War Core, Chapter 3.

Chapter 3.

Hugh’s view zoomed into the building he had been told was his command post. The building’s interior looked like it was filled on one side with an automated factory. Robotic construction arms were sticking out and the machinery idled with a low rumble. On the other side of the command post was a wall of communications gear, large antenna and radar-like devices extended through the building to the outside. Inside the factory half of the building, the machinery roared to life, the robotic arms began pulling up blocks of material from a storage area beneath them, placing them on a conveyor system. As the material made its way through the assembly line, it began to take shape. By the time it reached the end, the drone-like device was complete and moving about on spider-shaped legs.

Your command post has activated for the first time in this scenario. Typically, the queue for initial buildout includes five construction drones and whatever initial defensive forces you have unlocked for your command post. Your command post is level 0, as such, it will produce a defensive force of five infantry mechs. These units will upgrade automatically as the command post upgrades and will move randomly about your main base to defend it from any threats. Defensive forces cannot be commanded directly and will follow automated programming to defend your structures, they do not take away from your control limit and are replenished automatically over time without the consumption of resources. Their effectiveness will increase as your command post improves during the battle.

It was bizarre, he could feel the drones in his mind and knew he had some control over them. The machines were the size of a dishwasher and could be used to build almost anything as long as he had the resources to do so. Wait, what are these resources and how did he know about that?

Query accepted. Resources are the raw material provided by the GCA on a battle world. They are used to build the structures and units that a War Core researches. Each command post will be fed a trickle of resources that will never run out. Other resource nodes and caches you may find on the battlefield contain a finite amount of resource material.

Query response. You are integrated into the War Core. Innate basic knowledge has been loaded into your Core to speed the familiarization process. Note that only limited responses are allowed during your training scenario and not all questions will be answered.

It was true, Hugh could feel several things banging around in his head, knowledge about the battles he would have to fight and the types of units and buildings he could construct. The process was similar to several video games he had played in the past, not to mention that in the Army he was a 57A, Army Simulations Operations Officer. It was his job to help run field exercises and prepare troops and their leaders for deployment. Thinking about it, that might be one of the reasons he was on this GCA group’s radar. This whole War Core thing was like a wargame, only he felt like he was actually on this world, and the things he was making were real machines and buildings. Could this all be some advanced simulation in virtual reality?

Query response. This is not a virtual reality scenario. Your War Core is here on the conflict world and you are building actual structures and mechs with the resources you have gathered. The simulation will now continue, hold questions for a later time. Please take a moment to adjust your point of view and familiarize yourself with its function.

Hugh found he was now in control and could move his view around with a thought. It took some time to find the right balance between zoom levels that he felt comfortable with. As he zoomed out, the land around his command post lit up, showing him the area that he controlled. He would have room for several more structures inside his zone of control. A menu flashed into view showing tabs for personal information and current battle information. Hugh selected personal information first.

Major Hugh Logan, War Core, Tier 0.

Reward Points, (0/100)

Perks: none.

Impairments: Truncated training regimen.

Okay, that was his War Core, not very impressive but he was just getting started. Part of the automatically downloaded information let him know that reward points were earned in battle and could be used to improve his War Core. As his War Core improved, he would unlock new abilities and advantages to use during the various battles he would fight in. Once he finished looking at his personal information, Hugh pulled up the current battle tab.

Current Battle Information

Resources: 75.

Structures:

Command post Level 0. Unit points (5/100).

Units:

Construction drones (5/5).

Combat Units: None.

Once he finished with his review, another set of menu options appeared in front of him. Thankfully, he found that once he had explored a new option, it faded away a bit and did not take up too much of his field of vision. The new tabs were structures and unit construction. He selected structures first.

Available Structures:

Barracks Level 0. The barracks requires 100 resources to construct. The barracks allows the production of infantry mechs. As the structure levels, the units produced will be improved. At Level 1, the armory addon can be constructed. The armory will allow you to expend resources for further upgrades as well as unlocking several options to specialize your infantry mechs.

Signal tower. Requires 50 resources to construct. The signal tower increases the number of unit points you have by 50. Unit points are required to command your various forces and once you reach your cap, no further units may be produced. The initial limit for signal towers is one. An additional signal tower can be constructed each time your command post increases in level.

He selected unit construction next.

Units Available for construction:

Construction Drones. These drones build structures, repair damage, and install upgrades. A construction drone consumes 5 resources to build and requires 1 unit point.

