#heavy machinegun

[pukindog-v2]

M2 .50 cal taking a smoke break...

[nervousalpacahologram]

NEW PARTS LEAKERD IN A FUTUREPRESS GUIDE????

[arc-misadventures]

Upon The Battlements

The sound of heavy machinery, steal striking metal, and the cries of a dozen men running about as the broken wall of, Mantle was being rebuilt, and mended.

Jaune was amazed by how quickly the, Atlas Military, Engineer Corp managed to clean away the rubble, and rebuild the foundations of the wall. He was amazed by the efficacy, and the speed the engineers worked. The reports he had read indicated that the wall would be rebuilt in a matter of days. The future fortifications, and weapon emplacements should be down within a month.

Jaune had heard the people of, Mantle celebrate that the walls were being mended, and fortified. This was good news all around for everyone.

To a point that is..

~~~

Jaune: Hmmm...

Jaune: They're making good progress...

: Hello, Jaune.

Jaune stopped staring at the wall, and the engineers scurrying about it, and turned to see, Robyn Hill, and a few of her compatriots standing besides her.

Jaune: Oh? Why, hello, Robyn.

Robyn: I see the walls are being rebuilt; How long until they are done?

Jaune: They'll be working in three shifts, eight hours each. The reports I've read say they should be done rebuilding this section of the wall in three to four days. The rest of the fortifications will take longer; The reports estimate they'll all be completed in three to four weeks.

: What kind of fortifications are they making?

Jaune: They will be.. Wait, I'm sorry, but who are you?

Robyn: Ahh yes, my apologies. Allow me to introduce my fellow, Happy Huntresses. To my left is, Joanna Greenleaf.

Joanna: Hello.

Robyn: And, to my right is, Fiona Thyme.

Fiona: Pleasure to meet you.

Jaune: It's a pleasure to meet you two fine ladies as well. As for your question, Joanna: The fortifications will mostly be weapon emplacements: Ranging from mortars, to machinegun nests, antiair emplacements, and howitzer turrets.

Joanna: Whoa, they're going the whole nine yards...

Jaune: Yes, these new fortifications should protect the people of, Mantle from any future, Grimm threats. Although, I don't think they'll like all the weapon drills when they get started... They won't be that loud though. Depending on how close you are to them that is...

Joanna: That's reassuring...

Jaune: Take what you can get.

Joanna: Fair enough...

Robyn: So, it will only take three days in total for the wall to be fixed?

Jaune: Just three days.

Robyn: Just three days...

Jaune: Is something wrong, Robyn? You sound angry.

Fiona: Sarcasm, Mr. Arc?

Jaune: Just, Jaune is fine. And, yes: Sarcasm. Because, I understand why you would be angry, Robyn. I find myself asking the same question: 'If it will only take three days to repair the breach. Then why didn't, General Ironwood order it's reconstruction as soon as he heard the wall was breached?'

Robyn: Precisely.

Fiona: Since you're thinking the same thing; Do you know the answer as to why he didn't?

Jaune: I can speculate a reason.

Robyn: Does it relate to his secret project?

Jaune: Fraid' so. I understand that, General Ironwood wants that project done. But, he's becoming blind to the happenings around him. I should bring this fact up with the other, Specialists...

Fiona: What is this project that the, General is working on?

Jaune: Classified.

Fiona: Of course it is.

Robyn: Don't worry, the election will happen when the walls are finished. If I win, I will make the, General tell me what he's planning.

Joanna: But, what if he refuses to tell you?

Jaune: Then I will tell her.

Fiona: Wait... y-you'll tell, Robyn what's going on?

Jaune: I will.

Joanna: But, why?

A deep sigh escaped, Jaune's lips as he walked forward, gesturing for Robyn, and her companions to follow him. He walked into an alleyway before he turned to address, Robyn.

Jaune: I'm telling you this because, Ironwood needs someone to keep him in check!

Robyn: What?

Jaune: Ironwood has too much power, and it's gone to his head! He has two seats on the council; He has one seat because he is the, Headmaster of Atlas Academy, and another by being the, General of Atlas Military.

Jaune: There may be two other council members up in, Atlas. But, they're wet blankets; They curtail to whatever demands, Ironwood makes. You need to get that seat so you can put some pressure on him! Me telling you what the project is, will allow you to put that pressure on him.

Robyn: But, why are you telling me all of this...?

Fiona: Yeah, what benefit do you get from all of this?

Jaune: I was brought on to the, Specialist team because I am a considered a strategist. And, while, Ironwood's project will help everyone in the long run. There are issues that must be dealt with in the short term, that if not dealt with now, will derail everything he is trying to do! But, he is way too focused on this project that he doesn't see anything!

Robyn: So you want me to fight back against him, and his plans...?

Jaune: At the very least I want you to put a short leash on him. Let him go with some of his plans, but don't let him go too far with them. So, when you ask how this benefits me, the real question you should ask is: 'Who doesn't benefit from this?'

Robyn: ...

Robyn: Ironwood... Ironwood, doesn't benefit from this.

Joanna: But, won't he receive good publicity by upgrading the walls?

Robyn: Yes. But, as, Jaune said: General Ironwood is too focused on his secret project. He's not happy that his pet project is being delayed now, is he?

Jaune: He's hiding it, but he's not happy. It was a nightmare to convince him to rebuild, and fortify the walls. I had to throw you under the bus to convince him! Sorry about that by the way.

Robyn: Wait, I thought you said the winner of the game of, Hide an' Go Seek convinced him of this project?

Jaune: Yeah... I uhh... I was the winner of the game...

RJF: ...

Joanna: Bullshit...

Fiona: Semblance him!

Robyn: It's green, he's telling the truth...?!

Joanna: You gave up a billion dollars... for, Mantle?

Jaune: Yeah, I did.

Robyn: But... why?

Jaune: ...

Jaune: Before I became a, Specialist, I was your ordinary, Huntsmen. I often took the missions that protected the school children coming, and going from school. Because, their mothers had a, 'hunky beefcake to salivate over.' Their words, not mine!

Robyn: I can see where they're coming from...

