Two missions left to do. The second-to-last is in Switzerland.
Berger's factory is a two-part map. This is the place where the Panzerkleins originate. Supposedly, it would be the most heavily guarded place we could try and enter. Let's see if that is actually the case.
We start already in combat mode upon entering the map.
We've spotted two snipers, that for some reason haven't spotted us yet.
What's more interesting though, is that we're not allowed to let any civilians get killed on this map. A stray bullet or two will be OK, as long as the civilians survive, but apparently, with Switzerland being a neutral party, killing civilians will lose the game for us.
Seems illogical, as we're cracking open a terrorist organization, I would assume the governments would cover this up quicker than a teenage son being caught jacking off, but hey. I guess it's there to make the mission harder by virtue of you not being able to simply carpet-bomb the buildings with explosives and let the rubble kill the baddies.
Anyway, we set to work clinically removing hostiles while sparing the civvies..
Kodex and Loti are our two only non-PK wearing members, and they can stay hidden while killing the hostiles. The rest of the team are wearing their PK armours, Tind, Cappen and dexte in captured Thor's Hammer ray-gun PKs, and WetWo in his MG wielding Axis PK. I let WetWo enter the facility after Kodex and Loti started their purge, mainly to draw attention and fire.
He does a good job at this.
I note that hostiles armed with small-caliber weapons choose to try and stop him with grenades. They do naught against his armour, but still, nice touch. He also notices our first civilian, meaning that the renegade soldier stading near the power generator is safe form WetWo's MG, as I won't risk losing the mission to a single stray bullet.
With WetWo running interference, Kodex and Loti continue taking down renegades while staying in hiding.
It's interesting to note, that even an MG wielding renegade doesn't manage to hurt WetWo while he's riding his PK. You really need rayguns to deal reliably with PKs. That or a nice crit hit from a high-powered sniper rifle.
All this killing nets enough xp for some levelups.
Kodex improves his spotting abilities, and dexte finally learns the Second Skin ability. For some reason, I neglected to screenshot the effects of choosing this, but I believe it lessens some of the negative skill modifiers you accrue when using a PK, meaning that taking the skill improves your accuracy while in a PK suit.
I realize that I lied when I said WetWo didn't get hurt.
There was an RPG launcher wielding renegade that managed to ding 18 vps off of WetWo, but his PK suit remains undamaged. And the retaliatory fire sent said renegade flying satisfyingly.
Loti and Kodex continue softening up the opposition, while WetWo decides he's had enough and starts firing as well.
In the last pic, I had moved WetWo slightly to change the angle towards the soldier, so the civilian wasn't directly behind him. Then I judged it safe enough to fire, and I wasn't disappointed. More killing means more xp, this time Loti improves her killing ability.
With this, Loti need not fear being spotted while sneaking around anymore. Even if she is spotted and combat is initiated, she will always win the first round. Meaning she can either put down the opposition if possible, or retreat into cover. This skill is Useful for a scout. Don't underestimate it.
With that skill chosen, we advance and clear out the area outside the buildings, and Loti pokes her nose inside the westernmost building.
Poor schmucks are still trying to dent WetWo's PK with explosives.
Anyway, with the exterior more or less cleared, we start clearing the inside of the factory.
To my satisfaction, the AI isn't as paralyzed by our stealthy entrance in this level, as it has been on others. The factory seems to be on alert, and hostiles do try and intercept us, even though they fail. In the enemy movement phase, the distinct sound of Panzerkleins moving can be heard, but so far none have been spotted. They're on the cellar floor of this map, and after killing the last soldier, Kodex spots the first PK of the map..
Ray-gun PKs are scary yes. But the prototype laser rifle is scarier.
One burst, and the driver is toast.
From this point on, I get rather liberal in my use of the laser rifle. Most infantry enemies are still dealth with with the sniper rifle, but being on the cellar floor, there are a few PKs that need neutralizing..
I reach the conclusion that burst fire is the way to go with the laser rifle. Individual shots are powerful, but rarely enough to one-shot the drivers. A 4 round burst usually finishes them off.. And it's dirt cheap at only 22 ap cost.
From this point on, it's a simple cleanup mission for Kodex, his hiding skill is priceless against infantry, and the laser rifle makes a mock of the PK armour.
