Random Chance [Tankiverse Fanfic]

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

Random Chance

Fanfic in the Tankiverse by Hippin_in_Hawaii

 
It started, as so many lasting stories do, in a bar.
 
“‘S- so good to see you!” he’d said.
 
Fred, Al, and Liza had acknowledged that it was good to be out.
 
“We never shee you,” he had said, weaving slightly. “You’re allwaysh in that liberry, or in th’ simul… shimu…”
 
“Simulations?” promoted Al, helpfully.
 
“Right, them shimulationsh! You guys never come up for air! And for what? I mean, shure, you got the highest kill rate in the company, and the highest mishun shuccesh rate in them shims, butcha also got the highesht non-compleshun rate.”
 
“Well, risky plans rarely pay off,” explained Al, patiently. “That’s why we prefer trying them here in training as opposed to waiting until someone is shooting at us.”
 
“I bet,” he’d said, leaning in conspiratorially, and using a whisper that carried to the farthest corners of the bar, “that you’d be every bit as good if you just rolled some dices. Dysh. Rolled some dice.”
 
The idea was planted. Neither Fred nor Liza bothered to remember the conversation, but inside Al, the ember of what would almost certainly end up being a red folder plan was dropped in the fertile kindling of his imagination. Three months later, they were climbing into the simulator, armed with charts and dice. The command crew in the control room couldn’t stop laughing once Al had explained the scenario to them.
 
“Every time something happens, we want you to freeze the sim. We’ll roll dice to determine what action to take. Also, at random intervals between happenings, you should freeze it as well. If we’ve been driving down a road without any contact for a few minutes, for example, that might be a good time.”
 
They’d asked for one of the beginner’s scenarios and had drawn The Maze. It was meant to simulate conditions in an urban center. There were wide roads, narrow alleys, small open areas (courtyards or parks) and dead ends. There were impassable barriers (buildings) walling most of the streets, and various degrees of surmountable obstacles (cars, light poles, etc.)
 
Their sim tank was moving down a medium-wide street, currently free of cars, and they could see an upcoming intersection when the sim froze. “Random interval freeze,” announced Rhys, the control room tech who was running the sim.
 
“Ok,” muttered Fred. “Which chart, Al?”
 
“I think the No Threat, No Action chart.”
 
Fred leafed through the sheaf of papers until he found the right one. “Ok, rolling first for motion. A twelve means reverse direction. Rolling for turret, I get a nine, which is no change. Ok, Al, prepare to come about.”
 
“Did it say ‘turn around’ or ‘reverse direction’?”
 
“Reverse direction.”
 
“Ok, that means rear stick. Rhys, resume the sim, please!”
 
The screen came back to life; the hydraulics rocked the cabin to simulate the motion of the tank braking then reversing.
 
“Great, we’re going backwards down the street we already cleared,” grumbled Liza.
 
Then the sim froze again. “Contact,” reported Rhys.
 
Fred peered at the frozen image on the forward display. Was that a barrel poking out from behind the building? “Holy ****!” he exclaimed. “There was a tank waiting there to ambush us! Score one for the dice! Ok, Al, what now?”
 
“Roll on Active Threat, Facing.”
 
Fred found the appropriate chart. “This isn’t really random, then, is it? I mean, the choices here are all reasonable responses. I don’t see ‘turn off engine,’ for example.”
 
Al shrugged. “A truly random approach would be silly. We’d be a child’s toy bouncing around in here, shooting the walls. No, for each contingency, I tried to pull up a list of possible responses ranging from common-sense to ill-advised. So it’s a weighted random, but there are plenty of options to choose from. And what is ours?”
 
Fred rolled. “Our motion remains constant. Turret is to aim and fire.” he snorted. “Nothing too unusual about that. Rhys, resume please!”
 
Their tank resumed the shaking associated with movement. On the screen, an enemy tank could be seen sticking its nose out into the intersection, the barrel traversing to face them.
 
“Firing,” announced Liza. “Hit.”
 
The sim froze. “Al?” asked Fred.
 
“Um, same chart, I think.”
 
Fred rolled. “Ok, under motion, we’re to turn hard right. Under turret, a fourteen gets us traverse to rear?”
 
“Well, it is supposed to be random,” commented Rhys over the intercom. “Resuming sim.”
 
Al turned the tank hard right as Liza rotated the turret to face rearward. On the screen, the enemy tank continued to enter the intersection, now turning in their direction.
 
