Sort of. I sat down and did some thinking: Most interplanetary defense networks are prepared for a small number of high value targets which are detected from a long distance away. Mechanically speaking, they kind of fall flat on their face when they start dealing with massive numbers (>10,000-50,000) small sized low value high velocity high yield targets.
We ICly revealed that in spite of the fact Sourcians have been ostensibly extinct for thousands of years, there are still resources and left-over equipment operating automatically. We also saw that left to its own business, a "compound construct" -- a network of a few million constructs, each only lasting a few minutes as part of a higher intelligence that we used to decode the databanks we found decided independently that having evaluated Sourcian attack measure, it had decided to attempt to both close the gap and design countermeasures of its own without consulting anyone -- and only when it was asking for permission to manufacture and characters
went over the blueprints, we realised one of the two systems it had suggested we make was a weapon of mass destruction. Think of what it outlined on paper as being given a million fungoes. All at once. All it takes is for a few of them to get through and then not only is there the shock and awe of a WMD but there's a hole to put soldiers down. The Sourcian would in practice, use it as a way of breaching doors. That are actually planets: Crack one side of a world wide open on one side, then use the debris to dismantle orbital defenses and make getting planetside a nightmare. Eventually the rocks settle and then you continue as normal. OOCly, I'd like to think it would create a really good way to try and put an emphasis on soldiers on the ground, not armadas above.
The outlined replica, codenamed ABYSS would have been putting aetheric warheads on one of these bombardment attacks -- less interested in breaking and taking and more in wiping off the map. The LSDF, horrified (whoever designed this having “fundamental detachment from reality”) -- and as a result, the blueprints and associated materials were destroyed and the project cancelled.
Try to imagine Missile Command and Space Invaders had a baby.
A baby that is designed for a specific role, but software allows to be more versatile because the round can be swapped and the output of the primary weapon can be controlled electronically. So if they touch down, troops already on planet can be supported provided these things are still working.
On paper, ABYSS was the sword used as a deterrant designed as a second-strike weapon. The shield would have been our robot friend up there: Ten or so in clustered areas in six equidistant positions around a given planet for optimal coverage. They have to keep moving so their positions are constantly changing and the patterns and routes are all procedural, making attacking them from a distance or at a range that they can't put up a fight quite tricky since they aren't stationary. Throw in some stealth technology when they're on the move and some incredibly thick armor (they're mobile but they're nothing even resembling fast) and you have a platform that your enemy has to be planetside to hurt, since it can't fire over the curvatre of the earth and the railgun can't operate at anything CLOSE to its full effectiveness if its used domestically, severely weakening the weapon in question. As a result, it goes from being some defensive platform to a boss-type character for players to sink their teeth into which I think could be really fun.
Suddenly, if you want free passage around a planet you're attacking, you have to knock out these defenses sufficiently to make a blindspot or a window in and out.
Men on the ground are essential to this task, which is the direction I think Wes wanted.
If Eistheid's about, I'mma ask him to help me with hull detailing n stuff.
