Hip Actuator Equipment Review

For mecha 0-25 tons we have this chassis equipment piece, which will cost you 128 Ferrite, 200 Bioptics, and 9 Niodes. All it does is give you a dodge of (12). Small tonnage, small price, small bonuses but very important for mecha combat. Don't wanna get hit? Move out of the way! That is exactly what these are all about, getting out of the way of the enemy.

 No frills, no extras, just simple move potential. If only all equipment pieces could be so straightforward. On a light ton mecha this could make you pretty fast, and have you out of enemy's sights if done right. Or possibly even stacked. It's pretty much a bargain at this low price it has on it.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Riot Gear Equipment Review

For mecha 55-80 tons this shielding will run you 1,093 Ferrite, 418 Bioptics, and 41 Niodes. For all that you get Trample Shield at 12%, Projectile vulnerable at 3%, Fire Vulnerable at 6% and Shield at (18). Seems like a rip off really,  granted the vulnerabilities are really insignificant, and can be covered by other shields but that is more of an investment to cover what weaknesses supposedly superior niode shields should cover.

You expect such shoddy work on crystal shields but in one you are shelling out niodes for? Okay granted it is versatile for the different weight classes, and yes trample shield is  real good thing at the higher end depth of the pool. However are you really going to want to shell out niodes for a piece of equipment you are probably going to have to shell out more niodes for, just to cover its drawbacks, and use up shielding slots on? This one is up to the individual pilot as are the chances they take with it. As I said the damage is pretty insufficient for the weaknesses here, but you are taking up a shield slot that could better be used by another more effective piece of equipment. The choice as always is yours.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224354

The Galaxy Raids Again

The Galaxy is hard at work on raids again, another Drochah lead contingent is making a go at the various participants of the latest Clan Wars. Most have gathered their resources and mechs to repel the invaders regardless of position at the end of Clan Wars. The main question is simply what the hell does this Forerunner want? Does he wish to rule the galaxy, enslave it, simply prove he is better than all the factions and clans put together? Whichever it is honestly he is doing a poor job of proving whatever point he is trying to make as reports are coming in that he, and his forces are being pushed back across the galaxy.

The major factions are employing various loyal clans to do their dirty work, paying them based on kills. That alone is incentive enough for most to obliterate any and all opposition. It seems the Forerunner in charge of these skirmishes thinks it is a good idea to attack right after Clan Wars. In theory this is when most should be at their weakest, healing up pilots, and repairing mecha. However this has been a bad idea time and time again as most clans are ready, willing, and more than able to repel the invasion, often times with new mechs or weapons won from Clan War battles. Makes you wonder just how smart a Forerunner really is. We have seen tales of the madman Kellek, his no more sane opponent Roah and have been floored by the insanity and lack of morals. If either of those two were to attack there is little doubt the Galaxy would be in peril. We however have to deal with Drochah, arguably one of the least tactically knowledgeable, and quite possibly the dumbest Forerunner. Although if ego and stupid statements were weapons Drochah may have beat everyone already, or most certainly bored us all to death.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Dancing Lights

A cacophony of alarms & alerts suddenly roused my mind from a peaceful thought of something far removed from metal & machine. The irritating noise was joined instantly by dozens of dancing lights illuminating the entire spread of the HUD as targeting sensors blinked to life. I remind myself that peace as always is only a fleet footed illusion best kept in check with cold hard ferrite.

Communications chatter pours in as scouts report the final combat assessments of incoming hostiles. Taking a shallow breath & closing my eyes I take a quick last scan of my surroundings as they are, so serene & stunning while being untouched by the claws of man or mecha. I take one last moment to appreciate the beauty & peace.

Punching the audio to silence the racket I survey those foolish enough to raise their weapons against us.

Torrent 1 fires a Big Bertha to greet our new friends & the high density cannon round scores a hit as a Force Rocket sheers past me but misses all of its potential targets & my entire formation. As expected our new friends are not messing around & I further welcome them with a Twin Grazer’s perfectly described “extinction event” & bag my first kill for the night.

I slowly grin as my first line of Torrents opens the enemy like a welding arc sent from the stars themselves. I pop my cockpit to survey the now battle scarred & scorched vista with my own naked eyes. Much sooner than I expected nothing is left but fresh remains of twisted burning metals mingled with the rising smoke plumes.

There is a time for peace & now is not the time, the time will come with death.

Another valid target blinks to life on the HUD as the cockpit closes & the flush of fresh air lacks any luster without the odor of burnt ferrite. Auto repair systems have already done their work & the next scrap yard in waiting comes into sight. Somehow I think the next few days could be long but not as long as the next few nights. Gleefully I down another Hatoraide & continue my assaults.

When all was shot & done proudly I looked around me at the efforts my brothers & sisters had once again achieved under such superb guidance & leadership. Finally switching back on the audio from the communications I can now hear the cheers & celebrations instead of just read them as they flood in. Sending my congratulations I switch the audio back off.

Soon it will be time to return to the hanger & join in the festivities myself but for the moment I savor the silence & peace if not before the Turducken cooking in the Turkey Cooker when would I find the time with another clan wars coming so soon? (thank god!)

As the fires slowly warm my heart & hands once more I watch with a smile as the embers rise into the night like dozens of dancing lights.









Submitted by Joel Parras/KiloToneRecoil# 637457

Turducken Cover Weapon Review

This years Thanksgiving free gift weapon, and a not so subtle play on words the Turducken Cover is a neat little missile weapon.As a free weapon again no real limits, restrictions or prices to speak of. It has a speed of 100, and a damage of 58. It packs the Fork ability at 50%, and a splash ability at 10%. The fork alone is what really makes this weapon shine as is the base odds of hitting are at least 1 in 2.

Splash damage never hurts and is excellent if you can land any equipment to further the ability. The Fork is great for mechs like the Dilo, the fact it is a missile make it perfect for the Torrent, and it comes in at 100 speed which makes it faster than your standard crystal based missiles which usually clock in at 96 or so. Another great freebie weapon that you hopefully got a hold of!

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Turkey Cooker Weapon Review

A Holiday weapon from last year the Turkey Cooker is a fire based weapon given out to folks who logged in last Thanksgiving. As such it won't be found in the shop, has no real level restriction, or numerical limits to it, due to everyone receiving one. Every now and again this may pop up as a reward for CWs or raids close to the holidays. It has a speed of 104, a damage of 55, and the ability of burn at 22%.

A pretty decent and effective weapon perfectly tailored for your fire based mecha... Inferno, Cindron, Gigus etc etc. It packs a good burn ratio and is pretty fast, all in all not bad at all for a free weapon, and one that is useable immediately upon receiving. The craftsmen are rather gracious and reward us with weapons on most major holidays, this was a fine example.










Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Ankle Support Equipment Review

For mechas weighing 55-70 tons we have the Ankle Support chassis equipment. It will cost you 213 Ferrite, 153 Bioptics, and 53 Crystal. It has a Dodge of (8), 2x Damage at 6%, and a Shield of (2). A very complimentary piece of chassis equipment. It adds to your dodge, shielding, and damage so it runs across many levels with no vulnerabilities.

