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PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
Decision 3 is just naming the current outpost. The first five are suggestions made by Captain\crew, the two O-suggestions are write-ins. No mechanical interaction.

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Blasphemaster
Jul 10, 2008

Can we let the robots name it?

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

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


We are the robot

Blasphemaster
Jul 10, 2008

Crazycryodude posted:

We are the robot

*BEEP BOOP* *dispense frozen yogurt*

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
Human Facility, Kaijuberg

“Kaijuberg?! What the hell is a Kaijuberg?”
“No idea Capya. Looks vaguely Archon-ish, maybe someone who was helping us assemble the library saw it and folks liked it?”
“Speaking of which, get your ears over here and help me finish it up so we can show the Captain all the time and money was worth it.”
“Yeahya, keep your socks on.”

Putting both Cody and Jadzi on this project seems to have been a good idea. The late night-shouting matches in you office had given way to occasional snarky comments mixed with a grudging respect. Their still not at a place where you’d be comfortable leaving them alone for weeks, but its a good start.

A very good start if Cody’s library idea works. Working off the hypothesis that Archon and the languages they created were more specialized than Human languages, she and Jadzi had spent the last few days feeding samples of every language they could access into a translator program. They were now feeding their ‘Master Language Library’ into the facility’s control program, hoping it would give it enough samples to bridge the gap.
“ And here we go!”

She activates a holobutton dramatically, and the display flickers and shuts down. The room is quiet for a few minutes, and you realize that you have your fingers crossed for some reason.
“Well it was a good try ladies. We ca-”

You’re interrupted by the entire room erupting into holoscreens, rebooting themselves into Corp. The screen at the main station Cody had been working at reactivates, five times the size and littered with sub-sections.

38 Cygni 4 Terraforming Facility #3 Master Control posted:

Greetings Users INHERITOR_00219, INHERITOR_00220, 274-10/6(REMOTEUSER)

:WARNING:
: EMERGENCY STANDBY MODE:
+Installation Virtual Intelligence: OFFLINE

-REPAIR REQUIRED FOR FULL FUNCTIONALITY
+Mechanotron Control System: OFFLINE
-REPAIR RECOMMEND
+Geothermal Plant Controls: OFFLINE
-REPAIR REQUIRED FOR FULL FUNCTIONALITY
+Local Network: OFFLINE
-COMM NET NOT FOUND
+Sector Network: OFFLINE
-COMM NET NOT FOUND

:WARNING:
+Emergency Generator Will Exhaust in 29.36 Standard Years
+Self-Repair System Offline

-Mechanotron Control Offline
+Planetary Biosphere Outside Acceptable Parameters
-Time to Repair at Full System Functionality: 2 Standard Years
-Facilities 1, 2, 3, 5 Cannot be Located

“Fuuuuuck.”

*****

After the revelation at the Facility, making the rounds of… Kaijuberg is a bit anticlimactic. But its important that the settlers see you out and about, and these early days are important for future development. Cain is showing you around, introducing you to the heads of the various work details. More names to cross-reference in the file, but you are starting to recognize folks without its help.

The farms are coming along nicely, and until they’re up and going there’s plenty of wild fruits and such that have cleared bio-quarantine. And it looks like the Humans (or more likely, their robots) had dug enough exploratory shafts that just shifting through the spoils has netted useable ores. And with the arrival of the Corp prefab’s fabricator, several families have been able to set up small manufactories. All rather low-key, but its a good start.

Speaking of the prefab, you’re quite glad there are an existing hollowed-out structure to assemble it in. Its cheap and quick, but very ugly. The fabricator was nearly always busy, and would be key to using your own resources to expand your facilities. And even with the crates of goods awaiting pickup, there was plenty of space for more workshops.

Finally there was the perimeter sweep with Hydra and her growing security force. Transferring the fencing and guns from the ‘base camp’ had gone smoothly, but given the larger footprint of… Kaijuberg, the defenses were a bit spread out for Hydra’s tastes. And given what you now know about the Facility, beefing up defenses would be a great idea.


