RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Two hours later, First Company received the updated route.

Anton studied the aerial imagery from inside his command APC.

The concentration that had occupied the commercial strip earlier that morning was gone from two intersections and heavily reduced around the third. Several buildings along the approved expendable side of the road had collapsed into the surrounding lots. The main avenue remained passable.

One of the platoon leaders reported over the company channel.

"Forward Scouts confirm scattered contacts remaining."

Anton closed the image.

"Continue the advance."

The company moved. Farther east, two Falcons crossed ahead of Second Company.

Each carried two Army Soldiers at the door mounts.

The helicopters remained outside the buildings themselves, passing along the wider streets while the gunners engaged infected exposed across balconies, rooftops, broken office windows, and parking decks.

The aircraft did not remain over one structure long enough to become stationary targets. They shifted them between lanes as the ground formation advanced below.

By midday, both companies had moved their forward lines again.

...

The first combined report reached Hans shortly before the next aircraft replenishment.

The difference was already visible.

First Company reported fewer large contacts reaching the armored line before being broken apart. Second Company had moved through several dense blocks without needing to stop for every upper floor that overlooked its route.

The Raptors had also spent considerably more of their air-to-ground allocation.

Hans went through the sortie summary once, then moved it aside when another notification appeared.

This one came from the recovery network.

The materials collected throughout the previous day had finally been processed. Valuable metals, commercial stock, financial holdings, jewelry, industrial materials, and other convertible resources had already been separated from supplies meant for survivors and future reconstruction.

The System displayed the result.

------

[ Industrial Storage Yard Network ]

Gold Conversion Bonus: +60%

[ Gold: 287,782 (+400,000) => 687,782 ]

------

Four hundred thousand Gold from material gathered while the two companies continued advancing.

Hans opened the current force organization.

He had two Mobile Companies operating independently across Grefort. The third existed only as a plan.

With the current income, there was little reason to keep it that way.

Hans opened the Barracks interface and selected the same infantry organization used by the other two companies.

------

[ Third Mobile Company ]

25 Standard Infantry Squads

Cost: 237,500 Gold

5 Mechanized APC Squads

Cost: 45,500 Gold

[ Infantry Cost: 283,000 Gold ]

------

The War Factory interface followed.

Thirty Guardian APCs and twenty Vanguards.

The Machinery Workshop and Heavy Manufacturing Complex applied their reductions before Hans confirmed the order.

------

[ Ground Vehicle Production ]

30 Guardian APCs

Base Cost: 240,000 Gold

Machinery Workshop: -10%

Heavy Manufacturing Complex: -10%

Current Cost: 192,000 Gold

20 Vanguard Main Battle Tanks

Base Cost: 200,000 Gold

Machinery Workshop: -10%

Heavy Manufacturing Complex: -10%

Current Cost: 160,000 Gold

[ Ground Vehicle Cost: 352,000 Gold ]

[ Third Mobile Company Total: 635,000 Gold ]

[ Gold: 687,782 (-635,000) => 52,782 ]

------

Hans confirmed the queues.

The available Barracks and War Factories divided the production between the available production structures. Once finished, the Third Mobile Company would have the same core organization as the other two.

Hans could assign its officers and supporting elements before deployment.

He moved to the aircraft interface next. Fourteen Raptors currently occupied fourteen of the sixteen fixed-wing hangars available between the two Airfields.

------

[ Raptor Air Superiority Fighter ]

Quantity: 2

Base Cost: 40,000 Gold

Heavy Manufacturing Complex: -10%

Current Cost: 36,000 Gold

[ Gold: 52,782 (-36,000) => 16,782 ]

------

Hans confirmed the order.

Once both fighters finished production, all sixteen fixed-wing hangars would be occupied.

Sixteen Raptors still felt excessive when he remembered how carefully he had used Raptor One after the first Airfield opened. Now, the problem was finding enough targets before their ammunition replenished.

Hans closed the aircraft interface.

"What about Saicine?"

"Already underway."

Matilda opened the sortie schedule.

"Grefort remains the priority. Available Raptor pairs are sent north."

Several entries already carried Saicine designations.

"What are the results?"

"Satisfactory. The survivor ridge and port remain restricted. Most strikes are hitting the lower city and northern approaches."

"And the harbor?"

"Observation only."

That was exactly how things were supposed to work.

The balance left behind was considerably smaller. But even then, another recovery shipment was already being sorted from the ground taken that morning.

...

Several hours passed before another combined report reached the northern FOB.

First Company had entered finally Cinderrow.

The district directly south of Ironford was still recognizable as part of the northern industrial belt, though the difference became more obvious the farther Anton advanced.

Large factories and freight facilities gradually gave way to smaller workshops, apartments, offices, parking structures, and commercial buildings packed closer together.

The Core remained farther south. Anton had not reached its boundary yet, but he no longer had another district separating him from it.

Second Company continued farther east.

Its Scouts had opened several additional roads through the residential areas and marked more survivor-held buildings along the way. One of the larger enclaves was now close enough that Sabine could establish contact without sending anyone through kilometers of uncontrolled streets.

Hans left that for the following day.

There was no reason to rush into somebody’s compound near sunset just because the road had finally opened.

