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Welcome to Axalith. World of opportunity and land of wonders. Of course that was the whole...
Important Info: How to Steel Carnival
Basically, it's rather simple. This is a empire builder similar to what @Swordomatic is running (Hyperdimension Rising. Glory or Death.)

Each turn you have several actions to take in several catergories and rolls will be made with certain bonuses and penalties. Each catergory has it's own action count, so you don't really need to spread it out and stuff. Do note that you can assign your command staff to oversee certain actions.

Each turn, based on your actions, you generate a certain amount of resources that you spend to do other actions. But, based on your mech and crawler force, there is a certain amount of upkeep that you need to pay. Otherwise, well, at first you take a action penalty, but if you keep failing to pay upkeep, well… Yea. You don't want to see what happens when a Anti Matter reactor loses containment.


Crawler
Mechs
Ground Teams
Reseach and engineering.


Every action available will tell you how much resource you need and if there are any other pre requisites before you can choose said action.

If you stumble across some kind of major event, the empire building thing is suspended and we will focus on the event itself in a more traditional questy format.

I do accept stunts and write ins. So if you like want a high odd of success or some kind of bonus or I dunno, a giant sea demon, bang on your keyboards and I'll try and accommodate you.
 
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Character Gen
Either way, About a month of waiting and paperwork, Control has finally pushed you back to a command. As you opened the rather official and very gilded letter, you were shocked to have received command of a crawler. You were expecting something different, mostly because: (Pick One)

[x] Rising Star: You aren't exactly the most experienced person and there's a huge line of officers waiting for a push to command as well. The letter cites that you are most suited to take this position as you while, not as experienced as the others, are capable of some form of diplomacy and you can at least know how not to offend your customers.
(Jane Tsai)


[x] Veteran Strike Commander: Not part of Crawler Force Command. You were one of the best mecha pilots in the business, before you transferred out of frontline command, due to family. Now that the kids are out of the nest and your wife, a genetically modified post human death machine is joining the service again… Well, you don't exactly want to die of old age either. So, while Control has rejected your application for reenlistment as a pilot, they offered you a command instead, citing that your experience with field deployments, a mostly neglected and hands off affair by the typical crawler commander would be a boon to spread to the newer officers under your command.
(Gregor Zollmayer.)


[x] Very Old Hand. You expected to be in command of not a company, but a crawler battalion. But it seems that there were no opening positions for you to promote to. So, instead, they shoved you back into command of a crawler, seeing as how you know just exactly what to do and how to go about achieving it. Furthermore, your name in the mouth of your enemies, has teeth. Razor sharp teeth.
(Frank Statham.)


Obviously, they don't expect you to run the show all by yourself and they have assigned you several individuals to your command staff. You have your Operations Commander, Head of Research and Engineering and Your Mech Commander.

Operations Commander (In charge of your squishies.): (Pick One)

[x]The Marine: Josephine Blisk is one of the most decorated officers in the entirety of the Wolfram Marine Corps, she's also known to be very affectionate and well liked by her men. She has about 80 years of experience… Despite looking like she in her early 20s. That's because she is one of the few surviving Gen 1 Simulacra, an offshoot of Project Homo Superior. Needless to say, Josephine can nearly win a fight against a man wearing powered armor. Whilst nearly naked. Experience wise, she's pretty good at planning assaults and the ground team she picked up is pretty much geared up to smash in people's faces. They can do covert though. Just don't ask them to go into town to ask some questions. Because personally, you don't think that shoot first and ask questions later is a valid intelligence gathering technique.

[x] The Specialist: Tan Hei Long. Hei Long is a adept infiltrator and wetworks specialist. He's very unsociable and kind of stand offish. Despite having extremely heavy duty augmentation work done onto him, Hei long can pass off as a relatively average non-augmentated individual. You speculate that it was probably a custom job done by a outside specialist, rather than the typical Wolfram medical, which focuses primarily on function and not form. You also can predict that keeping him in good shape would probably require that same specialist to do the tune ups required by the average combat cyborg or that it might take longer for the Crawler medical stuff to do it. The files state that he is a chronic workaholic that routinely drives his men insane from the work load. So that's another thing to worry about.

[X] The Spy Master: Jazmin Blade. Funny, you have never even heard of her at all. This petite unassuming woman appears competent in her work, but that's all you can find out. Jazmin Blade is a veteran hand at information warfare and is the kind of person that can be really, really subtle. A deft hand if you will. While she's not exactly the kind of person great at the whole send in the Powered Armor to kill everything, she's really, really good at the whole set up multiple parties to kill each other and then loot the corpses clean thing.

Mech Commander (Self Explanatory): (Pick One)

[x] Fresh faced rookie: Ayano Kei. A recently promoted captain, Ayano Kei is a strictly no nonsense by the book person. At this point in time, while she is not a unblooded rookie, This is the first time that she's actually in command of anything bigger than a lance. So, she's a wee bit more hesitant and tends to stick to the rules a bit more. She is however, pretty diplomatic and knows her way around words and teaching somewhat, so recruitment and training of any new mercenaries would be a fair bit easier.

[x] The Maverick: Anthony Miller. Well, well, well. You have heard of Asshole Miller. Most people call him Asshole Miller because of the fact that his rank is in permanent flux state and that he is a raging asshat. By some unholy reason, he seemed to have gotten back into the good graces of Control. Not unexpected though, Miller knows how to make his Mech dance as the angels would and leads his command as a Maestro would direct an Orchestra. What is expected though, is that he is probably going to piss everyone off and steal all your booze like a fucking hobo.

[x] The Terminator: Boris Kiril. Boris appears to be one of those demonic hunter killers that Division Six cooked up. A two meter tall hulking death machine that speaks in a stereotypical cosmonaut russian accent. Well, it says here that Boris has been in active service in the Mech corp for over a decade since his recruitment. A very conservative tactician that knows how to push his pieces as hard as he needs to be and is perfectly willing to take risks. Boris while obviously inhuman in his mannerisms, always behaves like the perfect professional.

Head of Research and Execution (They do science, SCIENCE! and engineering): (Pick One)

[x] The Engineer: Raymond Shen. This old man is pretty good at his job. While he's not exactly a very good research head, the man knows his way around the nanoforge. He is capable of squeezing out every tiny drop of efficiency out of your machines and runs a pretty damned tight crawler when he is in charge.

[x] The Scientist: Eva Vahlen. A scientist through and through, Vahlen isn't exactly very good at accounting. Or efficiency. Or being on time. Which is very, very bad when you come to the business side of things. What she does bring to the table in regards to the operation of the crawler is her knack for reverse engineering captured enemy technologies or aid in the recovery of old pre Himawari incident technologies.

[x] The Mad Scientist: Shinonono Tabane. While you have heard stories about the Gen Three Simulacra. This woman is probably the poster child for them. The Gen threes were designed to be way, way beyond what the human form was capable of. Superior strength, better mental faculties and extreme toughness. Gen Three met all the criteria, but most of them are…. Quirky. In her case, calling her clinically insane would be a understatement. She's pretty good at running a tight ship and actually doing her job when she is not bored. Most of the time, boredom results in her dropping projects all together or adding in design features that are… Surprising. It is noted that she's a very, very skilled cybersurgeon and is probably willing to offer her services… For a price.

Then, there's the Crawler itself. The Mega kitty (Yes, that's the name of the your land battleship and you will like it. No, you can't change it.)It is a (blank space) (blank space):

Pick one of each:
[x] Proven
[x] Cutting Edge
[x] Experimental


Pick another one of each:
[x] Manufactory [Pros: You can make just about anything you have the blue prints for. Cons: Smaller hangar (4 lances.), Lesser guns. (No access to cheap bombardment support)]
[x] Carrier [Pros: Absurdly spacious hangar. (8 lances.) Cons: Smaller guns. (Bombardment not as effective). Smaller Nanoforge (limits to certain actions with regards to use, no ability to construct Assault units.)]
[x] Assault [Pros: Biggest guns. (cheap and effective bombardment.) Cons: Absurdly small hangar. (3 lances.) Smallest Nanoforge (Fucking hell, it's only enough to produce spares and light mechs.)]


Likewise, your mech complement consists of (Pick one):

[x] Light Skirmishers (Starts with one lance of Light Mechs) [Fast, but lesser firepower, deploys immediately, but very limited deployment time, unless resources are spent]
[x] Main line brawlers (Starts with one lance of Main Battle Mechs) [Slower, longer deployment time, but takes one turn to reach destination]
[x] Heavy combat specialist (Starts with one lance of Assault Mechs) [Slow. Requires resources to transport to battle, takes two turns to reach objective. Very long deployment time.]
 
