Super Robot Quest
- Thread starter Basarin
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
Figures.
So it went from 1d6 progress only on a 6 with information on a 5, to progress on 5/6 but information on 4?
So, we didn't improve relations, but we got insight on just what the fuck is going on?
- Location
- USA
Yup.
It's going to have to wait though. Work had an emergency come up, so post is unlikely to happen tonight.
Post will come up tomorrow morning. Sorry!
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
Sadly, no
You didn't call the successful turn or that your a wizard?
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
Sadly, I'm not a wizard.
Cryogenic weapons aren't TOO complicated honestly, its the energy costs of storing or preparing supercooled agents for delivery.
You'd need some pretty powerful reactors to get more than a few shots of it.
Has a nice hat though, which is like halfway there!
Turn Seven, Year Two Results
- Location
- USA
Special Actions
1842, 8 July, A.D. 2071
Medical Station, Legion Enclave
Boris Ignatov sighed at the results. "There are times I hate it when I am right," he muttered. Looking up at Patch from his workstation, he said, "The personalities are not meshing quite right. Thankfully no damage has been inflicted on them just yet, but-"
"I would not criticize yourself so harshly, Doctor," Patch said. He fidgeted slightly; his own alt-form modification to a Coyote field hospital was taking some getting used to, clearly. As he made another modification to the comatose form of one of the volunteers, he added, "Were it not for those fail safes you implemented, their personality matrices could have harshly deteriorated much worse than this."
"It should not have happened at all," Boris countered. "But there is something preventing these three from merging properly. I am unsure if it is a mental block, or something that they fundamentally cannot agree on that is preventing them from meshing properly."
"There may be something to that," Patch mused. Rubbing a hand to his chin, he said thoughtfully, "Understand that the Legion are not purely law enforcement or military. Quite a few are refugees in every sense of the word. Dockworkers, engineers, laborers…gangs, even. It is only because of Galbinus that they can work together; not every mech gets along."
"But they insisted on this procedure going forward," Boris protested. Inputting more command prompts on his console, a diagram showing the frequencies of the personalities were overlaid over the others. "They are just on the cusp of it, but incomplete!"
"There may be little you can do," Patch sighed. "It will be up to them to resolve their differences."
"…suppose we gave them a helpful push in the right direction," Boris muttered. His thoughts were already mulling over an idea.
1633, 15 July, A.D. 2071
Commandant's Office
"So what are Aeon Particles?" you ask Anna. She'd returned from Kyoto not too long ago, but despite the long flight involved, jet lag seemed to do nothing to her.
"I couldn't get my hands on the math," she shrugs, "And the EUDF Pacific Command already has some kind of deal going on with them, so I figured it was better not to step on too many toes this close to going public. But talking with Dr. Yukimura gave me enough leads to get my hands on these."
A moment later, a stack of copied paper thuds onto your desk. "A copy of his old university thesis," she explains. "I'll save you the issue of reading the damned thing, but he was starting to get his ideas from this as early as 2055."
You just stare. "Sixteen years ago?" you ask incredulously, to which Anna cheerfully nods. "And why didn't he get any funding for something like this?"
"Simple: the peer review board laughed their asses silly and kicked him out," she explains. "So he went independent. Teamed up with another professor-" she places another set of dossiers on your desk, "-Dr. Samuel Vaughn, the guy who makes Tritonium alloy, and Masaru Yoshida, someone who markets it."
You pause to think over that information. Tritonium alloy is something that was being bandied about back in the logistical world as something new and innovative years ago, but was still stuck in the purgatory known as Defense Force Contracting Review. You wouldn't be surprised if it was just starting to see distribution, but heaven knew where or how it was going to be incorporated. "And the pilot?"
"University student." She places another dossier down. "Hiroki Matsumoto. A former delinquent, but seems to be thick as thieves with Dr. Yukimura. Pretty level-headed kid from what I can tell, and…well. We've all seen his piloting work. He's been at it since Day One."
You remain silent as you look over the executive summary Anna attached to the thesis. "So he's using an Aeon Particle Generator to suck up the particles," you say, more to yourself than to Anna, "and collects it into something that can be used?"
"Pretty much," Anna says. "But that's as far as I was able to get with Wallflower. We just know it powers Mercury V, and lets it do that freaky icicle crap we see it do all the time." She frowns. "I wasn't able to get any eyes on anything that lets them predict where the Kaiju show up. Or if they even can tell and are just really lucky with guesswork or can get there really quickly."
"Still a hell of a lot more than we started with," you say. "Good work."
You're honestly a little shocked at what Anna's found. You knew that the Air Defense Force was full of divas (and you still refuse to apologize to Sasaki for saying that; it's a small form of payback over the Pegasus issue), but to this extent?
In short: there's quite a lot of storied families in the Air Defense Force. Those of wealth, specifically. Now, this is not unusual; even dating to pre-Unification militaries – and hell, even those of the national militaries of post-Unification – families of means, wealth and old ties have a tendency to send their sons and daughters to serve in the more 'glamorous' service (and having seen the difference between a Ground and Air Defense Force base, you derisively insist that the first installations the Air Defense Force prioritize are the Officers' Club and the Golf Course before any consideration to air strips). For the most part, aside from accusations of haughtiness or arrogance, they worked fine with the other services (and each other) and contributed just as much hard effort into upholding world peace as anyone else.
