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[Chiefwaffles]

This UFO appears to be far smaller, and clearly has far more weaponry. In addition, it has a weird resemblance to some Earth craft, having actual wings within it's circular shape

That's the escort UFO we fought last time. It isn't present here.
Considering the failure of the escort and the fact that they already have two transports in the flotilla, we can be reasonably confident that this new UFO is some kind of fighter - especially since it's still the same small size as the others.

We very well will run a risk of running out of missiles.
But that's not even relevant, since Ebbor does not state "Ground combat package reduces number of available avalanches." He states:

In support of this strategy, our engineering team has created an modification package for the Raven to give it greater capability for ground support, though this comes at the expense of air combat capability.

Ravens with the ground combat package equipped will do worse in air combat.
The aliens have a flotilla of three - very likely with a new fighter UFO.
Our Ravens can only go with their starter craft one on one.
We gain much more from a succesful interception and failed ground raid than we do from a failed interception.

[Happerry]

Maybe we should think about designing/revising a mission to be 'follow them until they land, and then attack them' sometime?

Well, anyway, I've been convinced away from using the Ground Combat Package this time. (We also might want to think about designing a dedicated air support craft and then spending a VP Token on it so we'll always have one around if we want to use Combined Arms with any regularity, because I doubt this is the only time the air combat is going to be tricky enough that we don't want to risk sending anything but our best. Maybe some sort of Skyranger carried drone with a set of Hellfires? We could base it off the Predator or Reaper)

Operation Burn And Then Pillage
Combined Arms:
3xRaven (3x2=6 VP)
1 Skyranger (VP token)
-NOTSOFTER (1 UP)
--XH-2 Railgun Rifle (1 EP)

Operation First Summer (1): Chiefwaffles
Operation Amazon (1): Strongpoint
Operation Burn And Then Pillage (1): Happerry

[Strongpoint]

What stops us from waiting till they land and then attack with ravens and SMARTs?

Changing my vote to not create too many similar competing plans

Operation First Summer (1): Chiefwaffles
Operation Amazon ():
Operation Burn And Then Pillage (2): Happerry, Strongpoint

[RoseHeart]

I see it wasn't. But it should have been? The vote was supported/not countered. :/

  X•COM TRUSTEE   
/\ •V I G I L O• /\\
/\ \C O N F I D O/ /\\

[Happerry]

What stops us from waiting till they land and then attack with ravens and SMARTs?

The part were we don't have a 'track them till they land and then land on them with all our stuff' mission, to my understanding.

[Cnidaros]

Operation First Summer (1): Chiefwaffles
Operation Amazon ():
Operation Burn And Then Pillage (3): Happerry, Strongpoint, Cnidaros

This seems like the best plan, mostly because I'm not comfortable with nerfing any of our Ravens. Anyway, is waiting for them to land an option? Because it'll be the best one by far if it was.

Wouldn't it be useful if we had some better missiles right about now?

EDIT: I didn't think "wait for them to land" was worth a separate mission type. I mean, it's literally just waiting.

[Happerry]

The other potential problem is if the new design is a bomber design and they aren't planning on landing at all, just setting a few cities on plasma and laughing as our panic meters go up.

Anyway, I could edit in 'if we can, wait for them to land' in the plan and see if that works, but I would really prefer to actually have a mission type for that, because a well done mission type should mean our people are a lot smarter about 'oh, hey, that thing we thought was a giant cargo transport is actually a battleship, and instead of leading us to that base we think they have it is just bombarding us, but it has not landed yet so I guess we better keep waiting' type situations. As is, if we're waiting for them to land I'd prefer to change to having one Raven with the ground combat package, so we aren't sending one Skyranger Crew verses two Alien Crews. That doesn't seem like a recipe for fun and success. Two and a half verses their new ship should be good enough odds to win if it is a heavier fighter design flying aircover... hopefully.

As is, I'm hoping we cause casualties to the crew in the air combat section so it's not 2v1 odds against us.

[FallacyofUrist]

But that's not even relevant, since Ebbor does not state "Ground combat package reduces number of available avalanches." He states:

In support of this strategy, our engineering team has created an modification package for the Raven to give it greater capability for ground support, though this comes at the expense of air combat capability.

Raven (Interceptor) : Way beyond the bleeding edge of technology, the Raven is far beyond any other jet fighter ever build on Earth. With upgraded avionics, adjusted tracking, and advanced pulse detonation engines, the Raven is capable of pursuing even high speed alien craft. If needed, it can use it's avalanche missiles to shoot down any intruders.   Cost :   2  VP
      - Ground Combat Package : Replaces half of the Raven's Avalanche missiles with high tech air-to-ground SMART missiles

Emphasis added.
~~~

Nothing to see here

~~~

[Happerry]

But that's not even relevant, since Ebbor does not state "Ground combat package reduces number of available avalanches." He states:

In support of this strategy, our engineering team has created an modification package for the Raven to give it greater capability for ground support, though this comes at the expense of air combat capability.

Raven (Interceptor) : Way beyond the bleeding edge of technology, the Raven is far beyond any other jet fighter ever build on Earth. With upgraded avionics, adjusted tracking, and advanced pulse detonation engines, the Raven is capable of pursuing even high speed alien craft. If needed, it can use it's avalanche missiles to shoot down any intruders.   Cost :   2  VP
      - Ground Combat Package : Replaces half of the Raven's Avalanche missiles with high tech air-to-ground SMART missiles

Emphasis added.

The question is 'is this based of oldcom's aircraft mechanics'? Because there's an important difference between 'we used to carry eight Avalanches and now we have four of them and four ATG Missiles' and 'We have two Weapon Slots and we replaced the Avalanche Launcher in one of them with the ground support system'.

[Chiefwaffles]

Not too happy about using the VP token on the Skyranger; ideally we could save it for when we design a new transport. But it works just fine here. I doubt the Skyranger will ever be truly obsolete, so the free one should never go to waste.

And waiting for them to land is 100% a mission type. We have different mission types for "shoot them" and "shoot them then land at the UFO" and "shoot them then land at the UFO and also have the air units send reinforcements". Having "wait until they land then land at the UFO without trying to intercept" is quite a departure.
It'd probably be a pretty easy revision, but based on precedent I doubt we could do it without that revision.

Operation First Summer (0):
Operation Amazon (0):
Operation Burn And Then Pillage (4): Happerry, Strongpoint, Cnidaros, Chiefwaffles

[Strongpoint]

What can we even do next turn to improve our airforce? Fighter with railguns, doubt that this is better than missiles. Without tokens it is very hard to design fighter that will be better than Raven

[Madman198237]

Operation First Summer (0):
Operation Amazon (0):
Operation Burn And Then Pillage (5): Happerry, Strongpoint, Cnidaros, Chiefwaffles, Madman

[Strongpoint]

10ebbor10 What do we need to get another base? Is it just a design?

[RoseHeart]

Down and Capture : A more complicated mission profile that focuses on downing an alien vessel (or waiting for it to land), and then storming it with ground forces.

  X•COM TRUSTEE   
/\ •V I G I L O• /\\
/\ \C O N F I D O/ /\\

[10ebbor10]

10ebbor10 What do we need to get another base? Is it just a design?

It's a design, but not an easy one.