Super Robot Quest

[X] "...Dr. Yukimura had an old prototype from when he was building Mercury V rigged up as a cannon of some kind. It's been set up, but he can't promise it will stay stable - it wasn't developed much further for a reason apparently." Every two turns, roll 2d6, Threshold Unknown. Counts as a Heavy Weapons Attack. Can be targeted by kaiju.

One chance per target of 3 HP versus a Heavy Weapons Attack every two turns? I'd prefer the one that can reload, personally. The "extra target" thing is a bonus, since, as stated, we're currently stalling for Mercury to deploy.

On an unrelated note: Hope your new place treats you better, Basarin!

[X] "...Dr. Yukimura had an old prototype from when he was building Mercury V rigged up as a cannon of some kind. It's been set up, but he can't promise it will stay stable - it wasn't developed much further for a reason apparently." Every two turns, roll 2d6, Threshold Unknown. Counts as a Heavy Weapons Attack. Can be targeted by kaiju.

If it survives the fight, we might be able to develop the gun a bit more

[X] "...we were able to do some good old fashioned mine laying. And, um, mine laying this time refers to pallets of old artillery shells that Ms. Hamakawa was able to get her hands on from her friends. I have no guarantee how much damage it will do, but it will do something even to kaiju." On the first turn this deployment, roll 4d6, Threshold Unknown. For each success, inflict 3 HP damage on each kaiju.

Sir Plusse said:

[X] "...Dr. Yukimura had an old prototype from when he was building Mercury V rigged up as a cannon of some kind. It's been set up, but he can't promise it will stay stable - it wasn't developed much further for a reason apparently." Every two turns, roll 2d6, Threshold Unknown. Counts as a Heavy Weapons Attack. Can be targeted by kaiju.

One chance per target of 3 HP versus a Heavy Weapons Attack every two turns? I'd prefer the one that can reload, personally. The "extra target" thing is a bonus, since, as stated, we're currently stalling for Mercury to deploy.

On an unrelated note: Hope your new place treats you better, Basarin!

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i should note: this isn't a chance at dealing 3 HP to the kaijus. it's 3 HP per success. if all 4 rolls succeed, that's 12 damage to every kaiju, for a total of 36 damage, right there.

of course, that's if they all hit, which, you know, they probably won't. still, our current objective is to delay them until Mercury comes online. i don't think that cannon is going to do much damage in the time we have before Mercury gets up.

not to mention, the text explicitly mentions the cannon is unstable. while the meltdown would catch it's attacker in the blast, it'd probably also catch us, and the rest of the yukimura institute by extension, too.

[X] "...we were able to do some good old fashioned mine laying. And, um, mine laying this time refers to pallets of old artillery shells that Ms. Hamakawa was able to get her hands on from her friends. I have no guarantee how much damage it will do, but it will do something even to kaiju." On the first turn this deployment, roll 4d6, Threshold Unknown. For each success, inflict 3 HP damage on each kaiju.

so with all that said, i'm coming down in favor of the mines here

[X] "...Dr. Yukimura had an old prototype from when he was building Mercury V rigged up as a cannon of some kind. It's been set up, but he can't promise it will stay stable - it wasn't developed much further for a reason apparently." Every two turns, roll 2d6, Threshold Unknown. Counts as a Heavy Weapons Attack. Can be targeted by kaiju.

Buying time is the name of the game and a big obvious cannon will certainly help that. Also it's just more interesting than mines

Pailiniliap said:

of course, that's if they all hit, which, you know, they probably won't.

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I'm honestly expecting the worst-case scenario for the mines: ALL of them missing. Or at least all missing everything relevant.

[X] "...Dr. Yukimura had an old prototype from when he was building Mercury V rigged up as a cannon of some kind. It's been set up, but he can't promise it will stay stable - it wasn't developed much further for a reason apparently." Every two turns, roll 2d6, Threshold Unknown. Counts as a Heavy Weapons Attack. Can be targeted by kaiju.

[X] "...Dr. Yukimura had an old prototype from when he was building Mercury V rigged up as a cannon of some kind. It's been set up, but he can't promise it will stay stable - it wasn't developed much further for a reason apparently." Every two turns, roll 2d6, Threshold Unknown. Counts as a Heavy Weapons Attack. Can be targeted by kaiju.

