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>>3025142
Welcome to Moe Drone Skirmish, a game about war, sacrifice, loyalty and human shaped drones.

This is a tactical turn based collective game where each player takes on the role of a drone commander. Each player controls a squad of drones from the relative safety of one of the command crawlers on the field. While you have lots of units, you cannot control them directly. Actions are limited so you must work together to fight effectively. Drones are disposable and can be replaced freely, however if a command crawler gets destroyed all commanders on board will die and their drones will self-destruct. If all command crawlers are destroyed then the game is lost.

QM twitter: https://twitter.com/CognisQM
Skirmish Discord: https://discord.gg/qZ5gTk

>cont

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>>3025174
This mission is a little different. The humans may have to exit the crawler and take to the field themselves!

Special Mission Parameters:
>Commanders may choose to begin play as field commander and start with their token on the field.
>As a crawler action, commanders based on the crawler may choose to deploy as a field commander, their token will be placed on the field during the aftermath phase of the turn.


>cont

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>>3025188

After reading the rules, if you’re ready to sign up please post with the following format:

Name:
Command Perks:
Starting Squad:
Protocol:

Squad Cap for this mission is 6
Players can select up to 2 command perks.

>>3025199
The skirmisher drone upgrade to give it a beacon, what can we use the mark for? I don't see anything that uses them

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>>3025287
Well... you're right. That upgrade was put in because nobody thought the HK missile was worth taking.

Unfortunately that upgrade would have been interesting in any mission OTHER than this one...

Alright, hotfix: Beacon Skirmisher option is rolled back to the hunter-killer missile option for now.

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Also this is not strictly necessary for playing the game but for those of you who want to play with paper dolls and hats you can request a custom field commander token using this chart.

>>3025324
Tempting, tempting. Say, looks like you can get the drones to follow a crawler around, but can you get 'em to follow a field commander around too or are they not that bright?

>>3025355
They are indeed not very bright, however the original rules were not written with the special nature of this mission in mind.

Rules Clarification:
Using the direction code "C" will point the drones to the crawler if your commander is not on the field, and to your commander's token if they are on the field.

>>3025373
How's this, then? Should have all my bases covered good and proper.

Name: Field Commander Papi
Command Perks: Gauss Carbine, Soldier 2-M
Starting Squad: Soldier-M, Soldier-M, Pyro
Protocol: _@

>>3025413
Looks good, approved.

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Marsh: ”I’ve got some good news and bad news. The bad news is that nobody is coming for you; after the they lost the Fis’kiire and the Amida came this close to joining them, High Command pulled the plug on the whole rescue operation, they even left me for dead not that I blame them.”

“The good news is that many of the veggies were drawn off when the Amida retreated. I’ve been doing recon in this neck of the woods for the past month and if my calculations are correct there will be a brief window where the path back to Sarkaleus Base is clear. I’ve plotted a course for you to follow which should allow you to get home relatively unmolested. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to shut down, I took severe damage escaping the last battle and I just can’t function any longer…”

Akolon Officer: “If the droid’s intel is correct we should be able to get out of here safely. Unfortunately the crawler has been pushed to the limit; Our engines are down and we are running low on fabrication material. Most of our other subsystems are damaged and cannot be run at maximum capacity.”

“It would seem that this area used to be a pre-exodus military base and is littered with the wreckage of Old-World vehicles. We can harvest fabrication material from these wrecks and use them to repair the crawler and create new drones as needed. I have identified several wrecks in the area that used to be ‘mobile server farms’, apparently these vehicles were the precursors to modern crawlers, as such they should yield the greatest amount of materials. I have assigned an engineer to go to each wreck and begin salvaging operations.”

“After collecting materials we will have to prioritise repairing the crawler’s engines. If we manage to collect any surplus material we might be able to repair additional systems or create new drones. Veggie presence in the area should be light but in our current condition even a small attack force could end us. Given the situation it may be necessary for the drone commanders to enter the battlefield in person. I know humans have not fought directly in centuries, but we no longer have the luxury of hiding in our crawler. Gear up everyone…”

“Siemper Pie.”

