Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Benice]

  

On 7/9/2024 at 7:43 PM, Acacia Sgt said:

Hey, you still have a shot for third place.

True! I wonder what our chances a-

...

The odds are only 4% higher that we win.

Hey, 4th is still pretty good!

20 hours ago, Dayni said:

Like "I can't stand walking through the mud, it's sheisbeuw9 to me"

I always feel like sheisbeuw9 after playing FE7

[Acacia Sgt]

38 minutes ago, Benice said:

  

True! I wonder what our chances a-

...

The odds are only 4% higher that we win.

Hey, 4th is still pretty good!

I suppose. That is reaching far.

Argentina vs Colombia is gonna be quite a match.

---

One last thing I noticed. Now that I have actual UC Gundam units, looks like they can actually switch mechs with the G Reco cast and vice versa. Well, Bellri and the G-Self are not included in this, but everyone else can exchange freely. At least so far. SRW had already done this with Turn ∀, since it is meant to take place in the far future of the Universal Century, and it was implied the inner workings of Mountain Cycle MS's was still the same, so both casts could use each other's mechs. So G Reco, despite taking place even further... still has the inner working of MS's be the same? Well then.

Edited July 11 by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

Man, I can't get enough of this track!

It's the flute. Definitely the flute.

On a related subject, it comes to my attention that so far Ange has been away from Arzenal for quite a while now. Granted, it's only been 3-4 maps so far, but still. SRW V did showed the happenings at Arzenal for a while (though admittedly route split dependent) before Ange finally left, and then it was with the other Para-Mail riders. But right now she is spending time away from all that. Combined that she is being affected by her interactions with Wataru... well, I could see eye to eye with Spero about curiosity and knowledge seeking, heh. Certainly looking forward how things unfold.

Edited July 11 by Acacia Sgt

[Dayni]

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I was doing nothing than referencing the Necrophage faction in Endless Legend.😛 Insect People who were designed to be the "making war every waking minute" playable faction in this fantasy 4X game.

For every 8 enemy units the Necrophages kill, they get one Cadaver stockpile, which can be used to provide a lump sum of food to one of their cities (as the Necrophages get less food from terrain, they have a great need of Cadavers for early population growth). One of their three standard units is the Proliferator, which if it hits an enemy -implanting their eggs in it- and then another ally kills that enemy, you get 1 Battleborn unit after the battle. The Battleborn aren't all that strong in the long run, but if you've enough Proliferators positioned behind by Necrodrones, Foragers, and growing hordes of Battleborn, you can quickly overwhelm the map with poison damage and raw numbers. Swarming, like insects.🪲

Although, if you prefer a different kind of hivemind in Endless Legend, you have choices.😜 The Cultists of the Eternal End; the long-imprisoned-in-an-underwater-lab creature known as Morgawr, who is many individuals whose minds are all linked as one; and the fungus entity of high intelligence called Mykara.

Oooh, all the hive minds.

Looking at reviews, they might have a chip on their shoulder about Civ though. I don't know if that's fair for the game with a place called Chadhun.

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I never called her a pacifist.😏 And you couldn't since... Metroid II (1991), near-complete extinction of a species!☮️👎😝

I'd remark more on how many planets have blown up, because she has a pattern.

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Would Ghar- ...yeah. Even if Hardin and Nyna had talked about things to each other, had Nyna been honest to him from the get-go, I don't think it would've been enough to make Hardin emotionally Darksphere-proof.

  Considering what he was drinking over, yeah direct communication would not fix that.

3 hours ago, Benice said:

I always feel like sheisbeuw9 after playing FE7

The sheisbeuw9 bow units certainly make me sad.

[Armagon]

19 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'm sorrrrrrry XC3!😭

Who will win, Benice finally getting past Ch.1 of Trails in the Sky or Observer starting Xenoblade 3?

 

[Acacia Sgt]

Me getting that last Blade in Xenoblade 2.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Dayni said:

Oooh, all the hive minds.

It's a little excessive on those if you ask me.😅

Endless Space 2 (Endless Legend takes place in the Endless universe, the planet of Auriga was a living laboratory of the ancient Endless supercivilization, many of EL's "fantasy" race species, are in fact the descendants of the Endless's sci-fi experiments) thankfully only has one hive mind- the Umbral Choir.:

Which was a single ancient immaterial organism living in the depths of space until something happened and it fractured as it entered the Endless galaxy.

Although if you like conformity in general, Endless Space 2 also has the Vodyani.:

A once-normal species that overexploited their planet, yet they were saved self-induced ruin when they discovered the "Cloth" technology that belonged to the Virtual Endless (Endless that had shed their flesh for an immaterial existence, as opposed to the physical Concrete Endless). The Vodyani declared the Virtual Endless their gods/saints as their tech had saved them. They deemed themselves the chosen ones, that Virtual existence is superior to material forms, and that living directly on planets is unclean. So it that the Vodyani became a theocracy that brooks no heterodoxy, living on Ark ships orbiting planets, and draining lesser species of their "Essence", the life-substance which the Vodyani consume instead of normal food. (Note- the "body" in the above picture is a Cloth, the dusty flame is the Vodyani's immaterial existence within it.)

