TURN 3
Map:
Squad Alpha:
Brom
Hema wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2017 9:41 pm
Detritus wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2017 9:10 pm
Hema wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2017 9:06 pm
Didn't know that you were that kind of guy, Miles. Have to say, I'm rather shocked.
I supposed that's none of my business though. You can play with her corpse after we finish the mission."
"........Brom? That's.... that's not what I meant. I meant.... ooooh boy. Can we just retrieve her. I'll carry her corpse in my ship thing on the way back."
Oh, sorry Miles, my mistake. Your request sounded a bit shady is all. You can go and retrieve her body after the mission provided we aren't being attacked, and that she isn't "vapor" as Lemons put it. I'm sure there will be
something left."
((Edit for actions))
"Okay squad, listen up. The right squid is mine; I'll make him wish he had never come to this colony.
Miles has claimed the one on the far left. Give him hell, Miles.
That leaves Buck with the two center fighters. If you can't take them both out, just go for one and we'll worry about the other later.
Now let's move! I want to see them dead or dying within the next couple minutes!"
Fly over the ridge with the rest of the squad an break off to deal with the fighter on the far right.
When I get within one and a half kilometers of the right fighter, fire off a shot from my railgun (at the far right fighter), and begin evasive maneuvers to avoid getting hit.
If (after I finish with my attack) it looks like Buck is having trouble with his targets, fly in and try to distract one of them (while obviously trying to avoid taking serious damage myself.)
After your little pep talk and tactics discussion, you take your ship and fly it over the ridge, and then down the other side. Buck breaks off and flies ahead of you, and Miles stays slightly behind and to your left. You turn and head toward the enemy fighter on the far right of their formation.
The colony is vast, but not as large as it could be. The population must be at least 50,000, by your estimate. The buildings sprawl low and close to the ground - intricately decorated with a great deal of stylistic flair, but otherwise unassuming cookie-cutter buildings that scream of a rapid assembly line manufacturing process: Greenish metallic beams holding up curved, square-domed roofs of a translucent whitish material that reflect the Nanyejian orange-pink sky.
As soon as you're within range, you take careful aim and fire a solid shot with your railgun. It makes a loud
CRACK sound and a bright flash - according to your screens, zoomed in on the enemy, the projectile hits its target almost immediately, ripping a nice-sized hole in their frame. They return fire - arcs of small plasma-based projectiles, which you nimbly evade - and the enemies break off in four different directions before regrouping in the north. Buck, however, is not so lucky as you. His ship gets hit - badly - and when you maneuver to get a better view, you see that a series of shots has completely ripped open a very concentrated section of the rear of his CASKET. Meanwhile, Lemons is doing an insane acrobatic stunt, and Miles is staring blankly at the enemy.
As the hiltorel come back around for another pass, you take note of Buck retreating and gallantly throw yourself in harm's way to save him from enemy fire. As the fighters come back around from the north, they fire - you tank the hit - a laser blast that hits somewhere behind your cockpit. You can't tell the extent of the damage, but seeing as you're still flying without much extra difficulty, you imagine it can't be too bad.
"Bad", though, is exactly the word you would use to describe Lemons' current situation: all four enemy fighters seem to have focused him, and he's all alone a few kilometers west.
This is
not looking good. Worse still, you've completely lost track of the high-leveled enemy fighter; it's no longer showing up on your map.
Lemons
Triggerhappy wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2017 11:57 pm
((
These actions must be JUST RIGHT.
Me trying to figure out these actions:
))
Take one of the Lock-On missiles for my Rocket Launcher, and on the side, where it would not cause a detonation, write with my space-pen: 'With love, to whom it may concern, from Lemons.'
Kiss the rocket.
Load said missile into the Rocket Launcher, and secure it where I can quickly grab it..
On command, with the squad, cross the ridge, and head towards the four hostiles.
Evade any incoming fire.
Plug my flash drive into the control panel.
Play 'Feel Invincible' by 'Skillset'.
Grin.
"Distract them."
Make sure I am strapped into the seat well.
Put on my helmet.
