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[Naturegirl1999]

BlueFiend.mon: [4] Draignean, Failbird, DGR, NG1999
Aria: [1] DGR

[Failbird105]

BlueFiend.mon: [4] Draignean, Failbird, DGR, NG1999
Aria: [2] DGR, Failbird

[Emral282]

BlueFiend.mon: [5] Draignean, Failbird, DGR, NG1999, Emral282
Aria: [3] DGR, Failbird, Emral282

[Doomblade187]

BlueFiend.mon: [6] Draignean, Failbird, DGR, NG1999, Doomblade, Emral282
Aria: [4] DGR, Failbird, Doomblade, Emral282

[Slick]

BlueFiend.mon: [7] Draignean, Failbird, DGR, NG1999, Doomblade, Emral282, Slick
Aria: [5] DGR, Failbird, Doomblade, Emral282, Slick

[Happerry]

Turn -A : Design Phase

BlueFiend.mon

There are ways through which a program, released upon the internet and set free, may grow, evolve on its own. Sonata herself, in a way, formed like this after all. It only stands to reason that there are those among us, who ourselves work for one of these sort of digital beings, that would want to try and create one.

The real tricks are twofold; setting up a program that can improve itself in such a way, and periodically grooming it such that it does not grow completely out of control and run rampant, thus bringing attention down on its, and potentially our own, head. This is the culmination of our efforts, BlueFiend.mon

BlueFiend can best be described as a form of digital monster. With an intelligent but inhuman mind, a malleable body, and a single immutable core that emits a constant harmonic hum. Its primary ability is for the data that forms its body to flow and shift with ease like water, and with substantial force, even capable of easily hovering and propelling itself through the air with this same method. It has also been observed that the BlueFiends body does not need to be wholly connected together in order to remain active. Large chunks can easily move and reshape separately from the main body, and indeed it frequently has its limbs separated in precisely this way.

BlueFiend.mon is very much an enigma, indeed the semi-natural evolutionary processes its code have undergone have left even us unable to truly predict everything it is capable of beyond what it has demonstrated. While it can seemingly interact with and be interacted with by most regular programs without much error, the way its code has evolved has left it as practically a separate coding language from any practiced by humanity. While this will likely prove useful against enemy hackers, it also means that not only may there be unpredictable interactions with our own battle chips, but we have no idea if what we have described is the limit of its abilities or not.

2 + 4 + 0 = 6 : Above Average (Normal)

A floating warrior of indistinguishable gender, BlueFiend.mon is a capable champion for Sonata's Stagehands despite it's refusal to communicate in any manner more clear then charades and a strange sounding language that it apparently made up itself. Fortunately, it still understands most normal forms of communication, though not leetspeak through either choice or inability, and so can function perfectly acceptably as an ADI champion.

BlueFiend.mon is made up of a floating core in the shape of an upside down pyramid and the blue fluid-like seeming substance that the core extrudes which it uses as an outer covering and to form limbs as well as other appendages. This substance seems entirely expendable to BlueFiend, and it has readily sacrificed it to protect its core or for other advantages in combat testing. As well, BlueFiend usually uses a combination of extreme personal strength and the shapeshifting nature of this fluid as its primary tool of combat, striking foes with blows crushing or otherwise as it shapes its limbs into whatever tool it needs to complete the fight. And given the fluids ability to physically separate from the main mass and still be commanded, whatever tool BlueFiend needs can be far more varied then mere swords or hammerhands.

There does appear to be some limits to BlueFiend.mon's ability to extrude this liquid, either in rising control complexity, distance of the extrusions, total mass, or some mix of the above, preventing it from, say, flooding a battlefield with itself, but this limit is not normally enough to adversely effect it in combat. However if an enemy is successful enough as destroying this mass, BlueFiend's combat ability will be degraded until it has time to replace said mass.

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.

BlueFiend.mon costs 4 memory to deploy as an AGI.

Aria

A meek service employee by day, Aria comes alive at the night/day/whenever they don't have work. A strong personality with a flair for the dramatic and lots of commotion, Aria is a talent with long range weaponry and bombardment type weapons, tearing down the enemy's position with overwhelming force and standing tall in the middle of it all, protected by their own defenses. Singing all the time of course, when not cackling madly. Originally, they were inspired to take up hacking when the news of Sonata being an AI came down, and shattered the one source of enjoyment in Aria's life. After several weeks buried in overtime, self-taught coding lessons, and a commission to a friend for a 3d avatar, the entity known as Aria emerged into the net. Now surrounded by their fellow stagehands, Aria has a wider range of support networks. Unfortunately, their loner tendencies are still strong, and they struggle working or sharing with others.

Virtual Description: A slim, low-poly entity, Aria appears in the net as a biped with a few too many joints on each limb, and four arms (two of them are dedicated to "being extra", though which two varies. Each polygon of their body is some neon color, and the wild colors lend and almost art-deco, cubist feel to the odd spikes and protrusions covering their body. Instead of a head, Aria simply has an amplifier., Albeit a highly ornate one, decorated with stickers of hundreds of musical artists - the only real clue to their true identity, as everything else - gender, occupation, age, name, is unknown to everyone... Except for Aria of course.

2 + 3  = 5 : Average (Normal)

Aria is a relatively new hacker, but Aria's loyalty to Sonata's Stagehands is undoubted. Their strange choice of avatar aside, Aria has proven to 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. However while their defensive preferences often play well with their preference for artillery it can sometimes leave them slow to react when aggression might otherwise be called for and their preference for brute force tactics can leave them surprised when a schemer is on the field. While less notable, their relative inexperience as a hacker can sometimes cause them trouble in contested data spheres verses a more experienced foe.

