Monk Malone's Random Madness Part 1 By Sgt. Ron Frye#879655

Submitted by Sgt. Ron Frye#879655

Half Baked Harrison and the Humbaba Conspiracy – By Kenneth Hicks ID# 846092

Cogwerk Port
LaSalle’s
Tuesday after lunch


Commander Joshua Bourne was having a rough day. Tech crews have been putting in an inordinate amount of Leave Requests and Sick Calls recently. Damn that Ginger Witch for putting out that cash reward for Chroniode Fragments. Now every tech geek who can read a scanner is out gallivanting through every remote area in the quadrant

.

Why is this such a bad thing and why does it have the Commander sitting in this particular spot you might ask? Well, with the sudden increase in absentees, equipment isn’t being researched, incorporated, and installed. Meaning mechs aren’t not only getting upgraded, but are getting behind on repairs as well. Which also is aggravated further with the increase of patrol hours being spent because tech engineers are loose in the Wilderness without as much as  a 20 sided die for their defense. Combine these things with the fact that he was informed by Marshall Brose that this was all “his problem” now and you have a trifecta of why this qualifies as a rough day.


So five Gargleblasters into Lunch, Cmdr. Bourne sat. This day was not going to get better he could tell. Or was it… It was about this time that he heard a commotion down at the other end of the bar.


Half-Baked Harrison was getting into a heated exchange with the bartender. Dressed in Snavurm slacks, jacket, vest, and hat, Harrison cut quite the figure these days. Before the Drochah War, Harrison had been trying to sell people on the idea of Snavurm Skin Hats as protection against the electro-magnetic effects of Dreadwings. The thing was, no one knew of the existence of the beasties yet so no one had a clue to what he was blathering about. Fast forward one year and every pilot has a Snavurm lined headpiece or hat from Harrison’s backers. He had hit it big. This does not mean however that at any given time in a local drinking establishment that Harrison has two bits to rub together.


“Harrison! What’s all that noise you’re goin’ on about down there! Leave that poor Bartender alone so that he can pour us a couple glasses while you tell me what the scoop is.”


Bourne needed a distraction. Sometimes the best way to solve a problem was to let your eyes lose focus for just a second, and this was the perfect opportunity. Besides, Half-Baked was excellent company once you were a few Gargleblasters into a long lunch.


“It’s not my fault Commander! He called me a half-wit! Anyone who knows me knows for a fact that I’m 100% full-wit! Maybe even 175%!”
“It’s okay bud, I know your credentials. So what gives? What’s got you all excited?”


“Well I was out in the backside of Rizpah, when I ran into my old friend Speedy McDougal who just happened to have some juicy gossip.”
“Do tell!”
The bartender had just shown up with another Gargleblaster and what looked like a glass of Ambershard Squeezins’, only stinkier. Bourne pushed the drink over to Harrison with a gloved hand.


“Well. You remember back when the Rook was being developed and put into the Cogwerk ranks? Of course you do. Anyway, another thing happening about that time was the discovery of biological mecha, most specifically the Gigus. Why make this comparison you ask? Shut it. Let a man talk, yeesh. Where was I, okay. Well one of the Gigus discoveries was that cockpit of theirs that swallows the pilot through an extendable esophagus. Now what would happen you s’pose if you took one of these organic cockpits and put it onto a niode mech? Being as how they had both mechas available they tried it. What they came up with was  the only Bio IT driven Rook to ever be made. They say that things got a little weird with the organic couplers when they came in connection with the niodium interchanges and the IT sorta “took over” the process and did it all on its own. Once completed, it broke from its moorings, found its pilot, swallowed him, then blasted out of orbit. Honestly, most were dumbfounded and didn’t quite know what to make of it. Luckily discoveries of the Skriag and the Nakshi were happening as well so they decided to just sweep it under the rug as a failed weekend project.”


“That’s quite a bit of back story for a drinking binge on Rizpah that has you so riled up today. Where’s this going Harrison?”

Bourne had caught the bartender’s eye and signaled for two more. This was getting good, and he wasn’t about to let anything get in the way of not hearing the ending.


“Well the thing lives out there by Speedy and it’s been driving him nuts. Its name is Hummer and it’s been living off of Dreadwings.”


“Wait, what?”
Bourne sat upright as things had just gotten interesting.
“How in the… did you see it?”


“Oh yeah, it’s most depressing. He scavenges ammo from old battle sites, shooting down Dreadwings as they fly over and eats them. Broadcasts his life story over all the short range frequencies, he’s really quite the pouty drama queen, always going on with the ‘Oh, no one understands me, I’m such a loner, why won’t anyone listen, life is just a cold vacuum’ I couldn’t take more than a week, it’s pathetic really.”


