Uploaded December 2015 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In which everything about this map is mean. Also in which we continue the tradition of Barious Desert's stages being unbelievably difficult and having very clutch endings.
For starters, the sandstorm is back, and it's not nearly as convenient as it was in the story mission. If any of your units are spotted by any enemies (and always after attacking an enemy), you can be sure that one of the three Snipers on watchtowers (led by an enemy Ace) will kill your unit immediately.
It may seem that getting rid of the enemy Ace in one action is simple, but it's worth considering the potentials and conditions that needed to be stacked: Emile was equipped with the GSR-30 (300 vsPers), with Good Buddy (+25%vsPers; not 100% activation chance, and means that Oscar must be deployed and properly positioned) and Roof Hunter (+25%vsPers). He also needs to shoot at a very specific location that's just low enough such that the "shooting at an enemy above you" penalty multiplier is not as high as it ought to be (I believe 0.9 instead of 0.8). This however makes it so that Emile is not shooting at Stark the Hunter's head, so Critical Shot needs to proc to apply the Headshot Multiplier (x2). With that, the damage finally comes out to just barely more than the Ace's health and Defense (which I am not sure of) combined. I'm just glad the dice for this miracle shot could be rolled on the second action, because the rest of this stage doesn't get any less forgiving. (Though I will say, I really like the fact that Emile and Oscar had to work as a team to take out the enemy Snipers.) With these three Snipers out of the way, our units are now far less likely to die within moments of being selected after the sandstorm clears.
As before, efficient traversal is important in this long map. This is especially true this time around as a total of four units need to traverse most of, if not the entire map, none of these units being Scouts. There are a ridiculous number of tanks to destroy (11!), and the only way to remove any of them in one action is with a shot to the radiator (or Tank Destroyer proc'ing). So our Lancers' ammunition stock is always a concern, which is why Knute has to run after our two Lancers as they advance. Hector and Audrey are essentially the only feasible choices for said Lancers because they have 45%vsArmor and +50%vsArmor (respectively) proc'd at pretty much all times, both have methods of potentially restocking themselves (Extra Shot and Mooch, respectively), and Hector has the possibility of proc'ing Tank Destroyer against those tanks whose radiators will never become exposed. Meanwhile, once our Lancers get to the wide, entirely-without-cover portion of the map, they become liable to getting incapacitated quite easily by the reinforcements the enemy keeps calling from the north end of the map. There are also the infantry units on the southern half of the map to consider, as any one of them could quickly knock off Welkin if left unchecked, and some of them (namely the Trooper Elite inside the base) cannot be easily removed by one sniper round. This calls for a Shocktrooper with the MAJ-X M20, and Lynn (with Hard Worker potentially helping when something goes sour) is the best choice I could see.
But even with all this planned, enemy movement during the enemy phases is fairly unpredictable. Movement on Enemy Phase 1 was completely different from that in previous attempts. And judging from past attempts, I was expecting the reinforcements on Enemy Phase 3 to run south and ideally be tagged with an Attack Down debuff by Lynn; instead, they went east, and Audrey had essentially no chance of surviving.
Worth noting: the entirety of Turn 4 was improvised. And I was absolutely terrified the entire time.
In which everything about this map is mean. Also in which we continue the tradition of Barious Desert's stages being unbelievably difficult and having very clutch endings.
For starters, the sandstorm is back, and it's not nearly as convenient as it was in the story mission. If any of your units are spotted by any enemies (and always after attacking an enemy), you can be sure that one of the three Snipers on watchtowers (led by an enemy Ace) will kill your unit immediately.
It may seem that getting rid of the enemy Ace in one action is simple, but it's worth considering the potentials and conditions that needed to be stacked: Emile was equipped with the GSR-30 (300 vsPers), with Good Buddy (+25%vsPers; not 100% activation chance, and means that Oscar must be deployed and properly positioned) and Roof Hunter (+25%vsPers). He also needs to shoot at a very specific location that's just low enough such that the "shooting at an enemy above you" penalty multiplier is not as high as it ought to be (I believe 0.9 instead of 0.8). This however makes it so that Emile is not shooting at Stark the Hunter's head, so Critical Shot needs to proc to apply the Headshot Multiplier (x2). With that, the damage finally comes out to just barely more than the Ace's health and Defense (which I am not sure of) combined. I'm just glad the dice for this miracle shot could be rolled on the second action, because the rest of this stage doesn't get any less forgiving. (Though I will say, I really like the fact that Emile and Oscar had to work as a team to take out the enemy Snipers.) With these three Snipers out of the way, our units are now far less likely to die within moments of being selected after the sandstorm clears.
As before, efficient traversal is important in this long map. This is especially true this time around as a total of four units need to traverse most of, if not the entire map, none of these units being Scouts. There are a ridiculous number of tanks to destroy (11!), and the only way to remove any of them in one action is with a shot to the radiator (or Tank Destroyer proc'ing). So our Lancers' ammunition stock is always a concern, which is why Knute has to run after our two Lancers as they advance. Hector and Audrey are essentially the only feasible choices for said Lancers because they have 45%vsArmor and +50%vsArmor (respectively) proc'd at pretty much all times, both have methods of potentially restocking themselves (Extra Shot and Mooch, respectively), and Hector has the possibility of proc'ing Tank Destroyer against those tanks whose radiators will never become exposed. Meanwhile, once our Lancers get to the wide, entirely-without-cover portion of the map, they become liable to getting incapacitated quite easily by the reinforcements the enemy keeps calling from the north end of the map. There are also the infantry units on the southern half of the map to consider, as any one of them could quickly knock off Welkin if left unchecked, and some of them (namely the Trooper Elite inside the base) cannot be easily removed by one sniper round. This calls for a Shocktrooper with the MAJ-X M20, and Lynn (with Hard Worker potentially helping when something goes sour) is the best choice I could see.
But even with all this planned, enemy movement during the enemy phases is fairly unpredictable. Movement on Enemy Phase 1 was completely different from that in previous attempts. And judging from past attempts, I was expecting the reinforcements on Enemy Phase 3 to run south and ideally be tagged with an Attack Down debuff by Lynn; instead, they went east, and Audrey had essentially no chance of surviving.
Worth noting: the entirety of Turn 4 was improvised. And I was absolutely terrified the entire time.
