Somewhere in the northeast of Atlas, and somewhere in the snows, a massive meteor approached a clearing, one surrounded by Pines and such..
This was no such meteor, but rather a massive structure from somewhere in the cosmos. A core from the Sharded.
More of the Boosters below the core activated, preventing the massive cubical building from crashing to the ground below, and with careful actions and computing efforts here and there, the core had finally landed
It is still just the same as that of Serpulo's iconic cores, albeit with darker metal and a much more different stripings. (Core: Bastion, a core constructed by the Interplanetary Accelerator for colonialization outside Serpulo)
It starts to build something from above the core, projecting some sort of massive drone or ship in the process.
Thunn
And with a sound, the construction of the Core's personal ship is complete. And who's controlling the ship you ask? The only AI of the Sharded.
...
It scanned it's surroundings, flying around as fast as possible with greater speeds compared to the Sharded's Serpuloan air units. It looked at the trees, rocks, the snow, and anything that would possibly help it.
Ah.. There was no copper, no lead, no anything? Anything that is visible on the surface? What a shame. If you don't know why this AI is upset, Serpulo always had tons of ores such as copper, lead, coal, titanium or thorium exposed on it's surface, and it was neverending.
They had technologies that could endlessly mine these exposed ore veins for who knows how long. But the fact that there are no exposed ore veins around the surroundings just means that it would be difficult to get resources with just their drills that are only designed to mine exposed ore veins
But the core did a examination of the sector they landed on didn't it? It detected copper, lead, raw iron (old war materials that the Sharded have no use for just yet), and a new unknown material that they have yet to drill out..
If they're right, if looks like most of the minerals and resources are underground.
..
There are no nearby ruins that the AI could excavate and research too.. They always relied on existing Derelict Ruins or their database to research new buildings for mining stuff or producing specific materials but..
...Ah, guess there's only one option left, modify an existing blueprint. Specifically some of the blueprints for their drills, their predecessor did the same thing didn't they? Or he could create a new blueprint?
Too time consuming, guess they could focus on modifying the existing blueprints instead, and use it to mine out the resources underground I suppose.
...
New Content Unlocked!
Basic Deep Drill
- When placed underneath an underground ore vein, Outputs items at a slow pace indefinitely, only capable of mining basic resources
Pneumatic Deep Drill
- An improved deep drill, capable of mining more advanced resources from underground at a faster pace than the Basic Deep Drill.
There, that should do. Now that's out of the way, the AI can now focus on the important part, building a base! Maybe this could serve as their base head of operations in this unknown planet before they finally launch off to a sector suitable to be the main head of operations.
Now then
The ship that the AI currently controls is capable of two things: to build and to heal
The build part is how this AI will set up a base for them to survive in, by using the resources that they brought and packed into the core from Serpulo, they're able to build practically anything whevener they want, but this packed resource is finite and thus will run out if the AI uses up too much of it while building stuff so the advance buildings can wait for the future.
Using the build function of the ship, the Sharded AI constructed a patch of Basic Deep Drills underneath a local ore vein that the core had detected. And would you know it, it was able to drill deep into the earth and get the copper!
Then it constructs a giant line of conveyor belts that connect from the borers to the core itself, this conveyor belt in particular doesn't actually use power, and for whatever reason is able to operate as long as possible before time rusts its critical components out and it stops being functional
This line of conveyor belts delivers the copper drilled by the Impact Borers into the core where it replenishes any lost copper used up by the Impact Borers and the Conveyor Belts.
They do the same with the other nearby ore veins underground, already mining out patches of Lead, and Coal in just a matter of minutes.
The Lead will be useful in the future, but the Coal? While Remnant doesn't know what to do with it other than just using it as campfire or used in energy by infusing it with whatever dust there is, this particular AI knows how useful it is when it comes to electricity and tons of important stuff,
including making Graphite, a resource required to build tons of Pneumatic Borers aswell as other important factories.
It does so by loading the coal onto the newly constructed Graphite Press, which turns the coal into graphite, shortly before loading it onto the conveyor belts and into the core where it stays in its storage system..
