Lets Play - Falcon 2: Mechanon

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

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Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Haul ass.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by Thaluikhain »

You duck into the new tunnel and run on. It leads to an electronic communications networking centre. You decide to investigate as two flying droids appear in the tunnel behind you.

404
A small communications droid is linked to a terminal and it disengages and backs away as you approach. You blast it and move over to the terminal. A screen is covered in multi-coloured blocks which flash seemingly at random, but the communica-tions port is still open. You take your Universal Interface and plug it in. Its shape changes to fit the alien specification of the port and it is linked into the communications network in seconds. It probes the databanks, subtly changing the software until it has extracted gygabytes of data on the status of Mechanon. As the Universal Interface completes its work you pick up a radio message.

'Bloodhound calling Lynx, I am in position in front of the hangar door. The inside of the fluorescent building is teeming with battle droids and mobile scanner banks.' Jobanque has sent Bloodhound and Lynx to help you on Mechanon! You cut in on the same frequency and tell them your position. It appears that the tunnels between you and them are teeming with wardroids. Will you:

Try to fight your way back to them?
Continue deeper into the complex?
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Post by SGamerz »

Going back will waste too much time. If they're successful they'll catch up with us. If they're not, at least they'll provide some distraction for the enemies while we get the job done.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Agreed; continue into complex.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Continue.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

You move deeper into the complex to radio your direction to Bloodhound and Lynx before switching on the homing signal in your environment suit. As you move along yet another vast tunnel the ceiling opens up and a hover platform descends towards you. You flatten yourself against the wall, but it carries only worker droids. As you watch they open a hatch in the tunnel wall and load a fifty-metre long starship Ion Drive onto the platform. The platform rises again and the ceiling is sealed once more. Lynx radios you to hold your position if at all possible. Three hovering wardroids and a raildroid appear at the far end of this tunnel and you are about to report that you must retreat when the ceiling opens once more. Bloodhound lowers a rope to you and they pull you up just as the green rays of a particle disrupter sheer into the luminous wall behind you. The raildroid aims again as you reach for the gap in the ceiling. Make an Evasion Roll as you try to scramble through to the planet surface.

If you score 5-12 Rolled 5 and 4 (-1), so Falcon made it.

Lynx congratulates you on escaping from the complex. Add 1 to your Evasion Modifier. You thank them for saving you and set out for their Time Machines.

Did you destroy the dish-shaped radar beacon as soon as you left Falcon's Wing?

No....so:

You tell them that you have useful information to be analysed at the Eiger Vault and agree to leave Mechanon before you are all killed. They tell you that Falcon's Wing has been destroyed and you are forced to ask for passage back to the Vault. You make your way back to their machines at a run and your combined firepower is enough to dispose of the four wardroids which attack, but Bloodhound is wounded when you are 'buzzed' by three strafing Atmospheric Interceptors. Lynx is glad to allow you the use of her autodoc and you take a relaxant and recuperate. You may restore up to 12 points of lost Endurance.

As soon as you arrive back in the Eiger Vault CAIN tells you that Jobanque is waiting in the research section to debrief you. With Bloodhound and Lynx you walk briskly to meet him. He is in the office of the head of the research section of TIME, Skirrow, the man who, in his younger days as a space rover, discovered Planet Hel and Skirrow's World. He is a stocky man with red gold hair and he welcomes you cordially. You make a full report to Jobanque who nods pensively throughout. Then he looks you in the eye and asks you if you appreciate that CAIN alone COM more than the medical welfare of twenty million people. You reply that of course you appreciate the cost, but that there was little time in which to think. 'Very well, let's see what information you have brought back at such cost,' says Jobanque brusquely. Skirrow takes your Universal Interface to un scramble the information it now holds. By the time you have finished telling your story of the horrors of Mechanon, a story which Lynx and Bloodhound confirm, Skirrow has returned with a holo-readout. He confers with Jobanque and they swiftly reach agreement as to the next course of action. Skirrow tells you that you have successfully tapped the data-banks of the Command Computer on Mechanon. 'It is named after Zordekai, the Danikoi who designed it. It seems that, since you have stopped Yelov and the wardroids moving through time to attack the Space Federation in 3033 AD, they are planning to attack Earth, using starship droids, in 1986 AD.'