Or, if you like your conformity to be fleshy...

there's Horatio!😃

Take one human trillionaire who puts himself into suspended animation on a ship, and wakes up once it reaches a habitable unclaimed planet, declaring himself Emperor immediately. He discovers some Endless ruins with life-extending and gene-editing technologies and puts them to use on himself. A few years after Horatio had gives himself genetic modifications that made him -as far as he was concerned- the most perfect being ever, he gets bored. So, Horatio spends a few decades perfecting a cloning program that transfer not only his appearance, but also personality to his copies. He then proceeds to fill his planet (and soon the galaxy), which has a Mediterranean climate described as being what others would consider a resort planet, called Horatio Prime, with clones of himself, of perfection. -Though Horatio with the exception of the first batch of clones, gives his three-tiered nobility + commoners increasing degrees of imperfection from him (also known as Horatio Prime) for the sake of a proper social hierarchy. Truly there is nobody greater than Horatio.😛

-And there's the Cravers too.

Which are a literal hive insect people species, created as living bioweapons by the Endless like EL's Necrophages. Although, the Cravers trade egg-planting and corpse-eating, for extreme overconsumption of planetary resources and the enslaving of non-Craver peoples. Since exhausted planets aren't so productive and other factions seeking to colonize the galaxy exist, the Cravers default to their literal reason for creation of WAR! to expand and keep their hunger sated. 

1 hour ago, Dayni said:

Looking at reviews, they might have a chip on their shoulder about Civ though.

Endless Legend is fantasy 4X, not "historical" like Civ. Humankind was Amplitude's (now owned by Sega Sammy) effort to try competing directly with Civ, and it failed.😐

Besides the fundamental difference of being fantasy, Endless Legend (and Endless Space (2)) features far fewer playable Major Factions than Civ has civilizations. But, again very much because it pure fiction, the 12-13 Factions play pretty differently from each other. -And I love the flavor of it all.😆

 

37 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Who will win, Benice finally getting past Ch.1 of Trails in the Sky or Observer starting Xenoblade 3?

I was really looking forward to beginning XC3. I had intended to get some ways into EO Nexus, then take a break and begin The Game. -But that's exactly when I got thinking about how I'm only a few months from 31, "nothing has changed" rang through my skull, and so the black hounds began to feast on my mind.😔 

I didn't stop thinking about XC3, and I was regretting how because of my stupid existential fear, so many days were going by where I didn't play it. Could I have made it halfway through XC3? I don't know, but between the 27th and 8th, so much progress could've been made. Yet I couldn't bring myself to do anything of that or anything else. I wasted so much time.😮‍💨

-Am I back in a state now where I could genuinely begin '3? Very possibly, but after the nonsensical misery I was in, can you blame me for being weak and wanting junk food loaded with processed sugar?🍟 -Perhaps it's a little odd to you that Xeno couldn't do that for me.😅 I think it possibly could, X2 specifically b/c Skells as silly that sounds. Obviously, as someone who has played all 'gears, 2/3rds of 'saga, all the prior Chronicles, I enjoy it. But regarding it as higher art at least in part, it's not something I think I can absorb when I'm not of the right mind.

[Acacia Sgt]

Turnip's Miracle is so frustratingly lengthy to get. Why there must be so many things that require it to create them...

[Dayni]

Been playing Fusion, not too much to mention, currently haven't entered ARC yet.

Have to note that this game has mimics. Fuck sake lads. I forgot that was a thing.

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Besides the fundamental difference of being fantasy, Endless Legend (and Endless Space (2)) features far fewer playable Major Factions than Civ has civilizations. But, again very much because it pure fiction, the 12-13 Factions play pretty differently from each other. -And I love the flavor of it all.😆

Fair enough that you'd have fewer factions if there's a bunch more to distinguish them on units and mechanics.

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Which was a single ancient immaterial organism living in the depths of space until something happened and it fractured as it entered the Endless galaxy.

So it was one thing, only to break apart?

Does it work off limited units in playthroughs?

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

A once-normal species that overexploited their planet, yet they were saved self-induced ruin when they discovered the "Cloth" technology that belonged to the Virtual Endless (Endless that had shed their flesh for an immaterial existence, as opposed to the physical Concrete Endless). The Vodyani declared the Virtual Endless their gods/saints as their tech had saved them. They deemed themselves the chosen ones, that Virtual existence is superior to material forms, and that living directly on planets is unclean. So it that the Vodyani became a theocracy that brooks no heterodoxy, living on Ark ships orbiting planets, and draining lesser species of their "Essence", the life-substance which the Vodyani consume instead of normal food. (Note- the "body" in the above picture is a Cloth, the dusty flame is the Vodyani's immaterial existence within it.)