So why the hell are there so many of them in the Third Air Defense Force? It's highly unusual to see this big of a concentration of them in one group, if for nothing else than for concerns over the possible social shocks over losing so many in a single engagement.
Thankfully, there are holdouts within the wider EUADF, and specifically the Third Air Defense Force, who seem to hold you in rather high regard. The V-33, as you predicted, was an immense hit with the officers and leadership who had the thankless job of actually keeping the EUADF supplied and in ammunition. So far, they seemed to be cheerfully ignoring the bellyaching of the pilots who didn't like the V-33, and informed them they could either pilot this now, or wait for three months of no flight time until the next 'proper' fighters arrived. It was just their job to give them what was available.
This then brings you to the issue over General George Alexander Armistead himself.
Anna is no longer so sure of her initial assessment of him. Yes, he is loud, brash, and is very much obnoxious. But you and Anna are starting to see something else lurking beneath his actions. His constant presence in the media, this strange consolidation of older family ties…his support of projects that seem to run counter to his goals.
Such as yours.
Her initial assessment of him simply wanting a piece of the action seems to hold true, but his reactions towards you still make no sense if you take his personality at face value. You seem to factor into some end goal of his, but Anna still doesn't have enough information to guess what that would be; only that you seem to be throwing a monkey wrench into it. At best, he simply wants to consolidate himself into a permanent fixture in the EUDF administration. At worst, he could do severe damage if he were so inclined. But he'd never be able to do much on his own on a wider scale. Just on a small, concentrated one.
Anna agrees this is worth further investigation and is already discussing this with her superiors.
The process was as smooth as you and your logistics-leaning brain could make it. You have at your disposal two ground formations: the Third Reconnaissance (formerly only a Coyote group) and the Ninth Reconnaissance Platoons. You decided to give the Ninth, Tellison's old formation, the honor of making the conversion to the Phalanxes.
They make the change with aplomb and enthusiasm. With all their Jackals returning to the books as spare inventory, they are all given the brand new Phalanxes. But they are already surprising you.
The Ninth Armored Reconnaissance, or the 'Hoplites' as they have renamed themselves, conferred quietly with Sasaki and Dianna. They decided if they were all operating Phalanxes, and if they were operating in Mecha form, it was only right to actually function as a Phalanx square of old. Initially donning the single-use shields mounted on the arms, you have seen them in familiarization exercises putting this to the test.
It's actually quite terrifying to watch. While operating in IFV form, they still operate much as the old Bucklers did; spread out with overlapping fields of fire. When in Mecha form, however, there is always some unspoken agreement to close ranks, close with the enemy, and utterly clobber them, with shields up on the left arm and the arm-mounted guns firing a constant barrage on the right. The Phalanx square in practice doesn't exactly work as intended; you'd argue this resembles more of a riot police formation. But you'd still hate to be on the receiving end of that.
Especially given the new round of laughter you're hearing from Max's corner of things.
Engineering Actions
The process is...well.
It's taking some getting used to.
Satsuma, you determine quickly, is not the best of team players. At least, not with Tellison or Callaghan. She is very opinionated, very aggressive, and has a constant urge to want to close in with the enemy and rip them to shreds. For now, you and Sasaki quietly determine she would work better with a powerful, but solitary unit. She has potential, but she doesn't have the right mindset to work with the Psychic Theater...at least not right now.
You entertain the idea of simply having her work with Cavalier. You decide to bring it up with Galbinus later.
Callaghan and Tellison, on the other hand, operate about as well together as you'd expect for long-time work acquaintances to. Most of the resources are honestly dedicated to making a compatible pilot's seat to operate the Shepherd and the V-33 Falcon configuration than anything else. Once the two are 'on stage and live,' they settle very quickly into their previously agreed to roles. You find that Tellison works very well as the overall commander, with oversight over the immediate and wider battlefield as well as operating and abstracting the secondary control systems, while Callaghan is the actual 'driver' making the movements happen.
While Satsuma's route didn't pan out, Callaghan and Tellison are proving that there's substance to this idea. With another month of testing, you'll know for sure.
Already eager to get to work, Lana promptly joins Wilde and Henry in reviewing the design for the new Pilum. She immediately proves her worth when she manages to acquire through Katarina the old, old design blueprints of the Pilum.
Wilde and Henry are already finding a slew of faults they could improve on and make better.
For one thing, the sheer durability of the Pilum came from inefficient redundant systems. In what Henry can only determine was some sort of corporate scam, the Pilum had double or triple the amount of secondary systems required. Sure, it was nice, and it more or less ensured that you were going to be in the fight for a long time, but who needs that many? It was just weighing down the overall frame and taking up space that could be used with something else. Or just, you know, additional space for something like the Steed's Armor mode.
Lana also discovered that the Westphalians simply brute-forced the amount of weapon hardpoints to a ridiculous degree. It already had a lot of weapon hardpoints, but whoever PJH was, he decided 'Nah, let's add 25% MORE.' Wilde agreed, and pointed out that you might not have the volume of weapons, but what you had available (such as the Energy Blaster packages) was much more potent.
Overall, the majority of the needless bulk is cut out, while also still retaining the - admittedly ridiculously - strong frame left behind. What is promising to emerge is something still relatively tough, but lean and fast.