Perfect to run in conjunction with any piece of equipment be it cockpit, or shielding to further strengthen a mech in that weight class. Overall a solid piece of equipment,especially for a crystal piece at that. I really can't say anything bad about this piece which should be saying a lot in and of itself. So go ahead go nuts buy these up, load out your mech  with these and waste the competition.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

New Staff Member

Hello one and all I am pleased to report as of last night we have a new staff member here at the Gathering. Many may know him as the level 104 Brotherhood killing machine of the battlefield KiloToneRecoil, Joel Parras. I know him as a mentor and the one who recruited me into the Brotherhood in the first place. He's a hell of a player, and as long as you stay on his good side one hell of a nice guy, although get on his bad and you'll be facing down barrels of highly destructive mecha cannons. Originally he was just going to be a clan liaison officer here at the Gathering for interviews within the Brotherhood, but that quickly developed into, "Well he's going on the payroll anyways, may as well give him the full editor job!"
.
The offer was made and he accepted, we are glad to have him. Nothing around here has changed though. Submissions can still come in through our on site submission page here on the Gathering, through our Facebook group, or of course through private messaging of myself or now Joel on Facebook. So please join me in welcoming one of the best pilots I know to the staff and wishing him a long and happy stint here with us at The Gathering.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Beast Taming

Have you heard stories of the beast masters? These are mecha pilots who during their travels develop mastery over kaiju and dinosauroid mecha, the living ones. I'm a journeyman at beast-master-ing... (they haven't completely nailed the conjugation of the term fully all the way yet so cut us some slack).

I'll tell you a little about beast mastery. You remember as a pilot, earning your weight class handling certifications through training? It's a bit like that but the superficial similarities stop there. Beast masters have to understand the psychology, the personalities of their living mecha... to a certain amount of depth and greater detail... so though it is like that shared between man and machine there is an additional aspect to contend with.

The Kaiju and Jadoon are smart enough you can hold a conversation with one, after a fashion and they will let you know their opinions readily... provided you know the right way to listen.  The dinosaur mecha aren't... as smart and tend to be more brutish. One doesn't exactly converse with them to any great extent but they do have a certain range of feeling so you can communicate somewhat in that way.

Maybe someday when I am a full on adept level beast-master I can be a legendary pilot through that. Hey, a fella can dream, right? To be a true beastmaster you have to understand Gigus, Skriag, Nakshi, General Nakshi, Jadoon, Ignis, Aspis and Regis... to say nothing of the bizarre eldritch mecha of the Negaverse.  I still have yet to get my hands on a Jadoon but have observed all these while having piloted many of the rest (with exception of oh, one or two).  An in depth knowledge of their intricacies is demanded of a mecha beast master.

Submitted by Mycobacter#712744

Twin Grazer Weapon Review

This is one of those mecha specific weapons that comes attached to the Regis mech. As such the only way I know how to get one is to buy a Regis and to do that be prepared to pony up some resources to the tune of  18,000 Ferrite, 16,000 Bioptics, and 150 Niodes. Also they are 90 Ton mechas so make sure your pilot skill is in place or face some killer kickback. I will leave the decision if the mecha is worth such or not  up to you pilots to debate, just know the bought form of these mechas aren't as strong or durable as the "mission found" variants and have a variance of about 45-50 pts in their hp armor, and the mission finds were found weaponless.

The weapon itself is plenty powerful doing straight damage of 125, with your normal laser speed of 100. It has the abilities of X2 & X3 both at 10%. As always proper gear load outs can of course raise these stats and they can inflict massive damage when they hit with such modifiers in place and active. I have seen these weapons vaporize enemy mechas in one shot so they are plenty powerful. Given the Regis is a laser based machine it will augment the damage to a degree as it levels up, or take em off and add em to a Bishop or Skraig for fun to see what happens. No one says a mecha specific weapon has to stay on that mecha now do they?










Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Faraday Shield Review

For mechas with tonnages 75-95 this shield will cost you 400 Ferrite, 270 Bioptics, and 66 Crystal. It has a Laser Shield at 28%, and like most crystal shields will bring with it two vulnerabilities in this case it is Missile Vulnerable 9%, and Fire Vulnerable at 4%. Thankfully what I chalk up to shoddy workmanship leading to multiple vulnerabilities at one time aren't too steep on this particular shielding piece. The right mechas will compensate in their build to some degree or another for such exposure, or you can always augment with niode shielding for only 1 vulnerability in most cases or a lack of speed.

Why shielding can never just protect as it is supposed to without leaving you open to another form of damage or slowing down an already slow for the tonnage mech is beyond me but here you go crystal shielding. And yes everything that is crystal in this weight range comes with two vulnerabilities with 9% for the first and 4% for the second across the board. So if you want to send in  review on them be my guest, but really no further need to go into them for me here as we have seen before and will most likely continue to do so, crystal will never come close to competing with niode gear.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Hex Energy Cage Equipment Review

This piece of shielding equipment is for 80-90 ton mechs. It will cost 1,093 Ferrite, 706 Boptics, and 48 Niodes. It has Trample Shield at 28%, Slash Shield at 16%, Laser Shield at 8%, Missile Vulnerable of 14%,  and Fork Shield at 38%. It offers a lot of protection and provided you fit your mecha slots properly for shielding the missile vulnerability may not be too harsh.

The trample and fork shielding is the big bonus to this equipment piece seeing as those abilities are becoming more and more common on the heavier mechs as a build ability. Not too mention a lot of the higher end mecha weapons are starting to utilize those abilities a bit more, not every one mind you but such are becoming more common at the higher levels for encountering. The missile vulnerability shouldn't be too much of a concern provided you have the shield slots to cover it and whatever vulnerability your missile shielding comes with.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Niode Gate Mapping IV

The sun had come up sending beams of it's brilliance into every nook and cranny. Dorien began the task of gathering his crew together. Most of them had spent the night talking about this spooky place and wondering when they would get back to the good old fashion Niode Mapping That they were accustom to.

This place brought chills to many, seeing the piles of burnt skeletons brought a uneasy sense of foreboding and gloom even in the light of day. They were used to seeing carnage in battle, but nothing would prepare them for seeing a whole town full of people, burnt and heaped into piles so disgracefully. It left one to wonder just exactly what sort of madness had taken place here.

Dorien addressed his crew explaining that all sixteen including himself, wouldn't fit in the large tower and that he would be taking five brave volunteers. The rest of them would be guarding their flank at the base of the stairs. At first, they all looked at each other, then slowly, one hand went up, then another and another until all five were accounted for. You could tell by the expression on their face's that they were all weighting whether or not they wanted to stay behind with the skeleton's or go ahead into the unknown with the others.

Hector volunteered first, which didn't surprise anyone, for he was often fierce on the battlefield, followed by Sparks, Canned Heat, Dr. No and Flash Frozen. The newly formed team quickly assembled at the base of the stairs behind Dorien and began their unnerving assent up the twisted steps with all the others looking in from below. Dorien had instructed the team guarding, to set up a camera to document their departure and for them to keep in voice contact at all times. Things started to get weird from that moment on. Once they stepped through the archway and on that first step. the tower started to phase in and out between the visible and invisible. Hey boss the tower is phasing in and out of existence shouted Judge Dread on the com link to Dorien. That was the last transmission Dorien heard. As the guarding team looked on in horror the tower grew fainter and fainter, soon it was gone completely.