>cont

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>>3025466
Special Mission Parameters:
>Commanders may choose to begin play as field commander and start with their token on the field.
>As a crawler action, commanders based on the crawler may choose to deploy as a field commander, their token will be placed on the field during the aftermath phase of the turn.
>Fabrication materials are limited. You will begin the mission with 0 materials. Once acquired materials can be used for the following actions:
>Repair Crawler Engines. (10 Materials)
>Repair Point defence turret. (2 Materials)
>Repair another crawler system, allowing it to be boosted past level 2 (5 Materials)
>Repair X-33 Marsh, spawning them near the crawler (4 Materials)
>Build a drone. (Materials equal to command cap.)

>>3025466
How much material can we expect from the small APCs versus the mobile servers? And can we expect that giant one to stay still, or is it gonna be bearing down on us?

>>3025569
The engineers don't know exact numbers, but they figure that between the 4 mobile server farm wrecks they should at least get enough material to repair the engines.

You have been provided with intel on known enemies from the crawler's database. It's up to you to decide what their likely course of action will be.

>>3025645
That's not a lot of spare parts to go to drones. Not so replaceable after all, are they! I'm glad I avoided the skirmishers.

I'd say... send three engineers to the NE mineral source, drag back all of the parts in one trip hopefully while the fourth sits tight and keeps my drones in good nick. No enemies up northeast, right? They should be okay.

Then we can send the commando into that underground bunker, maybe we can get really lucky and she'll find a working crawler in there else I think our future's gonna be short, purple and phallic-shaped.
But let's see what the other guys think.

>>3025844
Ohh shit sorry I didn't notice it's two perks now i'll just replace that

Name: 2nd Lt. Blight

Command Perks:Signal 2-RE, Interlaced Command Packet

Starting Squad:
Soldier 2-AC (Clipper)
Soldier 2-AC (Glengettie)
Signal 2-RE (Kiwi)

Protocol:
>_^2
>!#

Commander Actions:
>Deploy Commander
>Move 2, 2, 2, 2

>>3025749
Under normal circumstances a crawler would have enough materials stock piled to replace drone squads constantly throughout the duration of a mission. These are not normal circumstances.

Friendly reminder that sending units into forested areas should be done with caution, line of sight is limited within the forests so there's no telling what's out there.

>>3025857
Approved, but no need to post actions now. The mission hasn't begun yet. As usual I'll begin when we have 4 people.

It looks like once again sign ups are slow. I was hoping to at least process one turn by now.

I'll leave the thread overnight again but I won't be able to sit down and run the game until Monday 9pm GMT. We'll see how things look then and depending on how desperate I'm feeling we'll may start the game.

>>3026194
Name: Steve
Command Perks: Weapon Upgrade, Tough Guy
Starting Squad: Pyro Drone*3
Protocol:_^4
>Deploy Commander
>Move 4, 4, 4, 4

How do I tell my drones to set the whole forest on fire?

>>3026392
Approved, but please specify if you want your weapon upgraded to a gauss carbine or heavy smart gun.

>How do I tell my drones to set the whole forest on fire?

There's currently no way to explicitly do this, but pyro drones were added after the basic command system was developed so I will think on this and maybe come up with a hotfix before the game starts... if the game starts.

>>3025199
>Reporting

Name: Ithaqua
Command Perks: [SDUP] 2-ST. [SuDUP] 2-IN
Starting Squad:(6/6)
Signal 2-ST (6/6hp)
Suppressor 2-IN (8/8)
Suppressor 2-IN (8/8)
Protocol:_@

>>3026961
Seems legit

Alright we've got enough people to start. I'm gonna begin prepping the game.

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Command lines open, deploying drone squads, tactical display online...

>1: Papi
>2: Blight
>3: Steve
>4: Ithaqua

Everyone please add your assigned number to your trip so I can keep track of who's who.

Blight: Your soldier drones have been down graded since you dropped the perk.

Steve: Since you have not specified your weapon upgrade I have given you a heavy smart gun. If you wanted the gauss carbine instead please say so before declaring your actions this turn or forever hold your current weapon.

>>3028661
After thinking on it I have decided to make the following ruling:

To make pyro drones start burning down forests even though no enemies are in range, give them the + weapons free order. In the absence of any nearby enemies they will burn any forest in range, prioritizing those in the direction of their protocol(if their protocol includes a direction). They will not burn if a friendly would get caught in their AoE.

>Declare actions people, turn will be processed tomorrow night between 8pm and 9pm GMT.