Jaune: I know how much woman like to gossip, and...?!

Fiona: How could you know that?

Jaune: I have seven sisters, so when I say I know stuff about, woman. I know.

Joanna: Wait, you have seven sisters?!

Jaune: Yes. And, like the mothers of those school kids, they like to gossip. So, they often about how worried they were about the breach in the wall. That worry, and fear would, and will attract the, Grimm. Ironwood's project be damned if everyone is dead from a, Grimm horde attack! But, Ironwood doesn't see things that way! I am trying to keep him in check in the meeting rooms. But, I don't have the power to do so. That's where you come in, Robyn. I need you on the council to be able to hold, Ironwood in check!

Robyn: ...

Robyn: That's all well in good, Jaune. But, I am not on the council yet! And, since, Ironwood decided to build the wall himself, I won't have as much sway with the people of, Mantle, and Atlas because of it.

Jaune: Really? But, I thought it was your idea to fix the wall?

Robyn: What?

Jaune: And, wasn't it your idea to fortify them as well?

Robyn: It was my idea, the common sense idea to fix the walls, but it wasn't my idea to fortify the walls.

Jaune: But, people believe it was your idea.

Robyn: What how?

Jaune: Again, woman like to gossip; They told me about the wall, and their concerns about it. They also told me about how you were pushing for it to be fixed. So, it only makes sense that, Robyn Hill is responsible for the walls being fixed, and fortified!

Fiona: You're spreading lies! Making everyone think that this was all, Robyn's idea!

Jaune: Half a lie. The idea to fortify them, and add gun emplacements was my idea. But, the drive, and the idea to fix the wall, that's all on you, Robyn.

Robyn: Me?

Jaune: Yes, you.

Robyn: What did you do?

Jaune: I simply said to the woman, and anyone else who asked me about the walls, this: 'Yeah, they're rebuilding the walls. I'm glad they listened to, Robyn Hill's concerns about the wall, and the people of, Mantle.'

Robyn: Giving me all the credit so people will vote me onto the council... And, with the power the people entrusted me with... I can use it to challenge, Ironwood's power...

Jaune: Precisely.

Robyn: And, you're willing to share this all with me. Jaune... are you a traitor...?

Jaune: A traitor; what makes you say that?

Robyn: You're a Specialists... you serve directly under, General Ironwood. Yet you're undermining him! You're committing treason by telling my his plans are! Why are you doing this?!

Jaune: I am a not betraying anyone, Robyn. When I became a, Specialist, I swore an oath to protect the people of, Mantle, and Atlas. Not to, General Ironwood, and whatever he is planning. And, if I am to do my duty... I may have to undermine, General Ironwood, and that may be seen as treasonous. But, as I said; I swore an oath to the people of, Atlas, and Mantle, not, General James Ironwood. And, if I am going to have any luck dealing with this, I need help. Getting you on the council, Robyn is the only way I can do that with someone with enough power to challenge him.

Robyn looked at, Jaune before turning to look at her companions, and then to the city she loved, and the people who called this place home. She thought long, and hard on his words, and the simple logic behind him. Jaune needed her to make this city a better place for everyone to live in. And, as she thought on how much, Jaune needed her, she need him as well.

Robyn: Give me your scroll.

Jaune: Why?

Robyn: If you need my help to protect this city, then I need your help as well. So, I need to be able to contact you. So, give me your scroll.

Jaune: ...

Robyn: Please, Jaune...

Jaune: ...

Jaune pulled out his scroll, and handed it to her. Robyn quickly grabbed it, and entered in her information, and then handed it back to, Jaune. Jaune looked at it, and quickly changed her caller ID.

Robyn: 'Finch?' Why finch?

Jaune: It's a codename. I got to keep our connection a secret.

Robyn: Smart move.

Jaune: Okay, I'll send you a message if I need to tell you anything, and we'll meet down here to talk about it.

Robyn: And, I'll send you a message if I need to talk with you.

Jaune: Done. But, remember that I may not be able to reply immediately, I may be with my fellow, Specialists. I don't want to get caught.

Robyn: Understood. Well then, are you ready to do this, Jaune?

Jaune: I am. Are you ready, Robyn?

Robyn: Always.

Robyn then thrusted out her hand towards, Jaune who stared at it for a moment before taking it in his.

Jaune: For the glory of, Atlas, and Mantle.

Robyn looked at him for a moment before smiling, and shaking his hand.

Robyn: For the glory of, Mantle, and Atlas.

'For the glory of, Atlas, and Mantle,' or, Mantle, and Atlas, depending on your personal standings with the two, was part of the oath graduating, Hunter's of, Atlas Academy took. It was said to remind them, that their duties wasn't to the, Atlas Military, but to the people of, Atlas, and Mantle.

And, between the, Specialists, and the politician an oath of loyalty, and honour had been struck. And, they both vowed that they would do what needed to be done of the people of, Mantle, and Atlas.

Jaune: Alright I best get going. The others may be looking for me. and wondering why I'm not at my post so to say. Until later, Robyn.

Robyn: Until later, Jaune.

Jaune nodded goodbye to, Fiona, and Joanna as he made his way back onto the busy streets of, Mantle to do his work as one of it's swore protectors. Robyn couldn't help, but look at him, and smile at the foundation of this new bound.

Fiona: Well... that was a surprisingly productive encounter.

Joanna: Having one of, Ironwood's men on our side. I thought I'd never see the day... What are your thoughts on all of this, Robyn?

Robyn: ...

Joanna: Robyn?

Robyn: Hmm? Oh, sorry! I was just thinking how his last name, Arc. It just... rolls of the tongue. Doesn't it?

Fiona: Arc... ArrrrrC! Huw, it does roll of the tongue.

Joanna: That's just because it has an, 'R' in it. You roll, 'R's' easily.

Robyn: True. Well then, call in the others girls. We have work to do!

JF: Yes ma'am!

Robyn was right, with her new found ally they was many things to be done. but, only this time, this time they had a chance to succeed.

And, she'd be damn if she loose this opportunity.