“Okay, wait a minute. So what you’re saying is, is that there is a weird Rook/Gigus chimera mech, running around in the jungle, eating Dreadwings and acting like a Goth Punk.”


“For starters, yes.”
“For starters…”

“That’s what I said! For starters! Anyway, Speedy was telling me about this time, say ten or so months before the last clan wars when Hummer had a big day.”

“A big day…”
“Blast, you’re just like a parrot! Quiet!”


“So like I was saying, Hummer had this big day. It was like every other day where Hummer wakes everyone up with his morose squawking, when something answered him. It was a Yallan that was suffering some damage from a recent attack by some Drochah forces that had left it confused and alone. Hummer went over to it, did that mecha talking thingy then went off into the jungle interior for a bit while the Yallan sort of hunkered down and waited.


After a bit, Hummer came back with a few servos and actuator parts, setting them down next to the fallen mech. That’s when things went a bit sideways.”

“What do you mean ‘sideways’?”

“Well, after setting down the spare parts, Hummer sort of hunkered down real close to the Yallan. That’s when Speedy saw Hummer extend his, uh, cockpit proboscis and, uh… “connect” it to the Yallan’s respective, uh.. cockpit docking unit.”


“Oh god”


“And what’s more intriguing is that Yallan? It carried the crest of General Nova’s R&D Division. You know, the NovaStar Consortium?”


“Okay, stop. So in your own convoluted way, what you’re saying is, is that NovaStar didn’t build the Humbaba, but lucked into it being born in their mech bay. Meanwhile, the father is running around in the Jungle, reciting Cold Play Lyrics while looking for organic IT mechas to diddle with and possibly eating tech engineers to take over as pilots for it’s brood?”

“That’s EXACTLY what, well, mostly at any rate, what I’m saying. Yes.”


“Thank you Harrison, you just gave me the new rumor to help me keep my Engineer techs at home working. Here, next drink’s on me.”


With that Cmdr. Bourne put a small stack of credits on the bar, saluted both Harrison and the Bartender, and headed to the door. Most productive meeting he’s had all week. Things are looking up! It’s amazing what one can accomplish Tuesday after Lunch.

<End Transmission>

The Cult Of Gigus By Pat Willis#224534

Not all the colonized worlds are technologically or socially sophisticated. In some far flung reaches of the galaxy direct contact has been lost for generations. Territorial squabbles and wars have ravaged the lands that were settled leaving nothing behind of entire civilizations that once flourished there, including the gates leading to them. Some were simply deactivated outright as they were cut off from the gate network by cunning enemies, others were buried in debris, and a few even had their niodes removed as part of the attacking party’s spoils of war.

Eventually the violence subsided and if there were any survivors they started to rebuild. Of course being separated from the major supply routes the technology of survivors on worlds where the gates were either buried or looted quickly devolved. On worlds where the gates lay buried under rubble they had a very slim chance of survival if they could rebuild themselves enough to allow for the gate ways re-excavation.

It was on one such planet that the Cult of Gigus first made itself known. In the Shallann system on the planet Karthalin the people were rebuilding after an extremely violent war between the two ruling councils. Much of the land lay in ruins; the people struggled to rebuild knowing that until they did they would be involuntarily exiled from the rest of the known Universe. This lead to many mining operations in which the people attempted to gather resources needed to rebuild their homes, as well and uncover the gateway that laid buried.

During one such mining operation the workers managed to break through a tunnel wall to uncover a large wide cavern beneath the planet’s surface. Thinking the cavern may hold valuable resources they started to mine inside. Once the miners got set up they noticed odd energy readings on the equipment they managed to salvage and repair. Upon following the readings deep into the recesses of the cavern they found a large hollowed out section of the cavern floor, much like a giant pen for holding animals in. This pen contained within it Gigus mecha. As far back as they eye could see and the light could reach nothing but Gigus.

The miners of course were at a loss as to the exact nature of the mecha, but they did know it was a mecha of some sort. As such they could use them to excavate the gate, as well as defend themselves properly in case of further struggle. The Gigus were in a powered down hibernation state but soon activated when sleeping systems detected life. As we now know the Beast Mecha Skriag, Nakshi, and Gigus must “swallow” their pilots to properly handle the mecha. The miners however did not know that and assumed that the mecha were some deranged scientists attempts at a new war machine, as they ran in terror watching each other get “eaten” by the strange mecha.

It was during the joining process between the beast machine and the miners that things went from bad to worse. The miners already suffering from the mental strain of war and rebuilding their civilization could not comprehend the base primal power contained within the mecha.  Not to mention about .05% of the population is set up genetically for mecha piloting, these poor souls were not part of that percentage. The joining in effect caused each and every one of the miners to go mad in an instant. They saw the Gigus as their new God. A god of fire, destruction, and wrath whose only reason for being was to destroy.