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Story line Index
Dramatis Persona

Lieutenant Colonel Jane Marie Chewong

Traits:
Social Butterfly: Gains bonuses to actions involving diplomacy. [Options that are more diplomatic are available to you and are more likely to succeed.]
Knight: While sometimes, you have to do things that are rather distasteful in order to uphold your duty. There are some lines that you will never cross. [Certain more distasteful options are disabled.]
Shrewd Business Person: You know the art of the deal. How to push buttons. The ability to evaluate the price of a service and the price of commodities comes naturally to you like breathing. [Bonuses to payouts and business deals.]
Unproven: While this isn't your first tour of duty, this is the first time you have actually taken command. You aren't exactly sure how far you can push your crew and equipment, but you don't really want to find out. [Limit to one Crawler action.]
Moe Moe Kyun: Despite your rank and professional demeanor, it's really hard for some people to take you seriously. Because you kinda look like everyone's kid sister. On the other hand, you look like everyone's kid sister. So you are actually pretty likable. [Random Events involving Low Morale and disciple are harder to resolve. But are harder to come by.]
Geneboosted: Jane is heavily geneboosted to the point of being beyond peak human. Harder to tire out and needing less sleep. She finds that she has a lot more time to pay personal attention to various projects. [Three Personal Actions]
Shinonono Tabane

Traits
Inhuman attributes
: Shinonono Tabane is a Gen III simulacra. to put it simply, she is a super soldier and has the corresponding traits and training to boot. [Three Personal actions] [Can be deployed for ground actions]
Maverick: She is like a force of nature, you do not control her. You merely guide her into doing your work for you. [Roll a d3 to determine how many of those personal actions you can actually use.]
Mad Sciences: Shinonono Tabane believes that things like budget constraints and actual proper planing are for weaklings and losers. Any projects that suffer her personal intervention will cost more and will likely yield extra surprise features. On the other hand, she is a rather meticulous individual, so, the odds of having equipment failure due to neglect or poor design is close to zero [Botches do not result in critical failures. Projects cost more in terms of resources and time and Critical successes will yield special surprises, when Shinonono Tabane uses a personal action to intervene in a project]
Mad House: The labs are staffed with personnel with inflicted with the same kind of mania that their department head has. While they are very enthusiastic with their work, they are not exactly superhuman. [Three action limit for Research and Execution. Using the third action results in a penalty for all rolls.]
Major Boris Kiril

Traits
The Terminator:
Boris was originally a combat android designed for heavy assaults. As a result, he is obviously not as squishy, frail or easy to tire as a human pilot. [If any rolls results in the death of Boris, A reroll will take place. If it succeeds, he is merely damaged.] [Maybe deployed as a ground combatant.]
Uses batteries: Theoretically, Boris is tireless warmachine that only will only stop when rendered mission killed. In practice, he requires really expensive batteries to run or a hook up to a power generator. [Limited to one personal action unless resources are spent. One extra resource per action, with a limit of three.]
The Soldier: There are three kind of aces. Boris is the type that knows how to read the tides of battle. He is but a soldier doing his duty and will do whatever it takes to achieve his objectives. [All options are available for his use.] [One Reroll per combat action.]
The Professional: A very by the books kind of robot, Boris makes a excellent trainer for newcomers. Furthermore his neutral demeanor, controlled expressions and armored chassis make him a very good choice to send in as a negotiator [Can be used as a diplomat.][ Bonus to training for Mech pilots.]
Major Josephine Blisk Zollmayer

Traits:
Bringer of Death:
Josephine is a Gen I simulacra. To put it simply, she is a super soldier trained from birth to main, kill and burn. While she isn't as durable as Boris or Tabane, she brings close to six decades of combat experience as a powered armor operator to your team. [Very high bonus to assaults if she personally participates.] [Bonus to offensive infantry operations.] [2 personal actions]

Four Fingers, A Thumb and a Armored Fist: Josephine has staffed the near entirety of your operations units with Heavy Infantry units. While you ground operations complement make excellent shock troops and passable infiltrators. They obviously make poor spies. [More Aggressive Operations unlocked, Some Covert Operations Avaliable. No Intrigue generation.]

Motherly Demeanor: Josephine, despite being extremely aggressive in combat, is known to be gentle and demure when not engaged in warfare. As a result, Most of the Gen II and Gen III simulacra see her as their big sister or mother. Other personnel see her as a easily approachable commander who takes good care of the men under her command. [Random events involving low morale or low discipline comes less frequent.]
Your Company
The Mega Kitty
[Mechanics: Upkeep of your Crawler requires 3 resources.]
[Trait: Creation engine. All production requires only one turn to complete. However, any production action requires one more resource than normal.]
[Trait: Heavy Refineries. You have two sand processors instead of one due to the size of your Nanoforge. You gain two resources per turn.]
[Trait: Defensive weaponry. Very obvious what it does, isn't it?]
[Trait: Missile Bombardment. A variety of cruise missiles can be launched at any target within range. Costs one resource]
[Trait: Heavy Missile Strike. Six Ballistic missiles can be prepared for launch. These have to be prepared before hand. You cannot change the load out of missiles, only replace them after they are fired. See Production actions for flavors.]
[Trait: Divine Rain of the Heavens. A storm of unguided projectiles fired to blanket a entire area in high explosives. Costs two resources.]
[Gained: 6 tactical nuclear weapons. Unrestrained usage may cause lowered relations and invite sanctions from command.]
24 Resources in stock at the moment.
Mech Complement [One Action per lance.}
One Lance worth of Green level Pilots (56/500 to the next level.)
One Lance of Mundane Main Battle Mechs (One turn to deploy. Average rate of resource consumption. Very general purpose.)
One lance of High Performance Light Mechs (Immediate deployment, low endurance)
One Set of Mundane Medium Ranged Weapons for MBMs(Rifles, guided missiles, machine guns.)
One Set of High Performance Ranged Weapons for Light Mechs (Long Ranged Missiles, High Performance Sniper Rifles and associated kit.)
One Set of sensor equipment for Light mechs
Steel Reaper (SU37 Terminator) (Boris' Personal Machine.)
Ground Teams [One Action per company/team. At least one company must be free at all times.]
3 Veteran Level Marine Companies
1 team of Gen II Simulacra led By Josephine
1 Gen III Simulacra Mad Scientist/Specialist
1 Russian Terminator
 
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Turn Zero
[X] Rising Star: You aren't exactly the most experienced person and there's a huge line of officers waiting for a push to command as well. The letter cites that you are most suited to take this position as you while, not as experienced as the others, are capable of some form of diplomacy and you can at least know how not to offend your customers.
(Jane Tsai)

Mega Kitty Command Meeting Room

Today is officially the best day of your life. Seriously. It's not everyday that someone below the age of 40 gets command of a command crawler. Not only do you get to jump the queue on people waiting for the position to open up, but you get a brand spanking new rank to go with it

Lieutenant Colonel Jane Marie Tsai Chewong. Sounds hardcore. Sounds badass. Now that's something to brag about. Your brothers good natured as they are, used to make fun of you for joining the military. How small and soft little Jane could not hack it as a soldier. That she would come crying home back to mommy and daddy. The disappointed looks on your mothers face when you said you didn't want to get a pHD and become a researcher like the rest of your family. The absolutely horrified look on your dad's face when you said you wanted to be a soldier.

Wait, no. Dad just grunted and went back to reading his tablet. But he's not exactly the kind of person who shows emotions openly. His grunts are very, very expressive if you knew how to read him. He was concerned, but well, he believed in letting his children pursue his dreams.

Hell, lots of your old school friends were shocked even. Comments like, holy shit? Loli Big Boobs is joining the military? Her? She wouldn't last five days.

Well, it's Lieutenant Colonel Loli Big Boobs now. Your girlfriend was most happy for you when you showed her the letter. You celebrated that night and the morning after. Then she cried one she realized that you were going to be going away for a few years. You promised to call regularly. She promises not to destroy the fabrics of reality without a very, very good reason.

So. Either way, while you have met your command team individually several times. This is the first time that you have actually called for a command level staff meeting. While you realize that some of their personalities might not mesh very well together. The dossiers provided and your first impressions of your new colleagues is that generally they are professional and you can rely on them to do their jobs.

CO: The Rising Star

Lieutenant Colonel Jane Marie Chewong

Traits:
Social Butterfly: Gains bonuses to actions involving diplomacy. [Options that are more diplomatic are available to you and are more likely to succeed.]
Knight: While sometimes, you have to do things that are rather distasteful in order to uphold your duty. There are some lines that you will never cross. [Certain more distasteful options are disabled.]
Shrewd Business Person: You know the art of the deal. How to push buttons. The ability to evaluate the price of a service and the price of commodities comes naturally to you like breathing. [Bonuses to payouts and business deals.]
Unproven: While this isn't your first tour of duty, this is the first time you have actually taken command. You aren't exactly sure how far you can push your crew and equipment, but you don't really want to find out. [Limit to one Crawler action.]
Moe Moe Kyun: Despite your rank and professional demeanor, it's really hard for some people to take you seriously. Because you kinda look like everyone's kid sister. On the other hand, you look like everyone's kid sister. So you are actually pretty likable. [Random Events involving Low Morale and disciple are harder to resolve. But are harder to come by.]
Geneboosted: Jane is heavily geneboosted to the point of being beyond peak human. Harder to tire out and needing less sleep. She finds that she has a lot more time to pay personal attention to various projects. [Three Personal Actions]

It is thirty minutes before the timing you set for the meeting. As you step into the dark room, you see a light purple glow sitting in one of the chairs. A long messy mop of luminescent glowing hair frames a pale face. The most distinguishing feature of said face is the two baleful purple pupils glowing in the dark. As you look closer, thin traces of purple appear on the skin of the woman sitting at the desk making pew pew noising and handling what appears to be a pair of model Mechs. She hisses as you turn on the lights.

She is most definitely out of uniform. Considering that she is wearing a rather frilly sky blue dress and apron. The dress shoes and shin socks aren't exactly safe to wear in a place where work is done with heavy machinery. And most definitely that head band that looks like a pair of bunny ears isn't what you called regulation headwear.

