FIELD REPORT // SECOND SIGNAL, ZERO SETUP

< Back to transmissions

⚠ SIGNAL PARTIALLY DEGRADED ⚠

TOP SECRET

EYES
ONLY

// CLASSIFICATION: UMBRA-7 — UNAUTHORISED ACCESS IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE //

ORIGIN: ENCRYPTED — SOURCE UNKNOWN

DATE: 04 / 08 / 2026

CLEARANCE: SIGMA BLACK

STATUS

PARTIAL RECOVER

INTEGRITY

88% RECOVERED

PRIORITY

ELEVATED

TYPE

FIELD REPORT

// TRANSMISSION SUBJECT

FIELD REPORT // SECOND SIGNAL, ZERO SETUP

DEVELOPMENT

⚠ TRANSMISSION PARTIALLY DEGRADED — SOME DATA BLOCKS IRRECOVERABLE — ⚠

// TRANSMISSION STATUS

RELAY: LIVE OPERATIONAL FEED
ENCRYPTION: STANDARD
DATA INTEGRITY: 88% RECOVERED

— FIELD REPORT — PRIORITY: ELEVATED —

// OPERATIONAL ASSESSMENT

The last report confirmed a command node doesn’t need a second one to function. This one is about what happens when a second one shows up.

// TWO PATHS, SAME RESULT

We tested co-op two ways. Direct IP — the traditional route, the one that needs an address and an open port. And over Steam, using its own relay network.

Both worked. Same loop, same result, no difference in what happened once you were in.

The difference is what it takes to get there. Direct IP means someone finds an address, forwards a port, and hopes their router cooperates. Over Steam, a friend clicks Join Game. That’s the whole process.

// FIELD OBSERVATION — RECOVERED LOG FRAGMENT

Remote operator. Separate hardware, separate network, separate continent.

Joined via Steam. No IP address exchanged. No port forwarded.

Connected in under two seconds, over Steam’s relay network.

Arrived in the same base architecture, under the same authority model, as any other player — no special-cased path for the join.

Full task loop run under live remote conditions: deployment, mission, return, resolution.

Research run on both ends at once — each operator started and completed their own task independently. Neither saw the other’s result.

Warehouse stock crafted on both ends at once — different items, different operators. Neither saw the other’s stock.

No desync. No rollback. No manual intervention.

Held for the full session.

Sovereign held under every one of those conditions. Two research tasks running at once stayed two separate results, not one shared pool. Two warehouses filling up at once stayed two separate warehouses. Trade and cooperation between bases is planned. It isn’t built yet, and nothing about this test pretended otherwise.

// WHY IT MATTERS

Most players are never going to forward a port for a game. That’s not a knock on them — it’s just true, and it’s the actual barrier between "co-op sounds fun" and "co-op happens."

Sovereign bases were always the design. Each commander runs their own base, nobody’s waiting on anybody. But the model only matters if getting a second commander in the door is actually easy. Now it is.

// ANALYST NOTE

Two connection paths, one confirmed result. The one that matters for most players needs nothing from them but a click.

Development continues. Next transmission when there is something worth transmitting.

⚠ THIS DOCUMENT WILL SELF DESTRUCT ⚠

DOC-ID: MCG-TX-FIELD / REV.█