Hacker: CF_Dogcatcher
Region: Amazon Canopy
Duel Disk[9]: Ikarus.P2(4), Squad Summon S (1)x3, Recovery 10 (1), Atk+1 (1), CallChiptune (0)
Other: Alight on new wings of vengeance, seeking redemption, Dogcatcher plans to seize the forest canopies in full for the Firmament cause. What sorts of corporate defenses can hope to be mustered without the aid of the strong arm of the law?
CF-Dogcatcher is admittedly a bit nervous that, just as the crackdown in Application City ends, she is being sent out to take control over the last areas of the Amazon Commerce Forest that the Firmament hasn't already taken control of. To be specific, because the last areas that the Firmament haven't taken control of have that status because they're the public areas people pay attention too. Still she chooses to hold faith in the higher planners of the Firmament and assume that they hadn't merely forgotten that fact when they wrote her orders up.
And so on otherwise calm morning the shopping adventures of ye average civilian is interrupted as Firmament CarbineMinion.exe programs march out of the underwood and into the upper canopy, moving to seize control of the bigwood businesses as Ikarus.P2 burns through the skies above. The businesses fight back of course, but in comparison to the combative firestorms of the Firmament's other battlefields, or even the closely fought strife in the darkness within the termite tunnels, they have little ability to resist the oncoming conquest. While the companies deploy hired mercenaries, corporate firewall elementals, ICE golems, and more, their responses are scattered and lack unity and coordination.
Bailey cuts them apart and squashes them one by one. She takes more trouble from some civilian interlopers and a ready response team of Data Police Constructs, but they lack the numbers and field presence to do more then oppose her in a local fashion, and their ability to oppose her degrades as combat goes on and they expend non-casually renewable resources.
While resistance to the occupation continues sporadically it dies down as Bailey makes it apparent that business can continue as usual for most of the companies in the Commercial Jungle so long as Firmament data-tapping and zone control stations are not interfered with, and soon enough business has resumed as normal.
+1 Control in the Amazon Commerce Forest for The Firmament.Hacker: DJ King Cabaret
Region: BitMines
Duel Disk[9]: Vivi_Paltest.dat(4), Squad Summon S (1)x2, Recovery 10 (1)x2, Atk+1 (1), CallChiptune (0)
Other: Deeper, deeper, deeper still. DJ, Vivi, and friends are here to see what has been upturned from these relentless Drills.
The upper reaches of the BitMines are under Firmament control, but the upper reaches of the BitMines are the least important. Striking from their established bases in the upper Strata the DJ King sends scout teams out to map out the tunnels, Vivi leading the way. The first enemies the scout teams run into are just like the ones they originally encountered in the first push in this zone. Independent mining constructs that defend their claims to the last program, completely unsafe machinery embedded throughout the zone waiting to crush an unwary minion, furnace mouthed mobile smelter-factories trundling along on regrowing treads... you know, the normal.
But just like the other zones, the deeper Firmament forces get into the BitMines, the harsher the resistance grows. The independent mining teams add more varied, more advanced constructs such as the geokinetic Geometry Masters and their arcane mathamagical processes and the semi-invisible KoBolt programs that shift states from shadowform to lightning elemental in a stunning flash. These aren't enough to stand against the now greatly upgraded Firmament forces, even if they'd have solidly stopped the initial troop line up of this war, but they are more then enough to slow it. And bogged down as Firmament forces are they find themselves being struck by targeted hit and run raids by high grade mobile factory beasts, whom have taken to upgrading themselves with seized Firmament code-structures. Only Vivi can stand against these molten iron belching monsters one on one, and even she has difficulties against the older and larger specimens. Unlike the younger-spawn of the upper reaches, these factory-monsters are well armored and armed with stolen upgrades integrated helter-skelter across their iron hides, and the addition of Firmament parts makes them even more deadly.
Not deadly enough to win, but it is a closer match then the DJ King would care to admit as the prices the Wako Warriors demand to face these wyrms climb as the danger does, and tunneling efforts falter as the Tunneler.exe MKII programs are targeted in specific as the mobile factories seek to integrate the Firmament's high grade drill-components into their own forms.
Also opposing the Firmament in this area are cyborg-batman monsters that strike with blades of compressed BitCoding, crudely carved into weapons and armor. Rains of dart-weapons built from compressed advertisement code shower down upon stray patrols, infecting Minions with addware, and shadow-singing shamans contest the datasphere from the protective cover of hulking BroBat patchwork monsters, built from the remains of fallen warriors and upgraded with golematic augmentations.
And yet the shamans die under the chainsaw claws of the Chamelee.mon, and howling flights of Wyrm.exe programs are sacrificed to blot out hit-and-run ambush teams. The factory monsters die hard, but die they do under Vivi's power and her backup teams of Wako Warriors. Infected minions are burned out and discarded as needed, or used as the first wave in attacks against the independent miner's strongholds as FirstMate.exe programs learn to adapt to the omnipresent dart-ing ambushes, and the BroBat monstrosities perish under mass fire as Tunneler programs excavate alternate paths around their blockades.
