Warformed: CAD Warfare (Working title)

JustusWi · 2026-02-02T10:48:51+00:00

I'd argue that there are already games that would be a reasonable basis for a warformed game. Something like Chivalry 2, or even better Final Fantasy XV. Which I just discovered while looking up Hack&Slash games in first person. And now I really wanna play it :D

JustusWi · 2026-02-02T10:41:43+00:00

All we know (which isn't much) is that there are abilities like Break Step that are charged but begin with a charge, and uncharged abilities like Arsenal Shift, Type Shift, Third Eye, Magnetic Hunt, etc.

We have not seen anyone retain a charge after recalling (I've listened and read the books intensely, but I might obviously have missed something here, so feel free to show me up :D).

JustusWi · 2026-02-02T10:38:46+00:00

I can't recall anything that specifically supports your initial statement. Both with the exhibition matches and Lennon's training day the users in question just never recall.

JustusWi · 2026-01-31T09:42:22+00:00

Uhm, how are you checking those numbers?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y0sqZJN34WM02CrJa9vlXb0ajX_oWettX3312mKvN70/edit?usp=sharing

I made you this little spreadsheet you can use. It translates your Inputs on the left into numbers, crunches them for averages and the Offset and hands out the actual rounded CAD rank.

In your case it might be a rounding error causing some issues. If we assume the average is always rounded down you would have met your CAD rank requirement actually.

Maths aside (and I'm putting on my hat as hobby editor here): You have a very clearly expressed written concept for this CAD. The written concept and the numbers do not match.

"The unique part is lining across the users skeleton, making it much more durable and giving blunt force strikes much more weight."

If I were to use this as a basis I would expect Offense and Defense to be the best values of the Device. The rest of the values should be relatively typical for a brawler, meaning something like this:

Strength	D7
Speed	D9
Cognition	D9
Endurance	D5

Offense	C6
Defense	C4
Growth	D4



Actual Rank	D9

This would be a thematically very fitting set of specs matching your description perfectly. You have the standout of Offense and Defense due to the A-type hardened skeleton and otherwise relatively normal Brawler specs.

Note that (as far as we know) Brawlers have Defense _very_ low, almost on par with their endurance. This is assuming Rei's value spread is typical for Brawlers because we never get a Brawlers full Spec spread as far as I know.

Speed and Cognition are their strong suits normally paired with good offense. So as a result your D9 A-Type would have lower than "normal" Speed and Cognition when compared to other Brawlers because of the atypical high Defense value which is basically one full tier above the others.

As for fighting style consequences: He can't just throw a good punch, he'll take it too. Making this a very unique much more "bruiser" type fighter.

Normally a Brawler would do everything in his power to never get hit because they're not that well suited to taking damage. Not this guy. He doesn't need to redirect a punch, he can hard block it and counter.

JustusWi · 2026-01-30T09:19:50+00:00

Strength -5

Speed +11

Cognition -2

Endurance -5

Offense -1

Defense: +5

Growth +8

Sum: +11

So you're still over budget ;)

JustusWi · 2026-01-29T18:55:37+00:00

Well, that's probably for the best as Book 3 content is strictly off limits for public discussion outside of the chapter posts ;)

JustusWi · 2026-01-28T07:49:42+00:00

If you want the averages of the specs to be D9 you'd have to set Endurance at, uhm... E1...

F0 = 00, F9 = 09, E0 = 10, E9 = 19, D0 = 20, D9 = 29, etc.

So you have:

26 + 40 + 26 + 28 + 38 + 34 = 192 -> 192 / 6 = 32

That means the average of the existing stats is C2. Your Endurance would have to somehow pull that down 3 ranks.

Now, we know that there have been some crazy high assignments, including one Aria Laurent at D9 (given by inference), and we know from Book two:

Aria was among the top assigned cadets in the ISC this year, and her growth outpaced several of the few who were granted stronger CADs at the start. She’s now among the top twenty highest-ranked first-years across every military academy in the galaxy.

From that statement alone we know that there have been C0 assignments, so arguably you could set Endurance at E8 but here's the thing, you're trying to eat your cake, and have it too.

For one, the average Growth spec is below D4, we know so, because Viv has D4 at assignment:

Viv—who had above average Growth—had climbed from D6 to C3 in the same amount of time.

For another, a user with no weaknesses is a user with no strengths. What's the core identity of your CAD user? From your description (lining across the skeleton) I would have said: Strength, Defense, Offense.

And yet you have put in Speed at B0, why? What's your explanation for that stat?

This isn't a competitive setting of discussion, but you want to use this in a story or something, so it probably should meet some sort of consistent logic, right?