You are somewhat bemused when Katarina, somewhat awkwardly, asks if you'd be willing to contribute to the MMI development of the new AI. Ignatov backs her up on this, saying that they were taking a wider sample of personalities from the command team as a first test for this upcoming personality. And, he says wryly, "It would do to inject a little common sense into this one given everyone else."
Yes, he was aware he was lumping himself in with that group.
Still, you agreed, and spent the better part of a week with an MMI on your head going through whatever tests they felt were needed.
You have no idea how this one's going to turn out, only that it's going to be tied to a specific Mecha form with limited streaming access to the base's mainframe. Katarina noted sympathetically that it would likely be unable to handle the sheer amount of information going through the Lair at every waking moment of time.
Science Actions
0455, 22 July, A.D. 2071
Xenotechnology Lab
"...what happened, Ivanna?" you ask blearily. You only had the sense of mind at this hour of the day to don the physical fitness outfit before stumbling towards the lab, still coffee and sleep deprived.
You are immediately answered when you hear the echoing laughter coming from a certain lab. "...oh."
"I am afraid so, Sir," Ivanna says sorrowfully. "While I am happy to report that Dr. Brand was successful in the Dispersion Field testing-" You immediately stop at one corner to peek around the corner.
There, backlit by a consistent, square-shaped Dispersion Field flickering between red and yellow, you see Max. Her hair is askew, she clearly has not had much sleep given the manic and exhausted expression on her face, and she's surrounded by even more coffee cups than you could ever hope to rack up in an hour.
"I HAVE DONE IT! NO ALIEN TECHNOLOGY CAN FOOL ME!" she crows. As if in sympathetic response, the Dispersion Field flares and crackles behind her. "I love it! This feels like PROGRESS!"
"...huh."
"That was my reaction, Sir," Ivanna says worriedly. Her avatar fidgets on your tablet, tapping two fingers together in a facsimile of a stressful reaction. "I was able to help correct an oversight she made, and suddenly she just sort of...ran with it?"
"...okay then." You sigh, rubbing your eyes out of exhaustion. "I...she's sure to pass out soon." You think. "Just make sure no one drops by here for the next twelve hours, will you?"
"Very good, Sir. But why twelve hours?"
"Because that's how long I'm going to go back to sleep for. And I'd like to be awake for when she tries to explain this in layman's terms."
The Kaus known as Hotwire has dropped by to help install the Energy Shard Processor that's admittedly been sitting by the wayside for awhile. With Max...predisposed by her breakthrough with the Dispersion Field, Ivanna sits in for her while Katarina also participates.
You soon discover why Shards can be treated both as life sustenance and currency. The Kausen treat these things like a strange mixture of a national mint and a food processor.
In short: it accepts any processed forms of energy and slowly incubates them into the telltale shards. Their shapes all vary, along with coloring, but the end result is a very densely packaged form of energy. Architect showed you a method of how to actually get this to work on the Pegasus, via a form of focusing matrix that you could insert the shard into. But that was just one means of doing so.
Katarina seems to have picked up on this pretty quickly, and is now determined to see this through. With luck, you may actually have a source of currency that's legal tender with the Legion to purchase services from them.
It's really weird to think of the shards like that.
"Sam here."
"So it turns out that the K-Suit's psychic signals require a physical port connection to make it work at all. That's relatively easy to do. I'm working with Wilde and Henry to rework some of the pilot systems, and we're working on incorporating the MMI helmets directly into the K-Suit Mk. IIs. We're predicting a fifty percent increase in pilot times and reactions, but we're not gonna know that science until we actually test it!"
"Also, a little unrelated, but we're adding some nice coloring schemes to the suits and we're making the helmets look pretty spiffy. All sci-fi and old super sentai, heh. Eat your hearts out. Marketing funding, here we come!"
"Sam Carlson, we're done here!"
What is Gattai? Why does your pilot keep saying that? - You aren't surprised that additional details about the Timberwolf and the Foxhound have already filtered back to Galbinus. But he's approached you with a surprise offer: could you modify several Legionnaires to conduct combining configuration?
He understands this is asking quite a bit out of you, but he's willing to compensate you for your assistance.
Cost: 1 RP Locked (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turns
Chance for Breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6)
Chance to gain bonus to future Combination experiments. Gain greater relations with Legion. Will be able to call upon Legionnaire Combiner on occasion for reinforcements. Will gain Temporary RP income for the next four turns
He understands this is asking quite a bit out of you, but he's willing to compensate you for your assistance.
Cost: 1 RP Locked (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turns
Chance for Breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6)
Chance to gain bonus to future Combination experiments. Gain greater relations with Legion. Will be able to call upon Legionnaire Combiner on occasion for reinforcements. Will gain Temporary RP income for the next four turns
1842, 8 July, A.D. 2071
Medical Station, Legion Enclave
Boris Ignatov sighed at the results. "There are times I hate it when I am right," he muttered. Looking up at Patch from his workstation, he said, "The personalities are not meshing quite right. Thankfully no damage has been inflicted on them just yet, but-"
"I would not criticize yourself so harshly, Doctor," Patch said. He fidgeted slightly; his own alt-form modification to a Coyote field hospital was taking some getting used to, clearly. As he made another modification to the comatose form of one of the volunteers, he added, "Were it not for those fail safes you implemented, their personality matrices could have harshly deteriorated much worse than this."