It wasn’t long after the miners went mad that every man woman and child on that planet who survived the wars was snatched up and put into a Gigus. We know this because they did uncover the gate eventually, and when they did they spilled out into the galaxy like a rapid infection. So far entire worlds have fallen to this rabid pack of Gigus. Galactic Military Services place the numbers of this pack as a whole in the thousands. Nothing short of the utter destruction of these creatures will stop them. Attempts have been made to separate the people from downed Gigus mecha but thus far have only resulted in the death of the person inside soon after separation.


Although each and every one has essentially told the rescue crews the same thing before they died. They talked of worshiping the Gigus, finding redemption in destruction, and washing the sins of the galaxy away in cleansing fire so that it may burn forever as a monument to their God the Gigus.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

ARC Chip Equipment Review by David McCallum #701548

Well, following on from my last little rant we have some new crystal gear to look at... and at first glance, its not half bad.


Now one of the bugbears I have always endured, especially with the higher tonnage equipment, is that it becomes adulterated away from its main purpose.


We lost pure dodge from crystal equipment at 80 tons and high accuracy tops out at 95.


It would have been nice to have a high accuracy piece for the 100 tonners, but alas we are disappointed in that respect.


But that aside, lets see what we do have.


For 94 Crystal, 2090 Bioptics and 1155 Ferrite you get a Precision Rating 4, 3% chance of double damage and a 3% power increase to both Laser and Fire damage. Most importantly (and this was certainly an issue with early release high tonnage equipment) no penalties.


But the proof is in the pudding, and to taste said pudding we need to compare it with the other delectable crystal goodies on offer.


Now we can't really compare this piece at 95 tons as the Sensor array gives us a whopping 10 precision. But at 100 tons, you don't get Crystal based precision higher than 6, so its certainly within shouting distance although not the best.


Perhaps the best way to view this piece is not to try and work out what it is good at, but what it is not bad at.


Of the 6 crystal pieces on offer, 3 have penalties whether they be vulnerabilities to specific weapon types or (horror of horrors!) a penalty to speed on already glacial mechs.


Of the 3 remaining, the Thermal Autopilot is more geared toward an ice mech with its freeze ability and the Lingo is an obvious Missile mech piece.


So logically with a double damage boost and fire and laser damage increase, this piece can serve
equally well on a Fext or Notos, enhancing the main weapon type while giving them a slightly better backup type.


For what it does, it's not half bad and I can certainly see some of the big boys getting some hasty cockpit refits before the next war to give them something a bit more suitable or to get rid of some of those annoying penalties.


But oh what I would give for a 100 ton Straight 8... no bells, now whistles, no penalties... just 8 precision so we can hit something without needing to spend niodes on it... ah well, I can dream.


Submitted by David McCallum #701548

When The Shogunate Came Knocking Part II By Pat Willis#224534

I spent all night going over Jabberwocky's systems. Re-calibrating her targeting controls, running multiple system diagnostics on her power output and intake sensors, I went over every single inch of that Mecha. Wocky the A.I. Personality interface I had installed ran countless battle scenarios trying to get some kind of probability pattern set up for the upcoming fight with the representative of the Meiji Shogunate. She wasn’t having much success as not a lot was known about our opponent Mr. Mitsumisho.

“Brother Pilot, did you consider the possibility that had you called for backup, or a Shogunate delegate first, instead of allowing the situation to escalate as it did, you may not be in this position?” Wocky asked me.

She had zero personality and even less conversational skills but what she did have was a point. One I couldn’t argue very well.

“Yes now that it is all said and done and a Shogunate rep is already dead, and his brother wants my head on a plate I have considered that, thank you very much for asking! Now power down, run your system checks give me some peace and quiet.”

“Acknowledged,” was her reply.

A million thoughts were going through my head, none of them pleasant. The Meiji Shogunate had a history going back to the old Earth days, a reputation of swift and violent retribution and justice to any who crossed them. Cross them I did, I killed ones brother. Oh never mind the guy had a stocked garrison full of enough ammunition to wipe out the planetoid a couple times over. Or that he was argumentative from the word go. Or even that his pilots powered up their mechas weapons first. But I pull the trigger to defend in what I think is an ambush situation, and give the order to defend ourselves  and I’m the scrapping bad guy! Nothing to be done about it now, well nothing except try not to die.

Many hours and system checks later I finally grabbed a couple of hours sleep. I awoke to the Clan Security Chief knocking on my door.

“It’s time Brother,” was all he said.

