War Core Wednesday! War Core 3, Chapter 26.

Chapter 26.

The ebb and flow of the battle continued, the time marked only by the continuous upgrades to Hugh’s structures and units. His base leveled up repeatedly, with new and improved units being produced at the various factories. The several barracks that he had taken over were also upgraded, matching his main base. At level five Hugh started seeing the effects of the Assault Infantry upgrade path he had selected back on the battle for the Krixnas homeworld. His infantry now mounted heavier weapons, improved armor, and more effective secondary weapons.

Another upgrade occurred at level five, the production of a light mech factory. The units produced didn’t match the progression that Hugh was used to, and at level five, the structure was still producing what would normally be a much lower tier unit, the T-7 mech. It wasn’t quite the same mech, this one featured all the possible upgrades that the unit could mount, including a rapid-fire, 50-caliber main gun, and two 30-caliber secondary weapons. Production of the light mechs was slower, with one being produced in the time it took a barracks to produce ten infantry mechs.

While the upgrades and new units were welcome, the Ssath core was still a bit ahead of Hugh in the upgrade timeline, thanks to the fast start advantage it had used at the beginning of the battle. Hugh could tell that his units and structures were nearing an upgrade tier when the Ssath base changed and started producing more powerful mechs. Normally, his units were knocking on the door of the Ssath base, only held back by the firepower of the core’s powerful mech. When an upgrade hit, the improved Ssath units would start to push his units back, despite being numerically inferior. During that time, his troops would have to get directly involved, adding their firepower to the mix to prevent the Ssath from retaking any of the hard-won barracks.

It was only a short time between the Ssath base getting upgrades before his base received them, but the time in between that would be frantic, especially when the Ssath core decided to push alongside the automated mechs. Hugh still had his troops divided, with Dalven’s Ripper mech, along with Private Burnette and Hillman holding one lane of the canyon, and Hugh with the others holding the side where he had activated the Hive of the Widow. Whenever the Ssath core pushed a lane, Hugh ordered his troops in that lane to fall back, not willing to risk permanent death against the more powerful Ssath core.

When the level seven upgrades occurred for the Ssath, the enemy core pushed Hugh’s side of the canyon, retaking barracks along the way. Instead of setting them to produce units, the Ssath instead turned them into resources, purchasing further upgrades for its mech. It seemed the Ssath was locked into a light mech chassis, but that didn’t stop him from finding a way to fit twin-barreled weapons on each mount, effectively doubling its firepower while at the same time improving the armor and shields to provide better protection. Hugh was sure the Ssath had purchased other tricks, but he wouldn’t know what they were until his opponent decided to unleash them.

At level eight, another structure was built on the Ssath base, a medium mech factory. The Ssath core pushed the other side of the canyon, once again taking out barracks and turning them into upgrade resources. It wasn’t until Hugh’s base constructed a medium mech factory a short time later that the lines stabilized once more, and the Ssath core was forced back to defend its base. Hugh now had only one barracks structure on each side of the canyon, which gave him the production advantage still, but not much of one.

The whole time during the progression of the battle, the Hive of the Widow continued to expand its influence, metallic webbing pushing slowly out into the canyon. Inside the webbing, Hugh could see numerous spider mechs crawling around. As his structures upgraded to level eight and the medium mech factory came online, a horde of spiders began to emerge from the webbing, heading down the canyon toward the Ssath base.

“Oh, man, couldn’t you warn me that was going to happen, sir? I’m going to have nightmares about this,” Private Griggs called out from his Taskmaster mech.

“We’ll get you therapy if you survive, Private,” Hugh said, trying, and failing, to not be creeped out as well.

Hugh knew that the Hive of the Widow was supposed to send out waves of attackers once fully upgraded but had almost forgotten about that feature as the battle had dragged on and nothing happened at the hive other than its normal expansion. Apparently, level eight was the magic number for it to start going on the offensive, and Hugh was shocked to see how much of an attack it was making. Two dozen of the smaller spider mechs that he had fought before marched out of the hive, making their way past his mechs, sometimes climbing over them as they proceeded.

