2012-08-01 Firebase Ghost

It's been a long time since Doug Ramsey has been able to just sit down and /play/. So, once he'd reported in about his afternoon and was off the clock, that's what he'd elected to do: go park in his quarters, throw in a game, and see just how good the Helicarrier's internet connection was.

While Doug -- or Cypher, a low-level Turian Soldier, according to his gamertag -- waits patiently for his team to fill up for a raid, he pulls on a headset, and silently says a prayer to the Gods of Gaming that his team not suck. Come on. It's been how long since he's gotten a game in? At least give him good company.

And in comes a high level Geth Engineer. Turret and Overload maxed out, carrying nothing but a pistol. Granted it's a Carnifex with a few mods to it, but it's still some balls to go running around with just that. The N7 ranking is 547 and the name? BGordon. Babs plays this as herself, not as Oracle. "Hey," she greets, a female voice, another rarity on the servers.

Doug really needs to play more. His numbers, they are puny, and his poor Turian's armor is not nearly so slick. Well, one way to fix that. "Hey," he replies with a smile. Visible or not, he knows how well they can be heard in someone's voice. "I hope you don't mind my noobishness. I've only been at this a day or two."

"Wow, you have some guts playing a Turian as a newbie," Babs quips with a grin. "They can't roll in and out of cover. Kind of sucks for them." Vexxus, her Geth, is an aqua color with gold stripes and machine parts. "Any preference for a map?" she asks, as she adds a Pistol Rail amp and some Cryo ammo to her equipment.

"I'm shallow, I admit it. Garrus Vakarian is my spirit animal," Doug replies dryly, flipping through his gear. A pistol and a sniper rifle should do fine... "Firebase White's the map I've played the most, though I know Ghost has some pretty solid places to bunker down. I'm not picky, though. I'm gonna be following your lead either way."

"Garrus is one of the greatest characters in videogame history, admittedly. I just think they kind of hosed the character class on the game." The nerd is strong with Barbara. "Ghost works well for Turians, because there's a lot of two level cover they can lean around so you're not crouched and slow to get up," she notes. "I'm good with Ghost."

Doug can't help but grin. Oh, he has missed his people. "Then I am good with Ghost," he says agreeably, taking one last look at his set-up before pulling the trigger, lighting the little Ready! next to his name. "Surely we can duo this map. We're capable people. What could possibly go wrong?"

"We can duo. At least with Vexxus here. He's maxed out," Babs notes. She presses her spacebar and her little green thing comes up. Bleep. Bloop. It counts down from 5 to 1 before it starts loading the gritty, post-apocalyptic urban expanse of Firebase Ghost. The Geth runs up the ramp the the crates at the top, turns right, and fires off its turret down to the back side of the map to give Babs a visual. If it starts shooting over there, she knows there are enemies that way, while she can see the ones in front of her. She crouches behind a barricade, watching the open plaza below.

"Vexxus has seen many things," Doug notes solemnly, even as his Turian gives chase. Sticking together is always important in game types like this, especially in teams this small. He's quick to find his own cover and ready his sniper rifle, keeping his camera panning over what areas he can remember serve as spawning areas. "If I hear a Banshee and shriek like a little girl, BG, I hope you won't think any less of me."

"Don't panic. Get a good ways away and aim at her head. I'll keep her busy. Shouldn't spawn one til Wave 6 or 7 anyway." Babs aims through the scope she has on the weapon. A Carnifex is almost a mini sniper rifle, with 6 shots before reload. If you can overload something and pop it in the head, it's a one shot, one kill weapon. The Wave One sign comes up, and ugly, misshapen Reapers come pouring out. PEW PEW PEW! BGordon has clearly played this a lot.

Clearly. Doug's always had the most fun playing with experienced players, though -- you learn a lot more. "My only regret is that the Reapers don't carry shields," he muses, his tone of voice going /ever so slightly/ more distracted once the enemies spawn and he needs to divide his attention: aim, shoot. For a noob, he's pretty good at picking them off with that rifle. "I /love/ catching them through the mail slot."

"Yeah, popping a Guardian in the face is almost as fun as killing Phantoms. Hate those wenches," Babs grumbles. Some of the zombie-like Husks sneak down the side of the map and come up behind Vexxus. She catches the movement and holds down her F key, setting off her heavy melee overload charge that kills them dead.

"Ugh. /Phantoms./" Obviously, the sentiment is shared. While Doug's noticed the husks that have snuck up the ramp, he keeps his rifle moving over the targets that are still a little further out, hoping to deal with them before they can get close enough to make a swap to his pistol necessary. "I'd tell you to shout if you need help, but..." He chuckles. She's /way/ better at this game than he is.

