>>39244894


After dealing with drama concerning your coach, you've been promised not only a capacity upgrade, but also a new prog to give you an edge in the tournament against your first foe. Iron Angel, who's likely purchased info on you from that shithead of a coach you've just “fired” is going to know everything on your current loadout unless you manage to bring something in that can turn the tables.

The primary matches of the tournie is set up into three rounds... Something to consider when it comes to unveiling a possible trump card.

The video's revealed that she uses to major methods of attack progs, An Iron Spear and a Metal Vector of some sort. Nothing remarkable about either besides their high damage, in the prelims she finished off both of her opponents in one decisive hit after sitting there and taking dmg, confident in her defensive measures.

When Carrie takes you online to find a prog, you're gonna want at least some idea of where to look... The publisher often equates to quality and consistency with a publisher or developer could land sponorship. And sponsership means free progs and going pro. You need to win though. Need to win, and need to focus.

>[Arena-Nexus]: *** Publisher- Compiled of many different independent developers. They tend to focus on a wide range of battle programs, cosmetics, and effects centered around a fantasy aesthetic with a touch of artsy flair. They're a publisher, one of the better quality, but not quite as known. They filter their developers for quality.(Weapons/Boosters/Firewalls/Accs/Spec.FX)
Pro: Varied Developers make their code less known by viruses and therefore harder to crack systems and weapons.
Con: They have a lot of people they consider competitors.
Con: No modern or postmodern weapons. *They do however carry some sci-fi*

>>39244919
>[Caliburn] ** publisher/Developer- This one is lesser known publishers, though they've gotten some okay weapons to make it into the esport. Specializing in medieval weapons, they tend to go for a knightly sort of flair. Some of their progs are unorthodox, but not exactly unwieldy. (Weapons/Accs)
Con: They don't exactly have a wide range of equipment with their small renown.
Pro: Lack of use makes for less counters.

>[Enix2] ****Publisher/Developer- A highly reputed fantasy and sci-fi programmer with a history spanning over a century in the entertainment industry. Their progs are expensive, powerful, and best of all- Flashy. With extremely high standards, they dish out competitive programs for maximum ARCHLighting. (Weapon/Boosters/Firewalls/Accs/Spec.FX)
Pro: Professional programs.
Pro: Crowds go wild when a Lighter's using Enix2.
Pro: Considers 3 stars or less to be unworthy competition.
Con: Wide use make programs easier to hack/Flashy effects make it easy to identify what's being used.
Con: High expectations
Con: At odds with other big-name companies.


>[WindChester] **Publisher/Developer -Old Fashioned firearms with high accuracy and single shot power. Highly screened for glitches. (Weapon)
Con: Too niche for real competition.
Pro: Weapon never fails, High performance.
Pro: Nonconflicting with other publishers.

***There will be more options in the future, some better, some worse.***

>>39244942
Are we supposed to vote at this point?

>>39245014
You can vote and ask questions as well.

>>39245045
What does conflict with competitors mean?
Is it like they don't want you to use equipment from other publishers?

>>39244919
>[Arena-Nexus]

I would say stick with Caliburn, but I think we need something to really shake things up here, not just another weapon.

That said, are Caliburn considered competitors by Arena-Nexus? If so, we might not want to go for Arena-Nexus as that might lower our chances at sponsorship unless we change our loadout completely

>>39245045
Do you mind clearing up the categories for each publisher?

>>39245045
What falls under the categories?

>>39244942
>Too niche for real competition.
What is this supposed to mean?

>>39244919
>>39244942
I guess if it's a vote now, KI was also thinking of sticking a bound elemental inside of you, but I'm not so sure about that.
I'll throw one in for Arena Nexus.

What >>39245123 said touched on my thoughts and concerns fairly well. I think it's worth noting that since IA bought our info, she expects Caliburn since they made our main weapon. She'd probably be thrown off guard by a different weapon being used, but same pub/dev makes me worry.

>>39244942
I'd say we should stick to Caliburn.

>>39245083
Pretty much.

If someone else is making what they're making it stands to reason that they'd be a bit jealous.