"It should not have happened at all," Boris countered. "But there is something preventing these three from merging properly. I am unsure if it is a mental block, or something that they fundamentally cannot agree on that is preventing them from meshing properly."
"There may be something to that," Patch mused. Rubbing a hand to his chin, he said thoughtfully, "Understand that the Legion are not purely law enforcement or military. Quite a few are refugees in every sense of the word. Dockworkers, engineers, laborers…gangs, even. It is only because of Galbinus that they can work together; not every mech gets along."
"But they insisted on this procedure going forward," Boris protested. Inputting more command prompts on his console, a diagram showing the frequencies of the personalities were overlaid over the others. "They are just on the cusp of it, but incomplete!"
"There may be little you can do," Patch sighed. "It will be up to them to resolve their differences."
"…suppose we gave them a helpful push in the right direction," Boris muttered. His thoughts were already mulling over an idea.
Complications prevented due to Ignatov's previous concerns. He and Patch have some ideas of moving forward.
The Yukimura Institute - Besides the K-Class Materials (which you're keeping under wraps), you haven't had much to do with the Kaiju yet. Now that you have the Intelligence Services' backing, it might do to send Wallflower to the Yukimura Institute directly. See what he can learn and find out about how they do business, particularly with the Black Guardian of the North.
Cost: 1 RP Locked
Duration: 1 Turn
Cost: 1 RP Locked
Duration: 1 Turn
1633, 15 July, A.D. 2071
Commandant's Office
"So what are Aeon Particles?" you ask Anna. She'd returned from Kyoto not too long ago, but despite the long flight involved, jet lag seemed to do nothing to her.
"I couldn't get my hands on the math," she shrugs, "And the EUDF Pacific Command already has some kind of deal going on with them, so I figured it was better not to step on too many toes this close to going public. But talking with Dr. Yukimura gave me enough leads to get my hands on these."
A moment later, a stack of copied paper thuds onto your desk. "A copy of his old university thesis," she explains. "I'll save you the issue of reading the damned thing, but he was starting to get his ideas from this as early as 2055."
You just stare. "Sixteen years ago?" you ask incredulously, to which Anna cheerfully nods. "And why didn't he get any funding for something like this?"
"Simple: the peer review board laughed their asses silly and kicked him out," she explains. "So he went independent. Teamed up with another professor-" she places another set of dossiers on your desk, "-Dr. Samuel Vaughn, the guy who makes Tritonium alloy, and Masaru Yoshida, someone who markets it."
You pause to think over that information. Tritonium alloy is something that was being bandied about back in the logistical world as something new and innovative years ago, but was still stuck in the purgatory known as Defense Force Contracting Review. You wouldn't be surprised if it was just starting to see distribution, but heaven knew where or how it was going to be incorporated. "And the pilot?"
"University student." She places another dossier down. "Hiroki Matsumoto. A former delinquent, but seems to be thick as thieves with Dr. Yukimura. Pretty level-headed kid from what I can tell, and…well. We've all seen his piloting work. He's been at it since Day One."
You remain silent as you look over the executive summary Anna attached to the thesis. "So he's using an Aeon Particle Generator to suck up the particles," you say, more to yourself than to Anna, "and collects it into something that can be used?"
"Pretty much," Anna says. "But that's as far as I was able to get with Wallflower. We just know it powers Mercury V, and lets it do that freaky icicle crap we see it do all the time." She frowns. "I wasn't able to get any eyes on anything that lets them predict where the Kaiju show up. Or if they even can tell and are just really lucky with guesswork or can get there really quickly."
"Still a hell of a lot more than we started with," you say. "Good work."
Gained greater intelligence on Mercury V and the Yukimura Institute!
Air Defense Force - Let's be honest. Armistead just flat out confuses you. He doesn't support his own subordinate commands, he lets something as large as a Westphalian raiding party just drive past his territory, and he belittles your efforts every chance he gets.
Anna's given assurances that this is typical politicking behavior, but you want more assurances than that. Anna's game for it; send someone out to get a temperature check on the people under Armistead's command. This is also a great opportunity to see what others in the Air Defense Force are making out of the designs that have come from your people.
Cost: 2 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turns
Chance to improve relations at Disadvantage (1d6, Threshold Unknown)
Gain additional information on General George Armistead and the Air Defense Force; gain information on overall opinion of the Air Defense Force of the DFRI
Anna's given assurances that this is typical politicking behavior, but you want more assurances than that. Anna's game for it; send someone out to get a temperature check on the people under Armistead's command. This is also a great opportunity to see what others in the Air Defense Force are making out of the designs that have come from your people.
Cost: 2 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turns
Chance to improve relations at Disadvantage (1d6, Threshold Unknown)
Gain additional information on General George Armistead and the Air Defense Force; gain information on overall opinion of the Air Defense Force of the DFRI
You're honestly a little shocked at what Anna's found. You knew that the Air Defense Force was full of divas (and you still refuse to apologize to Sasaki for saying that; it's a small form of payback over the Pegasus issue), but to this extent?
