War Core, Chapter 5.

Chapter 5.

Hugh divided up his forces, assigning half the infantry mechs to each side of the resource gathering point. They were being cranked out a few at a time as each load of debris was gathered and processed. Normally, you never wanted to divide your forces, but the enemy couldn’t get at him without going through the resources station first and if the enemy attempted to take over the place, he would be in a good position to crush their depleted army.

He split his attention between the enemy army and the salvage operation. His drones were now working on the remains of the large mech. Being too heavy for the drones to carry, the large mech was cut down into several manageable chunks. When they dropped off the pieces, Hugh could see that the mech had been made of higher quality alloys than the lighter infantry mechs, giving him a nice bump in resources.

After his last mech was built and the unit point cap was reached, Hugh pulled five of his drones off salvage duty and assigned them to build a signal tower. It was delaying his command post upgrade a bit, but he felt more comfortable being able to field a larger army as the enemy now had fifteen mechs gathered at the resource station. Being a simple device, the signal tower went up even faster than the barracks had. Placed just behind his command post, the completed signal tower made Hugh feel a bit strange. He could feel his mind improve and expand as his ability to command more units activated.

Sending his drones back on salvage duty, Hugh queued up another ten infantry mechs, maxing out his unit point limit once more. The stalemate continued even as his reinforcements began to build. By the time his final unit was built, Hugh had fourteen infantry mechs stationed on either side of the resource station and his opponent had twenty. The resource station had also improved a bit, adding another defensive drone during that time, giving it a total of seven defenders in addition to the two turrets. He was left with no choice now but to wait for enough resources to be brought in to upgrade his command post. Sadly, the debris field was shrinking rapidly, and he guessed it would be nearly depleted by the time he had gathered enough to complete the upgrade.

The number of enemy units remained the same as Hugh pulled half of the drones off salvage duty to begin construction of the upgraded command post. The drones started by tearing out one of the walls and expanding the building out another twenty feet. Also, reinforcing beams were added to the walls, improving the overall durability of the place. Once the exterior and the internal reinforcement were complete, the drones started building and upgrading the machinery inside, both the communications half of the building and the factory portion got some attention.

It took longer to upgrade the command post than it had to build the barracks from scratch. When the final touches were complete and the building reactivated, Hugh felt the surge in power as his abilities improved. With the upgrade came an additional 100 unit points. To his surprise, the command post factory started up again as five more defenders began construction. That was good news, as the defenders didn’t consume any of his precious resources or unit point cap.

The debris field was now depleted, a couple of drones were scouring the place and picking up a few scraps, but he would be surprised if the place had more than a half dozen resource points left in it. He was down once again to his normal slow trickle of resources. Hugh pulled up his construction options now that he had upgraded the command post to level one.

Structures:

Command Post, level 1. Unit points (150/250).

Signal tower (1).

Barracks, level 0. Upgrade this structure for 200 resources.

Available Structures.

Light mech factory. The light mech factory allows for the production of vehicle-based mechs. The types and abilities of the mechs produced by this building depend on the War Core’s faction, the level of the building, and any victory perks chosen by the War Core. It requires 250 salvage to build a light mech factory.

Signal tower. You have gained the ability to build a second signal tower. The cost of a signal tower is 50 resources.

“This is getting more and more interesting,” Hugh whispered to himself while drooling over the ability to make mechs like the one he had just chopped up for salvage. His dreams of an unstoppable army of giant mechs were quashed when he looked at the paltry 217 resources that he had available. In addition to building the factory, he would also have to construct the mechs which were likely much more expensive to build than an infantry unit.

He had a choice to make, build up another signal tower and flood the battlefield with level zero infantry mechs, or take a risk and upgrade the barracks to see what new goodies it yielded. After upgrading the barracks, he would be left with seventeen resources, perhaps a few more would come in during the building process, giving him around four more infantry mechs he could build in addition to the upgrade. Somehow, Hugh didn’t think he could win with just the tier zero infantry mechs. His opponent had only shown a force of twenty mechs so far, which implied that they had gone with some improvement program if he assumed that they were gathering a similar number of resources as he was.