>>39245181
They only make a handful of weapons programs, excluding the mods for them.(mods like "Homing" for caliburn's Halibird)

>>39245144
>>39245167
Weapons are: Swords, polearms, fist weapons... Rifles, Rocket Launchers, Missiles... Laser swords... And the mods for them.
Acc: are things such as wings, movement modifiers, extra armor, hacking plugs and passive modifiers.
Boosters: Are short term modifiers that can increase an avatar's stats briefly or otherwise be used to increase certain aspects of attack and defense, pretty basic in practice but can be real gamechangers.
Firewalls: Passively defends against hacking attempts, can be activated to defend against attacks. Different firewalls have different built in properties.
EnGarde! for example is a quick-guard type. It's fast to deploy but only lasts a couple seconds at a time and only blocks to the front.

Spec.FX
Manipulate the physics engine of the arena to create blinding conditions, completely flip the stage, increase weight, create speeder panels, elemental effects, and so on. They are the closest thing in the ARCHLight esport to "magical" effects.
There are however weapons that might bear Spec.FX.

>>39245420
Than I'd say Caliburn or Enix2

>>39245494
Minding Caliburn, the star rankings are liable to change if there's an upheaval in the sport.

>>39245420
>Caliburn

Unless there are any other questions, cast your vote!

>[Arena-Nexus]
>[Caliburn]
>[Enix2]
>[WindChester]

>>39245613
>[Arena-Nexus]

>>39245613
>>[Arena-Nexus]

>>39245613
>[Caliburn]

>>39245613
>[WindChester]

>>39245613
Ah shit I'm going to break that tie

>>39245613
>[Arena-Nexus]

>>39244942


The publisher directory is large and wide, you visit a good number of their interface-boutiques, online shops manned by a mix of human personas and D-Zen staff. Always hiding other users from view for the sake of your own concentration you only really note the staff.

Enix2's boutique had a bunch of ads for their new Forever Fantasy XXVI Online coming out, you might actually look into it sometime when you actually have the money to spend on a monthly sub for the newest reboot to their online game. The clerks are almost all women and slightly more effeminate women in skimpy fantasy gear lifted straight from their games. They welcomed you with a smile and sex appeal but something about it rubbed you the wrong way when you've already got your eyes set on Apple.

You pass by an old-timey boutique and peek in. WindChester has a gruff man's persona rocking in a chair with nearly ancient midwestern music playing in the background. Nah.

Caliburn's shop bears a coat of arms with a fairy upon a lake for their logo. Entering inside, you see a coouple of clerks, one of them talking to a hidden avatar, the other welcoming you to their outlet. You inspect their program displays, lingering by the Halibird just to admire what you already have. With a shrug you leave, better avoid that if Iron Angel's preparing for Caliburn goods.

>>39246636

Finally, you stop by Arena-Nexus. At first glance their boutique is like a flea market with a mass of individual developers trying to peddle their progs for ARCHLight and other less popular esports to whomever might be interested. There seem to be members from all over the world, with their various aesthetics, but overall they seem to have a theme of old-ages as opposed to modernish and the “new.”

“Hey there, looking for the right edge in your next match? I've got a sword that's made to separate into dual weapons for the capacity of one!” That's kind of rip-off unless your avatar doesn't know how to parallel thread. Otherwise, good for flurry-type attacks.

“Here, here! We've got a shield Accessory to block those pesky piercing attacks! Firewalls are unreliable, try this TruAegis+!” An interesting concept, Not a lot of Lighters bother with legitimate shields. Prevents the carry of rifles or proper two handed weapons for higher attack power. Not many play the turtle game after all, it's usually a losing one...

>[Ask someone for some direction...]
>[Log off and go to sleep, you'll do this with Carrie tomorrow.]
>[Other]

>>39246779
“Give a body to your D-Zen for some co-op action! Get the WarDogExcell by HadesGate!”

Missed that one.

