One Weapon To Rule Them All By Brian D. Wise #17026

Michael Price was digging through an assorted box of weapons found in a storage bin marked discount. He was looking for one of those unique weapons that are hard to find and worse, would normally be expensive as hell, but in the discount bargain bin you never know what you might find. So while digging around he found what looked like a very large missile, stuffed way in the back labeled Drake industries - xxl-mhnw-006, it also had a large prototype sticker slapped on the side of it. The shopkeeper didn't remember when or where he got the weapon, all he knew was it was too large to keep taking up space in his warehouse and that it had an inch of dust still on it. Michael offered 20 niodes for it and the shopkeeper agreed, happy to see it leave his shop.

Michael loaded the 15 ton missile launcher onto the flat bed of his cargo hauler and went back to the base. He was going to see if it was one of old Dr. Drakes mystery weapons from one of his raided bases from a long time ago. unfortunately for Michael, as soon as he got back, the base was in an uproar. Clan Wars had been announced and everyone was to get ready for the next major offensive. So, Michael quickly had them unload the Cargo Hauler as he went back to his duties as the Supervising Mechanic for all of the bases mechs.

During that time the weapon was crated up and stored so that once againit would be lost in pile upon pile of equipment and weapons being moved both in and out of Weapons Storage Facility Echo Charlie Alpha 7, ECAT for short. For 3 years the weapon once again sat in a large wooden box, in the back of a huge warehouse gathering dust. Then after a major reorganizing by Drake Morningstar, the Crate was once again unearthed from the cobwebs and pounds of dust and niode parts that had littered the very deep corners of the warehouse.

"What the hell is this?" Drake commented as he looked over the spreadsheet that showed every piece of equipment that was supposed to be in the facility.

"Hell if I know," commented Ted Logan, "I just need to know where do you want it?"

"Take it outside and dust it off, and while your at it find me a crowbar." Drake said as he walked back towards the pile of niode equipment that needed resorting.

The Crate was taken out of its dark corner and eventually cleared of all the dust and bug carcasses that had accumulated onto the box. Ted noticed that the box felt warm, which made his skin crawl. Drake finally finished sorting and cataloging everything, he was driven to earn that Torrent and was going to do everything in his power to convince his supervisors that he deserved it.

"Well what do we have here?" Drake commented to himself as he opened the rather large crate. As he opened the crate a warm breeze from inside the crate, it chilled him to the bone. Inside the crate was a massive 15 ton missile launcher. no mech he knew of short of the heaviest top of the line mech could ever hope of using it effectively. He swore it belonged on the back of the new Typhoon mech that everyone was drooling about but could rarely get a hold of. Drake quickly walked over to the main hanger to go find Michael and asked him what was the monstrosity and could he equip it to a mech to test it out.

To Michael's surprise he was delighted to see that the mammoth missile launcher was still here on the base, and had been found. He quickly had it moved to the main bay so he could take it apart and service it. It was rare for him to get to play with anything as destructive as this weapon surely was.

After 12 hours of going over it he had figured out why no one wanted it. only the most expensive mechs in the known galaxy could hope to effectively wield this weapon and hope to survive and even then...most likely the mech would be either ripped apart by firing the missile, or the blast that came from the 6 handheld nukes that were daisy chained into the weapons warhead. he was scared of even letting anyone think of firing the monster off within 25 miles of the base. However the commandant saw the monstrosity as a potential game changer and ordered it fitted onto his personal Torrent along with several blast shields around the cockpit. He wanted to see the weapon test fired once to see its effectiveness in battle versus some of Captain Kilgore pirates. He sent out the lone mech to pirate moon along with a drone to see what kind of carnage the weapon could do.

