Turf War Report - Year 1 : SpringSpring is upon both Inklings and Octolings, and with the changing of the seasons comes spring offensives as the water levels rise and a burgeoning refugee crisis begins. Both sides have worked long to update and modernize their armories even as their leaders tried futilely for peace, and both sides are now putting their new tools of conflict into a baptism of ink. A formal declaration of war is made between the two sides, and the conflict is now officially on. No more will it be mere hotheads and deniable elements skirmishing with each other, but both races now muster the full of their power in a fight to determine the future of them both.
With this ignition of the Great Turf War, the formerly top secret developments of both sides are now in mass production, and for the first time Octoling and Inkling get a firm taste of the deviltry the other side has brewed in the run up to the war.
Primary Weapon- Bamboozler : A compression powered ink gun that was recently invented before the Great Turf War. It charges somewhat slowly, is hard to charge on the move, can not store a charge, has limited maximum range, has low ink usage efficiency hampering repeated use before one must refill their ink tank, and can not be fired while uncharged. In other words, a revolutionary improvement over all that came before. Despite being shaped somewhat like a hammer, it is not advisable to use it in melee to hit someone over the head with.
Cheap - Cost : 2 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.
- Bamboozler Quickcharge Cartridges : A modification of the Bamboozler that adds a socket for a pre-filled and pressurized cartridge of ink. A simple lever allows the user to switch between normal firing mode and using the cartridge to fire an instant and fully charged shot, if one at only around 85% the range and power of a normal charged shot. Takes a little bit to unscrew the old cartridge and then screw another one in, limiting their ability to be used more then once in an exchange.
- Inkerial Blotter : An ink shell launching gun powered by super sea snail homeopathy and applied anti-logic. It fires blobs of ink that burst upon contact with a target, splattering a small area around said target with ink. It is hampered by its relatively short range, but uses a triple firing chamber array to permit an acceptable rate of fire. It's ink shells are also fired in an arc, instead of having a straight trajectory like other inkarms, permitting a limited amount of indirect fire. The recent addition of a proper pressurization chamber has both increased the AOE of the shells to a more average radius, and also has somewhat increased the range of fire to 'below average'. Also has snazzy new stone triggers.
Expensive - Cost : 3 Plastic, 2 Super Sea Snails.
Sub Weapon- Inkdisc-A Bomb/Mine : A disk shaped plastic casing for ink filled balloons that can be used as a thrown projectile detonated upon impact with a needle of hardened ink, or with the flip of a lever the needle may remain unused to allow for the deployment of the Inkdisc as a sort of non-stealthy mine. While limited in range, despite and because of its frisbee like shape, by the muscle power and throwing ability of its user one good direct hit within its range can splat the average target. Takes a few seconds to inflate though.
Cheap - Cost : 2 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.
Specials- Vortex Armor : A defensive special that generates a vortex of ink around the user. Its immense energy expenses prevent it from lasting beyond four to six seconds, with its time falling to half of that while being heavily used. While the vortex lasts it will cover anything nearby in friendly ink, turf or foe, as well as intercept enemy shots with its own ink. Its defensive coverage isn't perfect though, and well aimed, sufficiently lucky, or singularly powerful enough shots can penetrate its defensive shroud.
Cheap - Cost 1 Plastic, 1 Super Sea Snail
AbilityNo Abilities start out designed.
Personnel- Inkantry : Brave Inklings, run through basic training and drilled repeatedly in weapon use and other skills needed on the modern battlefield. The Inkantry not only know how to use a gun, but also hold a basic understanding of the concepts of planning, crossfires, flanking maneuvers, and actually communicating with each other, and have superior running and swimming speed from all those athletic drills. They're still fairly basic soldiers, but they actually are soldiers now.
- Markslings: Inklings whom have powered through the frequent and blatant distractions and misuse of the Firink Field to maximize their accuracy, snapshot skills, and ability to assess cover to as high as the Firink Field could take them. While few are dedicated enough to become known as a Marksling, those whom are are rightfully known for their skills.
Uncommon Specialist.
