Base Update (3)

Clearly, the main targets weren't lone operators like me or the tiny clans sitting on one or two bases.

I'd figured out that the real audience was mid-sized clans and above — outfits holding at least three bases or more.

The "Base Mercenary Corps" might apply more broadly, sure, but things like defensive fleet reorganizations, or the "Inter-Base Warp Network System"? Anyone could see ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠those were aimed at factions with two or more bases under their belt.

"Hmm… looks like they decided one-way teleports straight from each Commander's base just weren't cutting it anymore."

"Mm."

As far as I remembered — and from what I'd seen on the gallery lately — inter-base travel had always worked a certain way.

At least one clan-affiliated user had to dock their base at the destination. Then everyone else used the teleport systems installed on those users' bases, treating them as makeshift warp markers to hop across.

Which meant that even when a clan poured resources into seizing some strategic stronghold, at least one person still had to stay behind at every existing base.

And of course, the second that base's defensive fleet got cracked open, that poor soul was looking at a thoroughly miserable future.

But under this update? No more gambling with that kind of risk.

On top of that, Level 5 bases and above now came with extra buffs. I didn't know the exact bonuses yet, but from here on out, giant-clan players wouldn't have to leave two or three people rotting on some low-tier outpost just waiting to get jumped and wiped.

When they needed to, the whole clan could pile onto a top-tier base and share the buffs together.

And if Jessica was right about barrier-base sharing, the more users docked at a single base, the closer you got to an effectively invincible barrier you could run indefinitely.

…Granted, further down the line, siege battleships would cheerfully pound those barriers into scrap. But as far as I knew, no clan was openly fielding siege battleships yet, so that was a problem for later.

The partial lifting of docking restrictions at the end of the patch notes was clearly aimed at the "external mercenaries" most clans relied on, too.

Put it all together, and this update was starting to feel an awful lot like a big, shiny gift basket for the major clans.

Not that any of it was useless to me. Far from it.

"Base Mercenary Corps, huh."

"There haven't been any major battles lately, so a lot of them are sitting idle — but you can think of it as the Commander picking up another personal guard unit, like the Rhodes Mercenary Group."

"'Personal guard' might be overselling it, but either way, it's extra forces on the board."

A fleet that doesn't eat points… and I get another one!!!!

There was plenty else in the patch that would help me, too, so I decided to welcome this event with both arms wide open.

And since the update had already gone live, it was time to check what buffs and fleets our base had actually been handed.

Hmm… base status window?

I wasn't sure that was the right command, but thankfully the system had a little flexibility. A status window for Avalon Fortress — the very station we were standing in — popped open right in front of my eyes with a cheerful little chime.

My first impression, looking at it: for a Level 5 base that had barely scraped over the buff threshold no matter how hard I'd ground for it, the bonuses themselves were strictly basic-tier.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Huuuum…"

"Pretty much exactly the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠buffs you'd expect, Commander."

"Yeah, no kidding."

Still, with Rain on site — base fixture, bio-core, and research assistant all in one — if the effects stacked on top of hers… it might turn into something decent. But that was about as far as the optimism went.

The defense buff? More like taking a hit that would one-shot you and instead leaving you one hit from exploding. Progress, I guess.

All told, for a place I'd dumped four million minerals and nearly a million rare resources into just to pad my achievement list… the buffs were underwhelming enough that looking at them left a faintly sour taste.

But that sourness didn't last long.

Base Mercenary Corps: Currently Unhired

The moment my eyes landed on that menu entry, sitting there bold as brass in the management window, my heart started hammering.

A legal superhuman gacha…!

That was roughly the feeling.

But when I opened the detailed menu for the Base Mercenary Corps, what came up was a little different from what I'd imagined.

"…The mercenary commander might not be a superhuman?"

"Wait, for real?"

"Apparently so."

"Seriously?"

At that little bombshell, Jessica and I both floated a thick cloud of question marks over our heads.

Hardly surprising — the commander of the Rhodes Mercenary Group, currently under exclusive contract with me and living it up every day in the fortress's "resort" district amid wine, women, and song, was Lepahn herself. An S- to SS-grade superhuman.

But a normal person?

How exactly was a civilian commander supposed to project leadership over a pack of mercenaries as rough as these? Maybe the intended use was to kill them and seize command yourself? Was that the play?

While those thoughts were still bouncing around, I scrolled further and a new block of text caught my eye.

Reading that, I found myself nodding. Fair enough.

So it's a pure leadership-dump character type. Got it.

With that neatly sorted in my head — and with resources to spare for the moment — I decided…