The icy caverns below Ceryshen are an eerie blend of massive, twisting pillars of ice, huge glacier-cut valleys, and frozen lakes. In many respects, these caverns reflect the harsh Ceryshen surface above it.
|
Insert Disc 1 of the PlanetSide: Core Combat game CD into your CDROM drive. The installation should begin on its own. If it does not, you can start the installation by opening "My Computer," double-clicking on your CD-ROM drive, then double-clicking on the SETUP.EXE file. Follow the setup instructions to complete installation. If you do not have a previous installation of PlanetSide, you will be asked to install the full game before proceeding with the installation of the expansion pack. |
|
You must have a valid Station username with a PlanetSide subscription before activating the expansion pack. If you do not have a valid Station username, or this is your first time playing PlanetSide, please skip to the "Getting Started" section below. As a current PlanetSide subscriber, you must register your expansion before you visit the core of Auraxis™. Log into PlanetSide through the PlanetSide LaunchPad utility. You will see a button labeled Register Expansion at the bottom right, beneath the patch notes window. Press this button to register your expansion. When prompted, enter the expansion account key from inside your CD case. You can also check on the status of registered expansions by pressing the My Account button on the main LaunchPad screen. |
|
If you are a new player to PlanetSide, or do not have a valid Station username, the following information will help you get started. If you are a current PlanetSide player and you have registered your expansion, skip ahead to "The Core" section. Please read the license agreement for PlanetSide to understand the terms of use and click "I AGREE" to continue. You will be taken to the login screen. If you already have a Station username, click Continue. If you do not have a Station username, click Register to create one. Your subscriptions to Sony Online Entertainment® games, such as PlanetSide™ and EverQuest®, will be managed under this account. Your account may be accessed at any time by visiting the Web at http://www.station.sony.com and clicking the My Account link in the upper right. Register: For new PlanetSide players who need to create a Station username. Continue: For those who already have a Station username. |
|
Enter the requested information in the appropriate fields to start a Station account and get your Station username. Note: Your Station username will not be the name of your character in PlanetSide. The Station username is only used to manage your Station account. When creating a new account, choose a password that no one will know. Account security is the responsibility of the account holder. Please note that PlanetSide accounts are not to be shared. Each family member is to have their own account. A parent may purchase an account for a child's use (age 13 or older), in which case the parent may not use that account. Please refer to the End User License Agreement (EULA) shown each time you launch the game (you must click "I agree" to play PlanetSide) for a detailed description of policies regarding account sharing. Please be sure to let us know if your email address changes in the future by updating your account information at www.station.sony.com. |
|
When you log into PlanetSide for the first time, you will be prompted to enter the account key that is printed on the CD sleeve. Enter Subscription Info PlanetSide requires a monthly fee to play, so you will need to enter a valid credit card number or use a prepaid Game Card to play. After any initial subscription period included with the game, your credit card will be charged or your Game Card debited following the end of this period. |
|
"Why must everything be turned into a weapon?" The scientist gesticulated wildly at the crystalline structures around him. "The Ancients created this planet as a construct to alter the very fabric of existence. We have the barest inkling of how they effected such manipulations, yet we diminish these great discoveries by turning them into weapons of war! It's beyond comprehension. We could be changing the entire known universe for the better!" The scientist stopped himself suddenly and pulled back, stifling his anger. This was the sort of outburst many of his colleagues had made shortly before they disappeared. The Way Commander in front of him waited patiently, relishing the widening eyes and almost panicked expression that crossed the scientist's face. He paused and wondered which way to handle the situation, while allowing the scientist a few more moments of uncertain fear. "You see the Goal, but you don't find the Way," the Way Commander finally said. The Way Commander waved his arm to encompass the crystalline vista beyond. "You say this vast underground chamber was a staging house for energies that swept over the entire planet. That, combined with the other five chambers elsewhere in the world-- chambers very much like this one--those dimensional energies were warped and changed so that the Ancients could wander across the multiverse as they pleased?" The scientist merely nodded perfunctorily, unwilling to speak lest he sway the Way Commander into a negative judgment. "You say that these buildings weren't habitations at all, but merely baffles and routing structures for those energies, regardless of how they appear to us." Again, the scientist simply nodded. "But what of it? The Geowarps on the world above didn't open through human efforts. As far as we can determine, those gates weren't even there when