Building Types
Sustenance-Related Buildings:
[1 Unit] Water Filtration [1 Core]
Food Processing [1 Core if Automated]
[1 Unit] Kitchen
[1 Unit] Monster Processing [1 Core]
Mariculture Farming [1 Core if Automated)
Medicine [3 Cores]
Crafting-Related Buildings:
Armor Smith [1 Core]
Weapon Smith [1 Core]
Skill Crafting [1 Core]
Magic Tool Shop [1 Core]
Living Facilities:
Restrooms
Showers
Lodging
Common Room
Training Room [1 Core]
Compressor [1 Core]
Defensive Facilities:
Moats
[1 Unit] Regenerative Coral Wall [1 Core]
Turrets [1 Core if Automated]
Specialty Facilities:
Portal [10 Cores]
Trade Hub [2 Cores]
Shipyard [5 Cores]
Garage [5 Cores]
Communication Center [3 Cores]
Energy Production [5 Cores]
Repair Facility [3 Cores]
Total Core Value: 3 Cores.
Base Related Faction wide bonuses [Units rounded up to base 1% until 10 cores reached]:
* 1% increased water traveling speed.
* 1% increased reproduction speed for aquatic lifeforms.
“So how many cores do we have left?” Chedderfield asked as he looked over the building list at the hub with the group, prompting Archimedes, who had been holding the remaining cores from Brad’s base, to pull them out and put them on the table everyone was sitting around.
“After the monster processing facility yesterday?” Archimedes replied, “We have nine cores left over. What do you want to do with them?”
“I would love to build that armor-smithing option,” Danielle answered. “Or a trade hub. I just want access to something besides a cotton t-shirt and a college sweater for defense. You know, in case a giant arrow impales me from across the street.”
“You know, we could use thick layers of folded paper to make you a suit of paper armor,” Emma said. “I saw MythBusters do it. It was so cool.”
“Did you watch long enough to know how to actually do it?” Lucy asked.
“No, I only saw the beginning of the episode but . . .”
“Excuse me,” Chip interjected meekly. He had been very busy trying to translate the discussion to both the otters and the lizardmen, who were also gathered around the aquarium base hub. “Chi Chi says that Goku and the other otters are willing to make their style of armor to help their rulers, but before they can dedicate time and effort to such a laborious and time-consuming task such as armor crafting, they will need assurances that their safety will be guaranteed.”
“That’s not a problem. Haven’t we been keeping the little guys safe already?” Archimedes asked.
Chedderfield added. “If they’re going to be building armor anyway, I agree with Danielle, we should invest a core into the armor shop.”
“And that will trigger a wave—so more cards for us to gather without having to go out as far while hunting,” Archimedes murmured as he nodded.
“If you build it, they will come,” Lucy whispered, quoting the Field of Dreams line.
“You mean it will trigger another giant wave composed of anything in range of the base,” Danielle corrected, ignoring the line from Lucy. “Enemies aren’t just cards. They’re risks too.”
“Yeah . . .” Chedderfield frowned. “If the wave is too big, we could lose people again.”
“We could build turrets first then?” Nguyen suggested. “That way all of us don’t need to stick around to help defend the place, and any wave after we finish building the turrets will just be that much easier. Two birds, one stone, and the otters will be appeased.”
“Oh, and maybe that wall could be upgraded too,” Danielle suggested. “That damn thing was a pain in the rear to get through to begin with. I think it was a dolphin-specific base advantage since the wall options we have as humans aren’t good. Even at the college campus, the wall wasn’t great. It must be something to do with their normal natural environment.”
“Maybe that medical facility too? We should provide universal healthcare for our citizens. It’s only proper if we’re establishing a kingdom,” Danielle suggested and then added, “Klingons are really big on good dental.”
“Why don’t we add in vision benefits too?” Lucy said sarcastically, and then when Archimedes gave her a funny look, she added, “What? You couldn’t see me saying that? Though seeing our little friendly faction with glasses . . .”
