Sapper attack on New Montreal

Started by BugPowderDust, June 17, 2015, 10:16:24 AM

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BugPowderDust

My very first Sapper attack went something like this:

New Montreal was steadily growing. We'd just come out of our first winter a lot wiser than when we went in. Weather was improving, the raiders weren't get much cleverer, and the only Warg attack fortunately blundered into many of the IED and sprung traps.

Then, the Sapper crew arrived. The Scorpions, a local bunch of low-rent hoodlums had been filling our graves regularly, had now got smart and decided yolo'ing into our set defence wasn't ths way forward. This time, they brought an engineer. We had been tipped off anonymously, so when they appeared in the middle distance, we tried to work out who was the smartarse.

My money was on Epsilon, she had the skills.

It was unclear where they'd attack, but we knew it wouldn't be through the killbox. Sure enough, they moved to the south of the base, and Shonja, she with the Molotov cocktails, started lobbing them onto the roof of the store-room which bordered the edge of the colony. Fire took hold, and spread into the courtyard



Shonja then dug into the side of the mountain to one side of the storeroom, while the others waited patiently, watching the fire. Scaph, Dekker and Caskey were busy putting out the fire in the store room while the going was good. Sonja backed off a little and threw more Molotovs, although she managed to hit Salt with the explosion- he appeared to be their leader and didn't seem best pleased.



Shonja's poor aim had set a major fire to the dry grass around the outside of the base, and there was now an inferno. Sparks were landing on  the store-room roof and re-igniting it. As the heat grew to 100 degrees cent., Scaph collapsed with the heat. Shonja, meanwhile, had started to dig once again, her pyromancy was done for now.



As Caskey grabs Scaph to safety, Sonja digs a hole into the base. The rest wouldn't be far behind.



Shonja sees Colonists Black and Caligari open the door ahead of her and ducks out of their sight. This leaves them free to light up Stella,  a  raider armed with a shiv. Dekker and Caskey are a heartbeat away from opening the door to the North, which will give them a line of sight to Shonja.



However, the rest of the raiders show up, and Shonja again proves wily to avoid the worst of the gunfire. After exhanging fire with the incoing raiders, Black and Caligari pull back slightly to draw the raiders into the storeroom where they can be caught in a crossfire. Sure enough, this works- Shiv Stella goes down as Caligari's sniper rifle shatters her pelvis. She bleeds out fast. Salt runs north, into the waiting arms of Dekker and Caskey, now reinforced with Palmer and Zulekia. Guts, the raider's sniper, is being smart and taking pot-shots where he can.



The fire is raging now, but it's mainly outside the immediate battle area. Salt opens the door and dies in a hail of charge rifle fire. Meanwhile, Axle and Sonja push over the room toward Black and Caligari, but this now leaves them open to flanking fire.



Shonja gets off a molotov cocktail before dying- a well placed throw, this arcs over the head of Axle who is now melee'ing Caligari and flame covers Black, setting him on fire. He runs off to try and put himself out. Caligari is in a bitter fight with Axle. Somehow, Epsilon who'd gone unnoticed before now, appears with his personal shield and shiv. Dekker, Caskey, Palmer and Zulekia move into the room and kill Axle just as he knocks Caligari down- incapacitated but not dead.



Epsilon decides to flee, but gets cut down as he clambers out of the hole Shonja made. The sniper, Guts is long gone, as is Mole the Heavy Machine Gunner who was on watch outside.



It's all over. Dekker picks up Caligari gently and moves to him to the sick bay, while the others extinguish the flames. As if on cue, it starts to rain



The colonists have learnt a valuable lesson. Time to rethink their defence.

Tynan

Tynan Sylvester - @TynanSylvester - Tynan's Blog

BugPowderDust

Thanks :) And thankyou also for creating such a compelling game!

Segrog


BugPowderDust

I am happy to report that Scaph is alive and well in New Montreal. He has a bad back and cataracts, so is relegated to cleaning, but the colony is thriving :)

b0rsuk

I really enjoy sapper raids. They put pressure, and they're a very distinct type of threat. They are pretty smart about choosing the spot to attack. They might dig a little too fast, though. You have to ambush them well in advance to stop them, they dig like it's Boulder Dash. Also they never seem to prepare before attack like a normal raid.

There a few thighs you might have done better. When fighting fire indoors, hold the door open so the heat comes out. Don't send devilstrand-wearing people against molotovs. It's highly flammable.


BugPowderDust

Or just zone it as a no-roof area? This will release the heat.

Thanks for the tip about devilstrand, I didn't realise. To be honest though, since the pawns auto-pick their own clothes, I have stopped worrying about what they have on so much...

Segrog

You would be a good Rimworld lets player. Pls do.