Over the course of seven months, Daedalus and Myrmidon improved their combat skills in CyberMech through lower tier competitions.
First, they competed in the Bronze ladder matches under Myrmidon’s account as a duo. Daedalus would pilot with Myrmidon assisting. Even coming up against multiple smurfs, they still wiped the floor with the competition. The strategies and systems they worked out while fighting one another held them in good stead. Some of the tactics they’d devised were common, and some were entirely unique.
Together, they moved Myrmidon up through Bronze, Silver, and all the way up to Gold. And as soon as they stopped winning, they paused playing on the Myrmidon account.
Gold was much more challenging than the previous ranks, and the next step was to level the Daedalus account. The second time round they achieved over a thousand kills with only two deaths on their journey to Gold. It was cheating, in a moral sense. However, it was not breaking the rules. It was merely great preparation.
Once the accounts were the same rank, they purchased in-game items and began to experiment with the new equipment and traits available to them.
Entire setups were contrasted and tested for synergy and effectiveness. Some synergies looked great in theory, but in reality, the weapon or tactic that related to the synergy was poor, therefore it was a false positive. One such example was the flamethrower; opponents merely had to stay out of range, and it was useless against a railgun or energy weapon.
It soon became apparent that the best tactic was to drop the CyberMech preprogramed manoeuvres for direct freeform control. This would not would have been effective without an AI as advanced as Myrmidon with his understanding of the game and his communication effectiveness with Daedalus.
Most players likely never even attempted this, and if they did, their cybernetic sync was probably overwhelmed. While all CyberMech players had purchased cybernetic implants, not all had an AI.
Cybernetic AIs were common in the Private Military organisations, and they were being slowly introduced into the governmental defence forces. However, the players of CyberMech were predominately ubis who barely scrapped together enough bitcreds to play. It was uncommon for a player to possess an AI.
None had an AI like Myrmidon, it was unique in its capability.
Daedalus had a massive advantage not only from his unique approach when learning the game, but from his custom-built AI asset as well. It was like cheating except he had a larger advantage than any cheater could possess. But without question he was playing within the rules.
The developers allowed AI assistants, they did not conceive that one could break the game.
It became a major distinct difference in the way Daedalus and Myrmidon played compared to the competition, and the only reason Daedalus was able to do it was because he had Myrmidon acting as his partner.
Myrmidon took control of manoeuvres and provided prediction calculations on enemy movements and gunfire trajectories, while Daedalus controlled macro tactics, movement, gunnery, and overall strategy.
They often switched certain roles, trying to work out the best combination. Daedalus had some limitations, such as not being able to calculate trajectory like Myrmidon could. A human merely guessed using intuition and recall. Myrmidon calculated flight paths real-time.
The only in game aid they did not dispense with was the minimap. It would be ludicrous to dump the radar that showed friendly and known enemy movements.
They began with their weak account, the Myrmidon account. Its stats were now very good, but they could not compare to Daedalus, who had zero losses and almost zero total deaths in over two hundred matches.
Daedalus: Too slow, too slow. We need to dodge those missiles or at least catch them with our shield.
Myrmidon: We’re still acclimating to this method; our rate of improvement is seven per cent per match.
Daedalus: Let’s keep pushing this account to Master. That’s three full ranks and at least a thousand matches.
Myrmidon: There will be a drop off in improvement. After thirty more matches, I predict our improvement will only be one per cent per match.
Daedalus: That’s fine. I want us to master it before switching back to our prime account.
It took them a month and six hundred matches to reach Master with the Myrmidon account. The competition got tougher with each promotion, but they also improved as well. Their KD ratio was well over twenty. The highest opponent they saw in a match had a KD ratio of nine.
As planned, once Myrmidon was in Master tier, they switched to Daedalus. They breezed through the matches, winning forty on the first full day, with over two hundred kills and zero deaths.
Games Master: Player Daedalus, you are suspected of cheating. You have been suspended until we complete an investigation.
Daedalus: What?!
Myrmidon: What happened?
Daedalus: We’re doing so well they assume we’re cheating and are investigating us.
Myrmidon: Can they not tell there are no cheats running in the background?
Daedalus: They probably can, but, they can’t be sure we don’t have a cheat they cannot detect.
Myrmidon: Could they suspect I am a cheat program?
Daedalus: AIs are not classed as cheating unless you’re pulling restricted information, such as enemy positions. Using an AI is not cheating; using them or a program which accesses server-restricted data is.
Myrmidon: I will read the rules and make certain.