Jobanque says, 'You, and you alone, must stop them before they take off, Falcon. Skirrow will explain why you must go on without support.' You follow Skirrow to the top secret research laboratory, which is in total darkness. If you have changed history at Crecy to the extent that the inventor of deflector shields never lived,

Also no, so:

One of the technicians floods the hangar with light and the most advanced piece of weaponry ever designed by the Space Federation is revealed in all its glory. Forty metres long, it looks like a highly advanced, oversized Atmospheric Interceptor, It has four wings which sweep back to needle points on either side of a huge ion-plasma drive tube. A drive like that must mean interstellar capability and the ship is fitted with hyper-drive. Skirrow explains, 'This is a Weeks/Senior Corporation Space Navy Strike Fighter. She has a Variac Drive fitted; this is the first time travel starship, Falcon, treat her well. A copy of CAIN's memory has been installed and linked into our most advanced Battle computer. She has Titanium hull armour.' Skirrow enters the Strike fighter and explains the controls and capabilities of the craft. She has electronic counter measures, a Variac Drive, four guided missiles with fission warheads, radar and sonic dampers, twin fusion cannons on the upper wing tips, re-entry shields and aft 'point defence' beam lasers. Skirrow continues, 'We have tailored a Startrooper battlesuit to your size, Falcon. It has a built-in particle disruptor, psionic enhancer helmet, face-up radar display, energy rocket launcher and power armour, which will give you the strength of an android, and boost-jets. The ship handles just like an ordinary Atmospheric Interceptor. Good luck.'

You stare mesmerised at the controls. 'It's all colour coded/says Skirrow. 'You're not colour-blind, are you ?' You laugh. The only reason Skirrow is not head of the Special Agent Section is that the medtechs failed him because of red/green colour-blindness.

Jobanque says, 'It will take us several hours to complete tests on the Variac Drive, then she's all yours, Falcon. Use her to destroy the Central Computer on Mechanon before the war-fleet blasts off. Our information is that the Central Command Computer can be found within the section you penetrated earlier, but deeper within.

Jobanque tells you to rest until the Weeks/Senior Corporation Strike Fighter is ready. You decide to take the hovrail to the leisure park. Alpolis hums with activity, news of Yelov's escape has been suppressed to avoid mass hysteria. You stroll leisurely towards the old style iron gates of the leisure park with its live sheep. Did you visit the low life area of Old Geneva and encounter a hovbike gang when on a mission to find the Renegade Lord?

Also no, so:

167
You return from the leisure park in time for a thorough rebriefing by section leaders Jobanque and Skirrow, and soon you are settled into the crash-couch of the first ever Weeks/Senior Corporation time travel Strike Fighter. You instruct your new version of CAIN to engage the Variac Drive and set coordinates for Mechanon 1986 AD. All goes grey and insubstantial, but after an hour in null-space you fail to materialise as planned. CAIN reports that there is a time flux disturbance. The droids of Mechanon have constructed a time flux destabiliser, trapping you in null-space! You can dimly see the factory planet below, hazy and insubstantial. CAIN says that you are trapped on a grid on which the timeholes of normal space have been forced into null-space. The Strike Fighter's sensors flash warning red and CAIN reports that the droids have sent five atomic mines equipped with anti-matter drives into the grid, one of which has just appeared in front of you and is hurtling towards you! The anti-matter drive enables the mines to travel across null-space anywhere in the grid of the destabilised field as if they were in real space. However, your Ion Drivewill not function here, you can only hop from timehole point to timehole on the grid, instantaneously, using the Variac Drive. Psychic awareness is of no use here, but because of the nature of the field the variac navigational computers will interpret coordinate inputs in the normal way. You must use your Variac Drive to shift to a new timehole point on the grid, as the four other atomic mines diverge towards all of the timehole points. If you don't, the mines will obliterate you. CAIN flashes up a picture of the grid on your face-up display. Which coordinates will you type into the console?

Rigel 0/0/1
Mechanon 0/3/2
Danikos 0/3/0
Clyss 0/4/1
Earth 0/2/3

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Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Is it just me or do we have literally not a goddamn thing to go on here?

Mechanon because PTFO I guess.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by SGamerz »

If I'm reading this right, we're already at Mechanon, and the atomic mine will blow up in our face if we stay there.

There are 4 other mines being sent to the other 4 locations right now as well. I think there's an error on the map though, because there's no Clyss on it. Is the option supposed to be Thrix?

Thing is, if that's supposed to mean that Clyss is so far away that it's off the map, then that might be the best place to go first. My reasoning is that we head for the farthest location, where I presume the mine will also take the longest to reach. Ideally, as soon as we reach the place, we warp straight back to Mechanon, leaving just before the mine there arrives, and we pop up back in Mechanon after the mine here has already detonated.

Thing is, I'm not sure which spot is the farthest point right now since one of them isn't on the map.

Assuming there's an error and Clyss is supposed to be Thrix in the text (or vice versa on the map), I vote Rigel, which is the farthest on the map.