I couldn’t believe it was already almost noon so quickly. It seemed so much had happened in such a short period of time. I got my gear together and opened my door to my quarters. There wasn’t anything being said from the Security Chief. The halls of the base were empty and the entire atmosphere of the place was like a tomb. I made my way down through the bases many corridors to reach the hanger where my Regis Mecha awaited. I climbed into the cockpit and started up Jabberwocky.

The double armor plated hanger bay doors started to open as Wocky came online and got everything in order in record time. As we moved out of the hanger into the Garhan station gate room headed for Sector-8214 I saw my clan mates lined up holding their guns high standing still as statues giving me a silent salute.

“Thanks gents, see you on the other side. If this goes wrong happy hunting, over and out,” was all I could say.

We got to Sector-8214 much faster than I would have liked, there was nothing to break up the journey action wise and nothing to look at, just the steady thud of Jabberwocky moving us closer to our destination and ultimately our opponent.

“Contact at three o clock Brother”. Wocky informed me pulling me out of my own thoughts.
I turned her in that direction and saw that the enemy was piloting a very highly customized Boreas. Oh it had the standard Winter's Grasps on it, but also from what I could see it packed a couple Frozen Winds, as well as a Polar Vortex or two. Those were the weapons I could see, it was what I couldn’t see that worried me. It had unfamiliar configurations and protrusions along the mechas spine and down cockpit canopy.

I didn’t have to wait very long to see what those were or how they were used. The spine seemed to open up on the mecha and unfold into almost a solar panel looking armor down the back and wrapping around it like a mummy. A chuckle came over the comm system as the Boreas took two steps and literally vanished.

“This one cloaks ...!?” I yelled into Wockys interface microphone. “Find me a way to track it now or we are dust!”

“Running visual spectral filters, analyzing background energy and radiation levels, searching, searching..” Was her ever so cool and calm reply.

My mind was whirling trying to decrypt the multitude of data Jabberwocky took in. That was when we took the first hit. Jabberwocky’s Left knee servo got slammed hard by a punishing volley from the twin Winter Grasp ice cannons. I turned her as fast as I could and opened fire in that general direction. We hit nothing but air.

“Wocky got anything yet?” I Asked.

“Searching, searching..” Was her annoying reply.

Our back rear hip joint got hit by a second blast from the Grasp. Jabberwocky started to wobble a little but her armor was holding. I laid down what I thought was a good amount of suppression fire in the direction of the last blast. Which was then answered by another blast to the hip joint, this time from one of the Polar Vortex guns.

“Wocky you are going to get us killed! Give me something!” I was going mad with desperation. It seemed every time I turned and fired he was already gone and answering my shots.

“No data received still searching”

It was then that I had an epiphany. “Wocky give me all available sensors, reroute them down and search for seismic tremors in the ground! The damned thing may be cloaked but it still weights a good 95 tons basic non loaded configuration, running that much weight while firing is going to make some disturbance.”

This time instead of hearing Wocky come back with just telling me she is searching I heard those two words I just cannot get enough of come out of her speakers, ‘Target Acquired”.

“Well let’s not keep the good gentleman waiting send him to meet his brother!” I told her as I brought the Flavian Spears, Twin Grazers, and Archfiend systems to full charge and fired. Turns out my timing was about as good as ever. The shots when they landed were aimed low due to the targeting systems and sensors routed to read seismic disturbance. The entire volley landed just as the Boreas was pivoting to fire. Just like a man, it leaned slightly to one side to adjust its weight before pushing off again, which is when its leg supporting its weight went out in one massive explosion.

The Boreas instantly dropped its cloak and I dropped hell on the fallen Mecha. I wasn’t stupid, this guy wanted to kill me so no way was I going to let him live out of some misplaced mercy just to have him hunt me down later and do the job right. I was a member of The Brotherhood we just don’t give second chances. His mecha when I was done firing wasn’t even fit for scrap. Jabberwocky was beat up and needed repairs but she would fight another day, so would I.

I got back to base, limped Jabberwocky into her hanger and headed off for the main comm room of the base. I called the Meiji Shogunate and reported the loss of yet another one of their Lieutenants at my hands. I also then informed them if they would like to have any members of this last fella’s family fight me they had best do it according to their own honor code and do so in an uncloaked Mecha! I flipped off the comm smirked at the rookie on duty and walked out. I had many rounds of drinks to buy, many clan brothers to celebrate another day with, and best of all I was still breathing.

End

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

When The Shogunate Came Knocking By Pat Willis Player#224534

I had gotten Crossfire into its hangar for repairs and diagnostic checkup after a skirmish with frontier pirates. I had a couple of days down time from the duty roster so I decided to spend the time working on Jabberwocky my Regis Mecha. I was calibrating the new Optical targeting system when The Niodemancer showed up in the hanger.