>>39246779
>[Log off and go to sleep, you'll do this with Carrie tomorrow.]
Considering that she has the money we have to wait until tommorow anyway.
Atleast if I understood correctly
Also I'd like a second opinion so maybe we should bring Alice along

>>39246779
>>[Ask someone for some direction...]
Ask Alice what sort of thing she thinks would help us.

>>39246779
Ok, so what we need is something that will be effective against high defense, but I assume that will keep us as fast and evasive as possible, right?

>>39247004
Aye. Iron Angel's game is to get a lock and finish things in one hit.

>>39246779
>[Log off and go to sleep, you'll do this with Carrie tomorrow.]
Sleep is good.

>>39247039
Is there anything out there that could make it harder for them to target us properly?

>>39247127
An acc. that blurs your avatar, spec.fx that dampen lock on protocols... Alice might be able to do something as well.

>>39247127
If I understand the stuff correctly, that'd be either an Acc thing or a Spec.FX thing. Or I guess a Booster could do it too.

>>39247256
Bingo. heh.

>>39247249
Those sorts of things sound good to me. Not sure what is currently available to us along those lines though.

>>39247127
Hrrm, if we could make a smokescreen or fog, it would be a major drawback if she relies on sight to aim. We could then use that as cover to strike her, maybe poke around for a weak spot. Not to mention for Alice to figure out her gear.

Hell, if we were really desperate we could try to get that clone thing from the joke programmer guy we beat. That'd probably fuck with Angel's targeting.

I think we should go for something that maybe slightly repositions us in the enemies vision compared to where we actualy are.

>>39247358
>tfw I know exactly what npc you're referencing with this
I'm going to laugh my ass off when we get wrecked using it. We're the mc, after all. Shit like that only works with npcs.
It was really cool when she did it. Didn't see that coming at all.

>>39247407
>I'm going to laugh my ass off when we get wrecked using it.
It can't be helped

>>39247358
Haha fuck yeah. I can get behind this idea 100%

We are entered as Night Lancer, so perhaps some sort of Spec.FX that kills all the lights. Even better if we can get that combined with something to still let us see.

Even if we can't get that, hacking the lights might be a valid tactic at some point.

>>39247358
Heh.
This will totaly backfire but I'm behind that.
Should realy fuck up Iron Angel if we get something like that

>>39247358
I assume that something like this would require a hack before we can get it up and running?

>>39247358
I rather full vision knock out if going that route.

>>39247569
Alice could actually mess with IA's optics if she gets a hack through.

>>39247611
So we should get something to enable hacking

>>39247611
>implying IA's targeting system uses optics at all
I smell your game

>>39247629
We're already getting that in our big upgrade that happens after the fight though

>>39247611
Accs include hacking plugs. Is there anything liek a wireless hacking thing or is it 100% wired?

>>39247611
Still here?

>>39246779

After taking in the sights of Arena-Nexus' Boutique, you bookmark it in your directory and letting yourself finally log off.

As you come back into meatspace, you find yourself back in your apartment, the dim glow of a sleeping screen. There's a warmth on your lap and you look down to see that Beatie's fallen asleep while you were “out.” Looking outside, the filtered gleam of the streetlights come in through half-closed blinds. Without much else to do, you let yourself slip off to sleep. Thoughts of the match tomorrow weigh on your mind, you dream.


~~~~~~~~~~~
The field renders and Iron Angel stands before you. Adjusting your stance, you grip your weapon, ready to fight... But it isn't there. Your Avatar hasn't loaded yet, and Iron Angel is walking towards you.

You run and run but she's always just as far when you look back, closer each time.

Redoubling your efforts, you trip over a stone in the field. Turning over, Iron Angel looms over you, the empty eyes of her avatar staring through your very ghost. Raising a hand from her spear, metallic data flows into her hand. You hear Coach's words, “Ain't gonn' win kid...” Right before the vector's released, white fills your vision...
~~~~~~
You awaken with a start, breathing quickly as sweat permeates your brow. You try to calm yourself, holding yourself tight. Last night must've gotten to you. Coach, Iron Angel. She's clearly a finalist contender that you've been paired with in the first round. You try to calm yourself to little effect as you make your way to the bathroom to wash your face.