If that doesn't work out, we try Clyss on the assumption that it's supposed to be off the map.
Last edited by SGamerz on Sat Oct 28, 2017 1:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Changing vote to SGamerz if they're reading this right.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by Thaluikhain »

225
Well done. You arrive at the point on the grid which corresponds to a Timehole on Rigel Prime. The display on your faceplate shows that the mine at Mechanon has exploded and died away. The other mines are about to explode at the other Timehole points on the grid. You must engage your Variac Drive again to avoid the last mine which is racing towards you. Which coordinates will you type into your console?

There is a picture here

Clyss 0/ 4/ 1
Mechanon 0/ 3/ 2
Danikos 0/ 3/ 0
Earth 0/ 2/ 3
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Mechanon because, again, PTFO and more importantly it's where a huge bomb "has exploded and died away" instead of "[is] about to explode".
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by SGamerz »

Back to Mechanon.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

264
You arrive back at the point on the grid which corresponds to the timehole on Mechanon as the flare of nuclear explosion glares red on your face-up display at the other points on the grid. The blast at this point has died away but your Strike Fighter's radiation dampers are being steadily overloaded by the fallout from the atomic mine. You must leave the grid somehow, perhaps you can convince CAIN that you are not in the restricted grid of what to a computer is a 'fixed' universe. You must engage the Variac Drive once more, before the radiation reaches you. What coordinates will you type in this time?

0/ 5/ 5 Turn to 310
1/ 0/ 0 Turn to 295
-2/ 4/ 1 Turn to 286
0/-5/-5 Turn to 279

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Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Once again, not really enough to go on.

We'd expect much the same situation if we went to the same column as Thrix so instead I propose 1/0/0.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by SGamerz »

I think from the authors' point of view, they probably did provide the information/clues for the puzzle to be solved. The previous 2 moves were pretty logical if it weren't for what I think is an error in the text/map.

This one, I admit, stumps me. The only clue I see is that we need to convince the computer that we're "not on the grid". I'm assuming we should enter some negative numbers in the coordinates to confuse the computer, but there're 2 options with negative numbers.

My vote is either 286 or 279, but I can't make up my mind which one.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I’d go with 286 because too many negatives might fry CAIN’s circuits. Leaving the grid at all should convince our computer that we’re not stuck to the grid.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

286

Nothing happens. CAIN tells you that the grid exists in only two dimensions, you have tried to move in a third dimension. The radiation level is critical. Which coordinates will you try next?

1/ 0/ 0
0/ 5/ 5
0/-5/-5

(There is a picture that goes with it, but it's exactly the same as the last one, except the mine at Rigel has exploded.)
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

0/-5/-5.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

0/-5/-5 to be as far away from the grid as possible.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by Thaluikhain »

279

This time your Strike Fighter warps out into null-space outside the grid. You are free of the sophisticated trap laid for you by the wardroids of Mechanon. When you type in the coordinates for Mechanon 1986 AD you re-emerge outside the factory planet's dull red atmosphere smoothly and normally. Numerous satellites are in orbit below you but a moving blip on your radar screen draws your attention. CAIN puts it onto the visual scanners and you see that a large hyper-drive starship is leaving Mechanon. You ask CAIN to compute its likely destination and after a moment it chimes, 'Earth, Falcon, Earth 1986, with a probability of 93%. Proxima Centaurai, probability of 6.3%, and Ceres, probability of 0.39%. Other probabilities exist.' Will you:

Gun your ship to hyper-drive velocity and jump to Earth 1986?
Ignore the starship and head for Mechanon and the Central Computer Complex?
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

The starship is probably an attempt to distract us, so stay on target. The book isn't called Earth after all.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Whatever disruption a huge starship is going to do to Earth we aren't equipped to stop it from there. Mechanon.

(Which may well have a keystone that stops the starship at Earth being a threat.)
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by SGamerz »

I'm outvoted, but I'd prefer to follow the starship.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

325
Nearest you, on the radar, is what can only be a weather control satellite - it has seeding pods and chemical condenser beams to generate clouds and rainfall. CAIN tells you that Mechanon, before the arrival of the Danikoi, was ravaged by terrible ion storms and hurricane-force winds. But the weather control satellites prevent these.

As you approach the weather satellite CAIN chimes again: 'Look at the radar. Falcon.' There is an intruder detection satellite beyond the weather controller. It has already detected the Strike Fighter's ion drive and beamed a message to the Central Computer on Mechanon. Your twin fission tubes are ready to fire. Will you turn them against:

The intruder detection satellite?
The weather control satellite?

There is a picture here
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

If the weather's really bad then destroying the weather control satellite will probably wreck the other, too.
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