Chapter 6, Mission 1: A Mobile Encroachment

**Map 25** (Chapter 6, Mission 1) is a 13x24 large-sized coastal phased-deployment map in TinyGroove. Its S-rank can be achieved if completed in <35 days. The mission involves the player facing against Sedge on the Southern rocky coastline of West Florania, south of the Channelwood beachhead in Chapter 5, Mission 1. Here, there are no beaches, so the barge the player is initially provided seems pointless, but soon, you learn that this wide-open canvas of a map is about to be painted however you see fit with mobile naval and land bases! Earlier in the campaign, you have seen Nuru use these, and so, for you to be able to harness this invaluable tech, recruiting her to your party is a MUST! While you may unlock this map by possessing all three fragments of Artefact 'X' hidden in Chapter 5's 3 Side Missions, and unlocking the path to this mission by using Ragna's Recall to beat Map 1... be warned that Nuru is needed to actually play the map, as the Rocky Shoreline is unsuitable for landing without her mobile base-building technology. If you attempt to start the map without her in your party, the scenario gives you this warning and then ejects you from the scenario so you can go recruit her from the Channelwood.

### **Mission Background**

Once you've unlocked this map and you have Nuru in your party, you're in for a wild ride. This map is crazy in all of the right ways. Between the first two maps of Chapter 6, it's as if the game design crossed over into the core mechanics for real time strategy games over the turn-based tactics WarGroove is known for. This map emphasizes mobile base deployment and design in 3 phases: a sea invasion, a land invasion, and ends with the infiltration of Sedge's hidden starting base in the woods.

#### Phase 1: Naval Invasion with Mobile Barge Bases

The map begins with a phased deployment of barges and a protective convoy as Dark Mercia invades from the southern coast into West Florania. The 3 mobile battle barges the player receives have timers set to deploy into naval bases at specified intervals, and during the first week of the battle:

1. Arrives on Day 1, unpacks on Day 2 (2 days)
2. Arrives on Day 3, unpacks on Day 5 (3 days)
3. Arrives on Day 6, unpacks on Day 10 (4 days)

These versatile structures appear in the bottom right corner of the map, and each deployment affords the player a day longer to position the base where they want it. The barge bases are mindful of boats in the way of deployment, and unlike land bases, will not destroy your (or any enemy) units in the way when the time arrives for them to unpack. The structures the deployed base consists of varies by what terrain is present nearby. The location of the barge is always replaced with a water village, but the adjacent spots to the north, south, east, and west impact the deployment in the following ways:

* 4 Ocean/Reef Tiles: 2 Ports and 2 Water Villages
* 3 Ocean/Reef Tiles and 1 Grass/Path tile: 2 Ports, 1 Water Village, and 1 Village
* 2 Ocean/Reef Tiles and 2 Grass/Path tile: 1 Port, 1 Water Village, 1 Barracks, and 1 Village
	+ Also Spawns Dark Mercia and a wagon once the map has a barracks and begins Phase 2!

As you set up your mobile barge bases, try to nestle your barges adjacent to the coast with land on 2 sides to begin Phase 2 as early as possible (which can begin as early as Day 6) or as late as Day 10! Also, beware the flying enemies Sedge sends to disrupt your deployment!

You may construct flying units of your own if you complete the Tower Construction Side Quest that is introduced during this phase. The concept is relatively simple. There are boards around the reefs that can be collected by any of your units and used to build towers in the forests of the offshore islands on this map. 3 pieces of lumber are needed to build a tower, and there are 6 bundles total, allowing you to build one in the northeast and one in the south. You'll need to recruit merfolk to reach these forests to build the towers. Once the towers are built any aerial unit may be built, but Nuru has special balloons bombs for you to use. the balloons can put a dent in Sedge's bases (wherever he builds them, but they explode after 3 turns or if they are destroyed (whichever happens first). When the balloon bombs explode, any adjacent units or structures will be demolished.

