Deception City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 5) (17 page)

“So if they had it all this time, why didn’t they use it before?” Danny said. “That would have been useful in a number of spots.”

“Maybe they didn’t have it until recently?” Anna suggested. “That’s the most obvious reason.”

Nora agreed. Using it at the Battle of Green Bay would have been completely crippling. Not only would Ghost Battalion have lost, but Ragnarok would have likely crushed them.

“They probably held it in reserve so it would have the most shock value when they finally used it,” Blake pointed out. “You only get surprise like that once.”

“Still, it’s really going to hurt us when they use it next time,” Liz said.

“Yeah, I can’t imagine that would be fun,” Blake agreed. “But now we know it might be coming, and I’m guessing you’ll have countermeasures in place.”

“We will,” Anna confirmed. “We were able to salvage the situation on the fly pretty well, all things considered.

It was a testament to their cohesion and improvisational skills that they were able to come up with a working plan in short order. Without any direct from command, every single company had sent runners to the neighboring units to reestablish the lines of communication. Meanwhile, Anna had directed all her staff at HQ to the front lines, using ATVs to quickly relay orders and form a solid front to repel the enemy.

Still, Ragnarok had pushed them back, inflicting heavy casualties in the process. Hydra still had a considerable presence within the district, but taking it had become all the more daunting.

“Still,” Danny spoke up, “I wonder why they chose to deploy their secret weapon now. What did that gain them? A few blocks?”

“I have a feeling they wanted more,” Neil said. “They hit us pretty aggressively.”

“I think they wanted to drive us out of the district completely. They probably wanted to kill as many troops as possible too,” Liz said. “If they landed something like that it would be a crippling blow for us in the north.”

Blake frowned. “Even so, you have two battalions stationed within the district with a considerable amount of artillery support. Even if they could hurt you badly, would they really be able to drive you out just like that? I don’t think so, and I’m guessing their commanders don’t either.”

“I wonder,” Danny said.

“You have an idea?” Anna asked.

Danny gave a thoughtful look, then spoke. “What if they’re just trying to prolong the battle in the city?”

“For what reason? They’ll have to simultaneously fight us and the NPC garrison. Plus they have to worry about Magic Battalion and Ronin’s alliance,” Karen said.

“Do they?” Danny asked pointedly. “They’re smart, and they can read situations. They know we’re committed to the attack on Milwaukee right now. Magic’s nothing more than an annoyance without reinforcements, and where are they coming from?”

“But Ronin is still a problem.”

“No, they aren’t,” Danny said. “It’s not a big secret that they’ve committed most of their forces toward Davenport. They know we have a wide front to cover and limited forces to do it with. By now they know most of our troops are concentrated at Milwaukee.”

Nora got the gist of what he was saying. “You’re thinking that they’re using the city to sucker us in,” she said.

Danny shrugged. “I think it’s quite possible.”

“To what end?” Robbie asked.

“If they can pin down a large number of our troops in Milwaukee that means there’s more of them not protecting other parts of the front. And if they want to launch a counterstrike they’d have plenty of options.”

That last statement unsettled her greatly. Hydra had the initiative for the moment, but one properly timed counterattack could shatter that in an instant. And if they committed too many troops to the city, they could very well become cut off if Ragnarok scythed through their flank.

“So, Ragnarok lures us in, forces us into a grinding battle of attrition, then launches a counterattack somewhere in the west to cut us off and then completely annihilate us?” Zach said. “That sounds distressingly plausible.”

“More than that, it’ll be a disaster if they managed to pull it off,” Blake added. “This situation? It’s like a historical battle.”

“Which one.”

“Stalingrad.”

The word hung in the air for a moment that seemed to last too long. Nora tried not to grimace. They wouldn’t permanently lose their troops, but the losses of supplies and equipment could prove devastating. Hephaestus Company could produce at a considerable speed, but they weren’t miracle workers.

All their gains could be wiped out in a single stroke.

“OK, so that’s probably something we need to be very aware of,” Liz said. “Let’s get back to one of the other problems at hand. When they use the jammer, what are we going to use to counter it? Runners? Couriers on ATVs?”

“Those worked pretty well in the last fight,” Karen said.

