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Ace Combat XCOM: Enemy Skies
- Thread starter hYGP
- Start date
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
So just to recap, with the winning plan being:
[] Plan Parry and Riposte, Mk II
-[] Strider Squadron: Ace Suppression- continue engaging Flowing Guard Unbreakable (?).
-[] Pixy: Ace Suppresion- Engage the aliens threatening Rigel and Bard Squadrons
-[] Rigel and Bard Squadrons: Reserve Forces- String out the squadron pursuing them for Pixy to engage. Once Pixy has occupied or attrited the pursuit squadron, turn and support as per Hammer and Nail doctrine.
-[] Druid Squadron: Antiship Strike
-[] Cyclops Squadron: Fighter Cover- engage aliens threatening Druid Squadron's antiship mission
-[] Razgriz Squadron: Fighter Cover- engage aliens threatening the ground support mission.
-[] Mobius Squadron: Ground Force Support
-[] Wulong Squadron: Ground Force Support
...
The squadrons we rolled for are all either engaging ground targets (Mobius and Wulong) or engaged in fighter cover. Notably, while the Razgriz are covering Mobius and Wulong against any aliens threatening the ground support mission, Cyclops Squadron is covering Druid Squadron, which is off doing antiship work. And yet @huhYeahGoodPoint had us roll for them too, which is interesting?
[Of course it might be that the goal was to roll low, in which case Mobius Squadron is probably OK and all the other squadrons are badly screwed.]
[] Plan Parry and Riposte, Mk II
-[] Strider Squadron: Ace Suppression- continue engaging Flowing Guard Unbreakable (?).
-[] Pixy: Ace Suppresion- Engage the aliens threatening Rigel and Bard Squadrons
-[] Rigel and Bard Squadrons: Reserve Forces- String out the squadron pursuing them for Pixy to engage. Once Pixy has occupied or attrited the pursuit squadron, turn and support as per Hammer and Nail doctrine.
-[] Druid Squadron: Antiship Strike
-[] Cyclops Squadron: Fighter Cover- engage aliens threatening Druid Squadron's antiship mission
-[] Razgriz Squadron: Fighter Cover- engage aliens threatening the ground support mission.
-[] Mobius Squadron: Ground Force Support
-[] Wulong Squadron: Ground Force Support
...
The squadrons we rolled for are all either engaging ground targets (Mobius and Wulong) or engaged in fighter cover. Notably, while the Razgriz are covering Mobius and Wulong against any aliens threatening the ground support mission, Cyclops Squadron is covering Druid Squadron, which is off doing antiship work. And yet @huhYeahGoodPoint had us roll for them too, which is interesting?
Mobius Squadron has problems, probably, but not the worst problems since that'd probably be "roll a natural 1."
[Of course it might be that the goal was to roll low, in which case Mobius Squadron is probably OK and all the other squadrons are badly screwed.]
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
Yeah, but it's for his squadron. Baker and Mobius One? Probably alright. I kinda doubt a single bad roll is going to drop either of them. The other three? Might not be doing so hot.
Honestly, without a better understanding of the exact nature of what we're actually rolling for, we can't say for sure what the rolls were for, or why we rolled for those in particular. Hell, he may have just decided to have us roll for whatever he hadn't already handled himself on a whim, and that's why those were what was picked out.
Could also be an opposed-roll deal, and Mobius Squadron may still have won the contest because the other side rolled garbage. Or it could be a damage/kill roll, and not anything to do with their safety. Or hYGP could be rolling on non-linear tables, and the best possible result was a 6, and the worst was a 7. Like I said, we lack pretty much any knowledge of what's happening mechanically.
The most I can say is that it's probably not a direct rip of XCOM's mechanics, since we'd likely be rolling percentage dice for something like that (though I supposed working 5% chunks of accuracy could be done). My guess is that hYGP heavily adapted or home-brewed some other system, because that's the path of least resistance. In which case, I'd guess the d20 system, since it's fairly easily adapted to just about any setting. But it could be something brand new.
And if it is heavily homebrewed, that may mean the primary type of die used was altered. So for all we know, he's using a heavily modified version of the West End Star Wars system that runs on d20 rolls, or it's the byzantine and insanely complex 2nd Edition Shadowrun rules, (which I've heard are damn near impossible to learn without an experienced player to tutor you, and I can attest from having read the source books that it's really, really dense reading, and quite hard to grasp. I don't recall details, just that it was a mess). I don't know if there are any systems made especially for aerial combat, but I am guessing there probably are, and it could very well be one of those (assuming multiple exist), just modded with alien and Strangereal tech.
