Comic 1235 - Combat Analysis

6th Sep 2015, 9:00 PM
Combat Analysis
Average Rating: 5 (23 votes)
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Comments:

Mark_L_A 6th Sep 2015, 9:01 PM edit delete reply

DAAANNGGGGG Dolly is tearing him apart by the NEW book

ETA: I just love how she is having a blase conversation with him.

"Well if you want to save me the walk and come to me...."
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 3:31 AM edit delete reply

And then she drew a new book, and beat him to death with it ! :D
Lukkai 7th Sep 2015, 10:29 AM edit delete reply

I've actually created throwing books for our defense works at one of the larp cons I occasionally go to.
I thought it would work well, considering we were following the Grey Dragon, one of which's main domains is knowledge.

Half of the books were labelled "Lehrbuch Erste Hilfe" (Textbook First Aid), the other half "Lehrbuch Diplomatie" (Textbook Diplomacy).
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 10:36 AM edit delete reply

Ha ha ha ha .. I like it ! :)
Stormwind13 6th Sep 2015, 9:05 PM edit delete reply

The difference between a trained professional and a thug. Blueboy probably spent a lot of his time carousing and drinking. Hope he enjoyed them, because I kind of doubt he is going to get to do them anymore. Dolly is going to DESTROY him from the looks of things. And unlike with Dari, I don't think she is going to stop.
anonymous coward 6th Sep 2015, 9:18 PM edit delete reply
I don't know, friendlies in the kill zone is actually a fairly effective tactic for convincing your enemy not to shoot you with inaccurate or messy weapons. Why finish the job if the wages of completion is suicide?
Mark_L_A 6th Sep 2015, 9:20 PM edit delete reply

Because the less still functioning enemy you leave behind you, the fewer surprises that can come back to bite you on the posterior.
anonymous coward 6th Sep 2015, 11:03 PM edit delete reply
Define, "functioning." I was thinking that if you leave behind people disabled and bleeding that might slow down the next batch as they try to patch up and evacuate their friendly casualties.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 3:33 AM edit delete reply

Capable of moaning loudly within 24 hours of time spent in a regeneration tank.
Hornet 8th Sep 2015, 6:46 AM edit delete reply
That's part of the reason NATO went with 5.56 rounds, putting people in the hospital takes a lot of people out the battlefield. Course this doesn't work so well when the enemy just leaves their wounded for you to care for.
chk 7th Sep 2015, 2:39 PM edit delete reply

Looks a little better today Stormwind.
Stormwind13 7th Sep 2015, 7:42 PM edit delete reply

I'm just glad he did NOT have (or couldn't get it reloaded quickly enough) another Hi-EX round to shoot Dolly with. So yeah, turned it from wondering if Dolly was going down to her GETTING down on Blueboy.
The Old Scribe 6th Sep 2015, 9:16 PM edit delete reply

Woo! Dolly has the moves, alrighty! Steps One through Five completed, Step Six, slash throat and done. I'd wager all these Bluebellies deserve the same treatment. They're a bunch of arrogant bastards. I'd like to see this done to Prince Douchebag.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 3:35 AM edit delete reply

Heh, currently if you get 3 gutters together in a bar, they will tell you the story about the Fallon incident, where the Taylor Guardian ripped apart a huge gutter raid.

Imagine what this mission will do to her reputation ?
They will go absolutely nuts, and action movies will be made in her honor. >_<
Hornet 8th Sep 2015, 6:51 AM edit delete reply
Those aren't movies but live gun-cam video feeds.
anonymous coward 6th Sep 2015, 9:19 PM edit delete reply
Frankly, I'm amazed Dolly is able to do this. Where's the thousand hours of practice she should need with this body to have the right muscle-memory to do this quickly?
Mark_L_A 6th Sep 2015, 9:24 PM edit delete reply

I think that comes from "Full" integration. Her mind has mapped out the body properly and all of the moves are trained into the mind. Remember during her fight with the Gutters, she was commenting on just how tight the actual integration her new body has. In her old body she probably had small bits of lag, and with just how long she had been in that body even with it's upgrades she could compensate.

With the new body, she has integrated and mapped the body and is now used to how tight the integration is. Her brain/processor has probably already taken all of that into account.

Hence she is able to kick butt.

