I can finally comment on the downtime post properly! And oh boy is there a lot of interesting stuff here.
Despite now knowing Ashley's... preference for her treatment method, it's decided that they'll wait before trying it, to hopefully give her mind more time to recover.
Yes. It's absolutely not because we missed Alec's report amid the chaos after the Battle of Outpost Michael. Absolutely.
In the meantime, there's much to do.
Is there ever a time when there isn't much to do?
First on the list is Breach Tech's new project; figuring out the teleportation ability shown by Grae during his two appearances. Right away, however, they run into difficulties.
This is unfortunate, but not unexpected. The Token would make all the difference here, but we're so close to getting Everett's Research online that keeping the Token in our inventory until then just seems like the better option.
As for the two problems, the first can't be solved unless we find a new Teleporting Kaiju and let it get away. The second is easily solved by using the Token or trying to Research teleportation some more (and hoping for a better roll, of course).
Meanwhile, Kaiju Science is given the job to try and reconfigure the Hyper-Vascular Muscle Strands used in Phenom Sable into something that can assist in general mobility. It seems like a fairly simple task-- just replacing the normal muscle strands with the bio-tech ones, right? Unfortunately, their simulations show that half-arsing the job like that would leave some major weak-points, potentially resulting in the legs essentially exploding as the muscle strands rip off on one end and take the armour with them. Given that unpleasant image, it quickly makes sense why Kaiju Science is requesting more time to design leg frames of a more organic configuration, to better accommodate the altered motive systems.
Man, Phenom really is our testbed for Organic tech and future Raubtier designs. By the end of this there will be very little left in him that's purely mechanical.
Phenom Sable to Toughness 5! 14/15 Stat Points occupied!
Phenom Sable gains +1 Durability!
Deflective Guard Perk upgraded! When reducing damage before Armour, Tou/2 rounds up, rather than down!
And Phenom is now the Tankiest Jaeger! As he should be. And the upgrade to the perk is welcome as well!
I'm half-tempted to upgrade Phenom's HtH next so we have more leeway when using that perk because it basically gives us +3 AV. We need that Blocking Augment/Mod ASAP.
The Jagdgewehr is dragged out of storage, and, with a bit of help from Jagdhund (she needs something to focus on while she's busy being repaired), designs for its ammunition are finally drafted out. While the M-99 series uses battleship shells to fair effect, the Jagdgewehr's rounds are far superior-- the main disadvantage is that they're almost twice the size of said battleship shells, and the anti-kaiju cannon's rectangular magazines don't have nearly as much space as the M-99 drum mags, thus forcing their user to make each shot count. Still, definitely an acceptable trade-off for being able to use the gun now.
*Happy Dance* Finally, we can use that gun! Whenever we need big damage, it'll be there for us.
...@Fyrstorm do we even need to equip the Jagdgewehr on Jagdhund with a Repair action, given it is a hand-held weapon she could literally pick up and carry at a moment's notice? I mean, it makes sense that we would need to from a game mechanics point of view, but it does make more sense for the Jagdgewehr and any other non-integrated weapon to be usable without having to equip it with an Action.
Of course, the slightly higher cost of the ammunition is almost immediately nullified by the plans for a brand-new munitions factory, designed to lighten the load on a city's primary resource stores by providing the ammunition for J-Scale weaponry using dedicated, more efficient means of production. While specialty rounds require more investment, they can still benefit from it, as can the weapons that use them.
New Manufacturing Augment: Heavy Munitions Factory!
This is freaking amazing. And it gives a discount to making Jaegrenades too! We're building it right away next turn. Especially since this means we can spam Special Bakelite on Full Auto for those sweet stat penalties on enemies and not run out anytime soon.
C-Tech starts off their weeks projects with an addressal of the newly-designed Surtr's major flaw; its suboptimal cooling systems. It goes pretty well; less vital sections of armour along the sides of the cannon are swapped out for more heat-sinks, while the magnetic containment field is constricted, reducing the power consumption (and thus electrical resistance) without compromising its ability to fire. Heat will still build up, of course, but the weapon can cool off during the reloading sequence, rather than worrying about it during the firing stage.
IDB-50 "Muspel" Plasma Cannon no longer requires a cooldown round!
Excellent! And it doesn't cost extra resources either! Too bad we won't really have enough Resources to spare for building one for a while, but hopefully we can work out more of its problems in the meantime.