Whatever the case may be, it's hard to make guesses as to the outcome without any knowledge of the system, beyond the general trend in most RPGs of "high roll good, low roll bad". The most we know is "d20s are involved". Which...probably covers a large chunk of systems, honestly. If it was d12, d4, or d8 based, that would be a pretty narrow field, since I haven't heard of many systems that use those as the primary dice. But d20, d100, d10, and d6 are all fairly commonplace.
MISSION 05 ACE OF ACES: ALL OUT, Awe
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
[X] Plan Parry and Riposte, Mk II
-[X] Strider Squadron: Ace Suppression- continue engaging Flowing Guard Unbreakable (?).
-[X] Pixy: Ace Suppresion- Engage the aliens threatening Rigel and Bard Squadrons
-[X] Rigel and Bard Squadrons: Reserve Forces- String out the squadron pursuing them for Pixy to engage. Once Pixy has occupied or attrited the pursuit squadron, turn and support as per Hammer and Nail doctrine.
-[X] Druid Squadron: Antiship Strike
-[X] Cyclops Squadron: Fighter Cover- engage aliens threatening Druid Squadron's antiship mission
-[X] Razgriz Squadron: Fighter Cover- engage aliens threatening the ground support mission.
-[X] Mobius Squadron: Ground Force Support
-[X] Wulong Squadron: Ground Force Support
-[X] Strider Squadron: Ace Suppression- continue engaging Flowing Guard Unbreakable (?).
-[X] Pixy: Ace Suppresion- Engage the aliens threatening Rigel and Bard Squadrons
-[X] Rigel and Bard Squadrons: Reserve Forces- String out the squadron pursuing them for Pixy to engage. Once Pixy has occupied or attrited the pursuit squadron, turn and support as per Hammer and Nail doctrine.
-[X] Druid Squadron: Antiship Strike
-[X] Cyclops Squadron: Fighter Cover- engage aliens threatening Druid Squadron's antiship mission
-[X] Razgriz Squadron: Fighter Cover- engage aliens threatening the ground support mission.
-[X] Mobius Squadron: Ground Force Support
-[X] Wulong Squadron: Ground Force Support
Fourteen minutes until complete evacuation.
"Sargeant down, assuming command," Corporal Nguyen barked into the radio. Dammit, Sargeant Tran was an ass on the best of days, but this wasn't supposed to be how it happened! "Fireteam alpha, report." The seconds dragged on, and pulled the haze of smoke into his lungs, and he couldn't wait any longer for a fireteam that he saw vanish in an alien explosion.
Damn. If the aliens had pushed up that far against Isaac's HMG, both fireteams were about to be overrun. They had to pull out and regroup.
The stream of fire around the corner wasn't letting up. His equipment flashed through his mind in the blink of an eye. One more flashbang, and then he'd be down to his jammed rifle. "Fireteam Charlie, regroup at Sixteenth and Lords," he radioed, sure that half of them wouldn't make it. "First chance you get, break contact and stay hidden. Fireteam Bravo, wheel around the block. HQ, where's that air support?!"
Nothing. Damn.
The stream of green fire cut out. He primed the flashbang and flicked it around the corner. "Fireteam Bravo, flash going out!" he shouted, palms over his ears and eyes squeezed tight. "Crossing!" he heard Private McKinsey shout. "Dammit, wait for covering fire!" Tran said, desperately trying to unjam his rifle. "Covering!" Tran heard, through the red haze of his anger and shame. "Barker, go! I've got you covered!" Kelly shouted, as Tran turned to watch the crossing. Plasma fire ripped through the air just on McKinsey's heels - and nailed Kelly in the face. "Dead! Move on!" Tran barked, eyes stinging.
"Barker, McKinsey, go! I'll cover you! Wait one minute, then rejoin another squad!" Tran shouted, slamming his clip into the gun. Barker and McKinsey shakily nodded, before scrambling away. "Fireteam Charlie, how far are you?!"
Static.
Damn, they went down too.
So, his position was overrun. His squad was dead and dying. All he had left was his rifle, and his radio.
Fuck, he cried. He promised Lily.
