HMW Campaign for Cybertron: Shard of Resilience

Like you could ever get sick of seeing little old me...

Ladles and jellyspoons, the war is in full swing and it appears that the Autobots may even have the upper hand. Cooperation and coordination is starting to seep in and those plucky little reds are really starting to stand on their own feet/treads/paws/wheels/whatever.

To this end I bring you some good news... and some bad.

The bad news is that as of mission #38500 the Shard of Courage is no more, and from this mission the Autobots wont get its advantage.

The GOOD news is that we have found the second shard! Hang on, it appears to have a message attached, lets see what this says...

The Shard of Resillience wrote:

The Vir430 Era - HMW Genesis.

“It was the year 2003, and Cybertron was a dark and desolate planet. The great shutdown millennia before had put her on stand-by, allowing her to heal from centuries of war, but she knew that without some kind of order her time was short. Scanning her glimmering metal-strewn surface she found her first champion, named Vir430, and charged him with the greatest of challenges - bring order to the chaos. To help her create structure and certainty, even if that certainty was more war, and guide her into a new era.

The Era of Genesis.”

Very little is known of this great historical era of Cybertrons rebirth but under a shroud of secrecy, it is known that Vir accepted the Matrix and began his work. On the date the Earthlings record as June 24th 2003, Cybertron was reactivated; the Heavy Metal Wars began, but they were very different to the war we fight today…


Vir. (Probably.)

The Cybertronians were slow to come back online and the technology wasn’t as advanced as we are used to. The central mission computer was yet to be activated so the war was held exclusively in the arena to begin with, allowing scores to only be settled one on one. Squad size was also smaller, whilst a team was still comprised of 12 only 4 warriors could fight for a team at any one time, and arms and armaments were limited until the more advanced weapons could be rediscovered.
It is also believed that there was only a few altmodes available to the first commanders, but that initial list is lost to the ages now.

HMW: 15 years and we STILL have Prime clones.

This new awakening of Cybertron soon brought the more warlike Transformers-in-exile back to their old home, and with those came the knowledge of tactics and advanced Transformations. The newly-awakened combatants, reset to level 0 after the great shutdown, had fought their way through many challenges and using their battle experience had learned how to use their altmodes to Avoid their enemies attacks, Ram their opponent into submission, or Strafe whole battlelines of enemies, and with the Central Mission Computer coming back online a few megacycles after the war began anew, these tactics began to make the difference in the missions, but it was many cycles later, with the discovery of Repair in its most simple form, that truly began to turn the tide of the battles, but the results of a loss remained devastating for many, with the stasis-locked losers often left behind until their commanders could return to recover them to place them in Cryogenic regeneration, or CR, Chambers.

Wheeljack! Stay back whilst I science!

What was never expected when the war began though, was the meeting of minds that it facilitated. Cybertron was not entirely about war and conflict, many of the planets more peaceful natives had been meeting for mega cycles beforehand, hoping for a chance at peace, but the two factions began to talk. Much of the discussion was to taunt their opponents, but a united spirit also prevailed. Dubbing themselves the HMWarriors, the commanders began to group together in clans and units to share tactical information and coordinate. Among the first topics known to be discussed was Courage, widely considered to be the strongest upgrade stat of its time, and a third faction that had also joined the war - a secret and shadowy force that would interrupt a mission, destroying both sides, The Unknowns.

'Unknowns' still sounds better than NAILs.

And then, one day, it was time for Vir to pass the mantle of Praetorian and make his own way in the universe. The logs have no record of when this was, and many of his other great deeds in his bringing of order to the chaos of war are lost to the ages, but it is known that Vir’s work is still very much the framework of the war we fight today - Cybertrons first guardian after she was reborn laid a foundation for transformers civilisation that was destined to endure.

And now my watch has ended...

And so Cybertron entered a period of renewal as her people continued to return from the stars. The number of activated warriors was increased from four to six, and with the advent of newer technology and advancement of her commanders, more missions became available, but as the era known as Gensis drew to a close, Cybertron soon realised that a new guardian would be needed and she reached out to a small, talented young Autobot to step forward and realise his destiny…

Wait, what?

To be continued...

Disclaimer: Much of this happened a very long time ago, and most of this was pieced together from old forums and the using internet archive. If you have a memory of when the game first started or correction to what the shard above says, please post it below!

Woah, there ya go! A little history lesson for you all there...

Our smart-arse analysts have inspected the shard and reported an engraving on it, which they have managed to translate from its ancient Cybertronian machine code. It reads

Code: Select all

Cybertron supports those who never give up so *any* valid (0 or 5) mission where the defeated side has 3 or more combatants still counts as a war victory

There ya go, Shard 2: Resilience is in the game, and benefits both sides. Remember: the bonus only counts if you are the outnumbered team and you win the mission.

Good luck out there!