Re: Mission 5: Amaya's Gate
Hinoto joined her hands in front of her, dipped into a respectful bow to the other infantry pilots and began speaking.
"This analysis projects that you will face different opponents during your excursion," she gestured to a volumetric display which promptly appeared to her right, giving out a list.
Hinoto said:
- NM-2 Nekomachina
- NH-17T Psionic Nekovalkyrja
- NH-18 Adaptive Weapon
- NH-28 Nodal Integrated Weapon System
- Ke-M2-1E2 Black Mindy
- Ke-J4-1A Mishhumachina
"The nekomachina will be the most common opponent you will encounter," Hinoto continued. "Their robotic composition affords them the strength of a power armor, but not the resilience. You will find them capable of hefting anti-armor weaponry and wearing bodyarmor as any nekovalkyrja could. You may see some quipped with zesuaium shields as well."
"If your Daisy confronts one, you should find yourselves well equipped to the task. Your forearm cannons should provide enough firepower to cut them down in a few pulses individually, but if you find yourself fighting many, or fighting one with a shield... remember that the forearm cannons also have a heavy setting that will on impact have a blast radius similar to a grenade explosion - you can use this to strike many at a time, or to indirectly harm a shield-wielding nekomachina."
"If stuck in close quarter, your Daisy and it are evenly matched except that your armor is better. However, you do not want them that close - nekomachina are clever enough to go for your helmet and try to expose your more vulnerable head. If you are stuck in melee, remember that your Daisy has reinforced gauntlets and kneepads such such an occasion and that you can always use your shield as an improvised club to knock one away or even smash it with a well executed blow."
"Nekomachina are more easily destroyed with a railgun fire, a mini-missile and plasma discharges... but be wary of depleting your resources - it is likely that once you are in the gate, there will be no relief supplies available to you save what you can salvage from the enemy."
Hinoto gestured to the next item on the list.
"We have not encountered many of Eve's psionics, but we expect that if we will see them in larger numbers, it will be at the gate. The bright news is, most you will encounter will not be in power armor. Another bright point is that your Daisy armor has a Psionic Signal Controller which will provide your with a resistance that will significantly slow any direct attack sent your way."
"However, each is potentially deadly. If a psionic decides to assail you directly, they are powerful enough to - given the time - whittle down your PSC defense. You will get a warning when this happens. Beware: psionics can team up together to have your PSC defenses be compromised faster. Our estimate is that your PSC should give you 45 to 60 seconds of reliable endurance from a sustained effort - the moment their concentration is broken, they have to start over. However, the more psionics combining their strength, the faster they will cumulatively get through."
"If they get through, we're uncertain of the severity of the direct attacks, but these people are very good at what they do. It could range from you being stunned, dazed, suffering from illusions which can do anything from severely hindering your precision and efficiency to making you believe a friend is a foe... to finally the worst case scenario: completely dominating you and turning you into their obedient puppet."
"Not all will bother with a direct attack, and will instead attempt to attack you indirectly. Pyrokinesis used to create point-blank explosions on you and telekinesis to throw objects are some examples. We also know that when confronted, some may have the ability to bend space, allowing them to deflect incoming ranged attacks."
"Psionics may have varied powers, but regardless your best chance against them lies in breaking their concentration, or at least taxing it. Once a psionic has had her concentration broken, she will be significantly less able to counter you. If those you encounter was the space-bending types, area attacks that will test their ability to deflect or shield against them are your best assets, the less precise, the better."
"This may include explosive ordonnance such as mini-missiles and grenades, heavy discharges from your forearm cannons and perhaps the discharge from a flamethrower. Also keep in mind that even if she does defend herself from the killing plasma of a flamethrower, or block a mini-missiles, the searing heat from the explosions can get through a psionic's defense. Her mind is a weapon, but if she is saturated with weapon's fire her ability to think on her feet will be sorely taxed."
Hinoto gestured to the next item.
"NH-18 Adaptive weapons are, for all intents and purposes, self-aware nanomachine colonies that take the form of slimy mounds. These entities can reshape themselves to look like any nekovalkyrja, and then promptly reshape themselves to have their torso be a giant maw with their legs becoming an amorphous tail and their arms into long pseudopods which could then assail you in the form of anything from bladed hooks to rotating sawblades."
"Because of their unique composition, they will be very hard to take down with ballistic weaponry such as railguns and gauss cannons. The concussive impact of mini-missiles and your forearm cannons on heavy setting will slow them down but won't harm them very much. To defeat them, you will need energy weapons of a high enough output to consume their bodies beyond their ability to compensate for it."