[tainbocuailnge]

post where I argue for the use of some less popular free units (you don't need me to tell you gladiia and lumen are cracked)

vigil

this guy has a combination of qualities from both his subclass and his specific summon that make him really convenient to use because he's able to do a lot of jobs decently: he's a vanguard that often doesn't need a healer because his constantly refreshing wolves are doing the blocking and drawing ranged aggro while you use the dp on other units, he can hit air, the wolves deal multiple hits and have some def ignore which allows them to easily shred most trash to midweight enemies, all combined meaning he can handle a lot of map demands on his own. in terms of stats and utility you're essentially deploying a 4* sniper, guard, and vanguard at once, packaged as a single 14dp unit

he interacts well with a ton of event mechanics too, for example the wolves can block the spread of burning reeds even while inactive, and they block line of sight from the lucent arrowhead enemies and don't care about taking machinegun fire because they have 3 refreshing hp bars, and those bugs from originum dust that reduce aspd when blocked don't affect vigil himself because it's the wolves doing the blocking, and the wolves deal hits equal to their amount of heads so they deal well with hitcount-based mechanics too especially if vigil is on s3. those 3 hp bars and the speed at which they refresh with s1 also makes vigil good at stalling enemies, particularly ones that deal strong but slow hits like mudrock colossi, but also just stuff like heavy defender type enemies. compared to other tactician vanguards vigil is much easier in general use because he requires minimal management, his summon blocks multiple enemies and with s1 constantly refreshes its hp without external input so you just put him down and he either handles it or he doesn't.

his s3 has pretty high damage potential and you see it a lot in vanguard only clears but in my experience it's gimped in more general use by having no buffs to his comparatively low atk + a lot of the damage being contingent on the summon blocking an enemy while giving up on the increased survivability from the other skills + the fact that unless you're in a particular challenge niche there's no reason for him to be the one doing the damage. I find s1 is the way to go the vast majority of the time because it makes the best use of his summon's unique qualities. s2 is theoretically some of the fastest dp printing in the game but only if there's a steady stream of enemies to allow it to actually be used so in practise its a pretty bad skill, you'd only use it over s1 if you're using vigil to block a stream of enemies that can't meaningfully hurt the wolves but might not get killed fast enough with s1 (i saw one vanguard clear where they put him on s2 just so the sp from siege's talent wouldn't go to him lol)

puzzle

puzzle's main claim to fame is that with s1, if he's able to continuously attack a target, he prints dp faster than a flag vanguard. ines s1 has the same dp printing speed (2dp per 4 seconds compared to puzzle's 3dp per 6 seconds) but ines does so much other shit there's still reason to have puzzle on hand to stand there printing dp while ines does her other shit. puzzle also has the upper hand on ines on this particular front in that if there's an event gimmick where you can attack some kind of device, like the orbs in lonetrail or the vents in jessica's event, since those things are technically at max hp every time he hits them he procs his talent (2 extra sp when attacking a target with full hp) on every hit and speeds up to an insane 3 dp per 3 seconds.

the OTHER notable thing puzzle has is a giant poison debuff on his s2 (up to 150% of his atk arts damage per second for 16 seconds), which is good for all the hitcount-related things poison is good for as well as just being a good amount of damage that he can deliver in a comparatively very small window of time as a fast-redeploy unit that also prints dp. I'm not sure whether the 16 seconds counts from first or last application but with a max level puzzle you're looking at a minimum of around 14k arts damage. it makes him really good at wearing down enemies that stand there menacingly in spots that are annoying to reach for regular assassin-type units, as well as contributing damage from behind another unit. I think this video gives a pretty good image of what puzzle s2 can do, look at him melt the power armor and dor-bionics.

jieyun

her first deployment has reduced cost and gives her a hefty boost to her already high artilleryman attack (she reaches 1k atk once deployed before module) and her s2 is a huge splash area with 50% slow + a damage modifier that doesn't clash with her talent so she just shreds everything that isn't really high def, and anything that is still gets significantly slowed while your arts damage units kill it.

since s2 always goes to a specific tile in her range it can also be used to make her prioritise certain targets, and since it's a whole 15 seconds of high per-second splash damage she's a good counter to bosses that spawn a bunch of other weaker enemies like essence of evolution or ya, or just huge amounts of closely grouped enemies like RA raids. it's also only 8 offensive sp at m3 (down from 12 at lv7) which is basically nothing already and even less when combined with common IS collectibles or RA food and support items. she shreds all those annoying flying cunts in collapsals afternoon the moment they come out of their box. she's genuinely just a really good unit for very straightforward reasons and very beautiful also.

breeze

do not be mistaken there is zero gameplay reason to invest in breeze over any other aoe medic because the others have every utility ever while breeze only has raw healing numbers but when it comes to healing multiple units at once her numbers are legit huge so she's very useable. i also find her very cute and charming, you should check out her english dub it's really good.

her talent is so conditional it might as well not exist however if you combine her mod3 talent (medics and supporters gain 15% max hp when breeze's skill is active) with silence alter's mod3 talent (operators in range gain 10% max hp) and honeyberry's talent (ranged operators in range gain 10% max hp) you could probably make silence take the manfred cannon which is funny.

czerny

the whole arts protector subclass is in kind of a weird spot where they've got good stats (defender level bulk with guard level attack, some res) and good traits (3 block melee unit with arts damage) and their skills and talents do some cool and unique things, but you rarely actually need or look for what they specifically can do so most people only end up using them when they just like them a lot or they happen to fit their particular niche.

czerny's unique niche is reflecting arts damage on his talent which leads to some really funny clears whenever it's his time to shine because enemies will just kill themselves. some enemies that czerny's reflect is particularly good for are dublin flamethrowers (each tick of the flamethrower gets reflected), londinium mobile artillery (the barrage is arts damage that he can take more easily with the increased hp from s2), crossroads units from lonetrail, those really long range sandcastle casters from ideal city who just stand there blasting you from fucking narnia, but really any enemy that deals arts damage will slowly kill themselves while blocked by czerny.

i find that in practise if you want to use czerny just to use him, his arts reflect talent and s2 explosion are secondary to the fact that he has really high innate res (25 thanks to his talent) with an s1 that doubles it, making him arguably the best anti-arts blocker in the game right now, and during s2 he can punch people for up to 2k arts damage per hit over a very respectable 20 seconds for 30sp. and his english dub is really really good.

