Meguca Micro Empire Quest (PMMM)

[inverted_helix]

Event
​

Part way through the month you receive a panicked request for help from the girls you contacted last month in area 9 (north of Kasamino, real Fujinomiya). The details are scarcer than you'd like, but it seems one of their hunting pairs vanished and when their leader took a group of veterans to investigate two of them ended up dead and the whole party was sent fleeing.

Their leader, Seto Tomoe, tells you that the demon they encountered was not just stronger than usual, but the aura of depression it emanated which normally puella are able to shrug off crippled her party members. They burned cubes at a frightening pace just keeping their gems clear enough to think while near it. To make it worse it demonstrated much the same invisibility abilities of a specialist puella and killed one of her vets before her party even realized it was there.

She doesn't believe her group capable of fending it off herself. She's the only high grade puella in her group, and she can't handle it by herself.

Current Death Toll: 1 Green, 3 Vets (Not yours though)


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While the turn is being written have the planned event (many dice were involved to dictate particular aspects though). It will be a few tiny updates at a hopefully quick pace. To break up the monotony Lightmage indicated I plan to do more of these in the future, adjusting for how this one goes. This is a bit of a deviation from the more logical conclusion space we've been in the past couple pages (where I tried to make world building aspects based on logic) and more world-building from whole cloth. Forces dedicated to this don't necessarily impact your plan execution so long as time frames are short. You can delay response for a time as well but there would be consequences to such.

Ask what questions you will, they are much less cagey about their numbers and distributions with this threat. This is a more interactive miniturn. Risk of losses is very significant here, but there is also some ways to gather significant rewards.

 

[Sinsystems]

Alright to fight that thing we will need to focus on long ranged attacks that can hit it from outside it's aura. Snipers with Clairvoyants acting as the spotters would be the main idea here with a teleporter to reposition them in the event that the creature gets too close.

We could also potentially have Kyoko's illusion clones engaging it in melee, although that is dependent on if the clones aren't affected by the despair aura.

 

[Sinsystems]

So question time @inverted_helix what additional info can the other magical girl group give us on the Demon? Such as the side of the things Despair field, how fast it could move and it's size.

 

[Aranfan]

I definitely think we should help them. Both because we do want to save their lives, but also because it will be great for reputation.

At minimun I think we should dedicate all our elites and our evac team to this.

 

[landcollector]

I definitely think we should help them. Both because we do want to save their lives, but also because it will be great for reputation.

At minimun I think we should dedicate all our elites and our evac team to this.

Click to shrink...

We don't have very many Elites though, IIRC. Mami and Koyuko for sure, but who else?

 

[Aranfan]

We don't have very many Elites though, IIRC. Mami and Koyuko for sure, but who else?

Click to shrink...

Kyoko counts for 2, and we also have Taya. Seto can probably be assumed to also be available.

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We need to know the hunting practices of Sato's group, as well as any enemies nearby they might have had, since a demon this strong probably means someone fucked up in hunting cubes.

Edit: That means we need to know their territory, their numbers, and how they hunt.

 

[Sereg]

They might be happy to join us as well now. Even if they don't, they'd be happy to become allies if we help them.

 

[TheEyes]

Their leader, Seto Tomoe

Click to shrink...

Any relation? I doubt it, but still, you never know.

Yeah, like @Aranfan said, definitely need more info on territory, especially demon strength (if they bother to track that; I'm expecting it's super-high) or at the least harvest/local population levels so we can do an estimate, and what tactics are the most common in the area. We'll have to break out the PPE and get all three of our Elites out there along with ranged fighters, shielding specialists and teleporters.

A Sniper+Clairvoyant combo should be useful here, which is good because we now have an Elite clairvoyant to pair up with Mami. That sort of reminds me: did we ever figure out a bonus for Taya? I think the tentative idea was +20 for Scouting-related rolls, but I don't know if we ever finalized that, especially now that scouting is less important than it used to be.

 

[Diomedea]

For a desperation tactic, assuming the clone is still impacted by the aura, we could use a Kyouko clone as a powerful, single use attack. Have her create a giant spear with almost all her magic and launch at high speed at the demon. It might actually be cheaper cube wise than engaging in conventional melee if sniping from range is insufficient.

 

[LightMage]

Don't forget the invisibility guys.

I think we can either try and deal with it via having vets throw bags of flower to create some clouds to notice it moving through... or have Mami use her ribbons as a sort of 'long' range touch sensor. Once we locate it, our ranged units open fire. The goal is to stay out of that aura's range, and to find it before it finds us.

 

[Aranfan]

So I wrote another analysis, but it's kinda off topic from the event.

