That, That would actually be a legitimate concern and we would have to have access to Mander's tech to be able to make sure it does not do exactly that if we want to upgrade their tech with some of our good stuff.
There isn't any reason to expect that to happen, and presumably we would work with Mander's team to fit the weapons for the Valiant. Despite their quirks, all of our people are extremely competent.
1300, 10 July, A.D. 2072
Visiting Officers' Barracks, Unity Station
"You don't think this is a little overkill, do you?"
Haruko could feel Major Devin's skepticism bleed through the feed. That Bandit and an undetermined amount of goons were wreaking havoc through the North American west coast, and needed to be stopped, was not something anyone was arguing against. Sending Lt. Callaghan and the Beowulf - a surefire method to draw the undivided attention of the vengeful Kaus Bandit - was also not for dispute, as everyone involved considered it a very good tactic to draw him out. He also absolutely needed backup.
But the Pegasus? And the Phalanxes of the Ninth Armored? And the First Experimental Wing's TMUs?
Haruko shrugged, flicking some hair out of the way of her face. "Better to have it all and not need them," she replied evenly. "The sisters should be more than enough help as they manage things from the bridge. And Callaghan has proven himself enough times." She was not there to lead the effort, as strange as that felt. The sisters were automating the Pegasus's functions, with a handful of human crew to make sure everything ran smoothly (that they were there also in case something cut the sisters' network access from the Pegasus went unsaid). Haruko was simply transiting through Unity Station, on her way to speak with the strange Charles Mander of MSS.
That she was still briefing about another operation a few timezones behind her was just another fact of life.
"Careful. That sounds dangerously close to approval."
"He's not here to hear it."
Both officers stared at each other for a moment, before they both broke and just snorted at the ludicrousness of it all. "Better overkill than not," Devin eventually agreed. "So long as they can at least force Bandit to run off and stop bothering this part of the District. If we can even take him down or take him captive, even better."
Haruko nodded. "Callaghan can likely ensure that he won't escape via the same method as the first time," she said. That the Engineers would love to get their hands on what was effectively a self-powered supersonic glider went without saying. She voiced that a little, adding, "Even after all of the exchanges with the Legion, there's so much about Mekaen's technologies we don't understand."
"Preaching to the choir," Devin grunted. "We're barely piecing together what the Regent has to offer on top of that. And Sam's still not convinced that Sheol could have come up with the Kaiju on his lonesome."
"And for all that we are the leaders of this cutting edge technology, we're only scratching the surface," Haruko muttered.
"As far as the world's concerned, we know exactly what we're doing," the Major pointed out. "Aside from Anna, I'm more than happy to let them keep thinking that. Less room for anyone else to butt in on things."
Haruko nodded. "We are an hour away from the drop point," she said, choosing to change the subject. "Lt. Callaghan and Ocular will be briefed soon."
"You may want to pass the word to add one more member to that," Major Devin said. At her raised eyebrow, her superior officer grinned. "I have it on good authority that Cavalier wants a rematch."
Haruko's grin was slight, but it matched the intensity. "I will inform them immediately. They would be more than happy to have him."
Combat Turn will resolve Highway Robbery!
Cavalier is available to support.
Defense Force Monitoring
"...the rise in Westphalian attacks is still being countered by the heroic efforts of the Defense Forces, spearheaded by the new Centurion frames-"
"-stocks have begun to increase District-wide, as for the first time in quite some time a period of peace and quiet has settled on-"
"-intensity of their efforts, as weapons manufacturers are submitting competing bids for the rights to produce the newest frames fielded by the Defense Force-"
"Bor-iiiiiing~" Adrianna 'sighed' as she flicked away stream after stream of reports. "Man! You'd think that sifting through seven different District government streams at the same time would produce something more exciting than this!"
"I would say that media productions tends to make life seem more exciting than it actually is," Ivanna's voice replied through the stream of data and consciousness. Her voice was at the same time right next to her and as if funneled through a great distance. Neither found it strange - such was life in the flow of constant information that was the DFRI's networks. "But we are super computer artificial intelligences, so perhaps our view on 'life' is somewhat skewed."
