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[Happerry]

The Great Turf War of Fall, Year 2, has now Finished.

The Design Phase of Winter, Year 2 has begun.

Gain +1 Zapfish through thievery.

[KitRougard]

Bringing this heavy-duty ATP (All-Terrain Painter) to the front again.

The Roll-Out
Type: Vehicle
A story reached us recently about a squad of Octolings somewhere that managed to requisition a civilian ATV. These brave, foolhardy souls used it to great effect in combat, carrying extra Ink Tanks, leaving a constant trail of Ink behind them to lead their charge, and at one point, at least according to the stories, they...
strapped a bunch of Punt Bombs to the front of the vehicle and ran over an opposing squad of Inklings, Splatting them all?

Madness in its finest form, and though it may merely be a Fresh rumor, it gave us an idea - The Roll-Out.
The Roll-Out is a heavily modified ATV. The most notable change is the replacement of the front wheels with something we considered before as a potential Primary Weapon - A giant Ink Roller. The Roll-Out also has an extra seat and a swivel-mounted Splatling on the back, and two larger-than-normal of our new Giant Ink Tanks that keep the Roller filled and the Splatling spinning. Balloon Mines and other weaponry can be filled out of these tanks as well. Other design improvements include a heavy-duty windshield and cutting-edge wiper blades, to protect both driver and passenger.

Other ideas include a roll cage and a way to easily flip the beast over if it tips on strange terrain, but those are secondary, and might be saved for a Revision if necessary. Better to add them later at a high quality than tape cardboard tubes to it now.

Friendly Reminder from your Scientists: This design is eligible for our +1 for Vehicles bonus.

[piratejoe]

Chief Engineer Helen "The Hammer"

Chief Engineer Helen, usually referred to as Engi or by her nickname "The Hammer" is a Giant Octoling who also is the chief engineer of the typhoon and naturally is skilled in fancy things like machinery, along with a bit of knowledge on tactics and such. However, her nickname is as such because of three reasons, the hammers she uses in repair, her ability to see ink build up and take out targets right as they use their specials, and her special Swizzler which she uses to do the second reason. Said Swizzler is very large upsized version with a set of two cranks, a small bit of plastic at the end of the barrel to step on to hold it in place while winding said cranks, and a long modified spyglass strapped on as a scope that when fired, instead of forming the classical pattern swizzlers make, sends a spinning glob of ink shaped like a hammer. Due to the increase in size, it allows her custom version to have three things claimed to be much better than traditional swizzlers, those being range, accuracy and power, and one thing only slightly better, that being reload speed. To elaborate more, not only can its shots fire further and where she wants them to go easier, they also can pass right through an inkling and keep on going until it hits a solid, not inkling target where it causes a explosion of ink that will splat anyone who had the misfortune of being next to where it hit and hurting inklings not too far away. She certainly has a bit of skill with the weapon considering the nickname and she seems quite prideful of what she calls her ship as well, and woe anyone who so much as scratches the paint. She dresses in a navy blue uniform and has a sailors cap on her head along with a pair of aviator goggles, covering up a bit of dark green on her head that contrasts the rest of her outfit. The two most noteworthy things she wears is, interestingly enough, a miniature anchor hanging off the side of her outfit that is just for show, and more importantly and useful is a propeller strapped to her back with some rope that can easily be used as a close combat weapon she could use to both deflect ink and smash against any ling who tries to get close, and there is a rumor that she can use it at a medium range by throwing it like a extremely fast boomerang that will always come back. All the equipment and her outfit makes her unmistakable, and gives her a look fitting for her role as an airship engineer, especially one who tends to order around the damage control crews the second something is wrong even when no one else notices it, seemingly having a kind of connection with the ship and can just tell when something isn't right with the thing.... Also, it should be noted that the 2nd engineer in command on the ship, Zeke, will take command of repair and maintenance of the ship along with damage control when she is torn from it, as much as she hates the possibility of that happening.

We probably should get a hero considering dolfy is out this turn and there is a 66% chance we'll run into one of their hero's with the typhoon...better safe than sorry...Also willing to edit it if you have any complaints.

[piratejoe]

Its been silent for a day so...

The Roll-Out (0):
Helen "The Hammer" (1): Piratejoe

Feel free to add designs posted in the past...I just wanted to bump this and bring it back to everyones attention along with maybe getting some voting going.

