War Core, Chapter 15.

Chapter 15.

Hugh did a quick assessment of his options. The unit upgrades were enticing, but he didn’t want to focus on a unit type only to be thrown into battles where they were banned. Structure upgrades for efficiency and defense were contenders given the nature of his prior battles. Under the War Core options, all four looked good. After thinking things over as the timer ticked down, Hugh decided the best option, given the limited information the GCA was providing, would be to go with upgraded resources…whatever that meant. Improved gathering or starting resources would be beneficial in any mission and useful with any mission type.

War Core resource upgrade selected. This upgrade will improve the resource gathering rate from your command post and any resource stations under your control. In addition, extra resource containers may be generated near your command post depending on certain mission parameters.

It was about what he expected, and Hugh would have to see if it made any impact in future battles. Once his decision was made, the GCA hurled him from the planet he was on and sent him back to the undersea base. Smith and the admiral were waiting for him when he arrived. A technician monitoring his War Core gave them a thumbs-up as the readout showed Hugh was back with them.

“Well done Hugh, you took a risk and it paid off,” Smith said.

“Thanks, but Madison was the one that gave me the idea and Captain Tran executed it. Without either of them, I don’t think we could have done it,”

“Good to see you acknowledge the efforts of the rest of your team. Too often officers get the idea that their victories are a result of only their work. Let’s get a debrief started as soon as possible. The GCA seems to be speeding up the process with this invasion for some reason,” the admiral told him before he and Smith left in the direction of the conference room they were using.

He had missed the soldiers leaving their pods at the end of the mission and before he joined the debrief, Hugh made the rounds across the combat bay. Somehow the name of the chamber popped itself into his head, another quirk of the GCA. Still, the name made sense as the area housed the combat pods. Row after row of combat pods showed the solid green light indicating everything was functioning. He hadn’t lost anyone in this battle and wouldn’t have to place any new names on his list of the fallen.

“All right people, what went well and what can we improve on?” The admiral asked the assembled team.

“Duh, we won the battle, I’d say that went right,” Madison said, goading the admiral. To his credit the admiral kept his calm, the young expert failed her attempt to break his military bearing.

“Brilliant as always Madison,” the admiral said sarcastically. “We won, but what did we do that secured that win?”

“An early rush caught the enemy unprepared and Captain Tran pushed the attack home with skill,” Hugh added.

“Well, Hugh hit the nail on the head, we did something the enemy didn’t expect. As far as what to improve on, we’ll need to keep varying our strategy to match the battlefield. I have a feeling the Krixnas will be prepared for another rush,”

“Exactly, but can we move this debrief along and get to the good stuff,” Madison said.

“And just what do you consider to be the good stuff?” Admiral Nix asked.

“Planning for various battlefield conditions and battle types. We need to bring Hugh up to speed on the other things he might face in his next fight. The GCA loosened our restrictions a bit so let’s get to it before they yank him away again,” Madison said.

“I agree, let’s go over what we know so far,” Captain Tran added.

“Very well, give him the shortlist of what he can expect captain,” the admiral ordered.

“Since both you and the Krixnas War Core are newcomers to the GCA way of warfare, I think they have purposely kept things easy as far as battlefield conditions go. From here on out, with each side having a win, we can expect things to escalate. You’ll have to start thinking about integrating air, sea, and space assets,” Captain Tran said.

“But what kind of units and buildings are we talking about?” Hugh asked. The Airforce representative, Captain Tremaine, replied to his question.

“Aircraft are typically VTOL mechs with varying levels of armor and armaments. They fight best in the air but can land and engage from the ground when needed. Early levels of units give recon ability and very limited combat capabilities while a high tier heavy assault craft force can devastate the opposition. You’ll typically see four types of craft, recon, fighter, tactical assault craft, and heavy assault craft.

“They do what you’d expect them to, recon surveys the battlefield. Fighters are good at engaging other aircraft, and tactical assault craft holds a place similar to that of a helicopter gunship. Heavy assault craft carry the most armor of any flying mech but are slow and vulnerable to fighters,” Tremaine said.

“Okay, but what about space and sea?” Hugh asked.

