THE INFINITE BROOD (Starcraft/Supreme Commander Crossover Quest!)

DragonCobolt · Sep 26, 2023

The Brood of Blades

Cerebrate Prime: Samantha Clarke

LEVEL: 5
XP: 205/210
TRAITS

Strategic Genius: Once per structured encounter, Sam can create a piece of the environment that is in her favor as a sticky spark. Roll a d3 for its value.
Empathetic: upon meeting an NPC, learn their motivation!
Legendary Commander: Gain 4 Command sparks at the beginning of each mission/combat. Command sparks may be spent to give NPCs orders, which they may either obey or refuse to obey (doing nothing instead.) Command sparks may not be regained via skills or powers.
Hunted: Something wants her - but for what? +1 Danger to all scenes

SKILLS

CLOSE COMBAT (2): Brawling, Edged Weapons
PERSONAL (2): Awareness, Resilience
SOCIAL (4): Charm, Empathy, Leadership, Taunt

MASTERY

ACU Pilot (2): Nanofabrication [Mass], ObSat Operations [Range]
The Hilt (4): Biomorphic Spawning (People), Regeneration (Durability), Physical Perfection (Speed), Telepathic Dominion (Range)

POWERS

The Living Swarm
Vent: 4-0
Effect: Gain 1 Living Swarm spark, +1 per vent reduction.

The Living Swarm: While this swarm exists, move in three dimensions and through anything smaller than a keyhole, reforming at will. You may expend these sparks to cause 3 Hit Sparks in a Area 2 radius.

Area Upgrade: +1 to Area Characteristic

Biomorphic Reinforcement
Vent: 4-0
Effect: Create 1 Biomorphic Reinforcement spark, +1 per vent reduction, which can be given out to anyone within Range 2, or to yourself
Biomorphic Reinforcement: +1 to Damage or Mass characteristic for the purpose of raw physical strength/feats.

Back to Back
Vent: 4-0
Effect: Choose 1 ally (+1 per vent reduction), within Range 1. Each can take one action using one of your skills, any of them that you wish. Once they have done so, you may make a free attack with your melee weapon, getting +1 to your skill per ally that acted.

Adaptation
Vent: 4-0
Effect: Create a number of sparks equal to the enemy's difficulty, narratively based on turning their abilities against them. Works on enemies of Diff 2>, +2 per vent reduction.

Just as Planned…
Vent: 6-0
Effect: Vent 6 heat and create 1 Planning Spark for her or an ally, +1 Spark per vent reduction.

Planning: The person holding this Spark can expend this to get +1 to a skill check as a free action. Using this Stack counts as you are helping for the purpose of relationships.

GEAR

Zeratul's Psi-Blades
Adds: +0 (Edged Weapons) | Characteristics: Damage [Speed] (4)[1]

Shadowstep (3): Can expend as a free action to move without crossing intervening space.
Guarded Space (3): Can expend to use Damage as a secondary characteristic for Durability, reducing incoming Damage characteristics.

GALACTIC WAR
Victory Points: 5

RESOURCES

TERRAN DOMINION [Background] (1)

The men and material of the Dominion - limited, but they're mustering as we speak.

ALLIANCE EXPEDITIONARY FORCES [Mastery] (1)

While you have access to several ACUs of every faction, they lack economic and technological support to be fully effective.

ZERG HIVE [Mastery] (1)

The scant few Zerg you control that are free of Amon's influence. Mostly Zerglings.

AEON FLEET [Background] (1)

While half a dozen CZARs seem impressive, they're not actually well made for ship to ship combat.

ALLIED COHESION [Motivation] (1)

The alliance is fragile and weak.

FRONTS

Trade Sector-34-51 [Pirate Activity]

Pirates Raiding 6 (Supply Lines in Disarray 1)

COMMAND: Jim Raynor | ARMY: Raynor's Raiders
RESULTS: Pending

Braxis [Zerg Invasion]

Borealis Siege 6 (Zerg Rampage1)

COMMAND: General Samantha Clarke | ARMY: Brood Clarke
RESULTS: Pending

Typhan II [Active Xel'Naga ACU]

Typhan II Occupied 6 (Xel'Naga ACU Spotted 1)

COMMAND: Lt. Colonel Mathew Horner | ARMY: UEF Armored Command Unit
RESULTS: Pending

Deep Space Sector 981 [Hive Fleet Identified]

Zerg Hive Fleet Spotted 6 (Kerrigan? 1)

COMMAND: Citizen-Commander Dostya | ARMY: CN Armored Command Unit
RESULTS: Pending

ENEMY ASSETS (Currently Known)

THE GOLDEN ARMADA
ACTIVITY: Unknown | Threat Level: 6

DragonCobolt · Oct 19, 2023

Hey guys, can you knock it off? My post about it being cool was not meant to be taken this seriously? Like, I did post about how I'd make sure to come up with a good reason for anything that happens for a reason.