[Slick]

The Roll-Out (0):
Helen "The Hammer" (2): Piratejoe, Slick

[The Ensorceler]

Design: Captain Mackenzie
Hero

Main Weapon: Cpt. Mack's brace of four experimental Twistlock Pistols pack the powerful design of a Swizzler into a one handed monster of a pistol, but must be rewound by a mechanized holster. Cpt. Mack keeps a twin holster on each hip for a volley of four shots, and can vastly outperform the volume of fire of a single Swizzler, albeit mostly at a shorter range.
Sub-Weapons: Hook Hand - Cpt. Mack's grappling hook hand can be launched to snag distant targets, reeling her to stationary ones and pulling anything else to her for a Twistlock blast. When needed, she can swing from or hang off a stationary grapple point for up to 15 seconds instead of retracting instantly.
Krackutlass - Mack's sword is neither oversized nor always-on like Dolfley's, but it provides a good way to push the battle forwards while her pistols rewind themselves.
Passive Ability: Charge! - When Cpt. Mack gets Ink Energy by getting splats and assists, so do her allies. When she fights, those fighting at her side will be able to use their own Specials more frequently.
Special: Broadside Barrage - Cpt. Mack summons three rows of cannons from a friendly ink puddle, which fire off a devastating wave of ink before receding.

Captain Mackenzie is an aggressive hero who leads from the front. As captain of the Typhoon, she fights well alongside it. Her signature "Charge!"s will run out of bodies less often with the Typhoon's respawn pads active, and she can grapple up to the Typhoon to arm it with her Broadside Barrage, defend it from intruders, or simply reposition herself on the battlefield.

[Failbird105]

The Roll-Out (0):
Helen "The Hammer" (3): Piratejoe, Slick, Failbird

[The Ensorceler]

The Roll-Out (0):
Helen "The Hammer" (3): Piratejoe, Slick, Failbird
Captain Mack (1): The Ensorceler

[Happerry]

Design : Helen "The Hammer" (Average Difficulty)
4+3 = 7: Superior craftsmanship

The newest hero of the Octolings, Helen "The Hammer" was formerly the chief engineer of the Typhoon before her talent was properly noted and she was re-classified as a hero. Armed with a double cranked upscalled Swizzler and a special Propeller-Rang which she can use in melee and short-medium ranged combat, she's not a hero to laugh off, because if you do, she'll hit you. You know, like a hammer. Get it?...

No one has a sense of humor these days it seems.

Well, anyway, her Swizzler is so large it takes her both hands and a leg to reload it. This results in it having a pretty slow firing speed, but when it does fire it hits you like a giant ink hammer of ink and doom. And then the shot explodes, hitting everyone around the target too. Combined with her special and experimental goggles that let her see Ink Energy build ups, this lets her snipe out enemies whom are charging up to unleash powerful specials and interrupt their ability to actually do that. Of course, if an enemy gets within sniper range, this isn't a very useful weapon. So that's when she switches to her other weapon! Based off the same technology as the Krakenblade, the Propeller-Rang is a Propeller shaped collection of solidified ink which Helen can use in melee (by swinging it around), or at range (by throwing it and then catching it again.) The arc shaped travel of its throws allows it to slice up enemies thinking they're safely hidden behind cover, and in melee it's almost as deadly as a real Krakenblade... if, you know, without the dash function. Which is admitedly a big part of the real Krakenblade's murder-blender-ness, but oh well. It can also serve as a makeshift shield when she holds it on her arm and spins it real fast.

Despite rumors, the small anchor on her belt is just there to make her look fresh, not serve as a super grappling hook of doom. Sadly.

Spoiler: Resources (click to show/hide)

Basic Resources
Plastics : 2
Super Sea Snails : 1

Advanced Resources
Zapfish : 3

Spoiler: Octoling Armory (click to show/hide)

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.2b : 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. While originally the Mk.2 was overly complicated to build and maintain, a recent redesign has dramatically simplified and 'cleaned up' the inkarm. While this results in it working a bit better in most ways, most noticeably in Ink Efficiency as it has stopped being a bit leaky, the biggest result to this is that it's far easier to build. Additionally, new generation nozzle compression technology has increased its viable range by an astonishing 15% above and beyond its original specs.
  Expensive -  Cost : 3 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.
• 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.
  