=====
Welcome to Kaijuberg!
We’ve completed a cycle, so we have Goods in storage:
7 Food, 1 Organisms, 5 Ore, 0 Energy, 5 Machinery, 0 Tech. (I messed up the numbers originally). We have 9/15 STP.

So the Facility. Fixing it will require alot of Tech and Machinery. However, if you fix the Mechanotron Control system the Facility will start to self-repair using Ore and Machinery, but the repair will proceed according to their priority system. We can trade for Goods we don’t have using the Transport Commision, or by making deals with NPCs.

Repair Facility Virtual Intelligence: 4 Machinery, 6 Tech, 1 STP
Repair Mechanotron Control: 4 Machinery, 1 STP (will decrease Ore and Machinery by 2 each cycle)
Repair Geothermal Plant Control: 6 Machinery, 4 Ore, 6 Tech, 1STP
Repair Comm Net (Buy Long Range Comm Trait): 8 Machinery, 1 Energy, 3 Tech, 2 Influence

Decision 1: Settlement Expansion
Do we want to slowly expand our Influence or go out and look for work?
A: Just Ship Food
Play it safe and just use our Food Production to increase Influence. 1 Influence/4 Food
B: Hit Up Our Contacts
Go looking for jobs to increase Influence. Higher risk/reward
C: Increase Mines
We currently have the Influence to make our Mines 3 (and we’d start getting 1 Energy), but it would mean we couldn’t buy any Traits until we get more Influence. Go ahead?

Decision 2: Special Project
D: Repair the Terraforming Facility
Required for the Terrafomer Trait. Right now we can only afford to repair the Mechanotron Control System and we don’t really have enough to trade for other Goods.
E: Pollen Vaccine
Given Elizabetty’s data Kruze thinks she can formulate a counter-agent to the plant pathogens of the Waistra area. Costs 1 STP and 1 Space for the biotech workshop, 1 STP for the work, will provide bonuses when interacting with the local plant life.
F: Exploration
Jadzi and Hydra want to lead an expedition to another area in the region. Costs 1 STP, will reveal an area’s special features and possible Outposts.
G: Trade Network
Korote has offered to put the Twi-Far vessels to work as local transporters. Costs 2 STP, gets you 2 Influence and better deals on trading Goods.
H: Find the Nephilim
You know there’s a local Feral Tribe somewhere in the area, send out patrols to find them for reintegration. Costs 1 STP, gives you the location of any Feral Nephilim in the region.
I: Other
Have an idea? Let me know and I’ll tell you how feasible/what the cost would be.

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

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


Repair Mechanotron Control
A, sell food for Influence
E, pollen vaccine

Getting the auto-repair back online is cheap, has affordable upkeep, and will make the place fix itself. Win win win, imo. Plus, who the hell can turn down a legion of Human killbots servitors that completely and totally only civilian in nature. As to laying low and just exporting food, no need to go out and stick our nose in other peoples' business, we've got a good thing going right here let's just bank up some influence for expansion later. Ditto on the pollen vaccine, we're sitting on a goldmine of human tech that's nowhere near secure or established enough to safely draw the kind of attention being the center of a trade network does, so we should just stick to local fun for now. And local fun requires hacking our way through the helljungle. So we need the vaccine first to make local fun more practical.

JesterOfAmerica
Sep 11, 2015
Repair Mechanotron Control
1. A
2. E

Helical Nightmares
Apr 30, 2009

Crazycryodude posted:

Repair Mechanotron Control
A, sell food for Influence
E, pollen vaccine

+1

malbogio
Jan 19, 2015

Mechanotron
C
E

dont be mean to me
May 2, 2007

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


JesterOfAmerica posted:

Repair Mechanotron Control
1. A
2. E

Not Alex
Oct 9, 2012

Cut loose before the god eaters show up.

malbogio posted:

Mechanotron
C
E


This

Hexenritter
May 20, 2001


Repair Mechanotron
A
E

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
Supplementary Information: Mass Combat

Mass Combat works similarly to the Theater of the Mind combat rules that I’m using, but instead of a standard 3d6+skill+bonus roll you get a pile of dice based on the Outpost that is generating the combatants. You then set aside smaller piles of dice for specific actions your squads/battalions/etc are taking. These actions are then rolled against the GMs pile of dice, and the first to get a set number of successes wins. If you fail a roll, the PC involved in that specific action takes damage and your Outpost takes some damage. If you get a Strong Hit (a 6 on the die), you remove one of your opponents dice. Your piles of dice come from your Outpost militia or the forces you Deploy.

