Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Star Wars Empire at War AEM 5.1 - Part VIII

Hello friends,

After last update's debacle, I've made some changes on my end to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Last update, the Empire seized a ton of planets. We have a major back-and-forth war across the southern rim to accomplish our next objective.


Our goal is to send a fleet to Atzerri. To do this, we will at a minimum need to blast straight through Eriadu. Practically speaking, we should capture the rest of these worlds. More money is better, and Sullust is a capital ship planet.

Not shown: Naboo, Tatooine, and Geonosis. All of which we should capture.


Basically, somebody screwed up by the numbers during our last attempt to get data on the Imperial Superweapon. Now there's a pirate near Atzerri who has information that would be devastating in Imperial hands. Presumably, this has nothing to do with what worlds the Alliance controls - considering we're in a direct war, that's hard for the Empire to miss - but with the sympathizers within the Empire who give us information.

Or maybe with Captain Antilles' spice habit. Look, I may not have been paying much...okay, fine, any attention whatsoever but it's critical information, and we need to capture this pirate before the Empire does.


We have 12 worlds to take (Ten pictured). The only safe way to do this is to slowly push a front forwards so we have only the smallest number of worlds open to attack possible.

Right now, Bothawui is the only world of ours that can be attacked, and it's well suited to defend itself. So we can leave Eriadu and Tatooine in place for now.


Kashyyk is going to build T2-Bs. Why, I have no idea. We certainly don't need them right now.


Our new frigate we stole from the Empire last episode is the Assault Frigate Mk. II. It is tougher and hits harder than the Mk. I, and it deploys more powerful strikecraft. While costing the same amount of population, and only a nominally larger price. There is absolutely no reason not to build them as soon as possible.


One of the strikecraft the Assault Frigate Mk. II deploys is the B-Wing. It's faster and stronger than the Y-Wing, and still has the ion cannon.

I forgot to take a picture this update, but we have a new space station level - Level 4. Level 4 Rebel space stations launch A-Wings, B-Wings, Corellian Corvettes, and Assault Frigate Mk. IIs.


We have another Fresia unique starfighter available. The T-Wing costs the same as the X-Wing but doesn't have the S-foils ability. It's also just as powerful but has an extra fighter per squadron. So, it's about 20% stronger but doesn't have the X-Wing's tactical mobility.


Now, the first thing we should do is round out our territories. We have Nal Hutta and Ryloth to deal with. Nal Hutta is the perfect place to construct T4-B tanks for...several reasons, and Ryloth gives a ton of bonus health to Stormtroopers so it is vital for us to keep it out of Imperial hands.

Unfortunately, there's three battles. How are we going to show that much in this little time? Oh wait. I know! A power montage! Let me just find the right song...


A long, long time ago...


In a galaxy far away

The Marauder missile cruiser. In tactical battles, it can fly over frigates because it's technically a corvette. These annoy me, but they can be useful if you give them a fair shot.


Naboo was under an attack

Naboo will be under attack in Part X if we keep to our schedule. It's currently the center of Imperial power in this part of the galaxy.


And I thought me and Qui-Gon Jinn

So named for the flask he keeps under his robes. It's the only way I can make sense of Episode I.

Marauder cruisers have a unique special ability: Firing a barrage of missiles to explode all over an area. It's devastating against space stations. The main utility of artillery cruisers actually is attacking space stations from beyond the range of retaliation.


Could talk the Federation into

Frigates are very poor at shooting at strikecraft. But six or seven of them firing together are accurate enough to defeat a squadron here or there.

If you look closely at the center of the screen, you can see the fighter-sized missiles the Marauders are launching. These things explode in massive blasts that can annihilate multiple squadrons of starfighters with a single blast.

Really. I have seen six squadrons of X-Wings obliterated in a split second by one of these missiles. The damage output isn't actually fantastic when compared to frigates, though. It's more that strikecraft have very little health.


Maybe cutting them a little slack

Due to my colossal mismanagement, the Y-Wings lead the engagement against the fighters.


But their response, it didn't thrill us

But then they wipe out the missile launchers on two frigates and ion one of them.


They locked the doors and tried to kill us

While there's validity in using frigates as an expression of territorial control, concentrating fire is the only way we're actually going to kill the opposition.


Then met Jar Jar and Boss Nass

The result of our missile barrage. Four or six Marauders together would probably destroy even the most powerful station. I'll make a mental note to bring them against Naboo.


We took a bongo from the scene

Whenever I hear "Bongo" I think "drum".


And we went to Theed to see the Queen

This is getting kind of ridiculous. They've been to three major locations so far and the only significant thing they did was get shot at.

