Mission 33: Hot Pursuit
Red Difficulty: **********
Kanbei, Andy, & Grit vs. Sturm
Mission Briefing
Attack the Black Hole citadel!
Mission Terms
Destroy the three cannons with ranged units...the battle has begun on BH's turf.
General Strategy
The Hard Campaign version is different than the Classic Campaign version. It's a different map where you still have to destroy the mini cannons on the way north, but the pipelines separate out your COs from each other. On each front, you'll need to advance towards the Black Cannons at the top. Choose Kanbei, middle, Andy, left, and Grit, right, in that order. Kanbei has better attack and defense, 130%, Andy can take Meteor Strikes, Super CO Power Hyper Upgrade, and Grit has additional indirect range. All should build artillery units as much as possible. Most of Sturm's units are in the middle, and if the middle CO gets destroyed quickly, it's a quick game over.
On day 1, have Kanbei's mechs capture cities, move artillery one east and all the way north, and move your tank and anti air to just south of mini cannon fire on the two sides of it. Build three infantry with Kanbei. With Andy, place your mech into the APC, move the APC as far east as it can go, and drop your mech north. Then have Andy move the tank northeast and build an infantry from the eastern base and an artillery from the western base. With Grit, move your mech into the APC and move the APC as far west as it can go, then drop your mech north. Then have Grit move the artillery northwest, and build an artillery and an infantry. Sturm will then begin moving all his units towards you over the next few days.
On day 2, have Kanbei finish capturing cities with the mechs and move Kanbei's other units to just south of the mini cannons. Build two infantry from the side bases and an artillery in the middle base. With Andy, move your mech towards the neutral airport to capture it later, the APC with infantry towards the cities in the east, and have your other units stay out of a air range. Move Andy's artillery to the northeast and again build another infantry and artillery. With Grit, move your mech towards the neutral base to capture it, move your artillery units west, and build another artillery and an infantry.
On day 3, use Kanbei's artillery to hit units from afar, and infantry to begin capturing the two neutral bases. Move your southern units north but none into mini cannon range, and build two artillery and one more infantry. With Andy and Grit, take a defensive position on the southeast and southwest sides at the Orange Star and Green Earth controlled properties, respectively. With Andy, build two artillery units. With Grit, build an artillery and a tank.
On days 4 and 5, the full brunt of Sturm's units begin to arrive. On the next several turns with Kanbei, after moving artillery units behind an infantry wall, have Kanbei's artillery units attack their most expensive units first, whatever they may be, then strike with your other units that are alive. Keep Kanbei's infantry on the front line just south of mini cannon range to guard your more expensive units. Move any artillery units you have in the row just south of the line of infantry. Build as many artillery, priority, and infantry units from each base that you can afford. Prevent Sturm from capturing any neutral bases or airport.
On days 4 and 5 with both Andy and Grit, begin damaging the anti air, rocket, and tank. The medium tank comes later. Keep your artillery units generally out of enemy attack range. Keep building as many artillery units as you can with both, and infantry units with any remaining money. Your infantry will form an infantry wall to protect your more expensive artillery units. Avoid attacking naval units, detracts from the middle and charges up Sturm's Super CO Power, and keep your non foot soldier units out of battleship range if at all possible.
On day 6, be prepared in advance for Sturm's Super CO Power at the end of the day. This means moving artillery units for Kanbei and Grit as far apart as possible. Make sure no more than three artillery units for Kanbei or Grit would be within a potential Meteor Strike Diamond. Try to have Andy take the Meteor Strike with virtually all of his artillery units in the strike zone, if possible, due to Hyper Upgrade being an option. Do not build anything other than infantry with Kanbei on this turn. Attack with whatever artillery units you don't move, with a focus on damaging each of the medium tanks, rockets, and mechs and infantry, trying to capture neutral bases, to the side.
From days 7 through 9, artillery all focused on the middle to target Sturm's forces in the middle, all 3 COs, damage most remaining side land units, and build as many artillery units as possible. Do not use Kanbei's CO Power while Sturm's forces are powered up by Meteor Strike. Do use the CO Powers for Kanbei and Grit rather than wait for them to get Super CO Powers to increase attack and defense, focus on Neotanks then medium tanks. Can attack naval units if there's nothing else to attack. Try not to let Sturm take neutral bases. Have Kanbei focus artillery fire on Neotanks in the middle that can't be reached by Grit or Grit's artillery on the other side of the pipe, target Neotanks then medium tanks.