Getting Mass Combat Dice
If your Outpost is directly attacked, you have a certain amount of standing forces on hand. They are determined from some of your secondary values:
-Recruit Combat Dice = Workforce +2.
-Advanced Combat Dice = Soldiers.
-Armoured Combat Dice = Soldiers -3.

In the case of Kaijuberg with its Workforce 3 and Soldiers 2, we have 5 Recruit, 2 Advanced, and 0 Armored Dice on hand (I’ll go over the types in a bit).

Now if we want to beef up our defenses or attack somewhere else, we have to perform a Deploy Commision. Each Deploy costs 1STP and some goods. This represents raising volunteers:
Force: Costs 1 Food. Gain 2d6 Recruit and Skilled Mass Combat Dice.
Armada: Costs 2 Food & Machinery. Gain 4d6 Recruit and Skilled Mass Combat Dice.
Spec Op: Costs 2 Energy, Machinery & Tech. Gain 2d6 Elite Mass Combat Dice.

Types of Dice
The basic types of Mass Combat dice are:
Recruit: If a Recruit Combat Die rolls a “1”, remove that Combat Die from this combat.
Skilled: Gain 1 additional non-Elite Mass Combat Dice Type.
Elite: Gain 2 different additional non-Elite Mass Combat Dice Type.

The ‘additional types’ mentioned in the Skilled and Elite dice are more or less specialties and the ones in the book are:
Advanced: Any roll of a “5 or a 6” on an Advanced Combat Die counts as a Strong Hit.
Ambush: Ambush Combat Dice gain 1 free Strong Hit during the first round of Mass Combat that they are used. This may only happen upto twice per roll.
Armoured: Reduce the number of your Armoured Mass Combat Dice that would be removed each round by 1. You may not participate in the first two or three (GM’s discretion) rounds of Mass Combat (as you take some time to move into position).
Counter: You must specify the exact nature of each Counter Mass Combat Die (ie: anti-air). These Counter Mass Combat Dice are immune to a specific style of opponent (ie: immune to spaceships, tanks, light infantry, etc...). GM Discretion is given.
Fast: After every fourth Mass Combat round all Fast Mass Combat Dice may join in on a bonus Mass Combat Round.
Long Distance: This combatant is able to contribute to the fight from a safe distance. It may only be removed from the combat with the GM’s permission (ie: it is engaged at close range or is attacked by another Long Distance Combat Die).
Standard: Standard rules.
Support: Strong Hit: Mass Damage from Leader Combat Dice may also bring back a Recruit Combat Die that was removed due to it rolling a “1”.
Tactical: Able to contribute to two Combat Skill Rolls per round. May represent a tactically advantages position.

So basically if you Deploy a Skilled or Elite troop, you get these secondary types. Forex a Skilled speeder-bike troop could have the Fast type, an Elite troop might have Fast and Ambush.

You normally get to choose the types of troops when you Deploy, as you are calling up specific troops. However, one of the drawbacks of having a Kaltoran Pop is that you get random dice types when you Deploy Skilled and Elite dice, representing the Kaltoran peoples’ rather ad hoc approach to violence.

Kaltoran Population Drawback posted:

Mass Combat Dice from Deploy Commission gain random Mass Combat Types (normally you choose). 1 = Long Distance, 2 = Support, 3 = Fast, 4 = Tactical, 5 = Armoured, 6 = Advanced.

We can also get specific MC dice by purchasing Outpost Traits, Buildings, or guards. Forex, our gun emplacements give us +2 Tactical Dice.

