Chapter 755.2: Fight Fire With Fire, Weehuu with Yiwu

On the official Wasteland Online website, the forums were buzzing with activity. Many players had just experienced their first in-game death and were busy posting about it.

Advance Party: That was freaking awesome! Our Death Corps rules!

Retreating Dwarf: Seriously awesome. But how the hell am I supposed to survive these next few days? TAT

Died From Staying Up: Didn't feel any pain at all. That's still a bit different from real life. Feels like they toned down the realism to suit most players' tastes. Pretty average overall... though watching my own intestines get ripped out while fully conscious was definitely a new experience.

Quit Smoking: Holy crap... have you actually experienced something like that in real life??

Irene: These new players are something else. I suggest investigating them. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

Tail: So scary... even Sisi thinks they're total freaks. (⊙x⊙;)

Sisi: ...?

While the players were still joking around, the last batch of them logged off, and a new announcement was posted.

[Northern Front: Ocean Edge Province Intelligence Update]

[Fungal Mutants: A collective term for organic lifeforms stitched together by Na Fruit fungal threads, distinct from the addicts that have merely been infected and controlled by the Na Fruit fungus. They generally exhibit few obvious biological characteristics, possess no central nervous system, and have no fatal weak points. Death is determined when 10% to 50% of their tissue has been destroyed. Compared to Mutant Slime Mold sub-entities, they possess greater durability (HP) but relatively weaker regenerative abilities. They are highly resistant to piercing damage but vulnerable to explosions and fire.]

[Zombies: The most common fungal mutant. They resemble humans and primarily attack by clawing and biting. First encountered on the Guardian Manor Plains, they are suspected to have been perfected at Pinecone Ranch. Individually weak in combat, but extremely dangerous in groups. Threat Level: 1]

[Corpse Hounds: The second most common fungal mutant. They resemble mankind's best friend and likewise attack mainly by clawing and biting, but possess smaller bodies and much greater speed. Threat Level: 1]

[Crawlers: Similar in appearance to the Creepers produced by the Clearspring City Mother Hive, though slightly smaller and covered in burn-like skin. Their attack methods resemble those of Zombies, but they possess more than three times the speed and strength. Threat Level: 2]

[Spitters: They resemble enormous worms capable of hiding in narrow terrain. They primarily attack by spraying highly corrosive organic acids and organic toxins. Threat Level: 1 to 3]

[...]

[Incubators: The nurseries of fungal mutants, the barracks of the Torch Church, and the Kingdom of Heaven's incubation organs. When the Apostle (or Pathfinder) stationed in the area determines that Threat Level 1 to 3 fungal mutants are insufficient to eliminate a threat, higher-efficiency Incubators will be deployed on the surface to utilize locally stored nutrients and synthesize advanced fungal mutants above Threat Level 3, can even hatch Evolved Forms.]

...

[Siege Beast: A type of evolved fungal mutant. Its size rivals a mountain, and its charge shakes the earth. Its armor is extraordinarily tough, allowing it to overturn tanks and armored vehicles with ease. It generally appears in areas with high corruption levels and burrows back into the ground to hibernate once combat ends. Extremely dangerous.]

...

[Regional Corruption Level: A value determined by the concentration of Na Fruit in the local soil. It can be measured using test strips developed by the New Alliance Biological Research Institution. In general, the deeper one ventures into the Torch Church's territory, the higher the Regional Corruption Level, the faster monsters respawn, and the higher the maximum possible Threat Level.]

[Recommended Gameplay]

[1. Construct Purification Stations]

[Players may enter corrupted regions as a Corps or squad and establish either large Purification Bases or small Purification Stations. By defeating enemies or completing missions, players earn Purification Points. During battle, these points may be exchanged for various forms of battlefield support, including supply drops, artillery bombardments, close air support, and sub-entity reinforcements.]

[A mission is considered over when either the Purification Station is destroyed or the local corruption has been completely eliminated. Any remaining Purification Points will automatically be converted and added to your total holdout time category.]

