War Core Wednesday, War Core 3, Chapter 3.

Chapter 3.

Hugh’s forces continued as he had originally planned, fanning out to scout the area closest to his command post. An infantry squad filtered through the forest toward the northeast while another infantry squad, supported by a platoon of light mechs scouted down the main road that skirted the forest. A rise of hills, seemingly impassable, dominated the center of the map. If Maddison was right, there would be a portal or transport device of some type hidden in that area, but until they were sure, he would keep up with a normal battle plan.

Queuing up another squad of infantry dumped his resources down to zero, but the construction drones were hard at work dragging debris in to reprocess. Their small size hampered how much each drone could carry, but the fact that he got two drones for only one command point sort of made up for it. The single resource crate that his troops had located, was being dragged slowly by six of the drones, and even with that many, they were just creeping along. He ordered four more of the construction drones to scout the area along the border between his command post and Maddison’s. One pair would be kept there, for the time being, patrolling where the portal would likely dump troops if the enemy team somehow managed to find and use it before he was able to.

The rest of his light mechs were kept near the command post for now, just in case the other team decided on an early rush, it was unlikely, but that didn’t mean he could dismiss the danger entirely. The rest of his infantry was broken up into sections and sent out to scout. At his command post, eight defensive garrison mechs were online, but the rest were on hold as the latest units he ordered were being built. More of the reserve and guard soldiers linked in as the infantry walked off the assembly line, Sergeant Hallan giving them time to acclimate before sending them out.

When the resource crate was finally dragged in, Hugh ordered the construction of his first signal tower. After spending the resources on it, he was left with only 22, but the number was ticking up with each bit of debris the drones brought in. Signal towers went up quickly, and while he waited, Hugh queued up the forces that he would purchase next. He was going to go heavy on the infantry, with a few light mechs in support. The Ssath light mechs were the fastest things on the battlefield, so he would use them to draw attention, and fire, away from the infantry so they could close in without taking too many casualties.

“Hugh, it’s confirmed, I’ll send you the link to my drones,” Maddison said.

Hugh linked into her units, giving her permission for his own at the same time. There was no reason not to share every shred of intel they got ahold of. Rewinding the feed, Hugh could see the pair of drones approach the steep hills dominating the center of the battlefield. They made a complete circuit around the area, until finding a narrow path that was just barely navigable for the agile Ssath mechs. The path wound through the hills, eventually opening into a small valley with a large metal structure that resembled a scaled-down version of the portal that the GCA had used on the battle for the Krixnas homeworld.

“Any contact with the enemy team yet?” Hugh asked. His forces had pushed to the center of the map, not encountering anything along the way, other than brief glimpses of scouts from Javier’s forces. His units did uncover four additional resource crates, which he already had drones heading out to gather. The middle of the forested area opened up into a flat, grassy field where a resource station was located. This one had a section of AI-controlled infantry protecting it, the units modeled after human mechs.

“Just some scouts, but I did spot a resource gathering station. I would assume that whatever core is on the southern side of the map has got eyes on it unless they’re totally clueless,” Maddison added. Like the GCA battlefields, whoever had designed this scenario laid out the critical locations equally. Hugh would be willing to be that the other cores had the same debris field and the same number of resource crates on their side of the battlefield. The overall design of this scenario must have been to have the cores battle over the two resource stations. Both stations were far enough apart that if you took control of one and were counterattacked, it would take a long time for reinforcements to arrive from your allied core.

“We go with our plan, push forces to the portal, but leave a decent-sized force to threaten the resource stations. Make some noise if the enemy pushes to take them, which I think will be their focus. Can you keep your two drones near the hill to spot any enemy scouts?” Hugh asked.

“Roger that, Hugh, I was planning on doing just that, they’ll ping us if the enemy is nearby, so we know not to push more forces through,” Maddison replied.

They both got to work, Hugh keeping a squad of infantry and a pair of light mechs in the forest near the northern resource gathering station. Whenever an enemy mech was spotted, the soldiers would make some noise and move their mechs about, trying to look like a larger force was getting ready for a push on the critical location. Maddison was doing something similar but was being a bit more aggressive, taking potshots at any mech that showed itself, but being careful not to hit the AI units guarding the resource gathering station.

Hopefully, the enemy cores would take their time, the longer they waited, the more powerful the defenders at the stations would be. Already, the station he was watching had produced another infantry mech. Unlike his station, Maddison’s was guarded by AI-controlled Ssath units, four infantry, and four of the diminutive drones. If the battle was progressing as normal, both sides would be hesitant to make the first move, knowing they would be vulnerable while assaulting the AI units defending each location. A stalemate was exactly what Hugh wanted. Eventually, the two enemy cores would pool forces at one of the two stations and make a push.

It was nerve-wracking watching his forces push through the forest toward the portal, they had concealment due to the forest for most of the way, but while they made their ascent into the hills, they could be spotted by any enemy units nearby. To help keep watch, Hugh moved a pair of his drones over to assist Maddison’s units. They had a brief scare as a pair of enemy infantry mechs moved past, scouting the hills, but not spotting the narrow trail. Hugh couldn’t blame them, if Maddison hadn’t known what to look for, Hugh didn’t think he would have spotted it either.

The first signal tower was completed about the same time that his troops arrived at the portal. His control limit jumped to 650, but the force he currently had in the field only used up 565 of that. With four more resource crates on the way, each of which held fifty resources in this scenario, he would be able to beef up his forces soon. He opted for another platoon of light mechs and then as many infantry as he could get, but it would take time for them to be built.