shalem

I like him :)

shalem s2 hits air with a big forward range and since it's random shots it's unaffected by enemy taunt level, but conversely since it's random with a pretty big range you can't guarantee he'll hit the targets you want and it becomes less effective the more enemies there are. it's also kinda sicko damage (like 45k arts damage total/2.2k dps before res + effective guarantee of proccing his res debuff talent thanks to high hitcount) but it's hard to capitalise on when it's defensive recovery and guaranteed to kill him without someone healing him. in victoriaknights they tend to pair him with hibiscus or reed alter to stack arts debuffs and in defenderknights they often combo with saria s3 not just for the debuffs and heals but also because she can feed him sp to actually use the skill.

s1 is way easier to use and incredibly solid so that's what you go with when simply taking shalem to locations. it improves a lot with m3 (-35% attack interval to -45%) so if you end up raising him and find s1 lacks a bit of oomph that's why. like czerny shalem's got the arts protector problem where it's hard to argue why you should use him specifically since "melee arts damage" or "defender that kills" isn't really hard to come by these days, but that doesn't mean a defender with multitarget arts damage who can hit air isn't still a really good unit.

lessing

this guy has the problem of his subclass having middling base traits that his colleagues compensate for by being an abyssal hunter and having true damage respectively, and he does some things that nobody else does, except for lee who does it better in nearly all cases, lol. if you DON'T have lee available though or are in a situation where lee is simply eating too much dp to be viable then lessing suddenly kicks ass through the power of being the only other guy who can't be stunned, which is a gimmick that enemies throw out often enough to make it worth investing in having a hard counter like this. lessing's s3 modifier also stacks multiplicatively with external buffs so he scales really hard with those and can bonk enemies for some really funny numbers with the right backup.

however EVEN if you don't think you'll ever deploy him I think he's still worth the e2 for his base skill alone, he has a fixed 3 morale cost for all elite material recipes and an 80% byproduct rate increase which means he can cook big piles of high tier materials with a much higher byproduct rate than operators with comparable morale cost reductions.

tuye

tuye s1 can actually solo heal things that other medics would need backup for but you need to really micromanage her for that so nobody wants to fucking bother normally. if you're ever doing a stall strat where enemies are beating your ass in between your healers attack interval then tuye is the one you need, either s1 or s2 and with or without backup, she's the queen of finicky high damage healing.

her RA2 exclusive token is also insanely fucking good, everyone in tuye's range restores hp worth 6% of tuye's atk every second which works on enmity units, you put some atk food in tuye and suddenly everyone in her range has that abyssal regen on top of her healing them regularly. if you play RA2 with any regularity tuye is super worth investing in for this alone

folinic

read my folinic post

astgenne

read my astgenne post

[notmaplemable]

Who You're Fighting

Oobleck: You know, there's an old joke from the Great War that goes as such. You can identify an unknown force by firing one shot and judging the response.

Oobleck: If the unknowns respond with precise, regimented rifle fire, they are Valian.

Oobleck: If they respond with heavy machinegun fire, they are Mistrali.

Oobleck: If they respond by charging your position, they are Vacuan.

Oobleck: If nothing happens for a few minutes, then your whole position gets leveled by an airstrike, they are Atlesian

Oobleck: But, if they respond by impregnating the entire female line of your family, they are an Arc.

The Class: ...

Jaune: ...I do have a lot of cousins...

[novankenn]

Jaune et Carro Veloce

Jaune was feeling miserable. His skills were so far below his peers that it was laughable... in a pathetic way. Though his academics in everything but things specifically associated with fighting grimm duties were well above the average. Wonders of the public school system.

So after another desperate failure in Professor Goodwitch's combat class, he wandered off. He heard his friends and teammates calling after him, but he just walked away without a word. Wishing to avoid any and everyone he took the stairs down into the basement of Beacon.

It was dark and damp. The overhead bulbs giving very little usable light. Reaching into his rear belt pouch he pulled out a small flashlight. Say what you would about his performance in combat... Jaune was adept at being prepared for mundane things, like basic wilderness survival.

He looked about, and wandered. His footfalls echoing about the dusty and cobweb cluttered corridors and rooms. There wasn't much of interest. Most of the rooms being either completely empty, or holding boxes of books. Jaune had opened one of the boxes finding it filled with Professor Port's Autobiography "The Heroic Age of the Indominable Sir Port of Vale."

Jaune: Must not have sold well.

Jaune tossed the book back onto the pile of boxes after flipping through it quickly, and continued his exploration. Pulling out his scroll he checked the time. He had been gone for a good three hours and his screen was filled with missed call and message notifications. Sighing he put it away, deciding he would answer a little later.

Turning a corner he saw a massive shadowed filled room. Cautiously he approached, using his flashlight to try and pierce the darkness. Having no success he turned his attention to the near walls, and quickly located a bank of light switches. Flicking them all on he flinched as blaring bright white lights came to blazing life.

Jaune: Oh... wow...

Jaune was stunned by what he found. The room was massive, and filled with artifacts from the Great War and the Faunus Revolution... specifically mobile terrestrial heavy weapon plate forms...

Jaune: Tanks... wow... Tanks on Tanks...

Jaune turned off his flashlight and stowed in away, as he wondered about, his eyes alight with excitement he hadn't felt in ages. While he wasn't specifically a weapon geek like Ruby, he did have a guilty pleasure, aside from comics... and that was tanks. In particular tankettes. While he admired the utility and power of the larger more impressive pieces, he absolutely adored the very much smaller, and faster mini-tanks.

Jaune: An Atlean Panzer IV. A Vale Sherman Firefly. A Vacoan T34, and a Mistralian Tiger I !!!

Jaune wondered, totally forgetting about contacting his friends, which further flew out of his thoughts when he saw it. With a shaking hand he reached out and touched the welded steel armor plating.

Jaune: A Valean Carro Veloce CV33 with twin 8mm machineguns... and over there is the conversion for the 20mm Anti-Material Gun!!!

Jaune was in awe and excited beyond measure as he hovered around what he would call an adorable tankette. Until that revelry was shatter by a voice from behind.

