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>>1358929
>>1351872
>>1351964
>>1351991
>>1352075
>>1352932
>>1353422
In a snap-decision, you take advantage of you plummet and lob a Wrenade down at the feet of the Cannon Driver, not keen to tangle with it at the mouth of the defile. As it shrieks downrange, you switch to the coils and launch one after it, aiming for the sturdiest-looking plates on the Driver. One of the two figures dives for cover and avoids the whirlwind of death, the other slipping around behind one of its trunklike legs. You fire another coil into the cliff wall and pull yourself around to the side--

Only to feel a sudden lurch as you feel something bite into your leg. You snap down sharply as you twist in midair to see a purple-green braided coil digging tenaciously into your boot between the flashes of your shield. It runs down to the ground, to the figure behind the Driver’s leg, as he aims to pull you down straight onto it.

You can’t twist around in time to cut the enemy line in time, even if you had the flexibility, and the jump jets are still on cooldown.

With options and time rapidly dwindling, you draw your lance and bring it down as hard as you can, ground rushing up to meet you.

The already-listing Cannon Driver, shields taxed, parts beneath you with a sharp snap of resistance through your elbows, and then peels away to either side under a glowing beam of death, arresting your momentum barely at all before you pass through it and impact the ground hard, falling to one knee with the overhead slash as it bursts into a rain of scrap all around you.

In the flame and flash, you can’t easily pick out the second Reploid, yet, but you now realize you’re facing a Hoganmer.

His shield is glowing, and in place of his flail, that cable line runs from your leg to his arm.

You lock eyes with his emotionless, visored faceplate, and he yanks, pulling your leg out from under.

>

Evening command, just letting you know that the prior thread links to 73, not 75.

>>1358929
This guy is cute.

>>1358931
Meet it with the lance.

>>1358998

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>>1359039
Wait fuck me

>>1358931
Anyway, shoot buster at Hoganmer while trying to figure out what the other reploid is. Hoganmers kind of suck without the flail.

>>1358931

Buster and lance combo?

>>1358931
Can we just misericorde through the shield and into its head? We've got plenty of time to recharge it for the next fight.

>>1359091
The misericorde specifically does not recharge on its own.

>>1359103
>The LN reservoir is limited by the constraints of the technology, and slowly replenishes itself over time.
it just can't be used for a good while, but we've got plenty of distance to go to reach mortarphant.

Grab the cable and give the motherfucker a Tesla Handshake.

>>1358931

This:
>>1359091

Also use a tension coil to bring him close to us if need be. He's not the only one with a grappling line.

>>1358931

>Counter with our own Tension Coil. We've been using it longer, there's no way he can out-coil us! Maybe we can use it to steal his shield?

Oh balls. Did Seven gave the Hoganmers T. Coils? 'Cause I'm pretty sure Seven gave the Hoganmers T. Coils.

Wouldn't it be a kick if he did this just for us? Is he *that* salty? Eh, probably not. Even he's not that petty, right? This was probably just a tactical decision on his part.

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>>1358931
Nice drawing OP

Don't tension coils conduct electricity?

>>1359782
Not as well as you think.

Well, now that we're not falling in midair and with no time to spare, we can also just cut his grappling hook with our lance.

>>1358931
He's trying to limit our mobility, good chance we've already got shells incoming. We gotta move.

Use Mass Schriver to pull him off balance, hit the opening with the lance, then dash towards the rider, 'cause this is gonna get hairy real fast

>>1360013
Right, we have that. So...hoganmer shotput time? Possibly shove him into one of the Cannon Driver's barrels so far he just stays there and run?

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Hi all. Sorry for slow/lateness, I had a meeting to get to after work and then I hit a car in the parking lot!

It’s been a night.

>>1358954
Five years I've been doing this, folks. Five years. Welcome to what might be the oldest sausage factory in the business.

>>1359618
This made my morning and it's certainly helping brighten my evening. Thank you for everything.

So, we’ve got two (three?) overall sentiments here, and I kind of need a tiebreaker.

>Stand ground, shoot at the Hoganmer.
>Go for melee, misericorde the Hoganmer.
>Engage Mass Shriver, swing the Hoganmer.

Modifications to those votes or “Other” are still on the table, but ideally it’ll be a nice strong majority so we don’t need a tie-tiebreaker.

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>>1361083
>Engage Mass Shriver, swing the Hoganmer.

>>1361083
Swing and shock 'im! We'll beat a motherfucker with another motherfucker!

>>1361083
Going with
>Engage Mass Shriver, swing the Hoganmer.

>>1361083

>Mass Shriver, then MOVE!

>>1361083
>Engage Mass Shriver, swing the Hoganmer.
Mass Shriver deserves love.

>>1361083
>Engage Mass Shriver, swing the Hoganmer.

>>1361083
>Engage Mass Shriver, swing the Hoganmer

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Swing Hog, Remove AYYYYYYY.

>>1361083
You're welcome, glad to have made your morning and helped cheer you up. I've hit a car in the parking lot before, it's horrible, just horrible. Really sorry you had to go through that.

>>1361083
>Engage Mass Shriver, swing the Hoganmer.

also shock him a little first to throw him off

>>1362788
>also shock him a little first to throw him off
Mass Shriver is an alternate use of the capacitors. No need to waste that energy.

>>1362830
I think he means we're shocking him to set up a Mass Shriver strike against an enemy that dropped his defenses. I don't think we really need that against a Hoganmer though.

>>1361083
>swing
Let's see if we can smash it and mystery reploid into each other.

>>1361083

>Stand ground, shoot at the Hoganmer.

We are tanky enough to take a Hoghammer. The guy doesn't even count as a miniboss so let's use our main weapon more, yes?

>>1362942
>our main weapon
Our buster is a secondary weapon. The lance is our primary.

>>1363004
Our lance is also a secondary weapon.
The capacitors are our primary.

>>1363019
The capacitor is a tertiary weapon.

Our primary weapon is insanity.

>>1363004
>>1363019
>>1363053
Our primary WEAPONS are our twin busters and Accent Lance.
Our primary GIMMICK is our electric capacitors.

There's a key difference between "weapon" and "gimmick."

This talk of primary, secondary, tertiary weapons and gimmicks is unproductive.

We go with what will work. And I predict that the Mass Shriver is gonna do some work for us.

>>1363004

Buster upgrade next? It would help to save in VWD.

>>1363058
Anode is a mid range to close range fighter. The Ascent Lance is our primary weapon with the Anode Cycler busters as our initial secondary ranged option.

>These busters are optimized for rapid-fire plasma, excellent for deterring enemies.

We later tuned down our rate of fire to have the option of charging up a two charge shot burst and upgraded the compressor so that they would be more effective at taking out shields.

>>1363230

I'm not certain we really need to upgrade the busters. We just need to use them more and not fall back onto using our VWES as much.

We need to practice holding a buster charge when not actively engaged while on a mission so that switching to Lockon Hunter stops being our go to mid to long range option.

>>1363272
In all fairness though, our vwes goodies are just so useful for mission purposes, like sensor blocking, Batman impressions, and giant balls of swirling death. You can't upgrade those into busters. But maybe we can figure something out for them to make it a bit more worth it.

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>>1361093
>>1361130
>>1361133
>>1361158
>>1361170
>>1361207
>>1361252
>>1361332
>>1362788
>>1362939
…

Something’s up.