What do we do now,? the others asked looking at Judge Dread in bewilderment. We wait! said Judge Dread but don't even ask me how long, as long as it takes I suppose. Judge Dread and the rest took turns trying to raise them on the com link but it was to no avail. Meanwhile Dorien and his crew were having troubles of their own. Trudging up the twisted steps in full battle array was not a easy task. Their armor kept clanging and clattering and echoing off the walls. If anyone occupied the tower's top they were sure to know that they had company. The inner stone walls of the tower were made of a strange material which bathed them all in a bright green glow. The steep climb had them all huffing and puffing and laboring for breath so talking was nonexistent.

Dorien started to notice that the noise from their armor was getting softer and softer and soon there was no sound at all. Left alone to his thought's Dorien had no desire to think about his men, their mission, or safety only the rhythmic sound of his own labored breathing. Even though his men were close behind and having similar problems of their own, he was completely unaware of them. His mind began to conger up a image of him standing before a portal and being beckoned to come into the portal by none other than Kellek himself! Kellek held an object in his hand which he raised and pointed at him. There was a brilliant flash of light then.....Hey boss.... hey!.... Hey!.... HEY! Are you ok boss, we are at the top. Dorien looked stunned and shook his head,yea sure just a little winded. After regaining his composure, he started to step through the doorway to a very large room.As he mumbled under his breath ...out of the fire and into the pan! What was that you said boss? I didn't quite hear you said Flash Frozen. Never mind said Dorien an old Earth term that you won't understand. Something my mom used to say to me when I was getting into deeper trouble. Then that fits here, right boss? exclaimed Flash Frozen. Yea,I suppose your right Dorien said as they all stepped into the large room.

The room was lit by a unknown source as they stepped in. That seemed to come from everywhere but nowhere in particular. A large window on one side of the circular room was shut with black shutters. On the opposite side was what appeared to be a very large round mirror that enveloped the whole side. There was a deep grove, that was cut in the floor, in a circle, that made a inner ring in the middle of the room. In this ring were six round stone's about knee high and evenly spaced around the ring. In the center of that was a very large desk and chair of sort's with all kinds of lab equipment including glass bottles with strange stuff in them and a holo note pad with drawings and notes. A big green button about fist size was in the center of the desk. The rest of the room had pictures of a lot of unknown beasts hung on the walls. One picture in particular resembled a Nakshi but only remotely.

Some glyphs were under each picture and probably forerunner in origin. A task for my A,I. said Dorien as he copied a picture on his wrist pad and fired off to his A.I. To be translated. I wonder what this green button does Dorien shouted to his men,only one way to find out. His men stopped him by yelling no wait till we get our weapons spooled up, hard telling what horror will come at us or from where. With that Dorien waited until the weapons were hot. Here goes nothing said Dorien pushing the button down. All at once everything in the inner ring desk and all began to rotate to face the mirror. One of the stones directly in front of the desk began to turn a very, very brilliant white. Then the stone shot out a white beam at the mirror that turned the surface translucent (you could see into a different world). The glyphs under the picture of Nakshi looking beast began to glow white.

Hey boss! said Canned Heat as he thrust his mech's arm through where the surface of the mirror was, I think we can walk right through here. Now what was that saying, you were saying before, something about a fire and a pan? All but Dorrien laughed. Dorien needed to wait on the translation before proceeding any further. He ordered all his men to take a seat or at least kneel, seeing that there were no more chairs, until the A.I. was finished with the translation. So they waited far into the night and some of the men slept in their mech's. But not Dorien, he stayed up all night wondering about what had transpired and about all the things that go bump in the night. He kept his eyes fixed as he guarded the newly opened portal.













Submitted by Marianne Stewig # 687261 (and Mark Stewig)

Frizzle Shot Weapon Review

This lil slug thrower is available for minimum level 9 and up. It will cost you 365 Ferrite, 295, Bioptics, and 17 Niodes. Bulk buy 5 for 68 niodes, with only 130 left out of 250 at the time of this writing. Packing a damage of 34, a speed of 104, and with abilities of 2x damage at 3%, and precision of (2), this weapon has left a few feeling shorted on the player boards. Not especially powerful, and the abilities aren't that great as other available weapons I can see why.

You could simply wait  level take the lesser damage Dual Gattling (Dam of 14), but 2x dam comes in at 15%, and is much faster with a speed of 114. Also costs much less with 9 Niodes per purchase or bulk for 36, with no limits on purchase and no limited release. So Even though this weapon is available at level 9 there are much better to be had out there and I understand why folks aren't overly joyed with this new toy.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Triple Whammy Weapon Review

This one is for minimum level 19 pilots, it costs 440 Ferrite, 360 Bioptics, and 31 Niodes. Bulk buy of 5 for 124 niodes with 127 left of 250 at the time of this writing. It has a damage of 54 and speed of 102, with a slow of (5) and 3x damage at 3%. Easily accessible mid range damage laser system for lower level pilots. I can see why this would be selling so fast. It is a large bump in damage potential for lower level pilots not even fully into the mid ranges yet.

Being available at only level 19 I would think many are taking advantage of this weapon to get an edge over on their opponents during the current CW or KOTM.  With the exception of being available at level 19, and having 54 damage the rest is pretty standard fare for a niode laser.  Packing the bonus abilities and the faster than usual laser speed of 100, it has its perks. Of course a smart pilot will as always augment this with mech build and equipment. So get em while they are still available for purchase cause these are going fast.

 Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Viper Laser Weapon Review

This is your entry level crystal laser folks. Minimum level of 1 to own, costing 10 Ferrite, and 8 Bioptics. No limits, no crystal or niodes to it just straight resources, not even a bulk buy for this laser it is so cheap and common. It does a staggering damage of 1, and has a speed of 100, no abilities. This laser is found commonly on your lowest tonnage mechs, widely available and often changed out as soon as possible for bigger and better weapon systems.

For the entry level pilot it helps to get you used to the lasers and how they work in conjunction with weapon specific mechs. I'm sure some people will still rig a bunch of these lasers on higher end mecha and go to town to see how much they can amp the damage with weapon bonuses and higher end mech builds. But by and large these are training wheels for your machines and you. Found just about everywhere and replaced as soon as possible.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Omen Barrels Weapon Review

The minimum level to own this one is 91, it costs 1,900 Ferrite, 1,200 Ferrite, and 57 niodes with a bulk buy of 5 for 228 niodes. It has a damage of 115, and a speed of 93 with the abilities of Fork at 83%, and Splash of 9%. A limit of 45 is on these but with the mystery vortexes and a little luck such may be circumvented perhaps. This is one of the more damaging weapons out there given the insanely high percentage on the fork ability. I would think such would go great with the Rook, or Torrent at the higher levels.