>>3028661
Soldier 2-AC {A} (Clipper) [8/8]
Soldier 2-AC {B} (Glengettie) [8/8]
Signal 2-RE {C} (Kiwi) [6/6]

Drone Actions:
>!#
Soldiers One Hex Apart, Signal Drone One Hex Behind.
>_=1

Commander Actions
>Move 1, 1, 1, 1
>Overwatch

"I'll go try to secure the North Eastern Forest. Seems like a pretty bad blind spot for our engineers."

>>3028661
>>3028792
Sure. We still sending all three that way? No one forwarded any other ideas.
I'm pretty much where I want to be. Hold position! I'll try to snipe the onion.
> Overwatch: Shoot the Onion
> Overwatch: Shoot the Onion

Name: Papi
Command Perks: Gauss Carbine, Soldier 2-M
Starting Squad: Soldier-M, Soldier-M, Pyro
Protocol: _@

>>3028661
Pyro Drone A [6/6]
Pyro Drone B [6/6]
Pyro Drone C [6/6]

Drone Actions
>!+

Commander Action
>Overwatch*2

"Imma just set this whole forest on fire I don't
wanna deal with anything that's inside"

>>3028993
One large alone will not provide enough parts to repair the engine. That's why an engineer has been assigned to go to each. If you insist they can be redirected to smaller closer wrecks, but their first priority is to salvage parts, not act as your personal heal bot.

>>3029170
Well yeah, but it's a lot easier to play bodyguard for the wrenchmonkies if they're all in one place innit.
I don't know, think you can escort the fourth engineer down to the SW wreck Ithaqua? I can deal with the pumpkins, probably.

>>3028661
>-Free mark engineer 43 of [4A]
>Order: >!# Protect Mark
>Crawler: Boost C3

Name: Ithaqua
Command Perks: [SDUP] 2-ST. [SuDUP] 2-IN
Starting Squad:(6/6)
4A- Signal 2-ST (6/6hp)
4B- Suppressor 2-IN (8/8)
4C- Suppressor 2-IN (8/8)
Protocol:_@

>>3029291
Alright, of the top three engineers one will go for the big wreck while the other two grab the smaller ones nearby.

SW one will continue to the SW wreck.

>>3029907
I'd like to join

Name: Rook

Command Perks: Suppression 2-GL, Weapon Upgrade (Heavy Smart Gun)

Starting Squad:
Suppression 2-GL
Suppression 2-GL
Suppression 2-GL

Protocol: _^1

>Deploy Commander

>>3030208
Approved, you'll be deployed at the end of this turn.

Alright guys, I've been a bit sick today. I need to go take a shower and get dinner so turn might get processed a bit later than the stated window.

Okay, looks like the turn is getting process a lot later. Sorreh.

>Beginning processing

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>Standby for NPC phase...

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>>3030430
Engineer:"There's not much in this old tank that I can use. Most of the body is rusty, some of the internals could be reforged by the fabricator though..."

Engineer:"H-Holy shit, I just had to discharge my weapon! This is both exhilarating and terrifying!"

>Standby for aftermath...

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>>3030510
Squad Rook has deployed.

>5:Rook

Welcome aboard rook, please add you ID number to your trip.

>All players declare actions I will process the turn tomorrow night between 8-9pm GMT.

>>3030525
That big guy moved 1 space further than expected and then shot one tile further too. He's just full of thick, white, sticky surprises.
Don't suppose you got long pink hair and a sniper rifle hidden away under that suit, 1C?

>>3030525
Commander Action:
>Attack Gourdo S*6
>Attack Guordo S*5, SE*1

Drone Actions:
>_^2

"Burn it all to the ground!"

>>3030569
Apologies, that was a processing error. I have moved the Ubergine to it's correct position in my source file and removed the damage from drone 1B.

>>3030525
Commander Actions:
>Overwatch

Drone Actions:
>_^2
>!+

"You guys really need to start sending drones South. Point defense will pretty much take care of anything going for the crawler and Steve's down to 66% combat efficiency."

>>3030525
> Shoot the Onion
> Give Order: !&5
> Overwatch

Name: Papi
Command Perks: Gauss Carbine, Soldier 2-M
Starting Squad: Soldier-M, Soldier-M, Pyro
Protocol: _@
1A Soldier M - 6/8
1B Soldier M - 8/8
1C Pyro - 5/6

>>3030525
Commander Actions:
>Shoot Pump-Kin 5*4, 6*3
>Move 4*4

Drone Actions
>_^5

>>3030578
>>3030594
>>3032047
>>3032252

Looks like we're all here save one.