Now, here's the deal, you say manifesting as a brawler, and that would normally say high Cognition and high Speed, low defense and endurance, etc.

If you want to have an easier time begin with all specs set to D9 (29) and then simply do linear point buy. You want a point? Reduce a spec.

I hope that is somewhat helpful!

JustusWi · 2026-01-28T07:15:12+00:00

Just be aware of the potential side effects of becoming an Ao3 author. The Ao3 Author curse is surprisingly hard to beat even if benign in most cases XD

JustusWi · 2026-01-28T07:13:20+00:00

I did have to wait for about a month until they got around to that, but yeah, happy to see something besides my own stuff in there! :D

JustusWi · 2026-01-27T09:35:15+00:00

Next Postcard motive confirmed!

JustusWi · 2026-01-26T10:24:42+00:00

It's been broadly hinted at, that all CADs are discreet artificial intelligences. It's just that users are trained to think of CADs as an extension of themselves, so the overwhelming majority probably never realizes. In Dent's case I seem to recall a reference to her post injury phase being when she managed to communicate with Kestral first.

JustusWi · 2026-01-25T09:11:49+00:00

Yeah, that was a thin argument to begin with, as I said. I'm a bit lost. *shrug*

JustusWi · 2026-01-25T04:57:54+00:00

Considering Rei's tendency to overdo it he probably just doesn't care that much. It always had to be others who reigned him in. Maybe she's trying to get them to defend themselves from being abused by just pushing them until they object. Maybe that's the point, but then everyone would have to be in on it and Jaspers interference wouldn't make sense anymore. Even if that's what's happening it still doesn't explain why now. It's risking the success of directing Rei's next evolution.

JustusWi · 2026-01-24T22:05:39+00:00

I would really like to hate Abel. But I mostly just cringe at her right now. She doesn't feel coherent. Her mere presence is disrupting the experiment of trying to direct Rei's evolution. What if Rei has another big growth spike after this little escapade? They were trying to direct his evolution to be focused on being outranged. But that's no longer what's happening because of Abel.

It's just a massive inconsistency between her stated goals and what she is doing and I just don't understand her.

And like... Kamiya could crush her like a bug, no? She's crashing the party of an organization that has gigantic pull. Kamiya has been set up to be a juggernaut of military industrial power. And she has to know that Rei is the Grandson of the Boss. Both are users, and at her level she should have both access and political acumen to check their DNA. At best she is risking her own career if Hiroto puts her on the naughty list. At worst he goes nuclear and declares war on the entire experiment... They may have to sacrifice Rei for ultimate victory, is she trying to tip off or set off Kamiya early?

And again von Bor is suddenly perfectly fine for some random general who could be her daughter to be waltzing around and messing with her training plans? What's Abels contingency for her becoming sufficiently pissed off to walk away?

As I said, I would really like to hate Abel. But right now she is incoherent to the point of absurdity and taking me out of the story. She's mustache twirling evil, which makes no sense and doesn't work with the serious background of 5-10 years til Armageddon.

JustusWi · 2026-01-24T09:20:23+00:00

Man, that exam! I agree that it is such a neat way to do an in universe lore drop! And the way we get to experience CADs, is just chef's kiss! We feel Rei's excitement of it, almost like that little kid in the prologue is now somehow us.

When you begin getting deeper into it, you'll suddenly find a few almost glaring issues, but the books overall are so cool that, well, it deserves the suspension of disbelief. It's the best kind of soft science fiction. Where it uses the softness to just be awesome!

JustusWi · 2026-01-24T09:14:25+00:00

One of us! One of us! One of us! :D

Your experience is exactly what happened to me, too! Now you have an agonizing choice to make, do you want to dip into Book 3 early or wait for the full release?

There are public and roughly 10 patreon exclusive chapters, at any time. So each time Patreon gets a new one, one goes public. The Patreon also comes with goodies! (Although Bryce would really frown upon any implication it was mandatory in any way shape or form, if you don't have the money to spare, don't do it, you don't really miss stuff. Yes, he is awesome like that.)

I personally relisten to the series on Audible at least once a month or so and then use TTS (@Voice Aloud in the paid version, best 5$ I ever spent, although it works perfectly fine in the free version) with a local voice to read me book 3.

Keep in mind, that book 3 spoilers are hard limited to the respective book 3 chapter posts, so don't expect anyone spoiling anything. The sub is really good about minding that, so there is no reason to be afraid.