Should I post it or save it for later?

 

[Aranfan]

Tentative vote:

[] Ask for information:
-[] Number of Meguca Seto's organization has.
-[] Size and extent of their territory.
-[] Demon Strength numbers, or failing that harvest numbers and human population in their territory for an estimate.
-[] Ask about the tactics they commonly use against demons.
[] Promise military aid:
-[] Mami, Kyoko+Clone, and Taya
-[] Try to get Seto to participate in this
-[] Also commit evac team and all the other support structure we have.

 

[Kinematics]

Initial thoughts:

Questions for Seto:

Has there been any upswing in demon strength in your territory recently? Or more generally, how would you evaluate the demon strength of your territory before this appeared?

Do you have any enemies? Has there been any unusual activity in your territory recently?

Get details on where the demon was encountered, relative to the rest of their territory.

Am concerned this is another group dropping a bomb in their territory. We've never encountered something like this showing up naturally. If you isolated an area and drove it up to +40 DS or more, what would you get out of it?

Also: What is Seto's power set? To see how best to integrate her into the combat tactics.


On our side:

Kyouko-clone as the primary scout. She can help pinpoint its location, and if the clone is killed it doesn't matter; can always make a new one. Taya as support, for her scouting bonus.

Pack tactics. We move as a full group at all times.

Team:

Mami (sniper)
Kyouko + clone (primary scout, stealth, melee)
Taya (the one who broke the illusion field of the poachers from last time)
Seto (area 9 leader)
Shinobu (emergency teleporter; always kept on the inside of the group)
Anyone else?​

On standby:

Standard support group (via telepathy) who can manage tracking the assault team's progress, and map out where they've covered and where they need to go.​

Once found, get an exact measure of the demon's strength (using standard instruments) before engaging.

Need plans for how to deal with the aura.

 

[TheEyes]

-[] Mami, Kyoko+Clone, and Taya

Click to shrink...

Maybe include a pair of barrier-users, an on-site Teleporter, and everyone in full Kevlar+shields (loan Seto a set as well). Kaoru as well: her music might be able to counter the demon's despair aura, and this may be the little kick she needs to finally make Elite on her own.

That reminds me: how many sets of full Kevlar do we have? @inverted_helix did we finish the big purchase we were going for this turn? That should really be our limit here: bring enough girls that everyone has a set of full Kevlar, and can contribute meaningfully to the fight (eg. has a skill that will be useful here).

Don't forget the invisibility guys.

Click to shrink...

Taya is an Elite-level clairvoyant, so she should be able to catch it. We should also bring along Taura, who might be able to sense it coming via telepathy. As for scattering around bags of flour... demons are intangible to mundane objects, aren't they? We'd have to enchant the flour or something, and I'm not sure that would even work (something to refer to our mad scientist team?)

 

[Kinematics]

I think the tentative idea was +20 for Scouting-related rolls, but I don't know if we ever finalized that, especially now that scouting is less important than it used to be.

Click to shrink...

Yes, it was scouting-based rolls, but in the same sense that Mami's bonus is for diplomacy-based rolls. That is, Mami is good at anything that involves dealing with other people. Diplomacy just happens to be the game action that most reflects that; however it's also useful in things like running the restaurant.

For Taya, scouting is the action that best represents her bonus, but more generally it would be described as something like, finding out what's going on, as long as it involved observing stuff (including from a distance, because clairvoyant).

That reminds me: how many sets of full Kevlar do we have? @inverted_helix did we finish the big purchase we were going for this turn? That should really be our limit here: bring enough girls that everyone has a set of full Kevlar, and can contribute meaningfully to the fight (eg. has a skill that will be useful here).

Click to shrink...

12 or 16, I don't think will matter much, unless we're playing by the war rules (with the little sim program for conflicts between organizations).

Using pack tactics and full armor, we have a base -19% casualty rate vs a base 10% risk rate. Vets will have a total of -24%, while elites will have a total of -34%. If we assume this is some crazy DS+40 demon bomb, total risk rate will be like 50%, putting elites at a 16% risk and vets at a 26% risk.

1 in 6 for the elites is already dangerous; 1 in 4 for the vets means there's a very good chance of some deaths. Of course if we're fighting multiple demons, we're going to want to stack the deck with more of our own hunters in order to actually kill them all.

Speaking of which, we're going to want a healer or two nearby (ie: part of the evac team). Quick response may mean that even if there are a fair number of casualties, we can prevent any deaths.