>Beginning turn processing

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>Standby for NPC phase...

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>>3032490

Engineer:"Jackpot! This old assault server has exactly the kind of heavy duty engine we can use to repair the crawler drives. If we can salvage one more we can fix the engines."

Engineer:"I just had to shoot another vegetable! I can't work under this kind of stress!"

>standby for aftermath

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>>3032552
Crawler Ops:"Groups of vegetables are starting to trickle in from adjacent areas. There's a high chance that more dangerous strains will appear overtime."

I noticed a processing error I made during E2 while preparing the aftermath and so I have removed the gourdos attacking squad 5 and the damage on 5A and 5B. Also if you're wondering where the tamago-gochi from the top Ubergine is, it got killed by squad 4's overwatch.

>Declare actions everyone. I will process tomorrow night between 8pm and 9pm GMT. I suggest active players bot the inactive ones if they haven't posted close to processing time.

>>3032591
Commander Actions

>Move 1,1,2,2
>Shoot Pump-Kin 2,2,2,2,2

Drone Actions
>_%

"Nooooo! Poor Kiwi, you shall be missed
"Do we have enough scrap to fix the engines cause we gotta run South East as quickly as possible."

Is there nothing left of my repair drone or can I possible carry her body for a proper burial?

>>3032591
Commander Actions
>Shoot Tomago-Chi 2
>Embark

Drone Actions
>_%

"That lone Enggie to my south I'm pretty sure the path to the crawler just got cleared so get you back here asap.
Nobody's willing to save your sorry ass and my flame throwers are down so I'm outtie"

>>3032591
Commander Actions:
>Overwatch

Drone Actions
>_%

"Thanks for the save Engineer MacMachineFace but you really need to get back to the crawler gotta go!"

>>3033217
>>3033232
>>3033902

Looks like this is it for tonight.

>Beginning turn processing

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>>3033988
Engineer:"If I don't return to the crawler with enough parts we're all dead anyway. I think the hordes are drawn to the drones squads. If you just keep up the diversion I think I can risk going for one of the wrecks."

>Standby for NPC phase...

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>>3034005
Engineer:"Not my original target but it's still pretty big... hmm yes plenty of usable parts... what was that noise!?"

Engineer:"Dropping off parts, we'll see if we can grab a few more."

>>3033217
They were torn to shreds. It's just a mess of ragged limbs and body parts now.

>standby for aftermath...

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>>3034043
Crawler Ops:"You're doing good all things considered, just hold the line for a little longer."

>You now have 3 materials to spend
>Commander Steve has boarded the crawler.

>Declare actions everyone. I will process tomorrow night between 8pm and 9pm GMT.

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>>3034052
Whoops, made a minor processing error. There should be a Tamago-gochi on the map. See if you can spot the difference.

>>3034064
Nice shooting, girls. Now get on me!
Get those point defence guns online!
> Order !=C
> Move 2223323

Name: Papi
Command Perks: Gauss Carbine, Soldier 2-M
Starting Squad: Soldier-M, Soldier-M, Pyro
Protocol: _@
1A Soldier M - 6/8
1B Soldier M - 8/8
1C Pyro - 5/6

>>3034064
>Crawler: Auto Point Defenses
>Order: !&6

Name: Ithaqua
Command Perks: [SDUP] 2-ST. [SuDUP] 2-IN
Starting Squad:(4/6)
4B- Suppressor 2-IN (8/8)
4C- Suppressor 2-IN (4/8)
Protocol:_@

We holding on down there in the zone, fellas?

>>3034043
Commander Actions
>Move 5,4
>Attack Gourdo 3*5. 4*2

"Run Forest we've got enough scrap to at least get out of here."

Blight might not be able to post today...Can I move for him? He says that if he can't post the turn in time he wants.

Drone Actions
>_&5

Commander Actions
>Shoot Nearest Pump-kin
>Move 5*4

>>3035346
"Honestly I just want to get the hell outta dodge as soon as possible. Pretty sure my whole squad's been wiped"

>>3036070
They're not all gone yet! You've still got one suppressor drone in the forest there, holding the west side. Looks like it's undamaged? Drone 5A.
That green pumpkin outruns the engineer, and it'll probably kill them unless you can make a safe route out.

