EPISODE 18 AND FINAL: NUCLEAR FIRE
Strap in boys, this is it.
We take one last look at the towering facilities of KHIVA. Time to examine the troops.
The game really shat out a lot of freebie ships for us.
Three of those.
Two of those.
Not sure if these will be useful for anything at all.
But I won't say no to a nuclear capable cruiser.
Now, here's what it looks like.
We have one probable insertion point here:
Another one here:
There's one far to the SE.
And the last one is here, same spot we came in.
We also have a rather sizeable fleet of aircraft, once it gets up to speed.
As they said, auxiliaries are now free to get, not sure if we need any.
Also, let's not forget we were attacked by aircraft from these two direction.
So, we have two nuclear cruisers to bring down and three strike groups in total.
With 4 possible locations, we need to start with some intel.
I move the whisper craft towards the NW point, ELINT goes off almost immediately.
I decide to ignore the towns in the way and their garrisons, no sense in catching more attrition than we need to.
Second radar emission detected somewhere around here.
Time to get this done. This contact is the closest, so let's start here.
he detachment is carriers together with CMDR
Krraloth
Until we know what we're up against, best bet is to try and blast them from afar.
I send out two aircraft to identify the exact enemy location.
And there they are, holed up in HARRAN.
Since we're here, might as well drop a present.
The bombs take out some of their nuclear payload. Great.
CMDR Krraloth, standby to dispense long range love.
Since they're stationary, I just blast away.
They launch sprints to take out our Kh-15
Almost there.
Second one, still no hit.
Third one, almost...
And the fourth one finally connects.
I decide to finish the job with aircraft.
The bombs fall directly on the unprotected launcher tubes.
Then a mixed strike of rockets and bombs breaks the thing in half.
That's that. One Strike Group down, one Missile Carrier neutralized. Head back to KHIVA.
In the meantime, TABAL turns out to be a dud.
I run the Whisper craft down until it runs out of fuel. It catches a transmission.
Oh fuck off man...
Nothing here as well. Strange.
In the meantime, I decide to relocate the NEGEVs
Holy shit, 11 hrs just to get to next town.
Finally, I get something in ALMA, but the signal is very weak.
Triangulating enemy position.
Our forces here are
Andnjord,
baud, NOMAD and EMERALD.
I'm sending out craft to see what we're up against.
No strategic missile carriers spotted. two NEGEVs, two BOREYS and some medium craft.
The planes launch their 266 mm rockets, but also get shot down by AA.
It's a rather sizeable force, so we need to even the odds a bit.
Kh-15 with nuclear payload ready.
Let's try one. No place like in the middle of the desert.
Let's see how they like it.
Brighter than a thousand suns.
They're caught in an EMP, as good an opportunity as any...
I think we caught one with the last nuke.
Almost a direct hit.
I am become death.
We'll decide to mop up when the dust settles.
But the madmen keep coming at us.
Ok, so that's actually GRYPHONs, not BOREYs.
Commanders, cleared to use laser guided munitions. Finish this.
Baud makes short work of the first one.
Time for a switch.
Andnjord's a bit banged up still, but the other guy just survived two nukes, so I guess it's a fair fight.
Second Strike Group Neutralized.
Exemplary performance, gentlemen.
Yep, all quiet on this front. No ELINT readouts.
Time to catch the last one.
They're somewhere between MISSAIF and KUMDAG.
I send out the craft, ERYFKRAD, tindrli, Krraloth.
The auxiliaries move at a snail's pace so I set them aside. They'll get there when they get there.
In the meantime, the NEGEVs approach OPHIR
So that's one of the carriers that was bothering us earlier.
Since these are auxiliaries, I don't really care about losses.
The controls are sluggish. Half a second worth of good thrust and the engines are in the red.
I won't be dodging anything in this.
Enjoy the mayhem, plenty of missiles flying, there's also aircraft from the carrier.
I do my best whittling them with the miniguns.
With most aircraft killed, the longbow is mostly decorative.
However, this NEGEV took a bit of a beating in the process. I'm having trouble keeping it afloat.
It drops like a brick. Well, I have two more.
And then there's just me and the longbow.
We estimate enemy position somewhere around here.
Let's find them.
There it is.
Small group, just like the previous one.
And they shoot down one of our planes.
I turned on the radar so I won't be firing the missiles blind.
Might have made a bit of a mistake. They're jamming us.
Also, they immediately send nukes our way
I scramble some aircraft to catch it.
They succeed.
I think I need a different plan. Just blasting them to hell with planes sounds a touch anticlimatic.
First off, we're awfully short on fuel, so I need that garisson at KUMDAG out of the way.
Just as we land, I hear the missle alarm go off. Ok, we'll try and shoot these down again.
But this time it's the strategic missle, no time to react...
Motherfuckers nuked the town. That's cold.
Another one coming in...
Holy shit. DAMAGE REPORT GODDAMIT!
The nuclear blast takes the lives of nearly 147 thousand people.
Among them, ERYFKRAD and tindrli.
Rest in piece, gentlemen.
Further damage report shows that our VEGA strategic carrier is all but obliterated, and
Krraloth took quite a beating.
We're down to two short range AN-100s.
The aircraft carriers are similarly banged up.
I need location on that strike group ASAP.
The remaining planes find them. The bastards withdrew back to town just to nuke us.
We drop them a gift.
Did that took out the missile carrier?
Ok, something's fucky, the game might have bugged out again, because I'm now seeing two strike groups remaining.
They're coming straight at us with jammers on.
We're close enough, CMDR
Krraloth, you let them eat those AN-100s.
Most definitely something's bugged cause I see that missile carrier with my very own eyes, but the game says it's 0 remaining.
We'll figure this out later.
Direct hit.
We're all out of missiles. Time to GFTO. I split the force in two, the faster one withdraws to refuel and pull back further,
the slower auxiliaries move to the side. The two longbows are useless now, and the vega is too banged up to do anything.
The chase is on. We move faster than them, so here's hoping we can get to KUNDAG and refuel then regroup
I send out a Yars Mk3 from KHIVA to assist. It's got full nuclear payload, which should be more than enough.
The enemy doesn't really have anything to threaten KHIVA with, they're simply chasing after us.
I tried to get the remaining NEGEVs to do anything, but they're too slow.
Anyways, Yars Mk3 and VENGEANCE in position.
CMDR Krraloth, they're all yours.
The remaining enemy forces perish in the nuclear flame.
Radioactive slag slowly falls to meet the unwilling ground.
Our work is done.
And the game cuts to the credits just like that. Weird.
Anyways, gentlemen, it's been a pleasure