If this is all a bit much, don’t worry. The various types will mainly be used as narrative tags when they come up in the posts, and I’ll keep the bulk of the dicework behind the scenes. Its mainly come up as an explanation on why you’d want to have some Prosperity/Order/Security as those dictate your baseline ability to defend your Outpost.

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
Chapter 3: The Wild, Wild, Northeast
The Facility, Kaijuberg


This small bit of platform near the top of the Facility had become a popular spot for a bit of relaxation. You could see the small grill Jadzi had set up, next to Hydra’s sniper perch. There was even a small hidden case full of those trashy historical romances that Cody didn’t know we knew she loved. But this afternoon its you and Jenni enjoying the view and sipping fruity drinks (at her insistence).

“I really should be back at the office, Korrote’s fuel and food consumption figures were out of whack. And Jadzi had some suggestions for fixing up some of The Jenni’s more problematic systems.”

Jenni looks at you archly over the top of her sunglasses.
“It’ll keep for a few hours. And seriously, how long has it been since you took even a day off?”
“Well, the exact number depends on what specific theory of consciousness transfer you subscribe to. But conservatively… 94 years? But that’s besides the point, there’s more to do and only 28 hours in a day.”
“Just stop, and breathe. Hush, yes I know you don’t actually have to breathe. Its a metaphor, and things are going fine.”

She begins to count on her fingers.
“One: Even the holdouts have finally agreed to take the pollen vaccine after the early adopters failed to horribly mutate. Two: Korrote’s been having great success using our food surplus to open networking doors. Three: Cain’s miners got the Electro-Gravity extractors working, so the mines are at full capacity. Four: The Mechanotrons are working again, and making progress on the facility. Five: The reports from Jadzi and Granny say that there should be all sorts of useable salvage from the deorbited station they found on the west side of the plateau. I can continue, but I’d have to set down my drink. And I’d rather not.”
“ I suppose the figures can wait. The view is nice up here.”

You sit in silence for nearly an hour, the distant cries of the razorwings the only sound beyond the wind. Then your comm goes off, the tech manning the ship’s array forwarding a call from Bastion High. Staionmaster Cline looks harried and nervous, you’re beginning to think its his default state.
“Oh, Captain TenSixths. I wish I could be bearing better news, but I’ve just received a comm from the Paladin Consortium head office on Alabaster One. They’ve arranged to resupply a troop transport at Bastion High, and offered me compensation for locking you out of the commnet.”

He pauses for a moment, tugging at his tie.
“I’m still very grateful for your help, but it was alot of money. Sorry.”

The comm ends, and the carrier signal follows it sortly. Jenni sighs and begins to pack up the picnic basket while you shake your head and enter the command codes for the backdoor you installed in the commnet.

Looks like vacation is over...

=======
Housekeeping first: We now have a biotech workshop in Kaijuberg, have a vaccine for the local toxic pollen, and have explored the northwestern Density Anomaly. It is a large space station that fell from orbit. Its trashed, but there’s still alot of materials that you can salvage from it once this current situation is over. Waiting out an addition cycle gave us enough Food to trade in for 3 Influence, bringing our total to 23. I also bumped up our Mines to three, so Kaijuberg is at 19/23. Our Goods total now stands at: 2 Food, 2 Organisms, 9 Ore, 1 Energy, 4 Machinery, 0 Tech.


Decision One: Dealing with the Paladin Consortium
It looks like the PC is angry with you and is sending in an attack force. Do we:
A: Hunker Down
Button up Kaijuberg and hope your defenses can hold out
B: Raise A (Defensive) Army
Commision a volunteer force to bolster your defenses. (2 Food, 2 Machinery, 1 STP for the Deploy Commision)
C: The Best Defense Is Hitting First!
You have people, you have ships. Commission volunteers and use your spacecraft to take the fight to the PC before they make landfall. (2 Food, 2 Machinery, 1 STP for the Deploy Commision. Your defensive dice won’t count but your Outpost isn’t at risk of getting trashed).
D: Other
Have another battleplan? Let me know and I’ll tell if its feasible/how much it’d cost

Edit: If we Deploy and get a dice type that wouldn't work with our original plan we can adjust on the fly


Decision Two: The Commnet
Your backdoor has let you into the commnet after have gotten shut out, but is that that?
E: Yes
You just want to be able to use it.
F: No, I Control The Flow Now!
Take control of the commnet so you can determine who can use it, and/or spy on them.