“Brother Pilot we need to talk!” he called up to me.

“Always when I’m busy,” I said to myself and clambered out of Jabberwocky’s cockpit.

I took the lift to the ground level to see there were two very well dressed individuals accompanying him. They were both dressed in similar looking nondescript charcoal gray suits, both had the corporate short slicked back haircut, and neither looked like they had done any hard labor in their lives at all. Captain Judas the Niodemancer brought me out of my own thoughts by introducing everyone.

“Brother Pilot, this is Mr. Mitsumisho from the Meiji Shogunate. He is here actually to see you and speak with you.”

I was a little on the wary side seeing as out visitor was big time and we were still small fries on the cosmic scales. But I figured what the hell, and stuck out my hand in greeting. “Pleased to meet you Sir”.

He slightly narrowed his eyes, looked at my offered hand, made a snorting kind of noise and slightly nodded his head in my direction. It looked like he was deep in thought for a moment or two as we all stood there in silence before he finally spoke.

“I am as you know a representative of the Meiji Shogunate, my job currently is retribution.” He addressed me in a hoarse whisper. “We had an infantry garrison team over on your old clan base's planetoid, in what you refer to as Sector -8214. Our team has gone quiet and we wish to know who was responsible!”

That was most likely me. See when we moved from the old base to Garhan station we didn't exactly leave on the best terms. We got into a rather heated argument over ammunition resupply schedules. And well to make a long story short, we got the ammo, they died. It was me who gave the fire order, it is all documented and logged with the Brotherhood mission files. I was screwed and we all knew it.

Judas stepped in to try and save my bacon a little. “Mr. Mitsumisho, we did not know those Mecha were in the employ of your organization. They were hoarding ammunition like crazy, enough to outfit a small army far beyond what that garrison needed. Most likely with hostile intent. The Brother Pilot handled the situation as would any Mecha pilot being attacked. He fought.”

Never knew Judas to actually root for me before but wasn’t like I was going to look a gift horse in the mouth at the moment. The Shogunate representative however was not so easily pacified.

“Actually according to our records your pilot was the one who gave the orders and is therefore the aggressor.”

Well he had me there, I did give the go. Judas just shook his head and continued on. “He fired first, and gave orders as a response to what he perceived as a threat! I’m sorry but anyone hoarding that much ammunition, being hostile towards proven allies like the Brotherhood, and powering up mechas is simply looking for a fight end of story. He just happened to give them a fight.”

Mr. Mitsumisho just stood stiff as a board while Judas pleaded my case. Everything came to a jarring halt though when he was explaining as the Shogunate Rep said, “No matter what reasons or excuses you have it does not change matters one bit. Those were our troops you blew up and they were led by my brother. I will have justice!”

Everything became very clear to me then in a nanosecond. The Meiji Shogunate was all about family, honor, and duty. I had killed his brother, he was duty and honor bound to try and avenge that death with my own. The Niodemancer even knew there was no way out of this, we could argue all day long but in the end the result would be the same, we would fight.

I sighed and looked at Judas, he just nodded to me. “Alright then name your time and place and let’s get this over with.”

Mr. Mitsumisho allowed a small smile to cross his face and then named the very same area his brother died in, Sector -8214 at noon the next day. He then went on to describe the rules such as they were. One on one combat, my best mecha against his. Winner is the one who lives to see the next day. Such simple rules even I could follow them. With a stiff nod of the head to me and a slight bow to Judas he turned and walked out of the hanger.

Once he was gone the Captain walked up to me and said, “Look Brother this guy is no push over. Your Fext is in for repairs, we can put a rush on that but I doubt it would be ready by noon tomorrow.”

I just smiled and told him, “That’s okay I need some quality time with my girl Jabberwocky here, and we have ourselves one hell of date planned."


Judas shook his head and walked off, leaving me alone with Jabberwocky. All we could do now was wait and prepare for what the next day would bring, hoping we’d live to see the end of it.




(To be continued…)

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Weapons Factory Leveled In An Act Of Eco-Terrorism By Kenneth Hicks ID# 846092

WEAPONS FACTORY LEVELED
CORVELLIA CITY, HARPER'S WORLD - The Trinitarian World Symposium was dealt a heavy blow Thursday when mercenaries under the Blackwing banner attacked and destroyed factories producing its marquee T9 Berserker and T10 Tsunami missile weapons, as well as the ammunition for those systems. Blackwing Mecha forces landed on Harper's World on Wednesday via orbital insertion and sent over 100 Mecha to assault the facility, catching TWS defensive forces by surprise and retreating via Niode gate Friday after significant losses to planetary militia. The damage planetside has been estimated at 150,000 Crystal.

