're capable of" thing is actually very relevent, as we really won't be sure what the hell this enemy type is doing for the plot until waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy at the end of it. Also other things, we'll get to that later, as usual.


Slightly different objectives now, still very self explanitory. We will get some decently complex missions later on, but even so they're fairly rare. This game is really more of a slugfest.

TURN ONE!




For once the enemies are fairly close. I don't like Akito being out in the front there, especially since, being an aesti, the gravity wave beam is very handy to have him in, so we'll pull him back and skip the turn. Incidentally our O Rifle A attack has a range of 3-10, and our O Rifle N attack has a range of 4-10. Nice. Also of note is O Rifle B, at 2-7. Excellent.

ENEMY PHASE

They all close in. None of them get an attack, as expected. The mystery space monsters here tend to have fairly short range attacks. However, their attacks pack a bit extra as we'll find out in a bit.

TURN TWO!




We start the turn by sniping one of the quadroped "Radam Beasts"(Tekkaman Blade), with O rifle N. They're the ones with the kind've.. crests. The ones that don't look like metroids on the minimap. They do have a notable difference from each other, so keep that in mind. Even at a whopping 10 squares away, we're still hitting 100% of the time. The Radam don't dodge very well.





We have Eiji attack a nearby "hovering" radam beast (the ones that look like metroids on the minimap), and reveal one of their attacks.





Naturally I got no shots with the actual venom projectile in it. Oh well.

Venom, as seen here, has the side effect of lowering mobility. Needless to say if you manage to get a real hit by it more then a few times, he's more or less out of comission for a few turns. It can be nasty, but due to the naturally dodgy nature of most Real Robots it makes it kind've difficult to land that initial attack. We have the Blue Earth swoop in and finish off the Radam beast Eiji attacked, because hey, free kill.

Akito: *huff*... *huff*... *huff*...
Ruri: Aestivalis, Akito unit is displaying abnormalities.
Yurika:What's wrong, Akito?!
Megumi: A-Akito!
Akito: Dammit! What the hell's wrong with me? I should be able to cope with the stress by now... I shouldn't be so afraid! Move! Move, dammit!
It would appear Akito is harboring a secret.

Calvina: Tenkawa, you're remaining stationary far too often. The enemy will have an easy-
Akito:W-Whooooooa!

Akito flies to the far end of the radam "wall". Just like old times...

Yurika:Akito?! What's happening to you?!
Inez:Allow me to explain. I heard he was mortally afraid of battles, and while at first glance he may appear to have overcome his chronic fear of combat, the terror buried deep within his heart is not so easily assuaged. Yes... His old fears have resurfaced in light of his recent experiences... Especially the trauma of Jiro Yamada's death. That, along with the recent events on Mars, has prompted this complex of his to manifest itself once again.
Megumi: No... You have to come back, Akito! Akitooooo!
Calvina:Well, there's no better time than the present, I suppose...

Another Aestivalis appears and approaches Akito!

Akito: Huh...?



Akatsuki (Martian successor Nadesico) flies Akito back to the Nadesico

Akatsuki: Please take this one in, Nadesico.
Akito docks in the Nadesico. We can't get him back out, incidentally.

Prospector:That's definitely an Aestivalis, but...
Yurika:Who are you?
Akatsuki:You should state your name, before asking for someone else's! ...Is what I wanted to say, but we don't have time for that kind of nonsense, either. I'm Akatsuki Nagare, assistant. Think of me as... A man who fights for the flag of freedom, so to speak.
Sixmone:...Who IS this guy?
Ruri:...Another idiot?
Elizabeth:Do you know what those monsters out there are?
Akatsuki:They're a new kind of enemy which appeared on Earth while your crew was away. They're aliens.
Koji:Aliens?!
Uribatake:All right, Tenkawa unit recovered. Don't worry, the pilot's fine! Dr. Elizabeth is looking after him in the infirmary as we speak.
Akatsuki: Having a difficult battle, are we? The rest of you seem to be doing fine, at least.
Hyoma:Who the heck are you?!
Akatsuki: You should listen more carefully, my friend. As I already said: I'm an assistant. An employee of Nergal, just like you.
Hikaru: But I've never even seen a frame like yours!
Ryoko: Yeah, there's nothing on you that proves you're our friend!
Akatsuki: My, Aren't we fierce today? At any rate, it would be best to leave your questions for later. We have to take care of these monsters right now. Does that suit you, Captain?
Yurika: Understood. All right, everyone! Treat him like an ally and concentrate on defeating those monsters!