Of course she "Could" make a miscalculation with the integration later and that could bite her.
MirrorField 6th Sep 2015, 10:20 PM edit delete reply
No, IMHO it's because Dolly is an android who has in GURPS terms the advantage "Enhanced Time Sense", possibly along "Altered Time Rate". In short, <em>no human</em> can match her...
anonymous coward 6th Sep 2015, 11:22 PM edit delete reply
...in GURPS terms...
Your explanation that this a dramatic rendition of RPG stat logic makes perfect sense in artist logic. I guess I'm just a bit surprised that a New Troy gynoid optimized for camouflage to pretend humanity over their combat-performance is still this much faster than folks who should be in the top tier of what Nova Roma has to offer. You'd think prince fuckwit would have considered things like this while assessing his chances of whether he could win a war with New Troy using the resources of Nova Roma. That conflict falls away if prince fuckwit was really so fuckwitted as to inadequately compare the capabilities of New Troy forces against his own. Perhaps his wit is that purely constituted of fuck if he's dumb enough to assassinate his general before a war.
Tokyo Rose 7th Sep 2015, 2:13 AM edit delete reply

Except these aren't really Nova Roman elites. These are the Prince's pet psychopaths, and he selected them primarily for their willingness to do whatever he wants them to do in exchange for letting them indulge their urges. They have great weapons and armor, but unlike even the line troops, they've never been turned over to Maxus for proper training. (They'd have washed out in the first two weeks for psychological reasons.)

And I believe it's safe to say that Decimus's wit is, in fact, constituted of fuck to 99.99999% purity.
anonymous coward 7th Sep 2015, 3:06 AM edit delete reply
The fuckwit's 'elite guard' is actually just a bunch of jackass thugs selected for psychopathic willingness to eat babies on command, then over-equipped and under-trained? That level of stupid has enough historical precedents it's downright plausible.
Is the remaining 0.00001% also fuck, or something else?
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 3:26 AM edit delete reply

The 0.00001% is either made of willful ignorance or pure shit.

... literally.
Mister Black 7th Sep 2015, 7:28 AM edit delete reply

Don't forget that Dolly is more than just 'a New Troy gynoid optimized for camouflage'...she's been the nanny *and guardian* of the Taylor family for fifty years (ref - #11). Those "thousands of hours of practice" that you mentioned in an earlier post? She probably had that logged years ago. She's got decades more training than Mr. Blue, and very possibly more actual combat experience. Add in android-enhanced strength and speed, and he is up That Creek sans paddle.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 7:59 AM edit delete reply

Also don't forget that she's looking for her cub ... so she's not gong to stop because of a few little scratches.
anonymous coward 7th Sep 2015, 8:41 AM edit delete reply
I'm not saying she doesn't have combat experience, in another body. But if she's really well camouflaged as a human I'd expect her nervous and muscular systems to work really similarly to the way human ones do. Why aren't we all concert violinists, and expert marksmen, and calligraphers, and a dozen other things that take over a thousand hours of practice to start really developing the muscle memory for? Because that takes time to condition the muscles through repeated practice to perform a particular set of exact motions quickly enough to work partially-independent of conscious thought--the development of conditioned reflexes into the muscle itself if you will.
I guess skipping that somehow is no more impossible than psychic powers however, so eh.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 9:47 AM edit delete reply

Considering she has a synth brain that has been "stamped" with Dolly's personality, memories and abilities - I think the nervous system (which is part of the extended brain) would have been imprinted too. Thus her "muscle memory" would be transfered from body to body, as well

That's basically what I understand that a Full Integration is all about.

Ofcourse, with a new body, she can now train new sensations and such, which would then transfer into the next body, if it has those faculties. So the only issue would be if she downgraded to a less advanced body, then she would have to discard something.

But this was most definately an upgrade in most ways, so it's doubtful that anything important was lost.
Mister Black 7th Sep 2015, 10:03 AM edit delete reply

Go back and read comic #11...it's Dolly's intro into the series. On second thought, I'll save you the trip 'back in time'. Here's the relevant text:

"DOL-E224, commonly called 'Dolly'. Bodyguard, maid, nanny, personal servant of the Taylor family for fifty years."

Notice the first job listed on her resume? "Bodyguard". You asked "Why aren't we all concert violinists, and expert marksmen, etc, etc". That's not really the right question. We don't know if Dolly's a calligrapher, or whether she can carry a tune in a bucket. We do know (from her exhibited behavior) that she's an above-average pilot, an expert marksman, and an above-average hand-to-hand combatant. That's a fairly constrained set of skills that's well in keeping with her status as bodyguard. It's also a set of skills that completely human members of most military organizations (as well as members of the Secret Service) are expected to master in less than five years, never mind fifty.

