Plan: Advance the Earthly Flag!
-An Unexpected Interrogation
--Improvise with Callaghan and the Beowulf (2 RP)
----Katarina's Support
-It's All a Political Game
--Maritime Expeditionary Corps (3 RP)
---Diana's Support?
-Reaction Force (4 RP)
-Variable Configuration - Medium Investment (3 RP)
--Lana's Support
-Kaiju Biotechnology - Medium Investment (3 RP)
--Ivanna's Support
Locked Actions
- Pilot Training - Heavy Investment (no additional RP invested)
- Now Accepting Internships
- Integration
- ESP Theory - Heavy Investment
Improvise with Callaghan and the Beowulf. This is the crazier idea you've heard suggested, but apparently even some Legionnaires find the resemblance of the Variables (a term they've started using to refer to any of your Configuration machines) to Kaus frames uncanny. So, Anna suggests, it stands to reason that the prisoner might think the Beowulf is a new Legionnaire that the Free Brothers haven't accounted for yet.
You have no idea how this is going to turn out, but Callaghan's willing to give it a shot.
Cost: 2 RP (1 RP Locked)
Duration: 2 Turns
Chance for breakthrough (2d6+1d6, Threshold of ?), Katarina's Support applied
This has the chance to go hilariously wrong or right.
Rolled: 3+2+2!
...you all still have next turn to try this again, but this is kind of hilarious.
Maritime Expeditionary Corps - Colonel Henri Bernard of the Marine Corps arm of the Naval Defense Force expressed interest in further application of the V-33. As clunky as the design can be at times, apparently the Marine Corps pilots have grown somewhat attached to it. Colonel Bernard was wondering if you you'd be willing to make an appearance and to discuss further refinement of the V-33's design (particularly maintenance; as simple as it seems on paper, the mechanics have less than kind words for it). You'll probably need to bring Wilde and Henry to this one, and enough of their equipment and tools to really dig into what the Marine pilots are doing.
The main appeal behind this? Well, you'd certainly like more information from the main conventional arm that has to deal with the Kaiju the most frequently...
Cost: 3 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turn
Chance for strengthened ties with the Naval Defense Force (2d6, Threshold of 4-6), Diana's Creativity applies, because sure, it's a Defense Force topic
Chance for greater information from the Naval Defense Force on kaiju activity.
Rolled: 2+6!
Some success so far. Colonel Bernard is intrigued by some form of partnership, but he's not committing yet.
Pilot Training - Heavy Investment
1 RP Locked (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turns
Chance for breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6); no additional RP invested this turn.
Rolled: 2+5!
Moderate success. Callaghan has hit upon an idea...
Variable Configuration - Medium Investment
Cost: 3 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2-4 Turns
Chance for breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6), Lana's Stubbornness applied
Rolled: 1+4!
Lana: YOU BLOCKHEADS! GIVE ME THAT, I'M DOING THIS AGAIN!
ESP Theory - Heavy Investment
Cost: 2 RP Locked (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 3 Turns
Chance for breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6); no additional RP invested this turn.
Rolled: 5+6!
...well, something just blew up. But that's okay. This is good Science!
SCIENCE!
Kaiju Biotechnology - Medium Investment
Cost: 3 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2-4 Turns
Chance for breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6), Ivanna's Calm applied
Rolled: 1+2!
That...didn't work. Ivanna and Sam take a closer look...
Rolled: 4+4!
That...also didn't work. They figured out what was going on, but that doesn't help either of them this month.
Aw I missed the vote. I think we probably shouldn't keep ignoring the army for too long, they've been asking for help for a long time and they seem to be getting impatient.
Improvise with Callaghan and the Beowulf. This is the crazier idea you've heard suggested, but apparently even some Legionnaires find the resemblance of the Variables (a term they've started using to refer to any of your Configuration machines) to Kaus frames uncanny. So, Anna suggests, it stands to reason that the prisoner might think the Beowulf is a new Legionnaire that the Free Brothers haven't accounted for yet.
You have no idea how this is going to turn out, but Callaghan's willing to give it a shot.