>>39248865

“Bit? Are you okay?” Beatie asks from the kitchen. You take your time answering, staring at yourself in the bathroom mirror. Your hair dripping wet, the water running to drown out the noise from the outside.

You're going to show them. You're going to show them all that you're a winner. That Night Lancer is a winner.

The morning passes with silence on your part as you psyche yourself up, Carrie sends you a message to meet her and from the comfort of your own room, you link yourself to the Arena-Nexus boutique, Alice loading in beside you and Carrie shortly after.

Carrie gives you a short nod to confirm, you note that her avatar's clothes are not unlike her meatspace self, though you do note that instead of ganguro features, she has white skin and brown hair.
“Hello Bit, I've already purchased the upgrade to your capacity. It won't be much, but it should be enough for a minor upgrade. We must make it count.”

“Yeah.”

>[Check into a new weapon.] Something to puncture that iron defense.
>[An Acc] Something to distort your real location.
>[SpecFX] Some kind of smokescreen or blackout.
>[Booster] A pure attack booster, it might require some gauge, but it'll be effective in later matches.
>[Other]

Sorry for the wait, it'll pick up from here, I plan to get at least partway through IA's fight tonight.

>>39249336
>[An Acc] Something to distort your real location

>>39249336
>[SpecFX] Some kind of smokescreen or blackout.

>>39249336
>[An Acc] Something to distort your real location.

>>39249336
>[An Acc] Something to distort your real location.
I just can't resist

>>39249336
>[SpecFX] Some kind of smokescreen or blackout.
Become the true Night Lancer

>Alice comments:

"If I were the enemy D-Zen, I would work to figure out just how much is needed to compensate for image deviation. It might take time to figure out, but it'd let me adjust our personal image. We should use something like that sparingly to our advantage."

>>39249552
We could modify it to project it in a different relative direction each time. Just randomize it

>>39249336
>[SpecFX] Some kind of smokescreen or blackout.

>>39249336

The three of you walk through the Arena-Nexus, the unoccupied devs trying to lure you in to check out their wares like some sort of 20th century bazarr. Carrie seems a bit out of her element as she scrutinizes some of the personas you have hidden.
“Alice, I was thinking of some evasion program or some kind of smokebomb or visual blackout.”

Your partner considers it, “If I were the enemy, I would triangulate your position based on where an attack is coming from. Iron Angel's defense is high so unless we secure a critical hit...

“Right, she'd know exactly where we were and have her D-Zen lock our physics sector. Okay, so what about some kind of vlackout effect or something? We could use that to conceal Halibird's homing attack and open up for-

“A hack? That sounds excellent,” Alice smiles greedily. Since the two of you don't have a hacking module installed on Night Lancer yet she's been itching to shine with her true ability. The sharks were just the tip of the iceberg for her. “I'll be able to manually erase her lock on capabilities like that. Do we know if she runs an antiviral?”

“With a name like Iron Angel? I bet she does...” You stop for a moment to think, “If you can reset her targetting a deviation accessory wouldn't be impossible, right?”

“True, if I get hacks through effectively enough we'd be able to keep up our illusory dance.”

“Well, I'm fine with either method, I'll leave it up to you.”

Alice considers the options briefly before smiling, “We are registered under Night Lancer, correct?”

“Yeah...” It wasn't exactly your idea, but with a black avatar and with battletag conventions giving you two names... Sir Lancer didn't really feel right.

>>39249914


“How about a blackout special effect? We could definitely use that against others, plus it'll allow us to setup for sneak attacks.

“Alright.” Popping open a menu, you run a search for special effects, “Carrie, what's our Zenni limit?”

…

You find yourself at a stall with a quiet, raven-haired persona staring up at you. Unlike most of the other devs of the Arena-Nexus, this one lets his displays do the talking for him- which unfortunately leads to a lack of business as well.
“What are you looking for?” He asks, half-there, likely doing something in meatspace while half-present in the interface.

“Search came up that you had some kind of blackout special effect? Like a smokescreen of some sort?”

