Battle School: An Enderverse AC

[arya126]

The Battle School​

Humanity's Last Hope​

Earth, 2167. Only a mere 87 years after the Second Formic Invasion where Earth was nearly wiped out by an alien race that resembles ants. 87 years in which the best and brightest of Earth have readied for the Third Invasion, advancing technology beyond our wildest dreams, creating starships to match those of the "Buggers" as the aliens are commonly called. As the Third Invasion approaches and Humanity appears to be running out of time, Earth looks to her Last Hope.

The Battle School.

The Battle School is a space station that orbits the planet. It is the earliest stage of a grueling military education. At the age of 5 the student is taken from his parents (with their permission and the volunteering of the child) and brought to the Battle School to become a "Launchie". These Launchie's learn the basics of military discipline and are thrust into classwork equal to that of graduate college students. But these are the best and brightest the Earth has to offer. After a time, around the age of 7, the Launchies are moved up and placed into 'armies'. These armies are commanded by 'Commanders'. These armies compete against each other in mock battles done in 'The Battle Room'; this is a rather large room that is designed to be in zero gravity. Commanders use tactics and strategy to maneuver their armies in this environment, sometimes around obstacles called stars that are placed before the battle. The Commanders typically divide their army into 'toons' in order to provide for flexibility and easy orders. These are led by 'toon leaders'. In order to win an army needs to use their pistol like weapons to eliminate or disable the entirety of the enemy army and/or perform the victory ritual, which will be detailed later.

This is where your story begins. You began as a Launchie, new to The Battle School. You graduated to become a soldier in one of the many armies. Now you were transferred between armies and have been assigned as a Toon Leader. You are a veteran of the combat simulation, and it won't be long before you are named a Commander of your own army as well.
​

And you are only 10 years old. ​

The Game

This is by nature a command AC. As far as members of your army are concerned you are God. You determine how many toons you will have and how many soldiers are in each toon, allowing you to customize your flexibility and how powerful any individual toon is (although almost all armies utilize the standard set of 4 toons of 10 soldiers each). You could eliminate toons altogether and command individual soldiers (although this would likely incur a slight delay in orders being executed), or even make a personal toon for yourself to command.

The first mission shall portray the player characters as Toon Leaders; their last battle as mere Toon Leaders although they do not know it yet. The first mission will divide everyone who signs up into 2 different teams, and 2 players who sign up will randomly be selected as the Commanders of the two armies. You can consider the first mission a kind of tutorial to get you assimilated to the game. After the mission you will become a Commander and be given a chance to name your new army.

The Character Stat Sheet

Name:
Age:
Army:
Traits:
Momentum:
Flaw:

Choose one trait and your flaw at signup. Further traits can be taken once you get TP as a Commander.

Traits

Trait Points are the closest thing you will have to SP in this game. Traits provide bonuses to you and your toon leaders. Consider your toon leaders 'companions' and every trait you give them makes them more effective at leading their toons. When you are made Commander, you will be given 6 Trait Points (TP) to customize your character and your toon leaders with.

Spoiler :

Lucky +1/2 to all rolls
Aggressive +2/4 to all attack rolls
Defensive +2/4 to all defending rolls
Risky +3/6 to all rolls in the first 2 rounds of play
Cautious +4 to all rolls. Can only give 1 order per turn.
Sneaky +2/4 to all deception rolls
Aware +2/4 to all awareness rolls
Inspiring Leader +8 to all roles on a single turn (useable once per battle, available only to commanders)
Unyielding +6 to all rolls when there are 5 or less members of an army active in a battle. Can only be used if the holder of the trait is not disabled. Lasts the rest of the battle.
Star Killer +3/6 to all rolls when assaulting a star.
Star Defender +3/6 to all rolls when defending a star.
Quick +2/4 to all movement rolls
Too Normal Unable to get crits (1s or 20s)
Audacious 19s and 20s are crit successes and 1s and 2s are crit failures
CQC Specialist +2/4 on all melee rolls
Sharpshooter +2/4 on all long range flasher combat (120 yards or more)
Teacher +2/4 on all new maneuvers
Deep Voice +3/6 in all communication rolls between separated Toons.
Reputation Effect of momentum is doubled. (Commander only)
Flexible +4 to Toon Leaders noticing and reacting to enemy developments on their own outside their orders.
Rigid +4 to Toon Leaders adhering to orders no matter the situation.
Brutal +4 to all rolls when battling a Commander ranked lower than yourself.
Ambitious +4 to all rolls when battling a Commander ranked higher than yourself.
Merciless +6 to all rolls when the enemy has 8 soldiers or less left.
Strategic Expert +3 to all rolls when hanging back from the battle.
Tactical Expert +2/5 to all rolls in the immediate vicinity when leading from the front

The first number applies to any Toon Leader who has the trait. The second number is applied if it is your character, the Commander himself, who has the trait.