A vein of titanium seems to be far from here so the AI might need to do some scouting first? Eh that will wait, they have yet to use up their titanium reserves just yet.
The AI's to-build-list also includes defenses like powerful turrets and walls made of pure copper and titanium, however there aren't any threats being recognized around the sector so.. There's no need to build them right?
Right?
...
Hostiles detected
Sector First Contact under attack
Ah, the AI was wrong, apparently there's an unrecognized enemy force coming from the north.. The core had detected it not long after but it seems they have yet to arrive to this sector
And they had approximately 2 minutes left to build their defenses
..
Ah damn.. Perhaps its tme to put their defense blueprints to good use then..
Flying upnorth, and not far from the core, it located a underground vein of copper and built a patch of Impact Borers around it, slowly drilling and producing copper from underground
Then it built conveyor belts and several routers that split into three lines of conveyor belts. Which all led to other ways, one leading
They're not done just yet, the AI starts building tall walls made entirely of copper, and then, it starts building three massive turrets, all stationed behind these walls
These turrets were Salvos, time consuming yet very powerful turrets that were pretty much vastly improved versions of the AI's first turrets, Duos. By loading them with copper they're able to turn it into bullets and fire them into anything that was recognized as an enemy.
It did take long for the AI to construct them, but it was enough to make sure that any enemy scouting force would be wiped out in just a few shots from these Salvos
The AI built Duos right next to the routers just in case...
...
The enemy had arrived, and the AI checked it's built in minimap(an overview of the sector, displaying Sharded buildings as yellow and enemies as red) to see what they were before approaching them
And both stopped in their tracks.
The AI didn't expect to see actual lifeforms
The Ship it controlled stared at the Pack of lifeforms, Beowolfs to be exact. And the Beowolfs stared back in confusion
This was their first meeting between the AI and biological(?) lifeforms..
And the AI can hear one of them growl..
Wait, is it me or one of them is about to-
A Beowolf tried lunging at the ship
The ship would fly back a bit to avoid the sudden attack, now recognizing them as enemies now.
With the minimaps now displaying them as enemies(displayed as black dots instead of red as they seem to not be affiliated with the Crux), the Salvos that were on standby began to recognize their unnatural presence and with a whirr signaling the turrets being operational, they all began began shooting down their new enemies
With surprised yelps and roars, each Beowolf fell one by one, now leaving behind a dark carcass with visible copper bullets embedded deep into their sides and their heads
Geez, so much for a first meeting with the local wildlife
The AI moved their ship next to the wiped out pack of Beowolfs, staring closely at their decaying carcass..
...
Strange..
They look like they're all made out of oil, yet it looks.. Organic in nature
And they seem to be decaying quite fast. plus what's with the strange smoke coming from their corpses?
Shaking these thoughts out of their seemingly human-like programming, the AI flies off to their base, leaving the rest of the upcoming waves of these strange enemies to the Salvos and Duos, whom are ready to shoot down any intruding monsters willing to destroy the core.
Now that's out of the way, they're free to improve the whole base once more, because now with a confirmed enemy force on their way, it's for the best that they'd have to prepare for anything, literally.
~~~~~ MINDUSTRIAL WAR ~~~~~
The Atlesians that were sent to investigate a crash site in the middle of nowhere(or somewhere in Atlas) had little to no expectations. Infact why would Atlas even send them to investigate the crash site anyway? For all they know it could be just some random remains of an asteroid that was lucky enough to breach the atmosphere and not get vaporized in the process.
"Ugh why are we being sent here again?" One complained, fiddling around in his position with barely any interest in whatever it was.
"Don't question it, hopefully when we're done we'll just be sent back home and do something interesting with our spare time" Another shrugged.
Aside from the sounds the Dropship they were in, there was some audible conversations between some soldiers here and there, but otherwise it was pretty quiet inside the Dropship
That all quickly changed when they started hearing distant gunfire in the distance complete with flak explosions and bombs
A battle? Or perhaps a skirmish between hunters and grimm? But there weren't any other hunters around this area weren't there right?