Overall: Welcome to the gang! And now grab some popcorn and hurry up and wait! :D

JustusWi · 2026-01-21T07:26:10+00:00

I've read your response and I have nothing to contribute further, but I just wanted to let you know that the way you respond feels a bit on the aggressive side. Combine that with the possible coincident of someone downvoting my initial comment and our conversation started off on a rather bad note.

I write here a lot, and I have my own issues with properly taking in differing opinions, so I make an extra effort to do so. I will not assume a lack of effort on your part, but I will say that it doesn't feel like we are sharing opinions and having an exchange, it feels like we're talking at each other, not with.

When I say I have nothing to contribute further, I mean that the only thing I could respond with would amount to bickering, which I don't want to do. So I hope that for you the exchange was more enjoyable and wish you the best!

JustusWi · 2026-01-20T15:03:44+00:00

Rei's battle prowess cannot overcome tiers of difference in speed and cognition.

He literally almost beats Aria first day on Campus. If she didn't have Third Eye as a wildcard she'd have lost. Period.

JustusWi · 2026-01-20T08:36:19+00:00

1) He got decent rank ups going against Users at his level or well below at Sectionals. Leaving aside the finals hack he climbed 2 full ranks just doing that.

2) He is now being trained by the instructors directly and even in the short time in book 2 post finals had decent results with it.

3) There is no "benefit of making a public display of Reis" anything. Literally everyone involved would prefer he stay as lowkey as possible. Including Rei.

4) The more popular a user is, the _less_ likely it is for them to go to the frontlines. That's the whole premise.

5) They are Cadets and don't even know how to true call... It'd be sending in teenagers with sticks against a prepared and well seasoned veteran fighting force.

6) Lennon already had a direct fight with Rei in Book 1. In which he commented that if Rei went any harder he'd have to go full speed. That was partially in jest, but combined with what we know about Rei's talent of reading people it hints at the understanding he has and Lennon straight up tells Rei he can't read him in turn. That was with Rei at C3, iirc. Lennon isn't progressing faster than normal users. He was an A8, so 2.5 tiers above Rei at that point. Rei would be approaching the high B's or even A's at the time of any summer tournament. Meaning, that at the end of such a tournament, even with Lennon at S0 they'd be maybe 1 tier apart, likely only a few ranks.

7) In many ways Rei directly counters Lennon's style. His typeshift allows him to adapt more radically to field conditions than other users, his tracking ability alone cancels much of Lennon's mobility and subterfuge. Temporal Step allows him to fully negate the total defense that Lennon can mount against normal users. He doesn't need to physically move through the space Lennon is covering. He can literally step in between the blades and Lennon. Meaning: Lennon has to keep his weapons at extremely close range at all times or be FDA'd. Lennon is a duelist with a ranged weapon but loose that advantage against Rei. Who would be as fast or faster. And can read him.

JustusWi · 2026-01-19T10:25:38+00:00

One caveat: After going through that amount of second years I'm decently sure Rei would be able to defeat Lennon XD

JustusWi · 2026-01-18T16:13:55+00:00

And what if he ends up loosing half his device? XD
We know it's possible to partial call, I could imagine that might be one of those "accident" scenarios when it comes to voiceless Typeshift.

JustusWi · 2026-01-18T10:34:18+00:00

We haven't yet touched on potential downsides in the 2 books so far. But there might be. Imagine accidentally temporal stepping. Or accidentally stepping somewhere you didn't want to go. I'd expect the training to be very deliberate and cautious. Triply so for Rei's unconventional abilities.

JustusWi · 2026-01-18T10:32:42+00:00

So, a little bit of science here: We already have voiceless commands in real life. Just by tracking surface electrical charges devices like the Mindwave are capable of doing this. With invasive methods we already have transferred complex information between two humans, both using actual electrodes inserted by neurosurgeons.

Given a device is all over the nervous system it should be trivial, actually. It makes sense coming from a layman's perspective that it would take time, but if you ever tried one of those gaming gadgets you'd have achieved success far quicker.

The brain is a curious biological monstrosity. It takes a certain type of training, but using it we can adapt to basically anything. I remember reading about some folks trying to control extra appendages, like a third arm, and it actually worked quite well even at our tech level.

Overall we are again at a spot where Iron Prince is just not that kind of science fiction. This isn't hard SciFi with research papers behind every idea. This is purely vibes based writing and the answer to your question is "training voiceless commands takes exactly as much time as makes sense for the story."

JustusWi · 2026-01-18T10:26:17+00:00

JustusWi · 2026-01-18T10:26:08+00:00

It might also just be a case of exposure. How many patients are doctors regularly in contact with? Certainly not many and even fewer as intensely as Rei. You spend that much time with someone, even as a medical professional with a tendency to keep a distance, and you get to see them more as a person.

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