Junior Pilots.
Can't live with 'em, can't hit them with a shovel and make them disappear (leaving only a suspiciously shaped mound in the back yard).
Mine are particularly inept. At least one has problems walking and breathing simultaneously.
There is something to be said for our form of mecha combat. It is very codified. Arm your mechs, put the equipment on, line up and charge. It's not rocket science.
Actually, that's wrong. The most successful players, be they Crystal or Niode based have honed their
tactics down to a form of black arts, whereby they can work out the best mix of equipment and weapons to get the very best from their available mechs and to put them into a formation that will give them the greatest advantage possible.
Their strategies involve spending priorities and resource gathering. They are our elite, our senior pilots.
Unlike my junior pilots, I would warrant that when confronted with a game of chess, our senior pilots would not rely on the use of wave tactics with their pawns to attempt to secure victory.
One thing I will say in defence of junior pilots is that they have persistence. Senior pilots would take the word 'no' as an actual answer, as opposed to an indication that I may not have understood the question and the should ask again in 5 minutes time.
Actually no, its not a defence. See above for the wish to be able to have some suspicious mounds in the back yard.
And so I found myself (reluctantly) allowing them to perform a new survival drill I may have picked up in the past month. The scenario is relatively simple. They and their associates are stuck with very limited weaponry and resources (especially no heavy mecha) and are being hunted by man sized killer robots.
Admitedly they did learn a few useful lessons, and I hope they stick.
When wielding a rocket launcher, do not stand in the open like a tit in a trance.
In fact let's just generalise and say that use of cover is a good thing. Full stop.
When confronted with a disarmed killer robot that you have already blown the legs off of, there are better things to do than close to within arms length of it.
Attempting to headbutt a killer robot when you have a perfectly good plasma gun in your hand is not going to do much for your life insurance premium.
At least they did learn one transferable skill.
The next time they are confronted by a senior pilot with his superior tactics and mecha and weaponry who just rolls over them, they can climb out of their wrecked cockpit.
And defiantly call after them, "I'll Be Back!!"
Cue heavy sighs all around...
Submitted by David McCallum : #701548