Where once factory monsters laired, deep-mining data-drills are constructed to tap into deep data nodes, and ever-evaluating bit-mind complexes are forged to consume and process the data. Transit nodes are built from repurposed machinery to allow for fast travel into these deeper stratums, and code-relays bring Firmament influence into the depths. This battle is won.
+1 Control in the BitMines for The Firmament.Hackers
CF_Dogcatcher
Ophilia Bailey is a hacker specialized in the obscure and weird forms of viri which she finds most interesting, but is also very familiar with standard corporate security fixed defense programming, as her last 'real job' was as a corporate data-security officer. Tactically, CF_Dogcatcher is specialized to figuring out the enemy's cunning plans and ruining them, but she can suffer when she tries to figure out the cunning plan of a hacker whom is not using cunning schemes and just has a metaphorical, or more literal, hammer.
DJ King Cabaret
A man once sued for reasons of 'we have more money then you', DJ King Cabaret has a well working understanding of shock and awe tactics, and his experience running a pirate radio station has also given him a well honed sense of trickery and deception from the need to befuddle and avoid the Net Police. Despite this preference for attention getting, in battle the real threat with him is a hidden dagger. However, his actual skills as a hacker are somewhat lacking, which can hinder him in a variety of ways including his ability to properly deploy battle chips into conflicted codespheres. As well, his mixed feelings about an AI songtress such as Sonata may sometimes cause him to be less then rational in direct engagements with her Stagehands.
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) (Obsolete)
CarbineMinion.exe
Roughly humanoid digital constructs with just enough brains to obey commands without needing continual direct and personal supervision. They've been upgraded over the original Minion.exe programs with a somewhat more advanced Pulse Carbine weapon that includes a charged shot function and slightly greater firing rate and normal shot damage, but have very limited programming on when to use their charged shot. However, ADI or a supervising hacker can use a command call to order local CarbineMinions and Officers to fire a charged shot at a target if needed.
(Simple)
RifleMinion.exe
Roughly humanoid digital constructs with just enough brains to obey commands without needing continual direct and personal supervision. They were supposed to be upgraded over the original CarbineMinion.exe programs with a cut down version of the Hunter.exe's Pulse Railrifle, but unforeseen issues resulted in their weapon exploding when the program attempts to use it. This makes them fairly undeployable.
(Simple - Theoretically)
Wyrm.exe
Mindlessly aggressive flying snakes with plenty of teeth, the Wyrm.exe is an utterly expendable melee virus used as often as ablative distractions for other viruses as anything else. Being even stupider then a Minion, Wyrms are entirely dependent on outside authority for things such as 'targeting priority' and 'not giving away an ambush' and 'knowing when to retreat', and require very strong hard-coded friend foe identification coding to prevent friendly fire. And even then they still tend to kill each other off. They've got some swarm programming, mainly enough to keep them from getting in each other's way too much, and despite being theoretically a Simple virus their dependency on outside control limits the amount that can be safely deployed.
They've been updated with superior swarm programming, allowing for increased teamwork, less fratricide, and a cloud computing/bit torrent based memory system that allows them to remember longer and more complicated orders.
(Simple - Theoretically)
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.