In short: there's quite a lot of storied families in the Air Defense Force. Those of wealth, specifically. Now, this is not unusual; even dating to pre-Unification militaries – and hell, even those of the national militaries of post-Unification – families of means, wealth and old ties have a tendency to send their sons and daughters to serve in the more 'glamorous' service (and having seen the difference between a Ground and Air Defense Force base, you derisively insist that the first installations the Air Defense Force prioritize are the Officers' Club and the Golf Course before any consideration to air strips). For the most part, aside from accusations of haughtiness or arrogance, they worked fine with the other services (and each other) and contributed just as much hard effort into upholding world peace as anyone else.
So why the hell are there so many of them in the Third Air Defense Force? It's highly unusual to see this big of a concentration of them in one group, if for nothing else than for concerns over the possible social shocks over losing so many in a single engagement.
Thankfully, there are holdouts within the wider EUADF, and specifically the Third Air Defense Force, who seem to hold you in rather high regard. The V-33, as you predicted, was an immense hit with the officers and leadership who had the thankless job of actually keeping the EUADF supplied and in ammunition. So far, they seemed to be cheerfully ignoring the bellyaching of the pilots who didn't like the V-33, and informed them they could either pilot this now, or wait for three months of no flight time until the next 'proper' fighters arrived. It was just their job to give them what was available.
This then brings you to the issue over General George Alexander Armistead himself.
Anna is no longer so sure of her initial assessment of him. Yes, he is loud, brash, and is very much obnoxious. But you and Anna are starting to see something else lurking beneath his actions. His constant presence in the media, this strange consolidation of older family ties…his support of projects that seem to run counter to his goals.
Such as yours.
Her initial assessment of him simply wanting a piece of the action seems to hold true, but his reactions towards you still make no sense if you take his personality at face value. You seem to factor into some end goal of his, but Anna still doesn't have enough information to guess what that would be; only that you seem to be throwing a monkey wrench into it. At best, he simply wants to consolidate himself into a permanent fixture in the EUDF administration. At worst, he could do severe damage if he were so inclined. But he'd never be able to do much on his own on a wider scale. Just on a small, concentrated one.
Anna agrees this is worth further investigation and is already discussing this with her superiors.
Discovered more information about the EUADF, specifically the Third right next door. Some initial information on GEN George Armistead gained.
Convert a formation into Mechanized, CR-04 Phalanx.
- Conventional Weapons: Can Strike at Disadvantage, 1d6, Threshold of 5-6. Can inflict 2 HP per Strike. Can Strike every turn.
- Heavy Weapons: Can make a Heavy Weapon Strike at Advantage every four turns. Currently can only deploy Conventional Heavy Weapons (3d6, Threshold of 5-6, Inflicts 2 HP). Counts as the Phalanx's Action. Can be upgraded in future turns.
- Shield Wall: Can choose to absorb an incoming Strike for an allied Support unit. Will absorb -1 of the original Strike, but damage effects of The Backup will take effect. Roll 1d6, Threshold of 4-6. Can be upgraded in future turns.
- The Backup: Can be targeted by enemies to delay Conventional Weapons Strike. If Enemy successfully hits, Phalanx Squadron refresh is delayed by One Turn. When facing multiple enemies, Conventional Weapons may be used every turn instead of every other turn.
Cost: 2 RP (One Time Investment)
Duration: 1 Turn
- Conventional Weapons: Can Strike at Disadvantage, 1d6, Threshold of 5-6. Can inflict 2 HP per Strike. Can Strike every turn.
- Heavy Weapons: Can make a Heavy Weapon Strike at Advantage every four turns. Currently can only deploy Conventional Heavy Weapons (3d6, Threshold of 5-6, Inflicts 2 HP). Counts as the Phalanx's Action. Can be upgraded in future turns.
- Shield Wall: Can choose to absorb an incoming Strike for an allied Support unit. Will absorb -1 of the original Strike, but damage effects of The Backup will take effect. Roll 1d6, Threshold of 4-6. Can be upgraded in future turns.
- The Backup: Can be targeted by enemies to delay Conventional Weapons Strike. If Enemy successfully hits, Phalanx Squadron refresh is delayed by One Turn. When facing multiple enemies, Conventional Weapons may be used every turn instead of every other turn.
Cost: 2 RP (One Time Investment)
Duration: 1 Turn
The process was as smooth as you and your logistics-leaning brain could make it. You have at your disposal two ground formations: the Third Reconnaissance (formerly only a Coyote group) and the Ninth Reconnaissance Platoons. You decided to give the Ninth, Tellison's old formation, the honor of making the conversion to the Phalanxes.
They make the change with aplomb and enthusiasm. With all their Jackals returning to the books as spare inventory, they are all given the brand new Phalanxes. But they are already surprising you.
The Ninth Armored Reconnaissance, or the 'Hoplites' as they have renamed themselves, conferred quietly with Sasaki and Dianna. They decided if they were all operating Phalanxes, and if they were operating in Mecha form, it was only right to actually function as a Phalanx square of old. Initially donning the single-use shields mounted on the arms, you have seen them in familiarization exercises putting this to the test.
It's actually quite terrifying to watch. While operating in IFV form, they still operate much as the old Bucklers did; spread out with overlapping fields of fire. When in Mecha form, however, there is always some unspoken agreement to close ranks, close with the enemy, and utterly clobber them, with shields up on the left arm and the arm-mounted guns firing a constant barrage on the right. The Phalanx square in practice doesn't exactly work as intended; you'd argue this resembles more of a riot police formation. But you'd still hate to be on the receiving end of that.