My current plan is that she'd teleoperate a combat bot, with the explanation being ACUs are too complex and too risky to teleoperate (since they're the target of jamming and other e-war attacks, which the UEF don't think the zerg can do.)

Bam! Nice, easy installation mission without breaking supcom lore too much!

Reese · Oct 19, 2023

Spart117MC said:
They won't release the kids but there's a chance that they'll move them.

...How is that better, though?

There is no active academy on Redstone in the future which means if there is one now then sometime in between the games it got moved.

It could also just be this being an AU.

I don't want to wait only for any possible kids on site to be moved

If they've got a brand new academy there and have no idea it's under threat, why would they move the kids away from it?

or worse, for their indoctrination — which involves repeatedly wiping their memories and inducting them by having them spill blood the same way cartels trap kidnapped members into a life of crime — to be complete and for Clarke to have no option but to use lethal force because she doesn't have the means to capture a bunch of teenagers with psychic powers, that can read minds, go invisible, and have been brainwashed into being loyal killers.

Agreed there, but... we have no idea when that will be. If we left for Redstone right now, we might find that that's already happened, or we might find that the SCVs only started laying the foundations for the academy three hours before our arrival and the first batch of kidnapped children wasn't expected to arrive for two months (but will now be sent somewhere else we don't know about and can't readily rescue them from), or we could arrive in the nick of time to save them just after they've arrived and just before the indoctrination starts. Or we could find out that Duran was just completely wrong or lying and there isn't even a plan to build a ghost academy there. If we had better information, we could make a plan, but we have so little. It's a pity there scouting Redstone stealthily apparently wasn't an option, but, well, we work with what we have.

An argument in favor of going to Redstone based less in my perennial need to help youths placed in bad situations in fiction, is that getting information on the Ghost program will give the expedition a better idea of what they can expect in regards to those who sport psionic abilities in the Koprulu Sector and potentially come up with countermeasures for them. That is fairly important given how common psionics are in the Koprulu Sector, more so since Doctor Hanson's notes imply such abilities don't appear to exist on the SupCom of this quest.

...Though I'm also wondering if we, that is you and I, have significantly different understandings of what we, Clarke and company, do know. Because in addition to not knowing if kidnapped children are or will/would be there, we don't know if information on ghosts is or will/would be there, either. And it would likewise be better to arrive after the academy, if there is one, has been built and "stocked" -- but you seem to think that it's actually pretty certain it has been? Why? Genuinely asking, to be clear, it's quite possibly me who's missed something here and I'd like to figure out what the situation actually is.

Oh, good points regarding the UEF's awareness of and readiness for psychic attacks, though.

...
DragonCobolt: It's a tie between A and B!
Poster 1: Votes for B
Poster 2: Votes for A
Poster 3: Votes for B
Poster 4: Votes for A

DragonCobolt said:
...okay, seriously, please

Well, I'm literally laughing aloud at the situation, at least.

Ah, and looks like we're headed to Tarsonis. Hopefully we indeed won't be too late when we get to Redstone, but the risks and benefits of going now vs. later still don't seem to me, based on my current understanding of the situation, that different as far as we currently know.

~~[] "Good thinking. Prepare a boarding team." [Attack the space base, installation mission!]~~
It seems more likely to get us the salvage we want and less likely to attract Dominion attention, if it doesn't work we can try the planet then, and if it does work we can deal with the planet with less concern for collateral damage or need to spend time searching instead of fighting.

Spart117MC said:
There appears to be some non-infested people left on the planet going by Hanson's words.

