My 0.88 fort continues.
The geothermal factory complex is mostly dug out, but there is a small problem. To route the magma where it's needed, we need to pierce the magma pipe and that's dangerous. A plan is devised to do that at minimum risk to ourselves, but it will take some time to dig. Meanwhile, the canteen and dormitory for the metalworkers are prepared.
The wood from the surface proves very useful, since we were short on beds and bins for a while now.
I've observed some of the radioactive dust clouds for a while and it almost looks as if they were aiming for the centre of the camp, which also houses the outdoor barracks. One of them just took out the entire security, who were training outside. The guards all went to the hospital for a check-up and hit the barrels on their way back. It was nothing serious, just like last time and all the times before that, but this begs the question of how the life on the surface copes with it.
Clay pot has given birth to a Unicorn girl, Pristine Barrel.
Our efforts on taming the wolves bear fruit. Lion Apple even copied some of his notes for the liaison, so that others from our home stable can make use of them. A few questions still remain unanswered, such as that of cross-breeding wolves and dogs, but for the most part we got the hang of it. To celebrate this, some stable citizens who are either important or go outside often, receive wolves, dogs and robots as pets and protectors.
Some kind of monstrosity has shown up in the caverns. Our expedition installed a network of salvaged cameras and proximity sensors, so we know. With the airlock in place we should be pretty safe... The monster from the caverns went to wreck havoc in the restroom at the cavern access airlock. It is going to be sealed off and dealt with later.
17 new migrants have arrived. You have got to be kidding me. It will take some time to sort them out, but there is an Accomplished Mason, who's special talent is sniping, a great woodworker and an accomplished Armoursmith with a knack for destructive magic. They bring us up to 105 population. We won't say no to some extra workers and soldiers.
All in all, GOAT results weren't that impressive for this bunch. Socks is a legendary Dyer and will from now on be the only pony allowed to perform that job. Conflagration is a pyromancer and an accomplished armourer, but since Fishing Rod and File Cabinet out-skill him by a margin, his talents will be better used in the military. Boar Leather is a great carpenter, woodcutter, salvager and can even make crossbows, which we have no use for. Calm Aim is an accomplished mason and a great engraver. She also scored best at the sniping test. Due to relative importance of her civilian skills and her poor health, she is relieved from the military, despite her potential to wield an AMR. Catapult is also excluded from the military due to poor health, despite her being a competent gunner. As for the rest, there are two foals and some ponies who are only any good as recruits or generalists.
A radrat has somehow made it up the wall and behind fortifications. That's odd, but somepony is bound to deal with it eventually.
A preliminary survey of two-pony melee squads reveals that all of them learned very little. They know some dodging and the "wrestlers" can kick, but their skills are still very low and they haven't learned how to wear their armour at all. This is very disappointing, but lets wait and see what happens next.
Daggers joins the Ripper squad. It is his special talent after all. Other than that, 10 ponies are useless enough to become recruits, but due to the amount of civilian work at hoof, drafting them is delayed.
It is funny that in the beginning we had to push back wave after wave after wave of feral dogs and ghouls and now that we're ready for them, we are only "visited" by much less aggressive and dangerous wolves and radrats and an occasional thief, easily scared away by our cats. It is nice and quiet. Almost to quiet... a Steel Ranger ambush. Close the gates!
Cherelee, Cobbler, Calm Aim and Vintage Wine are in direct danger. Cherelee has armour and a =Steel Chainsaw=, but she is only a novice soldier and doesn't even have a shield. It was a deliberate decision, so that she learns to dodge and use her armour first. This changes little, as even with a shield, she wouldn't be able to stand long against a squad of Rangers.
Cobbler and Vintage Wine escape in the wrong direction, while Cherelee tries to intercept the ambush leader, who doesn't wear armour. If she is successful, she'll still die, but the ambush won't bother us. She narrowly misses him, then faces the rest of the Rangers who unload their miniguns at her. Their leader gives up pursuit of the other two unfortunate ponies and decides to finish her off instead. Her inevitable death buys our ponies enough time to escape and so far she is the only victim. Meanwhile a slaver caravan diplomat arrives. The quick gate is closed to buy us some time, in case the Rangers get close to the gates. The trader gate was closed too, but we open it just in time to welcome the wagons.
A second Steel Ranger ambush shows up, just as Vintage Wine manages to run through the wolf traps. Cobbler is cut off between two ambushes. Surprisingly, he out-manoeuvres them at the western wall, buying the slaver caravan more time. All ranged squads are told to go to the NW corner and take a few shots at the Rangers. Unfortunately the northern Ranger squad looses sight of Cobbler and decides to go for a juicier target: the caravan.
