War Core Wednesday! War Core 2, Chapter 16.

Chapter 16.

Hugh was pulled from his meeting and thrust out into space, a situation he assumed his fellow cores were facing. His consciousness was hurled faster and faster through the stars, before eventually settling in a system that featured an orangish star and a single planet orbiting it. Hugh didn’t know if this solar system had existed before the battle, or if the GCA had somehow created it for the fight. Instead of heading toward the planet, he was sent out past it, where blinking lights were seen in the distance.

Once he got close, Hugh could see he was heading toward a massive space station. The exact features of the station were hazy like it wasn’t quite done yet or the GCA didn’t want to reveal how they created objects at will. Hugh’s consciousness flowed past the armored hull of the station and into a large briefing room, not dissimilar to the one they had met at earlier. Seats for the other cores were there, but Hugh couldn’t see any of them, making him wonder if they would continue to have their electronic bodies while here, or if they were just locked into their faceless cores. Before he could do anything, system prompts started to appear.

The invasion of the Krixnas homeworld is underway. While the expeditionary force will soon join the fight, Krixnas forces are currently defending on their own against the Ssath invasion. Earth’s cores may join the battle in 11 hours, 22 minutes, and 33 seconds from now. This battle is for control of a homeworld, and as this is the first time you have experienced this type of battle, a brief overview will be provided.

Hugh’s vision faded and when it reappeared, he was floating in space, watching some past battle as two fleets slugged it out. Blasts of plasma and missiles streaked back and forth as the ships closed on each other. In the background, a green world waited, another replica like the world they were soon to fight over. Hugh’s vision pushed closer to the ships, and he noticed that fighter mechs were attached to the hull of the ships, magnetic clips on the “legs” of the air mechs holding them securely. The mechs started to disconnect, shifted into their airplane-like flight modes, and started burning their engines hard toward the enemy.

Initial control of the orbitals is the first stage of a homeworld battle. In this case, the defenders chose to meet the enemy further from the planet to reduce the chance of accidental damage to the planet’s surface. While this is a world crafted solely for this battle, orbital weapons emplacements around the actual homeworld will react when necessary to replicate the estimated losses that had occurred.

Hugh’s vision shifted to a different fight, this time a large armada was battling their way through a final line of armored space stations. One of the stations was breaking up in the atmosphere, huge chunks of it dropping down to smash into the surface. This was the world created for the battle, and the GCA hadn’t placed any structures in the area of the surface that was destroyed.

Despite not hitting anything on the GCA-created battlefield, the armed satellites surrounding the actual homeworld went into action. Beams of condensed plasma, as well as kinetic bombardment, began to pepper the surface. Hugh was spared a close-up of the destruction, but he knew that thousands of victims were being killed or maimed. When the GCA calculated enough damage had been done, the bombardment stopped. Of course, as the invaders progressed in the battle, more losses among the innocent civilians were almost guaranteed.

Hugh was forced to watch as the invasion on the battle planet continued, each action resulting in more destruction on the actual planet they were fighting over. Only in some area, was everything spared. They must have contained valuable resources or structures the invaders wished to capture intact. The battle fast-forwarded to the ending engagements on the surface, both species that were fighting were ones Hugh wasn’t familiar with. A negotiated surrender was reached and GCA-created transports were sent to the surface of the actual homeworld, gathering the survivors to be transported to whatever fate awaited them. Hugh wanted to ask about the survivors but found he couldn’t speak or interact in any way with the presentation.

As an expeditionary force, your cores will be required to purchase their units upfront out of a limited pool. As the battle progresses, the option to summon additional units will be provided, as well as the chance to upgrade the forces you currently possess. Lethality for all cores as well as for any combat pod operators is greatly enhanced for this battle. The Ssath have offered to allow any of earth’s war cores to sit out the battle, negating any casualties among your combat pod operators as well as the chance of destruction for your core.

Do you wish to sit out the coming conflict? Y/N.

Hugh quickly hit no. He knew the Ssath wouldn’t stop here, and it was better to fight them here, in the battle for the Krixnas homeworld, rather than be forced into a battle to save earth. While he had only known them for a short time, Hugh didn’t think any of his comrades would take the offer either. With this rejection of the Ssath offer, Hugh returned to the conference room on the station. Valery and Felicia were already there, they were just waiting on the others. One by one they reappeared, much to everyone’s relief.

Each core will now review their resource allocation and unit options. Discuss amongst yourselves and once your final orders are placed, construction of your units will begin. There is a high likelihood that the Krixnas defenders will fail to keep the Ssath from taking control of the space around the conflict world. Remember to purchase enough space combat-capable units to punch through any defenses left in place as you deliver your ground forces to the fight.

Hugh and the others pulled up their interface, looking at what they had to work with for this fight.

Note that you are required to purchase enough transport vessels to get your units to the planet. If your ground forces exceed the load limits of your starship, units will be randomly destroyed until you have achieved a proper load limit. While your mechs have no trouble operating in the vacuum of space, only a few have the targeting systems necessary to fight at the great distances requires. Those units that can participate in the space segment of this conflict will be noted.

You have the following resource balance to use for this conflict. For the duration of the campaign, there is no unit cap, and a core may field as many as they are able to afford. Due to the expense of transport, and the necessary equipment to deploy safely onto the surface, land combat units will have resource costs different than what you are used to.

Current resource balance: 5000.

“Everyone, before we begin selecting units. I should note that I have been given a slight resource cost reduction for combat-capable starships. It also looks like I’ve also been notified that I’ve unlocked a wider selection of ship options. This brings up the question of whether we want each core to specialize, or if we want everyone to buy a little bit of everything,” Felicia said.

