[X] Plan: Safety First
-[X] Security Net - Reinforce the Walls (3 RP)
-[X] Local Area Investigation - Spies? (1 RP)
-[X] A Helping Hand - Restoration (2 RP)
-[X] Information Gathering – Threats (1 RP)
I'm really tempted to go for the Monster Fighting Truck Rally right away but the fact that people are spying on us makes me think that it's probably a good idea to focus on security first before all else.
While that is a good point, we have the larger issue of not exactly knowing what to look for as a sign of any enemies. Also, the Helipad is expensive, keeping us from gathering said information sooner rather than later.
I don't recall Variable Configuration getting a bonus from "We are Professionals" last turn... or this turn. Also, isn't threshold measured in ranges instead of dice (meaning it's 4-6 rather than 4d6)?
In fact, I don't see "We Are Professionals" reflected anywhere. Shouldn't it be locked (locking 1 RP with it)?
Anyway, if it is a mistake and we still have these buffs active, wouldn't it make sense to include the relevant action in our plans?
[] Variable Configuration - Refinement -
Cost: 3 RP (One Time Investment)
Duration: 2 Turns
Chance for Breakthrough, Test Roll (2d6, Threshold of 5-6)
Progress to Variable Configuration, Unlocks Variable Configuration Actions, Progress to Super Robot Chassis
I don't recall Variable Configuration getting a bonus from "We are Professionals" last turn... or this turn. Also, isn't threshold measured in ranges instead of dice (meaning it's 4-6 rather than 4d6)?
In fact, I don't see "We Are Professionals" reflected anywhere. Shouldn't it be locked (locking 1 RP with it)?
Anyway, if it is a mistake and we still have these buffs active, wouldn't it make sense to include the relevant action in our plans?
@Nevill is correct in that I forgot to apply that bonus.
To make up for it, I will assign a free one-time bonus to the next Variable Configuration roll you all make. Whether this means this turn (which seems unlikely) or whenever you take it. I will also allow it to stack with any other bonus you purchase that turn.
Lots of things to keep track of! But do please keep me honest, I can and do slip up.
I will try to, but sadly I am not an artist. I will usually be pulling from images online, and they will usually be rough approximations of what I am going for.
One common theme with mecha anime: They tend to be very colorful and flashy. Later on that is fine, but this early in your prototypes are a lot more rugged.
Believe me, when searching for a more drab-looking car mecha, pickings were slim.
It is also possible my Google-fu is weak and cannot Search. If anyone has good resources, sound off and I'll take a look.
Patlabor's Labors. *^
Buddy Complex's Valiancers. No I'm not talking about the super-real-robots, I'm talking about grunts. *Aircar
Armored Core MT and or ACs. Some MTs and or ACs may fit in. ^Some
Full Metal Panic's Arm-Slaves. Anything below 3rd Gen. ^
Front Mission's Wanzers. Most of them.
Shirogane no Ishi Argevollen's Trail Kriegers. The mass-produced ones. ^
Gasaraki's Tactical Armor.
Code Geass' Knightmare Frames.
Suisei no Gargantia's Jumboroids/Yumboroids.
Battletech/Mechwarrior's Battlemechs. ^*Some
Armored Trooper VOTOMS's VOTOMS. *
Heavy Gears' GEARS.
Battlefield 2142's Walkers. For Mooks? Drones? ^
Kuratas.
FLAG's Mechas. Whatever they're called.
Steel Battalion's Vertical Tanks. ^*
Note: Marked with ' * ' are probably close to 'car-looking'. Depends on how you see them really.
Note: Marked with ' ^ ' are easily summarized with the words 'walking tank'.
[X] Plan: Safety First
-[X] Security Net - Reinforce the Walls (3 RP)
-[X] Local Area Investigation - Spies? (1 RP)
-[X] A Helping Hand - Restoration (2 RP)
-[X] Information Gathering – Threats (1 RP)
Work decided to spring all sorts of shenanigans on me this week. So much for my daily update schedule!