Having mines around might affect our mobility, and that's key versus a giant monster.

[X] "...Dr. Yukimura had an old prototype from when he was building Mercury V rigged up as a cannon of some kind. It's been set up, but he can't promise it will stay stable - it wasn't developed much further for a reason apparently." Every two turns, roll 2d6, Threshold Unknown. Counts as a Heavy Weapons Attack. Can be targeted by kaiju.

So remind me, are we also planning our initial strategy, or just the base defences? If so, I think the cannon will last longer than the mines and have a larger long-term effect.
[X] "...Dr. Yukimura had an old prototype from when he was building Mercury V rigged up as a cannon of some kind. It's been set up, but he can't promise it will stay stable - it wasn't developed much further for a reason apparently." Every two turns, roll 2d6, Threshold Unknown. Counts as a Heavy Weapons Attack. Can be targeted by kaiju.

Also, how many rounds do we have to last until Mercury V is ready?

And lastly, for my own personal curiosity, which do you think is the biggest insult to Devin? Serve him decaf, serve him instant, or serve him some over-sweetened over-flavoured brand store concoction?

storysmith112358 said:

And lastly, for my own personal curiosity, which do you think is the biggest insult to Devin? Serve him decaf, serve him instant, or serve him some over-sweetened over-flavoured brand store concoction?

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Decaf, I'd say. Instant seems like something he'd drink on a fairly regular basis (if only because he runs out of other coffee so fast), and the store brand is still, technically, coffee. Decaf, on the other hand, has been demonstrated to be a bit of a berserk button.

Sir Plusse said:

Decaf, I'd say. Instant seems like something he'd drink on a fairly regular basis (if only because he runs out of other coffee so fast), and the store brand is still, technically, coffee. Decaf, on the other hand, has been demonstrated to be a bit of a berserk button.

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Considering that in this post, Devin is already calling Anna a heretic for having a hazelnut coffee with extra cream and sugar, I think he'd be a lot more fussy about his cuppa, especially if it's some latest triple-spice cinna-ginger-mint mocha-frappe supreme offered by some global coffee chain.
And I have no idea how he'd feel about latte art.

storysmith112358 said:

Considering that in this post, Devin is already calling Anna a heretic for having a hazelnut coffee with extra cream and sugar, I think he'd be a lot more fussy about his cuppa, especially if it's some latest triple-spice cinna-ginger-mint mocha-frappe supreme offered by some global coffee chain.
And I have no idea how he'd feel about latte art.

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*shrug* I'd have to reread, which I'm sadly not feeling up to at the moment. That said, at least he didn't actually punish Anna for putting non-coffee substances in her coffee, while I'm pretty sure the Duo got locked up for the decaf thing (though this may be, in part, due to Anna drinking her concoction herself while the Duo tricked Devin into drinking decaf).

this quest is interesting and I can't wait to see more

[X] "...we were able to do some good old fashioned mine laying. And, um, mine laying this time refers to pallets of old artillery shells that Ms. Hamakawa was able to get her hands on from her friends. I have no guarantee how much damage it will do, but it will do something even to kaiju." On the first turn this deployment, roll 4d6, Threshold Unknown. For each success, inflict 3 HP damage on each kaiju.

Basarin said:

during their stint as a living submarine (he hadn't taken it well when she tried to paraphrase that song at him - no taste, some people!)

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That's only natural - Dr Sheol has a theme going, a reptilian aesthetic. References to some insectoids don't fit at all; they throw off the theme-work, if you will.

To answer all caffeine related questions for Devin - he drinks his coffee black. The madman has also sometimes been known to do an old Army trick of making coffee then making more coffee by pouring the coffee into the water filter.

Seems like the votes are mostly done, but I'll wrap up voting tomorrow. I'm in the middle of moving house so my residence looks like a kaiju stomped through it.

Basarin said:

so my residence looks like a kaiju stomped through it.

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...Wait a minute, this sounds familiar. But I thought we fixed the entire campus by this point?

Voting closed, set up post will follow this weekend.