“Don’t they also sell phones in Old Chicago?” Robbie asked.

Zach nodded. “They do. Along with the phone cable needed to connect them. No one ever buys them because everyone has the cybernetic radio.”

“Well, now we know why they sell them,” Danny said. “Pretty convenient.”

“That’s because they’re only second best, by a long shot,” Zach told him. “They only work if the cable stays connected. One stray shell or a sabotage team and the phone is a useless hunk of junk.”

“Still, it’s better than nothing,” Anna said. “We should look into it. At the very least we can connect the front lines to HQ and the artillery batteries.”

That made a thought pop into Nora’s head. “I wonder if Ragnarok figured that out and installed lines like that. That way they’d be able to communicate while the jamming was active.”

“Definitely a possibility,” Anna agreed.

“Next question,” Blake said. “Ragnarok’s supply lines. I know it’s impossible to stop the flow completely, but we should at least try to disrupt them a bit.”

“Problem is, we don’t exactly have enough forces to do it,” Liz said.

“Maybe we do,” Danny said. All eyes in the room turned toward him.

“Do you have some secret army that we’re not aware of?” Nora asked. She couldn’t imagine what the heck he was talking about.

Danny gave her his trademark grin. “Probably not. But I do have an idea.”

P
resident Starvos stood
up and offered his hand as Zach entered the room. “Thank you for coming today at my request, Mr. Wofford.”

“I’m glad to be here,” Zach told him as he returned the handshake.

“Have a seat, please,” Starvos said, beckoning to one of the chairs in front of him.

Zach settled into the seat, a plush black leather chair, taking in his surroundings as he did so. Apparently they were in one of the smaller company meeting rooms, reserved for small gatherings between the higher-ups of Elysium Visions and other companies. Everything screamed opulence, from the thick red carpet to the black marble walls.

President Starvos sat down in the chair across from him and made a gesture to the low table between them. “Care for a drink? There’s coffee in the pot.”

“I will, thank you,” Zach said as he poured himself a cup, less because he wanted it and more to break up some of the awkward tension he was feeling. What had he been called here for? Was this all part of the recruitment pitch to get him on the development team?

Starvos poured himself a cup before continuing. “You’re probably wondering why I called you here today. Cliché, I know, but also likely, given the circumstances.”

“Yes, I am,” Zach admitted. He paused for a moment before voicing the question swirling around in his mind. “Is this part of my recruitment?”

President Starvos laughed. “And what would make you think that?”

“I’m the only one being called to these kinds of meetings,” Zach pointed out. “As far as I know, I’m the only one being offered a job. Logical deduction ties the two together.”

“And so it does,” Starvos replied with an easy smile. “It may be forward of me to say so, but I hope you take my efforts to recruit you into account. I hold your skills in the highest regard, and I’d like to do whatever it takes to get them on board. Within reason, of course.”

“Of course,” Zach said, taking a quick sip of coffee. Still a bit too warm for his taste.

President Starvos moved the coffee set to the far end of the table and pick up a paper file from the end table beside his seat. He set it on the table in front of them and opened it up.

“We’re still in the very, very early stages of preliminary planning, but I’d like you to see some of the concepts that we’re toying around with at the moment.”

“To see if it sparks my interest?” Zach asked.

Starvos laughed. “My, it’s hard to play coy with someone who’s willing to cut right to the point. Yes, I want to see if any of this catches your interest, and I apologize if that comes off as manipulative.”

“No offense taken,” Zach told him. “I can definitely understand why you’d want to do it.”

President Starvos spread out some of the sheets of paper in front of them. Despite his earlier unease, Zach was becoming far more comfortable with the situation, and a question popped into his mind.

“If I can ask something not really related to this?” Zach said.

“Yes?”

“Why use paper files instead of a tablet?” he said. “I noticed you did that too when you recruited us for the study. Isn’t a tablet much more compact and able to store more information? And isn’t it easier to organize?”

“And you’re wondering why I use paper files while the rest of the company uses tablets?” President Starvos asked. “I must say, you have a good eye.”

“Thank you,” Zach said. “It didn’t stick out much the last time I noticed it, but for some reason it did now.”