He needed to build a barracks if he wanted to have some combat units, instinctively feeling this was what the tutorial wanted him to do. His available resources were at 75 and he figured it was originally at 100 until the command post built his first batch of construction drones. Thankfully, the infantry mech defenders that were just now coming off the assembly line, didn’t cost him resources. They were tied into the structure itself and their improvements would be included in the resource cost of further command post upgrades.

Additional resources have been allocated to your War Core to speed up the tutorial.

His resource total jumped to 150. It had trickled up by a couple of points while he had gone through his menus, but the baseline resource gain from his command post would be a pittance. With the abundance of resources, he queued a barracks for construction right next to his command post. The five drones scurried out after grabbing blocks of resource material. Once at the site he had designated, they began to build, the various tools mounted to the drones’ bodies went to work at an astounding pace. In less than a minute, the foundation had been laid down and the exterior walls started to go up. While the exterior was being constructed, a pair of drones inside the barracks began to build more machinery looked like a smaller version of the assembly line in his command post. A notification in his mind triggered when the building was done and ready to begin production.

Barracks: Level 0. Barracks level cannot exceed the command post level.

Units available.

Infantry mech. These standard fighting units consume 5 resources to build and require 5 unit points each.

Hugh queued up ten infantry mechs to be built, nearly cleaning him out of resources and using up half of his available unit points. His command post defenders had already finished construction, and looking at them, he had an idea of what he was working with. The mechs were the size and shape of a human. Made from an alloy frame, they could move at the pace of a fast walk. Simple AI’s would control them in a fight since there were no combat pods involved in this scenario. The mechs were armed with a rifle that integrated into the mech’s right arm. The left arm was a simple metallic arm with five fingers. Perhaps further upgrades would improve his infantry, but for now, they had a basic, no-frills look.

You have produced your first combat units. To complete the scenario, you must destroy the command post of your opponent. A resource cache is situated midway between your two bases, control it to gain an advantage in the battle.

Off in the distance, perhaps a mile away, Hugh could see another command post that was the mirror image of his. Five infantry mechs walked about the perimeter, but there were no structures other than the main command post. By the time that his last infantry mech was built, the enemy base had begun construction of a barracks. He needed to get a move on to exploit the advantage he had over the enemy.

Directly between the two bases, a small area had been cleared and a pile of barrels and crates were stacked under a tarp. Protecting the cache were two armored turrets mounted in towers, one of which was oriented on his command post and the other on his opponent’s. Hugh didn’t know what kind of weapons the turrets had, but they were much larger than the rifles his mechs carried. Still, he needed those resources, and it was best to try and grab them now while his enemy was still working on building up their base. He found he had limited control over his forces, he could order them to attack, fall back, or defend a specific point. He would need the soldiers in the combat pods to make them more effective. With a thought, he set his ten infantry mechs to attack mode and set them to attack as far as the resource cache. After they took the objective they would revert to defensive mode and protect the immediate area.

His mechs stomped their way toward the objective in a clump, no formation, or bounding overwatch using the available cover, just a blind advance toward the objective. Overlay’s in his view could be filtered with different information, one setting included the weapons range of his units. He left the overlay active, though in a larger battle it might become distracting. His mechs were nearly inside rifle range when the turret closest to his units opened fire. Hugh wasn’t sure what kind of weapon it was, but it left a burning streak that almost resembled a laser. The rate of fire wasn’t very high, and the first rounds were off target. The automated defenses soon corrected their aim, and the first hits landed on his lead mech.

The blast hit the lead mech in the hip, tearing a chunk of its right leg off and rendering it immobile. The following shots missed as the mech landed prone. Once it realized the mech was down, the turret switched to another target. His second mech went down to a headshot, the heavy blast from the turret burning completely through. As the turret swiveled toward its next victim, his mechs entered firing range. Eight cracks sounded out and red streaks of fire lanced out toward the turret. Two of the shots hit and the rest were nowhere close. His infantry mechs would need an upgrade to accuracy if he wanted to win against a live opponent. The shots from his mechs that did hit melted into the armor that protected the turret but didn’t penetrate.

A third mech went down and then a fourth as the second turret joined in. His return fire was thinned by the losses, but he could see it was getting more accurate as the range decreased. The first turret stopped firing as the rifles of his infantry mechs burned through the armor, hitting something vital inside the weapon. Hugh watched with gathering concern as his force was whittled down to three, then two mechs. He was down to a single mech when the second turret was finally silenced. The weapon’s barrel had been hit, bending it a slight angle, and preventing it from firing.