And so the Dropship began to fly closer to these sounds
But the more they went closer to the source of the gunfight, the more their thoughts and their guesses quickly went to the drain.
There were also mortar fire in the mix too, and these gunfire sounds, these aren't the sounds they're used to.. They sound so heavy? Much louder than the ones they're familiar with?
The Atlesians slowly became paranoid, there's someone near the crash site, a group of them, armed to the teeth..
They prepared their weaponry just in case
"I see something in the distance.. Er you might to check it out" The voice was coming from the cockpit. The pilot of this Dropship sounded confused and unsure? Some of the Atlesians here had to check to see what the pilot had saw..
...
There were structures in the distance, almost as large as a one story building or maybe two. There were large orange walls not far from these strange buildings, but the most out of place were the HUMONGOUS DEFENSES behind these walls.
These were BIG in comparison to their dropship, they looked like artillery to be exact, waiting to fire their shells onto any unsuspecting enemy from a distance
There were little ones too, ranging from small double barreled turrets(how do they even work?), to other turrets that seem to look like they were designed for mortar fire.
And the large line of dark turrets in the distance? They look like they could shred an entire army in an instant!
The other confusing part was they were all connected to conveyor belts, and they were massive too. Almost the same length and width as that of these orange double-barreled turrets too
And it was loaded to the brim with what looks like to be ingots of these orange metals.. Copper?
There was a seperate line of conveyor belt filled with pale-cyanish material, they weren't sure as to what it was but they all assumed that these materials were being loaded to the massive line of defense for whatever reason
The Atlesians here were, safe to say, in awe of this, but they were also paranoid, just how did this unknown base flew under their radar in the past? And how advanced was this unknown faction anyway? If possible these defenses lined up behind the walls were an indicator that they were WAY more advanced than what they seem.
..
The turrets have rotated somehow, and in response the dropship flew back a bit to make sure they weren't noticed from here.
And approaching the massive line of defenses was the grimm. Ah so that's why there were there in the first place, but doesn't this seem like overkill?
These defenses dwarfed over the pack of Beowolves in comparison. But they'll have to wait and see what they're capable of and how powerful they are now..
They heard whirring sounds from the defenses, and then
The defenses all opened fire at the unsuspecting Grimm.
"H-holy crap" One of them muttered under their breaths.
The spectators were all left in shock at the capabilities of these defenses, their display of power against the Grimm in particular. The giant ones shot salvos of shells at the Beowolves while the small mortars at the back all fired large shells from afar, confirming their suspicions that these were artillery support.
The double barreled turrets however didn't do a single thing against the Beowolves yet, as if they were on standby until things went off the rails.
And moving on from the main line of defense this unknown group had, the dark turrets in the distance began firing flak bullets at the approaching nevermores, overwhelming the poor oversized bird with a massive hail of exploding shells and bullets
Well, you know how that ended, the Grimm were absolutely no match for the sheer power of whoever built these things.
...
Before they were able to make an action on what to do. A ship flew in right next to the defenses
It wasn't something that they recognized either, so this could belong to whoever built a base here
They watched from afar as it flew around a bit before literally projecting several towers and buildings like a hologram and then it was MATERIALIZING IT INTO EXISTENCE???
"...I need a drink once we're done with this"
and the others agreed with them
They've seen enough already, they need to inform the higher ups about an unknown faction appearing in the middle of nowhere
~~~~~ MINDUSTRIAL WAR ~~~~~
So far so good, the progress on the base was looking pretty fine, there were barely any sand so the AI had to search up far from the core, and they were lucky because they found a patch of sand just down south from the core
Why would the AI need sand to be exact? Well it is needed as a recipe for another important resource, Silicon!
It's just as important as graphite since there are many buildings that require silicon for the AI to build.
Not to mention it is also required to build and deploy units onto any battlefield too! Whenever the Sharded attacked an enemy base, silicon is a must need as making Units such as Daggers and Flares, your basic mass-produceable units made for combat.
