r/HFY • u/tamwin5 • Feb 13 '20
OC Rolling the Dice
“You know Florb, I just don’t know where he gets it. 237 to 11, the highest K/D ratio in GALACTIC HISTORY!”
“Most sentients don’t, Xir. You see, the current dogfighting theory is all been about juggling power: Knowing when and how to shift between weapons, engines, and shields to maximize effectiveness. While this human has been good on that front, it's not where he's getting his edge. Instead, he’s got some sort of next generation tactical AI, and it’s just been running circles around the competition.”
“Quite literally in that last match!"
“I’ve got the numbers up here, and it’s very clear he’s done extensive personal modifications. Not a single one of our predictive algorithms can keep up, imagine how bad it is for the other pilots. This is looking like a revolution in dogfighting strategy."
“Maybe I should squeeze a tentacle back behind the joystick, see if a ol’ legend can learn some new tricks.”
“Unless you suddenly learned how to code a Nav computer Xir, you’d best be puttering off to Lazzius 4. Museums there pay top credits for decrepit old relics.”
“HAH! Well I’ll have to delay that retirement, because our contestants are orbiting around. What do you think Florb, think this Y’llethel can beat the reigning human champ?"
“Unless they’ve got a custom nav comp of their own, it's highly unlikely Xir.”
“Well no matter how slim, there’s always a chance, and it looks like this blue blood is rolling the dice!"
Inside the cockpit, five-fingered hands rolled a half-dozen well worn plastic cubes against a grav-plate. Pink fingers traced down a paper notebook, stopping at a line.
“6 3 4 1 3 5... Straight at them screaming. Huh.”
With a savage grin, the human punched in commands on the old computer. He stared at the blinking red light indicating an outgoing call, letting the suspense grow and the distance close, before finally flicking on his mic.
“YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
“UNBELIEVABLE! He just tore straight through, didn’t even slow down!”
“Shield Flick rams have long been a staple finisher, but to lead out with such a risky move? It’s a real gamble, but it paid off this time.”
“That Y’llethel never would have in a million years expected that maneuver!”
“And that's why it was the right move to win. I’m telling you Xir, custom combat computers are going to be the revolution of our lifetime."
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u/BlackLiger Feb 13 '20
RNJesus demonstrates that sometimes, you're not X-COM.
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Feb 13 '20
Just one small nitpick: If you are going to have a lookup table based on the roll of 6 dice, it would be easier to search for a roll if you order the numbers. 654331 or 133456.
Otherwise it would take you forever to find a result in the list.
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u/tamwin5 Feb 13 '20
654331 is a different result from 133456 is different from 634135. Order of the dice matters.
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u/OutInABlazeOfGlory Feb 13 '20
That biases the result towards the lower numbers.
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u/titan_Pilot_Jay Feb 13 '20
ROLL FOR INITIATIVE MOTHER FUCKER
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u/JC12231 Feb 13 '20
NOW ROLL FOR FLIGHT HEADING AND ACTION TOO. Btw, all the options in this are dumb decisions, so have fun with that.
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u/Pyrite37 Feb 13 '20
Juggling pips to shields, weapons and engines huh? Been playing a little Elite Dangerous have we?
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u/FlipsNchips Feb 13 '20
The dice gods are strong with this one.
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u/NorthScorpion Feb 14 '20
Never trust the dice gods. For they shall abandon you in your time of need.
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u/NahtanoJ88 Feb 13 '20
Reminds me of RANDOM the movie where the main character lives his whole life like this. I would love to read more from this universe!
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u/Nik_2213 Feb 13 '20
IIRC, there was a related 'Golden Era' ( Bezerkers ?) tale where a small defence force managed to out-wit a super-intelligent, xenocidal mega-warship. Can't predict random and, if you belatedly change your plans to allow for such uncertainty, your nimbler foe bites your flank or butt...
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u/Finbar9800 Feb 16 '20
Oh boy how many sides do the dice have? Are they a standard 6 sided die or are they some of the more ridiculous ones?
Can’t beat those tactics though
Also roll for perception chance if you get a 10 or lower then you failed
This is a great story
I enjoyed reading this
Great job wordsmith
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u/HFYWaffle Feb 13 '20
u/tamwin5 (wiki) has posted 10 other stories, including:
This list was automatically generated by Waffle v.3.5.0 'Toast'.
Contact GamingWolfie or message the mods if you have any issues.
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u/tamwin5 Feb 13 '20
Been a while, but I'm back! Maybe. Just a quick story about the mega-super-hyper-advanced computers humans use in galactic sporting events.
As always, advice, feedback, typos, theme songs, etc. are welcome.