Ozpin: Are you enjoying yourself Mr. Arc?

Jaune: Ah... um...

Ozpin: You are not in trouble Mr. Arc though I was not aware you held such an affinity for... such antiques.

Jaune: Antiques!!! These are pieces of artwork! Form and function made reality! Iron and steel powered by flame and thunder, manned by bone and blood!!!

Ozpin: Please calm down. I only came to see if you are alright. You friends are worried and security alerted me to you entering this area.

Jaune: I'm sorry, I'll...

Ozpin: I already said you are not in trouble Mr. arc. Far from that in fact.

Jaune: Huh?

Ozpin: It is a shame that these icons of human and faunus ingenuity lie here moldering away. How would you like to pick one?

Jaune: Huh?

Ozpin: Pick one. Restore it. Beacon will provide the funds, and maybe you could get others interested in doing the same.

Jaune: This one!

(Imaged sourced from Girls und Panzer wiki)

A/N: Girls und Panzer is a fun Anime... and I get a real kick out of this small Italian Tankette. I want my mind to envision how it would fight against grimm..

[howtofightwrite]

How well would a claymore mine field fare against troopers of a late medieval army (say, Swiss halberdiers in half armor)? How far away do the troopers need to be in order to have a good chance at survival? And how would a medieval army like that react to their leader hitting a landmine and getting blown up? Would they turn back and flee? Disperse away from the road? Or would they freeze up and lose unit cohesion?

In the words of the esteemed Dr. Farnsworth, “to shreds you say?”

So, for those unfamiliar, claymore mines use a shape charge to propel the shrapnel in a fixed cone (most the shrapnel is propelled in a roughly 45 degree arc, with almost all of it landing within a 90 degree arc of where it's pointed.) These can be rigged up with tripwires, or remote detonators. This is achieved by placing a fairly heavy plate behind the explosive, while the primary payload of eventual shrapnel is placed in front of it.

You don't technically hit a claymore mine. Again, these are shape charges, and designed to propel the destructive force (mostly) horizontally, so, you'd hit the tripwire, or a sentry with a detonator would activate it, possibly without even being detected by the people in the mine's kill zone.

Claymores have an optimal range of about 50 meters, with a maximum range of ~250 meters. So, “exactly how good do you consider your odds?” Because at 50m, the chances of being hit by fatal amounts of shrapnel is estimated to be about ~30%. (Obviously, in other circumstances, such as if you've got claymores set up in a confined concrete bunker, they're going to get a lot more dangerous.)

Also, we don't generally keep tight marching formations the way that early modern troops used, because modern weapons are horrifically effective against them. That Futurama quote is on the nose, because against a densely packed group of soldiers in early modern armor, the blast will likely hit almost all of them, and will, quite literally, blow many, if not most, of them apart. To put this more simply, using early modern military doctrine, they'd all be in the mine's kill zone when it went off, and their armor would do absolutely nothing to help them. In fact, this might be a case where their armor would further contribute to the shrapnel.

As for how they would react? I suspect most of them would take the ignoble option of dying almost instantly in the initial blast or shortly after from blood loss and extreme trauma. Would the survivors who could break and flee? Quite possibly. They also, quite likely, wouldn't even really understand what happened, simply because they'd never seen destructive force on that kind of scale before. “Would they lose cohesion?” My brother in Alfred Nobel's exploding cocktail lounge; they'd be losing biological cohesion with themselves. There wouldn't be a surviving unit.

There was a paradigm shift in the first World War. The stage had been set in the late 19th century, but most European armies didn't realize what had happened (and in fact, military leadership of the time stayed willfully ignorant) until after it came home.

Before this point, there was a concept of being able to “trade hits.” The halberdiers were expected to march into melee combat against other melee forces. This even survived the introduction of gunpowder units, and was still dominant military doctrine through the 19th century, where soldiers were expected to march in rank and file out onto the battlefield before shooting at each other in tightly packed formations.

What happened in the late 19th century was the development of weapons that were able to deal death with such speed and efficiency that getting into melee combat was no longer possible. The old, tightly packed, formations went from being an effective way to get troops into combat, to an effective way to see your troops completely eliminated by a single conscript's heavy machinegun fire.

The effective paradigm of infantry combat is now that your foes have the ability to end your existence, so you need to avoid their weapons (and preferably their detection) completely, until you can end them. (Yes, armor still exists, yes, it does work, but it's contingency you hope you don't need, rather than protection you expect to use.) Combat today is about controlling line of sight. Marching a squad of troops out onto the battlefield in tight formation wouldn't work, because a couple snipers with mediocre positioning could decimate them.

The claymore is part of this new paradigm. If you're in the kill range, unless you're in some radically more advanced armor than it was designed to deal with, you're going to have a bad day when it goes off.

We don't wear the same kinds of armor that those halberdiers used, because modern handgun rounds will perforate those. Modern armor does, sometimes, use steel plates (or, Kevlar, ceramic, or some polymers), as inserts but, the kind of steel used is significantly more resistant to modern bullets than what those early modern soldiers wore.

So, blown to shreds.

-Starke

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[genshingorlsrevengeance]

(I am so happy to find someone writing for Trails women, thank you for existing)

So, there was an ask about Gundam heavy arms custom. And Cold Steel literally has humanoid mechs. So how about a NC7 Student S/O who does these crazy machinegun acrobatics in a Panzer Soldat, with Juna, Altina, Musse, and Rean(platonic, because Teacher/Student is bad civilisation).

(Trails of Cold Steel) Juna, Altina, Musse, and Rean watching Reader's Soldat perform insane acrobatics

On the Rean teacher/student part, absolutely based.

First of all, Juna didn't even know Panzer Soldats could even jump into the air like that.

Second of all, WHAT?!

(Juna) "H-Hey, are you done showing off?! How did you even do that anyways?!"

Juna is more annoyed than anything.

Okay so MAYBE it was pretty cool, but there's no need to do that kind of showmanship in a damn training exercise!

(Juna) "Stop trying to make the rest of us look lame, S/O!"

She pouts a little in both annoyance, and jealousy.

Altina blinks twice at the sight.

