Round 3 Comeback

Round 3 pitted us in a grudge rematch against Death's Destroyers. Even if they had not been the ones to sabotage our Synthman copilot systems I'd devised... there was a rogue biohacker floating around. I had to set that aside for the time being though and concentrate on the match.

They were bigger than us and certainly by all accounts stronger than us but like rizpah giant army ants, which when all working together can strip a snavrun of its flesh within minutes (though it is much bigger), so too can a clan which has trained together, lived together and fought together for months and months on end accomplish seemingly improbable tasks.  In the end we wound up taking home the silver for division ten.  Small yes, but fierce.

The training for it? Yes, part of the Mecha Bushido we practive entails meditating on the nature of deep space in quiet isolation for hours on end.  That is alternated with team building exercises.  It's a crude and brutal regimen, but effective.

The loot was as impressive as I had been told it would be by the elders. However, I'm not exactly sure what to do with the genetically modified flaming bacon.  That remains puzzling.  Note: Perhaps it can be used as an anti BAT SHIT baton in suppression of riots?

Submitted by  Mycobacter#712744

Siege Of Stalingrad

Clan War XV: Division 9 Day 3 Silver Battle
AC-2AD Bravo vs Defenders of Bunny

AC-2AD Bravo, Armoured Core were back to full strength. They had known victory, and defeat, as had their foe this day. Defenders of Bunny. They were newcomers to this tier of combat, and as such were underdogs. They had known victory, hard fought and hard won, and defeat, as hard fought, and hard one. They could be beaten, but they would not give up. Good. We are Armoured Core; AC2-AD Bravo. We train for this, we live for this. Colonel Wilben Pagayon knew the ways of war, he had weighed the strengths of each side, what could be known anyway. He weighed the land, and smiled. Victory goes to those who want it most, as long as they are willing to do the hard ugly things required to earn it, like training, like planning, like scouting. They would fight in the badlands.

“Listen up, here is the Warbook on the Defenders of Bunny” There was a course of jeering at the name, but Wilben’s Clone thought the same as he did (the good ones will) and snarled his own answer.

“Stow it cupcakes, ask the Astral Claws what its like to take them lightly. The ones that lived should be out of med bay by now. You want to win smart, or die stupid?”

Wilben Prime smiled at his clone and continued.

“Strengths and Weaknesses: They are spread out a lot more than we are. On average, we are tougher, we are a lot tighter, we play our game, we win this thing.” The cheers began and he pounded the table to get them to shut up.

“Stow it Cupcakes! If we play their game we can lose this thing. They have two companies in their battalion that we can destroy in any kind of even battle. They have one company that will not even slow down as it chews through us. Get me on this people, and take it to the bank, you see Melissa, Charles, or Alyssa you are in trouble, you see their chief John, well, radio before you punch out. But that’s it, that is it. We own the rest of them. We face them one on one on our terms, and we walk away with Silver.”

The map display came up, and their implants pinged with routing assignments, communications protocols, and detailed plans for interlocking positional defense. They were going to hit the Defenders of Bunny when they came for the pass. From the heights, they could turn the pass into a gauntlet, and even the heavy metal of the top platoons could be brought down with enough concentrated fire. They would have no choice but to come into the badlands after them. A broken network of arroyo’s and canyons, dead ends and switchbacks, it was a maze. It was three hours march closer to AC-2B than the DOB. Know the ground, own the ground, own the war. The plan was simple, draw the Bunnies in, break the Bunnies up, and keep the forces in motion to bring the superior power of the AC-2 forces against the inferior DOB light formations, while avoiding the super-heavies. Who mastered the maze, would master this war. Armoured Core was about doing the hard things right every time, if it went to plan, they would own the day; TAC Computer read it as 3/2 Armoured core, with no more than 100 fights to decide it. Of course, the computer wasn’t strapping into a cockpit and chasing mecha through a maze of broken rock and steam vents.

==DOB Vanguard==

Kyra and the Ten Who Were Taken lead the advance. The most disciplined of the Defenders of Bunny, they could be counted upon to scout, without being drawn into battle. This was war for information, the heavy metal of the command team would force the breach needed in whatever the Taken found.