"This is Corporal Tran, calling for immediate airstrike danger close on Thirteenth and Vickers," he distantly called out. He knew that there was - was that a jet engine?!
Mobius Three
<<Roger, I've got you.>>
<<Roger, I've got you.>>
Gunfire raked the street, he could feel the heat of the missiles from around the corner, glass windows shattering in its wake. A wave of relief nearly dropped Tran to his knees, as the plasma fire cut out again. As the fighter flew back over, he could have sworn it waggled its wings at him.
"Corporal Tran, we can't wait much longer!" McKinsey radioed.
"Roger, moving!" Tran radioed, taking off at a run.
He never saw the alien on the rooftop.
Thirteen minutes until complete evacuation.
Long Caster
<<Rigel Squadron, Bard Squadron, break off! You've got an enemy ace squadron closing on your position! Pixy, intercept!>>
<<Rigel Squadron, Bard Squadron, break off! You've got an enemy ace squadron closing on your position! Pixy, intercept!>>
Rigel One - no, Nine Lives now - and fuck if that didn't fucking hurt like a bitch why did they die first - took a steadying breath. The alien ace squadron was marked on the radar display in bright red, and the TGT indicator helpfully hung near the alien craft. He doublechecked the EML gauge, watching the limiter slowly crawl up for firing readiness. He looked back up at the alien ace squadron. He looked back down at the EML gauge, and scowled. No way it'd be ready to fire before the aces were upon them.
Pixy had no such problems, releasing a cloud of white missiles into the three fighters. The lead fighter suddenly pivoted straight into the air before twisting out into the horizontal and rocketing forward again, wildly throwing off the pursuing missiles. The other two fighters in the formation weren't as lucky - two of the ADMM's signature missiles hit each, flashing white against their hulls.
Long Caster
<<Bard Squadron, SLASH, SLASH!>>
The EML rounds from Bard Squadron zipped through the air - and one of the escort fighters cracked apart. For a brief instant, Nine Lives was convinced that he saw a flash of yellowish-orange. Then he entered range against the other fighter. Weakened, sparking, and flickering green light, the second escort fighter died with the trigger press.<<Bard Squadron, SLASH, SLASH!>>
Looking over at the lead fighter as he dragged his fighter up and over, Nine Lives saw Pixy and the alien ace joust each other in midair. The green shot flares so close to Pixy's fighter that for a moment Nine Lives was convinced that somehow Pixy had been shot down. The black and red arrow flying out of the joust put paid to that notion.
The alien ace did not turn to reengage Pixy, though. The alien ace rocketed forward, and Nine Lives' breath hitched because the alien fighter was aiming for either Rigel or Bard Squadron and the EML wasn't recharged yet and missiles and guns wouldn't connect dammit all is this where he loses another his gut screamed and then the ace is upon them.
The F-14X splays its wings out wide as Nine Lives brings his nose up as sharply as he can, spraying fire before he's even confirmed the ace is in range, G-forces choking out the last breaths in his lungs. In a stroke of luck, the alien fighter suddenly pivots away from Rigel Squadron and accelerates east - towards Bard Squadron! Suddenly the crushingly high Gs don't feel crushing enough, as Nine Lives distantly watches green accumulate upon the spine of the alien fighter through the top of his canopy. Bard Squadron has barely begun reacting and the alien fighter is already there.
One flash, and an F-14X is instantly turned into a fireball.
There's no chute. There's no way there could be a chute.
Bard 3
<<Bard 2, respond! Bard 2, respond dammit!>>
Bard 4
<<This can't be happening!>>
Bard 1
<<I wanna go home....>>
<<Bard 2, respond! Bard 2, respond dammit!>>
Bard 4
<<This can't be happening!>>
Bard 1
<<I wanna go home....>>
Who's next? A voice asks.
Nine Lives grips the controls of his flight stick and ignores his body, ignores his gut, ignores his head. None of it is important. His teeth are gritted so hard he can't feel his jaw anymore, but that's fine. He never needed his jaw. He just needs the next three seconds. His EML isn't available yet (but when is it ever, Nine Lives spitefully wonders), but his missiles and guns are, and he just needs to close the distance.