Direct my CASKET down, close to the colony structures, and use the structures for cover to close the distance to the enemy line.
Grab my Rocket Launcher with the Lock-On missile I wrote on.
When underneath the lower-most undamaged enemy fighter, direct my ship up, and perform a flip overhead the targeted enemy, keeping outside of the blast range of my rocket exploding on the enemy hull, flying from one side of the hostile, over it, and down the other side, back into cover of the colony buildings, trying to maneuver so I am hard to track with their slow turn rate.
While performing the flip maneuver, open the canopy, and make sure it's pointed down at the enemy when I am directly above it.
Lock onto the targeted enemy with the lock-on missile while performing top portion of the up-side-down flip, doing my best to lock onto a weak spot like a cockpit, engines, or other weaknesses...
Yell "URRRRAHHHHHHHH!"
...and fire it when it locks, while flipped over. (( I understand both my strength and exo suit bonus stats are used for this shot? ))
Continue evading as I flip the CASKET back over, give the smoke a moment to clear out of my space, and close the canopy, as I fall back into cover behind the enemy line.
Use the colony structures as cover.
Your other three squadmates boldly dive over the top of the ridge, while you hang behind, loading your rocket launcher. You've got other things to deal with - more important things - things that could mean the difference between the utter failure of the mission and absolute success.
You're going to write a message to the person you shoot with the rocket.
...But as it soon turns out, your bulky suit inhibits your movement in the already-cramped cockpit. You manage to whack your helmet on the canopy, and almost kick the control panel with your foot - and all you're trying to do is turn around. The manual said that the back of your chair will fold down and there's a small compartment behind it... but you can't even turn around to find out. This does
not bode well - a dark omen. Feeling uncomfortable, you kiss your rocket anyway and load it into the tube.
It's at this point you realize that your allies are already well ahead of you - shouting things to each other over the comms as they descend the northern side of the ridge. You fire up your engines and follow as quickly as you dare, plugging your flash drive into an ancient port. A song plays:
Feel Invincible. And, just as hoped, you
feel invincible. A rush of adrenaline fills your veins as you roll aside, dodging enemy fire as you plunge into the fray. "Distract them!" you shout. You've strapped yourself firmly into your seat, your helmet is on tight - you're ready for action - and you dive beneath the charging fighters, whipping your CASKET into a roll to the left. Your rocket launcher in hand, you slam your hand on the switch to open your CASKET's canopy as you pull up into a loop. Your canopy opens, revealing the dusty, pinkish-orange Nanyejian sky. A light wind rushes past your helmet as you shoot like a rocket up into the sky. Your target approaches - they'll fly right under you. You grin madly. You are the tidal wave. You are the fire. No one can stop you. As you reach the top of the loop, you hold your rocket launcher tightly between your legs in front of you, aiming it at the enemy. It begins beeping as it locks on.
"URRRRAHHHHHHHH!!!" you roar like a battle cry, feeling like an invincible god.
But you never get to fire. The enemy never passes beneath you. Confused, feeling somewhat dazed and high on adrenaline, you look about, trying to figure it out, and you realize all four of the enemies have broken off and headed north-east. You didn't even get a chance to make the shot.
Your zeal rapidly leaves you. You begin listening to the comms of your allies: Buck is hit, and bad apparently. The enemies aren't retreating - they're breaking off for another pass. You pull out of the loop and close the canopy, but hardly in time. Lasers flash over your CASKET - at least two of the hiltorel fighters are targeting you. A beam slices over the right side of your ship; leaks burst out and your level flight begins to list; another beam crosses directly over your cockpit. Screens flash that various systems have failed, just before they die completely as a beam melts a trail across them. Your music abruptly stops, and in their place, alarms begin sounding: your life support is gone, your thruster systems are damaged. You're beginning to feel a little unnerved.
The hiltorel fighters zip past, firing another shot at you from behind with their turrets.
Not knowing what else to do, you begin looking for cover between the colony buildings - which is precisely when you realize that there cannot be any good cover between the buildings. Every single building here is built low and close to the ground, with rounded walls and rooftops. You decide to try anyway, taking cover between two buildings with a broad view of the sky. Terrified hiltorellian citizens scream and panic around you, getting away from where your CASKET hovers - and not without good reason. The hiltorel fighters are coming around for another pass - and this time all four of them are headed directly for you.