But right now it is not needed to build units seeing as they're not attacking an unknown enemy base just yet. So they're loading it on the cores
Moving on from silicon, the AI has already built:
Metaglass Factories, using sand delivered from the south and smelting it with lead to make Metaglass, a type of glass, not fragile nor strong but it is useful enough to have a use in containing liquids.
Several lines of Scatters loaded with lead after the AI panicked from attacking giant black birds. These turrets are designed for AA and are very effective against weak to average air units, especially against oversized poultry like these.
And power producing buildings! There's coal being loaded onto steam generators while they're being filled with cold water pumped from a nearby lake aaand accompanied by a bunch of small and big batteries
Batteries the size of a 10 foot building, whoop dee doo.
Where would you store these excess energy anyway if it's not used? That's why they were built.
Now with a stable power souce, the AI controlled ship went on to build several power nodes around the base, these power nodes are pretty much big, as tall as an electric pole, and are able to connect to several other buildings such as the Silicon and Metaglass factories through a transparent power line (it does look like pure energy being transferred from the node to the building directly, no wires or anything, just pure unfilteded energy).
More nodes were being built however as the AI isn't done just yet. The line of power nodes stretched from the main base to the defenses up north where it had sustained quite some damage.
Some attacking beowolves were being clever and evaded the Salvos' attacks, scratching the walls before being shot down by the turrets in a matter of seconds.
The AI kept on building until one of the power nodes were near the defenses, and then they built a large green building, before it was being connected to a power node
This was a mender, an advanced version of an smaller model to be exact (named Mend Projectors), what it does is that it repairs or "mends" the damages dealt to any buildings, walls or defenses in it's healing range if supplied with power, how this does so is something that the AI doesn't bother answering in the near future.
They did the same with the AA defenses, they're all covered with what looks like feathers impaled onto the Scatter's body? How come they're sharp enough to pierce through metal for a bit before stopping!?
Whatever, the AI built another Mend Projector there and connected it to a power node, quickly letting it mend any damages done to the Scatters
Each and every feather stuck onto the Scatters like an arrow stuck onto a wall fell to the snowy ground one by one.
Now with that out of the way, the AI flew off.
Only stopping when it checked it's minimap
Another unknown unit belonging to another unknown faction, so far it had just sat there midair and just.. watched from the distance
It was unnerving to the AI to be exact, but the moment the AI turned it's ship to look at them, the unknown dropship quickly flew away to who knows where
...
Damnit whatever it was, hopefully it's not another mechanical enemy just like the Crux.
Oh well back to what it was doing now. Must focus on other things such as building more factories.. And improving the defense up north as these recent attacks are starting to ramp up lately.
~~~~~ MINDUSTRIAL WAR ~~~~~
Ozpin sat on his chair, sipping on his coffee as Ironwood stated his reasons as to why he brought his army here while Atlas airships out there landed on his academies' landing pads, most likely each of them filled to the brim with his robot soldiers.
It didn't help either that the Vytal Festival was near, an event where everyone is supposed to celebrate unity and peace. And Ironwood here had brought them over just to keep watch..
...
"Im just being cautious" Ironwood reasoned out
"As am I, which is why we will continue to train the best Huntsmen and Huntresses we can." He fired back
"Believe me, I am" And he turned around and walked back..
...
Now's a good time to ask about the meteor that landed on Atlas, as he seems to be more.. tense than before
"Well aside from all that, have you discovered something from the meteor?" He placed his hands on the table, leaning forward as he spoke.
General Ironwood stopped in his tracks, before nodding "yes, I have, and the news might be a little off putting" He walled back to Ozpin before setting down a scroll. He picked it up before looking at it's contents on the screen
Ther were several images of what seems to be a base all in this one scroll, one had an a far away image of grey buildings supplied with what seems to be materials on massive conveyor belts, another was a massive line of defense from a bird's eye view.
...
And each of them didn't look like it was designed by an Atlesian in tbe first place, but he had to ask this question anyway. "..Are you sure this isn't your outpost near the site where the meteor had crashed?"