Especially given the new round of laughter you're hearing from Max's corner of things.
Ninth Reconnaissance now Ninth Armored Reconnaissance 'Hoplites'! Phalanx formation now available for deployment!
Engineering Actions
Configuration - With Our Powers Combined... - So the Psychic Theater works. At least it does in a controlled environment. But what about in practice? Wilde and Henry are a bit skeptical, especially since the main best examples - the Timberwolf and the Foxhound - aren't exactly co-pilot friendly. But they're willing to give it a go.
Callaghan's involvement was a no-brainer, but Satsuma has also volunteered to see if this is viable.
Cost: 2 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turns
Test to see the effects of Psychic Theater outside of the laboratory
Will modify vehicles for ease of co-pilot use
Gain bonuses to Combining Configuration
Callaghan's involvement was a no-brainer, but Satsuma has also volunteered to see if this is viable.
Cost: 2 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turns
Test to see the effects of Psychic Theater outside of the laboratory
Will modify vehicles for ease of co-pilot use
Gain bonuses to Combining Configuration
The process is...well.
It's taking some getting used to.
Satsuma, you determine quickly, is not the best of team players. At least, not with Tellison or Callaghan. She is very opinionated, very aggressive, and has a constant urge to want to close in with the enemy and rip them to shreds. For now, you and Sasaki quietly determine she would work better with a powerful, but solitary unit. She has potential, but she doesn't have the right mindset to work with the Psychic Theater...at least not right now.
You entertain the idea of simply having her work with Cavalier. You decide to bring it up with Galbinus later.
Callaghan and Tellison, on the other hand, operate about as well together as you'd expect for long-time work acquaintances to. Most of the resources are honestly dedicated to making a compatible pilot's seat to operate the Shepherd and the V-33 Falcon configuration than anything else. Once the two are 'on stage and live,' they settle very quickly into their previously agreed to roles. You find that Tellison works very well as the overall commander, with oversight over the immediate and wider battlefield as well as operating and abstracting the secondary control systems, while Callaghan is the actual 'driver' making the movements happen.
While Satsuma's route didn't pan out, Callaghan and Tellison are proving that there's substance to this idea. With another month of testing, you'll know for sure.
Good results coming from this line of testing!
Reforging the Shattered Spear - Due to the...mishap with the chemical composition of the Pilum's remains, this is easily going to be the most expensive project to re-initiate. At the rate it's going, it's actually just slightly less expensive than the damned dropship! But this promises to easily be one of the most potent projects you get your hands on, and you'll be able to produce your own versions of it! Like hell you're letting anyone else get their hands on it though.
Cost: 1 RP Locked (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turn
Reconstruct the Pilum
Cost: 1 RP Locked (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turn
Reconstruct the Pilum
Already eager to get to work, Lana promptly joins Wilde and Henry in reviewing the design for the new Pilum. She immediately proves her worth when she manages to acquire through Katarina the old, old design blueprints of the Pilum.
Wilde and Henry are already finding a slew of faults they could improve on and make better.
For one thing, the sheer durability of the Pilum came from inefficient redundant systems. In what Henry can only determine was some sort of corporate scam, the Pilum had double or triple the amount of secondary systems required. Sure, it was nice, and it more or less ensured that you were going to be in the fight for a long time, but who needs that many? It was just weighing down the overall frame and taking up space that could be used with something else. Or just, you know, additional space for something like the Steed's Armor mode.
Lana also discovered that the Westphalians simply brute-forced the amount of weapon hardpoints to a ridiculous degree. It already had a lot of weapon hardpoints, but whoever PJH was, he decided 'Nah, let's add 25% MORE.' Wilde agreed, and pointed out that you might not have the volume of weapons, but what you had available (such as the Energy Blaster packages) was much more potent.
Overall, the majority of the needless bulk is cut out, while also still retaining the - admittedly ridiculously - strong frame left behind. What is promising to emerge is something still relatively tough, but lean and fast.
Good progress made on the Pilum reconstruction.
Supercomputer AI - MMI Supplemental Development - In short, there's enough fragmentary code to be a part of an AI personality, but not enough to develop one on its own. But if someone were to spend some time with an MMI helmet with the code, the code fragments will draw from the member's ESP waves and fill in the gaps. You will get a personality that resembles the contributor, but still be its own individual.
Ignatov and Katarina are adamant that you take at least two months with this approach.
Cost: 2 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turns
Will gain new AI Supercomputer Personality, Will be slotted as a Mecha Personality (You may choose either as standalone pilot or as dedicated co-pilot)
Ignatov and Katarina are adamant that you take at least two months with this approach.
Cost: 2 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turns
Will gain new AI Supercomputer Personality, Will be slotted as a Mecha Personality (You may choose either as standalone pilot or as dedicated co-pilot)
You are somewhat bemused when Katarina, somewhat awkwardly, asks if you'd be willing to contribute to the MMI development of the new AI. Ignatov backs her up on this, saying that they were taking a wider sample of personalities from the command team as a first test for this upcoming personality. And, he says wryly, "It would do to inject a little common sense into this one given everyone else."
Yes, he was aware he was lumping himself in with that group.
