I wish I could say I was as optimistic as you are about our higher tier laser tech not being needed. As it stands, I would much prefer to error on the side of caution when dealing with the Reapers here in this quest. They already have tried to kill us before and it will only get more difficult to fight them off as time goes on. Even if our tech is much better than their best tech [which I have my doubts about in certain instances], they can still drown us in numbers. This being the case, I would rather go as far into our tech tree as we can to put a finger on the scales in our favor.
All of that being stated, eventually I want to graduate from Lasers to Masers. [Grasers are obviously out and would be banned by everyone on sight once they knew how they worked.]
I agree we should try and fill out our tech tree as much as possible which is why I'm mildly against investing too deeply into Laser tech; it is a lot of RP for not much comparative benefit. Especially when a tech that completely nullifies lasers is also on our tech tree and works entirely via an application of Eezo so the Reapers are probably aware of.
All of that being stated, eventually I want to graduate from Lasers to Masers. [Grasers are obviously out and would be banned by everyone on sight once they knew how they worked.]
Masers are the wrong direction for space based laser performance as you want as short a wavelength as possible to minimize beam spread. They would actually be less performant then the (non-PI) existing standard of IR lasers. As for Grasers; well we're already going to be exceeding effective ranges with X-Ray lasers (10 light seconds) so there isn't any point. Especially as any ionizing effect is irrelevant compared to the sheer energy we are outputting.
Ultimately lasers have been a worthwhile investment for getting people, not just Paragon Industries, thinking outside the Reaper trap mindset of Eezo and Eezo based weaponry (IE: MACs) and as a reliable product to sell to help grow our influence in the orbital side of the military industrial complex. However I don't think they have late game viability. Not when we have options like Repulsor Cannons, Dark Energy Warheads, starship grade Weapon Mods, or Conrad's Blackhole Gun.
The Reapers have billions of years of depth into the Eezo tech tree; Revy has unfathomable breadth in hers. We don't know what the Reapers will or won't be resistant to so going for a broad sweep of options makes sense. Plus it works better with getting quarterly results (happier players).
For distance you are absolutely correct. The damage TYPE however is better. Masers deal Kinetic and Energy damage, both of which deal each damage type independent from each other. I am not saying we use them to replace our main armament but using them as point defense and secondary armament is just a straight upgrade.
i think we should go for "Eezo Production" as Eezo is a good money marker and it will effect the price of it, and that is gonna be very bad for the Asari as that is big money marker for them
i think we should go for "Eezo Production" as Eezo is a good money marker and it will effect the price of it, and that is gonna be very bad for the Asari as that is big money marker for them
Yea collapse the market is not something we should do, so we should make enough to meet the demand of our corpo, along with making a few hundred billions per Q from selling it
Yea collapse the market is not something we should do, so we should make enough to meet the demand of our corpo, along with making a few hundred billions per Q from selling it
eezo is currently a multi trillion industry not few hundred billions, and we should be careful with that.
The asari and the rest of the council species are going to be close allies, not rivals or enemies once humanity achieves that seat on the back of revy achivements.
Which means we have to limit ourselves, more money and power is great , fantastic even , but the headaches of collapsing the citadel space economy is not something we should take lightly , or even want to try handling really.
A Dreadnought Aircraft Carrier control by a advance VI or AI would be great, with no people on it, there should be a lot of space in that Dreadnought for more drones, maybe even a factory on it that makes those drones
How do you feel about a heavy cruiser/dreadnought sized factory ship designed to help repair damaged modular ships (working with onboard VI/AI to identify damaged systems and either repair minor damage or replace major damage with fresh modules and refurbish damaged ones during downtime) that, if stationed over a planet that can build modular ship components, act as a sort of supplemental shipyard (not as effective as a dedicated stationary yard but a way to eke out additional use while not deployed)? I figure that both helps with operational tempo (getting damaged ships back in the fight without having to go back to the core to get patched up) and allows more options in the field to creative commanders ("we don't have enough brig space to take all these prisoners, but we can daisy chain thirty hab modules together and leave them in orbit until we do" etc). Might also be something useful for repairing civilian ships sending out distress calls.