So they're all on the cloud? Or is digital soul separate, tied to a robot body?

The Vodyani really took to worshipping their IT tech saviours quickly after.

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

there's Horatio!😃

Take one human trillionaire who puts himself into suspended animation on a ship, and wakes up once it reaches a habitable unclaimed planet, declaring himself Emperor immediately. He discovers some Endless ruins with life-extending and gene-editing technologies and puts them to use on himself. A few years after Horatio had gives himself genetic modifications that made him -as far as he was concerned- the most perfect being ever, he gets bored. So, Horatio spends a few decades perfecting a cloning program that transfer not only his appearance, but also personality to his copies. He then proceeds to fill his planet (and soon the galaxy), which has a Mediterranean climate described as being what others would consider a resort planet, called Horatio Prime, with clones of himself, of perfection. -Though Horatio with the exception of the first batch of clones, gives his three-tiered nobility + commoners increasing degrees of imperfection from him (also known as Horatio Prime) for the sake of a proper social hierarchy. Truly there is nobody greater than Horatio.😛

Man made himself a whole planet of himself. I've seen enough Red Dwarf to know where this is going.

Can't say go fuck yourself to him, he has that in spades

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Which are a literal hive insect people species, created as living bioweapons by the Endless like EL's Necrophages. Although, the Cravers trade egg-planting and corpse-eating, for extreme overconsumption of planetary resources and the enslaving of non-Craver peoples. Since exhausted planets aren't so productive and other factions seeking to colonize the galaxy exist, the Cravers default to their literal reason for creation of WAR! to expand and keep their hunger sated. 

So a species of warrior ants that forces all others into worker roles?

I read them as a bit of a rush species in game from this description.

[Interdimensional Observer]

5 hours ago, Dayni said:

So it was one thing, only to break apart?

Does it work off limited units in playthroughs?

It does have issues generating Manpower, which used for crewing ships. Having more Manpower than your opponent can give an attack boost. More important, Manpower is used when besieging enemy cities, invaders need to reduce the enemy planetary system's Manpower to 0 to take it. But the former singularity of the Umbral Choir isn't really part of its gameplay design. Though during its Major Faction Quest -the personalized "story"  with exclusive gameplay rewards that each Major Faction gets in the absence of 4X games being suited for true plot- the Choir is surprised to learn that other organisms don't have a mind gestalt like it does. 

Umbral Choir is a DLC Major Faction, and is built around the two mechanics that came in the Penumbra expansion- cloaking and hacking.

• Being immaterial beings, they can get inside electronics, making them adept at hacking, they can run more hacking operations and do them faster than anyone else. And the Choir needs to hack to set up "Sanctuaries" (no art exists to show use what the Sanctuaries look like) on other planetary systems, which is their only form of expansion.
• As for cloaking, all Umbral Choir ships have innate cloaking, whereas everyone else has to research technology for that (and anti-cloaking) and then equip it to their ships. Their Sanctuaries and Home System are also invisible, and it is possible for another Faction to have colonies atop planets that you've Sanctuaries hidden on. The Umbral Choir's Home System is a series of flat, crescent-shaped server "planets" orbiting around a special node (black hole, nebular cloud, asteroid field, etc.), which can also be warped via a Transmigration Beacon (if you've set one up) to another part of the galaxy if an invasion is imminent.

5 hours ago, Dayni said:

So they're all on the cloud? Or is digital soul separate, tied to a robot body?

Each soul is tied to its Cloth body. But again, orthodoxy is enforced. Individual Cloth decoration is kept to a minimum, and the Vodyani war fleet has nothing more a few simple geometric designs adorning its exteriors, superfluity and personalization is not allowed! (Horatio by contrast, so the official art book says, loves intricate designs adorning everything including battleships. And Horatio loves reflective surfaces, because Horatio loves to contemplate Horatio's image in all things.)

Gameplay-wise, the Vodyani are easily one of the most complicated Major Factions, they're not for beginners (and the AI is poor with them).

• Instead of establishing sedentary colonies directly on planets to exploit them, the Vodyani get Ark ships which orbit & work them. The Ark ships can be relocated at will, which makes gives them space nomadic flexibility.
• -But the Vodyani can't build Ark ships like normal spaceships, they need ever-increasing quantities of their exclusive Essence (which they can also use to accelerate their sluggish initial population growth) resource.
• Getting Essence early on demands you drain it from other factions, but that hinders the factions' population growth, so they'll hate you.
  • (Unlike Civ, the default relationship between empires is Cold War, not Peace, Essence leeching doesn't violate the terms of Cold War.)
    • (And, the Vodyani population favor the Religious political party. The Power Law (automatically enacted when it has a plurality in the Senate) of which allows them to just ignore enemy declarations of closed borders and make officially-undeclared war as they please.)
• Thus, you have to be ready for war from the get-go, when you're simultaneously trying to research/build the most basic of infrastructure.