"Suppose so." Adrianna shrugged. A few of the data streams she'd pinned in place, remaining even through the multicolored stream of data that she was seeped into, were on the other Super Robot teams. "But there's just nothing going on! Mercury's not out, he's going through maintenance - no Kaiju right now, though, so no issue. Valiant is still going through some upgrades, but we just kicked Westphalia's butt like a week or so ago-"
"-nine days, five hours," Diana's voice distractedly commented.
"-whatever amount of time," Adrianna dismissed. "There's not even any black market shipments!" Adrianna paused. "...okay, I backtrack that statement. Hang on a second!"
"You got an idea over there?" Lana's voice sounded curious.
"Yep! Most black marketeers are pretty harmless, they're just trying to sneak some luxury goods around without paying licensing fees," Adrianna said. Abruptly about seventy percent of the streams she'd been paying attention to disappeared into the digital ether, replaced by satellite images of the world's oceans. "The Union's pretty good about catching anyone on the roads, and air travel you can't even try until you have a transponder that makes sure you can't just crash into someone else's flight path. That just leaves sea travel..." The images began to zoom in, just as various feeds of itineraries and plotted out courses from port authorities began to stream in. "But! What if someone wanted to take the literal slow boat? And what if they were desperate enough to do it to avoid being caught? Probably looking at something a bit stronger than a fine over illegally moving whiskey across districts, yeah?"
"Well that's just interesting." Lana's presence began to zoom in at certain portions of the ocean. A few additional pings began to highlight on the oceanographic maps. "Why is a deep sea research survey drone showing this much movement?" 'This much' was a relative term - the data was spread out across months.
"Almost like it's a submarine..." Diana's voice took on a questioning tone. "But the Defense Force was already phasing out military grade submarines even when Kaiju attacks made Unity Station deem them not worth having..."
Adrianna grinned. "Well! We've got a mystery to solve!"
Adrianna has identified a potential Westphalian avenue of approach. Option to pursue unlocked beginning next turn.
Pilot Training
To be continued in 'Call to Courage' Interlude
(Yes, it's going to happen)
Liaison
The visit with Mander actually goes quite well. Sasaki reports that Mander had been curious about the rumors of a Defense Force Super Robot, and that the footage he'd seen from the San Diego incident had given him 'possible reasons for potential optimism tempered with enough cynicism to sink a battleship.' But it was actually seeing Ichiro that made him more than a little happy - apparently, he'd been arguing for the Defense Force to do something to be more proactive about the threats they faced. Sure, Ichiro's first outing was a little rough (not that he was supposed to be fighting something like the Brute), but that you were in the business of making even more put some heart into him.
He hasn't forgotten the favor you owe him naturally. But when pressed on what he might cash it in for, he was surprisingly frank about it. "Unless you lot are willing to lend some of your boffins' exploits for Valiant, I may call your lads in for a particularly big scrap with Westphalia." Supposedly, MSS agents have been pursuing the 'hub' station for the European District. Finding it, and destroying it, would not put Westphalia out of action. But it would give them one hell of a black eye, as their ability to transport men, materiel, and even more of those giant robots they constantly field would be severely hampered, and give MSS and the Defense Force enough time to recover and start pursuing even more.
All in all, combined with last month's actions and the goodwill visit, Mander views the DFRI in a slightly more positive light.
New Options with MSS unlocked.
Relations remains at Neutral, leaning towards Friendly
Refit Super Robot
Lana rolled a 4 and a 5. Technically, Ichiro was already at one turn recovery, but you'll get something regardless. See below.
0849, 8 July, A.D. 2072 Engineering Bay
"That should do it," Lana's voice said distractedly. "At least for the worst of the damage."
"Thanks, Lana." Ichiro resisted the urge to stretch out his arm - he was still locked down while standing in the maintenance harness. All around him, various technicians were scurrying here and there, but at least they were no longer focusing on repairing the damage. Now, they were simply getting what he needed for his upgrades in place. "You worked a lot faster than I was thinking you were."
"Yeah, well, I needed to free up bandwidth to deal with this upcoming shindig with Callaghan and Bandit, and I have to deal with the clown probably drowning in graph paper," came the reply.
"Anyone tell you you have a terrible bedside manner?"
"I have all of the servo arms in the maintenance bay."