On day 8 or 9, 8 if you did more damage, try to minimize the chances of second meteor strike doesn't hit Kanbei, if possible. Have it hit Andy or Grit instead, ideally Andy if he wasn't already hit before. Try to have Andy take the Meteor Strike by bunching up his artillery units into a small strike zone, if possible, save Hyper Upgrade until this option.
Assuming Andy does take the second Meteor Strike, Kanbei should be in a good spot to win by moving the artillery units back behind the infantry wall, then damaging and destroying the remaining Neotanks and medium tanks. With Andy, you can simply use Hyper Upgrade to bring your artillery units back from 2HP to 7HP quickly, and then build a bomber, which you'll then send towards the western Black Cannon. In the east, send at least three artillery units to corner the cruiser and battleships and take all of them down. That'll allow you to build a bomber to go after the eastern Black Cannon.
From day 10 onward, keep fighting the way you've been fighting while staying out of Black Cannon range until you're ready to send bombers up on the two sides. With Kanbei, start aiming for Sturm's artillery and destroying them. Use Grit's Snipe Attack CO Power again when you have it to weaken Sturm's central units further. With Kanbei, Andy, and Grit, save money for rockets, Kanbei only, and battle copters, Andy, or bombers instead, Andy and Grit after clearing the cruiser. Around this point, Sturm will drop his third and final Meteor Strike, hopefully on Andy.
By days 11 and 12, you should have largely decimated the forces attacking Kanbei and can start focusing on taking out the four mini cannons so you can capture the airport. Having rocket range helps, as does moving up your remaining artillery units. Meanwhile, with Andy and Grit, use artillery to destroy naval units, can build T Copter with Grit to lure cruiser, and build bombers. Have the bombers sneak on the left and right side of the wall to get around Black Cannon range and then strike those Black Cannons. Continue to advance towards the final Black Cannon with bombers and you'll win the mission.
End
"This is the beginning of the end."
Mission 34: Final Front
Red Difficulty: **********
3 COs vs. Sturm
Mission Briefing
The final conflict! Stop the enemy's missile from launching!
Mission Terms
Destroy the Deathray plug to win. You have a 30 day limit.
Predeployed Units
OS: 2 Infantry, 1 APC
GE: 2 Infantry, 1 APC
YC: 2 Infantry, 1 APC
BH: 2 Tanks, 2 A Airs, 2 Medium Tanks, 2 Neotanks, 2 Submarines, 2 Cruisers, 2 Battleships
General Strategic Checklist
- Hold out in the south and keep Sturm's forces pinned down.
- From the sides, defeat Sturm by cracking the seems and advance from the west and east.
Black Hole Strats
Sturm's armies are deployed in an interesting fashion. He focuses on Grit, central, and Drake, left, to the point that neither can pull off any major advances, but in the east, with Max, he puts up little resistance. Eventually, his focus will be to take the neutral base near the left Black Cannon, and he'll even pull in some air forces from the island airport in the west, as well as land forces from the three bases near the Deathray.
General Strategy
The Hard Campaign version is different than the Normal Campaign version. It's a different map where you still have to destroy the mini cannons on the way north, but the pipelines separate out your COs from each other. On each front, you'll need to advance towards the Black Cannons at the top. Choose Kanbei, middle, Andy, left, and Grit, right, in that order. Kanbei has better attack and defense, 130%, Andy can take Meteor Strikes, Super CO Power Hyper Upgrade, and Grit has additional indirect range. All should build artillery units as much as possible. Most of Sturm's units are in the middle, and if the middle CO gets destroyed quickly, it's a quick game over.
On day 1, have Kanbei's mechs capture cities, move artillery one east and all the way north, and move your tank and anti air to just south of mini cannon fire on the two sides of it. Build three infantry with Kanbei. With Andy, place your mech into the APC, move the APC as far east as it can go, and drop your mech north. Then have Andy move the tank northeast and build an infantry from the eastern base and an artillery from the western base. With Grit, move your mech into the APC and move the APC as far west as it can go, then drop your mech north. Then have Grit move the artillery northwest, and build an artillery and an infantry. Sturm will then begin moving all his units towards you over the next few days.