The man stares at you, his eyes coming into focus as he gives full attention to the outlet. His vision shifts to Carrie, whom he doesn't spend too long on, then Alice, whom he seems to run a check from his menu.

“A virus as Black as the moonless night...” A small smile creeps across his face. “No sub-type or origin listed, that's unusual.”

You shift, feeling impatient while this guy invades Alice's privacy,”Do you have something like that?”

With a swipe, he closes his personal menu. “Maybe. You're probably looking for my NevermoRaven”

“Really? Edgar Allen Poe?” Carrie comments, shaking her head in disbelief.

The developer pays her no mind, “I'll sell it for half the listed price. I've had this copy for a while and I appreciate the purity of your partner.”

“Um, thanks?”

“He's nice Bit, he understands what it is to have a soul as dark as midnight oil drinking in the light of the stars.”

“I need to keep you off those gothemo poetry sites...”

“You need to stop Twacespace stalking Apple MacKinzie.”

>>39250227


“Shhh! That's not something you say in public.”

Alice turns her head, “Ah.” She starts giggling.

“What? What's so funny?”

“Someone just commented that there's nothing wrong with stalking Apple MacKinzie.”

“I wonder how much her therapist makes...” Carrie thinks aloud.

The Gothemo guy's expression doesn't change, “Well, is it a deal?”

>[Sure.] Best just get what you want and go.
>[Sure, what's your name/ Brand Name?] Get the prog and add him for future reference.
>[What else do you have?]

>>39250261
>[Sure, what's your name/ Brand Name?] Get the prog and add him for future reference.

>>39250261
>[Sure, what's your name/ Brand Name?] Get the prog and add him for future reference.
Bit, your fascination of Apple is rather sickening

>>39250261
>[Sure, what's your name/ Brand Name?] Get the prog and add him for future reference.

>>39250261

“Um, sure.” You look over to Carrie as she steps forward, giving the man a stern glare.

“What's the reason for selling it half price? Is it defective?” Carrie asks with certain scrutiny in her voice, the man's expression remains unchanged.

“It passed the Nexus's specificaions, glitch rate is less than .1% out of a thousand trials run by our tester VI. You have no need to be concerned for your son's performance.” His voice is modulated and monotone, giving nothing in way of emotion.

“My son?” Carrie looks back at you, and you just kind of shrug. “M-my son. Uh, yes. The discount?”

“As I said, I appreciate the darkness of his D-Zen's pitch black soul, like the burned black heart of ash. No one else wants it either. It is not the flashiest effect.”

Carrie seems satisfied with the answer, but troubled with something else, “My son... by Deus...”

After the exchange, you ask for the guy's name and he answers, “MurderDread.”
Okay.
“Here, I'll give you my shopID. If you sign up, I'll send you a notice for whenever something new is extracted from the festering pits of my soul.”

Alice quivers with some kind of excitement, offering up the back of her hand, “I am already filled with dread.”

MurderDread, reaches over to interact with her persona, bowing deeply, “I am all too unworthy, my black queen of nightmares.”

Alice sends you a text,
>“I think I made a new friend ;D.”

>“Please don't put him on my screen.”

MurderDread retreats back bbehind his humble gothic kiosk, “Oh, and if you didn't already know, due to the quantum encryption of these codes and how the Arena-Nexus operates you will find that there will never be a program exactly the same, and here? You may never find one like it again.”

>>39250824

Thanking Carrie for the purchase, you log off to get ready. You've got to get Alice accustomed to NevermoRaven before the match, and then... Defeat Iron Angel.

…

Time before the match.


You check in at the light coliseum, separating from Carrie and Beatie at the gate as you go to the competitor's halls. Looking at a stream from the live camera broadcast for the start of this local event, you find that the stands are just about full of people ready to spectate the matches going today. They're going to be watching you.

The first round of matches took place yesterday, now today is another day for another block, with you fighting second. You can feel the sweat in your palms, the shake in your hands, the deep ache in your stomach as you're once more mentally psyched out. This is it, this is big. You're gonna be big...

“I can win, I feel great, I can do-”

“What are you doing?” You suddenly hear as a guy with bright red hair walks in... wearing some sort of jogging suit. You freeze while he stares at you for a solid moment before walking off, “Okay...”