A lock-on tone sounds. Nine Lives knows there's no way the missiles will hit. His fires anyway, and the missiles fly wildly off track as the alien fighter dives sharply before rebounding in a different direction - straight into the waiting guns of Pixy's Nosferatu. The hits are hard, heavy, and not enough. The alien fighter climbs to a high altitude before stopping momentarily. An image suddenly projects itself into Nine Lives' head: a star, exploding. Is it saying...starburst?
Pixy
<<Nova...I'll remember that.>>
<<Nova...I'll remember that.>>
The tone over the radio is the tone of the hunter marking its prey, and...Nova seems to get the message, fleeing west before any of them could respond.
Twelve minutes until complete evacuation.
Mobius Three
<<Damn it, these guys are endless!>>
Long Caster
<<Fat Man, any luck taking down the transports?>>
Fat Man
<<No joy, too tough. They landed before we could destroy them.>>
Long Caster
<<Continue mission, then. The first line is holding on by a thread.>>
<<Damn it, these guys are endless!>>
Long Caster
<<Fat Man, any luck taking down the transports?>>
Fat Man
<<No joy, too tough. They landed before we could destroy them.>>
Long Caster
<<Continue mission, then. The first line is holding on by a thread.>>
Baker looked over the side of her canopy, lips drawing thin. "Thread" was overstating it. There was almost no more forces in the first line, let alone holding. Reflexively, she checked the EML gauge, but that still read far too long until it was recharged. Alien troops were pouring out of the second wave of transports as she flew overhead; the first wave had already finished disgorging its payload. The number of targets she could shoot hadn't let up, but she nervously eyed the approaching alien air group - why weren't Rigel and Bard squadron intercepting those? Mobius Squadron had its hands full as is!
Whatever it was they were doing, it wasn't in time. Mobius Squadron could keep a lid on the ground or the air group, but not both at once. The alien air group flew in over the last pockets of resistance, and leveled them.
The silence on the radio was deafening.
FCU HQ
<<...the first line of defense has fallen. Second line of defense, brace yourselves.>>
Baker's grip on the controls tightened. At least she'd have free reign to shoot down that air group now.<<...the first line of defense has fallen. Second line of defense, brace yourselves.>>
Eleven minutes to complete evacuation.
The fighting dragged on. Every so often, another bunch of alien fighters would finally be shot down, but they weren't being shot down fast enough; alien forces were still too numerous and too well-armored to quickly defeat, or at least in time to prevent the ground forces from being savaged. The EMLs could instantly kill everything on the battlefield, but they took time to reload, time that Long Caster wasn't sure their forces had. Even now, the alien...carrier was bearing down on them; in another couple of minutes it would enter the battlespace, and Long Caster fervently hoped that there wasn't a reason that the carrier wanted to get closer.
When the sensors aboard the AWACS aircraft picks up a power spike, Long Caster gave up even that forlorn hope. Then the numbers just kept climbing.
Long Caster
<<All planes, break, break!>>
<<All planes, break, break!>>
Ten minutes until complete evacuation.
Inchoate madness grips Baker's senses. The entire world is filtered through lens of unreality as a howling abyss consumes everything near the purple swirling void that the alien carrier shot out. Effect stutters before cause as Baker instinctively accelerates at maximum speed away from the gash in the world. Somehow, she still knows it missed her.
Mobius One
<<Mobius Squadron, report.>>
Baker
<<...Baker, present.>>
Mobius Four
<<...Mobius Four, alive.>>
Skald
<<...What the hell was that?>>
Long Caster
<<...some kind of airburst attack. We don't know all the details yet. All forces, pull back. We can't afford any more losses.>>
Across the second defensive line, Wulong, Cyclops, Mobius, and Razgriz Squadron pulls back. Count, Huxian, and Jaeger turn to leave.<<Mobius Squadron, report.>>
Baker
<<...Baker, present.>>
Mobius Four
<<...Mobius Four, alive.>>
Skald
<<...What the hell was that?>>
Long Caster
<<...some kind of airburst attack. We don't know all the details yet. All forces, pull back. We can't afford any more losses.>>
Trigger turns to face the alien battleship.
[] "Trigger, that's an order. Pull back."
[] "Alright, Trigger. I'll believe in you."
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- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Uh, just to be clear, the Razgriz were... doing things... yes? Did we accidentally order them out of the battle by ordering them to cover the planes working on ground support? How much time did we buy? I have no sense for how long any of that took to happen, and we've been working to a timer here to complete evacuations.
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
ah shit, you're right. Added timestamps to the segments of the update.