Stowing your lance, you take hold of the bright-colored cable--similar to T. Coil, but brighter, with stronger weave (that, mercifully, isn’t bladed), you lock eyes for a moment longer, before you give him a dogged grin.

In the next instant, you feel your arms leap to the motion almost as soon as you think of it.

Electricity coursing through your arms, the conduits within taking on a glow, the Mass Shriver does for your arms what your first Raikousen use did for your legs. The Hoganmer’s eyes don’t even have time to register surprise before you’ve slung him around like a ragdoll. He cuts the line, but too late--the apex of your swing has him launch like a skipped stone, hundreds of pounds flung in a low arc, coming down in a hellish tangle and kicking up clods of smoke.

He sails past his partner, a glassy-plated, semi-crystalline armor on a short, compact humanoid with a large stomach harness and cables running up its arm. Unperturbed by the Hoganmer’s abrupt vacation, it sights on you and fires--way, way off course.

You watch a glittering white-blue star dart by faster than a plasma shot, sail overhead, even as you turn your busters on the maverick armored in glass.

An instant later, something catches you in the shoulderblades, and a gob of cryomer flash-freezes against your back, shields protesting. Your whole body stiffens, for a moment, before a flex of your shoulders shatters the substance.

Over your head, little pellets of the same material splinter off in symmetrical lines, lining the cliff walls with patches of ice, fog rolling off them in the sunlight and glare. You size him up as he shoots again--this time accompanied by the roll of thunder.

And then the ground shakes.

You’re deafened as noise you can feel rises with a rumble in the ground. Shadows grow and dance before you as a second sun blooms high overhead at your back.

Barrage Mortarphant has begun shelling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAGuwrPB_Uo

Your hunch confirmed, you waste no time, dashing aside as another frigid star is sent your way by the mysteriously-armed maverick. You trigger your jump jets as the explosions seem to grow closer behind you, the air warming up and storms of dust (and ash) swirling high, dropping visibility. Another cryomer shard hits the envelope of flame, hisses into an airborne drop of too-blue water, before finally wicking away into nothing. You don’t stop to dwell on it, mounting your bike and gunning the engine, firing a few snap shots behind you to ward off the ice. You see the glow of the Hoganmer’s shield in the dust, realizing somewhere that you can’t unpack just now that you’re staring at a Tumult Shell.

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>>1363473
Icy stars and another one of those cables snap at your heels as you peel out, the endless drumbeat and thunderstorm of the falling shells only growing in volume. With shrieking, whistling, wailing death at your back and nothing to do but press forward, you turn toward your next target.

>Task your ‘loids after something now. You need a distraction.
>Save them--you’re on the run now.
>Other?

>>1363477
So is this Seven's gift? Or just what PHANTOM in general is trying to cook up, DNA-themed mavs?
>>1363477
>Task your ‘loids after something now. You need a distraction.

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>>1363477
>Task your ‘loids after something now. You need a distraction.

Shelling = Mission Start For Reals. Time to do a lot of things at once.

>>1363485

Worse, DNA themed mocks.

>Task your ‘loids after something now. You need a distraction.

>>1363473
>mysteriously-armed maverick
It's just Shotgun Ice with shrapnel that moves differently, right?

Now is the time to use mechaniloids

>>1363477
>Task your ‘loids after something now. You need a distraction.

>>1363477
Task the 'loids as a convoy and call the DNA Mimic mavs in to Arc.

Are these guys mechaniloids or reploids? Was this a suicide move on their part?

>>1363477
>>Task your ‘loids after something now. You need a distraction.

Chill penguin is weak to kicking. Next time we see one of those guys, kick them in the nuts.

>>1363477
>Task your ‘loids after something now. You need a distraction.
Sweep and clear, I guess? They can't keep up with the Chaser, and we could use a clear path to the tunnel leading to the second site. Maybe don't use the Blady/Spiky ones, if we want to use them to clear mines.

Would it help at all to order one of the Drimoles partway back down the tunnel, to dig a second entrance/bolt-hole we could slip into? Or would going back to Sabomole's entrance (at base camp, I assume) just be faster? I can't really visualize the distances involved.

>>1363556
Looks like the Hoghammer was using Spin Jagwire and Tumult Terrapin data while the Unknown is using Chill Penguin and Crystal Snail data.

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>>1363969
Headed to bed, but this post is important.

You guys need to actually have a task for your 'loids if you're gonna sortie them.

>>1363979
Actually, they can't really convoy with us if they're slower... So, I guess task them to ride as fast as they can down the canyon with us and tie up anyone we can't take out. That might mean a sacrifice play, but we can't slow down.

>>1363979
You know, with all this artillery trailing behind, I'm suddenly very glad we took the time to clear a lot of the mechaniloids out of the defile when we rode in!

>>1363993
Excluding the wheel loids. Somewhere in last thread, it came up that they could clear a path through the mesa's minefield. That would be good to keep in reserve, for the final stretch.

>>1363979
slow down whatever's chasing us, maybe capture a couple of those DNAloids for study

what's our route right now?

>>1364089
Considering our pursuers are currently artillery shells, we may want to use the defile to try and take Mortarphant out with movement.

Wait, does that Hoganmer have strike chain and tumult shell, HC?

>>1364121
whatever WILL chase us, since we're going to speed past any mechaniloid resistance.

I don't think we can take the defile to Mortarphant.

>>1364130
sorry, that was a retarded spell check. I meant to say *fake* Mortarphant out using the defile and our mechaniloids, basically hiding under cover and then letting the mechaniloids grab her attention while trying to slip off unseen.

>>1364167
I don't think we can manage anything "unseen". At best, we could pick off the observers from the defile.

CAN we see those observers now?

>Ice
Uh oh. This is our elemental counter. We'd better be careful.

>>1365147
No, our elemental counters are sanity and birds.

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>>1364121
Yep! And like someone else pointed out earlier, the other one is using Shotgun Ice.

>>1365233

Mocks vs Mocks! Have our droids fight the mocks?

>>1365233
Do they have a name we can use, or is DNAloids fine?

Tumult shell isn't our fault at least, IIRC doppler was in control of tumult's DNA analysis.

>>1365355
I'd go with Hoganmer Customer for the Hoganmers considering the enhanced versions of the X3 enemies Head Gunner and Victoroid are Head Gunner Customer and Victoroid Customer.

The new reploid that use Shotgun Ice? Unknown for now.

>>1365355
Ah yes, the DNA Mimics have appeared. Most excellent.

The shield-and-strike Reploid is a Hoganmer GENBU, while the ice-blaster is a NORW-A7.

>>1365547
Nice punning on both counts.

>>1365547
>shield-and-strike Reploid is a Hoganmer GENBU, while the ice-blaster is a NORW-A7

Those names imply at least 6 other DNA Mimics.

GENBU implies SUZAKU, SEIRYU and BYAKKO
NOR(th)W(ind) implies SOUTH EAST and WEST

>>1365653

And SUZAKU implies a Saetos weapon?

...Wait, but is that possible? Saetos gave us his DNA...

>>1365603

Agreed.

>>1365653
I figured the latter was Norway (because ice) and Genbu because the Tumult Shells (as the origin was terrapin based).

>>1365706
Well, also because of the Strike Chain. Turtle + Snake, after all.

>>1365687
To be fair, it could also be Storm Eagle and Flame Mammoth. Or any bird Mav before the defection and any fire Mav with their weaponry integrated.

>>1365706
I thought the 7 was an upside down L and the name was supposed to be Narwhal horribly misspelled

>>1365912
Stylized Y.

