After the normal tussle in the middle of Arowana Mall, the other team gets a really good lead, nearly reaching their goal. A better-aimed Killer Wail may have pushed them to a knockout victory too.
We have a difficult task ahead of us to get the victory. But some good coordination and support sees us get close to our goal too, just not quite close enough.
The other team manages to regroup to crush our forwards push, from which we don't quite manage to recover.
I do my bit to hold the centre of Arowana Mall against the push of the opposition, and only when it looks clear and the tower available do I try to advance the objective. That, naturally, gets me splatted.
Back to holding our position, and as I do I note the Roller moving around to flank me. I watch his progress on my gamepad, whilst keeping tabs on the tower, and foil his ploy to catch me off-guard.
The Roller left a Beakon down the side path, and the only way to get there on Tower Control is to go back to the base. I suppose I should remember the super-jump option, but it doesn't take me long to get back anyway.
But before I can even get there, my squidmates get the tower to the goal. They just took the tower and held it. Good job!
I'm not too comfortable with the Splatterscope on Urchin Underpass, but as the other map in the rotation is Arowana Mall I am taking a positive can-do attitude to the Underpass today.
I don't want to be foolish and push forwards when I don't have to. I ought to provide a stable position for my squidmates, and be in the right place to prevent the opposition from progressing too far.
I make a really good start of the battle with regards to my strategy. I keep back when I need to, suppress opposition movements when I can, and push ahead when required.
In fact, the whole game is perhaps one of my best on Urchin Underpass with a charger. Fluking the splat on that Inkbrush was good fortune, as they have caused me problems in the past.
Okay, quite a few of my splats seem a bit lucky, particularly that double-splat to take control of the tower away from our opponents at the end of the battle. But if you have consistently good luck, maybe it ain't luck.
Arowana Mall is a great map for a charger. Even when paired with Urchin Underpass int he rotation, I will take the awkward Underpass to play on the excellent Mall occasionally.
I get a good number of splats in, and only fall foul of being splatted once, pressing up the map when my squidmates have been splatted themselves.
My aim isn't quite what it could be, but the number of shots I get, the ink I turf, and the final Splat Bomb Rush make up for my inaccuracies.
Not 'getting salty', but instead of playing the good game I manage in the first couple of minutes, I end up getting a bit panicky and looking more like a newbie.
Mutual splatting of the same Roller moments after respawning is amusing. Less amusing is getting backed in to walls and not having enough ink for a Splat Bomb. My own fault, in both cases.
Trying to control the turf instead ot the tower seems like a good idea for a Splatterscope playing support, and must have some benefit, given that the opposition are trying to control the turf, but it is the tower that is the more important centre of focus.
With the Splatterscope equipped, I really need to moderate my urge to ride the tower so much. That's for other inklings to do, so that I can provide necessary support. It would help my efforts if my squidmates also realised this and were more keen to ride the tower themselves.
Almost to prove this, my first uncontrolled urge ends with a quick splatting before I even touch the tower. Lesson learnt, I'm firmly back in support. And to help me, my squidmates settle in and start riding the tower. Excellent! I do my best to provide the support I promise in exchange.
I get a bit lucky at the start, where hanging around the centre doesn't see the Rainmaker get too far away from us. We even get it for ourselves and make some decent progress. Running in to the Killer Wail is a mistake, though.
A couple of the opposition decide to try to control the turf of our main corridor, and I take it upon myself to retain control, mostly by trying to splat them, but also just by taking the turf back.
But my focus is perhaps a little misguided. It is too late that I realise their Rainmaker carrier has got close to our lead, and has overtaken it by the time I can react. Whether it was a good strategy of theirs to control that corridor, or a poor strategy of mine to pay them too much mind, I can't say.
Maybe if I had aimed better, I could have refocussed to the Rainmaker sooner.
I decide to flank the Rainmaker at the start of this battle in Port Mackerel, thinking it to be a sneaky option. Maybe I get a cunning splat on a charger, but I completely lose track of where the Rainmaker is, to the whole team's detriment.
We spend the rest of the game trying to get the Rainmaker anywhere near the target set by the opposition, with only a little success. This serves as a good reminder to play the objective first.
I quite enjoy the Tri-slosher for Tower Control still. I like advancing the objective, and riding the tower gives an obvious height advantage for the bucket. It also gives me another break from using the Splatterscope all the time.
The opposition get an early lead that looks hard to beat. If we can't keep them away from our base, how can we get close to theirs?
Apparently, wiping them out at the same time and controlling the turf is a good strategy. As is using a Bubbler to keep the opposition pressed back. It's a good bit of teamwork to recover from a poor-looking situation.