Razgriz were floating around shooting aircraft down; it's just that there's only so many times I can write "and Razgriz shot down another alien fighter with great effort, ten more alien fighters to go" before I said "fuck it we'll roll it in with everyone else bitching about killing aliens taking for-fucking-ever on the battlefield".
Edit: One more thing: thoughts on the ground segment? I wanted to experiment with it to see how people liked ground-level XCOM, and whether I should bring it more fully into the quest.
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- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'm always down for ground level XCOM. We'd need to put a new branch and chain of command for ground ops and spin off a research section for them.
Railguns have been pretty effective so I'd start there, researching efficiency and miniaturization. Emplacements and vehicle mounted to begin with. It'd be a lot on top of aerial command though.
Railguns have been pretty effective so I'd start there, researching efficiency and miniaturization. Emplacements and vehicle mounted to begin with. It'd be a lot on top of aerial command though.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
No I mean, that's fine, I just honestly had no idea what they or Druid were doing or whether they accomplished anything so I wanted to check. When you have to craft specific orders it's always a bit stressful trying to figure out whether they succeeded or failed, during an update like this.
It's good but we need to be able to participate meaningfully in it if it's going to be a recurring theme. Something we can, no doubt, expand into.
@huhYeahGoodPoint , while we're asking questions, would it be accurate to say that the battleship conjured up some kind of giant purple swirly midair... thing... that created an enormous rift or something? Did it eat up any stuff on the ground, or was it a midair thing? Did we lose Mobius Three and Five? Anyone else? We've clearly lost Bard 2- best case they're bailing out and in no shape to answer, likely dead though, and we've identified an alien ace ("Nova")
Yeah, I don't even know.
Trigger operates at a level where "hulk out and singlehanded cripple enemy aerial battleship" is a plausible accomplishment for him. On the other hand, there are alien aces still active and fuckall knows. We've still got most of our forces, only lost two A-rank and a B-rank out of our support pilots.
I'm half tempted to double down with a write-in and order all our truly elite ace units in to see if they can somehow damage that battleship enough to force it into a retreat; we've got three Ace Combat protagonists and several Designated Ace Combat Wingman pilots, many of them in superplanes.
But we've still got ten minutes left of evacuation to cover, our planes aren't well equipped for air to ground, and...
@huhYeahGoodPoint
Are write-ins even allowed at this point?
- Location
- Seattle, Washington
I don't think we can risk it. Trigger is one of our best pilots, if he dies now it would be a huge loss.
If Trigger had equipment equal to that of the aliens I would be willing to risk it, but he doesn't. Skill can only do so much in the face of that sort of firepower and durability.
@huhYeahGoodPoint our best pilots don't have plot armor, right? IE if we let trigger do this he could die, correct?
If Trigger had equipment equal to that of the aliens I would be willing to risk it, but he doesn't. Skill can only do so much in the face of that sort of firepower and durability.
@huhYeahGoodPoint our best pilots don't have plot armor, right? IE if we let trigger do this he could die, correct?
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Well, we explicitly live in a setting where 'singularity' bullshit is a thing... but the aliens may very well have their own singularities for all we know.
In other words, our best pilots may well have plot armor, but so may some of the enemy's, and the consequences of plot-armored characters going to war are hard to predict.
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Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
Well, things on the ground are going about as well as I expected. That being "terribly". Seriously, the aliens just have us too majorly outmatched with their plasma weapons. The tech is just too powerful on the infantry scale, able to easily destroy armored vehicles and we don't have anything on the ground built to combat it.
Much as I hate to say it...that wasn't as bad as it could have been, though I would have liked to have taken this Nova guy down. Can't blame Pixy for not doing so, as it sounds like he dealt Nova a pretty serious blow. The ADMM just isn't as decisive as an EML.
Damn. Can't say I'm surprised, but we seem to have underestimated their transports and how durable they are.
Yep. We need better weapons. EMLs are good, but we need faster reloading/cooling/charging/whatever times.
...Well, sh*t. Apparently they have tactical-scale Void Rifts. That's...very worrying. Did we seriously just lose a big chunk of Mobius Squadron?
Well, he is a singularity, and probably the closest one to SSR+ on the planet. Maybe it's time he showed us what he can really do.
I've been wanting more focus on ground stuff for a while, TBH. This mostly drove home to me that we need to actually put in work in that regard.