Nothing really to compare this weapon to as the ability outweighs any misgivings one may have about the normally slower missile weapons in general. It throws in splash damage to boot so it can be augmented further with mech build stats or proper equipment set up. I really can't say anything about this weapon other than holy hell this is just plain devastating. I can only imagine the uproar this weapon will have with some players who initially complained about the Jurassic blast Dino mech specific weapon because it contained a Wide Fork and Burn ability that were on the high side, and now here we have a missile system with 83% of Fork ability. So yeah go get em and load up, these are devastating.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

An Anonymous Submission

* Editors note - The particular poster who sent in this editorial wished to remain anonymous. Given the subject matter and how such things have turned into fights and name calling on the game board I am inclined to respect the posters choice here. I always say we are here for the players and will pretty much post anything as long as it is not name calling, and a perceived valid concern. Now while I can sympathize, and see the posters point to an extent I want all to know this is not our stance on the game. I have to walk a fine line being both a player of the game and running this site, so consider the above my disclaimer.
Pat Willis

Now for the actual post which reads as follows.

Hello,

Let me start off by saying I know my line up isn’t the best. I have room for more mechas in my line up but haven’t put them in due to the fact that it’ll run me out of resources to level them fast, and I’m pretty much at the game limit for weapons I like. However does that mean that someone with full niode outfitted mechas should be able to take me when they are roughly  20 to 25 levels in difference, and not to your favor? So this is going to be more about what you spend and how you spend it as opposed to actual level differential, stats, and bonuses for your level? You know game mechanics 101.

I am all for a good fight and going back and forth with wins and losses but that is rather ridiculous. It would be one thing if I just had a crappy set up and just bargain bin crystal gear, but I have niode mechas, equipment and weapons divided up as evenly as possible throughout my ranks. So it isn’t as if I’m just putting things in there and saying, “Eh hell with it good enough.” What it is boiling down to is I am being outspent plain and simple. Other folks can afford more, bigger and better than I can. Hey great, they keep the game running by doing so but at least try and maintain an illusion of fair play rather than allow a total one sided blood bath. Nothing makes that more clear than during Clan Wars.

You can have all the levels you like, your skill points meticulously set up, and even do a little spending to augment your ranks. Come up against a credit carder who shells out more though and you are screwed. Level means nothing, all the gear you camped for, won in tournaments, or just plain outright bought mean zip. So the super spenders are guaranteed more in rewards, the strong just get stronger and everyone else is fighting for scraps at the table in second and last place. I get it they want to reward their financial backers, but isn’t that what the free mechas are for when you purchase X amount of niodes? So bottom line even though I spend, I’m being punished by not spending enough. Because every single mecha I own isn’t niode based, decked out in niode equipment and weapons I am destined from the word go to loose and to do so to people who are very much under my level. But hey, no the game isn’t broken, they have no favorites, and the strong are just that way because they can afford to be, not because they earned it, or we back them at every turn. They just have more money period so no this game isn’t broken at all.










Submitted by Anonymous######

What's This? A New Challenger Suddenly Appears

The cosmic chess game between Drohchah oh-Thyehgr and Walker is disrupted  as a floating techno-organic tentacled brain shows up.  This entity is none other than the Norunner reanimated brain of Kellek.  Walker and the Forerunner at first react with dismay, yet note that the addition of one of Drochah's ancestors will indeed make the game at least a bit more interesting... perhaps even breaking the longstanding stalemate between the two.  However, one of the mainstay strategies in Tri-chess involves having two players gang up against the third.

 After hundreds of thousands of years experiencing the prolonged hibernative state of death, Kellek's primary concern remains exacting revenge on the universe which he had been banished from, though the civilization which did so and his old enemy are long since dead.  He is not likely to side with either Drochah nor Walker.  Also, neither are Drochah and Walker likely to set aside their differences to team up against the revived Kellek.

Their initial reaction is replaced with one of annoyance.  Whatever fluke this creature produced by the warping of the fabric of space and time is, he or it was not invited into their private game.  They resume their focus on the two person match they had been having, each doing their best to ignore the monstrosity in the corner as it groggily starts setting up the pieces on its board, casually pushing the brain creature aside each time it tries to butt its board at the intersection of Drochah and Walker's sides.

Submitted by Mycobacter#712744

Vortices Of Treasure

I have my sources.  Through triggering particular effects and manipulating probability I managed to come across my very own Regis.  Managed to gut an Antithesis and two Aspis along the way, mind you, but that's just more firepower to add to the pile.

When I stepped in, it threw a fit... there were bugs in that my identity read as both human and forerunner at the same time.  I also scored a Haptic Interface... so once I've finished modifying this Regis and given it a name, it'll be time for a test run.  The Sikuliaqs went straight to my Frigis.  I'm feeling, rather at one with my fleet right now but that could just as likely be partially the results of downing an entire 5 pack of stims and a triple jumbo pack.  Heartbeat seemed to be one solid pulse... I hope it slows down soon.

Everything around me seems to have slowed down a bit. Effects,... interesting.  Some of that might be excitement at scoring what is to date the biggest and baddest mecha to have rolled out of Star Factories, and some might be the stimpacks talking, but WHOOO!

Submitted by Mycobacter #712744

Undead On Arrival

I have never seen let alone fought the Pirate Moon Prince, Captain Killgore.  No one in this universe... has.  Evidence would suggest he may be residing in another one.  Which one though. The book, full of faces? Or perhaps the one referred to in hushed whispers by some as "The channel"?

It is strange though. From what can be gathered... the other bosses or at least their simulacrums seem to know him, which would suggest he is or was an actual person at some point.  Could there be a deeper conspiracy behind it though?

Also, who the heck is this one-eyed man who Drochah seems to swear about as an aside every once in awhile?

Submitted by Mycobacter#712744

Particle Slate Weapon Review

A nice easily affordable crystal laser for minimum level 27 and up, costing 405 Ferrite, 324 Bioptics, and 11 Crystal. No perks to this laser as it does straight up 28 Damage at 101 Speed. You can of course bulk buy 5 for 44 crystal. A step up damage wise from the Green Death laser, but without the X2 or X3 abilities so there is some bit of a trade off.

It is a faster firing laser than either the Green Death, Cornerian Ion, but ironically not as fast as the much weaker Fury Laser. A great, reliable weapon system for starting off pilots, and rather inexpensive to outfit a mech with, honestly great to run in conjunction with the previously mentioned Green Death. Perfect for your laser build mechs, or even as a secondary weapon system on your other weapon specific mechs.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Dendrite Gels Equipment Review

Today we are looking at cock pit equipment specifically the Dendrite Gel, for mechs 70-80 tons. This will cost you 734 Ferrite, 608 Bioptics, and 43 Niodes. It gives the benefit of Crit-Kill at 4%, Slow (7), and fire shield of 8%. I would think this would be the perfect piece of equipment to go against flame based mecha,  particularly on a mech like the Sever.

