In which we sort through 1,375 screenshots start our military career in earnest, gain access to the headquarters and spend all the money.Long post today, but I didn’t want to stretch the tutorial-stuff over several posts.

The Empire, relying heavily on motorized armour, continues its attack on Gallia. The country’s fortresses were no match for the onslaught, and the imperial troops marched into the hinterland without encountering much resistance. Blitzkrieg, anyone?
Our protagonists, having escaped Bruhl, made their way to Randgriz, Gallia’ capital.Within the walls of the town centre stands Castle Randgriz, the residence of princess Cordelia and seat of Gallia’s government.
We’re given a lession in Gallia’s military culture, narrator-style (this distinction will make sense in the future): following the example of real world Switzerland, universal conscription is a vital part of Gallia’s neutrality. All schools are required to hold military training once a year, providing all citizens with basic military training. If a war breaks out, citizens are drafted into the militia (as opposed to the regular army, which is a regular army). Welkin, Alicia and Isara are drafted into service upon reaching the capital. And looking at the room given to Welkin, the militia really seems to care about its members.I would have expected a room in the barracks with a dozen other draftees, or – knowing what will happen soon – a stamp sized office without windows. Welkin’s new uniform is already waiting for him:I have to admit that I really like the attention to detail given to it, especially the map pouch and the throat microphone – even if there isn’t much reason to wear either outside the tank.

After dressing Welkin gets a visit from Alicia, who also changed into her new battle gear. Allow me to illustrate this battle gear with a screenshot from the personnel-tab, which will come available later:It’s basically the same dress with some armour – note the cuisses. Compliments are exchanged, and Welkin especially compliments the properties that catch his eyes.Alicia isn’t too happy about the bug comparison, not even after clarification from Welkin that he is talking about the rhinoceros beetle, king of the insects. I totally can’t understand that, which is probably why I usually stay away from compliments.
Welkin also asks about Alicia’s scarf, which was part of her work clothes at the bakery and she plans to wear in addition to her uniform until she can go back to work after the war. Talk about military dress codes. But look at the time, we have to go and see the captain.

Captain Eleanor Varrot, commander of the 3rd Regiment, starts the conversation by handing out promotions. Welkins is now Lieutenant Gunter, commanding officer of Squad 7, while Alicia is now Sergeant Melchiott, leader of Squad 7’s scouts.We also meet Faldio Landzaat, a friend of Welkin and archeology student, who enlisted in the militia and is now in command of Squad 1. We’re dismissed for now with a reminder to both get to know the base in and town of Randgriz and to return later for the mission briefing. So let’s take a look around.Right now we can access the squad barracks, the command room, the training field and the R&D facility. We will take our tour in this order.

The squad barracks are a bit empty on our first visit, as we have yet to fill our payroll.Here we can check on and change the armament and clothing of our troops and check the potentials and relationships of our soldiers as well as the orders known to Welkin.
Potentials are basically perks and quirks of our units that affect the performance in battle. Welkin for example starts out as a Nature Lover, which grants a boost in his abilities while being around nature, and a Calm Heart.Alicia receives an accuracy bonus while standing on bare dirt (Country Bred) and a boost to her abilities when close friends are nearby (Maternal), Brigitte “Rosie” Stark suffers from AP drain while standing on sand (Desert Allergy), receives less damage from interception fire (Strong-Willed) and an ability-boost while near other shocktroopers, and Largo Potter suffers a malus on defense (Child of Nature), receives a boost when surrounded by allies (Loyal Teammate) and automatically revives after reaching zero HP (Big-Hearted). More of these potentials become unlocked when we level up.

