I mean heck, if tear gas can just mist up the sensor, that alone would cause problems. Doll eyes would likely need some means to keep themselves clear of dirt/dust as human eyes do, for the same reasons, so it could be interfering with that. This is honestly true for all visual sensors in the field. 'Water on the lens' would definitely mess with modern AI image recognition techniques as well, but I'd like to think the algorithms Dolls use are a little more advanced and robust than that.
Admittedly I burnt out and stopped playing GFL before that chapter dropped so I'm completely lacking the context /shrug
The bad news for Objective Angle is first mentioned during the post-Capture-Of-Angle discussion with Intruder. Since Intruder mentions having good/bad news twice, possibly two different timings for the conversation got slipped in together?
You open your eyes, stand up from your leaning position, turn around, open the side door of the MRAP, and climb in. Though it's unmanned, it has forward seats built to afford a squad commander an unrestricted view ahead. You pull the door shut with a slam, and the armoured truck starts rumbling forwards on its eight tires. Your other trucks follow behind.
"Oh, I just realised." Intruder again. "You probably don't know, but-"
"But what?"
"Make sure to collect all the dead Sangvis dolls for recycling."
You cock your head. "We can…recycle them?"
"Indeed we can. And we do. And we should. The plastics in the artificial muscle, the metal in the endoskeleton, the precious metals in the microprocessors - none of that grows on trees. And speaking of microprocessors - pick up the military dolls too. We can reuse theirs."
You direct your dolls to pick up what's left of the military's dolls and put them in a pile. The ones in the trenches outside are well and truly wrecked, but the ones inside the bunker are more intact. Something captures your attention - a piece of writing and a logo on one of the dolls.
SANGVIS FERRI INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING
There's a serial number, too. You can read it as easily as breathing, like a language you've always known but never seen. There's codes for the factory, the assembly line, the product model, and the date of manufacture.
Two things stand out to you. The first is that this model is marked out as a "Jaeger," though it looks very different from the violet-haired androids you have in your possession. It's humanoid in shape, but not in appearance - there's no synthflesh to mask its mechanical nature, only blocky, angular metal components. The second is the manufacturing date, which places the genesis of this machine in the late 2040s.
You call Intruder.
"Intruder. You mentioned these military forces are using outdated T-dolls. Including some of our own pawns. Is this one?"
"Ah, you've found a vintage Jaeger from the War." Something about the casual way she says 'the War' makes it clear that, whatever other wars might have happened since, this was the definitive one.
"A very outdated relic, then."
"A relic, or a classic? You're looking at Sangvis Ferri's breakout product during the war, popular with a wide variety of customers around the world for years afterwards. The Battle of Berlin turned out to be an excellent advertisement for their products. It was manufactured in very great quantities during the war, and popular with a wide variety of customers afterwards."
By now, your trucks have reached the checkpoint, rolling to a stop next to the bunker and razor wire. The hatch on one opens, and your dolls start hauling the dead dolls - Sangvis and Military alike - into the vehicle.
So. This old, outdated piece of scrap metal lasted for…ten? Fifteen years? Before it made its way to this lonely battlefield, to meet its end at the hands of you. A newer, more advanced model beyond anything fielded on that primitive 2040s battlefield. Sangvis Ferri - the arms company, before it became an AI rebellion - was producing and selling units to the New Soviet Union and its allies for all those years. Exactly how many T-dolls do they have? Tens of thousands? Hundreds? How many organic infantry?
And how many does the Mastermind's Sangvis Ferri have?
…well, it's obviously no issue. You and Intruder are fighting part of the Soviet Army right here, right now, and you're winning. That patrol in the forest was a mere temporary setback.
Inside the pill-box, one of your Rippers sees a set of papers. When you pick them up, the eye-catching feature is the header at the top of the page.
MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS
ROMANIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC
Slight correction: you're fighting the local National Guard, not the Soviet Army proper. Well, it's no matter. Sangvis Ferri will be victorious over them too, you're certain. Especially now that they have you.
Looks like they were doing some bureaucratic processing of the checkpoint. There's various signings and notations of which people, vehicles, and assorted gear went past here. It's all quite dry and clerical.
14/03/2062 - 1670: Resupply trucks. Dropped off food, toothpaste, toilet paper, etc. Went back the way they came.
15/03/2062 - 2330: Helicopter arrives, visitation from KCCO Special Operations Command officials.
You let the papers fall out of the Ripper's hands and scatter on the floor. Time to move on.
The plan calls for you to continue pushing north and attack "Objective Beam." But…
[X] [Defensive Tactics] [Recon] [Artillery Tactics] Revision to the plan: dig in at the bunkerized checkpoint you just took, send a small force of dinergates to scout Objective B, and barrage it from a distance with micro-missiles. This will exhaust 3 of your 7 micro-missile barrages.
[X] Explosive grenades
You take a look at your forces, do a quick tally of the losses.
And how many losses has Intruder taken? None. Not a single one.
You've been deceived. You've made a mistake. Now Intruder has outmanoeuvred you - she gets to sit pretty while you exhaust your own forces doing the difficult work.
But the situation is not unsalvageable. You gave up your claim to the Manticores so you could maintain control of the situation. It's time to exercise that control.
"Intruder," you say. "It is currently my prerogative to propose a revision to the plan. Correct?"
"Why, do you have an idea?"
"As a matter of fact, I do." You pause to collect your thoughts, formulate your words. You need to take control of this conversation. Unlike what happened in the theatre, you're surrounded by your own forces, so you don't need to feel like she has you on the back foot.
"I have a bunker here, and I have missile launchers with a range of at least three kilometres, both of which I can use to set up a defensive position in this bunker I captured and rain death on my foes from a distance! They'll have no choice but to send their armoured walkers, and that should accomplish my half of the operation. Have I made myself clear?"