That was close, he almost caught you-

“Just don't start chanting to yourself again, I need to ground myself.”

>[“Who are you?”] and introduce yourself. Is this guy a rival?
>[Sit down and shut up.] It's probably for the best.
>[Keep chanting to psyche yourself up.] Fuck the world, you need this.
>[(Other)]

>>39251194
>[“Who are you?”] and introduce yourself. Is this guy a rival?
take our mind off it

>>39251194
>[“Who are you?”] and introduce yourself. Is this guy a rival?

>>39250824
posting is back up

>>39251194

Taking a deep breath, you let yourself flop down into a moderately posh seat, faced away from the pink-haired designer. “So, who are you?”

The guy glances over before getting back to running something in his head, “I'm Strawberry Reaper. Don't worry, if we were facing each other it wouldn't be until later.” His voice sounds a bit young, but it's all intensity. As if he's got something to prove, moreso than you.

Clearing your throat, you deepen your own voice, “Night Lancer. Obviously I'll be the winner.”

“Of course, I hear that you're a winner.”

Surprised, you turn around dropping all pretense of intensity for boyish excitement, “Oh yeah, who told you?”

“You did, just now. You can win, you feel great-”

“Okay, okay...” You say to make him shut up. “You're up against...?”

“Instant Bullet. I hear that they're a gunner that uses a drone. Dividing up his forces is a fool's game, I'll be fragging them both and moving onto the next round.” He says confidently, reclining back in his chair to look over at you facing opposite, “And you- you're the lucky duck that got paired up wit that Iron Angel that there's been so much buzz about.”

“She's really that big?”

SR blinks, dumbfounded, “Do you live under a rock?”

“Uh, no?”

“Iron Angel is Krista Gates, heir to Microsoft and the nearly discontinued Windows operating system. They've got money, but with Deus becoming the mainstream they've taken a huge hit, she's their comeback kid, and opposite to Apple MacKinzie as a poster girl.” SR shakes his head with a little smile, “Can you believe that Microsoft, trying to crawl up out of its grave is trying to butt heads with Apple, again?”

“Yeah, that's crazy. I can't even believe that she'd think that she'd hold a flame to Apple, I mean, what even are her sizes?”

>>39251517


SR's thoughts visibly stop for a moment until he holds his chin, “Huh, I'll need to have MoonFang run a scan on her sizes. This could be valuable information...” SR turns, clapping a hand on your shoulder, “It's settled, you'll have to beat her at least once so that I can get some pics of her out of her avatar.”

“I'll beat her more than-” You start but then get a quick message on your display, “Oh! I'm up. See you later, hope you make it to the finals!” You say as you run off. Why'd you say that. What the hell Bit.

“Fragg that relic Night Lancer.”

---
“Ladies, Gentlemen, and all the inbetween! I welcome you to the second day of the Terminal City Amateur ARCHLight Tournament! In our first matchup today we have two contenders raring to go! -And if my notes don't deceive me, it appears we have a classic AntiViral busting a Viral today! Who will claim victory from the Deus?

The unmoving Iron Angel or the vigorous Night Lancer?”

“Lighters, take your positions!” You step out with your goggles down and hoodie up. Peeking up and through behind the warming up generators, you can see how the crowd is cheering, not for you, but for your antiviral opponent.
It's a shame that Alice is a viral but... You're claiming victory today.

At the opposite end of the five hundred meter field, you see a wiry young girl with curly brown hair. She can't be much older than you actually.

You zoom in and increase the resolution to make out her features, she's actually kind of cute. Wearing a jumpsuit with a subtle skirt feature, it accentuates her curve while leaving some of her waist to the imagination. She has a barrett with the old four color windows symbol, a microsoft relic...

>>39251914


“Field Set! Today we have something our judges picked out just for these two seeing as they favor wide open spaces with minimal cover, we're bringing in a redwood forest floor! You might remember these from the history books of old California, trees so big you can drive a car through! Now, I don't know how big cars were back then, but here we go! No tricks, no hazards, just good old fashion mayhem!
Like all official matches, this environment is still destructible so watch out!”

