The Crit-Kill Club A Triple Weapon Overview By Pat Willis#224534

Today we'll be looking at the Crit-Kill club, a group of three niode laser weapons that all share the 19% Crit- Kill ability. They are the Blue Dragon, Cherenkov Ray, and the Archfiend. As far as I know at present the only way to get a hold of these besides the shop is maybe if they are offered up as CW, or raid rewards. The smallest of the three the Archfiend is available for minimum level 73 pilots and up, the Cherenkov Ray is for levels 88 and up, and finally the Blue Dragon is available for levels 107 and up.

The Archfiend does 105 damage, Cherenkov Ray is 115 damage, and the Blue Dragon is 125 damage. Both the Archfiend and the Cherenkov Ray have speeds of 102, but the Blue Dragon buries them both with 104. The only ability these weapons have is a 19% crit-kill attached to each one. Making them a very nasty trio of weapons in the hands of someone who knows how to do a mecha load out.

With the equipment pieces out there offering up bonuses to crit-hits, and laser damage bonuses on top of already nasty build stats these three lasers are set to rule for a good long time over many future battles. You could realistically have over 30% to crit-kills once all is said and done and what 84% or a little higher for laser damage alone? These pack a decent amount of bang for the buck and shouldn't be passed by anyone who is serious about their mecha combat.


Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Big Bang Weapon Review by David McCallum #701548

I admit I'm not the greatest fan of limited run weapons that are available to the lower level pilots. It always feels as if the niodes could be spent better in other areas to give them a better grounding for the future.


In saying that, if money is no object or even if you just fancy giving yourself an early Christmas present, a bag of these could go down a treat.


First off, book value is 31 niodes, 490 ferrite and 400 bioptics, or 124 niodes for a bucket of 5. Pricewise that brings it in around the same as the venerable Galaxy Eye which is a level 31 weapon.


The impressive thing though is the level the Big Bang is available at. Before level 20, there isn't a huge amount of separation between crystal and niode weaponry. Its around here that you start getting the niode weapons pulling away in terms of pure damage output. However those on offer at present are those ever popular offerings of the Panther Wheel (admittedly the fastest weapon out there) and the Injection Beam, with a whole truckload of doubling damage. But raw damage definately goes the way of the Big Bang.


In fact in terms of damage, you need to at least double your level, in fact almost triple it before you hit common crystal weapons with the same output. If you don't go on a rage filled kill fremzy, these weapons should stand you in good stead for a good few months.


One final note. If the manufacturers are doing a limited run on weapons with x2 and x3 damage multipliers built in, are we going to see low to mid range gear add in the new X 1.5 overcharged shots to give the little fellers a chance at the fabled X9 output of the Fext?


Maybe something to have a gamble on...

Submitted by David McCallum #701548

Crossfire The Fext By Pat Willis#224534

I had been going back and forth with myself about getting a Fext, mainly because the Apatotron, and Typhoon were so limited and slow even with a full equipment load out. But I also knew I needed some bigger guns to stay competitive in tournaments, circuit fights, and of course Clan or Faction wars. I had owned a Apatotron in the past and found its niode weapons to be of more value than the mecha itself. So I stripped it out and sold it off. I still have a Typhoon serving in my squad, but due to its speed and weapon load out, it only handles cover fire from the rear ranks.

I had pretty much decided against getting one until I talked to my recruiter for the Brotherhood, Clan leader, and friend KiloToneRecoil. He sat me down and described how he and the tech heads had worked out a build that would enable the mecha to fight on par with other combatants in the field, and not just sit there like a target as the other two so often do. The build itself would take a small fortune in niodes to pull off, and would have to be done in increments, but the end game and pay off would be worth it. The build is confidential so I can not share the ins and outs of it here, but suffice to say this conversation changed my mind entirely.

The next day I had purchased a Fext and was starting to learn all about my new mecha. I plugged myself into the neural interface, and was met by a shimmering digital representation of my mecha in its A.I. consciousness.

"Greetings Brother pilot, I am Crossfire your personal mobile battle platform. What can I assist you in learning about me today?" He cheerily greeted me.