ANEA's got railgun tanks in the testing stage (see: Sidestory: Beasts of Steel), though how close to production they are is unknown, and their armor might as well be made of paper for all the alien's plasma weapons care.
Honestly? That carrier is the most dangerous thing on the battlefield. It's a superweapon. If we let it just charge and fire more of those Rifts, we're probably f*cked regardless. Cities can't move, and ground troops likely can't move fast enough to evade it. That thing should be equally devastating to cities as it is to aircraft caught in the area.
If we give that thing ten more minutes, I'm not even sure there'll be anything left to evacuate. This time, they used on our air units. Nothing says they can't use it on the city itself. By the sounds of it, it takes time to charge in the first place, and I'd imagine it has a cooldown, too. If we want it taken down, now seems like the time to do it. Ground units are probably boned regardless, and like you said, we're not well equipped to even support them to begin with.Yeah, I don't even know.
Trigger operates at a level where "hulk out and singlehanded cripple enemy aerial battleship" is a plausible accomplishment for him. On the other hand, there are alien aces still active and fuckall knows. We've still got most of our forces, only lost two A-rank and a B-rank out of our support pilots.
I'm half tempted to double down with a write-in and order all our truly elite ace units in to see if they can somehow damage that battleship enough to force it into a retreat; we've got three Ace Combat protagonists and several Designated Ace Combat Wingman pilots, many of them in superplanes.
But we've still got ten minutes left of evacuation to cover, our planes aren't well equipped for air to ground, and...
Since when has any Ace Combat Ace used equipment on par with their opponents' when taking on a superweapon? It's not like their technological superior has actually allowed FGU to down any of our Aces. Trigger's literally the best pilot humanity has right now. Like, level-wise. If anything short of a superweapon's going to dent this thing, it's Trigger.
Comes down to it, I don't think we can avoid taking the risk. Unless, of course, we're willing to entirely sacrifice the city, or let that thing fire again and again, and potentially kill our Aces anyway. Or Long Caster himself, in another worst-case scenario. Can we really afford to keep ignoring the Battleship and playing it safe? When it can fire off tactical scale psionic Void Rifts? Or whatever the f*ck that was?
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
It conjured four spheres of purple destruction - 4 Rifts, basically.
Yes, with the understanding that Long Caster right now has just seen an unknown superweapon take down members of the Mobius Squadron, with one of his defining commanding traits being "force preservation". The order to belive in Trigger is already pushing things a little bit; if you try for committing more forces, you're going to roll, and a failure will default to "Trigger, I believe in you."
Your best pilots have plot armor, as per canonizing Singularities as an in-game system.
You're just going to have to gamble that your pilots have more plot armor than the alien battleship.
As for the status of Mobius Three and Five:
Gone without a trace.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
@huhYeahGoodPoint
It occurs to me, and might occur to Long Caster, that those giant purple rift sphere attacks are likely to be if anything more dangerous to us if our forces have pulled back and clearly separated from the aliens. They're like Helios missiles; you don't fire them into a dogfightif unless you don't mind losing whatever assets on your own side you're dogfighting with.
[EDIT: Awwwwkward typo there]
It occurs to me, and might occur to Long Caster, that those giant purple rift sphere attacks are likely to be if anything more dangerous to us if our forces have pulled back and clearly separated from the aliens. They're like Helios missiles; you don't fire them into a dogfight
[EDIT: Awwwwkward typo there]
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- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
We should look into shaping alien alloy armor; the stuff has material properties that probably make a good match for these plasma bolts- and indeed, it's likely that the aliens chose it as armor against weapons similar to their own.
Yeah. On the other hand, it's the only thing we have powerful enough to make the aliens sit up and take notice, but capable of engaging multiple targets at a time.
True. @huhYeahGoodPoint , have any of our pilots gotten off EML hits on the transports yet?
The good news is, toroidal power storage and more integration of alien alloys may give us improved EMLs.
Yes- though to be fair, the pilots we lost are A-rankers, not S-rankers.
Note that with this being Strangereal, it IS possible that there's something stopping the weapon from hitting ground targets... but we shouldn't count on that, no.
A fair point.
Though. You know who else is insane enough to follow Trigger in and maybe contribute?
Pixy.
The Razgriz might be able to manage too. Mobius One would be fine but I'm not sure Baker or 4 would be okay.