“It’s going to get crowded in here as we add troops, do you want to make the transition with what we already have here?” Maddison asked. She had mirrored his troop purchases, and right now each of them had forty infantry and six light mechs in the portal valley. It was a good-sized force and while he wouldn’t mind waiting for reinforcements, the longer they waited, the more likely the enemy would figure out what they were doing.

“Yeah, send them through and let's push toward the north, I’m pretty certain that’s where Javier’s base is since it’s been his mechs sniffing around the resource gathering station near me,” Hugh said.

“All right, get in there guys,” Maddison said over comms to their forces. “Get in there” wasn’t exactly a military command, but Sergeant Hallan and Maddison’s NCO didn’t seem to have any trouble understanding what she meant. When the first troops entered the portal, the simulation’s version of a system prompt appeared.

Your forces have activated a transport portal. Select the units you wish to make the transition. Transport will take five minutes from when you confirm your desire to proceed. Choose a destination option.

1. Eastern map border.

2. Western map border.

Hugh and Maddison selected all the units in the valley and hit the option to transport them to the eastern edge of the map. The cumbersome interface for this mission made it a pain, but they eventually got the hang of it. Once they confirmed their selections the portal flared to life, making Hugh worry that any nearby enemy troops might spot a suspicious glow coming from the hills. Their mechs began to shimmer and fade as they linked with the portal.

“I didn’t know it would take five minutes, that stinks. In the game, you can do it almost instantly,” Maddison said.

“Yeah, we’ll have to hope that the forces we have are sufficient to take out whatever Javier left to defend his command post. I would have waited and sent more forces over if we’d have known, but I think they’ll get the job done. Let’s push whatever troops we have building to watch over the resource points, the more forces we have there, the more convincing it is that we’re going to push,” Hugh replied.

“Ok, I’ll keep a small force to help out the garrison mobs, but I’ll send most of what I make over to the southern resource station,” Maddison confirmed. With a large chunk of their army slowly teleporting across the battlefield, they would be at a significant numerical disadvantage at the two resource stations, not to mention the quality difference if the other cores had spent some of their resources on upgrades.

They agreed to continue focusing on massing numbers and then if the enemy still hadn’t made a move, they could look into building out some upgrades for their units. The upgrade trees for the Ssath weren’t completely fleshed out, and much of what they had was based on fighting them for a single campaign. They had no idea if the Ssath had faced any type of upgrade restrictions placed during the battle for the Krixnas homeworld. With the battle on pause while they waited for something to happen, Hugh looked over his first-tier upgrade options.

Available upgrades.

Structures, defenses, and construction units:

1. Construction drone upgrade package 1. This upgrade package improves the speed and strength of your construction drones, enabling them to move faster and haul more resources. Further upgrades will allow your construction drones the option to focus on combat upgrades or additional improvements to their primary duties as construction units. This upgrade requires 150 resources to unlock.

2. Hardened structures. This upgrade reinforces your existing structures to improve their resistance to damage. Later upgrades will further enhance your structures with shields as well as open up new options for your defensive garrison forces. This upgrade requires 150 resources to unlock.

Infantry mech upgrades:

1. Speed Boost. This upgrade allows your infantry mechs to briefly boost their powerplants in order to achieve a 25% speed increase for 10 seconds. This ability cannot be used more than once every five minutes or your mechs will face a high chance of a catastrophic powerplant failure. This upgrade requires 100 resources to unlock.

2. Targeting Array. This upgrade improves ranged weapon accuracy by 10% and requires 100 resources to unlock.

3. Improved Natural Weapons. This upgrade enhances the claws and teeth of your infantry, improving armor penetration by 15% and damage by 10%. This upgrade requires 100 resources to unlock.

Light Mech Upgrades:

1. Dual Primary Weapons. This upgrade enhances the secondary weapon to match the caliber and abilities of the mech’s primary weapon. Further upgrades are required in order for your mechs to target multiple enemies at the same time. This upgrade requires 150 resources to unlock.

2. Leaping Strike. This upgrade pushes more power to the mech’s legs, allowing it to perform a short leap of up to 15 yards. The upgrade also provides a 10% accuracy penalty for any weapons currently targeting the leaping mech. This upgrade requires 150 resources to unlock.

Most of the upgrades were pretty generic, the simulation teams creating them opting for simple improvements along the lines of what the human mechs had access to. For as long as the Ssath had been fighting, Hugh was pretty sure they had unlocked more extensive upgrades for their units than was represented here. He made a note to speak with the troops about this during their debrief. Hugh didn’t want them assuming that all they would face would be mechs with a limited range of upgrades. Hopefully, they would have years to upgrade the simulation and make it a better representation of real combat.

“We’re through, and it looks like we haven’t been seen,” Sergeant Hallan called out as the five-minute timer ran down. His troops were exactly where Maddison had predicted, in the middle of the eastern border of the battlefield. The area was open and lacked cover, so they would have to move quickly to capitalize on the surprise attack. Eventually, the enemy would spot his troops and the race would be on to see if they could eliminate an enemy core before the rest of the enemy forces could return to defend the command post.

“And it looks like they’re going for my resource station, which is exactly where we want them,” Maddison said smugly. She was right, it meant the enemy forces were about as far from Javier’s command post as they could get. It was a large, combined force of light mechs and infantry, the army cutting down the AI defenders with little effort. Maddison pushed the forces she had covering the resource station into the fight, delaying and tying up the enemy army. She was going to lose the fight, badly, but what they need most was time, and Maddison’s troops were dying to buy it for them.