A knight's training

[stupidhonor]

[1]
Yes! We are victorious! Truly, the day is ours. I expected not for Earth to carry so many talking beasts, yet here we are.

[Well, someone's happy. Sielje's spirits are high after the Cassowary Emperor has been stopped - for good.]

I suggest we celebrate by trying ourselves. A friendly bout, a training fight. I gladly accept any challenges.

[2]
[A few days later, the Ankaian knight can be found around the simulator area. Apparently she figured out the controls enough to be able to use at least the most basic mobile suit functions - a pretty good time, all things considered. And yet...]

[Even the simplest combat scenarios Sielje tried out always went the same: ignore ranged weaponry or ambushes and rush the enemy into melee. Be suppressed by the foe's superior range. Try to dodge and use terrain for cover, get overwhelmed, explode. Repeat over and over again.]


Why...

Why is it this way?

[She sits in the simulator cockpit, obviously frustrated and tired. The monitors display scenario history, at least a dozen attempts failed.]

[3]


...

[Trying to forget about her fiasco, the knight has chosen several books to distract herself with.]

How large is Australia, anyway?

[The books in question are: a technical manual of some handheld rifle, the original version of an old story she saw the movie adaptation of, a monthly fashion magazine, and a picture storybook about animals.

Regardless of contents, she studies each one carefully, with a concentrated look on her face.]

Comments

1

[booty_chaser]

You sure you wanna fight me? I'm pretty good, you know!

[stupidhonor]

[Nod.]

I am sure. I am not unskilled myself, so you should not hold back.

[booty_chaser]

Alrighty then. Don't say I didn't warn you.

[Ashe begins fiddling with some settings on her buster gun]

Just let me turn this thing to stun so nobody gets hurt...

[stupidhonor]

Stun? Ah yes, I suppose...

[Sielje falls silent for a second.]

Hold on! What weapons do you expect us both to be using?

2) Advice Skald Says:

[sang_av_helten]

It is simple. You act as if your opponents were your fellow knights and combat them expecting similar techniques.

[Skald is curled on Sielje's lap in a pile of floof, tail slowly swaying as he reads the sordid results.]

While honorable face to face combat is truly the pinnacle of battle, one cannot expect all opponents to feel the same way. There is after all the honor of the hunt to consider as well.

[Skald licks his paw and grooms himself.]

To strike down your prey in a single coordinated blow with your fellow hunters swiftly before they realize you are there. To eliminate the threats that would endanger your fellows that would prevent them from engaging in honest battle.

Also it is far more prudent to eliminate explosives at a distance than to assault them with a blade or allow them to strike you.

[stupidhonor]

My opponents are not honorable, no. It was made obvious to me fast enough.

[Sielje's hand moves over to touch Skald absently. What a fluffy beast.]

Yet just because they are dishonorable does not excuse my own behavior. I am not a hunter, looking down on her prey. I am a knight, and a knight must issue a clear challenge, and engage in honorable combat at close range.

[sang_av_helten]

An honorable mindset indeed. I can admire such a thing.

[He lets out a rumbling purr at the touch. What a fluffy, rumbly beast indeed.]

But even a knight must know when the time of challenges must draw to a close and simply fight, if only to protect others. I however do agree with you on the matter of close range battle. The exhilaration of fighting your enemy face to face, to meet your skill with theirs. That is true combat.

1

[a_monetized_mind]

Huh, sure...

Anything specific you had in mind? Barehanded, or just with blunted weapons...a marksmanship contest, maybe?

[stupidhonor]

Whatever have you in mind, Jen. However, I will not use a ranged weapon.

[a_monetized_mind]

Well, have it your way. Let's just stick with things that aren't pointy, then.

[Jen raises her fists, and takes a few steps back.]

Ready?

2

[reactorhead_russians]

"What mecha are you using in the simulation?" Sasha asks Sieljie, poking her head into the pod.

[stupidhonor]

The one the exercise called for. It is known as a mobile suit.

[The basic combat scenarios used widely available mass produced units - mostly Genoaces and Daughtresses.]

[reactorhead_russians]

"Hmmm..." Sasha looks at the status print-outs for the simulations Sieljie ran. "Part of the problems is that you are outnumbered, and that mobile suits are much more fragile than the Knight's Arms you're used to."

She frowns. "Why don't you use the suit's beam rifles?"

1

[a_louse]

Don't you think that a fight is a strange way to celebrate a victory? Wouldn't a drink be much more enjoyable?

[stupidhonor]

Is it strange? Bonds and camaraderie grow through shared exercise.

By drink, you mean alcohol?

[a_louse]

Some people are endless founts of energy, but others prefer to relax after a work well done, rather than work more.

Are you a teetotaller?

1

[mc_of_mcs]

Nepu...?

[Confused head tilt.]

Celebrating a victory... with a -fight-?

[stupidhonor]

It is a friendly training clash. Done with no ill intention but with both parties trying earnestly, what better way to build bonds?

Though I do not force anyone to participate against will...

[Especially little derpy girls.]

[mc_of_mcs]

Now I'm worried about these 'bonds' you're talking about...

No matter how you slice it, it's still beating each other up, isn't it?

2

[deathflag_survivor]

Well... I'd say it's a number of issues. Most've the mass-produced models in use are all about ranged combat, and you don't seem too keen on that.

It's the square peg/round hole problem... and just bum rushin' the enemy is something specialists do.

[Like that one Steel Dragon pilot with no personality whose machine was just like a flying/hovering brick.]

[stupidhonor]

I saw no such machines in this "simulator". Are they restricted to only a few?

[deathflag_survivor]

"Restricted"'s not the right word for it. More like... "not preferred." It's the style for someone who is prepared to risk everything every battle and don't care what the odds or enemies are going to be like... and pilots like that and mechs like that are few and far between.

Even things like the Grungust aren't all aggression, all the time, if you catch my meaning.

2

[dolorous_sensei]

That's because melee is nerfed in these simulations. Ranged are pretty OP here I tell you. Kinda imba, if you ask me.

[stupidhonor]

??

[You use strange terms, Walt.]

Are you saying Earth designs are made to be good in ranged combat?

[dolorous_sensei]

Yeah, especially in simulations. Talking from experience though, in real combat situation, for some reason melee combat often have some unknown modifier, and more powerful and/or useful than in simulation. I don't understand it myself.

Can't count how many times I saw a guy with a mecha sword totally whacked a guy with mecha rifle, eventhough by all purpose, the guy with mecha rifle should've won.