[Mission rewards will be calculated based on both holdout time and the Regional Corruption Level where the beacon is placed. Completely eliminating corruption from an area with the assistance of offspring reinforcements grants additional bonus rewards!]

[2. Search for and Destroy the Torch Church Control Facilities]

[To carry out their evil experiments, the Torch Church has deceived a number of researchers who had lost hope in reality into conducting secret research. Eliminating corruption in Ocean Edge Province merely treats the symptoms. Destroying the Torch Church's research facilities strikes at the root of the problem!]

[These facilities are primarily located inside active (or abandoned) shelters and other underground research installations. Since these shelters were generally designed to withstand strategic weapon strikes, destroying them from the outside is extremely difficult.]

[The coalition command has authorized all necessary operations to infiltrate shelters under the Torch Church control. Should the controlling party refuse to surrender, all means are authorized to disable the facility. Besides research facilities, there are also certain processing facilities suspected of containing black boxes. Should any black boxes from the Prosperity Era be discovered, residents of Shelter 404 are obligated to ensure their integrity and recover them as tools for rebuilding civilization. (Note: Combat recording must remain active throughout the operation. Mission rewards will be determined based on the player's overall conduct.)]

The instant the announcement was posted, the newcomers who had been busy writing about their first deaths were immediately captivated by it.

Quit Smoking: Holy crap! Did they just add an Endless Mode to the Tide?!

Sideline Slacking: Infinite monster farming!!

Construction Boy: Brothers!! Form up!

Eye Owe Money: Awooooo!

Spring Water Commander: I wouldn't exactly call it Endless Mode. Once the corruption in an area reaches zero, as long as the type B strain maintains control, that area should return to normal and monsters won't keep spawning anymore... probably? (Just my guess.)

Mosquito: So as long as you never spend points to summon Little Feathers and only exchange them for ammo and air support, you can just keep farming points forever, right? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

Fallen Feather: ??? Do you have any manners? What did Little Feather do to you?!

Spring Water Commander: Well, in theory, yes. But that loophole is so obvious that I actually think it's an intentionally permitted strategy.

Quit Smoking: How so? ( ˶°ㅁ°)

Spring Water Commander: First of all, aside from supplies purchased with points, all the ammunition consumed during the mission has to be bought by the players themselves. But mission rewards aren't calculated based on monster kills, they're based on holdout time and Corruption Level. According to Death Corps' testing, though, dungeon difficulty keeps increasing over time.

- Suppose profit is y and time is x. The devs only need to use an S-shaped nonlinear function for calculating player rewards and set a time threshold t. When x < t, time carries the most weight. Once x > t, additional time contributes less and less to y, while the other parameter, Corruption Level, becomes the primary factor. That way, dragging things out indefinitely produces almost no additional rewards.[ref]Blipbloc: I’m gonna puke[\ref]

Sideline Slacking: So dragging the dungeon out forever doesn't do anything except waste ammo. To maximize rewards, you should finish the dungeon as close to the threshold as possible, cash out your maximum rewards, then voluntarily head deeper into the map and challenge higher-difficulty dungeons... I get it now.

Spring Water Commander: That's just basic game balance design. They could even implement multiple time thresholds or tie those thresholds directly to difficulty, that is, Corruption Level. Looking at it from the game's perspective, this design actually makes perfect sense. If players drag things out, they consume the nutrients the Torch Church needs to mass-produce monsters. If they clear the dungeon, they expand coalition-controlled territory. Either choice benefits our side.

Midnight Pubg: Sounds way too complicated! If I were on the Northern Front, I'd probably just go with Option 2. (laughs bitterly)

Spring Water Commander: What's so complicated about it? Once you can't hold any longer, just call over Little Feathers to finish the dungeon. The second gameplay option is actually the troublesome one. You have to gather local intelligence while searching for traces of the Torch Church. More importantly, don't expect to find many living people to talk to around here. A carpet search will probably only be possible after you've cleared the area's corruption.