The Sever generally comes with the Galaxy Eye and many pilots add more than what it comes with for the crit-kill ability, also the majority of its weapons include slow. Given this equipment piece offers bonuses to crit-kill, and again to slow, adds in fire shielding, and is in the right tonnage range it seems a match made in heaven really. Of course you can put this on any mech you desire but that is just a perfect match up really with the Sever mech. As always stack for effects to keep on adding and rolling, see what kind of anti-fire, crit-killer you can make with this handy cockpit piece.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Trial And Tribulations (Continued)

Rumors are confirmed, some other unit successfully kept part of our name as their own. We weren't the only ones to undergo the snag and tag as it was becoming. Too many histories preceding us and lawyers are always trolling for an easy score. Left and right, mergers had new crews popping up. Historical data no long public domain, finding creativity was urgent.

The new names are in place but temporary, like the wind, as much in transition as the levels of the players within each clan. One solid element is the unity of our crew. Any that waver tend to not last but if they dig in, they'll be true. Designing new banners has been in overtime, the strain of prepping for the next war was becoming evident. We may take our tattered Sigil in this next war as replacements may not arrive in time. Change is never easy.

The abrupt departure of our central crews xo shook many. The change was more than he could bare. More than once it's happened, the strain and stress being too much for some. The crack under the pressure, unable to stay and move on. Those tempered by the fires of change emerge stronger than before and the bond within each crew grows stronger.

“The General is stranded, waiting for an engine replacement. He won't make it back in time for this war.” I informed our crew after receiving his transmission.

“This will be our first without him!” Thane exclaimed. It was true, we always had his leadership to follow before.

“We will do our best as always. He'll be with us in spirit, rooting us on.” I knew this last strain could be too much. He barely made it last war, knowing an overhaul was long overdue but the replacement parts he needed were not accessible. “When he gets back, we'll have shiny new medals added on the wall.”

The prospect of more Gold and Silver was appealing. Each crew member tinkered with their fleet, making final tweaks in preparation. 'Semper Unum' resounds and we join together as we lock and roll.











Submitted by Deborah Roaché-Hudak #289133

Trials And Tribulations

Being referred to in whispers as, “The Clan who's name may not be spoken,” we are simply called “The Brotherhood.” The motto says it all, from top to bottom we will be always one. You never know when your clan may need a specialist from one of the other sectors. A heavy hitter may go down to reinforce a reserve unit or some hot shot with piss ants may show up and save the day. We won't have heroes as such, each of us perform heroically throughout the year. Finding the right time to shine is a skill as much as any of the specialties. Months and years of battling can harden anyone, if they don't break. We've lost a few that way too, always sad when you've done all you can and wish you could have done more.

Cleaning blue paint off my fleet makes me want to call this last war the Smurfywar, so reminiscent of childhood days of fun and innocence. The Brotherhood couldn't manage a second Gold medal in the Faction Wars. Although we came out strong the first FWs, too many complications made the task more difficult the second time around. My commander has been fading in and out of communication on the far side of the Galaxy. Some men have transferred to other divisions temporarily and keeping track of so many dozen individuals is taxing. Sure glad the General spent so much energy helping me prepare.

Jean entered The Hood Bar and Grill looking disheveled, “The men cannot come up with a consensus Sir, I mean Major, ma'am.” New recruits seemed nervous more often than not. Although my bloody reputation was earned, it was never against my brothers.

“Give it time, they'll come together. It's what we do.” I had to let time cure his doubts, it was the best 'seasoner' ever.

Willie piped in, “I see no problem with using The South for my team.” His southern drawl passing through the wicked smile.

I had thought considering all the different sectors we came from, like gathering up the winds, we could claim the power of the four corners. Names are powerful after all.

Aaron seemed disappointed as he added, “The opponents took the wind from our pipers as The Storm moved through. We thought we had planned for everything, my apologies on the oversight.” Like an afterthought, he added, “You know I'd rather keep our name.”

“We all would Sergeant but that is not an option. Orders have come down and now we must see this thing through.” As my mind drifted for a moment, visions of friendly fire ensuing because of this mess.

Snapping back to the task at hand, we were pressed for time and had much to accomplish before the next wars rolled around. “Joel, please work with Bryan and get the best minds together. I want unity and a smooth running clan. The Brotherhood has never backed down from a challenge and we will not start now.”

“You got it.” was the simple reply I always liked to hear.

Submitted by Deborah Roaché-Hudak #289133

Cogwerk Micro Block Equipment Review

This is a nice engine piece it also is for the lightest of tons 0-25 to be exact. It costs 143, Ferrite, 242 Bioptics, and 14 Niodes. It has a Speed at +25, and an auto repair of (1). It's the pinnacle of lightweight tech offering major speed boosts for such low tonnage. Stacked and the mini mechs could be major speed demons. The auto repair is a nice feature although it won't do much admittedly if you are hit by  mech specializing in crit-kill.

Perfect for all mechs from the Red Ant through the Nerio this little piece of equipment could be the determining factor in winning a fight. Excellent for the low tonnage KOTM, or even low tonnage specialist positions in Clan Wars these engines prove their value time and time again by keeping the lower tonnage mechs zipping around the battle field.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Different People Get Their Skills Different Ways

As I had said before, I did not receive my pilot training from an academy or any government's military.  I was the son of merchants and learned to pilot mecha at an early age at first just as a hobby.  I was a scientist by trade, so any fighting prowess I have gained would be due to my subsequent careers as an adventurer and mercenary.  Those taught me more... then I studied mecha martial arts in my clan and learned still more.  It also helps being an enhanced human.  Something any cyborg could tell you although my augmentations I'd received were not cybernetic. They were biological and genetic.

A human that has had some alien Forerunner genes added to his or her genome is one thing.  Some of the "people" Drake and I have encountered in the Negaverse, a parallel dimension to our own one though, are even more removed from what would be considered "human" here. Their genomes have been largely overwritten with Kaiju Beast Mecha DNA sequences.  It's really quite bizarre.  Not if you think back to how the Gigus and Skriag were engineered from the Nakshi though.  Before being enhanced into gigantic biomechanical war machines they did reside on some planets... supposedly.  To understand the Antihumans better though, theirs is a people that is obsessed with progress.  They continue to rewrite their own code, obsessed with inducing mutations on purpose. It's a dank, murky, polluted place on the whole but they call it home and despite all the toxins and environmental hazards manage to carve out an existence. A twisted reflection of the one we have, true, but they seem hopeful.  Even as their own race, due to excessive gene modding faces the brink of its own extinction as large sections of their population have gone sterile.  I think what will happen is they may come to be wholly synthetic creatures, mixtures of machine and artificial flesh as a process of natural (or in this case unnatural) selection.  This would be their most predictable next logical evolutionary step, without interference, of course.  Drake says he thinks he can reverse most of the damage through gene therapy and the Antihumans' Norunner technology based terraforming machines.  I think he means to do so by way of a sort of a "reverse plague" where instead of making people sick and weaker or killing them off it would make them stronger and healthier.

Now he's an interesting case.  A man who is though human, the cumulative product of an almost cannibalistic learning approach like that of a regenerative flatworm. You see, Drake has several clones of himself, and in an extremely bizarre way, they share or transmit experience to each other or at least they send it back to him, in a manner which I do not entirely understand.  The process involved in carrying it out does seem to be a destructive one but that is all I have managed to observe.