-The Vodyani play very unique and become fun later, but are demanding at the start.

5 hours ago, Dayni said:

The Vodyani really took to worshipping their IT tech saviours quickly after.

A few blessed ones who discover a surviving Virtual Endless even get them to fuse with them. Such a Vodyani has their name amended to "Original Name St. Endless's Name", though in one case, it's possible the total personality shift of the Vodyani individual in question, is because they're gone and the Endless has taken full control.

5 hours ago, Dayni said:

I read them as a bit of a rush species in game from this description.

Totally.😀

Endless Space 2 makes each unit of population in a planetary system belong to a Major/Minor Faction. An individual Craver population unit extracts an additional 150% of the base yields (Food, Industry, Science, Dust (Money)) of their planet, but add +1 Depletion Point per turn to the planet (each planet has a limit of 100-200 Depletion Points). When a planet reaches 100% Depletion, that +150% goes away for the Cravers and the base yields are slashed to 50% of the norm for everyone. 

In the short-term, the Cravers get super-planets from their overexploitation. But in the long-run this isn't sustainable and they'll pay the price. Thus they must take advantage of their early statistical strength to conquer the galaxy so they'll never run of depletable planets (or at least never run out before they win). Peace equals a future of starvation and backwardness for the insatiable Cravers.

5 hours ago, Dayni said:

So a species of warrior ants that forces all others into worker roles?

As I said above, population units each belong to a specific faction. If you place just one Craver and any number of non-Cravers on the same planet, the non-Cravers are instantly enslaved. Slaves generate twice the planet base yields, but that planetary system takes a -10 Approval hit per slave. Due to being locked into their unique Autocracy government, low Approval can't result in rebellions that'll overthrow Craver authority, but low Approval will still locally drag down Food and Influence (internal political authority and international diplomatic capital, with a dash of culture; used in diplomacy aboard, and to maintain beneficial Laws at home), and if it lowers your empirewide average Approval, Science and Dust also take hits.

Thus, the Cravers show themselves to be tied up in population micromanagement with Depletion and Approval issues. You can't let too many Cravers inhabit a single planet to keep it from being overexploited too fast, and you have to watch how many slaves you've got or else that system will starve and you'll lose population. Each planetary system you own above your colonization limit will hit all your space colonies with another -10 Approval, which prevents nonstop conquest from being totally mindless. If you're desperate for Approval, you can sacrifice & toss a non-Craver population into the Cravers' Feeding Pits (yummy!) for a temporary Approval boost.

...Complicated, yes.😆

5 hours ago, Dayni said:

Man made himself a whole planet of himself. I've seen enough Red Dwarf to know where this is going.

Can't say go fuck yourself to him, he has that in spades

When I read reviews before buying Endless Space 2, Horatio often came up as a reviewer highlight among the factions. And can you truly disagree that Horatio is the finest being in the universe?😛

...The intentional meme guy is actually one of the more basic Major Factions gameplay-wise (although not as good for beginners as the United Empire or Sophons).

• Horatio's one unique mechanic is Gene Hunter.
• Each population type in ES2 generates specific bonus yields, Horatio himself is +3 Food (on any planet), and +2 Approval on Hot planets.
• Horatio's pursuit of personal physical perfection means Horatio is willing to add the genes of other peoples to his own.
  • If Horatio's empire has non-Horatio peoples living in it, Horatio can kill them and splice their genes into his beautiful form, gaining half of that non-Horatio population's bonus yields, which are instantly applied to all Horatio population across your empire.
• There is supposedly an increase in the food consumption of the Horatio population to account for the added genes. -But I didn't notice this 😅, they must've patched the increased food demands massively downwards at some point over the years of updates.
• The real issue for Horatio, is you have to sacrifice 2 population of the same kind of non-Horatio to splice in its genes. And each subsequent splice costs an additional 2 population (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12...), so you do have to choose your splices carefully, and cultivate those whom you wish to use for later splices.
  • Horatio may also wish to go to war. What are neighbors, if not more DNA? (And yes, as weird as it sounds, gameplay > lore in this case. You can splice the immaterial Vodyani and Umbral Choir into Horatio, both being difficult to acquire, but offer amazing bonuses.)

-While Horatio might not be strong at first, with enough gene splicing enhancing him, Horatio will become a super-population unparalleled. Did I mention they slipped in a voice clip where Horatio says a certain four word phrase written on hats of a certain color (but with "America" replaced by "Horatio")?🙄 I'm not joking.

5 hours ago, Dayni said:

Fair enough that you'd have fewer factions if there's a bunch more to distinguish them on units and mechanics.