The pass was volcanic rock. Heat vents messing with the IR, strong magnetics fuzzing the mag-scan. The atmospherics were so charged drone range was practically line of sight, and comm channels bled with distortion. The mark I eyeball was the tool of choice for scouting.
Her Namtar (The Lady) rocked under the impact of a guass slug, the damage alarm on her HUD told her it cost her 50mm of armor. So, a Wrecker Shot. Coldly she opened a relay through her strung out mechs and rolled off a contact report. One by one the targeting sensors came live as the ambushing mecha went active against her maneuvering lance. Well now. That was sub-optimal. The pass wound through the badlands, and the heights were owned by Armoured Core. To clear the pass, they would have to root them out of the maze.

===Defenders of Bunny: Main Party====

“Frack me with a Galaxy Eye” Colonel Mainer had been happier. Armoured Core were good, probably better trained than half his troops, definitely heavier than two thirds of his troops, and not known for making mistakes. On the plains, his Assault Mecha would dominate the fast heavies of AC, and his light mecha could harass the heavier machines they could not face directly. Mobility and numbers would carry the day. In the badlands, it was like city fighting, only without civilians. Co-ordination, knowledge of the ground, and individual strength would carry the day. Advantage AC. If this was do-able, they would have to punch through at the run, if they broke the line cleanly and broke contact, they could carry the fight beyond the pass, where numbers mattered again. If they got bogged down in the badlands……….

“Listen up people. Column of Route, three lines. Melissa take right flank, I will take center, Charles and Alyssa take left. When we hit, our Assault mechs will punch a hole. We do not stop, we do not engage, we take the hits and keep moving. If you fall out of line, punch out. Armoured Core are pro’s, we will exchange you later. Do not get sucked into a slugging match in a maze they mapped and we haven’t. We punch through the maze at the run, and carry the battle to the plains beyond. If they want to follow us onto the plains, we can dance all they want. For the honor of the Bunny, ATTACK!”

===Point Stalingrad: Valhalla Badlands hour +1 ===

Clone Wilben watched the world spin, and rode the feedback as his mecha crashed to the ground. His TAC put the information on his HUD. He had been kneecapped by an Exacto Shot fired from a Dreadnought. Warbook put two lances with that mecha in DOB. As the machine stalked past, its gun raging as it destroyed the rest of his command, he noticed the pretty pink lips painted on its left butt cheek, and pink kill rings on its guns (many, many kill rings) and decided he had just met Melissa Powell. Well, somebody had to draw the short straw.

===Point Stalingrad, Valhalla Badlands hour +1==

Clone Wilben smiled, spitting blood onto his cockpit screen. He called the engineering team to begin a field repair of his vehicles. They weren't stopping Melissa, but the crack of rail-cannon he heard argued that Schindoe had popped out of his box canyon to jump whoever was trying to follow her through the maze. Welcome to Stalingrad, you bleed for every inch of it.

===DOB: Point Stalingrad, Valhalla Badlands +12====

Charles Newburn had punched through Pittman, his Assault mecha crushing the Ogguns of a foe that just didn’t have the armor to go toe to toe with him. The fight took longer than it should, as the AC just refused to accept the loss, and made him kill every single machine. He punched up the comm channel to update his column. The way was clear.
“Eric, get your ass up here, the way is clear” there was no response. He switched to the broadband channel and picked up savage distortion and combat chatter.

“Eric, you are supposed to be on my tail, keep up and get out of the pass before we get bogged down!”

It was Stephanie who answered, “Eric is down, his Harrel is damaged. Alyssa is holding them off while we do a recovery, but the Armoured Core have cut us off. I am not heavy enough to face what is coming out sector Delta 7, so am withdrawing through the side passage in our North West. Hopefully we can rejoin you.”

Charles’ blood ran cold. He turned his machines and marched back into the maze. This was what they had tried not to do. Split up in a maze against a foe that outmatched them on average, and knew the ground. Point Stalingrad. Not a happy name for the invading force. We are going to bleed for every inch, even if we win. Welcome to Valhalla, battle awaits.

===AC-2AD Bravo: Point Stalingrad, Valhalla badlands +21 hours==

Atpentus’ Oggun rocked under the shock of supercooled nanobots injected by the Black Ice. His controls slowed and it took all his skill to ride out the shot without falling. It was a good hit, but not good enough. He took a quick shot of Hatoraide from his cockpit dispenser to clear his thoughts. Exhaustion was a factor now, everyone was slower, clumsy. The fight was not supposed to go on this long, these Bunnies just did not know when they were beat. His Galaxy Eye screamed as he watched the enemy Oggun (War book reads it as “The Rock”, Lt Ferbie Doodle Mainer) explode. They had done it, sort of. It had taken three times as long, and the kill ratio looked more like 4/3 than 3/2, but unless they did something stupid, they were winning this thing. The siege of Stalingrad was ending with a defensive win, even if it cost.