we did the initial planetary surveys. And we certainly didn't see anyone building them. They just appeared in position, literally out of thin air." The Commander stepped closer to the fearful scientist. "The Sovereignty doesn't have a lock on those Geowarps. You know this. We're not the only ones that can reach these caverns." The Way Commander smashed an armored fist against a nearby crystalline wall and sent a deep thrum throughout the chamber. The strange crystalline material remained unmarred. "We've found ways to harness this new Ancient Core energy. The other empires have this capacity as well. So we still don't have a technological advantage." The Way Commander met and held the gaze of the scientist. "For that we have the treachery of your fellows to thank." The scientist quaked. The Way Commander referred the leak of information from Sovereignty scientists to members of enemy empires, which revealed how to activate the newly discovered Geowarps. The reaction by the Way Commanders had been swift and violent. "The Way is to eradicate every non-Sovereignty being from this planet, and thus eliminate all threat. Afterward, at our discretion, we can review that greater goal of traveling across the multiverse and changing existence." The Way Commander's tone dripped with scorn. "You should ensure that you are here to see that glorious day by assisting the Commanders rather than questioning our decisions." He turned to board his Reaver. "I'll remember your words," he said over his shoulder. "See that you remember mine." The Reaver hatch closed, and the ship took off, maneuvering through the cavern tunnels and out through the Geowarp to the surface above. Trembling, the scientist tried to raise moisture to a mouth gone dry. His outburst had cost him. He would need to be very careful in the future to avoid further notice by the Command caste. He took one last look up at the Ancient Core complex hovering on the central cascading energy column before turning back to his instruments. The Commander was right about one thing. Others would be here soon to steal the secrets of the Ancients, and his dilemma was simple if these discoveries were to be turned into weapons, whom would he rather possess them? PlanetSide: Core Combat reveals the remnants of the ancient Vanu civilization, hidden deep within the vast subterranean regions of the Core. Powerful artifacts, unseen dangers and rival empires await as players explore the dark depths of these newly discovered underground zones. |
| The space below Hossin contains more of the eerie crystalline structures than any other Cavern in Auraxis. Its congested maze brings to mind the image of a busy alien city of long-ago despite the absence of any evidence that sentients ever inhabited these structures. |
| The depths of Amerish have been hollowed out by an underground river that flows swiftly through the region. The river widens into a lake in the cavern, and at its center rests a lone island. |
|
The icy caverns below Ceryshen are an eerie blend of massive, twisting pillars of ice, huge glacier-cut valleys, and frozen lakes. In many respects, these caverns reflect the harsh Ceryshen surface above it.
|
 A massive underground canyon dominates the depths of Oshur. This steep canyon is surrounded by high plateaus lined with sporadic ramp structures. It's possible to ascend and descend through the canyon, but the journey can be treacherous.
|
 The volcanic caverns below Solsar boil and steam, with open chasms that mar the terrain and dangerous precipices that descend into fiery depths. Land bridges span fissures and pools of lava, while huge mesas rise up from the cavern floor.
|
 Beneath Forseral lies one of the strangest caverns of all within the Core. Its spherical central chamber contains numerous buildings and complexes that are suspended in mid-air.
|
| Hidden within the core of Auraxis are powerful artifacts left behind by the long-since vanished Vanu civilization (commonly referred to as the "Ancients" to avoid confusion with the Vanu Sovereignty). On the surface of the planet, these Ancient Modules provide large-scale benefits when placed in special facility nodes. Ancient Modules offer advantages to players who are able to successfully extract these module artifacts and bring them to the surface. Note, however, that only players who have the Core Combat expansion will be able to access the underground regions of Auraxis where these modules are generated. |
|
In order to retrieve a module, a non-powered Module must be retrived from one of the Module Buildings down in the caverns. All six module types are available in each Module Building. The Non-powered Module must then be taken to the Core Complex at the center of the cavern and held within the central energy beam of that cavern. Once energized, the newly created Module should be taken to a friendly facility and installed in order for the benefits to take effect. One Core Complex is located within each cavern for a total of six platforms throughout the world. The Core Complex itself is always considered "neutral" in affiliation; there is no control console, and so any empire may energize a Non-powered Module there. |
| Once an Ancient Module is energized, it can be brought to the surface and placed within the Module Cradles in each facility's main room. Once a Module is installed in a node, the benefits of that Module are activated. Every facility on the surface can gain the benefits of every type of module, and Module benefits are shared between friendly facilities linked on the Continental Lattice. An Ancient Module can eventually run out of power or may be destroyed, causing the facility and those linked to it to lose those benefits. |
