War Core Wednesday. War Core 3, Chapter 6.

Chapter 6.

The techs entered the conference room, linking the various devices to the signal that would be sent by the GCA. Hugh wasn’t exactly sure how he would experience another core’s battle, but he figured it would be similar to how the GCA handled the various orientations he had gone through. Hugh was surprised when the techs started distributing VR headsets to the officers and advisors around the table.

“What’s with these?” Admiral Nix asked.

“Sir, we received notification from the GCA that if your device is connected to the feed they’re transmitting, you’ll be able to link in virtually. I’m sorry I don’t have any instruction on how the VR interface will work, the GCA isn’t big on detailed instructions. From what I gather, you’ll have some control over what you’re viewing during the battle.

Negotiations have been completed by the Ssath core Ha’maux and the human core George Lucin. Their battle is beginning and a viewing link to the fight will be available to you shortly.

“It’s about to begin, everyone click the link and shout out if you need any help with the VR gear,” one of the techs called out to the group. Despite some initial confusion, it looked like they had things well in hand by the time the link appeared for Hugh.

You will be joining the conflict as an observer. Previous negotiations between the human and Ssath cores have determined the parameters of your viewing access, the following are in effect for the entire battle.

1. Fog of war is active; you can view only view those portions of the battlefield that the human core has uncovered.

2. Viewers may disconnect and reconnect at their leisure; this accommodation should alleviate any known biological needs for both species.

3. Unit details will not be revealed, viewers will have to rely on visual and audio cues, not any system-generated specs.

4. Commands and communications from your human core and the various units he commands will not be shared.

5. Any attempt to tamper with the link to this battle will be noticed and dealt with harshly, you have been warned.

Battle Type: Conquest, defeat your opponent’s command post to win the fight. Early surrender will result in a reduced casualty rate for the defeated party.

The following battle parameters have been negotiated. Once you’ve completed reviewing them, the observation link to the battle will be activated.

1. Maximum command post level of 5.

2. No air units.

3. Combat pod support is active.

4. Command post starting level of 1.

5. Normal resource flow.

6. Limited additional structures.

7. Pre-fight battlefield recon is inactive.

8. No starting forces will be allocated.

An interface link appeared once Hugh had finished reading the battle parameters. He activated the link and began to fly through space toward whatever planet the GCA had prepared for the battle. The battle was going to be a straightforward one, the Canadian core only had to defeat the enemy command post to win. The Krixnas invasion had a lot of different restrictions, so it would be interesting to see how a Ssath core handled a regular battle.

Hugh’s vision centered on a bleak, orange planet. When he arrived on the surface, he could see the rough outline of the battlefield, which had a long, rectangular shape. The two cores were positioned at the northern and southern ends. Most of the battlefield was covered in a haze, the fog of war that the instructions had mentioned worked just like one in a videogame. The Canadian core was placed on the southern end of the battlefield, and it looked like George had been given a command post and barracks to start things off with. Units were beginning to walk off the assembly line at both the command post and the barracks.

It looked like George Lucin had opted to pump out a couple of squads of infantry in addition to the requisite mob of construction drones that most players opted for early. Much like Hugh had done in several of his battles, George was sending a construction drone toward the far end of the battlefield, using it to scout out the enemy position. George’s command post was located in the southeast corner of the map, which meant the enemy command post was probably at the northwest corner.

You have been invited to the communication group “Hugh’s command team”, do you wish to join this group? Y/N.

“Hugh, are you there?” Maddison called out as Hugh accepted the group link.

“Yeah, I’m here, I didn’t know if my connection through the core would allow me to chat with anyone, do we have everybody online?” Hugh asked.

“Yes, the command team is all here and I’m linked with national command as well,” Admiral Nix advised. Hugh didn’t envy him the task of trying to listen in on two conversations at once.

“What do you think of the battlefield?” Hugh asked.

“Looks like they want a bloody slog for this one, a narrow front with limited avenues of attack will make for quite the battle of attrition,” Maddison said as they looked over what they could see so far of the battlefield. The command post was well protected on two sides by the edge of the map and was placed atop a large plateau with plenty of room for expansion buildings.

A steep road led down from the elevated plateau into a forested valley where the odd, square-shaped trunks of the purple-hued trees would block easy movement, and force attackers through the wide roadway that ran toward the north. The eastern and western edges of the battlefield were composed of rocky mountainous areas with narrow paths through what would otherwise be impassable terrain. So far, George was pushing his scout up the roadway that was cut through the valley floor. Additional scouts weren’t going out yet, but the Canadian core was sure to check out the eastern and western hills before too long.

“Forcing the two enemies together early could make this a quick victory for that core that can build up his forces first,” Hugh offered.

“Nah, slow and steady is how I’d play it. Build up your economy and try to hold more resources than your opponent before starving them out. Given George’s focus on fixed defenses, I think he’ll opt for a longer battle where his fortifications will generate the most value for him,” Maddison replied.

It looked like his gaming advisor was correct, already some of the construction drones were working on establishing a trench line on the slope leading up to the command post. The first resource location was placed at the bottom of the slope, a simple debris field guarded by AI-controlled Ssath infantry mechs. George was already moving the first couple of squads produced by the barracks to take a crack at grabbing the debris field before too many defenders spawned to protect it. If you left those alone for too long, they would build up an impressive defensive force.

“What would you do if you were fighting here?” Captain Tran asked.

“My army is built a little different than George’s, so I’d be pushing out forces a bit more aggressively, I don’t like not knowing what’s lurking in those mountain passes. Resources are going to be limited, and given how the GCA usually structures the battlefield, I’d expect a mirror image of the resource locations, with something toward the middle that can be fought over early,” Hugh said.

