"Stupid vat grown soldiers. So, I see about... ten Sods in there, maybe more. Do we go in and hope they haven't been ordered to shoot armed people or do we wait for the civilians to clear and then kill em? Or maybe our manipulator users can kill them without harming civilians?"
Get the batons out of my legs and give them to whoever wants them.
Check the layout of the room beyond and ask Steve which way to the ARES elevator and the Main Control Room elevator.
Follow any orders given by Jim or Miyamoto.
EDIT: Oh, and see if I can identify sods by looking for their weapons in x-ray. Also consider viability of using a smoke grenade to conceal our movement through the room.
EDIT: "Or I can pop a smoke grenade to conceal our movements. That's an option too."
((And a very big thanks to Jim the lifesaver!))
You carefully work the metal batons out of your joints; they're plain metal bars and bent to hell, so you doubt anyone would want one. You drop them on the ground.
The area beyond looks like a concourse of sorts, very large and clearly meant to handle a great deal of people and freight. There are what look like banks of chairs- waiting areas- near the door and probably other places along the concourse, though you can't see them. You can't see any real cover in there either, it's just a giant open room stretching off left and right.
The X-ray mode isn't very helpful through the heavy glass and metal reinforcements of the window. You can't really make anything out, it all just looks like a white, barely transparent haze with more solid things shifting around behind it.
>ARES is left, Control room is right.((I officially name the technique that Jim has just been using as "Popping the cork". It fits quite well I think.))
"Might as well wait for the civvies to clear out first. Just in case of someone being trigger-happy or having bad aim. Also, I advise that Miyamoto goes in first, in case of traps."
Wait for Miyamoto in his Avatar to go in first then follow in afterwards. In the mean time, hang back behind a sturdy crate or two that's a bit of distance from the door, in case of explosives.
You hang around, leaning on a crate while you wait for Miyamoto to move forward. There's a label embossed on a thin metal plate thats held in a frame welded to the box. You read it. It's mostly incomprehensible numbers and strings of letters that don't mean anything to you. The only thing thats really understandable is "Trans Mat: Raw"
(That decomp was well worth it. ^^^ You're welcome, Flint. Also, the civvies were considered 'clear' last turn, guys. 
)
If Miyamoto advances enough for Jim to see the Sods inside the building, he'll use his Manipulation amp to internally decapitate each of them. Probably less work than to pop their heads off.
From your vantage point on Miyamoto's back, you can't really see inside the building very well, even with thermal cameras. There are still civies running around in there and it's hard to distinguish sod heat from civ heat. You decide to wait, just on the off chance that you might accidentally internally decapitate some civie's shoulder or something.
((Welp, my guess that the sods know the ins and outs of a battlesuit turned out to be horrifyingly correct. But hey, at least we learned about that hatch release button. We knew about the weak spots in the joints (from bishops VR fight a good while back), though I didn't think one could lock them up like that. Interesting.))
"Heya Jim, are you like the view up here? You should have told me you'd be hitching a ride, I'd had provided some snacks or a minibar or something.
Anyways, Bishop, Auron, help Flint with his suit if he needs it. Lukas, I need you to keep your guns trained on that doorway. Rest of you, stay on your toes and spread out a bit."
Go forth until Jim can do what he's trying to do. If sods start pouring out of the door/attacking, put Jimbo down and engage in melee. Ask Steve following:
Hey Steve, how resistant are those sods to fire/heat damage? Specifically, could I use my namite thrower with any effect?
((By the way, from the other thread:
You run and hide behind a box and observe, with some difficulty because of the distance and interference of the crowd, as the sods swarm Miyamoto.
I assume you meant Flint/Gilgamesh? Or was that a vision of what's to follow? *ominous music*))
((@SC: I think a sphere of heat at the base of their neck/in their brain is the least taxing on your mind pool, while also lethal. Not sure though.))
"Stupid vat grown soldiers. So, I see about... ten Sods in there, maybe more. Do we go in and hope they haven't been ordered to shoot armed people or do we wait for the civilians to clear and then kill em? Or maybe our manipulator users can kill them without harming civilians?"
Get the batons out of my legs and give them to whoever wants them.
Check the layout of the room beyond and ask Steve which way to the ARES elevator and the Main Control Room elevator.
Follow any orders given by Jim or Miyamoto.
EDIT: "Or I can pop a smoke grenade to conceal our movements. That's an option too."
"We could wait for the civvies to get out, but that takes precious time again. After that we either go in for melee of hose them down, though that cramped doorway is to our disadvantage. Unless we make our own door, but that'll make defending the gangway harder later on.
Hmm. We could also amp 'em all dead, though that would leave Jim with less 'mind reserves' to work with, and it might take a while
I know. I'll let jim use his amps to safely take out some of them until the area is cleared. After that, I put him down, and I go in and enter melee. You guys shoot them while they're busy with me, Lukas will take point in this. Though don't use any heavy weapons or alien stuff or amps if you're inexperienced, please I like my hide intact.
Understood everybody? Jim, you ok with this?"
