The engineers are surprised to see how relatively in good shape Wild Ronin is after the tussle with Kroshaw. The last time the Jaeger came back from a fight with a Cat III it was literally limping.

Four squads of the unmanned aerial drones, as well as the building to control them, are constructed. The Ninja drones will need to rely on their onboard AI protocols for fighting as the radio relay stations give seconds of lag on the manual controls that would easily prove fatal in a combat scenario.

The labs are again expanded. An entire multi-story building buzzing with experimental devices, Kaiju preservation tanks, weapon testing ranges and more now houses everything Tokyo's brightest needs to exponentially increase the city's tech level. Further expansions will be more expensive, estimated at 2500 resources.

The enormous facility trucks in half of the IFO salvage and gleefully dismantles what little is left. The energy projection technology the machines used is astounding, and reverse-engineering begins quickly. (9) To much success. Two new blueprints are made available.

"Dragon Wrath" class Plasma Cannon

• Shoulder Mounted, 1 power
• 3 range
• +0 to hit
• 4d8 explosive damage
• 3 ammo
• Overheats on a critical hit or critical fail
• 1250 resources to construct

"Hiryu" class Plasma Mortar

• Shoulder Mounted, 1 power
• 7-10 range, multitarget
• -2 to hit
• 2d10+5 explosive damage
• 2 ammo
• Overheats on a critical hit or critical fail
• 1500 resources to construct

The Scanners also get an overhaul, with new dishes and receivers set up to try and break through the ambient energy field. Scanning range increases and some odd readings begin to appear. One area of interest in particular stands out; Mount Fuji. Trace amounts of Kaiju Toxicity and the same energy field that the IFO's emitted light up the area on the newly powered scanners. What could be going on there?

Before any real investigation could begin, though, the scanners detect a more immediate problem.

WARNING! CATEGORY III BREACH DETECTED!

It's in the water Northeast of Shizuoka province, heading towards Tokyo! Plenty of information is made available.

It's bipedal, with an altogether more humanoid form than has been witnessed so far. It has four muscular arms. It's 90 meters, making it taller than Wild Ronin. Moderate toxicity and intelligence detected. Designation "Gororon".

It has a similar bio-signature as Kroshaw. Command recommends alertness.

edited 14th Aug '13 10:06:26 AM by ShirowShirow

Hmmm...

So, it's in Sagami Bay? Or just close to it? Looks like its gonna pass the Kamakura railgun bunker.

Can we move all our forces to Kamakura before it passes into Tokyo Bay?

It's not heading towards the eastern edge of tokyo where the PPDCHQ is like the others. It's headed straight for the heart of the city.

Ooh two new toys. We must get at least one of each, so we'll need 5 power to work everything.

Does the critical hit Overheat still do more damage? Does the multi target take multiple ammo?

Does its path put in the range of any rail gun?

edited 14th Aug '13 10:27:17 AM by Badwolfwho

So, is it gonna go up Sagami River?

Yes, no, yes.

Yes, actually.

Alright. So we should have time to move everything between the river and Kamakura before it goes out of railgun range correct?

So, since its going up the river I suggest we try to engage at the mouth of it with Ronin, ships a bit behind it and conventionals in two groups on both banks in line with the ships. Then it should be in range of the Railgun. Its similar to Kroshaw which had no specific resistances, so either the standard six normal, six Incendiary or all Incendiary. I'm voting for the all Incendiary.

Kroshaw had no ranged attack so lets try to engage with the drones first to plink it a bit.

Also we should probably investigate Mt Fugi during the downtime.

edited 14th Aug '13 10:57:40 AM by Badwolfwho

Hmmmm

I can agree to that plan.

Though, I'm a bit wary of going for Mt. Fuji next turn.

edited 14th Aug '13 10:58:42 AM by Kosjurake

At the very least we should send a drone to get a clear idea of what's happening so we can see how out of our league it is.

And I'm worried that doing that might cause them to attack us. How bout the turn after if we get enough resources to upgrade Ronin and mount at least one of the plasma cannons?

I can back that, if we're lucky we might get enough to do all the necessary upgrades in one turn.

Ok. So, thoughts for overall direction of the fight.

Stay out of melee range. That mofo has four arms to our two. It will not end well for us. Also, we might not want to bring the ugly stick with us in case he tries to jack it from us.

Just fire everything every turn is probably gonna be the gist of our plan. Oh, if we manage to blast two or more of his arms off then we can try melee.

Plan Keep-Away

• Aim for those shoulder with the railguns
  • In the event that the railguns miss, have a Ninja Drone or two distract it while incendiary rounds are shot at its shoulder.
• Remain out of melee range until a at least two of its arms are removed.

We're still plotting our deployment.

That's just for later.

Keep-Away works for me.

You might want to leave the shatterdome first.

Can we move all our forces to the area between the river and the railgun bunker before Goro gets out of range?

Plan Intercept.

• Deploy Ronin a couple hundred meters upstream the mouth of the Sagami River. Standard Revolver loadout.
• Deploy ships upstream of Ronin.
• Deploy tanks and jeeps in two groups on both sides of the river where the ships are.

I'd prefer to not give it a clear path to Tokyo.

edited 14th Aug '13 3:36:17 PM by Badwolfwho

Well, that works too.

I'll vote for that.

edited 14th Aug '13 3:47:46 PM by Kosjurake

That sounds about right.

PCHOOOOO amazing bandwagon power I guess.

You know, I have no idea if the Sagami river is actually deep enough to hold two dozen heavily armed military patrol boats. Also I don't care.

-

Wild Ronin touches down in the wet grassland next to the flowing river. The early morning mist creates an oddly beautiful sight for the pilots, who ahve the avantage of looking out from a giant fighting robot instead of looking past it. Tanks and Jeeps follow behind, and the new Ninja Attack Drones circle overhead. The two remaining PT squadrons drive up from Sagami bay and into the wide river. With assistance from the MARC, the Railgun Bunker kilometers away in Kamakura looks at the assembly. Gang's all here.

An explosion of rising water appears at the mouth of the river and Gororon crawls onto land. The creature is a shining white color, much like Kroshaw, although its armor plating looks more like engraved stone then metal plate. The head is almost identical to the previous creature's, although it lacks the oversized fangs. It is very tall, the legs being just as muscular and apelike as the four arms that emerge from the torso. It walks forward like a pro wrestler, almost as if hundreds of unseen cameras where taking photos. The giant blue eyes narrow as Wild Ronin comes into its view. It gives a soft grunt before picking up a giant rock from the riverbank and then continues lumbering forward.

• Gororon 1km from Wild Ronin!

Plan SHOOT IT

• Have everything shoot it with everything
• Maybe some people should aim for the rock?