Can Axiom seperate into component pa r ts and recombine?
@Basarin
Also with our new tech is it possible to offer upgrades to valiant and Mercury V after "deputizing" them?
random dice

Note - as anyone who keeps track of this thread should realize, my scheduled times are more suggestions than anything. But to quickly recap:

I quit my job because it was leading to really unhealthy levels of stress, relocated elsewhere and am transitioning to a new job. That had a lot of additional headaches attached, but I think I've got it mostly done.

That's why I've been quiet over the last month again. I thought I was in a better place to post last time until said last job did it's damned best to wring every last bit out of me on my way out the door. I'm not quite in a good position to post again - apologies for that - but My next post will be the roll breakdowns and the narrative setup. Whenever that may be.

As to answer @Crazyone47 - I haven't thought that far ahead with Axiom just yet. We'll figure it out together!

don't worry dude, just keep taking care of yourself, you'll be ready when you're ready!

Take care of yourself mate and hope you find better hob for ya.

Hey there everyone. It's been awhile again (7 months according to the pre-posting warning against opening the Necronomicon). I feel like I make these posts every time I try to come back, but my life has been a mess and is only starting to stabilize some.

In short: I quit my previous job, and it took a good while to get resettled, find a new place, and secure a new job while distancing myself from my previous job (which did not really respect a work/life balance at all). So while that's all mostly done now, that leaves me with my next issue in regards to continuing the quest.

The system I put in place at the start of the quest was simple, and at the beginning of the quest it worked decently well. But the more I kept going with it, the more unwieldy it started to get. We already made one change to it by doing away with resources entirely. This was fine, as there was also an in-universe justification – the DFRI had proven it was more than just a flash in the pan and therefore would never lack for resources, only time and characters who could oversee projects. But the system towards the latter parts of the quest became harder for me to keep track of, and it became less fun for me to manage despite its story telling potential. Combine this with the toxic workplace I was at until last year, and it was a constant war of wanting to continue the quest but also not being motivated enough to crunch numbers for it along with working my job.

I am still interested in writing this universe out to a conclusion – I still have plenty of ideas for it, and when writing the characters, I still have a lot of fun playing out classic Super Robot (and the occasional Real Robot) tropes. As it stands, I don't think I can continue writing it as it was in its original form, but I do still want to keep writing while keeping the players' accomplishments so far and with a format that's still engaging for you all.

Are you all still interested in continuing this quest in a different format? I have some thoughts on how this might continue. They're not fleshed out at all, and there's a lot more work and brainstorming that's going to be required to make them work, but this is the first time I've had a chance to breathe, let alone even think about Super Robot Quest at all. I see a few potential paths moving forward.

• Purely narratively driven with players' choices.
  • This has the potential for some inconsistencies outside of gut feelings and plot relative power scale. But this has the potential for more reader input as well, as well as letting me freeform the scenes a lot more and lean more into some of the classic tropes. This does, however, mean that the organic storytelling beats that the dice rolls provided are lost.
• Primarily narrative with minor dice rolling.
  • I'm moderately in favor of this, but I'm still unsure of how to handle this. This could range from key decisions on part of NPCs or enemies, to technology discovery and development, but these would be both a mixture of player-based rolling and behind the screens. This would give some room to keep some of the organic storytelling from the old system, but not to the same degree.
• Redo the mechanics from scratch.
  • This is my least favored option, but it would let me try to make a more sensible system that can keep up with the escalating power scale the DFRI is finding itself climbing. I admit I'm not sure where I would start with this, however.
• End the quest, potentially start a new one.
  • As it sounds. Just cut it now as best I can, and make an epilogue best capturing the state of the world as you left it.

If I continue this quest, I will be making a new thread and asking a moderator to lock this one to future discussions with a pinned link to the new thread. If not, as stated above, I will put together an epilogue as best I can. It's not the post I wanted to make, but I also didn't just want to leave this thread hanging either. If we conclude, I still do want to write, but I'm not sure it would be a mechanics-based quest either. I enjoy the world building and cheesy action sequences accompanied with creating fun characters that I hope you all would enjoy reading about.

I appreciate all feedback and suggestions you may have. Thanks for hearing me out, and I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years.