"Oh, my. A change to the script? Are you sure you don't want to charge the enemy position again? You were so eager up until now."
You fold your arms. "I'm sure."
"Not even a little bit?"
You take a breath, clench your fists. She's trying to needle you. To get to you. You won't let her.
"There is no need for me to waste energy on them. I will have them come to me like the pawns that they are and remove them from the board on my terms."
"Hm."
There's a pause. You hear nothing except your own dolls, finishing off their work loading the MRAPs.
"…I see no reason to object. Very well, Ouroboros. We will follow your plan."
Essentially both snipers with a small screening force.
Don't know if it's too small, but we don't need nor want them to fight, and Jaegers should have good enough optics to not get too close.
I can't really say I know these units well enough to make a plan, but can't we just send Dinergates? They're fast, small, disposeable-ish scout units. Do we really need to send other units in as well?
I can't really say I know these units well enough to make a plan, but can't we just send Dinergates? They're fast, small, disposeable-ish scout units. Do we really need to send other units in as well?
Dinergates are a very basic design. They were made to be cheap and disposable. They have a single optical camera that's on par with off-the-shelf consumer cameras.
For artillery spotting, that can be enough. Forward observers IRL manage it with just a pair of binoculars. And the range here is probably not going to be terribly long.
Jaegers, however, are much more sophisticated. They have infrared optics, night vision, thermal vision, etc. They also have a thermoptic camoflage Cloak that helps prevent them from being seen.
One thing you (the voters in general) might want take into account is what you will vote for Ouro to do after this battle. Will she go back to Gager for training? Will she find another ringleader to hang with and see how they do things? Will she insist on continuing to accompany Intruder? Will she try to rescue/ressurect Hunter and Executioner before their time runs out?
And how confident are you in convincing Agent to reinforce Ouro's losses for each of these things? Do you want to risk the cheaper units or the more expensive high performing ones?
One thing you (the voters in general) might want take into account is what you will vote for Ouro to do after this battle. Will she go back to Gager for training? Will she find another ringleader to hang with and see how they do things? Will she insist on continuing to accompany Intruder? Will she try to rescue/ressurect Hunter and Executioner before their time runs out?
I would be most interested in seeing Oro follow up on her earlier thoughts and try to find out more about Agent's grand strategy for the conflict as a whole. I don't think asking Agent directly would help, but perhaps more of an information-gathering approach. Start making a list of all the Ringleaders we know about and trying to touch base at least briefly with each one. Find out what they think we're doing and what Agent's plan is. No... that's inefficient, trying to talk to each of them individually. Cleary what we need is an occasion to get them all together at once so we can question them together, or at least in quick succession.
Ah.
[] Organize a birthday party for yourself and invite all the Ringleaders.
[X] Plan Small Squad
-[X] 1x Jaeger
-[X] 1x Striker
-[X] 2x Ripper
Don't throw around too many units for a scouting mission. Also, we need the second Jaeger at the bunker to spot inbound enemies. Lastly, a Striker is a good force multiplier due to suppression fire in case the squad needs to retreat.
[X] Plan Small Squad
Yeah, fair points. That second sniper is redundant for spotting anyway.
As far as Oro's grand strategy is concerned... I want her to learn. I want her to have skills worth a damn.
We've already seen how many casualties we took by her being a noob, and how Intruder forced us to choose between agency and power (and we took agency).
In order to reach the northern bunker the scouting group will have to move across one of the three bridges which would leave them vulnerable. If our scouting group fails or gets pinned then our plan is trashed, I'd recommend sending at least two small groups for a backup option, maybe a primary group and then a secondary option w/ singular Jaeger or Dinergate to try to slip by?
It's a shame we didn't take the wall-breaching charges or we could have possibly booby-trapped the bridges for when we draw the enemies through.
As far as Oro's grand strategy is concerned... I want her to learn. I want her to have skills worth a damn.
We've already seen how many casualties we took by her being a noob, and how Intruder forced us to choose between agency and power (and we took agency).
What's the point in getting better at fighting if we don't even know what we're fighting for? To be a better pawn in Agent's plan? Getting better at fighting might promote Oro from pawn to queen, but it still leaves her on the board instead of sitting in the player's seat.
What's the point in getting better at fighting if we don't even know what we're fighting for? To be a better pawn in Agent's plan? Getting better at fighting might promote Oro from pawn to queen, but it still leaves her on the board instead of sitting in the player's seat.
By the same token, I might ask "what's the point of learning what are you fighting for, if you don't have the strength to stop fighting or change goals". With power comes agency to fight for what you want to, whatever it might turn out to be.
And, speaking practically, it will be easier to operate if our superiors consider us a useful pawn, rather than a useless rebel.
What's the point in getting better at fighting if we don't even know what we're fighting for? To be a better pawn in Agent's plan? Getting better at fighting might promote Oro from pawn to queen, but it still leaves her on the board instead of sitting in the player's seat.
Gain a higher position in eyes of our superiors, thus gaining more power and potentially more intel.
If we become important enough, we may get a meeting with our real boss.
Directly use skills as means of gaining information:
Deception is useful to find out whether anyone around is hiding something, or answering our questions with lies.
E-War could allow to literally download enemy's data (or even potentially our superior's data).
Recon isn't limited to surveying the battlefield, but is also the sneaking skill. And sneaking means potentially eavesdropping conversations or having a tour of restricted areas.
Simply use our personal competence to trade it for answers.
Those two T-Dolls we can save probably know a fair bit, and becoming their superior means we could simply demand some damn answers.
Knowledge is power, and power in right circumstances means gaining more knowledge as well.
Learning skills means we'll know what is going on, and allows us to change it to our preference.