Cost: 2 RP (1 RP Locked)
Duration: 2 Turns
Chance for breakthrough (2d6+1d6, Threshold of ?), Katarina's Support applied
This has the chance to go hilariously wrong or right.
Interrogation Log
3 November - Prisoner was brought online. Patch assured us that he has no means of transmitting location back to Free Brothers. We've got until New Year to get this done, so best get to it.
4 November - Day one. Nothing.
Introduced myself, made my usual pitch. Got nothing out of the prisoner. Looks like a 'bad guy minion' from old cartoons. Not sure if he understands us. Will try Richard tomorrow.
5 November - Day two. Richard showed up in the Beowulf. Prisoner seems confused, but still isn't saying anything. More or less same reaction. Trying again tomorrow.
6 November - Day three. Trying 'good cop bad cop' was a flop. Callaghan played bad cop, but being looked at really threateningly is apparently normal for the prisoner. Prisoner just kind of tilts his head at me whenever I say anything to it.
7 November - Day four. I'm now not sure if we just have a bad way of communicating with him, or if he's just playing dumb with us. Still no reaction even when Katarina sent burst code towards him. No reaction.
8 November, Day five. Nothing we did worked. Tried morse code, signal flags, picture books, drawing squiggly lines, interpretive dance (Richard's actually pretty good at that with the Beowulf). Nothing got a response.
Think we just confused the prisoner more than anything else. And made ourselves look stupid.
The Commandant can't stop laughing.
9 November - Da Called Patch over comms and explained what was going on. Apparently nothing's wrong. Closest analogue I can draw is that he's in a daze of some kind. Patch said it's unusual for a mech to be like this for this long, but he advised to just put him under observation for a month and wait.
Fine by me. I was getting ready to start teaching it poker at this point. Patch did ask if there were videos of the dance, but Richard already got rid of them.
Well, that happened. Try again next month.
Maritime Expeditionary Corps - Colonel Henri Bernard of the Marine Corps arm of the Naval Defense Force expressed interest in further application of the V-33. As clunky as the design can be at times, apparently the Marine Corps pilots have grown somewhat attached to it. Colonel Bernard was wondering if you you'd be willing to make an appearance and to discuss further refinement of the V-33's design (particularly maintenance; as simple as it seems on paper, the mechanics have less than kind words for it). You'll probably need to bring Wilde and Henry to this one, and enough of their equipment and tools to really dig into what the Marine pilots are doing.
The main appeal behind this? Well, you'd certainly like more information from the main conventional arm that has to deal with the Kaiju the most frequently...
Cost: 3 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turn
Chance for strengthened ties with the Naval Defense Force (2d6, Threshold of 4-6), Diana's Creativity applies, because sure, it's a Defense Force topic
Chance for greater information from the Naval Defense Force on kaiju activity.
Well, you didn't take off immediately to go visit Colonel Henri Bernard just yet. Meetings don't just work like that. You have to talk to each other before the meeting about the meeting, then you have to talk about what you're going to talk about in terms of agenda for the meeting, then you go to the meeting prepared with whatever materials you discussed, then the meeting happens, someone probably goes on a tangent, the actual topic of the meeting happens maybe in the last ten minutes, and then God knows what happens after that.
You wish you were joking, but judging by your past experiences in the military and from people you know in the private sector, it's like this everywhere in the world. It's been like this over the past few centuries, and it'll probably keep going well until the sun goes out. You don't doubt for a minute that the Westphalians probably have their own unique brand of torture stemming from this as well.
Still, initial sat-link discussions with Colonel Bernard are encouraging enough. The Marine arm of the Naval Defense Forces - at least from Bernard's neck of the woods - seem to quite like the V-33. Their only problem is that despite the now ridiculous ease of getting parts for it, conducting maintenance on a Frankenstein of machines that normally have nothing to do with each other is something of a nightmare. The saving grace is that once maintenance is finished, you really don't need to worry about it for a good few weeks.
You keep forgetting that you have Wilde and Henry, who at this point make everything look ridiculously easy.