The communications were crap. They had laid cables and comm relays all over the canyond, but with all the missiles and plasma tossed around, most of them were either shrapnel or irradiated garbage. They were on equal footing now. Tired, punchy, only in communication within line of sight, or at best the next corner.

Lt Danny Libriyanto punched through a signal, although the squeal and feedback argued he was at the edge of range.

“They are breaking, they are pulling back! I see that Torrent leading his lance away, they have stopped advancing. I can cut him off. Time to fry me some Bunny!”

Atpentus heard Colonel Pagayon’s order to stand fast. Punching a relay, he put the signal on a tight beam for Danny’s Inferno, but got no reply. Looking down he saw the reactor status of Danny’s mech flash from green to amber, then go out. The Defenders of Bunny were not going to win this, but Armoured Core could still lose if they were stupid enough to give up their interior positions and fall out of mutual support. He took a sip of his Hatoraide, and stilled the shakes in his hands. They could exchange Danny when it was done, lord knows, both sides knew they were dealing with professionals at this point.

== AC-2 AD Bravo Command: Point Stalingrad, Valhalla Badlands +24===

Three hundred fifty plus battles. Wilben shook his head and winced, the feedback and toxins from 24 hours of constant combat had worn him thin. Computers knew the numbers, but it took men and women to know war. This had been a war. Armoured Core showed the worth of its constant training, its fierce discipline, and its fighting spirit. It had been enough. Just. Defenders of Bunny may be new to this tier of battle, but few enough of the veterans could have matched the Armoured Core in the badlands, let the next people they faced take them lightly.

Valhalla was the legend of the heroes hall, where champions battled all day, and feasted all night. This world was well named. There had been no cowards here, no fools. Hard men and women had given there all, again and again, never flinching, never yielding, but never hating either. This had been pure, this had been…..glorious! Victory belonged to Armoured Core, but glory? Glory belonged to any who could claim they fought the Siege of Stalingrad. Would he share a drink with his enemies? Damned straight. No one who had not fought at Stalingrad could understand it, those who shared that, shared enough.

Submitted by John T Mainer#28840

Mycobacter Pilot Profile

This pilot is known for two things: His unusual skin tone which was the permanent result of a lab accident involving bacteria crudely hybridized with some forerunner tech and his constant modding of his mecha.

He's very vocal about his opinions on the mecha and equipment that he comes across and sometimes puts reviews out on them for the Galaxy Gathering.  Grew up listening to Moe Lee's weapon reviews on A.N.N.

Recently myco developed and fielded a prototype "cyborg brain" module he calls the "Synthman copilot".  It's an ambitious fusion of reverse engineered cloning tech he stole from Drake and "borrowed" Novum Delorum Drone AI research.  He means for these to ultimately be used as next generation "learning machines" to replace the outmoded ALTS cloning procedure but for the time being, the process of manufacturing them keeps Synthmen too expensive to easily mass-produce in an effective manner.

Myco swears that with each successive generation of Synthmen he'll iron out more bugs but for the time being using a cyborg brain as a copilot remains more of a novelty feature than a mainstay in mecha combat.

Submitted by Mycobacter#712744

An Open Letter About The Nephalix

This is an open letter to "The Craftsmen" on behalf of all of the pilots I've talked to.... PLEASE CREATE A NEW TROPHY MECH!!!! The Nephilax is a good platform, but it is seriously limited! It is unable to be upgraded (except for level armor) past level 50!!

Its bonuses at full upgrade are nowhere near competitive! 5% damage bonus to all weapon types, except projectile, which gets 15%, 3X 5%, slow 5, precision 4, speed +4, and 12 whole points of shields! That's it!! Period!! You might be saying to yourself "You can always equip it" but guess what? At full upgrade, you only get 2 equip slots per category, no more! When you look at the equipment available to a 40t mech, your options are quite limited!!!

 This is the prize that you fought so long, and so hard for? All that hard work? All those resources? For this? Yes, it's pretty, it is a very shiny gold color, yes it is RIDICULOUSLY cheap to level up, but ALL of the pilots I've talked to would much rather have substance over style ANY DAY!!! Most pilots I've talked to have stated that their Nephilax just sit in their inventory, gathering dust! The only reason they are kept at all, is to show that the pilot has won a KOTM event! This is a role The Nephilax excels at, sitting in your hangar, looking pretty.