I also think that you're off base thinking about muscle memory. A human being (or even a nascent superbeing like Jackie Chan or Chuck "Memetic" Norris) relies on muscle memory...don't forget that Dolly's brain and nervous system work orders of magnitude faster than human. She doesn't *need* muscle memory...she has time to literally walk herself through the motions while reading the manual, if she needs to.

I guess if we ask the creative team really nicely, they could gin up a few hundred panels showing Dolly in the dojo, the gym, and the firing range for the last five decades, but that seems like it would get boring really fast, at least to me....
Stormwind13 7th Sep 2015, 10:20 AM edit delete reply

If you get bored Mr. Black Dolly would be more than HAPPY to spar with you. I promise you, you would NOT be bored long. :-D
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 10:39 AM edit delete reply

To be fair, I can understand Anonymous Cowards incredulity to some degree, but then, it's fiction, and androids, and it's in the future.

Lets just say her body remembers all her training though a small black box full of mojo.
Lukkai 7th Sep 2015, 2:36 PM edit delete reply

I think the "it's androids" part of your statement holds more merit than you probably think yourself, Sheela.

I can see where ac is coming from with his opinion. But I think he's making the mistake of applying too much of human attributes to androids here. Because as close as they are, especially considering their characters. We must not forget that there still are some clear differences, where an android simply will not work the same way as a human does. And I believe this to be one of those.
anonymous coward 7th Sep 2015, 10:57 AM edit delete reply
I'm not disagreeing that she had lots and lots of combat experience... in a different body that worked very differently. I'm stumbling over the differences between Dolly in the old body and Dolly in the new body. Apparently it doesn't ruin the decades of training for her to go from decidedly inhuman to regularly mistaken for human, with different damage/pain thresholds and probably a fundamentally different mechanism of motion and control systems. That seems magical to me since comparable human competence involves learning and lots and lots of practice with the same muscles and other anatomy used to perform it later.
Mark_L_A 7th Sep 2015, 12:09 PM edit delete reply

That is what "Full Integration" does. It maps out the body properly so her synth brain can use it to it's fullest extent.

When TeeDee finally FULLY integrates she notices the immediate difference in: http://datachasers.thecomicseries.com/comics/971

She had finally fully mapped out her body. So then she could use it to it's fullest.

Dolly was loaded into the newest most top of the line body with the tightest integration possible, and she integrated fully. Which is probably why it took her 3 days to fully integrate. Her mind was fully mapping out the body.

So Dolly doesn't have any issues with muscle memory, in fact it was the fight in Breakers that she found out just how much she can let loose: http://datachasers.thecomicseries.com/comics/636

So Dolly's skills will transfer to any body as long as the body is fully mapped and integrated.
Tokyo Rose 7th Sep 2015, 2:58 PM edit delete reply

Sheela and Mark are right about the effects of "full integration", and Mark summarized it very neatly. I know I've mentioned before that androids can get skill packages loaded, but need to practice with them to fully "learn" the skill, particularly a physical skill*. Teedee's nasty experience shows what happens when integration isn't accomplished properly; she was an emergency backup loaded into a stock body and not given sufficient time or assistance to adapt to it before being sent out. Dolly's experience demonstrates what happens when it's done right--an undamaged and aware android being transferred in controlled conditions to a body that was not just off-the-shelf or heavily customized, but completely tailored** to it, and provided with ample time and oversight to adapt and settle in.

This is part of why combat drones are preferred for military applications. Drones are robots; you can crank them out in job lots, and replacements for destroyed units will perform just as well as their predecessors on short notice. A combat android, if damaged to the point of requiring reload into a new body, needs more time to integrate and get back up to speed, although it's still a shorter time frame than a human soldier recuperating from injury.

* Black Angels are an exception, but when you have an android brain that lacks most of what makes up a true personality, it can very rapidly map out a body to perform complex physical tasks.

** Or "completely Taylored", one might say. Hurr.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 4:46 PM edit delete reply

Ofcourse, I'm guessing that combat androids have some advantages over Combat Drones .. like being smarter and better at improvising.