...Hm. Yeah, it wasn't fully confirmed that all of the detected human biosigns were infested, was it? Well, I still stand by my vote, since we can still do the planet after and potentially with more information, but if write-ins are allowed here:

[X] Also have scans of the planet continue while you're on the platform to try and see if there are any human survivors.

If that works, it should give us more information when we do go down to the planet. Planet's a big place, after all, and if there is anyone down there, they're not going to be too easy to spot if they've survived this long, I expect.

DragonCobolt said:
Narratively, either way, those people do get help. Knocking the orbital out means the Dominion moves in and starts clearing zergs out. It just won't be you specifically saving them.

...which, like, is still a good reason to decide to save them so you get the delicious credit!

The dominion won't just kill them as potential inconveniences?

Spart117MC said:
The installation is a battlefield that prevents Clarke from leveraging the unique aspects of the kind of warfare she specializes in, while forcing her to take part in a kind of fighting that she is both unfamiliar with, and is the specialty of her opposition.

Hm. Would she even be considering it if it was that stacked against her, though?

...Though, continuing to read the discussion, maybe there isn't out-of-universe yet an idea of how it makes sense? But... well, there must be one in-universe already, probably even to have it be considered as much as it's already been and certainly in a timeline where they go with that plan, yes?

Ah, and there indeed is how it can make sense.

(And yeah, I'd imagine that the big concern is that any ACU you can operate remotely is one connection hack away from being an ACU your enemy can also operate remotely.)

Evilness42 · Oct 19, 2023

Reese said:
(And yeah, I'd imagine that the big concern is that any ACU you can operate remotely is one connection hack away from being an ACU your enemy can also operate remotely.)

The only character who can get away with that tomfoolery is QAI, who responds to any hacking attempt that doesn't have direct access to his mainframe with "lol, lmao."

Asmodemus · Oct 19, 2023

Reese said:
Ah, and looks like we're headed to Tarsonis. Hopefully we indeed won't be too late when we get to Redstone

I'm sure whatever setup Duran has on Redstone to try to urge us into being more hostile to the local Terrans so we get everyone else to unite against us for our downfall and his eventual plans will keep.

Spart117MC · Oct 19, 2023

Reese said:
Genuinely asking, to be clear, it's quite possibly me who's missed something here and I'd like to figure out what the situation actually is.

The academy on Redstone already exists, it was one run by the Confederacy and presumably abandoned when the government collapsed. The facility, equipment, and scientific data are all already present on the planet.

DragonCobolt said:
"Big risk for a small gain, I say. We've gotten a lot of intelligence outta this Duran...and after seeing him float a wrench around a room by waving his hand, I say, we have to check up on it. He says there's an old Ghost training facility on a planet called Redstone. Active volcanism makes it risky, but it's metal rich and defense poor. There's rumors the Dominion are starting it up again, meaning if we get there, we can knock out the bad guys from using that program, secure intelligence on how they make Ghosts...maybe how to make our own without needing to kidnap and torture children, yeah?" He grinned, warmly. "Plus, either we see how we do against the Dominion in a stand up fight, or we get some Confederate tech to look over."

Reese said:
It seems more likely to get us the salvage we want and less likely to attract Dominion attention, if it doesn't work we can try the planet then, and if it does work we can deal with the planet with less concern for collateral damage or need to spend time searching instead of fighting.

Going planetside is going to become more difficult not less if we destroy the space platforms first. Those platforms are what are keeping the Dominion fleet, the ones sitting just beyond the reach of the zerg and keeping a close eye on them, far and away. The moment the platforms go down the fleet is going to start burning for Tarsonis and any deployment planetside is going to involve fighting them.

The zerg on Tarsonis are a threat because of their sheer numbers, but they're feral zerg with no singular directing force or strategic acumen. The Dominon forces in the area are fewer in number but they can think tactics and they've got a fleet of six battlecruisers which can be equipped with Yamato cannons and nuclear missiles. We still lack the equipment to fight off Dominion capital ships let alone stand toe to toe with them.

Chances are we won't be able to attempt an attack on the planet after the platforms and even if we are allowed it, we will likely face more opposition, not less.

Mailstrome · Oct 20, 2023

Changed my vote to land battle because while it's high risk, it might offer the only way to rescue anyone. We may need a quantum gate, though.

Reese · Oct 20, 2023

Evilness42 said:
The only character who can get away with that tomfoolery is QAI, who responds to any hacking attempt that doesn't have direct access to his mainframe with "lol, lmao."