I will also have an updated map up by the end of the week.

PoultryGeist fucked around with this message at 03:00 on May 24, 2018

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

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


B
F


Let them come to us, we've got a nicely fortified position. Also, that's our commnet now, rear end in a top hat. What a nice way to pay us back for literally saving your life. Although try and keep up the charade that it isn't as long as we can, we just want to use it for passive listening. At least until the battle starts, then it would be great to gently caress with it actively.

Hexenritter
May 20, 2001


Crazycryodude posted:

B
F


Let them come to us, we've got a nicely fortified position. Also, that's our commnet now, rear end in a top hat. What a nice way to pay us back for literally saving your life. Although try and keep up the charade that it isn't as long as we can, we just want to use it for passive listening. At least until the battle starts, then it would be great to gently caress with it actively.

very much this.

JesterOfAmerica
Sep 11, 2015

Crazycryodude posted:

B
F


Let them come to us, we've got a nicely fortified position. Also, that's our commnet now, rear end in a top hat. What a nice way to pay us back for literally saving your life. Although try and keep up the charade that it isn't as long as we can, we just want to use it for passive listening. At least until the battle starts, then it would be great to gently caress with it actively.

Let's go with this!

malbogio
Jan 19, 2015

Crazycryodude posted:

B
F


Let them come to us, we've got a nicely fortified position. Also, that's our commnet now, rear end in a top hat. What a nice way to pay us back for literally saving your life. Although try and keep up the charade that it isn't as long as we can, we just want to use it for passive listening. At least until the battle starts, then it would be great to gently caress with it actively.

+1 but let's stick to passive listening unless we're sure it's worth it. If we make it too obvious we have a backdoor then we're going to lose it. If we keep it hidden I'd expect it to continue paying dividends.

Like the saying goes: I've got this thing and it's golden, and I'm just not giving it up for nothing. I'm not gonna do it.

sheep-dodger
Feb 21, 2013

Let me just throw in a doomed vote for E. Openly taking over the satellite net is a bad idea, as we don't have the forces to prevent its previous owners from accessing them directly. And as with all technology, if you can access them you can take (back) control over them.
Imo taking them over now would lead to us losing them in a few weeks time and being locked out completely with very little to show for it. Let's bide our time and let our enemy think they've successfully cut off our comms.

Blasphemaster
Jul 10, 2008

BF
Having access to everyone's communications is super duper handy. We should exploit the hell out of it.

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
The War Room, Kaijuberg

Well, not really a proper war room. But part of the prefab has been cordoned off and the increasingly battered portavid is displaying a tactical map of the plateau:

In addition to the crew, you have the fledgling chain of command: Cain, Korrote, and Ezra Thrift (Hydra’s unofficial second-in-command of the ‘Home Guard’). Elizabetty is in a corner conferring with a Toadie, Kruze had said she had an interest in the defense of the area. A couple of the sergeants from the hastily raised ‘Kaijuberg Irregulars’ volunteers slip in, still dirty from their shift in the mine. You nod and address them all, your vocorder’s amplification making you easily heard.
“Hello All. It seems that the Consortium hasn’t made orbit yet, but given Cline’s actions yesterday I don’t think they’ll be long. A few overall points before we get into the details. I have retained access to the commnet, and have inputted overrides into the master routing system. But I’d prefer that no-one know we’re actually in control of the flow unless we have to. Any comms will be bounced through the Nebula Dancer in orbit, and I want techs monitoring the feeds in case we need to take action. Now, the tactical planning. Thanks to Korrote and the rest of the Twi-Far, we have a sizeable orbital presence. Your people will be ok up there?”
“Yes. While our ships aren’t exactly warships, we have reasonable defensive weapons and can... hold our own in boarding actions. We will at least be able to deny them orbital dominance, so you won’t have to worry about drop-pods.”
“Excellent, I’m glad for that. A groundwar is much easier to prosecute with our current abilities. First Centurion Aurelius, can you tell us anything of the Consortium’s tactics?”