Momentum

Momentum is another name for your win streak. The more wins in a row you have racked up, the more confident your team is and the more intimidated other teams become. This is manifested in a +1 on all rolls for a 1 battle win streak, a +2 on all rolls for a 2 battle win streak, a +3 on all rolls for a 3 win battle streak, etc. But bear in mind that other teams will have win streaks as well, especially with player commanders....

Flaws

You must choose a flaw as a commander. This will act as a penalty on the type of roll specified by whatever flaw it is that you choose. Your flaw shall be kept secret from the other Commanders until they defeat you. Once a commander defeats you, your flaw shall be revealed to them via PM by the GM. They can choose to share your flaw with others if they wish, keep it secret, or pretend to share it and watch the rival you shared it with get smashed as he walks into a trap. When signing up, place your flaw in a spoiler or PM me it; whichever is easiest for you. And fellow players, avoid reading the spoiler next to 'Flaw' in a player's stats or sign up post.

Spoiler :

Over-Extender -4 to all rolls when a toon is 80 yards away or more.
Arrogance -4 to Awareness rolls
Honorable -4 to Deception rolls
Slow -4 to all movement rolls
Micromanager -4 to all Toon Leader rolls
Shell Shock -4 to all rolls in the first 2 rounds
Defeatist -4 to all rolls when you have 6 or less soldiers left in your army (including yourself).
Overconfident -4 to all rolls when you outnumber the enemy significantly.
Disorganized -8 to communication rolls between separated Toons.
Timid -6 to any attack rolls
Attack First -6 to defense rolls
Distracted -2 to all rolls

The modifiers apply to you as the Commander. Only choose 1.

Missions

The first mission, as said before, will be a mission involving all players. 2 teams will be involved, and each team will be led by a player commander. The rest of the signed up players will be Toon Leaders divided equally between the 2 teams.

Once each player is their own Commander missions will become a little different. There will be 4 types of missions. The first and easiest will be solo missions against NPC Commanders. This will be the most common most of the time. The second type of mission will be player vs. player. They will obviously be harder, and will rely much more fiercely on creativity and tactics. The third type will be multi army battles. This is where there are more than 2 armies in the Battle Room at one time, either in 1v1v1 or 2v1 or 2v2, or even 1v1v1v1. These will take longer but will likely be far more interesting, lively, and probably more fun as well. The fourth type are Locked battles. They will be revealed if the game goes on long enough, and involve a twist from the Enderverse. Traditionally only the players directly involved in the battle may be in the chat, and battles where there are players on opposite sides of each other will involve multiple chatrooms. Spectating players are only allowed if the Commanders involved (1 player needed if it is a solo mission, but if player vs player then both or all players permission is needed) agree to let them spectate. This is essentially the Commanders of the armies deciding whether rival commanders are allowed to spectate and potentially scout out opposing teams they will have to face at some point.

The Battle Room

The Battle Room is a room of zero gravity, approximately 200 yards in length and 100 yards in width and 100 yards in height. The armies begin the match at a 'gate' that comes out into the room in the center of the wall across the room from each other. The diagram below, while not to scale, gives you an idea of where the gates are (dashes at the left and right of the box are where the gates would be located). I apologize for the crappy diagram, the formatting of such a piece of work on CFC is not the best and I didn't feel like creating a paint document and uploading it, etc.


a----------------------a
|aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa|
--|aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa|--
|aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa|
a----------------------a

There will also be obstacles placed in the room, called 'Stars'. These stars are typically about 10x10x10 in units of Yards. You will end up using them to defend against the enemy as well as having to assault enemy held positions on these stars.

