Ch.293Stronghold Update (2)

Three days later.

To be precise, 3 days and 7 hours later, the full update details appeared with a cheerful ping.

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<General Announcement>

<<<Additional Base-Related System Guide>>>

<Notice to all Commanders.>

<As of this moment, the following system menus have been added to bases under your control.>

<<Base Mercenary Corps>>

<Commanders who have conquered bases can hire mercenary corps proportional to the base’s level.>

˪<However, if a clan has conquered the base, only the clan leader may hire them.>

<The mercenary corps’ commander and fleet composition will vary depending on the base type, but will generally be randomly configured.>

<Control authority over the base mercenary corps is given to the Commander (or Clan Leader), but the mercenary fleet’s composition cannot be arbitrarily changed.>

<The base mercenary corps commander is handled by a separate character, and you cannot deploy your own Superhumans.>

˪<The reverse is also true.>

<Base mercenary corps are not affected by buffs from Superhumans deployed in your main force.>

<The base mercenary corps commander’s personality, gender, and race are all strictly randomly determined.>

<<Base Defense Fleet Reorganization>>

<From now on, ‘patrol fleets’ among the base defense fleets will periodically patrol the territory of the clan or Commander who has conquered the base.>

˪<However, patrol fleet routes are limited to within the detection range of the Commander’s base (+ forward base detection range) docked at the base.>

<<Inter-Base Warp Network System>>

<A permanent warp system will connect between bases conquered by the same Commander (or Clan).>

˪<This is not possible when a ‘Warp Interference Ship’ special vessel type is deployed near the base.>

<Simultaneous bidirectional entry is not possible; one-way warping must be completed first.>

<The inter-base warp network system can only be used if the owners of both the departure and arrival bases are the same.>

<In other cases, usage is not possible without permission from both base owners.>

<<Defense Force Intelligence Increase>>

<Defense fleet interceptors will no longer launch mindlessly, nor will they consistently ignore incoming missiles.>

<<Barrier Sharing>>

<From now on, base and headquarters barriers will be shared.>

˪<When a barrier is activated at a docked headquarters, the barrier system will also be applied to all areas of the base.>

<<Special Buffs for Level 5 or Higher Bases>>

<As of this moment, bases of level 5 or higher will provide additional buffs to the Commander (or Clan) who conquered them.>

<Different bases provide different buffs, so please check individually.>

<<Partial Lifting of Base Docking Restrictions>>

<As of this moment, ‘neutral’ users, excluding those set as ‘hostile forces,’ can dock at cities conquered by Commanders (or Clans).>

˪<However, this is not possible if the person with command authority over the base refuses.>

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Seeing the update with more variety than I expected, I felt quite complicated emotions.

Some features especially made me think, “What’s the point of that?” That’s how puzzling they were.

But that feeling didn’t last long.

‘…Ah, people like me aren’t the target here.’

Looking at it carefully…

It was clearly aimed more at medium-sized clans with at least three bases rather than individuals or small clans like me who only have one or two bases.

The “Base Mercenary Corps” might be useful for anyone, but the defense fleet reorganization and “Inter-Base Warp Network System” are obviously targeted at those with at least two bases.

“Hmm, I guess they thought there were limitations to always sending one-way teleports from the Commanders’ bases themselves.”

“Mm.”

As far as I remember, and according to what I’ve seen in the gallery recently… the method of movement between bases until now was:

At least one clan member had to dock their base at the location, then use the teleport system installed in the users’ bases as a sort of ‘warp marker’ to move there.

Because of this, even if a clan spent many resources to occupy a strategic location, they had to leave at least one person at their original base.

Naturally, once the defense fleet of that base was breached, a terrible future awaited that user.

But with this update, they no longer need to take such risks.

Additionally, the update provides extra buffs for level 5 bases and above.

I don’t know exactly what buffs there are, but it seems that from now on, users from large clans won’t needlessly stick around at lower-level bases and get ambushed.

Instead, if necessary, the entire clan can gather at the highest-level base to share buffs.

And if the barrier sharing works as described, the more users docked at a base, the closer they get to having an invincible barrier that can be used indefinitely.

…Of course, later on, siege battleships will happily pound away and make barriers pop one after another.

But as far as I know, there aren’t any clans openly operating siege battleships yet, so that’s beside the point.

And the “partial lifting of docking restrictions” at the end is clearly aimed at the “external mercenaries” that clans mainly employ.

Overall, this update seems like a kind of clan hospitality update.

Of course, that doesn’t mean these features won’t help me at all.

“Base Mercenary Corps, huh.”

“There haven’t been any major battles recently so they’ve been idle, but you could think of it as getting another royal guard like the ‘Rhodes Mercenary Corps,’ Commander.”

“It might be a stretch to call them a royal guard, but I guess it’s additional forces.”

‘A fleet that doesn’t consume points, I’m getting another one!!!!’

There were many other helpful things too, so I decided to welcome this event with open arms.

And with the update in progress, I decided to check what buffs and fleets would be assigned to our base.

‘Hmm… base status window?’

I wasn’t sure if that was the right command, but fortunately the system was flexible enough.

The status window promptly appeared before my eyes, displaying the status of Avalon Fortress where we were currently located.

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<Avalon Fortress – Space Station>

<Lv. 5>

<Type: Space Fortress>

<Defense Force Status>

˪<Patrol Fleet x25>

˪<Fortress Combat Fleet x50>

<Fleet Composition Table>

<Patrol Fleet Composition>

˪<1 Battleship, 45 Light Cruisers, 250 Destroyers, 1,300 Escort Ships>

<Fortress Combat Fleet Composition>

˪<10 Battleships, 50 Heavy Cruisers, 500 Destroyers>

<Fortress Comprehensive Defense System Status: Normal>

<Base Buff: Daily Resource Supply +5%, Fleet Armor Durability +5%>

<Base Mercenary Corps: Currently Not Hired>

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And just looking at it, despite all my efforts, this was just a level 5 base that barely qualified for buffs.

The buffs themselves were only at a “basic” level.

“Hmmmm…”

“The buffs are exactly as expected, Commander.”

“Indeed they are.”

Thanks to having “Rain” here as a base fixture, biological core, and research assistant, if the effects stack…

It might be a decent effect, but that’s about it.

The defense buff is… well, instead of definitely exploding after taking one hit, you might be on the verge of exploding?

Anyway, for a place I obtained by investing nearly 4 million minerals and close to 1 million rare resources for my achievement…

The buff was rather underwhelming, so I didn’t feel particularly good about it.

But that feeling didn’t last long.

<Base Mercenary Corps: Currently Not Hired>

Seeing this menu item boldly announcing its presence in the management window, I felt my heart pounding.

‘Legal Superhuman gacha…!’

That’s kind of the feeling I had.