Map 28: Ring Islands

Score achieved: 300 pts, 21+ days
100-pt. time limit: 29 days
Player CO: Anyone
Enemy CO(s): Olaf, Grit
Skills: none
Mode: 2.5x EXP

Overview: Isolate Olaf early and capture as many properties as you can on the northwest, southwest, and southeast islands. Attempt to push your way towards Olaf’s bridge bases on both sides.

Take the map’s lone airport and send six Stealths (hidden, of course) to Grit’s HQ, along with several Black Boats to refuel them; load an infantry into one of the Black Boats somewhere along the line. Use the stealths to surround Grit’s HQ and capture it, then finish off Olaf.

Make sure you destroy enough units for the Power score when working your way to Olaf’s HQ; 10 will usually be enough, but 11 or 12 may be needed if Grit holds on for a while.

Recommended COs: Anyone with a money advantage, so the Stealths don’t burn as big of a hole in your wallet; Sasha is particularly good because Market Crash can hold off Winter Fury.

Kanbei and Sami can use their supers to take Grit’s HQ easily, and so need fewer stealths; however, Kanbei can’t afford a Mid Tank early on, which puts him at a bit of a disadvantage near the start. Other than that, good COs are anyone who can alleviate some of Winter Fury’s effects; Andy and Hawke can repair the damage, Olaf won’t use up more fuel in the snow, and Jess can keep the stealths refueled with her powers.

Day 1:

– Build a black boat and two infantry on the northeast side.

Day 2:

– Load both infantry into black boat.
– Move Black Boat all the way north.
– Build a Mid Tank. (If using Kanbei, build a tank instead.)

Day 3:

– Restart if Grit builds a tank from his north base; he’ll likely send it to your HQ island, and you just don’t need that hassle. This is rare, though.
– Move black boat south of north-central neutral port.
– Build lander and infantry. Load Mid Tank into lander.

Day 4:

– Move black boat north one and unload both infantry.
– Load infantry into lander and move lander all the way east.
– Build infantry in all bases and a black boat in the southwest port.

Day 5:

– Move northern black boat back towards HQ island.
– Capture base with infantry west of neutral port, city with other infantry.
– Move lander all the way east.
– Unload mid tank to the east, infantry south. This will block off Olaf’s forces. (If using Kanbei, it helps if Olaf sends his initial tank north. Your tank will be untouched for a while if this happens.)
– Olaf may move indirects in a way that proves problematic for your Mid Tank over the next few days; if you can’t safely move the Mid Tank out of range and haven’t had the chance to deploy from the nearby base once this happens, you should probably restart.
– Load both southwest infantry into black boat. Move black boat five south, one west and drop off both infantry.
– Move remaining infantry towards north shore.
– Build infantry in all bases and Black Boat in northeast port.

Day 6:

– Finish capturing properties.
– Move northern black boat to north shore and load infantry into it.
– Load infantry from northeast bases into black boat and move it northwest. This black boat will ultimately drop off near the airport.
– Move infantry on center-east side towards neutral base.
– Move lander west.
– Capture base and a city on southwest island.
– Grit may have sent an artillery to your island. If so, he may unload it on either the west or south side.
– If the artillery is on the south, move the south infantry east of it and attack, the other infantry north of it and attack again. Move the black boat from the southwest island one east, one south of the artillery.
– If the artillery is on the west, move both infantry towards the south shore and build a tank in the artillery’s firing range. Move the black boat to the same position as before.

Day 7:

– Move nearest black boats to northwest and southeast islands and unload infantry.
– Begin capturing base in center-east area.
– Capture port and another city in center-north area, and build a tank there.
– Move final black boat towards the airport in the northwest.
– Attack artillery with tank if you built one last turn.

From here, it gets more complicated. You’ll want at least one sub and cruiser. Try to lure Grit’s sub into attacking one of your black boats so you can hit it with your cruiser; Grit’s subs are too weak to one-shot a non-Grimm boat. You’re likely to need two turns to finish it off, unless you get a well-timed CO power, so try to uncover it with a black boat and then finish it off. Use one or more subs to cripple and destroy battleships. For enemy cruisers, probably your best option is to just slowly chip away at them with your own cruiser.

As for Olaf, while he’s not getting more than 9000 G a turn, you can’t really just leave him alone. You should try to press forward against him on both fronts; if you can capture one of his bridge bases, the final phase will be easier.

You might also consider reloading if Olaf ever has any money saved up, because it means he’s going to build a rocket next turn. Still, they should be manageable, they just make things more annoying.

Once you’ve captured the airport, you’re going to want to try to make a stealth every turn for six turns. This is going to use up a lot of your money, but it’s worth it not to have to slog through all of Grit’s forces. Load a spare infantry into a black boat, and make more black boats when feasible to keep your Stealths from crashing. Just fly straight towards Grit’s HQ, try to clear a path around the port, and surround the HQ when able.

If you get the opportunity to block off a base next to Grit’s HQ, take it. Usually you’ll be able to block the east base with no problem; if you’re lucky, you can block the west base, too. Otherwise, you’ll probably have to resort to surrounding the HQ on three sides, and using the other three stealths to destroy the unit (most likely an anti-air) in the west base. Obviously, destroy any indirects that are likely to be able to hit the HQ.

If Olaf is close to getting Winter Fury, and you’re almost ready to drop off, finish charging his meter just to be sure you can get the capture in two days. It’s probably not necessary, but might as well be safe.

If using Kanbei or Sami, don’t bother with six stealths. Thanks to Samurai Spirit/Victory March, you can manage rather easily with three; two to protect the infantry when it’s dropped off, one for dealing with miscellaneous threats. Just drop off, move your stealths to protect the infantry from direct attacks, then on the next turn use your Super and take the HQ. If you’re doing this with Kanbei, make sure you trigger Winter Fury before dropping off if Olaf’s meter is nearly full.

Grit will probably be gone somewhere from day 21-25, depending on your luck; while this only leaves a few days for Olaf, it *should* be enough if you’ve been able to push him back. Also, try to build a Black Bomb or two once Grit is in his last throes and send it towards Olaf to help clear some room.

There isn’t a lot to say about finishing Olaf off, really, you just need to be ready to do so. A rocket is useful for the south side, otherwise build neotanks, mid tanks, or even regular tanks, depending on what you can afford. A battleship or two wouldn’t hurt, either, if you can get them there in time.

And make sure you destroy 10 units or more while going after him; sometimes you can get away with 9, but 10 seems to be about average. I needed 11 once, the biggest factor is probably how long Grit holds on. The sooner you get rid of him, the fewer units he’ll contribute towards the total.

Strategy by Dragon Fogel.