Equipment

To understand how battles are fought and won, you must understand the equipment used. All soldiers have 2 pieces of equipment: a flash suit and a flasher. The Flash Suit is padded and slightly stiffens your movement. The flasher is sort of like a continuous laser. At short range you barely have to squeeze the trigger when aimed at an enemy in order to score a hit. However the longer the difference, the longer you need to hold the trigger while maintaining a line of fire on your targeted enemy in order to score a hit. If a soldier is hit in an arm or a leg, that particular limb is frozen for the rest of the battle. If you are hit in the head or the torso, then you are entirely disabled and eliminated for the rest of the battle. Your helmet also clamps your jaw shut, meaning a toon leader or commander who is hit can no longer give commands. You must strike a balance between having your toon leaders and Commander close enough to effectively communicate, yet not allow any of them, most especially your commander, become too vulnerable to the enemy.

Goal

The Goal is obviously to achieve victory. But how do you do this? You eliminate all of the enemy. However the ritual that ends the game is when 4 of your soldiers press their helmets to the 4 corners of the enemy gate, and a 5th soldier walks through the gate. This ends the game and awards victory. You can eliminate every single enemy soldier, but if you have less than 5 soldiers remaining (including yourself) then it is officially called a tie. There is no victory without the ritual. And there is technically no need to eliminate all the enemy soldiers; however performing the victory ritual takes at the very least a handful of seconds, and in those seconds your soldiers will be sitting ducks meaning it is essential to at least partially freeze the majority of your enemy.

Your role as Commander

Your role as Commander is defined by you. You begin at the gate in gravity before every match. When the battle begins, the gate opens. You may take a moment and observe or you may have a pre determined strategy before you even see the map and the layout of whatever stars there are. You can attach yourself to a toon and accompany them where they go or even command the toon directly yourself without going through a toon leader, although this will hinder you commanding the rest of your toons. Or you can hang back by yourself and communicate with and command your army via hand signals and shouts. Or alternatively perhaps you keep your entire army in only 1 or 2 groups to focus firepower and ease communication problems; although this will surely hurt your flexibility of movement and the ease of response to new situations.

Trading

It is possible to trade soldiers among armies, although for the simplicity of this game, you are only allowed to trade toon leaders (either somebody who commands a toon for you or somebody who has a trait assigned to them make them valid for trading). NPC armies will periodically place soldiers on a 'trading block' to simulate word getting around somebody is up for trading. You can also trade amongst your fellow players, however these must be announced in thread.

NPC Commanders

There will be NPC armies whom you will initially go up against to help hone your skills. Some will be easy, some will be almost as hard as a fellow PC. You will be able to view their traits on the front page just as you would any PC Commander, as well as the general standings of commanders and armies, so you will have an idea of who is easy and who is hard. You do not get to choose who you play; battles are assigned. Commanders will periodically graduate from Battle School to move on in their training, and new Commanders will be created to replace them. These new commanders will typically be Toon Leaders in an army, sometimes an NPC army, sometimes a player army. If a toon leader is taken from your army you will receive half the number of TP equal to the number of traits that toon leader had as recompense. So if a toon leader with 4 traits leaves, then you will get 2 TP back. Whether you use it on a new Toon Leader or build up others already in place is up to you of course. It is also worth noting you can, and in fact have to, name your own Toon Leaders. Keep them reasonable.

Standings

After every battle the official Standings will be updated. These official standings track Commanders as their Careers progress, and can be used as a general yardstick for Success. Should I find it easy enough to keep track of, it will include not only Wins-Losses-Ties, but also a record of the number of casualties (Disabled/eliminated soldiers) sustained and inflicted over the course of a Commander's career. Sometimes casualties inflicted and taken can matter more than Wins and Losses.

 

[arya126]

Spoiler :

Cardinal Army
Bjorn av Vardo
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Einarr Ironside
Age:
Traits:

Name: Carl Bramd
Age:
Traits:

Name: Greg Mofun
Age:
Traits:

Name: Havardr Quilsen
Age:
Traits:

Unicorn Army
Juan Santamaria
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Manuel Perez
Age:
Traits:

Name: Franz Seville
Age:
Traits:

Name: Louis de Toulouse
Age:
Traits:

Name: Roberto de Jimenez
Age:
Traits:

Vulture Army
Ragnarr Lodbrok
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Bjorn Ironside
Age:
Traits:

Name: Halfdan Whiteshirt
Age:
Traits:

Name: Ivar the Boneless
Age:
Traits:

Name: Rurik Holmgaor
Age:
Traits:

Eagle Army
Isaac Rutte
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Terry Wayne
Age:
Traits:

Name: Peter Augustine
Age:
Traits:

Name: David Coleman
Age:
Traits:

Name: Samuel Dande
Age:
Traits:

Hawk Army
Mat Wilson
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Dyre af Munso
Age:
Traits:

Name: Jeff Grant
Age:
Traits:

Name: Mordin Alenko
Age:
Traits:

Name: Frank von Thurne
Age:
Traits:

Shark Army
Jak Nelson
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Cameron Wellington
Age:
Traits:

Name: Andrew Lloyd
Age:
Traits:

Name: Henry Dacord
Age:
Traits:

Name: Edward Portieu
Age:
Traits:

Squid Army
Edo Nri
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Nak Lele
Age:
Traits:

Name: Afi Lele
Age:
Traits:

Name: Hatphesun Wawe
Age:
Traits:

Name: Hannibal Varn
Age:
Traits:

Kraken Army
Constantine Berod
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Hercules Krakegellos
Age:
Traits:

Name: Perseus Crosne
Age:
Traits:

Name: Spartacus Daern
Age:
Traits:

Name: Leonidas Flavian
Age:
Traits:

Lion Army
Henri Hollande
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Matthew Han
Age:
Traits:

Name: Jordan Morse
Age:
Traits:

Name: Elizabeth Treana
Age:
Traits:

Name: Jimmy Brawne
Age:
Traits:

Panda Army
Xi Dejiang
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Zhong Hu
Age:
Traits:

Name: Hrain Sha
Age:
Traits:

Name: Maratho Gupta
Age:
Traits:

Name: Xing Varas
Age:
Traits:

Grizzly Army
Amund Varangian
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Robert Yngling
Age:
Traits:

Name: Apla Grofern
Age:
Traits:

Name: Dustin Navedale
Age:
Traits:

Name: Hank Langdale
Age:
Traits:

Stallion Army
Luther Weiramon
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Rand Thome
Age:
Traits:

Name: Adley Davan
Age:
Traits:

Name: Logain Taim
Age:
Traits:

Name: Theron Telamon
Age:
Traits:

Rabbit Army
Carn Carby
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Bane Yerck
Age:
Traits:

Name: James Solus
Age:
Traits:

Name: Alistair Shepard
Age:
Traits:

Name: Caleb Krown
Age:
Traits:

Salamander Army
Bonzo Madrid
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Petra Arkanian
Age:
Traits:

Name: Lane Vash
Age:
Traits:

Name: William Kavar
Age:
Traits:

Name: Bill Golder
Age:
Traits:

Phoenix Army
Albus Johnson
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Jen Narane
Age:
Traits:

Name: Trent Carter
Age:
Traits:

Name: Mitch Anderson
Age:
Traits:

Name: Kevin Merik
Age:
Traits:

Titan Army
Peter Wiggin
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Abraham Jackson
Age:
Traits:

Name: Abin al Awlik
Age:
Traits:

Name: Achilles Vatikos
Age:
Traits:

Name: Chris Madison
Age:
Traits:

Rat Army
Rose de Nose
Age: 11
Traits:
Sneaky
Lucky
Flaw:

Spoiler :

Arrogance

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Dink Meeker
Age: 11
Traits:
Aware
Star Killer
Inspiring Leader
Tactical Expert

Name: John Taylor
Age: 12
Traits:
Cautious
Star Defender
Defensive

Name: Han Wong
Age: 10
Traits:
Aggressive

Name: Gabriel Darent
Age: 9
Traits:
Quick

Griffin Army
William Bee
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Pol Slattery
Age:
Traits:

Name: Vladimir Rurikid
Age:
Traits:

Name: Eddard Targe
Age:
Traits:

Name: Brandon Swardn
Age:
Traits:

Condor Army
Peter Chekov
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name: Michael Sapp
Age:
Traits:

Name: Thomas Trent
Age:
Traits:

Name: Carl de Vaul
Age:
Traits:

Name: Talo Momoe
Age:
Traits:

Elk Army
Ian Yngling
Age:
Traits:
Flaw:

Toon Leaders

Spoiler :

Name:
Age:
Traits:

Name:
Age:
Traits:

Name:
Age:
Traits:

Name:
Age:
Traits:

 

[Dem Taqat]

Name: Tenabry Nactal
Age: 10
Army: Fenrir Army
Traits: Lucky
Momentum: 0
Flaw: Try me and find out...

Since it's not in the first post, the chatroom for missions is here.

