Check out the mustard gas anomaly. Throw rocks, and don't approach too closely.
Str 3; Dex 3; End 3; Cha 7; Int 4; Wil 15//Spe 0; Int 1; Han 0 (-1); Con 1; Unc 0; Exo 9; Aux 3 (+1); Med 0
Mk II Suit; Microwave PK Amp; laser rifle; 3 tokens: normal cigarettes; blue smokes; datapad (with platformer shooter); nanoghosts; shock trigger (with Maurice for the mission)
Appearance: 5'11'', 170 pounds in a rather unmuscular frame, shoulder-long brown hair, short goatee, brown eyes, a rather long chin that earned him his nickname. Age 32
Half a robot foot. Robot right arm.
You can walk up to the mustard gas cloud without any problems, but throwing rocks into it causes them to become electrified and also melt.
You feel it best not to stick your face in there.
Map away! With rock-throwing, of course.
We're supposed to be preparing defences, eh?
Dig a trench, with my pick.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing? You're not supposed to be digging any trenches! Didn't you even listen to the briefing? Just get over to those anomalies and start mapping them. Seriously, it's not that hard. Don't bother digging trenches or constructing fortifications, we can use robots or heavy machinery later this year to do that infinitely faster than you could with just a pick."
Yes sir giant robot!
Map the anomalies. Start with the shadow pillar. Throw rocks.
You walk all the way over toward the shadow pillar, throwing rocks all along the way. You don't even get within a few hundred feet of it before you start feeling ill.
We're supposed to be preparing defences, eh?
Dig a trench, with my pick.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing? You're not supposed to be digging any trenches! Didn't you even listen to the briefing? Just get over to those anomalies and start mapping them. Seriously, it's not that hard. Don't bother digging trenches or constructing fortifications, we can use robots or heavy machinery later this year to do that infinitely faster than you could with just a pick."
Is Miyamoto's team doing anything? If not, then join up with the amp team to help them, should Miya not disapprove. If so, follow.
"And you, where do you think you're going? None of you are leaving before we finish our job up here, which is to first locate the anomalies created by the Grate incident, then determine up to where they go so nobody stumbles into one on their morning jog or something.
So, all of you, help me with mapping these anomalies, and once we're completely done with our sweep above ground then you can join Jim's/Morul's team. Any more questions?"
Sigh, then start going to the anomalous zones, rock throwing all the way. Once there, start to mark the boundaries of the weird zones. Use rock throwing method if possible. Direct team members to do the same so we can do it faster. If we have nothing on hand to mark it, use manip to raise a small 'wall' to indicate where the dangerous area is.
If I'm allowed to also talk with Steve-O after all that, ask following:
>As per that invasion; we've got a ton of laser cannon batteries around the planet to prevent them from just flying in and nuking us, so they're probably gonna try and come in where there's the least amount of overlap in their coverage and hotdrop forces in. Luckily I know where those places are, so we can plan for it. Or, we can attempt to make the coverage of the laser batteries more complete. It might limit the number coming down, but they also might lead their assault with hotdrop ships armed with nukes and that could get messy.
"You know, I think we could bend this to our advantage. If we know where they're most likely to drop, we can prepare some surprises for them there, like a nice minefield or artillery and turrets hidden under the surface of the planet. If their imaging capabilities are good enough, we can make it seem like some areas were still under construction by placing a few half-finished laser batteries there. You think this could work?"
>You weren't around for any of the hotdrops where you? Hmm If you know about the china-9 Drop, they're similar to those batteries but a bit better. They're designed to take out anything in the air, ships, missiles, whatever. And they're very good at it, but they're not perfect.
Put simply, we're gonna cut the numbers, but we're not gonna get rid of them completely.
"Nope, I've been lucky enough to not be deployed via hotdrop until now. I looked up that mission in VR though, nasty business.
So, those batteries, are they also capable of shooting at the enemy's ships while they're still in space? If yes, what is their range, and are they powerful enough to destroy them, or at least keep them from closing in? From what you said earlier I'm guessing they are more than powerful enough, but it'd be nice to know how far away we can keep their ships.
