Post by drspendlove on Dec 11, 2017 9:22:44 GMT -5
<Taken from a personal log from Scout X, name temporarily redacted at personal request.>
It was that very morning during our preparation drills that Manis, our ever overprotective medic-turned-Paladin felt the need to refresh us on some safety exercises. We had 2 hours until we'd dock with Stratos and few of us were feeling the need for a basic refresher course on how to keep ourselves from urgently needing his help...
Paladin Manis: Ok, scouts, now this applies to you too. Your armor has a narrow set of hard-points where, combined with proper defensive angling, you can effectively 'block' an attack. Your armor will still take the hit, but not in a way that will harm your immediate combat performance. Engineering can patch up these points upon your return. Now, I want you to practice this with these simulated rockets! If this were the real deal, you could be taking some serious damage from a Spitter, or worse, a Lancer!
Scout Xlinth: X, this never gets old does it?
X: Manis just wants to put himself out of a job by making sure we never get hit in the first place. Maybe he's getting ready to settle down and continue his lineage.
Xlinth: Hahaha!
Manis: Very funny, but you missed the crucial part. I am in no way advocating you 'dodge' these projectiles! Even in your sleek, relatively agile light armor, the odds of you fully clearing one of these blasts is less than 1 in 100 even if you see it coming from 50 meters away! Now, I need you to focus, and let your armor hard-points take the hit!
Much later that day as we approached the Stratos Command Center I would find myself owing my life to Manis' incessant drills.
The Captain: Sharmayne, you're closest to the local override panel. How much opposition will you face in getting there alone?
Hydra Sharmayne: Well, there's this guy... oops, I guess he couldn't handle the barbecue either! Man this is fun. I'm clear, Captain I should make it to the controls inside of two minutes or so.
The Captain: Good. We'll focus on holding the southern point here. X are my eyes deceiving me or do we have a whole ton of Xeno approaching?
X: Your eyes are as good as mine right now, sir. I'm running a bit too hot to give an accurate sensor scan. Does Manlos have this covered still?
Soldier Manlos: I've been blasting at these guys for quite a while. I'm not complaining but sooner or later my suit will be. I've got maybe two minutes before I'm going to completely shut down here. Any help appreciated!
The Captain: Lorencio, now is the time to drop your other turret. Heaven knows you tinker with those things enough, let's make these Xeno dance, then meet up with Sharmayne to decipher whatever she discovers. I'll hold here and we'll drop Manis to aid in the defense.
X: Aw man, not Manis.
The Captain: Do you have an issue I should know about -- Aw crap. That's two litches incoming, along with the other horde! Manlos do your best but I'm heading in! Shalun favors the brave! X support me, cripple those Goliaths so I'm not facing down the whole friggin' nest at once!
X: Right beside you Captain.
The Captain: You enabled stealth for this, right?
X: ...
The Captain: X? You enabled stealth right!? Right!? It's too late! Incoming!
X: !@#$ They've seen me! Litch and predator are coming straight for me! Is Manis here yet?
Paladin Manis: I'm here, but can't save you if you're disintegrated! Focus!
X: *block*, *block*, *sickening thwack*, I'm hit, but I somehow blocked the litch and one of the--
The Captain: Bwahahaha! Dead Xeno all around! Who needs grenades anyway?!
Manis: X, I've got you patched up. I'm really touched that you endangered yourself to practice what I've been teaching you. I really--
X: Can it Manis. That wasn't for you. I uh, disabled my Stealth HUD warnings earlier to get a better look at Sharmayne's opposition and forgot to re-enable it.
Sharmayne: Shelegroth forces are in the CC!
<Brief pause>
Sharmayne: Whoa, turns out they like fire even less than the Xeno. That's like, 20 dead cultists! Sheesh they stink worse than Xeno!
The Captain: Sharmayne, did you just torch 20 cultists at once?
Sharmayne: Would you believe a 'maybe'?
The Captain: Haha. I'm impressed, but not surprised. Let's wrap this up everyone.
I bought Manis a drink the next day. And the one after that. I even promised to stop calling him old.