The air reports showed much the same pattern as the earlier ones. Raptors had spent more of their available ammunition against concentrations ahead of both companies, while Falcons continued supporting the denser urban sections whenever they were not carrying personnel.

The ground advance had not stopped once.

Hans moved through the remaining pages until another System notification appeared. The second recovery batch had finished processing.

Most of it came from the areas cleared since morning. Commercial stock, precious metals, abandoned valuables, industrial materials, and other eligible resources had been separated from anything still useful to the army or civilian recovery.

------

[ Industrial Storage Yard Network ]

Gold Conversion Bonus: +60%

[ Gold: 16,782 (+480,000) => 496,782 ]

------

Another four hundred eighty thousand Gold. The first conversion had already pushed the reserve high enough to pay for an entire Mobile Company and two Raptors.

Hans opened the current infrastructure map.

Both existing Airfields would be full once the new Raptors finished production. Sixteen fixed-wing hangars, sixteen Raptors.

If he intended to keep expanding the air force, that had become the next limit.

The northern Ironford FOB already contained a Barracks, War Factory, Radar Facility, Power Plants, and enough secured industrial ground for further construction. More importantly, placing another Airfield there would move part of his aviation infrastructure much closer to Cinderrow, the northern Core approaches, and everything farther east.

Hans opened the Primary Structures interface and selected another Airfield Base.

------

[ Airfield Base ]

Base Construction Cost: 40,000 Gold

Heavy Manufacturing Complex: -10%

Current Construction Cost: 36,000 Gold

------

"Queue it."

------

[ Airfield Base queued. ]

[ Gold: 496,782 (-36,000) => 460,782 ]

[ Construction Time: 2 days, 6 hours ]

------

The Primary queue began moving.

Hans sent the proposed northern tract to the Engineers for preparation. They had more than two days to clear the damaged structures and mark the final deployment footprint before he needed to inspect it himself.

The Energy margin would become narrow once the Airfield came online. Another Power Plant would take the next Primary construction slot, but that needed to wait.

Hans closed the structure interface.

More than four hundred sixty thousand Gold remained.

The Third Mobile Company was already occupying much of the current production queue, but that only affected when the next units would finish. It did not prevent him from placing more orders behind them.

Hans returned to the force organization. The Third Mobile Company was already being completed, but where was little reason for his army’s expansion to end there.

He opened the Barracks interface again.

------

[ Fourth Mobile Company ]

[ Initial Production ]

12 Standard Infantry Squads

Cost: 114,000 Gold

3 Mechanized APC Squads

Cost: 27,300 Gold

[ Infantry Cost: 141,300 Gold ]

------

[ Ground Vehicle Production ]

15 Guardian APCs

Base Cost: 120,000 Gold

Machinery Workshop: -10%

Heavy Manufacturing Complex: -10%

Current Cost: 96,000 Gold

10 Vanguard Main Battle Tanks

Base Cost: 100,000 Gold

Machinery Workshop: -10%

Heavy Manufacturing Complex: -10%

Current Cost: 80,000 Gold

[ Ground Vehicle Cost: 176,000 Gold ]

[ Fourth Mobile Company Initial Expansion: 317,300 Gold ]

[ Gold: 460,782 (-317,300) => 143,482 ]

------

Hans confirmed the orders.

The Fourth Mobile Company would not exist anytime soon. Its units had entered behind the Third Company’s production, and the remaining half still had to be ordered later.

But that was fine. The Gold had already been converted into another formation waiting its turn through the production network.

Hans checked the infantry roster once more.

One number stood out for a different reason: twenty DASFs.

They had once been more than enough, but the rapid expansion of the rest of his forces made it increasingly difficult to say.

The Highcross underground operation had required them. Ironford had used them for rooftop reconnaissance and close assault. The Nuclear Power Station had needed eight at once because ordinary soldiers could not even pass the facility’s biological screening.

As the army spread farther across Grefort, the same small pool of DASFs would eventually be pulled between too many locations.

Hans selected the unit.

------

[ DASF ]

Current Units: 20

Training Cost: 4,000 Gold

------

Twenty more would double the existing force. Hans entered the number.

------

[ DASF x20 queued. ]

[ Total Cost: 80,000 Gold ]

[ Gold: 143,482 (-80,000) => 63,482 ]

------

"Confirm."

The additional DASFs entered the Barracks production network.

Once all forty were available, Hans would have enough to form additional Special Assault Squads without constantly stripping the same operators from one task to solve another. Some could accompany the Mobile Companies when an underground position or enhanced target required more than ordinary infantry, while others remained available for independent missions.

The exact organization could wait until they finished training.

Hans closed the interface. His Gold treasury remained at sixty-three thousand four hundred eighty-two after all of those orders in one day.

He returned to the operational map.

First Company’s line now extended into northern Cinderrow. The Core boundary remained several kilometers farther south, with heavier concentrations becoming increasingly common around the denser developments ahead.

Hans moved the company’s objective marker farther down the district. They would have to continue tomorrow. He did not intend to send them into the Core when they reached it. That place contained more infected that the outer reaches combined.

Reaching the northern boundary only gave him one approach. He intended to surround the Core first before dealing with it.

For now, both companies held the ground they had taken while the recovery teams continued working behind them.

By the end of the day, Hans controlled more of Grefort than he had that morning, while the production queues behind the advancing fronts continued to grow.

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