Hydra stands at parade rest, her new armor with its new rank pips (and tropical-rated intercoolers) gleaming in the light.
“Hadrian Defence and Security Contractors are the subsidiary that handles the direct combat needs of the PC. Corp-held, but with a sizeable Legion contingent among the command staff. They are well-equipped, favoring quick-strikes with aircraft and mechanized infantry. And they’re not used to being repulsed once, let alone twice. So they’re going to hit us hard.
“Your suggestions?”

She nods, and Ezra steps forwards and starts marking out areas on the map.
“So with the Twi-Far keeping the drop-pods at bay, Haridan is going to have to come in with atmo-transports. Now our perimeter guns would shred a transport that tried to set down on the south end of the plateau. So their going to have to drop in to the north and slog through the jungle to Kaijuberg. Now, we can button everyone within the fence and load up the gun emplacements with as many extras as we can. It gives us a solid numbers and profile advantage, but if they break through they’re right in our center. Or-

He nods to the Irregulars and they activate their electro-grav gauntlets and quickly use the loose material in the prefab to build a little wall.
“Or we can send out the Irregulars with gauntlets and big guns to build temporary bunkers in the jungle. A three-man team can set one up within a minute, we can have a force harrying the PC every step of the jungle. It would make them vulnerable to being cut off though , and they wouldn’t have the same numbers.”

Before you all could mull the two options, Elizabetty looks up from her Toadie.
“Oh! Yes, this is what I wanted to talk about! I can help you, if Kaijuberg fell the PC would most likely kill me too. Sooo I’ll spare you the details, but in order to help produce the pollen vaccine I had to gather up and concentrate a large amount of plant toxins. We’re all immune to it, and it wouldn’t be too much work to load it into spewer bladders or grenade casings. Would that be useful?

=====
Current Kaijuberg Forces
Home Guard: 5 Recruit, 2 Advanced, 2 Tactical
Irregulars: 20 Recruit, 17 Tactical

We rolled Tactical for our random Kaltoran troops, which means those dice will be able to be used in two different rolls per turn. You're not sure the exact nature of the enemy troops yet, but from general intel it will most likely be a mixture of Fast, Advanced, and Standard.

Decision One: General Tactics
A: Hold The Fort
Keep all your forces within the fencing. Gives you a defensive advantage, but increases chances of the physical structure of your settlement being damaged.
B: Mobile Emplacements
Send your Tactical dice out to harry the attacks on the approach. Can eat away at their strength before reaching the settlement, won’t have the same defensive advantage.
C: Other

Decision Two: Weaponized Pollen
Elizabetty can make weaponized forms of the various plant toxins. Cost 2 Machinery, 1STP and gets you +3 Ambush dice. Also may cause some ethical/diplomatic issues.
D: Yes
E: No

Better local and area map are incoming, I promise

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

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


What kind of traps can we set up in the jungle with the time we have? I'll take anything from digging a few pit traps to filling the whole place with landmines, whatever we can manage.

Hexenritter
May 20, 2001


1B
2Yeeeessssss :getin:

JesterOfAmerica
Sep 11, 2015
1. A
2. D WAR CRIMES ARE A GO! :getin:

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

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


B
D


Let's hit these motherfuckers so hard they start getting 'Nam flashbacks despite not even knowing what a "Nam" is. Bonus points if we can buy even more ambush/trap/whatever dice to amp up the jungle terrorism.

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?

Crazycryodude posted:

What kind of traps can we set up in the jungle with the time we have? I'll take anything from digging a few pit traps to filling the whole place with landmines, whatever we can manage.