You feel
very stressed.
Buck
Hapchazzard wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2017 12:04 pm
"Pffft, I don't need no help."
Fly over the ridge
Head full speed towards the two fighters in the center, but do not get too far ahead compared to the rest of my squad
Fire the MFM at the eastern central fighter (once in range)
Try and disable the other fighter's engine/antigrav/whatever holds it above ground, in an attempt to knock it off the sky (this is a hacking action, do it only once, also when in range)
if I feel like I am being overwhelmed by the enemies
-Retreat in whatever direction I feel is safest (probably eastward, definitely not southwards)
You fly over the ridge, heading full speed toward the two enemy fighters in the center of the formation - but you're careful not to get
too far ahead of the rest of your squad. As you dive downward toward the colony, you begin charging your MFM, inputting the appropriate formulas for this particular maneuver. It's a complicated process, and takes some time. While you work, Brom and Miles fire their weapons at two of their own targets - and Lemons has already fallen far behind.
Suddenly you realize that you've been focused by two of the enemies at once: streams of pink plasma projectiles arc out toward you just as you slam the big red button to fire your MFM. Your target - the one attacking Miles, over to your right, visibly stutters and begins flying somewhat erratically: a direct hit, with some effect... but it's not a kill.
A few bursts of plasma crash into your CASKET behind the canopy, spraying bits of debris. Your engines begin making a chugging sound - power in your cockpit flickers, and then most of the computer screens abruptly go dark. The only ones still lit are your hacking panels - which you suppose is fortunate, but still very worrying. Upon closer inspection, it turns out to be worse: The power is (mostly) fine... but your ship's central computer is completely dead. It's no wonder all the screens are blank.
Not skipping a beat, you utilize your hacking skills to try to hack one of the fighters that just attacked you - the one heading to the north - but it's no good. You're so rattled you can't even get into their systems. It does at least confirm that your hacking computer and central computer are two entirely different systems... but things don't look good. The enemy fighters come back around - one of them toward you. You're not dealing with this shit. Not wasting any time, you break off and head east - and Brom takes the enemy fire in your stead. Your ship is near-crippled now, with the loss of your central computer, and the only one that could have fixed it is currently dead. Things don't look good.
Miles
Detritus wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:14 am
Follow Brom over the ridge.
"I actually have not the faintest idea how my laser works."
When Brom fires,
Fire my laser at the hostile on the far left.
Avoid enemy fire.
You fly over the ridge behind Brom, heading full speed toward the enemy fighters. "I actually have not the faintest idea how my laser works," you warn... but Brom seems to believe in you, so you decide to go out on a limb and believe in yourself too - or at least try to.
This pays off. As you hear the
CRACK of Brom's railgun firing, your hands move and find the controls for the laser - and you fire as well. Your aim is off, but at least you're sure now that you know how to fire it. Only instants later, a volley of enemy plasma fire whizzes past to your right. It completely misses you, thanks to Buck's intervention with his Microwave Field Manipulator.
Then you sit there and watch Lemons's crazy display of acrobatics. Nothing comes of it. In fact, he now has all four enemies focusing him, and his ship is in terrible condition. He'll be lucky if he survives.
Squad Beta:
Frank
F4wk35 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2017 11:54 am
*Sighing in relief*
We managed to shake them off for now! An- And there are the scavengers.
"Uhm, Cho...? We ki- kinda were told that scavengers are quite...rare sights, yes? We...got some here though. You have any Idea what kind of threat we can expect of those here?"
"Anybody got ideas? I- I am not that experienced a fighter..."
Observe the incoming fighters and look in what condition they are.