Did I just provide enough examples of that?😆

Edited July 12 by Interdimensional Observer

[Acacia Sgt]

Scenario 10

Though not mentioned for quite a while, the groups finally are near Mt. Dokkoi, which was the group's initial destination before they came across the Megafauna.

As I suspected, the Megafauna mechanics took a look at the F91 and Vigna Ghina, and found they follow the same Universal Standard as their own mechs. The scene exists to say, "yes, you can switch the UC and Reguild pilots around the same mechs" if you didn't noticed in the intermission screen, but it does serve as an opener to further revelations down the road in-story. Hmm, Seabook keeps thinking about Iron Mask being defeated, but I wonder. He also brings up about "what became of Axis", which is starting to make me wonder about that too. I looked up, and Axis had no role in the F91 movie after all. Hmm...

In any case, recon brought up a nearby village under assault by bandits. They already called for the Keepers of Order for help, but it might not come in time. I know this SRW is more fantasy-like, but beating bandits? What's this, Fire Emblem!? Although, it seems someone else has decided to take matters on their own hands as well...

Oh! The bandits are Beastmen! Pain and Agony, is that you? Which means the guy who said he'd take care of them must be... AW YEAH, it's the Gurren Lagann! The Beastmen think it must be a fake... haha, Simon said the phrase! Not the drill one, the other one.

Alright, just Simon against some Beastmen. Let's pierce the heavens!

Once routing them, more show up, with Viral among them... and with Aura Battlers! Tod is with them, and it seems they were actually ordered to harass the village. Though Viral is more interested in fighting Simon. Still... ah, an actual defend line shows up. Though it only matters if you're aiming for the SR Point. Though it's still a defeat condition for an enemy unit to step into the village proper. Damn, I triggered this during enemy phase. Thankfully, the group arrives come next turn.

There's another Tod Point to get here. Show and him must fight each other at least once, and I think neither must be defeated. Alrighty then!

As with Mask going after Bellri, Tod gunning for Show makes it easy to get this point. Anyway, once routing again, Tod and Viral withdraw. Back at the village, the heroes learn the bandits' base is on Mt. Dokkoi itself, and likely working for Doakdar too. Oh, pft, they mentioned Masaki again, despite not being here. Though this more or less confirms the Pre-Order/FirstPrint bonuses are part of the main game data, not downloaded separately. So it's just an unlock? Ah well... but now these text string screw ups are only reminding me of stuff out of my reach. *sigh*

Well, so the map ends...

Edited July 12 by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

Scenario 11

Recon is being done at Mt. Dokkoi. Other than finding two dragon statues, not much else is found. Though then a flute is heard, and then a tornado suddenly appears out of nowhere! Ah, Cruising Tom summoned it with the flute, and it's revealed he hired Viral and his gang. Tod doesn't seem to be around, however, apparently having deserted. Either way, Viral is ordered to ambush the heroes should they come back, all while he starts ruminating on things...

The full party has arrived. The tornado is still there. Viral and his gang deploy, and the fight is on!

[Armagon]

Harris nomination by next week.

[Acacia Sgt]

Once routing, Viral's mech finally blows up, though he bails out. Simon lets him be. Cruising Tom then plays the flute, Shinbe Flute, again, intensifying the tornado's power. Simon, being Simon, goes into the tornado and actually forces it to slow down. Viral comes back, and actually asks to board the Gurren Lagann. Seems he has come around after all those beatings. And indeed, now Viral becomes a sub-pilot. This also nets the Double Boomerang Spiral attack. Tom threatens to use the flute again, but Himiko sneaks up behind him and then the mystery mech from way back shows up too. Together they take the flute and give it to Wataru, who uses it to dispel the tornado. The mech then leaves. And now Tom finally deploys and with own goons. Ryujinmaru then makes Wataru take note of the dragon statues, and says he can now use a new technique, the Ryuraiken. Alright, a new move! The Deadly Toryuken also gets a power boost as well. It seems this whole deal with the dragons makes Viral wonder if it's related to his earlier thoughts. Hmm...

[Armagon]

 

[Acacia Sgt]

Tom flees once defeated... or does he? His mech blows up, though his dialogue didn't felt he was going down for good. Hmm. Well, either way, with the enemies gone, all that's left is the riddle of the dragons. It calls for one man to put his hands in both dragons' mouths. Except the statues are quite far apart. I don't know how this is solved in the original series, but here they have Aoba and Dio synchronize. This, apparently, makes them count as one as far as the statues are concerned. Thus the riddle is solved.

Then the actual dragons depicted by the statues show up. They can't stay for long, since Doakdar controls Mt. Sokai and its treasures. They tell Wataru he must gather them all to restore the rainbow. The flute is just one of six. While Viral is joining the party, his gang will instead return to Kamina City. They've been inspired that they may be able to coexist with humans after all, so they are willing to try again. Good for them.

So the map ends...

