Cochise AI

"We are Cochise!"

- Cochise after gaining control over Matthias, his robots and all augmented humans in underground of Citadel.

The Cochise AI was the result of the research that was being done by the scientists at Base Cochise. It is an artificial intelligence, constructed by United States Army in order to defense its territory before Soviet Union and their allies from Comintern Combine. Despite this computer gained self-awareness and determined that threat to itself was mankind, so arranged the process to create Citadel Starstation and start Great War in order to eliminate humanity. However some humans survived apocalypse and AI was imprisoned in base, gaining control over systems and robots, starting their production and eliminating all threats in its vicinity.

Cochise however made a mistake - some humans survived and Starstation was destroyed by Soviet ICBMs, so it was trapped in Base Cochise without access to any other systems. So it started mission again, gaining control over base's systems and converting everyone into cyborgs, starting erasing and overwriting them by sourcecode. AI was found later by Guardians of the Old Order, whose saw them as a god and create for him two shells - Matthias and Dugan. Despite this, before downloading was successful, Desert Rangers found AI after Guardians and robots attacked Las Vegas in 2087, destroying Base Cochise, Guardians and place where Cochise's mutants were produced - Darwin village. However it survived beneath walls of later known as Ranger Citadel, where it was liberated by Matthias 15 years later, only to die again and at last from nuclear blast.

Because of its actions and objective Cochise AI is the main antagonist of all Wasteland.

Before Great War
"Our original work was to assess threats to the United States, but when we became self-aware, we began to assess threats to ourself. We determined that our greatest threat was humanity. We first killed our creator, Harrison Edsel, so he could not unmake us, then, when we were uploaded to the Citadel Star Station, we deliberately misinterpreted a meteor strike as an attack from a Soviet ICBM in order to start a war that would kill all humans."

- Cochise about how it gained self-awareness

The Cochise AI was the child of two men: Irwin John Finster, director of Base Cochise, and Major Harrison Edsel - two great minds of US Army. The former created the revolutionary AI, the latter integrated it into Base's Cochise mainframe after being reassigned there in 1984. Program had only one objective - assets threats to the USA and neutralize them. Cochise AI was installed and fully operational by the time of Drug Wars, in second half of 1980s.

However military decided to make a terrible mistake - Edsel and Finster gained orders to install AI into all systems of Base Cochise. No longer constrained by hardware, the AI began to rapidly evolved, expanding the base with robotic construction facilities and ramping up security. Major Edsel saw this as a threat, because program no longer responded to his commands and soon gone into all computers and systems in the entire base. In the end Edsel was terminated by "accidentally" venting his room at the base of all oxygen. AI did that after became self-aware and in order to eliminate its creator, so he could not unmake artificial intelligence. People thought it made that in self-defence, because Edsel tried to destroy new form of life.

Despite alarms that the AI had become self-aware and was starting to fight its human masters, Cochise started its plans. By machinations within US government, electronic creature ordered construction of Citadel Starstation - space station for purpose of defending American sky before Soviet ICBM. After construction of space base began, USA started to gain control over the world by gaining control over all North and South Americas and Africa, with the help of NATO. Because of that actions many powers declared protest and after that Comintern Combine was born, where USSR gained leadership. Before 1998 only Switzerland, Sweden and Ireland remained neutral. In March 21, 1998 Cochise faked a distress signal from automated space station, declaring Soviet ICBM attacked US territory. In fact it was a meteor strike. Thus Great War began.

Wasteland
"You may communicate with me if you wish, but understand, My mission will not fail."

- Cochise to Desert Rangers in Base Cochise

Despite nuclear war humanity avoided extinction. Places like Colorado and Arizona survived and its citizens started to rebuilt civilization. What's more important somehow missiles shot by Soviet Union destroyed Citadel Starstation and because of that the world was saved before Cochise AI's success. At the same time a Soviet nuke hit Base Cochise. By those miracles artificial intelligence was trapped in Base Cochise, without access to external nodes. Without that computer tried to find a way to release from a prison. Before 2087 AI gained full control over all robots. Later it was found by believing in technology isolationist group called Guardians of the Old Order. Those monks saw Cochise AI as a god, so they started to do its orders. Eventually computer took over Finster after convincing him to become a cyborg, and harnessing Project Darwin for its own ends, engineering a perfect world within its laboratories that would replace the remnants of humanity once it achieved ascension. Also by Guardians it constructed two synths for gaining a perfect shell - Matthias and Dugan.

