Petals of Titanium -- My Life as a Mecha Setting Bridge Bunny Quest

Sev said:

So regardless of the outcome, the overall goal is to exfiltrate the experimental ship and the VIP onboard. As a result, immediately after this we probably want to fall back to friendly space, preferably without having to go through another engagement. We don't want the Singh to call for help. I'm gambling here that even if our friendly mecha are disabled, the pilot will survive/be recoverable. We're told the Night Lily has a hanger full of mecha with no pilots that can probably serve as replacements in that case. If the Singh does escape with reports of our new shiny ship, they'll probably come back with more carriers that will overwhelm us regardless of what we still have (at best 3 mecha). Similarly, even if the Rose is critically damaged, we can likely transfer crew to the Night Lily. Leaving the enemy Mecha alive is unfortunate because they could counterattack again, but if the goal is to leave right away, we will probably be okay.

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I'm taking this part pretty seriously:

None of the friendly mechas took disabling or life threatening levels of damage

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Personally, I'm not really willing to gamble that Gazetteer won't kill off, say, Perbeck here with that line in there.

Inserted tally

If the Rose is crippled, we transfer to the undercrewed Stealth super-tech ship, right? Upgrades! They don't even have a proper Captain.

And more importantly, we get to have a perfect-hair-flip contest with an Imperial Princess!

NuclearConsensus said:

I was assuming that the Singh was the enemy mecha force's mothership, so if it's taken out then the mecha's aren't long for this life either.

I'll give my vote some more thought.

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The Singh is a Corvette, not a carrier.

Gazetteer said:

another Singh class corvette,

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As for Mech vs Singh... it's kind of tactical cost vs strategic. No Survivors to report the super-tech stealth ship is good, strategically. (Assuming the enemy mechs don't report somehow...). Losing another mech pilot is bad, tactically.

Let's see. Pros and cons time. This is mostly to inform my own vote. Cons part here will be easy, because it boils down to "the other choices don't happen".

[ ]The Rose didn't take major damage to its hull or any of its important subsystems
Pros
- Obviously, the biggest is that the Rose remains operational enough to still be useful in future encounters without the need for repairs, either in-house or at a friendly station.
- We get to stay on the Rose. The Night Lily might not be enough to hold all the crew+refugees on the Rose at the moment, not to mention the mechs.
- Having two ships will ensure more firepower in case of more enemy encounters (which is likely).

Cons (to not choosing this)
- Transfer to the Night Lily might be necessary. Since escape will be the goal, given that both enemy forces will survive and escape in this scenario, having one ship with major issues will be a big problem. It's doubtful that repairs to the Rose can be done before enemy reinforcements arrive, so transferring is the only solution. This will undoubtedly bring problems of its own, such as friction between the two crew, not to mention the refugees.
-- As a subset to the above, this throws our position as a bridge bunny into question. Of course, there may be a convenient vacancy in the Lily's bridge crew...

Pros (to not choosing this)
- The Lily is more of a protagonist ship. Not to mention has a number of mecha without pilots, so more space for protagonists in the future
- If we do become bridge crew, we'll likely have a new boss. No more of Sir taking-your-credit whatshisface
- perfect-hair-flip-contests with an Imperial Princess. Thanks @Alliterate

[ ]None of the friendly mechas took disabling or life threatening levels of damage
Pros
- No deaths among our mech pilots, so Perbeck and Hiro are still safe
- No decrease in trained mech force. Highlighting for emphasis. While having to find mech pilots from among the refugees might seem a good idea to find protagonists, having trained pilots to give them a tutorial is key to their development. After all, every protagonist need a mentor to get tragically killed in front of them to spur their development. Plus, in the interim, having pilots we can rely on is important.

Cons (to not choosing this)
- The opposite of the above, I guess.
- At worst (which is both Hiro and Perbeck being out of action) we'll have to rely on J6 alone for fighting mechs, which is not good.

Pros (to not choosing this)
- Maximizes possible appearance of mech pilot protagonist (maybe?)

[ ]The Singh didn't survive and escape
Pros
- One less enemy ship to worry about
- Lower chance of enemy gaining information about us or the Lily
- Lower chance of enemy pursuit?

Cons (to not choosing this)
- One more enemy ship to worry about
- Higher chance of enemy gaining information about us and the Lily
- Higher chance of enemy pursuit?