>>1365687
Any Fire+Flight DNA could justify the SUZAKU designation.

>>1365706
Its possible NORW-A7 is a joke name in addition to being part of a series.

>>1366198

Shouldn't we be planning what our droids will be doing?

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>>1363979
>>1366355
>2 Drimole-Ws, 2 Spiky, 2 Blady, 2 Crash Roaders, and 2 Earth Commanders

If the idea is to keep enemies off us for a moment, send out the Earth Commanders. If nothing else they'll divert the non-Mortarphant lines of sight up and away from our ride chaser.

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>>1363969
I'm iffy on distances too, but if the Drimoles' near-complete-tunnel task is finished, having one of them double back to make a nearer entrance to us might be of value. If it doesn't tip off enemy observers.

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>>1366355
Yeah, I, uh, need a plan of action here, with at least a moderate amount of consensus.

Mind you, if no concrete plan comes forth, I'll progress things a little bit and see if that helps you guys decide on whether to order the 'loids out to something or hold them a little longer.

Also, remember that the Drimoles are sortied with the dig team, the rest are with Artillery's base camp.

>>1366466
>>1366604
We're still a ways away from the base camp, right? Call out the Earth Commanders and Crash Roaders to cover our... retreat? We should also figure out where we're headed.

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>>1366774
Right now you're heading towards your next objectives--closer to the mesa, and also the second and third satellite camps, both still active (and firing).

The defile you entered through is being shelled thoroughly. You have open ground on all sides.

>>1366908
Mesa's probably out until we have Mortarphant's support under control.
Is the cliffside tunnel close to being complete?
Will riding full speed to the seaside camp put us out in the open?

>>1366908
Ill repeat my plan from >>1364089

>capture the DNA mimics we disabled/weakened for study
>setup along the path between the second or third mesa to mortarphants base. They don't need mobility to cover our passage if they're already there.

>>1367179
There's no way we're gonna be able to safely haul the DNA Mimics with us on our bike. At best we'd be T. Coiling them behind us like Achilles dragging Hector.

>>1367197
I wasn't talking about anode. These are all orders for the mechaniloids, where they're relatively protected by simply being not important enough to matter

>>1366604
Alright, if I understand where we are in the plan:

Defile Base: destroyed
Cliffside Base: operational, tunnel status unknown
Seaside Base: operational, Sabomole status unknown

So our attempt to hit the Defile and Seaside at the same time was mistimed, either due to how quickly we took out the base or (sadly more likely) something delaying Sabomole and Compass.

I think we should send the two Bladys and one of the Earth Commanders on a suicide run towards the Mesa to draw Mortarphant's fire, maybe we'll get lucky and they'll hit a minefield before being vaporized.

Next objective should be the Cliffside Base, gives Sabomole more time to turn out not to be dead, or will let us know how fucked we are.

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>>1367089
Cliffside tunnel is complete and awaiting punchthrough. The dig team has moved on to the last of the three bases and is in transit.
You will be out in the open anywhere you go, but not moreso than other zones.

>>1367179
The area they were in is currently saturated with artillery fire. Mechaniloids also can't really capture unless specially designed to do so.

>>1367215
So they're not on our tail and Mortarphant is still relatively preoccupied? We can work with that.
>Head to the tunnel, send Earth Commanders back into the defile to scout/keep drawing artillery

>>1367254
Yeah, i can go with this

>>1367215
Then let's punch through. Earth Commanders are cheaper to spend on time-buying doom than a giant dragon or two.

Thread upvote reminder! Having only five votes makes RoboSatan happy!

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Maverick

>>1367215

This
>>1367254
seems pretty reasonable. I feel like we could have the Drimoles just chill out until we get to their tunnel then they could attack along with us. I don't honestly remember what the plan was regarding Sabamole and the third base. Could we have everything but the Earth Commanders and Drimoles head for Sabamole's tunnel to punch through and attack the 3rd base and/or provide support if things have gone tits up over there?

>>1366604
>Mind you, if no concrete plan comes forth, I'll progress things a little bit and see if that helps you guys decide on whether to order the 'loids out to something or hold them a little longer.

Please, do this. I think the only thing we all agree on right now is hauling ass away from the shelling.

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>>1368880
Yeah, I'll do that, I think. Let me get some dinner, it's been kind of a weird day.

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>>1363477
You drive.

You’re driven, the unnecessarily glib and unhelpful part of your brain adds, that bit that unlatches from reality whenever things are tense. It’s almost automatic, simply for lack of anything to be done about it--the accelerator is at max, your path is away from the falling bombs.

You know, objectively, that Mortarphant has been shelling the area for days. You know, objectively, that the cliffs overlooking the defile you came in by can’t be gone.

You know all that, but when you turn back to look over your shoulder, and all you can see is fire and light and ash and plume, you can’t convince yourself that the world is still there.

It’s then that the turn of your head makes you realize you’re being commed. Beneath the endless hammering of explosions, overlaid to rise into a single unending muddle, you hadn’t heard it.

“--aptain, can you hear me? Repeat! This is Compass! Dig team is under attack!”

And there it is, the exact thing you didn’t want to hear. “I’m here,” you say quickly. “What is your location?”

“Midway to the last base, contact! Sabomole seems to be blind, he can’t see him. I need help, this i--”

“Anode?” Ukumari’s voice crackles in your ear over Compass’s clipped, panicked tone. “The dig team isn’t moving.”

“Get those mechaniloids spun up,” you say urgently.

“Roger that, where are we tasking them?”

>On me. Follow my path--her sweep is moving, they can stay behind it.
>Direct path to the dig team. They won’t get there first, but they don’t need the delays.
>We need a distraction elsewhere. Send them after the last base as a feint.
>Send them at the mesa. They can clear some mines and draw some attention before they die.

>>1369356
>On me. Follow my path--her sweep is moving, they can stay behind it.

>>1369356
>Direct path to the dig team. They won't get there first, but they don't need the delays.

This is bad. This is really bad.

>>1369356

>On me. Follow my path--her sweep is moving, they can stay behind it.

I don't think they'd survive a direct path to the dig team.

>>1369356
>Direct path to the dig team. They won’t get there first, but they don’t need the delays.

Dig team needs help, and we need that tunnel.

>>1369356
>>Direct path to the dig team. They won’t get there first, but they don’t need the delays.

>>1369356

>>1369356
>Direct path to the dig team. They won't get there first, but they don't need the delays.

Really, why we always have to get the spies?

>>1369436
Because Cain Labs enjoys seeing us suffer for trying to be a good guy. Side note, a part of me earnestly hopes it's something else and not Sabomole being a traitor, but if he is?

Well hey, after Moloch we'll have a nice, armor-fucking pilebunker with Sev & Tigershark's name's on it!

>>1369463
Given that Sabomole "can't see him", I'm thinking it's Stylist again.

>>1369473
Also a possibility.

>>1369356
>Send them at the mesa. They can clear some mines and draw some attention before they die.
I don't think they'll survive to reach the dig team.

>>1369473

Yeah this is making me wonder if the mavs snuck some sort of a tracker into Sabomole during his "upgrades".

>>1369356
>Direct path to the dig team. They won’t get there first, but they don’t need the delays.
It feels like trying to do good keeps backfiring on us, but if we don't keep trying, then they'll have beat us!