"If you've got this side under control, I'm gonna check the back area." Babs can hear her turret shooting down the other end. Vexxus uncurls from his crouch and lopes with a lot of grace for a robot, down to where the turret is flaming some reapers into charcoal. She crouches behind a dumpster and plinks away at critters.

It's a good match. Augustus the Turian does go down once or twice in the later waves, but Vexxus proved to be more than a match for the Reapers. Vengeance was sure, swift, and the XP rained down like sweet, sweet candy.

"See, I think they cheat," Doug grumbles into his mic, shifting at his desk so he can prop his feet up on a free patch next to his keyboard. "With their teleporting and their snikty-arms. It's just not cricket."

Yeah, he may have had trouble with the whole 'shoot the Banshees in the head' thing. Sue him. They're creepy.

"The insta-kill thing is annoying, but I've discovered if you use heavy melee or your pals shoot her while she's got you in her hands, sometimes she drops you and you aren't dead," Babs explains. She's chatting merrily, more at home in this virtual world than she is in the real one most of the time. Libraries are, of course, the exception to that. She sends the guy a friend request, BGordon popping up the offer. She's using an image of Jack as her avatar. Because Jack is awesome.

"Jack is awesome." Cypher can't click 'accept' fast enough. Doug beams happily and folds his arms behind his head, keeping an eye on the screen just in case it looks like time for another round... but he is quite honestly happy to just loiter and talk with a new friend. "Ah, I never get that lucky. I'm a Banshee chew toy, it's terrible."

"You'll get better. There's a couple good assault rifles you'll want to try and get your hands on. Feel free to tag me any time I'm on for a game. I'm usually around middle of the week," Babs explains. That's when crime is slowest in Gotham. Go figure.

"I can do that. I just started a new job, so my schedule's still a bit weird," Doug replies, letting his head loll back with a grimace. At least he likes the job, so far. Living on what is basically a big ol' spaceship is boss. "But I'll keep an eye out for you. That really was a lot of fun."

"It was. You're really good at the whole teamwork thing. I'm so used to the XP hogs coming in and taking all the kills just because, instead of working together to beat the bad guys," Babs notes. She doesn't even try to trace IPs through the server. This is her fun, not work.

That would be an awkward conversation with his boss. "Right? And they go haring off across the map without anybody else and expect a rez when they bite off more than they can chew," Doug says with an exasperated sigh, reaching up to strangle the air in front of himself. It helps. "I've never gotten that! It's much more fun to actually... y'know, try."

"I like to see it like we're soldiers in the field and we have to back each other up, like Black Hawk down or something," Babs admits. "I like the drama and theatricality of it. It's what made the game so impactful. When people treat multiplayer like an arcade game trying to get high score instead of fighting side by side with comrades, it ruins it for me." They are SUCH nerds.

"See, you're making me miss my old gaming group," Doug says with a laugh. "I don't have anyone to play with or even talk with like this anymore, it's horrible, I just get the stinkeye." Gigantic, horrible nerds. But at least they have each other. "I don't suppose you're into tabletop, are you?"

"I am, but it's almost impossible for me to get a group going here," Babs says sadly. Yeah, the Bat-Family rarely has time to play D&D or Battletech.

"I wonder if we could get a decent online group going," Doug says thoughtfully. He's already straightened up and minimized his game window so he can go hunting the wilds of Google. "Once a week isn't so bad, especially when all you have to do is open a window from home."

"Maybe once every other week? I have a kind of crazy job with hours that change a lot," Babs says. Yeah, you could say that. She can put things in auto mode and bow out of a session if something comes up that needs Oracle's attention though.

Doug thinks for a moment. "...yeah. Yeah, that would probably be better." He's already envisioning the apologetic emails he'd have to send. 'Sorry for missing the last session. I was on Asgard helping thwart a coup attempt. I'll definitely make it this week, the doctor says I'm not allowed to leave my bed.'

Something behind Babs bleeps loudly. She taps a key to mute the alarm. "Hey Cypher, thanks for the game. Let me know about the tabletop. I have to get going for now." Something has gone bad somewhere in Gotham and Oracle is needed.

"No problem! I'll drop you a PM if I find anything promising," Doug replies, clicking to another page. Big Eyes Small Mouth? Ugh, no, he's not fourteen anymore. Next game. Ooh, Usagi Yojimbo... "Thanks for the game and the chat, it's been a lot of fun."