Honestly I doubt we'll ever bother with the higher ends of laser tech. A metric ton of iron takes ~700MJ to raise to the melting point and a thousand tons (about the mass of a small IRL frigate) 700GJ. Our high gigawatt (IIRC: hundreds of gigawatts range) lasers are going to be stripping hundreds of tons of mass off anything they hit. More when you consider most substances lose significant amounts of their structural integrity before hitting the melting point. The line about "carving gaping holes in warships" is if anything understating the impact they'll have if we can get any sort of reasonable duration of beam on target.
Would some sort of magnet-based shield allow for laser power degradation to (as power output and material tolerances permit) reduce the effective energy-on-target effect (either 'this is only 80% effective' or 'this spreads the damage out over an area allowing us to soak the heat' or 'this steps down the effective energy output by an order of magnitude' etc)? I want to be able to counter our own toys in case the Reapers get ahold of them.
i think we should go for "Eezo Production" as Eezo is a good money marker and it will effect the price of it, and that is gonna be very bad for the Asari as that is big money marker for them
IIRC I think the plan was to keep the development of such tech a bit hush-hush and let the SA build up a 'strategic Eezo stockpile' before announcing that we have the capability to print money artificially create eezo.
I mean, the answer the update implies is "Screw the Pilots they won't survive anyway", so if there's a solution that amounts to "decrease Pilot QoL in exchange for [blank]" then that's probably it.
I mean, the answer the update implies is "Screw the Pilots they won't survive anyway", so if there's a solution that amounts to "decrease Pilot QoL in exchange for [blank]" then that's probably it.
so just a heads up but for the past few weeks and probably for more work has been really busy and having to do a lot of OT on top of that, plus other stuff going on. So update gonna be delayed and slow to write, just letting you know that I haven't gone anywhere and if you see me updating other stories its not me giving up on this, those were me stress typing to get the bunnies out of my head so I can focus again. will be doing the next update, but will be a slow write up.
*just realizes that there is a Enter the Mines of Moria game where you play as a dwarf reclaiming a lost dwarf hold*
.....I think I might be slower than I thought in writing the next update....not sure when I will return from the hole....
*just realizes that there is a Enter the Mines of Moria game where you play as a dwarf reclaiming a lost dwarf hold*
.....I think I might be slower than I thought in writing the next update....not sure when I will return from the hole....
Battle In Orbit Round 1
Anti Orbital Defense Roll to support station: 68 + 25 = 93
Station Defense Roll, heavy amount of shields and weapons and fighters and drones: 27 + 30 = 57
Station Disabling Roll by Council Forces: 35
Station Self Destruct Roll: 96
With the fleets all reorganized they as one began making their way forward with the Alliance ships once again leading the charge as it was now clear that their defenses were the only one sufficient for the battle to come. Something that the Batarians were in agreement with as sensors and alarms blared as a positively massive ground to orbit response was launched from the surface to orbit installations in addition to the ones installations that were on the station.
Obviously the information was severely outdated as the orbital station fired multiple cruiser level cannons which were studded around its upper hull as well as releasing several ships' worth of flyers and missiles, and most worryingly of all activated a shield that was significantly stronger than anything previously recorded except for some land based facilities. Meanwhile, the amount of ground to orbit fire was a magnitude more and stronger than estimated with the Alliance fleet getting absolutely hammered by the sudden incoming fire by what should have been a much less heavily defended orbit.
The enemy fire nearly took out the majority of the Alliance fleet with the suddenness and ferocity of the assault if it wasn't for the Pyndas intercepting enemy fighters and missiles with their potent laser systems along with the Council Fleet distracting the station to focus on them. Even then the hailstorm of anti orbital fire took out a few Alliance ships.