Cultural Artifacts- The Inkspire : A vast and continual open air market and cultural festival without end that has grown around Inkopolis Tower, better known as the Inkspire in those times. While of little direct military use, it's presence as a sign of what all Inklings fought for had noticeable effects on their overall morale. And besides, I found the cutest pair of booties there last time I went! Must visit again soon. And this time, I'll avoid drinking that homemade fire-water.
Other Gear- Mark 1 Ink Tank : A basic ink tank, invented by the same inventor that invented the Bamboozler, and designed to work with the Bamboozler. A quarter of its mass is taken up with the complicated gearing that connects it to a Lings primary weapon and the generator for the subweapon, limiting how much ink it can store. Still better then having to produce ink manually whenever you need a refill though.
Cheap - Cost : 2 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.
- Super Sea Snail Filters: The heavy valves that controlled ink flow in the Mark 1 Ink Tank have been replaced with a system of Super Sea Snail derived filters, which control the flow of ink without any jams or needed maintenance. The decreased size of the filters, in comparison to the original valve system, allows the non-tank part of the Ink Tank to decrease to taking up only around 15% of its mass instead of 25%. This does, however, mean that the Ink Tank now needs Super Sea Snails for construction.
+1 Super Sea Snails (Cheap)
- Military Inkline Camp : A camp that teaches a two month course on the basics of military skills, with plenty of athletic and accuracy drills, as well as a new standardized basic training program to teach students how to be proper soldiers whom actually have basic military skills. Doesn't stand out as being awesome, but grants all students whom are put through its training a solid foundation for their new roll as Inkantry.
- Firink Range: An expanded weapons testing and training field with automatic targets that do things such as move and shoot back, as well as a multitude of different firing positions to practice from. For some reason the Inkantry have taken to using the place as a tournament ground, hindering attempts to train within it. Still, for those whom persist and fail to be distracted by the team verses team playfights, a noticeable level of skill can emerge. Markslings may not be common, but they have learned the lessons of the Firink Range well and full-heartedly.
SuperweaponsSo far, no Superweapons have been developed.
HeroesSo far, no Heroes have been recruited for the greater glory of something or another.
Primary Weapon- Bamboozler : A compression powered ink gun that was recently invented before the Great Turf War. It charges somewhat slowly, is hard to charge on the move, can not store a charge, has limited maximum range, has low ink usage efficiency hampering repeated use before one must refill their ink tank, and can not be fired while uncharged. In other words, a revolutionary improvement over all that came before. Despite being shaped somewhat like a hammer, it is not advisable to use it in melee to hit someone over the head with. Recent advances in Ink Tank pump speed have increased the Bamboozler's charging speed by around 5%, and an additional redesign of the nozzle and front half of the gun has increased ranged by an astonishing 15%.
Cheap - Cost : 2 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails. - Bamboozler Mk.2 : A reconstructed version of the Bamboozler that replaces the old ink compressor and awkward trigger/plunger set up with an entirely new selection of complicated gearing and valves, using a two tank air/ink pressure system to achieve greater range, charging speed, and ink usage efficiency then the Mk.1 Bamboozler. In return the Mk.2 is overly complicated to build and maintain as well as wasteful of its materials, all signs of its extremely unpolished design. This lack of polish degrades its effectiveness in several ways, but the most immediately noticeable one, (a leaky air tank) has been reworked and no longer effects the gun. Lastly it is still not advisable to use a Bamboozler Mk.2 as a melee weapon, despite it being shaped like a hammer. A recent redesign of the front end has increased its viable range by an astonishing 15%.
Very Expensive - Cost : 3 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails, Complex.
- Splatling Cannon : A large crank operated automatic ink cannon. Has short range, extreme weight and size, and equally extreme inkpower. Can be operated at either a low firing speed, which actually has accuracy, or a high firing speed which can suck dry an entire ink tank in under thirty seconds using the higher pump speeds made possible by the Rotodynamic Pump but in return can barely hope to hit the broad side of a barn due to the crank and the pump knocking the weapon around as it fires as well as the increased recoil.