(Altina) "(Y/N), that was entirely unecessary."

Altina did not care that her classmate just performed an impossible feat on a several ton mech.

It was flamboyant to the point of reminding her of Millium.

And she did not like anything that reminded her of Millium.

(Altina) "Please do not risk hurting yourself or the Panzer Soldat during training, (Y/N)."

Her robotic voice requested, brow slightly furrowing.

Musse can't help but clap at the show she just witnessed.

(Musse) "Impressive, S/O! You certainly know how to make an entrance!"

Oh yeah, it was extra as hell but Musse has to give respect where it's due!

She wouldn't want to do the same, surprisingly, since that was a good way to get shot during an actual combat situation.

But in times like this, it made her proud that she could call S/O hers.

(Musse) "Think you can teach me that? I'd like to impress our dear Instructor as well!"

Rean and Valimar just watch in complete disbelief as (Y/N) landed in front of him, inside a giant robot.

(Valimar) "Was that necessary?"

(Rean) "Uh, I think the better question we need to ask is how?!"

Rean has seen a lot of stupid stunts pulled in his short life, but this probably took the cake.

At least until next week, before Musse or Ashe tries anything else anyway.

Rean crosses his arm inside the cockpit shaking his head.

(Rean) "Alright, so you can move pretty quickly. But that doesn't give you an advantage in combat whatsoever!"

(Y/N) "But Instructor Rean, you fly in with Valimar all the time!"

(Rean) "Because he's a Divine Knight! He's powered by...-"

Rean just sighs loudly as he facepalms.

(Rean) "Look, as your Instructor, I cannot in good conscience let you put yourself in that kind of needless danger! Tita is probably going to have to do all sorts of repairs on the legs from that landing alone!"

(Y/N) "...But it was still pretty cool right?"

(Rean) "...See me after Class, (Y/N)."

(Y/N) sigh "Yes, Instructor..."

[hra-official]

[OOC] DPS Swallowtail build for supports who want to ball

The other day I was pondering how to make the most of Death's Head Main/Aux + Heavy mounts, and thought "I't such a shame I have to get to at least LL4 before I can get the Oracle LMG-1 so all my weapons have at least range 15"

And then it hit me: forget the Death's Head. Just get Swallowtail.

Have Crack Shot and Gunslinger at LL0. For the first two levels, advance Gunslinger. By the time you unlick the Swallowtail and the OLMG-1 you'll have Gunslinger 3.

Mount 4 LMGs so you can charge your Gunslinger Die faster by Barraging. 4d3 damage isn't a lot, but thanks to Arcing and Accurate from the LMGs and the further accuracy from Crack Shot, you can pump it consistently every turn even if your enemies are behind walls; and every 2-3 turns you get to do 4d3+2d6 damage (min 6 - avg 15 - max 24) half of which is AP and ignores cover. if you invested in Systems once or twice, you'll still have enought SP for +2 HP from Modifications as well as Scout Drone, which helps your team without requiring a lot of actions from you; which is good because you want to be shooting as much as possible.

At LL3, get Integrated Mount and another LMG so you can charge the Gunslinger die even faster, potentially even using it EVERY TURN if all your shots hit. Also Crack Shot 2 for another 1d6 damage on a crit. Get the Siege Stabilizers from Barbarossa to bring your machineguns to a crisp 20 range.

At LL4, Crack Shot 3 so you can harass as well as damage like a Swallowtail is "supposed" to do.

At LL6 get Overpowered Caliber and Brutal. Do up to 4d6+5d3 damage when all your bonuses come together (min 9 - avg 24 - max 39), potentially even every round, which on a Nat20 becomes just a straight 39.

The only real weaknesses I see are:

If you want to be a good support as well as a good sniper you'll need to invest heavily in systems for not as much return as a dedicated hacker, but honestly I think being able to both support decently and shoot pretty damn well is a winning strategy.

Armor can make most of your attack ineffective since you rely on many weak weapons instead of one strong one. However, both Prophetic Scanners and Gunslinger 3 can bypass armor.

Might make this into an in-character post later

[freetheshit-outofyou]

When dad was at work, I didn't use sticks to play war with, I used the best submachinegun and heavy machinegun in his garage.

[fictionalafvsmybeloved]

Can you rate this glorious product of the genius of Mike Sparks, the Areo-Gavin?

I.... made the mistake of going onto Mike Spark's website to research this farce.

Please, do not make my mistake, the Aero-Gavin isn't even the most delusional thing ON ITS OWN PAGE.

Most of what I say here will be echos of what LazerPig put in his own video.

So, for those not in the know the "Aero-Gavin" is the attempted revival of the hundred-year-old "flying tanks" idea by reformer and conspiracy-nut, Mike Sparks, using his personal favorite fetish object the M113 (he calls it the "Gavin") shoehorned into the role of an IFV.

We're going to start with the wings, they're biplane wings. This is because the cover of the Popular Mechanics magazine he ripped the idea from had biplane wings, the engine is in the same position as well. I'm not an aircraft expert, but there's a reason biplanes went out of style in the late 1930's. Even If you do manage to get this twelve ton brick that only a moron would think is capable of flight in the air, you still have to fly it.

This is the driver's position in the M113,

This is the cockpit of the Piper Cub, a small single engine aircraft.

As you can see, there is a VERY big difference. The cub has a large windscreen with equally large windows of both sides. The M113 has four small periscopes that don't even give you a 180-degree field of view. How the hell is any one supposed to fly this brick? Stick your head out the diver's hatch in mid air? And do you see all the instrumentation the Piper has? That'll all need to be crammed in the Aero-Gavin too, but that won't be enough, it needs GPS and radio encryption equipment too! And you see those two missiles on the top of the wings?, those are AIM-9 Sidewinders, you'll need some equipment for those too! Did you know that when the Aero-Gavin lands, it discards its wings? ALONG WITH A MILLION DOLLARS IN CLASSIFIED MUNITIONS, GEE I'M SURE NO-ONE WILL COME ALONG AND STEAL ALL OF IT!!

You know, the guy that flies this hundred-year-old idiot trap is going to have to be at-least a sergeant because of all the extra training they'll need. It's a higher rank than Mike Sparks ever could have fairly achieved.