On day 2, have Kanbei finish capturing cities with the mechs and move Kanbei's other units to just south of the mini cannons. Build two infantry from the side bases and an artillery in the middle base. With Andy, move your mech towards the neutral airport to capture it later, the APC with infantry towards the cities in the east, and have your other units stay out of a air range. Move Andy's artillery to the northeast and again build another infantry and artillery. With Grit, move your mech towards the neutral base to capture it, move your artillery units west, and build another artillery and an infantry.
On day 3, use Kanbei's artillery to hit units from afar, and infantry to begin capturing the two neutral bases. Move your southern units north but none into mini cannon range, and build two artillery and one more infantry. With Andy and Grit, take a defensive position on the southeast and southwest sides at the Orange Star and Green Earth controlled properties, respectively. With Andy, build two artillery units. With Grit, build an artillery and a tank.
On days 4 and 5, the full brunt of Sturm's units begin to arrive. On the next several turns with Kanbei, after moving artillery units behind an infantry wall, have Kanbei's artillery units attack their most expensive units first, whatever they may be, then strike with your other units that are alive. Keep Kanbei's infantry on the front line just south of mini cannon range to guard your more expensive units. Move any artillery units you have in the row just south of the line of infantry. Build as many artillery, priority, and infantry units from each base that you can afford. Prevent Sturm from capturing any neutral bases or airport.
On days 4 and 5 with both Andy and Grit, begin damaging the anti air, rocket, and tank. The medium tank comes later. Keep your artillery units generally out of enemy attack range. Keep building as many artillery units as you can with both, and infantry units with any remaining money. Your infantry will form an infantry wall to protect your more expensive artillery units. Avoid attacking naval units, detracts from the middle and charges up Sturm's Super CO Power, and keep your non foot soldier units out of battleship range if at all possible.
On day 6, be prepared in advance for Sturm's Super CO Power at the end of the day. This means moving artillery units for Kanbei and Grit as far apart as possible. Make sure no more than three artillery units for Kanbei or Grit would be within a potential Meteor Strike Diamond. Try to have Andy take the Meteor Strike with virtually all of his artillery units in the strike zone, if possible, due to Hyper Upgrade being an option. Do not build anything other than infantry with Kanbei on this turn. Attack with whatever artillery units you don't move, with a focus on damaging each of the medium tanks, rockets, and mechs and infantry, trying to capture neutral bases, to the side.
From days 7 through 9, artillery all focused on the middle to target Sturm's forces in the middle, all 3 COs, damage most remaining side land units, and build as many artillery units as possible. Do not use Kanbei's CO Power while Sturm's forces are powered up by Meteor Strike. Do use the CO Powers for Kanbei and Grit rather than wait for them to get Super CO Powers to increase attack and defense, focus on Neotanks then medium tanks. Can attack naval units if there's nothing else to attack. Try not to let Sturm take neutral bases. Have Kanbei focus artillery fire on Neotanks in the middle that can't be reached by Grit or Grit's artillery on the other side of the pipe, target Neotanks then medium tanks.
On day 8 or 9, 8 if you did more damage, try to minimize the chances of second meteor strike doesn't hit Kanbei, if possible. Have it hit Andy or Grit instead, ideally Andy if he wasn't already hit before. Try to have Andy take the Meteor Strike by bunching up his artillery units into a small strike zone, if possible, save Hyper Upgrade until this option.
Assuming Andy does take the second Meteor Strike, Kanbei should be in a good spot to win by moving the artillery units back behind the infantry wall, then damaging and destroying the remaining Neotanks and medium tanks. With Andy, you can simply use Hyper Upgrade to bring your artillery units back from 2HP to 7HP quickly, and then build a bomber, which you'll then send towards the western Black Cannon. In the east, send at least three artillery units to corner the cruiser and battleships and take all of them down. That'll allow you to build a bomber to go after the eastern Black Cannon.