Still, the agenda seems straight forward enough: he wants you and your engineers to observe their use of the V-33s in operation, and in particular to watch the maintenance side of the house and see where things can be improved.
Then you can talk about something more substantial, like cooperation with the MEC against kaiju incursions, with maybe Westphalian piracy on the lesser hand. Pirates he can deal with; anti-kaiju operations are rapidly being seen as belonging to the DFRI's weight class.
Thank goodness for Diana. Staffers being staffers, Bernard's staff threw all sorts of nonsense jargon at you that she was able to cut neatly through into sections that you actually cared to read. She seemed annoyed at all the bloat surrounding the materials.
Good discussions so far. Will conclude next turn.
Defense Force Actions
Pilot Training - Heavy Investment
1 RP Locked (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2 Turns
Chance for breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6); no additional RP invested this turn.
Interestingly, Callaghan has been spending this month's training less and less in the Beowulf, and more outside of it. All the while, he's been conducting physical fitness routines, obstacle courses, and self defense classes, all while wearing the K-Suit. At first, you were bemused. What the hell was he doing?
You later found out. If the K-Suit operates as a giant transmitter of psychic energy, and if the K-Suit and the machine it's linked to are humanoid shaped, it stands to reason that more experienced pilots will begin associating their movements in the Beowulf or their associated machines as moving their own physical bodies. But that comes with a drawback, albeit one you weren't considering (you were more worried about losing his sense of self, but apparently he equates stepping out of the Beowulf to taking off a large version of the K-Suit; Sam confirmed after a quick scan that there weren't any mental health issues, just quirks).
The more he operates the Beowulf, the more he's thinking that he himself, as Richard Callaghan, is leaping into a rolling dodge through enemy fire and not just willing the Beowulf to think so. But the problem with this is that hours after operating the Beowulf, he was starting to get the nastiest cramps, like he'd conducted three physical fitness tests back to back.
So this is his solution: familiarizing himself with the basic motions he and Beowulf are going to be expected to face, and try to make some gains in the process.
He knows this isn't perfect; nothing he can do right now is going to prepare him for movements or actions pertaining to the Timberwolf or the Foxhound.
...but that get you thinking. Why shouldn't he be able to prepare for that too?
Callaghan theorizes that greater experience in piloting leads to greater physical association with the mecha's movements, and is pushing himself to improve in and out of the cockpit. This is giving you ideas, but you'll hold off until December.
Now Accepting Internships...
Cost: 2 RP Locked (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 3 Turns
Construction of the complex continues apace. You know by now that the sappers are quite confident in their craft, and you don't have to pay too much attention; you know it'll get finished eventually.
No, it's the curriculum and the selection process that you and Sasaki spend countless hours going over.
Sasaki is of the opinion to base the selection along the lines of special forces; put them through a series of trials to wear down the unsuitable, all the while keeping the resilient and the fit. After that is done, then start the actual training. From there, you're left with only the most dedicated, hardened and skilled to train.
You disagree on that point, though you are somewhat biased. You've seen plenty of promising candidates be brushed aside from such selection criteria, and you would rather they wash out based on the tasks you expect them to be doing (piloting giant robots skillfully), not over an endurance test; endurance you can train into them.
You both do agree on one point, however:
Sam Carlson is going to be greeting each class. The logic behind this?
The hopefuls are going to see exactly what they're getting themselves into upfront.
Complex to complete at end of January. Criteria still being debated between you and Sasaki. Agreement on inflicting Sam onto the new arrivals unanimous.
Reaction Force
Cost: 4 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 4 Turns
Unlocks New Actions. Will Reveal Hot Spots around the world that may benefit from your attention.
This, on the other hand, is going to take awhile.
Mainly because you demand it does. You leave the yeoman's share of the work to Sasaki, already experienced with these sorts of coordinations. With your authority and approval, she begins integrating your systems with the wider EUDF network, and with all tactical nets from each service. By the time this is done, you want to be able to instantly look at a potential hotspot and neutralize it before it can become a bigger problem.
