As the robot wars continue, colonists are gaining ground, but it’s a bloody battle, and some are seeing red, like "Vedder" from Moonlight Shadows in the above captioned shot. He often found himself facing the odds at Hades "C" when confronted by a triple threat of Eviscerators, but he persevered and held his ground in the fight to defend our planet from these invading menaces. Calypso defenders have regrouped since the robots have reorganized their plan of attack. It seems the massive onslaught against our colony proved to be an inefficient strategy, and have now found it more productive (or so they think) to send smaller groups in frequent waves. In visiting the battlefield, I found individuals holding their own, while teams fought against the more challenging robot units. Here is a look at the locations currently under fire. Hades "C" Upon arrival at Hades "C," it didn’t take long to find the action. Individuals and teams were fighting off just about every known robot model, including occasional Big Bulks. Those fighting alone had their methods, like "La" who wasted no time at all going for the family jewels. By the looks of it, he didn’t see what hit him. Others enjoyed double-teaming, like "NetStalker" and "Seven" from TDO (The Disturbed Ones) who kept their momentum going, but that could be because of their soc's advantage with the trench they dug at Hades "C" that they not only stocked with ammo, but with Beer. Not sure if they’re sharing any or not, but they’re a generous bunch, so perhaps you might get yourself a brew or two if you ask nicely. No harm in asking, right? I know that the TDO soc has many creative members, as well as those who keep you laughing at every turn, but what I didn’t know, was that "NetStalker" had a hidden talent, or at least a level of flexibility that we were unaware of. (I am SO in trouble for this) Fort Troy When I arrived at Fort Troy, it didn’t seem to be too heavily under seige, and the robot attacks seemed to have come in manageable waves. However, I found "Rookie" from Alpha WildD3amons leading a pair of Drone Coordinators who seemed to have been escorting a Droka robot themselves to some unknown location. He was kind enough though to raise a hand to caution me about the bots who were approaching from behind. The one common theme I found in the field from our fellow colonists was definitely the heightened level of helpfulness. As I turned, I expected to find the usual Drone Coordinator, Droka or Attacker, which seemed pretty common at Troy. However, instead, I was greeted by a couple of cute Spider Bots. As they shot their little ammo, I could only stand there and laugh, until I found myself reviving in the mobile center. I guess that will teach me to underestimate size, and remember that even small and cute robots can pack a punch. I should have learned that lesson when I started playing with the Tezzies at Oshiri Hearts. Fort Ithaca It was time to check out another location, but when I arrived at Ithaca, nothing was rendering properly. There were only a few avatars, and the rest of the area was grassy with no buildings, and no teleporter. I found myself TP’ing outside of the city in order for it to render. Not sure if anyone else had this issue, but I eventually was able to see the city and enter it to find yet more of our citizens busy in battle. Some found advantage points that worked well for them, like “dragonfly” from Vampires HQ (above), who found a ledge to stand on while he fought off a Droka robot. Meanhile others, like “xgirl” (freelancer) took on whatever she faced in whatever position she found herself in order to do her part in defending Calypso. Still others took advantage of trapped robots in buildings nearby in order to skill. I found that robots had been trapped inside buildings at Troy, Ithaca, and Zychion, and if one stood close enough to the doors, then one would certainly become their target and take damage. Returning fire was futile of course, because one would not be able to target the robots, nor see any of them, other than the occasional robot arm through the door where they were trapped at Troy. Listening at the doors, it became clear that there were metal head meetings going on, and I'm just wondering if this was a tactic to retreat and reassemble their forces before the next attack. Anyone who remained close enough to the doors to listen found themselves swiftly removed. I'm relatively certain that it was to deter any gathering of strategy they needed to keep secret. The level of invaders seemed quite manageable at Ithaca as well, and at times, the colonists said they wished there were more. I actually found this to be true at the other cities as well, but then we were warned in the past with regard to being careful about what we wished for, so perhaps we should take this a day at a time and see if in fact the invader level increases. Nate's Valley While at Ithaca, someone had given me a heads up that there were Big Bulks at Nate Valley, and since I acquired a fondness for this strain of bot from a beacon experience, I figured I would go check out these metal teddybears to see what kind of chaos they were causing. When I arrived at Nate’s, I was greeted by the BigDaddy of them all, a Big Bulk Gen 10, who promptly let me know that I wasn't welcome. After catching my breath, my adrenaline was pumping so fast that I had to get back out there to see if anyone was actually fighting against these big boys. I indeed found members of the Shaolin soc heavily engaged and fighting a good battle. It was amazing for me to be that close for any length of time and not laid out flat. John Silver Long - Oberon - Sound - Frey It didn’t take them too long to do the job, but the effort paid off, because they were rewarded with a 219 PED global. Wolverine Hope I moved on to Wolverine to see how the action was there, and while things seemed pretty much under control with the wave of robots unleashed at timed intervals, I discovered a couple of unusual things. For one, I discovered that the Legionaires are very territorial with the purple plants, and they like to hide in them. There was no way that they were going to let me anywhere near my most favorite plant without letting me know that I was intruding. The other quite strange occurrence happened when I came upon "BadBoy" from United Talents Inc, and what seemed to be a secret meeting with a Droka robot. There was no engagement, other than what one might assume to be private chat. It must not have gone well, because BadBoy opened fire and the Droka met his fate. Zychion I managed to get to Zychion just in time to join a crowd who had gathered to watch a few Warants fully engaged with the toughest of robot model yet encountered, The Eviscerator. It took a while to take it down, but the intensity of the action was numbing, although it seemed that many in the crowd made good use of the time to get some scanning skills. Unfortunately, the effort did not produce a global or hof, but Warants as usual, were dedicated to tracking down any and all invading robots. However, they seemed to be rather sparse at Zychion at the time, unless it was just a lull, and a new wave was about to be unleashed. Grave - Skalman - Lodidodi Closing Thoughts At the end of the day, there was no mistake that Calypso is being defended, and defended well. Colonists have taken the robots to task in each of the invaded cities, and have held their ground quite admirably. Without knowing what the future holds, the question remains as to whether we can keep up this pace, especially since we are without backup from Earth, or if we will be required to step up our game in an effort to ward off a more massive seige upon our cities. I can tell you one thing … despite the intense engagement with the colonists, there were a couple of invaders who found it necessary not only to be bold, but rude. An Eviscerator thought it would be intimidating to show off his bloody blade tips, but that didn’t deter the defenders of our planet one iota. But the boldest and rudest bot of all had to be the Droka who must have been a comedian in his past life. "Would you mind moving your Xmassy purple ass please, I’m trying to take care of business here!"