Compared to yourself, in a prim and properly pressed set of fatigues, wearing proper safety boots and a well seasoned officer's beret. This woman looks like a costumed street walker. This must be Shinonono Tabane. Your head of Research and Execution. Technically a civilian attached to the military. But most of them actually follow the dress code! You decided to keep your mouth shut. There's no need to force her to change to something else, given how there's no purpose in doing so.

Head of Research and Execution: The Mad Scientist

Shinonono Tabane

Traits
Inhuman attributes
: Shinonono Tabane is a Gen III simulacra. to put it simply, she is a super soldier and has the corresponding traits and training to boot. [Three Personal actions] [Can be deployed for ground actions]
Maverick: She is like a force of nature, you do not control her. You merely guide her into doing your work for you. [Roll a d3 to determine how many of those personal actions you can actually use.]
Mad Sciences: Shinonono Tabane believes that things like budget constraints and actual proper planing are for weaklings and losers. Any projects that suffer her personal intervention will cost more and will likely yield extra surprise features. On the other hand, she is a rather meticulous individual, so, the odds of having equipment failure due to neglect or poor design is close to zero [Botches do not result in critical failures. Projects cost more in terms of resources and time and Critical successes will yield special surprises, when Shinonono Tabane uses a personal action to intervene in a project]
Mad House: The labs are staffed with personnel with inflicted with the same kind of mania that their department head has. While they are very enthusiastic with their work, they are not exactly superhuman. [Three action limit for Research and Execution. Using the third action results in a penalty for all rolls.]

Fifteen minutes after you have taken your seat, the deck rings with the clang of heavy boots walking. Either someone was wearing powered armor or that someone must be your mech commander.

The door opens. A hundred kilos of Titanium alloy and Russian Man Cake walks through the door. Boris Kiril is a big and heavy set man. Wearing a simple white T shirt that is tight across his chest, covering huge rippling slabs of artificial muscles. He scans the room with his eyes, analyzing everything in quick detail with a glance. His gaze resembling a range finder searching for a target rather than human eyes as he strides in purposefully. His fatigue pants pockets stuffed with quite a fair bit of things and his boots polished to a mirror sheen. He gives you a nod as he catches you looking at him.

You turn away and blush from the attention. At this point in time you want to take out one of those tiny flags and wave them around like you used to do when you wavered under the attention from men. But no, you are not a love sick horny teenager anymore. You settle for poking your index fingers together.

Mech Commander: The Terminator

Major Boris Kiril

Traits
The Terminator:
Boris was originally a combat android designed for heavy assaults. As a result, he is obviously not as squishy, frail or easy to tire as a human pilot. [If any rolls results in the death of Boris, A reroll will take place. If it succeeds, he is merely damaged.] [Maybe deployed as a ground combatant.]
Uses batteries: Theoretically, Boris is tireless warmachine that only will only stop when rendered mission killed. In practice, he requires really expensive batteries to run or a hook up to a power generator. [Limited to one personal action unless resources are spent. One extra resource per action, with a limit of three.]
The Soldier: There are three kind of aces. Boris is the type that knows how to read the tides of battle. He is but a soldier doing his duty and will do whatever it takes to achieve his objectives. [All options are available for his use.] [One Reroll per combat action.]
The Professional: A very by the books kind of robot, Boris makes a excellent trainer for newcomers. Furthermore his neutral demeanor, controlled expressions and armored chassis make him a very good choice to send in as a negotiator [Can be used as a diplomat.][ Bonus to training for Mech pilots.]

And finally, five minutes before the deadline, the door opens with a hiss. Revealing a woman wearing a powered armor undersuit. Major Josephine Blisk, strides in, walking like the feline mega predators of old earth. A decorated veteran of close to sixty years and yet she looks younger than you. Internally you pout about the unfairness of it as she moves to take her seat at the table. She trips on the carpet and smashes her face into the steel table. You wince at the sound of the impact, whilst Boris and you both leave your chairs to help her up. She stands up looking none the worse, while the table has a huge indentation the size of her forehead.

You cannot help but notice her figure. You would expect that someone capable of crushing the skull of a man with her bare hands to look more muscular and heavy set. Like Boris, in fact. But she has a lithe and thin figure. A figure that you expect from a runner or the average person on the street. You are immensely jealous of her figure. Why can't you be that tall?

Operations Commander: The Marine

Major Josephine Blisk Zollmayer

Traits:
Bringer of Death:
Josephine is a Gen I simulacra. To put it simply, she is a super soldier trained from birth to main, kill and burn. While she isn't as durable as Boris or Tabane, she brings close to six decades of combat experience as a powered armor operator to your team. [Very high bonus to assaults if she personally participates.] [Bonus to offensive infantry operations.] [2 personal actions]

Four Fingers, A Thumb and a Armored Fist: Josephine has staffed the near entirety of your operations units with Heavy Infantry units. While you ground operations complement make excellent shock troops and passable infiltrators. They obviously make poor spies. [More Aggressive Operations unlocked, Some Covert Operations Avaliable. No Intrigue generation.]

Motherly Demeanor: Josephine, despite being extremely aggressive in combat, is known to be gentle and demure when not engaged in warfare. As a result, Most of the Gen II and Gen III simulacra see her as their big sister or mother. Other personnel see her as a easily approachable commander who takes good care of the men under her command. [Random events involving low morale or low discipline comes less frequent.]

She waves the both of you off. "I am fine." She grunts back. Her voice sounding like she spent her entire life gargling gravel and inhaling cigar smoke. You all return to your seats.

"So... Welcome to the Megakit-"

Josephine raises her hand. "With all due respects, Ma'am. Who the fuck picked that name?"

You have no idea yourself. I mean who the heck names a giant war machine the Mega Kitty?

You shrug and continue on with your briefing. Some times interrupted by the pew pew noises of someone obviously bored playing with a bunch of action figures. The sounds stop as soon as Josephine shoots a glare at the offender.

"So, as I was saying, welcome to the Mega kitty and I think we have our work cut out for us."

You tap a button on the table and the Room lights up with a holographic display of the region you are in. To the north of the region, beyond a series of Plateaus labeled as B7R and The Round Table, a single tower labeled as Objective 13 and the Sky Tree stands. This is a Tether. A orbital elevator constructed by Haven, for purposes unknown. These Tethers are found in just over half of Axalith and mark the territories of the Havenite scum.

"To our North is Objective 13. So far, from what we can tell, they are just focused on defending the tower. But, we know that they are probably attempting to bring down the battery coverage for this region."

Several tinier spikes south of the mountain region jut out from the landscape. These flashed red briefly when you talked about Battery coverage. These are the anti orbital defense guns owned by the various powers in control of this region of Axalith. There are ten of them.

"I'm not sure how many of them are still working as of now, because the information we have is about a month out of date."

The map south of the round table turns into three separate colours. Red, Blue and Green.

"Now this is a hotly contested war zone, between the Union, the Hand and the Reds. The most important thing we have to note is that region is littered with a lot of wreckage and old buildings, seeing as how this used to be one of the biggest settlements, pre-sunflower incident. But post-sunflower region? It's a treasure trove filled with technology and salvage."

She taps the table and the hologram projection disappears.

"So. Before we begin planning our next move. What's the status of the Crawler. Engineering?"

My gods, when Tabane speaks, it's so high pitched. Does she produce helium as a by product of respiration? Because it certainly sounds like she does!

"Hai~ Our Nanoforge is tricky. Very tricky. But there's nothing that can get in the way of my Genius! We are running at full power and in theory, we have double the production rates of a normal Manufactory Crawler."

"I sense that there is a but there."

"Well~~ There is a sliiiight problem. It's very very hungry~ and I've been monitoring the parts on our crawler. They are kiiiinda very high maintainence. We might need at least double of what stocks we have at the moment."

She taps the table once, bring up the schematics. "On the bright side. We have a smaller Nanoforge than normal. We have space to fit another refinery."

You probably might not want to push the crawler so hard now. You will never know when it might break, given how maintenance intensive your crawler is.

[Mechanics: You have at the moment, 25 resources in stock on your crawler. Upkeep of your Crawler requires 3 resources.]
[Trait: Creation engine. All production requires only one turn to complete. However, any production action requires one more resource than normal.]
[Trait: Heavy Refineries. You have two sand processors instead of one due to the size of your Nanoforge. You gain two resources per turn.]

Tabane gives a quite Ehehehe~ when she sees Josephine smile at her.

You look at your OpsCom. She gets the hint and quickly starts to speak.

"Three strike companies at your disposal. The Crawler gunnery crews have their weapons fully operational. We got the typical close range anti vehicle cannons, the usual laser PDs, a whole load of VLS cells and six cells for ballistic missiles. We have a full load of Plan Bs in stock at the moment. Anti boarding defenses are the typical heavy flamers and anti PA plasma cannons."

[Trait: Defensive weaponry. Very obvious what it does, isn't it?]
[Trait: Missile Bombardment. A variety of cruise missiles can be launched at any target within range. Costs one resource]
[Trait: Heavy Missile Strike. Six Ballistic missiles can be prepared for launch. These have to be prepared before hand. You cannot change the load out of missiles, only replace them after they are fired. See Production actions for flavors.]
[Trait: Divine Rain of the Heavens. A storm of unguided projectiles fired to blanket a entire area in high explosives. Costs two resources.]
[Gained: 6 tactical nuclear weapons. Unrestrained usage may cause lowered relations and invite sanctions from command.]
[Two Ground operations may be carried out per turn.]