Meanwhile the slaver diplomat got executed by Brass with the use of a minigun, SATS and a rage spell. I just don't know what went wrong... Mystery solved. Fleur De Lis has cast a rage spell on the slaver diplomat, for whatever reason, and it all escalated from there. At least 5 soldiers got a hit on him after that and there is now a large puddle of blood close to the armoury stockpile.
((WTF? He was supposed to be friendly. Why would Fleur cast an offensive spell on him? I wonder if the same thing will happen to those merchants who make it inside.))
The caravan guards counter-attack, but it is unlikely, they'll be able to do much against 11 Steel Rangers. Almost all the guards and only one Steel Ranger are killed. The caravan decides to pull back, right in front of their miniguns. After out-smarting his Rangers, Cobbler runs along the Eastern wall. He might be able to make it inside.
Daggers decides to go outside to "Pick up equipment". How many times did I mention that the rookies die first? Even better, he changes his mind and "goes to combat training"... with the Rangers. Apparently nopony taught him the difference between sparring and a real fight yet. He has all his gear on him, but no skill whatsoever.
It looks that Cobbler is going to make it. Daggers lasts longer than expected. A few of the Rangers did get wounded, and one is being trashed around by a slaver lasher. The slavers had two guards with revolvers, who get shot at with miniguns after emptying their quivers.
Cobbler has trouble deciding, if he wants to make a run for the gate or simply run away. Flea, the slaver Lasher beating down a Ranger to the west is attacked by one of the Ranger Leaders, who has no armour and gets owned. This is a big favour as his death should pacify one Ranger squad. The other Ranger leader "trains" with Daggers and... holly molly, Daggers not only holds his own, but skilled up to 7 Knife user, 12 Fighter and 3 Shield User in no time. On the other hoof, so far he hasn't been successful in wounding his enemy with his =Steel Ripper=. Instead he opted to gore the Ranger leader in the torso with his horn, finding a weak spot, puncturing the steel armour, bruising the guts and muscle and stunning her. Unfortunately it didn't do much.
All the wagons and almost all the caravan, except for the guards who got killed, manage to escape. Cobbler decides to make a run for it. It would be a good time to sent the veterans and mop up, except a group of 8 or so Rangers just finishes their pistoleers to the north. Meanwhile, Short Bursts, who somehow got himself over 300 bronze and steel bullets, as well as some other soldiers, make it to the wall and begin firing. Daggers tramples his enemy over and over again, but it doesn't do anything besides stunning her for a few moments. This is ridiculous.
The group of Steel Rangers from the north is coming. Cobbler makes another run for the gate. Daggers continues his relentless assault and is now at 11 Knife User, 20 Fighter and 6 Shield User, but with very minor stat gains. If by some chance he lives through this, he gets SATS. More and more soldiers come atop the wall, but the BBs are just for training and even Short Bursts rifle bullets harmlessly plink off the Power Armours. The turret eventually manages to inflict two wounds after firing at least 50 times. 10 or so of them might actually be able to do something. While a Ripper should be able to pierce even Steel Power Armour, Daggers is unable to get through the Unicorn Ranger's shield wall, just as she is unable to penetrate his. It is a draw.
Well, it was a draw, but the Rangers to the North are beginning to activate their miniguns. For the time being they are methodically finishing off the wounded slavers, but Daggers will be next. Cobbler runs away again. Unfortunately the Rangers have the wounded slavers and Daggers in a line, which makes their task much easier. Minigun fire from so many of them is quite overwhelming.
You know what? Screw this. If Daggers could hold out for so long and became a hero in the process, it may be the time to take the fight to the enemy. All rifleponies, sawponies, ripper ponies and security baton ponies with combat experience are told to engage the Rangers. 13 our ponies against almost as many theirs. There will likely be some losses, but if we can do this, it may mean a turning point for this war. Just as the order is given, and the Rangers are closing in on our hero, their leader bites Daggers in his hind leg, latching on.
Two Rangers were wounded and under active attack all this time. as it turns out, a bronze whip can break bones and cause all kinds of wounds, but it has trouble killing. A copper machete keeps getting deflected by an iron Power Armour helmet. Daggers get wounded in a kidney by a bullet that bypassed his shields and pierced his -iron security barding-. Shortly, even more bullets cripple him. He is unlikely to last long, as he is surrounded, tired and in pain, but he made it to 18 Knife User, 20 Fighter, 12 Shield User and 1 Armour User. Meanwhile the soldiers trickle through the gate. OK, maybe sending them wasn't such a good idea. Well, at least Short Bursts managed to wound and knock down one Ranger. Cobbler still cant decide if he wants to go for the gate or not and is getting sleepy.