Also, do the batteries have any sort of defenses against ground assaults, and how much overlap is there between them for this area? Mostly asking to know if we'll have to defend them once the enemy has dropped, and if disabling one battery will allow them to drop in reinforcements in that area with impunity. Oh, and how resistant to damage are those batteries? Could they survive a nuke if it explodes at far enough range? what about kinetic strikes or an EMP, is it hardened against those?
Now, if those batteries won't be capable of stopping all the invaders if they drop in force, what's stopping us from nuking their invasion force while it's still dropping? That would take care of most of 'em, and we've got plenty nukes anyways. Related to that, how good are our imaging capabilities? How much warning will we have that their fleet is here, and how soon will we know that they're launching their attack? Because if we can spot it soon enough, then nuking their invasion force as it is dropping and shooting the survivors should prevent them from ever making planetfall."
Orbital and near orbital level nukes we can handle. The force coming shouldn't have an outrageous number of them and even if we can't get them all, we'll prioritize the most dangerous ones. Really, this is just gonna be the standard defense force coming back. Either they're not gonna expect any resistance or, worst comes to worst, they'll expect a worker rebellion. They're not gonna have planet killer systems or anything; those haven't been used since the altered war anyways. The UWM rarely glasses a planet any more. Not since the Red moon Rebellion.
"So, if I understand this correct, the ships coming for us will be ships designed for anti-ship warfare, and not planetary invasion, correct? Will they be able to deliver any sort of non-nuclear orbital bombardment? Like, using their anti-ship gauss or laser weapons as long-range artillery? Cause if yes, I don't know if our defensive batteries would be of much help against that. Unless our laser batteries can keep them at bay of course.
And what makes you think the UWM isn't on to us by now? Surely they don't think the attack on several major planets was some freak accident. And if you know for certain they're still clueless, how much longer could we keep up that charade? How much longer would you like to? In that regard, are there any places where the opening assault didn't go as planned? Did we lose anywhere?"
((Note to self: finally take time to research Red moon Rebellion when there's some down time.
Y'know, the more I think about this, the more I'm convinced the UWM won't be able to ever get even one boot on the ground. And that surviving their invasion might not be the biggest problem.))
That depends on its condition when the time comes. The sword is nothing to scoff at, but this is space combat we're talking about here. It's notoriously fatal, even with a ship as powerful as ours. We do, however, have access to a planet sized manufacturing and research system and none of the qualms of using xeno and xeno derived tech that the UWM does. We could attempt to upgrade the sword and make her a more of a match against these greater odds.
"Well, I was asking cause I was worried that, once we repel the initial attack, those UWM warships could form a blockade around this planet, preventing us from continuing our conquest. Hell, they wouldn't even need to defend everywhere, only the approaches to those weird 'hyperspace jump points' we use for FTL travel. And since that fleet is built for anti-ship warfare, I'm not sure we could just punch through without considerable losses or damage, formidable as the Sword may be. Not without more ships that is. And if the enemy has even half a brain, they'll be shooting at us the minute any ship lifts off and breaks atmosphere. That's why having the Sword in space might help, so that it could get away if worst comes to worst, or if the defense of the planet fails. Because holding this planet, even if it can built a lot of stuff very fast, won't be enough to win this war, we can't let ourselves get boxed in. "
Which one do you want to head for first? I gotta ask so I know how to kill you.
Part of the plan was definitely to abuse the fact that we know where they're gonna land. As per how you want to do it, thats up for debate. Mines or remote explosives are a definite thing.
The batteries are good enough to keep ships out of our atmosphere and a good distance from the planet, though not strong enough to keep them from orbiting us. As per their defenses, they've got some anti-soldier laser turret set up and I'm going to manufacture some robot defenders for when the time comes. They should be relatively well defended, but they'll never be perfectly defended, especially if the enemy makes them a priority. We might lose a few.
And yeah, remote nukes, like I said, would be a good idea. It's all about numbers though. They're gonna have a lot.
As per shooting down on us, they might. Their weapons are designed for vacuum combat, so they're not as powerful or quick. They normally don't need to be. The lasers will probably be able to handle the gauss cannons, or at least weaken them before impact. But if they start firing lasers we don't really have a defense. I doubt they can penetrate the surface and hit our internal workings, but they could sure damage the surface structures.