So... this is a wholehearted plea to "The Craftsmen" Give us a victory mech WORTH our effort!!! PLEASE!!!!!! As usual, this letter is MY OPINION ONLY! I'm sure there are fans of this chassis out there, but I haven't talked to any of them personally.

Submitted by Sean Laverty#600987

FourBanger Equipment Review

This piston based internal combustion engine for mecha weighing 30-45 tons is a relatively new entrant on the market and is named after the four oversized hemi-cylinders featured on its block. It gives a speed boost of +17. Similar to the type of turbocharger motor you would use to run a monster truck but adapted for mecha use, the FourBanger isn't the most environmentally clean engine out there but that turns out to be one of its tactical advantages.  The unleaded biodiesel fuel used by the FourBanger burns dirty and blasts exhaust smoke at your opponents, slowing them down by 1.

For 400 Ferrite, 1169 Bioptics and 35 Crystal, make sure to have the thrush pipes angled away from you, then you're ready to lock and load.

Submitted by Mycobacter

Phoenix Engine Equipment Review

As you get up there and start using heavier and heavier mecha you'll notice that engines tend to provide more of a strength boost and less of a speed boost as compared to how they had functioned when you were piloting smaller mecha.

The Phoenix Engine is an interesting case of the former.  A symbiotic organic swarm intelligence based nanotechnology drive, this engine pulls double duty providing a lite speed boost of 3 and a much appreciated auto repair of +3.

As a protip, this engine is a bit cold and light sensitive; It functions better in a warm run environment (ice vulnerable 4%) and can be overheated (laser vulnerable 8%). You can pop one of these bad boys under the hood of your monster mammoth mecha for the price of 483 Ferrite, 2612 Bioptics and 45 Niodes.

Trivia: Capitalizing on the engine's auto repair ability the manufacturers decided to name it after the eponymous Old Earth mythological beast which is said in folklore to regenerate itself and rise from the ashes.

Submitted by Mycobacter #712744

An Editorial Piece On Clan War

Hello all once again I have something to say, something to consider for the rest of you, an opinion to share. Like always you may agree or disagree with me, I invite polite conversation from other points of view, however on this hear me out first. Allow me to start off by saying I am a member of Blackwatch one of the Northwind Highlander clans, as such what I am about to post even pertains to their positioning in the wars yet not to any one member in particular. Okay so lets get to it, Division one and free mechs just for showing up is the issue at hand.

I see it as favoritism plain and simple. Why should one division alone get free mechs just for showing up? Granted I can imagine it is for those who have joined just to average out the clan to get something out of it as opposed to being just a punching bag in the war for three fights. However that used to be what the Clan raids were for at the end of the wars, if you follow the game page you know there was some discussion and dissent over even that this time out. Looks like that has been cleared up at least for now.

Back to the point at hand, over on the game page in the past I have been told it is to make the game more re playable for the higher levels as those at such levels have little to do. I answer to that simply make more missions, unlock that first boss everyone has been asking about for almost a year now, make the zones reset on a regular basis, and allow for mini bosses at a higher drop rate as opposed to spending days at a time on one zone just to get one fight to drop! There is much more that can be done  to make the game more re playable if that is what you really wish to do.

Also the mech comes pre leveled for the first twenty levels. How is that inciting re playability? Here let me take some of the work out of it for you and some of the so called re playability out of it by handing you something that has some of the work done already. How does that make sense? It has also been said that the mech this time out is barely viable for division one players. Well then at that rate worst case scenario is you get the mech and sell it weapons and all for the niodes at the reduced price for resale, best case you strip it re allocate the weapons and still sell  off the mech for niodes.

If people in division one are saying the mech at hand is barely viable how in the world can that be seen as a good prize? So my friends and loyal readers it comes down to  in my opinion favoritism. We like you, we want you stay, we want you to spend more have some more free stuff! As stands the divisions are out of whack, you only need to check the boards just about every war to see people complaining, and suggesting how to fix them so we all know that is a problem.  But if you wish to make it seem at least in part fair I say go all or nothing. Give everyone a free mech determined by division or no one gets one. As stands even with doing mech write ups for the in game tech manual you only get the mech you write up at basic build and have to level from there. So how is it that you can simply be in a division possibly just to help overall average of the clan, not possibly fire a single shot and still walk away with more than folks who have slugged it out? Lets face it we do not all have deep pockets and there are higher levels who simply crystal it.