>>3036066
Made it home early, Pretty much what Rook said

Drone Actions
>_&5

Commander Actions
>Shoot Nearest Pump-kin
>Move 5,5,5,5

>>3034064
Drone Command:
None... You served well 3A just buy us as much time as you can

Crawler Command:
>Boost Point Defense

Gonna take shower, turn processing will occur when I'm done.

>>3034134
>>3034843
>>3036265
>>3036280

Alright, feeling fresh.

>processing turn...

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>Standby for NPC Phase...

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>>3036447
Engineer:"I think we can make a run on one of the large wrecks while the veggies are distracted..."

--------

Crawler Ops:"Blight Watch out!... the PD turret wasn't enough, he's gone."

>standby for aftermath...

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>>3036494
Engineer:"Commanders, focus on the big ones. I think we can handle one gourdo."

"Forest":"Just a little further!"

Crawler Ops:"Another wave of veggies is inbound and our defense line is depleted. If we don't leave soon we will eventually be overwhelmed."

>Crawler now has 8 available materials
>Lt. Blight has died in the line of duty, one of the few humans to have done so in recent memory. His player may continue to take command actions from the crawler, but may not take any crawler actions.

>Declare actions, tenuous processing deadline is 8-9pm GMT tomorrow night. However things might change based on how my weekend goes.

>>3036542
Good news folks, it seems I have made another processing error in your favour. That line of gourdos in top left hand corner is not supposed to be there. I was copy/pasting the new wave from it and forgot to delete them when I was done. They have been removed in my source file, so you can safely ignore them.

>>3036542
Aww, goddamn it. Gank that fucker, Corporal! We're almost home clear and god bless you beautiful bastards that all picked suppressor drones.
Girls, stand your ground!
> Mark distant Pump-kin, North
> Shoot the Automato
> Use Medical Aid

Name: Papi
Command Perks: Gauss Carbine, Soldier 2-M
Starting Squad: Soldier-M, Soldier-M, Pyro
Protocol: _@
AC Papi [1] 5/6
1A Soldier M - 6/8
1B Soldier M - 8/8
1C Pyro - 5/6

>>3036542
Crawler Actions:
>Repair Point Defense Turret

Drone Orders
>_%

"Sorry Clipper... I wanted all of us to make it out of here in one piece. Doesn't look like I'll make it though..."

"This is a lot to ask but I need you to hold the line for me, Everybody else is almost home and I need you to keep them safe..."

"You were all good drones for the small amount of time we were together, I'm happy to have served with you three..."

>>3036542
>Crawler Action:
>Boost Point Defense

>>3036542
>!^5
>Fabricate: Signal 2-ST. Suppressor 2-IN.
>-2 fab points remain, is it possible to order drones for other commanders? If yes, link with your order.

Name: Ithaqua
Command Perks: [SDUP] 2-ST. [SuDUP] 2-IN
Squad Command Points:(2/6)
4B- Suppressor 2-IN (8/8)
Protocol:_@

>>3036898
>>3036913
>>3036921
>>3037980

Doing things a bit late tonight, but here we go.

>Processing...

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>standby for NPC phase

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>>3039097
Congratulations, you have abused the fuck out of suppression drones.

>standby for aftermath...

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>>3039298
Crawler Ops:"Alright we should have enough materials to repair the... Commanders I sorely hope you have some kind of cunning plan because somebody just spent our limited materials on new drones, now we will have to wait until the engineers complete another salvage run."

"I would like to remind you all that we need 10 materials to fix the engine. Fabricating other things before we have that set aside will only postpone our departure!"

>Current Materials: 8

>Declare actions, I'm probably gonna take a break from processing on Sunday. Next turn will be processed same time tomorrow if I feel like it, else between 8-9pm GMT on Monday.

>>3039343
Well, bugger. Looks like we'll have to get our own bloody scrap! Cover those engineers!
> Issue Order !^3
> Shoot the Onion east of me
> Shoot it again

Name: Papi
Command Perks: Gauss Carbine, Soldier 2-M
Starting Squad: Soldier-M, Soldier-M, Pyro
Protocol: _@
AC Papi [1] 5/6
1A Soldier M - 6/8
1B Soldier M - 8/8
1C Pyro - 5/6

>>3039343
>!%
>Begin Engine Repairs (8/10)
Best to not let that mistake happen again...

Name: Ithaqua
Command Perks: [SDUP] 2-ST. [SuDUP] 2-IN
Squad Command Points:(6/6)
4A- Suppressor 2-IN (8/8)
4B- Suppressor 2-IN (8/8)
4C- Signal 2-ST (6/6)
Protocol:_@

Sorry guys I need to catch up on a few things so turn processing will be postponed.