Expensive - Cost : 3 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.
Sub Weapon- Balloon Mine : A large balloon, inflated close to bursting with ink. Being sturdy enough to avoid accidental discharges means it requires some amount of focused firepower to detonate, and it takes around a minute and a full ink tank to deploy in the first place. Covers a large area with friendly ink when it does detonate, however, and has an optional automatic pump to allow for deployment without manual operation.
Cheap - Cost : 2 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails. When used with the Automatic Pump, gains the Complex tag and therefor becomes Expensive.
Specials- Krakenblade : A average sized blade of raw Ink and Ink Energy, stabilized by an anchoring hilt and internal spine. Takes a moment to form and is only effective at melee range, but does hold the power to splat anything you get a direct hit on. The blades lasts for around fifteen seconds before loosing cohesion, and also allows the user to rechannel the Ink Energy to power a hyperspeed dash forwards three to four yards. This dash can either be done as a blade dash, where the user swings the sword as they dash, striking everything between their starting and stopping point but also burning through the rest of the special's energy. Or it can be utilized as a normal dash that merely uses up most of the energy and allows for up to five seconds of continued use after the dash.
Expensive - Cost : 0 Plastic, 2 Super Sea Snails.
AbilityNo Abilities start out designed.
Personnel- Octoling Guardsman/Guardswoman : An Octoling member of a volunteer weekend warrior association, where they train in basic military skills and teamwork. The association consistently turns out professionalized militia with consistent if not outstanding fundamental skills as well as a well honed sense of squad wide mutual trust and teamwork.
- Society For Prevention of Biased Species Interaction : A group of sign waving fanatics whom are against treating any subspecies of Octoling differently in any way, shape, form, or ink. This represents a noticeable issue with any attempts to train Octolings to use their subspecies specific advantages to their, well, advantage.
Cultural ArtifactsSo far, nothing has been invented that makes your side Fresher then the other side. You may feel properly ashamed of that fact now.
Other Gear- Mark 1 Ink Tank : A basic ink tank, invented by the same inventor that invented the Bamboozler, and designed to work with the Bamboozler. A quarter of its mass is taken up with the complicated gearing that connects it to a Lings primary weapon and the generator for the subweapon, limiting how much ink it can store. Still better then having to produce ink manually whenever you need a refill though.
Cheap - Cost : 2 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.
- Rotodynamic Ink Pumps : A new rotational pump for the Ink Tank. It's smaller size and more efficient form allows for an increased ink reservoir as well as faster pumping, both for refilling the tank and for output to weapons. The increased tank pumping speed for refills is partially countered by the increased tank size however, and ends up only being somewhat faster.
- Octoling Home Guard Program: A volunteer training organization that meets twice a week to train with weapons and with working together. Beyond the teamwork and unity drills, each meeting addresses a different subject of military life, from weapon certification and recognition to maneuvering in Ink Form to theoretical tactical studies, with specially formatted programs meant to drill the basics into the skulls of civilians. And it works. The Home Guard may not be legends nor cutting edge professionals, but they learn the basic skills they'll need to survive a war. And more importantly, they learn to trust one another.
SuperweaponsSo far, no Superweapons have been developed.
HeroesSo far, no Heroes have been recruited for the greater glory of something or another.
It is
Spring. A time of growth, flowers, joy, and pretty trees. It is also, unfortunately, now a time when two races begin trying to beat the unholy ink out of each other in the face of their hopes and futures being literally sunk. Spring showers have begin, washing away ink and making it hard to hold ground, and a verdant bloom of new growth covers the ground, interfering with infantry movement but also providing plenty of cover.
Lost OutpostUpon the desert island, the sight ranges are long and, unlike the rest of the land, spring has but a loose grip here. Some light spring showers do come through, but for the most part the sands are warm, the dunes are an inconvenience, the buildings were run down even before Lings started shooting at them, and the waves still beat gently against the shores.
