Jorg 'Bass Line' Jorgenson
Deployment Zone: Viral Jungle
Chip Folder,
- Stunbolt [1]
- Recovery 10 [1]
- BlueFiend.mon [4]
- DramaticSpotlight [ 0 ]
- InvokeSoundtrack [ 0 ]
With a crash and a roar, one of the mighty apex predators of the Viral Jungle comes smashing through the trees. This Tyrant Ape is part reptile, part monkey, part tank, and all mean. It is a powerful virus with a crushing maw, fists fit to punch out a god, terrible razor-bladed treadfeet, and a back mounted turret firing energy shells fit more for artillery then for a direct combatant.
BlueFiend.mon brings it to a halt in a single sizzling bolt of electricity and then smashes its armored chest in with a single piledriver blow.
Expansion is going well under the Bass Line's leadership. Oh, the jungle has plenty of new horrors to throw at the expansion teams, but the new Mobile Assault Stages are proving a true blessing in this area. Not for their ability to fly, as anything that flies too high in this jungle is targeted by a multitude of plant-based anti-air attacks. Nor for their ability to carry troops, though that is used as well. But instead, for being large enough that Jorgenson can, with
BlueFiend.mon's assistance, mount powerful communication relay/enhancer modules on its dance floor, allowing for exploration teams to triangulate between existing bases to prevent getting entirely lost in the trackless depths of the jungle.
As such, large expeditions under
BlueFiend.mon's leadership or smaller expeditions under the commands of Officers make their way from the two clearings already fortified and begin the process of finding more of the Jungle's stabilizing nodes to bring under Sonata's influence. Several minor nodes close to the Sea of Recycling are swallowed up without any major trouble from the local virus-life by the Officer lead expeditions, and
BlueFiend.mon successfully claims a pair of inner jungle clearings before the trouble really begins.
The first sign of more substantial resistance comes when the newest clearing claimed goes dark just hours after the first uplink station is built within it and
BlueFiend.mon is transferred back to one of the older, more fortified clearings to take command of the next expedition. When the second central Jungle Clearing comes under attack, Jorgenson is watching. However without any strategic battlechips there's not much he can do as the clearing is struck by a war-party of carapace armored warriors mounted on sixteen eyes spiderfliers. Just as the Minions rally to fight off these fighters and their venomous war-blasters the earth erupts behind them as burrowing Terrantulas erupt from the binary soil bearing yet more fighters, swarming over the nearby SwordyMinions with poisoned fang-blades and trapping nets. Only slowed temporarily by the Defender's distractions and stout poison resistant shield these insectoid themed warriors are soon pulling down the relay-uplink station built in the center of the clearing, and Jorgenson's ability to watch is severed.
The third clearing has
BlueFiend.mon waiting, and with information on the enemy the Bass Line has ordered the ground reinforced, covered in quick setting digicrete to counter or at least slow down enemy diggers. When the enemy strikes, overconfident from their earlier successes, they find a warned and waiting garrison waiting for them.
BlueFiend.mon rips the first group of fliers from the sky, electrified flying fists knocking them from their flightpaths and bringing them in range of the storm of pulse pistol shots fired by the defending minions as the Assault Stages assigned to this garrison unleash a flight of missiles on the second swarm of flying enemies, forcing them into hasty and in the end unsuccessful evasive action.
And then the Terrantulas attack. Or, you know, they try to attack from the sound of impacts and sudden upward buckling of the digicrete where Terrantulas find that that substance is far less soft and diggable then soil is. When they finally force their way through, the SwordyMinions are not scattered and taken by surprise, but are waiting with normal minions arranged to be able to fire on the first foes through. Without the support of fliers to disrupt the defenders, the first Terrantula looses the limb it finally smashes through the digicrete and the rest prove little most successful.
The attack is a failure, but Jorgenson knows this enemy will be back sooner or later, and reinforcement and repairs of the clearings continues.
As more seaside clearings are taken by Sonata's Stagehands, scouting expeditions find the source of this foe. It seems that, in the depths of the Viral Jungle, others have also found out about these central stabilizing nodes, and a pseudo-civilization of insectoid themed warriors has formed there, building their hive complexes on these stable zones. And now that they've discovered rivals seeking the same hive-locations, they're preparing for war...
Still, with the last of the rim-jungle clearings taken, the control gained over the local datasphere is barely enough, and processing engines are set to attempting to trace the digital trail of the Firmament.
+1 Control in the Viral Jungle for Sonata's Stagehands. The third point is held by a native civilization of viruses, who will have to be defeated to claim full control over this zone. Note that, with all or at least most exterior processing nodes taken by Stagehand Forces, it is likely that if the Firmament attacks they will be engaging the Stagehands not the Independents.