But here is the update! There will also be an interlude due to the Engineering Action. Hope you enjoy!
Defense Force Actions
2035, 8 May, A.D. 2070
Executive Officer's Office, EUDF Barracks
LOCKED
Captain Sasaki seems pleased enough that the candidates she sent last month are helping. But a problem many scientists have is that they tend to study the principles of their field in a vacuum. This is an ideal time to attach Defense Force observers along with the research staff to see how you can incorporate ESP control into a tangible benefit.
1 RP locked from Previous
Duration: 1 Turn
Lowers Success Threshold of ESP rolls to 4d6
CONCLUDES THIS TURN
"...no, Sam," Sasaki said patiently as she sat at her desk, signing off on another memorandum. "They are not there to 'meddle' with your experiments." She paused as she shifted the document aside, listening at length to another tirade from the irascible man. "Not at all, Sam. The efforts of you and your team are admirable. And you know Major Devin is appreciative of your work. But we need to establish guidelines."
Another lengthy tirade erupted from the phone. Sasaki rolled her eyes as an aide passed her several different reports. "Sam, no. I understand that you would be able to push theoretical limits. But we need to remain task-focused. My officers are 'poking their noses in' as you keep saying so often for a reason." Another quick tirade. Sasaki was becoming quite efficient at catching the pertinent details while filtering out almost everything else. She idly noticed that the aide had made himself scarce during all this.
"They are only doing what they are so we may establish guidelines. 'Do not operate psychic-enhancing equipment for lengthy periods of time,' 'do not operate psychic-enhancing machinery while drunk or distracted.' If we do not establish this now, we will see much more grief when it comes to creating the man-machine interface."
Another period of speech passed. "Very well then. I look forward to seeing the results at the end of the month. Good night." She finally hung up the phone, and then took the chance to massage her temples. "That man is so irritating," she grumbled as she finally turned her full attention to the reports she was giving.
Lowers Success Threshold of ESP rolls to 4d6
CONCLUDES THIS TURN
This is very much a longer term project, though it seems more pertinent with the presence of unknown spies. All the critical infrastructure is secured, but intruders could still sneak in wherever Wilde and Henry did not get to a few months ago. Sasaki wants to be thorough. A good reinforced set of walls with enough room to expand within, combined with wide ranging patrols as afforded by the motor pool, would cause a severe headache for infiltrators trying to get in.
Cost: 3 RP (One Time Investment)
Duration: 3 Turns
Progress to Security Net, Unlocks Actions
Turning her attention to the several page report, she glimpsed over it quickly. Pausing only to sip from the cooling cup of green tea on her desk. It was from one of Lieutenant Wilde's compatriots from the combat engineers. Within was the plan to reinforce the current system of walls they had established a few months prior.
She pauses as she thinks back to the earliest days of the Institute. Despite working well enough together, she expected to be sidelined at any given opportunity, especially from decisions concerning the Super Robot development plan. Yet Devin had not only disregarded her known affiliations to General Armistead - a known and vocal critic of the Super Robot idea - but had fully embraced her ideas of incredibly early security measures. A gesture that was already paying for itself with possible spies outside of the campus grounds.
She honestly was unsure of what to make of that. Only that Major Devin was a fair man, and incredibly tolerant and patient. Traits which were in high demand, given the eccentricities of the staff.
Turning her attention back to the plans, she noted with approval that the primary focus was first to fully reinforce the existing walls around the critical infrastructure. It left plenty of space for fixed defenses, road blocks and more. While that was completing, stakes would be placed to mark outer perimeter barricades. This itself would not be anything fancy; concrete walls with barbed wire laced through them to discourage any intruders from coming in, with guard posts placed every few sections.
She signed off on the order, along with authorizations to set aside the requested materials, and set it to the side before moving on to the next set of reports.
Will conclude in two turns.
It appears you have unwanted visitors snooping about. Thankfully Sasaki's proposals from early on in the project were designed for just this in mind. There's no sense in simply going in and trying to nab them. You and Sasaki agree - you want to observe them and see what exactly they're hoping to get out of spying on you from just beyond visual range.