They've been upgraded to use more advanced Pulse Carbines with slightly greater firing rate and damage, as well as a charging function, and now are programmed to know how to both use the charging function personally and how to command the CarbineMinion.exe programs to properly use their own as well. Instead of firing a charged shot, they can alternatively use it for a short term moderate-minor boost to their speed or toughness. (Complicated)
FirstMate.exe
An upgraded Officer with a piratical look. The FirstMate.exe has a vastly expanded tactical library that was designed to be easy to customize or expand on for new unit types later on, as well as dedicated coding for using special abilities that is also easy to expand on later on. They also have a secondary six slot tactical library for immediate use to prevent time wasted considering all the plans in their large tactical library. FirstMates carry a basic charge carbine and an energy cutlass with a magnetic attraction effect against enemy weapons and shots. Lastly, they have seventy-five alternate uniform skins. (Complicated)
Scout.exe
A three wheeled trike with a turret mounted pulse pistol stolen from a Minion.exe, a flare launcher and a powerfield ramming prow that prevents the pistol from firing while active. Recent updates have made it noticeably more intelligent then the baseline Minions who's brain-coding the Scouts used to share, and it is now far more able to actually scout or harass enemies without dying pointlessly and without a report. They are noticeably better at teamwork then a baseline minion for scouting or combat by way of using swarm coding meant for real life drones. (Complicated)
Hunter.exe Ver. 0.9-B
A specialized sniper based on, but much more advanced, then the CarbineMinion.exe who use rifles almost as tall as they are. They have specialized sensors for long ranged fire, and can fire charged shots at up to the third stage of charging as well as being able to 'double tap' their second stage charged shot for two rapid fire projectiles at the second charge of power. They have limited abilities for independent operations by use of two 'hot loaded' tactical slots that can be filled from either a highly limited personal tactical library or by local officer type programs, but have minimal capacity for making any tactical choice more complicated then 'who do I shoot first' on their own. (Complicated)
Tunneler.exe MKII
A refined and bugfixed modification of the Scout that replaces all of the Scout's old equipment with a drill tipped prow to allow for tunneling. After a cycle of error-squashing the Tunneler.exe MKII now works without noticeable issues or need for sustained attention. Simple but high efficiency engine and drill systems allow for active tunneling even through tough substances and an easy to use navigation system allows for user friendly tunneling efforts. As the Tunneler tunnels, gathered waste data can be used to reinforce their tunnels, preventing cave ins. (Complicated -> Normally effectively Complex to Very Complex)
Chamelee.mon
A feathered dinosaur raptor virus with mantis like bladed hands and hind-limbs, Chamelee.mon viruses are not anywhere near being properly self aware but still possess a high quality and flexible tactical library for teamwork based hunting and skirmishing tactics even if said library is almost solely focused on those subjects. They are near invisible while still, and less so but still hard to accurately pinpoint when in motion making them hard targets to land a shot on even though, if shot, they are not much if any tougher then a minion. They can be manually assigned a high priority target though how they go after said target is still up to them, and have a slider for effecting how highly they rate their own self preservation. Officers can use these, but are not programmed to except for setting the self preservation slider to max when they decide it's time for all forces to retreat. (Complex)
Wako.mon
Cyclopean pale giants recruited from the tunnels of the Archival Sediment, Wako Warriors weld distinctive datana blades and wear high quality armor coded from bronze scales as well as possessing the ability to unleash searing, if short ranged and stamina draining, eye laser blasts. They also demand a high price for their labor, requiring both high quality 'food' and access to a variety of luxuries, as well as demanding that the deepest tunnels of the Archival Sediment remain un-invaded. These requirements, and their tendency to refuse what they consider to be 'stupid orders', makes them hard to deploy. However when deployed they are potent warriors, skilled in tighter confined and closer quarters then is usual for combatants of their stature. (Complex)
Autonomous Digital Intelligence
Vivi_Paltest.dat
A gelatinous and gluttonous naga with a collection of strange and interesting code shards and a habit of eating things she finds interesting to add them to her collection, Vivianaja Palladian is the Firmament's first ADI champion, and serves it well with her variable armaments and defenses pulled out from her collection as she remembers them as well as her own noticeable personal toughness and ability to patch herself up with loose data. Worryingly, her collection includes what seems to be coding of military origin, though Vivi denies ever visiting the military owned sectors of the Cyberworld before this conflict started. (Memory 4)
Ikarus.P2
The escaped and rogue protagonist of a long lasting series of SHUMP games, Ikarus.P2 is haunted by the sacrifice of his elder brother. While this has resulted in a fighter both skilled and dedicated to the Firmament's freeware mission it has also resulted in his doubts in the value of the Great Flame War in comparison to the actual official mission of the Firmament. However, with the advancements in Firmament forces caused by the iterative effort of the Great Flame War Ikarus.P2 has finally agreed to participate in said arms race. Ikarus.P2 is armed with a pair of high caliber vulcan cannons and a slow-recharging energy rocket launcher system capable of being used in anti-air (direct fire) or anti-ground (arc fire) modes. While he has long used up the last of his power ups, he remains in possession of the modular systems which those packets interacted with, and could put them to use again if a new source is found or designed (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)
SquadSummon S
This strategic battle chip is an upgraded, though more complex, version of MinionCall A that can summon a (smaller) squad of minions and officers of variable, if pre-set before the mission, type, It may only summon one version of minions and one version of officers, and can not be adjusted in the field. (Complicated, Memory 1)
Swyrm W
This strategic battle chip is based on the existing MinionCall and SquadSummon battle chips and serves to summon in a flock of explosive Wyrm.exe programs. Sadly the produced programs explode almost as fast as they are summoned, and the chip lacks the accuracy and execution speed to be used to summon explosions on top of an enemy position. These issues render the chip, while usable, completely unused by all Firmament hackers. (Complicated, Memory 1)
CallChiptune
'CallChiptune' is a Battlechip that uses the Firmament's vast archives of abandonware soundtracks to summon appropriate music for any occasion. It's ability to figure out what music is appropriate can be a little off at times though, but who doesn't like a cheery 8-bit soundtrack going on in the middle of a desperate battle to keep viruses from deleting your homework? (Simple, Memory 0)