Also, bombers prefer to target things they can use proton torpedoes on when left to their own devices. I redirected them to hit the hanger next.


We all wound up on Tatooine

Bear in mind, this is one of our Defensive fleets. It has substantially fewer frigates, less starfighters, and no corvettes as compared to our offensive fleet. So the enemy here is a real threat.


That's where we found this boy...

The AI is not smart, but it isn't stupid either. These two went right past our frigates to hit the artillery ships. Marauders can't fight effectively at close range.


Oh my my this here Anakin guy

But through concentrating fire and maneuvering, they take down the IPV-1. Course, the frigate's about to kill them. The Marauders are out of tricks.


May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry

The rest of the force isn't exactly whiffing daisies either. But I'd rather sacrifice a thousand X-Wing pilots than let a single cruiser die.

And yes, you can quote me on that.


And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye

We're lucky enough to get the frigates back here in time. Try not to leave artillery unprotected.


Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi."

Course, the tide has turned now. This is how strikecraft fight each other. They actually go into dogfights that take into account health and firepower, but also overall maneuverability. Y-Wings suck against starfighters because they have weak lasers and come in small squadrons, but also because they're slow and not very maneuverable compared to fighters. An overwhelming number of Y-Wings will still have trouble with a single TIE Fighter squadron for that reason, even though numbers do matter and will probably eventually win.


"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi."

Hazard of Marauder cruisers: Flying right past your enemy.


Did you know this junkyard slave

Not pictured: A Marauder missile that killed two squadrons


Isn't even old enough to shave

Lucky bastard. Can't quite describe how much I wish I didn't need to shave.


But he can use the Force, they say

Nal Hutta. This is an interesting ground battle for both the Empire and the Rebellion.


Ah, do you see him hitting on the Queen?

OOM-57 ONLINE.


Though he's just nine and she's fourteen

SEND THE MEATBAGS FORWARD FIRST.


Yeah, he's probably going to marry her someday

WARNING: HUTT MEATBAGS EXIST IN LARGE NUMBERS. THEY ARE INFERIOR.

ALSO, THIS MOVIE IS HETEROSEXIST GARBAGE.


Well, I know he built C-3PO

ONE GOOD DEED DOES NOT MAKE UP FOR A LIFETIME OF WICKEDNESS. OUR TANKS ARE NOT WICKED.


And I've heard how fast his pod could go

THEY CANNOT STAND. ROGER ROGER.


So we made a wager or two

JEDI: NON-MATERIALISTIC MONKS WHO GUARD PEACE. BETTING ON A POD RACE. OUR HEROES, FOLKS.


He was a prepubescent flyin' ace

RIDICULOUS. YOU WOULD NEED TO BE A DROID.


And the minute Jabba started off that race

THREE MORE HUTT STRUCTURES TO GO. SO MANY PARTISANS. SO MUCH MEATBAG GOO SQUISHED BENEATH TANK TREADS. IT IS A GOOD DAY NOT TO BE A MEATBAG.


Well, I knew who would win first place

CONSTANT WAVES OF PIRATE UNITS ARE NO MATCH FOR A DEATH BALL OF T3-B TANKS.


Oh yes, it was our boy

WARNING: PIRATES USE THE SAME ANTI-VEHICLE TURRETS AS THE REBELLION.


We started singin'...

OOM-57 REGRETS IT HAS NOT FIRED ITS WEAPON YET. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF OOM-57's LIFE?


My my this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi."
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi."

EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!


Now we finally got to Coruscant

PITY THE MEATBAGS. WHO WOULD WANT TO GO TO CORUSCANT? TOO MANY MEATBAGS.


The Jedi Council we knew would want

THIS IS THE CODA OF OOM-57.


To see how good the boy could be

B3 DROIDS SUPPRESS THE ENEMY.


So we took him there and told the tale

OOM-57 IS SO HAPPY. OOM-57 HAS MISSED ORBITAL SUPPORT SO MUCH.


Of how his midi-chlorians were off the scale

MIDI-CHLORIANS. ERROR. THIS DOES NOT MATCH WHAT OOM-57 KNOWS OF THE FORCE. OOM-57 KNOWS THE FORCE. OOM-57 STOLE THE GRAND ADMIRAL'S DIARY.


And he might fulfill that prophecy

Well, tha' Grand Admiral can just stay in space. And keep her damn Y-Wings.


Oh, the Council was impressed, of course

Much like I be. The boys who found this landing zone need a good whuppin'. Enemies right behind us?


Could he bring balance to the Force?

Heh. If the Jedi had unnerstood tha meanin' of Balance, they woulda tried to stop the prophecy. Balance requires the existence of evil.