Traps are a thing that can be bought. It 2 Machinery or 2 Energy or 2 Tech, 1Stp and it gets you 3 Ambush dice fir tgat combat (this is the mechanic I'm using for the weaponized pollen). We currently dont have enough to buy more, but if we Commission Work (for 1stp), we'll have more Machinery.


A note: the enemy's dice pool scales with yours, so you will never have more raw dice than your opponent. Having extra dice does help your odds of succeeding on a roll, and specialized dice can help even more. But I didnt want folks to exhaust themselves trying to out-pool the enemy

Blasphemaster
Jul 10, 2008

Crazycryodude posted:

B
D


Let's hit these motherfuckers so hard they start getting 'Nam flashbacks despite not even knowing what a "Nam" is. Bonus points if we can buy even more ambush/trap/whatever dice to amp up the jungle terrorism.

I endorse this Avatar/Post Combo.

malbogio
Jan 19, 2015

B
D

Goatse James Bond
Mar 28, 2010


I've made a huge mistake.

A
D


assaulting a fortified position while being bombarded with questionably ethical weaponry is the sort of experience that makes other folks in the Space Wild West think twice

also, the Eden Brood will be tickled as hell that we're letting our alternate-universe PC gently caress around with war crimes :3:

Toughy
Nov 29, 2004

KAVODEL! KAVODEL!

1. B

2. E


Did we ever make use of that 3D printer we stored for later?

Who is going to have a problem with us using bio-warfare? What are we actually risking by using it? Influence?

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?

Toughy posted:

Did we ever make use of that 3D printer we stored for later?

Who is going to have a problem with us using bio-warfare? What are we actually risking by using it? Influence?

No, the BoxShop™ is still in storage. And generally Kaltorans and Legion have bad memories of Nephilim-derived bioweapons. This isn't a super-nasty case (you aren't doing a genophage or plague), so Influence isn't at risk. But there may be folks that see what means you resort to when pressed and take note.

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

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


The note should be "don't gently caress with these guys"

sheep-dodger
Feb 21, 2013

Crazycryodude posted:

The note should be "don't gently caress with these guys"

Nah, it'll be "nuke the site from orbit to make sure"

Hexenritter
May 20, 2001


"no but see you guys we're protecting lives with it. It's not like we engineered a hypergolic, sapient superfluid capable of self igni....hey Elizabetty, I have a great idea!"

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
Post will go up tomorrow(the 29th), so the voting ends at noon EDT May 29th

Blasphemaster
Jul 10, 2008

Can I put my nail bitings in a trust for future worrying?

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?

Blasphemaster posted:

Can I put my nail bitings in a trust for future worrying?

The Varsphere Historical Archives have got you covered!:


An additional Archive fragment that may be useful in the near future: Traditional Human War Music

Blasphemaster
Jul 10, 2008

Reminds me of a certain scene in the first Omega Force book.

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
Kaijuberg

The decision to use the the weaponized pollen was a contentious one, but in the end your argument that it was better to have a weapon and not need it than not have it then need it was accepted. The machinists and biotechs worked through the night to perfect the delivery devices, and distribute them to the fire teams. Pushing folks that hard wasn’t your first choice, but you received word from the Nebula Dancer that a small fleet with Hadrian transponders Jumped in and docked at Bastion High shortly after the planning session.

Three smaller multi-purpose ships and two large hauler/transports. One of the transports definitely had pod-launchers on it, the other was set for vehicle loading. Two hours ago, they made contact with the Twi-Far fleet. Korote was right, her people could hold their own. What they lacked in heavy armaments they made up for in maneuverability, sailing loops around the clumsier Corp ships. An hour ago the transports broke off, leaving the smaller ships to keep the Twi-Far occupied. As much as you’d like the transports to be dealt with in orbit, keeping your high-ground clear is the top priority.