The events that occurred here, have been redacted from all but the video seen here...( a video screen shows the torrent walk into a pirate encampment and start fighting off a cluster of red ants, nerios, and anzu. The pirates appear to be able to take advantage of the weighed down torrent as it appears that either the torrent has already been slowed, or that the torrent has been somehow frozen. As we then see the missile launcher start to shake the mech violently and launches out what appears to be a small ICBM toward the furthest away mech, what appeared to be an anzu. The explosion from the missile whites out half of the screen as we see the blast-wave cause a massive earthquake which causes all of the mechs near the anzu to either shutdown or explode. We also see that the Torrent has shutdown due to either firing the missile, the earthquake from the missile hitting, or some combination of the two.)

The footage is labeled Dr. Drake's Earthquake Missile Launcher.

Dr. Drake's EML
Missile Weapon
damage 135
speed 85
Effects:
Splash 35%
Wide Fork 20%
Kickback 95% chance to deal 120% damage

Dr. Drake's patented Earthquake Machine, for when you need to move a lot of earth fast. Warning, side effects may kill those not prepared.

Submitted by Brian D. Wise #17026

There Be Dragons By FJ Bros#885020

As F.J.B.R.O.S. Unit 1 was packing his bags, he had only one thought on his mind, “hic sunt dracones”, There Be Dragons…

Ancient map makers supposedly used the term to mark the unknown or to serve as a warning. Supposedly, it never appeared on any real map, but was a creation of literature. It was most likely derived from the various different creatures or monsters that adorned the maps of old. After all, Dragons weren’t real, and were creations of human imagination. Either way, the meaning was the same, beware the unknown.

The badges and medals accumulated, Unit 1 left in his locker, packing only the tools for the future. The past would be cumbersome, and he needed to be sharp, for There Be Dragons…

It wasn’t that he wouldn’t miss his AFF brothers and sister, or all the memories. He definitely appreciated all the tactics and training that he received from the AFF elite and commanders. Under AFF tutelage he racked up one Gold Medal for the 3302 Faction War, six Gold Medals and one Silver Medal in Clan Wars, and a Silver Medal during the Mechalympics. Not to mention the nearly countless KOTM Gold, Silvers and Bronzes and occasional Circuit Fight medals. Not bad for a mecha pilot that had trouble closing the cockpit hatch just 9 short years ago. It has been a long learning process with the folks he came to see as his family.

But family was a foreign concept to a Simulacrum, and the mission dictated that stagnation and inaction were not in the cards. There would be no growing old with old friends and hanging onto earned allegiances. There was a mission to accomplish and the Benefactor had grown impatient.
When the Mastermind approached him about the change in scenery, it was an easy decision. I could follow the Heart or I could follow the Brain. The Heart had no place in Unit 1’s world of logic.

The Burly Leader had been a kind friend and mentor, but his way of rule was antithesis to the order and discipline in which Unit 1 preferred to live. The Benefactor would have pushed for a move to a new clan in time anyway, so the timing was right. With the long term stasis of the Imperials on the near horizon, the seven known FJBROS Units would need to step up their time tables to complete the mission. The wars and raids always revealing more and more information, and the closer to the top of the clans, the information was unspoiled to those who knew what to look for.

Unit 1 realized that that “There be Dragons”, wasn’t a warning for him or his new comrades. It wasn’t a forewarning of the unknown future or unknown paths to tread. It was a warning for everyone else, for there really are Dragons, and he was one of them.

Submitted by FJ Bros#885020

Regi And Gigax By Germán Jaramillo #685605

Submitted by Germán Jaramillo #685605

The Legendary Frigis Mecha Spotlight On Frozen Dream By Pat Willis#224534

Ah Frozen Dream, my Frigis mecha who acquired me no small amount of fame when it helped me reach legendary pilot status. The battle Artificial Intelligence program received the same upgrades as Jabberwocky making it an Actual Intelligence program, and giving it a near limitless capacity to learn. He took a short break for a time and downloaded himself into a Boreas frame due to frustration at the age, as well as wear and tear his old "body" was put through. So many wars, raids, and tourneys will make short work of almost any mecha fast.

