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PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
The BLACKBEARD has obviously taken some damage, but its not on its last legs or anything. It is a Size 1 mech fighting a Size 3 opponent, but BLACKBEARDs are also highly mobile.

Which is a long way of saying something bad may happen to the pilot if you don't help, but its not guaranteed.

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The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

B. We need bigger guns

PoultryGeist posted:

It is a Size 1 mech fighting a Size 3 opponent

The size 1 is designed from the ground up for CQC tho, whereas the constructibot is being used off-label.

malbogio
Jan 19, 2015

B

MaliciousOnion
Sep 23, 2009

Ignorance, the root of all evil
A: Hold Out For Reinforcements

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?

The Lone Badger posted:

The size 1 is designed from the ground up for CQC tho, whereas the constructibot is being used off-label.

Yeah, definitely no warranty replacement if we wreck the constructibot. Unless we fudge the insurance report...

paragon1
Nov 22, 2010

FULL COMMUNISM NOW
B

Distracting that thing means drawing its attention to us, and that just sounds like a fantastically bad idea.

Kai Tave
Jul 2, 2012
Fallen Rib
While option C is a tempting one, we're not really kitted out for this sort of David-and-Goliath combat just yet. B gets us into our mech.

Volmarias
Dec 31, 2002

EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...
C, give an assist

dont be mean to me
May 2, 2007

I'm interplanetary, bitch
Let's go to Mars


Nah we gotta put our own oxygen mask badass robot suit on first.

B

A Wizard of Goatse
Dec 14, 2014

That thing's got A bunch of arms, it can smash more than one thing at a time

Blasphemaster
Jul 10, 2008

D. Zoom at it's control base or whatever with our jetpack and use our hacking knife on it while everyone else distracts it with covering fire.

Jossar
Apr 2, 2018

Current status: Angry about subs :argh:
B

Kristopher
Jun 28, 2006
B

Toughy
Nov 29, 2004

KAVODEL! KAVODEL!

B
Is there anything we could throw/shoot/set off that would also distract the construction bot as we ran?

Kai Tave
Jul 2, 2012
Fallen Rib

Toughy posted:

B
Is there anything we could throw/shoot/set off that would also distract the construction bot as we ran?

Flip it off.

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?

Toughy posted:

Is there anything we could throw/shoot/set off that would also distract the construction bot as we ran?

Kai Tave posted:

Flip it off.


With enough skill, a fly-by mooning may also be possible.


Realtalk, unfortunately Space OSHA is on the ball and there are no explosive barrels or fragile high-energy conduits in the parade ground area. You might be able to detonate the BLACKBEARD's power core with your current weapons, but the pilot probably wouldn't appreciate that.

wiegieman
Apr 22, 2010

Royalty is a continuous cutting motion


Union is like "what would happen if we actually did things right in the future." It's quite astonishing.

A Wizard of Goatse
Dec 14, 2014

wiegieman posted:

Union is like "what would happen if we actually did things right in the future." It's quite astonishing.

They're pretty much exactly the Starship Troopers Federation, which I guess comes off as optimistic these days

A Wizard of Goatse fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Dec 9, 2018

paragon1
Nov 22, 2010

FULL COMMUNISM NOW
No they aren't. That statement is so incredibly off base that you've left the stadium and started working as a short order cook at Waffle House.

For starters, they won their bug war super easily. :colbert:

paragon1 fucked around with this message at 08:55 on Dec 9, 2018

Kai Tave
Jul 2, 2012
Fallen Rib

paragon1 posted:

No they aren't. That statement is so incredibly off base that you've left the stadium and started working as a short order cook at Waffle House.

It's...complicated. There's stuff that probably constitutes spoilers and so I won't go into too much detail but Union has been a lot of things in its history, and some of them haven't always been the nicest. There's a reason there are weapons rated for "total biome kill" operations (you can pilot one, in fact). That said contemporary Union is definitely not on the track of "service guarantees citizenship" and would rather not be fighting a forever war if they can help it. War in Lancer is presented less as a desirable and/or necessary component of human civilization and more as an unfortunate outcome stemming from things like clashing ideologies, generational trauma, and the military-industrial complex wanting to sell more guns, and Union may be much more of a traditional hegemony than something like Star Trek's Federation but they're currently a far cry from Starship Troopers' faux-enlightened crypto-fascism.

