Turn 82: Rushing Drone Improvements
--- Maya ---
“Tell me, are you really giving this your all right now?” Anavi asked.
“Of course I am.” She panted, feeling exhausted after Anavi’s little test on her tech-less fighting. (Which we suck at…)
(It’s less that we suck without our tech and more that all of our techless experience revolves around fighting a middle schooler.) Her inner logic corrected her.
(Yeah, we’d totally be kicking her ass if she was half our size!) Her inner Madness encouraged.
With a nod to herself, she rushed forward to deliver a straight jab at the older woman’s center of mass, only to end up flipped on her back as Anavi caught her punch.
(Then again, we’ve never really beaten Izzy in a fight…)
“Hmm, you’ve drive yes but you’re not really channeling your… adrenaline, you call it here.” Anavit told her as she picked herself off the ground. “When your heart starts beating you become faster, stronger, smarter but only as long as you can keep it beating. Let it slow and you won’t keep up with those whose hearts beat stronger than your own.”
“I don’t know, my heart's beating pretty fast right now.” She argued, hands on her knees.
“Then you’d be smart and use it, rather than talking about it.” Anavi chided her with narrowed eyes.
(Is this what they call tough love, because I’m not sure I like it.)
“Fine, you want me to use it?” She frowned as she stood up.
“Yes, I do.” Anavi nodded.
Feeling her frustration building up, she threw a punch as hard as she could, not really caring if it hit or not before throwing another and another as Anavi slowly switched from dodging and deflecting her blows to blocking them.
“Good, keep going!” The older woman called before throwing a few light jabs at her side. “Keep the adrenaline up, push past the pain, and hit harder.”
“I am.” She growled, throwing her entire weight into a punch that seemed to actually surprise Anavi for a moment, at least until the older woman twisted around her and once more swept her legs out sending her to the ground in a painful heap.
“Very good.” Anavi smiled down at her. “I actually felt that last one, keep that up and you’ll become a proper terror with those fists.”
“Yeah, sure I will…” She groaned, trying to pick herself up only to collapse onto her back as she realized just how tired her muscles were.
Seeing this Anavi grimace, “Ooh, I should probably warn you, pacing yourself is just as important as going all out.” Anavi admitted, looking on with some concern. “Maybe I’m a little rustier at teaching than I thought…”
Scene Consequences
-Maya has gained the [Adrenaline Rush] ability as well as 1XP to [Fighting].
--[Adrenaline Rush]: Costs (X) Stamina. Maya increases all Physical stats by (X) for the rest of this Round but then Decreases them by the same amount for the following round. This can be cast again in the Following Round to prolong the effect, but will prolong the debuff duration as well.
--Currently: Fighting Lv. 8 (4/18)
Tip: Higher Level Skills have more Perks on Anavi’s training table. (Skills under Lv. 4 Don’t have any Perks on the table.)
---
(Out of all the tools we could build isn’t this the least useful?) Her inner child whined in boredom.
“We’re starting to run low on Plastic, giving the DMs the tools to work on that will restock us that much faster once we get them gathering it.” She reminded herself. “Besides I don’t get why you’re bored we’re working on little flamethrowers for them to slag the plastic.”
(They already have little blowtorches to help them gather scrap.) Her inner child pointed out. (Meaning this is redundant.)
“Well these can cut and slag so… there.” She told herself equally as childishly. “Don’t you get started too.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
(Ahem.) Her inner logic coughed, (unsubtly) changing the subject. (Since we’re just about done with this set of tools we can have the LCMs copy it for the other DMs. Meaning that if we’re growing bored with this we can work on something a little more widely productive.)
“Such as?” She prodded.
(Ooh, what if we gave the DM’s their own little backpacks so they can carry more of whatever they’re carrying!) Her inner Madness suggested.
“That’s… not a bad idea.” She admitted with a glance towards her own Grav-Pak.
Scene Consequences
-Drone Minions upgraded to Mk. 1.5.
--DMs will now gather (3*) instead of 1 when gathering plastics.
---*1 Base + 1 Tools + 1 Tools Perk.
--Drone Minions can now be (individually) upgraded to Mk. 2.0.