Still, you agreed, and spent the better part of a week with an MMI on your head going through whatever tests they felt were needed.
You have no idea how this one's going to turn out, only that it's going to be tied to a specific Mecha form with limited streaming access to the base's mainframe. Katarina noted sympathetically that it would likely be unable to handle the sheer amount of information going through the Lair at every waking moment of time.
Will gain a new AI Pilot next month! Decisions next month will have to be made regarding its role.
Science Actions
Dispersion Field Plans – "It's a damned force field!" At least that's what you think you heard Max cackle. You're not sure. You just know that Galbinus told you it's not a complete set of the plans. It's just as much of the plans that some former shield engineers in the Legion scribed down from memory. On the plus side, it means you can create something uniquely yours.
Duration: 1 Turn
Chance for Breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6, Ivanna's Calm Applied)
Progress in Xenotechnology, New Combat Options
Duration: 1 Turn
Chance for Breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6, Ivanna's Calm Applied)
Progress in Xenotechnology, New Combat Options
0455, 22 July, A.D. 2071
Xenotechnology Lab
"...what happened, Ivanna?" you ask blearily. You only had the sense of mind at this hour of the day to don the physical fitness outfit before stumbling towards the lab, still coffee and sleep deprived.
You are immediately answered when you hear the echoing laughter coming from a certain lab. "...oh."
"I am afraid so, Sir," Ivanna says sorrowfully. "While I am happy to report that Dr. Brand was successful in the Dispersion Field testing-" You immediately stop at one corner to peek around the corner.
There, backlit by a consistent, square-shaped Dispersion Field flickering between red and yellow, you see Max. Her hair is askew, she clearly has not had much sleep given the manic and exhausted expression on her face, and she's surrounded by even more coffee cups than you could ever hope to rack up in an hour.
"I HAVE DONE IT! NO ALIEN TECHNOLOGY CAN FOOL ME!" she crows. As if in sympathetic response, the Dispersion Field flares and crackles behind her. "I love it! This feels like PROGRESS!"
"...huh."
"That was my reaction, Sir," Ivanna says worriedly. Her avatar fidgets on your tablet, tapping two fingers together in a facsimile of a stressful reaction. "I was able to help correct an oversight she made, and suddenly she just sort of...ran with it?"
"...okay then." You sigh, rubbing your eyes out of exhaustion. "I...she's sure to pass out soon." You think. "Just make sure no one drops by here for the next twelve hours, will you?"
"Very good, Sir. But why twelve hours?"
"Because that's how long I'm going to go back to sleep for. And I'd like to be awake for when she tries to explain this in layman's terms."
PROGRESS! Oh, and the Dispersion Field Technology has been figured out. Stats to follow at a later point.
Energy Shard Processing – The lifeblood and currency of Kausen society apparently. It seems straightforward enough to Max: processed energy essentially scrunched into a tiny package. Human energy processing such as oil, gas and fusion power apparently translate quite nicely into Shards (which explains the constant raids from the Free Brothers). Max is confident she can replicate it, but the bigger question to her is how we can use it safely.
With everything else that you've been doing for the Legion, Galbinus has offered to detach one of his specialists to come help you establish this. He points out it's only fair after having given him both the Configuration methods, built a new home, and gave him a brand new alt-form.
Cost: 2 RP (1 RP Locked)
Duration: 2 Turns
Chance for Breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6)
Progress in Xenotechnology, Bonus RP Generation Option
With everything else that you've been doing for the Legion, Galbinus has offered to detach one of his specialists to come help you establish this. He points out it's only fair after having given him both the Configuration methods, built a new home, and gave him a brand new alt-form.
Cost: 2 RP (1 RP Locked)
Duration: 2 Turns
Chance for Breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6)
Progress in Xenotechnology, Bonus RP Generation Option
The Kaus known as Hotwire has dropped by to help install the Energy Shard Processor that's admittedly been sitting by the wayside for awhile. With Max...predisposed by her breakthrough with the Dispersion Field, Ivanna sits in for her while Katarina also participates.
You soon discover why Shards can be treated both as life sustenance and currency. The Kausen treat these things like a strange mixture of a national mint and a food processor.
In short: it accepts any processed forms of energy and slowly incubates them into the telltale shards. Their shapes all vary, along with coloring, but the end result is a very densely packaged form of energy. Architect showed you a method of how to actually get this to work on the Pegasus, via a form of focusing matrix that you could insert the shard into. But that was just one means of doing so.
Katarina seems to have picked up on this pretty quickly, and is now determined to see this through. With luck, you may actually have a source of currency that's legal tender with the Legion to purchase services from them.
It's really weird to think of the shards like that.
Good results on making your own processors!
Kaiju Biotechnology - A Smart Suit - "True Fact: the K-Suits are emitting psychic energy, but we don't know how or why. We know for a fact that we can make use of psychic signals, but we want to know if we can put this to use with the Super Robot. Can we turn a spiffy suit of dead kaiju armor into a supplement for the MMI?"
"No idea. But we're gonna find out. Sam Carlson, we're done here."
Cost: 2 RP (One Time Investment)
Duration: 2 Turn
Chance for Breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6)
Progress in Kaiju Biotechnology
"No idea. But we're gonna find out. Sam Carlson, we're done here."