  • Wind-Up Cannon : A modification of the Splatling Cannon by way of the addition of a rubber band winder to the crank. Now can be wound up in advance for at least half a minute of fire where one doesn't need to work the crank, allowing for substantially increased accuracy until the band winder finishes unwinding. After that, users have to go back to working the crank because it takes to long to rewind the winder for the average skirmish.
    Expensive - Cost : +1 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.
• Swizzler : A splatling turned into a charger/blaster hybrid, the Swizzler uses spiralling force to contain its explosive bolt of ink and force it to hold together in its long flight, turning a short ranged assault weapon into a long ranged sniper. It takes substantial wind up between each shot, has enough kickback to bruise an unwary user, and suffers some coherency and accuracy issues at the far end of its range. But it's still strong enough to splat most targets with a single hit, and combined with the attached scope can use its range to the fullest extent. Surprisingly ink efficient, too.
  Expensive -  Cost : 4 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.
• Punt Bomb : A foot sized balloon designed to be kicked at enemies. Has a somewhat weird shape that makes it hard to throw, but easier to kick. Can be filled directly from an ink tank or with a Balloon Bomb pump. It's horizontal range is noticeably superior to its vertical range (well, you can still kick it high, but when you do it's almost impossible to aim), and it has some trouble with windows.
  Cheap - Cost : 1 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.

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.

Ability
No 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. Now have improved physical conditioning from a new exercise program.
• Octoling Elite Agent : An Octoling graduate of the S.T.E.P Up Program, they are harder, faster, better, and even stronger then normal Octoling Guardsmen or Guardswoman. They also come with advanced tactical training, but their primary and greatest advantage is simply that they are all highly physically conditioned and drilled until responses and tactical calls are, if not genius, pretty much instant. The program for training them was suprisingly effective, so instead of being Rare these agents are Uncommon.
• Giant Octoling : A subspecies of Octoling which, as the name suggests, commonly reaches sizes far greater then the average Octoling. Their additional strength and endurance makes them natural heavy weapon experts, but also reduces their speed and makes them easier targets for enemy fire.

Cultural Artifacts

• Octo Valley Radio Network : A popular radio broadcast station in Octo Valley that broadcasts music, news, and humor, as well as speculation. Many though not all octoling soldiers are fans, and listening to its daily broadcasts can put a spring in their step.

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. Now has an improved exercise program derived from the S.T.E.P. program's training.
• S.T.E.P Up : The Superior Trained Enlisted Personal initiative is an upgraded training program based on the older weekend warrior program. It scopes the best of the best out of the Home Guard Program and puts them through continual and dedicated training. Afterwards, what returns are Elite Octoling Agents, skilled and drilled to the max. Unexpectedly, they've managed to put many more Octolings through the training program then originally anticipated, and parts of their exercise regime has made it to the Home Guard.
• 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.
• "Born This Way" Initiative : An art, music, and radio based initiative designed to show SFPBSI's repressive and chilling effects on Octoling subspecies. Caused a great reducement of SFPBSI's membership rolls, and also now allows subspecies with proper training and recruitment programs designed to be, well, recruited.
• Double Ink-Tank : A new, double sized ink tank that acomplishes wonders in increased storage by dint of 'make it bigger'. Holds twice as much ink as a normal tank, while refilling almost as fast and without flow issues to any attached weapons, specials, or sub-weapons, with an integrated Rotodynamic Ink Pump. Unfortunately, they are also far to heavy or bulky for anyone but a Giant Octoling, or any other entity of similar stature, to carry.
  Cheap - Cost : 2 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.

Vehicles

• Sky Breeze Octo-Balloon : A floating one octoling balloon ship, with sails and a small engine to power the propeller. Has a front mounted Splattling that is turned by the engine, allowing continual max speed fire without accuracy issues. Moves decently fast now, and can still be peddled (and go on battery power) for a slower 'sneaky mode', as well as being more resistant to enemy firepower. Can carry either six Punt Bombs or one Balloon Mine as a bomb, though the Balloon Mine is heavy enough to really slow the Sky Breeze down. With a wind in the proper direction, can use sails to increase its speed.
  Very Expensive - Cost : 5 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.

Superweapons

• Typhoon Assault Airship : A giant airship with four giant engines, a nose mounted respawn pad that fires respawned Octolings back to their squad, and a medium load of balloon bombs. Flies far to high to be attacked by any weapon, meaning it's only vulnerable on the ground, when it lands to reload. Or, well, to some crazy Inkling shooting its bombs out of the sky and back into the airship to send it careening down into the ground in a flaming crash, but who'd be crazy enough to do that?
  Needs 2 Zapfish to be deployed.