"Oh hell no.." I replied, I immediately unplugged myself and got some techs on the line. I had them bring down Frozen Dream my Frigis, and Jabberwocky my Regis from the main hangers to the maintenance docks. Once they arrived I had the techs all interconnect the three mecha consciousnesses. Dream and Wocky both had hybrid Actual Intelligence programs with advanced probability detection, and nearly unlimited learning potential, whereas Crossfire had a standard issue battle A.I. from the company that was just way to happy, and upbeat for my liking.

I plugged into the primary interface from the maintenance console to once again join my  mind with the three machines. I was this time within a Brotherhood server which was programmed to work and act like a standard hanger/repair bay. Anything you could do in the physical world you could do to its digital counterpart here.

Wocky and Dream had been with me long enough to know to wait and see what would be required of them, meanwhile Crossfire walked right up and started in.

"Brother pilot, excuse me please but what are these other battle platforms doing here? Are they to assist us in some way? Or is this some kind of initiation within the Brotherhood between mechas? Oh I do so hope it is an initiation! I have always wanted one of those!"

I just looked over to Dream and Wocky and said, "Do you see the problem?"

Wocky shook her head and snorted in disgust, while Dream just glared at the heavier mecha. They both started to move towards him at the same time.

"Oh are we starting now? Okay, Okay, wow what are the rules here? Will I get a clan emblem when this is over? Will this make me the point mecha of the..."

He was cut short as dream stepped behind him, and Wocky started him down in the front. They both raised their arms out and to the sides as a shining blue dome began to encompass the three mecha. Intelligence programs collided like lightning across the sphere, sparks danced through the air where they met. Eventually the light show died down and I saw Wocky, and Dream start to breakdown in reolution before flowing into Crossfire. When this happened he glowed a brilliant neon blue before Wocky, and Dream reformed once again.

The two then backed away from Crossfire, Wocky addressed me in passing letting me know the job was done. I grinned to myself and disconnected us all from the server. I had Wocky and Dream returned to their usual hangers, and plugged myself directly back into Crossfire.

Once again I was met by the digital representation of the Fext. I wanted to see just how well my advanced mecha did with this machine so I said, "Status?"

"ONLINE", was the deep booming voice with a clear note of more than a little menace to it.

"Objective?" I asked.

DESTROY WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE ALL NON BROTHERHOOD PERSONNEL", he answered.

Oh yeah this will do just fine, this is a mecha I can work with, such an improvement.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Red Ant Empire X. By Germán Jaramillo ID # 685605.

Submitted By Germán Jaramillo ID # 685605.

Mecha Spotlight : Aurora by David McCallum #701548

You hear about those old classics that sit in the barn for years on end, neglected, perhaps past their prime but with a little bit of spit and polish, beauty just waiting to be brought back to the surface.


We all have clan mates that are in a sort of similair position; that mech sitting at the back of the hanger gathering dust, too nice to sell but not important enough to use,  missing that vital component, its "round tuit."


They want to do something with it, but really need to get a round tuit...


That was my Smilodon. I know where I picked her up... she was a prize for the gold we won during the Rise of the Specialists. I'd sold the previous gold medal mech I won and deeply regretted it. I just couldn't part with this one. But she seemed just a little too light and a little too expensive... the niodes were needed elsewhere. So she sat.


It must have been a good 6 months before I dusted here off... more even. The line was heavier but a hole needed filling and I finally had a little spare resource. God I wished I'd done it sooner.


Finally named the 'Aurora' (because that's a pretty golden name), she slotted in to fill the final gap in a new line of light skirmishers at the front. And started to earn her position many times over straight away.


Equipment was easy... as the lightest in the line she had the run of surplus equipment, and every spare set of Enhanced Senses that were a staple in silver medal prize packs went into the cockpit. Solderbots, Fast Data Switches and Pneumatic Shocks were dropped into the cramped chassis. Even though I had a surfeit of spare engines for that tonnage range, there was no messing about... pure speed, pure crystal, pure Pebble Bed Reactors. Oh, I did retrofit a pair of Quad Turbo drives down the track when I got some, but that was later after kitty was already purring.