Sources say that the Blackwing forces were hired by the United Sentients for Liberation and Freedom, a radical environmentalist and human rights group that had made claims that TWS had violated planetary law by building its new factories on existing Dreadwing breeding grounds and had funded local elimination of this species during the latest war against Drochah.

USLF representatives refused to comment on the attack, but reiterated their claim that the Dreadwings are more intelligent than recent scientific claims, and that full self-awareness and sentience makes the species fall under galactic rights and protections.

TWS remains under planetary investigation on Harper's World for large scale insurance fraud related to the fire and explosion at its New Catalina plant which provides rocket fuel for its T-line of missile ammunition.

Stealth Plating Equipment Review By Pat Willis#224534

We got a look at some big boy chassis equipment today with min tonnage of 85 up to 95 tons the stealth plating is available for 1,563 Ferrite, 820 Bioptics, and 58 Crystal. The piece has the following abilities, dodge (7), shield (3), missile shield 8%, trample shield 30%, and speed -3.

Now of course just stack these one on top of another for the bigger mechs and you'll be left with a statue for all the movement it'll do. Mix them in with other equipment though and this should serve you well. The missile shield is beneath 10% so that is so so as a bonus, however the 30% trample shield is a definite best seller as many larger mecha these days are being made with trample built in. The dodge and shielding are nice but again under 10% for both, so really a in case you need it, it's there kind of deal. The only draw back here is speed and at -3 it doesn't seem that bad. Please remember how ever mechas of the tonnage this is designed for aren't fast in the first place so watch your speed totals after application of this equipment piece.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Cyacc Weapon Review By Pat Willis#224534

Continuing our reviews of limited release weapons of the past we have the Cyacc niode missile system . Please note these weapons are no longer available in game but seeing as I found the image files, figured I'd review them.

As always the big question of, is it worth it? Well before this weapon at level 15 you can access the Advanced Fury Rack, available to levels 15 and up, sporting 18 damage, and 91 speed, with a fork of 80%

Then at level 22 you run into the Cyacc whose stats you can see, and then nothing for niode missile throwers until level 25, which is when you run into the 60% fork ability weapon of Black Rain. Black Rain has a damage of 31, and a speed of 92.

Now the Cyacc doesn't have massive damage abilities like the Fork on the other two weapons mentioned above. However it has damage that blows both of them away at 55,  and is faster with a speed of 98, compared to the 91, and 92 of the previously discussed weapons. It does have Splash ability at 8%, and 2x damage at 5%. Granted those aren't very high percentage abilities but to counter that the damage is considerably higher, and the speed is faster.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Camping: A Comprehensive History Part II By Kenneth Hicks ID# 846092

Credits to:

Steven Vreeland ID# 355027, Richard Millich ID# 291875, Michael Telladira ID# 637975, and

German Pudilo ID# 685605


Hello and welcome back! In part I of this expose, we covered how camping was developed and why it was incorporated into standard practice amongst the RND clans. Now we're going to get more into the meat and potatoes of the practice.




Alright! Thanks for coming back everyone! Now that we have an idea as to the “why” camping was brought into play as a strategy, what are some of the preferred methods that you have used?


Steven V: One method that was used most effectively is waiting in the single player tournaments until the last hour to make a jump towards the top.


Michael T: The main method is to avoid experience at all costs. The other part of this (which in my opinion is where RND got lazy as a whole [outside of a select few members]) is to gain niodes through interviews, comics, videos, etc. to make up for the free play way that majority of RND used.

This can also be supplemented or replaced with spending. If experience is needed for certain prizes the cost versus outcome must be weighed in. RND had a number of databases/formulas Sean Wadley developed with RND voices. This allowed us to rank and measure all weapons, equipment and mechas which was a great asset to any new comer.


German P: There is not so much to say about "slow leveling" or pure camp. One keeps acquiring the lower XP possible, to keep not leveling so fast without be ready to do it (aka: run short on resources to keep maximizing the upgrade)


- Avoid expensive kotms (by the time when I was in RND, bronzes were the cheaper way to acquire some Niodes through the kotms)


- Avoid circuit competition (You can and must join for the free niodes and crystal, but avoiding hit others earning XP). There are free ways to acquire crystal, as harvesting your friend’s farms.


- Avoid blind fights against others, as you earn big amounts of XP that way... If you needed to make attack wins, there are ways you can figure to do it with low or zero XP earned.


- Avoid, avoid, avoid... Win clan war rounds with the lesser possible attacks, sharing efforts between the whole team, etc.


To me, this is boring, but at that time, this was necessary to help me become competitive when one lacks the cash or other ways to earn Niodes, or when one needs time to arrange the resources he/she is earning.