So as he was enjoying his life as a Boreas, I shipped his Frigis frame back to the manufacturer for a complete overhaul and upgrade. It took a while, but eventually they shipped me back a totally overhauled, good as new, like it stepped off the assembly line fresh Frigis. I looked it over head to toe until I was satisfied that it was 100%, then I got the Actual Intelligence back into its proper frame. To say Dream was happy to be back home would be a huge understatement. He started doing laps around the hanger because he enjoyed the lighter frame so much more than the lumbering speed of the Boreas.



As was he came back without weapons and equipment so his basic build stats at my current level of 107 were as follows.....


Tons: 80

Level: 107
Armor: 1061
Class: Frigis

Bonuses before
equipment:
Precision (30)
Speed - 15
Ice Vulnerable 10%
Freeze 58%
Speed + 20
Laser Damage + 46%
Ice Damage + 44%
3X Damage 10%
2X Damage 8%
Shield (40)

He had 4 Cockpit slots, 7 chassis slots, 4 engine slots, and 4 shield slots to be filled. So we got to work right away. I outfitted him with Hawkeye Marksman Modules across all his cockpit slots for added laser damage, added precision, and a small bonus to Crit-Kill  capability. The chassis got 4 Muon Junctions for the combined dodge, fork, and freeze capabilities, combined with 3 Coolant Systems to give it added speed and Ice damage. The 4 engine slots utilize  1 Indefinite Singularity Engine for speed and 2x damage ability, 1 Max Torque Charged engine for the speed, and 2 Parallel Relays for the extra energy output/speed. Lastly the shield slots were taken up by MNTN Delta, Caudata Delta, Arctic Delta, and a Faraday Delta. So all that thrown in on top of the build stats comes out to.....


Fire Damage + 30%
Ice Damage + 74%
Laser Damage + 86%
Missile Damage + 28%
Speed + 68
3X Damage 10%
Fork 24%
2X Damage 11%
Crit-Kill 8%
Precision (74)
Freeze 103%
Dodge (40)
Shield (156)
Ice Shield 28%
Fire Shield 29%
Fire Shield (60)
Proj. Shield 19%
Laser Shield 21%
Missile Vulnerable 9%

On top of that he has room for 33 weapons at present which a couple were borrowed from Jabberwocky as they just made more sense here with the added laser damage potential. So I put the following weapons in 7 Black Widows, 3 Archfiends, 2 Rage Pulsars, 2 Northwind Eradicators, 3 Flavian Spears, 4 Burning Ice, 4 Polar Vortex, 2 Nova Zembla, 1 Tinsel EMP,  and 5 Winter's Grasp.

 So while there are a few things I mean to correct or replace in the near future by and large this is what he is shaping up to be. Yes he is vulnerable to missiles, but with his speed of both the mecha, and his weapons he should get off the shots before missiles fly. Not to mention not a whole lot of folks run missile mechas out in the front line. But before he had an Ice vulnerability of 10%, now he has a less of a percentage to a different weapon type.

 So until multi purpose shields make it to this weight class I just may have to deal with it and hope another shield expansion will pop up eventually. Dream is still a work in progress and won't be done for a bit yet, at least not to my satisfaction, but it is getting there little by little.

So there you have it folks a Frigis that got me where I am today, and what it looks like now both inside and out. I do these pieces so folks can see there are some in the game who aren't afraid to show their builds for good or bad. What's the worst that can happen? Someone builds your load out to fight you? Oh no, not like you can't change it up and out in a short period of time. Also on the flip side you may get feedback to help improve on your already existing build. So what I am saying here folks is basically, stop being scared, show off the builds, get feedback, see what happens. Until next time both Frozen Dream and myself wish you happy hunting.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

The Year So Far Stats By Pat Willis#224534

Seeing as the year is almost at an end I thought it would be fun to take a look at the site stats to see what our top ten viewer reads were so far. This is what I found...

