RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Were they under the control of another hive?

This was the most probable reason Hans could come up.

Not that terrain blockers were improbable, but he knew how powerful a hive’s scream could be when it comes to forcing nearby infected to come over and do its bidding.

He sat back on his chair and leaned on it.

Looks like we got territorial hives to deal with.

If they worked individually, that would be for the best of his army. However, Hans could not depend on that assumption for too long.

"This is becoming troublesome."

He narrowed his eyes. Perhaps, this hive excursion was a head start to his Grefort infected extermination plan.

But his future operations were bound to be more difficult.

Speculations can wait, Hans straightened up. The next operation cannot.

Westgate’s inner commercial blocks were too dense to swallow immediately. Even if he had the firepower to flatten streets, he did not have the manpower to search every mall, basement, parking level, and service corridor afterward.

A victory that left the buildings unchecked was not considered a true victory at all.

The red tide on the highway was considered his cash advance pay. The inner commercial blocks contained real wealth for his army’s expansion.

But before he could push through it, he needed an anchor for his troops.

Hans shifted his focus to the edge. The northwestern area was different.

Commercial roads touched older industrial routes there. The buildings were still many, but not as packed as the deeper district. Armor could move. APCs could rotate. Engineers could repair the roadways without crawling through twenty floors of apartments every block.

More importantly, it gave him room to build—the forward anchor he and his troops fundamentally needed.

It was not a temporary camp. That would be too crude and naive. What he needed was a forward operating base.

Hans marked the first sector.

A strip of roads and mixed buildings lit up on the map, running from his current base toward the upper northwestern route.

The first step would not be glamorous.

It was not even a proper assault.

The Radar had already shown him where most of the nearby infected were. Within this edge sector, visible red markers were not the true problem.

Hidden hive residue was one, but that was exactly why Engineers and Scouts had to go first.

The other problem was whether the road could carry armor, or handle columns of infantry going in and out.

Whether damaged buildings would collapse beside his patrol routes.

Whether corpses, rubble, abandoned vehicles, and broken drainage covers would turn every movement into a slow march.

Whether the Engineers could prepare enough workable ground for his structures to safely extend his reach.

Hans marked the main road first.

Then the side routes.

Then the chokepoints.

The sector did not need to be beautiful. It needed to be usable.

Engineers would inspect the roads, reinforce damaged barriers, clear wreckage, patch holes, and mark structures too unstable to stand nearby.

Army Soldiers would be the main force to hold the approaches.

Machine Gunners and Guardian GIs would anchor the corners and prevent sudden attacks.

APCs would rotate between the base and the new line until a defensible formation was established using Walls, Pillboxes, Watchtowers, Sensor Towers, Command Uplink Posts, and the other Secondary Structures he had not even touched until now.

Am I going to spam Power Plant lines from here to there?

Hans’s brows twitched. It may not have mattered in game, but in real life, people would be very suspicious about his structural choices.

But should I give a damn about their thoughts?

He scoffed, then continued with his plan.

"System, do we have something similar to a prospector that can deploy and establish a forward base?"

He was concerned that he would really build a long line of Power Plants or even Barracks just to expand his construction area.

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[ Please build the War Factory (Physical), Commander. ]

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Hans’s eyes turned bloody.

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[ Gold: 28,045 ]

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He had insufficient Gold at the moment, but the scavenging results from the red tide would fix that soon enough.

As for the construction cost in laying the foundation of his first FOB (forward operating base), the abandoned buildings in Westgate district would pay for it.

Anything that could be converted into Gold would be stripped clean.

Hans was determined to search the district until even the dust felt it was taxed by him.

He almost smacked his own forehead when the thought settled.

He had been too naive lately.

His craving for the Airbase Field had almost made him lose perspective on the rest of his army’s logistics and operations.

Aircraft were useful, but that was not the issue.

He needed more cover on the ground, and more security on his base.

A forward operating base needed roads that could carry armor, chokepoints that could be held, Engineers who could work without being interrupted, infantry who could rotate without exhaustion, and enough vehicles to keep the line connected to the main base.

Airpower could help later.

It could not replace the foundation.

Hans stared at the marked sector for a few more seconds before another problem surfaced.

Money was only the first lock.

Deployment space and noise generation was the second.

Even if Westgate paid for the FOB, the structures would not appear the moment he snapped his fingers.

Power Plants and other structures needed a proper site, space, access, protection, and time to rise from the ground without some infected, survivor group, or unseen hive influence turning the process into a disaster.

The System loved giving him options, but they were not ones without consequences.

Hans marked the future construction sites with a darker outline.

If this city really had grown territorial hives, them making noise through vibration and other methods may result in a hive attack.

Sure, his troops could defend against it, but would that last for long? What if the entire hive network rallies up against his insolence?

He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

System, I really do hope this physical War Factory can bring something new!

The physical Barracks did give him a surprise, but it did not give him a new unit type. He was very skeptical of the System’s sudden generosity out of nowhere.

If there’s no new unit, Hans gritted his teeth, then this better unlock something else that is useful.

He took a deep breath, recited some random mantra, then looked back at the map.

"I’ve got the general plans laid out. Two branches. Branch A for the physical War Factory and possible Prospector path. Branch B as a fallback, building an entire line of Power Plants from here to Westgate."

Hans paused.

"I should wait for the scavenge results, queue the War Factory, and then conduct a consultation meeting with my army while construction proceeds."

Building an FOB was not a simple matter of "I put building here and expand" nonsense.

He needed his soldiers for their input about security and possible attack angles or scenarios.

And the Engineers to refine his plan, finalize structure placement, and alter the battlefield’s landscape that would benefit Hans and his army.

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