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>>1369356
Split them up.
Earth Commanders:
>We need a distraction elsewhere. Send them after the last base as a feint.
The rest:
>Direct path to the dig team. They won’t get there first, but they don’t need the delays.
Clearing mines can wait, we want to get our not-fighters not-murdered.

>captcha says Sigma

>>1369568
If things are this bad when we're trying to help, imagine how dead everyone would be if we stopped trying.
I think it'd look something like a main story post by Cain Labs.

>>1369573
This seems like a good division.

>>1369473

That's what I'm thinking too. I don't think that the mechaniloids will be able to help much against Stylist. So as much as I really really want to send help to the dig team...

>>1369356
>We need a distraction elsewhere. Send them after the last base as a feint.


Maybe this will force them to pull forces off the dig team and end up buying some breathing room. Then again, maybe not.


>>1369573

Actually I'll back this.

Also
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi2UYZu2JKM

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>>1369497
That's a possibility, but the tunnels are too valuable to the attack plan. Consider the other options:

>On me. Follow my path--her sweep is moving, they can stay behind it.
Her sweep is moving, but she is also highly erratic. Don't count on predictability.

>We need a distraction elsewhere. Send them after the last base as a feint.
It would distract some units, sure, but the dig team would be on its own, and it's a more important asset than our mechaniloids.

>Send them at the mesa. They can clear some mines and draw some attention before they die.
They could, but OPAL can surely scan for a few mines itself, and taking the mesa is three steps ahead from where we are now. We can deal with that when we come to it.

>>1369356

Ok, changing my vote to this:

>>1369573

>>1369578
That sounds like an excellent plan. Best plan.

>>1369606
I was against the feint because as you said, it would probably distract some units but it's a tad obvious to really draw shelling.

but the OPAL couldn't detect those wall wearing robots, so I'm not so sure about the mines. This just seems like the most useful use of the loids.

>>1369662
A good point well taken, but I'm just that invested in having both tunnels as complete as possible. In this mission, open sky is the enemy and needs to be avoided as much as possible.

>>1369356
>Direct path to the dig team. They won’t get there first, but they don’t need the delays.
Go forth, my mechanical minions! Also, they'll be invaluable to have around when we inevitably lose the Cheval.

>“Midway to the last base, contact! Sabomole seems to be blind, he can’t see him. I need help, this i--”
Interesting that Compass CAN see him. Probably a good thing we picked a Recon specialist!

>>1370212

Wait... if compass can see him, could he direct the mechanaloids to attack him?

If so, then we should probably give him as many mechanaloids as we can to work with instead of splitting them up.

>>1369356
>Direct path to the dig team. They won’t get there first, but they don’t need the delays.

Man I hope we're not going to get Sabomole and Compass shelled 'cause of this.

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>>1370368

>>1369573
Voting for this.

Also fuck, why didn't we borrow a combat-based friend to escort them?

>>1370611
we sent the fast guys to escort, right?

>>1370620
Yes, but Cain Labs is involved, so we should have expected them to run across Sigma 2.0 or an underground Maverick breakroom.

>>1370639
well I voted for combat, so...

>>1370611
They would likely both be fighting blind then.

>>1370805
I doubt we're the o ly combat-oriented reploid with sensor upgrades.

How good is OPAL meant to be, anyway? Just solid, or top of the range 'you couldn't normally afford this at all' good?

>>1370819
Good question, honestly. Though thinking about it, considering it was a reward for recovering super valuable super tech and the person who stole it, it may be kinda high end in terms of what it can do.

>>1370639
Nonsense.

This is X3 timeline, he's on 3.0 now.

>>1370639

...Is Cain Labs ever really /not/ involved?

>>1371093
He did some illegal shit between leading the Hunters and fighting X the first time to get that giant roombody, so really it's more of a 4.0.

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>>1369573
>>1369568
>>1369436
>>1369427
>>1369417
>>1369368
>>1369616
>>1370368
>>1370611
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDyyFrCHu-o

“Send the Earth Commanders around to the base Sabomole was digging to,” you tell Arc. “Get the rest to the dig team, fast as you can.”

“On it,” she replies, her voice a cool and calm contrapose to the hellish firestorm at your back. “You need a jolt?”

“Too early, still have the chaser,” you reply. “For now. Need to focus. Out.”

She doesn’t acknowledge, probably long familiar with exactly this kind of op. Business dealt with, you let yourself unfocus just long enough for the realization of how bad this is to sink in.

“Shit,” you hiss, “shit shit shit.” You really hope you didn’t just send that poor son of a bitch to his death. Unfortunately, like everything else about this mission for the past five minutes, you don’t get the time to sort that out before the next bad news hits.

More enemy Earth Commanders come in fast from ahead, and behind them, a trio of small floating grey ‘loids that look almost like eggs, or nautilus shells. Only the red lines and “scanner warning” from OPAL tell you what you already suspected--observer drones.

You sight on the back line immediately, knowing where the real threat is. Buster shots reach out and sweep two of them from across the sky, a moment before you have to jerk the chaser to the side as a Commander tries to smash into it from the side. You wobble back into control with one hand, aiming on the last of the drones--

Only for another Commander to swoop in and take the hits, ruining your shots as it shears apart in midair, tumbling into the firestorm behind you. The only warning you get before the drone’s optic closes and it pivots away at high speed is a single notification from OPAL:

>Signal lock.

The volume of the bombardment suddenly leaps up… and then seems to fall away, as you realize the guns are clawing closer and closer and your ears just plain keep up. You lean forward behind the handlebars and the damaged windscreen as the fire and tumbling rock fills your peripherals. It claws at your sides, pebbles and shrapnel pinging off your arms and the bike. You try to boost, but the damaged engine labors--the swerve to put off the diving Commander finished the job.

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>>1371258
You feel the impact reverberate through you as much as the fire splash against your armor, shields flashing in protest as the bike suddenly lurches once. Something in the internals under your seat coughs, and then the first dull thump. You keep the engine gunned as the shells fall all around you, distantly registering multiple hits and chips of armor flaking from you, the bike, and reality. You keep the throttle up. The bike begins to roil below you, an explosion ripping through the left side, scorching your leg from inside. It keeps moving. You keep your hands on the bars, then your hand on the remaining bar as the canopy along the front explodes, the plasma coils for the nose-mount blaster bared and radiating lambic blue a moment before they shift into white and burn. Bombs are falling in front of you now, raining earth blinding you, the noise now so universal that you may as well be deaf for lack of anything else.

Distantly, as a hundred thousand little explosions tumble through the bike from stem to stern, you realize it’s time to dismount. Your ass just leaves the seat as the seat leaves your ass, the entire chassis evaporating in the microinstant it took to send “jump” from your brain to your body.

You freefall for a second, at speed, the bike vanishing in an instant of sand, fire, and molten glass rainfall. The side of your leg touches ground first, which jerks back sharply before you can gain purchase, and you lurch facefirst into the Algerian earth, scrambling with your hands and feet to try to get up. The second you manage to find your feet beneath you, you throw a Raikousen.

Tick-tick-tick goes your capacitor--up to a titanic 76% off your artillery party so far, and suddenly the world comes back as you bolt out of the cloud. You outstrip it, trailing smoke and fire from your armor as your heels feel like fire itself. You keep boosting until the capacitor hits 34%, then cut it, hit your jump-jets, and boost again, landing and dashing.

You finally dare to turn back to see the rain of shells walking away. Without the observer--it can’t have survived all that--she finally, finally, lost tracking.

