Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)

Always Late said:

... for fuck's sake. All of that is wrong, just totally false. And it's shit we've heard before. It was wrong when Shaseyu first posited that, it's still just as wrong now.
A lengthy, in-depth video call can't be faked without something looking artificial. Why would you even think that's possible?
We know what world they're from. We know they did not make Perfect Storm. We know they care about the personal effects of their dead, and would be massively grateful for the retrieval we've done of those. We know they wouldn't take perfect storm due to their own standards to Mages.

Get a clue.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Right, I have not seen any previous discussion on it, so sorry if it's already been brought up. I know very little about anything Nanoha, so my perceptions are largely based on this one story.

If there's already a post with more details I'll try and find it.

But they could totally fake a video call.
It's just kinda hard to believe that a space faring race looks just like humanity and will definitely help us. Maybe they care about their personal. But that doesn't invalid the idea that they care about themselves and their stuff first. They could be nice to Taylor, but everybody else?

If they show up and it's all hunky dorry, awesome. But I doubt there won't be some tension when it turns out Taylor told more aliens where Earth is.

And, that's it. I look forward to what comes next. At the end, how this all turns out is largely up to the author, and I've enjoyed everything so far.

[X] Stay at the warehouse – You could say you trust the Dragonslayers not to go after the radio while you're in Ukraine, but that would be a massive lie. You'd bet money they're headed this way. Time to catch a rat.

[X] Come with you

Always Late said:

@Silently Watches, is now the time for tactics votes or not?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Think back to ALL the other times when you voted on whether or not to get involved in a potential conflict. Did you EVER vote on tactics before you knew what the hell was going on?

Silently Watches said:

Think back to ALL the other times when you voted on whether or not to get involved in a potential conflict. Did you EVER vote on tactics before you knew what the hell was going on?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

It seemed to me you gave a fairly complete tactical rundown this time around, so I wasn't sure.

[X] Stay at the warehouse - You could say you trust the Dragonslayers not to go after the radio while you're in Ukraine, but that would be a massive lie. You'd bet money they're headed this way. Time to catch a rat.
[X] Come with you

FunkyEntropy said:

[X] Stay at the warehouse – You could say you trust the Dragonslayers not to go after the radio while you're in Ukraine, but that would be a massive lie. You'd bet money they're headed this way. Time to catch a rat.

[x] Come with you

Bonus points if we go full Nanoha and use psychological warfare to demoralize the Dragonslayers during the fight. We could have gone to help fight Behemoth but we knew he'd try to mess with us. How many people are going to die because of his actions? How many people have to die while he pursues his white whale?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Hmm.

Upon further consideration, I'm going to take my own advice and make sure Saint doesn't become our own white whale. I'm actually kinda cool with the prospect of that opening us up to temporary, short-term failure on the capture Saint goal. I think it'd open us up to a very nice Nanoha-style story where we lose the physical battle but ultimately end up winning with our words.

That or Danny bites it despite our best efforts and we Ragnarok the fuck outa Saint's sorry ass. Either way, it'll be a nice read.

For Taylor:
[X] Stay at the warehouse – You could say you trust the Dragonslayers not to go after the radio while you're in Ukraine, but that would be a massive lie. You'd bet money they're headed this way. Time to catch a rat.

For Samantha:
[X] Go with Danny

FunkyEntropy said:

we Ragnarok the fuck outa Saint's sorry ass.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Unfortunately, while we can selectively include or exclude folks in the teleportation... we can't do that for Recursion Field. So that's really not viable.

[X] Stay at the warehouse - You could say you trust the Dragonslayers not to go after the radio while you're in Ukraine, but that would be a massive lie. You'd bet money they're headed this way. Time to catch a rat.
[X] Come with you

Always Late said:

Unfortunately, while we can selectively include or exclude folks in the teleportation... we can't do that for Recursion Field. So that's really not viable.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

We would only drag their mage in, seeing as the rest of them are normies with no powers, they would be excluded from the barrier.