Edited July 12 by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

Scenario 12

Kurama is being berated for not having helped Cruising Tom. Seems this may be spurring him to actually do something at last... and it seems to be putting him on edge as he still tries to keep his cover among the party. Soon enough, Aura Battlers show up...

Sure enough, it's Tod. He also has Doakdar grunts with him. Guess he only stopped helping Cruising Tom, not Doakdar as a whole. The party urges Show to try to finally settle things with Tod, though it seems Kurama hopes to use that as an opening for a backstab...

There's another Tod Point to get here. As before, Show and Tod must fight. This one definitely requires for Tod to survive the encounter, since there's a second point to get... a bit later.

Defeating a few enemies, Spero has a comment about some power being elevated... and hoping there will be enough for his wish to be granted before the world ends. Totally not suspicious, heh.

Once Tod's Vierres has his HP dropped enough, it goes back to full as his aura intensifies. Show worries Tod might become Hyper. He goads Tod away, but can't do much against his attacks. As Viral puts it, Tod is frustrated that Show seems to not be giving his all. And then to make matters worse, Kurama finally deploys, intending to take down Show... though he seems to be hesitating. Just then, something else come... it's the Billbine! With Marvel piloting it! She stops Kurama's mech in its tracks. Marvel's appearance seems to do the trick. Show is getting his groove back. Tod tells him to board the Billbine, so they can finally have a proper battle, and... oh, he knows about Kurama in the mech. He tells him to not interfere, and Kurama is ready to take full advantage of that excuse. Show and Marvel trade mechs, and so the fight continues!

Now that Show has the Billbine... huh, it's coming quite early, considering things. I wonder... anyway, if Show attacks Tod again, that's the other Tod point.

With Tod defeated, his mech blows up... and dies? Chum and Viral don't seem to think so. Either way, Show is grateful for Marvel's arrival. Apparently like Show, she heard a voice after the final battle and then found herself in Al-Warth fully healed up. Kurama, his cover still intact it seems, is quite conflicted now... but has not changed his tune. Hmm...

So the map ends...

Edited July 12 by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

So, at this point, if I have obtained at least 4 Tod Points, a Secret Scenario unlocks. With a total of 5 that can be obtained so far, there's not much room for error. Now, I've done the steps as stated on the Akurasu wiki... but checking a Japanese site, it seems there were additional steps to get those points. I'm not sure which is right. I already saw this discrepancy before with V. I can only hope I did. So let's see...

Okay, I unlocked it! Phew. So I did got at least 4 of the 5. Hopefully, I did got all 5. To make things easier down the road since there's more to unlock with the Tod points. Anyway...

Secret Scenario

Show and Marvel have just finished their patrol route. The two are still elated of their reunion, and seems the others have noticed, since they don't have strict orders to return right away. They intend to take advantage of that it seems, heh. Although Show makes a side comment of wondering if their arrival to Al-Warth means their battle is not over. Suffice to say, they get interrupted by... an eavesdropping Ange and Vivian, who blow their cover, pft. Huh, Ange makes an inward comment about Tusk. So that too had already happened, huh. In any case, before they can leave, Rune Golems show up.

As the battle draws out, Show's determination to not lose Marvel again makes his Aura flare up... dangerously so. The others try to get him back to his sense, which Chum manages, being the only one in the cockpit with him, after all. Her own determination to protect him and keep him from going overboard, it makes Show steel his resolve. His aura flares again, but more in control now. At this the rest of the party finally shows up. Ahaha, the party think it was Ange the one leading on the peeping and not Vivian. XD The OG protagonist doesn't detect a sorcerer nearby, meaning the golems are on their own. Okay, the fight continues.

The golems taken care of, Show and Marvel have a heart-to-heart. The party leaves... and a Keeper does show up. By the portrait, it's the same guy who opened the gate in the Buddy Complex world. Seems the party has gained the Archmage's attention, apparently. Back with the heroes, Marvel reveals she wondered why the Billbine showed with her. They recall a battle that happen at London, where Show's Aura created a Billbine-shaped barrier in order to protect her. She wonders then if the same happened now, except the mech itself was the one sent her way. Then Chum points out the Billbine was repainted before their final battle, but it's suddenly back to its original colors. And now comes the secret itself. We get a choice to keep it that way, or apply the Night Camouflage colors again. Unlike in T, this change is actually just cosmetic... and irreversible, just like in some other SRW games that have the Night Camo as a secret. Though later on something else will unlock as well, but it happens no matter what choice is done here. So, I'm going for the Night Camo. Since it's blue, hehehe.

So the scenario ends...

And that's it for now. Will resume tomorrow.

Edited July 12 by Acacia Sgt

[Dayni]

I hate Yakuza.

For clarification, I'm on about the Spider boss in Fusion.

Nettori (The plants) also frustrates, but Yakuza drove me mad years back and gave me more stress even this time and Nettori is cooler as a concept.

