No Hunters in this covie mob, but I still have my work cut out to survive!

(7:30) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Normal. This shows three plays of a twin bridges megabattle save featuring 53 covies, using the trough defence plan fought solo (no Marine support). In the first I use plasma rifle and needler, in the second I use rockets, and in the third I go with sniper rifle and pistol. The save is similar to what I used for BCM90 except I've eliminated the four Hunters.

Released May 8th 2017, gameplay recorded May 6th 2017.

00:02 (Play 1 - needler and plasma rifle) After changing weaponry thanks to my luxurious weapon stash, I fly into the twin bridges area, targeting an Elite along the way. But he changes course just after I fire, and escapes with only some shield damage. I let the Banshee slide out of the way at the start of the trough, and run down a way to prepare for the onslaught.

00:35 My opening clip of needles gets a red Elite and also a Grunt. When I'm reloaded I aggressively target a red on the left, and he goes bang. A frag adds to the carnage but my shield is already bleeping and I have to back off fast. Fortunately I only lose one health bar, but this should already show you how dangerous the mob can be, even though I'm only playing on Normal.

00:49 After a bit more needling and a frag, I do a bit of zapping with my plasma rifle but then switch back to the needler and fire a clip as I back up the slope. However, I'm aware that the needles might go over advancing Elites - and sure enough, that's pretty much what happens, with only a few needles hitting anyone.

01:11 I do better when advancing with my next clip though. A needle bang takes out two blues, then I get the leading Elite with some zapping while also dodging an incoming stream of needles. Blue number four comes galloping up as I get my needler reloaded, and I pull off a nice tag 'n dodge move which makes him look a right chump. That's my favourite bit of the battle.

01:22 Even before he goes boom, I'm getting to work on a load of Grunts and Jackals in the middle of the trough. But I get a bit caught out when a red Elite turns up without me noticing his approach. I lose significant health and things are looking serious, but fortunately he gets killed by a plasma blast from a Grunt I tagged, which makes most of the minors panic. A blue Elite takes up the chase but I quickly neutralize him with zapping.

01:43 Another blue runs up but I stun him with plasma fire then tag him, before getting back to work on Grunts and Jackals. However, I get a bit too cavalier and don't give my shield enough time to recharge. I end up losing another two health bars but manage to regain the initiative after fortuitously tagging a blue Elite (I was throwing into the midst of the attackers and he ran into it). There's another blue after that, but I zap him dead without much trouble.

02:18 I'm now down to mopping up Grunts and Jackals, and that goes fine for a while, but then I almost get myself killed after tagging a Jackal around 2:45. He runs my way and the blast takes me down to my final health bar. Should've zapped him to stop his run! Fortunately I then kill two attacking covies very quickly, so I recover, and end by needling a Grunt who was sensibly keeping clear of the trough entirely. Quite a few mistakes in this play, but it was entertaining at least.

03:05 (Play 2 - rocket launcher) In order to cram three plays into a movie, I've cut off most of the entry phase for this second play and the third. As this clip starts, I've already fired a fuel rod shot at two Ghosts on the left, hoping to blast them into the trough so there's lots of junk there, which can make for some fun. My second shot gets one of them in.

03:18 Elites start to show up, and the rockety carnage begins. I won't go into kill-by-kill details but I do pretty well in this opening phase, killing five Elites and plenty of minors - and making good use of the tree for cover. As you can see, I've got a spare launcher at the bottom of the trough, which is pretty handy. But there's another spare further back too, so in total I've got 30 rockets available. Nice!

03:50 After reloading and rocketing some Grunts, I turn to deal with an Elite approaching from behind. He came along the platform and I think I spotted him on my tracker a little earlier. He escapes my first rocket and also a tag, but after reloading I get him. Then I immediately rocket one of his blue buddies, before lobbing a plasma and retreating to the second spare launcher for a top-up.

04:10 Now with ten rockets again, I start a fine period of carnage by blasting a Grunt and Jackal coming along the platform. The next rocket takes out some covies by the tree, but rocket number three is even better, accounting for five Jackals plus a Grunt and an Elite - who's finished after a plasma grenade gets set off. Rocket four is fired through the obscuring plasma blast but actually there's nobody there to kill.

04:27 Topping up with rockets yet again, I lob a frag into the path of an advancing Elite, which makes him dive clear. But that works out nicely because it puts him near two other Elites and I get the lot with one glorious rocket. After that I have fun mopping up a load of Grunts. A good bit of comedy to watch out for is when one Grunt kills another with plasma fire and says "It wasn't me".

05:16 (Play 3 - sniper rifle and pistol) Ok, final play. Off to a good start with four shots and five kills! I continue with the sniping as I back off, but around 5:52 a couple of shots get blocked by some invisible tree surface. Bah!

05:54 There's quite a bit of grenading in this next phase - notably a four-grenade bombardment which kills a load of minors - and also some decent sniping on 2x magnification.

06:27 Two blue Elites get close but I get the first with a frag after dodging his needles, then I kill the second with pistol fire. That was the last of the Elites in fact. I continue with pistol fire in the mop-up work but also throw plenty more grenades, including a nice 3-plasma barrage at 6:45.

07:02 I'm now facing a Jackal and a Grunt. When the Jackal rolls I try to tag him with a plasma, but it amusingly bounces off his shield to tag the Grunt instead, and the blast kills both. Hee hee!

07:10 Another Grunt attacks with a needler but then switches to a plasma grenade, only to get tagged. Too slow grunty! That just leaves one Grunt to finish, up on the edge of the platform. Seems a tough little fellow; doesn't cry out from my first pistol shot!

Closing remarks Wow, can you believe it's been over two and a half years since my last twin bridges megabattle movies? Actually there were a few times when I initiated some play to make a new one, but I kept feeling frustrated by the slowdown which this megabattle seems especially prone to - at least if you've got like 50+ covies and a bunch of Marines. With a solo battle in the trough however, the slowdown isn't too bad.

If you're wondering why I eliminated the Hunters (from the save used in BCM90, which likewise involved solo trough defence), that was partly for variation but also to make it more viable to use weapon combos which aren't ideal for tackling Hunters - such as my opening combo.

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