| This module powers a force field across the wall gate openings. This force field stops all bullets and damage. |
| Allows the purchase, repair, and capacitor recharging of the Ancient-Tech vehicles: Router, Flail, and Switchblade. Additionally, the vehicle reacquire timer is reduced significantly. |
| Allows the purchase and capacitor recharging of the Ancient-Tech weaponry: Maelstrom, Spiker, and Radiator. Additionally, the MAX reacquire timer is reduced significantly. |
| Significantly reduces the respawn delay at this facility. Additionally, all friendlies in the area get a footspeed increase. |
| This module powers pain fields in various areas of the facility that do damage to enemies invading those areas. This includes the Barracks and other critical areas of the facility. |
| Soldiers that spawn here do so with more maximum health than when they spawn at other facilities. Additionally, friendly soldiers in the Sphere of Influence slowly regenerate health over time. |
|
| Within each underground zone are Ancient Respawn structures and Ancient Vehicle structures. From these control points players can respawn and re-equip in the underground areas, and produce existing vehicles as well as those new to the expansion. Capturing a control point is similar to capturing a control terminal on the surface, and a lattice link system is used to connect these control points. Control points can only be used by an empire that has the corresponding control console in its possession. To view the lattice system and its connections, press the "M" key to call up the map of the underground zone. |
| With this control point, an empire has the following benefits: |
| This control point allows the creation of expansion vehicles: |
|
| Crystals imbued with alien powers are found throughout the core of Auraxis, and players may utilize them to their benefit (even detriment). Such crystals are easy to identify by their pulsing energy patterns and distinct colors. Players simply run or drive over a crystal to gain its benefit. |
 This purple crystal inflicts health damage on players that get too close to it. The closer the player is to the Damage Crystal, the more damaged inflicted. Damage Crystals ignore armor when imparting damage, making them extremely dangerous.
|
 This yellow crystal instantly reloads ancient-tech handheld weapons.
|
 This green crystal reloads ancient-tech vehicle weaponry, and also repairs any vehicle (whether human- or ancient-tech) when it is run over. Note, however, that only ancient-tech vehicles are re-armed with this crystal; all other vehicles only gain the benefit of a repair.
|
 This red crystal restores health for soldiers that are injured.
|
 This clear crystal repairs body armor for both soldiers and MAX armor units.
|
|
|
Traveling between the Core and the surface continents is done through specialized warp structures known as Geowarps. Six of the ten battle continents have these special warp gates which can transport players to the areas beneath: Amerish Each of the above zones has a unique underground zone linked to it by a pair of Geowarps. Only through these Geowarps can a player with an enabled expansion pack transport to the underground zones of the Core. Geowarps are considered "owned" by an empire when its linked facility is in that empire's possession. Under these circumstances, only players from the owning empire may use the Geowarp. Geowarps can enter a neutral state, in which case it is usable by any empire. There are no restrictions on ownership when transporting back to the surface. |
| Each underground zone offers several methods of transportation to otherwise inaccessible areas. |
 Ziplines act as horizontal and/or vertical escalators, transporting players from one location to another, one-way. They appear as columns of energy, which provide a visual cue as to which direction the line will transport the traveler. To use a zipline, simply run into the column of energy, and you will be swiftly transported to its opposite end. You can shoot or be shot at (and killed) while traveling a zipline, so be on guard. Vehicles cannot enter a zipline and will incur damage if this is attempted.
|
 Instantaneous transporters, working in linked pairs, are found through the underground zones. They instantly transport players to a connecting transporter. This is the fastest, and perhaps the least dangerous method of travel in the Core.
|
|
| PlanetSide: Core Combat introduces new weapons and vehicles. In order to use the new vehicles and weapons, players must own the appropriate control point that can produce these vehicles and weapons. Expansion pack vehicles and weapons can be generated on the surface of Auraxis with the proper Ancient Module installed. Likewise, these vehicles and weapons can be taken to the surface via the Geowarps. |
 The Switchblade is a single person hover cycle that can transform into a fixed hover-turret. While in hover cycle mode, it carries a forward firing energy cannon called a Scythe, and in turret mode, has complete 360-degree coverage. The Switchblade can be deployed in its turret mode on any surface - even over water.
|
 The Flail siege vehicle, with its heavyhitting energy cannon, specializes in damaging targets with pinpoint precision through the use of a "lazing" system. The lazing system works through the use of a Lazer support device. Players with the Lazer device can specify a target that becomes visible to all Flail pilots as a targeting beam. The targeting beam relays firing angle information relative to all Flail pilots.
