Operation Showdown
Operation Showdown was the codename for combat training operations conducted in Year 22 between Day 203 and Day 215 in the hidden system Mystery Land of the Western Reaches sector. The event involved a large number of teams from across the galaxy. The team that represented One Nation Under Jou included Alani Myrtel, Athrun Zala, Lilith Delcroix, and Nirvana Novaborn. Each team member was awarded the Operation Showdown Medal.
The main part of the event was a double-elimination tournament, with separate rounds for Space and Ground Combat. One Nation team was knocked out of the event in Round 4 of Space Combat by Blue Star Dominion team, and in Round 2 of Ground Combat by Kornova Corp team.
The event also included a Mystery Round, which consisted of several puzzles and non-combat challenges that had to be completed individually by each team member. One Nation's team ranked 7th out of 64 teams in the Mystery Round.
Space Combat
Championship bracket
- Round 1 vs NovaStar Industries
- Round 2 vs Tion Hegemony
- Round 3 vs Jawa Offworld Enterprises
Elimination bracket
- Round 4 vs Blue Star Dominion
The fleet for each team consisted of one Raider-class Missile Corvette, four Tri-Mark VII Interceptors, twelve TIE/in Interceptors, and twelve A/SF-01 B-wing Starfighters. Pilots of One Nation's team were Alani with B-wings, Athrun with TIE Interceptors, Lilith with Raider-class and Nirvana with Tri-Marks.
The general strategy during space battles was to protect the team's B-wings and destroy the opponent's Raider-class. It was deemed that the team who lost their corvette and the ability to destroy it would the team likely to lose the match. This strategy proved to be working until One Nation's team faced JOE at a disadvantaged match (3 vs 4 pilots). The last match against Blue Star Dominion demonstrated how durable Tri-Mark gunboats could be as they kept evading damage from Lilith's corvette. Athrun was often the last pilot alive of the team, proving his expertise as a fighter pilot.
Ground Combat
Championship bracket
- Round 1 vs The Hutt Clan
Elimination bracket
- Round 1 vs REBEL SCUM
- Round 2 vs Kornova Corp
For the ground combat rounds, each team was assigned four squads of level 10 NPCs; Riflemen, Melee Troopers, Scouts and Musicians. They were equipped with E-11 blaster rifles, dual vibroblades, X-45 sniper rifles with Macro Binocualrs, and dual Relby K-23 blaster pistols; respectively. Teams were allowed to distribute Skill Points by themselves, allowing for different strategies. One Nation's team focused predominantly on Dexterity and Dodge skills.
The NPC squad distribution was: Alani with Musicians, Athrun with Riflemen, Lilith with Melee Troopers and Nirvana with Scouts.
During most rounds the team employed an aggressive strategy, but the main weakness proved to be the lack of naturally high Perception skill. Without sensor sharing or ability to boost everyone's Perception with items, the team found itself often outflanked by the opponents. Player characters with low HP also found themselves at a disadvantage because of the ability to hit the Squad leader (the player character) while the NPCs were still alive, effectively immobilising the squad.
Mystery Round
Individual scores
- Alani Myrtel: 4
- Athrun Zala: 7
- Lilith Delcroix: 10
- Nirvana Novaborn: 43
The Mystery Round had to be completed individually by moving through a series of rooms. Each room had a different non-combat challenge. At the end each player was given a score, and the team's score was the average of all four team members. One Nation's team average was 16.
The first challenge was a Jigsaw Puzzle, where players had to guess the correct vehicle and ship, but the image was made of scrambled jigsaw pieces. It was followed by the Shark Tank, players were given selection of targets and depending on their selection were allowed to move forward. Next challenge was a version of Mastermind game, correctly solving it within allocated guesses advanced the player to the next room. The final challenge was selection based, two correctly matched options to create a key finished the round or sent the player back to the begging. It is unknown if random generated rolls and Character Skills played a role in the three challenges that were not Mastermind.
Rewards
All participants of the Showdown event were awarded with one use of a datacard for a Kandosii-type Dreadnaught, a formidable capital warship. One Nation contracted Mandal Hypernautics and Dorinian Military Corps shipwrights to construct the capital ships free of charge for the team members. The ships were completed two at a time in Year 23 and Year 24. Three of the dreadnaughts went to private ownership, and one was purchased by One Nation for 250,000,000 Credits. The purchased dreadnaught was named ON Pemnir, and is currently part of the Morobe Defence Fleet.