SEVEN TURNS!
TEAM A@Everyone, radio: "Ground teams, be advised. Aerial recon just confirmed hostiles approaching your location from all vectors. I repeat, large number of mobile enemy units approaching your location from all vectors. Target coordinates are being transmitted to you as we speak. They are gathered in clusters and most of them are heading straight for the jeeps at a reasonable speed. They will be on top of you soon.
Recommend you ready low power kinetic weapons and let us unleash the dogs at them as a safe way to test retaliation at a distance. Aerial recon will observe test results, report findings and adjust the dog's behaviour as needed.
Please advise on your battle plan so that we can adjust ours accordingly. Aerial recon, over."
"Acknowledged. No go on the Gunnerbot plan, they use Gauss weaponry. Lasers are first tier, kinetics are second. Team A is heading to the map tile five east, two south of the landing zone, avoiding Haebi soldiers if possible."
"Konrad, 1 southeast, 1 south. Go around any soldier lifeforms we might run into and keep driving.
...Don't try to run any over, that would be kinetic tier. And this jeep isn't armoured, I think."
Keep an eye on our surroundings for the incoming soldier lifeforms. Point them out if I see them coming. Fire my laser rifle at them when in range.
"Thought so, our little friends here don't seem to do more than one thing at a time, odd.
Anyway, I'm going up to the turret, unless someone else wants to take point?"
If no-one objects go up through the hole where the turret should be and pull out the laser rifle, searching for enemies, switch to slight diffusion, not so it's like a shotgun, but just give a bit of leeway in case they may be more agile than they seem, and fire at any enemies that get in the effective range,
Y. Vetrov - Team A
If John gives me rifle, get it and be prepared to fire. Fire only if sutation we face falls under conditions Hasala stated. Otherwise, be prepared to slice things with sword if they get past the volley.
"Konrad, 1 southeast, 1 south. Go around any soldier lifeforms we might run into and keep driving.
...Don't try to run any over, that would be kinetic tier. And this jeep isn't armoured, I think."
"I assume you mean 1 southeast and 1 east as the nerves primarily run east correct?"
Go one south east one east unless otherwise instructed, attempt do so while maintaining distance between jeep and combat forms, if combat forms close into unavoidable obstacle then slow down and keep moving to avoid getting swarmed
Konrad drives slowly, staying in the same square, as the rest of the team grab their weapons. They line up, some still sitting, others standing, pointing their weapons in the direction that Flint advised them. The gunner bot circles around to that side as well, trotting next to the jeep as it goes. The things come up from the depression to the east, charging up the hill like a herd of spooked wildebeest. They're not uniform in shape or size, but there seem to be two vague kinds: The one in front is hard to get a good look at; its not much more then an advancing wall of black carapace, like a bulldozer's scoop charging toward you. A mane of strange fruited bodies is the only visible thing, sprouting out above the armor. Behind these things are stranger beasts, quadrupedal but with an enormous downward facing spike instead of a head and a swollen right side that seems to be carrying a huge, halfmoon scythe blade against its body. The team opens up with their laser rifles when the things are still a few hundred yards away. The beams hit, they can see the glow and the smoke as the cut into the fungal flesh. Chunks that are sliced through fall from the armored creatures, but only one goes down, tumbling as it loses it's forward legs. The rest continue, unabated. At this speed, they'll be here next turn.
TEAM BBrother Lars: Team B
Brother Lars waved his metallic arms in exhortation. "Forward! Do not stop for any reason, and do not fight unless there is no other choice!"
Ready Raduga on the standard frequency; DO NOT fire yet. Keep with the jeep and avoid any mushroom men. Just try to avoid or push past them. If others shoot with lasers, go ahead and shoot as well.
"Brothers Flint, Hasala, or General Miyamoto; what kind of weapon is this PEW contraption considered?"
"Should we try to make it to the target before fighting?"
Inquire as to whether to keep moving or not. If not, stand by as ranged teams fight and be ready to bail/fight with mono-machete.
If awake, laser any combat forms close enough to reliable hit.
Ulrich Leland, Team B. Location: In jeep.
"First weapon type to be used was lasers, if I recall correctly."