Attempts to improve the Tyr's survivability, however, don't go quite as well. Somehow, the focus ends up switched from "functional armour plating" to "conventional warfare electronic defenses", and the whole week ends up being spent on fitting ECM pods and flare launchers onto the Tyr prototype's frame before the researchers realise they've been barking in completely the wrong forest. Hurriedly, they retract their additions-- while such systems may be useful against mechanical foes, they're next to useless in the context of kaiju battles.
Consumable +1 Research Bonus to Anti-Conventional ECM Defenses!
Well, this should come in handy just in case KRAUN, or DGINN, or some other crazy Human faction decides to mess with us. I don't see why not add EW and ECM to the Tyr if we get the chance.
Given the performance of Laidon's UV laser weapons compared to that of the Protectorate's own visible-spectrum beams, C-Tech decides it's time for an upgrade.
Moderate Success!
Micro Laser Vulcan blueprints upgraded to Micro UV Lasers!
60mm Laser Vulcan blueprints upgraded to 60mm UV Laser Vulcan!
All UV Laser weapons gain +1 Damage Bonus and 1 AP!
All future Laser weapons will be constructed as UV Lasers. All current Laser weapons in service may be upgraded during next downtime as a Free Action.
I still want to try to squeeze some more performance out of Tacit's Vulcans, but this will do. Oh yes, this will most certainly do.
To the south is a kaiju that's being tentatively designated a Category II, codename "Bristlethorn". Named for the branching, spiny limbs on its spine and head, the kaiju seems... off, somehow. In most respects it's a normal, standard Cat II kaiju, but the patrol dispatched to observe it have consistently reported a distinctly uncomfortable feeling in the back of their head when they got near it. What actual effects this oddity may have are unknown, but the scouts advise to treat this one with caution,
A Neural Disruptor Kaiju, maybe? I don't think Conventionals will be very helpful here but that's why we have Jaegers and I don't think neural fuckery will have too much of an effect on Jagdhund.
However, much further south is one that's just as, if not even more worrisome. Codename "Leadhead" has only recently arrived from the Anteverse, and yet already calls the city of Portland, Oregon its home (though to be fair, it's likely that Leadhead simply finished the job there, as opposed to taking the city down in the first place). Deceptively simplistic in its appearance, reports of Leadhead say it doesn't have any spikes, any extra limbs, any horns, any weird powers-- and the readings support that. Its toxicity and radiation levels are very, very low for a kaiju of its size. However, its physical results alone are enough for it to straddle the line between Categories IV and V. Packing more muscle, bone, and armour into one creature than anything previously seen, Leadhead seems like it could shrug off a nuclear bombardment, and deal that same amount of punishment back in return. In other words, not someone Neo-Seattle would want to tangle with soon.
Huh. So it's got no crazy tricks, no weird gimmicks, just loads and loads of power and stats. I like his style.
After this comes the updates on the older ones. Boreas finally shows up on the sensor sweep, and it seems to have grown a little bigger since last time.
That's worrisome. Who wants to kill it ASAP before it turns into a Cat V? Just me?
building project is still going strong, though with only a week since their last check-up there's not much change.
Tara is our new Reality show.
Rime is still sulking offshore, but they've actually gotten a glimpse of it on the move-- he's a massive, flattened beast, like some sort of flatfish or ray.
Well, who wants some grilled fish?
It'll probably be a bitch to find close to the sea floor, given its shape. We should build a few extra Scouts for that fight, of course, but the only other preparations for it I can think of are building Morays and some sort of underwater propulsion augment.
Nothing's changed with Armstrong, but a bit more data has arrived on Smirker and Dissenter's morphology. The former seems more built for cobra-style strikes with its front half, rather than constricting or strangling opponents, though that doesn't mean it won't be able to do so. The cobra comparison continues, as it seems that Smirker actually has a hood around its neck.
It's built for trading blows in melee, then. And Phenom won't have any more trouble grappling it than normal. The poison it has is probably acidic as well, so we want to make sure it doesn't stick on (or
in) any of our jaegers.
The latter kaiju, meanwhile, has a very... tokusatsu-esque stance. Essentially, Dissenter's upper body is held vertically, while its hind legs and long tail act as a tripod. It's a very stable stance, hard to knock down or overbear, especially with the sort of size and weight Dissenter's readings are showing.
So it's hard to knock prone and has a long tail. It's also highly radioactive as well, so we should be on the lookout for some Atomic Breath shenanigans or something similar.