Ichiro conceded the point, and opted instead to watch as the technicians put away the Anti-Gravity Solution tanks. He always wondered if this meant he would be lighter or faster, but given that they hadn't let him out of the harness just yet, he wouldn't get to test that. Instead, he watched as what appeared to be a shiny, gleaming new arm cannon was slowly carted in by a converted truck. "Is that what Galbinus uses?" he asked.
"Oh heck no," Lana scoffed. "We've got no clue what that guy did with his weapon. Wouldn't be surprised if it was a customized job. This is the same thing that Callaghan uses though, at least as strong as the one shots he carried around with him last time."
"Good enough for me." Another thought crossed his mind. "Say, are the other still up for practicing on the Proving Grounds?"
"Uh huh. Why?"
Ichiro grinned. "When you're done putting on these upgrades, mind if I go join them? Gotta test these out, right?"
Ichiro's new statline will be as follows upon completion:
Centurion-chassis
Assigned to: SAI-01 Banner
HP: 16 + 6 (Anti-Gravity)
Heavy Weapons: Can mount the basic Heavy Weapons Pack by default. Equipping later models will incur additional post battle downtime of 1 Turn. Arm Cannon: Has an arm cannon as part of his chassis. Can make a Heavy Weapon Strike as a free action at Advantage (3d6, Threshold of 5-6, damage depends on package) every three turns.
- Counts as Energy Heavy Blaster. Strikes:
Counts as One Action (Notable Bonus may apply).
Roll 2d6, Threshold of 5-6, inflicts 1+1 HP on success. Relentless: If about to take a mortal strike, roll 1d6. A 4-6 will negate that damage. K-Scale Mesh:
You may attempt to reduce damage at a 2d6 roll (Threshold of 5-6).
Reduces damage by -1. Applies once per Combat Turn.
Upgrade Slots: 2 Used (Anti-Gravity Solution, K-Circuits, K-Scale)
Ichiro will help with Pilot Training until completion! More details in 'Call to Courage' interlude.
Triple Combination
"The problem you have is that it's three separate power sources," Jiro pointed out. "The Shepherd and the Beowulf is one thing, the V-33 as well. They can pair up with each other relatively alright. But even with all the processing power the MMI can push through, having three separate power sources meant for different things all out of synch like that?"
"We had the same problem when we were coming up with the Timberwolf to begin with," Sergeant Henry agreed. Lt. Wilde winced at the memory, but nodded in good humor. "This was back before we had any inkling of K-Class Materials, mind you."
"Compared to back then, Year One us would've accused us of hacking," Wilde laughed. "But...okay!" He clapped his hands together, his eyes bright with mirth and amusement behind his glasses. "Okay! I think I know where you're going with this, but lay it out for us. Walk us through it, I wanna hear your thought process on this one."
"Right." Jiro's desk was an utter mess of graph paper featuring equations and sketches. More than a few of Wilde and Henry's old notes could be seen as well, along with more than a few simulations running on Jiro's computer console. "So. It's like this. The V-33, the Shepherd, and the Beowulf. The only thing that's common to them all is that the Beowulf is combining with one or the other. But you have the issue of all that untapped power running at different speeds for different purposes, so it's all a waste, on top of the other issues."
Jiro then brought up his most recent brain wave on screen - a schematic-framed Beowulf as it was combining into the Timberwolf formation. "The Shepherd runs the majority of the power distribution load for the Timberwolf. For movement, for attacks, all of that. It's all you want it to do for the mass involved, and the Beowulf just focuses on pilot control and everything else. Same for the Foxhound. But if you combine all three together-" The image of the V-33 folding itself onto the back of the Timberwolf, and along the Beowulf's combine ports, held a large angry red X over it as error messages crossed the screen, "-there's just not enough anything to make them all work together. The Beowulf can't tell either one to get with the program, or tell it what the program even is."
Jiro held up one finger, as the schematic of the Beowulf - along with the Perseus, and the new frame Satsuma was about to use - appeared. "So the solution would be to slave the individual engines to the core unit. We call them Core units. Let's really make it that way." The proposed image of an improved and refined engine, along with additional powerlines that fed into the Shepherd and the V-33, appeared as the power output of both other frames began to radically change. "With K-Class, I'm pretty sure we could make something like this work." He looked expectantly at the two. "Thoughts?"