I don't know what you're talking about, sorry.

Spart117MC said:
The academy on Redstone already exists, it was one run by the Confederacy and presumably abandoned when the government collapsed. The facility, equipment, and scientific data are all already present on the planet.

Ah, whoops, I had indeed forgotten that. Thanks!

So, yeah, they might need to refurbish and repair the place a bit, but not build it from scratch. That does make it less likely we'd have arrived too early.

Going planetside is going to become more difficult not less if we destroy the space platforms first. Those platforms are what are keeping the Dominion fleet, the ones sitting just beyond the reach of the zerg and keeping a close eye on them, far and away. The moment the platforms go down the fleet is going to start burning for Tarsonis and any deployment planetside is going to involve fighting them.

Isn't the primary objective information and technology retrieval, not destroying the platforms? Is that even a secondary objective?

The zerg on Tarsonis are a threat because of their sheer numbers, but they're feral zerg with no singular directing force or strategic acumen. The Dominon forces in the area are fewer in number but they can think tactics and they've got a fleet of six battlecruisers which can be equipped with Yamato cannons and nuclear missiles. We still lack the equipment to fight off Dominion capital ships let alone stand toe to toe with them.

Chances are we won't be able to attempt an attack on the planet after the platforms and even if we are allowed it, we will likely face more opposition, not less.

I'd though that the attack on the planet would be the big flashy one trying to destroy as many and much of the zerg as possible in addition to the primary objective, why the raid on the platforms would be much more of a stealth action which wouldn't even let the Dominion know we were here, ideally, much less open the way to the planet for them.

Mailstrome said:
Changed my vote to land battle because while it's high risk, it might offer the only way to rescue anyone. We may need a quantum gate, though.

Yeah, hm. ...I think I will withdraw my vote for now, at least, since the greater freedom of later action was an important reason why I picked it and now looks to potentially not actually be a feature of it.

Spart117MC · Oct 20, 2023

Reese said:
Isn't the primary objective information and technology retrieval, not destroying the platforms? Is that even a secondary objective?

Clarke is on the warpath right now. After what she saw on the satellite images, she is very intent on eliminating the zerg presence on Tarsonis.

DragonCobolt said:
"Major Horner," you said, quietly.

He glanced at you. What he saw in your eyes made him blanch.

"We're ending this," you said.

DragonCobolt · Oct 20, 2023

Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Oct 19, 2023 at 5:17 PM, finished with 45 posts and 20 votes.

12 people have voted
[X] "No. We're going to burn it out at the root." [Land on planet, classic battle!]
- Spart117MC
- zezia
- notgreat
- minorred
- Asmodemus
- ThatGuyWithIdeas
- Geedubs
- Solarshade
- edboy49
- Chengar Qordath
- dhasenan
- Urielv59
7 people have voted
[X] "Good thinking. Prepare a boarding team." [Attack the space base, installation mission!]
- w34v3r
- Mailstrome
- Sigil
- gale
- CrazedGamma1721
- LilyWitch
- Chopak
1 people have voted
[X] "No. We're going to burn it out at the root." [Land on planet, classic battle!]
-[x] "But first, let's set up some turrets in the bay. If the critters come out of that platform I want Stukov to shoot down anything they throw at us" (Fab some point defence for the ship)
- Mithrill

No installation mission...

...for now

DragonCobolt · Oct 20, 2023

"No," you said. "We're going to burn it out at the root."

Matt looked from you to the screen.

His nod was grim.

"Yes sir," he said, his voice firm.

***

The arrival of your ACU on Tarsonis kicked up dust for nearly a mile and blew over half a dozen half destroyed buildings. A sweeping explosion roared outwards and secondaries bloomed as ancient power stations and capacitators unloaded within the wreckage. You ignored all of it - you were too busy tapping at your controls to make sure the ACU was operating at peak efficiency. The last thing you wanted was to get overrun by a load of feral alien monsters. It'd be fucking embarrassing. You frowned and set your jaw as you checked out the area you had landed in.

"Your teleport is exactly on target, General," Stukov said, sounding rather pleased. "Our orbsats are picking up Dominion traffic. I'm not sure if they've spotted the E1, but they have definitely noticed the energy signature. It seems to have kicked them into some kind of gear..."