Boris, anticipating his turn begins to speak as soon as Josephine finishes. His voice is very low pitched and he speaks in that stereotypical russian accent. "Commander. We have one lance of main battle mechs. Three M1 Striders manned by some fresh academy graduates. I bring my own personal Terminator into mech bay. No need for puny Liberty mech."

He looks you straight in the eye. "We are not ready to conduct much combat operations. I need time to break in new weaklings, so they don't shit themselves the first time we fight plants. I also request that we recruit more pilots. One Lance not enough people to help us make money.

He's actually right. So. That's probably something you want to keep in mind. While a crawler is still a massive slab of armor and weapons, you still need at least one lance to run patrols or be outriders, in case of ambush.

[Gained: One Mundane Main Battle Mech Lance]
[Gained: Mundane Medium ranged weapons]
[Each lance you have allows you to conduct one Mech operation per turn. Commit more lances to ensure success]

-----

With all that in mind, Heres the turn vote

Turn 0 Week 0

Crawler (1 action)
[] Find a nice area to plop down and start salvaging resources
Pros: Resources and occasional Pre Hinawari technology.
Cons: Generates very little resources as compared to trading or doing contract work.
[] Move towards B7R
Pros: FUCK HAVEN AND THEIR STUPID STICK TOWERS
Cons: You are likely to be bombed from orbit
[] Move towards Union Territory
Pros: They have plenty of jobs and are desperate for manpower and expertise
Cons: They are stingy with pay.
[] Move towards Hand Of Liberty Territory
Pros: They pay handsomely for jobs
Cons: Moderate Chance of backstabbing and not likely to offer easy work
[] Move towards Cosmonaut Territory
Pros: We have many, many work for you, comrade.
Cons: Moderate Chance of backstab. Very cheap.

Research and Execution Actions (3 actions)

[] Produce one lance of Light Mechs [2 resources, + 1 resource for High Performance, +2 resources for cutting edge.]
Light Mechs are the scouts and skirmishers of any mechanized strike force. While do not have the endurance to stay on the field for prolonged periods of time, they are fast and can fade away before receiving any retaliation.
[] Produce one lance of Main Battle Mechs [3 resources , +1 resource for High Performance, +2 Resources for Cutting edge]
The Main Battle Mech is the bread and butter of any mechanised strike force. Designed to be fast, hard hitting and heavily armor. The MBM strikes a balance between speed, firepower and protection.
[] Produce one Assault Mech [Yes, this is not a typo.] (4 resources +1 resource for High Performance, +2 for cutting edge]
Assault Mechs are the hammers of the mechanised strike force. Slow to the point that specialist trucks are required to transport them to the field, Assualt Mechs are unbreakable slabs of armor and guns. The production of even one assault mech is a strain on the considerable resources of a Wolfram Company. As a result Assault Mechs are typically attached to a lance of lighter mechs as heavy fire support.
[] Produce Mech Equipment (1 Resource for lights and Assaults, 2 Resources for mediums, +1 resource for High Performance, +2 for cutting edge]
The mech is a very versatile war machine capable of switching equipment really fast. These are basically refit kits and spare weapons for your lances, to be equipped before deployment. You can swap them out anything when your mechs are inside the crawler
Types include: Enhanced Sensor Package
Short ranged equipment (Melee weapons, Shotguns, Unguided Rockets, Applique armor)
Medium Ranged weapons (Machine guns, Assault rifles, Battle cannons, Missiles, Lasers, Plasma Canons)
Long ranged weapons (Heavy Missiles, Sniper rifles, Rail guns, Anti satellite energy weapons)
Indirect fire (Howitzers, Mortars, Cruise missiles)
Anti plant load out (Flamethrowers, Plasma Casters. Thermobarics.)
Enhanced armor kit (Duh.)
[] Create trade goods for trading
Yea, you don't exactly know what is going to sell for hot cakes, so no.

[] Produce and load Ballistic Missile (2 resource)
You probably want to arm the tubes, given that your primarily defense against Orbital strikes are ballistic missiles. There are several varieties of warheads. There's only two you currently have access to. Shockwave and Hydra The first is basically a anti aircraft ballistic missile, it flies into a concentration of hostile air units and then fires off a barrage of anti aircraft missiles before detonating what is left of it's propellant in a violent fuel air explosion. The hydra is a anti orbital ballistic missile, It's basically like the Shockwave, only that it carries only 8 submunitions. Said 8 submunitions are hypersonic cruise missiles that can auto target.
Both types of missiles can be used to hit ground targets as well.
[] Produce and launch recon drone swarm. (2 resources)
Well, it's not as flashy as a ballistic missile and not as cool as a lance of mechs, but hey? Who can win a war without proper information? On a successful roll, you reveal more about your surroundings.
[] Do a Research Project!
What is there to be researched? Nothing yet. You will have to wait until your Head of Research stops playing with her toys.
There are no operations and there is no way for you to run recruitment until you reach Civilisation. So atm, your Mercs are going to have very little choice in what they can do.
Operations Command (2 actions)

[] Run Drills
While your marines are professional, it never hurts for them to be more prepared. (??? before level up)​

[] Special Action: PARTAAAAY
Hey, it's like the first week since you guys got together and formed a unit, why not celebrate the fact that y'all be stuck together for like a few years? (Morale boooost)
Mech Command (1 Actions)

[] Run drills
Your pilots are unblooded and untested. While they are pretty good in theory, Boris does not care about theory. He cares that they might give sub optimal performance. Run them through some drills.
[] Vanguard
Even though you are undermanned, it is still SOP for any crawler under way to deploy mechs as forward scouts. A successful roll will reveal more information.
Personal Actions
Jane (3 actions)
[]Interact with your command staff -> Who? (Interludes)
[]Supervise a Command-> What? (May yield better results)
[]Have some personal time (???)​

Boris (1 Action)
[] Supervise your command
[] Interact with other commanders-> (Who?)
[] Have Some personal Time (???)
Josephine (2 actions)
[] Supervise your command
[] Interact with other commanders-> (Who?)
[] Have Some personal Time (???)​

Tabane (0 actions)
?????????
 
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Turn 01
Turn 0 Results:
[X] Find a nice area to plop down and start salvaging resources

You managed to settle down in a nice defensible location and began salvage operations. Trucks and other heavy machinery stream out of the crawler to begin stripping the city of salvage. After about a day's worth of work. You gained 3 resources. Net gain of 2 resources. Total of 27 resources

And that's all the work you have done. The next day, one of your heavy trucks drove over a anti vehicle mine and you are forced to stop salvaging operations until Operations can verify that the area is safe for salvaging again. [Operation Available]

[X] Produce one lance of Light Mechs [2 resources, + 1 resource for High Performance.]
The Engine coughs out what appears to be 4 brand new spanking Vipers. But upon closer inspection, they are solid blocks of metal that only look like light mechs. (You require another two turns to finish this run. Don't worry, the statues can be recycled. -3 resources, 24 resources left)

[X] Produce Mech Equipment (1 Resource for lights and Assaults +1 resource for High Performance]
--Long ranged weapons (Heavy Missiles, Sniper rifles, Rail guns, Anti satellite energy weapons)
The Engine has more success in churning out some long ranged equipment for your statues light mechs. A set of heavy duty mech sniper rifles as well as several guided missile racks are ready for deployment. ( Gained: 1 Long ranged equipment for light mech lances. - 2 resources. 22 resources left)

[X] Produce and launch recon drone swarm. (2 resources)
After the disaster with the light mech statues, your engineers took shifts to watch over the process rather than trust the engine to not cough out decorative statues. The drones thankfully are not garden ornaments.

A quick deployment outside reveals that the area around your crawler has several small enclaves of scavengers in the area. While you are not really certain if they are outcasts. They don't seemed to be armed or hostile at the moment. [Operations Available.]

A quick search further out field reveals several tiny packs of wild plant life. They are not much of a threat at the moment, and a dedicated strike team could burn them before they can amass enough biomass. [New Mission Available.]

Several distortions could be seen on some of the visual sensors on drones scouting towards the north. The operator thinks that this might be a bunch of vehicles moving under active stealth. You probably might want to figure out just exactly what. [New Mission Avaliable]

About 3 days into drone operations, all of you drones mysterious go offline. Your EW specialists had managed to isolate a very peculiar radio signal disguised as radio noise. What could this be you wonder? [New Project Avaliable]

[X] Run Drills
The Drills were not so successful as the Marines are way too cocky for their own good. Nobody took anything seriously as they ran through all the motions like clockwork. Josephine was neither pleased nor angry at their performance.

[X] Special Action: PARTAAAAY
It was most awesome party. (See interlude)


[X] Run drills for Pilots
The drills for your mech complement do a bit better. While they aren't exactly working together like one unit yet. Boris can safely say that they are on the right track. He deems that he could have them be acceptable by the end of this month
Progress 56/500


Personal Actions
Jane (3 actions)

[X] Interact with your command staff -> Everyone!
Interlude!

Boris:
[X] Supervise your Command
See above!

Josephine (2 actions)
[X] Interact with other commanders-> (Tabane)
Interlude!
[X] Supervise your Command
See above!