Wilde and Henry looked at each other. "Four, five month thing?" Wilde asked.
"Maybe more," Henry commented. "We'd have to think about standardizing the engines."
"You can't just have one engine for everything," Wilde replied. "It's gotta be more like a heart or brain, or-"
Wilde paused. Henry and Jiro stood shock still as well, both having come to the same thought as the other. "-or like the organ of a living body even," Jiro said slowly.
"...what if," Henry thought. Before he continued, he reached for the digital whiteboard, clearing away what was there before he began to sketch something out. "What if the answer is remaking the engines entirely?"
"'K-Engines?'" Wilde thought. "Build each one from the ground up with K-Scale Mesh?"
"Didn't Sam's notes say something about longterm exposure to energy sources doing something to them?" Jiro added.
...the discussion took some interesting turns from that point. August would prove to be an interesting time if leadership decided to go forward with it.
Jiro continues to prove his value to the team. Experimentation of new engine type and prototyped combining frames for Triple Combination unlocked!
Design New Equipment
(Fin Funnels!)
"Remote controlled drones?"
Boris nodded absentmindedly. "Setting aside the practicality of weight, propulsion, power source and firepower," he said, "I think it could be a feasible option. Each Super Robot has more than enough processing capabilities to handle the complex mechanics behind it."
"There are a few instances like it in Kausen history." Patch's voice sounded about as absentminded as Boris's, the two simply conversing as they pursued their own work. "Focused plasma arrays wielded as mobile blades. Emitters designed as crowd control to box in unruly mechs. Mostly experimental, nothing that truly caught mainstream appeal with Dominion leadership."
"I am certain this would only apply for Super Robot purposes as well," Boris agreed. The simulations from his latest equations displayed again - resulting in another negative result. This did nothing to dampen the scientist's mood - if anything, it lasted ten seconds longer than the previous effort. Progress! "The calculations of the MMI interface the pilots use are not the problem," he muttered to himself. "There is too much weight if I attempt to provide any amounts of armor, firepower, or propulsion...no. Surely it isn't that simple, is it?"
"You propose to delve more into this 'psychic phenomena' you speak of?" Patch's voice sounded a little dubious. "This is hardly an explored field of study, even for the Institute."
"You are correct in that regard," Boris sighed. "It can be done, but this first generation will require some...design compromises as it were. If it runs on purely psychic potential, it can have all the propulsion it wishes. It is the other fields that may prove to be a problem."
Ignatov has a few ideas, but there are limitations.
One turn remaining.
K-Fang Development
"Sam Carlson here! I'd just like to thank everyone for keeping their collective heads together when we accidentally drilled through the wall. And by drilling through the wall, I mean through the test dummies, through the coffee vat (ours, not the Major's), through the wall, and through the delivery truck that was on its way to us!"
"That said, it was an ice cream delivery truck, and it was a fantastic time to take a break. The driver was a pretty good sport about it all things considered, and his name will forever be tangentially mentioned as a footnote in the unceasing, unstoppable march to scientific development!"
"So what do we know so far? First of all, our hypothesis is on the money: if we design it for melee-ranged destruction, Sample One is all about it. Spears, bladed edges, even drills. Especially drills - by the way, we owe the transporters a new truck. But on an interesting note, K-Fang is forming into usable components differently than K-Scale. It actually will take to hollow molds, almost like we're trying to make like a blacksmith, and it'll be nice and solid when we're done with it. But there's still enough about it that we don't know about - it plays vaguely by the same rules as K-Scale, but it's also running its own deck on the side. More to follow!"
"Sam Carlson, we're done here."
One turn remaining.
K-Scale Refinement
Ivanna's Logs:
"An interesting proposal for K-Scale has arrived from the Engineering department. Mr. Yukimura has inquired as to the possibility of creating entire internal components with K-Scale weave, which theoretically would allow for even greater tolerances and output from the proposed engine design."
"As dubious as I am about creating an entire Super Robot from K-Scale, this suggestion has given me enough cause to rethink the issue. I do still feel this comes a little too close to the wretched designs that are sent by Dr. Sheol - too close to the living, breathing, hateful Kaiju who seem to do nothing but make life miserable for the surface as a whole. That said, I do think that it can be done - but a sufficient method of control by those who will not abuse the amount of power it could bring would be required."