And as some things are broken down, other things are created-- new vehicles, new armour plates, new ammunition, new weapons, and more are churned out of the auto-jigs to outfit the jaegers and the defense force. Among these, one of the most prominent is the (still very experimental) Skadi, whose flattened shape and massive bulk is plainly obvious. However, there's much, much more besides it.
I take that emphasis on the skadi being experimental is a hint that we really should upgrade it. And really, we should. Ramming prow aside it could definitely use some structural reinforcements so it stops taking Wounds whenever used.
As the new craft are busy being managed and assigned to pilots, the armour and weapons go straight to the jaegers. Phenom's new boosters are set in place, their designs slightly shortened and doubled up to keep them from getting in the way. An entire new arm frame is fabricated for Jagdhund, and the new plating fitted as soon as the limb is attached. Tacit's right arm receives similar treatment, new parts being built as the armour's planned out-- though unlike Jagdhund, the jaeger's left arm is also temporarily stripped of armour-- in order to remove the other fangblade. Now, Tacit Ronin will sport the newest and best pair of fangblades available to it, and regain its old signature technique.
Man, I love it when new equipment is put to use. I cant wait to use that Cobra strike. Hopefully against Smirker, for extra irony.
Heavy Positron weapons unlocked!
New Defense Augment available: T-5 Heavy Positron Defense Turret!
T-5 Heavy Positron Defense Turret (Defense)
4000 Resources
- T-5 Toroidal Accelerator Positron Cannon: 1d10 Burst damage. +2d5 Damage. AP /2 (see below). Range 20/-/35. Hits on 5+. Four Shots Only. Does not benefit from Arges. Requires a turn to charge up between shots.
-- This weapon treats the AV of all armour it strikes as halved before applying Resilience.
-- This weapon cannot be reloaded during battle.
- Structure: AV +1/-, Stru 2. Strike Repair costs 75 R/Strike.
- Perimeter Defense: When purchased, the T-5 is assigned to cover a specific Sector of the Defense Perimeter (or other equivalent city limits). When a fight occurs in that Sector, the T-5 may participate.
- Mobile Rail: Provided it has been given adequate warning, the T-5 Heavy Positron Defense Turret may participate in a battle situated in a Sector adjacent to its default one. The T-5 cannot shift Sectors once Combat has begun.
Oh man, this is great! So freaking great. I want to put four of these on Everett. And four more in Seattle of course. Too bad anything less is going to leave us with undefended sectors, but we can probably make it work.
I really can't think of any big flaws that need to be addressed here, aside from the ammo limitation. Maybe increase the mobility or reduce the price?
Excellent. So, are we happy with this, or are we considering improving the design more?
It's a hell of an upgrade for the conventionals, but I want to try squeezing more Damage Bonus out of Tacit's 60mm Vulcans. It's nowhere near as much of a concern now, though, roughly on the level of "spend a spare action if we can't think of anything more important to use it on".
Nah, Leadhead's staying as a hunting fight. But there's still plenty of others you'll prefer to face with a really big gun in your hands. Like [not gonna give you guys examples].
Anyways, now-- on to part two!
===
<CALL ACCEPTED>
The communications screen opens. KRAUN sits at their table, performing minor adjustments to their masks and postures, which soon peter off as they find comfortable placements. Well, most of them, at least; two of the five members are nowhere to be seen, the absence made even more conspicuous by the open spaces they would have taken.
"So," KRAUN-03 says, head tilting conversationally. "You've called again."
"Before you begin, there's one thing we'd like to do," 01 speaks up. Their voice modulator is slightly out of true, lending an awkward echo to their words."And that would be to express our gratitude that you were able to intervene against the attack on our outpost. Without your assistance, the effect would have been devastating-- both from the damage to our assets, and the loss of life there."
The final member, 04, just sits there, waiting and listening behind their mask.
So, what's the plan?
[X] "It is our duty to defend not just our territory, not just our citizens, but all of Humanity, wherever we can. Showing up to protect the citizens of Spokane Valley and helping the soldiers on your outpost is part of that duty."
-[x] "Is there any news about the outpost since our return to Neo-Seattle?"
-[x] "We would also like to inquire why we did not receive any Jaeger support from your forces. Considering the number of Jaegers we've seen at your disposal and the near-instantaneous nature of ANGEL-Net Comms, it seems strange that no reinforcements arrived in time for the fight."
Sounds good?