Combat here is primarily
Long Ranged, due to the general lack of concealing cover and long lines of sight. The fight is often centered around clusters of surviving, if decaying, buildings, being as they are the only things on the island that actually provide substantial cover. Either from enemy attacks or the sun itself. The rolling dunes do provide some light cover, but they are not the dunes of some storybook, so big as to eat a house, and more like the rolls and dips of sand one might find on any beach anywhere. Both sides have set up Respawn Pads within their own sides of the island, and some elderly and decrepit surviving pads have been found and reactivated within the surviving structures that are scattered across the island.
Two kinds of fights are common on this island, and the main difference between them is where the fight is. In Strongpoint Attacks combat centers around clusters of surviving buildings, one side seeking to take said buildings from the other side. Those fights are desperate things, forcing attackers to attack in the open while the defenders have ample cover, and often as not a local spawn point to prevent attrition from degrading the garrison to helplessness. In these fights the attacks must find some way to either close the distance through the defenders attacks, or suppress the defenders enough they can no longer prevent the attackers from closing the distance.
The other kind of fight is the fighting without local buildings, between two teams of Lings trying to paint the ground their own color. Turf control is vital on this flat island, both for speed of movement and for secrecy of movement. With the long open sightlines any Ling moving on foot is liable to be spotted long before they get into effective range, so most move in squid, or octopus, form. But that form can only be used in friendly ink, so maintaining channels of friendly ink between stronghold positions, despite enemy interference and the rains washing away the ink is of vital importance even outside the need to build up enough of an environmental resonance to seize control of enemy respawn pads. And when, on the edges of friendly turf, two teams of inking lings meet, violence breaks out amid the dunes.
Is these skirmishes, neither side tends to have any reasonable cover besides slight dips in the sand, and outside of ambushes erupting from the ink both sides generally see each more then early enough that no one is surprised by the fight... and that if one side is clearly outnumbered enough it can flee and avoid said fight. Without substantial cover available to either, it is often whichever side can maintain the best turf control, and therefor the mobility advantage, that seizes victory.
In both of these kinds of fights, the same trend can be seen. The Octolings generally have better gear... and the Inklings generally have better soldiers. With the range advantage so paramount in this location, the Octoling modifications to the base Bamboozler (which is still the most commonly seen weapon on the turf) sees their troops usually having individual equipment superiority. Both charging slightly faster and, more importantly, having a distinct maximum range advantage plays well in the Octolings favor. With this range advantage, the Octolings can reliably shoot first in any fight, and can press sieges from outside the effective response range of defenders while, on the defense, can attempt to enforce a zone of friendly turf that extends beyond the range within which attackers can actually shoot at the defenders.
And then you get into the exceedingly rare troop formations holding the Octoling Bamboozler Mk.2, which is superior in all ways except cost and complexity to the original model. Charging faster, firing even farther then the upgraded Mk.1, using less ink per shot and even being slightly more accurate, the Mk.2 is a nightmare for the Inklings unfortunate enough to run into it.
Both sides also possess supporting heavy weapons, but neither is especially apt for combat on the island, and therefor the Inkling Inkerial Blotter and the Octoling Splatling Cannon are relatively rare sights on the Lost Outpost. It is here however that the Inklings actually possess a more advantageous weapon then the Octolings. For while both supporting weapons are used in the long ranged turf painting squads for their ability to cover ground with ink somewhat faster then a Bamboozler, in attacks on enemy held structures the Inkerial Blotter's ability to shoot a shell through a window and spray the entire room with ink is a notable advantage. It still, however, requires that the Inklings push forwards into medium-ish short range to actually do, which can be easier said then done.
In terms of Sub-Weapons, the Octoling Balloon mine proves somewhat more useful in this battlefield then the Inkling Inkdisc. While the Inkdisc is used in close assault on enemy held structures, honestly speaking if the attackers can get to close assault in the first place the defenders are probably screwed anyway. As well, it is inferior to the Inkerial Blotter in this use. Inkdiscs require an impact to burst, and their disc shaped exterior means that if thrown so they'd impact the floor they often just skid across it without actually exploding. Instead, they must be thrown so they slam into the back wall of a room to properly explode, where the Inkerial Blotter can burst on the floor, catching the entire room in its splash radius.
Meanwhile, the Balloon Mine, while almost never actually used as a mine, has proven useful for something entirely different. Erectable cover. Tough enough to take several shots before exploding, and when it explodes covering everything nearby in friendly ink, Octolings commonly erect Balloon Mines where they want to hold a position. Being large enough for an Octoling to hide behind and cheap enough for each Octoling to have a few of the plastic bases that hold the balloons, they are fast becoming a commonly seen sight on the island. There's even some use of them in the open area firefights between turf control squads, though the complexity of the automatic pumps some have prevent casual use of them there.
With neither side having an Abilities to compare, the penultimate thing to look at on Lost Outpost are each side's specials. Both sides possess only one special, with the Inklings having Vortex Armor and the Octolings having the Krakenblade. The Inkling Vortex Armor is, unlike the Krakenblade, cheap, allowing every Inkling to equip it. The Vortex Armor causes a vortex of ink to form around the user, providing mobile cover and allowing them to automatically ink anything nearby, turf or foe alike. However, it also has a very short duration, rendered even shorted when put under enemy fire or moving through enemy ink, and can sometimes interfere with its own user. Meanwhile, the Krakenblade is, well, a sword made out of ink. It has enough concentrated power to strike down any known foe with a single slash, but as a sword it only works in melee range. It also allows the user to undertake a short ranged high speed dash to get into range, or to do a slashing dash to attack targets in a line...
But the fact is, that for all the Vortex Armor's flaws, the it's still more useful on the Forgotten Outpost then a melee to almost melee ranged special. For all it might last only a few seconds, its cheapness allows entire groups of Inklings to use it in mass, and its protective nature allows said mass of Inklings to make mass charges on enemy held positions with very little worry until the Special wears off. Even as short duration as it is, it allows the Inklings using it to make up for the Octoling range advantage by closing in under it's protective effect until the Inklings can actually shoot back.
Lastly, the troops themselves must be looked at. And it is here that the Inklings have undoubted superiority to the Octolings. Neither side employs the barely trained militia that were expected only a year ago, but have crash-started actual training programs for their soldiers. The Octoling Home Guard Program is a pseudo volunteer organization, meeting twice a week to train in teamwork and the basics of soldering. Meanwhile the Inklings possess the two month training course of their Military Inkline Camp, which trains Inkantry and, at the Firink Range, produces the somewhat uncommon Markslings.
Inkantry are superior to the Octoling Guard in almost all ways. Only in internal squad teamwork can the Octolings claim to be superior, but the Inkantry can coordinate between multiple squads with a trained ease that the Octolings can't match. Meanwhile, in personal troop ability, a two month focused training course simple produces superior soldiers then those made by a quasi-volunteer twice a week weekend warrior club. And then Markslings, with their high accuracy, rapid snap shots, and ability to hug cover Octoling Soldiers wouldn't even notice are superior even to the average Inkantry.
Even beyond that, it can not be denied that the Inkantry is just... fresher then the Octoling Guard. They push forwards where Octoling soldiers balk, persist when Octolings would flee, and maintain an overall higher ratio of operations to downtime then the Octoling Guard.
Despite that, despite the Vortex Armor, on this island, in the Lost Outpost, the Octoling combination of superior range and erectable cover proves key. Inkantry find themselves outranged and out gunned, though not outshot, and slowly but surely the Octolings push forwards and seize the midground between the two sides. The clusters of old decaying buildings in the center of the island are colored in Octoling colors, given hasty repair jobs, and the rare respawn pads attuned to the Octoling forces. Within the newly erected fortifications upon their side of the island, the Inklings prepare for a siege...