"The C-Crystal would be the likeliest candidate, but that would be pending more investigation of those artifacts. But given Mr. Yukimura's requests, I should be able to run some tests..."
One turn remaining.
Kausen Weaponry
You had honestly forgotten about Bandit's rifle entirely after the initial incident at the Dam awhile ago. The teams had dissected enough of it to figure out the energy blast mechanism principles, ported it over to the Super Robots in a form they could use it with, and then promptly forgot about it.
But Zulu has an entirely different view of it. Despite some difficulties (smoothened out somewhat by Ivanna's support), he knows for a fact that Bandit included a few after-market modifications. Things such as blast adjustment, long range and more (to say nothing of the less pleasant methods that all Free Brothers seemed to revel in, such as heated scalpels that could form an impromptu bayonet when they weren't simply tormenting Drones that couldn't fight back). The issue? Bandit included locks specifically for those attempting to meddle in the modifications. (That he didn't include some kind of master lock for simply firing the damned thing is something of a head scratcher)
Zulu, however, is nothing if not patient. He promises he will have something the Super Robots could potentially use by next month. Or cycle. You're still coming to grips with Kausen timekeeping terminology.
One turn remaining.
Super Carrier
Katarina, for her part, has reported that the 'super carrier' (the new ongoing term in the DFRI) is almost ready. She almost sounds disappointed - of all the refinements and improvements, she was hoping that making a space capable dropship on such a scale would provide some new insights. So far, it hasn't - it simply has been, 'take giant aircraft carrier, reinforce it with K-Class and Kausen energy blasts, and scale up and up and up.' Nothing revolutionary - but it's not the end of the world.
After all, Katarina pointed out cheerfully, 'There's always the launch ceremony to see what could happen!'
One turn remaining!
Helping Hand
"...so what you're saying," you say slowly to Max, "is that there's more mad scientists out there who have mundane jobs that haven't been tapped to revolutionize science in some way shape or form, and you keep in touch with them?"
"We prefer the term 'visionaries,' thank you very much," Max replies primly. You just rub the temples on your forehead in frustration. Neglected scientists like this, you have no doubt, led to Sheol's war on humanity in general. God only knows what would have happened if Sam went off the deep end. It's enough that you're almost tempted to sneak some whiskey into the coffee supply. "But yes! I do keep in touch with quite a few." She frowned, tapping a finger to her chin. "That said, I haven't heard back from them in awhile, so I'm unsure as to who is still available right now. Or if they're still even active in academics. I've been busy with this project, after all."
"Fair point," you concede. "How soon can you get in touch?"
"Give me a month," Max replies. "I'll let you know who's interested, and who's most likely to want to sign on to a Defense Force project." She shoots you an aside glance. "Quite a few of them have been burnt by Defense Force projects, mind, so you may need to convince them."
Oh. Great.
Options will be presented at end of next turn. Two turns remaining.
Katarina, for her part, has reported that the 'super carrier' (the new ongoing term in the DFRI) is almost ready. She almost sounds disappointed - of all the refinements and improvements, she was hoping that making a space capable dropship on such a scale would provide some new insights. So far, it hasn't - it simply has been, 'take giant aircraft carrier, reinforce it with K-Class and Kausen energy blasts, and scale up and up and up.' Nothing revolutionary - but it's not the end of the world.
After all, Katarina pointed out cheerfully, 'There's always the launch ceremony to see what could happen!'
I agree, after all the work put into it the result seems so lackluster. Would have been awesome if we made a helicarrier kinda thing if only to freak people out.
I am curious what the potential upper limits were.
Great update made my night seeing this! Now I for one believe there's no such thing as overkill we want Bandit dead ideally here so let's go with overwhelming force and make sure he doesn't escape! Not surprised the rebels are using Sub's and sea travel to smuggle and move stuff across the world only real way they could, now all we need to do is start picking them off! I'm also really glad that Mander's want's to use our Favor on a fight instead of our tech since I for one had no intention of giving him any of our hard earned tech. But a helping hand in a fight I am totally down for! I'm also glad to see progress in the realm of research! Always great to see us going deeper into our potential tech trees, I also want to say I agree that we shouldn't make a super robot out out of K-Materials only, I feel the best bet would be some sort of mix of all of our various technology's we've discovered so far for maximum effectiveness.
