Tacit Ronin: The Power of Three
- Thread starter Fyrstorm
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BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
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- She/Her
You don't. You really really don't.
[X] "Its good to know the people of the Outpost are doing well. Please send them our regards and best wishes."
-[X] "As for your troubles with fast response over long distances, I'll confess it was one we shared until very recently. We decided to research and develop a method to transport a Jaeger between nearby cities within a combat timeframe, and the result was a Superheavy Jaeger transport that can move surprisingly fast for its size. As I understand it, it is capable of breaking the land speed record several times over. It is highly experimental, but it is also remarkably effective. The Northwestern Protectorate would be willing to share its blueprint with KRAUN."
E: It's also preeeeeeeetty obvious they're hiding something, but I don't blame them one bit. Also the embarrassment factor must be enormous.
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Highwind
To Rise From The Ashes
- Location
- Brazil
Yeah, the next step is seeing if they bite the bait and then stating our price: information on what may have caused the attack and, as a small favor, that they take off the masks. It's literally the post-apocalypse, I doubt any of us would give a damn about who they are unless one of them is literally robo-Hitler and another is Zombie Stalin.
We've been nothing but honest allies, we just fought to defend their land and their people, and some of our soldiers were killed in that battle. The Masquerade was fun for a while, but it's time to take them off so we can talk face to face.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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And even then we might be more amused by the concept than anything else. Cause we're weird like that.
Highwind
To Rise From The Ashes
- Location
- Brazil
True. Though I might have to force myself not to smite the Undead among them. It's a reflex, I swear!
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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- Lickwidget
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"REEEEEEEE UNHOLY UNDEAD! SMI--- *grabs own hand* No! Bad General Highwind, bad! No smiting our friends! Happy thoughts, happy thoughts." -Highwind, in some universe.True. Though I might have to force myself not to smite the Undead among them. It's a reflex, I swear!
E: *ahem* anyway, I'm actually mildly curious how many Jaegers KRAUN has currently running and how many Shatterdomes. Probably something related to "However many the plot needs" but that's okay.
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Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
And anyone who does amongst, say, the Peanut Gallery, can take it up with our complaints department. Which may or may not be an angry* wolverine.
"...What? They're compact, will eat just about anything, so long as it's meat, and they're really damn strong for their size."
*: Which is their default state when dealing with non-wolverines, really.
I personally suspect they operate automated repair outposts, or possibly some sort of mobile repair base that their Jaegers can call with ANGEL-net, rather than a traditional Shatterdome. It's more aligned with their general modus operandi than a normal Shatterdome.
KnightDisciple
Love God. Do Right. Fear No Man.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
Aye, I know that reflex well, my friend.True. Though I might have to force myself not to smite the Undead among them. It's a reflex, I swear!
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
[X] "Its good to know the people of the Outpost are doing well. Please send them our regards and best wishes."
-[X] "As for your troubles with fast response over long distances, I'll confess it was one we shared until very recently. We decided to research and develop a method to transport a Jaeger between nearby cities within a combat timeframe, and the result was a Superheavy Jaeger transport that can move surprisingly fast for its size. As I understand it, it is capable of breaking the land speed record several times over. It is highly experimental, but it is also remarkably effective. The Northwestern Protectorate would be willing to share its blueprint with KRAUN."
-[X] "As for your troubles with fast response over long distances, I'll confess it was one we shared until very recently. We decided to research and develop a method to transport a Jaeger between nearby cities within a combat timeframe, and the result was a Superheavy Jaeger transport that can move surprisingly fast for its size. As I understand it, it is capable of breaking the land speed record several times over. It is highly experimental, but it is also remarkably effective. The Northwestern Protectorate would be willing to share its blueprint with KRAUN."
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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A semi-nomadic existence in order to cover the expanse of the Great Lakes Alliance? I could see that. A set of rotating Jaeger patrols which aren't assigned anywhere.
From the existence of Jagdhund it is also apparent that they possess enough Jaegers to send scouting missions for rumors of human settlements, though I think we've concluded this before.
Smithsguild
The third monkey...
- Location
- Somewhere 'near' Atlanta Ga
[X] Highwind
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
I don't think they and the Great Lakes Alliance are quite as joined at the hip as you're implying. If anything, the existence of Outpost MICHEAL and their rumored research outpost seem to indicate they're active throughout the continent. The GLA is just a large force that relies on them for defense, while providing them with food. It seems to be a fairly basic contract, and defense of that territory is probably already part of their operations.