Heroes

• Dofley, Sketch Artist with a Big Gun : A Giant Octoling, equipped with a custom giant Splattling Cannon, custom giant Ink Tank, custom giant Krakenblade, and a second old style hilt only Krakenblade strapped onto his Spattling Cannon. A well trained wrecking ball of brute force, whom also does scroll art between combat missions as part of a failed PR scheme. Has unusually great control over his own personal Ink Energy, allowing him to use Krakenblades with unusual efficiency and also allowing snap activations or deactivations when needed or desired. Has recently been equipped with a newly developed Double Ink Tank, increasing the amount of Ink he can use in combat.
• Helen "The Hammer" : A Giant Octoling, equipped with a custom giant Swizzler and a Propeller-Rang for closer ranged combat. Possess special goggles that detect ink energy, allowing her to spot anyone trying to get off a special and splat them first. Her Swizzler is so big she needs both hands and a foot to re-crank it, and has appropriately long range and high damage, while her Propeller-Rang is based off Krakenblade technology if sadly without the ability to dash around. But the arc of its throw makes it good for hitting enemies behind cover, so there's that. Sometimes she uses the Propeller-Rang as a shield by holding it on her arm and spinning it fast.

The Revision Phase of Winter, Year 2 has begun.

[piratejoe]

S.O.C.K.E.T.W.I.N.R.A.R.

Special Operative Commandos Keen in Engaging in Training With Incredible Ninjas and Ridiculous Assault Ranges, or S.O.C.K.E.T.W.I.N.R.A.R. not only continues the theme of naming training programs with fun acronyms, but also trains our best sharp shooters to shoot sharper and significantly more stylishly. By having a mix of the most talented stealthy and sneaky ninja like octos (possibly including some tips from the master of sneaking dofley, he has to be good at sneaking to successfully steal stuff from the inklings twice.), giving them a lesson on how not to be seen in a recreation and modern adaptation of some relic we found, and also giving them much more training in shooting at things very far away that are likely moving around (possibly also including tips from our other hero, or rather heroine, Helena). With this we can create the new future of our long ranged forces that clearly will be a match for our enemies as while they know how to shoot well, they don't know how not to be seen, and our new S.O.C.K.E.T.W.I.N.R.A.R. will know how to shoot well and how not to be seen!

[KitRougard]

Hm, I have a Ninja hero idea that would work well if we make him. For now, though, we need...

Octoling's Driver's Ed (the ODE)
As it turns out, it is somewhat difficult to drive our Sky Breeze ships, and with greater vehicular mayhem in the pipeworks, we recognize the need for a trained crew of drivers. ODE courses include:
Shooting from a moving platform!
Accounting for gravity when firing from the sky!
ACTUALLY DRIVING THESE MACHINES!
How to patch up your vehicle when you take hits in the midst of combat!
Taught by the proud engineer of the Typhoon, Helen, Octoling's Driver's Education seeks to make confident pilots who have a firm trust in their machine, rather than random 'lings we strapped into a balloon and launched without any remorse!
(If the +1 Vehicle would apply, please do not apply.)

[piratejoe]

May as well do this again I guess...

S.O.C.K.E.T.W.I.N.R.A.R. (1): Piratejoe
ODE (1?): KitRougard?

[Slick]

Voted...I guess?

S.O.C.K.E.T.W.I.N.R.A.R. (2): Piratejoe, Slick
ODE (1?): KitRougard?

[Happerry]

Revision : S.O.C.K.E.T.W.I.N.R.A.R. (Average Difficulty)
3+3 = 6: Above average

The elaborately named S.O.C.K.E.T.W.I.N.R.A.R. program, or 'Special Operative Commandos Keen in Engaging in Training With Incredible Ninjas and Ridiculous Assault Ranges', sees surprisingly little difficulties. Besides people loosing their breath and fainting in the middle of trying to pronounce the overly long name, that is. Still, the rapidly nicknamed 'Socket Ninjas' take to their training with glee, becoming quite skilled at both long ranged shooting and stealth. This is proven by the rash of practical jokes that break out as they 'practice their new skills'. Eventually, under threat of being beaten up by all their fellow soldiers if they don't stop, they agree to limit the jokes to each other.

Anyway, when all is said and done, they're probably, on the average, about equal to the average Marksling. Any contest between a Socket Ninja and a Marksling will probably come down to who has the best equipment and abilities.