“I think that question is a legitimate one,” President Starvos said, “and I think it’s actually very pertinent to the discussion at hand. You should have a good measure of the person you’re working for, and this is quite the quirk.”

Zach nodded.

“Well, what you say is true,” Starvos said. “A tablet can store huge numbers of files, much more efficiently than a piece of paper can. You can access anything you want with just a few swipes of your fingers. But to me, tablets seem to lack character. I seem to like the feeling of paper in my hands, and I’m not alone in that regard.”

“Most people I’ve seen around here seem pretty used to working with tablets,” Zach said.

“Oh yes, they’ve adapted to them quite well, and they’re quite useful in most cases. But not all. Sometimes it’s easier to just pick out a piece of paper from a properly organized file than to sort through the mess of electronic files on your device.”

“So there’s a tradeoff regardless of what you’re using, and the trick is to figure out which option has the least number of tradeoffs?” Zach said.

“That’s right,” Starvos nodded. “And sometimes we like to impart extra value to things which are more advanced in our minds, when they aren’t actually any more efficient than their predecessors.”

Zach frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean by that.”

“It’s quite simple, actually,” President Starvos explained. He reached for one of the pieces of paper in front of him. “If we were to compare something, such as this piece of paper to the same page on a tablet, which is the more advanced object?”

“The tablet, of course,” Zach replied. “That requires a much higher technological level to produce.”

Starvos nodded. “Indeed it does. But is it any more efficient at conveying information?”

“No. So is the complexity detrimental in that case?” Zach asked.

“Indeed it is, and it remains so even if you increase the number of pages,” Stavros said. “It’s only when you pass a certain point that the more complex device becomes more efficient.”

“I’m still not quite sure I understand,” Zach said.

“Complexity for its own sake means nothing, and it’s often detrimental in regard to efficiency. When designing a system, making it more complicated than it needs to be only serves as a waste of resources that could be better spent elsewhere. But of course, you already knew that.”

“Yeah,” Zach said. “I always tried to keep that in mind when programing and designing things. Everything I design need to do its job efficiently.”

“A man after my own heart,” Starvos replied with a smile. “Yes, I thought like that as well. Even when I started breaking into the more complex fields of computer science and information technology that continued to shape how I designed.”

He handed a piece of paper over to Zach. “Here are some of the preliminary thoughts on how we should best design our next virtual reality. Little more than random musings at this point, but we’ll be working to make them a reality soon enough.”

Zach looked down at the information in his hand and started to read. Project Avalon, the working title read. Preliminary notes suggested that the game was to be set on a much smaller scale than World at War, focusing on groups of players no larger than twenty or thirty. Crafting, social interaction and world building would be heavily focused upon. Player vs. player combat would exist, but combat and exploration would be much more focused on player vs. environment.

There were other game mechanics tentatively put in place. Medieval weaponry would be the mainstay for combat, as befitting a standard fantasy setting. Magic would exist in the world as well, though there was a question of whether it should be accessible to some classes or all of them at once.

“It’s interesting that you included a class system in this case, when you just got down removing it from World at War,” Zach commented.

“No sense in reinventing the wheel,” Starvos said. “Even though we’re creating a virtual reality, we want to make it accessible for all game players, so using standard mechanics in the world seemed like a logical choice.”

“But then that created some disconnect,” Zach said. “Not being able to pick up certain weapons or objects because you had the wrong class, for instance.”

“Quite,” President Starvos agreed. “It goes back to what I was saying earlier. Information needs to be given in the most efficient manner possible. Revamping the system allowed us to go back and correct many of the deficiencies in the original version. If a system is so complicated that it can’t be used in most circumstances, then what is it good for?”

Zach agreed with that notion. The original World at War had huge branching skill trees for all classes, but no one ever seemed to use them. Combat skills weren’t tied to the leveling system, but to actual competency within the game world. And while many of the abilities seemed powerful on the surface, they took too long to activate. As a result, players only took skills that gave passive bonuses, even if they even bothered with the skill tree at all.

The entire apparatus had become an appendix of sorts, completely useless in the grand scheme of things. In the time it took a player to activate a skill they could use their natural ability to do the job much more efficiently. In combat, especially against skilled players, every millisecond counted.