Every now and again I like to look in and see what is what, figured I'd let you guys and gals know as well. We'll look back on these stats and see what has changed once the year ends.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Knight Fantasy Mecha By Spike Shepard#846030

100 Ton - Knight
Cost - Ferrite 17500, Bioptics 14000, Crystal 400.

Specs :
Tonnage - 100
Armour - 240
Start Weapons - 8
Min Level - 91
Min Heavy Skill - 55
Lvl/ Wpn - 6
Manufacturer - Heroes Inc
Designer - Spike Shepard

Bonuses:
 Build Speed - 24
 Build 2X Damage 4%
 Build 3X Damage 6%
 Build Fork 6%
 Level 3 + 1 Chassis Slot
 Level 4 + 1 Shield Slot
 Level 5 + 1 Engine Slot
Level 6 + 1 Cockpit Slot
 Level 5 Laser Shield (10)
 Level 6 + 1 Weapon Slot
Level 8 Speed +4
Level 10 Missile Shield (10)
 Level 11 2X Damage 4%
 Level 12 + every 6 levels + 1 Weapon Slot
 Level 12 Speed + 4
 Level 13 + 1 Shield Slot
 Level 15 Proj. Shield (10)
 Level 16 + 1 Cockpit Slot
 Level 18 Speed + 4
 Level 19 + 1 Chassis Slot
 Level 20 Fire Shield (10)
 Level 21 + 1 Engine Slot
 Level 22 2X Damage 4%
 Level 23 + 1 Cockpit Slot
Level 24 Speed + 4
 Level 25 Ice Shield (10)
 Level 26 + 1 Shield Slot
 Level 29 + 1 Engine Slot
Level 30 Laser Damage 10%
Level 33 Missile Damage 10%
 Level 36 + 1 Shield Slot
Level 38 Proj. Damage 10%
 Level 40 + 1 Chassis Slot
 Level 43 Fire Damage 10%
 Level 45 + 1 Shield Slot
 Level 47 3X Damage 10%
 Level 48 Ice Damage 10%
 Level 50 Fork 6%
 Level 50 Shield (10)
 Level 55 2X Damage 4%
Level 60 3X Damage 6%
Level 65 + 1 Engine Slot
 Level 70 Fork 6%
 Level 75 + 1 Cockpit Slot
 Level 80 + 1 Chassis Slot
Level 90 + 1 Cockpit Slot
Level 100 Crit Kill 10%
Level 110 + 1 Engine Slot
Level 120 + 1 Chassis Slot
Level 130 Shield (10)
Level 140 Speed + 4
Level 150 3X Damage 6%

Overall Specs at max without equipment....

Speed - 24 (build)
Speed + 20
Missile Damage + 10%
Laser Damage + 10%
Projectile Damage +10% 
Fire Damage +10%
Ice Damage +10%
Missile Shield +10%
Laser Shield +10%
Projectile Shield +10%
Fire Shield +10%
Ice Shield +10%
Shield (20)
2X Damage 16%
3X Damage 18%
Fork 18%
Crit Kill 10%

Slots

Cockpit - 5
Chassis - 5
Engine - 5
Shield - 5

Knight Bios
One night while playing a chess match Spike Shepard picked up his knight ready to move the piece but instead he just looked at it and remarked 'We have a Rook, we have a Bishop...but we don't have a Knight'. Initially some of Clan heroes looked at him a little strange until he grabbed a pencil and some paper and started sketching. About 30 minutes later after much Hmming, Tutting and a few head shakes Spike finally shouted 'Eureka!' and waved his sketch in the air. The Knight had been born, on paper, though the building of the Knight would be a different matter altogether.....

The quadrupedal design of the mech encountered many problems and Shepard struggled to get the Mech to stand, let alone move around with any co-ordination. The mech was almost scrapped at one point until the day that Shepard took out a Keradon for a ride and realized that the poly pedal design could be adapted and enlarged to drive this giant mech forward. With a few tweaks and a bit of research the poly pedal design was modified and adapted to drive a mech almost three times the size of the Keradon. Within a few months Clan Heroes had a fully working prototype and put in through rigorous testing.