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“OMG. That would be so cute. Little otters with glasses,” Emma squealed enthusiastically.
Nguyen snapped her fingers. “Let’s focus, people. I know it’s early, and we don’t have coffee, but try not to get sidetracked. We do a wall upgrade first, then a turret, and then we get the armor smith built, and if we have a few cores leftover-- we can do other things.”
“No water filtration?” Chedderfield asked.
“I checked. The dolphins already installed it. One less issue we have to deal with,” Archimedes added before turning to Chip to inquire, “Can you ask them how many cores that’s going to take and if they have an issue with any of that? It’s not a different price for us building stuff and them doing it, is it? I know we’re kind of forcing the choices on them, but they are our cores.”
Chip nodded before turning and speaking to the otters. After a moment, he turned back and raised his thumb awkwardly like a kid who had just learned what the sign meant. “They are most thankful you are willing to contribute so much. They say that the wall can be upgraded further for only two cores, but it will provide a significant height and thickness bonus as well as increase the wall’s regenerative and tentacle abilities. Each of their turrets will cost one core, and the armorsmith will only cost one core as well. From my experience working with the sirrušu, if you build one turret at the center of the base, at the highest point possible, it can be further upgraded for an additional two cores to turn into a deadlier, longer-range gun that can cover a great swath of ground. The choices for the exact form it will take vary depending on the faction, I assume, but I would recommend starting with that. I am sure you can recall the efficacy of the giant white flame mortar turret of the sirrušu camp.”
“Okay. So we agree on the upgrades?” Archimedes asked.
“Almost everyone,” Chip said, motioning his head toward the two-thousand-pound alligator’s enclosure. “I remember him requesting that we expand the swamp habitat. That won’t require a core though. So everyone here agrees then?”
“Wait, wait, I have one more question,” Danielle said, stopping everyone as they began to stand up. “The waves. How exactly do they work? If we trigger one wave by upgrading something, that just draws nearby enemies right? Is there a danger of triggering a second or third wave then? Shouldn’t we have already killed off all the nearby enemies after we triggered the first wave?”
This question reminded Chedderfield of something he’d been wondering. Specifically, why did the college kids’ base, which had been upgraded multiple times, get hit with the dvixians during that one upgrade?
“The system does not tolerate peace and tranquility. If there are no enemies, it will find them,” Chip’s cryptic words were spoken in a much more somber tone than his usual upbeat squeak.
“Welp. That’s comforting. Turrets first then,” Archimedes said somewhat sarcastically as he handed Chedderfield the cores.
Chedderfield selected the option to build a turret tower on top of the center of the base. One of the cores that had been placed on the base hub disappeared, and a notification appeared.
Selection confirmed. Scanning location for materials . . .
Materials needed detected . . .
Beginning construction. Estimated time to completion: 7 minutes, 32 seconds.
All opposing factions within 100 feet of the base have been notified of the new construction. Please be advised: The construction may be halted at any moment if the creatures reach the contested zone. The contested zone will be marked in yellow. If enemy faction members can occupy the yellow zone for 30 seconds, all construction will be terminated, and resources will not be refunded. Please enjoy struggling for our entertainment.
“Oh, frak. I wanted to hand out some of the cards we got from the fight the other day. Who wants fire breath from those giant turtle things?” Danielle said, showing the skill description to the group.
Fire Breath
Current Classification: Bronze
Current Level: 01
Ability: The user can release a breath attack in front of them. The range of the attack is determined by the user’s agility; the damage is determined by the user’s constitution.
Warning: The fire produced by this skill will hurt the user as well after it leaves the mouth.
“I already have acid breath, and it’s pretty good up to about fifteen feet,” Chedderfield noted.
“My slots are all filled up,” Nguyen said, causing Archimedes to snicker at the accidental double entendre. Nguyen, hearing the snicker, shot him a sidelong glare in response as Lucy snorted from the side.
“Oh, I want it!” Emma raised her hand quickly.
“Hell no! We are not giving you the ability to spit fire. You can’t even be trusted with a simple gun,” Lucy quickly objected.