But switching to a class and level based system would probably be more in line with a fantasy world focused on small groups exploring and fighting against the environment. The threat of death would certainly be lessened, of course. Everything in World at War was simply meant to add to the carnage.

Even their social groups within the game were formed for the expressed purpose of battlefield efficiency. Sure, they formed plenty of friendships with their comrades, but Zach couldn’t deny they had banded together solely out of military necessity.

This game, on the other hand, could be formed around an actual sense of community not involved in just fighting and territory acquisition. Instead, it could be about adventuring with a small group of comrades, just like World at War had been in the early days.

Of course, that was a long way off. They needed to design and build the thing, which would take years. And he wasn’t even sure he would be part of the design team yet. The potential was alluring, yes, but did he really want to leave his current situation? Even though he had a love for programing and design, enough to dedicate a significant portion of his life to its study, could he really go back at this point? The money he was making as a part of the study was simply too good.

“I think this looks very interesting, at the very least,” Zach said diplomatically.

“Ah. A general answer for a general overview. That’s quite fair, truth be told,” Starvos said with a half-smile. “But I would be interested in delving a little deeper. Project Avalon should be something completely different from World at War. It should stand in its own niche and be its own entity.”

“So is it going to be built from scratch?” Zach asked.

Starvos shook his head. “Not from the ground up. Even World at War wasn’t built from the ground up. We used previous virtual world games as a foundation and went from there. Even a simple game of tennis gave us a wealth of information and pieces we could use.”

And they had plenty more of those to spare, now that they had a properly functioning virtual world, Zach thought to himself. That didn’t take into account the amount of data they had been mining from the study, either. He imagined that they had a considerable amount of information they could derive from that as well.

“It’s going to be far more focused on smaller groups, according to this?” Zach asked as he looked over the sheet again.

“Yes. World at War Online bands large groups of players together, but we’ve noticed that players generally only interact with a small group around them, even if their company or alliance is made up of hundreds or even thousands of members.”

Zach nodded. He wasn’t sure he could name everyone in Black Wolf right now, let alone everyone in the Hydra Alliance. Even with his constant interaction with other companies, he generally stuck with either his battalion comrades or the leadership of the original five companies.

Sometimes he missed the old days of being a part of a small group trying to make their way in a vast world. Battling a strong nemesis like Ragnarok had its own challenges and fun, but the urge to fight with a small group would come upon them all at some point. That’s why the groups of original Black Wolf members went through the trouble of performing dangerous missions as Fang Squad: it allowed them to hearken back to the early days of the world.

This new world could allow them another opportunity to go back to that state. But again, did he really want to leave the situation he was in right now?

“We’ll be focusing on the social and societal aspects of the game world as well,” Starvos said.

“Focusing it on interaction between the players?” Zach asked.

“Yes. For lack of a better term, World at War is based on tribalism. Small or sometimes large groups banding together to defend their holdings from other groups. Project Avalon, in contrast, is to be based on a sense of community between all players. Fighting and combat won’t be the only options, either. Players who want to be artisans, merchants or the like will be able to do so without any major disadvantages.”

“Which could definitely appeal to a different audience than World at War. Or, the World at War audience in a different manner,” Zach commented.

“Exactly. And there’s one change that may completely alter the way our world operates.”

Zach frowned. “What’s that?”

President Starvos looked at him and folded his hands. “This isn’t common knowledge, and I don’t want this spreading, so can I trust you to keep silent with this information?”

“You can,” Zach said. “Betraying trust isn’t my style. Besides, I wouldn’t like to go up against the company lawyers, at any rate.”

Starvos laughed. “A wise answer.” His expression became serious. “We’re in preliminary talks with several major online retailers to devise a virtual reality shopping system.”

That revelation surprised him. “Like a virtual reality shopping mall?” he asked.

“Yes, but on a much grander scale,” President Starvos told him. “Companies will be able to display their products within a virtual showroom for prospective buyers to examine and test. And once everything is completed, they’ll also be able to make purchases as well.”

“So how does this relate to Project Avalon?”

“We’re exploring the possibility of adding virtual stores to the marketplaces of each hub,” Starvos explained. “Players will be able to shop inside their game and have goods delivered right to their door.”