SO, after that monster of a text wall, we now have professional cool dude akatsuki on our side and control to us is returned. Buldy snipes a Hovering Radam. I also then stuff all the Aesti's besides akatsuki's into the nadesico to switch frames, because they all have ground frames on which obviously do not work well in space. Forgetting to switch frames during the intermission is something I keep forgetting to do. Frankly a B rank in space is a much bigger malus then you'd think, so it's good to stay on top of your terrain rankings.

Baybull attacks a Crawling Radam with lasered rifle and gets counterattacked. Poor baybull. What are we gonna do with you? Mazinger heads in and finishes one off with photon beam, and gains a level in the process. Level six, no new spirits. Aphrodite A repairs baybull, and gains a level for the trouble. Level six, she gains a level of support defense, which is honestly pretty handy given she's gonna be adjacent to damaged units most of the time, and being a super robot she takes hits... decently. But we've been over her armor/HP deficiency. Combattler V moves in and smashes up the radam buldy sniped with super EM yoyo, finishing it, and ending our turn.

ENEMY PHASE

A radam runs up and attacks Mazinger Z with "tentacle" which I forgot to turn battle animations on for. BUT, Tentacle is the much worse attack of the two radam attacks, in that it lowers movement. So Mazinger just lost a single point of movement for a few turns. That can get nasty really fast on a more fragile super like Combattler. Luckily Mazinger is about as solid as they come, so it shouldn't be an issue. Three more radam pile on Mazinger Z, and all are counterattacked, two with rust hurricane, and one with rocket punch. Mazinger's down to about.... 3500 HP I wanna say?

Combattler is attacked by FIVE radam, two of which are killed in a counterattack, because it really only takes about three will for combattler to start one shotting stuff. The other two are mostly crippled, however, combattler lost three movement in this scuffle, and he's kinda far away frolm the group. He's at about 3800 HP. HMMMM.

TURN THREE!

- I moved buldy down and attacked a radam before taking the picture, my mistake.


As said above, buldy is moved down and knocks a Radam off of combattler. I take a moment to note that combattler currently has TWO movement. Hopefully that big clump of Radam off to his left doesn't decide to take advantage of this opportunity. I pull him back two squares and kill one of the radam on his retreat, activating Mazinpower for Mazinger. Blue Earth repairs Mazinger, and Aphrodite A heads over to combattler.

Bellzelute moves down a bit and one shots a wounded Radam from quite a distance, as it's range is currently 1-6. Boosting the range was a good decision. Calvina gains a level, and a.... propellant tank? From the alien? Uhh. Well okay. Maybe he got it from one of the UEFA troops. The Nadesico blows away another Radam with the Gravity cannon, triggering a comment from Ruri.

Ruri: We've detected another enemy force approaching. Please be careful.
So, the same thing that's happened every other mission. Check. The reinforcements haven't arrived yet, she's just giving a heads up. Izumi flies out of the ship and kills a Radam, gaining a level, and a level of support defense. Level six now. Ryoko does the same, no level though.






Of note is that the organic Radam still explode in a ball of fire. Huh. Oh well. Hikaru ALSO one shots a wounded Radam. We're on a roll. Meanwhile Akatsuki moves directly south because he is too far away to do anything. Tsk tsk. Something of note is that even though they made a big deal about his frame, it's no different statistically. Baybull hauls in and attacks a Radam with knuckle shot, halving it's health, and dodging the counterattack. Mazinger Z heads up and one shots the full health Radam Baybull didn't attack.





Ending the turn with one half health radam left. Oh well. Maybe we can get it on the counterattack.

ENEMY PHASE

It attacks Mazinger Z. Whew.







Baybull takes the attack for Mazinger. As you can see the Radam don't do much damage.  Mazinger proceeds to finish it with his weakest attack. Lovely.

The second wave Ruri was talking about appears.

Koji: There they are. Damned monsters!

A mysterious unit appears!




It proceeds to freak the hell out and kill three radam in one go.

Noal: W-What the heck is that?!
Kosuke:It's humanoid, and it's also obviously different from those aliens.
On top of, you know, attacking them.

Yurika: But... What is it?

A question that will be answered NEXT TIME!