Let BG Peters and her peers try to rush you all they please. Just because you have a Super Robot flying the Union colors doesn't mean you are effective as a fighting force. Just because you also now have your own means of deploying around the world doesn't mean your organization has joined the ranks of the Super Robots.
No, it's the ability to pick and choose your battles. You refuse to be forced into an unwinnable situation unless there's absolutely no other choice. You have no problems committing to a battle if required, but having the information and ability to analyze the situation before coming anywhere near said situation is going to be a big part of your operational flexibility.
The Beowulf, the Timberwolf and the Foxhound - and all their successors - are going to get their chance to shine. But only in battles of your choosing.
Work begins.
Engineering Actions
Integration - It's time to bring your new AI pilot to life, but there was some disagreement over how to bring him online. After some discussion on it, it was agreed to upload the AI directly into a Beowulf-class chassis and simply let it mingle with everyone. No weapons or anything built into it, but you're going to need to set aside some resources to ensure the integration goes smoothly.
After all, this is a new citizen of the Union and a new member of the family. It's important to make him feel welcome and safe.
Cost: 1 RP Locked
Duration: 1 Turn
Will roll for personality traits
This will be concluded in an interlude, likely coming tomorrow.
Variable Configuration - Medium Investment
Cost: 3 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2-4 Turns
Chance for breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6), Lana's Stubbornness applied
Most Engineers would decide that if a problem was insurmountable, break off and try another angle.
Most Engineers, however, clearly never met Lana.
The topic of discussion: the combining configuration of multiple vehicles.
The problem: not quite enough means to assume new configuration modes to accommodate for different forms. The V-33, for instance, was giving Wilde and Henry some trouble on taking on some other kind of new form for a potential triple combination between it, the Beowulf and the Shepherd.
The solution: don't bother trying.
Lana's reasoning, after a good twenty minutes of berating and good natured arguing between herself and Wilde, was that heaven and earth were already moved a few times just to get it to accommodate both the Foxhound configuration AND the ability to simply shift from jet fighter to rotary craft and back again. So just take advantage of the components that do work and operate within those parameters.
You're now fairly thankful you had Lana watching over this one, particularly since initial tests seem promising.
Lana's hit upon a possible solution to getting to the triple combination. This will conclude next turn!
Science Actions
ESP Theory - Heavy Investment
Cost: 2 RP Locked (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 3 Turns
Chance for breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6); no additional RP invested this turn.
Kaiju Biotechnology - Medium Investment
Cost: 3 RP (1 RP Locked Next Turn)
Duration: 2-4 Turns
Chance for breakthrough (2d6, Threshold of 5-6), Ivanna's Calm applied
"Sam here. Good news first: we've made a breakthrough in ESP Theory!"
"Bad news: we're gonna need another lab."
"Just to back up and explain all that, we were running with the idea that psychic broadcasts tend to just collect and act as glorified mailmen. Well, with some tinkering, we discovered that there's enough psychic signals bleeding off of the main efforts just using the Man Machine Interfaces, so we figured we'd double check where they were going."
"Turns out, and True Fact: they don't go anywhere. They just sort of hang around like you lazy bastards around the break room. Now we know that psychic signals like to travel along certain pathways, and will go those ways if given the option. So we found where those were collecting, and rerouted them to temporary holding containers. True enough, they just hang around there until they go away, though that timetable we haven't exactly nailed down yet."
"But since we also know that psychic signals can interact with K-Class, we figured we'd line those containers with some ol' K-Scale Mesh and see what happened. Well, the volunteer's instructions were to just try and make the K-Class tougher. It, uh, exploded instead."
"But that's okay! We already factored the cost of an exploding lab into the budget, so we're still in the positives and on time. We'll have more for you next month."
"Sam Carlson, we're done here!"
Both projects will complete by end of January! Found means to collect psychic energy; just need a safer way to do it.
Attempt to toughen K-Scale partially worked, but was also a contributor to exploding lab. But this was good science!