A Wizard of Goatse
Dec 14, 2014

like a third of the galaxy is directly owned by their version of Raytheon (competing with the other big state corporatist entity, Eugenics, Inc.) and every contact with a non-Union civilization in the sourcebook ends in them promptly tossing TBK weapons at it. There's not much crypto about it, they're just not being played for camp.

A Wizard of Goatse fucked around with this message at 13:42 on Dec 9, 2018

paragon1
Nov 22, 2010

FULL COMMUNISM NOW
Pretty hard for anyone to own a third of the galaxy when they're restricted to one spiral arm of it. And the copro-states are as much direct competitors with Union as they are a part of it. And if you're not counting any human civ as non-union then you've got exactly one data point that was a result of a breakdown in diplomacy and not general policy. Union is massive and complex and definitely not always the good guys, but calling them crypto-fascist is uncharitable to the point of being disingenuous.

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
Excerpt: Omninet Message Intercepts Incoming Amarkantak Station | re: BLUE MONDAY

Origin: SgtLing\Campbell Orbital\Silverburgh System | MINIMAL//IGNORE
Original Encryption: MSMC Cypher Pack 1 | MINIMAL//IGNORE
Body:
Heyya kiddo, glad to hear the op went well. You’ve pro’ly already got the license comm, but be aware that IPS-N was especially impressed. Their rep agreed to put you on the Yacht listing, so now you just have to work up the manna to afford your dream-boat. I’ve also processed the split for your fee earned, 20% to the ship fund, 30% to the Ciocelle 3 Restoration fund, 50% to Mirrorsmoke.

Now for the not-so-great news. While MSMC is happy to keep renting you out to these Liyongo folks (as long as you keep earning their retainers and don’t warcrime too badly), I’ve got one of my feelings about that system. The same IPS-N rep was bitching the hull blue, says Union denied direct passage for an Albatross ship to Liyongo. They’ve also classified the report on the Wayward Son attack, citing Administration Security. IPS-N/Albatross isn’t taking it lying down, so I think the system’s about to become a pissing match for the big boys. I know you’re probably seeing manna-signs in your eyes right now, but some day you’re going to get your rear end in a situation your mouth can't walk out of. Just keep an eye on your six, is all I’m saying.

PS: I’ve attached the file on the Tumaini and Meroe Colonial Settlement Doctrine. Don’t see much odd about it, the only thing that sticks out is that they chose a Familial-type SOLOMON NHP instead of the usual Virtue-types. But hell, my homeworld had an ICARUS back in the day, the NHP is mainly for insurance purposes anyways. | CLASSIFICATION BREACH//MESSAGE FLAGGED FOR REVIEW

Attachment:Tumaini_Meroe.info | INFORMATIONAL THREAT DETECTED//INFOWORMS DISPATCHED

A Wizard of Goatse
Dec 14, 2014

I was talking about the Aun, actually. There's a few concrete examples of how the Union and its corpro-states deal with people in practice between the flashpoints and the sample adventure and they pretty consistent on just how horrible they are. I'm not calling them crypto-fascists, they're just plain old fascists. If the f-word upsets you, an expansionist empire of habitually genocidal state corporatists with a penchant for valuing people mainly for their genetic quantum and running little volkisch people-zoos. What's missing, Speer's architecture?

malbogio
Jan 19, 2015

I'm starting to wonder if the Union was responsible for waking up the Tumaini's NHP and creating this crisis. Why else would the NHP have waited for centuries to act?

Maybe the Union needed a deniable asset to push the splinter Okafor faction into the fold as they wanted a stable and unified system. If so they underestimated the NHP as it now seems willing to destroy all of Liyongo to kill off the Okafors.

Maybe the Okafor gene line were pariahs because their progenitor crewmen was responsible for sacrificing the Tumaini to save the rest of the colonists.