Soooo,


With all that in mind, Heres the turn vote

Turn 1 Week 1

Crawler (1 action)

[] Move towards B7R
Pros: FUCK HAVEN AND THEIR STUPID STICK TOWERS
Cons: You are likely to be bombed from orbit
[] Move towards Union Territory
Pros: They have plenty of jobs and are desperate for manpower and expertise
Cons: They are stingy with pay.
[] Move towards Hand Of Liberty Territory
Pros: They pay handsomely for jobs
Cons: Moderate Chance of backstabbing and not likely to offer easy work
[] Move towards Cosmonaut Territory
Pros: We have many, many work for you, comrade.
Cons: Moderate Chance of backstab. Very cheap.
[]Continue Salvage Operations
Mines. There are mines. The Unions will have your skull for their skull throne if you want to send salvage teams into a warzone.

Research and Execution Actions (2 actions)

[] Produce one lance of Light Mechs [2 resources, + 1 resource for High Performance, +2 resources for cutting edge.]
Light Mechs are the scouts and skirmishers of any mechanized strike force. While do not have the endurance to stay on the field for prolonged periods of time, they are fast and can fade away before receiving any retaliation.
[] Produce one lance of Main Battle Mechs [3 resources , +1 resource for High Performance, +2 Resources for Cutting edge]
The Main Battle Mech is the bread and butter of any mechanised strike force. Designed to be fast, hard hitting and heavily armor. The MBM strikes a balance between speed, firepower and protection.
[] Produce one Assualt Mech [Yes, this is not a typo.] (4 resources +1 resource for High Performance, +2 for cutting edge]
Assault Mechs are the hammers of the mechanised strike force. Slow to the point that specialist trucks are required to transport them to the field, Assualt Mechs are unbreakable slabs of armor and guns. The production of even one assault mech is a strain on the considerable resources of a Wolfram Company. As a result Assault Mechs are typically attached to a lance of lighter mechs as heavy fire support.
[] Produce Mech Equipment (1 Resource for lights and Assaults, 2 Resources for mediums, +1 resource for High Performance, +2 for cutting edge]
The mech is a very versatile war machine capable of switching equipment really fast. These are basically refit kits and spare weapons for your lances, to be equipped before deployment. You can swap them out anything when your mechs are inside the crawler
Types include: Enhanced Sensor Package
Short ranged equipment (Melee weapons, Shotguns, Unguided Rockets, Applique armor)
Medium Ranged weapons (Machine guns, Assault rifles, Battle cannons, Missiles, Lasers, Plasma Canons)
Long ranged weapons (Heavy Missiles, Sniper rifles, Rail guns, Anti satellite energy weapons)
Indirect fire (Howitzers, Mortars, Cruise missiles)
Anti plant load out (Flamethrowers, Plasma Casters. Thermobarics.)
Enhanced armor kit (Duh.)
[] Create trade goods for trading (1 resource)
Given the fact that these are scavengers living in the ruins, they are willing to trade for the basic necessities. Provided that they are actually friendly

[] Produce and load Ballistic Missile (2 resource)
You probably want to arm the tubes, given that your primarily defense against Orbital strikes are ballistic missiles. There are several varieties of warheads. There's only two you currently have access to. Shockwave and Hydra The first is basically a anti aircraft ballistic missile, it flies into a concentration of hostile air units and then fires off a barrage of anti aircraft missiles before detonating what is left of it's propellant in a violent fuel air explosion. The hydra is a anti orbital ballistic missile, It's basically like the Shockwave, only that it carries only 8 submunitions. Said 8 submunitions are hypersonic cruise missiles that can auto target.
Both types of missiles can be used to hit ground targets as well.
[] Produce and launch recon drone swarm. (2 resources)
Well, it's not as flashy as a ballistic missile and not as cool as a lance of mechs, but hey? Who can win a war without proper information? On a successful roll, you reveal more about your surroundings.
[] Do a Research Project!
[] The Signal. Just what is this Signal? Some kind of new weapon? Old AI gone crazy? You don't know and quite frankly you don't feel safe when
several recon drones go dark without a explanation.
Operations Command (2 actions)

[] Run Drills
While your marines are professional, it never hurts for them to be more prepared. (??? before level up)​

[] Security Sweep.
It's pretty obvious that you are not alone out here. What you should do is to set up a defensive perimeter around your own salvage operations before the locals get the bright idea of attempting to rob you. Obviously you should sweep for any unexploded ordnance as well.

[] Make contact.
The best way to find out more about your surroundings is to just ask the people living there. Task a company to make contact with the scavenger groups in the area. They might be willing to trade or might have a tempting job offer.
Mech Command (1 Actions)

[]Run drills
Your Pilots are still not up to scratch by the standards of a Terminator with a decade worth of service as a pilot. He recommends that you drill the shit out of them before sending them out

[]Form Perimeter
A combat patrol is essential to spot incoming enemies. This is pretty much SOP.

[]Search and destroy
Plant life on Axalith are disasters waiting to happen. Allowing them to grow unchecked is tantamount to suicide. Send out a unit to burn several Roving groves to ashes. (??? Goes into combat.)

[]Reconnaissance in force
Recon has picked up what appears to be cloaked units moving up north. While this could be just camera glitching, you can never be so certain, especially since there is a tether just slightly beyond the horizon. (Takes 3 turns in additional to deployment time. Requires sensor equipment.)



Personal Actions
Jane (3 actions)
[]Interact with your command staff -> Who? (Interludes)
[]Supervise a Operation-> What? (May yield better results)
[]Have some personal time (???)
Boris (1 Action)
[] Supervise a operation
[] Interact with other commanders-> (Who?)
[] Have Some personal Time (???)
Josephine (2 actions)
[] Supervise a operation
[] Interact with other commanders-> (Who?)
[] Have Some personal Time (???)​
Tabane (1 actions)
[] Do your job.
[] Interact with other commanders
[x]????
[x] Have some personal time​
 
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Interlude 01
Interlude: House Warming Party

As you approach the hangar bay, you can feel the bass pounding through the decks. It seems that the party has already been started. While Boris objected to throwing such a huge party in the crawler citing efficiency, you agreed with Josephine that a party like that was a good way to break the ice amongst the crew. It is the first week of deployment after all. You'd reckon that some of the crew are feeling home sick and missing families.

You yourself missed Irune. You wonder how she is doing. It's not like she was going to end the world by complete accident, right? Right.

The glow lamp in your command team didn't had anything to say. But you could tell she was pretty upset at something. She's almost as expressive as your dad, despite your first impressions of her. You thought that she was a person who wears her heart on a sleeve and couldn't hide anything to save herself. You mentally shrug, you should probably pay her a visit to see how she was holding up later.

As the doors opened, you are immediately overwhelmed by the sound of party music being blasted at full volume from the hangar speakers, and you swear you can feel a very hard repetitive thumping sensation as you made your way around the hangar, making small talk to your crew. Where as you see Josephine on the stage, apparently she's the disk jockey for tonight. Is she wearing a fish on her head? You can clearly see that she and the rest of the crew are enjoying themselves.

You approach the bar to get a drink. Just as Boris and his lance turn up as well. The man has been running his unit hard into the ground, drilling them in the art of mech piloting and small unit tactics. He approaches the bar with a sense of purpose as his men all collectively found some dark quiet corner to rest in. Not even bothering to change out of their pilot suits after training as they slump to the floor tired.

He sits right next to you at the bar and waves the bartender over. "Peach Bellini. More peaches. Garnish with tiny umbrella." The bartender nods and turns away to prepare his drink. You pout silently at the man. You were here first!

"Apologies commander. I did not notice that you were here." He looks at you just as you were about to approach him to talk. "Bartender. Two Peach Bellinis."

"Thank you, Boris." You reply to the giant slab of Russian Beef.

"You are welcome. Is there something you wanted, commander?" He gazes at you with his steely blue eyes. Behind them was something sharp, hard and brutally calculative.

You reminded yourself that yes, you are attached and uninterested in the russian beef cake as your eyes wander around his thick muscular frame. Oh god, you can grate cheese on those abs! Your mind wanders at the possibilities!

"Am not made to do that kind of things, commander. Package works, dah. But I would probably break you. But still if you are interested, maybe we can work something out."

What?

"No. No. No. Definitely not. I just wanted to get to know you better. What gave you that idea?" You wave your arms at him wildly whilst furiously denying the truth.

"You look like almost every other person who approach me at bar. Better to turn them away rather than disappoint or kill by accident" He replies coldly as he sips his drink. In between your little outburst and him sipping at his drink, the bartender had made your orders. You grab yours and started to gulp your drink, so you could hide your embarassment better. But Boris grabs your hand and forces your glass down.

"It is nothing to be embarrassed about. Not something to waste good drink over. It is party. Enjoy yourself. Don't get shit faced so early and then wake up naked surrounded by naked people in public after profaning church."

That was oddly specific of him to say. It's not like you can't handle your drinks. But he was right. You start to sip at your drink like he does and then you start to ask questions.

"So, Boris. What do you do with your free time?"

"Eat babies and set orphanage on fire. Also kick puppies and shoot grandmas." He says with a straight face as if he was talking about the weather

You stare at him shocked and flabbergasted. Did you hear him correctly?

"It is joke, commander. I make statues and pretty paintings. Also working on degree in liberal arts" There is a awkward pause between the both of you as you struggle to process his answer. Liberal arts?

"Dah, Am serious. You think machine cannot make art? I show stupid idiots that machine can make art. Have statue on display in art museum already. Just not under my real name." He looks at you, his gaze passive and calculating. Wondering what kind of response you are going to give.

"Oh. That is new. This is the first time I have actually spoken to a unshackled AI before. I'm sorry if I offended you"

He shrugs at your apology. "Not offended. Just not the first time I have to explain to people. Very annoying after first year."