She almost sounds disappointed - of all the refinements and improvements, she was hoping that making a space capable dropship on such a scale would provide some new insights.
Great update made my night seeing this! Now I for one believe there's no such thing as overkill we want Bandit dead ideally here so let's go with overwhelming force and make sure he doesn't escape! Not surprised the rebels are using Sub's and sea travel to smuggle and move stuff across the world only real way they could, now all we need to do is start picking them off! I'm also really glad that Mander's want's to use our Favor on a fight instead of our tech since I for one had no intention of giving him any of our hard earned tech. But a helping hand in a fight I am totally down for! I'm also glad to see progress in the realm of research! Always great to see us going deeper into our potential tech trees, I also want to say I agree that we shouldn't make a super robot out out of K-Materials only, I feel the best bet would be some sort of mix of all of our various technology's we've discovered so far for maximum effectiveness.
Eh to each there own I suppose I personally wouldn't since we worked so hard for it all. But at the same time if everyone voted overwise I would respect that choice. I just don't want to give it to them for free if they want to trade for our tech then I'm all for it but for free yeah no way.
I would want to give Manders weapon tech. The Valiant doesn't need configuration, since it can just swap what limbs it is using out for different ones. I am more thinking about giving them Kausen energy blasters, and maybe a single Arc Blade.
I would want to give Manders weapon tech. The Valiant doesn't need configuration, since it can just swap what limbs it is using out for different ones. I am more thinking about giving them Kausen energy blasters, and maybe a single Arc Blade.
As I said if a potential trade option came up with them I'm all for giving them some of our tech for something in return. I'm just against giving them something for free If they want some sort of tech of ours well they'll have to offer something of similar value.
Valiant's electromagnetic modular hardpoints would be cool to use for fast-switch weapons for a future super robot, mind. It's a powered, yet hot-swappable bus design, so if handled correctly it can be like USB for super robots. We might even be able to make weapon or tool modules that can be shared by Valiant and our team this way.
"Almost like it's a submarine..." Diana's voice took on a questioning tone. "But the Defense Force was already phasing out military grade submarines even when Kaiju attacks made Unity Station deem them not worth having..."
*Shark grin* If we figured out how Westphalia is deploying and supplying their forces, we can do some real damage to the organization rather then just respond to their attacks.
Configuration/Combination - Mythbust Henry and Wilde original
ESP - Sam Carlson's lunatic brain child
AI development - Found by accident
Kaiju samples - Shameleslly stolen from a guy who might have stolen the tech himself
Mekaen technologies - Some of it "borrowed" from a "friend", some of it borrowed from a friend
C-Crystal - Practically a gift
Configuration/Combination - Mythbust Henry and Wilde original
ESP - Sam Carlson's lunatic brain child
AI development - Found by accident
Kaiju samples - Shameleslly stolen from a guy who might have stolen the tech himself
Mekaen technologies - Some of it "borrowed" from a "friend", some of it borrowed from a friend
C-Crystal - Practically a gift
We still worked for it and the stuff that was given to us we had to give something in return, So yes I say it's hard earned since we payed for it all either in time, resources or personal. Or a bit of all three.
We still worked for it and the stuff that was given to us we had to give something in return, So yes I say it's hard earned since we payed for it all either in time, resources or personal. Or a bit of all three.
There was a lot of work put into development, yes. There's enough reasons to call it hard-earned. But the only technologies DFRI can call theirs is Configuration/Combination and ESP.
There was a lot of work put into development, yes. There's enough reasons to call it hard-earned. But the only technologies DFRI can call theirs is Configuration/Combination and ESP.
I still say the other tech we have is ours's we did pay for it or helped out and thus gained it for our own use. But yes the only tech we developed is the Configuration/Combination.
New plan: configuring submarine mecha to wrestle with Kaiju before they emerge into collateral filled ports or to chase down routed ones to prevent recycling. And, later, to help attack Sheol's mobile base thing.
Alternatively just make aquatic mecha and get some subs to move them around, like a true pleb would do.
I agree, after all the work put into it the result seems so lackluster. Would have been awesome if we made a helicarrier kinda thing if only to freak people out.
I am curious what the potential upper limits were.