If someone wants to check nerves, let them. If they are not caught then keep driving in direction nerves seem to point.
If enemy attacks and Bartolomew isn't awake, take his Electro-Spektr, set it in UV, enable Gungnir mode and fire at enemies. Aim to disable mobility, and then to kill.
If enemy attacks and the number of targets exceeds 6 or the targets attempt to ram the jeep use Testament instead. Single shot mode.
Otherwise use other people as meat shields and steer away from enemies.
Hasala glances back at his team and realizes something. "...Both teams, the use of Gauss and other kinetic weapons simultaneously with laser weaponry is now authorized, if the number of targets exceeds 6 per team or the targets attempt to ram the jeeps.
John, you want to lend your Gauss rifle to Yaroslav for a bit?
Konrad, that includes your Pawn, but keep driving for now. Unlock the Gunnerbots if the first volley doesn't take down most of them." ((As in, next turn.))
so if a pn enemy appears we have permission to shoot? Ok!
continue looking for enemies and discrepancies in the ground
Wait for driver to stop if he does and zoltan agrees to look out check to see if we're still heading in the right direction by cutting into ground to find nerves, but stay in the jeep just kinda lean out the door. If zoltan or I notice some thing that definitely is not okay ie. ground is displaced and is coming towards me, pull head and body back in jeep as quickly as possible and close door.
Do this Since driver offered I'll do it if same thing happens again be mad at driver and not talk to him for rest of mission.
The jeep stops, billy gets out, checks the nerves, says that they seem to be going more east then south, and then immediately gets his arm trapped as the ground goes beartrap and half crushes, half impales the limb to hold it in place.
As he gets grabbed, the team feels the ground shake and hears a distant rumbling. The rumbling grows closer and then, from around the bend in the canyon which B team finds itself, comes a creature. It's the size of a double decker bus, vaguely pill shaped, and almost completely featureless save for the dozens of elephantine legs it is charging toward the jeeps on. There are a few seemingly random conglomerations of spider legs and bladed forelimbs scuttling along with it like homicidal sea urchins, but other then that it is alone.
TEAM CTeam C
EDIT: In case it is necessary, give everyone permission to mess with the gunnerbot controls. And if Konrad has trouble with the gunner bots and I'm not too busy dodging or doing the things below (which I consider more important), then set them to whatever setting ((Swordsmith)) wants them. His order was:
Unlock the Gunnerbots if the first volley doesn't take down most of them.
Also, out of curiosity, since they're synthflesh, do they have cameyes we can use?
Land (inspect landing spot with cameyes first for bad things) and let Lyra search for nerves. Let her sit on my hands while she does so if it would help. And be ready to protect her in case the skin tries anything. Use my laser if it would give me better chances of saving her and getting out of there before the enemy catches up to us.
The moment she's done, I fly away with her, heading towards wherever the nerves are pointing. Even if that would mean flying over the squares soldiers are. Try to avoid flying directly over the clusters though.
If I can't land or if it isn't safe to land for some reason, then I keep flying east.
Regardless of the above, as I fly, I try to use my cameyes' zoom function and various vision modes to try to get more information about the soldiers while maintaining a safe altitude and being ready to fly higher and evade at the first sign of hostile action against me.
(No need to answer all of the below, whatever you want.)
Can I see any armour on them? Do they look squishy like the skin?
How big are their groups? Below 5? Below 20? Or do they vary too much?
What's their density look like? I mean, considering their speed, could someone drive through the clusters while evading them?
Are they approaching from all directions or mainly from the direction the jeeps are going?
Can I see anything that would indicate ranged weapons? Tubes, sacks of liquid, spore launchers, etc?
Can I see anything that would indicate melee weapons? Spikes, claws, beartraps, etc?
Do they have eyes or other identifiable sensors?
Can I see anything else non-organic or strange about them?
Are there more coming? Or is it just this wave? Could I land behind this wave? If not, could I land between two clusters, get a sample and fly away again?
"Mrowr!"
if Flint takes us down, I hop down and check the nerves, ready for the the likely beartrap when I knife it open. as soon as we have our info I'm hopping back on him so we can GTFO.
You can see via the gunnerbots if you need to.
You mange to land and let lyra examine the nerves. They continue southeast.