Cost: 1 RP (One Time Investment)
Duration: 2 Turns
Progress to Security Net
Discover Information on Spies
Speaking of spies…
The patrols had already begun to narrow down what looked to be the favored vantage spots of these 'campers.' It was quickly determined that these individuals were somewhat jittery, as any time something with the EUDF logo - anyone belonging to the campus' forces - came near enough, they would immediately pick up and move within tens of minutes. To Haruko, that was suggesting that these were not the product of a dedicated operation. She had stationed plenty of communications monitoring around the areas the observers favored, and no transmissions were going in or leaving. So that meant they were dispatched to take notes.
The fact that they kept coming as close as they could to the campus even when evading the patrols meant that they had more than just casual curiosity. Any excuse for tourists gawking at a military facility was right out.
Haruko decided she'd have the patrols keep watch for one more month. Perhaps they would become frightened into making a foolish mistake.
When they did, she would be waiting.
Concludes Next Turn, Unlocked Temporary Security Net Action
The Research Institute is in a good spot right now. Rather than focus on internal security, which is as good as it will get for the moment, Sasaki wants to send out agents to observe the threats available. While you are far from being combat effective, Sasaki points out it's better to at least be in the know.
Cost: 1 RP (One Time Investment)
Duration: 2 Turns
Gain information on Significant Threats
The last report she had on hand was regarding the agents she dispatched to the wider world.
Major Devin had been somewhat askance of this approach. But he allowed himself to be persuaded when Haruko pointed out that they were effectively operating within an isolated bubble. A storm was raging all around them, while they remained relatively safe and ignoration.
Major Devin agreed this would not do, and authorized her to send her brightest on a fact-finding mission. Though he did raise an eyebrow at how she had given her agents rather fanciful callsigns.
She refused to budge on the names.
'Wallflower' had decided to journey towards the most obvious area - the site of a kaiju attack. Shanghai had been recently attacked, but the arrival of Mercury V had prevented it from actually breaching the city limits. As widely broadcasted as that was, however, the Defense Naval and Air Forces, along with the People's Liberation Army's Navy, very likely had much more interesting footage. Wallflower was convinced that he could persuade the authorities to lend them a copy of the footage while he also took a ship to scan the battle site.
'Rotterdam' paid a visit to Vienna. For similar reasons to Wallflower's, Rotterdam was after the authorities' footage of Valiant's duel against the metal giant. More than Valiant itself, however, Rotterdam was intrigued by the giant metal monstrosity the Westphalians had deployed, along with all the terror attacks that preceded its arrival. On a forensics mission, Rotterdam was not only after data from the mechanical assets the Westphalians deployed, but the timing and methods of their on-foot attackers.
'Rockefeller' had the most difficult assignment. Though the Kausen in North America continued to attack energy producers, successful attacks were actually on the decline. Ground Defense Force authorities were also reporting sites around potential raid targets with scorch marks and the signs of pitched battle, if the participants were giant-sized. Rockefeller was undaunted in her reports, however; if the Kausen left anything behind, she was determined to find it.
Haruko nodded, stifling a yawn as she noticed she had already spent an hour perusing the reports. They would find a way.
Gain information on significant threats, Concludes Next Turn
Sasaki sees the necessity of restoring the bunker complex beneath the Engineering Bay. As such, much like with the Motor Pool, she is willing to detach her combat engineers to help with the effort. In turn, she has an idea that will both help Ignatov's efforts, as well as begin a longer term project.
Cost: 2 RP (One Time Investment)
Duration: 1 Turns
Reduces 'Restoration' Duration by 1 Turn, Ensures Completion This Turn
Haruko yawned one more time, before simply glimpsing over the request Dr. Ignatov had submitted to her. Unlike Major Devin, Dr. Ignatov was being somewhat cagey over what he actually expected to find inside of that complex. Much like the Commandant, Haruko was somewhat alarmed to find that there was a pre-Unification complex beneath their feet this whole time.