He had studied in Novum Dolorum and trained in tactics under Titus, a behemoth of a man legendary for his toughness.  This figure hones his skills unwaveringly in a high gravity deathworld of the Yomi Gravity Reefs by taking on all comers from all quadrants just as a morning training exercise.  They say he does this just for fun.

My clan's leader is another odd example. Nobody is too sure where TcTt came from and if you try to trace it backwards through his travels, you come up with an endless series of trips.  He just sort of showed up from some part of deep space, and no one knows where he originated from.  For all I know Tc could have traveled the entire universe multiple times and at that each place maybe even more than once. Or at the very least he seems to have been to a large part of it and definitely has fought a lot.  He is the founder of the Mecha Bushido and taught me how to tame beast mecha.  A warrior most obviously but perhaps also a bit of a mystic.  That too is difficult for me to ascertain.










Submitted by Mycobacter#712744

Goddess Of Vengeance A.K.A. My Horrific First Date With Tory

Did I ever tell you about the time I had a holonet blind date with Novum Dolorum's boss of security?  Yeah, we were both shocked.  Sometimes randomized algorithms that seed probability into matchmaking applications can make huge mistakes.

Anyway, the date itself went alright... hey, after all, we shared a common interest in blowing things up... Well rather, it went alright until I'd scratched one of her Cindrons.  Then things quickly degenerated.  I sincerely doubt I'll be having a second date with her.  You'd think just a scratch on the paint of a 55ton heavy mech I'd borrowed wouldn't be a very big deal, and ordinarily it wouldn't... except, well, she was showing off to me her collection of flame based mecha, which I was busy admiring the mods she had done on, and I must have not been paying close enough attention because my finger slid on the controls to the left flamethrower arm, a barrel of highly volatile mecha fuel in the hangar ignited and that carefully arranged, military precision line of Cindrons and Infernos fell like dominos.

Scratched 'em up something horrible. She didn't mind that a few of her technicians and mechanics caught on fire, they knew from working for her long enough the value in doing stop, drop and roll. She did take issue with the scratches though. And dents. And that's kind of why she still wants to kill me. Even outside of missions where I'm raiding the Novum Dolorum research facility.

Addendum: I cannot stress enough the importance of remembering to leave the safeties on when you are piloting a flame mecha.

Submitted by Mycobacter#712744

Self Taught

I didn't go to any fancy piloting academies and I wasn't part of any government's military forces.  I merely have a freakish level of giftedness when it comes to piloting mecha. Which is funny in a way because I'm not very good at driving other types of vehicles.  As a researcher I'd tend to rely on either mass public transit or robot controlled transportation.

That level of giftedness received a major upgrade when I was in a laboratory accident that fused my skin with transgenic bacteria containing Forerunner DNA, as you already know.  However, I still haven't mastered a basic 4x4, truck, or hovercar, which is a source of some continued embarrassment.  The last time I'd tried to take a driver's permit test I'd caused more damage to the testing area in attempting to parallel park than some pilots manage in their first mech if piloting while drunk.  I actually had to ask Drake a favor to send a clone of me in to take the test instead so that "I" could pass. No matter how good you are with one particular skill, it is important to maintain a proper sense of humility when it comes to other ones which with you are not.

Submitted by Mycobacter #712744

Mecha Spotlight Waldo The Harrell

My Harrell is named both after the remote manipulator arm machine and a series of children's books about a difficult to spot traveler who liked to hide within crowds. I have a slight confession to make.  My skill in aiming projectiles is somewhat wanting... which is the main reason why I tend to overwhelmingly prefer either guns that have built-in precision bonuses or letting Battle AIs control guidance.

Waldo has a pair of Exacto Shots and a large bank of Wrecker Shots crowned by a Six Shooter in its arsenal.  It took me a whole ton of engineering to accomplish but by linking a great many Betrus Processors in series and teaching the mecha's Battle AI some predictive algorithms during deep meditation sessions I think I've gotten a hang of Waldo's most devastating attack, the Teleshot: Phasing shells which density shift can be materialized in an enemy rather than penetrating through it.  I know that sounds insane but on inspecting the trashed hulks of enemies I've faced piloting Waldo... my salvage crew documented this phenomena.

Is it cheating to have a complex simulation do the aiming for you?  I guess that is something I can ponder about later.  All I know is it seems to work well enough for the most part.  Advanced Alloys, Wheeled Feet, a Muon Junction, Trilerian Sprockets, an Energy Aura and Heracles Fibers get this brutal siege engine going and it's powered by a Dark Matter Converter that is fed from an Indefinite Singularity. The only shielding which it lacks as of present is adequate defense against missiles... I'll have to upgrade Waldo a bit more to unlock that fifth shield bay expansion slot.

Waldo has 28 speed, 52 precision, 49 Dodge, 38% increased double damage chance, 26% increased triple damage chance, 10% Fork, 12% freeze and Crit-kill.  A slow ability of 8, 4 Auto Repair and 134 Shield round out Waldo's defensive capabilities.  Unfortunately the trample bonus is quite low at 4% but with the right equipment mods perhaps this can be improved at subsequent levels.

Waldo is a workhorse for some of my more exotic equipment prototypes and is the first unit I've attempted running the thermographic imaging based AR Targeting system in.  Though still much more comfortable in close combat or using missiles, I'm beginning to get a little more used to projectile based mechs and am realizing they are capable of their own formidable amount of badassery.

Particularly when there are techniques available in their arsenal like the Teleshot.  TIAR targeting is an idea I'd gotten from Drake's antithesis which involves changing the way in which a pilot visualizes his or her targets.  It makes use of visual sensors which can track targets based on their heat signatures and a cockpit sporting a embedded combination of holographic projector systems and pilot motion capture devices.  These then composite scaled down false images of the enemies you are facing right there in the cockpit with you so that rather than looking out of a cockpit window or through scopes it feels like you are the mecha facing them down... sort of.

Doing all this while simultaneously controlling projectile trajectories places quite a strain on system resources though and I worry that the network of Betrus Processors I've used to accomplish this runs risk of overheating in the middle of a fight.  So far it hasn't but things have been just a wee bit glitchier than I'd like.

Submitted by Mycobacter#712744

A General Awakens

I had just finished purchasing and test running my Nakshi from a bulk buy with Star Factories. Seems it came from the same deceased pilot that Wocky did, some pilot named Jabber. He got in over his head and got himself killed by the Niodemancer Johnathan Judas. As a result all his mechs went up for sale given he was no longer around to pay the storage fees to the Cogwerk Port facilities. Least they knew how to make some credits and niodes as they just auctioned off anything left behind by a pilot who could no longer pay, or got themselves deceased. The mech in question was named Impact and was a fine specimen of a Nakshi. He had all his gear fully outfitted, and from the little bit of time I spent in his cockpit he was very intelligent, with a vast knowledge of Forerunner lore. Granted I had to let my Jadoon, Apocalyptor know this particular beast mech was off limits, and any "friendly fire" accidents would be frowned upon. Still and all I was happy with my purchase, as such a fine living machine was a rare and a valuable combat asset. I paid to have him shipped back to The Brotherhoods hanger, feeling pretty good about my new purchase then headed home.

Turns out he was shipped before I left the ports and was already in the hanger bay when I got back.