DT

 

[Omega124]

Name: Jeannette Hiver
Age: 10
Army: None
Traits: Defensive
Momentum: 0
Flaw: PMing

 

[arya126]

If anybody else wants to sign up, soon would be a good time. But thankfully, this is the kind of AC that can work with as few or as many players as we have.

DT, Megs, and anybody else who signs up, would this Sunday afternoon be a good time for a mission with you guys? After the first mission missions can really be done anytime even a single player wants to do one (and I am in a position to GM for a space of time), but I would prefer if everyone is able to make the first one if possible.

 

[Arrow Gamer]

Name: Will Cooper
Age: 10
Army: None
Traits: Agressive
Momentum: None
Flaw: Slow

 

[Marcher Jovian]

Name: Antonio Ruiz
Age: 10
Army:None
Traits: Star Defender
Momentum: +/- 0
Flaw:

Spoiler :

Shell Shock

Sunday Afternoon is a good time for me.

 

[Dem Taqat]

Sunday Afternoon should work for me.
DT

 

[Red_Spy]

Name: Lilja Lúðvíkdóttir
Age: 10
Army: Do I count as being in my own army?
Traits: Quick
Momentum: 0
Flaw: Honourable

Spoiler :

Arrogance

 

[arya126]

First mission at 3:30 PM EST today! Be there or be square folks!

 

[SamSniped]

Name: Samuel Blackstone II
Age: 10
Army: N/A
Traits: Unyielding
Momentum: +/-0
Flaw: Not telling you fools

 

[arya126]

You have been promoted!

Congratulations Soldier. You have been promoted from being a Toon Leader to the Commander of your own army. This is an opportunity that comes with alot of responsibility.

First and foremost, you need to name your army. Instead of being promoted to an existing army, an army is being created for you to name.

Once you name your army, you must create it. Soldiers will be assigned for you, but you must name your Toon Leaders and decide how skillful each is; but we will get to that in a second.

Your Toon Leaders will be the ones that lead your Toons. Once you name a Toon Leader he remains named even if you remove him from his position as a Toon Leader for whatever reason. As a Commander you now have 7 TP, or Trait Points, to spend. You use TP to purchase a trait and assign it to somebody in your army. This can be a Toon Leader or simply yourself, depending on your strategy, although most armies will have a balance between the two. The minimum number of Toon Leaders you can have is 4. You must have at least once 9 year old, one 10 year old, one 11 year old, and one 12 year old. If you choose to create more than 4 toon Leaders as irregular as that is, feel free to make them whatever age you want as long as it is from 8-12.

Now the ages of your Toon Leaders are important. Whenever a Commander graduates from The Battle School (auto graduate at age 13, sometimes done earlier) he must be replaced, and his replacement is selected from amongst the more talented Toon Leaders. Only a Toon Leader 10 years old or older will be selected as a Commander the vast majority of the time.

However the age of your Toon Leader also determines how many TP it takes to assign them a trait. Age 9 requires 2 TP to assign a trait. Age 10 requires 1.5 TP. Age 11 requires 1 TP. And age 12 requires .5 TP. As they become older and begin to have more traits, the Toon Leader has an increased chance of Promotion and Graduation, so balance your Toon Leaders the best way you see fit.

I am in the process of filling out the army sheet on the second page for the NPCs. There are 20 NPC armies at the moment. Each one has a Commander and 4 Toon Leaders. You can view all of their traits, names, and ages, however please do not look into the spoiler of their flaw unless you have beaten that particular Commander (the flaw of a Commander you beat is revealed to you upon victory). We are using the honor system here so lets follow it. Soon there will also be standings of all Commanders at the bottom of the front page. Use this to track your progress.

Lastly all Commanders are expected to be organized. Please update your original post with the information of your army and Toon Leaders and anything else you need to keep track of so I can keep track of it too. Your flaw is the exception as it should have been PMed to me.

Announcements

First and foremost, a part of lore has been changed. You are now 9 years old instead of 10. It isnt all that important except that you are more exceptional than usual for being promoted so early. It will also allow me to keep the game going longer if it lasts that long since you will need to be graduated when you reach 13 at the oldest.

The trait and flaw list has been updated. This is the only opportunity you will be given to change your flaw. Please PM me your updated flaw with the title as "(Character's Name) - Updated Flaw".

 

[Marcher Jovian]

I'm sorry, new responsibilities have come up and I don't think I'll be able to set up a big enough block of time for this, so I'm dropping out.