Flexibility is the name of the game.
Tokyo Rose 7th Sep 2015, 7:10 PM edit delete reply

@Sheela
Yes. Combat drones are capable of learning to a degree, retaining the information, and applying it to another situation (such as learning how to take cover and move behind it to attack from a different angle), but they can't innovate or plan as far ahead as androids can. They tend to take a very direct approach, since they don't have much sense of self-preservation or any aversion to pain. Under the leadership of a human, an android, or an A.I.S., however, they're devastatingly effective.

@Haegan2005
It's awful, isn't it? I couldn't resist...
Haegan2005 8th Sep 2015, 4:52 AM edit delete reply

With puns that bad, we should have you announcing them over the PA system. It would stop the fight quick while they tried to figure out who was doing that!
Marcus Ramesy 8th Sep 2015, 5:54 PM edit delete reply

flexibility is what is there for combat androids, but humans have always shined the best on the battle field when thinking out side the box.. combat androids have their place, and make up most of the combat capable individuals in New Troy... but during opps there is generally a human calling the shots from a control room.
Haegan2005 7th Sep 2015, 6:08 PM edit delete reply

"Taylored" Oooh that is bad!
Mark_L_A 7th Sep 2015, 8:58 PM edit delete reply

Thankee M'lady Rose.

Just trying to be helpful :)
Mark_L_A 7th Sep 2015, 9:17 PM edit delete reply

And this reminds me of how long it took Ada to integrate after her reload. Teedee was reloaded into a body her template had been reset for on the fly by Dr. Silver, that she integrated as well as she did to that point is a credit to Silver's skill. That Ada took several hours before she was integrated was partly because of how badly damaged she had been plus she was going from I think a 3-F to a 4E with full Neural and pilots interface. She went from some bio's to almost full bio's AND the nervous system to go with it and her piloting interface on top of that.

So she took several hours to integrate enough to wake up.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 11:09 PM edit delete reply

We should almost have a "bad pun jar" where we could store the bad puns for later use!
Just_IDD 8th Sep 2015, 5:59 PM edit delete reply
A pun jar, huh? Would we inject them into conversation with a Punjab?
Sheela 9th Sep 2015, 4:20 AM edit delete reply

#include Pun.Jar [Y/N]?
jamie59 6th Sep 2015, 9:20 PM edit delete reply

Somebody skipped some of their training classes. Well this is your final.You Failed!
Haegan2005 6th Sep 2015, 11:08 PM edit delete reply

Wait, they get training classes?

I'm betting he is wishing that he had showed up for at least a few of those!
Mark_L_A 6th Sep 2015, 9:28 PM edit delete reply

Was anyone else looking at the last panel and wishing Cent had lowered the camera angle just a little bit?
anonymous coward 6th Sep 2015, 11:28 PM edit delete reply
Were you... hoping for a mid-combat ass-shot? Mixing violence and sexuality is icky to me, but I guess the very existence of guro means there are lots of people who like it. (Don't look up that word if you don't know what it means. Really, just don't.)
Tokyo Rose 7th Sep 2015, 2:14 AM edit delete reply

I know what it means and I heartily second the recommendation to not look it up.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 3:28 AM edit delete reply

No guro, no guro.
Pleeeaaase, no guro ! :(


BEGONE FOUL GURO SPIRITS!
The power of cute compels you!
Tokyo Rose 7th Sep 2015, 3:01 PM edit delete reply

Oh my God that's adorable. Thanks, Sheela!
Dragonrider 7th Sep 2015, 9:53 AM edit delete reply

You know that you are going to make everyone look it up.
anonymous coward 7th Sep 2015, 10:23 AM edit delete reply
The wolf-puppies and baby grizzly bear video? I don't see that as such a bad thing.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 10:40 AM edit delete reply

Yes, look at the cute!
Haegan2005 6th Sep 2015, 9:50 PM edit delete reply

Okay, even I have to admit this may leave a few bruises... among other things!
Dragonrider 6th Sep 2015, 10:10 PM edit delete reply

Question, why bother drawing knife? Broken, arm, ribs, ruptured spleen probably dislocated arm, spine, etc. At this point I would suppose his only comments are I surrender and I want my mommy. The knife at this point is just to remove frustrations by stabbing to S.O.B. repeatedly.
Pirtnac 6th Sep 2015, 11:56 PM edit delete reply
If I were fighting in that time period where random opponents could have crazy durability augmentations I'd treat every opponent like a zombie when it came to making sure they stay down.

