[x] Naval Base San Diego. The Naval Defense Force is already hard pressed against the kaiju at the best of days. Not to mention that the Fifth Fleet's casualties and damaged vessels are still drydocked there, and cannot evacuate this deep into the repair cycles. Mercury V arriving is going to help, but it won't beat the kaiju to the punch. The Beowulf, however, can.
Alright.
I hate to say it but we probably should bail on doing the Kaiju fight.
Beowulf isn't necessarily at the correct size/scale to fight a Kaiju and could get stomped. Sure, we'd be clearly buying time heroically for Mercury to arrive...But we'd also probably get trashed in the process. And I'm sure the Westphalians can capitalize MUCH harder on us being beaten back then Sheol can- propaganda showing the Beowulf getting kicked through a building, calling out the EUDF as toothless and weak, and all sorts of fun stuff.
So I'd rather hit the Westphalians, and just brace for when the brass points out a town got half-way wiped off the map thanks to us not deploying to the Kaiju fight.
Actually the factors I can see:
Kaijiu attack:
-Damage is hard to replace. Ships take years to build EACH.
-We're more likely to face an easy-to-hit-hard-to-hurt opponent
-We're more likely to take signficant combat damage if hit
-Opponent is not designed for fighting a high agility mecha like ours.
-We're more likely to get more kaijiu samples for science purposes, including intact kaijiu organs rather than what's basically a chunk of skin and muscle.
Westphalian attack:
-Objective unclear. There's no actual wargoal we can see other than raising hell, ergo likely political or...
-...bait. For us. They've been planning on that remember?
-Large number of weaker opponents will strain our defenses, which are better against 1/round mega attacks than 5-6 salvos of light damage at once
-We're more likely to get more core unit type salvage.
So that's twice the Westphalians have snuck troops inside North America. So either someone is turning a blind eye to them or they have stealth transports.
Considering how they over engineer their stuff I can't say they don't have stealth transports but considering what we know of Chairforce and their boss I'm highly suspicious.
Hopefully civilians can be relocated to safety against conventional resources. Besides against one big target, our use of fast support will give us a numerical advantage. Something we won't have in new York.
[X] New York City. The Big Apple seems to draw all sorts of trouble, but its outskirts are being threatened by Westphalian warmachines in their usual eclectic glory. The Valiant is en route, but New York is going to see a lot of damage dealt before it's all said and done. However, you are in a position to at least head off the worst of the damage with the Beowulf.
Adhoc vote count started by Basarin on Jun 23, 2018 at 9:27 AM, finished with 42 posts and 25 votes.
[X] Naval Base San Diego. The Naval Defense Force is already hard pressed against the kaiju at the best of days. Not to mention that the Fifth Fleet's casualties and damaged vessels are still drydocked there, and cannot evacuate this deep into the repair cycles. Mercury V arriving is going to help, but it won't beat the kaiju to the punch. The Beowulf, however, can.
[X] New York City. The Big Apple seems to draw all sorts of trouble, but its outskirts are being threatened by Westphalian warmachines in their usual eclectic glory. The Valiant is en route, but New York is going to see a lot of damage dealt before it's all said and done. However, you are in a position to at least head off the worst of the damage with the Beowulf.
I hope we can reassign our AI to another model rather than leaving him stuck in a chassis that's redundant. Extra points if it's added to the Beowulf so that the AI can take over should the pilot be KO'ed.
I disagree: It's entirely due their poor decisions that caused such situation, whether be it because they wanted to reach the lowest common denominator possible, satisfy people who don't read comics anyway, or worse, because writers were pushing agendas, political or otherwise.
Moreover, DC is also guilty of this.
As a tidbit, DC and Marvel still are around in the 2070s, but aside from a few series (such as Superman or Captain America) not much of it would be recognizable by our standards. They also have other competitors to deal with by this point.
Actually, the Timberworlf is better at defending, considering it has a chance to neutralize every enemy attack without penalties, unlike the other mode. The best choice though is to bring both Formations and switch whenever one is too damaged to continue.
Remember that they're close air support. They have enough fuel to fly to the battlefield, fire, then return to refuel and rearm (which is why you only get to use them every three combat turns). You can reconfigure them for long distance flight, but they're not going to be very good at fighting whatever you're likely to find at NYC if you do that.
(As useful as the V-33s are, they aren't going to stick around and fight by themselves)
Almost a year ago, you had this exact same exchange, with a similar level of sleep deprivation and coffee injection, all about requiring some kind of intervention on your part.
The difference couldn't be more stark, however. You actually have a viable Super Robot, one that's passed several rounds of trial by fire. Now it's really about to face the sharp end of things, and you couldn't honestly say how this is going to.