Surprisingly a mech of this size was not made for the front lines of combat. The qudrupedal design allows for the Knight to carry heavier, longer range weapons and lots of them. Not only that but the Knight has been built to be prolific with every type and size of weapon available. Leaving the Knight to be best used as long range artillery or heavy support for smaller, faster front line mecha.

The Knight though is not just for support or long range assaults. It can hold it's own in close combat if need be and has built in shields allowing it to help negate damage that would cripple or shutdown lighter mech. Also the quadrupedal design gives the Knight a boost to speed that is missing in other mecha of similar tonnage. This ability helps the Knight stay in a sustained battle meaning the Knight is not easily overrun but multiple opponents either. All round the Knight is a great addition to any commanders line-up and used wisely it can turn the tide of a battle.














Submitted by Spike Shepard #846030

Clan War Blues By Melanie Carter#716590

Submitted by Melanie Carter#716590

The Crimson Death Missile: The Barbarossa. A Weapon Review By Germán Jaramillo# 685605

In the ancient ages of the history of the old Earth, cradle of the humanity, there were some warlike figures of great renown that shared before or later the Barbarossa's nickname (an old italic word meaning “red beard”)… There existed a German Emperor, a fierce, shrewd and powerful admiral of the Ottoman empire and a painful pirate of the Caribbean sea… All of them turned into legends into their respective ages, been feared and admired equally and became nightmares for many.

This way, the creator of this weapon, taken by his deep interest to the archaic history, as well as for a certain poetic talent, has wanted to baptize this weapon of mass destruction, this jewel of the tactical ballistics with the name of Red Beard, “Barbarossa”. Few missiles of its category have the cruising speed (100) that the Barbarossa is capable to reach, guaranteeing that will be the crimson missile and not another one the one kicking down your target.

But if the qualities of a high speed and an unpredictable path were not enough, the Barbarossa is provided in addition with a double tactical head that fires during his ballistic flight once the main target becomes fixed in its effective range of impact; then, the IA leading the Barbarossa selects a secondary target next to its primary destination.

The ballistic tests offer a frequency of double strike of 40 % in a blank mech prototype without any equipment, which in conjunction with a suitable telemetry on a well equipped mech, guarantees statistics superior to 50 % to reach a double shot.

This is out of doubt that if those powerful warriors of old were reincarnated as clones, they would feel proud of the destructive creation that shares in their behalf a crimson awe of destruction.

It is as great the destructive power of this missile that the engineers who created the Barbarossa, limited the launching IA to ten units at once… Maybe with trading purposes…

 Submitted by Germán Jaramillo# 685605

Current Jabberwocky Build By Pat Willis#224534

As many know I am very fond of my Frigis mecha, Frozen Dream. After all that mecha got me legendary pilot status, then there is my Boreas, Cryomancer. He's all ice, and projectile death, a total killing machine. Now we come to my other favored mecha the Regis I found when they were still out and about on the Yomi Reefs, Jabberwocky. My current pilot stats are at level 107 and the build stats for this mech are also at that level. 


First off the basic build stats which are as follows......
Tons: 90
Level: 107
Armor: 1433
Class: Regis

Bonuses before
equipment:
Laser Damage + 54%
Speed - 26
3X Damage 10%
Crit-Kill 10%
Speed + 28
Fork 20%
Trample Shield 40%
Laser Shield 25%
Trample 10%
Auto Repair (1)
Precision (5)
Proj. Damage + 15%
Wide Fork 8%
2X Damage 10%
Dodge (2)


Now to start with at this level she has 39 weapon slots. I decided to capitalize on her inbuilt laser bonuses, and her crit-kill capacity. As such she is outfitted with four Twin Grazer lasers, ten Cherenkov Rays, two Black Widow lasers, three Archfiend lasers, and the other twenty slots are all Flavian Spears.

She is thoroughly equipped to do massive damage as soon as the power button is turned on and her laser batteries are charged. She can take just about as much punishment as she can dish out which saying quite a bit given her damage potential with just build stats, then factor in weapons and equipment and she is a nightmare to face on the field.