|
 The Router transportation vehicle allows soldiers to teleport between the Router and a linked Telepad. In effect, it is a mobile transportation device that makes no differentiation between friend and foe.
|
 The Maelstrom is a dual-purpose heavy assault weapon that can fire an energy stream in its primary mode, or launch energy grenades for explosive damage in secondary mode.
|
 The Radiator special assault weapon fires energy canisters that, upon impact, bathes the immediate area in radiation for a period of time, and players are well-advised to avoid such irradiated areas.
|
 The Spiker fires a single, small projectile that can be detonated in midair by the player. It is a special projectile that gains strength as it travels, resulting in a more powerful blast the further it travels. The Spiker can prove to be a versatile weapon for midair splash damage.
|
 Sentry Turrets are always neutral and can be operated by any player from any empire. Sentry Turrets can be tap-fired for individual shots, or, for a more powerful blast, the trigger can be held. Each turret has a fixed amount of energy that serves as ammunition, and the amount of energy depleted with each shot is dependent upon the firing charge. Turrets auto-heal over time, and also auto-recharge their energy capacitor.
|
|
Development Team Executive Producers Sounds included in this recording are from the Percussive Adventures Sound Library, produced by Christopher Page for East-West Communications, Inc. Orchestral samples included in this recording from the Vienna Symphonic Library Quality Assurance Team Vice President, Customer Service/Quality Assurance Customer Service Team Director of Customer Service Web Team Director of Web Presence Web Team Marketing & PR
PlanetSide made with Karma Game Dynamics. Math Engine, Karma and The Math Engine and Karma Logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of Math Engine PLC, used under license PlanetSide uses Bink Video. © 1997-2003 by RAD Game Tools, Inc. PlanetSide uses Granny Animation. © 1999-2003 by RAD Game Tools, Inc. MPEG Layer-3 playback supplied with the Miles Sound System from RAD Game Tools, Inc. MPEG Layer-3 audio compression technology licensed by Fraunhofer IIS and THOMPSON multimedia. Miles 3D Realistic Sound Experience (RSX) Software Copyright © 1997-2003 by Intel Corporation and RAD Game Tools, Inc.. |
|
BattleFrame Robotics (BFR's for short) are giant mechanical vehicles that move on legs, as opposed to wheels or treads. They are fully customizable and can be equipped with weaponry to fit a wide array of combat situations. There are three configurations of the BFR, the one-man variant equipped with a flight pack and the two-man variant equipped with a gunner pack. All BFR's are based on the basic model of each Empire. These are one man units, equipped with pilot weaponry attached to each BFR arm. When a soldier first gets imprinted, this is the first BFR they may acquire. In order to acquire the Avanced BFR's below, they must meet certain requirements (detailed in the chapter on Qualifying for a BFR). The Flight Pack allows the BFR to perform a jet-assisted leap into the air. The flight BFR can maneuver left, forward, right, and back while in the air. However, moving in any direction with the Flight Pack active will slow the ascent of the BFR. The BFR can maintain altitude by pulse-thrusting as it flies and allowing the capacitor to recharge between pulses. However, they have virtually no glide so thrusting must be carefully managed to stay aloft. The flight pack is powered by a continuously recharging capacitor. This capacitor will require a minimum amount of energy before it will allow a jump. The Gunner Pack adds a second seat for a gunner and allows the pilot to add a gunner weapon to the BFR. From this position, the gunner can rotate a full 360-degree and has a high degree of up/down control for the largest field of fire possible. |
|
Terran Republic Flight Variant: Invader New Conglomerate Flight Variant: Eagle Vanu Sovereignty Flight Variant: Eclipse |
|
Imprinting To create an authorization imprint, the player has to become recognized by the Auraxian Core by participating in energy exchanges within the caverns. These "energy exchanges" that the Core recognizes are facility ownership swaps. A player must have participated in at least 10 cavern building captures (AT Plants, Redoubts, or Module Buildings) to be eligible for the imprint. In order for a cavern capture to count toward imprinting, the cavern building must be significantly contested against enemy forces, with enough enemies engage to make the capture reward meet or exceed 900 Battle or Command Experience Points. Soldiers must be within the cavern building's SOI at the time the building switches Empires for the capture to count toward the imprint. Once the soldier is finished with the ten cavern captures, they must enter the central energy beam of the Core Complex of any cavern to complete the imprinting process and become eligible for BFR certification. Once a character has been imprinted for BFR control, that imprinting lasts forever, until the player voluntarily unlearns that certification. If that occurs, the player must re-imprint by participating in more cavern building captures and returning to the Core Complex. Certification