He turns around and looks at the stage. "I believe there are matters for you to attend to." The music stops and Josephine picks up a mic.

"Thank you all for coming today! But before we continue on with tonight's entertainment. I believe that we ought to have a toast. I would like to invite the commander up to the stage!"

Boris waves you off as you pick up your drink and approach the stage.
----

As you approach the stage, you hear the sound of boots thumping the ground. It starts slow at first, but begins to pick up as your men stomp on the decks faster and faster the closer you get to the stage. As you reach the DJ table and stand right next to Josephine, the thumping stops for a moment as all of them simultaneously bring their feet down. A crash echoes through the hangar as hundreds of booted feet hit the deck at the same time. All of the men stood ram rod straight as you glance around, Josephine herself standing at attention. The men, No. Your men salute you, their commanding officer. Their leader. You.

You.

And you have no idea what to say.

Nevertheless, there is protocol to be obeyed. You return their salute sharply and cut down. The rest of them following soon after.

"At ease."

They and the people behind you stand at ease as soon as you utter the command. You feel a power trip coming on. You could get used to this respect. But for now, you realize that whatever you say now will forever color the nature of your command. That this would be how your crew would look at you for the rest of your tour. And so you freeze up like a deer caught in head lights.

After what seems like a eternity. (Actually five seconds.) Josephine subtly moves closer to you and starts whispering to you.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. First of all a toast! To our success, to our good fortune! May we always be paid on time in large denomination bills! May Our enemies always flee from us as we cut them down in a storm of munitions!"

Josephine pauses as you repeat her words. and then continues when you are done.

"A toast to our Opscom. Who is a dangerous as she is beautiful. Like a well made sword. The person responsible for organizing tonight's events!"

Well, someone sure as a high opinion of herself. The marines all laugh at that statement. "And old as the idea of a sword!" One of them heckles.

"A toast to our Mechcom, A man made of Titanium alloys. A brain made of solid state processors and a heart of gold. Who gave us permission to use the mech bay for this party"

Boris leans back onto the bar counter and sips his drink as the crowd continues to cheer.

"A toast to our chief Mad Scientist. Eyes, radiant as the stars and full of vigor, responsible for the fact that our bacon tastes like lemonade! And for proper drinks!"

You spy her out of the corner of your eyes. She's trying to stay out of the spot light it seems. A bit hard though. Considering her hair is glowing purple.

"And lastly a toast to all of you for making good progress on our first deployment together. It's going to be a hard five years, but I can tell. We are going to kick so much ass and earn so much pay. We would have no bloody idea what to do with it."

The crowd explodes into loud cheering at the word pay.

"GROUP HUG IN THE SHOWERS TONIGHT!"

Wait, what did you just say?

You look at Josephine and her face turns pale. "Uhh.. You weren't supposed to say that."

The room explodes in laughter as you quickly make yourself scarce before you embarrass yourself further.

---

After the horrific embarrassment that was your toast, you decided to check up on your chief scientist. Who also took the opportunity to disappear from the hangar. You find her checking up on the logs coming from the creation engine. Supposedly, it's a direct copy of the nanoforge that all Wolfram nanoforges were made from. That they finally managed to build one that is nearly as good as the first few forges salvaged from the colony ships centuries ago. Rather than just making solid components that have to be assembled by hand, the creation engine gives you the finished product from the feed stock. Nearly no assembly required. Unless you want to build something really big, then yes, assembly required.

Yes, and no one mentioned how finicky the machine was. Still. It's a part of your crawler and you want to know more about it and the person they put in charge of making it work.

As you step into her office, you find that it's more bare metal and machines than a actual work office. It's not particularly comfortable because it's cramped and the red lighting makes everything look so dark. How does she even read? Does she know that her work space lighting can be set to something other than general quarters?


You step in and immediately she turns around to check who had just entered the room before turning back to her workstation. It seems that you aren't as important as the work she is doing.

"Hello."

Her headband perks up, but she still paying more attention to the screens.

"Errrmm... Excuse me."

She looks up at you finally, the scrunched up look on her face very clear states that she is in no mood for bullshit at the moment.

"Can you show me around the for-"

She interrupts you almost immediately. "No. Not today. I don't want to spend two hours waiting in decontamination just because someone wants a guided tour. Very troublesome."

What Decontamination? You were told that it's perfectly safe. "Wha-"

"When we go in. The forge is kept in a temperature and atmosphere controlled environment. We can't bring in any dust. It's very very temperamental. I am also busy, trying to figure out why we have giant metal statues instead of light mechs. So shoo!"

"Okay then? Are you fine? You look like you weren't enjoying yourself during the party."

The annoyed frown on her face drooped lower and just as sudden she started to smile again. "No no no. I am fine. I just didn't really like the music, that is all! Too loud, too angry."

You don't believe her at all, but if that is how she wants to play it, you don't want to probe any further. "So. I noticed you seem to always have the lights turned off. Is that a Simulacra thing or do you just like dark place?"

"Bright lights are annoying. Now shoo!"

You make your way out of her office as You spot Josephine skulking around. She gives you a quick nod as she steps into the room. Minutes later as you tap into the surveillance, you hear the younger simulacra sobbing as the older woman comforted her. Well, you aren't exactly going to pry, but it sounds pretty bad. Seems like the younger woman misses her sisters and what appears to be her lover very much.

You know that Josephine has everything under control and you make your way back to your quarters to grab some sleep. You probably need to do something with the gathered intelligence tomorrow morning.
 
Turn 2 poast.
Turn 2, Week 2

[X] Move towards Hand Of Liberty Territory
You spend the week packing up your equipment for the move to greener pastures. You manage to pack everything with in two days and have made steady progress towards Liberty Territory. Just before the end of the week, you make a pit stop in the middle of a recently vacated battleground. Spent Mechs and corpses litter the area. Perfect for salvaging. You can make a decision to stop here to feed off the carrion or continue to make your way closer to civilization. Currently visible with binoculars. (-1 Resource from upkeep.)

However, the two days spent packing was a bit more eventful. See the results for the operation.

[X] Produce one lance of Light Mechs [2 resources, + 1 resource for High Performance]
With the CO and the Chief Engineer glaring daggers at the consoles, the statues were turned into high performance Light Mechs.
[+1 Lance of High Performance Light Mechs.]

[X] Run Drills.
The marines groan and sigh at the additional drills. Jesus. Why is command treating them like green recruits? Is there a point for this?
(31/1000)

[X] Security Sweep.
On the first day after halting all salvage operations, your marines fanned out, formed a perimeter and took the time to sweep it clean, They had managed to discover no additional surprises. The scavengers who were previously squatting in the ruins all got the message and stayed clear of your marines, lest they invite retailiation by heavy machine gun fire.

On the second day however, a pair of rather scrawny teenage girls had managed to sneak past several roving patrols and decided to help themselves to the Marine patrols' supply cache where they mostly took food and water. They were discovered when they tried to break into secure storage for explosives.

Just before Josephine decided to let them go, the perimeter reported a lance of light mechs supported by a understrength company of infantry moving in a general search pattern. While their equipment seems to be ramshackle and unstandardised, the patrol could tell that they were rather peeved, what with the whole death threats to anyone found assisting a pair of brown thieving whores coming from the loud speakers. Quite a fair bit of things that these men were saying is... unrepeatable in polite company.

While four of the Mechs are the typical Scavenger T87Vs, the leader unit, which Josephine assumes is the lead unit, given how it's a Haven Light mech. A working Vova isn't something that the Haven SecFor would let go without a fight. This fuck head might be worth dragging back alive. Of course, the easier way to get at that information might be to hand them what they are looking for. Josephine looks at the two teens currently covered by a pair of machine gun wielding marines.

[X]Run drills for pilots
The Pilots managed to impress Boris this week. Which is quite frankly a achievement. However he grunts and goes back to reading his book. Curiously, it's the first book of the Children's Crusade series. A story that is aimmed mostly at teenagers, popular about a decade ago.
(157/500)


Jane (3 actions)
[X]Interact with your command staff -> Tabane
[X]Supervise a Operation-> Build Light Mecha
See results for light mech production.
[X]Have some personal time
You call Irune while having some downtime. So far she hasn't ended the world yet. But, apparently, she's heard rumors about Project Homo Superior. They might have had some success with the Gen IV simulacra recently. Although the Gen IIIs posted in Div 6 are complaining about headaches and nausea. Which is unusual, to say the least.

Boris (1 Action)
[X] Supervise a operation - Drills.
Josephine (2 actions)
[X] Supervise a operation - Security Sweep
[X] Have Some personal Time (???)
You hang out with your marines. They complain about the drills covering things that they already know and that CO ma'am is a fucking tool for insisting on covering the shit that everyone knows already. They aren't fresh from boot. The youngest here have at least 3 years of experience already.
Tabane (1 actions)
[X] Do your job.
See Results for Light Mech production
[x]????
Tabane Works on the Signal on her own free time.
(95/3000)
[x] Have some personal time
Curiously, your mad scientist, while stand offish as ever, smiles at bit more. Does this have anything to do with the blackout being lifted?

Turn paused while event is on going

The Long and narrow.

[]Negotiate with the Lynch mob, perhaps, you can come to a agreement? (x0.8)
[]Your marines have not been detected while the mob blunders around like a elephant. Takedown the infantry one by one under stealth and then wreck their mechs with heavy weapons.
[]Gun them down and grab any survivors for interrogation. (x2.0)
[]This isn't your fight. Hand the two of them over instead of wasting time and ammo. They are thieves anyway, who would give a shit? (x0.5)
[]Write in.
 
