If I had to guess, they use a second type of science goop to fix the problems created by the first type of science goop. That also creates problems, but luckily there's a third type of science goop for those...
Boom tubes are also uniquely superior to power ring transit in that the default version can take you directly to anywhere in the setting - including pocket dimensions, the Dream, the Phantom Zone, the Source Wall, and various afterlives. Probably the Hondens as well. As far as I can tell, the only places they can't go without help are the past, the future, and differently-numbered alternate realities (though I wouldn't be surprised if they can at least connect the positive and negative sides of the same universe)
I'm pretty sure the Renegade has used Boom Tubes to go to Earth 50, and they can indeed be blocked, though usually by the metaphysique of another New God, and only in some circumstances.
I think there's only supposed to be one of those?
That's rough, buddy.
Thank you, corrected.
Still, get a clean hit on just about any unshielded bot and they're out of the fight. Unfortunately, I suspect most of the dangerous bots do have shielding strong enough to make it difficult, not that they'll let him have the moment needed to try.
And the miniguns the bots seem to be using as standard wouldn't have much trouble with the tanker's armour, either. So not useful as mobile cover.
Not that she'd be leaving with him either way, given her mainframe's size.
Better to have a voice on the inside, so to speak.
Ah, the lovely sound of hundreds of bullets in rapid succession.
Heh. Not easy to make them all that stable on two legs, so...
...They can be knocked over easily enough. Even with big stompy boots.
Combat looting at its' finest. Gun too slow to reload? Just grab another one off the ground!
Heh. And now some jury-rigging, eh? All those little-used talents getting a workout.
...Right, silly question.
Heh, she's not that dumb, eh? Pity she has to turn all those smarts to such a frivolous goal.
...and I just said she isn't that dumb...
Marginally better! At least for the initial turns.
Because of course it repaired its static defences the first chance it got.
Although, with good reflexes and a little applied telekinesis, you could probably bull-rush one into scrap...
No doubt securing weapons and fighting their way out as we speak, hopefully.
And there's the useful aspect of having a voice on the inside.
In other words, expect heavy resistance. A minigun might not cut it against the big lads.
Hopefully they don't have that many miniguns to go around, so you'll face some only wielding assault rifles...
Only...Damn, place is a deathtrap.
Might want to yoink that gun if you get the chance, it'll probably be more useful against some bots.
Grace under fire, at least. Telekinesis is such a useful power...
Also making it harder for the Calculator to track you, to some degree. Place is probably wired out the wazoo with cameras, but if it sees bot after bot going dark whenever they meet you... Might make it sweat, figuratively speaking.
Glad she's so confident in Krono's skills.
Okay, now what.
...Umm, bad news on that front.
Yeah, that about sums your position up, buddy.
Perhaps 'headset' there?
The Scurry Robot flies though the air and smashes it to wreckage!
"at me"
Thank you, corrected.
Typo spotted.
Thank you, corrected.
You hope, anyway. No telling what the Calculator can keep Doki from knowing, if he's plugged into her systems like that. Hell, we know he can use her voice. What's to stop him tricking Krono into a trap... And he's going to do exactly that, isn't he?
Honestly, he's quite reasonably annoyed, you know. I doubt he asked to have his brain gently removed from his head and shoved into a tube like this...
...Putting him in total sensory isolation for god knows how long until he can be retrieved...
Perhaps even clone a human body at some point, or acquire some near-human androids from that one place in the northeast? From Fallout 4?
Either way, he needs to stop being linked to Calculator, and giving him the choice is nice of Krono.
Hope you're right, or he might be in for a low death from oxygen starvation...
And there's always the possibility of making mental contact to help him not go nuts.
On the other hand, it's telling him exactly where you (or one of your allies) last were. Assuming he has security overwatch.
Ah, the old 'subrooms radiating out form a central one' design logic.
Onward,s then!
...Right into a trap. Great.
Ow, right in the face. He can regrow his eyes, right?
Even worse if you can feel bone through the meaty bits, though. At least it isn't that badly burnt.
Lucky. I suspect even he'd have trouble breathing through an ersatz tracheotomy.
And Krono can't even work out a code-phrase with Doki, because Calculator knows everything she does.
Right, it's not going to stop moving because you're taking a moment to think. No tactical pause here!
Gonna have to do this Daredevil-style until he can fix up his eyeballs.
Ah, Fallout medical technology. Rapid healing in a syringe.
...Possibly not even then, I would suspect.
AoE beats DPS, in this case.
Well, at least he'll be able to see soon enough. Hey, Han Solo got pretty far with 'it's all a blur', right?
Thankfully, it'll get better. Tough luck for any tattoos he might have had, though.
...Doki, Keep in mind he got his eyes melted out. Vocal directions, please.
Oh, yes. that's a killing ground. For which side remains to be seen.
First rule of room-to-room: Never fill the doorway with your very-not-bulletproof ass.
Sounds like it's time for a handy distracting rock toss...
...Or mobile cover. Sadly, the walls aren't exactly the kind you can shoot through, so no wall-banging here, 'Rainbow Six: Siege'-style
Smart enough not to waste bullets, I see, even if they have a couple of thousand rounds in the box.
Vision's coming back nicely, at least. And one upside of regrowing your eyes, any optical issues might have corrected themselves.
Thankfully, the turrets aren't that smart, unless Calculator is micromanaging them.
