Back to the Front

They moved the front, it is now at Ithaca where various robots are swarming, mostly Steel Birds. There were quite a lot of people here, just outside the Auction House busily downing birds!

I went for a bit of a fly and whilst flying low tried a spot of formation flying with the Steel Birds.

I shall be returning to the front, assuming it is still open, soon and intend to take part in some of the action.

 

I decided to revisit Ithaca, I intended to gain my share of the shared loot but the best laid plans of Longu and Men!

I became one of a small group trapped inside an auction house. The Steel Birds could move through the roof and where shooting us at whim. We died were we revived and when we revived we did not even de-materialise and re-materialise, we just stood up!


Once I managed to get outside, I hid behind a tree waiting to make a dash to the TP but was shot and killed by one of these ruthless flying machines before the opportunity arose. I watched as people desperately tried to escape using TP chips only to be cut down just seconds before they could make the jump by just one well timed shot.

I'm still there now just waiting for the chance to make a break for it. When I go back will the room be crammed with bodies. I can only hope so!

 

Wampant Wobots Wampage Wemowselessly
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The front has spread! The robot menace now has a grip on Solfais Crater and Fort Medusa as well as besieging Fort Ithaca (as previously reported) . I decided to investigate and to this end removed my 6A plates from the Musca and bolted them onto the newly acquired Jaguar, while it would not prevent me being killed it might slow the process a little, how wrong can one man be?

What is it with Robots and Craters?
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I took the teleporter to Solfais Crater. On arrival I was surprised to find a horde of Colonists defending the teleporter from an attacking Hydra and taking the opportunity to kill each other while they were at it! It's so nice to know we can rely on each other even in these extreme circumstances. I was not prepared to stand idly by so I took out my tiny little pistol and started shooting


There was the usual insane babble from the Colonists as they tried to divert their minds from what they were actually doing. Daft questions were being asked as always and as always no one was answering them.

There were people here with really big guns and shed loads of ammo, my tiny weapon would make no difference but I was determined to do my bit.


To this end I found myself a prime location from which I could shoot without the Hydra seeing me and yes, you guessed it, I stated popping some caps in its ass. The Hydra did not take this lying down and it's retribution was swift, how it knew it was me I do not know. Maybe it has a concealed camera hidden up there, maybe it has wing mirrors, maybe when it turned round all the other Colonists were pointing at me?

It hit me for nearly 333 damage and looking at the tier increase message in the chat window it hit me in the thighs, which is the polite way of saying that whatever it was it hit me with it hit me with it in the nuts! I've noticed this before on Calypso, it's always the thighs that can be upgraded first. Clearly the mobs are able to identify the weak spots and target them remorselessly. Whilst the pain was intense it did not last long and when I revived that numb feeling was particularity strong and just as well!


Naturally I wanted revenge, I did not even stop to heal myself, what would be the point, if it can do that much damage I would be just as dead if I were fully healed as if I were only just alive! Still limping I headed back to the conflict. Now my tiny little gun does not do that much damage but I aimed very carefully. Hopefully the Hydra had the equivalent of an intensely irritating gnat bite in a particularly embarrassing place for the rest of it's short existence. I headed for the teleporter being careful to avoid the shots my fellow colonists were aiming at me. Next stop Fort Medusa.

 

What are they coordinating?
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The trip to Medusa was short but I had little time to investigate, my chance came the following day.

The first things I noticed were the various type of Steelbird that dotted the skyline. Of course I tried my luck and of course it was bad! My little gun has next to no range, I doubt I could shoot myself in the foot with it. I pulled out the big gun I use for tagging and took a pot shot at one. It's response was slow, it flew in quite leisurely as it completely ignored the rounds the little pistol was putting into it. I drew my blade in an attempt to do more damage but the cowardly machine did not descend low enough. I had been lucky and not been hit by it's multiple attempts, my luck ran out and I found myself at the revive. I do not have the right kit for this machine. However if you don't shoot at them they pretty much ignore you so I headed out the other gate.