“I’d totally rush the other side of the map, secure some of the Ssath resource points, and long-distance mine them for as long as I could,” Maddison suggested. It was a risky tactic since the enemy would eventually overpower the forces you sent just by virtue of the resource point being closer to the buildings creating the enemy troops. If your forces could hold long enough, you’d drain their side of some of their resources while your side of the map was still relatively secure. Of course, the enemy could use the same tactic and you would end up with a very odd battlefield situation.

Not much happened for a while, George secured the debris field near his command post and had a couple of squads of drones start harvesting it. This map didn’t have any of the more lucrative resource crates lying around, which was a pity since they could really give you a jump on upgrades and help to max out your unit count. Not having any way to hear what George and his commanders were planning made it hard to understand his overall gameplan, but the man was an experienced war core that had been successful more times than not.

“Woah, look at the skeleton cats,” Maddison said as the center of the map was revealed by George’s scout. The main road entered a large clearing that held both a sizeable debris field and what looked like a resource drop-off location. If either side took control of the area, they could harvest the debris as fast as if it was sitting outside the main gate of the command post.

The clearing would be a tough nut to crack as over two dozen AI-controlled mechs guarded it. Like Maddison had mentioned, the mechs resembled horse-sized cat skeletons. Hugh didn’t know if that was because they were low-level, but it was an odd mech configuration. Instead of heavy armor, they were built out of an alloy framework that gave them their skeletal appearance. The tooth-filled mouths of the cat mechs looked deadly, even if they didn’t seem quite as formidable as the Ssath mechs.

“They’re not just odd, look at what they’re doing,” Cartwright added. While they watched, some of the skeleton cat defenders took up pieces of debris in their jaws and carried it over to the resource collection point. The collection point accepted the resources just as if one of the core’s drones had dropped them off.

“Is that some way to make the prize less attractive as time goes on?” Hugh asked.

“Maybe, doing what they’re doing would incentivize the cores to strike early or risk watching their potential resources disappear,” Admiral Nix replied.

“I think you got it half right, they are pulling resources from the debris field and reducing the available salvage, but it’s not going to waste, it’s going into making more defenders,” Maddison said. She was right, the collection point opened up again, and this time, a freshly created cat mech walked out, joining the other defenders on their endless patrols of the area.

George seemed content to leave the clearing alone for the time being but did move up a squad of infantry to keep an eye on things. To Hugh’s surprise, a group of construction drones followed them and began to dig fighting positions for George’s infantry. They were digging in outside of what Maddison would have called the aggro range of the AI units, but close enough where they could still land hits with their rifles if the Ssath made a play for the critical location.

Brief glimpses of Ssath mechs were spotted on the other side of the clearing, but they couldn’t get a good look at them. George kept digging in at the command post, filling the defenses with new infantry mechs as they were built. It looked like the Ssath weren’t making a quick move either, so the battle might very well turn into a long grind after all. Eventually, the mountain passes were scouted, and both the eastern and western passes held similar debris fields like the one that was close to the command post. George’s infantry took both fields and began to dig in around them, protecting them from a quick strike by the Ssath.

George maxed out his unit points and then went for a level two command post. Around the time it was completed, the infantry covering the mountain passes had to fend off a reconnaissance in force by the Ssath. Enemy infantry charged forward, but the dug-in troops were able to take them down fairly quickly, given only a single section assaulted each location. With the command post upgrade complete, George pumped out more infantry, spreading them around between the command post entrenchments, and the three contested debris fields. Hugh didn’t think much of that tactic, it was too hard to try and be strong everywhere, and if the Ssath massed at one location, they would easily overrun the forces left there to defend it.

Unlike the Ssath core, Hssim, this new Ssath was much more patient. Other than a few more probing attacks, the Ssath held back from a full-blown assault. This gave the Canadian core time to upgrade and dig in. Infantry support teams were created, giving him machinegun and mortar teams to support the growing network of defenses. Surprisingly, it wasn’t until the command post upgraded to level five before George finally built a light mech factory. Instead of something similar to the light mechs Hugh favored, these were support units. A pair of mech legs were attached to a firing platform where a medium-sized artillery piece was mounted. They were positioned near the command post, leaving Hugh to believe they had the firing range to assist any of the defenses that the Canadian core had constructed.

With the last bits of scrap from the debris fields he controlled, George’s construction drones began to build small turrets to reinforce the defenses he had dug. His focus on fixed defenses must have come into play, making the turrets less expensive than they should have been given the number he was building and the limited resources remaining. A dozen of the machinegun caliber turrets studded the defensive works on the slope in front of George’s base, and a half-dozen were built at each of the contested resource fields.

Once the turrets had been completed, George’s debris fields were exhausted, and he was left with just the normal resource flow that trickled into his command post. Even that limited trickle of resources was put to good use, the construction drones building mines to place in front of the defenses protecting the command post. It was only a single mine every few minutes, but they would help

The large clearing in the center of the map still held a good number of resources. But having been unmolested since the battle had started, the AI-controlled mechs guarding the place had increased in number and received upgrades. Where only a skeletal metal frame had been, now each cat mech had full bodies, complete with reinforced armor plates. A plasma rifle was mounted over one shoulder, giving the mechs a ranged attack. Their numbers had increased to nearly forty, which would give whoever attacked them a good fight. Someone would have to attack soon, as the Ssath core would have surely exhausted his resource by now. George may have been slow and methodical in his approach, but was he going to have to play the aggressor in this battle?