"I recognize this one Pilot, he is a tough combatant. I have served with him before."  Wocky informed me as I went about doing basic maintenance and upkeep on this new purchase. She had an air of pride in her voice like she approved of what I had just done by attaining him.

"Well Wocky ole girl what can I say? The price was right, we needed the firepower and his teleporting ability sure as hell will come in handy in combat."

She went silent and went back to her self diagnostics with no further comment to be had. I finished up my maintenance checks and headed off to the assembly room. I was just in time as the new clan war was announced and sign ups began. I registered with my clan as available, then happily went to my bunk for the night. A few days went by and not much was happening in The Brotherhood Of The Black Watch, basic drills were preformed, mech maintenance went on, and evaluations of combat readiness and weaknesses were given out. All in all I hadn't given much thought to my new mecha since I bought it as I was pretty wrapped up in the usual day to day activities of the clan. That's when it happened, the techies from the hanger bay paged me.

"Pilot Willis report to hanger area 7, repeat Pilot Willis report to hanger area 7."

"Just great now what is going on?" I thought to myself, as I made my way to the hanger bays. Last time they paged me like that it was to give me a write up for weapons discharge in the confines of the hanger when Wocky went and blew up her old Dilophos body upon transference of her battle A.I. to her new Regis body. That was a hefty fine on top of a hell of a mess to clean up. Took me the better part of a month to get that all squared away.

I had just stepped out of the maintenance lift leading down to the hanger when I was met by a very nervous looking tech, who immediately started filling me in on why I was down here.

"Pilot Willis, we didn't do anything honest!", were the first words out of his mouth. He then went on to inform me. "We hooked up your Nakshi to run diagnostics on him, make sure everything was in working order. We let it run over night no big deal, we do that on all new acquisitions in then hanger. Everything was fine for a couple of days and then we came in this morning to find...well we found this!"
.
We had been walking while he went off rapid fire about the situation at hand, finally we stood in front of the bay that housed my new mecha. Only it wasn't a mecha in the bay. Instead we were looking at a metallic cocoon of some sort. Bio-mechanical in nature, all pulsating lights and ferronite weave. I just stood there slack jawed staring at the thing.

"From the readings we are getting your Nakshi is in there." The tech helpfully chimed in seeing the look on my face. He then looked at me very seriously, leaned in close, and half whispered, "Maybe it's turning into a General Nakshi!"

I had no idea what in the stars he was on about so barely containing myself I yelled in his face, "What the hell is a General Nakshi!?"

He looked at me as if I was simply ignorant and took a deep breath to compose himself before launching into an explanation. "The story goes like this, even mecha have their legends especially when they are living, breathing, thinking beings. There are stories amongst the eldest of Skraigs and Gigus that speak of powerful, dangerous ancient Nakshi they simply refer to as Generals. These mythical creatures were stronger, smarter, packed more firepower and had the collective abilities of their brethren. They had the fierce love of fighting like the Gigus, they could tap into the psychic network of the Skraig, and possessed the capabilities of self-transportation the likes of which has never been seen before, at least not without destabilizing the system they are in at the time.

They were able to operate alone or with a pilot, either way mattered not to these ancient beasts.  They commanded thousands of troops and watched entire systems burn. It is said that some of them were forged in the death of countless worlds, but none can prove it today.  They are rumors, ghost stories even, that the beast mecha tell each other during down time from missions. They had identifying marks of course such as multiple Harmonic Disruptor s beyond the standard two we see them equipped with today. They also had the Skraig primary weapon of the Ursa Strike embedded in their central core, and were built with customization in mind being proficient with any weapon they cared to install on themselves. In short they were the ultimate beast machine.

No one knows where they may be hiding if in fact any exist today, speculation points towards the Forerunners taking these living engines of destruction with them when they departed from this galaxy. Questioning of the Nakshi we know today reveals nothing, likewise with Skraig, and Gigus. They exist as a story for now within the circles of the living machines we pilot today.  We take heed however for any living mechas tales of a bogeyman should be taken most seriously especially for the races of man who may one day accidentally stumble across these ancient and powerful creatures. But you brought home a Nakshi, and now there is a cocoon around it and we can tell by all the readings we have done on it that there is something going on in there!" He was near breathless as he finished his story.

I had no idea how to reply or even what to say to such a wild legend, turns out my response if I had one would be cut short anyways. The Ferronite cocoon started to crack, strange fluids seeped out from the newly made crevices.  Eventually there was a huge shudder and the cocoon gave way entirely. My Nakshi stood there in all his glory, looking around and settling his gaze upon me. Without further pause he leaned forward and swallowed me up.

As any know integration with a beast machine is a disorienting process at best. New perspectives to get used to, new senses to adapt, and an ever present rumbling voice in ones head. As I integrated with my mech it was all of the above times about a thousand, I thought I was going to simply come unhinged when a deep voice cut across my consciousness.

 "Be at peace Pilot, my transformation is at an end. I had absorbed enough ambient planetary emissions, and cosmic energies to begin my becoming. I am now stable and on line. I heard all your tech had told you while I was mutating and he was correct. I have ascended and become a General. As far as I know the first this galaxy has seen in thousands of cycles. Know you are in no danger, and that I am ready for action."

I hardly knew how to reply, so instead I brought up its weapon load out to see just what I was dealing with. The Nakshi had grown new slug throwers that was apparent by the odd protrusions over his shoulder couplings. All in all it had grown and mutated with three Ursa Strikes in its chest cavity all linked together and set to fire as one large cannon, it had developed on each arm two Harmonic Disruptors leading back to a singular over sized variant of the same slaved into the main arm cannons to provide additional power and fire suppression. It had also grown two perfect Vadhar cannons, an Exacto shot, three Big Berthas, along with two Death's Rage Cannons, and a Fiasco cannon. It also somehow was able to grow two perfect Rupture Shot flame weapons.The Nakshi had developed extra heat syncs to deal with the excess heat generated by all these slug throwers, as well as new ports for cosmic energy collection to make its teleports instantaneous rather than having to wait and build up to pull its disappearing act.

It had access to the Skraig psychic network which I briefly listened in on before logging out of that function as all those voices in my head at one time was threatening to overload my conscious mind. All I could do is sit there in wonder and growing excitement as the deep rumbling voice addressed me again.

"So Pilot where would you like to go first, and what shall we blow up?"

I cracked a smile, and set my new General, Impact the Nakshi on a course to the testing grounds. I wanted to see exactly what this puppy could do now!

Submitted By Pat Willis#224534

Turbine Engine Equipment Review

Nice, simple, and elegant this engine piece of equipment is for 20-30 ton mechs. It will cost you 357 Ferrite, 106 Bioptics, and 30 Crystal. It has a speed +17, with the added bonus of Trample at 3%. No other abilities or limitations to it. Perfect for chaining together for the pilot on a budget with lower tonnage mecha and still producing a nice speed rating. No vulnerability or weakness to this engine unlike a lot of it's niode big brothers for heavier tonnage mechs.

