"Excellent. The God-Emperor smiles upon you."
Daniel was quite pleased with Colonel Griffin's attitude. The plan was to let this current wave of rogue forces burn themselves out, then sweep in and take Stonehive City.
This would also be the perfect chance to clear out the rogues remaining in the Tyrian Hive and secure the C'tan fragments. A solid win-win situation.
After the military meeting wrapped up, Daniel set off to return to the Imperial Glory, preparing to initiate the orbital bombardment as soon as the ground troops were in position.
The Valkyrie he was on had just landed on the boarding deck when Magos Jaco rushed over.
He reported to Daniel that the Warband System and the Honor Point calculation model that Daniel had previously assigned him were complete.
Daniel reviewed and confirmed the design was sound, then pushed the update information out to the players.
Optimization Notice: Major Update
Contribution Points Retired: The old Contribution Point leaderboard has been replaced by the Honor Rank List. Honor Points are now the primary metric, earned through diverse activities like completing missions, gathering intelligence, civilian rescue, and war contributions. Ranks are determined by a comprehensive score calculation.
New Warband System: Saints with sufficient Honor can now register a Warband. Warbands gain access to purchasing War Vehicles, requesting NPC military support, and accepting Large-Scale Combat Missions.
New Trade/Business Gameplay: Players can now open factories and shops and operate legitimate businesses, offering new avenues for fun and profit.
Imperial Medals: A new Imperial Medal System (Gold, Silver, Bronze) has been implemented to award players who make significant contributions to the Imperium.
Warm Reminder: The campaign to reclaim Atomal is about to begin. This is a prime opportunity to rack up those Honor Points!
++Daily Thought: Have You Been Loyal Today?++
Players with data-pads instantly received the update. Those with free time manually typed out the update information and sent it to the group.
Daniel also clipped some preparation videos for the upcoming battle and shared them in the chat. Suddenly, all three groups became as lively as a beehive.
A bunch of cloud-players were green with envy, their hands twitching to jump into the action. They couldn't wait to rush in and start firing bolters.
GuillimanRules: "End the closed beta already, wipe the servers and launch the open beta! I can hear the cries of Macragge's people, and they need me!"
Magosbro: "Welcome to another episode of 'Old Thirteen's Daily Whine Fest.'"
SpaceKing: "Taking care of Old Thirteen is a team effort."
GuillimanRules: "I'm going to kill you guys (rage-quit emoji)."
IlovePEACH: "Just let me in, I'll be the Emperor's punching bag! I can't take it—the FOMO is real, and the withdrawal symptoms are kicking in."
LakeLochness: "Seriously, when are they dropping the next batch of invites?"
While the cloud-players were wailing from the sidelines, Mordecai, Rigby, and Spaceking, among others, were huddled in a cathedral in the Tyrian Hive discussing the update.
"The Warband system, the trade model, the Honor Rank List, Imperial Medals... man, this design feels hacked together," Spaceking said. "It feels like they're just tacking things on as they go."
Mordecai recalled the clunky mission system. "The underlying code of this game must be a nightmare to modify."
"What were the devs thinking? Who hired this clown as a planner?"
Rigby scratched his head. Spaceking roared with laughter. "Ha! Who knows? The head honcho is probably off somewhere fooling around with his secretary, burned out and paralyzed, so they're letting the planner run wild as long as the game works."
~CRASH!
A dazzling bolt of lightning appeared from nowhere and struck him.
"What in the world?"
"Is that an enemy?"
"I didn't sense anything. The rebels are gone. Where did that come from?"
"Did he just trigger a game penalty?"
The players stared wide-eyed at the charred corpse.
Mordecai looked like he'd put two and two together. "Wait, remember what Spaceking said? 'The head honcho is off with his secretary, burned out and paralyzed...'"
~BOOM!
Another crack of thunder, and he, too, was instantly resurrected elsewhere.
"Okay, guys, zip it," WrongHammer whispered, shrinking his head. Realizing their words had caused trouble, the remaining players looked bewildered. "Dog planner?"
Rigby tentatively shouted. No reaction. "The jerk planner is off with the secretary!" Still nothing.
The unspoken rule in the game's core code was clear: Do not curse the boss. Anyone who dares will be struck down by lightning!
"Let's stick to the update," WrongHammer said. Rigby nodded.
"The campaign to reclaim Atomal is about to begin. That must be why they introduced the Warband system. Single players wouldn't be able to pull their weight in such a large-scale war."
"It's plain to see that the Warband system and the Honor Rank List are designed to support combat players, allowing them to receive more resources."
"If we only looked at Contribution Points, combat players would be crushed into dust by business players in seconds."
"But introducing the trade gameplay is also meant to encourage players to explore new methods. Combat players destroy the enemies, while business players craft the weapons and gear. They complement each other to create a deeper recurring system and achieve greater realism."
The Lycard Space Station. Inside the Doraemon Workshop, the production lines rumbled 24/7. The entire facility was running at full tilt to churn out the mountains of military orders.
With the help of two Magos, Doraemon optimized three exoskeleton designs and unveiled the Tomorrow Type IV exoskeleton armor.
This model was a departure from the Type III, sacrificing defense and firepower for maximum speed. It reduced load capacity and heavy armament, adding flight thrusters to the back.
The four models now had clearly defined roles:
Tomorrow Type I: The entry-level version, focused on quality and low price, balanced across the board, and positioned for ordinary soldiers.
Tomorrow Type II: An advanced version with improved performance, high cost, and targeted at elite troops.
Tomorrow Type III: Designed for defense and firepower, sacrificing speed and endurance. It adds an offset shield and functions as a mobile turret for heavy firepower units.
Tomorrow Type IV: Pursues speed and is positioned for use by assault teams tasked with penetrating the enemy's rear as quickly as possible to strike high-value units.
To guarantee output and complete war preparations, Daniel ordered Doraemon to license all four exoskeleton designs to Magos Theresa, allowing her to use the recently reactivated weapons factory for production.
Initially, Magos Theresa considered the shoddy "Tomorrow" series an insult to the wisdom of the Omnissiah. But under Daniel's direct order, she accepted the job and quickly set up additional production lines to meet wartime demand.
In this intensive state of preparation, the Loyalists quickly armed a massive army and marched powerfully toward the Stonehive.
When the ground troops reached the designated location, Daniel gave the order for orbital bombardment. (The rebels had only been able to partially repair the hive shields).
With a deafening explosion, a terrifying mushroom cloud slowly rose. Many already dilapidated structures collapsed and were engulfed in flames. The orbital bombardment lasted for over an hour.
The rebels were hit so hard they didn't dare show their faces, allowing the Loyalist troops to successfully reach the outskirts of the Stonehive.
As the sea of fire in the Stonehive slowly subsided, Colonel Griffin stood up and roared at the vanguard troops: "Men, the time has come to prove our loyalty! Charge!"
The soldiers—many of them seasoned survivors—responded with high morale.
"For the Emperor!"
"For the Imperium!" They launched their assault under the rebels' desperate return fire.