I'd have said zombie or vampire a bit ago, but Kyle demonstrated that X to the heart doesn't work anymore.
anonymous coward 7th Sep 2015, 3:10 AM edit delete reply
As I mentioned earlier, leaving enemies disabled *and bleeding* is much better at distracting the next batch of reinforcements to come by than just leaving them disabled, even if she doesn't want to kill them. A knife is also pretty useful for damaging clothing and a lot of other equipment, and minor dismemberment like removal of fingers.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 3:30 AM edit delete reply

A better reason to draw your knife, is if there are more opponents nearby.
Draginbeard 6th Sep 2015, 11:58 PM edit delete reply

I have to agree, why bother drawing a knife at this point? The guy is in so much pain he will probably pass out before he hits the ground. She has total control of this fight.

Dolly is quite the badass!
anonymous coward 7th Sep 2015, 3:14 AM edit delete reply
To either finish the job of dispatching them or do enough damage to the guy and his stuff that you're really sure he's disabled.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 3:30 AM edit delete reply

And there could be more opponents.
They don't die on their own.
Draginbeard 7th Sep 2015, 5:28 AM edit delete reply

I don't know, it seems to me she could have used a killing strike at the helmet weak point if she really wanted him dead. She knew exactly what she was doing and this guy is not likely getting back up in a hurry.

A broken jaw is plenty to take most people out of a fight. The joint and ribs breakage guarantees it.
Mister Black 7th Sep 2015, 7:40 AM edit delete reply

Would you bet your life on a broken jaw keeping somebody from pulling a holdout pistol and shooting you in the back? I certainly wouldn't. As bloodthirsty as it sounds, the smart move in a situation like this is to win the hearts and minds of your opposition...give them two in the heart, and one in the mind.
Draginbeard 7th Sep 2015, 1:09 PM edit delete reply

Broken jaw alone (I dont think she actually broke his jaw on that strike, but it is one hell of a nerve strike either way)...no, although you'd have to be very lucky to keep your senses. Thats a brutal hit even for a professional fighter. But throw in a broken arm so they cant get to their hold out weapon (she shattered a joint which is far, far more disabling and screamingly painful), broken ribs so they can barely draw breath to scream, let alone move (if you've had either of these you'd know what Im talking about), then yes. That will do it.

Unless the guy is a complete cyborg (in which it would be unlikely any damage would have been sustained anyway), this mook is done. Sorry, but thats how the human body actually is.

I liked Dolly because even when she was forced to violence she knew what she was doing, and it was always quick and clean. Even if her opponent deserved worse, she only went so far. That was her style. I would hate to see her resort to a new level of brutality.

In a world where life is cheap and often ugly, she stands out in all the best ways.
Lukkai 7th Sep 2015, 2:43 PM edit delete reply

Though right now, he's still got one good arm and a possibly loaded firearm in it. Plus an extra he might pull from his back.

Changes are good that he won't think about "taking that bitch with me" or anything like that. Being in too much pain to do so.

But in a scenario like this, "chances are good" just doesn't cut it. And that means the fight isn't finished until either his left arm and to be sure at least one of his legs are crippled or he's dead. The latter probably taking less time to accomplish at this point.
HiFranc 7th Sep 2015, 3:09 PM edit delete reply

I think that the fight is taking so long for two reasons:

1. She's checking that her "muscle memory" is correctly mapped to the new body.
2. She's using him as a shield whilst hers recharges.
Tokyo Rose 7th Sep 2015, 3:16 PM edit delete reply

One thing to keep in mind, although we haven't gone into significant detail about it as yet: this is a world wherein combat drugs exist, and they make PCP look like two aspirins and a nap for pain control. Dolly has had to fight people (mostly Gutters) who were hopped up on chemical stimulants and pain blockers to the point where they ignored physical injuries that were not completely mechanically disabling. Nova Roma does issue combat drugs to its soldiers, and there's no way of telling which ones have the stuff active in their bloodstreams just by looking.

The only sound this one has made is the involuntary one as his brain rattled gently against his skull from the first strike like a marble in a coffee can. She's broken bones, and he hasn't screamed or stopped trying to fight back, or even displayed the involuntary physical reactions to pain that she'd expect from an opponent in full possession of his faculties. (Also, I actually had a block of text in the script discussing exactly this and I failed to put it in. I cop to my own brainless fuckup here.)
Draginbeard 7th Sep 2015, 3:43 PM edit delete reply

Ok, if he is amped up on stims, I can see him working though the pain, but he has lost the use of his weapon arm, and Im betting he cant catch his breath. At all.