Pros (to not choosing this)
- Not sure if there are any?
- More fight, more experience maybe?

[ ]The enemy mecha didn't disengage without further losses
Pros
- Fewer enemy mechs to worry about.
- Possible important enemy mech pilot appears to swear vengeance on us?

Cons (to not choosing this)
- The enemy mechs remain to bother us or transmit info about us

Pros (to not choosing this)
- Possible important enemy mech pilot appears to swear vengeance on us?

Got a bit burned out towards the end, but I think that covers it?

NuclearConsensus said:

Pros (to not choosing this)
- The Lily is more of a protagonist ship. Not to mention has a number of mecha without pilots, so more space for protagonists in the future
- If we do become bridge crew, we'll likely have a new boss. No more of Sir taking-your-credit whatshisface

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Other the forgetting the major Pro of perfect-hair-flip-contests with an Imperial Princess, good job.

NuclearConsensus said:

- We get to stay on the Rose. The Night Lily might not be enough to hold all the crew+refugees on the Rose at the moment, not to mention the mechs.

...

- Transfer to the Night Lily might be necessary. Since escape will be the goal, given that both enemy forces will survive and escape in this scenario, having one ship with major issues will be a big problem. It's doubtful that repairs to the Rose can be done before enemy reinforcements arrive, so transferring is the only solution. This will undoubtedly bring problems of its own, such as friction between the two crew, not to mention the refugees.
-- As a subset to the above, this throws our position as a bridge bunny into question. Of course, there may be a convenient vacancy in the Lily's bridge crew...

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The Lily is at least as big as a carrier:

Gazetteer said:

It's at least as big as the Flower class

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And it's dramatically understaffed:

Gazetteer said:

Most of the stations are unmanned, however, and an alarming number of them do not seem to be entirely set up. Most of the stations in the CiC are still covered in a layer of protective plastic, a seal proclaiming that they had had not yet been properly installed. The majority of her bridge crew, such as it is, is currently in this area, attempting to get the main weapon systems back online with an air of quiet desperation.

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Gazetteer said:

We have a hold full of mechas still in storage, and the ones we do have prepped don't have pilots."

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They have more equipment than they could possibly use, and plenty of space, but they have nobody to use it all.

Their captain isn't even a real captain:

Gazetteer said:

Patel was, in truth, more of a technical officer than anything, assigned to a top secret weapons development station to help oversee the outfitting of this ship. Not to command it. The fear of going into battle in it, in the condition it is currently in, can almost literally be seen flashing through his dark, intelligent eyes.

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The Lily is not actually staffed, and it can't be with only the people they have. All signs indicate that they were testing the equipment with a skeleton crew made up more of technicians than actual crew members when they and their escort were ambushed. I'd bet that they are more capable of holding everyone the Lily and the Rose both have than the Rose is of holding the people already on board it.

Edit: I should have included an actual point in all that.

Anyway, my first point here is that the Lily, as it stands, isn't capable of operating at full capabilities, so it's not really a choice between having two ships and having one ship. Second, we're almost guaranteed to be able to continue our Bridge Bunny work if everyone switches over, because we're fantastic and most of their bridge is unfilled. Third, they probably have, if not plenty of room, then at least enough to handle the shared load of passengers.

Alliterate said:

Other the forgetting the major Pro of perfect-hair-flip-contests with an Imperial Princess, good job.

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I can't believe I forgot the princess! Edited.

Kinruush said:

The Lily is not actually staffed, and it can't be with only the people they have. All signs indicate that they were testing the equipment with a skeleton crew made up more of technicians than actual crew members when they and their escort were ambushed. I'd bet that they are more capable of holding everyone the Lily and the Rose both have than the Rose is of holding the people already on board it.

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Fair enough. Though that doesn't rule out friction between crews and such. Also, having a skeleton crew means that a possible pro of transferring - our boss not being boss anymore - might not hold up.

Still, it's something to take into account that I wasn't able to because I mostly skimmed to get context for votes.

Winding up on the Lily is a clear Step Up and fine Plot Advancement for us.

Alas, poor Rose, you served well, but the viewers want to see super-tech stealth ships.

Dramatically, the Enemy Getting Away is better.

[X]None of the friendly mechas took disabling or life threatening levels of damage

Gazetteer said:

Imperial Princess Daystar Helios

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Princess McCoolname.