And I'm relatively sure They're not on to us because I'm monitoring the com chatter I'm privy to. Not all the invasions going on right now are as big as Hephaestus, and without me the UWM doesn't have a centralized governmental power. The reports that are coming in are being handled by dozens of unconnected groups, some of which don't have the best FTL communication capacities. Plus I'm sabotaging the signals where I can. So they're gonna catch on eventually, but We can keep them in the dark until the fleet shows up and starts broadcasting a big "OH HELL THE INMATES ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM" message.
This is true, but thats where phase 2 of the plan comes in. The part where we forcibly board the orbiting ships and make them our own. I've got the guys in R&D working on some boarding craft that use the energy absorbing properties of that Sand from the Samsonite Abyss to shield themselves from laser fire, which is what their point defense systems use. It shouldn't be too hard once you guys get on board, they're gonna expend the majority of their forces trying to take the planet, after all.
Oh and those jump points, yeah, they'll probably try to blockade the important ones. But there are ways around that. You'll see. Is Miyamoto's team doing anything? If not, then join up with the amp team to help them, should Miya not disapprove. If so, follow.
Miyamoto's team COULD be out looking at anomalies. But they seem to be just sorta hanging around. If you want to join Morul's team, then consider yourself down there.
Teal took a quick look at the hole... That would go REALLY well with a grenade in it. Too bad he didn't bring any.
Teal took a quick look at the hole... That would go REALLY well with a grenade in it. Too bad he didn't bring any.
Retrieve cutter, follow Xan into second level, place cutter on next level down
((The cutter already cut down multiple levels, plus the fact that it's bigger than the hole it cut, and the fact that Miyamoto needed to carry it means that you can't move the cutter even if you needed to.))
Thanks.
Hm. If unable to pick cutter up, follow Xan with namite thrower at ready. If able to pick up cutter, fold it up or something and carry it with me until needed. (If it can fold/backpack-sling, that would be best)
You can't carry that. Miyamoto is really the only one who can. It's a giant fucking solid metal scaffold circle with a heavy cutting laser and generator attached to it. It's designed to be placed, used and left behind.
"Right. We'll clear this out level by level. Stick close, and if you get separated, get back to the shaft and head up. Xan, you first, because whatever's down there might consider you a friend."
Send Xan down first, then Felix and I go next, followed by any other squad mates, with Leo acting as rearguard.
Very well.
Head down cautiously. Keep an eye out for anything and flamethrower it with my fire breath if it's hostile.
Felix addresses Steve over the radio. "How far down is the infection? How many levels does it affect?"
Climb down in formation to the first affected level.
"Roger."
"Oh, one more thing, I have a few grenades, including one made of that really heavy oxidizer. Anyone want that grenade?"
Descend. {s}
Slowly circle the hole twice, looking down inside for any hidden dangers and gauging the safest descent route, then go down one floor and look around at my surroundings. repeat until I find cause for alarm. Yowl if I find something problematic and stay away from it.
"Sure, sure. Better hope there's something to shoot at instead of a series of traps and anomalies coincidentally devised to pick us off one at a time." Milno says, crossing his arms behind his head and activating the buzz mode to leisurely follow the amp cleanup team.
Follow amp cleanup team.
(( I'm going to talk in this font from now on so it'll be easier to distinguish myself from anyone else who uses this color ))
Announce myself, so that I don't get shot. Inspect area and see who's around
Hello everyone! My name's Thaddeus, I'm one of the new meatshields recruits. I was told something about a biomass of terror that needs to be killed? Or has that been taken care of already?
The Bioterror team slowly descends down the freshly cut shaft. The first floor is fine, as is the second, third, fourth, and right on up through the 12th. It's the thirteenth where stuff starts looking...wrong. There is a thin coating of what looks like a lattice or webbing of clotting blood over absolutely everything, like the most morbid cobwebs ever. The 14th floor is where it really starts to get wrong. Everything is covered in an inch thick layer of mucusy flesh that throbs and oozes with very obvious life. And it looks like it only gets worse further on.
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Topic: Einsteinian Roulette (Original Thread: Rules, Armory, Misson archive 1-11) (Read 3979590 times)