Schlock Mercenary IV: Chrome and Punishment

[Lizard Lord]

I am sad by the latest strip.

Spoiler: Really not sure if I should spoiler tag this.

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I would have loved to see the younger Tagon as Commodore.

[factotum]

Welp, that's the end of that, I suppose. I genuinely wonder why Howard felt the need to wrap up this story with such indecent haste--was he getting bored with the can full of sky, or something? Running out of pages, maybe?

[Kane]

Well, I guess that torpedoes the "virtual reality hell in which the cast is trapped" scenario. And Tagon is actually selling most of the fleet, though I guess that's fair given that even at their largest, they'd have had a hard time crewing it.

Does seem a bit abrupt, but... I guess? Wonder what the new book will focus on.

[Loreweaver15]

This really strikes me as PART ONE of a multi-book story.

[Cikomyr]

This really strikes me as PART ONE of a multi-book story.

Nah. Each books deeply delve into their backstory, that's what makes this webcomic so great.

[HandofShadows]

This really strikes me as PART ONE of a multi-book story.

Yeah, I think that as well. This seems to be more part of something larger rather than a full story itself.

[Cikomyr]

The overall plot has been building up for a long time. can't wait to actually get back to the bloody Andromedan war.

I mean, there's an inter-galactic war going on for the past 5 books, and it happens offscreen. Worse, we are learning that Petey is LOSING IT?

But there's Credomar. And quite a few other elements added that I suspect will turn out to be critical to the overall plot.

[Fjolnir]

The influx of oafan ships and new old intel will help, petey is highly undergunned.

[Cikomyr]

The influx of oafan ships and new old intel will help, petey is highly undergunned.

10 to 1 in term of energy production. And its enemies like to blow-up stars.

I think we overshot "undergunned", and are now in "desperate situation". Even if Petey has the intelligence/tactic advantage (which I believe it has, it's a single hivemind not being The Borg, after all), he must be breaking everything just to remain even.

[memnarch]

10 to 1 in term of energy production. And its enemies like to blow-up stars.

I think we overshot "undergunned", and are now in "desperate situation". Even if Petey has the intelligence/tactic advantage (which I believe it has, it's a single hivemind not being The Borg, after all), he must be breaking everything just to remain even.

I'm wondering if the hivemind has tried creating the wormgates+star singularity method of production in Andromeda to generate huge numbers of teraport modules and TAD drones to gear up for an assault on the core there.

[Cikomyr]

I'm wondering if the hivemind has tried creating the wormgates+star singularity method of production in Andromeda to generate huge numbers of teraport modules and TAD drones to gear up for an assault on the core there.

Hmmm... That sort of production would certainly be achieved without Annie Plant, which would make it undetectable by the Dark Matter Entities.

But then again, I don't think Petey wants to destroy the Andromedan Galaxy. there's too many innocents there.

[Rockphed]

Hmmm... That sort of production would certainly be achieved without Annie Plant, which would make it undetectable by the Dark Matter Entities.

But then again, I don't think Petey wants to destroy the Andromedan Galaxy. there's too many innocents there.

Not destroy, conquer!

[Wayson]

The overall plot has been building up for a long time. can't wait to actually get back to the bloody Andromedan war.

I mean, there's an inter-galactic war going on for the past 5 books, and it happens offscreen. Worse, we are learning that Petey is LOSING IT?

But there's Credomar. And quite a few other elements added that I suspect will turn out to be critical to the overall plot.

And let's not forget the maybe-already-breaking-loose UNS civil war.

Remember here, we see that there are three battleplates in Sol. That's a very very heavy concentration of firepower, against what threat? Petey? He's been pretty clear that he's not interested in galactic conquest of the Milky Way. (Andromeda yes, Milky Way not so much... yet.) Credomar? Battleplates could never stop it. The DAMEs? The Core War saw them wiped out in our galaxy. Maybe the Ob'enn, but the impression Petey gave was that they were too terrorized by him to start expanding. So... why are those battleplates there? Is someone in the UNS planning a coup?

And then there's this. The UNS is apparently on the verge of a civil war, so much so that even a single leak of information would be sufficient to push things past the boiling point.

[factotum]

So... why are those battleplates there? Is someone in the UNS planning a coup?

Is it not entirely normal and expected for the seat of central government to be more heavily defended than anywhere else? What proportion of the US fleet is routinely deployed in home waters, for instance?

As for Petey not being interested in conquest of the Milky Way--he might very well say that, and we as the reader know he really means it, but the UNS don't. All they see is a dangerous AI hive-mind, and defending against that is something they no doubt take very seriously.