Ahead, you can make out two figures and a crater in the earth. At the edge of the hole, a hulking figure--broad-shouldered and heavily armored, towering over a diminutive, battered shape held aloft by one hand closed around the throat. As you come in closer, he slams his victim into the ground, arms and legs flailing on the little one bonelessly. He does it again, and again, and again, as you realize distantly it must be Compass.

Finally, emerging meekly from the fading grumble of burning earth, a comm signal, unsecured, and all channels. You recognize Sabomole’s voice, though you can’t see him.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”

>

>>1371261
>Dash Dash Dash
>Lockon Lockon Lockon

>>1371258
>>1371261
DAAAAAYUM
Misericorde to the back, if he hasn't seen us yet.

If he has, Lockon Hunter to get his attention and avoid hitting Compass. Switch to busters if he's heavily shielded.

Comm Sabomole, when appropriate. Keep it short. "Hey, dude. Cavalry's here. Got any grenades left?"

Because those electric grenades are just lovely.

>>1371261
Lockon and close the distance. We have the power, get the momentum going and if he closes to melee give him a jolt. Lets make sure this guy knows he fucked with the wrong op.

Well then. It looks like everything is going just fine.

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>>1371324
I'm sure it will be okay. Once we put every Maverick six feet under.

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>>1371324

>>1371326
Underground deathbirds, eh? I'm on board.

>>1371350
Hey, that's how we defeated Saetos.

>>1371261

Lockons while we close, Misericorde once we've closed and lance after that. Mess this mav right up.

>>1371261
Basically this:
>>1371498
And if there's enough time for one shouted sentence, tell Sabomole to shut up before something traces his comm.

>>1371261
You forgot to say our charge level after being hit so much.

>>1371661
No he didn't. We were up to 76%, then we burned 42% on a long dash out of the area. We're now at 34%.

so is Compass mav, or what?

>>1371920
Compass is getting used as a maraca by the mav.

>>1371261
Putting vote behind >>1371613

>>1371261
Another vote for >>1371498

>>1371261
backing >>1371498

>>1371920
Compass just had the bad luck of being Sabomole's handler for this mission.

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>>1371299
>>1371300
>>1371305
>>1371498
>>1371956
>>1371997
>>1372019
For the first time since the bombs started falling, here’s something you can deal with. Your anger--at him, at the shelling, at everything--finally looses and pinwheels free, and you raise your buster as you close in.

He looks up at you as the Lockon Hunter splashes across the back of his shoulder, tuned to full, but his shields don’t flicker. After a moment, he simply turns back and resumes his handiwork, kneeling to slam Compass into the ground with a visceral crunch.

OPAL chimes a targeting reassessment in your ear and presents a vector for your second shot. With a roar, you take it, barreling into range, going for your misericorde as you leap--

It’s not like hitting a brick wall--you’ve done that and plowed straight through, during testing--it’s like nothing else you’ve ever felt.

In another microinstant the world snaps back into place around you as your massive head of steam is deflated as he meets your charge with a half-step forward into a lunge, shoulder-checking you. Instantly your head snaps back and your misericorde spirals out of your hand as you crash back the way you came, rolling across the dirt for the second time, ears popping static. Out of the chaos, you do make out an unfamiliar voice, low and dark.

“Be right with you.”

You pull your head up in time to watch Compass’s shields collapse, his head jerking to the side at an ugly angle as the bastard clenches his fist. He manages a half-syllable over comms an instant before the maverick slams his battered body into the ground a final time, an explosion starting in his chest that courses through the poor scout in seconds, with almost no armor to contain it.

As you pull yourself back upright, the maverick coolly turns to face you, shaking out his hand as if he had just thrown a particularly hard punch. “Livewire.”

Towering, you realize he’s a vaguely insectoid design, some kind of heavily-armored beetle. Long horns from his helmet sweep down across his back, and a low, defensive posture like a ready boxer. Four arms--two massive fists sized to his armor, and another two smaller limbs below, ending in twinned buster barrels. His armor is a bright orange on a foundation of brown, with black highlights and trim. All told, he looks like a metal gorilla, hunched and focused squarely on you.

“Who,” you snarl, raising your buster, “the fuck, are you.”

He rolls his shoulders once, before slamming one fist into his palm and taking a ready stance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqoyKzgkqR4

“Collide.”

>

>>1372682
Well shit. Wires? Can those penetrate shields?

>>1372682
Give 'im the wrenades.

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>>1372682
AAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAA
>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

>>1372682
>What we are X or Zero now? What kind if bullshit mission is this? And who the fuck is the spy this time?

>>1372682
Buster fire. Lots of buster fire. We got that shield-breaking upgrade for a reason. Soften him up for our armor-piercing stuff and keep out of arms' reach.

Oh, and absolutely NO getting in melee with the GIANT LUCHADOR GORILLA-BEETLE! Okay? SUPERB.

>>1372682
>Batter him with buster fire.
>Use Mass Shriver for when he closes in to throw him away from friendlies and buy some time to grab the misericorde while having the Lance out with the other hand to block his buster shots.
time to see whether he's mainly shields or mainly physical armor.

>Save a blackout for pointblank when the shelling starts again, maybe the chaff will give us a shot at friendly fire.

>>1372682
Um. Fuck. Wrenades?

He's a brutal close-combat model with a couple of busters, I'm guessing. Keep distance and hit him with those. And I have no idea what else will work. These Anode-hunters are nasty.

>>1372720
>>1372770
I'd like to get him away from Compass before we start up the whirling death

>>1372805
Compass is all kinds of dead already, dude.

>>1372805
>You pull your head up in time to watch Compass’s shields collapse, his head jerking to the side at an ugly angle as the bastard clenches his fist. He manages a half-syllable over comms an instant before the maverick slams his battered body into the ground a final time, an explosion starting in his chest that courses through the poor scout in seconds, with almost no armor to contain it.

I don't think we have to worry about it.

>>1372764
For real. X is the one who's supposed to get the elite secret bosses.

>>1372816
USE HIS CORPSE AS A WEAPON

>>1372764
Feels more like Mortarphant gets all the good toys because she's a useful asset covering a naval base

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>>1372682
If I inspired this, I'm sorry. Not really.

I feel like, if this ends in our favor, it's going to end like if we picked the other option when fighting Mac. I feel like the frustration has built to the boiling point. And I don't feel bad about giving into it as much anymore.

>>1372772
Supporting.

>>1372779
I would like it on record that I am against any and all plans that involve using the mass shriver on a Maverick that hits like a freight train.

>>1372826
>>1372847

Or ther coms are not safe. They can do RNA copies and we did face an enemy who screwed up coms before.

They discovered our plan BEFORE it started, that means spy and or non safe coms.

>>1372779
No mass shriver unless we're cornered -- which would be difficult in a crater. This guy's shields absorbed the full impact of a Fuck You charge. Whether or not that's his main trick or a secondary one is irrelevant. Keep Range.

>>1372858
Frustration? At what? You found a big orange... thingy.

>>1372863
so just dash away when he gets near?

>>1372911
Range game may be in our favor here. Also we do have our own artillery strike we could call in if needed. Though maybe we should call 5th to let them know shit just got fucked.

>>1372682

>Keep at range and tax his shields with charged shots. Abuse the fact that we are one of the most maneuverable reploids in existence.

>>1372928
would be nice to have redshift then, a shame. good point on the call, though.

>>1372682
>Call for some artillery support

>>1372772
This anon knows the score.

>>1372682
This seems like a good time to call in lightning artillery.