Know who we need in biotech? an expy of the Tf2 medic. the man sold his soul to the devil the somehow surically attacked eight more souls to his soul to maintain majority ownership
"Just to back up and explain all that, we were running with the idea that psychic broadcasts tend to just collect and act as glorified mailmen. Well, with some tinkering, we discovered that there's enough psychic signals bleeding off of the main efforts just using the Man Machine Interfaces, so we figured we'd double check where they were going."
"Turns out, and True Fact: they don't go anywhere. They just sort of hang around like you lazy bastards around the break room. Now we know that psychic signals like to travel along certain pathways, and will go those ways if given the option. So we found where those were collecting, and rerouted them to temporary holding containers. True enough, they just hang around there until they go away, though that timetable we haven't exactly nailed down yet."
"But since we also know that psychic signals can interact with K-Class, we figured we'd line those containers with some ol' K-Scale Mesh and see what happened. Well, the volunteer's instructions were to just try and make the K-Class tougher. It, uh, exploded instead."
In the unlikely event we don't have a Combat Deployment coming up, priority one is getting the Perseus Build started, and having the Core Unit rolled out. If resources permit it, I'd also like to get a Thunder/Valkyrie rolled out too.
Also, being able to support C&C style industrial warfare. Which, with Configuration... Is not actually impossible. Perhaps not entirely efficient, but on field supplies of rudimentary combat drones would be useful...
8 November, Day five. Nothing we did worked. Tried morse code, signal flags, picture books, drawing squiggly lines, interpretive dance (Richard's actually pretty good at that with the Beowulf). Nothing got a response.
Thank goodness for Diana. Staffers being staffers, Bernard's staff threw all sorts of nonsense jargon at you that she was able to cut neatly through into sections that you actually cared to read. She seemed annoyed at all the bloat surrounding the materials.
(you were more worried about losing his sense of self, but apparently he equates stepping out of the Beowulf to taking off a large version of the K-Suit; Sam confirmed after a quick scan that there weren't any mental health issues, just quirks).
Callaghan theorizes that greater experience in piloting leads to greater physical association with the mecha's movements, and is pushing himself to improve in and out of the cockpit. This is giving you ideas, but you'll hold off until January.
"But since we also know that psychic signals can interact with K-Class, we figured we'd line those containers with some ol' K-Scale Mesh and see what happened. Well, the volunteer's instructions were to just try and make the K-Class tougher. It, uh, exploded instead."
"But that's okay! We already factored the cost of an exploding lab into the budget, so we're still in the positives and on time. We'll have more for you next month."
Tech categories:
-Transform - We have basic mastery of this. We've sort of stopped fundamental research and focused on applied versions however. We don't really have a Triple Mode shift thing, though we're probably going to need nanotechnology, programmable matter of some form or dimensional science to do much more than we have.
-Combine - We have basic mastery of this, and are working on the Triple Combination. Plenty of room to grow, but the technical difficulty is expected to rise the more units are involved. We'd probably need a bullshit tech to go beyond a Triple Combination though.
-AI - Same as Transforming, we got our AIs working, and now we're mostly implementing applied versions without expanding the theory. Need more powerful computing hardware and actually learning how the code works rather than procedurally generate a random intelligence.
-ESP - We've JUST finally gotten in view of actual ESP powers. The MMI is pretty limited in what it can achieve because ultimately its just a piloting skill cheat sheet. It lets us use less skilled pilots than we might normally need. The ESP energy breakthrough is immense.
-Kaijiu - Our most developed thing, and basically our applied bullshittium. Its not that different from AI, we figured out how to grow it and now just apply it to everything and pray.
-Xeno - Mostly reverse engineering and applied techs from stolen alienware. Nothing much to see here. Just using a more advanced techbase's stuff. Not a tech tree yet. Just a salvage tree.
Basically? I'd say our 'mature' techs are Transform and Combine(which do the job they are asked to and are not likely to do much sudden improvements), our Kaijiutech and AI are Functional but we're sort of doing the AdMech thing of just waving it generally in the direction of a problem and watching it solve the problem.
ESP is an 'immature' tech where its not really doing its thing properly yet because we're approaching it from nothing.