All hostiles dead. The "leave" button is still red, and not all objectives are complete. I need to enter the second map for that.
First though, we spotted a different model PK. Entering it, we see it's the Allies model.
We could keep it as a memento, but I rather like the PKs we already have, and Kodex really shouldn't be burdened by stomping around in an armoured warsuit. I check off a levelup skill and make ready to enter the second part of the mission.
WetWo now finally has Second Skin as well. All extra skills from here on out is just gravy.
Once we enter the second part of the map, the gloves come off. This is the inner sanctum of the PK assembly plant.
2 ray-gun PKs, one laser cannon wielding infantry, one sniper, one RPG launcher, and an MG. Add to this a stationary ray-gun battery, and we can see they mean business. Unlucky for them though, we have the prototype.
The rest of the team actually got to participate here.
Due to the amount of enemies lined up, Kodex couldn't take them all down alone in a single round, but the combined firepower of the team still managed to do just that. Kodex then snuck into the room with the stationary ray-gun emplacement and killed off the trooper stationed there. Apparently, said trooper was too chicken to actually man the gun and try to harm us.
When compared damage-wise, the flak cannon was more scary, but the penetration this raygun can manage means it's a lot more scary against PKs. Still, it didn't fire, not even once.
Ohwell, Kodex does his things and starts moving through the facility.
I'm really warming up to the laser rifle here.
As a bonus, we get another levelup.
Faster reload? I guess that's cool no matter what weapon you're using.
Kodex continues his gleeful killing spree.
There are actually quite a lot of really dangerous opponents scattered around this level. Unfortunately, they seem to be set into guard duty by their AI, as they don't automatically all go towards the disturbance at the front door. This means you can easily sneak around and take them out a few at a time, and with the laser rifle, "a few at a time" is also possible when you talk about PKs..
Also, as could be expected from the premier PK factory, you can pick up some more suits here for your faction, if you're running low.
I ignore them. I guess they're there in case your primary PKs got shot up too badly and you needed some fresh ones.
I'm definitely switching to the laser rifle as my main gun when I find it in my allies playthrough!
Seeing as I haven't even started that yet, it will be a while. But once this update is concluded, I could start the allies playthrough...
This map also holds some trapped doors with absolutely nothing of interest behind them. Interesting though, they are of sufficient difficulty that even our might Cappen fails at one attempt, almost knocking him unconscious.
We have a very good medic with us, so such a wound is of little concern.
In any case, all normal enemies have been neutralised, so we only need to find Berger himself, and we can win this mission..
Well, with the laser rifle, that was quite easy. In an office, we find the final mission objective, then make to leave.
The german cross in gold! Didn't even know such a thing existed..
Things are coming to an end though. We have the location of their secret hideout, and that's our next and final destination.
Are you ready people?
...
Alright, we move out..
So! We need to take down Thor's Hammers mysterious leader, who happens to be flying around in an airborne PK! And before we get to fire on it, it flies behind the rocket that's about to ignite. Tension! Can you feel it?
...
I couldn't, not really. So instead, I started moving around the rocket, killing off random hostiles until the special PK showed up again.
Compared to the last map, this one's incredibly simple. No hiding, no pussyfooting around. Just kill stuff and eventually the flying PK reappears. Take it down with high-caliber weapons, preferrably of the ray-gun variety.
First we soften it up a bit with our PK based weaponry, taking some nasty return fire..
Then, once it's sufficiently ventilated, Kodex steps up and blasts it with his lazor roofles!
That's how you cut it.
So, we take the elevator down and are greeted by Hel.
Kodex is a real
and he won't hesitate killing women, if it needs be done. Might lose a few days of sleep, but he'll get over it.
7
Taking her down, now that she's ditched the PK suit, is rather trivial. The laser rifle makes short work of her, and we loot a key off of her corpse. This key lets Kodex climb to the launch control room and do his stuff:
And mission complete! Enjoy these final screenshots from the game with the final mission end briefing:
We literally saved the world. It's also amusing, and sort of ties in with
the amazing adventures of Grom, that the designs of this ray-gun weapon was based off an ancient manuscript found in Tibet.. Yep. They ancient Tibetans knew how to build ray-guns! I liked the UFO explanation better.
Anyway, with the launch foiled, we get a final game extro vid to enjoy:
EDIT: see next post, 5 vids max per post...