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Wulong Squadron killed the third wave of transports with EMLs - but at that point the first defensive line was gone and the second line was in a close stalemate with Mobius One flying close air support.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
[nods]
Well, that's something. It sounds like we were in the process of at least slowing down the aliens adequately or near-adequately, until the battleship opened up on us. That makes me feel a little less bad about us losing pilots and all.
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
Is the Expo City mob's bounty hunters contributing much to the resistance of the second line, @huhYeahGoodPoint ?
Like say, what happened to poison gas pilot?
Like say, what happened to poison gas pilot?
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Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
If his preference is for force preservation, why take half-measures? If you're going to gamble on Trigger and shift priorities to the battleship, making sure he has good help at his back is force preservation. But whatever, I get that his first instinct is to pull his people out of a dangerous scenario.
Only issue might be the weight. At least for now. On the bright side, we should have quite a lot more of the alloy to salvage after this fight.
I mean...thinking about it, two hits with 4 large AoE Rifts is incredibly poor accuracy. It could, by the sounds of it, have been much worse. It does sound like the odds of hitting anyone at S-rank or higher aren't as good, since apparently the psionic aspect stimulates precognition or something. But still, the loss definitely stings much more than Bard Squadron losing a member.
Honestly, I'd prefer to have the Razgriz tangle up FGU, keep them off Trigger's back. Nova's apparently bugged out, or is at least on the edge of the battlefield. So he's a non-factor, as I understand it. That just leaves FGU. FGU and the battleship would probably be too much for him to handle. Having Pixy join him would be fine, though. Mobius and the rest can be kept on ground support and tangling with enemy fighters.A fair point.
Though. You know who else is insane enough to follow Trigger in and maybe contribute?
Pixy.
The Razgriz might be able to manage too. Mobius One would be fine but I'm not sure Baker or 4 would be okay.
God, if we're having this much trouble, just imagine what the other Branches are dealing with. VERUSA's at least got their super-submarine, and Osea may have the Arsenal Bird back in service. Perhaps those will be enough to even the odds. But ANEA...hoo boy. I hope Talisman's on his A-game. Because they'll really be counting on him.
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- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Honestly at the pace you guys were going, best case scenario was holding the aliens to the second defense line, most probable outcome was hitting the third defense line (final defense line on the southern flank, second to last defense line on the northern flank), rolling impossibly low would've kicked you to the fourth and final defensive line before the downtown district. Without Nova Squadron fucking up your northern flank, the second defense line would've been an easy cinch; as is, without the superweapon overhead the battle would've probably revolved around whether "can you kill the escort fighters fast enough to slam the entire airforce into supporting the beleaguered 2nd defense line" and which fronts the fourth and fifth wave of alien infantry joined. You probably don't apply enough suppression to prevent the collapse of the second line, but the soldiers and the air support will extract enough of a toll that the comparatively beefy third defense line will hold fast and fuck up the remaining alien forces, especially as they fight their way over the bridges (and then crossings, once the field commander decides stopping the aliens is more important).
The casualty numbers would still be horrific, but nothing like the total loss in the first and second defense lines.
They are contributing, but that pilot (and the psionic) is getting shunted firmly into the future; a cropduster flying into a combat zone would be completely unjustifiable, and an open invitation to get shot down by both sides, while the psionic just doesn't yet have the conditions necessary for emergence.
wincing in downed Arsenal Bird
- Location
- United States
...Ah, geez, Oured's gone, isn't it?
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
Oh shit. Arsenal Bird's shot down?
By future, do you mean future updates for this mission? Or other missions after this one?
And the Psionic isn't fighting on the ground right now, @huhYeahGoodPoint?
By future, do you mean future updates for this mission? Or other missions after this one?
And the Psionic isn't fighting on the ground right now, @huhYeahGoodPoint?
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
Ouch. So either the Battleship has downed the Arsenal Bird, or it's still in the shop. In which case, with Nordlands controlling Cipher, and given the threat of a Belkan incursion...the most Oured would have to defend it would be one S-Rank pilot. Which definitely seems like a "run, and live to fight another day" scenario to me.
Pretty much, either way you interpret that statement. I expect most of the cities in question to be gone at the end of this, barring maybe one in either Anea or Verusa, if they engaged the ship while at sea, before it got particularly close.
Future turns, I'm guessing.
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Future turns, not fighting on the ground right now.
ELCERO:
