I'm going to warn you right now: this is on the wrong side of "Don't be hateful to fictional characters".
Is Belka acting harmfully to you? Yes.
Is Belka dangerously revanchist, more than a little fascistic, and probably in need of a full denazification process? Yes.
None of the above, however, are good justifications to want to explicitly salt Belka's land so that it becomes an uninhabitable wasteland. In fact, there is no justification for wanting to inflict exceptionally cruel punishments on your enemies, such as intentionally razing your enemies' country to the ground and salting the earth, that I will accept in this quest.
Now, this isn't a big deal yet; however, I would like to nip this in the bud as quickly as I can.
This is your QM's PSA about being hateful to your enemies.
"The Eastern Osean Mutual Defense Force fighters landed at a different air base, due to their...smaller numbers. Osean and XCOM OSEA fighters have also returned to Osean airspace."
"We've accomplished our mission. The Arsenal Bird is in fighting form. We have shot down both of the new unknown alien craft. All of you before me just survived one hell of a mission. You've gone into the fire, and emerged stronger than before."
Rigel One sniffles.
"I just wish everyone was here."
Silence.
"We'll lay over for a few days. We still need to get Waltz One out of the Granada Fields, and I expect that any second now the Kingdom of Sapin will be roping us into a military parade, and I for one am in no mood to keep you all from earning a few days of a Sapin vacation."
"Dismissed."
Trigger earns 37 XP. At 60/50 XP required to progress, Trigger advances. 10/50 XP required to progress.
Count earns 34 XP. At 57/35 XP required to progress, Count advances. 22/35 XP required to progress.
Jaeger earns 25 XP. At 25/20 XP required to progress, Jaeger advances. 5/20 XP required to progress.
Huxian earns 39 XP. At 54/20 XP required to progress, Huxian advances. 34/20 XP required to progess. At 34/20 XP required to progress, Huxian advances. 14/20 XP required to progress.
Mobius One earns 40 XP. At 85/50 XP required to progress, Mobius One advances. 35 XP required to progress.
Baker earns 47 XP. At 51/20 XP required to progress, Baker advances. 31/20 XP required to progress. At 31/20 XP required to progress, Baker advances. 11/20 XP required to progress.
Blaze earns 86 XP. At 86/35 XP required to progress, Blaze advances. 51/50 XP required to progress. Blaze advances.
Heartbreak One earns 55 XP. At 55/20 XP required to progress, Heartbreak One advances. 35/20 XP required to progress. At 35/20 XP required to progress, Heartbreak One advances. 15/20 XP required to progress.
Pops earns 54 XP. At 54/15 XP required to progress, Pops advances. 39/15 XP required to progress. At 39/15 XP required to progress, Pops advances. 24/15 XP required to progress. At 24/15 XP required to progress, Pops advances. 9/15 XP required to progress.
Archer earns 88 XP. At 88/20 XP required to progress, Archer advances. 68/35 XP required to progress. At 68/35 XP required to progress, Archer advances. 33/35 XP required to progress.
Fat Man earns 50 XP. At 54/20 XP required to progress, Fat Man advances. 34/20 XP required to progress. At 34/20 XP required to progress, Fat Man advances. 14/20 XP required to progress.
Salamander 4 earns 42 XP. At 42/10 XP required to progress, Salamander 4 advances. 32/10 XP required to progress. At 32/10 XP required to progress, Salamander 4 advances. 22/10 XP required to progress. At 22/10 XP required to progress, Salamander 4 advances. 12/10 XP required to progress. At 12/10 XP required to progress, Salamander 4 advances. 2/20 XP required to progress.
Rigel 1 earns 36 XP. At 37/10 XP required to progress, Rigel 1 advances. 27/10 XP required to progress. At 27/10 XP required to progress, Rigel 1 advances. 17/10 XP required to progress. At 17/10 XP required to progress, Rigel 1 advances. 7/10 XP required to progress.
Waltz 1 earns 17 XP. At 17/5 XP required to progress, Waltz 1 advances. 12/5 XP required to progress. At 12/5 XP required to progress, Waltz 1 advances. 7/10 XP required to progress.
Pixy earns 62 XP. At 62/35 XP required to progress, Pixy advances. 27/35 XP required to progress.
Through transcending the merely extraordinary, Blaze breaks past simple mastery and achieves skill sufficient to make the impossible a reality. Heaven awaits.
Blaze is now SSR-tier.
Tempered by the flames of war, Pops surpasses the limit of peaceful normality to find greatness in combat.
Pops is now S-tier.
Due to an established name, no TAC NAME can be selected.
In the crucible of conflict, Archer develops skill that surpasses greatness, and touches the peaks of mastery.
Archer is now SS-tier.
Tempered by the flames of war, Salamander 4 surpasses the limit of peaceful normality to begin carving a new legend into the sky.
Salamander 4 is now S-tier.
Salamander 4 needs an [ACE] Title!
Through dedication and strife, Waltz 1 has achieved the limit that training alone can provide. To advance into the realm of aces will require Waltz 1 to wade across countless battlefields, ever the victor.
Waltz 1 is now A-tier.
To be a Bodhi is to achieve the final step of enlightenment. Monk One had called her a "bodhisattva" at first; one who had achieved that state of enlightenment, and deliberately chose to forsake it to enlighten wayward souls instead of achieving Nirvana. After all, he said, nobody could enjoy sleeping that much without being on another plane of existence, and "Goddess of Sleeping" was way too long to use as a callsign. Monk Three had told Monk One that even that was too long, and shortened "Bodhisattva" to "Bodhi".
That's how she got her callsign. Choosing to sit and close her eyes as her favorite activity. Preferring the calm solitude of a shaded tree to the chatter of other people. Somehow never swearing before in her life, always calm and collected no matter the situation or absurdity.
Monk Squadron had changed that. Monk One, ever the dispossessed snarker. Forever single, and pretended like he wasn't bothered by it. Monk Three, the man with a quip in hand and a wedding band on the other. He liked "eating spice as much as spitting fire," which Monk One instantly turned into a dick joke. Monk Four, always trying to be team mom and apologizing for holding his team back.
Wet tears rolled down her cheeks and onto her knees, pulled tight to her chest.
"Fuck," she whispered.
She missed them already.
It is now the morning of January 17th. Long Caster is at 100 Focus.
Actions Locked In (Plans will automatically include this, but will not be repeated unless specified):
Charlie Burns Status Report (15 Focus)
-Questions? New assignments?
Dr. Shen Status Report (15 Focus)
-Questions? New assignments?
Commander Pulford Status Report (30 Focus) -Questions?
Daniel Snow Status Report (15 Focus) -Questions? Aircraft orders? Munitions orders?
Bradford Status Report (15 Focus) -Questions? New assignments?
Searching For Waltz One (Variable Focus, minimum 25)
Actions:
Organize XCOM (100 Focus)
-Specific new department?
Read Briefings (30-50 Focus)
Meditate Disputes (100 Focus)
Status Reports (15 Focus)
Contact [Person] (Variable Focus)
Coordinate Parade (Variable Focus, recommended 100)
behold, nearly 700-800 words with no literary merit. just numbers going up on a page.
Cursed are the Eruseans, for all they taken from us.
"Imagine a war. Where the frontlines aren't an ephemeral 'over there' but are where ever an Erusean or Belkan or Osean lives on this planet," a bespectacled man, dressed in the clothes of an office worker started telling the wary guards at the gates of X-COM Usea's Selatapura Air Command in the middle of the night, while at the same time he laid beside him a rectangular crate with a visibly unlocked hasp latch.
Cursed are the Belkans, for their gifts of science to Erusea.
"Imagine a war. Where the combatants are hidden inside your populace, waiting to strike and hide repeatedly until they die," the man continued, as the guards had all started aiming their guns at the ranting office worker that was looking less and less like an office worker with every word he spouts.
Cursed are the Oseans, for their gifts of casus belli to Erusea and the traitors.
"Imagine a war! Fought not with tanks and planes and pretentious super weapons, but with fires and knives, trucks and cars, poisons and crossbows!" the man started to shout, so the guards who are backing away from the man can hear him, as well as the other guards who are running towards the gate from all directions.
Cursed are our militaries, for being the womb of traitors before the fist from the dark sky fell on Usea.
Cursed be the arms companies, for their gifts of weapons.
"Imagine all that...but with limitless amounts of gunpowder and poison and pistols!"
Loosen your gnashing teeth siblings! The hour of vengeance has come.
"I am Lee Huo Yao, of the Selatapuran cell of the Siblinghood of Usean Vengeance! Here by collective vote of said cell to negotiate our surrender to X-COM! For the low, low demand of the internationally recognized independence of Selatapura sometime in the next two years!
With the help of the Lords of the dark sky.
"And as a gift, we offer you the secret of how the aliens are helping the Siblinghood arm itself without need for money or factory!"
Lee Huo Yao gently tipped over the cover of the wooden box, to reveal stacks of pistols and fully loaded magazines, and bottle upon bottle filled with black powder and nails.
...the Siblinghood of Usean Vengeance, an umbrella group composed of various smaller, angry groups. Nationalists of countries conquered by Erusea, revenge minded orphans and widows and widowers of the wars of the Usean continent, those who had been left homeless and jobless and perennially hungry ever since Ulysses fell, radicalized anarchists and anti-fascists, who have disagreements on every other target bar one.
Erusea...Erusea must bleed by their hands, and it must howl when it does bleed.
So...basically the idea is 'Thanks Erusea. You created Strangereal Al Qaeda. And the aliens are helping them with portable molecular assemblers.'
What do you think of this attempt at creating an Usean EXALT analogue?
=======================================================================================================================
"Who asked you to pass these papers to Long Caster?" John Bradford asked the Osean Marine, one of Selatapura Air Command's base guards, with a bewildered face.
"This stack was personally passed to the gate by Police Commissioner Chetty earlier this morning," the marine said while pointing to one of the thin, bounded stacks of papers.
Bradford's eyes went back to that particular one.
Selatapuran Police Commissioner Gudiya Chetty, with the permission of Selatapuran Mayor Liu Li, had offered to loan the elite Selatapuran STAR unit to XCOM for any mission that requires ground combat. But in return she requests XCOM's assistance in replacing the obsolete weapons that STAR has in its armory, a legacy of Erusea's mistrust of civilian police units in formerly independent nations it has annexed, with modern SWAT weapons.
"And this one?" Bradford asked while pointing at the other stack of papers.
"That one…you had to see it to believe it, sir."
Bradford privately admitted that the Marine had the right sentiment for this particular stack.
Liu Chi Sheng, playerID MiGeek, is the highest ranking pro-gamer of "Tracers in the Sky," a so called 'combat flight simulation' game from Wellow, of all places, that swept the world two months after the Emmerian-Estovakian war and had created a professional gaming community that earns its players thousands per tournament.
Liu Chi Sheng, who apparently was a Selatapuran, had given his amateur analysis of the aerial battle over Selatapura Harbor, whose videos have spread all Yourscreen. Skipping over all the way to the end, Bradford read Liu Chi Sheng's several amateur conclusions.
The alien fighters are gunfighters, in the style of the old F-86, Me 262 and MiG 15, but with the ability to switch to the hovering flight of a helicopter at will and with a weapon as powerful as an EML but reloads as fast as a missile.
All known human piloted aircraft have inferior dogfighting abilities against alien fighters over Selatapura, and are advised keep firing missiles from a distance instead of attempting to dogfight.
Drones or remote controlled fighter planes must be the shield to keep the alien fighters away from the human piloted aircraft by dogfighting said aliens.
Liu Chi Sheng proposes that either XCOM starts using drone fleets, or starts recruiting professional gamers of Tracers in the Sky" for remote control pilot duty. He then points out using remote controlled, newly produced, highly modified versions of obsolete fighters are a cheaper and more effective alternative than drones craft for craft. And as a start to this, he requests that XCOM allow him the opportunity to prove the viability of his proposal by piloting, via remote control from the nearest AWACS aircraft, one or two MiG-21bis especially produced for maneuverability into battle and prove that remote controlled planes can keep the alien fighters busy enough for human piloted aircraft to shoot with missiles from a distance.
"What did Liu Chi Sheng look like?" Bradford asked the Marine.
"Fat teenager. Lots of acne scars. But you can feel the determination off his face."
Bradford stared at Liu's proposal for a minute or two before he made the decision.
As a note beforehand: I try, in Ace Combat XCOM: Enemy Skies, to make sure that no character is truly a QM mouthpiece. Hence, I am unambiguously stating that Pulford being mad at Long Caster is not the fault of the playerbase, seeing as Long Caster's personality basically railroaded this outcome from the moment he woke up before Pulford.
Also, uh, this Pulford section has run away from me so much I might as well declare it an update and reopen voting.
An unopened video message from Charlie pops up on Long Caster's tablet.
Charlie is bouncing up and down, nearly jumping for joy. The camera's pointed to the runway, where F-14s start their ignition sequence.
"Hey boss. I got you your plane. We haven't finished working out the kinks, but I got - " Charlie yells over the roars of engines that do not belong to F-14s. "Fencer and Lanza right?!" One of the launch techs gives him a thumbs up, "Fencer and Lanza in my best work yet, the F-14X!"
"Lame!" someone calls out over the roar of jet engines.
"I don't wanna hear it from you, Miss XAF-1!" Charlie yells back, turning towards the plane. "Anyway, we took an F-14D and tricked it out with thrust vectoring, canards, modernized avionics and six empennage surfaces! I call it the 'snowflake tail'!"
"We took everything good about the F-14 and made it approximately a billion percent better!" Charlie shouts, as the F-14X trundles down the runway. Long Caster, looking closer, can only see six hardpoints total. "This baby can't fit any more six missiles at a time, but it handles everything else like a champ!"
Charlie takes a moment. "Well, excluding one other thing, but that fucker destroys everything anyway," he muses, as the F-14X takes off with more than half the runway to go.
The two F-14Xs arc up, and then over the runway, barely a hundred meters over. The two dance across the sky, and Long Caster can barely contain his smile either.
"So, boss, what do you think?"
F-14X XCOM Hellcat II
Cost: 2400 IC
Carrier Capable: Yes
Special Weapons:
QAAM
SAAM
SASM
XMA4
XLAA
A large carrier aircraft. Based on the F-14D's airframe, Charlie Burns has upgraded nearly everything except the frame itself, and even on the frame he added canards and more tail control surfaces. The end result, Charlie says, is a plane that's second or third best in a lot of categories; maneuverability second to the likes of the Wyvern or Nosferatu, avionics second to the likes of the F-35C, and speed second to the Mig-31. Compared to any one of those, however, Charlie thinks the F-14X stacks up.
The first impression Long Caster gets from Pulford is fury.
Pulford is sitting behind his desk. Dark circles under his eyes deepen the black fire burning in his eyes. His entire frame is pulled taut like steel cable, and his hands are folded together so tightly his very bones seem to poke through his skin.
"XCOM USEA Commander Long Caster, with all the respect and dignity that you are afforded on account of your station, what the - what are you doing in Sapin."
Long Caster blinks.
"Do not bother answering a rhetorical question," Commander Pulford immediately snaps. "You are recovering in Sapin after taking Usea's entire force on a merry jaunt halfway across the globe. In so doing, you have left nearly the entire of the Usean continent bereft of coverage for at least 24 hours, and more with every single passing second. Not only that, you did so while just barely recovered from your own exhaustion."
"Frankly, I am deeply regretting encouraging your command, if this is the result," Pulford spat, unblinking. "You exhibit a dangerous desire to be in harms way, and you appear to have never heard of the concept of reserve forces, choosing to commit your full power at all times no matter what the situation."
Pulford puffed in and out, trying to regain control over his emotions. Long Caster's rictus slowly faded away.
"That said, I must recognize that in face of the results of the Battle of Granada Plains, I must say it was a fortituitous decision for Osea, and the world as a whole. Discovering that the Arsenal Bird's shield can be pierced by alien ships, as well as their commitment of those large counterpart shield ships was an extremely rude awakening, in more ways than one," Pulford chuckled.
"Aside from that one event coloring the rest of my perceptions, I must say, you have done acceptably. In some places, you stumbled, but others you held on. I just hope you can bring your forces back soon," Pulford said.
The rictus grin is back on Long Caster's face. He needs to bring up the parade arrangements, but something seems to be screaming at him.
Oh. Maybe it's his self-preservation instincts.
"Now, any questions for me?" Pulford said, fingers twitching in their folded position.
"Yes, sir. First, how are the other XCOM branches in terms of airborne assets? Frankly, sir, I, uh, saw a lot of F-15 Eagles out there, and that doesn't really look to be enough, especially given the possibility of Belka welcoming alien aid," Long Caster asked.
Pulford sighed, and slumped. Defeatedly, he waved his hand around.
"You have to understand, before last week the other XCOM branches didn't exist. In fact, the other branches were only brought into existence in the latter half of last week. There simply has not been enough time for them to establish themselves. We'll revisit this issue soon, but Burns' pet project certainly appears to be paying dividends here," Pulford placidly noted.
"On that note. Belka," Long Caster said.
Pulford looked to the side, pulling his lips tight. He visibly tried to recall anything and everything he knew about Belka, before finally giving back and turning back to look at Long Caster.
"Unfortunately for my image, I will have to admit to not being omniscient," Pulford drily said. "You would probably have as much of an idea as I would about them, unless that's not what you mean?"
"Sorry, sir, I should have clarified," Long Caster winced. "The Belkans haven't responded to the aliens with force, and neither have the aliens; is there any risk of other countries following Belka's lead here?"
"The likely candidates for something like that happening would be Kaluga and the Free Eruseans," Pulford said. "They're the only other ones mad enough to accept help from a power willing to attack everyone on Earth at once. I mean that in all senses of the word. As XCOM, there's not much we can do about either, but as IUN-PKF, well, I certainly would not mind putting the Free Eruseans out of everyone's misery," he said, voice so perfectly flat it positively oozed venomous anger, face softening in a disturbing amount of approval.
"On other subjects," Long Caster awkwardly cut in, "Charlie Burns mentioned something going on at Grunder. Do you know what he means by that?"
"That, hm." Pulford said, blinking. Leaning forward, he quickly typed and stared at the screen. "Charlie's probably talking about Osea's audit and internal investigations into Grunder Industries, which has arrested what." Pulford sat back in shock, before sitting forward and staring into the middle distance through the video screen.
"Commander?" Long Caster asked.
"The short list of people that have been arrested or taken plea bargains is everyone in Grunder HQ, and most of the middle management that was in Osea, along with extradition requests sent to Usean countries," Pulford said, shock still lacing his voice. "Grunder, frankly, is going to be in shock and unproductive for the next while, and may in fact completely disintegrate, according to some analyses."
"Grunder might disintegrate?" Long Caster asked. "Like, cease to exist?
Pulford nodded, scrolling through more information.
Long Caster was having a hard time wrapping his head around the concept. Grunder Industries was always...there. On billboards advertising science and engineering careers, advertisements laced through the internet, and all throughout his service tour. To think that a company that big would just collapse, in Osea of all places?
"Huh," Long Caster said.
🌐 - 🌐 - 🌐 - 🌐 - 🌐
World Event: Grunder Industries' Faltering Steps
Osea has finally had enough of Grunder Industries' malfeasance. In a stunning blitz of arrests and plea bargains, the Osean Federation has decided to go public with the investigation into Grunder Industries that had begun last year. Grunder Industries' Osean division has had its management gutted, and extradition requests have been filed for Grunder Industries management across the world. The move has sent Grunder Industries' stock into freefall, and the arrest of much of management leaves Grunder without a clear way through. Thrown into this kind of disarray, Grunder Industries and its renowned productivity is unavailable, and may in fact totally collapse.
That being said, this does represent opportunity for XCOM to grab top-tier scientists and engineers from Grunder's shambling wreck...
🌐 - 🌐 - 🌐 - 🌐 - 🌐
Charlie Burns Status Report
Is there a possibility to modify the F-14X to use EML, TSL or PLSL?
Charlie Burns: TLS and PLSL are easy. EML, on the other other hand... I was really hoping you weren't going to ask to use the EML. I almost deluded myself into believing that you might not ask for the one weapon that frankly destroys your aircraft nearly every mission.
Charlie sighs.
Maybe. I'd have to see how they did it on the Su-33 or F-18, but if they can do it, I definitely can.
Is the Research Division in need of anything specific, materials, equipment, etc.?
Dr. Vahlen: I appreciate your concern, at last. Yes, we badly needed scientific measuring tools, equipment, a proper chemical laboratory, and the list goes on and on. Especially if you want us to do any research into the alien technology.
Long Caster: Past tense?
Dr. Vahlen: ... we had some very generous donations?
Charlie coughs extremely meaningfully.
Has Dr. Vahlen learned anything from the aliens themselves from the pilots' corpses? Anything that would explain the "telepathy" FUG seemed to be utilizing?
Dr. Vahlen: That is the problem. We have no idea where their corpses are. In the one alien fighter we have been able to analyze, it appeared as though the entirety of the alien craft inside is hollow, once we removed the alien alloys that serve as the outer shell. Of course, we only had mere moments before the alien fighter caved in and we were no longer able to analyze the internals, but...there should have been something.
"Telepathy," you say? Everyone reported some sort of synesthetic effect like music sung directly into your brain, or extreme pressure, even you? That seems implausible, but if all of you are reporting it, perhaps there is something that science has not yet understood...
Begin research into Alien Alloys [30/120]
Dr. Vahlen: At once, commander.
🌐 - 🌐 - 🌐 - 🌐 - 🌐
World Event: The Lighthouse Shines Once Again
In the waning days of the Lighthouse War, the Lighthouse had its cable integrity transponders destroyed to destroy the Arsenal Bird Justice. With the destruction of the cable integrity transponders, the Lighthouse automatically ceased power transmission across the continent. Since then, it has been a long two months with intermittent electricity all over the Usean continent. Today, due to the heroic efforts of XCOM USEA and the Commonwealth engineers, the Lighthouse is once again transmitting energy all over the Usean continent, returning heat, light, and the fires of industry across the continent.
This includes the Erusean Restorationists and Free Eruseans.
🌐 - 🌐 - 🌐 - 🌐 - 🌐
Dr. Shen
Considering the, relative, effectiveness of the cannons of our fighters on the aliens, how viable would it be to upgrade them to more powerful versions?
Dr. Shen: I think my engineering team can attempt to improve those cannons. Is that the task you want us working on, now that we've completed repairs on the Lighthouse?
Avril Mead: Y'know, boss, if planes are really such a problem, I don't think we've taken every plane from the OFS Andersen. We can go finish the job there.
Delegate to Bradford the task of organizing our squads which have no one above SS-tier into proper 4-man squadrons.
Bradford: Understood, sir. I'll begin organizing them immediately.
Long Caster is at 150 Focus for the week.
Due to the World Event: Grunder Industries' Faltering Steps, Scientists and Engineers are easier to recruit!
Due to the World Event: The Lighthouse Shines Once Again, the Commonwealth of Usean States' Industrial Capacity has skyrocketed! They've sent about 19000 IC more your way, bringing the amount of IC you have to work with up to 39,000 IC.
[] Plan: Rearm and Refuel -[] Charlie Burns Status Report (15 Focus) --[] Is there a possibility to modify the F-14X to use EML, TSL or PLSL?
--[] Is the Research Division in need of anything specific, materials, equipment, etc.?
--[] Has Dr. Vahlen learned anything from the aliens themselves from the pilots' corpses? Anything that would explain the "telepathy" FUG seemed to be utilizing?
--[] Start new [Research] Alien Alloys [30/120] -[] Dr. Shen Status Report (15 Focus) --[] How is Mead's work on the Lighthouse coming along?
--[] Considering the, relative, effectiveness of the cannons of our fighters on the aliens, how viable would it be to upgrade them to more powerful versions?
-[] Daniel Snow Status Report (15 Focus)
--[] Get cost estimates on TLS and PLSL weapon systems.
--[] Order List (20 000 IC)
---[] 7xF-14Xs for Jaeger, Pixy, Cyclops Squadron and Baker (17800)
---[] EML for Rigel 1's Su-33 (2000 IC)
--[] Make sure Research Division gets equipment she needs. -[] Bradford Status Report (15 Focus) --[] Delegate to Bradford the task of organizing our squads which have no one above SS-tier into proper 4-man squadrons.
--[] Have Baker's old Su-37 given to Rigel 2
--[] Have Jaeger's old F-15 given to Waltz 1 after he has been recovered. If not recovered, it is to be given to Waltz 2. -[] Commander Pulford Status Report (30 Focus) --[] How are the other X-COM branches coming along in terms of assets? We saw a lot of F-15s out there, and that's not going to cut it, especially if the Belkans pile in. Do they need help, and can we help?
--[] Are there signs of other world governments wobbling?
--[] What the hell is going on at Grunder?
-[] Searching For Waltz One (50 Focus)
-[] Coordinate Parade (100 Focus) -[] Give ACE name for Salamander 4: Chaperone
Sections of the plan that have been completed are highlighted in green. Sections in orange are incomplete, and sections without highlighting were not done in this update.
In another way to put it:
-[] Daniel Snow Status Report (15 Focus)
--[] Get cost estimates on TLS and PLSL weapon systems.
--[] Order List (20 000 IC)
---[] 7xF-14Xs for Jaeger, Pixy, Cyclops Squadron and Baker (17800)
---[] EML for Rigel 1's Su-33 (2000 IC)
--[] Make sure Research Division gets equipment she needs.
--[] Have Baker's old Su-37 given to Rigel 2
--[] Have Jaeger's old F-15 given to Waltz 1 after he has been recovered. If not recovered, it is to be given to Waltz 2.
-[] Searching For Waltz One (50 Focus)
-[] Coordinate Parade (100 Focus)
"Commander Pulford, I cannot comply with this order," Dr. Shen said, standing up straight in Pulford's office, holding a letter in his hand behind his back.
"Explain," Pulford replied, leaning forward on his desk.
"I apologize, Commander. I meant that I will not comply with the order to cut off Lighthouse power supply to the Erusean sector of the continent. I recognize that you are my nominal superior, and am prepared to resign in place of carrying out this order."
Dr. Shen placed the letter on the table.
"I don't understand," Pulford coldly responded. "You would refuse to cut off power to known warlords, knowing that they will use their ill-gotten power to manufacture more weapons to prolong their reign?"
"Sir, I refuse to cut off power to the civilians in Erusea, even if it must go through warlords. The civilians have done nothing to deserve living in cold darkness because someone hundreds of miles away decided it would be easier to destroy their enemies without power. Seeing as how we cannot restrict power with any more granularity, I will not do so just because it would be more convenient for us," Dr. Shen replied.
"And in so doing, you would prolong the war in Erusea, threatening more and more of their neighbors," Pulford said. "I would have thought that the war in your home country - "
"With all due respect, you don't understand the first damn thing about Raikala," Dr. Shen furiously cut in. His weathered fingers dug into his calloused hands. "Of course you wouldn't understand. When was the last time you were ever in a city under siege? When was the last time you ever experienced what shellfire was like in the darkness? Knowing that your family was somewhere nearby?"
"More times than you. 1998 and 2004. I was there for the Usean coup d'etat, and I was there for the Usean continental war. Do not lecture me as though I know nothing of war," Pulford shot back.
The two men glared at each other.
Pulford broke first.
"Very well. I will rescind the order. Do not be surprised when we come back to thousands of civilian casualties and fatalities by this time next week, on account of your brave stand."
Shen grabbed his resignation letter, and turned around. "I will rest easier, knowing that millions of Eruseans will at least have the ability to keep their homes warm and power their hospitals. I hope that you rest well, knowing what you have nearly condemned thousands upon tens of thousands to."
Neither man spoke to each other for the rest of the day.
XCOM ANEA
Commander: Raynard Ball
Industrial Capacity: 17300 IC
Pilots: 8
Location: Gracemeria Air Force Base Air Force base on the western side of Gracemeria, Emmeria's capital.
Location: Bartolomeo Fortress (Under construction) Mountain fortress on Khesed Island. Currently has its hangars under construction, but when construction is complete it's said that Bartolomeo Fortress will become a fortress to rival Fortress Intolerance.
XCOM OSEA
Commander: Kiarra Crespo
Industrial Capacity: 21200 IC
Pilots: 8 (4)
Planes: 12x F-16, 4x F-22 Raptor, F-35C Lightning II
Falco Squadron piloting F-22s
Gryphus Squadron piloting F-16s
Hound Squadron piloting F-16s
Harpy Squadron piloting F-35s
Snowflake Squadron piloting F-16s
Location: Oured Air Force Base. Air Force base near Oured, Osea's capital.
XCOM VERUSA
Commander: Anton Smolarek
Industrial Capacity: 18500 IC
Pilots: 8
Planes: 4x Su-57, 4x Su-33
Albatross Squadron, piloting Su-57s
Shamshir Squadron, piloting Su-33s
Location: The Red Corridor The Red Corridor is a low pass through the mountain range dividing Yuktobania and Verusa. On the Yuktobanian Red Fort. On the other, the Gwelior fort atop a hill, as the river runs down the corridor, colored red from rust stains. Barely acceptable diplomatically, and terrible as an air force base. Anton has been investing most of his effort on improving this place.
"Liu Chi Sheng said what?" Welewe Game Studio President, CEO and founder Arnold Rimer asked his customer relations officer Samwise Delacroix.
"Liu Chi Sheng sent word that Tracers in the Sky is no longer as engaging as it was after he had been taken up into the sky for real by...he said he isn't at liberty to discuss who or with what, but he experienced a mock dogfight in the backseat of what he rode. So he has some suggestions to give us."
Rimer blinked and leaned back into his seat, troubled by what was just reported to him.
Liu Chi Sheng, better known online as MiGeek, served as the face of the professional gaming community that arose around Tracers in the Sky ever since one year after the game had been released, doing so by dint of how successful he was.
He was unstoppable, untouchable in the solo dogfight tournaments, winning matches with people who claimed to be real aces online but are unverifiable. And in the team dogfight tournaments, he was always the last member of Team Erusea to be shot down, when it was three on one or two on one.
To have the face of Tracers in the Sky saying he finds the game he plays no longer as engaging is going to make waves in the gaming community, and affect Welewe Game Studio's sales negatively.
"Alright. What is he suggesting?"
"He wants more realism in First Person Mode, by showing onscreen how it looks like when g-force is in play."
At the incredulous stare Rimer gave him, Samwise shrugged.
"I know, I know. He's talking blackouts, tunnel visions and grey outs. When I asked him why the players would be interested in something that interferes with the screen during play, he told me to package it as an expansion. He said to call it G-Force On expansion. Play campaign mode again in the world of Earth, with G-Force in effect, see how you perform when those are in effect. Or on multi-player. He said he would love to play on G-Force On mode during tournaments. And he also said another suggestion but..."
"But?"
"In light of the difficulties with our neighbors, he says its our choice if we go with it or ignore it."
Rimer spent a few seconds staring at Samwise before he shouted Belka in a tone mixed with shock and disbelief.
"Yes. He wants us to do Tracers in the Sky: The Belkan War."
"Oh come on! We invented a whole new planet, a whole different history so we don't get involved in politics! Now he wants us to piss Belka, Osea, Yuktobania and Ustio all at the same time?"
"I did point out to him how Emmerian and Estovakian players are still using Tracers in the Sky to refight the Emmerian-Estovakian War. Also reminded him of 'that match.'"
Rimer shivered as 'that match' got mentioned, when Team Emmeria and Team Estovakia fought in the semi-finals of the 2nd Tracers in the Sky World Tournament. Verusan Federal Police personnel had to escort the two groups to their chairs, and escort them out to prevent anything physical from happening. And the match results, in which the Estovakians won against all odds, sparked what was jokingly named by the rest of the world the "2nd Emmerian-Estovakian War," when the entire Emmerian and Estovakian player base, which had suddenly experienced an unnatural expansion of millions after 'that match,' waged a war of live streamed matches for eight weeks that almost crashed the Anean part of the internet.
The "2nd Emmerian-Estovakian War" ended in what was called either "The Battle of Raining Aircraft" or "The Anean B7R," when 5000 Emmerian players and 5000 Estovakian players fought in just one map, a match that ended inconclusively because the Anean Servers literally burst into flames because of the match up when there were 2004 Emmerians and 2006 Estovakians were left.
"And what did Liu Chi Sheng said to that?" Rimer asked.
"He said that the times have changed. We need to be both controversial and make the game so realistic that XCOM's pilots would be impressed when they play it. Rimer, just in case we do go with Belkan War, can our servers handle another Anean B7R?"
"Yes they can. We're now using Grunder Industries Zoey Supercomputers for our servers. We can now run ten "Battle of Raining Aircraft" at the same time if we have to."
"So...what's your decision Rimer?"
"...Liu Chi Sheng really wants Belkan War and G-Force On?"
Paladin 4 was, after a single engagement, suddenly a sole survivor of what he now realized was only an average fighter squadron. And in the world before now, "average" would have been enough. The world as it stood?
Average was a death sentence.
Joseph Smythe sat alone in the meeting room that had been used for his debriefing, a mostly-drained water bottle having gone room-temperature as he stared at the wall. His mind churned back through the battle, over and over. The fire searing the sky, the cries of fear and pain and loss over the radio. The light, that terrible light as the aliens fired their weapons and good men and women died. Died, while he survived. Why?
What did his squadron's name mean? Where did it come? Suddenly, he had to know...
============================================
The results of his hour and change of research were...interesting. On the one hand, historical references to an ancient pseudo-religious king and his closest friends and advisers, the warriors he dubbed his "peers". On the other, a more fantastical meaning derived from works of fiction and myth, one of warriors of light, hope, and healing.
He felt like none of those things. And besides, they were just going to reassign him anyway, right? Just let Paladin Squadron fall into the dustbin of history...
"No. Not like this."
Joseph stood, looked around, and marched for the door.
Maybe to be continued, if I can keep finding a bit of spark. I just inherently hate seeing that name just fade away. Paladin Squadron...