-Metal Working Lv. 5 (9/12)
---
“Okay, that should do it.” She decided, looking over the circuitry lining the walls of a metal container roughly the size of a tool box. Taking a small wire she connected the box to her COMP and ran some power through it, causing the circuitry to gain a neon glow.
“Alright, Grav Field seems to be holding.” She nodded, looking her scanner over. “Just got to do a physical test now.”
Tossing a couple of coins into the box and outside of it, she had her scanners determine how fast the two fell and happily noted that while the one outside of the box fell with an acceleration of 9.80665 meters per second squared the one inside of the box fell with an acceleration of 4.903325 meters instead.
“And we have now successfully created mini-grav packs for the minions… or a minion.” She corrected, knowing that she was going to have to make more than one of these. (Or get the LCMs to make the other two.) (Really making them earn those food pellets today.) “Regardless, this should help us double their gathering rates.”
(Uh, you’ve kind of forgot something.) Her inner Madness warned her.
“What am I forgetting?” She sighed, knowing that it was just like the voices in her head to wait until the exact moment she was done to tell her about some obvious flaw in her designs.
(Pick up the mini-Grav Pack.)
Seeing where this was going she did that and found that she couldn’t help but frown at what she found. “It’s got a bit of heft but it’s definitely within the DM’s weight limits.” (So I don’t see what the problem is.)
(And what is the current weight limit of our Drone Minions?) Her inner reason asked.
“Like twenty, twenty-five pounds.” She shrugged, figuring that was pretty solid for something the size of a large cat.
(To be more exact it’s ten point seven three kilos or twenty three point six six pounds rounded.)
“Okay…” She nodded.
(How much does the mini-grav-pak weigh?)
She closed her eyes, her face scrunching up as she (finally) realized the problem.
After a quick scan she answered. “Ten point one four pounds.”
(Or four point six kilos, converting to a net carry weight of twelve point two six kilos or twenty seven point zero four pounds depending on your method.)
“Meaning their carry weight has barely increased…” She groaned.
(Well, at least they’ll have an easier time carrying what they do gather?)
Scene Consequences
-Drone Minions upgraded to Mk. 1.6
--DMs now get a +1 to gathering all resources.
---Currently: +2 for Organics and Electronics, and +4 for Plastics and Scrap.
A/N: Realized outright doubling resource gathering was actually kind of broken, so I moved that to part of the [Scavenger Drone] evolution rather than giving it to all Drone types.
-Electronics Lv. 6 (12/14)
---
“Alright, everyone this is your newest sibling, DM-3.” She introduced her latest little Drone Minion to her two older drones once everyone had been recalled to receive their latest upgrades. “DM-3, this is DM-1.”
Her first drone raised both his front legs into the air. “Hello!”
“And this is DM-2.”
Her second drone shyly waved a single leg. “H-hi…”
“Greetings siblings.” DM-3 saluted to his older models.
She took a step back to watch the DMs all interact in a series of mechanical microexpressions that she could just barely understand, the trio seemingly getting along well enough.
“Okay, now that you’ve met your fellow Drones you can meet the LCMs.” She told DM-3 as she gathered her little critters together. “These are the twins 1A and 1B.”
1A gave a refined nod to DM-3 while 1B began waving his arms enthusiastically.
“And this is M2.”
M2 clasped her hands together and gave DM-3 a half bow and what she was pretty sure was the LCM equivalent of a small smile.
“Greetings L.C.M.s.” DM-3 nodded back to the trio before skittering around to her again. “Greetings done. Resume work?”
She blinked. “Uh, don’t you want a break or something? Get to know the others?”
DM-3 shook his head. “Negative.”
“Are you sure?” She frowned.
DM-3 nodded. “Affirmative.”
“Okay, then…”
DM-3 nodded once more before skittering his way out of the lab.
(I suppose he’s not one for parties.) Her inner reason mused.
“Yeah, I guess…”
(Uh, did he just run off without his upgrades? In broad daylight?)
“Oh, sh- Fr- grr.” She grumbled, cutting off several curses as she caught sight of all of her (children) watching her. “Um, I, I need to go get him.”
Scene Consequences
-All Minions are now aware of each other.
-System Update: Drone Hardware Upgrades will have their costs adjusted based on the number of DMs you have. (Finally realized using 2 Scrap to upgrade 3 minions makes no sense.)