Octolings advance on the Lost Outpost.[I: 1/3; O: 2/3]
Mount NantaiUpon the switchbacks and outcroppings and leaning cliffs of Mount Natai, combat is often
Medium Ranged. Not because the mountain is small, but because the portions of the mountain one can actually stand on are small. Combat is as much vertical as it is horizontal, as fighters shoot from one level of a switchback path down to, or up to, the next layer of the path, or from one flat cliff outcrop to the next. Paths can often be bypassed by directly inking the cliffsides and slopes themselves, but the frequent spring rains ensure that such short cuts can not be relied upon to exist, while the growing undergrowth may provide cover but also complicates paths and other attempts to climb the mountain's slopes. There are few flat spots of enough size to support the construction of a Respawn Pad, and what few pads there are will likely be vital points in the fighting to follow.
While most of both sides equipment has already been discussed, one particular part which was brushed over in Lost Outpost proves to be particularly useful upon Mount Nantai. To be precise, the Inkling Bamboozler Quickcharge Cartridges. With ranges close enough that most times, though not all times, fighters are comfortably in range of one another, the Inkling ability to open up fights with two rounds rapid is a telling advantage. While they can not keep up this speed of fire, the initial advantage, as well as the scarcity of Respawn Pads meaning that enemies can often not simply jump right back into the fight, often proves key in the mountain side firefights.
Here also, both sub-weapons and supporting weapons alike prove more useful then they were upon the sands of the Lost Outpost. In these closer ranges, and far more vertical environments, both Octoling and Inkling alike turn to using their Sub-Weapons as bombs, hosting or rolling them off the side of a cliff to land upon enemies unlucky enough to be below. While few can overstate the sheer panic having a full sized Balloon Mine hosted off the edge causes those unlucky enough to be beneath it, the Inkling Inkdisks, and their increased throwing range and accuracy (at least compared to an Octoling sized giant balloon), are often more effective as a cliff bombing weapon. On the other tentacle, Balloon Mines can be sent rolling down paths like a giant explosive bowling ball, while the Disks might be able to roll somewhat but tend to fall over on their sides after a mere dozen meters. Balloons Mines are also still being used as erectable cover, though with the more frequently avaliable natural cover upon the mountain that is less useful here then upon a flat and coverless island.
Meanwhile, the arc trajectory of the Inkerial Blotter's shells proves highly useful shooting up or down changes of elevation, and its ample splash damage is especially powerful in the close confines of the narrow paths and flat spots upon the mountain. Of course, the Splattling Gun also enjoys areas where the foe can not run away and has to stand there and take it as the user empties an entire ink tank in seconds down into their general location, and even sees some use as a poor man's artillery gun when aimed upwards towards enemy held positions and fired blindly.
The Krakenblade also proves more useful here then it did upon the sands of the Lost Outpost, even if its short range still hampers it. Still, one unlucky squad of Inkantry caught in a line on a narrow makes for a very happy Krakenblade user and a group of Inklings about to take a blade dash to the face. And while it might be hard to get in range when firefights are often between different layers of switchback trails and flat spots on the side of cliffs, if a Krakenblade user can actually get to one of those enemy held flat spots without immediately being splatted the same small size that makes it hard to get there also makes it quite hard for the foe to flee. Well, unless they want to just jump off the cliff and abandon their position.
Still, despite the Krakenblade, despite Balloon Mines being deployed as lethal bowling balls, despite the best efforts of the elite units with the MK.2 Bamboozler, despite the sheer firepower of the Splattling Cannon... The Inklings slowly but surely push forwards on Mount Nantai, their ability to fire instantly upon seeing an enemy, their better training, and their superior freshness proving superior to the Octoling firepower. The better coordinated Inkantry and the sharpshooting Markslings consistently make better use of the terrain, more mutual support, and are simply better shots then the Octoling Guards, and said Guards soon find the Inklings having claimed the mountains peak and the Respawn Pads set up where it flattens. It'll be a harsh uphill struggle for them next season.
Inklings advance on the Mount Nantai.[I: 2/3; O: 1/3]
Calamari CountyThe backwards Calamari County is known for two things. Streams, and trees. And both can be found in abundance. The vast and overgrown forests render combat to be mostly held at
Close Range, as troops mutually surprise each other in the thick spring undergrowth under the vast sun concealing trees. The multitude of streams also shapes the battlefield, as while the shallow freshwater streams may not Splat a Ling on contact, they still aren't very traversable and are completely un-inkable. As such, the many small bridges form natural choke points in this previously obscure county.