Spoiler: Resources (click to show/hide)

Basic Resources
Plastics : 2
Super Sea Snails : 1

Advanced Resources
Zapfish : 3

Spoiler: Octoling Armory (click to show/hide)

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.2b : 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. While originally the Mk.2 was overly complicated to build and maintain, a recent redesign has dramatically simplified and 'cleaned up' the inkarm. While this results in it working a bit better in most ways, most noticeably in Ink Efficiency as it has stopped being a bit leaky, the biggest result to this is that it's far easier to build. Additionally, new generation nozzle compression technology has increased its viable range by an astonishing 15% above and beyond its original specs.
  Expensive -  Cost : 3 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.
• 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.
  
  • Wind-Up Cannon : A modification of the Splatling Cannon by way of the addition of a rubber band winder to the crank. Now can be wound up in advance for at least half a minute of fire where one doesn't need to work the crank, allowing for substantially increased accuracy until the band winder finishes unwinding. After that, users have to go back to working the crank because it takes to long to rewind the winder for the average skirmish.
    Expensive - Cost : +1 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.
• Swizzler : A splatling turned into a charger/blaster hybrid, the Swizzler uses spiralling force to contain its explosive bolt of ink and force it to hold together in its long flight, turning a short ranged assault weapon into a long ranged sniper. It takes substantial wind up between each shot, has enough kickback to bruise an unwary user, and suffers some coherency and accuracy issues at the far end of its range. But it's still strong enough to splat most targets with a single hit, and combined with the attached scope can use its range to the fullest extent. Surprisingly ink efficient, too.
  Expensive -  Cost : 4 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.
• Punt Bomb : A foot sized balloon designed to be kicked at enemies. Has a somewhat weird shape that makes it hard to throw, but easier to kick. Can be filled directly from an ink tank or with a Balloon Bomb pump. It's horizontal range is noticeably superior to its vertical range (well, you can still kick it high, but when you do it's almost impossible to aim), and it has some trouble with windows.
  Cheap - Cost : 1 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.

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.

Ability
No 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. Now have improved physical conditioning from a new exercise program.
• Octoling Elite Agent : An Octoling graduate of the S.T.E.P Up Program, they are harder, faster, better, and even stronger then normal Octoling Guardsmen or Guardswoman. They also come with advanced tactical training, but their primary and greatest advantage is simply that they are all highly physically conditioned and drilled until responses and tactical calls are, if not genius, pretty much instant. The program for training them was suprisingly effective, so instead of being Rare these agents are Uncommon.
• Socket Ninja : A successful student of the S.O.C.K.E.T.W.I.N.R.A.R. program, or 'Special Operative Commandos Keen in Engaging in Training With Incredible Ninjas and Ridiculous Assault Ranges' to use the full name. Each Socket Ninja is a sniper skilled in both accuracy and stealth as well as possessing a snazzy badge to show their exalted status. They do have a tendency to spend their time doing practical jokes on each other to 'train their stealth', at least when they aren't practicing to show up the Markslings they consider rivals. The training needed to join their ranks keeps them an Uncommon Specialist.
• Giant Octoling : A subspecies of Octoling which, as the name suggests, commonly reaches sizes far greater then the average Octoling. Their additional strength and endurance makes them natural heavy weapon experts, but also reduces their speed and makes them easier targets for enemy fire.

Cultural Artifacts

• Octo Valley Radio Network : A popular radio broadcast station in Octo Valley that broadcasts music, news, and humor, as well as speculation. Many though not all octoling soldiers are fans, and listening to its daily broadcasts can put a spring in their step.

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. Now has an improved exercise program derived from the S.T.E.P. program's training.
• S.T.E.P Up : The Superior Trained Enlisted Personal initiative is an upgraded training program based on the older weekend warrior program. It scopes the best of the best out of the Home Guard Program and puts them through continual and dedicated training. Afterwards, what returns are Elite Octoling Agents, skilled and drilled to the max. Unexpectedly, they've managed to put many more Octolings through the training program then originally anticipated, and parts of their exercise regime has made it to the Home Guard.
• 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.
• "Born This Way" Initiative : An art, music, and radio based initiative designed to show SFPBSI's repressive and chilling effects on Octoling subspecies. Caused a great reducement of SFPBSI's membership rolls, and also now allows subspecies with proper training and recruitment programs designed to be, well, recruited.
• Double Ink-Tank : A new, double sized ink tank that acomplishes wonders in increased storage by dint of 'make it bigger'. Holds twice as much ink as a normal tank, while refilling almost as fast and without flow issues to any attached weapons, specials, or sub-weapons, with an integrated Rotodynamic Ink Pump. Unfortunately, they are also far to heavy or bulky for anyone but a Giant Octoling, or any other entity of similar stature, to carry.
  Cheap - Cost : 2 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.