So I say again favoritism and it needs to either be nipped in the bud or shared because as stands now it does nothing more than annoy. Again this is just my take on the situation as such if you have issue with it take it up with me or write a rebuttal to the site and counter the points at hand. This is my way of seeing it no more no less. With that I thank you all for reading and wish you happy hunting and good luck in these the final hours of the war..

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Hawkeye Marksman Equipment Review

This guidance system is designed for 60-80 ton weight division mecha.  It utilizes an advanced electric eye which uses a combination of infrared homing and LiDAR rangefinding to assess targets and get the job done.  The Hawkeye Marksman ups your precision by 11, adds a crit kill percentage of 2 and increases your laser damage by 10% and missile damage by 7%.  A premium cockpit module, the Hawkeye will run you 892 Ferrite, 919 Bioptics and 44 Niodes.  It will fit most heavy mecha except for ultralights like the Cindron and fits all huge weight division mecha lighter than a Dreadnought.

Submitted by Mycobacter# 712744

Reflect Upon Futility

Negotiating terms and prices. Such meetings and subjects deliberated over heavily stained table tops under clouds of tobacco smoke in the darkest corners of the seediest taverns of less than reputable star ports.

The mercenary commander shook his head. "If you want the finest pilots that the independent sector can provide then you will pay the better price. If you want half-skilled cannon fodder that you can sell for scrap once your clan has lost then you feel free to look elsewhere". The sponsor steepled his fingers and looked at the information lying in front of him. He had to admit that the documents, as well as the mercenary's reputation, held well for victory. He slapped a hand on the table top. "Done", he said. The mercenary nodded, spat on his palm, and shook the sponsor's hand. "I shall see you in the morning at our compound then", he said.

From that point it would all be about preparation. The mercenary's troops were always ready and tuned well in advance of a clan war. They would arrive, set up, prepare and test. They never failed to find an employer in such events. When you had a profile record with as many trophies adorning it as the merc then the sponsors would snap them up. Yes, they would offer token resistance over the costs and fees, but very few argued the toss for too long. They knew they were buying a certain second place, and often as not, a gold win. It would improve their standing and please the sponsoring companies. It also improved the mercenaries status.

The last round had been... amusing. They had faced a clan that, to be honest, should not have taken to the field. Standard mech lines spotted with the occasional niode special had marched forth. It was spit balls against the hell-fires. Freons and Oresters accompanied by the occasional Cindron or Sever. The volley of fire from weapons that were clearly there as fillers, principally crystal bought technologies with the odd low grade niode gun some two divisions below in terms of effectiveness, would splutter their swan song at the mercenary giants. The efforts seldom made a mark, failing to penetrate shielding, and serving little purpose. Less gifted pilots and commanders had failed to observe the fact that niode mechs in ones and twos bolstering in vain their standard cousins would not withstand a well equipped and deeply invested force of the best technology the mercenaries could field.

The mercenaries always used the best they could get. It was their livelihood and stock and trade. The resulting exchanges were as rats to a dog fight. It had been carnage. Namtars and Ogguns had been torn appart. Rended and twisted before they could even get a lock on with their cheaply purchased targeting systems. The single Smilodon centered in the rank had weathered some of the mercenary fire power, but not for long. As the two Namtars and single supporting Oggun fell, the mercs focused their fire on the Niode unit. Projectile fire slammed into it's marginally better hide, showing evidence of poorly equipped crystal tech shielding. The commander thought at the time, 'Why buy a decent mech and fail to give it your best gear'?

It happened so often in these events. Pilots died because of such stupidity. The following lines in this round went a similar way. Diablis nozzles flared. Ursa strikes screamed their dirge. Row after row of Luisons and Ogguns burst into white hot molten fountains. In the very rear rank a lone Gigus put up a noble stand, even crippling the mobility systems of one of the merc force's Inferno's, but a tantrum of light from a rage pulsar scored a crushing blow on the fiery monster's head section, cooking the pilot in his seat almost instantly..CRIT KILL! A precision invention that proved it's worth in niodium every time.

The mercenary commander rose from his seat having downed his brew. Tomorrow would be another day of conflict. He had his deal. His men would be pleased. Now they must prepare.

Submitted by Steve Ross#162076

Down But Not Out

Though we'd lost our first round in a brilliant countermove from Death's Destroyers {AFF} in which they'd ingeniously subjected my Synthman copilot system to what was the wetware equivalent of an EMP burst, the refs allowed us to continue on to the second round of division ten.