From day 10 onward, keep fighting the way you've been fighting while staying out of Black Cannon range until you're ready to send bombers up on the two sides. With Kanbei, start aiming for Sturm's artillery and destroying them. Use Grit's Snipe Attack CO Power again when you have it to weaken Sturm's central units further. With Kanbei, Andy, and Grit, save money for rockets, Kanbei only, and battle copters, Andy, or bombers instead, Andy and Grit after clearing the cruiser. Around this point, Sturm will drop his third and final Meteor Strike, hopefully on Andy.
By days 11 and 12, you should have largely decimated the forces attacking Kanbei and can start focusing on taking out the four mini cannons so you can capture the airport. Having rocket range helps, as does moving up your remaining artillery units. Meanwhile, with Andy and Grit, use artillery to destroy naval units, can build T Copter with Grit to lure cruiser, and build bombers. Have the bombers sneak on the left and right side of the wall to get around Black Cannon range and then strike those Black Cannons. Continue to advance towards the final Black Cannon with bombers and you'll win the mission.
General Strategy, Revised
The Hard Campaign version of this map plays differently than its Classic Campaign counterpart, even though you still have to win in 30 days. You can't just fly a bomber straight to the Deathray because there are two anti airs in the way, and there's also a mini cannon. Each of your armies start with two infantry and an APC. Sturm, on the other hand, starts with two Neotanks, two medium tanks, two tanks, and two anti airs in the middle. Additionally, Sturm also has two battleships, two submarines, and two cruisers in the western sea.
You have a few missile silos around your bases which may dictate how you want to proceed. You can either fire your missiles at the western sea to allow your army in the west, 2nd CO selection, to advance quicker, or you can fire your missiles at the land forces near the Deathray. The safer option is to damage the land forces next to the Deathray. Sturm's forces will primarily focus on pinning down your central CO and your left CO, preventing them from making major advances early.
One good CO selection would be to use Grit, center, Drake, left, and Max, right. Grit has the extra artillery distance to damage and destroy the Black Cannons in two hits even without needing to damage any pipeline seems. Grit can also use artillery early as defense to pin down the bulk of Sturm's land forces. Drake can use his CO Power, Tsunami, early and quickly run Sturm's navy out of fuel.
As Grit damages the Black Cannons, Max can use battle copters, medium tanks, and bombers to advance towards Sturm's base, break through the pipeline seems, and head towards the Deathray. Beware of the Deathray, which fires on days 7, 14, 21, and 28. Also be aware of Sturm's meteor strikes, which will target the most densely populated and most expensive units. Do your best to have Drake take those meteor strikes.
The bulk of your early unit builds with your COs will be artillery, Grit, tanks, Drake, and tanks, Max. You'll want to load your APCs with Drake and Max early so that you reach the missile silos quickly. Build your primary units as described for the first 20 or so turns, plus infantry units from additional bases with any leftover monies. Build anti airs with Grit, 2 when countering any bomber, Drake, and Max as needed to take down any aircraft. On all turns, use those infantry units to try to capture surrounding cities for additional resources.
On day 1, move your infantry and APC with Drake and Max towards the missile launches. Do the same with Kanbei's APC and an infantry towards the nearby missile. On days 2 and 3, your missile strikes from your COs should target the largest Neotank and medium tank clumps first before any missiles at the navy. These missiles will keep Sturm from moving units down to attack Grit.
On day 2, start building Grit's artillery units. Build your first artillery unit with Grit from your eastmost base so that you can take down the Black Cannon inhibiting Max first. Your second should be from the westmost base. As you approach the eastern and western Black Cannons, keep them out of range and then move them to the tile immediately south of the seems so you can take advantage of Grit's extra 2 to 4 artillery range. You should be able to start attacking the eastern Black Cannon by day 4.
By day 4, you'll want to start damaging the eastern Black Cannon with Grit and moving your other artillery towards the western Black Cannon. Meanwhile, you should start capturing the nearby neutral bases with Drake and Max. Due to Sturm's western airport, you'll want to have Drake build an anti air.
On day 5, use Grit's northeast artillery to destroy the eastern Black Cannon, and move your three other northern artillery towards the western Black Cannon and mini cannons to attack the next turn. Meanwhile, keep Drake's units out of range of the western Black Cannon, but take a bit of damage over the next few days from the battleship and rocket to charge up your Tsunami CO Power. With Max, save money for a medium tank.