>>1372874
>Or ther coms are not safe. They can do RNA copies and we did face an enemy who screwed up coms before.
>They discovered our plan BEFORE it started, that means spy and or non safe coms.

We currently don't know how this guy found the advanced team. It might not be a spy or unsafe coms and this guy might just have the right toolkit to find them.

>>1372956
>Call for some artillery support
Not yet. We current still have a bunch of charge.

>>1372991
>We current still have a bunch of charge.
and not many ways to use it against this guy. We can't shock him that well from a distance, and most of you don't want to do a Mass Shriver throw. It'll mostly be used to give raikousen dashes for added mobility, but we could use some help punching through that armor/shield.

>>1373015
Save it until we are lower on charge from raikousen dodges. Using it early in the fight wastes the capacitor charge we can get from it.

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>>1372720
>>1372772
>>1372779
>>1372791
>>1372830
>>1373015
>>1373033

Well whatever we do, I think we should do it very hard and very fast. Because...

Unless I'm misreading the situation, the second satellite base is now a crater. And given his shields, Collide might survive a direct shelling on our position. I worry that there's no reason at all for Mortarphant to pull her punches.

>>1373048
hence the blackout to at least TRY to get some of that on Collide and not us. It should at least take some time for more observers to arrive and get a real lock on us specifically.

If it comes to it, we can ask for our artillery to interfere with the shelling instead of hitting Collide, and we're not so bad in the defensive area either.

>>1373048
>Unless I'm misreading the situation, the second satellite base is now a crater.
Eh? What makes you say that?

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>>1373177
>Ahead, you can make out two figures and a crater in the earth.

I'm inferring -- probably incorrectly -- that Sabomole successfully knocked out his satellite base, which got Collide's attention.

If not, then are we just at a random crater on the way there? If so, how is Compass on the surface? Was the tunnel only partly done before Collide detected it and punched the roof in?

>>1373252
We're about halfway between satellites 2 and 3. Neither has been hit, yet.
I have no idea what the crater's about. I imagine we'll find out soon, unfortunately.

>>1369356
>“--aptain, can you hear me? Repeat! This is Compass! Dig team is under attack!”
>And there it is, the exact thing you didn’t want to hear. “I’m here,” you say quickly. “What is your location?”
>“Midway to the last base, contact! Sabomole seems to be blind, he can’t see him. I need help, this i--”
>“Anode?” Ukumari’s voice crackles in your ear over Compass’s clipped, panicked tone. “The dig team isn’t moving.”

>>1372682
Shoot the piss out of him with busters. Assume he's Terapin with a better range game, and don't be surprised when it turns out he's fast.

>>1373252
Compass said they were halfway to the seaside base when they were attacked. >>1369356
>“Midway to the last base, contact! Sabomole seems to be blind, he can’t see him. I need help, this i--”

I'm pretty sure Collide made the crater.

>>1373302
>>1373305
Nevermind that part of what I thought, then. But my worry about auto-stage-scroll death shelling remains, so I'm still very much with the "lots and lots of buster fire" plan.

>Comm sabomole to keep digging.

He's blind but you can't see underground anyway.

Either we win, and he completes the tunnel to the next base, or we lose, in which case sabomole is dead no matter what.

>>1373606
This is important too.

What do you want to bet that Stylist is in there? Collide doesn't seem like the stealth type.

>>1373620
I think all the PHANTOMs have some form of stealth that screw with normal sensors. I think Compass could see Collide because he's Recon and thus has the best of the best equipment for observation; if Anode's OPAL let him see Stylist, it's not surprising a 2nd officer have equipment on par for that for detecting stealth units.

So to non-Anode units: Collide is strong, tough, and INVISIBLE. Seriously, fuck whoever Cain Labs is building these bastards

>>1372682

I'll support
>>1372772

Be ready to fall back on Wrenades if things don't seem to be going our way. Also tell Sabomole to get off comms and keep digging like some of the more recent posts have said.

>>1373705
Well bear in mind, we haven't actually confirmed that Collide is a PHANTOM as of yet. Not that it'd surprise me all that much if he was, but to my knowledge that is not something that's been cemented as fact.

>>1373979
IF we can confirm he's PHANTOM, it might be worth trying to call in some kind of backup. He's clearly S-class, if they want this mission complete at all, the Brass should be willing to allow another Hunter in on it. Especially if they want better intel on PHANTOMS.

>>1374327

I tend to agree. Let's talk him up while we're attempting to murder each other, maybe he'll get arrogant and tell us something. Let's hope that his arrogance doesn't then end up being justified as he stomps us flat.

>>1374368
too far. At best we can hope that even if his arrogance is justified, the other hunter will arrive before we're scrap.

Do we have that thing on us? If things look bleak and he manages to get into melee with us and grab us or something, it might be a good idea to call in the thunder. Only as a last ditch, though; I don't like the idea of trying to huck the damn thing as a javelin or something.

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>>1374375

Well if he turns out to be entirely too much to handle and no support is forthcoming, I'd say we ought to get while the getting is good. If this mission had tits they'd be accelerating upward at an alarming rate. I like this thing that we're doing.

>>1374400
We are dealing with mass bombarment and a Maverick we know shit at all. Worse, our dear Elephant might decide to take two birds with one nuke...


Maybe we could remember our dear enemy that?

"You know that elephant is crazy and won't mind nuking you to get me, right?"

Also the mission is going furbar, without having those instalations destroyed we will die before we get close enough to our real target. Our mole is apparently dead because we have a spy and our coms are compromised...

I honesty don't see how we can win.

We fight and defeat this misyerious dude? We lose a lot of VWD ammo and stuff we planned to use with the elephant. Then we have to deal with the bases not being destroyed... and then we have to face an enemy willing to destroy allies and hurt herself... we are boned.

We could have dealth with the bases not being destroyed or a suddenly appearing enemy, with both?

Well, I do not like our odds.

Waaaait... can we call Navigation and ty to get some intel on this guy? Maybe they already have a basic file on his capabilities or weaknesses. Or maybe they can just provide some cool backing music while we die, whichever.

>>1374967
I dunno, with just our busters, our melee weapons, jumpjets, and a generous amount of charge, we should be good for the presumably fire mortarphant......IF the bases are destroyed.

Maybe we can find some WE pellets in one of the bases, or something.

>>1372682
We can't afford to sit still. HE can't afford to let us keep advancing. He'll chase us if we move, which is what we want.

> Wrenade to get his attention
> Advance, using up dashes as appropriate to establish distance
> Fight on the run
> Optional: task any spare assets to getting Sabomole out. If there's any 'loids left, now's a good time for those.

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>>1374400
>>1374967
>>1375078
Discretion may be the better part of valor in this case. Nowhere in our mission requirements does it say "Must fight every opponent."

>>1375078
I agree only if we can drag him to one of the bases. Bringing the fight to somewhere with cover is definitely to our advantage.

>>1375080
It's not about defeating him necessarily. It's about removing him as an obstacle to our other objectives.

We have a list of shit to accomplish on this mission and right now this guy is sitting on all of them. If he's chasing us, he's not sitting on some of them.

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>>1372682
We need that covering artillary fire now. As in right the fuck now. We are in no condition to be dealing with 3 Mavs.

>>1375090
...Three?

>>1375092
My bad. I thought Sabamole was beating on Compass because of the apologies and that Livewire showed up out of nowhere. Still, we are in a really bad position.

>>1375097
Out of everything wrong with that, the main thing that jumps out is that we ARE Livewire...