Next on out list is the Command Room, where we’re greeted by Cpt. Varrot. We get a rundown of the five classes of soldiers:
The scouts are mobile with a high view range, but don’t deal or take much damage.
Shocktroopers don’t have neither any special abilities nor any obvious drawbacks. They’re frontline combat infantry, dealing and taking a good amount of damage.
Lancers are anti-tank units. Armed with lancaars (“LANCe-shaped Anti-ARmour device”, I kid you not), the local variety of RPG-launchers, lancers excel against tanks and other armoured opponents. They also take less damage from explosives (think “tank-mounted mortars”), but they are slow and prone to gunfire.
Engineers restock ammunition, repair tanks and buildings, treat wounded, place sandbags, disarm mines… they’re a support unit and should stay away from fights.
Snipers are, well, snipers. High accuracy over long distances, but low mobility and highly susceptible to any kind of damage.
Our squad has room for twenty soldiers. We currently have three, so we enrol 17 more from the long list of recruits available.Each new soldier personally reports in, and each one of them has his own personality. Some are shy and self-conscious, others are confident – I like this, as it helps to build a personal connection to each of them. They’re obviously not just other goons for us to sacrifice.

After filling the ranks, we head over to the training field where we meet Mr. Drill Instructor.Mr. Instructor explains to us the leveling mechanics, and it is weird.
At the beginning of this post I talked about the history lesson given by the narrator. Here we get an explanation of game mechanics from a character. It is working somehow, but it is weird. He’s literally telling us to go and fight in battles, amass experience, and then come back to level up. He actually uses the term “level you bums up”. This guy feels like they either slapped him on in a hurry at the end of development to keep the presentation consistent, or they planned much more for this character and scrapped most of it.We also learn that our units level by class, not individually (we level “the scouts”, not “this scout”), and that everyone in the class levels: active soldiers as well as reinforcements. And that leveling up will unlock potentials.
We bring everyone to level two and use the remaining XP to get the scouts on level three.Another thing that might come with leveling is clearance for a new order. Orders can be given by Welkin at the cost of CP and boost our troops. The first order we get is Evade Boost:

Our next and final destination is the R&D-Department, where we meet Leon and Kreis.Leon is somewhat of a dude-bro – much to the regret of Kreis, who’s way more level. Both are army mechanics in training and responsible for upgrading the equipment of our soldiers and the Edelweiss, and we’re kindly reminded that research isn’t free. Bloody capitalists.
New arms hit the factories as soon as the lab rats finished the blueprints, so we don’t need to worry about handing new guns to every single soldier.
The Edelweiss will be automatically equipped with the most recent body enhancements, which are mostly improvements of the body armour and the main gun. Improvements to the treads, weak points and attack support are mounted in the tank’s upgrade grid.We have 5k5 shinies DCT, so let’s go shopping. Accuracy Boost I for the rifle and the sniper rifle, Firepower Boost I for the machine gun and the lancaar, the Uniform Upgrade I, boosting the defense rating of the standard issue-uniforms, and the Armor Upgrade I, doing the same for the Blast Suit. The Edelweiss gets the Reinforce Armor I-upgrade, resulting in a more massive front plate.I sure hope so.

Leaving the R&D and going back to book mode, we’re officially informed about the Headquarters-tab, aka “our way back here”.
The last thing we do today, to get a nice cut, is paying a visit to the tank garage, where we meet Isara. Who would have guessed.She is now responsible for the maintenance and operation of the Edelweiss. To be honest, I’d really love to meet the rest of the tank crew, but maybe we will some time. We get an introduction in the use of Ragnite as tank fuel and explosive in the main gun ammunition, leading to a remark from Welkin about how he knows the stuff mostly from street lamps and medical compounds. This stuff really is versatile, what MIGHT just be the reason why the Empire started a war over it.
Isara also has a gift for Welkin:The flare gun of General Gunther. It probably will be useful. There’s nothing said about it except that it still works and Isara gave it a work-over. I’ll file it under Chekhov’s Flare Gun for now.
But look at the time: we have a briefing scheduled, don’t we?

There will be a little continuity-fuckup tomorrow, as there will be a special episode dealing with skirmishes. Skirmishes become available after the briefing with which we begin the next regular episode, but for the sake of coherence the coverage will be pulled forward a bit.