"Are they moving towards the planet?" you asked, tensing slightly.

"They're organizing for something. Unsure for what. TacCom will keep you advised if the situation develops."

You could already see those immense battlecruisers bringing their hammerhead prows to bear. But then you had to force yourself to step back and remember the technical constraints and distances you were working with. You were use to the planetary battlefield, where long range was over a horizon, where a long distance was from one side of a continent to another. These battlecruisers were as far away from this world as Earth was from the sun. Even with the immense power of their fusion reactors, even with buckets and buckets of thrust and time, they were still a long time away.

A problem for future Sam, eh?

So, you instead scoped out your area. To your surprise, you found that there was no sign of any immediate zerg activity. The aliens were continuing their bustling activity in their hives - Dr. Hanson had already begun to track out what appeared to be rudimentary mining processes, even if they didn't seem to build anything out there. Everything was grown. Her working theory was that the zerg used the materials they mined as part of their generative processes - but even she was entirely at a loss as to why they had capped several dozen vespine geysers with organic pustules. It was...highly unlikely that an alien biology would evolve a geothermal power plant as a sub-organ to their hive.

Of course, Duran had said the zerg were a bioweapon used by the Confederacy.

But if the Confederacy biotech was better than anything the human race had ever made, why did they only show it here, and nowhere else? Of course, the Dominion had smashed them. Hmm.

Your gut said that these zerg had more behind them than just mindless animals left after a failed warfare program. But...if they were more than just mindless animals, why did none of them come immediately rushing towards your arrival. Still, you immediately got to work flash-fabricating metal extractors over the mineral fields and capping your nearby vespine gysers for the energy. Your economy started thrumming, and as you worked, Stukov connected to you again.

"Observation has pegged three major hives in your region, and two possible sites where humans may have survived - bioreadings are hard to judge, considering the level of fortifications and bunkers in the area." Your map showed the hives. One was situated on a plataue overlooking the city. Crab-like creatures clustered over it, their limbs hanging around thick air balloons that kept them hovering in the air, while winged creatures flocked around them that appeared to be nothing but mouth and drooling spittle. Their chiten had a bright set of orange highlights, marking them out.

The second hive was-

You tapped the screen, frowning.

"They've got factional coloring," you said, quietly.

"...son of a bitch they do," Stukov said, sounding flummoxed. The second hive - the term base almost snuck into your thoughts - was situated in a thicky ruined patch of city, and it was full of slithering monsters with long, almost prawn-looking bodies, centipedal legs writhing. More importantly, they were highlighted with dark purple atop their brown and white flesh. In the center of the base there was a single large structure that Sukov marked out. "This seems to lead into subterranean caverns. Very large, recently built. Or perhaps...excreted. They appear to be biosigns down there. Either a lot of small ones, or a few large ones. We cannot say. But they're dormant."

You frowned. "Bears in the woods."

"Sir?" Stukov asked.

"Nothing," you said, hoping you were wrong. But if the Zerg had an air force, if they had infantry, if they had cruise missiles and starbases...why wouldn't they have experimentals? The sudden vivid image of a Monkeylord combat robot, limbs smashing tanks and buildings flat as its infared laser scoured across the landscape in a hissing, furious column of death flashed into your mind. BUt it was all wrong. Cancerous. Drooling. Hungry. You forced the shudder down with an effort of will.

The third hive - this one red to go with purple and orange - was in the flatlands to the east of the city proper and it swarmed with the smallest type of zerg and the most common. That one had a name at least. Zerglings. Duran had called them zerglings.

"That's a lot of zerglings," you murmured.

---
Okay! Rather than doing just one battle, this one's going to be a series of smaller ones. We're not in structured play yet, so things will progress at a narrative speed. But more importantly...I've actually finished gear! And gear includes your base! Since the gear system requires you to have access to a huge chart of characteristics, I'll make it easier for you and just build the buildings as you see fit.

Also, I realized the short term "1d6 sparks" from the trait I had given Sam didn't fit as well as the long term "gain 1d3 sticky sparks" trait you can also get. So I swapped it!

So, you may wonder: If these are your buildings, what are your units? Well, you use the buildings to augment your skills and miracles, which represent attacks of units! Bing bang boom!