But you have to try. Otherwise, what was the point of the past two years of work?
Large thermos of coffee in hand, sunken eyes and cranky demeanor in place, you imagine you present the image of an overworked specialist wondering what else the bosses could possibly want. "Ma'am, if you're going to send us anywhere, it has to be San Diego," you say without preamble. "There's no way for the Navy to actually fight off the Kaiju before Mercury V makes it into territorial waters. The Pegasus can get there sooner."
"That was roughly my thought process," Peters agrees. "The First Response Corps can move in and evacuate the civilians until the Fifty-First Light Infantry can mobilize and take the pressure off of the national military forces holding the separatists off. At least until the Valiant and the Atlantic fleet can arrive." She grimaces. "Situations like these are exactly why I pushed for a Super Robot in the first place. At least we have the option to fight one of these battles on our own terms, at least initially."
"Ma'am, is there any way for us to get the Gagarin or any dropship over here?" you ask. "The Beowulf and its components are going towards the Kaiju on the Pegasus, but we can at least load up a support unit or two."
"I'll see what I can find, but Unity Station is collectively losing their wits right now," comes the dry answer. "That, and the Third is being as helpfully unhelpful as always."
Great. "And just a hop, skip and jump away until we reach gross negligence and dereliction of duty," you mutter darkly. If Peters hears you, she chooses not to comment. "Alright, Ma'am. I'm not going to wait for the official order, I'm getting everyone loaded up for bear to Naval Base San Diego."
"Standby for word on the dropship. I'll have something for you within the hour."
As the connection is cut off, you immediately turn your attention to Sasaki, who had been quietly observing to the side of the conversation. "How soon until the Beowulf is green to go?" you demand.
"Thirty minutes, one hour maximum," Sasaki says promptly.
Before you can say anything further, Diana's face appears on the sat-link console. "Sir, Ma'am, we have the Legion on the line," she says crisply. "They want to talk to you. Sounds urgent." She immediately gets on with bringing them on the line when you gesture for her to get on with it.
"Major." The familiar gravely tone of Galbinus appears a bit earlier than his face does on the sat-link. "We are hearing of attacks on some of your population centers?"
"You heard right," you confirm.
"Is there any way we can render assistance?" he asks.
"Officially? No." You shake your head. "The First Minister's office shot that down pretty quickly. They're not ready for you to appear publicly yet."
"That's a load of scrap and you know it, Sir!" Cavalier's image appears next to Galbinus'. Shouting over Galbinus' rebuke, Cavalier keeps going, "There's people out there who need help, and we can do something about it! C'mon, just at least let us do this!"
"Cavalier, that's enough," Galbinus warns.
The outburst does give you pause. Officially, you can't ask them for help. Your orders specifically stated you can't actually request their help, or ask them to deploy in any capacity.
But that's all the orders said. If they wanted to, as Cavalier seems to hint at, go out by themselves and try to help, and your attention just happened to be elsewhere and not notice them deploying...well.
It's not like you had anything to do with it then, right?
RESOURCE POINT INCOME: 19 RP + 3 RP (Landing Pad) + 2 RP (Gattai Payout; Last Turn) - 8 RP (Interrogation, Politicking, Pilot Training, Internships, Reaction Force, Variable Configuration, ESP Theory, Kaiju Biotechnology) = 16 RP Total.
Choose your load plan from the linked pages. If you deploy/retrofit a new Core Unit, now is the time to assign pilots.
Seasoned Logistician:
- You may load one Combine or Support Unit onto the Pegasus at no RP cost.
Pegasus-class Dropship Spacious Hangar
- Can carry 1 Core Unit (w/1 Combine Formation support) and 1 Support Unit for Free.
- All additional units must be deployed at cost.
Bigger Guns:
- Every three turns, the Pegasus may initiate a Heavy Weapon Strike. Roll for hit and damage as normal.
- Automatically equips the most recent Heavy Weapon you have developed (such as the Energy Blaster) at no cost.
- It's already full of cargo heading towards NYC, so it's got enough time to load one Core Unit or Support Unit. Nothing more.
As much as Lana grumbles, she and the Duo understands the need to deploy something. If you think you need to retrofit a Core Unit right now you can, particularly if you're thinking about trying to send it to NYC. It's not going to be at full effectiveness, however, and you risk getting it damaged more easily.
To repeat myself: while I will allow you to bring ONE Core Unit, you are paying half of its build cost just to get it battle ready. If you choose to do this, I will let you purchase one Upgrade and one Finisher (think of it as an emergency installation). If you choose to do that and pursue eventual full-scale production of that model, I will waive those upgrade/finisher costs in the future.