Now we come to her equipment with currently six cockpit slots, six chassis slots, five engine slots, and four shield slots. The cockpit I just loaded up with crystal based Sensor Arrays for both precision and Laser damage bonuses, also the lesser freeze potential comes in quite handy. The chassis slots are all Muon Junctions. What can I say with inbuilt Fork, attached to a dodge ability, well to me that is win/win. The engines are R.A.C.E engines across all slots. Mostly because they bring a decent speed to the party, enhance the dodge by a touch, and the auto repair stacks nicely. Then finally down to the shielding slots it took some doing but finally I managed to balance it all out with a Lightning shield, Thiokol Delta, Caudata Delta, and an Arctic Delta. All of these goodies plus build stats combine make her total stats look like this....

Level: 107 / 107
Armor: 1433

Proj. Damage + 35%
Laser Damage + 84%
Speed + 52
Trample 10%                                                          
3X Damage 10%
Wide Fork 8%
2X Damage 10%
Fork 56%
Crit-Kill 10%
Freeze 60%
Precision (65)
Dodge (67)
Auto Repair (6)
Shield (112)
Trample Shield 58%
Laser Shield 25%
Proj. Shield 29%
Fire Shield 49%
Proj. Shield (30)
Missile Shield 38%
Ice Shield 19%

Class: Regis
Weapons: 39

So there you have it folks my current build up for Jabberwocky. Is she the best out there? Nope, can she hold her own? Hell yes. Can she be improved upon? Always no doubt about it. But for now she is just a fierce crit-kill, laser bonus death machine, and honestly I just love her this way.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Got A Light?

Dreadnought Mech Revue By David McCallum#701548

DREADNOUGHT!


The word deserves capitalisation since it rolls off the tongue in the same manner as a half ton lead projectile.


The word conjures imagery of ancient ironclads, squatting on the oceans of old Earth in the same offensive and domineering fashion that a rib roast at a vegan banquet would, looking for all the world like the result of unholy copulation between a hedgehog and an armadillo in a steel foundry at midnight on the solstice.


Our own dreadnoughts follow in the same ilk, sitting on the field of battle with all the grace and style of an anvil applied to somebodies head.


It is perhaps there that the similarity ends, for while the Dreadnought did indeed dominate the Mecha Galaxy for a short while, it quickly became supplanted by the crowd favourite (and even less stylish) Torrent. And that in turn has slipped down the power rankings, surpassed by the advent of the dino mech hordes, the Boreas and the massive 100 ton battle fortresses.


So what exactly do you get for your money if you are looking at a Dreadnought?


140 Niodes, 15500 Ferrites and 12500 Bioptics gets you... well, not a lot on paper to be honest. Wait a little while and for the same sort of budget you will have access to the Torrent, which seasoned pilots will tell you is a far better option, especially when fielded in ranks or squadrons.


Oh, the Dreadnought is certainly the faster of the pair, with ample space for power plants which give it a speed that belies its namesake, but the cockpit and targeting systems of the Torrent more than seem to make up for that edge. And rigged for projectiles, the Dreadnought has certainly been described as a one trick pony...


So if all this is true, what exactly does the Dreadnought say on the modern battlefield?


Actually, it says a lot. You see, the Dreadnought may not be the dominant force it once was on the fields of glory, but it has become synonymous with  being the sought after prize awarded to those pilots who have survived the crucible and forge that is a Faction War and have come out at the top of the pack.


A single Dreadnought could be raid booty. A pair could be lucky looting.


But a squadron? That is the mark of a pilot who wears his or her big green blocky badge of honour, the mark of a pilot who has come through days of intense battle and can certainly get the best out of a fast gunslinger that may not be the best, but is certainly a still worthy and hazardous foe.


Its no longer the mark of the metal but the measure of the meat.


Face these nimble beasts in a fight and you need to wonder... is it you or the pilot you are facing who truly dreads nought?



Submitted By David McCallum#701548