Rukia said:

We would only drag their mage in, seeing as the rest of them are normies with no powers, they would be excluded from the barrier.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

And given they no-sold Samantha, Recursion Field splitting them up is not a viable option no matter who takes on who. Not to mention, unless we can somehow selectively drag just them into Recursion Field, we'll be unable to use lethal Solar Wrath, maybe Solar Wrath entirely.

Always Late said:

we can't do that for Recursion Field. So that's really not viable.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Aww, I was hoping we could modify it during an EB fight to get only downed allies in RF.

Anyways, @Silently Watches do we vote for what scenario we want then on how we do it (spells and how to use them) or is this the only vote till next chapter?

[X] Stay at the warehouse – You could say you trust the Dragonslayers not to go after the radio while you're in Ukraine, but that would be a massive lie. You'd bet money they're headed this way. Time to catch a rat.

Always Late said:

Unfortunately, while we can selectively include or exclude folks in the teleportation... we can't do that for Recursion Field. So that's really not viable.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

We can work with that. That mage screwed us over majorly last time, so removing them from the start is a nice start.

What I would suggest, however, is to set Sam to watch the warehouse while we stay outside the range of RF. Once we sight the Dragonslayers Sam would launch Recursion Field, separating them from the mage while we teleport in location and begin to pick them apart from afar.

Once Sam is done dealing with the annoyance she'd drop RF and proceed to pincer the Dragonslayers, similarly to last time but watching out for lighting and focusing on hit-and-run Oni Lee lite style. Maybe add some long range heavy caliber options to that.

That assuming that their mage hasn't learned to cast WAS, which with our books they could, and in that case that their range is enough to see an ambush coming, in which case it'd turn into a chase or forward clash.

@Silently Watches, Sam is specialized in sword/melee fighting, but I assume that in her programming there's basic knowledge of how to use a gun, right?

Always Late said:

And given they no-sold Samantha, Recursion Field splitting them up is not a viable option no matter who takes on who. Not to mention, unless we can somehow selectively drag just them into Recursion Field, we'll be unable to use lethal Solar Wrath, maybe Solar Wrath entirely.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Can't we just aim Solar Wrath 'down' or 'up'...

LancerisDead said:

We can work with that. That mage screwed us over majorly last time, so removing them from the start is a nice start.

What I would suggest, however, is to set Sam to watch the warehouse while we stay outside the range of RF. Once we sight the Dragonslayers Sam would launch Recursion Field, separating them from the mage while we teleport in location and begin to pick them apart from afar.

Once Sam is done dealing with the annoyance she'd drop RF and proceed to pincer the Dragonslayers, similarly to last time but watching out for lighting and focusing on hit-and-run Oni Lee lite style. Maybe add some long range heavy caliber options to that.

That assuming that their mage hasn't learned to cast WAS, which with our books they could, and in that case that their range is enough to see an ambush coming, in which case it'd turn into a chase or forward clash.

@Silently Watches, Sam is specialized in sword/melee fighting, but I assume that in her programming there's basic knowledge of how to use a gun, right?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

1. We don't have time to make guns.
2. All the Dragonslayers are used to fighting Brutes. Remember, all it took was one touch and one unit shocked her unconscious. Splitting them up by Recursion Field doesn't work because no matter how you slice it, Samantha's at a hand-to-hand/grapple disadvantage.
3. Given we won't have access to Solar Wrath unless we enter the Recursion Field, we'll have to rely not just on Rust Shooter, but other spells like Blitz Action, Flare Blade, Temporal Sludge, and lots of cartridges. Speaking of:
@Silently Watches, would a Cartridge-charged version of Temporal Sludge increase things like duration, range of effect, and intensity of effect?

Tassadar said:

Can't we just aim Solar Wrath 'down' or 'up'...

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Runs into the tiny issue of the radioactive explosion that happens once the beat hits something.