BASE CONSTRUCTION
Air/Land Factory (Work[Waste]: People[Size] (2)(2) | Sparks: Air/Land Forces (1) | Adds: +0 (Leadership)

Cost: 7

Turrets (Work[Waste]: Damage[Size] (2)(2), Range[Range] (1)[1] | Sparks: None | Adds: +0 (Vehicle Weapons)

Cost: 9

Economic Structures (Work[Waste]: None | Sparks: None | Adds: +3 (Nanofabrication)

Cost: 9

Tutorial: So, the cost is the difficulty it takes to build them! Gear is bought using background skills like a normal skill check, save that only sticky sparks (either created by you or found during roleplay) can add to the check! Work/Waste characteristics are the things they do, and the things they require/are limited by!

The air or land factory (you choose when you buy) can produce a small town's worth of units at a time (the People characteristic.) The spark Air or Land forces allows that characteristic to also apply to anything involving airplanes or tanks or artillery, chosen when you take the action to attack using the units produced from the factory. The linked size characteristic is 2 - the factory is a building! It's a big building and whenever that matters and causes problem, it's characteristic of 2 rears up.

The turrets work in a very similar way, save that they provide damage and range, allowing you to blast enemies as they come close. The linked size characteristic means those turrets aren't moving (since they're the size of small buildings), but the waste characteristic of "range" means that if anything gets within range 1, you have problems. They can't hit things close to them as easily as they can hit things within their effective range!

The economic structures don't have characteristics, but instead, add directly to your nanofabrication skill! Since you use that to create sparks representing building, repairing, and even capturing enemy units, this is just a flat buff to your abilities. It also means you can more easily create big sticky sparks that, later, will help you buy more advanced buildings!

STICKY SPARKS
Initial Economy (3)

PLANS
Hopefully these plans show you what you can do, kinda!

[ ] Operation Blitz the Secondaries: Tap your Initial Economy Sticky Sparks to get +3 to building, giving you an effective purcahsing skill of 5. Construct a Land Factory for 2 Heat! Then attempt to rescue the humans (triggers a Danger 5 battle.)
[ ] Operation Groundwork: Tap your Initial Economy Sticky Sparks to get +3 to building. Then build Economic structures for 4 heat, and then use your nanofabricate skill at a diff 1+1 to create "Acquiring More Resources" (3) and then take another action at diff 1+2 to nest "Building Outposts" (3) in there for 1 heat. Vent heat and let the sparks decay into Sticky Sparks "Economic Outposts" (3), then see what the zerg do.
[ ] Operation Curtain Wall: Tap your Initial Economy sticky sparks to get +3 to building, then take 4 heat to build defensive Turrets, then vent 4 heat to create "Take Cover Men" 1 to add to their defenses - and see what the zerg do.
[ ] Write In

DragonCobolt · Oct 20, 2023

I did a brain fart and did the mechanics backwards! Then my next work shift started so I can't fix it. So don't vote yet!

Spart117MC · Oct 20, 2023

DragonCobolt said:
"Nothing," you said, hoping you were wrong. But if the Zerg had an air force, if they had infantry, if they had cruise missiles and starbases...why wouldn't they have experimentals? The sudden vivid image of a Monkeylord combat robot, limbs smashing tanks and buildings flat as its infared laser scoured across the landscape in a hissing, furious column of death flashed into your mind. BUt it was all wrong. Cancerous. Drooling. Hungry. You forced the shudder down with an effort of will.

...ultralisks are going to be as big as the ones seen in the Heart of the Swarm intro cutscene aren't they?

DragonCobolt · Oct 20, 2023

Okay, it's now the right way around

Spart117MC · Oct 20, 2023

Are the hives situated in such a way that Clarke has to push through them to reach the locations for possible survivors, because if combat isn't necessary I'd want to try and slip some transports loaded up with engineers through to them.

Mailstrome · Oct 20, 2023

"Observation has pegged three major hives in your region, and two possible sites where humans may have survived - bioreadings are hard to judge, considering the level of fortifications and bunkers in the area." Your map showed the hives. One was situated on a plataue overlooking the city. Crab-like creatures clustered over it, their limbs hanging around thick air balloons that kept them hovering in the air, while winged creatures flocked around them that appeared to be nothing but mouth and drooling spittle. Their chiten had a bright set of orange highlights, marking them out.