In exchange the Laser Pyndas took their revenge on the fighter forces reducing them to shreds even as their lasers bypassed the kinetic shields on the station and destroyed many of the hull mounted emitters and defensive emplacements weakening both its attack and defense capabilities.
In response the station and ground installations began focusing fire on the Parsec and Alliance ships forcing them to disengage and fall back under the heavy fire, but freeing up the Turian fleets to open fire on the station with impunity and time to aim ensuring all the shots hit dead on without colliding into each other causing visible explosions of various shield emitters across the station's hull and a visible decrease in the strength of the station's shielding.
With the Council ships bombarding the station the Alliance and Parsec ships were able to distance themselves, regroup, and add their fire against the station while avoiding the fire coming from the planet.
The station was slowly getting battered apart with messages being passed around that an attempt should be made to secure the station once the shield was down. In response fighters and drones were deployed to escort boarding transports containing both Alliance and Council forces. As they neared the station, timing for projected instance when the shield would be down and they would be coming in from an angle where the laser pyndas had already cleared the hull defenses, the station suddenly exploded into a ball of nuclear fury and innumerable shrapnel.
The explosion outright destroyed the closest fighters and transports while the cloud of super accelerated station fragments made the station into the galaxy's largest nuclear powered fragmentation grenade as the pieces tore through the surrounding space and every vessel smaller than a frigate. Even then frigate sized vessels were damaged as their shields were overwhelmed and the hypersonic metal pieces penetrated deep into the hull requiring engineering crews to conduct emergency repairs or section sealing. Even the cruisers were not unscathed as their shields were strained to the limit causing equipment damage which would reduce their capabilities until repaired.
It seems even when losing the Batarians could not help causing trouble even if it meant their deaths as in addition to the dangerous fragments flying through space now, a debris field now floated in orbit acting as a navigational hazard as well as a large electromagnetic cloud throwing out waves of radiation readings from the nuclear explosive which was used in the stations self destruct.
Again the ships of the invading fleet had to pull back to reorganize and reassess the damage taken and most of all reassess the enemy.
Fleet Command was starting to get nervous now and concerned at the sheer lack of self preservation among the Batarian forces. Multiple times now the enemy was willing to use suicidal tactics to engage their forces and fought to the death just to deal damage to them instead of surrendering. Also, the latest action showed that the Batarians had nuclear assets in play and were willing to use them, even on themselves if necessary. Just what in the world was the Batarian government doing in order to command such ruthlessness among their forces? Probably nothing good.
Just another crime to add to the Batarian's list of why they had to be stopped. The destruction of the station in such a violet way had hurt the fleets, in addition to the all the lost soldiers most if not all of their fighter and drone complements were destroyed meaning that they could not provide air superiority over the battlefield even if they could maintain the orbitals to prevent any future reinforcement due to the presence of the anti orbital defenses keeping them at bay. This meant that the troops were going to have to slog through the enemy defenses if they could not breach the anti air space successfully. They could not even bombard the planet due to the presence of slaves on the moon which were to be saved if possible.
However, they still had to try to land inside, as projections showed that trying to safely land outside the defenses would require the ground forces to travel through, break, and take several kilometers worth of fortified terrain at great cost in lives and material. If they could land within the defenses successfully and take down the local anti air and anti orbital fortifications then they would be able to by pass many of the enemy fortifications, significantly cutting down the time and loss of lives required for victory.
With heavy hearts the military leaders began calling out for volunteers among their forces for the next phase of the Battle, the Invasion.
They prayed for their men and women they were about to send down their.