“It hasn’t fired,” said Liza. “We must have damaged the gun.”
 
The cabin jerked, then all motion ceased. “Obstruction encountered to the rear,” reported Al. “We just backed into a building.” The sim froze.
 
“New chart?” asked Fred.
 
“Well, we have one chart for maneuvering out of difficult terrain, and we have another chart for a non-facing enemy, but I didn’t get around to combining them.”
 
“Fine, I’ll roll on each. First, on the Difficult Terrain. A one! All stop. Great. And now, on the Active Threat, Non-Facing chart, we get nineteen. Traverse rear and fire. Seriously? Oh, this blows! Rhys?”
 
“Resuming sim,” he responded.
 
Al disengaged the throttle, and the cabin stopped rumbling. Liza shrugged. “Firing,” she said. The cabin bucked and the sim froze.
 
“Having just fired point-blank into an indestructible obstacle, your tank has taken the following damage,” came Rhys’ voice. “Engine cooling system compromised; you’ll overheat in five minutes of operation. Right tread disabled. Left tread disabled. Barrel damaged; main gun is now suspect. You are officially ten-seventeen.”
 
Fred groaned. “Stuck again!”
 
“Well,” responded Al cheerily, “at least you won’t have to roll for movement!”
 
Fred did roll his eyes as he leafed through the charts. “Is there a special one for having our movement disabled and our gun damaged?”
 
“There is one for movement disabled, but I think I’d stick with the Active Threat, Non-Facing.”
 
Fred rolled and consulted the piece of paper. “Traverse to target and fire. Finally, something that makes sense. Rhys, resume please!”
 
The enemy tank on the screen resumed bearing down on them. Liza rotated the turret. “Firing. Miss.” She frowned as the sim froze again. “Well, the gun didn’t blow up, which is good, but our accuracy is terrible. That shot went pretty far off mark.”
 
“Did you see how far? Can you compensate?” asked Fred.
 
Liza shrugged. “It went high and left. I can try some Kentucky windage, but no promises.”
 
Fred looked at Al. “Is that allowed?”
 
Al nodded. “Sure, why not. We’re using random chance to determine our choices, not compromise our skills.”
 
“Ok," said Fred, ”switching to the Active Threat, Facing chart then rolling. Target and fire. Yes!”
 
“Resuming,” said Rhys.
 
“Firing. Hit!” reported Liza. “Looks like he’s down!”
 
The sim froze. “What now,” came Rhys’ voice.
 
Liza and Fred looked at Al. “Well, we can keep running if you like, but I think it’s pretty obvious we’re dead. Sooner or later the next tank is going to find us, and we’re not only crippled, we’re stuck. We may as well concede.”
 
Opening the hatch to exit the sim, they were met by a wave of cheering and clapping. The observation lounge was packed full of their teammates. On the briefing board, someone had put up a betting chart, and there were numbers in all the columns. House odds for one kill were surprisingly favorable at two-to-one. Towards the back, Chip had managed to put together a banner saying “10-17,” which we has waving with gusto. “I just won five hundred!” he shouted over the crowd.
 
Rhys shrugged sheepishly. “I may have called a few people…”

 

Mahalo (thank you) for reading; I hope you enjoyed! This story is part of a series. Information on the series, and links to the other stories, can be found here.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Hippin_in_Hawaii

[Hex 11,520]

Approved!

 

Edits -

• Only one minor spelling issue.

 

Definitely an interesting read, good job!

[thethiefofvictory 339]

An interesting read... like your entire series. This is getting so large, I seriously wonder how I'll ever be able to read it all, and I've only almost finished the Training stories.

 

Speaking of which, where would you set this one in, which era? 

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

An interesting read... like your entire series. This is getting so large, I seriously wonder how I'll ever be able to read it all, and I've only almost finished the Training stories.

 

Speaking of which, where would you set this one in, which era? 

This flashes way back to Training. I've updated the reference page to show its place.

 

And thank you!

[tweezers 1,034]

*D&D intensifies*

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

• Only one minor spelling issue.

What was that? I'd like to correct my original, please!

[Hex 11,520]

What was that? I'd like to correct my original, please!

I don't remember, I think it was just "RIght" written instead of "Right", or something like that.

[BlueDragon_tamki 3,204]

This is a good story. Nice job

[GrandExecutioner 1,403]

Nice! But I'm not sure where this fits in. Hope you enlighten me in a future story.

Edited May 19, 2018 by GrandExecutioner