Here, combat favors immediate applications of firepower, fast reaction times, and good maps as to not get lost. Once again the Inkling ability to fire immediately on contact with the enemy by using their Quickcharge Cartridges is a key advantage, and unlike other areas the Inkdisk truly comes into its own in these close ranged firefights. The ability for every single Inkantry to respond to enemy contact with a thrown explosive is lethal in these close ranged firefights, and would be even better if Inkdisks didn't take several seconds to prepare for usage. An Inkerial Blotter, on the other tentacle, doesn't need several seconds to prep, and a snap fired shell is a nasty opening to a firefight. The Inkantry really wish they had more of them, but even with only one a squad it can provide a highly useful splash of pure firepower.
On the other hand, both the Vortex Armor and the Marksling find themselves or itself mostly superfluous in these fights. For the Markslings, ranges are simply too low. While their use of cover and rapid snapshots are still useful in these fights, their famed accuracy is barely better then the average Inkantry in these surprise point blank skirmishes, and while their cover skills are good, cover is already abundant anyway, and most fights happen with such short notice and short range it's of limited use anyway. As for the Vortex Armor... well, besides being highly visible it tends to waste itself on all the plantlife Inkantry walk through, plunging its already minimal time of effect down even farther then on average.
Meanwhile, on the Octoling side of things, it is here in Calamari County that the Splatling and Krakenblade come into their true power. In these short ranged firefights, the Krakenblade's dash and slice capabilities render their, thankfully for the Inklings, uncommon users to exceptionally lethal levels, and as for the Splatling Cannon the ability to empty an entire ink tank in mere seconds is nothing to scoff at when ranges are so low even the Splatling Cannon can barely miss. Lastly, in firefights that don't end within the first ten to twenty seconds in either a hail of ink, sword slashes, or explosive disk bombs, after the Inklings have used up their Cartridge Shot and in those rare occasions when the Octolings in question actually have them, the Mk.2 Bamboozler's faster charge rates often prove a subtle but powerful advantage.
As well, this is the first battlefront to see a Balloon Mine actually being used as, well, a Mine! Hidden in dense underbrush to keep the Inklings from seeing it until it was to late, with a brave volunteer to set it off at the right moment. Sadly for the volunteer, the underbrush that hid it also absorbed a lot of the eruption when it blew, so it didn't prove to effective.
The combat in Calamari County is exceedingly close, between explosives, more explosives, autofire, snap fire, and Krakenblade action, and at the end of the season the front lines have barely shifted, hotly contested with ambushes galore and several commanders pushing a bridge too far at the wrong moment. In the end, however, the Inklings manage to out perform the Octolings, brave Inkantry able to keep up a hotter and more frequent rate of attacks. It's very close, but the Fresher Inkantry push just that much farther, demand just that much more from themselves, and manage to seize the core of Calamari County by their fingertips as the Octolings mass for a counter attack next season.
Inklings advance in Calamari County.[I: 2/3; O: 1/3]
At the end of the season, both side's high command goes over their gains and losses and comes to an unpleasant realization. Just because Respawn Pads keep one from actually dying doesn't keep the trauma and stress of actual combat, much less actual combat wherein one gets splatted repeatedly and then thrown back into the fight, from building up. This is starting to adversely effect the brave men and woman whom make up the army's morale. And not just effect it a little, but 'traumatized' type effect it. In the face of this growing streak of PTSD, both side's high command have decided to enforce a more aggressive cycle of duty/downtime, moving troops regularly from the battlefront to core territories so they may be reminded of what they fight for, de-stress themselves, and maybe teach some classes between therapy sessions.
As such, from now on, each side will only attempt to push forwards at two battlefronts, or otherwise equivalent troop deployments.
The Design Phase of Summer, Year 1 has begun.
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Topic: Great Turf War – Splatoon Arms Race Core Thread (Read 5870 times)