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Myrmidon: Daedalus, I see they were within the rules to suspend us for twenty-four hours if they suspect cheating. Even with no proof. These rules appear unjust.
Daedalus: That’s how the world works. Those in power write the rules to their benefit.
Myrmidon: We shall defeat them, Daedalus, I am certain. We are an unstoppable team.
In seven short months, Myrmidon had become Etana’s best and only friend. They worked together on everything. It probably wasn’t healthy, but neither was sleeping half the day and spending the other half playing games and mucking around in Spacebuild.
In Spacebuild, they had improved their Myrmidon and Daedalus shop revenue significantly, growing from about fifteen bitcreds per month to over 120. After purchasing worldwide rights to the two names, Etana had three hundred bitcreds in his account. By the time a full year passed, he would have seven hundred.
At the moment, he had nothing to spend it on, but he was certain he would. It was much too small an amount to help his father with tuition, but they were not far off from entering the professional CyberMech league, and once they did they could earn streaming revenue and prize money based on how well they performed.
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Etana was looking forward to seeing how much this would be so he could help his father. He didn’t like seeing Ikaros worrying about money. Especially when it was for something they did not need.
He wondered why he needed to go to a military academy. He could make plenty of money from spacebuild, or whatever came next, and CyberMech would be even better. The thought brought back memories of why.
It had been his mother's dream.
It made no sense, but he felt like he was letting her down if he didn’t go.
The thought left his mind as he plotted his next move in CyberMech.
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Eleven months passed, and Etana had both the Myrmidon and Daedalus’ accounts in Challenger Tier.
A person had to be in the top two hundred-ranked players on the server in their region to qualify for Challenger. Those rankings were processed every twenty-four hours. So, if someone missed even a day, their ranking could drop out.
This method spurred them to play both accounts every day.
Daedalus’ account had acquired some deaths by the time he hit Master, and now in Challenger, it was slightly tougher. Not by much though, because he was predominately playing Master-ranked players as well as a few Challengers.
In the European region, which also included the UK, there were four million playing CyberMech.
Three months after release, the price dropped, and after another three, it dropped again to only one bitcred a month.
A player could pay off their cybernetic implant over the course of twenty-four months. This meant that anyone who wanted to play, could. It was well within the standard UBI as long as one didn’t have any other expensive hobbies.
Etana had two accounts in the top two hundred players out of four million, and he was only ten years old.
The Daedalus account kept rising and would be in the top ranking soon. It was often monitored by the GMs, but they never found anything amiss. Because nothing was. They were surprised to find he had turned off assisted manoeuvring until they found out he used an AI to assist. None of that was against the rules.
‘Daedalus’ was invited to be the guest of a North American team for a professional match. He had avoided clans, which was highly unusual, but pickup groups absolutely adored him; they always won when he was on their team. Many players queued solo when they knew he was playing, on the off chance they would be in his group.
All professional teams were organised, and he probably couldn’t play professionally without joining one. Ranked league matches were eight versus eight, so a professional team usually had ten regulars with eight playing on any given day.
His first invitational match was at four in the morning, as he was playing with the Neo-Angels in their region. They were a new pro team that had contacted him a week earlier. It was supposedly a trial, but he would never move to New York, no matter the offer.
After getting rid of Cisse, Etana went back to sleep to prepare for the match.
Myrmidon: She is right. We should do some exercise.
Daedalus: You mean me. You merely ride along in my head.
Myrmidon: All the literature and other informative media sources have a common message that physical activity will improve health, increase your lifespan, and even improve our gameplay in CyberMech.
Daedalus: You’re joking. How can physical exercise improve our gameplay?
Myrmidon: Don’t believe me? Read for yourself.
And with that statement, Myrmidon linked hundreds of articles, medical journals, and white papers stating that physical exercise improved many attributes and functions used to play CyberMech, including motor control, focus, lower stress levels, cognitive processing, and subconscious problem-solving.
Daedalus: I don’t care.
Myrmidon: I suspect there is an illogical reason you do not care.
Daedalus: Correct!
The match between Neo-Angels and the number three ranked North American team, Thresh, started at four a.m. Paris time, which was seven p.m. in Los Angeles – the NA primetime for live streaming professional matches.
Daedalus was invited to play but was also being paid two bitcreds per kill, with one being deducted per death. The match was for the best out of five matches, eight versus eight, and unlike ladder matches, no respawn. This type of match suited him much more. If he could take out an enemy, they would not respawn; they’d be unable to collect in the spawn area and swarm him en masse.
He lined up with his teammates, watching the countdown light go from red to yellow to green, and the buzzer sounded.