>>3044832
Hai hai, commander.

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>>3044832
Ah shit, so I've fucked up a bit IRL and need to run around doing damage control. That means probably no update tonight.

I really do want to finish this mission and neatly tie up the mini-campaign. I will try to process as soon as I can but it looks like we may have to wait till the weekend.

Please wait warmly...

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>>3046414

Okay guys. I'm sorry to say that I have decided to discontinue this mission.

Although I have started to recover from my minor crisis IRL My creative energy for running Moe Drones has been depleted and I find myself wanting to move on and do something else with my free time.

It doesn't help that I have an anemic player base right now. Don't get me wrong, I don't hold anything against anyone. I know I'm not entitled to players and I understand that there were many factors contributing to the tiny roster from many of my regulars being caught up with their own stuff, to a really intimidating rule sheet. All the same I can't help but feel a little shitty.

It's one thing to put something out there and just have nobody care. It's another to go on a creative high, churn out a lot of new stuff, and have everyone you show it to get all excited, only for barely anyone to show up when you post the game. I don't want to be petty but right now it's kinda hard not to feel just a leeetle bit of resentment.

Thank you all to those who participated, sorry to leave you hanging, but it looks like the fate of the Akolon will remain uncertain.

If anyone is still watching feel free to leave feedback.

>>3053289
No worries, man, take it easy. For what its worth I had a great time, the turns I missed were mostly because I fell asleep or closed the thread by habit and forgot to check in until much later.
Feedback-wise, this whole game I had my drones on alert, when I meant to have them on All-Out to do their double attack but it seemed that they were attacking twice regardless? Unless they were just that accurate with their shots that is. Overall I like the protocols and orders system though it was a bit hard to grasp at first and I never could remember any of them so I had to keep scrolling up and looking when I was considering changing.
When I ran around to the other side of the crawler, and the pyro drone didn't move to the front of the formation, I was pretty mad and really wished I'd grabbed the perk that let me set orders more easily and that was great, those few turns were pretty intense since I had to mark onions, snipe onions since I was the only unit that could and debate wasting a turn and some FC actions to improve my position.
I'm not sure why you'd ever want to stand down, or self-destruct.
Stat symbols are all fairly memorable. I don't think I had to reference them very often. I'm not sure why you even have command cost, though, when every drone is 2 except for the skirmisher. Were there plans for more 1 cost and 3+ cost drones?
Speaking of the skirmisher, they don't seem fit-for-purpose to me. The enemies just have too many rapid fire and rapid-fire AoE attacks which renders the agility worthless since even graze hits will kill them with two. They only barely outrun the enemy cast too, but the enemies they do outrun either a) have a ranged weapon that severely outranges them b) has more DR than they can penetrate with their little submachine guns or c) has charge which means the skirmisher can't hit and run and keep away from them anyways.
The bayonet doesn't help really and the extra agility like I said doesn't matter much in my opinion.
They are also the least cute drone.
Soldier felt solid, reliable. Didn't get any use out of machete, though, but if I hadnt picked a pyro then yeah it would have been useful -- One shots Gouros on a hit with is the main swarming enemy.
FSD is a QT, and the plasma gun looks really sweet stats wise and art wise. Shame you're discontinuing since I wanted to try playing with them next time.
Suppressor seems to be just incredible with how they draw aggro and keep waves of enemies busy while you can mop up elsewhere. Why did it seem that they all had interdiction though? I thought the baseline suppressor just attacked everything but it seemed that even they stopped enemies at the edge of their range.

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>>3053398
Uhh... that was a lot less wall of text-y in the editor. Sorry about that. Have a cat picture.

>>3053398
The orders and protocols do need tidying up.

>All Out Attack vs Alert
Right now there's actually no functional difference between the two. Both protocols just have the drones attack twice, going on overwatch if no targets are in range.

All out attack was more relevant when there were still upgrades for the Soldier and Skirmisher that gave them single shot special weapons, in which case the All Out attack would have made them use said weapons while alert would not. As it stands it no longer makes a difference and I need to consider dropping one and making the description for the other clearer.