Smithsguild
The third monkey...
- Location
- Somewhere 'near' Atlanta Ga
We really don't even know what KRAUN considers their area of influence U.N. implies their long view is global, but the people we are dealing with may have a grasp of no more than a portion of the North American continent...
They -HAD- interests in Australia that appear to now be under DJINN, where else do they still hold sway and what areas are currently outside their influence / or are inimical to KRAUN?
Allies need to know who are we likely to be defending KRAUN from...
------edit
This info is vital as we may inadvertently aid an Enemy of KRAUN through ignorance alone.
They -HAD- interests in Australia that appear to now be under DJINN, where else do they still hold sway and what areas are currently outside their influence / or are inimical to KRAUN?
Allies need to know who are we likely to be defending KRAUN from...
------edit
This info is vital as we may inadvertently aid an Enemy of KRAUN through ignorance alone.
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Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
*DGINN.
And I think it's safe to assume that KRAUN had branches on every continent, at minimum. Whether or not those branches remain active is a different question. I doubt they know of any enemies other than the Kaiju and the Precursors. The True Seijin (to distinguish Crank and Waltz's faction from Musketeer and other knock-offs) and DGINN are likely neutral-ish with them, sort of "we won't mess with you if you don't mess with us" type relationship.
I suppose it's possible that they've fallen out with some of the other branches, but I think it's more likely they've merely lost contact with them. Given that they all should have ANGEL-net or equivalents, that's more than a bit concerning. The AI have clearly taken over in Australia. The rest may simply have fallen, though I suspect that some KRAUN branch made the True Seijin, and may still be active. Probably either the Asian branch, if they came across the ocean or the Bering Strait, or the Central/South American branch, if they didn't.
Smithsguild
The third monkey...
- Location
- Somewhere 'near' Atlanta Ga
It would be nice to gain confirmation that things are as rosy as you summize. Why rely on supposition when we have a source that -KNOWS-?
Or are at least they are aware of their own blind spots...
We currently are operating with blinders on and KRAUN intel could make us more knowledgeable on many fronts.
There is no harm in giving an ally a better understanding of your goals and possible impediments to reaching those goals.
Or are at least they are aware of their own blind spots...
We currently are operating with blinders on and KRAUN intel could make us more knowledgeable on many fronts.
There is no harm in giving an ally a better understanding of your goals and possible impediments to reaching those goals.
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
It's less "rosy" than an extrapolation of human nature. Post-apocalyptic dramas aside, an outside threat like this tends to unite people. And there's really no reason to pick more fights than necessary, in scenarios like this. Why look for trouble, when you're already drowning in it. Feuding is for when you aren't struggling to survive.
The only cases where conflict would be likely to break out is in scenarios like the one with DGINN, where one side mistakes the other for the enemy. Even in those cases, though, each faction is most likely already having to put enough effort into survival to make all-out warfare unlikely, except when they cross paths.
It's also almost certainly something we'd have been warned about, during previous conversations, or by Jagdhund. In-fact, we asked a while back what Jagdhudd considered "hostile". This is the list we got.
Note that there's nothing about any specific group other than the Kaiju. Admittedly, human opponents would qualify as aggressive, but I suspect they'd have programmed any major enemies into their Jaegers.
Originally, I was going to say we should still ask, but the more I consider it, the more of an insult it seems to become. KRAUN obviously keeps secrets. They kinda have to, to some degree. But something that important to survival would, it seems to me, be disseminated to their allies. To keep such a thing a secret, and thus put their allies at major risk, is a serious breach of trust, and I'm not sure we should imply that we don't trust them on such a basic level right now. Trust has to go both ways.
Edit:
Edit 2: Wait, sh*t, that was probably in the data packet we got a while back, and we just never looked.
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Smithsguild
The third monkey...
- Location
- Somewhere 'near' Atlanta Ga
I'm not sure history agrees with that assessment. Neanderthals extinction hastened along by Homosapiens.
Some species aggressively crowd out competitors; even members of same species when driven by scarcity.
Your view embraces mankind's higher qualities and supposes people do the more rational for the good of the world thing; I have a darker view where warlords steal food rations from their neighbors because they can... YMMV. Analysis of human nature is subjective.
Honestly, I had forgotten the list from Jagdhund. But it is anecdotal as we never inquired were there any specific groups that Qualified as hostile, omission of specifics does not equal the lack of qualifying groups... it is merely stating the broad parameters of what greenlit her for hostile behavior. We don't know if certain groups or entity are filed under those broad categories.