"The plasma rifle and the flamethrower will both be ideal for this task. Aetheric weaponry would serve as well, but remember that in this region of space, aetheric-based attacks will be significantly less lethal than they should normally be."
Hinoto moved on to the next item of the list, which was the NH-28 NIWS.
"The NH-28 is many things. It is a nodal weapon which, like the NH-18, can easily regenerate and generate its own weapons. The difference is that it retains a stable humanoid form, typically is powered by an aether generator, and has inbuilt power armor-grade armor. Its strength and agility is usually greater than that of a power armored infantry soldier."
"The bright side of our situation is that if you encounter a NIWS, it will be devoid of aether-powered weaponry. It will regenerate, produce other more conventional weapons from its nodal system and such... but you can destroy them with any good anti-armor weapon. To make sure that a NH-28 is defeated, you must entirely destroy its torso section - if the aether power supply is gone, it won't recover. Leave it, though, and the NIWS can in time self-repair and go after you again."
Hinoto pointed to the Black Mindy.
"The power armors the Daughter of Eve have are zesuaium armored Black-colored Mindy. The zesuaium armor will make them extremely resistant so only your best anti-armor weapons will be able to harm them. With aether not being as dependable, the Plasma Rifle is your second best alternative. Seeing that their Mindy has a flame-retardant cloak, bear in mind that they can use it to protect themselves from a plasma flamethrower attack."
"The Black Mindy is equipped with mono-molecular-edge blades on the knees and elbows plus spikes over their shoulders that will make it superior to your Daisy once they get into close quarter."
"Typically, the Black Mindy will use an aether saber-rifle for its main weapon. Even with aether diminished, they will likely still use them. Do remember that for either ranged or melee attack, the aetheric saber-rifle remains a potent weapon - a sword hit will not instantly kill you if you are luckily, but it doesn't mean it will not to damage."
"Their Mindy also has a scalar cannon mounted over their other forearm. While your have your barrier shield on, it will not be a menace to you. However, if your barrier collapses, their forearm-mounted scalar cannon can do harm to yourself, your power armor's electronics and can even prematurely detonate any ammunition you carry."
"They will have mini-missiles mounted on their upper legs, which may deliver anything from anti-missile countermeasures, to subspace detonating warheads which - if you are hit - will temporarily collapse your barrier to standard homing warheads with destructive payloads. Mini-missile volleys can be deadly if several connect with you so make sure to have counter-measures ready for such an eventuallity."
"To conclude with the Black Mindy is usually equipped with a double-charge teleportation system. In this environment, however, teleporting is very hazardous: our evaluation estimates a 50% chance that a power armor may not survive a teleportation. They will probably not use it... but if you present them will a do-or-die alternative, they might risk it. Be wary."
Hinoto gestured to the last item: the Mishhumachina.
"Mishhumachina are well armored, well-protected, big, not very mobile and capable of stealth. They are, justifiably, tough nuts to crack."
"Team effort and the heaviest weaponry is required to acceptably bring one down. with no aether energy swords available to be use, you have little reason to risk being on range of the tentacles, so, don't."
"My recommendation is to have plasma rifles, mini-missiles and gauss bazooka on hand to take it down. Plasma rifles will deliver all-around good damage against its barrier and armor. Mini-Missiles can be used to damage it in volleys, or to collapses its barrier shielding temporarily with a subspace detonator warhead. The Gauss Bazooka, once the barrier is down, will prove the most devastating."
"Remain wary of the plasma flamethrower it has on it's underbelly - its ventral side is not a weak spot. The mishhumachina also has mini-missile launchers and gattling cannons to saturate its surrounding with fire as needed."
"Destroying the eyes and ears will destroy all of its sensors, making it blind. The tentacles emerge from three armored clusters - on the right flank, left flank and rear; destroy one of those and you deprive it of a degree of mobility and a good chunk of its weaponry."
Hinoto motioned to the volumetric window to have it closed away.
"The Daisy power armor is the unit of choice, I believe, for this operation. It has a non-aether-dependent power supply and excellent semi-regenerating yamataium armor which will help you last the distance, with a rechargeable barrier shield in addition. Its inbuilt forearm cannons will be adequate to deal with the lighter threats and then some."
"Weapon-wise, the plasma rifle and the gauss bazooka will cover up for most of what the forearm cannons will not be able to do. I would recommend having countermeasure missiles to counter-mini-missile use and create openings in the shielding of any mishhumachina you encounter. There might not be just one."
"Seeing you will likely not be able to come back, I suggest you carry in-hand a third handheld weapon that you will use up early and then discard."