In addition to the two-dozen standard spider mechs, another six larger beasts emerged. These had longer, skinnier legs, ones that looked like they would barely support the huge, bulbous abdomen of the mech. Hugh wasn’t sure what they would do, but he was glad they were going to be doing it to the Ssath and not to him. Looking back into the webbing, Hugh saw that the place looked deserted, the hive having sent most of the troops out. Some movement near the structure where the queen was living told Hugh they still had some defenders ready to fight, which made sense given it was supposed to be primarily a defensive structure.

With the spider mechs supporting them, Hugh’s units pushed quickly to the Ssath base, pulling the enemy mech to that side of the canyon. Dalven took advantage of the opportunity, pushing up with the two privates, and making a run at the only barracks that the Ssath still controlled. They made quick progress, halting only to allow fresh automated units to take the lead. Willing to take some damage in the attempt, Hugh didn’t expect his troops to rush forward and risk themselves more than necessary.

The defenders of the barracks were tough, they had improved as the level of the enemy command post improved, pumping out more and better-equipped units. Still, they were AI-controlled, and Hugh’s troops were able to pick a few off each time they focused on an approaching automated unit. It was a race against time, and his spiders were doing a good job at buying that time for Dalven and his team.

Hugh only had a single barracks operating on his side of the canyon, but it, combined with the units that his main base produced, gave the Ssath core plenty of targets. With its impressive firepower, the Ssath was able to take down the light mech approaching in front of the spiders, with it down, it focused on the swarm of smaller spider mechs, unleashing a wall of fire that chewed them down. Behind the main swarm, the six larger spider mechs halted, their bulbous abdomens contracting to spray a stream of green-tinged webbing at the Ssath core.

The Ssath ignored the webbing at first, more focused on the spiders trying to swarm up the legs of its mech, not to mention the pair of automated infantry mechs that were closing in, rifles sending accurate rounds into its shielded and armored form. When they hit the Ssath mech, the webs sizzled, but slid off, repulsed by the shielding. Powerful and upgraded as it was, a light mech chassis was only able to carry a modestly sized power supply for the shield unit, and after the surviving smaller mechs began to chew on the Ssath, the shield failed.

It didn’t take long for the Ssath to pick off the smaller mechs crawling over his body, only five had survived to reach him, but they distracted the Ssath long enough for the second stream of webbing to hit. Where the green webbing hit it stuck to the armored hull of the mech, sizzling again, but this time there was no shield to protect the Ssath. The webs began to contract, their acidic coating digging into the armored mech as they pulled. Had it been a smaller mech, the Ssath might have been bound up in the webbing, but it was large enough to snap the strands, but it wasn’t able to avoid the damage.

A burst of fire from the twin weapons over its shoulders tore into the spiders, stopping their web attacks. With its shield down, Hugh’s approaching automated forces were able to land hits that damaged the mech. The Ssath’s armor held up, but with each hit, the damage accumulated and soon, if it stayed in the fight, the Ssath would start taking damage to critical components. The Ssath fled, just about the time Dalven had taken out the last of the defenders protecting the Ssath barracks.

“Dalven, take the resources offered, we won’t be able to hold it,” Hugh ordered. The barracks the Ssath had controlled was too close to the enemy base, and the Ssath core would stomp over and retake it long before it produced enough to make a difference. By taking the resources instead of the production, he would at least glean some benefit from their victory and shut down any chance of the Ssath restarting production there.

You have taken a Barracks structure. Your representative has requested that this structure be surrendered for resources. Do you agree with this decision? Y/N.

Hugh hit yes, and received a good lump sum of resources from the transaction. He would need to head back to the command post to order new upgrades, and with the enemy core retreating, it seemed like a good time to do so. One of the upgrades he had splurged on for his mech improved Hugh’s speed, so the long trip wasn’t as painfully slow as it had been earlier in the fight. During the fighting, he had continually upgraded their mechs, spending whatever he could to keep up with the constantly improving automated mechs they faced. At each level, a few new options appeared, but a lot of resources were still consumed by the need to constantly purchase ammo.

Personal Armory, Level 8.