"Not. Another. One," Capitan Comandor Toscha Mijasik groaned as he set down yet another paper file of the new recruits while the rays of the setting sun shone through the venetian blinds beside him.
On it was the papers of a young Estovakian Air Force hopeful, aged 18. Graduated from high school normally, went straight to the recruitment office. And bragging about his prowess in Tracers in the Sky, just like forty out of fifty other recruitment papers that Mijasik had inspected earlier in the day.
"Well, this one claims he played in the Anean B7R match sir," Locotenent Constantin Cantacuzino said as he stood beside Mijasik.
"Well so did I and Capitan Comandor Voychek," Mijasik grumbled as he glared down at this particular hopeful's recruitment paper.
"Oh? What part of the Glava Islands map, if I may know sir?" Cantacuzino asked.
Mijasik looked up at Cantacuzino with a raised eyebrow.
"Were you in Anean B7R?" Mijasik asked.
"No sir. I was busy with a standard 24 total players match at the time. My opponents are a mixed bag of Belkans and Leasathi, if I recall right."
"Oh. Central part of the map."
"Central part...you and Mr. Voychek?" Cantacuzino asked for clarification.
"Yes. And call him Capitan Comandor Voychek, Cantacuzino. He may be retired but he still deserves the right to that title."
Cantacuzino stared at Mijasik after the Lieutenant Colonel said that.
"You and Capitan Comandor Voychek...were you two the infamous 'Suicidal duo' on the Tracers in the Sky fan forums?"
Mijasik scoffed.
"Suicidal? Except for us two, everyone else in that match lost their nerves at seeing the numbers on the opposing side. It took me and Capitan Comandor Voychek going all the way to the center of the map and launching XMA4's at the Emmerian horde before both sides snapped out of it and started attacking each other. That's why if you hear anyone proudly say they played at Anean B7R, assume they were cowards who needed leadership example before acting. Just like this kid."
Mijasik suddenly started marking the Estovakian Air Force hopeful's recruitment paper with a red colored ballpen.
"Whatever happens, this one's not going to fly a plane if he's that indecisive in a simple video game."
"But...sir? 5000 opponents. You and Capitan Comandor Voychek didn't hesitate at seeing something like that?"
"Why should we? It's not real in the first place."
What Mijasik didn't say was that he did freeze up for a moment at seeing that gigantic black ball of aircraft on his screen during that match. And he was certain that Voychek did too.
But on Mijasik's part, it wasn't out of fear. But one out of a sense of awe for several reasons.
At how far modern computing technology has advanced. At awe at the numbers involved, numbers the air forces of the world can only match if every single pilot in every air force is joined up in one party and leaving the other party blank because there is no other pilot left. At realizing that it wasn't Emmeria's Talisman, or North Point's Mobius One, or the infamous mercenary Cipher who has the honor of staring down at 5000 airplanes, no matter that those planes are just simulations in a game and that the people behind it are mostly teenagers and college students.
It was only normal little him there, along with Voychek, against more airplanes in one dogfight than has ever been seen before and would never be seen in the real world.
He didn't know who moved first, but Mijasik knew he and Voychek reached the center of the map at the same time. Launched missiles at the same time. And danced with 5000 angry Emmerians, hundreds of missiles and thousands of tracer bullets for thirty seconds using nothing but a commercial gaming joystick and an LED monitor, before the rest of the Estovakian players got there to reinforce them.
Mijasik got three kills in those glorious thirty seconds.
For the rest of the eighteen glorious minutes of 'that match,' he and Voychek shot down Emmerian player after Emmerian player while dodging wildly maneuvering Estovakian players and missiles from both sides. Mijasik even remembered leaning closer to the LED monitor because visibility in those minutes had dropped because there were so many missile trails the area was getting smoky in mid-air.
At the moment the Anean servers literally burned, he was down to 10 rounds of autocannon and no missiles left.
He and Voychek later on had a drink at Mijasik's home, talking about how Strigon Team should approach a situation like that in real life while looking after Maria, Mijasik's baby daughter, playing in her crib.
"As befits the current leader of Strigon Team," Cantacuzino said, breaking Mijasik's brief stroll down memory lane.
"Stop kissing my ass Cantacuzino," Mijasik chuckled. "Give me another. I'm done with this one."
"Why were you and Capitan Comandor Voychek playing in the Anean B7R in the first place, if you don't mind my asking Sir?"
"Because we wanted to evaluate Tracers in the Sky. As member and former member of Strigon Team."
"...and how did it score in the eyes of Strigon team?"
"Give it to me straight Ray. Why are our fucking drones so stupid?" An Osean Air Defense Force General was asking a civilian from under the shadow of the Arsenal Bird Vigilance.
"Sir, that isn't an accurate description of what happened above Sapin," Kira Ray, Chief Software Technician of the Arsenal Bird's MQ-101 drones and civilian contractor of the Osean Defense Forces, said as he was looking through the settings of one of the Arsenal Bird's drones via a USB port and a MeBoard, the latest innovative product of Wattle Inc., from FATO.
"It is an accurate description! Our drones aren't dodging big balls of fire coming at them head on! They even lined up and gave the aliens three in one shot kills, for the sake of Razgriz! Three in one shot! Not even our aces can do that, but these drones are letting the aliens do so! What do you call that but stupid?!"
"Software problems, General," Ray answered.
The general stared down at Ray for several moments before he reacted.
"Then fix it Ray, or I'm making sure you're out of a job next week," the OADF general hissed before he walked away.
"Asshole," Ray muttered as he worked away at his MeBoard.
As best as Ray can tell, the drones aren't dodging the alien's plasma projectiles because they don't recognize the plasma as incoming ordnance, but as a heat source.
"And the computer navigates by radar. If there is nothing in the radar coming towards it, it won't dodge. So...what if I input the command to dodge incoming heat sources into the computer?"