[X] Go to the Endbringer fight – Behemoth likes fire and radiation? Too bad for him, those are your toys. The lightning bolts might be more of a problem, but that's what shields and a Barrier Jacket are for, right?
[X] Come with you

Always Late said:

1. We don't have time to make guns.
2. All the Dragonslayers are used to fighting Brutes. Remember, all it took was one touch and one unit shocked her unconscious. Splitting them up by Recursion Field doesn't work because no matter how you slice it, Samantha's at a hand-to-hand/grapple disadvantage.
3. Given we won't have access to Solar Wrath unless we enter the Recursion Field, we'll have to rely not just on Rust Shooter, but other spells like Blitz Action, Flare Blade, Temporal Sludge, and lots of cartridges. Speaking of:
@Silently Watches, would a Cartridge-charged version of Temporal Sludge increase things like duration, range of effect, and intensity of effect?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

1- I was thinking of picking an 'ol good gun from the Privateers arsenal, not making a magitech one.
2- While they are, the last time if memory serves right Sam got knocked out because she was crowded. A one on one with the element of surprise on our side has more chances of working.
3- That's... true. Yeah, I don't know what we could do besides maybe taking a defensive stance, and that's assuming that they are loyal enough to try and rescue their teammate instead of outright running. But even if we don't go for this we still can't use Solar Wrath without setting up the block on fire, lethal or not.

Now I really want Saint to try and give us a speech on the evils on AI.

[X] Go to the Endbringer fight – Behemoth likes fire and radiation? Too bad for him, those are yourtoys. The lightning bolts might be more of a problem, but that's what shields and a Barrier Jacket are for, right?
[X] Come with you

Anti-bandwagon Shot go! It occurs to me that of all the times to test out what Ragnarok is like, using it on the endbringer that already leaves the field a radioactive wasteland is probably near-ideal other than Recursion Field... suppose theres that issue of other heroes in the way, as the range should be well beyond even the bit that people stay out of due to kill aura and whatnot. But if we did go we'd likely plan to test him with flares and whatnot first, and I really wanna link up with Phantom and see how our attacks would be while in their odd dimension (if they say attacks don't interact with the world, Ragnarok is go. If they do, or Phantom doesn't know, try a solar fury and save Rag).

As a potential horrible-person bonus, Raccoon Mom has betrayed us in favor of chasing Danny-tail, so a possibility of her desperately-saving us from Behemoth if things /did/ go bad only to now have the opportunity for two new mommies would be an interesting read ^_^

=============

At any rate, if the bandwagon wins and we go after Saint, i'd tend to favor Samantha pulling the mage into a 1v1 Recursion Field if possible while we blast the others.... that is, its an ideal scenario if we can spot them and the warehouse is expendable enough for artillery strike. But that'd either mean a running battle, or else teleporting in after she's rush-tackled him (due to the range of it).

I don't really get why we assume any one Dragonslayer can no-sell Samantha? Yes, they've fought Brutes before, but they aren't hero-killer gods of the setting either, and Dragon mechs are good but not undefeatable ( if they are remotely that much of an assured Hero-Killer, there should be a lot more heat against them >_>). Yes, they managed a lucky Taser, but she now know's to be more wary of such an attack to block or dodge better. And its not like they stuck around to trash us for resisting, once Taylor opened up fire for-realz they hacked Dragon and fled. Still a shame we haven't had a chance to get Burst, as it'd really help our shooters against these big mechs.

But seriously, while yes they aren't pushovers, if 4 of these non-cape Mecha-mercs can take out 2 high-tier Capes, and as easily as people fear?... then I don't know why the PRT even bothers with Capes instead of just their containment-foam wielding troops.

LancerisDead said:

1- I was thinking of picking an 'ol good gun from the Privateers arsenal, not making a magitech one.
2- While they are, the last time if memory serves right Sam got knocked out because she was crowded. A one on one with the element of surprise on our side has more chances of working.
3- That's... true. Yeah, I don't know what we could do besides maybe taking a defensive stance, and that's assuming that they are loyal enough to try and rescue their teammate instead of outright running. But even if we don't go for this we still can't use Solar Wrath without setting up the block on fire, lethal or not.