Vehicles

• Sky Breeze Octo-Balloon : A floating one octoling balloon ship, with sails and a small engine to power the propeller. Has a front mounted Splattling that is turned by the engine, allowing continual max speed fire without accuracy issues. Moves decently fast now, and can still be peddled (and go on battery power) for a slower 'sneaky mode', as well as being more resistant to enemy firepower. Can carry either six Punt Bombs or one Balloon Mine as a bomb, though the Balloon Mine is heavy enough to really slow the Sky Breeze down. With a wind in the proper direction, can use sails to increase its speed.
  Very Expensive - Cost : 5 Plastic, 0 Super Sea Snails.

Superweapons

• Typhoon Assault Airship : A giant airship with four giant engines, a nose mounted respawn pad that fires respawned Octolings back to their squad, and a medium load of balloon bombs. Flies far to high to be attacked by any weapon, meaning it's only vulnerable on the ground, when it lands to reload. Or, well, to some crazy Inkling shooting its bombs out of the sky and back into the airship to send it careening down into the ground in a flaming crash, but who'd be crazy enough to do that?
  Needs 2 Zapfish to be deployed.

Heroes

• Dofley, Sketch Artist with a Big Gun : A Giant Octoling, equipped with a custom giant Splattling Cannon, custom giant Ink Tank, custom giant Krakenblade, and a second old style hilt only Krakenblade strapped onto his Spattling Cannon. A well trained wrecking ball of brute force, whom also does scroll art between combat missions as part of a failed PR scheme. Has unusually great control over his own personal Ink Energy, allowing him to use Krakenblades with unusual efficiency and also allowing snap activations or deactivations when needed or desired. Has recently been equipped with a newly developed Double Ink Tank, increasing the amount of Ink he can use in combat.
• Helen "The Hammer" : A Giant Octoling, equipped with a custom giant Swizzler and a Propeller-Rang for closer ranged combat. Possess special goggles that detect ink energy, allowing her to spot anyone trying to get off a special and splat them first. Her Swizzler is so big she needs both hands and a foot to re-crank it, and has appropriately long range and high damage, while her Propeller-Rang is based off Krakenblade technology if sadly without the ability to dash around. But the arc of its throw makes it good for hitting enemies behind cover, so there's that. Sometimes she uses the Propeller-Rang as a shield by holding it on her arm and spinning it fast.

The Deployment Phase of Winter, Year 2 has begun.
Please vote for which two fronts reinforcements should be actively deployed to in an attempt to push forwards, and where heroes and superweapons should be sent.

[piratejoe]

Deploy one army to Moray Towers
Deploy Typhoon to Moray Towers
Deploy Helen to Moray Towers
Deploy other army to Port Mackerel

This plan works if we think that they are going to do something similar to their last turn and we think that they won't actually change their plans, expecting us to go back to our old ways and proving that we in fact, aren't going to go right where we started again. If they do change their orders majorly to counter us from doing something similar to last turn, this plan is about as good as ramming our head into a wall.

Deploy one army to Mount Nantai
Deploy Typhoon to Port Mackerel
Deploy Helen to Port Mackerel
Deploy other army to Port Mackerel

This plan is essentially the opposite of the other plan, expecting them to make a hard defense at the Towers and put most/all their eggs in one basket in an attempt to prevent us from hitting there hard. So, essentially, we do a hard push on Port Mackerel and also a minor push on mount Nantai. Going on the hopes that they think that we will push in the same spots again, we will be able to use our new S.O.C.K.E.T.W.I.N.R.A.R trained soldiers to beat them back without the heavy air support in the mountains while at the port utilizing the urban environment to essentially be able to devastate any attempt they have at a defense with the use of the Typhoon and Helen. The reason to suspect them dumping all their forces at the Towers is because they are quite close to losing them entirely and likely would be afraid of us getting too close to their capitol, so why not sacrifice some ground there, or maybe even not if our Socket Ninja's are able to hold out, to take it everywhere else? Of course, could lead to just an equal trade if they put a hero on mount Nantai, but I think they'd be more worried about the Towers and the Port at this point.

Plan "They wouldn't do it a second time!" (0):
Plan "Folks, I don't know what to tell you. This bait is so low in energy even Commander Cauldo could do better." (1): Piratejoe.

Give me thoughts on the plans. Also, from now on, I'm probably going to always suggest one plan that's a bait meme at this point.