This was already posted in the Core thread, but there's a
Shadow Race Discord for anyone interested in that.
Furthermore, in response to comments on the Merkan thread I'll be giving basic mission objectives in addition to the already-planned skill/tech usage voting to the Operations Phase. In the future, at the end of each Operations report, you'll be given the objective for each theater the next operations phase.
Skill Revision: Deep Infiltration - Schmoozing[4]KOSMIC is of course acting in the best interests of the Astrian government and its people. Why wouldn't it be? We are tasked by our government to defend against the Merkane Menace, and we owe it to our nation's citizens to protect and aid them. Even if it means bending some laws. These laws were meant to protect the civilians from themselves; we're not civilians here.
Some things just must be done to help Astria, regardless how Astria feels about it.
We surprisingly don't have a huge amount of authority under our own government. While with some effort we can certainly change it in the future,
KOSMIC was created with the purpose and authority to combat against Merkan. Not its own people. We don't have any role in enforcement & legal matters inside Astria. But that doesn't mean we're powerless here.
Our agents will be tasked to gather any valuable intelligence regarding corporations of interest while they're in operations. Including (copies) of these documents and a particularly luxurious fruit basket with our official government forms tends to scare executives even further. We can rely less on having our higher-ups do our job for us and more on our own effort, making Deep Infiltration Cheaper. And by making use of the even-more-frightened executives, we can put our agents higher-up in their organizations. Not
high-up, but higher. Our embedded agents should have a tiny bit of authority and some decent security clearances.
As a result, Deep Infiltration is now
Very Expensive and our embedded agents have a
bit more security clearance & authority in their cover jobs. They still have to conceal their weapons, of course.
Tech Revision: "Make the MP54C Less Shit"[6]Congratulations! The MP54C is now
not awful!After firing the team that made the MP54 C, we successfully practically removed its flaws. Namely by just redoing the firing mechanism. The MP54 C holds a 20 round magazine and can actually fire automatically in a practical sense. Its accuracy while firing automatically isn't
amazing - we can only do so much at a time - but is still more than useful for our needs. Operatives can fire the MP54 C carefully if extra accuracy is needed, and for every other scenario they can fire it automatically and it'll do fine for those purposes.
A bonus of these improvements is size. The MP54 C is now smaller. Concealment is still only guaranteed when placed inside another container, but it should be
theoretically possible to conceal it on a person. People probably wouldn't notice it unless they're looking for something. It isn't a huge improvement, but it may slightly increase quality of life and make it any potential future size/concealment revisions a bit easier.
It is now the Operations phase!Vote for what Skills and Tech to use in each theatre. No other instructions may be given.
The objectives per theatre are the following: (Note: This will be given at the end of the operations phase in the future instead of after the revisions phase.)
Human Power Inc. - A Merkane executive has publically expressed doubts regarding Astrian domination of the company. Merkane representatives are already making headway in convincing them;
KOSMIC's objective is to prevent this executive from further influencing the company in any way possible.
MOLE is predicted to be tasked with preventing this.
Singleton Arms - A worker's strike is underway at a Singleton factory. While the Astrian government is already planning decisive action against the strikers,
MOLE involvement is likely and
KOSMIC has been ordered to prevent further foreign involvement.
The
Global League is currently undergoing negotiations for a light investigation into the Merkane-Astrian conflict. The Astrian government believes it can benefit from this, and rumors suggest Merkan feels the same way.
KOSMIC (and without a doubt
MOLE) must acquire a copy of an official report regarding the two countries to aid our diplomats in ensuring they'll come up on top.
A
Merkane government official and potential Astrian sympathizer is being targeted by
MOLE.
KOSMIC must ensure their safety and continued support.