Shields were the big problem (being decidedly lacking on a Smilo), but the freebie of a Light Bringer while not giving Gamma Grade shielding at least didn't leave a gaping hole.


Armament was dead easy. She got Galaxy Eyes all the way. But I'm guessing for those veteran Smilodon pilots out there, that's not coming as a great surprise.


I know that a lot of pilots feel a big wrench when they finally have to retire a Smilodon, and truth to tell, I probably kept the Aurora in the battle line longer than I should. I just didn't have anything that could compare with the kill power until I managed to salvage a Nakshi, but even then it didn't quite have the same killing power. It did make up for it in staying power though. Swings and roundabouts.


She's not retired though... only transferred. You see, I'm in the unenviable position of being eligible for a specialist slot a lot of the time. When I do, the big toys get put away and my cruiser mechs take the field. Aurora leads the squadron from the first rank.


It seems fitting that the mech I won in the first specialist war now leads my specialist formation, breaking hearts and mechs as she goes.


But don't worry... if you get hurt, she may just sing you a song...


"Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty,
Little ball of FLAMING MEGA DEATH DIE DIE DIE!!!"



Submitted by David McCallum #701548

Regi & Gygax - II. By Germán Jaramillo ID # 685605.

Submitted By Germán Jaramillo ID # 685605.

The Switch Fairy Cometh... by David McCallum #701548

I'm imagining conversations between pilots and their techs all over Mecha Galaxy...


Hey boss, erm, I just found a switch on this Krampus.


What does it do?

Dunno, never seen it before...


Just on that one?


Hang on... no, they all have it.


And you've never seen it before...


No.


And how many times have you serviced or rebuilt a Krampus?


erm... thousands... and I swear, it wasn't here yesterday.


So you are telling me the switch fairy came in the middle of the night and screwed with my mechs? You'd better trace the circuit back then...


Doing that just now... seems to feed back through fire control and into the power plant. I'd say its a damage booster.


So you are telling me that for all these years, I could have been getting hot shots from my Krampus, and you never told me?!?!


* * * * *


Well, its one way to handle the retcon of the latest upgrade to an old favourite. And yes, I'm being a bit facetious... only slightly though.


From a narrative point of view, "discovering" that mechs that topped out at a specific level can now be upgraded past that is one thing, but changing stuff lower down does seem a bit comic book. Next you'll be telling me we don't really die when our mechs get blown up.


Should we have had a Krampus mk II hit the showroom floor? Or maybe a Krampus only after market upgrade, where for a few crystal we can update it to the latest model. How do you tell the difference between the mk I and mk II... different shaped headlights?


Perhaps more worrying, why are all those Namtar, Oggun and Buchis pilots standing round with their arms folded and tapping their feet expectantly?



Submitted by David McCallum #701548

Christmas Cup By Ron Frye#879655

*(Editors note - this is not meant to offend anyone, just something Ron did in the editors group that we got a chuckle out of and thought we would share.)

Submitted by Ron Frye#879655

When Is It Applicable To Boot A Clan Mate From The Clan? By Pat Willis#224534

We've all seen it coming up through the ranks in various clans, the announcement is made for Clan Wars, your clan leader does roll call of who is in and who is out, people are moved according to their levels, and then the war comes and so and so is no where to be found until the raid after the fact. We hear about it every other clan war. Whomever did not show up for the war but now they are making a killing in the raid and are probably just going to get all the good prizes!

So the debate here is, when is it acceptable to boot them? Oh I know you may have to make special exceptions for some folks just due to their weather being worse than yours, or power is out, an earthquake hits..... you know something truly understandable. But aside from that where do you draw the line?

There are some very large clan families in this game and if you let so and so go they may get snapped up by the competition, and if they are one of your clans top guns that is not an enviable position to be in their cross hairs as an enemy. At the same time ALTS are rampant in this game so trying to figure out if your pilot is sandbagging on an ALT in favor of his main in an opposing clan is a whole nother joy in and of itself. So what ground rules do you set? What do you do in such a situation? Obviously if it keeps happening boot the person, but most clans have some rules in play to try and prevent that from happening as much as possible.