One more strike center mass will easily send fractured ribs straight into his heart and lungs and that, as they say, is that.

As for the rest of you so certain this guy should be able to keep fighting without being doped up, be hopeful you never take the same 3 hits this guy just did.

I promise you, you would go down blind, and in an agony undreamed of.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 4:56 PM edit delete reply

To be fair, I have seen people pull through some unbelievable situations while amped up on adrenaline.
Once that crash, however, they would simply pass out or lay flat on the ground.

Nature's own combat drugs are pretty fierce too.
Mark_L_A 7th Sep 2015, 9:04 PM edit delete reply

I've had my jaw broken. And then I put the guy who broke it in intensive care. Back when I was working security, a certain drug dealer ran from me and my partner, we chased him down, then he hit me with a tire iron and broke my jaw. I hit him in the throat, not thinking about it and he spent 4 days in intensive care. I'm not really proud that I hurt him that bad, but it just goes to show that adrenalin has a LOT to do with how you react to even a life threatening injury.

There was a soldier in the Korean war, who took a machine gun burst in the chest, he still managed to keep going for almost another minute and took out the machine gun that had killed him.

You are never sure just what type of an injury it would take to put someone down and keep them down.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 11:11 PM edit delete reply

I wonder if Dolly's new body has combat drugs ?

That could be somewhat of a gamechanger.
Draginbeard 8th Sep 2015, 1:29 AM edit delete reply

I for one, like that Dolly goes for the disable instead of the kill whenever possible. It just adds that much more class to her style.
Sheela 8th Sep 2015, 12:28 PM edit delete reply

True.
mjkj 7th Sep 2015, 12:52 AM edit delete reply

Outch...

Go, Dolly :D

Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 3:30 AM edit delete reply

Rah rah Dolly ! :D
Haegan2005 7th Sep 2015, 6:12 PM edit delete reply

Howl for dolly!
cattservant 7th Sep 2015, 3:11 AM edit delete reply

fight by numbers
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 3:31 AM edit delete reply

Dwindling numbers.
ProfEtheric 7th Sep 2015, 3:59 AM edit delete reply

I love the surgical precision with which Dolly is dispatching her foe. She looks none too concerned while doing it...

*sigh* So wonderful...
Matt Knab 7th Sep 2015, 8:27 AM edit delete reply

Hrm, I think he's going to be missing that helmet very shortly!
Lukkai 7th Sep 2015, 10:37 AM edit delete reply

And probably some other things like a few litres of blood, vital signs...
Boren 7th Sep 2015, 8:54 AM edit delete reply
Releasing controls to level 1
Authorization accepted
Until the target is silenced
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 9:52 AM edit delete reply

Alucard, is that you ?
Lukkai 7th Sep 2015, 10:36 AM edit delete reply

What do you do once you used a high-ex round to bring your opponents shield down?

You put away any guns, draw your sword and attack them in close combat.

...

One reason more why he would never make it to being one of Maxus' guys.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 10:51 AM edit delete reply

Yeah, he's not big on brains.

On the bright side, he would be perfectly safe in a zombie outbreak.
He would be completely invisible to the Zombies. :)
anonymous coward 7th Sep 2015, 11:04 AM edit delete reply
To be fair, if this guy's clip is empty and none of his dudes are ready for the shot it would actually make sense tactically to keep up the pressure before her shield comes back. However, if any of his other dudes were ready for the shot this is a suicidal attempt at kill-stealing at best.
Mark_L_A 7th Sep 2015, 11:47 AM edit delete reply

Sorry, one of my pet peeves

https://youtu.be/UoSNHe413rY
anonymous coward 7th Sep 2015, 8:07 PM edit delete reply
And people who break computer security are *crackers* instead of hackers, which instead are the lowest level of professional programmers/system developers. The popular usage is hackers and clips for these things we know better about, respectively.
Lukkai 7th Sep 2015, 2:30 PM edit delete reply

As far as we (and most likely him too) know personal shields, they take a lot longer to recharge than switching magazines on a gun. And if you're military personnel in combat gear, not coming from a shoot out and you've got no extra magazines on you, your quartermaster deserves to be shot.