Scanning Roll: 81 - 30 - 10 = 41 minimal information gathered
Anti Air Roll: 50 + 35 = 85
Landing Roll Council: 1 (nat 1)
Landing Roll Alliance: 17 + 20 = 39
Landing Roll Par Sec: 9 + 50 = 59
Enemy Ground Trench Defense Roll: 27 + 15 =42
Council Defense Roll: 20 - 20 = 0
Alliance Defense Roll: 85 + 20 = 105
ParSec Defense Roll: 25 + 20 = 45
Enemy Response Roll: 95 + 20 = 115
Brian Death Roll DC 90 = 98 Dead
Revy is informed in time to prevent? = 2 No
Landing Location Roll: 22, have to land well outside enemy fortified space, must proceed with siege
Level of enemy fortifications since last report Roll = 77 heavier amounts of fortifications and forces than reported
With nothing contesting the orbital space in the system the combined fleets were free to take their time to prepare for the drop even if they had to keep some distance from the moon due to the anti orbitals. The scanning of the moon however for up to date information proved to be a mess due to the left over cloud of radiation left behind by the destroyed space station along with the multitudes of metal fragments cluttering up the orbital space clogging up the sensor readings as clearing past it for clearer scans would subject the ship in question to enemy fire.
The only usable information was the confirmation of the presence of the fortified pill box locations and what seemed to be trench lines dug all across the moon around a central fortress which was once was a small set of craters now transformed into a death trap. Analysts among the fleet were gossiping just how much money and man power was spent turning the moon into a fortified military stronghold from a 'pirate' lair in the short amount of time.
So with lack of any additional usable intel, the command was given for the vanguard force of Hierarchy, Alliance, and Paragon Security forces to make up the first wave, secure a landing zone, and take out the nearby anti air and anti orbital towers to allow for further reinforcements to come down and secure the area in full.
With the sheer amount of defenses present it was decided that all three forces would be deploying at the same time. A few hours later and the wave was launched with over a hundred transports leaving the fleet and diving straight towards the designated combat area while ParSec once again showing their technological edge a hundred power armored men and women propelled themselves through space. They swiftly left the other transports in their figurative dust as they entered the thin atmosphere of the moon at speeds which would have caused any other vehicle to burn up upon reentry as their specially designed shields protected their deadly passengers.
The Batarians predictably could not miss such a force and opened fire into the air with lasers and flak, filling the skies with Death.
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Private Cartan gripped his rfile and safety harness as his troop transport weaved through the dense anti air with vibrations reverberating through the troops as the gunner or VI manning the defenses proved to be unnaturally accurate.
He was as proud Turian soldier who volunteered to be part of the vanguard to fight back against the Batarians and to make them pay for their crimes against the citizens of the galaxy. His gut roiled with nervousness as the transport shook even harder this time. Oh how he wished that he was one of the lucky ones who were issued the new Turian power armor which were made in response to the Human's power armor creation. However, those were only given to the elite veterans as there was just simply no way for them to make enough of the suits for everyone in such a short amount of time, and they definitely had bugs to be worked out. Turian engineering was amazing but not even the best team of engineers could develop what Paragon Industries could in less than a decade. Oh how he wished Dr Shepard was born a Turian but-
Private Cartan's thought stopped there and was swiftly replaced with terror as the side of his transport was blown wide open with him and the rest of the troops still alive being sucked out of the transport and soon met their demise upon hitting the ground alongside the multitudes of other Turian soldiers and transports as they rained from the skies of Torfan.
---------------------------
Saying it was a slaughter would be an understatement. Nearly every single Council transport ship was shot down or blown completely to pieces upon trying to reach the surface of Torfan. The defenses of the moon had near precognitive ability to predict the evasive actions of the troop transports and focused enough fire power to shred through the kinetic barriers as if they were made of paper. They had initially tried firing upon the incoming Paragon troops but soon switched fire to the Alliance and then again switched to Council as they proved neither as tough or mobile as the former incoming forces. That wasn't to say the Alliance did not lose some transports as well, but compared to the Council they were basically unscathed.
If there was more an a few dozen Turian troopers still alive after crash landing in hostile enemy territory after the initial hour it would be considered a miracle. That meant the only real forces that made it to the ground in semi one piece was the Parsec power armored troops and the majority of the Alliance soldiers whose transports survived the trip. Now they had to accomplish the mission placed upon them or survive and somehow extract themselves out of the dangerous situation they found themselves in.