Mike says on the page that the Aero-Gavin takes to the skies to avoid Precision Guided Missiles, things like ATGMs and guided artillery.

SO IT FLIES! And gets targeted buy MANPADS, SAMs, AAMs, Heavy Machineguns, Autocannons, and still (as the Ukrainian Army has proven) ATGMs.

But..... I could fix this.

What if we gave it rotatory wings instead?

What if we made it hover, so it wouldn't have to land to deploy its troops?

What if we moved the single rear door to both sides, to make room for a fixed tail boom?

What if we turned the top gunner's position into a pair of side gunners?

What if we gave it a panoramic glass cockpit with modern avionics, communications and sensor equipment?

What if we replaced the Sidewinders with Stingers?

What is we gave it rocket pods?

What if it could carry Hellfires?

WHAT IF IT WAS ALREADY IN SERVICE WITH MULTIPLE MILITARIES AROUND THE WORLD?!

Y'all it's the Blackhawk.

(sorry for stealing your joke LazerPig)

FINAL SCORES

Credibility: 1/10 - 3 year old’s Crayon Drawing

Coolness: 1/10 - Ugly as Sin

BONUS

Here's that LazerPig video I mentioned earlier

Mike Sparks, if you see this, you are a delusional idiot with fewer IQ points than an inbred tortoise.

[captain-price-unofficially]

US Army Special Forces 5th SFG Land Rover based technical armed with a ZPU-1 14.5mm heavy machinegun and secondary MG in Kunar, Afghanistan. 2007.

[samueldays]

Mmmyeah Phoenix Point combat is definitely feeling like it's too focused on cheesing the AP system. There's a bunch of abilities like Dash and Quick Aim which discount an action by 1AP, and they're repeatable, so the 4AP character can fire the 3AP sniper rifle twice in one turn. There is no minimum, so 1AP Pistols with Quick Aim can be fired as a free action as long as you have WP to keep casting Quick Aim. (you regain WP from killing enemies)

But the really game-breaking thing is the "Terminator" build from the wiki, which goes something like this: get a dual-class Assault/Berserker character with

background Heavy Weapons proficiency (highest damage, usually takes 3AP to fire),

the Assault class capstone (for one turn, regain 2AP when you kill an enemy),

the Assault class skill to reload for 0AP

the Berserker class capstone (for one turn, all weapon attacks cost 1AP, you are then Dazed and lose your next turn)

the Armored Head mutation (immunity to being Dazed)

the Speed stat maxed for movement

and then move up to nearest enemy for 1AP, enjoy accuracy bonus from proximity, magdump machinegun headshots to kill enemy for 1AP, regain 2AP, repeat. reloading machinegun is free. Very similar things can be done with Assault/Sniper, using the Sniper skill to reduce cost of a shot by 1AP.

If you get bad RNG and lose your killstreak, you can regain it with a support character who knows Onslaught: caster transfers 2AP to target.

I say "caster" because somewhere along the way, this XCOM clone turned into a Fantasy RPG where you assemble a motley party of Fighter, Thief, Ranger, Monk and Magic-User; I mean Heavy, Assault/Berserker, Assault/Sniper, Priest and Technician to slay monsters and ruleslawyer and take quests to build rep with factions so they'll give you magic items, emphasised by the fact weapons don't get better, but characters do. High-level characters get more attacks per turn than low-level characters, even before you do any stupid combo shenanigans. The "willpower" stat is blue, it could be renamed "magic points" and sit fine next to "hit points".

[mushed-kid]

Curious abt what songs you associate with which voltron characters because it's important obviously

so sorry that i took super long to answer this! okay i don’t actually associate all the characters with song (at least i can’t remember them..) and i think i could make any song have a connection to one of the characters, but here are the ones i do have!

characters:

lance:

- home by machinegun kelly (this ones important)

- angel with a shotgun by the cab (could be klance)

keith:

- inertia by ajr

- wide awake by katy perry

lotor:

- seventeen by marina

some duos:

klance:

- hold on by chord overstreet

broganes:

- brother by kodaline (heavy on this one fr)

[buttsandboltguns]

Deep Trenches, Dented Defenses

The combat droid surged through the mud filling the wreckage-lined trench. Small amounts of muck seeped through the battered armor plating on her quad legs, swiftly deterred from the underlying electrical components from the multiple carefully installed isolation layers. She would try to clean it all out later - or more probably she would need the help of a mechanic to clean it all out. A fresh wave of mud sloughed off of the armor as she stepped in a particularly deep puddle.

No enemies pinged on the sensor arrays. At least none that sported engine signatures - the deep rumble of her own would give away her position before the sensor blip would, so she wasn’t particularly worried about being noticed. And even if she was noticed, the 105mm smoothbore mounted to her left shoulder and fed from an autoloader would deal with any heavy armor. The 14mm caseless chaingun in her right shoulder would handle the remainder.

Most would suspect her and those like her to be well engineered, to be built from purpose-manufactured parts and components that were built in space-age laboratories.

… that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Heavy combat droids like her were made of scrapyard parts and scavenged machinery. Their core would have been salvaged from a smaller, humanoid droid - typically a NAC.23 or a similar commando model like the SERE5. Around that, the field mechanics would slowly put together an armored chassis with field-stripped weapons and some form of motive system. Hers happened to be a quad platform - four legs, excellent for moving through trenches and urban environments. Her entire squad was the same way, though none of their battered armor plating looked quite the same. They needed to ID each other through their communications channels anyways - unlike a lighter chassis, few heavy combat droids needed full visual spectrum optics. Instead most of them mounted a hellacious blend of infrared, UV scanners, and EM analyzers. They knew only vague shapes in the din of battle, and called out to each other gently like whales through the darkness of their combat zones.

The abrupt, almost automatic rotation of her chassis blew her from her reverie. A blistering roar ripped the air apart and in the blink of a scanner ping, 100 rounds had been expended from her chaingun. The shredded remains of a light combat drone collapsed to the ground, its automated programming causing it to twitch and spark before smoking and falling silent.