Gazetteer said:

Daystar says, smiling a little fondly, in spite of the overall somber mood. The girl in question is 20 at absolute most, likely closer to 18. Small, but wearing the bright, sunburst colours of the Imperial Guard on her flight-suit. Her untraceable blend of European and East Asian facial features isn't particularly remarkable in Saturn System, but her hair -- so fair it's nearly white -- is. This is hardly the strangest thing about her, however.

"I have to be," she says, with a light shrug. Her dialect is a quiet, monotonous high Imperial, more perfect than anyone born speaking the official dialect ever manages. As her shoulders move, her bobbed hair shifts enough to reveal the raised pattern of metallic plates embedded in the skin over one temple.

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Gazetteer said:

Pebeck decides that she'll add 'capacity to operate multiple drones while also piloting a mecha in combat' to the pile of mysteries surrounding J6.

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Unusual hair, diminished affect, impossibly skilled, giant mecha. Hi there, Rei!

Gazetteer said:

All at once, another dot appears on your scan feed, well below the plane the enemy. This time, like with the mysterious mecha, in an already-scanned area, seemingly out of nowhere. Unlike the mecha, however, it's big. "Another ship-sized object detected!" you say. "Unknown classification, it must have a stealth system!" And it's not simply a stealthed shuttle or ultralight observer, you quickly realise: It's at least as big as the Flower class you're looking down the barrels of, and its weapons are likewise hot. "At that size?" you can't help but add, "impossible!"

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We're really doing great work as the bridge bunny here.

[X]None of the friendly mechas took disabling or life threatening levels of damage

There's mention in this chapter about how both of the friendly mechas - Perbeck and Ito's - are custom jobs, and that they make a ridiculously good tag team in combat. Not enough to win a 2v5, but enough that they can drag it out and turn it into a long fight and inflict casualties. That's a significant advantage, even if we ignore the whole 'life threatening' part of the choice.

Keep the mechs and the mecha pilots, let the Singh and enemy mechas go since it makes for more interesting storytelling even if it's not necessarily the ideal choice.

shmone else said:

We're really doing great work as the bridge bunny here.

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+500 Exposition XP!

ISM16 Huntress: Limited production long range fire support model, old but powerful, with very strong thrusters and a rail cannon that are scaled down ship models. Very difficult to handle, very difficult to maintain, highly effective in the hands of an expert.

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Considering the Huntress is a pain to maintain I'm inclined to vote for the mecha... hopefully not too many crew were list.

[X]None of the friendly mechas took disabling or life threatening levels of damage

[X]The Singh didn't survive and escape

Gazetteer said:

Pebeck decides that she'll add 'capacity to operate multiple drones while also piloting a mecha in combat' to the pile of mysteries surrounding J6. From here, alarmed at the suddenly even odds, the enemy, if anything, only fights harder.

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A Bit Control System, huh. And probably an Artificial Newtype-equivalent, what with those pills and the fact that normal people don't have the multitasking to handle a mecha and a bunch of drones simultaneously.

[X]The Singh didn't survive and escape

No witnesses. We can limp to whatever secret port, if we weren't under deadly pursuit

veekie said:

[X]The Singh didn't survive and escape

No witnesses. We can limp to whatever secret port, if we weren't under deadly pursuit

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We don't actually get the choice of leaving no witnesses.

[ ]The Singh didn't survive and escape

[ ]The enemy mecha didn't disengage without further losses

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Either the Singh or some enemy mecha will at least survive. The Singh dying might mean it takes longer before the enemy finds out about us, but that doesn't preclude the mecha finding a way to get the word to their nearest supporting ships, so we're probably going to have people after us at some point anyway. The secret port that was here has already been destroyed, so we don't even have that to retreat to.

[X] None of the friendly mechas took disabling or life threatening levels of damage

Yeah alright I'm on board for the having more mentor figures for Night Lily's mecha crew thing and playing hide, seek, punch and juke with an enemy fleet.

It's not about witnesses..

Only the signh would have the sensors to see the stealth ship. Mecha sensors are shit at range, potentially not even recording everything they see because of storage issues.

Alanek said:

It's not about witnesses..

Only the signh would have the sensors to see the stealth ship. Mecha sensors are shit at range, potentially not even recording everything they see because of storage issues.

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This. A mecha means recurring enemy hero, but mecha sensors and recorders, as well as long distance engines, are crap. They won't be reporting in about the stealth ship for a long time, until their distress call gets picked up really.