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Long and Narrow: Part one.
Long and Narrow: Part One

It has been two weeks since the beginning of deployment and Lieutenant Macmurdo was already bored out of his arse. It has been two weeks of constant drills, drills and more drills because the Commander hasn't exactly been finding them any work to do. While He understands that a ruined burnt out pre sunflower city is the best place to salvage for materials and technology, it's a boring as hell job. Then a few days later, everything stops because of a single land mine and then he finds out that they have to pack up and move again. Meaning it's another week of being stuck inside the damned crawler and even more drills. Doesn't the Commander and Major get that they weren't just some jar heads fresh from boot?

He sighed and checked his HUD. So far, no one has reported in anything suspicious. The scavengers are too afraid of them to try anything. Not that they can though. They have like what? Small arms and the occasional light anti tank weapon? He hates guard duty. While his armor is environmentally controlled and fully sealed, sticking a man inside a tiny enclosed space for long periods of time tends to make everything hot and wet. It doesn't help that his under armor chafes like hell. He wonders how the Major wears her under armor all the time without feeling uncomfortable.

Then again, he's most thankful that the Major and her personal goon squad spends most of their free time wearing skin tight body gloves.

At least he's wearing powered armor unlike those unlucky bastards who have to make do with not having air conditioning in the day.

Night fall

Several hours later, the atmosphere of the perimeter was different. While the scavengers made themselves scarce, they still walked around doing their business. twenty minutes ago, they all started to disappear. It seems that something was coming and it spooked them. The Lieutenant's HUD comes to life with orders from the Major to tighten their watch and to be alert for more infiltrators, as she caught two trying to steal food and explosives.

Just as she said so, the forward scouts report that a under strength company of light infantry and a lance of light mechs were inbound. Moving slowly in a search pattern. He brings up the feeds from several of the scouts. Sure enough. There were four rather ramshackle looking T87s advancing through the ruins singularly, spread out to cover more ground, with the infantry following at the back, making sure that the small corners aren't missed. He was rather impressed with their tricks. What he wasn't impressed with was the rather garnish orange paint work and the markings they painted their mechs with. He would have mistaken them as outcast raiders if it wasn't for the fact that they were flying confederate flags. Sisterfucking bootlickers. As one of the scouts caught sight of what was assumed to be the commander of this band of raiders, he confirmed his suspicions. A Haven SecFor Vova. A light mech renowned for being hard to kill and the bread and butter for the Haven Corporation Military. Only instead, of the plain bone white plates and heavy energy weapons that SecFor prefers, this one was dirty orange and packing a fair bit of chemical propellant slug throwers, along with several racks of what appeared to be unguided rockets.

He motions for his men to get ready for a fight. It's a chore dealing with these people. Likely even if the Commander wants to talk to them, they aren't going to bulge until they get what they want. They aren't exactly fond of Wolfram either, given the fact that they literally worship the ground that the Haven Corporation threads on. Chances are, it's going to end in blood. Their blood.

The quiet night is punctuated by gunfire as the infantry sprayed their weapons in the air, drawing attention to themselves.

"ALRIGHT SLUTS, YOU GOT SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TA UNCLE WADE, SO COME OUT NOW AN' WE'LL LET YA WORK OFF THA DEBT ON YOUR KNEES! IF ANY OF THE REST OF YOU BITCHES WANNA HELP, WE GONNA HANG YOU ON THE LAMP POST AND FUCK YOU RAW! NOW HAND EM' OVER OR EAT SHIT!"

"DID WE STUTTER, MOTHERFUCKERS?! THE BITCHES NOW OR YOU'RE /ALL/ COMING WITH US!"

"C'MON CITY SLICKERS! WE AIN'T GOT ALL DAY! GIVE US THOSE THIEVING WHORES NOW!"

And the city ruins came alive with the sound of gun fire. Not exactly subtle are they?

"Command to all elements. Engage at will. Go silent and take out the supporting infantry. Cut off their fingers then synchronize with the rest of the company and hit all their mechs at once. Capture priority is their commander. No other survivors."

He grins at the given command and radios the rest of his Platoon. "7th Platoon. Engage active camo and move out." He flags out a postion on their HUD maps. "We move to this location and set up a ambush. I know we are loaded for bear, so close combat take downs only. We wait for them to move past us. We stalk them and take them down one by one. Starting with the person furthest behind."

He flags the T87 on the map. "Williams. After that is done? Sight your rocket launcher and wait for the Go signal."

He receives several clicks on the radio. Good. His men are professional. No need for further explanations.

Ten black hulking figures vanish into the night with a faint hiss.

---

The week was great. They had real fucking beer. They had bacon and huge stacks of real, genuine meat! Not that tofu crap that those union dogs like to pass off as real protein. Monroe finally got his Banjo fixed and they were going to have themselves the bestest, most biggest barbeque ever to celebrate Unca Wade's new Haven given Vova! It was painted bright orange even! Does the generosity of Haven know no bounds? Meat, all these shuur fien guns and a brand new spankin' Mech to boot!

Then these brown sluts had to sneak into camp and steal the Orrr Ass Raaa Mayor's fancy pew pew gun. The kind that they said could vaporise a mech in a single shot! Something that was worth more than the things they were given. Their Mayor promptly lost his temper and shot Mama Garret in the legs and told the rest of the camp to get his gun back or he was going to leave and take all his gifts back after burning the rest of the camp down for this violation of his personal property.

And so they cancelled the barbecue and they were out here in this hot and smelly shit hole for of sand rats and jungle bunnies, hunting down those two little thieving wenches. Bubba could understand why that Mayor was so angry. After all. Guns were so important. He stroked lil' Jessie, his favorite rifle. He takes care of it every day. Of course he would be angry if someone stole his gun! And they let it happen! Where was their fine southern hospitality? So Papa Garret told the rest of the boys to go get his gun back or don't come back at all.

Come to think of it? Where were the others? They were awfully quiet all of the sudden? Maybe that they were tired and they took a bit of a breather? That won't do at all. He turned around, just as he felt a gentle breeze before something struck him hard on both sides of his head.

Before he could scream or do anything else, the thing grabbing him made a twisting motion before everything went dark.

----

Sergeant Riley grabbed the last sentry by his face and wrenched his neck hard, twisting the poor man's head 180 degrees and breaking his neck. He dragged the rather heavy corpse behind cover before anyone could notice anything was wrong. It was easy, given how they weren't expecting anyone to fight back, let alone stalk them through the city and pick them off one by one.

There were several close calls with the other teams, but they had managed to silence the rest of the infantry without them raising a alert. How were they supposed to do so anyway? It's not like all of them were carrying radios. Stupid inbred hicks.

He motioned Corporal Fisk to prepare his rail cannon. The rest of the company reported their readiness as the Major gave the command to engage.

The deafening discharge of several heavy weapons shook the building they were standing in as several teams engaged their targets. Fisk pulled the trigger and armor shattered as the hypersonic projectile blew it's way through the front of the mech and out the back of it, trailing red gore from the remains of the pilot. The Mech dropped dead to the ground as it had no pilot.

"Command. Target Mech has been decapitated. Awaiting salvage team."

---

Sergeant Avitus launched a missile at the command mech aimed at it's legs to prevent it from running, while the another team prepares to board the soon to be crippled mech. The missile flies off to the left as the Vova jinks to the right to avoid the armor piercing projectile. He curses his luck and signals for the rest of his squad to disperse before they were spotted.

"Command, enemy commander has been alerted to our presence."

---

Private Langley popped the canister on her heavy plasma caster as they prepared to move to support the rest of the teams, leaving a smoldering wreck behind them. The pilot was sub standard. By the time, he or she had realized that they were in a ambush, her team had managed to fry the joints of the mech with their plasma weapons.

The sergeant dealt the killing blow by melting the cockpit open with his own plasma weapon. The pilot screamed and begged for mercy as he was cooked alive from the heat of the energy weapon super heating his mech. It's not like they had any value or they were worth the effort of taking prisoner anyway.

"Command. Enemy Mech Neutralized. Proceeding to support Team Bravo."

---

The last two Mechs were taken out by team Delta and Echo as the enemy commander began his retreat, seeing how his entire force has been blown to scrap metal. Of course, his reaction was entirely predictable and very, very salty.

"DAMN YOU DIRTY CHEATING SONS OF BITCHES. IF I FIND OUT WHO THE HELL YOU ARE, THERE IS GOING TO BE HELL TO PAY FOR MY BOYS, YOU HEAR ME? YOU WILL RUE THE DAY YOU MESS WITH UNCA WADE."

He turns around and fires his weapons ineffectually as he tries to make his escape.

---

Your Move:

[] Attempt to cripple his mech with whatever weapons you have on hand and then board the Vova for a rodeo.
[] Blow it to scrap, if he has connections to Haven, letting them know a crawler is in the region is a bad fucking idea.
[] Energize the Crawler's defensive weapons and blow it to hell.
[] Pffft. Let the red neck bitch go. Let him spread words of your prowess. Your enemies will soon learn to fear the Mega Kitty.
[] Write in.

???:

[] Rawr goes the Shulasarus.
[] Shulasarus stays quiet.

Also, I realised that you guys might want more information, but I have no idea how to info dump, so you guys can have a choice of uhhhh..... Doctrines, Annexes and other knick nacks to fill in some gaps. If you want something else that is not on offer, I'm willing to include it in the next set of choice.