Now I really want Saint to try and give us a speech on the evils on AI.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

1. Against Dragon power armor? Not likley to be effective.
2. Nope.

Silently Watches said:

The dueling couple whirl around and around and around before they both flash white. One of them drops from the sky, and the man in armor looks down before flying over to help his teammate.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

3. Oh, don't worry about that. @landcollector and I got a couple of ideas...

Racoras said:

I don't really get why we assume any one Dragonslayer can no-sell Samantha? Yes, they've fought Brutes before, but they aren't hero-killer gods of the setting either, and Dragon mechs are good but not undefeatable ( if they are remotely that much of an assured Hero-Killer, there should be a lot more heat against them >_>). Yes, they managed a lucky Taser, but she now know's to be more wary of such an attack to block or dodge better.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Because one, it wasn't luck, it was an anti-brute countermeasure. Two, Samantha's combat ability is all about melee weapons ad hand-to-hand. And the latter of which means she'll just get tased again if she tries it.

Always Late said:

Because one, it wasn't luck, it was an anti-brute countermeasure. Two, Samantha's combat ability is all about melee weapons ad hand-to-hand. And the latter of which means she'll just get tased again if she tries it.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Hmmmm...

I mean, she doesn't need to necessarily fight, she could just evade the mage within the RF.

But I get your point and I remember the GM commenting that us alone versus a number of the Dragonslayers wouldn't go well.

Always Late said:

Unfortunately, while we can selectively include or exclude folks in the teleportation... we can't do that for Recursion Field. So that's really not viable.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

I was speaking with the implied assumption that Taylor would be going on a roaring rampage of revenge since due to Saints bullshit drawing her away from the fight she was unable to protect Danny and is thus completely out of fucks to give.

It's a potential path for the story to take. Not say it's best idea to go that route, but it'd be cool as hell.

Why do you guys want to bring Samantha? She can get pretty hard countered vs. The Dragonslayers and overall limited usefulness, and more importantly can protect Danny, which protects Taylors state-of-mind (You really want to have him die right after that fight?). (And having PS try and hack the suits seems like safer bet).

[X] Stay at the warehouse – You could say you trust the Dragonslayers not to go after the radio while you're in Ukraine, but that would be a massive lie. You'd bet money they're headed this way. Time to catch a rat.

[X] Go with Danny

MobiusC said:

Why do you guys want to bring Samantha? She can get pretty hard countered vs. The Dragonslayers and overall limited usefulness, and more importantly can protect Danny, which protects Taylors state-of-mind (You really want to have him die right after that fight?). (And having PS try and hack the suits seems like safer bet).

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

1. Samantha can do melee weapons. This might still get her shocked, but there's other elements. Like doing C&C with WAS, Recursion Field, or just tanking/intercepting attacks.
2. We know from the last fight's QM warning that Taylor going up against even two of the Dragonslayers would end badly for her.
3. IRC, the hacking of the Dragonsuits also got shot down by the QM in the aftermath of the Dragonslayer fight.
4. We've been over why Danny's in a pretty safe position against Behemoth.

Always Late said:

We know from the last fight's QM warning that Taylor going up against even two of the Dragonslayers would end badly for her.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Gonna look for quote, but wasn't that with our ribs still cracked ?

Edit: Not quite, but close

Silently Watches said:

I wouldn't need to…

…because this. I just said it over on SB, but you are not a Knight. You are a bombardment mage who is now less likely to get squished if you get stuck in melee for a minute. Fighting three mercenaries in CQC who are experienced with and armed against Brutes would not end well.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

So yeah, it was three Dragonslayers /if Taylor the not-Knight fights in melee/ , bit different than Taylor-at-range versus two. We still want Samantha, but I don't know that they can outspeed us flying or other escape methods for maintaining proper range. Moreso with Blitz Action.

Silently Watches said:

I can certainly have Taylor scan Vista for a Linker Core prior to surgery

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Did this ever happen? I think you said in the quoted post that it was unlikely or something.