Richard M: One of the things we tracked back then was the Niode weapon count per player. We didn't consider a player prepared unless they had Mecha appropriate for their level, Niode or not, and their Niode weapon stocks were at least half of their total.


As you can guess, with Fists  GEs,  T9s and Berthas across the board, we became exceptionally strong, ton for ton, player to player. There were zero weaknesses except for level, and our early foes can attest to that.


In fact, with this system, we had players fighting and defeating players up to ten levels higher or more. That may not seem like a lot to the experienced player, but down in the teens and twenties, beating players in the thirties is a much bigger leap.




Did any of you have preferred techniques that you don’t see listed here?


Michael T: I had two accounts, 1GoML was my 'responsible leveling' account. The other was my Facebook account which is a stone cold camper. Responsible leveling is more fun to me because you get to fight and test a bit more freely while still dominating most opponents. The stone cold camper really only gets defensive wins which was a lot of fun for a short time. However, as of right now my Facebook account is level 16 with no weapon that deals under 70 damage (when I add in crystal weapons) It gets boring when everything is nearly as maxed as it can be.

Plus no one really hits me anymore.

German P: Umm, avoid useless experience, lol


Richard M: Another camping technique we used during KOTMs was the 1-6 rule. Because #6 is the lowest position that you can use to attack #1, those two spots were considered fair game for Chessman to fight Chessman. All other slots were off limits for fighting between Chessmen, regardless of unit. We did enough testing among ourselves between events that the real test was against live opponents, and so we focused on that exclusively. We communicated during these events, noting possible problem players and rooting for clan mates, especially the newer ones, to get at least Bronze every time.


In this way, often, we'd stack the KOTM standings before the event began with 4-6 players straight, creating a psychological and strategic advantage. This was so possible because the longer we camped, the closer together our levels became. This was a huge advantage during both KOTMs and Clan Wars.


We avoided XP like the plague, because we knew, as we know now that upgrade costs aren't linear as level rises, but they are exponential. This is because weapon slots, equipment slots, and Base slots MULTIPLY the income you need to stay current. This is still true today.

In fact, we as a clan family boycotted the very first Faction Wars entirely because of the simple math we did on the likely XP gain versus the prizes put forth. It simply wasn't worth it, especially for an event that was clearly experimental at the time. So we sat out.




The amount of thought and research you folks put into this is outstanding! No wonder the moniker of “The Chessmen” and “RND” have been ingrained into your clan history for so long.

So now that you’ve told us the “whens”, “whys” and “hows”, in your collective minds, how do you feel that camping has evolved to keep pace with the game?


German P: Honestly, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Some people have maintained complete immersion in camping, some have allowed themselves to level slowly.


Steven V: It evolved because of higher level players complaining, so we had to use the same ideas but attack in raids and pick and choose when the experience was worth getting.


Michael T: I think responsible leveling wasn't necessarily 'evolved' into. It was more of manipulation by the developers for good intentions at bringing new players in. For instance, KOTM used to be zero experience with rewards. However, now if you want to play the game on a daily basis you have to grab some sort of experience unless you strictly video/interview etc.

(Much less fun!)


Richard M: XP started to be added to everything. This was a tipoff that The Craftsmen wanted more income through providing the paying player more and more advantage, again, exponentially, as level rose,  and that XP and resulting level was the engine. By then, some of our players were nearing level 50, the original ceiling of the game and the point where huge Mecha bonuses existed, even today. Some of our people made an intelligent choice. By then, the game and the success we had was worth enough to invest with hard currency instead of in game Crystals and Niodes.


This gave rise to the “super camper”: the player who bought in and camped, maximizing every single slot,  as we had before, but with much greater resources.


Players who did this enjoyed such a huge advantage that they flat out refused to level at all. It was a big fish in a small pond mentality, reinforced by what we saw in a Division One that was dominated by the whales who had unlimited resources and time.


After the old RND broke down, we who were left found that we could compete, if not dominate like we used to, by advancing, grudgingly, at a measured pace. This pace was different for every player, and that's the type of leveling we use now.


And finally, is there anything that we haven’t covered that you would like to add?


German P: There is a reason why camping and hybrid camping style methods are developed: The game encourages to it.


If the Developers really wanted to eradicate the camp strategy, then be sure this conversation wouldn’t be happening as they could take the needed measures to grant a positive leveling or to discourage anyone stopping it.


Since I started to play into Mecha Galaxy, I have detected some vicious that should be fixed as to allow or encourage to all the players for a constant leveling.


Level alone is not power: Just brings more room for power, but you need to acquire the higher bases, the better and weightier mechs, the equipment and the weapons, and all that with the same rate as you get the slots to fill or you will be becoming as a hollow force under-performing against those in your same bracket…


A way to fix this may be just attach some additional skill or damage increased without the need to acquire it too, so then pure leveling may be certainly raising your firepower or something.