It makes sense that the Tumaini's family-oriented NHP would be less suited to the psychological strain of losing its entire crew.

malbogio fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Dec 9, 2018

paragon1
Nov 22, 2010

FULL COMMUNISM NOW

A Wizard of Goatse posted:

I was talking about the Aun, actually. There's a few concrete examples of how the Union and its corpro-states deal with people in practice between the flashpoints and the sample adventure and they pretty consistent on just how horrible they are. I'm not calling them crypto-fascists, they're just plain old fascists. If the f-word upsets you, an expansionist empire of habitually genocidal state corporatists with a penchant for valuing people mainly for their genetic quantum and running little volkisch people-zoos. What's missing, Speer's architecture?

My problem is that you're taking qualities of specific factions that are held apart in the source book and applying it to the whole thing. Smith-Shimano isn't Union. Harrison Armory isn't Union. If they were Union then they'd just be called that. Insisting that they are is straight up incorrect. UN/HR wouldn't exist if they only valued people for their genetics, and source material makes it blatantly obvious that there's internal divisions on what exactly to do about the copro-states.

Additionally, there's a whole ideological framework underpinning fascism that makes it what it is, none of which is present at an interstellar level in Union. Expansionist hegemon does not equal fascist. You have to cherry-pick the absolute worst qualities of everyone in the setting, mix them all together, and portray it the worst possible light to even get in the neighborhood.

paragon1 fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Dec 10, 2018

CourValant
Feb 25, 2016

Do You Remember Love?

PoultryGeist posted:

You’ve seen them before, some sort of portable drydock or construction yard for starships. 15 meters tall at the base of its armatures, it easily carries multi-ton parts and rivets hull plating. And its maglocked above the main hangar entrance…

Are we still voting?

Vote: B: Run For the Hangar

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?

CourValant posted:

Are we still voting?


We are indeed, update will go up tomorrow if there's anyone else that wants to get a vote in

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
Merde, that thing is big. Too big to deal with right now. ”Yonas, get the rest out of the shaft. We’re going to make a break for it while the Albatross has its attention.”

Behind you work crew and Union pour out of the open panel, before slamming it shut against the press of security drones. Two quickly weld the seams closed. It won’t hold forever, but you don’t need it to. Yonas and Captain Okafor join you at the edge of the BLACKBEARD’s crater.

”Pilot-comrade, I have… concerns. The hesitation is clear in Yonas’ voice as his helmet angles up at the construction bot that’s trying to get a better grip on the mech.

”Non, shift-comrade we have the advantage here. Even in zeegee that thing is too massive to move quickly. It has to work the mag-clamps on its feet before it can do anything, if we’re quick and serpentine across we’ll be fine. Just watch its feet and move.” Yonas’ body language is still sceptical, but the Captain lays a hand on his arm and whispers something directly into his helmet’s pickup. He squares his shoulders and nods decisively.

(Targeting Roll, BLACKBEARD: 12, Success)

Above you, the BLACKBEARD fires off a handful of assault grapples into various points of the constructibot, pulling itslf out of the armature’s grasp and onto the machine’s back. The BLACKBEARD’s chain-axe takes a few chunks out of the heavy plating covering the attachment point for the various utility armatures. Its a good a chance as any.

”Ok now! Last one there buys the beer! The Union pilots and NavSec take the lead easily, the work-crew ranging out behind them in non-tactical clumps.

(Maneuver Roll, Union: 7, Failure)
(Maneuver Roll, Liyongese: 14, Success)


But their haste betrays them, as one of the constructibot’s enormous rivet-gun armatures shifts unexpectedly as it tries to draw a bead on the BLACKBEARD. The pilots scatter to (relative) safety, but two of the NavSecs are knocked over the edge of the parade grounds into the 2-kilometer drop to the surface. You and the work crew arrive at the hangar doors to find the pilots pounding fruitlessly on the access panel.

”Why aren’t the doors open! We have work to do!”

”Because Neives is taking the codebook down to the surface swamprat! Do you think they hand out the codes to restricted Union facilities to anyone that asks nicely?!”

