Big Sal

Why did you even bother?

They're coming! They're just a little slow

I'm not sure it's fair to say there's been no improvement - if you look at some of the players who have been playing since the start, their skill in building and photography has increased in a really inspiring way. I know my skills have definitely improved, but at the same time I have a lot less time to build than I used to. I think that's the case for a lot of us. If the stars aligned and everyone suddenly had a load of free time this week, I bet you'd see a bunch of fantastic builds. I don't play GoH, but my understanding is that improving your skills is a large part of it, e.g. the doctorate of historica. AG doesn't really have anything like that - there's no push for players to improve their skills other than their own desire to score more points. So maybe that's why the improvement in GoH seems steeper? There's also the fact that the weekly build structure of AG encourages high build frequency more than high build quality - a player who posts a build scoring a 3 or 4 every week is more valuable to a corp than someone who posts a 6 or 7 every now and then, especially when you add in the equipment and tech bonuses.

Location: G02 Freegate Tags: Land vehicle, spying Note to judges: The spaceship is from a previous build and shouldn't be judged Previously... Somewhere in M.A.N.T.I.S. deep space: ... a bounty on the both of them. 20 credits alive and 50 credits dead. The spy will insist that he is the real Big Sal. Don't believe him no matter how convincing he is. Remember shoot first and don't ask questions! Goodnight..... Only 50 credits?! That's just insulting. Nevertheless, we can't stay in M.A.N.T.I.S. space. Someone will catch us eventually. Yeah... I have some... contacts... in Octan. Maybe we should hide out in their territory until we figure something out. Ok, but I need to be able to contact my people in M.A.N.T.I.S., assuming they're still loyal. I know of a remote Octan radar station on Freegate. If we can hack it, we should be able to bounce our comms through it and stay in contact with MANTIS space wherever we are in Octan space. That would be a good idea... if the M.A.N.T.I.S. fleet weren't currently in orbit around Freegate. Relax Long! I told you, this ship is theoretically completely undetectable! We'll fly right past them! I can't believe that worked. I told you! Completely undetectable! If that's true, why didn't we land next to the radar instead of at the bottom of the mountain? Err... never hurts to be careful... So you decided it was safer for us to freeze to death riding the world's slowest lift to the top instead? Much safer! There's far less chance of anyone detecting us this way. I mean, it's not as if this dumb robot is going to tell anyone about us, right? ... ... ... I feel like that was unnecessary... Finally! That took forever. It's getting dark already. Well, how was I supposed to know it had legs?! I thought it would just be at the top of the lift! There, I've attached our comms device and hacked it into their systems. At last. I hope you know how to make the lift work without that robot... Thanks for reading! C&C welcome! More pics in the spoiler.

There was a slight hitch adding the scores to the timeline, which is why only some of them are there. We'll add the rest when Bob fixes whatever I broke

Does anyone have any objections to the judges being able to win medals in this challenge? In the past challenges we haven't let the judges win, but given the structure and random elements to Challenge 5 we think it's a little different. Please speak freely! But if you take my medals away I will score all your builds a 1 for the rest of time...

Nice photography on this one, and the backdrop is great even if it is partly recycled

Great truck, nice rockwork, and cool figs!

Haha, exactly the sort of kind and generous mission that M.A.N.T.I.S. special forces are renowned for

Haha, Col. Brik really knows how to spend that executive salary Nice build!

Wow, the ship is great, but what I really like is how you used those two canopies to make the huge curved window - very cool!

Nice micro! I like how you did the engines

Thanks for the comments everyone! Coincidence! It was actually supposed to look like a fly or mosquito, but it ended up looking more like a bushbaby And you're right, it looks like the Owl from Watchmen too - I'd totally forgotten about that, but maybe it influenced me subconsciously

Very cool. I really like the clone's pod

Pfft, this is clearly a rip off of Big Sal's build I like the blinds and the water cooler, and the forced perspective backdrop is great! You've won the appreciation of rodiziorobs, AG's logo King!

Yeah, nice work on the terrain It's good to get outside away from the lab every so often!

I like how you did the wheels on the mail cart!