You can't officially call the Legion in, but they're still their own entity. Sure you're going to catch so much flak for letting them 'wander off,' but if you're speaking out loud, no one in the world can accuse you of telling them to sally forth.
You've had more than one lieutenant pull this trick on you. You wonder how well it works on general grade officers?
[] Stick to your orders. Request firmly that the Legion stay in the Enclave. Right now, with the chaos that's going on at New York they might cause more harm than good.
[] You're just speaking out loud here. So maybe some shards are lying around, and wouldn't it be grand if some outside force was able to at least help curb the worst of the damage until the Valiant shows up? But it's not like you can ask them to do that, so you're just going to be so focused on San Diego you have no way to pay attention closer to home...
'Cost': 2 RP
The Legion 'independently' moves out to at least help where they can at NYC. Time to see if those alt-forms hold up.
But that's all the orders said. If they wanted to, as Cavalier seems to hint at, go out by themselves and try to help, and your attention just happened to be elsewhere and not notice them deploying...well.
[] You're just speaking out loud here. So maybe some shards are lying around, and wouldn't it be grand if some outside force was able to at least help curb the worst of the damage until the Valiant shows up? But it's not like you can ask them to do that, so you're just going to be so focused on San Diego you have no way to pay attention closer to home...
You all only even have the option to do this with the Legion because by now, you've built up enough of a good working relationship with them that they're willing to go along with it. Heck, Galbinus and Cavalier volunteered, so it's not like it's much of a stretch.
Though just keep in mind, their arrival is going to be kind of late. But at least it's something.
You pay for the upgrades and finishers at full cost. You pay for the Core Unit itself at half, and that's just to have it ready for the fight this combat.
But afterwards, if you decide to put this Core Unit to production? While you're still paying full price for it later, the upgrades/finisher will still be there and you don't have to pay extra for them.
Actually, the Timberworlf is better at defending, considering it has a chance to neutralize every enemy attack without penalties, unlike the other mode. The best choice though is to bring both Formations and switch whenever one is too damaged to continue.
Which is why its effective on enemies with powerful, limited use attacks(like super robots and kaijiu) but less so against large number of moderately powerful attacks like upgunned tanks, which would grind through the evasion eventually.
4/16 RP
[X] Plan Wolf-Wolf-Wolf
-[X] Pegasus(San Diego) Core Unit: The Beowulf
-[X] Pegasus(San Diego) Combine Unit: SV-10 'Shepherd' -> Timberwolf
--[X] Energy Blaster
-[X] Pegasus(San Diego) Support Unit: V-33 TMU, 'Falcon Configuration' -
-[X] Stork(New York) Core/Support Unit: SCR-01E Banner
--[X] Energy Blaster
--[X] Dispersion Field Blast
-[X] You're just speaking out loud here. So maybe some shards are lying around, and wouldn't it be grand if some outside force was able to at least help curb the worst of the damage until the Valiant shows up? But it's not like you can ask them to do that, so you're just going to be so focused on San Diego you have no way to pay attention closer to home...
Just take our ready units, arm them up with the big guns and let em rip.
Getting Banner a Dispersion Field Blast in case this IS a trap(since Callagan has two combine units he can eject in battle for that side). A 5 HP bailout goes a long way.
Hrrm...Westphalia, to me, is more an idealogical threat moreso then anything. So propaganda is more important then actual damage done sort of things, although the latter can aid the former significantly.
On the other hand, if they think they can answer THE BEOWULF then the natural reaction to the late showing of the Valiant is to turn the anti-Beowulf gun on Valiant and shoot it in the face...
Would the Kaus help? I'm of two minds...
I DO like the idea of them showing up undercover as actual EUDF vehicles though...Hrrm. If something goes wrong it maybe pops the lid off the fact that we're collaberating...Which would be REALLY bad for the Westphalians to see!
Sooo...
Here's what I'm thinking:
[X]Plan Zae joins the loggies!
-[X]Persus:
--[X]Beowulf
---[X]Timberwolf Formation
--[X]V-33 TMU 'Longship Configuration'
-[X]Amerigo
--[X]CR-04 Phalanx Squadron
We grab the TMUs because air support seems more like something we can deploy to Kaiju fight without it getting flattened, and Timberwolf formation'd Beowulf for a tanky Core unit.
Amerigo takes the Phalanx Squadron since defense is their specialty/what we want out of them.
And no Legion, gonna trust the Brass have a point about keeping that ace for a later day.
[X] Plan Wolf-Wolf-Wolf
+I would like to gear up the Perseus or something, but the cost is too prohibitive. Better to have some spare RP just in case. However, Banner will be in danger most surely.