The Jenni’s sensors tracked the transports as they broke orbit and made planetfall about 40km from Kaijuberg. Ten minutes ago, the cloud of smaller gunships and troop carriers hit the edge of detection range. You cycled through the screens displaying the status of your people. The last of the civilians heading down into the mines, and Cain shutting the access hatch. Jadzi going over final prep with the Irregulars. Hydra and Ezra arranging the Home Guard for maximum fire coverage. Kruze and Elizabetty stocking a make-shift infirmary. Cody and her techs monitoring the comm feeds and the Facility, and safeguarding a precious cargo. You activate the local commnet.
“Contact is 15 minutes out people, game faces. Gunships and ground troops. The Jenni will be providing fire support and disrupting the gunships’ attack.”

You pause for a moment, searching for the words.
“I’m sorry, I think I used to be better at this. And while I could recite historical speeches that have been lost to time, you all deserve better than that. What I can say is, while I wish that we didn’t have to go through this, I trust your skills will be able to see us clear. And that you are all my family now, and I would storm the very Gates of Heaven to protect my family.”

You end the transmission and give the orders to get The Jenni airborn.
It wouldn’t be the first time, either.

*****
Air resistance plays havoc with a starship’s maneuverability, and weapon systems designed to lock on over the range of hundreds of kilometers don’t always respond quickly to the movements of small vessels. But The Jenni is an order of magnitude larger than the 2-man gunships, and simply plowing into their formation is distraction enough for the massed fire from the settlement’s emplacements to find targets. Its not enough to push back the gunships, but the damage is focused on The Jenni, and an exploding console fries most of your shell’s sensors.

Attack of The Jenni+Home Guard vs Fast Gunships: We lose. The Jenni takes 1 damage to her Engines, we take 2 damage to our Perception

But you can still receive the tacnet feeds, showing that the troop transports have dropped in during your fight with the gunships. They’ve set up a two-pronged approach, coming down the west and east edges of the plateau towards Kaijuberg. The Irregulars are ready for them. The fire is sporadic at first, one-sided. You realize that its the pollen grenades doing their work. Once the western push is mired down in friendly fire, the Irregulars open up from their temporary bunkers. The Hadrian troops try their best, but are forced to retreat back to their LZ.

Irregulars+Pollen Grenades vs Advanced Ground Troops: We win

The push along the eastern edge hits the security fencing, but the auto-guns hold them long enough for the Irregulars to re-deploy. Again the Hadrian forces are stalled, and slowly pushed back.

Irregulars+Emplacements vs Advanced Ground Troops: We win

The ground troops reload into their transports, under fire from the Irregulars. The gunships try to provide covering fire but you disrupt their formations, often by the simple expedient of bouncing them off your shields. But it doesn’t matter really, they’re retreating.

Cheering is already popping up over the local ‘net, some of the fresher recruits quickly silenced by their sargents. You can’t really blame them, you don’t have an endocrine system anymore and you’re still feeling the post-battle euphoria. Then The Jenni’s prox alarm and an emergency comm from the Nebula Dancer chime at the same time. Korote’s frantic face, streaked in blood and soot. A trajectory projection, from orbit to Kaijuberg.
“I’m sorry! It went dark, we thought it was dead until it did its deorbit burn! Get out of there!”

One of the Hardian vessels, falling out of the sky. Escape pods firing off, its Jump Engine building towards critical. You could see it now, the slagged crater that was Kaijuberg being shown at an insurance inquest. ‘Battle damaged craft’, ‘unfortunate accident’, maybe a few fines for the selected scapegoats. Minutes until impact, minutes for Kaijuberg to live.

=====
A Hadrian vessel is falling out of the sky and will obliterate Kaijuberg in a few minutes. Our troops’ weapons can’t do anything against it.
A: Save Who You Can
Land The Jenni long enough to pick up a holdfull of people. It won’t be enough.
B: All Weapons Forward!
Try to blow up the ship with The Jenni’s weapons. Can you do enough damage in time?
C: Emergency Jump
Try to calculate a Jump so the ship hits the wormhole before the ground. Do you have enough time to run the numbers?
D: Its Been A Pleasure
Ram The Jenni into the ship, blowing up both before Kaijuberg is in the blast radius.

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malbogio
Jan 19, 2015

How would the Emergency Jump work? Is the Jenni creating the wormhole? Would the Jenni have to go through the wormhole with the falling ship?

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