Ready the microwave manipulator
When the fighters cross the border of 1.5 kilometers
-Inform Caleb which scavenger to attack (One that's not been called out by Saoirse)
-Shoot said scavenger with the MFM
Take cover
Attempt to hack the turret controls of Bob's scavenger and attempt to hinder their targetting
Using your CASKET's screens to zoom in, you take a careful look at the fighters and the area of the nacelle. The nacelle itself is monstrous - it casts a great shadow over much of the proceedings around it, and in its shadow lies a massive cargo hauler. Various fighters and small craft abound - and the three coming toward you look like cheap mercenary craft, composed of patchwork plating. They're certainly nothing like the hiltorel craft that SCAMPS described.
"Hit the leftmost one, Caleb," you say, calling out your target. It's the one closest to your group anyway, relatively speaking.
As Bob gets into some sort of conversation with one of them, you ready your microwave field emitter, aiming at the one nearest to you - who appears to be getting ready to fire at Saoirse, Bob, and Gearhead's group. As soon as your calculations are complete, you lock on and hit the Big Red Button to fire your MFM - but unfortunately, it registers a near-miss on your computers; you miscalculated and your target was only warmed. You begin looking about for a target to hack - a different target - as you fly into cover... and as you're distracted, a group of swarm missiles crash directly into your portside robotic arm, nearly throwing you out of the sky from the blast. When you manage to right yourself, you realize that your left-side robotic arm is nothing more than a stump now, sticking out of its mount.
Not to worry, though, the rest of your CASKET is completely fine - and better than that, the enemies are actually retreating. You finish getting into cover and then start working on hacking the target that Saoirse and the others had called out, breathing a sigh of relief as your skills allow you to easily cleave through the enemies' firewalls. You place a bug in their system to screw up their targeting - successfully, too - but it doesn't end up mattering. Bob promptly manages to destroy its engines, and it spirals out of the sky toward the ground a kilometer away, where it explodes. A clean kill, if you've ever seen one - assuming you ever have.
Far in the distance, the massive freighter you spotted earlier rises from the desert floor, trundling slowly toward the south as it gains altitude.
Bob
Cha0zz wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2017 12:20 pm
"Everybody follow Bob!"
Open a comms channel to the scavengers
"Hello Messrs. tentacles. "
"Meh Bob"
"We no want to hurt you, but we stronk and will hurt you if you not get out of our way"
"If you not go away Jimmy says he eat calamara as dinner"
Get in cover and take aim at the scavengers.
When/if they come closer (within 1.5 squares from me):
- Open fire on the nearest scavenger with my laser (1shot)
When/if they come within particle gun range:
- open fire with my Particle gun (1shot)
You open an unencrypted comm channel to the scavengers. "Hello Messrs. tentacles. Meh Bob. We no want to hurt you, but we stronk, and will hurt you if you not get out of our way. If you no go away, Jimmy says he eat calamara as dinner!"
Astonishingly, you get a response from the leader of the group - with a distinctly human accent, although his voice sounds slightly distorted.
"Look man - Bob, I guess," he says,
"We're just here to make sure you hold off while the Vesuvius gets off the ground. If you stay back, we won't give you any trouble either. You can go back to raiding or doing whatever after. Just following orders."
It's not a response you like. You follow Saoirse and Gearhead into cover on the rightmost wall of the canyon, getting ready to fire.
"Have it your way, then," the man says. A stream of bullets and rockets erupt from their loose formation as they close the gap to within a kilometer. Saoirse and Gearhead follow suit with their weapons. While Saoirse gets hit, you seem to be all right, and take careful aim on the one that Saoirse hit with the bubble-gun - just as the trio of enemies begins to retreat. One of them fires a couple rockets at you as they go, but both of them miss. You focus on that particular fighter, and are pleased to see your lasers carve a dark trail across its engines. In your excitement, you open fire with with particle cannon as well, which causes the craft's two engines to sputter and die completely; a black, churning ribbon of smoke winds upwards from the nearby fighter as it dives toward the ground and explodes.
This actually went
really well.
Saoirse
Dinosawer wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2017 3:02 pm
"Got it, Bob!"
First, time for appropriate background music!
Then, I fly towards the canyon wall ((towards the middle of I10, but not quite in the middle as that's solid rock of course)) to stay out of LOS of the enemies until they get closer.