"Apparently not, which is why I showed you these images just now" His voice sounded tense too. "A day ago I sent scouts to investigate whatever that was, and when they arrived there however, they were met with a base belonging to no kingdom on this world"
He glanced at the picture showing the birds eye view of the defenses in particular, the ship that took the photo were aimed at by a line of AA turrets and double barreled turrets from the ground but other than that no other incidents related to this occurred after that, and the pilot was left unharmed. "The unknown faction behind this base took notice of our presence too, but they seem to not care for some reason"
"Maybe it's because you haven't provoked them yet? It does look like they're focusing on fighting the grimm in one of these images" He scrolled down to see a picture of the defenses in action against the grimm, taken by another scout from afar "from what I can tell they seem to be technologically powerful judging by the looks of these"
"That's the problem here Ozpin. These defenses, the massive turrets, the automated factories, and their aircraft too" He paced back and forth "It's like as if they're preparing for something and I don't like how we just found out about their existence now, especially before the Vytal Festival"
"Calm down Ironwood" Before Ozpin sighed out loud "Look, if I were you in your position, I would've also been afraid too, but if we find out that they're friendly and not here to go to war, then we could establish negotiations with whoever they are"
"And if they aren't friendly however?"
Ozpin paused, before continuing his words "Then we'll try and not provoke them any further, if we did, they might retaliate. or worse, start a war with your kingdom"
Ironwood stopped in his tracks once more, Ozpin here was right, if they attacked this unknown faction first, then they would've retaliated back with their unknown technology, which could be also started a war that would not be like any other war.
A war much more destructive than the Great War perhaps..
"We do not know what their capabilities are, but we can only assume that they could be on par with your army, or they could be much more advanced than what we expect"
"Hm.." Ironwood contemplated his words in his silence
"But for now, let's wait and see if they're friendly or not, do open up negotiations with them if they are" Ozpin finishes off his sentences.
And so both Headmasters said their goodbyes
...
Ozpin rubbed both of his temples, the Vytal Festival is near and we already have a whole new faction, or potentially a new kingdom that seemingly popped out of nowhere? this could be a sign of something but what could it be?
These are far more stranger times indeed.
[Info]
The Core
— The "core" of the base, think of it as the Command Center of Mindustry.
There are six iterations of the core, three of them are limited to Serpulo and the other last three are for enviromentally hostile worlds outside Serpulo like Erekir.
Each Core has it's own unique controllable ship(Core Ships) with the ability to build factories, defenses and much more, with more iterations having ships that have higher build speeds.
Additionally they're also able to self-replicate by using up stored materials or materials transferred to the core through drills and conveyors. With this the player can send cores off to distant important sectors or places adjacent to the sector they're in.
If the core is lost or destroyed in the sector however, the rest of the sector the core is in is now unable to be accessed by the player, and in the Crux's case, the rest of their base gets destroyed in the process.
the core in this chapter is a Core from Planet Erekir, nicknamed "Bastion"
a much more armored version of the Shard Core from Serpulo, it's personal ship is one that can only heal any allied or it's own buildings, but can fly much faster than before.
Materials, Minerals and Resources
— Mindustry has lots of resources to mine, produce and to use in the future, from Copper to Thorium, and from Pyratite to Surge Alloy. Each material has their own uses and most of them can also be used as ammo in Turrets and Defenses
But I'll be mentioning resources thag were mentioned in this story, sadly I'll not be listing them all for reasons.
Copper is practically the most useful and very required resource to start a base, it is used in almost every building in the build list of Serpuloan Core Ships.
Silicon is the primary resource used in most buildings, however it's main use is to produce Units by loading Unit Factories with Silicon.
Every unit such as Daggers, Flares, Rissos and more all require silicon for them to be deployed to the battlefield.
That will be all for now.
(So how's the discussion between Ironwood and Ozpin? Is it okay so far? Im currently concerned as to how to portray their character well enough so..
also I do plan on having the Sharded and Atlas make contact in the next chapter, but how do I do that again? any suggestions on how to make them y know, negotiate? which I currently suck at
anyway see you all next chapter :p)