Aria
Deployment Zone: Sea of Recycling
Chip Folder,
- Missile I [1]
- Missile I [1]
- Missile I [1]
- Missile I [1]
- MinionCall A [1]
- MinionCall A [1]
- DramaticSpotlight [ 0 ]
- InvokeSoundtrack [ 0 ]
The new Mobile Assault Stages, as relatively scarce as they might be, prove a godsend in the oft flooding isles of the Sea of Recycling. Usable both for exploration and rescue of stranded detachments, the stages are also highly useful in responding to the new threat of pirate attacks. Striking from fast moving swordfish sailboats with light-saber horn ramming prows and swarms of explosive coconut throwing cyborg monkey crewapes as well as more independent raiders mounted on rocket-salmon drawn hover chariots, the were-parrot pirate captains of the Sea of Recycling have no desire for a new rival to encroach upon their domain.
Without the Mobile Assault Stages to provide air transport and mobility for defending forces, as well as the fire support of their twin missiles, the pirates would have almost free reign to pick and choose their engagements and strike only where Aria is weak, only forced to fear Aria's personal attention and her large scale missile strikes. But with the flying stages, Aria too has a level of mobility not limited by the flooding paths and small isles of the sea, and can respond to attacks with quick reinforcements and ranged strikes from beyond the pirate's ability to strike back.
These raiding strikes can slow her expansion, but they can not stop it.
More laser semaphore towers go up as more of the larger isles are fortified and turned into production facilities and data-relays for contesting the local datasphere, and more data dredging nets and constructed to filter the flows for anything left of Sonata's previous existence. Slowly but surely, Aria's presence and control over the Sea grows greater, despite pirate attacks and native wildlife, or even interference from wanderers in from the other areas of the web searching the Seas for their own reasons. Only the great steam powered kraken-machines of the sea's deepest regions can completely put a stop to Aria's expansion so far, and even the pirates do their best to avoid those leviathans and their thousands of branching tool-tipped tentacles.
Still, despite this success, Aria is coming to the end of unclaimed territory. Only limited space remains between her current outer-expansion efforts and the pirate bays that the simian foes come from, and as she encroaches upon their territory more and greater captains turn their attention to her. Soon, she knows, she will not have to deal with single ship raiders, but instead full armadas united by the desire to reclaim their sea if her expansion continues. More pressingly, she has also discovered a multitude of caves hidden and scattered across the smaller isles where the Archival Sediment breaches the surface. And within, she can detect the tell tale signs of Firmament control over the Datasphere...
Despite these issues, the control over this zone is enough to begin sifting through the sea for signs of the Firmament's passage and attempt to begin to trace their ultimate source.
+1 Control in the Sea of Recycling for Sonata's Stagehands. To take the third point in the Sea of Recycling will require a head on confrontation with the great Pirate Bays of this sea, who will have to be defeated to claim full control over this zone. Note that, with the majority of the stable islands taken by Stagehand forces, it is likely that if the Firmament attacks they will be engaging the Stagehands not the Independents.
Two Zones in the The Undernet are Dominated by Sonata's Stagehands. The Undernet is now Dominated by Sonata's Stagehands. Sonata's Stagehands has dominance over 1/5 Sectors. Once 3/5 are Dominated, the Stagehands may begin attacking the Firmament's home zone.Hackers
Jorg Jörgenson
A thoughtful and methodical hacker that prioritizes force preservation and defense area control, the Bass Line plays for long term advantages as he shapes the battlefield into one incremental advantage after another until it grants him victory. He prefers melee designs over long ranged combat, and his preference for force preservation biases him away from the more fragile viruses whatever their range. He also has a deft hand with territory effecting battlechips that allow him to get more out of them then others would, and substantial experience with using defensive and supportive function battlechips.
Aria
Aria is a relatively new hacker, but Aria's loyalty to Sonata's Stagehands is undoubted. They have a talent with long ranged bombardment by both battlechip and virus, as well as other brute force destruction applications, which is substantial enough to result in their appointment as one of Sonata's Stagehands' field commanders. This plays well with their similar, if lesser, talent with fixed defenses. They have been noticed to have problems with giving the enemy the initiative and not noticing when said foe is doing something sneaky. While less notable, their relative inexperience as a hacker can sometimes cause them trouble in contested data spheres verses a more experienced foe.
Viri
Minion.exe
These roughly humanoid programs are neither very sophisticated (intelligence and coding wise) or very strong, but they are mass producible and smart enough to obey orders without continual direct supervision. Which isn't always something you can take for granted with generic digital constructs, as a lot of them are dumber then rocks. They're not coded with anything more powerful then a basic energy pulse pistol, but they can still defeat the average civilian whom thinks too much of themselves. Just avoid putting them up against Data Police Agents. (Simple)
SwordyMinion.exe
The normal baseline minion, adapted to use a sword instead of a pistol. They're no smarter and only a little tougher then a normal minion, but the sword is a stronger weapon then the pistol so it's somewhat more deadly. As long as it can get into melee range that is, as it no longer has the pistol. It will try to stab any enemy projectiles that come to close to it, allowing greater survivability rates then would otherwise be expected as long as the projectiles being shot at it are the kind you can stab.