“I have a cost reduction for air mechs as well, and it should be mentioned that air mechs function just as well in space as they do on the ground,” Tucker added.

“Felicia, are you comfortable handling the bulk of our space combat?” Valery asked.

“I think I can handle that, one core directing the space units would be better than trying to coordinate among five different cores. I’ll spend the bulk of my resources on starships, so the rest of you will have to do the heavy lifting on the ground,” Felicia told them.

“I’m fine with that, perhaps each of us can build a smaller escort ship or two, just in case anything slips through Felicia’s fleet?” Hugh offered. He didn’t want to sit by and watch his ground units just be blasted to bits aboard their defenseless transports, but not having to spend the bulk of his resources on warships would allow him to have more of an impact in the ground battle that was inevitable.

“Okay, why don’t we go with this,” Valery started, pausing to calculate something. “Everyone spends 4500 points on ground units, whatever you think you can do the best with. Remember that once on the ground, there’s no guarantee we’ll be fighting together, so don’t skimp on a versatile army to focus on only one type of unit,” Valery offered.

“I’ll do the opposite, spending 4500 resources on ships, and the rest on a small ground component,” Felicia added.

“Good, is everyone agreed?” Valery asked. They all nodded their agreement and then began to dig into the interface. Hugh found out rather quickly that the space units available to him were very limited, giving him even fewer options than he had experienced with the simulation that he had run during his first visit to Harmony Station.

Space Capable Units:

1. Patrol boat, 25 resources, 5-minute buildout. With a modest thrust profile and poor maneuverability, the lightly armed and unarmored patrol boat is best suited to defending against pirates or chasing off air mechs.

2. Destroyer, 50 resources. A small yet powerful starship that features a powerful thrust profile and exceptional maneuverability. Lightly armored and without shield generators, the destroyer does possess a wide array of weapons, making them a dangerous foe if ignored by the larger opponents.

3. Cruiser, 150 resources. With a modest thrust and maneuverability profile, the cruiser brings a powerful combination of weapons to the fight. Backed up by a solid armor scheme and limited shield coverage, the cruiser can stay in the fight and take on lighter units with little trouble.

4. Battleship. 500 resources. Heavily armed, armored, and shielded, the battleship is hampered by a poor thrust and maneuverability profile. The weapons suite for the battleship is the most powerful of any vessel type.

5. Carrier. 500 resources. The carrier provides a home for spaceborne mechs to operate from. Most air mechs can function just as well in space as in the atmosphere. A carrier has limited shielding and armor but supports a powerful anti-mech battery.

6. Transport. 25 resources. Unarmed and unarmored, the transport must be protected if you want your forces to arrive safely to the battle. Each transport can carry up to 50 cargo units.

The options for his ground forces were even more limited, but it sounded like he would upgrade them and improve their tier as the battle progressed.

Ground forces. All your ground forces will start at level 1 and the opportunity to improve, specialize, and replenish their numbers will become available during the battle. Air mechs may be purchased now, despite this type of mech usually requiring a higher level of production structure. Any air mechs purchases will have their performance adjusted to reflect the starting level of 1.

1. Infantry mech, 10 resources. Each infantry mech requires 1 cargo unit to transport.

2. Light mech, 25 resources. Heavier mechs will become available as the battle progresses, allowing your light mechs to be upgraded to their more powerful kin. Each light mech requires 5 cargo units to transport.

3. Air Mech, 50 resources. Air mechs will have the chance to specialize and improve as the battle progresses. Each air mech requires 5 cargo units to transport, or they can be assigned as escorts, negating the need to transport them, but extending the time it will take them to rejoin your forces once you have deployed on the surface.

Hugh still didn’t know what would face him on the surface, but with only three different unit types to worry about, it did make things a bit simpler. He also had to balance building enough transports to haul them, while maintaining some kind of an escort force. Felicia would be purchasing a large fleet, and from what he knew, she had the skill and the personnel to fight them effectively, but if anything should get through her escorts, he wanted to have some way to strike back.

His force mix would lean heavily on infantry, but he wouldn’t skimp on light mechs, especially given that they would be needed if he wanted to upgrade them into more powerful units during the fight. Air mechs put him in a bit of a pickle. Hugh didn’t know how effective they would be initially, especially given the restrictions the GCA was placing on them to compensate for usually requiring a higher level to unlock. The ability to use them as escorts for his transports, not to mention the fact they didn’t take up cargo space made them more attractive than usual. After a bit of fiddling with the numbers, Hugh came up with what he thought was a balanced, yet effective force.

Units to be deployed:

1. Infantry mechs (400). Resources required, 2,000. Cargo units required, 400.

2. Light mechs (50). Resources required, 1,250. Cargo units required, 250.

3. Air mechs (25). Resources required, 1,250. Cargo units required, n/a, these units have been designated as escorts for your space forces.

4. Transports (13). Resources required, 325. Cargo units generated, 650.

5. Destroyers (2). Resources required, 100.

6. Patrol Boats (3). Resources required, 75.

Hugh went back and forth with a couple of different builds, wanting at first to have extra transport capacity so he could spread out his ground units a bit more and reduce the losses if a transport was destroyed. In the end, he decided to max out each transport in order to be able to field more escort vessels. Sure, it would be a bigger hit if he lost a transport, but he would also mitigate that risk by having more guns protecting them. Confirming his choices, Hugh rejoined the group who was being strangely quiet. Looking at the main display screen in the conference room, Hugh understood why they were all so engrossed. The display revealed the space around the battle world and several waves of starships appeared from deep space, engines burning as they began their attack. The Krixnas responded, and their much smaller fleet of ships headed toward the threat. The invasion had begun.