Danny grinned at them. “Who knows, maybe you'll be next.”
“I don't think numbers are going to be a huge problem. We have about two hundred applicants that want to join the various companies, but we didn't want to do it yet. Unit cohesion, and all,” Nora said.
“Who has the biggest number of applicants?” Selene asked.
Nora frowned thoughtfully. “I'd have to look, but it's pretty evenly split. Sacred Sword, Grizzly and Redd Foxx have quite a few. We have about twenty people asking. Then there's ones for Marauder, Crimson Eagle and Bravehart. Everyone has a few. Actually, Raven has the most applicants.”
“People want to fly,” Zach said. “That makes sense.”
“Maybe we want to form a dedicated air force?” Gavin suggested. “We could form another company that's trained for choppers and airplanes.”
“That might be a good idea in the future, but I don't think we have enough now to warrant that,” Zach said. “We're at the limits of what our industrial base can support.”
“Until we take Indianapolis.”
Danny wondered about that. “Even when we do capture the city, can we get enough materials to support our production capabilities?”
“I actually had an idea about that,” Miko said. “I talked with Paige a bit when we were modifying my sniper rifle. What if we paid a flat price for basic materials like vulcanite ore? Like, around the average cost that people get in the Old Chicago markets.”
Danny leaned forward, interested. Basic resources could be sold for cash to NPC corporations within Old Chicago, but the price fluctuated. The more players sold, the lower they were paid.
“Would that be profitable for us?” Selene asked.
Miko nodded. “We're going to have to crunch the numbers a few more times to make sure, but yeah, it should be. Between the amount of time we spend mining and the cost of the fusion batteries we need to run the Mules, we'll break even. And that's not counting how much ammo we'll be able to produce.”
“What about imposing a tax to buy and sell?” Xavier suggested. “Like if you sell something above a certain price, there would be a one credit tax on it. Alliance members would be exempt, naturally.”
“Wouldn't people just buy and sell in Old Chicago?” Javy asked.
“Not if we made ammunition cheaper in Indianapolis because we don't have to transport it,” Xavier said.
Danny nodded. It was a good idea. “Plus, that could be a way to increase our numbers.”
“A lot to think about,” Nora said.
“A ton to think about,” Zach said. “But not right now. First we have to take the place.”
They all looked up as the door opened. Dr. Unger stepped in as usual. But behind him was the president of Elysium Visions, Anton Starvos.
He had met with them a few times. President Starvos had been there when they were recruited for this study, and he sometimes joined in the interview sessions to ask questions and impart some information. It seemed strange at first that the president of a multi-billion dollar corporation was taking the time to interact on the ground level with them, but to Danny it made perfect sense. World at War was his brainchild, after all, his baby and his gem. The enthusiasm in his voice was clear every time he spoke about it. Thus, it was natural that he wanted to be involved with watching the digital society evolve.
“Good morning everyone,” Dr. Unger said. “President Starvos will be joining us today. He's very interested in the endeavor you are all about to embark on.”
“We thought so,” Gavin said.
President Starvos smiled. “I really wouldn't expect anything less from you. I think it's abundantly clear why I wanted to be here right now. But I must say, I'm impressed by your audacity. That, and the way you've managed to assemble everything so quickly.”
“We've had plenty of help,” Zach said.
“True enough. I know very well that an undertaking of that size requires the hard work of a lot of people. But you were the ones to initiate the first meeting, were you not?”
That was true, though it had been more of a consensus between Black Wolf, Redd Foxx and Sacred Sword. Redd Foxx and Sacred Sword had already been working together, and Black Wolf had done little more than formalize the relationship.
“How do you plan to command such a large force?” President Starvos asked. “Naturally, a larger force will be much more difficult to command and control.”
“Mission based tactics,” Nora said. According to her she had been reading a lot of military history, trying to become a better tactician and strategist. Danny thought it was working quite well.
“Can you elaborate?” Dr. Unger asked her.
Nora nodded. “Every unit is given their objective. It's up to the unit commander's discretion as to how they fulfill that objective.”
“Ah, I remember reading that the Germans used a similar system during the Second World War,” President Starvos said. “I will say though, those kind of tactics require very discipline troops.”
“Yeah, it requires a lot of initiative and creativeness,” Nora said. “But we have plenty of that. Most of our troops are veterans.”
“We've been interested to note that higher level players aren't necessarily the best fighters,” Dr. Unger observed. “Is there a particular reason for that you can thing of?”
“Maybe it's the quality of opponents they're up against?” Xavier suggested. “They might be used to fighting low level NPCs.”
“I think the quest system might skew it,” Javy said. “We got a lot of experience points for completing missions inside the city, but the enemies were way too easy.”
Danny spoke up. “I think there's several things that go into it,” he said. “Quests are one of the fastest ways to increase your level, but all that does is to give you more toys to use. I can't even remember the last time I used my class power.”
“Do you have a reason why you don't use it?” President Starvos asked him.
Danny shrugged. “It takes too long to activate. And skills that we naturally learn instead of leveling up seem more useful. Driving, shooting, the like.”