[NEO|Phyte]

Is it not entirely normal and expected for the seat of central government to be more heavily defended than anywhere else? What proportion of the US fleet is routinely deployed in home waters, for instance?

As for Petey not being interested in conquest of the Milky Way--he might very well say that, and we as the reader know he really means it, but the UNS don't. All they see is a dangerous AI hive-mind, and defending against that is something they no doubt take very seriously.

As Tagon senior pointed out, they were far too close to be any use in defense. Gimme a bit and I can dig up a reference link.
:edit: oh hey that was quick, it was linked to in the post you were quoting.

[factotum]

Doesn't that reinforce the idea that they're not about to launch a coup? If they're too close to effectively defend against anything, then their only option is to start bombarding ground targets, which doesn't seem a great way to start things off to be honest. They could be there so they're visible from the ground and thus either reassure or oppress the population, who knows?

[Kane]

Doesn't that reinforce the idea that they're not about to launch a coup? If they're too close to effectively defend against anything, then their only option is to start bombarding ground targets, which doesn't seem a great way to start things off to be honest. They could be there so they're visible from the ground and thus either reassure or oppress the population, who knows?

Well, they can teraport. It doesn't really matter where they are in system, since they won't be subject to TAD and can be anywhere if they need to.

[HandofShadows]

Doesn't that reinforce the idea that they're not about to launch a coup? If they're too close to effectively defend against anything, then their only option is to start bombarding ground targets, which doesn't seem a great way to start things off to be honest. They could be there so they're visible from the ground and thus either reassure or oppress the population, who knows?

We have seen Battleplates used with VERY near pinpoin accuracy in the past. With proper sensor data you could probably kill somone and leave the rest of the room untouched. And even make it look like a heart attack.

[teratorn]

I'm wondering if the hivemind has tried creating the wormgates+star singularity method of production in Andromeda to generate huge numbers of teraport modules and TAD drones to gear up for an assault on the core there.

When exploited at that scale it led to the star exploding. Not sure if the output when explored conveniently pays for the cost of building it on a short time-scale.

I still find the neoafans creepy. They are being released in the Galaxy, lending their hardware and services. Tagon's epiphany hinted at that they could probably be brought back from the dead using the info in the aluminum things guarded inside the golden cannisters. Broken wind went to a lot of trouble protecting those things to simply forget about them.

[HandofShadows]

I don't think the Neoafans are that big a threat. There are a LOT of things that are bigger and will be bigger for a very long time. Take the UNS and the building Civil War. The Neoafans are just another race with high tech, a single "world" and a VERY small population. And that world is being run by a human build AI. The only ones that the Neoafans are any kind of threat too are the Dark Matter Beasties and that is because of information they may have.

[memnarch]

When exploited at that scale it led to the star exploding. Not sure if the output when explored conveniently pays for the cost of building it on a short time-scale.

....

Only because the star lost the equipment controlling the gate copy system and toroidal singularity. Just means you want backups outside usual controls you use.

[Cikomyr]

I don't understand what is annoying Elf?

[The Glyphstone]

She thinks Schlock is mocking whoever the 'captain' is. Not sure if he actually is or not.

[Cikomyr]

She thinks Schlock is mocking whoever the 'captain' is. Not sure if he actually is or not.

Unless the captain is... Ennesby? This IS the corvette after all

[factotum]

Unless the captain is... Ennesby? This IS the corvette after all

I suppose it sort of makes sense--if Tagon Sr. is now the Commodore of this little fleet, each of the individual ships would have their own Captain. Still don't see Tagon Jr. being very impressed at Ennesby calling himself a captain, though!

[Discus-Spinner]

I think that Ennesby has always been classed as a civilian contractor, so he probably wouldn't get a captaincy. Anyhow, he's not really command material, is he?

For Schlock's attitude to annoy Elf that much, I'd guess that the captain might be Kevyn.

[John Campbell]

I think that Ennesby has always been classed as a civilian contractor, so he probably wouldn't get a captaincy. Anyhow, he's not really command material, is he?

For Schlock's attitude to annoy Elf that much, I'd guess that the captain might be Kevyn.

Then how would we tell Captain Kevyn and Captain Kevyn apart?

[HandofShadows]

I think Elf is getting angry at who the Captain is, not Schlock's attitude. And it probably is Ennesby. And he is probably being a Pain In the Neck about it in some way.

[Marnath]

Silly Elf, that's not an attitude. You know very well that he's always like that.

[Cikomyr]

You know who I hope we see again?

Lunesby I worry about her