#### Phase 2: Land Invasion with Mobile Battle Bases

Once the naval barges stop arriving, a stronghold appears in the corner of the map, and initiates phase 2 (if you hadn't already landed a barge adjacent to the coast on two sides to build a barracks. Once you have a barracks, the game supplies you with your first wagon. While you shouldn't field more than 1 at a time, there are 4 designated land base deployment sites, and you'll quickly learn as you explore that Sedge has finally come around to using some of Nuru's prototypes (on this map only). On the map above, you'll see the location of 2 war wagons Sedge has ready to construct bases for him on the coastal plains. Carefully venture forward with your units, because as soon as one of Sedge's wagons is spotted (in visible range through the fog of war), it will steamroll over any units in its way to claim a build site.

Here's what happens when your wagon (or one of Sedge's) reaches one of the 4 build sites in the coastal plains. The highlighted construction zone is the size of the base that will be constructed. The metropolis that is built consists of 12 units/structures: 1 Stronghold, 3 Central Villages, 2 Barracks, and 2 Outer Villages along with with 2 Soldiers and 2 Pikemen to defend it. Each one of these mobile bases adds an additional stronghold for you to defend. Beware, if you lose any stronghold on this map, you will lose and have to begin your assault from the beginning!

You may recruit more wagons from a barracks, but having more than one on the map is dangerous, since the deployment zone can technically follow any wagon. Nuru warns that this new prototype builds a veritable city for you as a forward base, but is still dangerous if not used as intended, since it could deploy your city at the wrong place if you have mult. Once you lose a wagon, build a base with one, or have no other wagons, another can be safely built at any barracks. You should claim as many of these sites as possible, as the extra income is helpful to expedite your victory. If you manage to build a city on all 4 sites, the hidden Artefact 'Y', the Warp Prism will be yours, which will help you bring a simplified-and-improved form of this mobile base (capable of infinitely repacking and moving) tech into the final showdown with Sedge!

\*Note\*: If you are playing on a platform that allows toggling the fog of war, you'll probably need to play with it on for this mission (as the whole campaign is intended to be played). If you have altered the fog of war settings, Sedge may immediately build two of his mobile bases (since you can see his wagons at the outset of the mission, and being visible to the player is their trigger), placing you at a crazy disadvantage (at least 7 days before you can possibly build one of your own).

#### Phase 3: Forest Base Infiltration

Phase 1: Naval Invasion with Mobile Barge Bases

Phase 1: Naval Invasion with Mobile Barge Bases

#### Helpful Hints

The enemy's base is unassumingly nestled in the forest and every structure breaks the typical placement rules for structures in WarGroove. Thus, it is important to note that Sedge's structures all have the forest defense bonus applied to them, have full health, and will be more difficult than normal structures to capture. Be sure you are well prepared to attack Sedge's Forest bases before you blindly step in.

Remember that dogs can help pierce the fog of war in the forest surrounding the enemy units. Sedge has two towers in there that will likely recruit dragons, so mages will also help for their boosted critical hits and anti-air utilities. Finally, protect your strongholds! The land base spawns strongholds for you near the front. If you lose them, its game over, so you can consider using them (or not if you want to completely play it safe (and if you aren't going for this mission's Artefact, 'Y', the Warp Prism.

Sedge will probably build at least 1 or 2 large bases from his war wagons on this map, which makes claiming spots he already holds difficult for getting the Artefact. Here are some tips that can help remove him from these sites:

1. You can block his construction by getting there first with one of your wagons. Dragons or witches have a great enough movement range (while still being smaller than their vision range) to reach the build sites and block Sedge's wagons from moving in on the site.
2. You can destroy Sedge's Structures with your Balloons by completing the Tower Construction Side Quest. Recruit balloon bombs at your special built towers offshore, then bring them adjacent to Sedge's base to demo adjacent structures. Uncover the build site flag and bring one of your own wagons there to pave a new base of your own over Sedge's. Be warned, just like the wagons, the game notes that balloon bombs are experimental tech, and you should only build 1 at a time!

All of this information was gleaned from the in-game spoilers unlocked in the Achievement Castle by completing at least 80% of the game and destroying the red gates comprising the 'Campaign Completion Counter'.

### **Achievements**

#### None

Use the unit upgrades to help you recruit 10% stronger Dogs and Mages, which will be most useful in this battle.

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