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Lieutenant Rico let loose another burst of shots at the enemy being highlighted against the darkness of the night as they rushed towards the trench line taking down another foe as he tried to multitask with coordinating with the surviving troops in the area.
He had signed up to fight aliens and defend Humanity for a very nice paycheck and toys. He did not expect to be invading a damn alien pirate slaver moon along side the Alliance and the Council, nor did he ever expect to see the Council being chewed up and tossed around like toys by the Batarians in the last 24 hours.
Their total number of forces were basically non existent and everyone with a working comms was spreading the word to hunker down then group as they were not even more heavily outnumbered and outgunned no matter how many of them had power armor protecting them. If they had access to the Jacks and Tigers then this would have been far less of a issue, but until they took down the anti air they would not be receiving heavy vehicle support as they would just be blown out of the sky like the Turians. If they really had to they might try sending down a Jack, but chances are it might get taken out on the way down or just crash into the planet as it tries to decelerate from the immense speeds it would need to outrun the anti air.
So the Alliance and Parsec linked up where they could, scuttling their transport ships to prevent them from being used against them and immediately aimed for the closest bit of cover they can grab, the Batarian's own trenches. The Batarians within were not expecting them to say the least and a hail of rifle fire and repulsor blasts quickly cleared the trenches for them to use for themselves and they quickly got to work on fortifying their section of the trench with more dirt and makeshift barricades.
Parsec had the least number of troops but greatest firepower so they either turned their areas into dead man lands for anyone nearby or quickly merged up with the larger Alliance troop formations and helped them begin taking more and more of the trenches towards the nearest anti air emplacement.
That was when things got worse, apparently the Batarians had hidden artillery, short ranged artillery but artillery still and were shelling their own trench lines, both to keep them suppressed and to try to kill any of their forces along with their own troops no matter the amount of friendly casualties.
And then They arrived.
From within the enemy lines under the cover of darkness they came as a wave. The only indication they were here was the muffled sounds of footsteps echoing through the thin atmosphere and the troops noticing the moving blips of blue lights which were swiftly getting closer.
A quick switch to night vision and alarms were immediately sent out up and down the trench and to the other pockets of allied positions.
As if sensing they had been detected They began moving even faster with some of them running on all fours and leaping like beasts!
Soon they had entered within range of the mark I peepers and they were as ugly as they were terrifying in night vision.
They looked liked someone had taken someone and turned them into a monster. Glowing blue eyes, elongated claws, some sort of biomechanical gas mask. If they were people once they certainly did not act like them anymore as they charged their own former trench lines.
Everyone opened fire upon the wave of horrors approaching their positions, but the terror inspired by their appearance, sudden approach, and sheer unknown about them had reduced the accuracy of their gunfire. What gunfire did hit did not seem to stop them at all only pushing them back with them quickly regaining their balance and continue charging again. They seemed immune to pain but shots to the head still seemed to kill them.
However, that was not enough to stop them as they reached the trench line and leaped right into it and began literally tearing into the troops within.
The powered armor troops did the best against them of course as their armor was effective against their enemy's claws and close range repulsor blasts sent them flying out of the trenches or outright destroyed their heads killing them quickly. The same could not be said for the Alliance whose gear, while now top of the line with the latest kit upgrade was just not up to stopping a sharp metallic claw hitting with the force of a Krogan with the lucky ones only getting launched across the trench lines with dented armor and the worst having their helmets crushed or a claw exiting out of their back.
Lieutenant Rico dodged another swipe at his head by the thing in front of him and let loose a burst into its head while firing a repulsor blasts behind one of his men who was about to get swiped from behind by another one of those things. The amount of enemies were limited and it looked like they are about to make it through this attack when suddenly a deep growl echoed through the ground cause some of them to look out of the trenches towards the source.