<Taken from actual gameplay where I forgot to stealth my scout and auto-blocked a litch attack and one of two predator attacks, saving my Scout's life. Yay for focus!>
It was that very morning during our preparation drills that Manis, our ever overprotective medic-turned-Paladin felt the need to refresh us on some safety exercises. We had 2 hours until we'd dock with Stratos and few of us were feeling the need for a basic refresher course on how to keep ourselves from urgently needing his help...
Paladin Manis: Ok, scouts, now this applies to you too. Your armor has a narrow set of hard-points where, combined with proper defensive angling, you can effectively 'block' an attack. Your armor will still take the hit, but not in a way that will harm your immediate combat performance. Engineering can patch up these points upon your return. Now, I want you to practice this with these simulated rockets! If this were the real deal, you could be taking some serious damage from a Spitter, or worse, a Lancer!
Scout Xlinth: X, this never gets old does it?
X: Manis just wants to put himself out of a job by making sure we never get hit in the first place. Maybe he's getting ready to settle down and continue his lineage.
Xlinth: Hahaha!
Manis: Very funny, but you missed the crucial part. I am in no way advocating you 'dodge' these projectiles! Even in your sleek, relatively agile light armor, the odds of you fully clearing one of these blasts is less than 1 in 100 even if you see it coming from 50 meters away! Now, I need you to focus, and let your armor hard-points take the hit!
Much later that day as we approached the Stratos Command Center I would find myself owing my life to Manis' incessant drills.
The Captain: Sharmayne, you're closest to the local override panel. How much opposition will you face in getting there alone?
Hydra Sharmayne: Well, there's this guy... oops, I guess he couldn't handle the barbecue either! Man this is fun. I'm clear, Captain I should make it to the controls inside of two minutes or so.
The Captain: Good. We'll focus on holding the southern point here. X are my eyes deceiving me or do we have a whole ton of Xeno approaching?
X: Your eyes are as good as mine right now, sir. I'm running a bit too hot to give an accurate sensor scan. Does Manlos have this covered still?
Soldier Manlos: I've been blasting at these guys for quite a while. I'm not complaining but sooner or later my suit will be. I've got maybe two minutes before I'm going to completely shut down here. Any help appreciated!
The Captain: Lorencio, now is the time to drop your other turret. Heaven knows you tinker with those things enough, let's make these Xeno dance, then meet up with Sharmayne to decipher whatever she discovers. I'll hold here and we'll drop Manis to aid in the defense.
X: Aw man, not Manis.
The Captain: Do you have an issue I should know about -- Aw crap. That's two litches incoming, along with the other horde! Manlos do your best but I'm heading in! Shalun favors the brave! X support me, cripple those Goliaths so I'm not facing down the whole friggin' nest at once!
X: Right beside you Captain.
The Captain: You enabled stealth for this, right?
X: ...
The Captain: X? You enabled stealth right!? Right!? It's too late! Incoming!
X: !@#$ They've seen me! Litch and predator are coming straight for me! Is Manis here yet?
Paladin Manis: I'm here, but can't save you if you're disintegrated! Focus!
X: *block*, *block*, *sickening thwack*, I'm hit, but I somehow blocked the litch and one of the--
The Captain: Bwahahaha! Dead Xeno all around! Who needs grenades anyway?!
Manis: X, I've got you patched up. I'm really touched that you endangered yourself to practice what I've been teaching you. I really--
X: Can it Manis. That wasn't for you. I uh, disabled my Stealth HUD warnings earlier to get a better look at Sharmayne's opposition and forgot to re-enable it.
Sharmayne: Shelegroth forces are in the CC!
<Brief pause>
Sharmayne: Whoa, turns out they like fire even less than the Xeno. That's like, 20 dead cultists! Sheesh they stink worse than Xeno!
The Captain: Sharmayne, did you just torch 20 cultists at once?
Sharmayne: Would you believe a 'maybe'?
The Captain: Haha. I'm impressed, but not surprised. Let's wrap this up everyone.
I bought Manis a drink the next day. And the one after that. I even promised to stop calling him old.
<Taken from actual gameplay where I forgot to stealth my scout and auto-blocked a litch attack and one of two predator attacks, saving my Scout's life. Yay for focus!>