"Remember that Steve has urged us to hasten forward. Could we fire warning shots to speed up the civilians leaving?"
"I'm preeetty sure they're already running as fast as they can, Lars. But you're right, we need to keep moving here, can't let them bog us down."
((@ Sean: if you're going to draw an AoW, would it be a general representation, or would it be Miya specifically? Oh, and if it helps, I remember PW saying synthflesh looks kinda like this
You're close enough for jim to do his thing- you're pretty much right up against the door- but it's still too busy in there for him to do it without risking harm to the civies.
[intuition:6]
You begin to wonder exactly what the Sods will do when confronted with one of their teammates just suddenly dying. Do they have protocols for dealing with Amp users? If so, what are they? These questions make you a bit nervous.
>They're basically just big, strong guys in body armor. They're as susceptible to fire as any human, though they'll keep fighting while on fire. Goddamn it... stupid lifelocks...
grab the batons and drop them in my pack, they are something at least.
Switch mounted weapons to gungnir.
Follow the others in and fire upon the sods as i move towards cover, prioritise those behind metal objects.
You pick up the baton. It's basically nothing but a thick steel rod with a textured grip on one end. It's also been bent in several places, to the point that it looks like a "7" with a few extra angles. You doubt they'll be worth anything.
You switch to the Electro-laser and make ready to follow Miyamoto into the building.
"Well, if they're not already running now, a Miracle of Steve sending a Sod head or two flying may speed their passage."
Stick with the team- continue to covering fire. Avoid civilian casualties.
You lean against miyamoto's leg and wait for you chance to bring glorious steve's message to the world via bullets.
((Please tell me if you're not a 'suggestions' person, but: I think your avatar needs to be larger. Perhaps put it at the back so that it can tower over the others, while keeping the perspective clean?))
((The Avatar is 5 meters tall, the Battlesuit is around three, Jim (standing upright) is just over two. The perspective here is weird, but I'm actively trying to break up my usual view angles, because they don't make for good "action" poses.
And I'm pretty open to suggestions, so I'll keep that in mind. I kinda want to show as much of the Avatar's design as possible though, so having it be obscured by others won't be good.))
In terms of the battle suit, they look sort of like this:
http://www.keiththompsonart.com/pages/commando.htmlor this
http://www.keiththompsonart.com/pages/sequester.htmlThey're more small mech then power armor.
"Sounds like plan, Miyamoto. Fire on my mark, gentleman."
Lukas points his weapons at the doorway.
"I shouldn't have to tell you this, but make sure you don't point your gun at Miyamoto."
Wait for Miyamoto to attack the sods and then start shooting those furthest away from him. Don't shoot Miyamoto.
You shift back and forth on your feet, humming to yourself and waiting for Miyamoto to attack.
((I dont mean to criticize your work sean but... the avatar seems a bit more like a mech to me then a synthflesh titan.
That said i still think it looks great, i just always imagined it as a giant semi-transparent ken doll with a bulletproof cape and a gun the size of a large motorcycle.))
((The synthflesh titan, going from the description, is covered in armor so thoroughly that none of the synthflesh is visible, with even the least armored joints covered by a dense mesh.))
As per what the avatar looks like, I'll describe it plainly without obfuscating behind the descriptive metaphors and similes and analogies I'm so damn fond of.
Ok, so imagine a synthflesh man. Easy enough right? If you've forgotten they basically look like living marble statues, but with the musculature extremely defined, to the point that it practically has black lines outlining every muscle. Now, take that synthflesh man and blow him up a bit, giving him and exaggerated, broad shouldered, thick limbed, hulking bruiser of a frame. Then make him 5 meters tall, stretch his neck to be just a little too long and his face into a sort of elongated snout, like this. You know it's long because of the shape of the armor, but exactly what it looks like under there, you can't tell, the armor covers it. It's got 6 eyes, two on each side and two in front, plus more cameras hooked up across the armor.
Now the armor itself is black- a nice contrast on the white flesh- and it covers basically your entire damn body. It's angular, covered in sharp corners and hard edges, designed so that blows or bullets tend to hit at an angle and deflect, rather then hitting a nice flat surface and dumping all their kinetic energy right into it. The armor covers everything except your joints, and those are covered by an interior mesh of cloth armor stretched between the hard armor plates. Over that, is the cloak, which basically starts at your shoulders and hangs down around your entire body, leaving only that jagged, black metal head of yours exposed.
((I'm not quite sure how to draw that without having it look like a snake-headed battlemech wearing a cloak over a suit of full plate armor.))
((edit: though it does make me wonder whether or not they make "female" versions of Avatars. ))
Mesk's later suggestion of the Mass Production evas isn't a bad one. Something like that, bulked up and armor plated would work. You wouldn't see the mouth, but the head shape is about right.
The last of the annoying civilians inside the concourse have made it away. You should have several hundred yards in either direction that is completely free of potential innocent bystanders.
Author
Topic: Einsteinian Roulette (Original Thread: Rules, Armory, Misson archive 1-11) (Read 3990549 times)