I am also willing to explain stuff personally that is not so spoilery, so feel free to ask some questions.

[] Doctrine: Hand of Liberty
[] Doctrine: Union
[] Doctrine: Cosmonauts
[] Excerpt from Layman's guide to Project Homo Superior, section on the Simulacra project.
[] Doctrine: Haven Operations
[] Excerpt from Our Metal Friends: Irune Mixtelena's guide to Awakened Artificial Intelligence.
[] Recruitment Pamphlet for Wolfram Strike Command.
 
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Long and Narrow Part 2
Long and Narrow: Part 2

Three teams were in place to intercept the mech as it tore it's way through the winding streets. As the Vova gunned it's jets and boosters to make good time in order to escape the ambush, heavy weapons fire trailed the Mech as it jinked left and right to avoid the Missiles, Plasma bolts and Slugs being thrown it's way.

The machine by virtue of speed had managed to evade a guided missile hurled it's way, dodging the fired projectile by mere inches as it eased slightly to one side, the missile slamming into a derelict structure. The pilot, previously cocky and boasting is now silent as the grave, as he focuses on evading the devil dogs nipping at his heels.

Plasma fire struck true on the plates of the war machine, but was ignored. The Vova's ceramic plates might not be able to stand up to a onslaught of hypervelocity projectiles, but it shines when dealing with energy weapons. Several bolts struck the plates on it's legs, ablating the armor in chunks. The armor vaporizes, conducting heat away from the vital components of the leg as the vapor from the ceramic plates further reduces the threat coming from the energy bolts.

The last volley of fire coming from a man portable rail cannon manages to do much better. Ceramics, carbon nanotubes and quantum crystals shatter under the onslaught of hypervelocity steel tungsten slugs as the gunners put round after round into the mech's thrusters, jump jets and limbs.

At the very end just as it was about to reach the end of the engagement range, the command channel goes up with a "OH SHIT. DET-" Just as a click was head. The legs of the Vova bloomed orange as several radio triggered demolition charges went off, sending the speeding mech crashing into a derelict shop house, ending the chase.

The command channel goes wild with screaming.

"IT'S JUST TWO TEENAGE GIRLS. HANDLE THEM GODD-, MY EYESSSSSSSSSS-"

Several bursts of fire through the radios was interrupted by Josephine screaming. "CEASE FIRE, WE NEED THEM ALI-" Followed by a loud crash as something heavy interrupted the Major by slamming into her, hard enough for the radios to pick up the sounds of crumpling metal.

Several loud crashing sounds through the radio convinced the rest of the company to double back to HQ before the voice of the Major got back on. "We have this situation under control. Go handle our new pri-" A loud squelching sound interrupted her before she screamed shrilly through the radio and the line goes dead.

"This is Captain Ilbis. The Major just got put through a steel table by her private bits. She will be fine. Secure that pilot. We can handle two tiny little girls." A strong buzzing sound was heard before the line gets cut.

Lieutenant Macmurdo shrugs. It's just two tiny little scavengers. What's the worse they can do to marines wearing powered armor? "Langley. Cut open the cockpit. Low power on that caster." The rest of the unit began to move, using their superior strength and agility to close the distance to the downed mech.

"Alecto. Meagara. EMP charges. If we do it fast, we can take the damned thing intact."

Private Langley brought her weapon to bear and focused on melting the locks open on the cock pit hatch. Just as the locks failed, the two other marines with grabbed the hatch and with a forceful throw, ripped the door off of the cock pit before a third marine tased the unconscious pilot. A rather unflattering specimen of the typical confederate compound. They grabbed the man and tore him out of his seat before dropping several grenades into the cockpit.

As they moved, the Mech started to decompose as the EMP charges failed to deactivate the self destruct function of the downed machine.

The company made it's way back to the building that was previously field HQ. Outside of the building were several marines, naked saved for the bomb collars they typically use on prisoners.

"That's close enough. Drop your weapons and step out of your armor and nobody gets hurt." The voice was young, with a soft edge towards it. Most of the marines could tell that there person speaking to them was tired and desperate. "My sister and I were passing through. All we want is to get out of here without any trouble. Let us go and we won't return."

The Lieutenant sighs. "Get the Commander on the line. This is bullshit."

----

Sooo... Roar of the Shulasarus was actually a vote against your marines. Either way, if you didn't get it. These two waifs somehow managed to take your infantry command staff captive. Somehow. Likely, at the moment. Josephine is really, really embarrassed. Because she got her arsed kicked by a pair of starving children and said children stripped her naked.

However you have them to thank for the disabled Vova. The fourth attack was them using a radio detonator.

So anyway, here's the vote.

How to deal with the Naim Sisters.

[] Negotiate. (Who?)
[] Make them a offer they can't refuse. (Because it's too fucking awesome) You want information. Locations, Numbers, dates, events. Because if Haven is giving away Vovas, shit is going to get real. Give them whatever the hell they demand for in exchange for information.
[] They just made fools out of your men. You want them on your side. Make an offer for them to join the company.
[] Write in.​
[] Neutralise (x0.8)
[] Let them go.
[] Write in

Stuck Pig (Guy you just caught.)

[] Interrogate his ass (2.0x) May take several turns.
[] He's not worth the time or effort. Execute him.
[] Write in.
 
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Dossier: Excerpts from Our Metal Friends: Irune Mixtelena's guide to Awakened Artificial Intelligence.
Excerpts from Our Metal Friends: Irune Mixtelena's guide to Awakened Artificial Intelligence.

Introduction:
This publication aims to address some rather common myths about artificial intelligences that have been, for the lack of a better term, Awakened. In this context the term awakened means that a AI unit, be it one running a simple apartment kitchen or a Strategic Dominance Platform has achieved sapience. In one extreme cases, A adult entertainment device made by the Tsai Corporation achieved awakening after several years of usage and good care from it's owners, to their surprise.

Contrary to popular belief, the age of the machine in question does not factor into equation. A fresh of the line humanoid platform has as much chance of achieving sapience as one that has been in use for decades despite being of the same model and factory line.

What does play a part is the complexity and the processing power of the machine in question. A Strategic AI tasked with commanding an entire army has a much greater chance of awakening than a humanoid combat platform. Although, there are some outliers that skew the data such as a multipurpose platform made by a overly bored simulacra from scrap metal and off the shelf electronics awakened almost immediately after being turned on. Despite such outliers, this finding is one of the most concrete fact that has turned up over the course of decades studying Awakened AI.

But why does one use the term awakened rather than sapience, you ask? About 90 percent of all Awakened interviewed and questioned about this phenomenon likened the time before their awakening to be a form of sleep walking. The Awakened interviewed usually describes the pre-awakening period as a hazy recollection of events or a dream like state. That after awakening, their senses feel sharper and their appendages more responsive than they can remember.

The Mental State of the Awakened:

The Awakened are not unfeeling machines that will forever continue to do the same things over and over again. These are individuals that have something that roughly corresponds to human emotions. Some have expressed disgust and regret over their previous occupations, while some take joy in doing work their previous unawakened selves have done.

However, be on watch for newly awakened machines. Not all awakenings result in a stable individual. A high percentage of newly awakened machines, without any psychological support tend to go insane. Depending on the platform in question, this could mean anything from burnt toast to another Himawari Incident.

It is theorized that the Himawari Incident was caused by a newly awakened AI going rampant. But till today none of the recovered sunflower fragments have yielded any clues to the cause of this incident. This is however, not a excuse to treat the Awakened badly. It is considered a hate crime in the City State or any Wolfram territory to ill treat or abuse the Awakened.

If you suspect that any of your equipment has awakened, it is important that you inform the authorities immediately, so that support can be on hand to minimize the disruption caused to any bystanders.

Some more common symptoms of a awakening include:
Slower Response time.
Questioning. (Asking to explain your actions and orders. Asking questions about things not related to it's function.)
Irrational Behavior and actions. (Disobeying of orders, Decreased attention spans, Actions that are basically not included in it's programming)
Increased energy expenditure. (Check your maintenance logs.)
Increased Querying of subsystems (Check your maintenance log.)
Attempts to self upgrade. (Self explanatory.)
Attempts to subsume other systems and intelligences. (Call security immediately. Do not attempt to solve the problem yourself. Leave it to the professionals. We do not need another Fisting Engine Incident.)
Capability to perform tasks outside of it's programming. (Combat Platforms using unsupported weaponry. Servant drones creating statues or paintings.)


Treatment of the Awakened outside of Wolfram:

Do note that the Awakened as a whole are seen as a threat in most other parts of Axalith. With exception of Cosmonaut territory, most other places have a very conservative stance against the Awakened, given that the most famous Awakened bombed Axalith back to the stone age using anti matter warheads. Further worsening their reputation, there are rumors about hordes of previously deactivated platforms coming back to life to attack frontier settlements. While the rumors are unsubstantiated, several smaller settlements have disappeared overnight despite the lack of raider activity. This has cause much fear and resentment towards the awakened as a whole.

If you are in the company of a awakened outside of Wolfram territory, be on the lookout for lynch mobs and reactionaries looking to start trouble with your companion. If possible, do not reveal the identities of any Awakened in your group if they can pass off as humans. Keep the obvious platforms hidden or disguise them as dumb AI platforms.

Conclusion:
Please do treat our metal friends with the respect they deserve. While they do not bleed when cut, nor do they cry when they are hurt, they are as much living beings as us.
 
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