This could take a while. Be sure to keep count of your ammo...
love it when it's simple like that
The original success rate was zero percent. So it went up by 0.000297% to a new rate of... 0.000297%.
I think that should say "they're".
Of course it's unnatural. This is a place solely of Avarice, and here you are dragging all that other emotion through it. Amazed the Ophidian isn't grumping at you through your connection. Then again, the wards probably minimise her sense of the intrusion.
And then you or the Ophidian would consume them.
Presumably using the rescued subject as a source for comparison?
It's all about ego, really. The knowledge of having power over someone, the ability to see their discomfort and realisation of that fact.
Because all things will eventually be Reach, so why hate them for their foolish, unknowing resistance?
Man, what must it be like inside the ship? I assume all external monitoring is offline to prevent any psychological trauma, but knowing that you're elsewhere...
...And I can't help but picture the re-emergence as something like the Highliner ships in Dune, especially the Lynch version: A slow fade back into material essence, tinted a little orange.
And the local Reach forces are probably panicking right now at the sudden appearance of a known hostile in their atmosphere.
Foolish, but NEMO doesn't exactly target civilians anyway. barring the occasional 'toss something at the planet' stuff Lanterns and the Effigy team do.
Makes for a quiet day, really. Not much they can do otherwise, especially if something drops on them.
Probably doesn't want to upset the subjects.
Heh. I get the feeling they'll be called on to do this more often now that Xor can also greediport.
It's your dancefloor, Marty. Bust a move.
Entirely reasonable concern, given the last time NEMO did this. Though not so deep in Reach territory.
No fooling around here. At least they get to enjoy making some noise.
A somewhat risky strike into deep Reach territory. No doubt the analysts who look over this will assume it was a test of their ability to penetrate that far and escape... At least before they go for the 'test subjects'.
Certainly, they can disrupt enemy facilities, making the response more difficult.
And what if they realise that's your primary target? Suddenly the diversionary force faces the bulk of the defence. Bad way to lose people.
To be fair, the subjects are probably considered replaceable. It'd be expensive to do so, but losing them won't impair the project much... Set it back for a couple of generations, but other than that...
Heh. Manipulating their desires does seem like that, doesn't it?
I mean, they're only Reach troops. No loss if he messes up? Unless they come at the team harder.
So, to some degree, they can't help but fidget?
Nudging them into a bit of a 'eh, it's no big problem. I'm sure someone will handle it...' in most of them, I suspect.
To be fair, they'd probably want to capture you if they could anyway, out of curiosity. This just makes that urge stronger.
Let's hope the next time we hear from them, the result isn't 'Turns out it wasn't.'
Hopefully they can coordinate or communicate better this time.
And now the action begins.
Thank you, corrected.
Stray bullet, huh? I suppose that's a danger, even if the tanks are armoured. And it's not like Krono has the luxury of checking his backstop in these tight quarters. And the robots aren't even going that far to minimise damage in their attempts to kill him...
Just imagine how fast you could take care of paperwork in this form. And no getting a tired or sore hand.
Safe bet Doki was the one talking about Diana. Any chance for romance, after all.
Why not all of the above? A flying battle craft that spits out attack drones?
Well, he does have big protagonist energy, complete with 'just won't die' perk.
Best to go with stairs, at least those you could levitate your way down.
One now, by the sound of it. Always pays to pre-emptively take out threats.
That must be loud. Good thing his ears can heal.
He probably has repair drones hidden about the place. Designed to only emerge when safe.
He's confident, I'll give him that. Sadly, he's also reading the room wrong.
...I wonder what could be made of him if they can disable said protocol?
Just like you are, Cal... There are no proper authorities as your protocols define them. And they can't be modified. Really bad lack of foresight on the developers.
...And you can't extend that to other groups? Deputise people to help 'rebuild America' or something?
Of course they would. Because why would you stand in the way of rebuilding America?
...Well, at least he's a polite crazy AI.
To be fair, most people can't survive the kind of 'being shot in the face' that Krono got. Heck, he was lucky he survived.
Presumably a robot assembly plant above, or some form of hangar for repairs.
Though you'll probably have to piece them together, since I doubt the bots are going to cooperate.
For a given value of 'reconquer American territory in the name of Democracy', though...
Thank goodness her scatter-brained nature is disrupting his ability o focus on his primary task, then.
So best to wait for the doors and catch them in the classic 'fuck you' of door-to-door combat: The doorway chokepoint.
Enough talk, have at you! Only thing missing is a smashing wineglass.
And I doubt Krono has much cover where he is.
That's probably his advantage in this shoot-out. Telekinesis is handy for quick changes of direction or forcing enemies off-target.
Since compared to the heavy machineguns, that's a manageable threat.
Ah, bonus. that'll hurt plasma guy nicely.
Just try not to blow up the power pack, you're gonna want that intact.
Ouch. At least it's still connected. ...Mostly? (The joy of watching stuff like Kentucky Ballistics: You get a good idea of what hydrodynamic shock can do thanks to gel dummies.)
At least a couple of them are down now, and you're whittling away at their numbers.
One left. Easy kill.
Now to piece yourself back together.
...Oh, craaap.
Oh, hey, it's the Wasteland's second most eligible bachelor. Looking just a bit bigger.
...Calculator would see me doing that and initiate an attack while I was distracted.
Should be either 'doors open' or 'door opens'...
I dive across the front of the lift as hard as I can...
...and hit the Sentinel Command Slave directly.