Thinking on my feet, I barely managed to put together a sort of a prototype vaccine to inoculate Generation Mu.  They should in theory this time be immune to similar virus attacks... The only remaining security flaw as I see it is a determined biohacker could manually introduce prions into the system.  As far as intrusion detection goes for defensive countermeasures I think I'd have to whip up some sort of a nanotech based immune system for the Synthmen's cyborg brains that make up the processing unit portion of the module.  I don't have access to the kind of tools or facility facility for that sort of thing at the moment though, so let's hope vaccinating our Gakusei will be enough.

It was announced that our next fight would be against the clan Wolf.  I used to be part of the same crew back when they were a merged alliance with Nomads and Morgana during the last faction war.  After the faction war was over the three founding clans split up and I found myself in Morgana for a bit before I'd met up and joined with Samurai Mecha.  It feels a little odd being pitted against former allies at first but you get used to it.

I found myself breezing through up until I got to the leader and his second in command.  Before the match I'd finally retired my old and trusty Orcus "Battlecat", traded her in for a Smilodon. I've decided she was reborn and christened it "Battlecat II".  Asked our leader for advice on what sorts of targeting equipment and engines to kit this baby out with and though she roars on the outside with a Shrieker Mk. 2 she purrs inside with a Starfire Fusion Core and Core of the Dragon engine and just to make sure the configuration's parts all play together nicely I threw in a Power Relay to round the whole setup out.  Like I was saying though, I breezed through most of the lower ranked opponents but that steady progress all ground to a sudden halt when I found myself up against the leader and his second in command. My light and medium side Heavy division mecha were no match for their super Heavies and  Even my custom Smilodon was barely surviving against the onslaught of Bishops, Rooks and Severs.  If I survive to Clan Wars sixteen, I hope by that time I'll have a Super Heavy myself... maybe an Ammonite. I hear it's somewhat similar to a Hoplite, which would be good, since I got my early start modding "Hoppers".

You can put that crate of Goliath Missile racks over there in the hangar by the way, and thanks for listening to me rambling a bit!

Submitted by Mycobacter#712744

Self-Reliance

We got wiped out in our first round of the Clan War. I'd gotten so used to having the Synthmen for help that I'd neglected one of the basic pillars of the Mecha Bushido.  We stress daily training because essentially a Mecha functions only as well as its pilot.  It'd make sense I wouldn't be the only genetic engineer floating around the factions.  As I fought a handful of lanark clones and we fell further and further behind it dawned on me that the Death's Destroyers had to have something up their sleeves.  It was obvious with how well those clones functioned that the only way they could have gotten them was from access to someone with high biotechnical skill. In their clan.  The Synthmen cybernetic copilot protocols were running nearly unbelievably sluggish,  Much slower than the speeds I'd clocked them at in the hangar preceding our battle.

My curiousity getting the better of me I decided to run another diagnostic on what was left of the lambda generation batch... as much as could be salvaged from our damaged mecha.  Could it be a bug in the natural programming? No, I'd triple checked everything prior to installation and then double checked after installing them to reassure everybody all was in working order before we set out too.  Something was off though.

Aha! these had a somewhat different genetic profile than the genomes I remembered coding in the other Synthmen.  C'mon... analyze quicker! I kicked the diagnostic machinery and swore at my computer. TcTt asked me what was the matter.  I tore the printout as it spooled from the machine... "This is the matter. The Synthmen copilots were infected! As in sabotage." He patted me on the shoulder and reminded me that basic principle of the first pillar to the Mecha Bushido.  Skill of a mecha is related to skill of its pilot. There's no quick technological way around it.

I've got to hand it to that biohacker from Death's Destroyers though... putting a retrovirus into the growth vats when I wasn't looking was very sneaky.  I would be angrier but for that I couldn't help admiring the technique.  Basically they'd isolated and engineered a genetic timebomb by rendering the virus invisible to detection up until it was already too late.  The effects were subtle too.  Rather than a full on blow up style virulent infection all at once the pathogenicity to this worked a lot more gradually.  First the bioptic neural network slowed down so that it did not process as quickly.  Then a secondary set of instructions coding out a prion got read, which then turned infected cybernetic brains into mush.  It specifically targeted only the uniquely hybridized technology used in the Synthmen.  Which was fascinating... as much as the task of scrubbing artificial brain goo from everybody's cockpits was a pain in the ass.

Submitted by Mycobacter#712744