This is a simple, straightforward engine piece. No frills, no drawbacks just a quicker low tonnage engine that pretty much every and anyone can appreciate. A shame they can't make something this simple for heavier designs and niodes for prices, as I'm sure the higher end pilots would appreciate so simple, yet so fast an engine.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

News Disrupted

We Interrupt the Serial of mycobacter and Drake exploring the uncharted parallel dimension of the Negaverse to bring you this warning.  Reports of massive energy fluctuations from several of the gates coinciding with the sudden appearance in regular spacelanes of the mystery vortexes are coming in.  There are also anecdotes of an increase in the number of people mysteriously abducted at night.  I'm not kidding, I... Aah! What's that.... Oh God no!" There is a hideous roaring squeal as you can hear this sort of crunching then the announcer's body being dragged to somewhere offstage*  [A different, somehow disembodied sounding voice resumes the bulletin]:  "Do not believe what the pathetic and insolent worm human's mouth tentacles... er I mean I have said.

I was mistaken.  There is absolutely nothing more wrong than usual, but if you could be so kind as to hand over your base and station defense codes to this station..." Gunshots are heard this time with a more squelchy noise as a second body is dragged off stage. A third announcer finishes up where the first two had left off. "We'd like to apologize folks, a NoRunner Fanatic had gotten hold of our broadcast frequency for a moment.  We've beefed up security and it should not happen again."

Submitted by Mycobacter#712744

Changes In The Crystal Economy

Well mecha fans this week has been one of announcements. We have seen the Vortexes come into being and now we have an announcement that is sure to help the crystal economy for pilots across the galaxy. Circuit fights now pay out double! You read that right double your crystal for all circuit fights. Just entering into circuit fights now pays out 10 Crystal and 2 niodes, as well as a win will net you crystal equal to double the energy spent. So a win for 1 spent in circuit will give you 2 crystal as a reward and 2 will give you 4 etc etc. This is much needed in the galaxy as pilots have been reporting crystal shortages for some time now. So hone your skills and make double your crystal for the effort.

Also this just in Clan Wars XIX was just announced, sign up started today, thus far the first fight is scheduled for the 21st. Clans may include up to three specialists per clan for this war with no limit on repeating types of specialists, for instance all three of your specialists could be 10 Tons and you can call it a day from there. Standard rules apply otherwise, no prizes have been announced at this time. So gear up and get ready to go to war yet again, be sure to make sure your mechs and pilots are repaired and healed for the raid that inevitably will follow. That's all the news we have this afternoon, we'll keep you posted as more comes to light across the galaxy.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Lycodon Laser Weapon Review

Laser Class Type - Lycodon Laser Elite

Specialties – Slow (3), 2x damage 4%

Speed 101

Damage 36

Minimum Level - 10

There are not many choices for lower level pilots but this new weapon drop will help fill in your field at Level 10. For 10 niodes, 375 ferrite and 310 bioptics you can blow up your enemy with a 36 damage weapon. With a speed of 101, it's faster than the average laser and surpasses anything you can buy with crystals, especially for your level.

If you want to slow down your opponent, three is the magic number for this weapon. It also carries 4% of 2x damage so keep an eye out for those big hits that are sure to come. New pilots can feel confident they've made the right choice with this weapon.










Submitted by Blake Moon # 374569

Star Factories Monopoly

Pilots are all too familiar with Star Factories. If you need a mech, if you need a weapon or if you need equipment you simply have to deal with Star Factories by and large. They are the largest weapons and mecha suppliers across the galaxy. They have a stranglehold on commerce from one end of the galaxy to another. Unless you wish to deal with all Bishop mecha from Talbus arms, or the Antithesis from the factory captured by The Brotherhood in the first faction Wars, or even Dr. Drake himself for the plans your choices in mecha are limited.

Simple fact is everyone at one time or another has to deal with them. This makes them the single most powerful corporate entity to exist. Some claim they have advanced knowledge of Forerunner plans and designs as is seen by the manufacture of the beast mecha Skraig, Gigus and Nakshi in such large numbers. They could have found and backwards engineered a handful but since the time of those mechas resurgence they have been sold in vast numbers. Nothing  short of Forerunner design or even Forerunner help  could account for such things.

Many have even suggested to petition the galactic senate to break up the Mega corporations hold on the galaxy and redistribute some designs to other manufacturers. So far such cries have fallen on deaf ears, or if they haven't those in power are simply helpless against the corporate Juggernaut. Only time will tell if their power will ever be broken but as stands now they are the single largest entity in our galaxy and as such can honestly be said to be behind each and every major conflict thus far,as they supply to all sides regardless of rules, territories, or right or wrong. This makes them easily the most amoral figure in the galaxy and the politics that govern such.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Vortexes Sighted

Mysterious vortexes have started popping up all over the galaxy. Some believe these are actually ancient Nakshi wormholes coming back into existence due to the Nakshi themselves being found and now once again utilized throughout the galaxy. They are found in all areas of known space and even some in the frontier areas. Many lay across known shipping lanes, and more than a few unfortunate pilots have been sucked through loosing both their cargo and their ships.

Some of the more ambitious members of the Pirates guild have set up a black market on the dumping planets at the other end of these vortexes. They charge 60 Niodes for one shipping crate or 145 Niodes for three at a time. What is in these crates is a mystery but they guarantee all items were headed to either one of the major clans or one of the three factions in place throughout the galaxy. Some may contain simple weaponry, some even hold mechs, but all are said to be precious cargo and contain at least one thing of use to the pilot brave enough to risk the dangers of the vortex to get to them.

Available only to level 20 pilots and above, as any under such rating will most likely become another victim of the vortexes and have their equipment sold off once the Pirates get a hold of their wreckage. Pilots of course can not agree if this is a good thing or not as you may actually pay more for what you receive than you would on the open market. This does not stop business from booming however, and may be a way around some of the weapon limitations set forth by the Craftsmen guild on the open market. So the choice is yours fellow pilots, do you dare risk the power of the vortex and put your hard earned Niodes on the line for a possible edge, or do you play it safe and stay with the open market?

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

S2A Missile Weapon Review

This missile system requires minimum level of 47 to acquire and will cost 1,800 Ferrite, 1,800 Bioptics, and 46 Crystal. You can bulk buy 5 for 184 Crystal but there is a limit of 80 on them. It features a damage of 42, a speed of 90 and has the ability of Splash at 2%.

A decent mid level missile system you can use for filler weapons on your Rook or Ballista mechs, or really any mech that specializes in missile damage. It's relatively cheap, effective and as with most weapons can be augmented by build or proper equipment outfitting. As with most missile systems it isn't the fastest weapon out there but it does get the job done, and splash is a nice little ability to have.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Mjolnir Elite Weapon Review

Projectile Class Type Special-Trample 5%, Precision (2) Speed 104 Damage 56

Buying the best you can helps improve your overall strength. For level 20 and up, this new weapon is a killer. The high damage of 56 for a bullet weapon at such a lower cost is worth considering. At 32 niodes, you can't find anything better for level 20.

The bonuses are two-fold, as is typical for a niode weapon. Trample will let your damage be felt long after you're gone. Precision keeps you locked on target so you won't miss that shot. The combination is sure to please new pilots. They have a limited supply and once they sell out, they are gone.

Submitted by Blake Moon # 374569