The Advanced BFR Merit Commendation A unique enemy is one that you have not killed in the previous twenty minutes and has been alive for at least 30 seconds. The streak of 20 enemies before being killed yourself must be completed after the first 100 (which do not have to be killed in a single life). |
|
Acquisition When you purchase a BFR from the Terminal's main menu, it will be fitted with a default weapon loadout. If you have saved BFR Favorite Configurations (see below), then you will be able to call one of those up directly from the Hangar. Configuration |
|
Switching Weapons Weapons Catalog Common Weapons NTU Siphon Compared to the ANT's NTU harvesting systems, the NTU Siphon is a smaller unit that cannot completely scavenge a NTU silo. It is only capable of a limited storage size and pulling moderate quantities of nanites from such a target. Armor Siphon Shields The shield generator is quite fragile compared to the rest of the BFR and direct hits from small arms, sniper fire or hand held AV weapons from infantry or MAX units that close to be inside the shield bubble are common tactics to thwart these mechanical giants. Terran Republic The Mortar Launcher is an indirect fire weapon that launches high impact explosives designed to decimate infantry. It can be fired either in single shots or release a salvo of mortars. Pilot Weapons The Rotary Chaingun is set up to defend against infantry and air targets. With a high rate of fire, low recoil and heavy damage, it will shred its targets. Its drawback will be its high rate of ammo consumption. The Burster air defense system operates similarly to the Burster equipped AA MAX, rapidly firing flak shells that explode in proximity to enemy air. New Conglomerate Gunner Weapons The Rocket Pod employs rapid fire long range, rockets in either single shots or a devastating all pod firing salvo. The weapon is very accurate and the rockets have an explosive warhead designed to for flexible functionality, resulting in decent punch to heavy armor and quick kill times on encroaching infantry. Pilot Weapons The Sparrow Missile Pod is the application of the Sparrow Anti-Aircraft weapons platform to the Peregrine. The system has been adapted for rapid fire release of it's clip of missiles, resulting in fast kill times on opposing aircraft. The drawback to this is the relatively frequent reload times as missiles are shuffled in place to the launch tubes. The Anti Tank Machinegun chugs out depleted uranium bullets that tears up armored opponents. While it's rate of fire does not rival any of the Terran Republic's rapid fire weaponry, it's projectile acceleration systems make it very powerful at close range and throw each round to quite a distance. Unfortunately, the slug's velocity drops off at these latter ranges, resulting in a loss of the damage this weapon enjoys close in. Vanu Sovereignty Plasma Mortars are indirect anti-infantry weapons that fire a mass of plasma to create a field that burns its target on contact. Pilot Weapons The Pulsed Particle Accelerator serves the Aphelion as a primarily Anti-Vehicular weapon. It is an adaptation of the Magrider's forward facing light PPA, but it charges particles longer and is attuned to lower frequencies for better punch through heavily armored targets. The weapon's particles dissipate after medium distance travel, but makes up for that with consistent energy damage throughout it's range. The Starfire anti aircraft weaponry is an adaptation of the similarly named MAX. It features lock on systems that will guide in flight projectiles to the currently painted target. Each energy sphere has an outer plasmoid mass that continues to eat away at the target after the initial explosive impact. |
|
There are many system components on a BFR. When these systems are targeted and take damage, there is a chance that they will suffer a critical event that limits the functionality of that system. All damage done to any part of a BFR will still reduce its overall armor pool, but as specific systems take more damage, the severity of the effect will be increased. Some components may not be repaired in the field, but require the use of a rearm silo to replace them. These components are: Shield Generators, Gunner Pack, Pilot weapons. Systems and Their Effects Sensors
Movement Servo
Torso
Shield Generator
Pilot Weapon
NTU Siphon
Armor Siphon
Gunner Pack
Fight Pod
|
|
The concept and design of Exoskeletal vehicles is nothing new. The Old Republic experimented with different designs over the past 40 to 50 years. They worked from the concept that a new sort of "urban tank" could overcome obstacles too coarse or dense for a tracked or grav vehicle. An offshoot of this research, the MAX armor, is used today across the galaxy. Of course, dedicated teams of engineers continued to concentrate on enlarging the exoskeleton to support larger armor and heavier ordnance. Thus, the BattleFrame came into existence. Able to carry tank-sized weaponry and supporting a defensive force shield system, the BattleFrame, on paper, was greater than any tank in the arsenal. There were interface issues though that prevented this crowning achievement from being fully successful. Pilots trained for years to master the complexities of moving fingers, feet, knees, elbows, and all the weaponry and systems of the BFR. It's so much to keep track of that pilot responses were slowed, making the BFR less effective. Too many instances of pilot death and vehicle loss were the results of initial training and testing. The first BFR plans