“Hold up,” Madison interrupted, to the annoyance of everyone around the table. “Let’s go over the types of battles before we get into the weeds on unit types. We also should cover some basic strategies that have been successful against other opponents,”

“Fine, that does make sense, carry on, Madison,” the admiral told her.

“Good, I’ll carry on sir,” Madison said with a mock salute.

“The most common type of battle is the elimination fight which is the type of battle you’ve experienced so far where both sides build up their forces and attempt to destroy the enemy command post. While the battles can vary in size, they follow a normal progression. We’ve also had multi-stage fights were the battle starts in space, then proceeds to land combat, with the space victor given an advantage—usually fire support—over their opponent,” Madison said, stopping to take a drink of coffee.

“What happens in the space fight?” Hugh asked, visions of various science fiction space battles flowed through his head.

“Like everything else the GCA does, it changes. Typically, you and the opponent will get a set amount of resources to build your fleet. You can spend them how you like, upgrading the main command post, which is kind of like a big space station, and building ships. You’ll have to balance upgrades and unit production. You don’t want to be at a higher tier than your opponent only to find out you can only field one small ship. From what the other War Cores have told us, the GCA will usually run you through a short tutorial before you start your first space battle,” Madison told him. Hugh was a bit worried that the truncated training penalty might apply here as well, he had no idea how to run a space battle.

“For the naval stuff, you’ll get ship mech’s which are kind of cool, especially if you go for land walking upgrades. The Japanese War Core totally wrecked their opponent once by surprising them with a full naval build and only limited ground defenses. Just imagine a mech version of the battleship Yamato walking around slinging plasma cannon blasts at everything. Oh, sorry,” Madison said, getting carried away until she noticed the admiral’s glare.

“Back on track, in a battle with naval components. You’ll have to balance not only land production, but air, and sea with the resources you have. Neglect any one of the three and you could be in trouble but focusing on one aspect can win the fight at times,” Madison explained.

“One thing I should mention,” Smith said, breaking into the conversation. “As you gain tiers as a War Core, you’ll often be granted pre-battle briefings with varying amounts of information and the chance to work with your advisors before the fight starts,”

“That would be good, I keep having to go in blind and I’m never sure what you’re allowed to tell me and what the GCA is filtering,” Hugh replied. His thoughts were interrupted by a prompt appearing in his line of sight.

The Krixnas War Core has accepted a disadvantage in order to activate the next battle. Battle negotiations will commence shortly.

“Did you guys see that? Is accepting a disadvantage really a thing?” Hugh asked. The advisors looked confused as he relayed what the notice said.

“I’ve only seen it once before, but you can shape parameters of the fight if you place yourself at a disadvantage. For some reason, the Krixnas want’s another crack at you before we can go over much…” Smith was cut off mid-sentence as Hugh was pulled from the meeting and into the negotiation.

The final stage of the Krixnas invasion of system es1422 is initiated. The winner of this battle will control the system. Should the defender succeed, this system cannot be attacked for one year. The attacker has accepted a moderate disadvantage in order to select the type of battle and will also be granted greater consideration of their initial demands.

Krixnas Demands:

1. Max command post level, 5.

2. No unit type restrictions.

3. No combat pod support.

4. Command post starting level, 5.

5. Enhanced resource flow.

6. Additional starting structures.

7. No pre-fight battlefield recon.

So, the Krixnas has picked the type of battle they would be fighting, and Hugh’s negotiation selections wouldn’t be given as much weight. He had to play this smart and think about the enemy’s demands. Hugh was still unsure of the details of negotiation and had a feeling that the system would give some of his choices more consideration if he agreed to a few of the Krixnas demands.

Deciding to test his theory, he would accept some of the Krixnas demands to get a better chance of approval for his most critical needs. He figured the most important to him would be keeping the combat pod support. His officers and soldiers were good at their jobs and seemed to have an advantage over the Krixnas commanders. He also didn’t want to jump into higher tier units without more practice, so he would try to cut back the starting level if possible, to give him time to adjust to the new units.