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Being immaterial beings, they can get inside electronics, making them adept at hacking, they can run more hacking operations and do them faster than anyone else. And the Choir needs to hack to set up "Sanctuaries" (no art exists to show use what the Sanctuaries look like) on other planetary systems, which is their only form of expansion.

Wait, are they able to build inside other civs? Okay, that is cool.

I mean, why would there be art of sanctuaries when they're other's buildings?

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

In the short-term, the Cravers get super-planets from their overexploitation. But in the long-run this isn't sustainable and they'll pay the price. Thus they must take advantage of their early statistical strength to conquer the galaxy so they'll never run of depletable planets (or at least never run out before they win). Peace equals a future of starvation and backwardness for the insatiable Cravers.

ZERG

RUSH

If the game's objectives had more to do with peace it'd be fascinating to see how this civ would work there

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Each population type in ES2 generates specific bonus yields, Horatio himself is +3 Food (on any planet), and +2 Approval on Hot planets.

+2 Approval on Hot Planets

Oh Horatio.

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The real issue for Horatio, is you have to sacrifice 2 population of the same kind of non-Horatio to splice in its genes. And each subsequent splice costs an additional 2 population (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12...), so you do have to choose your splices carefully, and cultivate those whom you wish to use for later splices.

• Horatio may also wish to go to war. What are neighbors, if not more DNA? (And yes, as weird as it sounds, gameplay > lore in this case. You can splice the immaterial Vodyani and Umbral Choir into Horatio, both being difficult to acquire, but offer amazing bonuses.)

The cultivation is pretty dang messed up, imagine living under that rule, hearing rumours of it?

Splicing in hive minds. What could go wrong?

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

-While Horatio might not be strong at first, with enough gene splicing enhancing him, Horatio will become a super-population unparalleled. Did I mention they slipped in a voice clip where Horatio says a certain four word phrase written on hats of a certain color (but with "America" replaced by "Horatio")? I'm not joking.

  Sounds about right.

6 hours ago, Armagon said:

Harris nomination by next week.

Wait, he's already Taoisea-

You mean the US one. Ah.

Or is this about Biden calling her Trump?

[Codename Shrimp]

10 hours ago, Armagon said:

Harris nomination by next week.

Harris would be a very bad choice. She has always been super unpopular no?

[Armagon]

4 hours ago, Dayni said:

Or is this about Biden calling her Trump?

It was about Biden calling Zelenskky Putin.

Admittedly he did correct himself but it's increasingly becoming Joever.

1 hour ago, Codename Shrimp said:

Harris would be a very bad choice. She has always been super unpopular no?

She is but a few things:

1. Quite a few Democrats, including big names like Pelosi and Schumer, are calling for him to step aside.

2. The elections have devolved to the point of entertainment so like "prosecutor vs convicted felon" would unironically have an effect.

3. Harris does poll better than Trump (although polling is weird, whoever it's coming from wants me to believe New fucking York is going battleground). And senators and reps from blue states and even some redder ones I think have much more support. The problem is literally Biden's age.

4. Trump hasn't actually increased his support. His support is more or less the same. He lost the popular vote both times and his base has only died off since then. The issue is about the Dems retaining and increasing support and this is mostly because of we have the worst electoral system in the world. Doesn't matter if Biden wins the most overall votes because he probably will, all it takes is Trump to win a few specific states.

5. Passing it off to Harris makes it easy because the campaign infrastructure is already built. Passing it on to anyone else forces them to restart from square one.

6. Apparently the Trump team actually wants Biden to stay in the race, suggesting things would be bad for Trump if he goes up against someone else.

Edited July 12 by Armagon

[Interdimensional Observer]

4 hours ago, Dayni said:

Wait, are they able to build inside other civs? Okay, that is cool.

Indeed, great idea for the stealth faction.😄

Pairs nicely with their hacking (espionage) focus. Since you have to hack starting from a planetary system you inhabit and the time a hacking operation takes is dependent on distance. You can hack your enemies' non-peripheral systems much easier with the Choir.

4 hours ago, Dayni said:

If the game's objectives had more to do with peace it'd be fascinating to see how this civ would work there

Conquest -own a certain number of the galaxy's planetary systems- and Supremacy -own all the Home Systems- are only 2/6 of the victory possibilities. Score is your usual "decides who wins if you reach the turn limit" victory. Economic is "generate a certain total amount of money over the course of the entire game" (kinda bland). Science is "research the four "*X of the Endless" technologies. Wonder is "build X number of Obelisks of All Space-Time", which take a lot of Industry and good quantities of resources to build.

The Umbral Choir is actually more suited for staying in the shadows and going for a peaceful victory than war. And Horatio can do whatever he wants once he's spliced up enough. -The Cravers are like the most pigeonholed towards specific victory type(s).

4 hours ago, Dayni said:

Splicing in hive minds. What could go wrong?

