White Star #20

For White Star 20, we faced a familiar foe, TheBasics, the same team we defeated in White Star 17 with a score of 30-0. This time, they seemed much more formidable. They started with 5 transports and 4 miners. With Operation Delta Storm, Space Titan managed a cheeky support kill, choosing to take out a miner, leaving them with only 3 and significantly hindering their relic production from the start.

Our guardians headed to the top planet, while our hunters moved south to flank the enemy. Unfortunately, the entire enemy team also went south, putting our hunters on the front lines of the main battle. Darrow led with a well-placed destiny, injuring three opponents before falling back to let Qphenom hold the front line. Their barriers and EMPs trapped his movement until he had an opportunity to bond with one of the enemy ships using a barrier and drag it off. Qphenom, Darrow, Space Titan, and Talon managed to finish off one opponent before his vengeance triggered and narrowly escaped another destiny. This was not the type of battle our hunters were prepared for, but they held their ground. Eventually, all of them, except Qphenom, were destroyed after causing significant damage. Qphenom, with only 1188 HP, managed to sneak away and started targeting their support, achieving what the hunters initially intended.

Meanwhile, to the north, the guardians protected the support ships as they gathered hydrogen. They encountered little to no real action. Tricky slipped off to take out a lone miner on its way to return hydrogen to a planet, leaving Falkio, OP2, and Arto to guard the support ships. Arto was busy dealing with a Cerberus bomber, keeping the area safe for the support. The support made his job harder, as each ship in the sector created its own rocket. With 6 support ships and other battleships in the sector, there were a lot of rockets each time. Tricky tracked down and killed the enemy miner but also drew the attention of Sardaukar23de, the strongest enemy on their team. He was chased into a corner of the map. Both of them would reach the next waypoint simultaneously. Tricky plotted his next move early, heading south but then changed it last second to head north. The trick worked, and Sardaukar23de went south. Tricky juked him and left him out of the way, heading north to regroup with the guardians.

Before he could arrive, a lone enemy ship attacked the guardians. It was a bomber build but wasn’t perceived as a significant threat, as Falkio, OP2, and Cobra could handle it. Equipped with chain ray and barrier, they executed the chained ray maneuver, damaging him from afar and planning to get out of the way before his vengeance triggered. Right before it did, Fahim, the enemy bomber, used Destiny Before Vengeance to transport himself right on top of all the support ships. There was no place to run, and the barrier couldn’t stop him since he had an alpha shield. He transported and vengeance exploded, causing instant carnage. Eight ships and a relic drone were vaporized. Cobra was killed, and OP2 was badly hurt. Tricky still had a miner alive nearby, and Space Titan and Cobra each had a transport. No other support ship was left. Arto, having just finished killing the Cerberus bomber, was able to finish off Fahim. The damage was done, severely limiting our relic output. Scoring 30 relics like last time was now impossible. The score was 3-0, and it would be hard to add to that total.

Tricky returned to help defend the remaining two support ships in the area. The enemy transport, captained by Fahim, then used dispatch on the planet where Space Titan and his relic drone were docked. Space Titan managed to escape before the dispatch hit, but his relic drone with three relics was destroyed. Space Titan raced with his two relics all the way to his jump gate. Forty minutes before scoring two more relics, a rogue delta rocket slipped by unnoticed and killed the transports right at the gate, keeping the score 3-0. Talon, who had just jumped his transport into the match, was also destroyed.

Both teams’ battleships began to respawn, and they were all headed for a collision. A great battle took place across the map, and it was close. Both sides took casualties. After the number of enemies had thinned out, OP2 teleported deep behind enemy lines, able to intercept a transport about to bring relics home. Tricky impulsed in to aid his friend and intercept a relic drone returning relics. The defense was amazing, keeping the enemy from scoring any relics. On the other side of the board, Falkio, Arto, and a newly respawned Qphenom provided secure protection for incoming transports and relic drones. Falkio, Cobra, and Darrow managed to bring home more relics, helping the Titans secure the win. Tricky’s lone miner also returned after generating 7 relics and surviving 5 days in the brutal space of this white star.