were then discarded and a new team took over the design based off new concepts. Around this same time as the BFR underwent its first round of redesign, the war on Auraxis started. Republican leaders watched avidly as this savage battle erupted continuously on that alien planet. Eventually, they considered using Auraxis as an experimental test field. Once the Republican leadership determined that the expeditionary force on Auraxis would have to be terminated, they decided to hold off for a year or more and use Auraxis as a closed test-bed for ideas and technologies too dangerous for general use within the Republic itself. The Republic transmitted designs for vehicles and constructs through the micro-wormhole to the empires fighting each other on Auraxis. They expected nothing in return; they just wanted to find out what the factions would do with these new designs. Only one BFR design was sent to each of the three empire. Timeline: Two months Pre-Bending The BFRs were an improvement over the main battle tanks of each empire, that is, if the initial design issues could be resolved. Auraxis engineers saw no use in encoding the BFR into the warpgate shunts while design problems were still evident and unresolved. The potential of the BFR was too great though. Research began immediately to fix the design and get it into battle. The solution to fixing the BFR design came from an entirely unrelated field of research, as such solutions often do. Continued research into developing portable respawn units eventually created a "resonance crystal" based on the crystals discovered and studied within the caves. Scientists working on the crystal tried to create a way of recording the patterns (normally stored in the warpgate shunts) within a data storage unit so that information could be saved independently of the Auraxian Core. The resonance crystal was a close, but not exact solution. The study of Auraxian cavern tech showed that the Ancients seemed to have dealt with probability quite a lot in conjunction with dimensional research. The belief currently is that there are many potential probabilities to any event and that decisions made on the moment cause many of those probabilities to fade away while strengthening the one chosen, thus crystallizing the universe around that decision. Extrapolating on this theory, they began creating a "possibility recorder", which eventually became known as the resonance crystal. When the crystal remains close to a person for a long period of time, and if that person is put under stress for a great deal of that time, and that stress occurs in the caves of Auraxis, then the crystal responds naturally to store "echoes" of events that might have happened to that person. (The nearly-happening possibilities that did NOT happen to the person are recorded in the crystal.) Eventually, a kind of composite recording of that person occurs in the crystal. In fact, the crystal eventually develops enough potential on its own that it can be queried (through instrumentation reading pattern feedback) and it responds in a fashion remarkably similar to the person that it "echoes". It isn't sentient per se, more like a remarkably efficient database of knowledge with some emotional feedback based on the original source personality. When the BFR design teams and engineers heard about this remarkable advancement, they began wondering if the resonance crystal could be used as the elusive interface element, finding a way for it to deal with the moment-to-moment details of running the BFR, while also becoming an almost perfect interface with the mind of the pilot. The end-result was a hodgepodge of computer interface, resonance crystal "echo personality" and a bit of ancient-tech elements besides...but it worked. Most soldiers are now outfitted with a resonance crystal implant at the top of their spine. When soldiers are sent into the caves for combat, they automatically begin to accumulate "echo potentialities". Eventually, their resonance crystal becomes properly "attuned" and they become capable of being a BFR pilot. If the soldier pursues that field, then a socket is surgically grafted in the back of his or her neck, allowing the BFR harness to integrate through that socket, directly interfacing with the resonance crystal in the spine. When the circuit is complete, the soldier is able to concentrate on the surrounding battlefield, only needing to tap an occasional control here and there to nudge the "echo personality" into action. That semi-sentient construct then obsessively handles the details of the BFR. This system works well, allowing the pilot to concentrate on survival while the "echo" keeps the machine in line. There are some issues. Pilots often report getting flashes of anger or empathy from their BFR, especially when encountering close friends or enemies. One pilot was even exonerated from murder after a court finally decided that the BFR acted independently when killing the pilot's recent ex-girlfriend. But those instances are rare. However, it's becoming quite common for BFR pilots to "hear" the emotions of the echo, even when not connected to the BFR itself. There have been reports of pilots that become morose and suicidal if their resonance crystal is removed. Despite attempts to make them feel the crystal is just a tool, most pilots eventually think of it as their closest friend. After all, who agrees with you more than...you? |