Seems like the Guardian & Experimentals/Underground Hive have possible Humanish lifesigns.Best hit hard & fast, we don't want to give them time to adapt & ready a response.

[X] Operation Blitz the Secondaries: Tap your Initial Economy Sticky Sparks to get +3 to building, giving you an effective purcahsing skill of 5. Construct a Land Factory for 2 Heat! Then attempt to rescue the humans (triggers a Danger 5 battle.)

Mailstrome · Oct 20, 2023

Also, DC, is the XP Spending tutorial ready?

Edit: no rush or anything, but us having something like 16 from the previous mission & however much from this one might get silly.

edboy49 · Oct 20, 2023

[X] Operation Blitz the Secondaries: Tap your Initial Economy Sticky Sparks to get +3 to building, giving you an effective purcahsing skill of 5. Construct a Land Factory for 2 Heat! Then attempt to rescue the humans (triggers a Danger 5 battle.)

DragonCobolt · Oct 20, 2023

Spart117MC said:
Are the hives situated in such a way that Clarke has to push through them to reach the locations for possible survivors, because if combat isn't necessary I'd want to try and slip some transports loaded up with engineers through to them.

You can reach the human signatures without getting too close to any of the hives - but you're still within danger of their patrols (especially since the zergling hive is full of zerglings, which are fast, and the flier hive is full of fliers, which can fly.)

Mailstrome said:
Also, DC, is the XP Spending tutorial ready?

This is a level based game!

If you do a danger 14+ fight on this mission, it'll add to your 16 XP and get you to 30 XP, which hits you to level 2!

Mailstrome · Oct 20, 2023

DragonCobolt said:
This is a level based game!

If you do a danger 14+ fight on this mission, it'll add to your 16 XP and get you to 30 XP, which hits you to level 2!

Oooooh, I thought it was going to be freeform, thanks for the info.

Reese · Oct 20, 2023

Spart117MC said:
Clarke is on the warpath right now. After what she saw on the satellite images, she is very intent on eliminating the zerg presence on Tarsonis.

Right, but it could be done in stages. And I thought that the bit you quote was specifically about the ground attack plan, while the platform mission suggested just after would have been more of an infiltration mission prior to the clearing out.

Though it looks like we're going with the ground plan now anyway, and by enough votes that mine alone wouldn't have swayed it, so, moot, looks like, fortunately.

DragonCobolt · Oct 21, 2023

Mailstrome said:
Oooooh, I thought it was going to be freeform, thanks for the info.

Basically, each level, you get some skill points and either a way to buff a power, or a chance to get a new power!

notgreat · Oct 21, 2023

It doesn't sound like the feral zerg are reacting much to our presence, so let's get some econ going.

[X] Operation Groundwork: Tap your Initial Economy Sticky Sparks to get +3 to building. Then build Economic structures for 4 heat, and then use your nanofabricate skill at a diff 1+1 to create "Acquiring More Resources" (3) and then take another action at diff 1+2 to nest "Building Outposts" (3) in there for 1 heat. Vent heat and let the sparks decay into Sticky Sparks "Economic Outposts" (3), then see what the zerg do.

Night_stalker · Oct 21, 2023

[X] Operation Groundwork: Tap your Initial Economy Sticky Sparks to get +3 to building. Then build Economic structures for 4 heat, and then use your nanofabricate skill at a diff 1+1 to create "Acquiring More Resources" (3) and then take another action at diff 1+2 to nest "Building Outposts" (3) in there for 1 heat. Vent heat and let the sparks decay into Sticky Sparks "Economic Outposts" (3), then see what the zerg do.

Draz · Oct 21, 2023

@DragonCobolt, operation groundwork doesn't specify what power we're using to vent. Are we giving ourselves a "just as planned" spark, which can be spent for +1 to any check next turn?

DragonCobolt · Oct 21, 2023

Draz said:
@DragonCobolt, operation groundwork doesn't specify what power we're using to vent. Are we giving ourselves a "just as planned" spark, which can be spent for +1 to any check next turn?

Oops!

It'd be venting 5 heat with Just as Planned (giving 2 sparks.)

Though, as a note, outside of combat, using a power is mechanically the same as using it in combat: Giving enemies time to act. So, you are running a risk that the zerg might dooooo something while you're preparing!

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