Cost: 2 RP (One Time Investment)
Duration: 2 Turn
Chance for Breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6)
Progress in Kaiju Biotechnology
"Sam here."
"So it turns out that the K-Suit's psychic signals require a physical port connection to make it work at all. That's relatively easy to do. I'm working with Wilde and Henry to rework some of the pilot systems, and we're working on incorporating the MMI helmets directly into the K-Suit Mk. IIs. We're predicting a fifty percent increase in pilot times and reactions, but we're not gonna know that science until we actually test it!"
"Also, a little unrelated, but we're adding some nice coloring schemes to the suits and we're making the helmets look pretty spiffy. All sci-fi and old super sentai, heh. Eat your hearts out. Marketing funding, here we come!"
"Sam Carlson, we're done here!"
Who wants to be a tokusatsu hero?
...alright.
Diagnostics are looking much better. Suppose all the sapient energy in the air's been doing this unit some good.
Communications Software...78% operable.
That will do. I can at least start to talk to someone around here...
...and I have a good idea of whom.
Diagnostics are looking much better. Suppose all the sapient energy in the air's been doing this unit some good.
Communications Software...78% operable.
That will do. I can at least start to talk to someone around here...
...and I have a good idea of whom.
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Kind of laughable... But we could probably purchase Brotherhood manpower and/or resources on a temporary basis given how they are more decentralized than the Legion IIRC. You know. In a pinch.
Or for deniable ops...
Now, if only there was a faction known for being Old Money personified...
It sounds a LOT like this is someone's private operation infiltrated directly into the army...
So if I'm reading this right, deploy as IFVs, roll up to the first hard position, configure to mech form to act as a firing line. Once their single use shields are expended, configure back to IFV and become dispersed fire support?
This sounds a lot like they were running systems beyond their supporting capacity so they routinely experience burnout that they don't actually know how to stop...so they just tripled up and let the redundants tank blowouts?
Because its a terrible way to tank battle damage, that much weight and cost, you might as well double the armor plating!
Massgamer
Advance toward the Future
- Location
- The Future
Basically make a unit of Roman soldiers in giant robot form.
I pity the poor bastards fighting that.
An AI with common sense, isn't that the scariest thought ever? It would be so efficient!
Wonder since we figured this out if we can give it to Legion to use themselves and add it to our Hoplites shields to make them even more defensive.
Couldn't shards end up becoming the currency of the Union since from all accounts they could act as actual universal currency?
Seriously though they should check with some lawyers become this becomes public or else the they will get sued like crazy.
- Location
- USA
It was on a shared solar system plan. They're not the best, but what can you do? Stuff's expensive!
Maybe in the far future. Particularly if you ever make contact with Mekaen's government. For now, though, it's still classified as a secret project.
Well, you still have the Dispersion Shields to consider...
The next post/interlude will come up sometime today!
Actually...
Armistead might know that his unit is hopelessly compromised and is only pretending to be against us to throw off suspicion.
Not in Person
Once Known as The Nobody
- Location
- A place
Urge to "I-told-you-so": Rising.
I'd vote for it.
"Devlin, how did you manage to stop the Kausen raids so quickly?"
"I hired them"
"... Anticlimactic"
"But efficient. Which Westphallian cell do you want to target today?"
- Location
- Nowhere
By the way, is the Pegasus capable of doing one or more of these?
They need a common hobby to work together.
Either hot-blood, or an emergency to force them to transform. When in doubt, add more power!
So, like the average military? They do have non-combat personnel too since the old ages.
Something particle accelerator something SCIENCE!
If they did that to him, what happened with Dr. Sheol then?
I'm surprised you resisted the temptation to not to name the alloy "Unobtanium". Or better: "Japanium".
Older than the usual, but the rest fits. I suppose the age difference is to pre-emptively avoid mod harassment once the inevitable romance subplot shows up.
Can it shoot fists too?
I would assume that a giant lizard showing up from the sea is easy to see from quite far away.
SEELE-sense intensifies. Also, golf courses, because why not?
SEELE-sense reaches a peak!
HINT HINT HINT!!!
They need a melee weapon along with the guns to better fit the image, something like a transforming spear.
As expected. She needs to mellow out and learn about good values once she becomes a magical girl.
I hope we get to discover if they can throw energy beams at some point with their minds.
So, an over-designed, faulty military product that is absurdly fast and tough. Is the Pilum the helicopter Alteisen?
This will be good...
Is the Mecha AI less advanced than the other ones, or is piloting a mech so demanding? Also, can we swap what kind of "mech configuration" can it control between turns?
I see she made an AT Field.
I hope someone doesn't discover that energy generated by organic creatures also works...
Aaw, but the good suits go without helmet! How will the audience recognize whose pilot is then?
He's thinking forward.
The Intelligent Device is ready! Which means trouble incoming.
That's a good idea!
I would assume that after the brutal war that happened and loss of info that went with it, along with the dumbing down of media reaching critical levels, made lots of old shows' copyrights be forgotten/lost in the process.
... We have to do this at some point. Even better if we hire them to capture Bandit for us.
Massgamer
Advance toward the Future
- Location
- The Future
You honestly think that will stop people?
- Location
- USA
LinkOnScepter
The One who Strangles Concepts to death
- Location
- Interwebs
So...we have what are basically Spartan/Roman Mecha?
That is awesome.
That is awesome.