War Core Wednesday! War Core 2, Chapter 6.

Sorry it's late tonight, hope you enjoy the chapter. 

Chapter 6.

The second stage of the Ximkas Hegemony invasion of system px51a2 has begun, the attacker is making the following demands.

Ximkas Demands:

1. A maximum command post level of 10.

2. No air units.

3. No combat pod support.

4. Command post starting level of 5.

5. Normal resource flow.

6. Additional starting structures.

7. No pre-fight battlefield recon.

8. No starting force.

Their demands were quite a bit different from the first battle, the Ximkas requests for command post level, resource flow, starting structures, and starting force were more in line with what Hugh had asked for the first time. Were they trying to game the system somehow? Maybe by agreeing to some things upfront, the system would lend more weight to their other requests? It just might work given the loser of the first fight was thought to get extra consideration in the negotiations on the next battle. Hugh replied with his preferences.

Human Demands:

1. A maximum command post level of 5.

2. Air units.

3. Combat pod support.

4. Command post starting level of 1.

5. Enhanced resource flow.

6. No additional starting structures.

7. Pre-fight battlefield recon.

8. No starting forces.

Hugh wished he had a way to prioritize his choices, giving more weight to certain items, but doing so might just be used against him in some way. The lack of detail on what was going on behind the calculations was frustrating, but at least his opponent was under the same information blackout, at least he hoped it worked that way. It didn’t take long for the GCA to come up with a decision.

A battle parameter decision has been made. The following will be in effect for this fight. You will be fighting on the planet Xalcore12.

1. A maximum command post level of 5.

2. No air units.

3. Combat pod support is disabled.

4. Command post starting level of 5.

5. Enhanced resource flow.

6. Additional starting structures.

7. No pre-fight battlefield recon is active.

8. No starting forces.

War Cores, prepare for battle.

This wasn’t good, the one thing Hugh counted on the most, the soldiers in his combat pods, were being cut off for the fight. Sadly, they would still be required to risk their lives and crew the pods, but were just along for the ride as the AI did everything on its own. Without the soldiers’ expertise, he would be at a severe disadvantage. To make matters worse, he would have no idea about the layout of the battlefield and would have to rely on just what his mechs could see while stomping around.

The command post level was strange, locked at five for the entire fight. It was the highest he had used so far and would finally unlock his medium mechs. The mechs would give him more firepower, but the enemy would also have improved units. The Ximkas equivalent of a level five mech was a slightly larger version of the mechs he had fought earlier, but it sported two of the stinger-type weapons they used. Much like his own units, the Ximkas had several upgrades they could invest resources to unlock, making their units even deadlier than normal.

While he hurled through space toward the battlefield, Hugh ignored the incredible sights of the galaxy around him and concentrated on figuring out how to fight this battle without the help of his soldiers. He could take some consolation in the fact the enemy mechs would be without pilots, limiting their effectiveness. They would hold the advantage on durability and firepower, but he would have numbers and speed. It would have to be enough as the planet they were fighting on was rapidly coming into view.

Hugh tried to scout out as much as he could while his war core approached the battlefield. It wasn’t much, but he did spot that the battlefield would be a series of canyons and his command post would be set on an elevated plateau with a ramp leading down into the twisting canyon area. He linked into the command post, feeling a much bigger facility coming online as Hugh exerted his influence over the structures he’d been granted, taking a moment to review what he had to work with.

Current Battle Information:

Command post, level 5. (Unit points, 5/500). Further upgrades are not available for this battle.

Resources: 250.

Units:

Construction drones: 0/5.

Combat units:

None

Defensive Garrison: 0/50.

Additional Structures.

Barracks, level 5 with armory addon. No further upgrades are available.

Light mech factory, level 5 with machine shop addon. No further upgrades are available.

Medium mech factory with foundry addon, level 5. No further upgrades are available.

Signal tower (0/5). A signal tower requires fifty resources to construct and provides 50 unit points.

Hugh now was in control of a fully upgraded level five base, and he liked what he saw. The command post was huge and in the center of the structure, twin assembly lines were already working on producing his initial five construction drones. The defensive garrison forces would start building after that, but before they started, he wanted to beef up his construction force. Hugh queued up an additional twenty construction drones, getting them in the build order ahead of the garrison mechs.

He would need troops, but first, it wasn’t a bad idea to try and get the lay of the land. Using a trick that Maddison taught him, Hugh sent his first pair of construction drones out to do some recon. If he had been given some pre-battle recon time, he wouldn’t have risked the resources to do this, but with no idea of what awaited him out there, Hugh wanted eyes out there and drones were the most efficient way to do that. The first two drones walked through the base, traversing the plateau his structures were placed on before descending the ramp into the canyon.

While they went about their business, he would need to start building up some forces. Five-hundred unit points were a lot to work with, and he began his force with a platoon of infantry which would give him forty infantry and a pair of weapons teams. To support them, a platoon of four light mechs were queued up, the factories starting their work as Hugh checked out what he could build with his first medium mech factory.

M4 Sherman. The Sherman medium tank is a flexible chassis that allows for extensive upgrades based on the needs of the war core. Research at the foundry addon can unlock variants to fill specific roles in your order of battle. An M4 medium mech requires one hundred resources and fifty unit points.

Hugh saw the schematic for the unit. He had been granted some of the higher-level medium tanks in his fight against the Krixnas, but these were a bit more basic. A single 75mm main gun was much more powerful than the fifty cal on his old T-7’s. In addition, the Sherman had a single thirty caliber machinegun mounted on the front hull, adding to its firepower. The armor scheme was modest, nothing close to what the Ximkas had on their units, but it would stand up much better and not be a guaranteed one-shot kill against the accurate Ximkas weapons. Expensive as they were, Hugh didn’t hesitate to order a pair.

His resource balance wouldn’t hold up to his build requests, but the units would roll out as the resources were gathered. Having all three factories working created a hive of activity inside his base. To his surprise the light mechs coming off the line looked nothing like the T-7’s he was used to, it appeared that the level five factory had automatically upgraded them to a more effective standard light unit, which thankfully, cost the same in both resources and unit points.

M3 Stuart Light Mech. The M3 light mech is an upgrade over the earlier units in your arsenal. Having improved armor and weaponry, the M3’s top speed is less than that of the T-7, but it makes up for it with better maneuverability. A 37mm main gun is accurate with good reload speed and a variety of secondary armaments are available based on your mech’s level and researched upgrades.

The new light mech was a good combat unit in addition to being a fast scout. With a cannon as the main armament, the range should be improved. At level five it sported a thirty-caliber coaxial machinegun, allowing the light mech to hit above its weight class. As the first ones made their way down the assembly line, Hugh could see the two-legged design for a light mech was kept, but the hull and turret seemed more substantial to him. It was still better suited to scouting and harassment, and he couldn’t go toe to toe with a Ximkas light mech, but it should cut through the construction drones of the enemy easily.

Attached to the medium mech factory, the foundry addon had a slew of new upgrades available for Hugh to peruse, but before he could dig into the interface, one of his construction drone scouts went offline. A quick check showed that his drone had ventured too close to a group of neutral mechs that were guarding a debris field. Unlike his other encounters with the neutral mechs in other battles, these didn’t seem content to give up the fight once his drone was destroyed. The five bizarre mechs were rolling a pretty good clip directly toward his base. His newly upgraded units were about to get their first taste of combat.