Once at least one is in range, I peep from behind the wall
Then I communicate which enemy I'm going to attack (the one that seems the most threatening or the one best in range), and give Gearhead a bit of time to do his hacking
then I fire a bubble and direct it to that enemy's engines, shouting "BUBBLES!".
When fired at, I use my PSI to do an evasive spinny thingy.
Playing some
appropriate background music over the comms, you fly toward the canyon wall across the valley alongside Gearhead and Bob. Frank and Caleb, meanwhile, split up and head toward the left. Bob manages to contact the enemy fighters, and then, as soon as they're in range, you decide which one you're going to hit. Calling out your target, you fire a stream of default-spec bubbles toward that enemy's engines, shouting "BUBBLES!" Bob and Gearhead also fire their associated weaponry - your bubbles travel in a sweeping curve. Bullets from a different enemy ping against your hull before you have time to evade - a trail down the port side, with a loud
TAT TAT TAT TAT. Your left robotic arm in particularly seems a bit worse for wear, but you're still flying strong, and in fact, feeling pretty good as you finish your attack; the bubbles exploe against the enemy ship with soft flashes of pastel-colored light.
After you dodge their return fire - a group of swarm missiles - the three enemies break away after their brief attack, flying back toward their base. Bob actually manages to take one of them down, their engines spiraling smoke as their ship dives toward the terrain. When it hits the ground, it makes an appropriate explosion: a definite kill.
It seems your brief skirmish has ended in your favor: and no wonder - it was 5 vs 3. How could you have lost?
Caleb
cuisinart8 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2017 4:26 pm
Wonderful, I just
love communications issues. At least these guys aren't quite as lethal as the military. Bob's method of dealing with them is...unconventional, to say the least, but honestly I wouldn't have been much stealthier.
"Roger that, let's take these guys down!"
I stick with Frank and fire at his target once he opens fire himself. I evade any incoming fire.
"Hit the leftmost one, Caleb," Frank says over the comms. You eye it carefully - a surprisingly human-looking craft.
You stick carefully with Frank as he does his calculations. It's not hard: he's hardly moving. This turns out to be a bad thing, rather than a good thing: both of you are directly within the enemies' line of sight, and as a result, you and Frank are the ones they decide to target.
All of you fire at roughly the same time - you and Frank, and the enemies: Your laser carves a gash down the side of your designated target - a direct hit. In fact, the ship begins trailing smoke. Meanwhile, Saoirse and the others are focusing an entirely different one.
And that's when they hit: A barrage of bullets slams into your CASKET, thudding loudly -
RATA TAT TAT TAT TATA TATATAT - geysers of some sort of liquid spew out with a hiss into the Nanyejian atmosphere, just outside the right side of your canopy. At least one of your maneuvering thrusters also seem to be down - you're hit, but not bad. You didn't even have time to evade, so it's not like it's your fault. The enemies are within a few kilometers now, but they turn and begin retreating after Saoirse's fusillade of bubbles hits one of them. Bob quickly manages to shoot that one down afterwards - it plunges to the valley floor below with an explosion.
A decisive victory - for this small skirmish, at least.
Gearhead
Cornflakes_91 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2017 4:35 pm
"Squad Beta! i'd suggest that we distribute our fire to hit all of them. Frank and Caleb take one, Saoirse and I take another, Bob has enough firepower to take one alone"
Stick to Saoirse
hack her target's maneuvering thrusters to increase chances of hitting
fire at her target with the forceps laser
use PSI capabilities for evasive maneuvers
You stick close to Saoirse as she flies toward the rightmost canyon wall, concentrating on hacking her target's maneuvering thrusters. Unfortunately, it's not a system you've seen before, and it confuses you: you manage to figure it out, but not before anti-hack systems engage and lock you out. A large part of this is that they detected the hack and started firing at you. While you nimbly managed to avoid the stream of bullets, it broke your concentration. You fire back with your forceps laser, but it doesn't seem to actually hit - in fact, you're pretty sure you missed.
Somehow, Bob actually manages to take it down anyway, wrecking the engines. It tumbles to the sandy valley floor below and explodes.
That went really well.