>Pyro Out of position
Sorry man, but wrangling your drones is part of the game, don't wanna make it too hard, but don't wanna make it too easy either. ;)

>I'm not sure why you'd ever want to stand down, or self-destruct.
Stand down is kinda pointless I copied it over from Londry's remix. It might have had an edge case use if I ever introduced a mission with some convoluted special conditions but yeah, I'll probably nix it fro the next version.

Self Destruct is another edge case, but one that I think is valid. It's a desperation move to deal damage to enemies as well as a way to clear your squad if you want to just spawn a new one or change your composition (You Monster!) Again, not expected to be used very often, but I think it's worth leaving in just in case.

>Command Cap
Thing is having a game where each player spawns multiple units can quickly rachet up the processing load for me. So I had to keep this tight, but at the same time I wanted to let players deploy many cheap disposable units if they wanted to. So at first I thought: "6 per player is the max I'm willing to deal with so I'll let them have 6 skirmishers or 3 of something else, or 4-5 depending on mixing and matching."
But with how under powered the skirmisher has become it might be worth rethinking this or just scraping the command cap, since I'm quite happy with the power balance between all the other drones except the skirmisher. Which brings us too:

>skirmisher sucks
Yeah I really need to rework them. They've kinda just gotten weaker as the game evolved. They were supposed to be a disposable unit you could deploy en mass, but right now even 1 soldier seems better than 2 skirmishers, especially if it's been upgraded. Hard to say what to do about this, not sure whether to just tweak their abilities, or abandon the disposability aspect and buff them to the same level as a 2 cap drone.

>Suppression Drones all magically had interdiction.
The ones that didn't, didn't. What was happening was that they were being put on alert so when a wave of gourdos hit they overwatched twice and took out a chunk of them, seemingly appearing to stop the wave in their tracks. Even though a suppressor's attack is actually quite weak, multiple overlapping killzones combined with a hoard of weak enemies made them look very effective.

>cont

>>3053549
If I had thrown more high health/armored enemies or enemies with long ranged attacks at the suppressor line things might have been different.

As it stand I'm actually very happy with the suppressor's power levels; they do exactly what they were designed to do. If anything I need to come up with some enemy units that are better able to deal with them.

>>3053398
>>3053407
Your feedback has been helpful. I'll be shelving the game system for now, but it does need a lot of reworking and I'll be sure to make that happen if I ever decide to run it again.

If you're still around I have a question:
What did you think of the field Commander System? Moe Drones is supposed to be wrangling drone squads and doing your part on the crawler. Being able to deploy as a field commander was meant to be a special feature for this mission only.

I personally think it would dilute the spirit of the game if it were incorporated into the main ruleset, but do you think given the choice to stay on a fully functional crawler players would appreciate the option to "handle things personally"?

>>3053572
I thought it was okay, but I'd tweak it a little bit. Personally, I felt very action hero with my exoskeleton and cool rifle. If I was more like the engineers with a dinky smart pistol and a support ability, it would have felt completely different.
Since I was fairly robust and unlikely to die in a single turn, I could kind of 'lead from the front' and use the 'follow commander' order to do in one action what it would have taken two to do otherwise ('follow commander' vs 'place waypoint' then 'go-to waypoint'). Made it a lot easier to reposition around the crawler.

The consequences for death when deploying outside seemed really weak too, since as I understood it you got to continue ordering your drones around anyway? Sure you couldn't build anymore, but you couldn't do that on this mission anyway there weren't enough supplies.

>>3053846
Hmm, based on your feedback maybe it's best kept as a special feature for specific missions.

The idea behind the field commander in this case was to compensate for the lack of drone building capability and the fact that your crawler was practically useless from the get go.

It may not have been prominent in this mission but being reduced to taking only command actions from the crawler would have been a big hit under normal circumstances. As it stood I just didn't want to say "welp ur ded, bye." At most a commander has 6HP and 3 armour. Even with that you're screwed if you tangle with anything bigger than a gourdo as evidenced by Blight. Steve saw the writing on the wall and went back to the crawler as soon as his squad could no longer cover him and Rook put himself in a risky position by remaining where he was.

You were smart, sequestering yourself behind your drone line so for the most part you were relatively safe.

If I were to run a long campaign(highly unlikely) maybe I'd make a perk tree that would let you step onto the field with a dinky smart pistol, and eventually branch out into becoming either a gunner or support unit that could advance behind a drone line. Of course the risk would be high since dying in the field would mean all your meta game progression would go poof.

For now I think I'll keep it out of the core game.