“Well, what about you?” Danielle asked. “I’m not going to get close enough to anyone to use that skill, hopefully, but you will.”
“I would, but I don’t have a third skill slot, and I ain’t changing what I already have. It works. I just need another point or two to hit twelve in the mind stat,” Lucy said, tapping her head with a finger.
“Oh, that explains so much,” Emma said with a smile.
“So, no one’s gonna get mad if I take it?” Archimedes asked, looking around the group. There were no objections, and he took the card from Danielle.
“Well, if that’s done, there should be a monster wave waiting for us just outside the building. We probably need to get going like . . . a minute ago,” Nguyen said, prompting the group to draw their weapons and run out of the room toward the outskirts of the base.
———
For the first minute they were outside, it was quiet. There wasn’t a single sight or sound of monsters as they scanned the vicinity in every direction.
“You see anything yet?” Chedderfield called out as he stood outside of the aquarium, facing the World of Soda cola factory conveniently placed right next to the aquarium.
“Not this side,” Nguyen responded from the southern part atop the building. “Danielle, you see anything?”
“I got nothing but— Chedderfield, be careful! Something is coming right at you!” Danielle shouted from the northern side of the rooftop
Chedderfield was confused for a moment as he tried to figure out what was going on, not seeing a single thing around him despite Danielle’s warning, but then it hit him quite literally right in his samurai chest armor. It was something small and annoying but powerful enough to make him take a step back as it did 18 damage.
“What the hell was that?!” Chedderfield cursed as he saw the sky light up with two red beams from Nguyen and Danielle respectively, who were both atop the building and firing at something just outside of the soda factory, which was only about a thousand feet away.
“That’s a hit!” Nguyen exclaimed, and Chedderfield saw two tiny cards floating above what had, at first glance, just looked like a regular patch of concrete sidewalk.
Following the kill, Chedderfield noticed two distant creatures with gray fur and black and white markings on their snouted faces scurry off on four legs into the World of Soda building. He was just about to give chase when he heard Archimedes cry out from the southern end of the aquarium.
“Southern flank! We got a big wave!” Archimedes yelled. “Two hundred at least! And when did they get FREAKING ZOMBIE DOGS THE SIZE OF GREAT DANES?! We could use some backup!”
“Dammit . . . what the hell was that?” He watched as the coral wall reacted to the attack, its tendrils extending and stretching like tentacles to snap at the dozen or so zombies drawn in by the construction.
Archimedes was in the center of the street wielding his spear and defending a glowing silver circle on the asphalt where his turret was being warped into the fight. The others—Lucy, the lizardmen, and Emma had spread out around the building preparing to take on the oncoming wave of monsters.
Chedderfield rushed forward, activating Meat Slam and forming a thin semi-transparent layer of protective rock over his skin. He plowed through two zombies, slamming into a third and sending it flying back. He didn't stop, activating Meat Slam again and again until he finally reached Archimedes.
The second he got there, Chedderfield activated his AoE defense skill, Ring of Purity, forming a white glow that expanded outward in a circle with Archimedes’ turret in the middle. As the energy expanded and washed over every zombie inside the ring, white purifying flames erupted across their skin, burning them.
“Busting out the big guns, ey?” Archimedes quipped as a hell-cursed brute, an overly muscular eight-foot-tall monstrosity that the group had nicknamed a zombie “hulk,” started to slowly burn alive in front of him. Unlike zombies, which combusted nearly instantly, the zombie hulks had the constitution to withstand the flame, and this particular one had enough intelligence that the moment it began to catch fire, it disengaged from Archimedes, backing up and out of the flames.
Chedderfield knew that Archimedes had to stay within a short radius around the turret, so he ran forward, and with a flick of his wrist, lashed out at the massive zombie. Its ankle caught on the whip, and Chedderfield used both hands to yank the beast off its feet. The beast let out an unearthly roar as it was dragged back into the Ring of Purity and slowly burned alive.