President Starvos nodded. “I see. That was an issue that came up in game design. Several of the designers were for learning skills naturally, like you said. It seemed like a less arbitrary system. But others were concerned that it would feel to unfamiliar to the average player, and that it would push away new players.”
“There was a learning curve,” Miko said.
“Yeah, it was a pretty steep one at that,” Gavin said. “I'm really glad that some of the systems were in place, like the auto-aim.”
President Starvos nodded. “Yes, and some of them are quite helpful, I agree. But the amount of skill use in the top half of players is abnormally low. Like you mentioned before, naturally learned skills seem to dominate, and we're looking for a solution to the problem. We may have it, though it will drastically alter how the world operates.”
He leaned forward. “You're the first ones outside of the development team to hear about this, and I would very much appreciate if you kept this confidential. We are currently working on a massive patch for World at War. Levels are going to be eliminated. Classes are going to be heavily revamped and effectively eliminated. There are going to be no weapons restrictions based on specializations. Anyone will be able to learn how to perform any role, as long as they are willing to take the time.”
The room went completely silent for a moment. Everyone was stunned.
“Um, won't eliminating classes take away some of the individualism for each player?” Danny asked. Pulling such a massive change after the game was launched was mind-boggling.
President Starvos nodded. “There was great concern about that from the development team as well. But we believe that we have a solution. The basic roles that each class performs will still be there. Your class is a heavy, am I correct?”
“Yes.”
“Any one of you could carry a machine gun, for instance, but it would be in you
r best interest to split up roles. Combined arms are what triumphs, after all. So a player who was a heavy before the patch will still be able to have their role as a heavy, and so on and so forth for the other classes.”
“Aren't you concerned that someone could learn how to perform every single role and then turn themselves into a one man army?” Selene asked.
“Says the person I would peg to become one,” Zach commented.
Danny laughed to himself. He could definitely see that happening. “I'd think there's enough balance in the game to keep that from happening.”
“There is,” President Starvos said. “True, one person is able to turn the tide of battle if they are especially skilled. But they're not invincible. They can be taken out by concentrated fire, or by artillery strikes.” He turned and looked at Miko. “Or a skilled sniper.”
“Yeah, that's possible,” Miko said. “Though I'm not the most skilled in the region. Not by a long shot.”
He smiled. “Oh, I'm not quite sure about that. We've been keeping track of your exploits for quite a while, and I'm not ashamed to say that I would be completely terrified if I was a commander and you were on the other side.”
“So everything will be learned naturally?” Zach asked.
“Yes, that is our aim.”
Danny thought about that for a moment. In game terms that was a stunning change, but in another sense it was absolutely staggering as well. Right now World at War was still a video game, with abundant game elements everywhere. Once the patch went through, those elements would disappear. World at War would no longer be a game set inside a virtual world. It would be a virtual world.
Or maybe he was just over-thinking things. Was there really a distinction? Wasn't it already a true virtual world? Why would removing game elements make it any more legitimate?
President Starvos continued. “I imagine this must be a huge shock to you all, though it will take several more months to implement.”
Nora spoke up first. “It's a surprise, sure, but does it really affect us? We tend to use just natural skills.”
“Hey, I like hawkeye,” Miko said. “Although, it wouldn’t be earth shattering for me if it suddenly disappeared.”
“I'd imagine it will hurt the companies inside the city the most,” Zach said.
“They will have to learn. But they will have plenty of warning, and they'll learn how to survive,” President Starvos said. “People will step up to teach them, and to lead them. Maybe you will some of the ones to do so.”
Danny started to realize just how important they were becoming to the world.
The pass came rocketing toward him. Danny plucked it from out of the air and laid up a beautiful accurate jumper.
“Nice shot,” Nora said as their team sprinted back down the court.
“Thanks,” Danny said, but now the real challenge was starting. The other team had both Selene and Xavier. That was the tradeoff for having three basketball players on his team. They got Nora, himself and Javy, and the other team got the two tallest players. This was going to be tough.
Gavin had the ball. He had gotten much better. All of them had, in fact. There were no more embarrassing misses, awkward dribbles, that kind of thing. But still, the edge went to the people who actually played.
Danny shifted over as Gavin passed the ball to Miko. His team was trying to play a zone, aiming to keep Xavier and Selene away from the basket. He moved again to block off Selene as she caught a pass, but then she made a sudden movement. The ball sailed right by him, and he slipped. On his back, Danny saw Xavier dunk the ball.
Zach helped him up. “Man,” Danny said.
“We're still winning by a point,” Zach said.
Javy had the ball now. Their team pushed down the court, guarded in a man-to-man defense. Danny had Selene covering him.
To his left he saw Javy toss the ball over to Nora. She faked like she was going inside, then leaped and threw up a jumper. Xavier tried but failed to keep up. It clanked against the rim but still went in.
“Man, people are really biting on fakes,” Danny said. “Me included, I should point out in all fairness.”
