After over 30 penalized ranged mechs formed a hunting group, they set out and began to assault any other mech that were by themselves!
The mob of worn mechs did not even have to close the distance. They only had to point their guns in the right direction and open fire, causing their target mech in question to be peppered by so many attacks that its armor buckled due to the quantity of attacks hitting its exposed frame!
After this initial success, the ranged mech pilots gained more confidence and started to hunt down other lone mechs.
Even though this formation encountered other formidable groups of worn mechs, their pilots tacitly avoided each other so that they could hunt easier marks.
"That's not fair!" Andraste repeated again as she saw that more and more loser mechs started to use dishonorable tactics to defeat their betters.
"Nothing is fair on the battlefield, honey." Ves said as he held her against his body. "This qualification round doesn't merely test the mech pilots on their piloting skills. They are also being challenged on their ability to show humility and their ability to group up with other like-minded mech pilots."
Just as predicted, the lone wolves who previously got by on their own due to their superior skills experienced the limitations of tackling mobs of weaker mechs.
The generic mechs they piloted did not grant them the possibility of overpowering their adversaries anymore! Their designs were just too bland to give them the leeway they needed.
The only other option to preserve their points as well as the remaining performance of their machines was to group up themselves!
More and more survivor mechs whose exteriors barely looked affected by age started to band together.
Once this change took place, the weaker mechs started to suffer again!
Dick Rainier and his compatriots were no expection. While his growing group of worn ranged mechs managed to annihilate smaller groups of opponents with ease, it quickly became disarrayed when two squads of melee mechs charged the rifleman mech formation from opposite directions!
"They're attacking our left flanks and our right flanks!"
"Split up and lead these melee mechs away!"
"We should have added melee mechs to our group in order to guard against this very possibility!"
"We already tried, remember? None of the melee mech pilots agreed because they wouldn't be able to earn any points."
"We're getting hacked apart!"
Even though a number of the charging melee mechs succumbed to the withering fire, enough of them managed to close the gap before they started their feast!
All of the surviving melee mechs started collecting points in rapid succession as their swords, axes, spears and other melee armaments cleaved through the weakened armor of their opponents with contemptuous ease!
The morale of the ranged mech pilots dropped. They had no way of getting away, so instead of trying to defeat the tough and resilient melee mechs, they instead turned their guns against each other!
"Arrgh! You traitor! I saved you just a few minutes ago, remember?!"
"Hah, you're saying that while the gun of your mech was already turning in my direction. You're just upset that I killed you first!"
This entire section of the battlefield turned into absolute chaos as every sense of teamwork had melted away.
It wasn't just the ranged mechs that turned against each other. The melee mechs that were beginning to run out of easy prey spontaneously targeted their former teammates as their mech pilots had become too hot-blooded to restrain themselves!
"Stupid." Ves shook his head. "Many of them will lose their points because their mechs either got defeated or because they have lost the protection of their group."
What happened next to the survivors of this confused melee matched his predictions. Each of them got picked off by the mech pilots who were still smart enough to stick to their own groups.
The mayhem continued and the crowd regularly went wild as one drama took place after another.
By the time the first round had ended, virtually no mech pilots had managed to avoid getting killed!