Stalking closer, she analyzed the chassis for anything useful. Armor panels, of course, but her squadron had an excess of armor at the moment. Small weapons seemed to be what this drone sported. Her right primary manipulator unlocked from her side, reaching out and tearing away the array that mounted the paired machineguns on either side of a small caliber chemrail.

That scout unit had been what her squad was hunting down. She supposed that the rest of the chassis should be brought back as well. The commsquawk back to their transport was brief and quiet - and a horrible screech of binary code to anyone without the encoders necessary to understand the radio communication. And it was all that was necessary to summon the airlift to remove her unit from the area.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Their forward operating base was little more than a dugout, barely deep enough to conceal the heavy frames of her squad and wide enough to accommodate a few other squads and their equipment, as well as the mechanics too. Her chassis had been hosed off - mud, oil, and other caked-on schmutz washed away to the trench sump. On her left foreknee stood a mechanic, reached up with a support band slung over the barrel of her 105mm, working to repair an armor panel on the outside of the bore evacuator that had been dented. They swiftly unbolted the panel and tossed it down to another mechanic, then climbed down off of her chassis.

At the other end of the dugout, a squadron of NAC.23s sat on a set of crates, helping each other do basic maintenance. Small panels. Replacing joint graphite packs. Changing cells. They were gossiping too, she could pick it up just barely on her audio sensors. Talking amongst each other, quietly and gently, to not disturb the other units with them.

She withdrew her focus into her hull. It was easier to focus on herself. Heavy units could hardly speak - not when their chassis was set for field mode, and they were encased in ton upon ton of armor and weapons. A quick diagnostic should be a good distraction.

Left autoloader cycling properly. Rack mostly full. HEAT, HE, APFSDS, and her single tube-fired missile that she was able to scrounge up - she didn’t remember where, it was a savored find, and hers alone. She would reminisce on the group’s weapons later, when she finished the diagnostic.

Right autoloader needed lubrication, as usual. The tracks that carried the caseless ammunition from the bin to the chaingun required frequent lubrication, or they would seize and she would be left unable to defend herself against lighter targets without resorting to either melee combat or wasting HE shells in danger close scenarios, or techs forbid, be forced to use a VT fuse and attempt to airburst an HE shell.

She pushed her report to the main mechanic’s hooked up tacslate, allowing her mind to wander to the other two members of her squad.

Both were similar to her, but so different. She supposed that was the nature of custom heavy combat droids. Her battle buddies were armed strangely, one with a 76mm and a 30mm rotary autocannon and the other armed with a heavy chemrail and one of their best scavenge finds; a 12-megawatt diffused laser pulse weapon with mostly untouched lenses. It was only a matter of time until the frontal lens got scratched or cracked, but until then it was an incredibly valuable piece of equipment.

She wondered if they would still be in the same squad if they were still humanoid combat droids. Would they have even been friends? Would they help fix each oth-

The NAC.23 squad were talking about them. About her.

“-that big Hecodra’s armor is so beat up-”

“-is its battle ID symbol a rocket rack-”

“-what’s that big gun on its side-”

She pushed her focus deeper into her hull, until all she could hear or see was her own technical readouts.

What was it like, she wondered, to be able to be friends.

Hecodras like her didn’t get those opportunities. You didn’t become friends with them, simply put - they were battle automata, big enough to take up most of a dugout and still need more space, and that’s the way the brass liked to keep it.

As far as they were concerned, she was only an “it” - a heavy machine, made to kill and hunt and destroy. And very little else.

She didn’t necessarily disagree. She was an it. But it was also a she.

And they might never get the chance to know that.

An impatient commsquawk from one of her squadmates slowly roused her from her introspection. She readily ID’d it as coming from the Hecodra who had a human looking mischievous painted like bomber art across the side of her chassis. The one with the gatling.

Her sensor array fuzzed as it came to life, displaying only the UV sensors. In front of her chassis, on the railroad tie “floor” she was rested on, stood one of the NAC.23s seemingly looking up towards her chassis. They had an outline of a bird painted on their frontal cranial plating in stealth paint. So this unit of NAC.23s used cranial markings to distinguish each other.

She focused her auditory sensors back in, away from isolating to only the ultra-high hertz ranges that their communiqués utilized. It took a moment for her second-hand auditory sensors to properly focus in. When they did, she was able to hear the lightly synthesized voice of the droid in front of her - pleasant, all things considered.

“Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? Rotate your sensor array left if you can hear me.”

The Hecodra supposed that the NAC.23 was referring to her primary sensor array - not the one she currently saw with. The multi-lens’d array housed deep in the circular cutout towards the top of her chassis spun left, tapping against the bump-stop.

“Are you okay? You’re so damaged… left for yes, right for no.”

The sensor array tapped left again.

“How much of you is still… you? Are any of your parts originals?”

She didn’t understand the question. Hecodras had no original parts. It was known that every one was custom from battlefield scrap. She rotated her sensor array left - any part was her parts.

“I mean like, from your… first chassis. Where they pulled your core from.”

That question… hurt. What was her first chassis? What was she?

She could only vaguely remember. Her programming… her core programming… that indicated something with precision. Suited towards one, specific task. Likely a combat operation marksman bot Mk.10. A COMBot.10 unit… no, she had no parts remaining from that. She supposed that it didn’t matter if she analyzed it anyway, as all of her parts were from combat striders or drones. No humanoid droid were used in her creation beyond her core. Not that she could remember herself before she became a Hecodra.

She slowly rotated the sensor array to the right, until it hit the bump-stop.

“Oh… I’m sorry. We thought they might have at least saved a little of your original parts. We were hoping to maybe help service you, but we don’t - we don’t know how to help work on Hecodras. Maybe the mechanics can help us learn in a less hairy situation. If you want, that is. What do you think? Would it be okay if we helped learn to service you?”

That seemed okay. But she couldn’t help but worry the smaller droids might hurt themselves working on her.

The sensor array hit the left bump-stop.

[helldivers-2]

hello hi, can you tell Super Earth R&D to make us a heavy recoiless rifle and crew served heavy machinegun? I am sick of the sentries friendly firing me and i might as well do it myself and become the sentry

I feel like we often forget about the HMG Emplacement.