Maybe include a pair of barrier-users, an on-site Teleporter, and everyone in full Kevlar+shields (loan Seto a set as well). Kaoru as well: her music might be able to counter the demon's despair aura, and this may be the little kick she needs to finally make Elite on her own.

Click to shrink...

All good ideas.


Will assume that we're up to 16 kevlar suits for now, since this is supposed to be partway through the month.

Team 1 - Point
Mami (sniper)
Kyouko (stealth, melee)
Kyouko clone (scout point)
Taya (scout)
Seto (territory lead)

Team 2 - Support
Kaoru (AOE emotional protection)
Yui (barrier)
Aiko (barrier)
(sniper)
Akeno? (inertia control)

Team 3 - Evac
Shinobu (teleporter)
Sayaka (healer)
Taura (telepath)
(teleporter #2)
vet guard (?)


Team 1 is the elite group, handling the scouting through unsecured territory. Supported via telepathy with the dispatch team, who track their movements and confirm where they need to move.

Team 2 is the support team. They'll hang back in the area that Team 1 has already cleared. When the target is encountered, they move up to provide support powers (barriers for physical protection, Kaoru's songs for anti-aura protection, Akeno's inertia control for extra speed and defensive movement, etc), while leaving the elites to do the majority of the fighting.

Team 3 is evac. They're one stage further back than Team 2, so should be safe. They keep in constant contact with the frontline teams. Shinobu is the battle teleporter; if someone is injured, she 'ports in, grabs them, and gets them back to Sayaka for healing, and the second teleporter is there in case the injury is severe enough that the meguca needs to be evac'd off the battlefield entirely, or as backup for Shinobu. Taura should also maintain a constant awareness of the area around them, in case of ambush.


Total of 15 meguca. 1 spare kevlar set in case Seto wants to bring in one of her own team.

Thoughts?

 

[Kinematics]

It will be a few tiny updates at a hopefully quick pace.

Click to shrink...

Actually, from this, let's just set out the questions we want to ask, first. We should be able to get that before setting up the assault teams.

Revising Aran's a bit, while adding some of mine.

[x] Reassure them that of course you'd be willing to help.
[x] Ask for information:
-[x] Size and extent of their territory.
-[x] Has there been any upswing in demon strength in your territory recently? Or more generally, how would you evaluate the demon strength of your territory before this appeared? If no specific numbers, provide harvest numbers and human population for their territory.
-[x] Do you have any enemies? Has there been any unusual activity in your territory recently?
-[x] Get details on where the demon was encountered, and any additional specific info she can provide about the fight (number of demons, how they were affected by her team's powers, what tactics were used, etc).
-[x] Also: What is Seto's power set? To see how best to integrate her into the combat tactics.

 

[inverted_helix]

Actually, from this, let's just set out the questions we want to ask, first. We should be able to get that before setting up the assault teams.

Click to shrink...

Yes this is the idea. I'm going to put all the answers to the various questions in one post. Been waiting to make it more of a consolidated post. I'm surprised at the questions people aren't asking though, more than the questions they are.

Yes, it was scouting-based rolls, but in the same sense that Mami's bonus is for diplomacy-based rolls. That is, Mami is good at anything that involves dealing with other people. Diplomacy just happens to be the game action that most reflects that; however it's also useful in things like running the restaurant.

For Taya, scouting is the action that best represents her bonus, but more generally it would be described as something like, finding out what's going on, as long as it involved observing stuff (including from a distance, because clairvoyant).

Click to shrink...

This is correct.

 

[LightMage]

Yes this is the idea. I'm going to put all the answers to the various questions in one post. Been waiting to make it more of a consolidated post. I'm surprised at the questions people aren't asking though, more than the questions they are.

This is correct.

Click to shrink...

Hmm.

Ask them what plan's they've tried.

Ask them any future plans they have.

Ask for other ideas. Trade info around, brainstorm with our ideas and their ideas to see if we can come up with something genius?

 

[TheEyes]

I'm not sure we need size and extent of territory; is that even relevant here? We just want the demon strength number, and an indication if this is a sabotage attempt by a rival group.

Note: if it is a sabotage attempt, and we're dealing with a DS+30/DS+40 megademon, we might be best off just leaving it alone, or kiting other demons from our adjacent Northern area, where our -1.3 DS demons are particularly adept at attacking other demons, into attacking megademon.

Questions to add to @Kinematics vote:
-[ ] What are the most common demon-hunting tactics employed in the affected area?
-[ ] How big are your grief cube reserves? Could you stand to underhunt your territory for awhile, to let the demon strength die down, if that turns out to be necessary?