Well, it's time. “Avatar: Set!”
“Going LIVE!”

The field loads in, simple as it is, at the same time as your avatars, a brief pre-loading stage allows you to render your Halibird from the start.

Large red tree trunks load in, lacking canopies to allow for an ease of render, all those leaves would be insane. Your direct visual of IA is obscured by one of the trees that comes in. At the very least you'll be able to get first hit...

>DP: 0/120
>Integ: 100%
>Prog list

>[Caliburn Halibird Vers 1.13]\Weapon{2 Slot}
-Two Handed polearm. Projectile axhead. Cracker spear-points on either end.

>[Caliburn Halibird Homing]\Modifier{1 Slot}
-Modification exclusive to Caliburn projectiles. Targets enemy through either D-Zen tracking or Operator control to manipulate vector trajectories.

>[1fast3uspeed]\Booster{1 Slot}
-Accumulates boost through combat and destruction. Improves passive speed by base 1* and boosts speed by 3*** when activated.

>[AvantGarde! V1.01]\Firewall{1 Slot}
-Firewall that blocks strongly from the front. Activated by either Operator or D-Zen. Stability regen is slow. Swift deployment.

>[Arena-Nexus- NevermoRaven.exe]Spec.FX{1slot}
-Uses up variable amounts of DP according to user to generate persisting blackout fields with raven aesthetics. Can be used as a smokebomb or just a blackout screen to cut off enemy visual. Persists so long as D-Zen maintains it through field cycles.-MurderDread

>>39251938


>Gameplan/Field Inquiry.

>>39251938
Activate speed booster and stay mobile while you activate a homing caliburn projectile to try and hit ia

>>39252125
>Error Speed Booster requires gauge built through destruction of the environment, landing, and taking hits.

>>39251938
Utilize the halibird's ranged attack to destroy some of the area around you. Gotta free up that processing power

>>39251938
We're going to need to use the trees to our advantage. Both for stopping/deflecting her attacks and to hit and run her as we try and test for weak spots.

>>39252189
>>39252194

>Tactics registered.
>...executing.

>>39251938


“Alice, we'll use the trees to our advantage. If she can't land a direct hit with that spear or that metal vector we should be fine.” You say as you see your efficiency dials turn with Alice getting into the game.

“Roger. We should passively build gauge in case of a pinch.” She advises in return. Heh, who needs a coach.

With the giant redwood trunks dominating the area of the field, eventually terminating into an empty above at the boundary lines, you set forward towards one of the fake trees, lashing out with Halibird to get the blade spinning and flying, letting it carve a clear circle around the tree like a buzz-saw axe, your gauge rocketing up by the multiple tiny hits.
> 0%->25%!

As you run around the primary tree on swift light fight, you eventually see the intimidating presence that is the stoic Iron Angel simply walking towards the center tree you so recently carved. As you come around the side in her vision, her empty metal eyes lock on you as she lowers her spear down to her golden spaded skirt.

With a quick command, you send the remote blade flying down at her as you draw her attention away, leaning into your run for speed, ready to stop abruptly at damn near any-time.

“Want me to run a scan?”

“Not yet, we need to see what she does.” The blade comes down like a flying guillotine, sending photonic sparks flying from the buzzsaw contact with her avatar. The assault doesn't move her despite the force, and with almost mechanical movement, she grabs the blade in hand and crushes it.

>IA integ 100% → 94%

Her empty stare persists as you continue to circle from a distance. “Shit, we're going to have to reload that.”

Iron Angel raises up a hand, she knows that your ranged offense is down...

>[Evade and reload!] Play it safe from a distance.
>[Tough out the shot with your firewall.]From here you can advance for a hack.
>[Take cover!] Time to reload and wait for her to get closer.
>[Other]

>Gauge 25 → 35%

>>39252533
>[Take cover!] Time to reload and wait for her to get closer.
We already know she's got high power that has been shown to one shot opposition. Tanking it is suicide

>>39252533
>>[Evade and reload!] Play it safe from a distance

I'm concerned about her effective range of attack and what she can do at close proximity, she is tanky as fuck so she probably has some sort of plan for close combat. I think keeping our distance is the best bet. We are built mostly around evasion and crits right?
Not 100% on that one

>>39252737
Pretty much, though it'd be better to say that she's the one going for crits because she specifically targets the humanity core which = instant win.

