Scenario: An elite Federal Database was discovered on the station a day before the aliens attacked. The discoverer/"keeper" of the Federal Database (either you or someone else) immediately took off in the direction of a newly discovered Earthlike planet in order to not be disturbed while plundering their prize. The Federation has offered a substantial bounty to any "grabber" who can retrieve the Secret Datacore from the Database.

Entries: Players may enter up to three times as either a grabber or keeper subject to a maximum of two entries of a given type. Due to the fact that this is basically a player-vs-player challenge, entry posts may be scheduled to publish on [EDIT: EXTENDED!] Thursday, July 30th at 6:00 AM GMT -- but no later. You still have 40 hours -- so no excuses 😁.

It would be appreciated but is not required for entrants to indicate their intentions to compete in the comments below. Any unanswered questions should also be placed in the comments below and I will answer as quickly as I can.

The challenge will be judged by matching each grabber with each keeper, making the best guess as to each outcome and totaling the results of all match-ups. Note that I will also be adding one or two grabbers and keepers to each gauntlet (and that I am known to be extremely devious and evil).

Prizes: Prizes start with a Black Lotus and an Ayumi. If there are enough entrants, a Federal Database and an Octohome will be added. If there are even more entrants, even more prizes will be added so that 50% of entrants will go home happy. I will also be giving out rewards for entries that make me laugh (or make me think). If anyone wants to contribute prizes for either this contest or the next, please let me know (especially if you'd like to add super-secret conditions for your prize).


Scenario/Entry Details:

• You may use any cards whether you own them or not. All cards are assumed to be non-elite and have no experience but are fully upgraded, if applicable. If a card has limited upgrades, you should specify how it is upgraded or it will be decided at random.
• You need to detail your strategy, your setup and your planned tactics. Note that the last is extremely likely to be very relevant to your results. I will be nice and remind the keepers to remember to pack the Federal Database and not forget it on the station. I also understand that pilots are very useful as well.
• Assume that the planet, flora and fauna are very close analogs to the Earth during the Age of Giant Mammals.
• Your ship will have virtually no fuel upon landing but there is plentiful food and water available as you should expect on an Earth analog.
• Assume that, as long as only minimal other "keeper" actions are attempted, "keeper" prefabs will be set up when the "grabbers" arrive (subject, of course, to entry instructions).

Win Conditions:

• Keeper - You need to set up the necessary prefab to house the Federal Database and use it to work with the Secret Datacore for some indeterminate length of time
• Grabber - You need to grab the Federal Database's Secret Datacore and be able to hide it successfully
• Destruction of the Secret Datacore is a LOSS for both parties
• If the match-up is too close to clearly call, I will assign an applicable percentage of points for a win to each side (not necessarily 50/50)
• If there is a partial chance of Datacore destruction, that probability will be taken off of the points for a win. Yes, this will make wins against some "keepers" worth less if they do stupid things.

Judging:
Given no other instructions, I will assume the following:
Keeper - Will defend in place with available items, reasonable combat strategy
Grabber - Will assault Keeper's position with all armed personnel, reasonable combat strategy

I will then play out my best attempt at the likely battle given the above plus any instructions that can be performed by the relevant personnel, items and situation. Note that, under certain pre-specified circumstances, there will be pre-planned events and consequences in addition to the expected battle (i.e. pay attention to what happened in the Baldie Challenge).


Rubrics:

• There are numerous pre-determined rubrics for combat, how certain strategy/tactic pairs interact, where the effects of armor weight and speed (and similar considerations) are applied, etc.
• Overlooked rubrics will be defined as necessary and evenly applied to all teams as applicable to their (and their opponents) strategy, tactics, personnel and items
• One such rubric is that, in chase scenarios, identical pursuers will eventually catch the pursued due to the latter's need to turn, avoid obstacles, etc.
• The Federal Database shall be considered an autonomous special-purpose computing system. It takes one cargo slot on any transport except on the ship where it takes an Equipment Set slot. It is not transportable by characters. It must be installed into a free room space before it can be used. It must be uninstalled before it can be transported.
• The Datacore can be extracted by either a ship or an operating Federal Database. It can be transported by characters (and occupies the "main" slot). It can be hidden relatively easily by a character when they aren't being followed.

Disputes:

• People are welcome to dispute any judgement call ONCE
• Other people are welcome to chime in ONCE per disputed judgment call whether it involves them or not

Additional advice

• I would strongly suggest that you read the Helpful Hint for Winning The Federal Database Challenge.
• I would also strongly suggest paying close attention to the armor and weapons charts below. Where the stats are not listed on the cards, I have listed my planned equivalents for the challenge.
• Make sure that your crew has the necessary skills and equipment to implement your strategy, tactics and other instructions.
• Be sure to pay attention to character personality traits and factions. Crew members will not always blindly or exactly follow orders (HINT: party infighting, Special Infiltration Agent).

Good luck, Captains!




			Damage
	Armor	Protection	Absorbed	For Challenge Purposes
Arena Powersuit	60	18	46
Body Armor	?	?	?	Spartan Elite (Body Only)
Drachian Suit	30	11	16
Eisen Suit		3	3
Exo-Armor	?	?	?	Military A (Light Weight)
K-Armor	?	?	?	Spartan Elite
KB-119 Kilbot	50	17	35
Lonestar Research Suit		2	2
Military Suit Class A	40	13	22
Military Suit Class C	40	6	10
Racer Mech Suit	30	7	10
Spartan Elite Suit	30	7	10
Universal Fixer Suit		2	2
Cranium Pistol	?			Good Morning
Explanator	30
Firetalker	8
Galactic Peacemaker	15X
Good Morning	27
Judgement Day	50
Karper Heavy	10
Powershock Gloves	?			Range 0 Stun, Ignores Armor
SD Rifle	19
Syndicate Auto-Blaster	25
Syndicate Blade	?			Range 0 Judgement Day
Thor Powergun	?			Good Morning
X-77 Rifle	?			Judgement Day
Party Ammo	+30