Once Daggerses shield wall is down, he is killed in no time. The minigun bullets pierce his barding as if it wasn't there and he is finished off by a kinetic sledgehammer to the head. Now is a moment for a tough choice: Either call off the attack, close the gate and shoot at the Rangers or engage them at the risk of the security dying. The attack... is called off. Let's see, what good that will do. the Rangers focus on one of the last surviving Slavers, which would give our soldiers time to approach, if my order was different. Cobbler is screwed, as we close the last gate outside.
The squad with security batons gets upgraded to hunting rifles (unfortunately only no-quality ones, but at least they won't waste those precious AMR bullets) and told to defend the gate. A slave rifle pony gets killed by a minigun salvo, but he has served his purpose. He wounded a Steel Ranger and was left with just 8 bullets anyway. Both Short Bursts and Trigger Happy are now atop the wall and both have hundreds of bronze bullets. Looks like they can fire for a long time. For the time being, the spell training is suspended because of all the fighting. It seems that Socks has learned the rage spell and sat at the terminal for some time after that.
Nopony pulled the lever in time and Bright Future run outside to "go to combat training". He is greeted by a minigun salvo. It is a pity that the recruit doesn't even have a shield, but it was a deliberate decision to train dodging. He tries to flee after second burst, but falls unconscious. Well, his future wasn't as bright as he liked to tell us.
Corridor, a Steel Ranger under fire by Short Bursts and Trigger Happy, got multiple shot wounds and still tries to crawl away. The *bronze bullets* make holes in him and break some of his bones, but he just refuses to die. Meanwhile the last surviving slaver, Flea the lasher, got pushed into the brook valley by a Unicorn Steel Ranger. Oddly, she didn't break anything and just got stunned. Not wanting to fight overwhelming odds on her own, she wisely retreats through the riverbed. The majority of The Rangers cluster around dying Bright Future in a way that would make that flamer turret very effective, if it hasn't gone berserk. They are sadistic and decide kill slowly, just under our fortifications, while our security shoots at them with BB guns.
In the midst of it all, life goes on. Checklist enters a fey mood, claims a leather workshop, takes some tough leather, cloth and a plasteel bar and begins a mysterious construction. She made Amuseburden, a tough leather trousers worth 200k caps. Brass gets them. Chocolate Cupcake gave birth to Stat, an Earth Pony buck.
The new Hunting rifle squad makes it to the wall and joins the shooting. While Cobbler stands in full view of the Rangers, they ignore him, instead opting to just stand around and get shot. The one beyond the western wall slowly crawls away, leaving a trail of blood. He seems to have more of it than any pony should. Ah, he died finally, after his guts were spilled. A nice payback for Bright Future. Plus this means our best rifle ponies can now fire upon the other Rangers. the majority of those bastards run away, but two fall unconscious. We have won and the death toll was only two stable ponies and a dozen or so slavers.
As the wounded Rangers crawl away, the gate is opened and the Chainsaw and Ripper squads commanded to engage. Bloody Steak gets there first, activates SATS and pumps himself with adrenaline. His =Steel Ripper= cuts through the Copper Power Armour more often than not and damages the bone and muscles. Cobbler is now sleepy, thirsty and hungry and still can't decide if he wants to come inside, but makes his dash once the Rangers are all dead or gone.
Radfish replaces Cherelee, while Hot Iron replaces Bright Future. The rest of potential recruits are written down, but kept as civilians for now. There are also plans to end the Checklist experiment and give the terminal to Hunting rifle squad and Calm Aim. If He makes it to legendary sharpshooter with terminal alone, then screw his poor health and masonry, he gets an AMR to try and put some holes into those Steel Rangers.
On 10th June the water thaws, and Cherelee's body falls into a lake. She gets a memorial slab instead of a burial. She helped to save the lives of 3 other ponies. Daggers is also a hero.
Daggerses guide to being a hero:
1) Do something really stupid.
2) Survive.
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I ask again: let me make hunting rifles, once I have combat rifle plans. They are useful to skill up bows, or whatever they're called.
Unicorn shield wall rules. It seems that the only good way to pierce it is to overwhelm the Unicorn with a zerg rush.
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Topic: Fallout: Equestria (v0.30c) Pinkie Pie is Watching (Read 508073 times)