(Simple)
Defender.exe
An enlarged minion with a continually active siren mounted on its helm and bearing a giant tower shield with more flashing lights and what looks like an impressively large gun array integrated into said shield's surface, this virus is a natural first target for anyone attacking a group that it is in. Which is the point. Not actually armed any more well then a normal minion, but with noticable integrated code-buffering and a shield formed from active denial firewall lattice coding, the Defender is well equipped to be a remarkably sturdy, for its rating, distraction. It's attention getting features have now been upgraded with an off switch, and Officers have some light scripting telling them when to turn said attention getting features on or off. For example, when sneaking, keep them off. This makes them much simpler to transport.
(Simple)
Officer.exe
Based on the generally available in the Undernet Minion programs, Officer.exe constructs aren't much stronger then their lesser kin, still only coded with a basic energy pulse pistol, though officers also come with basic melee coding. But the big difference between and Officer and a Minion is that Officers are coded with noticeably more advanced bit-brains and have a basic tactical library integrated in their knowledge banks, allowing them to lead teams of Minions on operations without needing constant hand holding.
Since the start of the war, they've been revised with slightly enlarged tactical libraries and an improved ability to both identify enemy officers and commanders and figure out which officers on their own side are doing the best, and therefor should be listened to more. (Complicated)
Mobile Assault Stage v2
A large flying stage with two of the speaker arrays replaced with missile launchers and handrails around the edges to keep passengers from falling off. It's piloted by a minion who's been fused directly with the singer's podium, but still controls the stage with hand controls. Like the missile battlechip, if the Stage's missiles are deflected they'll often lock onto a friendly unit, usually the stage that fired them. The Mobile Assault Stage is capable of carrying a little over twenty minions at a time, or thirty if you pack them on really tightly, enough to interfere with their ability to do anything until they get off the stage. (Complex)
Marksman.exe
A buggy mess of a minion variant with a non-functional charged shot sniper rifle with no normal shot mode and who's charged shot only works one in three times, is intensely fragile, and has a non-working advanced ballistic calculator and target value calculator. All this would be bad enough even if the virus didn't only shoot at targets they're directly ordered to shoot without having the Officers programmed to order them to shoot. (Exceedingly Complex)
Autonomous Digital Intelligence
BlueFiend.mon
An upside down floating pyramid surrounded by an oozelike substance that is manipulated into varied body parts and coverings, born of an experiment into self adapting programs. BlueFiend uses this material as armor, tools, and weapons alike, as well as a large degree of personal strength. It tends to prefer melee combat, but is not limited to it, and prefers to communicate in sign language and/or charades. Interestingly, BlueFiend has once or twice shown the ability to entirely liquefy itself, but the rarity of when and hesitance with which it employs this ability suggests some sort of major limiting factor to it. (Memory 4)
Battle Chips
Recovery 10
This tactical battle chip is designed to mend damaged and corrupted code, healing the individual it is applied to by a minor amount. (Simple, Memory 1)
Atk+10
This tactical battle chip pre-allocates resources to empower the next program used, improving the targets ability to deal damage for a short while. (Simple, Memory 1)
MinionCall A
This strategic battle chip creates temporary replicas of the commonly known ‘Minion.exe’ program, causing a short term burst of reinforcements in the targeted zone. (Simple, Memory 1)
Stunbolt
A tactical battle chip that releases a bolt of electricity into the target, which then paralyzes the target until the excess electricity dissipates (Simple, Memory 1)
Missile I
The Missile I is a strategic battlechip that effectively fires a decently powerful cruise missile at a chosen target. The missile plays an annoying MeTube speech the entire flight and will not explode before it hits something that's not the ground or a wall, resulting in it almost always hitting the target when it doesn't loose control over itself by bouncing off the ground nosecone over tail, which tends to make it go flying off into the void. Has an annoying issue where, if deflected, it will often lock onto a friendly target instead of going back after the original target. (Complicated, Memory 1)
DramaticSpotlight
This chip combines an environmental influence effect with a protective barrier, it... well, look, it lets you summon a dramatic spotlight to spotlight your avatar or an ADI and includes enough defensive shielding to let you do a (short) dramatic speech or pithy comment without anyone being able to do anything about it. The defenses fail if you move or attack however, and only last a short moment, but it's quite good for making a memorable introduction. (Simple, Memory 0)
InvokeSoundtrack
A battlechip that invokes a soundtrack, using advanced environmental sensors to analyze the zone that the Hacker or the Hacker's Proxies are in and play appropriate music for where they are and what the current events are. Some would swear it has a better detection rate for hidden surprises then anything else in Sonata's Arsenal, but it also has a deeply encoded priority for dramatic timing, and therefor the dramatic chords only begin to play when the surprise is about to be sprung on you anyway. (Simple, Memory 0)
Author
Topic: Sonata's Stagehands - Great Flame War Arms Race (Read 14223 times)