Things go wrong before you can even start splicing.😛

You see, every Major Faction Quest casts you as a specific character. For Horatio, it's Emperor Horatio Prime, the genius who came up this magnificent society. -Or not. You see, at the very start of the Quest, Prime decides to hold a banquet attended by Horatio Four and Horatio Five, the two surviving clones from the first successful batch, who unlike the other clones, looks absolutely identical to Prime. During the banquet, Four, with Five's tacit support, declares himself Horatio Prime and commences a successful coup. Thus, your perspective character is Four pretending to be Prime. -But it makes no difference to Horatio society. Since Horatio as I said before, was able to clone his personality into his copies. Yes Horatio overthrew Horatio, but the empire remains practically the same, and Horatio still reveres Horatio, all he wanted was his job.

4 hours ago, Dayni said:

I hate Yakuza.

For clarification, I'm on about the Spider boss in Fusion.

I'm pretty sure practically everyone does.😀 

[Acacia Sgt]

7 hours ago, Dayni said:

Splicing in hive minds. What could go wrong?

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

I don't recall Fleed being an implicitly queer mech designer.

-Now this unlocks.

And I already have the full Grendizer parts set (and if you're using Gren', you have to equip the whole thing, you can't mix & match other parts with the licensed mechs).

-I don't have MaZ parts though, and I'm pretty sure I saw Grendizer using Double Haken in a trailer, but I don't have that either just yet.

I set Grendizer to one of the 30 Preset slots, which allow you to save setups you like, so I can tool it out properly later. I swapped back to Musashi afterwards.

Of no surprise at all Megaton Musashi is set in Japan. Though now it's connected to the Asian mainland b/c of the aliens messing with the planet?

Also, that dark big blue to the east of the country, must be the big hole the aliens bore through the Earth. So the donut hole took a big bite out the Pacific Ocean (and probably some of Oceania), ...and what would be missing on the opposite end? A huge chunk of the Atlantic and maybe some of West Africa?

The Rogues' designs lean Super, so Iron Wall is obviously best.

-Temporary boosts. Sacrifice is Attack Up Defense Down, Iron Wall is Defense Up Attack Down, and Survival is gradual healing which also affects nearby allies.

SRX?

-As the icon shows, it's shockwave projectiles, not a jump-in-the-air-then-downward-diagonal-kick.

...And this ain't even the entire grid!  -Of equipment modifiers, motherboard components, and Special Moves.

Call it hardware engineering, call it Tetris.

...So, in total, Rogue customization involves:

• A frame consisting of Body, R Arm, L Arm, and Legs parts.
• Six weapons- three Melee and three Ranged. Each with one physical and one elemental attribute.
• Four Special Moves, each again with two attributes.
• Modifier chips for passive boosts, up to three of which can be installed in each equipped weapon and frame part.
• A Motherboard, into which the Special Moves are inserted, and which provides yet more passive bonuses.
• You can also change out the Rogue's pilot. The game tells me that, although haven't unlocked any boosts yet, each pilot does provide their own combat bonuses of some kind.
  • While some Rogues allow for up to three pilots, the game tells me that the two subs contribute nothing gameplay-wise. MM must've realized that subs have zero drawbacks in SRW and "corrected" for that.

...It's a lot to keep in mind.😆 (Also, I think I'll prefer undocking the Switch when customizing, all the important font is kinda small.) Thankfully, auto-equip exists and has a number of different options as to what the game will keep in mind when auto-rearming.

I did one story battle, two optional ones, did some parts swapping. Saved and stopped right before commencing the next story battle. Plot was seen, a good bit of it setting up other characters outside of the initial Gettery trio.

[Acacia Sgt]

30 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

And I already have the full Grendizer parts set (and if you're using Gren', you have to equip the whole thing, you can't mix & match other parts with the licensed mechs).

That would've looked so wicked, hahaha.

Though reminds me, there's a SRW manga that actually did something like this. It takes place during Alpha 2, where the heroes fight a Zonder that is a Frankenstein's Monster image of various mechas. They beat it, Mamoru purifies it, the usual. Except the kicker is that the Zonder... was Ryusei! Being salty that he missed out on appearing in Alpha 2, so he ended up a target of the Primevals and got Zonderised. Despite the plot, the manga is actually on the comedy side (just the fact they're fourth-wall breaking with the whole 'SRX Team sans Viletta not in Alpha 2' is one aspect of it), as it were.

30 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Of no surprise at all Megaton Musashi is set in Japan. Though now it's connected to the Asian mainland b/c of the aliens messing with the planet?

Also, that dark big blue to the east of the country, must be the big hole the aliens bore through the Earth. So the donut hole took a big bite out the Pacific Ocean (and probably some of Oceania), ...and what would be missing on the opposite end? A huge chunk of the Atlantic and maybe some of West Africa?

That looks like two world maps superimposed on each other. Unless it's implying Japan is now landlocked, since it's fully on top the blueish land below?

Edited July 12 by Acacia Sgt