Should there be some kind of game mechanic to go with this? Like maybe being able to brand a persons profile with a little quote along the lines of ,"Bags in wars, not trust able, take into clan at own risk." Or is that too harsh? Some may think not given their personal experiences with such. So what say you players? What is the best way to prevent this from happening , or at least cut back on it significantly?

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

We May Be Looking For a New Editor Soon, Will It Be You By Pat Willis#224534

Hello all, we may be looking for new editor at our Galaxy Gathering offices, if you have the right stuff it could be you to join us. First off what do we do? We take player submissions for the site from both the onsite submissions page and from our Facebook group. We make notes of who submitted what to the site (Example for instance this post would look like  this Pat Willis#224534- news x1) for the weekly payout list to Artemis Molly. When we have no submissions it is up to us to run "filler" pieces, so that the site is always operating on two posts a day.

Of course as the position title says we also edit submissions as they come in. Fixing punctuation here, capitalization there, and whatever else may come up with the piece in question. We also discuss game topics in the editors group which is how we came up with the game ideas, game debates, and even our videos. We get paid a straight wage per week plus half of the normal pay out for a story we write. Candidates are expected to be able to handle at least a couple days worth of posts per week, so at two posts a day, would equal 4 a week. The rest of the slack is picked up by submissions and us other editors.

So that is what we do, want in on it? Then submit a piece to the site, or myself directly via Facebook. It can be a short story, a long story, a mecha, weapon/equip review, whatever you like just please be sure it is a few paragraphs minimum. This is open to anyone in game even if they are at the other network and want to change sides, just saying we rule no one out and seriously consider all applicants. As always thanks for reading and happy hunting.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

They Don't Make Them Like They Used To... by David McCallum #701548

This isn't a rant about the lack of equipment for the big mechs... Pat has that covered.

Of course, the problem is he's wrong.

It's deeper than that.

Oh, I know the RND have examined every aspect of the game in minute detail. The Brotherhood are supposed to have some of the best number crunchers in the business. Even my own guys, the Heroes have some top notch analysts and min/max designers.

The thing is I don't need to do in depth research to know the chemical composition or physical characteristics to recognise that something is a .... poo.

And despite the fact that Mythbusters proved otherwise, its very difficult to polish a .... poo.

I look at the battle results... not necessarily the numbers and hits, only if I really need to cross check something that looks like a close battle. Generally you can get the ebb and flow and feel what is going on. That’s when the .... poo stands out.

We know how nasty the Huge class mechs are. We've been on the receiving end too many times. Get up into BFMs though and it starts getting smellier. Not the 90s, they are good. Love a 90.

But 95s? On paper, my Boreas is the nastiest piece of hardware I have. I know for a fact that to get even a basic equipment loadout that it deserves, my budget needs to be around 2 to 3 times larger than any other mech I own. There is ample equipment for it and I'm more than happy with what its carrying.

Yet it gets into battle and falls over when sneezed at. Seriously, even attacking the Pirate Moon, It spends more time getting rebuilt than it does on operations. I'm seriously working on a combat zimmer frame just to keep the bloody thing propped upright!

My Yallan and Glaccus are complete non events, but at least they are only crystal and I can use that as an excuse as I hang my head in embarrassment.

Let’s go heavier. I don't own a Potatotron. The closest I've come is when somebody has hidden one in the middle of their formation and my trusty 85s have waved to it as they go thundering past the wreckage.

I did buy a Typhoon though. I started to work out how to equip it. I'm pretty sure I can get it up to the same combat effectiveness that you get when a half blind geriatric Labrador attempts to hump your leg.

See, the real problem isn't the lack of kit. It's an actual issue with the chassis. Over 90 tons, they must be too big to polish or something like that... just like other things I could mention.

These newer mechs.... don't hold with them.

Submitted by David McCallum #701548