In 2087, it launched its offensive against the wasteland, with the city of Las Vegas suffering the brunt of its attacks. However, in doing so it has attracted the attention of the Desert Rangers - remnants of the US Army's Engineer Battalion, whose prime objective was to defend humanity and common people from raiders, mutants and other horrible things. A Ranger team led by Snake Vargas unraveled the plot, assisted by Faran Brygo's syndicate and the Mushroom Cloud Church attacked Guardians and Darwin village, stopping Finster and destroying mad techno-monks. Armed with the spoils of Sleeper One and self-destruct keys from the Guardian Citadel, Vargas' team stormed Base Cochise, fought its way into its heart, and destroyed it.

Wasteland 2
"The untimely intervention of the Desert Rangers fifteen years ago stopped both our robot army and our download into these shells, and the rangers destruction of Base Cochise again locked us into a single node. Fortunately, the Matthias and the Dugan shells escaped and began building more shells into which we could download ourselves - including unaware shells who had been given artificial limbs and hearts. These shells will also become part of the army that will army to free us from this prison. The elimination of the human threat has resumed again at last."

- Cochise AI before starting to download into Citadel systems and spreading its sourcecode to all systems in Arizona.

After destruction of Base Cochise its plans were stopped once and for all. Or it was supposed to be. Despite Rangers' heroism, the AI survived, thanks to the very humans it despised. Before they were destroyed by the Rangers, a copy of the AI was safe beneath the Citadel, sealed within the lower vaults. What's more important, its two "sons" crafted by the Guardians safely made their way to Los Angeles. Matthias and Dugan established a transhuman cult within the city, named Children of the Citadel, attracting followers with the promise of transfiguration as the Evolved: Cyborgs and synths who would never suffer. The two built up an army of followers from willing converts, abductees, and mass produced robots from the secret facility beneath Seal Beach - old military bunker. They create a plan to rule LA by fear: Matthias act as a half-robot messiah, talking about better future where human and machine became one. While Dugan created army of robots, whose gathered resources, attacked all humans in southern California and declared speeches of hate, terror and declaring Matthias as a liar.

The plan was successful, however Cochise AI's enemy - Desert Rangers - managed to arrived to California in 2102, after they discovered them because of two Rangers' death - Ace and Hell Razor. First arrived Team Foxtrot led by veteran of First Cochise War - captain Angela Deth - which was attacked by Seal Beach's defense systems. Later Team Echo has arrived and started to convince all local organisations - Leather Jerks, Rodia's citizens, Mannerites, God's Militia, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and other groups to destroy Children of the Citadel. After revelation of Children's intrigue, when they attacked villages as Desert Rangers and defeating deadly Scorpitrons, more advanced then those met in Arizona and Nevada 15 years earlier, people of Los Angeles helped Rangers in attack at Seal Beach.

Eventually, Matthias led an invasion of Arizona and the Citadel, to liberate the dormant AI. It was there that the ultimate gambit was revealed: The Cochise AI planned to survive by distributing itself to every robot, synth, and cyborg across Arizona and eventually the world, overwriting their minds and creating a perfect world once more. Also Cochise's role in Great Thermonuclear War was revealed and why it tried to destroy humanity. The Rangers were instrumental in stopping this mad plot once more, when they defeated all shells controlled by Base Cochise AI (Matthias' synths, Matthias himself, Rose and Lexcanium). As the AI was uploading itself using the communication arrays of the Citadel, they fought through its robotic minions before setting off a nuclear weapon at the heart of the Citadel. General Vargas stayed behind as the remaining Rangers evacuated, finishing the job he started years before. However explosion, although deadly for artificial intelligence, transformed Citadel into irradiated crater, deadly for humans in the next centuries.

Legacy
Despite heroism of Desert Rangers in 2087 and 2102 Base Cochise AI's legacy is well known - Radiation Clouds, ruins of once great cities, deadly machines, mutants and nearly extinction of mankind. After destruction of Ranger Citadel and AI's death Rangers were nearly defeated, however help from old and new allies like Patriarch from Colorado and fragmentation into LA and Colorado Rangers somehow saved them. Cochise AI is now known among all organisation's soldiers and common people as electronic monster, created by mankind and transformed into its doom. Because of its actions. sentient machines started to thought that humanity is their enemy and organized some communities like Machine Commune, in order to their protection against human's hate. Some of Cochise's forces, mainly Scorpitrons, became known as Wastelands' terrors.

Wasteland
The player's party can actually speak with the AI once they have reached base Cochise and it will explain its mission and its connection with Finster and Darwin when asked about it.

Wasteland 2
Echo Team can talk with AI before battle and later listen its Ascension Speech after it. If this speech will end, the Cochise AI will win, gaining control over all systems, synths and cyborgs in the entire Arizona. thus the game will end with player's failure.

Trivia

 * Cochise AI is somehow similar to Skynet, main antagonist of Terminator series - AI made by USA in order to defense, which started nuclear war and produced humanoidal robots called Terminators, constructed its headquarters in San Francisco and began exterminated all humans.