Current Resources: 9718.

1. Ammunition module, tier 8, 5 resources.

2. Standard repair module, tier 8, 5 resources.

3. Standard armor module, tier 8, 5 resources.

4. Standard shield charging module, tier 8, 5 resources.

5. Autocannon Upgrade, Taskmaster Mech, 1500 resources. This upgrades the main weapons on the Taskmaster with 20mm autocannons that fire explosive, armor-piercing ammunition. The weapons have greatly enhanced damage, at the cost of a slightly reduced rate of fire.

6. Speed Enhancement, Ripper Mech, 1500 resources. This upgrade will allow the Ripper mech to travel 25% faster than its current speed and increase melee attack speed by a similar percentage. With this upgrade, the Ripper can now leap short distances to attack its foes.

7. High-Velocity Anti-Armor Rocket Launcher, single-use, 250 resources. A disposable tube holding the missile will be mounted on the chosen mech. These missiles are extremely effective against armor but do significantly reduced damage to shields.

8. Reinforcement Drop upgrade, 1500 resources.

9. Reinforcement Drop, 250 resources. Summon a squad of AI-controlled mechs to land near your command post. Once landed, the mechs will engage the nearest enemy force, following the shortest path to its target.

The barracks capture had given him 7500 resources, with the ones already in the bank, Hugh was now over 9000, enough for some serious shopping. First off, the Taskmaster and Ripper would be key to the final takedown of the Ssath core, so he ordered their respective upgrades. The drone assigned to complete the upgrades started from the command post, heading toward the closest mech, in this case, Private Griggs’ Taskmaster mech. It would take a while to get both mechs upgraded, but it would be worth it.

Hugh set aside some resources for ammo, he wasn’t sure if the Taskmaster would need a complete resupply after changing main weapons, or if its existing ammo stores would also be converted to the autocannon rounds. Anti-armor rockets might be a good purchase for everyone, a barrage of them would lay some hurt even on the highly upgraded Ssath core. The one that caught his eye was the reinforcement drop upgrade. It was fifteen hundred resources, not an insignificant amount, and so far, the ability seemed a bit lackluster with only summoning a squad of infantry mechs, so Hugh splurged and gave the upgrade a chance.

The Reinforcement Drop upgrade has been purchased.

Notice! This ability has been further enhanced by the Drop Beacon of the Vanquished your core possesses.

Reinforcement Drop, 250 resources. Summon a squad of AI-controlled mechs to land at a site of your choosing. The target of the drop can be any structure under your control or anywhere within direct sight of your mech. A cooldown of 1 minute has been placed on this ability. This ability no longer requires direct access to the command post to activate.

The upgrade was more than worth it. Before, Hugh could only summon the drop while he was at his command post, which was great if it was under threat and Hugh happened to be nearby. Now he could do everything remotely, and use the ability to push the enemy back on either side of the canyon.

From what the description said, he could also drop it anywhere within visual range of his mech, not just at a structure he controlled. Hugh tested it out, spending 250 resources to drop one further down the canyon from where his team was stationed, just outside the Hive of the Widow. It took about thirty seconds before the fiery streak of a drop pod was seen. It struck in the middle of the canyon, nearly crushing one of his infantry mechs that was walking nearby. That was good news, he might even be able to use the drop pod itself as a weapon if he got lucky on the drop. Almost immediately after hitting the ground, the sides of the pod were ejected and an infantry squad of ten mechs emerged. Without any immediate threats, the mechs turned and began to walk down the canyon toward the enemy command post.

Hugh then purchased a rocket for each of his troops. It turned out the Taskmaster and Ripper weren’t compatible, so he just got one for himself, Marthman, Hillman, and Burnette. After spending on ammo to replenish their stores and stockpile a bit for an emergency, Hugh was left with 3665 resources, enough for the plan he was developing.

“Well, boys, it’s almost time to end this. Once the Hive of the Widow spawns more units, and the upgrades are delivered, we attack,” Hugh told the group. Dealing with the Ssath core wasn’t going to be a picnic, but he was confident they could do it, overloading the Ssath defenses with hordes of mechs.