“Well, we've gotten a lot faster. That means we can be a lot more aggressive,” Javy said. He was gone in a flash, stealing the ball from Miko as she made a pass and charging down the court. He made a layup.
Danny shook his head and smiled as he watched him go. They had indeed.
“That was a really good game again,” Xavier commented.
“Yeah,” Selene said unconvincingly.
“Well, we know why you're not happy about it,” Danny said with a grin. “But come on, it was a pretty good one.”
“I noticed that you're not gloating like you usually do,” Miko observed.
“Well, we don't want any bad blood before tomorrow,” Danny said, still grinning.
Selene started to smile as well. “What, do you think I'm going to hang you out to dry?”
“Eh, you never know,” Danny said. “Never hurts to be safe.”
“Gosh, thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“I'll back you up,” Gavin offered.
“Thanks,” Danny said.
They were taking the evening off to relax before the big battle tomorrow. As far as he knew, a lot of other were doing the same. Their various groups were going out on the town, taking the time to unwind outside the game world. There were others that were also playing around inside World at War, getting everything ready and just fooling around as well.
Their group had chosen to play basketball, then head to the Belfast Manor pub for drinks and dinner. They had requested one of the side rooms, outside of the main bustle of the bar area. It was much easier to hear and to talk in here without having to overcome scores of other voices. There were also no TV screens in here. The Cubs were playing tonight, and Danny was pretty sure that he would end up with a massive hangover if he tried to watch the game.
He sat silent for a moment, listening to the chatter around him from the others. It felt odd to him in some way. There had often been talk about whether true relationships could be formed in a virtual world. That question had been the topic of discussion over the course of several interview sessions with Dr. Unger. It had been a puzzling question, with no clear answer.
Their group was a pretty good case study on the whole topic, though. Zach, Danny and Selene had already been close before World at War had come out, so there was nothing to be gleaned from that. Miko had been friends with Selene for a while, so it was natural that she was able to become a part of the group very quickly.
But the others were a much better example. Xavier, Gavin and Nora had joined later, and they had been accepted with open arms. The three of them had responded agreeably as well, and they had formed the strong core of Black Wolf Company. It had been easy to accept Javy when he had stumbled upon them. All of them had formed a fairly tight bond. Was it because they had been with each other in both the virtual world and the real world?
No, that couldn't be it. They had formed close bonds others that they didn't see in real life. Their alliance with Redd Foxx and Sacred Sword was an example; they had a tight relationship long before they started hanging out with Anna and Liz in real life. They were close with Grizzly and Hephaestus, and they put great trust in other companies like Bravehart, Crimson Eagle, Storm Hawk, Archangel, even Marauder. They had never met in real life, but the bonds were close all the same. Danny literally felt like he could go into battle beside them, and he had full trust in all of them.
And it wasn't just a matter of trust either. Hydra had an ethos, a cause that they all fought under. True, they all fought for fun. There was no point in playing a game if you weren't having any fun. But it also went deeper than that. Their battles were simple in nature, fought for dominance, but they were backed by Hydra's creed; cut one head. None of them ever fought alone. Teamwork and trust was their strength, and they had won many a battle through those principles. As soon as the enemy though they had beat
en back one company, another would appear to turn the tide of battle. It was inspiring, and Danny took a considerable amount of pride in his part in that.
So was it real, or did it have lesser meaning because it happened in a virtual world? He thought that the idea of virtual reality carried an unfair stigma. People said you couldn't form a real relationship, a real friendship in a world where everything was just data, but to him that was just condescending. They would say that a virtual world romance was doomed to fail and had no meaning, but they would glorify a romance that was carried out by letter. What was the difference, Danny thought? Why did something new carry such a stigma?
Whatever, he thought to himself. The commentators, the pundits, they could say what they wanted. They could deride their experiences in the virtual world as nothing more than escapist fantasy, and he would simply ignore him. He knew better. They were his friends, his true friends and comrades. And he would be going into battle with them tomorrow.
They could say what they wanted. Their words weren't going to take this away from him.
CHAPTER 20
Red Beach
It was finally here. Several months of planning, weeks of scouting, vicious fighting up north and uncertainty everywhere they turned. All of that had lead to this point, and they were ready. Hydra was going to take the final steps to secure a city.
Zach stood in the field headquarters, taking it all in while he still had time. It would be chaos soon enough. Off to the north at about five hundred yards he could see Bravehart and Griffon making the final preparations with their artillery. The armored company was assembling behind him. They would head toward the bridge once the bombardment began, and then would wait until Marauder had signaled that the gate had been captured. Raven Flight was preparing as well, waiting for their chance to influence the battle. And ahead of him the infantry was assembling.
They had a mighty force here; Crimson Eagle, Sacred Sword, Marauder and Band of Brothers. They would be the muscle during the initial push into the city, taking vital streets and building and capturing the all important gate. Their plan was doomed if they couldn't get armored support, and they had chosen the best for the job. Marauder was considered to be wild by some, but they were ferocious on the attack, showing no quarter and giving the enemy no rest. They were perfect for a role where speed and aggression were of the essence.
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