As long as this game evolves into a better one, I will be glad. But I enjoy the game as it is right now, so I am happy to be playing here, despite the holes it may actually have.


Michael T: Nick please hear my cry and lower the experience a little bit for KOTM's! Outside of that, great work as always! Thanks for taking the time to help the new guys Kenneth!


Richard M: Camping is still viable today, bit, with the advent of XP around every corner to force players into a "buy or die" situation, camping today requires either a lot of patience or an immediate brake on any leveling at all in order to gather the early lead in the lowest divisions that perpetuates success through prizes. That's why we're seeing all sorts of unsportsmanlike conduct surrounding the new player environment now.


Camping is merely a strategy that matches the lowest resource player. Used wisely, the advantages gained by spending a lot of time with low level Mecha gets a player into the mindset of learning it down to the nuts and bolts, because everything becomes important when you have the time. This knowledge becomes superior to everyone else too. Used unwisely, a player can get bored or get locked into a hoarding mentality which isn't good for the clan or themselves.


Success always includes the next challenge, and campers can lose sight of longer term goals because of the time spent in one place.


Camping isn't an evil by itself, but I can tell you that it's still one of the few ways you'll ever win or even compete if you're one of the have-nots. That's the way it is in a game run by money, and (don't kid yourself) that's the way it'll be for a long, long time. As long as you've got players who love the game but can't spend lavishly, believe it, camping is here to stay.


I’d like to take this time to thank our guests, Mr. German Pudilo, Mr. Steven Vreeland, Mr. Michael Telladire, and Mr. Richard Millich. Thank you for coming out to the bunker and giving us this behind the scenes break down of how actual research and development goes into figuring out how to win successfully.


I’d also like to thank the readers of this two part interview. If you have any questions, comments, or want to put in your own two cents, just let us know on our web page thegalaxygathering.com or visit us at our Facebook page as well.


This has been Kenneth Hicks bidding you all a pleasant game.


<end transmission>

Spinal Bracing Equipment Review by David McCallum #701548

I really should have given this article the title of "Mech Building, how to do it properly", because this is a factual piece rather than the fantasy you will read in other publications. Or if it is factual, you can rest easy in the knowledge that they are splashing their build strategy all over the player pages so you all know what to expect and can therefore work out how to counter them.


Seriously, I have just read an article about equipping a Nifthel, and I wondered what the author had been smoking.


A bill of 3575 Ferrite, 2731 Bioptic and 185 Niodes to equip a mech that you will have outgrown 5 levels after you purchase it because you will have access to the Oggun, widely agreed to be pound for pound one of the best mechs in the game.


And please note, not a single crystal in that build, even though you will have ten of them to equip. Far more by the time they have been relegated to 40 ton specialist duties.


So lets go back and look at some of those decisions.


Chassis: Hip Hopper Hips, Hip Shocks or Telemetry Kit. Not a crystal piece in sight.

Now when it comes to low tonnage crystal chassis gear, you have a nice baseline. You can't go wrong with Spinal Bracing.


Now from my budget pick (because I'm equipping 10 on a temporary basis), we will compare the closest equivalent on their list of possibles, the Hip Hopper Hips.


Stat wise, 12 dodge compared to 14. Around a 16% increase admittedly, but only 2 actual points of difference.


Cost wise, 246 Ferrite, 187 Bioptics and 34 Crystal vs 229 Ferrite, 250 Bioptics and 20 Niodes. The other stuff on their list was even more expensive.


I'm going to put this in perspective. I'm also going to assume that for an expendable mech, we aren't going to spend any actual money, nor are we in the lucky position of having access to videos.


To make budget for a Spinal Bracing piece, I can make 4 attacks on level 1 players which should give me the Biiptics and Ferrite needed. It's more of a surety than doing missions, even though missions does get you towards other stuff which is FREEEE! (love that word!). Enter a circuit fight, get 10 crystal and 2 niodes, hit 4 players and I have the crystal budget. 5 minutes tops and around 26 XP.


And I get 2 Niodes change.


Let's compare that to the Hip Hopper Hips. You still need to do missions or attacks to get the Ferrite
and Bioptics, but the Niodes are a problem. I need to enter 10 circuit fights and wait 14 to 15 days. For one equipment piece. Or level 4 times. Or enter and get bronze in a KotM. Those last two are going to gain more than any 26 experience points.


And lets face it, I could save on XP by (shock horror!) farming crystal from people on my friends list.


So let's get real shall we?


Crystal... don't overlook it.

Submitted by David McCallum #701548