You don’t even bother to respond to the out-of-place but familiar insult, and just give Yonas room to work with his cutter. A few moments later the emergency hatch is open and everyone is scrambling into the hangar. A handful of mechs and spacecraft stand at the ready, but no helpful lights brighten the dark space. You point to the mechs that the pilots are heading towards
”Shift-comrade! The automatics aren’t turning on, you’re going to have to help uncouple the mechs from the support frames!”

A few step take you up into Baby’s open cockpit, the comp/con gurgling a welcome. You begin the systems start-up, the main hangar doors luckily responding to the mech’s command. They open up in time to see the contructibot climb ‘down’ onto the parade grounds, two of its armatures hanging limply. The BLACKBEARD stands in front of it, one of its own armatures missing. Your hands fly over the controls, trying to finish activating Baby in time to lend a hand.

(Tech Roll: 19, Success)

Our Creepy Friend posted:

*Core Power: ONLINE
*Comp/Con Interlink: ONLINE
*Sentinel Drone Nexus: ONLINE
*//SCORPION v. 70.1: ONLINE
*GMS EVA Module: ONLINE
*MC-DLA Lgt. Drone Nexusx2: ONLINE
*MC-TL Thermal Rifle: ONLINE
*MC-SG Shotgun: ONLINE

Devotional: Fear Me, for only I have your best interests at heart.

Baby stands to her new full height, excess printstock cracking and falling off to reveal her gangly limbs and Basilisk emitter. Your HUD springs to life, loading in the Union pilots’ and Albatross’ data. Pilot… Safar and his BLACKBEARD are showing signs of serious battle-damage, and the Union mechs are a minute or two from full activity. Pilot Okafor pops up, her EVEREST rising up in one of the freight elevators.

A: Confront the Constructibot Directly
Step out and try and draw some fire until backup arrives.
B: Mess with PERSISTENCE/L'Étranger Non-physically
You chose an anti-EW shell for a reason. Try to break the intrusive control systems
C: Wait for Backup
You can provide some drone support to Pilot Safar, but don’t draw alot attention to yourself before you have more backup.

PoultryGeist fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Dec 13, 2018

Volmarias
Dec 31, 2002

EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...
B :unsmigghh:

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?


A

We have a gun. We have two guns and like 6 arms so we can shoot them both at the same time and still have multiple spare hands to chuck random heavy objects with. The target is a civilian construction robot that isn't built for combat. Don't overthink things, shoot it until something important breaks, it can't have that many redundancies or any real armor.

sheep-dodger
Feb 21, 2013

D Task our drones with catching the union pilots
While they're away B, engage our EWAR systems.

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?


Oh I like that +1 to sending the drones to save the Union guys

Hexenritter
May 20, 2001


sheep-dodger posted:

D Task our drones with catching the union pilots
While they're away B, engage our EWAR systems.

This.

malbogio
Jan 19, 2015

sheep-dodger posted:

D Task our drones with catching the union pilots
While they're away B, engage our EWAR systems.

+1

Jossar
Apr 2, 2018

Current status: Angry about subs :argh:

sheep-dodger posted:

D Task our drones with catching the union pilots
While they're away B, engage our EWAR systems.

Although boy does this ring true:

quote:

Devotional: Fear Me, for only I have your best interests at heart.

Azhais
Feb 5, 2007
Switchblade Switcharoo

sheep-dodger posted:

D Task our drones with catching the union pilots
While they're away B, engage our EWAR systems.

Another +1

Kristopher
Jun 28, 2006

sheep-dodger posted:

D Task our drones with catching the union pilots
While they're away B, engage our EWAR systems.

This is a solid plan. +1

Kai Tave
Jul 2, 2012
Fallen Rib
Sure, I'll go with the crowd. D and B. We aren't packing weaponry on par with our heavy machine gun so our direct offensive punch isn't quite as big as it used to be.

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MaliciousOnion
Sep 23, 2009

Ignorance, the root of all evil
Agree with D, but want to do A instead of B. Let's not show all our cards too early.

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