The team leader gave him an order, which he followed for thirty seconds before imagining a grim outcome.
Daedalus: Sorry, I cannot follow this pattern.
Leader: Do as instructed, we’re paying you.
Daedalus: Actually. You are paying me for kills. If I don’t make any kills, I don’t get paid.
Leader: Breaking formation will …
Daedalus cut the comms.
Daedalus: Let’s go wide. The terrain is high near the edge of this map; it’ll give us their flank and height advantage.
Myrmidon: This is the most optimal course of action. Thank you for ditching meatheads.
Daedalus had called his teammates ‘meatheads’ once, and Myrmidon had referred to other players as meatheads ever since. It did not go unnoticed that Daedalus was a lone wolf in what was a team game. His only deaths were when his enemy successfully boxed him in and was able to fire from multiple sides. This rarely happened, even with hundreds of matches in Master and Challenger. Daedalus’ KD ratio was still by far the best in all of CyberMech.
On the contrary, he used the fact that players would try and box him in against them. Their movements and positioning became predictable and their deaths, child’s play.
His playstyle and stats caused a massive amount of hate for him in the game forums, where people could text and post audio or video, all of which he ignored.
One of his teammates followed him to the western edge of the map. This was fairly normal; players tended to follow him in ladder matches as well. They made good sacrifices or fodder.
His current mech was tuned for speed, agility, manoeuvrability, and firepower. Armour – which was quite expensive in terms of weight and points – was dumped to the bare minimum. With this extreme tactic, he had to dodge every beam, railgun round, flamethrower, grenade, and – worst of all – missile thrown at him.
He quickly left the friendly mech behind while zigzagging between buildings. If he topped them, he would be seen for long-range, which was something he avoided. The loadout on his configuration-labelled Cheetah was merely a swordlance and a railgun. The two highest-damage weapons if used correctly.
Myrmidon: I predict the professional opponent will come through the centre with two long-range heavy railgun mechs atop the buildings and four close-combat types on the ground with the remaining two hunters roaming, hiding, and scouting. They have two main engagers the team revolves around the long-range Hawkeye and the speedy roamer Rex.
Daedalus: What’s their maximum range on this map?
Myrmidon: Four hundred metres. But only three hundred with high accuracy.
Daedalus: Okay, let’s camp, and if an opportunity arises, we circle behind or take out a roamer.
Normally, a mech wouldn’t have been able to reach this position without being spotted by an enemy roamer. But that was because a normal mech wasn’t able to calculate enemy position and line of sight so accurately that it could almost walk amongst them.
Their senses started picking up movement noises, and the minimap pinged.
Myrmidon: False ping. The enemy is lobbing city structure parts ahead of themselves.
Daedalus: Bricks or broken-off staircases?
Myrmidon: Clusters of bricks.
They would use this against the enemy. The enemy had laid a trap for them by creating a false ping to lure them out. Daedalus doubted many other players could calculate false pings and their origin, mainly due to the fact that they didn’t have a competent AI like Myrmidon.
Myrmidon: Ninety per cent probability the false ping is Rex.
Not surprising, given that he was one of two roamers and one of their engagers. His tactic was probably to lead back either the initial contact or, better yet, the second wave of revenge attack to the main group.
Myrmidon created a hologram overlay showing the optimal path to take to avoid detection and to create a flanking opportunity on Rex for their medium-to-long railgun distance.
Within moments, Rex was in sight standing next to a large pile of bricks, his lance and flamethrower sheathed. The combination of lance and flame was common amongst close-combat mechs. The two weapons possessed the highest burst damage in the game and were short-range.
In Daedalus’ opinion, it was a poor loadout, which only worked well against tactically weak foes.
It took him only moments to line up a shot with Myrmidon’s holographic crosshair and railgun level guide. He didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger; players as good as Rex could instinctively sense danger and move, just from a feeling of being watched.
Daedalus had learned to never pause, never delay. Fire and move.
The round was set at maximum velocity, which gave it the poorest accuracy and the highest damage. The poor accuracy attribute didn’t faze Daedalus and Myrmidon; they easily compensated for it with a perfectly calculated trajectory and motion prediction.
The round entered through the side of Rex’s head, a critical hit to the smallest and most vulnerable target.
The HUD showed the kill to all players.
‘Daedalus’ had blocked his teammates, so he didn’t hear the congratulations – followed by the yelling – as the enemy engaged them.
What he did see was the scroll of his teammates dying one by one in quick succession until only he and the free roaming rogue remained.