Lt Rico felt his blood chill as he witnessed what could only be a Monster emerge from the darkness, how the hell did they miss its coming, were they that focused on the fight?
It was standing over twice the height of a normal man and was holding a gun more fit to be on a tank than anything man portable. With armor looking twice as thick as theirs and strength to match the Monster was no doubt the Batarians attempt at countering power armored troops. Though with only two eyes on that thing whether it was actually a Batarian in there or some messed up victim was up for someone else to debate as it was charging their position right now!
It moved faster than anything that big should be capable of and its gun unleashed a golden yellow laser beam from its barrel as it swept it across the field causing multiple deaths for those who failed to duck in time. Every step of its massive form caused a rumbling to tremble through the ground and no doubt if it got into close range it was going to tear through their forces.
"This is Lieutenant Rico, we got enemy heavy power armor and we need heavy weapons support, can anyone assist!?" He called through the comms even as he let loose full auto alongside several others with their repulsor blasts. The bullets did nothing but cause sparks to fly while the repulsors merely dented the armor of the incoming behemoth even as it got closer and kept firing its laser gun at them.
Two Parsec troopers flew into the air to try to open fire on the enemy only to be shot down by two larger beams of golden yellow light. Lt Rico looked and saw further back two more of the things each holding a larger shoulder mounted version of the gun the one in front was holding. The lifesigns of the two that were hit were stabilizing thanks to emergency medical treatment being administered by their fellows but they were down for the count which took two more soldiers out of the fighting as they were busy on medic duty and protecting the wounded.
Facing the rampaging Monster who was now heading his way he silently sent up a prayer to a God he had not prayed to in a long time for someone to save them even as readied his suits own self destruct.
Revy Roll: 95 +60 = 155
From the skies 3 beams of energy struck the heavy armored enemy, its two supporters, and instantly pierced through their armor piercing from head to groin. The screech of missiles could also be heard as the soldiers looked up and saw hundreds of small missiles land all across the battlefield across multiple trenches with pinpoint precision among the enemy ranks killing only the enemies, leaving behind only a sudden silence at that point of the battlefield with only distant firefights indicating the battle was still ongoing.
As one everyone looked up and saw the most beautiful and terrifying sight in the world.
The sight of none other than Dr Rebecca Shepard in power armor....in the middle of the battlefield.
As that fact sank into the minds of everyone witnessing her, Shepard posing in mid air, everyone immediately snapped out of it and yelled
"WHY ARE YOU HERE!?"
______________________________________________________________________
AN: Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year! And oof, the Council's record of getting massacred by the Batarians continue once again.
What a wonderful Christmas present this was. Thank you for the timely update!
Also, Really?! Revy on the field?!?! Who let that happen?!?!?! (I bet she's grounded by her parents for the next whole year lol)
I expect the Alliance to start sending down everything else to keep her from dying and extract her posthaste, up to and including the kitchen sinks if need be.
But damn is it not entertaining. Ahahahaha!!!
Edit: Forgot to remark upon the Batarian power armor on how similar it looks to Fallout 4 Power Armor. I have to admit it looks pretty slick and much more mass producible in a sense, since it seems much less technologically complex than the Ironman suits.
It also looks to be made more for ground combat than the aerial capabilities the Ironman suits have, and proportionally much more heavily armed and armored in comparison, along with an easier maintenance requirement due to the simpler nature of the components.
If nothing else, this could be another source of inspiration for Revy to design an entirely new version of power armor with.
I think the DC is for the Batarians to get past Brian's defences/important character powers rather then for Brian's defences/important character powers to keep him alive.
Yhea, hence something being wrong. For that to be a roll that way at all, they would need to be spicificly targeting him. And know of a reason worth the extra effort to do it.
Reva's connection to him is the only factor that might fit the bill, but even that's a thin motive that would be better acted upon to capture him. Not a kill order.
Something or someone wants Revy angry and distracted.