Here I found an army of coordinators. What they are coordinating I have no idea but from their results it was not their attack on me! There are plenty of them and I had no trouble finding fresh machines to destroy. Even managed a small global from one. It felt good to have a blade in my hand again and the Jaguar armour performed admirably against this foe, it was not long until I had burnt the Firefly and switched to my back up. There were very few colonists here, I had expected more, I suspect whoever is coordinating our defence is using a drone coordinator to do it with!



The mysteries remains however, just what is it they are coordinating and why are they armed with a small nail gun? OK, those nails do hurt if they get them between a crack in the armour but that's not often, they are hard to get out again even with a claw hammer and the assistance of a very close friend but by comparison with other robot weaponry they are fairly ineffective. Clearly more investigation is required. At the moment I am going with the theory that they were created to lay a wooden floor and something went very wrong at some point, possibly involving a failure of coordination!

 

Thanks Phunksta :). I miss the Gratz button too, often find myself looking for it. The add to rep button is there but I'm used to saving that for exceptional posts.

 

Done :)

 

Big Bulk
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I had seen the globals coming through but was not sure of the location so I went looking for Big Bulk! I had not seen one since an EUC Beacon Mission, guess that was some years ago now! I went to Livas and fired up the Bad Moon Rising took off and headed for Ithaca. Yes I could have just gone there but having got trapped in the Auction House a few days back I decided to be cautious.

My caution paid off, as I approached Ithaca I could see Big Bulks on the ground. Most of them were surrounded by small groups of Colonists working together to destroy these bizarre contraptions. Throwing away caution and in search of a decent picture I landed and wandered toward the nearest group.

It was only shortly after taking this picture that the colonists defeated the clumsy robot and raced away to destroy another. I headed toward Ithaca, now on foot . I got there quicker than expected as a Big Bulk managed to sneak up and hit me from behind. I had not seen or heard it. Impressive stealth from one so large!


Now in Ithaca I joined the Colonists defending the site from the Steel Birds, this was mostly a regularly repeated massacre, the location was festooned with bodies and being revived was all very Philadelphia Experiment with the bodies of Colonists merged in a gibbering mass! Which to be honest was the most fun I have had in ages!



It's an eerie feeling being looked at by a Steel Bird, you get the feeling that they enjoy their work, certainly they are very good at it and once one is looking at you it is not long before you are looking at the ground!


But for some reason I can't upload that image!

 

Thanks Nexus. I have been trying to provide some kind of news reports as well as playing with the layout of articles. I think the images need a frame around them to prevent the text running straight up to them. I am planning on trying some posts with tables in to act as frames in an attempt to achieve this. Watch this space!

 

Birds Go Down at Fort Troy!
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With the announcement that Fort Troy was the latest location to find it's self in the sight's of the robots and the call to arms issued to colonists to defend the location I set off to do my bit and bring back a little news.


Truth is next to nothing is happening, it seems the colonists have voted with their feet and by and large are content to let Troy rot! Hence the ridiculously sensationalist headline, maybe some one will at least read that almost nothing is going on and that, unfortunately nothing is going down either.


I did manage to take a couple of pictures during the lack of excitement. I think the image of the radar speaks at least 1000 words. The second image shows my very small part <cough> in a a shared loot global.

 

Yeah, kind of annoying the move away from CSS. Guess it's so that people who are afraid of a little code are prepared to have a go. Would be nice if the two things were interchangeable.

 

Thanks Phunksta,

I think I'm being a bit ambitious with the layouts of posts. I will keep playing and see if I can come up with something that looks vaguely like a news paper or magazine.

 

Wobots Wetweat Wapidly
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Having checked the locations of the robot attacks it seems the only place they still have a presence is Fort Medusa, when I last checked (a little over a day ago) there were still Steel Birds over and around the fort. I did not see any Elites but then I did not go looking for them. I very much suspect they have gone now following the release of warp drive to grab the thrill seekers attention! I will check my suspicions later today.

 

Thanks Nexus :). I did consider adding a border to the image but decided there must be a better way, it only really works if the background of the page matches the border. I am hoping to find some time to have a fiddle soon. thanks for the suggestion :).