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>>1375101
God damn it I forgot our code name. Collide I guess. The midboss maverick whatever.

>>1375101
> we ARE Livewire...

For the time being, at least. Who wants to see if Collide can change your callsign? I know I do.

>>1375090
We are only at two technically. One being Mortarphant when she decides to fuck this spot in general with shells, the other being Collide. As it stands, we should probably try and get rid of Collide here since it feels like he is the sort of guy where he is either taken on here, or we take him on facing our main target. Personally, I would prefer that fight to be solo on his part and while we are still relatively fresh. Although that said, don't we have the ability to call in Templar Madillo if need be?

>>1375110
I think Templar is just on standby to continue the mission in case we screw up and die. For some reason (cough cough Weissritter) he's apparently too valuable to send out first.

>>1375116
Hunter Command, Cain Labs, care to confirm this one either way? I mean, in all fairness he could be tasked to this mission to keep an eye out for Collide or similar threats.

>>1375110
It's a rule of the Mega Man X series that secret bosses will not interfere during the actual boss fight of that level. As long as that logic holds, Collide should not get involved in the final confrontation with Mortarphant.

>>1375169
I say that knowing that the Sabomole might explicitly played against that rule, but that was because we were able to get Sabomole to surrender.

>>1375172
>>1375169
Considering she is in trouble in a melee, and the last ex artillery member we faced had backup, I would not be surprised if Collide was said backup. I mean, HC and Cain already have ventured away from the norm before with things like the Wren mission.

>>1375169
Last I checked, you couldn't run from secret bosses in MMX, either.
On a unrelated note, given how tits-up all the ops have been going, I'm just waiting for Broadside Yamatoad to have glued a pair of wings to himself when he saw Anode coming.

>>1375203
The excuse during the first batch of Maverick hunts was "sleeper agents in the Hunters were feeding false intel, if not actively sabotaging hunts."

Now the excuse seems to be "we're in full-blown war, the Hunters are greatly weakened from the Maverick sneak attack, and there's not enough intel to go around."

>>1375210
To be fair, it makes sense for where in the war we are. Part of why I said we should contact Fifth to share the Intel of the mod reploids and try to get something on Collide here.

>>1375210
It's war you whiny ass bitch. If the plan is going completely right, you've fallen into a trap.

>>1375268
The only person I saw advocating calling Navigation was myself, where's your vote? I'll back it up.

>>1375298
Ah, sorry, move around a lot and tend to go to different devices to continue following. It was >>1372928, and I try and avoid voting since aforementioned multiple devices would make it easy to cast a vote, but I do make suggestions.

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>>1375203
Watch him have a fleet of battleships that shoot bats.

>>1375331
Sure but who doesn't, really

>>1375338
Us. We don't.

>>1375347
Are you sure? Because we never really went to check out the Sixth's holdings.

>>1375385
I meant Anode specifically, but you're right, we should check that out. Maybe get Sapphire drunk and interrogate her about any bat-tleships they might be hiding.

And then steal them.

>>1375107
Calling "Punching Bag" as our new callsign.

>>1375515
I was going with "Deadwire" myself. Sentimental, I know.

>>1375107

Anode gets killed, Emerald is severely injured and rebuilt with his parts.

New codename: Limewire

>>1376061
A name like that, and you're asking to be infected.

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>>1372772
>>1372779
>>1372928
>>1372934
>>1372969
>>1373305
>>1373967
You snap up your other buster and let loose a pair of charged shots, built while staring him down. Instantly, he hunches lower and raises his fists, blocking them with his massive, armored fists. In response, his busters snap up and fire a pair of shots back at you--you dodge to the side, coming up beside the crater.

Inside, at what you realize must be the end of his tunnel, you see Disruptor Sabomole crouched and curled up very, very small, claws over his head, eyes squeezed shut as he rocks back and forth.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

“Sabomole!” You yell, but he doesn’t do more than flinch. “Come on, I’m here!”

“--sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry--”

You leap back as Collide suddenly lunges forward, a neon blue-green tracer behind him as he boosts forward with speed that should be impossible for someone so big and bulky. His fist crashes into the ground where you stood, and then he kneels to ward off your counterfire. With a growl, you switch back to your Wrenades and send one whirling his way. He hunkers down, but the shrieking ball of ceratanium finally draws a flash out of his shields.

A very small one.

He unlimbers and stands, examining the scratch marks on his plated forearm for a moment. In a moment of unpleasant, stomach-turning nostalgia, you remember Spin Jagwire turning his arm over to examine the riddled shrapnel wounds from a Blackout Rocket with unhinged fascination. Your disgust turns to rage as you pour on the buster fire, alternating hands and juking to the side to try to catch an opening. Rather than break his stance, he tracks you with one warding arm, looking almost like a bullfighter holding up his cape, letting your hail of plasma fall uselessly against him.

“Anode, you’ve got incoming,” Arc warns. “Reploid signatures.”

You eye Collide, who remains as calm and unhurried as ever, sizing you up with intelligent eyes under the orange and black plating. To your side, OPAL magnifies a small glimmer--your misericorde.

>Sabomole’s checked out. Juice me up, I’m racing the clock.
>Let’s wait for them to get in close, and then drop the sky on them.

AND

>Go for the misericorde. You’re gonna need it.
>Keep trying to probe at range--you’ll build charge while he stalls.

>>1376190
>Let’s wait for them to get in close, and then drop the sky on them.
>Go for the misericorde. You’re gonna need it.

>>1376190
>Let’s wait for them to get in close, and then drop the sky on them.
>Start heading towards one of the bases while keeping the buster fire on

>Go for the misericorde. You’re gonna need it.
he's going to punish us, but if more are coming we're going to need every option we've got.

>>1376190
>Let’s wait for them to get in close, and then drop the sky on them.
If those are more artillery spotters, we need them taken out.

>Keep trying to probe at range--you’ll build charge while he stalls.
Build charge. Keep needling him. Find a weakness, he can't be invulnerable. Maybe from above? Our loids are coming, soon; they can help keep him off balance once they arrive, and his reinforcements don't.

>>1376190

>Let’s wait for them to get in close, and then drop the sky on them.

Make damn sure we stay the hell away from Collide while we wait for the spotters to show up though.

>Go for the misericorde. You’re gonna need it.

His shields and armor are clearly fucking stupid. Let's break them.

Also comm back to let people know that the situation is devolving rapidly and any support would be welcome.

>>1376190
>Let's wait for them to get in close, and then drop the sky on them.
>Keep trying to probe at range--you'll need to build charge while he stalls.

This guy's no fool. If we try to get in with our misericorde, he'll wreck us, armor or not.

I don't feel great about the trap closing in tighter around us, but if we're going to use this gambit it's going to have to count.

Call in to Arc. Describe the situation, and details on Collide, just... Y'know, in case we don't make it.

>>1376190
>Sabomole’s checked out. Juice me up, I’m racing the clock.
Both of these things are true.
>Go for the misericorde. You’re gonna need it.
So is this. Time to try it.

>>1376190
>With a growl, you switch back to your Wrenades and send one whirling his way. He hunkers down, but the shrieking ball of ceratanium finally draws a flash out of his shields.
>A very small one.

...huh. That gives me an idea. Once we have jumpjets back and some charge for Raikusens, we should try wrapping him in a mess of Tension Coils.