Again I fear we have a fundamentally differing worldview... You believe in mankind's better nature; I'm dubious.
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EvaUnit01
Kept you waiting, huh?
Okay, so what do we have to do/when do we look at it, then?
As far as the in-universe humanity in Tacit Ronin vs The World is concerned, I feel that Nix is probably closer to the truth.
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Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
It's not about the scarcity of the resources. It's about literal giant monsters no human can kill alone, and massive amounts of the environment being completely uninhabitable. Those are factors that strongly push towards cooperation.
Those warlords would be SOL in this scenario, because, in the vast majority of cases, treating their people that badly would likely end with them, and possibly everyone else, dead. We're a year in at this point. Where that was going to happen, it's likely already happened. So what you have left are the factions smart enough not to do something like that. Some of them may be struggling to keep their infrastructure up in the face of repeated Kaiju attacks, but that's a different issue. The point is, the odds are vastly against the existence of warlords, at this point. Not ones with any sort of impact on things.
I don't. What I do understand is that it's damn hard to actually maintain modern infrastructure if you're acting like a petty warlord. If your technical experts are unhappy with you, you're boned. Because they can kill you or f*ck you over in a multitude of ways, should you motivate them to do so. And executing them or sending them to the gulag deprives you of their knowledge and skills. Trained labor and technical skills aren't common or cheap when society has collapsed.
If you're smart, charismatic, and driven enough, you might be able to pull off a totalitarian state, but doing so will require a large amount of personal restraint and a willingness to at least provide bread and circuses. Acting like a complete sh*t-heel constantly isn't going to fly, when it's really easy to just let the Kaiju eat you, instead. Most likely, such individuals are manipulative and ruthless. Those guys are a pain-in-the-ass, but they're at least willing to talk and, to some extent, cooperate.
We have, but we seem to have completely focused on sections on the GLA, and not on KRAUN's outposts. Unless the packet only had that information? @Fyrstorm?
On a practical level, maintaining enough of a technical edge as to be a threat to a force with many Jaegers in this scenario is...difficult, to say the least, much less if you're being a complete tool and are pissing off those around you.
Fyrstorm
Gun Waifu Extraordinaire
- Location
- 'Straya
- Pronouns
- He/Her
"Of course."
KRAUN-01 and KRAUN-03 look at each other, clearly giving the idea a fair amount of thought. The two turn back to the screen, shifting in their seats as they prepare to--
04 speaks up.
"Is there a price?"
===
I don't really remember. I think the info packet was mostly supposed to be about the GLA, with some KRAUN stuff too, but I might be forgetting stuff. Sorry, can't help here.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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Something along the lines of:
"We simply want to know what may have caused the attack, considering we are also working on Supercell technology."
Methinks.
E: They didn't actually answer that bit, when I went and checked. Didn't even touch on it.
"We simply want to know what may have caused the attack, considering we are also working on Supercell technology."
Methinks.
E: They didn't actually answer that bit, when I went and checked. Didn't even touch on it.
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- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Frankly, if we want something, now is the time to ask. We have something unbelievably valuable that we're offering to them; if I was in KRAUN's shoes I wouldn't blink twice at "Give me ten Mark VIs for the blueprint". I'd even consider it a good deal.
So; what are we looking for here?
I'd like to suggest a trade route between us and the GLA.
So; what are we looking for here?
I'd like to suggest a trade route between us and the GLA.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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I don't honestly expect that much, since I don't rate the Skadi as that valuable. Over the distances we preside over it's pretty damn important, but I don't think it would be as ground breaking for KRAUN due to them being bigger. It has significant value, but probably not as much as you might be hoping.
And the only thing I really care about is knowing what not to research so we don't call down a Wrecking Crew on our poor heads.
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- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Hello knock knock this is twenty Mark VI Jaegers deployable with an engagement envelope of fuck you I go where I want; in terms of defense you can actually have hardpoints, the region you can defend increases exponentially, the ability to deploy Jaeger class assets is literally an order of magnitude better than other options; hell, you can see the three visibly shift and give away how important it is to them.
Having a way to deploy Jaegers at Mach 4 is ludicrously valuable when your other transport methods go at Mach 0.4.
I want to expand, which means I want Resources so we can build up Everett and Kitsap, Research the good stuff like Mark V reactors, Build Jaegers for a Second Crusade and a Mount Saint Helens Attack, and eventually win the game. Most important way to do that is continually up the scale of the Resource flow in and thus how much Research and Building we can get done.