MES Cybernetics Invasion V2.0

Cybernetics Invasion 2.0

An encounter mod for Modular Encounters Systems (MES). The Cybernetics (faction tag CYBR) are an ancient machine intelligence with one objective: erase all biological life in the galaxy. They hunt players in space and in planetary atmosphere.

Version 2.0 is a complete overhaul: rebuilt and new ships, reworked behavior, convoys, and two new bosses. See "What's new in 2.0" below.

Story

A lone prospector, after weeks in the asteroid belt, finally sees something on the mass detector. As he closes to visual range he realizes it is no asteroid. It is a machine, cold and dead, with no energy or thermal signature.

He suits up for a closer look. When he grabs what looks like a tie-down ring, an arc of electricity knocks him back and shuts down his suit. As it reboots he hears a repeating radio message: "Biological life form detected. This unit not functional. Send reinforcements."

The device glows brighter and brighter until a discharge burns out his suit. After that... only darkness.

The Cybernetics have arrived, and they are not your friends.

What's new in 2.0

• New ships: Rivet, Watcher, Shrike, Excisor, Sterilizer, Flayer, Eradicator, Talon, Hauler, Heavy Hauler.
• Rebuilt ships: Resource Collector, Spike, Sniper.
• New bosses: Monolith (8-wave station) and Archon (dreadnought with hangar bays).
• Convoys: Light, Standard and Heavy, plus admin event convoys.
• Behavior overhaul for every ship. Shield manipulation removed.
• Retuned threat gates across the roster. Version suffixes removed from grid names.

Roster

Threat = minimum MES threat score near the player. Higher-threat groups spawn less often. Ship names in game start with "(NPC-CYBR)".

Space (space and lunar cargo ships)

[table] [tr][th]Threat[/th][th]Single ships[/th][th]Groups[/th][/tr] [tr][td]250[/td][td]Gnat, Mosquito, Resource Collector[/td][td]-[/td][/tr] [tr][td]1000[/td][td]Spike, Flanker, Excisor[/td][td]Gnat Swarm (5), Mosquito Swarm (5), Resource Collector pair, Light Convoy (Hauler + Gnat + Mosquito)[/td][/tr] [tr][td]1500[/td][td]-[/td][td]Spike Swarm (5), Flanker Swarm (5), Excisor Swarm (3)[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2000[/td][td]Devastator[/td][td]-[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2500[/td][td]Purifier, Sterilizer[/td][td]Standard Convoy (Hauler + 2 Flankers + Gnat)[/td][/tr] [tr][td]3000[/td][td]Eradicator[/td][td]-[/td][/tr] [tr][td]5000[/td][td]Suicide Drone[/td][td]Purifier Swarm (5), Heavy Convoy (Heavy Hauler + 2 Sterilizers)[/td][/tr] [tr][td]10000[/td][td]-[/td][td]Suicide Drone Swarm (5)[/td][/tr] [/table]

Atmosphere (planetary cargo ships)

[table] [tr][th]Threat[/th][th]Single ships[/th][th]Groups[/th][/tr] [tr][td]250[/td][td]Nibbler, Rivet[/td][td]-[/td][/tr] [tr][td]500[/td][td]Nipper, Sniper, Biter, Shrike[/td][td]-[/td][/tr] [tr][td]1000[/td][td]-[/td][td]Nibbler Swarm (5), Nipper Swarm (5), Sniper Swarm (5), Biter Swarm (5), Rivet Swarm (3)[/td][/tr] [tr][td]1500[/td][td]-[/td][td]Shrike Swarm (3)[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2500[/td][td]Talon[/td][td]-[/td][/tr] [/table]

Anywhere (space, lunar, atmosphere and gravity)

[table] [tr][th]Threat[/th][th]Single ships[/th][th]Groups[/th][/tr] [tr][td]250[/td][td]Scout, Watcher[/td][td]-[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2000[/td][td]Ripper, Flayer[/td][td]Ripper Swarm (5)[/td][/tr] [/table]

Bosses

All bosses are MES space Boss Encounters: a GPS signal and announcement appear first, and the boss spawns when a player reaches the signal. [table] [tr][th]Threat[/th][th]Boss[/th][th]GPS signal[/th][/tr] [tr][td]2000[/td][td]Central Processing Unit[/td][td]CYBR.Central Processing Unit[/td][/tr] [tr][td]3000[/td][td]Monolith (static station, 8 waves)[/td][td]CYBR.Monolith[/td][/tr] [tr][td]8000[/td][td]Archon (dreadnought, rare: 35% of boss rolls)[/td][td]CYBR.Archon[/td][/tr] [/table]

Central Processing Unit

A heavily armored large-grid warship that taunts you over chat, then fights in a repeating cycle: [olist] [*]Calls reinforcements: one random swarm of 5 Gnats, Mosquitoes, Suicide Drones, Spikes, Flankers or Rippers, spawned 500 m from it. [*]60 s later it closes in and attacks. [*]60 s after that it retreats until players are more than 2 km away, stops, and calls the next swarm. [/olist]

• Armed with 32 assault cannon turrets, 26 missile turrets, 18 gatling turrets and 8 fixed rocket launchers. Weapon randomization is enabled, so these may be swapped.
• Carries jetpack and jump drive suppressors and uses NPC ion thrusters.
• Grid inventories are cleared on spawn, so it carries no loot.

Monolith

A static station that calls in reinforcement waves, one ship type per wave, 120 s apart: [olist] [*]Gnats (5) [*]Mosquitoes (5) [*]Spikes (5) [*]Suicide Drones (5) [*]Flankers (4) + Sterilizer [*]Rippers (5) [*]Eradicator [*]Archon [/olist]

• Waves start when the station is damaged or a player comes within 5 km.
• If every player moves more than 10 km away, the waves reset to wave 1 and earlier wave ships despawn. After the final wave the sequence locks.
• If no players are online for 5 minutes, the waves and the Monolith despawn.
• The reward is the Core Vault: 6 small cargo containers inside the station. (The Archon in wave 8 carries no loot.)

Archon

A dreadnought with 4 fixed large railguns in the prow plus independent turrets. Two hangar bays (port and starboard) launch Gnat, Mosquito and Flanker interceptors while a target is within 3.5 km. Each bay only launches while its "Hangar Bay" light is working, so knocking out a bay shuts it down. Loot is in 6 small interior cargo containers.

Behavior highlights

• Resource Collectors approach and grind on your grids. Their shock only hits players, and their grinders are invulnerable.