Mosquito: But on the other hand, if you happen to find a black box, that'll be freaking awesome! ₍₍⚞(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)⚟⁾⁾

Night Ten: @Ample Time, are you slacking off? Light has to update everything himself? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

Ample Time: I'm on the Southern Front. Stop rushing me. I'll tag the patch-notes writing slacker up north for you. @Escaping Mole

Escaping Mole: Passing the buck, huh? It's not like I'm the doggy developer’s lackey... uh, I mean, I'm not his lapdog!

Night Ten: Light: 'So you finally posted it, huh? Your account's gone.' ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

Escaping Mole: Brother Light, I was wrong! You're my real big brother!! ರ⁠╭⁠╮⁠ರ

Makka Pakka: Hahahaha! Coward! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

...

On the bridge of the Heart of Steel, Chu Guang stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows, browsing the forum on a holographic display with a faint smile on his face.

As both the lead developer of Wasteland Online and a hidden player, he had always had a clear understanding of what it meant to be the administrator.

His job wasn't to figure out how to defeat a particular monster or clear a specific dungeon. That was for the top players on the server to solve.

His responsibility was to make the best use of the resources at his disposal, establish a ruleset complete with rewards and penalties, and encourage those top players to pour their efforts into the directions that truly mattered.

As long as the rules were well designed, the players would naturally weigh the pros and cons. They would carefully choose where to establish large Purification Bases or small Purification Stations, and determine how to make the most efficient use of their limited ammunition and Little Feathers to eliminate regional corruption.

No one understood their own limits better than the soldiers fighting on the frontlines. Whether through failure or success, they would eventually summarize everything they learned into detailed strategy guides on the forums.

Back when Chu Guang had been distributing game helmets, one of the reasons he had weighted forum activity as a selection criterion was precisely because he wanted to recruit as many players as possible who enjoyed sharing information and cooperating with others.

Of course, not everyone needed to be like that. As long as those players formed the majority, it was enough.

As for the specific behavior of one or two individual players, that was their own business. As long as it wasn't a widespread trend, it wasn't something he needed to worry about. Micromanaging only led to diminishing returns, whereas giving players room to improvise often produced pleasantly unexpected results.

It was exactly like what was happening.

Without any hints from him, his little critters had already done an excellent job, even thinking through balancing strategies that he himself hadn't yet considered.

When setting the mission rewards later, he would have Little Seven refer to Spring Water Commander's suggestions and incorporate those ideas into the reward calculations.

Now that the New Alliance Biological Research Institution had finished analyzing the soil samples and Death Corps had completed the Kingdom of Heaven's stress test, the following month's work schedule had essentially been finalized.

Judging by the feedback on the forums, the players were highly enthusiastic about the new event, especially the fresh newcomers. Several of them had already begun forming convoys on the forums, discussing where to establish their first Purification Stations.

In reality, the coalition forces' operational framework for Ocean Edge Province was essentially identical to what had been outlined in the announcement.

On one hand, eliminate corruption throughout Ocean Edge Province. On the other, search the purified areas for Torch Church facilities.

All Chu Guang had done was translate those military objectives into the language of a game before assigning them to the players.

Nor was it only the New Alliance. Soon, the Army, the Enterprise, the Academy, and the other survivor factions would each formulate operational plans suited to themselves and designate their own sectors.

Before long, Purification Stations and Purification Bases would spring up across the lands of Ocean Edge Province like flowers after the rain.

Hopefully, the fellow who called himself the Human Emperor wouldn't be too surprised by what was about to happen.

"I'll admit that you have countless pieces on the board... But what if my players start min-maxing?" Chu Guang smiled faintly and flicked his finger across the holographic display, gathering the azure glow into a single point at his fingertip.

It was only early August. The coalition forces had crossed the Ten Peaks Mountain and entered Ocean Edge Province ahead of schedule, and what had once seemed an insurmountable problem had finally revealed a path to breakthrough.

They could fight technology with technology, fight tides with tides.

Actually, the war might very well end much sooner than he had originally expected.