Crossing his fingers, though he couldn’t really feel them inside the giant metal box he was trapped in, Hugh activated the upgrade for his barracks. The five drones that had just finished the command post upgrade got to work. Like his command post, the drones started by expanding the walls out a few feet in every direction. Once that was done, they upgraded the single assembly line inside the place. It would still have only one production line, but Hugh could tell the tech now looked more advanced and the process was streamlined from what it had been before. When the building completed, a new message prompt appeared.

New unit unlocked: Infantry mech, level 1. The level one infantry mech has improved reactions and accuracy over the standard level 0 unit. Further upgrades can be constructed at the armory. It will take 1 additional resource per unit to bring your existing infantry mechs up to level 1 performance. New infantry mech construction will require 6 resources per unit.

New building addon unlocked, Armory. The armory upgrade to your barracks unlocks new options for your infantry weapons and mechs. The armory requires 100 resources to construct.

First off, Hugh wanted to upgrade his existing infantry mechs, making them more effective. With only twenty resources currently available, it would take some time for him to finish all of them, but the improvement just might be what he needed to gain an advantage over his foe. Selecting five of his drones, he assigned them to upgrade duty. They would start with the mechs on the right side of the resource point then work on the left side units. Hopefully, enough resources will come in by the time they were done to kit out the entire force. Once all his mechs were upgraded, he would have to decide whether to go with further upgrades or to just increase his numbers.

The right side mechs completed their upgrade and the drones were headed to start on the left when something new approached from the enemy side. A large mech stomped into view, walking on a pair of legs that bent the way a bird’s legs might. The legs were attached to an armored hull and atop the hull was a weapons turret. While the weapon didn’t look all that impressive, it was much larger than the rifles his infantry were using. Strangely, the shape of the weapon and even the vehicle itself were familiar somehow. Information displayed as he scrutinized the new foe.

T-7 light combat mech. A simple, lightly armored mech, the T-7 features a heavy infantry weapon of .50 caliber. The weapon can penetrate light armor and does well against all soft targets. Reasonably fast, the T-7 can outpace other infantry of its tier, letting it exploit gaps in defensive lines and run amok in rear areas. Unable to stand much punishment, the T-7 is best kept well away from hostile medium and heavy mechs.

So that was where his opponent had been spending all his resources. The machine was larger and more imposing than the infantry mechs, but was it good enough to beat his superior numbers? It looked like Hugh was about to find out as the light mech was joined by a second vehicle as well as another half dozen infantry. The odds weren’t looking quite as good now, and half his infantry mechs were still not upgraded. The drones were on their way to upgrade his force on the left, but even when they got there, he would only have enough resources on hand to upgrade ten or so of the fourteen infantry mechs stationed on that flank.

In an aggressive move, the enemy force began to close on the resource gathering station. The light mechs led the attack with the infantry following close behind. At nearly the same time, the turrets, and the T-7 mechs began to exchange fire. The turret’s scored first blood with a hit on the newly arrived mech. Staggering from the blow on its hull, the mech steadied itself as it returned fire. Hugh could see the round from the turret had penetrated the armored hull, but it must not have damaged anything vital. Still, the fact the armor wasn’t impervious to fire gave him hope. With a slightly higher rate of fire, both advancing mechs focused on the left side turret. Hits were scored and after the fourth volley, the turret fell silent.

The battle closed into rifle range and the infantry defenders poured their fire into the T-7’s, ignoring the attacking infantry for the time being. Hits mounted on one of the mechs even as the enemy infantry joined in the attack. Watching closely, Hugh could see the infantry weapons were damaging the lightly armored mech. While many hits were shrugged off, a few were getting through, especially at points on the armor that were already weakened by previous hits. A second hit by the defense turret punched through the armor of the more heavily damaged mech. The T-7 staggered once more, only this time; flames began to pour from the cracked armor. Toppling over on its side, the T-7 landed on and took out an attacking infantry mech.