"I do not know where to begin. We have done successful research into alien alloys. We have identified the properties of the alien alloys. I still faintly refuse to believe that these - that these - that these materials can exist.
"For starters, it is a solid metal alloy with density comparable to osmium or iridium, already incredibly dense as far as metals go. Then, we took a look at how it was composed with X-ray crystallography, and...well. It is not composed of traditional metals, save in trace amounts. As far as we can tell, the aliens are using what appears to be a stable metallic hydrogen as their primary metal of choice. This, of all things, was the most believable part.
"Then we began to test its properties. The very first one we noticed was that the alien alloys are room-temperature superconductors. Such a material, it's... it is a holy grail of material engineering, sir, and the aliens are using it like we would use clay. The second unbelievable property is its incredibly high melting temperature; we had to replace everything we were using on the temperature test because our containers were melting before the metals were. Moreover, one of our scientists had the enterprising idea of testing both conductivity and temperature at once, and as it turns out, it was superconductive all the way up until our leads melted from the sheer heat. After the revelations about its conductivity and lack of reaction to temperature, it was almost unsurprising that such a wondrous material could vibrate for minutes after a small impact, or that efforts to determine hardness would reveal that the material has a low initial hardness and then suddenly become unbelievably hard after a small progression into the metal."
"In short, sir, we have not only discovered that the aliens have discovered the holy grail, we are currently discovering that the aliens are treating these holy grails like cups, to be made and discarded by the ton."
"Needless to say, this is a leap forward like nothing we've ever seen before. With these latest discoverings, we're now equipped to properly study the alien craft, and to assist in new engineering projects opened up by the sheer ludicrous properties of this new material. As of yet, we have no way of duplicating it, but we do have methods of shaping and removing it. Given time and funding, I believe that we could reasonably attempt to fabricate some ourselves, if not on an industrial scale."
"Given the number of projects, sir, I would advise that we split the Research team up to better pursue these tasks."
It is possible to vote for more than one Research Project at once. If you do so, make sure to designate a Team Lead from the available Scientist pool and the number of scientists assigned to the task.
Dr. Shen: Sir, we helped identify the alien alloy properties, and, well, there's no way any of our munitions actually penetrated those alien alloys. One inch of those alien alloys stop bullets like almost five inches of steel, and alien craft have shell thicknesses of two to five inches. It's ridiculous, and indicates that it wasn't penetration that shot the alien craft down.
We don't have many conclusions on what it could be, but until we do analysis on the alien craft I'm afraid our progress is stalled.
In other news, our efforts to start up a plane assembly plant has, regrettably, been set back slightly; components have arrived late and in the wrong order. We can still do some plane assembly here, but it will not be producing at full capacity.
And, sir, speaking not from a professional standpoint, but as a Raikalan, I would much rather invest in building up the industrial capacity of the Gunther Bay region. All of Erusea later, but we can start here.
Action unlocked! Build Industry (Country): Builds IC in a specific country. Currently a 1-1 IC investment return.
Build Industry (Planes) 2400 IC: Parts don't arrive quite on time, or in the wrong order. Completion delayed slightly into next week. Next week receive 1500 (Planes) IC.
Get cost estimates on TLS and PLSL weapon systems.
World Event: Grunder Industries Faltering Steps Interrupt!
Daniel Snow: Fuck. Grunder Industries was pretty much the be-all end-all in laser technology. Emphasis on was.
In the void they're fucking leaving behind, apparently someone still knows how to make TLS systems, but at a way higher price than it used to be: 3000 IC. As for PLSL, we don't fucking know. We might have to root around Grunder Industries' shit to find it, but frankly there are so many projects that Grunder had running that it's a wild fucking shot in the dark.
Just, in general, fuck.
We got the planes in though, thank fuck for that. Albastru-Electrice almost fucking threw the EMLs at us - "need to meet internal quotas" or some shit. Anyway, for the first time in forever, we have extra planes now!
Burns also figured out how to slap EMLs on the F-14X, he just wanted me to tell you.
Oh, yeah, and we're starting on our project to manipulate the industrial markets for our own advantage, while we're at it. I'd say we're going to be rich, but we're already swimming in so much cash it doesn't even fucking matter, does it?
Bradford:
Cyclops Squadron is brought into full functionality.
Rigel Squadron is created with Rigel and Zvezda Wings.
Waltz Squadron is created with Waltz and Azdaha Wings.
Usean SAR team recruited.
HR Personnel: 15 new HR personnel. Director is Adam Khatuna. He's a solid guy from the Commonwealth of Usean States, should be doing pretty well.
Pulford and Shen still aren't on speaking terms, though.
Long Caster had searched high and low for any trace of Waltz One, sending out images of Waltz One to almost any of the towns and military bases that he might've headed to.
Nobody had seen him for three days.
On the fourth day, Waltz One made it to a Sapinish Army installation, clutching a broken arm. 4 Weeks to recovery.
After all of that, it's somehow the parade that goes off smoothly at the end of the week. Somehow, nothing else goes wrong. It's a strange feeling. Strangely relaxing, too.
Somehow, Long Caster feels like he can handle more.
Long Caster's Focus Range shifts! New limits: 400, 600, 1100
Long Caster is at 340 Focus.
Do you want to vote anything else in for the week? Something like talking to the other XCOM base commanders?
Daniel Snow: Oh come the fuck on, the F-32 Saqr again?! Every fucking month we get bombarded with the damn advertisements, the "come down to Sotoa to see this F-32 Saqr in action" bullshit, and every fucking month it continues being just as bad an idea as before. For the love of - just fucking buy F-35s or F-14Xs, they're better in every fucking way. The F-35 won the Joint Strike Fighter competition for a goddamn reason, and Sotoa just sticks to its shitty F-32 because they're jingoistic idiots.