This here is how ground-pounders ought to fight. Tear them apart with flak.


They interviewed the kid

More explosions! MORE!


Oh, training they forbid!

Course, nothin' more classic than a tank rush.


Because Yoda sensed in him much fear

Ah, Jedi. How inhuman can you get? Not knowing fear? And to expect that from a small child!


And Qui-Gon said "Now listen here."

Argh. This is gonna be one of THEM planets. With so many damn fools who think just cause their grandpappy owned a blaster pistol they can stop a bunch of tanks.


"Just stick it in your pointy ear."

The Grand Admiral prefers otherwise, but against pirates flak is very effective at shredding the enemy. Whole squads of infantry can be killed in a few seconds.


"I still will teach this boy."

Course, it's a lot less effective against pirate vehicles. Even the skiffs are annoying, and y'all don't wanna know about the AT-APs.

This gotta be one of the reasons the Jedi fell. Open defiance of the Jedi council? And nothing happened because of it. Why, if'n I waltzed on over to Korriban and ordered some tanks, at the very least I'd be put on leave. Cause that's the Grand Admiral's job to organize. And if I changed one of her production orders, I'd probably be fired. But here Qui-Gon gets away with training someone as a Jedi despite strict orders not to. He oughta' at least been suspended.


He was singin'

See? AT-AP. It's been about 20 seconds.


My my this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi."
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi."

Real warriors fight with a corona of explosions! YAH!


We caught a ride back to Naboo

There's still tons of Twi'leks everywhere. The only way we're going to maintain control of this world is stopping them.


'Cause Queen Amidala wanted to

Because Queen Amidala wanted to. There's really no reason at this point in the movie for them to head back to Naboo as opposed to leaning on Palpatine or the Jedi Council to help.


I frankly would've liked to stay

Oh don't you start. You are not fucking off the hook.


We all fought in that epic war

Holy sithspit! Concentrate fire! No one expects the Rancor inquisition!


And it wasn't long at all before

Pretty sure there's just one more dwelling...


Little hotshot flew his plane and saved the day

Yep! Last dwelling!

Honestly, the entire bit with the Trade Federation battleship just seemed like a rehash of A New Hope, and while rehashing the old can work, you need something building it up. You need conflicts of ideas, ways the old influenced the new, distinct characters people care about. Who even is Qui-Gon Jinn, outside of the role he performs in the film?


And in the end some Gungans died

I mean, if you ask me, Qui-Gon is a fool, but he's not built up to be a fool who appears wise. If you want an example of how to do that, look at Avatar: The Last Airbender. Aang says a lot of stuff that sounds wise, but he's just 12. He isn't wise yet. Qui-Gon is portrayed as some kind of paragon of wisdom despite consistently making terrible decisions. It adds up to him having no character.


Some ships blew up and some pilots fried
A lot of folks were croakin'

This isn't to say you can't enjoy the movie. I enjoy the movie. Even though I know it's terrible and can articulate ten thousand accurate reasons why, I love it so much it hurts.


The battle droids were broken

Droids shouldn't be so easily defeated.


And the Jedi I admire most
Met up with Darth Maul and now he's toast
I'm still here and he's a ghost
I guess I'll train this boy...

And look at how well that turned out! You only failed the galaxy and brought back the Sith from the brink! You were not ready to be a teacher of someone as complicated as Anakin.


Right.

Denying the Empire Ryloth is a hugely important victory for us. One thing I forgot about is that Nal Hutta allows building a Hutt Palace, and Ryloth allows a Cantina. In vanilla, these allow recruiting special strategic units. The utility is limited, but appreciated. In AEM, the Cantina allows recruiting most of the pirate units.

We need to keep moving forward and strike while the iron is hot! Next update, we're launching offensives against Geonosis and Tatooine. I anticipate much tougher fights on both worlds. It'll also be a good opportunity to brush up on our Clone Wars history.

....

*Two meters away*

Navigator Konraak, his eyestalks twitching with worry, turned to Lieutenant Palmotti. "Arrin." The Navigator intoned from one of his seven throats. "Did you see that? The Grrand Admirral put on differrrent hats and prrretended to be differrrent people. Should we be worried?"

Aaron Palmotti looked back at Konraak. "No. This is...just something she does. As long as she keeps winning, we keep letting her do it."

Konraak's eyestalks straightened "And the talking to the wall overrr therrre?"

Palmotti sighed. "Okay, you got me. I'm concerned. Do you think I haven't submitted reports about the amount of stress she's under? I keep getting back that we don't have so many options that we can just put her on leave somewhere! Let's just get back to work, and make sure we're prepared to translate her orders for normal people."