With covies closing in on both sides, the cliff path is a dangerous place! Better have my grenades ready…

(5:50) Level 3 ('The Truth and Reconciliation') on Normal. This shows three plays of the dustbowl megabattle seen created in BCM77, featuring 43 covies. I use the cliff path defence each time. In the first and last play I use an assault rifle; in the second a plasma rifle.

Released January 30th 2014, gameplay recorded January 22nd-27th 2014.

00:02 (Play 1: Assault rifle) At the start of this play (in which I'm restricting myself to an AR), I emerged from the passage, fired on an Elite, and paused while covies flocked down into the dustbowl. Then I headed for the cliff path, and the movie picks up the action as I near it. I paused a few seconds too long and my cloaking is wearing off while I'm still exposed, but nevertheless I head through a bunch of covies who maintained station. It was dangerous - I could've taken a plasma ball and been off to a bad start - but I get away with it.

00:12 The red Elite arrives at the far end first and I sort him out with a plasma grenade. There's quite a glut of covies close behind, including a blue Elite. My frag bounces off a rock (unintended) and shakes him up, then he's taken out by two dropped plasmas going off. After a bit of AR work and another frag, it's time to about-face and take care of the threat coming from the other side.

00:29 A frag kills a few pesky Grunts and I soon get the blue Elite with some AR drilling and a whack. A few plasmas finish some Jackals, and as I dodge behind the large rock I miss a swipe at a Grunt, but get him with AR fire when I turn. Two blue Elites close in and I start to get concerned as I'm getting needled by a Grunt too, but fortunately one of them wanders too close to a plasma grenade. I head evasively back up the path, and the other gets tagged not long after. Ran straight into it, hah!

01:00 Back towards the ramp, a Grunt fumbles a frag, probably due to my AR fire. That makes a red Elite dive. He's lucky to stay on the path, but gets killed anyway by the bang. As I start to do some AR drilling to mop up, a Grunt up the ramp can be heard blaming his buddy for the Elite's death: "Idiot!".

01:11 I don't really need to back off - the intense part of the battle is clearly over - but I retreat up the path to have a little fun with any remaining covies. In the subsequent action I get a nice tag on a moving blue, then there's just some easy mopping up of minor enemies.

01:54 (Play 2: Plasma rifle) With an eye on my tracker I move towards the ramp end to intercept the threat from that direction first. A blue gets weakened and tagged, but there are two more Elites in close support - yikes! As I throw a plasma to try and tag the second blue, the red gets takes it on the head as I dodge his swipe. He goes comically over the edge and you can hear his death cry a few seconds later. As for that other blue, I dodge a swipe and turn, tagging him.

02:08 But I don't have time to gloat. I'm being crowded by another three Elites already! I dodge a swipe from a blue and tag the other, killing both (partly thanks to stunning the swiping blue so he'd be close to the bang). The red escapes but I aggressively go after him, stunning and tagging him. That panics some minors and helps me clear a few with plasma fire and grenades. There's a brief lull when I'm able to pick up a fresh plasma rifle.

02:35 I do a bit of zapping with the new rifle and throw a frag towards a yellow-shielded Jackal, with good effect. Heading back in the other direction, another Jackal is recipient to a frag blast when I see the glow of his charged weapon against the path wall. He goes flying across my view rather nicely. No hiding! I continue up towards the far end, tagging a Grunt as I pass. At the far end I dally a while to lob grenades and dish out plasma fire (while dodging needles), then I head back along the cliff edge, tagging a reeling Jackal's shoulder as I go.

03:00 After zapping a Grunt at the ramp, I turn. A Grunt tries a plasma throw - "Down in front!" - and I decide to send one back, but it gets intercepted by the head of an advancing Grunt. One of his buddies dives off the edge to get clear of my throw, and I turn to enjoy the sight. Not a good idea though, as I get shaken by a chain reaction set off by my own grenade. A spot of evasive action is required after that, but I recover to tag the final Elite and send the penultimate Grunt airborne.

03:30 (Play 3: Assault rifle) Back to the AR again now, and once more I'm starting off at the far end. Except, I notice a fast-moving red dot on my tracker, so after killing a Grunt and dropping a delaying plasma, I turn to tackle the Elite I know is coming up behind me. It turns out to be a red with a needler, and I try to jump over a few needles as I close in. After a spot of drilling I miss him with an attempted tag but get him with a frag - then a Jackal likewise.

03:49 Another Jackal got away but I shoot him down before reloading. A blue Elite arrives but gets drilled and thumped, which gives me a little breather before heading back. I throw a plasma towards a Jackal (having seen a green glow) and it also kills an Elite who must've been behind the rock. I hadn't even noticed him. Minor enemies panic a while and I do some work at the far end.

04:16 Turning back, I throw a frag at two Jackals, which clears the central area nicely. As I move through it, more Jackals and Grunts are heading this way but I cut some down and leave them with a plasma grenade to think about, before turning again.

04:28 Up near the far end I'm caught needing a reload, but I tag a Grunt to hopefully keep the death toll rising. As I turn and throw a plasma, causing a Grunt to dive off the edge, I get caught by some nasty plasma rifle fire and quickly move in to cover against the wall, readying myself for the arrival of a red Elite. He doesn't get much longer to shoot at me though; I dodge his swipe and tag him, then get busy on a blue Elite and minor enemies back the other way. My shield is bleeping and they know it, but with the aid of a few grenades I'm able to clear the threat without losing further health.

04:48 Another blue turns up, but I drill him as I circle, then finish with a tag. Admittedly a whack would do the job quicker, but I like the element of torment. A Grunt panics with the line "Can't run with thing on back", and I let him get it all out before tagging him too. There's another blue to take care of in the closing phase, but that's no trouble.

05:15 As the last Jackal goes flying, an unseen Grunt yells "Stop him!" and I know there's a straggler. He's stuck on an overhanging plate of rock as I expected (it's quite common), and I send him high with a double tag, following some of his flight with a zoomed sniper scope.

Closing remarks The cliff path defence is one of the most enjoyable defence plans and I've only previously shown a single play of it, namely in BCM9, so I thought it was high time I gave it a better showing with a triple play, using the save I've been featuring in recent dustbowl megabattle movies.

In the first play I skipped the opening phase in favour of getting straight into the action. I've done opening phases in plenty of other dustbowl megabattle movies, and I don't want that to get too repetitive (though it does serve to show how things were started). Besides, if I'd included it here, the movie would've been another 40 seconds longer.

In the second play I actually intended to use a plasma pistol too. I'd mugged a Grunt for one, and the rifle was from the dead Elite at the ramp. However, I was so into things with the rifle (which I prefer here) that I forgot to bring out the plasma pistol until right at the end, when I was going to whack the Grunt if he hadn't gone down. Oh well, I'll give the plasma pistol a go here another time. Maybe in conjunction with a needler?

© 2004-2020 by Rockslider