On day 6, use Grit's western artillery to damage the western Black Cannon and eastern artillery to destroy the eastern mini cannon, and move northeastern infantry northeast towards the neutral airport. Don't let Sturm take that airport or Sturm will build air units from there. Move Drake's infantry eastward towards the two Sturm cities to the east. With Max, build a medium tank to combat Sturm's medium tank.
On day 7, check the Deathray's range and make sure Grit's units aren't in the Deathray's range, while destroying the western Black Cannon and the western mini cannon with your artillery units. On Drake's side, keep chipping away at the rocket, and on Max's side, advance with your medium tank and regular tanks. Once you're at a medium tank and a tank with Max, you can have Max begin saving for more medium tanks rather than normal tanks. Sturm will begin bringing units damaged from missiles down to attack Grit.
On day 8, prepare for Sturm's next Meteor Strike. Start by having Grit destroy Sturm's advancing bomber, and move artillery units mostly northward to advance on Sturm. With Drake, continue advancing with your tanks and any anti airs, but out of battleship range. With Max, advance on Sturm's remaining units to close in on Sturm's next base.
From day 9 onward, have Grit capture the northwest neutral airport when possible, and prevent Sturm from taking the northeast airport with an artillery unit or two. Keep having Grit build 2 plus artillery units per turn. Move Grit's artillery and anti air units northward. Grit should have enough artillery units to advance even without a wall protecting those units. Eventually, use Grit's Super CO Power to snipe from afar. Meanwhile, use Drake's CO power the first chance that you can, which will force Sturm to retreat air and sea units to refuel, and have Drake advance southeast with tanks. Have Max build medium tanks and infantry, then advance them southward.
Around day 11, prepare for Sturm's second Meteor Strike by separating out Grit's artillery units so that no more than five can get hit on a turn. Keep advancing with your COs as stated above. After Sturm's subs and cruisers sink from lack of fuel, you can build a sub with Drake to take down the remaining battleships, or use artillery units. With Drake, begin building artillery units and continue advancing towards and capturing the southeast base. With Max's infantry, advance on the southeast base while using medium tanks to attack the mini cannons and then the pipeline seems. Have Max keep building medium tanks, attacking the pipeline seems, and advancing towards that southeast base.
On day 14, check the Deathray's range and make sure there aren't too many of Grit's units that are in the Deathray's range. Also be aware of a third Meteor Strike that may hit around day 16, and divide Grit's units up accordingly. No more than 5 artillery or anti air within a potential meteor.
After that point, you can advance Grit's artillery units up towards the Deathray, and even build a Neotank or two to advance with the artillery units. Drake and Max. With Drake, after you've built a few artillery units and wiped out the battleships, you can start building medium tanks, then use artillery and medium tanks to attack the mini cannons and pipeline seems. With Max, keep moving medium tanks past the pipeline seems and infantry towards capturing the southeast base and the properties next to it.
From day 19 onward, advance Grit's artillery northward, backed up by any anti air or Neotanks you may have, but primarily relying on Grit's artillery units. You should now have sufficient forces to get past Sturm's front line forces in the middle. Have Grit's artillery and Max's medium tanks advance towards the Deathray.
As you do so, beware of the day 21 Deathray, the mini cannon range, and the day 21 meteor strike. Try not to have too many units caught up in the ranges of any of those three things. Keep advancing with Grit, artillery, Drake, medium tanks, and Max, medium tanks, as described above. You can also have Grit build a few Neotanks to speed things along. Win in thirty days or less to achieve the ultimate victory.
End
"Attack the missile platform." Self destruct device. "Chance is a fickle thing. You never know when it will come your way. Sturm... it's time for you to go! Black Storm!" "What you've done to Macro Land is unforgivable! But... You saved me... You saved all of us. Thanks." Eagle and Hawke argue again. "Isn't that... Hey, it's Hachi! What brings you all the way out here?" Olaf goes back to rebuild his hometown, Grit may or may not rejoin Orange Star, and they argue again a bit. But Andy starts the party! Of course, you did a great job too...celebrate before you watch the credits.
You have cleared Hard Campaign!