Energy weapons do almost nil to him, but the shrapnel bomb made his shields briefly flicker... so maybe constant contact with reams of razor wire is what would actually do the job. It can't cut him up like the lightly armored Wolfspider, but we just need his shield to fail, and then... charged Lockons. Or the Misericorde, if he's moving slowly enough.

>>1376549
Might be a viable plan, assuming he doesn't try to play razor cable tug of war or just snap them.

>>1376549
Yeah, that sounds pretty much suicidal.
We just got done throwing a mechaniloid for trying to cable us, and this fucker is likely to just do the same damn thing.

>>1376560
Snapping them is a possibility, but only if he can get his huge hands around them. Like trying to untie something while wearing gloves.
Tug of war won't happen. We can cut the lengths of cable as they reach him. Anode's reflexes are much better than a Hoganmer's

>>1376599
Alright in fairness to my pets if Anode didn't have the Mass Shriver that totally would have worked.

>>1376599
...we CAN cut cables, you know.

That's what they were made to do. Fling razor wire everywhere. Using it as a zipline is entirely optional.

>>1376607
>>1376627
And Collide's reflexes are likely much better than a Hoganmer's too.
So we'd have to cut the cable as soon as he tried to use it to fuck us up, which means we'd have no real timeframe to wrap it around him.

>>1376667
The hell? 20-30 feet of ballistic-fired wire can definitely wrap around someone, from inertia alone. Especially if they're charging forward, or standing still like a ridiculous matador with their fist in the air.
Sweeping motions, man. I'm not suggesting we sit around and start a knitting party.

>>1376704
Conservation of rotational momentum, mate. Things don't wrap for no reason, and a head-on shot's going to have jackshit reason to bend around him.

About all we'd be able to do to get any form of wrapping would be to swing the wire laterally, but that'd be telegraphed as fuck.

I'm actually fairly confused about how you'd expect to get better wrapping in a head-on charge. Are you thinking that Anode fires the wire so it extends perpendicular to its trajectory?

There's not a lot to attach the cable to either, in terms of terrain. We took it more for an extra movement option than anything.

I guess we could try to fire one end at one of his hands, dash behind him, and then fire at the back of his opposite leg? Does it work like that?

>>1376190
>Let’s wait for them to get in close, and then drop the sky on them.
Ukumari's got limited shots, and we're still not sure what it'll take to drive off Collide. Plus, it'll mean less enemies for Madillo if we get taken out here.

>Keep trying to probe at range--you’ll build charge while he stalls.
Too early in the fight to go for our trump card, wait for the Drimoles so we can grab the misericorde when they distract him. Mortarphant's not shelling for the moment, so let's enjoy the relative calm of a bullfight.

>>1376757
If we dash in the middle of firing the cable, and cut it as soon as it goes taut from him trying to pull, we could reasonably get at least 1 wrap around him.

But that's going to take phenomenal reaction speed and we're going to need more than 1 layer to take down those shields. It's worth a shot, i guess.

>>1376929
>If we dash in the middle of firing the cable, and cut it as soon as it goes taut from him trying to pull, we could reasonably get at least 1 wrap around him.
Not seeing it. We'd be providing velocity to the wrong end of the cable. Sure, if we got it going to Dodo-speed it'd have enough kinetic energy to do some loops around the anchor point, but we'd be telegraphing the maneuver to high hell and Collide is likely not dumb enough to just stand still while the T Coil finishes swinging around.
Really, all he'd have to do to thwart it would be to cut his end. Since he's got four arms, two of which are gun, I imagine he'd be expending less effort in shutting Anode down than Anode would be putting into the attack.
That said, T Coiling while we dodge something and shoot with the other arm might be a good plan just to minimize our investment while throwing multiple threats downrange.
Or wait, can Anode have one buster in one VWES mode and the other not VWESing or in another VWES mode?


This is also assuming that a second-string weapon that we never upgraded the damage will even do enough to pop his shields. I don't recall T. Coil being an excellent penetrator.

He's hunkering down the moment he sees an attack, and always tries to take all the impact on his fists.

Based on his behavior, seems like the rest of his body isn't nearly as well armored as those big beefy arms, and he reflexively relies on them as a first resort.

So if we shoot a blackout rocket at him, he'll probably try to block that as well, instead of dodging.

The chaff cloud won't break through his defenses when hunkered down, but it lingers - he can't just immediately stand up again because that would expose vulnerable body parts to it.

So the gameplan for this guy should be a one-two punch, with a blackout rocket followed by a misercorde charge. Ideally we'd hit him from behind but that's probably unfeasible.

>>1377289
...This sounds like a decent idea.

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>>1376954
it's time for shitty tegaki

>case1: pulls with hand along our dash path(in example, left hand
the best scenario we can hope for. If we cut the cable here, the cable will follow the direction of the dash AND the arm pulling, whipping out to [1]. It'll lose most of its velocity here, but there's enough rotational momentum to loop around Collide......once. Maybe.

>case2:pulls with hand opposite of dash path(in example, right hand
pretty bad. It'll whip towards [2] and pretty much stay there.

>case3: He pulls with both hands
Without rotational force it'll just smack into his face for minimal damage.

BUT hear me out: we aim the coil at one of his forearms, the one we want him to pull. If he pulls with that arm without using his other one, we get case 1 with reasonable likelihood. He can't do case 2 because it's already stuck on that arm.

But if he does case 3, he needs to put one hand directly ahead of the forearm of the other, leaving his arms in an awkward position. Maybe we could exploit the gaps in that shield position to aim a pinpoint Lockon.


>>1377289
Will the chaff cloud really harm exposed body parts?

>>1377469
It is a cloud of razor-sharp metal in addition to being a sensor-baffler, so yeah.

>>1377474
Anon let me ask you something. Have you ever taken a razor and chucked it at a suit of plate armor?

It's not going to do as much as you might think unless it gets inside a joint, which seems unlikely.

>>1377491
I'm just sayin'. If his armor is (god I hope) mostly in his fists, then it stands to reason that something that'll suffuse him that he can't easily block might be a good shot in the dark.

>>1377507
If his armor was limited to his fists, the wrenade would have fucked him up.

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>>1376190
>Let’s wait for them to get in close, and then drop the sky on them.
>Keep trying to probe at range--you’ll build charge while he stalls.
WELCOME TO MY WORLD, COLLIDE
A WORLD WHERE EVERY BATTLE IS A COMPLETE CLUSTERFUCK

>>1377289
Collide's design does strike me as being overly centered on FIST, all the more reason to stay out of melee until he proves otherwise.
The armor/shields might be a problem, but that's more a question of finding his weakness. A bit like a crappier (comparatively) Violen, I think; just plain immune to everything but the buster and Bubble Crab's thing, both of which eat through his health a lot faster than they have any right to.

>>1377668
they're big fists

>>1377704
4 U

>>1376190
>Let’s wait for them to get in close, and then drop the sky on them.
>Keep trying to probe at range--you’ll build charge while he stalls.

com Sabamole and try to get him to go for the misericorde to give him a surprise from below. give him as good a pep talk as we can manage. life goes on and all that shit. he's still here, he can still make a difference.

>>1377957
Cain Labs, I know you want to kill characters, but please don't drop the name.

>>1376190
have we tried charging Wrenades yet? If not, lets try it here. give the guy one right in his underbelly.

>>1377976
Last I was aware we didn't have the ability to charge VWES shots. That being said I am all for such an upgrade, especially if we couple it with that one upgrade option that lets us dump capacitor charge into quickcharging shots.