Human Demands:

1. Max command post level, 5.

2. No unit type restrictions.

3. Combat pod support.

4. Command post starting level, 0.

5. Enhanced resource flow.

6. Additional starting structures.

7. No pre-fight battlefield recon.

The GCA took it’s time as it weighed the options. Sadly, they didn’t tell him what the penalty his opponent had was. Hugh wanted to do a pre-battle recon, but since the Krixnas already knew the type of battle, he didn’t want them to get a peek of the actual battlefield ahead of time.

A battle parameter decision has been made. The following restrictions and advantages are implemented for this fight.

1. Max command post level, 5.

2. No unit type restrictions.

3. Combat pod support is granted.

4. Command posts will start at level 2.

5. Enhanced resource flow.

6. Barracks, a light mech factory, and one signal tower will be pre-constructed.

7. No Pre-fight battlefield recon.

Battle world selected. You will be fighting on the planet Ix0071. This is a defensive last stand land battle with supportive terrain.

This is your first battle of this type. A defensive last stand battle pits the opponents against waves of increasingly stronger GCA generated forces. The last command post standing is the victor. The terrain favors the defenders and assaulting the opponent's command post will be difficult. Instead of direct assault, look for battlefield opportunities to gain an advantage for your forces. The Human War Core is no longer under the truncated training impairment. The Krixnas has waived the penalty as part of their disadvantage package. A short example of this type of fight will now be displayed for informational purposes.

Hugh’s vision was pushed toward another war world, this time he was only an observer as he watched two other War Cores fight out a defensive stand battle. One of the command posts looked similar to his own. Information downloaded into his core let him know this was a prior battle including the Japanese War Core and an alien race called the Jurladinone. The Jurladinone command post wasn’t as different as the Krixnas ones appeared. It was like the human’s factory structure only it had a more graceful and almost delicate appearance.

Both opponents were placed at opposite sides of a valley, jagged mountains providing a natural barrier around the battlefield. Both command posts were separated by rough terrain that was teeming with neutral forces. Each core got to work, pumping out and upgrading troops. A pair of resource stations were nearby as well as a debris field for additional salvage. Hugh watched his human ally closely, curious what he was doing differently.

His view blurred as the replay was fast-forwarded. Both sides had built up a considerable force, taking over the outlying resource locations and building fixed defenses. Trench lines ran around each of the outlying resource locations, and the Japanese War Core had infantry along with support units manning them. Their infantry mechs were somewhat different as well, including not only the normal pulse rifle arm his mechs had, but also a melee weapon in the form of either a long-bladed spear or a sword resembling a high-tech katana.

The enemy infantry mechs walked on four legs and seemed to be armed with only a long spear-like weapon. Neither side had light mechs or air units, they must have been banned for the fight. As Hugh watched, two identical armies marched out of the mountainous borders and into the valley below, attacking both bases. Before he got a good look at the fight, the view forwarded again, this time he found himself at the end stages of the battle.

Each side had taken a beating, the outer resource gathering stations and debris fields were destroyed, recaptured by the GCA controlled attackers. A final wave was pushing toward each base, supported by artillery fire from somewhere outside the battlefield. Rounds crashed down on the Japanese defensive trenches, blowing the occasional infantry mech to bits. Hardened bunkers were placed at intervals along the line, bunkers that seemed to hold up well to the incoming fire. Marching out of the mountains was an unending horde of mechs, this would be over soon one way or the other. The GCA had decided to use mechs resembling each opponent’s army in this fight. The Jurladinone were being attacked by different versions of human mechs while the Japanese War Core faced off against the four-legged Jurladinone, whose spears also contained a deadly-accurate ranged weapon.

The outer defenses for both sides were overrun, the Japanese commander pulling back to a line of bunkers right in front of his command post. His picture of the battle forwarded again to the end. The Japanese command post was severely battle damaged but still standing, while the Jurladinone was nothing but rubble. Hugh watched as the few remaining infantry mechs emerged from their bunkers, one walking to the command post alongside a drone. The drone repaired a destroyed flagpole that had stood in front of the command post. Once its repairs were complete, the drone stepped back and handed the infantry mech a large piece of cloth. Sheathing his broken sword, the infantry mech attached the flag and raised it slowly over the command post.

The rising sun flew victorious over the battlefield. Now it was Hugh’s turn to defend humanity.