This was something she neglected to inform General Armistead on. She could appreciate the sensitive nature of what could be inside, and acted accordingly.
She had already approved it before. She'd rather know sooner than later what was actually in there.
NOW she could call it a night. Unless there were Separatists marching onto the Institute, she was determined not to wake up until at least noon.
Ensures Restoration - Server Bank concludes this turn!
Engineering Actions
LOCKED - Restoration - Server Bank - That this happens to coincide with an ongoing request from Dr. Ignatov is a happy accident. Before he can even begin to access the data in the server, he requires a rather extensive set of equipment. A combination of older technology that can interface with the data safely, along with more modern equipment to begin establishing a base-wide supercomputer network. Ignatov is a firm believe that you can knock out two vital tasks with a single set of means if you're creative enough.
Duration: 2 Turns (Reduced to 1 via A Helping Hand)
Chance for Breakthrough, Test Roll (2d6, Threshold of 5-6)
Progress to Supercomputers, Unlocks Supercomputer Actions
CONCLUDES THIS TURN. To be concluded in Interlude.
Sam is focused on developing the basics on ESP Theory, but that doesn't mean the kaiju sample should remain neglected. Investing in the restoration of the biology labs on campus will finally allow you to put the sample in a safer area and begin unlocking its secrets. That said, this is a section of science that is yet unexplored, leaving Sam a little wary of plunging in headfirst. He claims he wants at least 'diving protective gear' before he does.
Duration: 2 Turns
2200, 15 May, A.D. 2070
Biology Lab Reconstruction, Video Report
"So, it turns out," Wilde said with a frown on his face, "They forgot some things down here." The camera was showing him with a hardhat affixed to his head. Held in thick rubber gloves was what looked to be unmarked cases of chemicals. "Just for the record, I refuse to open any of this until we get Sam's guys to come check it out."
"It looks like they sometimes conducted chemical mixture tests on lab animals in here," Henry added, a look of mild disgust on his face. "Judging from how many chemicals we're finding down here, and how many glass cases with dead animals are here as well."
The camera looked to pan behind their shoulders, but Wilde shook his head and held up a hand. "Don't. There's some not so great stuff back there." The cameraman conceded the point and settled back onto them.
"But with that said, we are making good progress on cleaning the lab up," Henry said. "Dr. Carlson should have plenty of space to set up a Biotech lab here. This month we're just cleaning up the worst of the mess left behind by the faculty before we wire in power and the usual services." "I don't see anything worthwhile that they did down here," Wilde grumbles. "Hey, doc? If you're watching this, I hope you make better use of this place than the guys who were here before you. There's no good science down here as far as I can tell."
Concludes Next Turn
Science Actions
Now that the testing of all possible candidates is underway, Sam reckons to run an additional study alongside the broadcast tests. If he can find consistent data (the best kind of data!) in his current test subjects, finding future pilots is going to become much simpler. Training them is an entirely different issue, but that's what the first sets of tests are working on anyway. This would be a smaller project since everything is already in place at the moment.
Duration: 1 Turn
Chance for Breakthrough: Test Roll Each Turn (2d6, Threshold of 4-6 (Candidate Observation), Successes may lower time)
Progress to ESP Theory
1258, 22 May, A.D. 2070
Carlson Laboratories, ESP Branch
"Good news or bad news first?"
Sam certainly wasn't beating around the bush today. "I have a feeling the good news starts first this time?" you ask wryly.
"Eh," Sam says as he makes a waving motion with his hand. "Close enough. Good news then! I've got enough data to start picking out pilots consistently!"
You raise an eyebrow. "How can you tell?"
"Simple: how much damned effort it takes to grow psychic potential!" The wall behind his desk illuminates with charts from the past few months. The chart arrows' progression paths are all over the place. "Simply put: you're going to get schmucks who are going to take months or years to grow any significant potential. They can do it, sure, but you're probably better off finding someone who's got a natural head start over 'em."