Facing the entire focus of the enemy force, the second turret fell, the gun barrel shearing off from the hail of fire hitting it. Having taken out the heavier opposition, the attackers started in on the defending infantry mechs, who weren’t going to last long. Hugh had a decision to make and sitting and waiting wasn’t a viable option as it looked like the enemy would take the valuable resource station with minimal losses. All he could do at this point was press an attack and hope his improved infantry mechs were up to the task.

Hugh ordered his forces in, switching them all to attack mode. The last of the defenders had fallen just as his mechs entered the fight. Since they had been focused on the defenders, the enemy didn’t react all that quickly to the two approaching forces, allowing them to close into rifle range. Most of the enemy infantry cut toward his upgraded force on the right, while the light mech along with seven infantry turned to engage the others. The light mech began to pick off the non-upgraded infantry mechs one by one, the inaccurate return fire doing little to stop the more powerful machine. Fortunately, the supporting infantry was just as handicapped with their accuracy, leading Hugh to believe they were still level zero units.

On the right, the story was different. The enemy had sixteen of their infantry mechs heading toward his upgraded forces. Hugh ordered his infantry to stop, defending from a stationary position improved their accuracy even further as the initial volleys began to slam home. Three enemy mechs fell in the first volley, the return fire from the advancing foes resulting in only one glancing blow that did minor damage. As more shots rang out, it became apparent that his upgraded infantry had a slightly higher rate of fire as well as more accuracy.

The fight didn’t go all his way, five upgraded mechs fell by the time he had wiped out the opposing infantry. Ordering the upgraded mechs back on the attack, Hugh’s saw that his other troops were in trouble. The range had closed and the light mech continued to blast infantry mechs to scrap. His units seemed focused on the opposing infantry, eventually stripping away all but two by the time the last of his forces on that side fell. Hugh’s advanced mechs had now closed into range, their fire lancing out to destroy the final infantry mechs of his opponent. A battered T-7 mech turned to engage, its pockmarked hull and turret showing the signs of many hits as incoming rounds added to the damage total.

Once again, fire spewed forth when a shot from an infantry mech punched through a weakened section of armor. The T-7 mech fired a final shot before the flames consumed the turret and it exploded, blowing the turret off the unit. Hugh had only four infantry mechs remaining when he took control of the resource gathering station. With a flash of light, the valuable location changed to his control. He immediately ordered his drones to start gathering the resource containers that were stored there. The station had filled three of the resource containers, with a fourth partially full when the location changed hands.

Hugh found out the station was pulling resources up at the same rate of his own command post, which was to say, not very quickly. Still, there were over 150 resources on-site, not to mention mounds of salvage waiting to be collected, if he could hold onto it. The four survivors took defensive positions facing the direction the enemy had approached from. He assigned a drone to repair any damage his surviving infantry had, as well as a second drone to work on repairing the defensive turrets. Hugh wasn’t given any defending troops when he took over the resource station, but the turrets would prove a strong deterrent against a quick counterattack if he could get them into action.

He stared nervously at the canyon the enemy had emerged from, waiting for another wave of light mechs to come stomping out. Nothing approached as the first of his drones returned to the command post with resources and salvage to deliver. As his resource points ticked up, the drones then got to work with repairs and Hugh queued up more infantry. He had a unit point total of 250 and would max it out with infantry before making a push on the enemy if nothing showed up to attack him before then.

Enemy AI concedes the match. Congratulations, you have won this training match.

You will now face the Krixnas in a battle for control of system es1422. Good luck with your coming fight. The human War Core known as Major Hugh Logan will be returned to its home location, you have thirty minutes to prepare.

“Woah, I guess they weren’t kidding when they said I would have a shorter than normal training experience,”Hugh whispered to himself. It was time for the real deal, but he first wanted to stretch his legs and get something to eat. Thirty minutes wasn’t long, and he hoped that Mr. Smith and the military folks would be able to share more information and help him prepare this time.