Welcome back! This is a nice build - microscale done right

I like the room - it looks very lived in!

Wow, lots of builds here! I think I like the laser lab the best - it reminds me of the game Half Life. I like what you did with the lights - makes me want to revisit my first AG build and redo it with cool lighting effects!

Welcome Norseman!

Oh come on! This is just embarrassing

Location: C04 Aeristus Tags: Civil building, spaceship Urgh… wha…? Sal? You’re awake? Wha…? Long? Where… what…? What happened? You caught Marphacian Swamp Fever and nearly died. We’re in a Kawashita hospital on Aeristus – they were the only ones with the expertise to save you. Ugh… I feel terrible. Last thing I remember was taking my experimental GATE-cloak ship for a test flight. Yes, you passed out during the flight. We tried to treat you, but the fever was too advanced. You’ve racked up a considerable medical bill over the time you’ve been here. How long has it been? A week or so? Almost exactly four months. WHAT?! Your executive health insurance covers you for the first three days, of course, but… FOUR MONTHS?! That’s not possible! Wait… I’ve been here for four months? And I’ve been here the whole time? I haven’t been seen anywhere else? What? Of course not, how could you- Four months would make it Oktobrinali… they must have already started… but if I haven’t been seen, then… they must have found him… but then… Long, quickly, who knows I’m here? What are you talking about? WHO KNOWS I’M HERE??? Just me and the Council. Maxximus believed it would be embarrassing if it became known that we had to rely on Kawashita to save you. Well, that’s something. I suppose if they knew where I was I’d already be dead. If who knew? …SPIDER? Ye-, I mean… who? Damn it Sal, don’t play dumb with me. I know you know about SPIDER. Tell me what it is. What do you know? Nothing. All I can come across is cryptic references to webs all over the place. Ever since SpacerSteve and Hawk went missing, the Council doesn’t trust anyone – they won’t tell me anything. If they’re missing then they’ve put the plans into motion… and if they found him then they have everything they need… Long, you’re sure I haven’t been seen anywhere since I fell ill? No. How could you possibly... wait... You can’t have… it's impossible, not to mention completely unethical... but it would explain the doubled productivity… What? Sal… did you… did you clone yourself?? What?! How did you know that?! Of course! Ever since your productivity suddenly doubled I’ve been wondering how you did it. It all makes sense now. But… how? And why? Project Lambda. The employee weaponisation project? No, that was just the part of it the Council knew about. The real aim of Project Lambda was to create an army of enhanced, obedient clones for SPIDER. What?! That’s what all my research has really been about. Awesomnium extract for growth acceleration, the persuadomatic for brainwashing, the employee weaponisation, the advanced weaponry. But when I finally almost perfected the process and created the first clone, I realised that I’d become expendable. After all, if SPIDER had an almost perfect and completely obedient clone of me, why would they need actual me? So I kept my success secret from them, and have been stalling them ever since. But when I got ill, my clone should have covered for me. If he didn’t, it means SPIDER must have found him. And if they found him, they’re finally ready. This is insane… we need to tell SpacerSteve about this when he gets here. WHAT?! I thought you said he was missing?! No, he reappeared a while back. I sent him a message as soon as you woke up and- We need to leave. Now! What? Come on! Do you have a ship here? No, but your stealth ship was brought here with you. But Sal- Even better! Let's go! Sal- Come on, there’s no time! Sal- What?! Maybe you should put some clothes on first. ---- Later: This ship is hideous. Hey, I never got to finish it! And it may not be much to look at, but with the GATE-cloak it's completely undetectable... in theory... Sal... What did you mean when you said your clone is almost perfect? Ah, yeah. The awesomnium serum worked perfectly for temporary growth acceleration, except for the hair. For some reason, his hair growth seems to be permanently accelerated... Damn it. ---- Thanks for reading! C&C welcome! Finally, all is revealed! As you may be able to tell, I've been working on this story for a loooong time (although SPIDER was not my idea, and was worked into it later). A pic of the whole build and the ship in the spoiler.

All my credits to LittleJohn please

These are great! And I love the idea of having a whole thread full of (non-Lego) AG art