"So how can you tell either way?" you ask.
He gestures to a mockup of the psychic enhancement helmets. "By now we've got a fair shake on what we're looking for. We use this to send signals that provoke a response from the psychic emitters in their brains. Just a blanket signal, nothing specific. Depending on how much potential they have, they reactively send a ping back to the helmet. We measure that signal strength, and then we do it again a few more times and average out the responses." He shrugs. "It's honestly pretty consistent, though you get your usual outliers."
You nod. At least you have a predictable way to find the candidates you're looking for.
In theory.
Progress to ESP Theory!
Pilot Candidate Search Actions Unlocked!
Broadcasting Live: Concluding Report
You gesture towards the arrows on the higher spectrum. "Lay it out for me. What about those who already have a lot of potential? Do they plateau, or keep going?"
"Mostly plateau. They're still going to get better, but at that point you're looking at diminishing returns. And I'm assuming you're going to want the best pilots."
"Nothing but," you agree. "Which is why I'm curious about those who don't have much potential to start with. Wouldn't they plateau at a higher level?"
"We think so?" He scratches his head. "But more often than not, you're looking at people who struggle to get the basics down. After they do, they get excited over the new control they have, and then they go and punch my researchers in the face with servo arms. Funny the first few times, but not always great for research."
"But you think if given time you could train them up?" you probe.
"We could," Sam admits, "But at this point, I've figured out how the process works. If you want someone to train them to get those kinds of results, I'm thinking Captain Sasaki could find people who could do that a hell of a lot better than we could. Especially for what you're trying to get out of them." He shrugs again. "Other good news: we have enough data to start looking into a man-machine interface." Before you can interject, he holds up a hand. "Now the bad news: I don't have it just yet. This is going to be a tricky process, so I am not going to try and rush this. But I've got enough of a handle on it that I'm feeling pretty good about trying. Just don't rush me, is all I'm asking"
You shrug. "More than fair," you say. "I don't want to see machines or brains exploding either." You pause as you think about something you saw last month. "On another note," you ask, "I recall there was a particularly impressive candidate from earlier."
"Oh, the tank guy." A video of the young man manipulating all the tanks just from his helmet displays on the wall. "So I took another look at this test candidate. First Lieutenant Richard Callaghan. When I asked him about how he was doing all that, he didn't have a good answer. I mentioned to you that he just sorta abstracts the tiny details and just rolls with it. Which got me thinking."
Another video replaces it, only now with Callaghan seated in front of numerous electronic systems. "So I tried another tack with 'im. I didn't explain a damn about what the consoles did specifically. Just told him that they had something to do with assembling a rover. Normally this is a test I give to a group of test subjects." You see Callaghan's face scrunch up in a face of concentration as he apparently taps into the machines through his helmet.
And before your eyes, all the consoles are immediately operating by themselves with no haptic input from Callaghan. All the manipulator arms are at least trying to assemble the rover, though some are clearly getting in each other's way. He is able to maintain this process for another twenty minutes, with half of the rover built, before Sam puts a cut to the video.
"Proved a point I had. He just needs to know the outline of how something works, and the brain waves abstract the details. They won't do a great job of it, but it lets him handle the wider picture." Another picture of his direction of the tank battles appears again. "He doesn't know how the RC tanks works, but he knows how tanks work, and how the battle went. So he sent out that signal, and the brain waves abstracted the rest." Another picture of him appears in front of the consoles. "And after I explained to him what the general idea was, the second runthrough went a lot better."
Sam looks at you. "Honestly, you probably have a good pilot candidate right there."
"Now all he needs is a man-machine interface," you muse as you study the pictures again.
Progress Made in ESP Theory!
Man-Machine Interface Actions Unlocked!
Pilot Candidate: 1LT Richard Callaghan found!
I left the Server Bank result for the interlude, because that critical roll from before gave you something quite significant. And is going to unlock all kinds of actions for you.
Now with that, I'm going to bed. Enjoy the update!