It is Turn -A, in the Revision Phase. During this phase you must vote on what revision to do to your current assets.

[Draignean]

Defender.exe Subroutine: TheatreMode

Code: [Select]

/**
* Simple sub designed to toggle the REALLY egregiously obtrusive features off to get the Defender into position.
* Should help it maneuver without getting tackled by every wild thing and punk along the way.
* Capable of being toggled by any friendly unit of Officer.exe rank or higher.
*
* DO NOT ACTUALLY USE THIS TO TAKE DEFENDER.EXE INTO A THEATRE. IT WILL GET IN A FIGHT WITH THE SCREEN.
*/
public void toggleTheatreMode() 
{
this.playSiren = !this.playSiren; //If siren is playing sound, turn it off. If siren is not playing sound, turn it on.
this.lightsActive = !this.lightsActive; //If lights are active, turn them off. If lights are not active, turn them on.
}

[Failbird105]

Nice nice, I'm thinking either that, or kick in the elements properly by making the defenders Firewall much more... literal.

[Draignean]

My rationale here is that this is a flaw noted to cause significant casualties, not to mention make our forces really easy to scout. I really don't object to having literal firewall protocols, (if not on the Defender, then elsewhere) but I'd like to shore up the biggest fault from the first design write-up before we deploy.

[Failbird105]

Fair, fair. I also now realize we actually do have something elemental in our stun gun

[Doomblade187]

Defender.exe Theater Mode: (1) Doomblade

[Draignean]

Defender.exe Theater Mode: (2) Doomblade, Draignean

[/quote]

[Failbird105]

Defender.exe Theater Mode: (3) Doomblade, Draignean, Failbird

[Happerry]

Turn -B : Revision Phase

Defender.exe Subroutine: TheatreMode

Code: [Select]

/**
* Simple sub designed to toggle the REALLY egregiously obtrusive features off to get the Defender into position.
* Should help it maneuver without getting tackled by every wild thing and punk along the way.
* Capable of being toggled by any friendly unit of Officer.exe rank or higher.
*
* DO NOT ACTUALLY USE THIS TO TAKE DEFENDER.EXE INTO A THEATRE. IT WILL GET IN A FIGHT WITH THE SCREEN.
*/
public void toggleTheatreMode() 
{
this.playSiren = !this.playSiren; //If siren is playing sound, turn it off. If siren is not playing sound, turn it on.
this.lightsActive = !this.lightsActive; //If lights are active, turn them off. If lights are not active, turn them on.
}

2 + 4 + 2 = 8 : Unexpected boon (Trivial)

The coders of Sonata's Stagehands goes back an adds an off switch to the Defender's noise and light makers. Then they go on and write an add on library for the Officers, teaching them both how to turn the Defender's attention getting features on but also giving them some scripted judgement for when to turn the attention getting features on and off.

Despite one coder getting drunk, they do not actually attempt to use the projected screen form of the code in question to carry the defenders into the field or enclose them to prevent stray viruses from seeing them.

Beyond that, there's not a lot of room to go above and beyond when you're coding in an off switch. However, now that you've taught your officers how to command a fellow virus to turn their special ability on or off, it should be easier to integrate that coding for turning other unit's special abilities on or off.

It is now Turn 1, starting with the Design Phase. During this phase you must vote on what new object to design or old thing to redesign.

Remember that the first Flame War Phase will be happening this turn. You will get two attacks this Deployment Phase.

Spoiler: Designs (click to show/hide)

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)

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)

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)

[Failbird105]

With Aria at our side, it is important that we now actually have artillery and long distance battle chips to wield.

For this purpose, we have chosen to borrow some code from a modded minigame in Pipe Software's hit class based shooter Squad Bastion 3, dodgeball.

The Missile is a battle chip that launches a missile shaped projectile. As for what the borrowed code was used for? Two things, first is target tracking, and second is making it not explode. Or rather, not explode on the wrong things.
When The Missile collides with anything that is not an actively running program(so anything that is not an 'inanimate object' in digital space), it will merely bounce off harmlessly and continue flying. When colliding with a large enough active program such as a viri, ADI, or even sufficiently potent projectile however, it will create a small but powerful explosion, strong enough to destroy a group of several Defenders.

As for how it tracks the enemy and  guides itself, well you see;
The Missile knows where it is at all times, it knows this because it knows where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't, or where it isn't from where it is, it obtains a difference or deviation. The guidance programming uses deviations to generate corrective commands to drive The Missile from a position where it is to a position where it isn't(and where its locked target is), and arriving at a position where it wasn't it now is. Consequently, the position where it is, is now the position that it wasn't, and it follows that the position that it was, is now the position that it isn't. In the event that the position that it is now in is not the position that its target is the program has acquired a variation, a variation being the difference between where The Missile now is and where it wasn't. If variation is considered to be a significant factor, it too may be corrected by the program, however; the missile must also know where it was. The Missile guidance program scenario works as follows: Because a variation has modified some of the information The Missile has obtained, it is not sure just where it is. However, it is sure where it isn't, within reason, and it knows where it was. It now subtracts where it should be from where it wasn't, or vice-versa, and by differentiating this from the algebraic sum of where it shouldn't be, and where it was, it is able to obtain the deviation and its variation, which is called error.

Though we aren't certain why, those we have shown this presentation to have advised us to allow The Missile to optionally play the previous part of the document on repeat while they are flying, as a form of 'psychological warfare', and have provided an on-time backing track to play under it.

We have noticed a slight problem caused by the source code though. If The Missile is reflected by a dedicated attack or projectile reflecting Battle chip, it will proceed to re-lock onto one of our units instead, though we would be capable of reflecting it back with our own.

The Missile: (1) Failbird