You have gained control of resource cache 1.

Hugh watched and waited for his resource count to increase, but nothing was happening. He started to worry as the enemy barracks was nearly done and he only had enough resources on hand to build two replacement infantry units, which he had already started. I’m an idiot Hugh thought to himself as he realized he needed to go get the resources and the GCA wasn’t going to use its technology voodoo to give it to him as they had earlier. Selecting his different buildings didn’t do anything, but once he selected his drones, new menu options appeared.

Drone commands:

1. Repair damage to structures.

2. Build a structure.

3. Gather resources.

4. Repair units.

5. Gather salvage.

He selected gather resources on all five of his drones, the machines began to move toward the supply cache. Hugh noticed that the infantry mech that had been his first casualty was still functional—it was currently dragging itself toward the supply cache—he switched one drone over from gathering salvage to the repair setting. Selecting repair allowed him to choose what area they should perform the duties in. Hugh picked the area from his base to the supply cache. The drone made a beeline toward his damage mech and once it arrived, the infantry mech stopped its slow crawl towards the supply cache and allowed the drone to effect repairs. Two resources had trickled in by the time this happened, and one of those points was used up to make repairs on his damaged mech.

The four drones tasked with gathering resources each grabbed a crate or barrel and headed back to the command post. They would have to bring the resources into the building to process them for use. He didn’t know how much time he had to plunder, the enemy was already at four mechs constructed and more were being built by the minute. On a whim, he selected the idle drone and picked repair damage to structures, selecting the turrets that had defended the supply cache. It looked like both were now under his control since the location was his, and they could be repaired. Picking the one closest to the enemy base, he started the drone on it. It dutifully scrambled to the defensive turret and began to work, only to stop after twenty seconds. It was just standing there doing nothing.

His resources had bottomed out to zero, preventing the drone from doing its thing. Hugh would have to wait until the other drones dropped off the gathered resources before he could complete repairs. Wishing his drones would move faster, Hugh watched as the eighth and ninth infantry mechs from the enemy were completed. His two replacement mechs had joined up with the two survivors, one of which was the recently repaired mech. Another point of resource trickled in from the command post and his repair drone got back to work. It worked for another twenty seconds before stopping again.

The drones hauling the salvage were almost back to the command post, but his time was up, and the enemy mobs were on the move. Ten strong, their numbers matched his first force, leading Hugh to believe the enemy base had the same starting resources he had begun with. The first drone returned to the command post as the enemy reached the halfway point to the supply cache. His resource count jumped, eventually leveling off at fifty, the sum of what had been inside the crate the drone had been carrying. The repair drone went back to work and was able to finish up the first turret just as the enemy entered range. After tasking the drone to begin repairs on the second turret, Hugh queued up the barracks to queue up enough infantry mechs to max out his unit points.

His newly repaired defensive turret went into action, blasting away at the approaching enemy. It was able to take down one mech before the enemy closed into rifle range. Return fire streaked in even as his own infantry mechs joined the fight. The enemy was down to six mechs when their combined fire silenced the turret. His four mechs were outnumbered and began to fall one by one. Before the last mech fell, the repairs on the second turret were completed and it went into action. His dutiful was already marching back toward the recently damaged one. The supporting turret fire turned the tide and Hugh was able to finish off the last enemy attacker even though the turret had sustained some damage.

Hugh had the advantage. He held the resource cache, which his drones were still harvesting, and he had a pair of defensive turrets to assist his mechs. The enemy produced a pair of mechs that it held at the base on defense. Without any of the supplies in the cache, the enemy only had the trickle of resources coming in from their command post. By the time Hugh had gathered nineteen infantry mechs—reaching his unit point limit—the enemy had only nine when he included the five defenders that spawned with the command post.

His mechs marched forward, brushing aside the defenders with superior numbers before directing their fire on the barracks. The building took a while to destroy, but the mechs never seemed to run out of ammo and their weapons could damage structures if they fired repeatedly in the same spot. More solidly built, the command post took a while to destroy, but it also fell, triggering a notification.

Congratulations, you have completed your familiarization training. The first training mission will now activate. Fight well, you will not have an advantage over the AI-controlled enemy in this fight.

Without even a debrief, Hugh was pulled from this world and sent hurtling toward the next battle, a battle that sounded like it wouldn’t be quite as easy as this one had been.