[x] Reassure them that of course you'd be willing to help.
[x] Ask for information:
-[x] Has there been any upswing in demon strength in your territory recently? Or more generally, how would you evaluate the demon strength of your territory before this appeared? If no specific numbers, provide harvest numbers and human population for their territory.
-[x] Do you have any enemies? Has there been any unusual activity in your territory recently?
-[x] Get details on where the demon was encountered, and any additional specific info she can provide about the fight (number of demons, how they were affected by her team's powers, what tactics were used, etc).
-[x] What are the most common demon-hunting tactics employed in the affected area?
-[x] How big are your grief cube reserves? Could you stand to underhunt your territory for awhile, to let the demon strength die down, if that turns out to be necessary?
-[x] Also: What is Seto's power set? To see how best to integrate her into the combat tactics.

 

[Aranfan]

I'm not sure we need size and extent of territory; is that even relevant here?

Click to shrink...

It lets us pull up human population numbers if for the territory on our smart phones if they don't know it.

 

[Elder Haman]

Additional Question:

[X] How many Vets and Greens can Seto provide for joint hunting team

 

[TheEyes]

It lets us pull up human population numbers if for the territory on our smart phones if they don't know it.

Click to shrink...

Yes, but it shouldn't be the first question, as it's not the relevant stat that we're looking for. In fact that's more the statistic you'd be looking for if you were scouting out a territory for expansion; what we want here is the demon's strength, its tactics and an eye for possible weaknesses, and a list of possible enemies that might indicate a poaching problem and an attempted demon-bomb.

 

[Aranfan]

Yes, but it shouldn't be the first question, as it's not the relevant stat that we're looking for. In fact that's more the statistic you'd be looking for if you were scouting out a territory for expansion; what we want here is the demon's strength, its tactics and an eye for possible weaknesses, and a list of possible enemies that might indicate a poaching problem and an attempted demon-bomb.

Click to shrink...

Fair enough, but that's are argument that the question is misplaced in the vote, not to get rid of it entirely.

So something like:

[] Reassure them that of course you'd be willing to help.
[] Ask for information:
-[] Has there been any upswing in demon strength in your territory recently? Or more generally, how would you evaluate the demon strength of your territory before this appeared? If no specific numbers, provide harvest numbers and human population for their territory. If no numbers for human pop, size and extent of territory so we can look it up.
-[] Do you have any enemies? Has there been any unusual activity in your territory recently?
-[] Get details on where the demon was encountered, and any additional specific info she can provide about the fight (number of demons, how they were affected by her team's powers, what tactics were used, etc).
-[] What are the most common demon-hunting tactics employed in the affected area?
-[] How big are your grief cube reserves? Could you stand to underhunt your territory for awhile, to let the demon strength die down, if that turns out to be necessary?
-[] Also: What is Seto's power set? To see how best to integrate her into the combat tactics.

With the addition in green.

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Also, I think I'm going to post my analysis once we've decided on a vote.

 

[Elder Haman]

Surprised that no one asked that one about how many girls she has as it's pretty important. Also surprised at some of the obvious things people are missing.

This is a demon with emotional depression ability?

Hmm... if only we have a girl with emotion related abilities....

Oh wait, we do...

Here would be my recommended team:

Mami - Leadership and Diplomacy interaction bonus for co-ordinated efforts
Taya - Scouting and figure out what is going on.
Kyouko + Clone - Combat attack squad
Kaoru - Crowd Control and Emotional ability to counteract demon effects.
Teleporter x3 - let's have all the teleporters we can bring
Healer - I guess we can bring Sayaka... although maybe we should pick a girl less likely to go all heroic sacrifice on us
Barrier x3 - Minako, Yui, and Aiko

That's 12 girls, and I suggest we hunt as one pack, armored up with full Kevlar.

 

[TheEyes]

Fair enough, but that's are argument that the question is misplaced in the vote, not to get rid of it entirely.

Click to shrink...

Okay, I can see that.

@Elder Haman: As I see it we have two options here:

1. If Seto's territory is severely over-hunted, or being poached/demon bombed, then our best strategy here is to kite demons from our under-strength territory into fighting it, since they'll be super-effective at fighting demons and we don't want to provoke an even bigger increase in the territory's demon strength as that'll just spawn even worse horrors. More megucas here might be useful, but more on our end since we're going to have to go searching our own territory for "weaker" demons to kite into Seto's territory.
2. If this is a case of bad luck, and we just need to kill this demon because it randomly evolved a useful anti-meguca power, then we don't want anyone other than Elites getting anywhere near the damn thing. The greens especially, and probably even the vets, need to stay away, and not get underfoot while the Elites do the hunting.