Night Lancer is more of an evasive poker that comes equipped with what's pretty much a remote-controlled flying cleaver.

>>39252737
That being said if its just three of us at the moment I'll switch to the other option whichever to keep the ball rolling

>>39252785
I'll combine options as well if applicable.

>>39252606
Eh, switch mine to evade.

>>39252737
She has strong range attack too if I recall. Seems she's gone for max attack/defense while sacrificing speed and dexterity.

I kinda want to know how strong her range is though. I was thinking of turning the environment into a perhaps useful weapon against her here via the trees.

>>39252533

Wasting no time, you double around to get behind a tree and duck into a powerslide at max speed just in time for the metallic blast to punch right through the wooden obstacle. Looking up, some wooden shrapnel comes down, fading into the faint grasses of the guild.
Without missing a beat, you roll from the momentum of your slide, halibird still in hand to keep up your speed as you load in a new blade for it.

DP:5/120

If she keeps crushing your weapon like that you'll be out of DP this round alone. You need more effective attacks...

“Bit, I'm cutting off defensive measures. I estimate that she'll be able to one shot us in whatever case. We need wear her down.”

You look up at the lingering damage from the hole she blasted through the tree, and something starts to bother you, but you can't quite put your finger on it. The environment as a weapon...

>[Keep up the attrition-based range attacks.] It's the safest bet for now.
>[Close in during the cooldown of that shot.] Go for a hack.
>[Hide out behind the trees.] Maybe there's something you could figure out?
>[Other]

>>39252891
hit a tree with the projectile blade in a way that would make it fall on her

>>39252891
>>39252913
I say let her do the work weakening the tress surrounding her. When a few are on the verge of collapse, we should use 1fast3uspeed (if we can) to bolt around and give the trees a push as we pass. Hopefully leading to trees all falling around and converging on her, squashing her. With her lack of speed, she shouldn't be able to dodge. And I doubt the armor is designed for anti-crushing under great pressure.

>>39252913
>>39253019


>Saving command.
>Closing thread.
>QM sleeping.

Wish the site didn't go down earlier, bit behind now but i've got some things to do come morning.
You guys were great, and this plan should yield some pretty spectacular results!


Twitter: https://twitter.com/ARCHLight_Quest
Ask: http://ask.fm/ARCHLight_Quest

>>39253019
Hrrm... Wonder if this would lead into the perfect time for us to use nevermoRaven.exe. Cripple her vision and she might not see the trees until it's to late.

File: randy face.jpg (30 KB, 480x640)

30 KB JPG

>>39253040
Brilliant!

>>39253019
>>39253032
>>39253040
It's good but we need to give it more detail.

We can keep wailing on trees around her, but every time we dodge we should use a short burst of 1fast2u and fire the halibird, making it look like we're trying to wear her down. They'll know we'll run out of DP, so IA is liable to tank it. That's when we level 3-4 trees on her.

I say we should save nevermoRaven for round 2. This way, we'll know if IA even has evasive progs or tactics.

>>39254725
Adding to this, when we DO use nevermoRaven next round, IA will know that the trees are coming. So we leave an opening she can jump towards.

Where we'll be waiting to impale her with halibird. Max attack and everything, but we don't bother retrieving the weapon. After that attack, we should just run and lock her down with hacks and speed.

>>39254740
That's dumb. The entire point of the trees was that she's too slow to get out of the way of a total encircling trees fall and giant crushing trees would be more damaging than anything we can do.

>>39254751
how many trees would we have to fell for that? What do we do when she catches on, especially for round 2?

woah, not archived yet.

>>39257071
I'd have asked earlier, but the internet crapped out on me.

How long does it take to wear down a tree?