Now if that shot fried his gun and he's got no reserve, then it would make sense. Wouldn't be saying good things about the quality of his gear, but make sense.
Edit: I just noticed he's still holding the gun he fired in his left hand. So the gun on his back should be ready. Drawing that and shooting several shots would probably have taken about the same amount of time as drawing the sword and attacking took. So in light of that, I stand by my original statement.
Tokyo Rose 7th Sep 2015, 3:20 PM edit delete reply

I mentioned how these dudes would have washed out of Maxus Boot Camp for psychological reasons. An extreme addiction to getting up close to an enemy and stabbing them over and over and over AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER in spite of the tactical stupidity involved counts as a psychological flaw sufficient to warrant removal from the armed forces as well as general population. ;)
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 5:04 PM edit delete reply

Toldja he was zombie-proof. :)

No brains.
Lukkai 8th Sep 2015, 4:58 PM edit delete reply

Oi! Just because he's not really using the higher functions of it does not mean he hasn't got one!
Laszlo 7th Sep 2015, 1:01 PM edit delete reply
The dialog going on in Dolly's head reminds me of the dialog from the Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr. version). All that is missing is for her to "recap" with results and estimated time, and then do it to them :)
velvetsanity 7th Sep 2015, 1:54 PM edit delete reply

Darn it, I was just about to post that she's clearly a fan of his Sherlock Holmes movies. You beat me to it! :P
Tokyo Rose 7th Sep 2015, 3:18 PM edit delete reply

The idea came to me as a combination of RDJ's "Sherlock Scan" and, honest to Gygax, describing actions taken in a tabletop RPG combat. That is, in fact, how I timed it out. :D
Rashala 7th Sep 2015, 1:21 PM edit delete reply

I warned you there was pain coming
DLKmusic 7th Sep 2015, 5:11 PM edit delete reply

how come no-one is commenting on Dolly's Snarl as she's beating the living hell out of this guy?

Oh well, I suppose in this circumstance a snarl is preferable to a smile...
Stormwind13 7th Sep 2015, 5:29 PM edit delete reply

I'm thinking that Dolly is fed up with the delays. And this idiot and his Hi-Ex ammo are slowing her hunt for Lynn. She is so close that she can SMELL Lynn. I think she is taking out some frustration on Blueboy.
Haegan2005 7th Sep 2015, 6:14 PM edit delete reply

I think she is taking out a LOT of frustration on the blue boy.
CptKerion 7th Sep 2015, 5:50 PM edit delete reply
If I were the Nova Romans, my palace guard would've been using what is relatively more primitive armor, but one hell of a lot heavier.
The best example I have is the CMC300 from Starcraft, used by Confederate Marines and many others.

The CMC300

Armor like that is sturdy enough that I doubt even some of the most combat oriented androids could do much to it in close combat, and even if it's relatively clunky, you really only need to bring a solid smash down on your target with a sturdy gun and you're breaking a lot of bones in them. Even if that doesn't take them out, it'll knock them down, then you curbstomp their head and call it a day.
Sheela 7th Sep 2015, 10:32 PM edit delete reply

Or maybe something like this ?
Lukkai 8th Sep 2015, 5:02 PM edit delete reply

I stumbled upon that one by pure accident some time ago. And it is absolutely awesome! I really need a chance to use that picture for something at one point.
Sheela 9th Sep 2015, 4:22 AM edit delete reply

There's some really cool diesel-punk out there, and that power armor is right up there at the very top, IMHO.
KarToon12 7th Sep 2015, 5:55 PM edit delete reply

This reminds me of that scene from that Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes movie where he gets in a fight with a guy, and the action goes into slow motion so he can explain to the audience what he's doing and why he's doing it.
Draginbeard 8th Sep 2015, 1:02 AM edit delete reply

I thought the same thing. Miller used a similar narrative for Batman in the Dark knight returns, and his Year One stories.

It works well with Dolly too. It adds a level of calculated efficiency to her style.
velvetsanity 8th Sep 2015, 2:45 AM edit delete reply

Not so much explaining to the audience with Sherlock Holmes. That was him planning/predicting the fight before it started
Just_IDD 8th Sep 2015, 6:17 PM edit delete reply
Surprisingly, I've seen no comments about where Dolly will stick the knife. Personally I'd go for the unprotected neck for a coup de gra, now that the helmet is off. Unless the knee to the chest damaged the protective plates, getting at the gut would be more difficult. Of course her extra strength may let her punch through anywhere.
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