Is the EML a substitute for a conventional fighter's cannon (which is typically mounted in the fuselage) or is it mounted in a (hopefully faired) pod on the wings as a secondary weapon?
EML is a pod placed on the plane's belly like a fuel tank. By AC7 it's available on regular planes like the F-18 rather being a super plane only weapon.
TLS is also available as an underside pod on regular planes like the F-15 as well.
Also, for brevity code purposes, "Thunder" works fine for railguns, but "Flash" is already in use, at least in NATO, meaning "temporarily turn on your pre-designated IFF system." Maybe "Lightning?"
Also, for brevity code purposes, "Thunder" works fine for railguns, but "Flash" is already in use, at least in NATO, meaning "temporarily turn on your pre-designated IFF system." Maybe "Lightning?"
As a side point of interest it's neat on how small the TLS has become compared to the predecessors on the Falken and Morgan.
The ADF-11F Raven's TLS is shorter in length than even an AIM-9X.
Feels like you could bolt them onto armored vehicles and trucks provided they have sufficient power generation.
Quick question, do we already have COFFIN systems applied to our aircraft? Also, what is the status of Neucom Incorporated and General Resource Limited? Right now, we seem to be in the middle of the formation of UPEO, so I think it is likely that instead of Exalt, we will have to deal with Ouroboros. Also, what is the status of Megafloat or other locations seen in Electrosphere?
Quick question, do we already have COFFIN systems applied to our aircraft? Also, what is the status of Neucom Incorporated and General Resource Limited? Right now, we seem to be in the middle of the formation of UPEO, so I think it is likely that instead of Exalt, we will have to deal with Ouroboros. Also, what is the status of Megafloat or other locations seen in Electrosphere?
COFFIN in 2019/2020 is still in experimental stages. FALKEN is basically it for this area, the only other planes that could even maybe have it and be available now are the Forneus, the Fregata, and the Caliburn, none of which are currently in production as far as I know here - and the Fenrir is obviously right out as OP has stated it's still in developmental stages.
Neucom is still EASA/whatever company made the Wyvern, and General Resource is still Grunder. UPEO is a ways off, and we are years from Sublimation being possible if I remember AC3 correctly (which I should since I'll need it to write the Ace Combat/Mass Effect Quest I'm planning), so only the absolute start of the things that will lead to the Corporate War are happening now.
UPEO is a ways off, and we are years from Sublimation being possible if I remember AC3 correctly (which I should since I'll need it to write the Ace Combat/Mass Effect Quest I'm planning), so only the absolute start of the things that will lead to the Corporate War are happening now.
Before anyone says anything: I checked my notes for your characters' service history.
It's really unfortunate, you know? You've got a bunch of new Osean fighters, new Yuktobanian fighters, old Verusan fighters, Erusean fighters, Usean fighters, Emmerian fighters - but none of them who would really know.
Man, Wiseman was a pretty big loss, huh?
[X] Plan Act Now On This Free Offer
- [X] Logistics
-- [X] Maintenance (200 IC)
-- [X] 2x KC-10 Extender (6400 IC)
-- [X] 100x ADMM (5000 IC)
-- [X] 2x F-35C (6000 IC)
- [X] Research: Cheaper Gen 5 Aircraft (000/???)
- [X] [Mission] Yes
Trigger
The orders come in fast over the PA system.
"All planes, scramble! Unknown contacts approaching from the south and west!"
By the time Trigger's felt the fifth word in the sentence, his helmet is on. Avril could make fun of him for keeping one of his two flight suits on all she wanted; far as he was concerned, he was right.
His next steps are unconscious, his body moving towards his real shell. The ladder is vaulted in a heartbeat, his restraints and hands in the next, and the instrument checks over the next endless thirty seconds. It takes an interminable eternity before the engineering crews finally allow his plane to take off, despite his instruments reporting the process only taking 4 minutes 26 seconds.
A ten minute improvement from the Zapland base, and 4 minute improvement from the Fort Grays base, his traitorous mind told him.
His hand inched forward on the throttle, awaiting the chance to throw the gate open. Not yet, his conscious mind told him. He had to get to the runway first.
Long Caster
<<"Strider 1, you are cleared for takeoff.">>
Trigger's plane finally reached the runway thirty-five seconds after exiting the hangar. Next time he was going to try cutting the corner a little sharper, see if he couldn't get it to thirty-three.
Trigger didn't bother responding. His throttle slamming through the gates was answer enough.
On some level, he knew that Avril was going to yell at him for damaging the landing gears again.
He didn't care. The sooner that he could soar, the better. And as he felt the flaps, felt the throttle, and felt the brakes of the CFA-44, he knew that his baby did too.
He still wasn't quite used to Mobius One. The only one that was close to how Mobius One flew was Wiseman, and Trigger was still sorting out his feelings about him. Wiseman was the one who got him out of the Spare Squadron, and kept standing up for Trigger at every opportunity, but somehow Trigger couldn't really get himself to care like Count, or Jaeger; at best there was a sort of emptiness, a hollow sort of realization that Wiseman's death meant that Trigger had to do everything again, but in any case it was not something for Trigger to worry about in a potentially hostile zone.
Mobius One
<<"This is Mobius One, contacts not spotted.">>
If nothing else, Trigger chuckled, at least the CFA-44 Nosferatu's radars were the same. That way he couldn't engage from farther out than Trigger could.
That said, though, where were the other stealth fighters? Sure, none of their aircraft had anything quite like an AWACS or the F-35's radars, but the fighters shouldn't be this difficult to detect, even if the night sky was fairly cloudy.
On a hunch, Trigger flipped his plane upside down. It wasn't likely, but...
Movement.
Four thin streaks, just above the water in the distance.
So that had been why.
He manuevered his upside down craft to bring down the nose and straighten itself in the same action. If his instincts were right as always, he should overfly at about a thousand feet above them, before the S-turn dropped him right on their tails.
Mobius One
<<Trigger, what are you doing?>>
Trigger didn't bother answering. If Mobius One couldn't figure it out himself, well, Mobius One would figure it out.
Count
<<Look, it's pointless to ask why. Just follow Trigger and you'll make it.>>
That said, it was nice to have Count back him up, as he approached where... there!
Long Caster
<<Trigger has the contacts on radar, just barely above the water!>>
Finally. But it wasn't time to dogfight those four black, forward-swept aircraft yet. For one, he wasn't in a good position, but for two...
Long Caster
<<This is the IUN-PKF-XCOM USEA base. You are entering a restricted airspace. Please land at ->>
The four planes suddenly pitched up over the water and headed straight for Trigger. Their wings waggled, their missile radars locked, and then they refused to fire.
Heartbreak One
<<So this is what it feels like on the other side of the curtain, huh? Roger, Razgriz Squadron will comply.>>
Blaze
<<Bartlett, I thought I was squadron leader?>>
Heartbreak One
<<You'll always be a nugget to me, kid. Always.>>
The four black forward-swept aircraft touched down on the tarmac. Their weapon hardpoints appeared empty, but the modern fighters didn't generally need hardpoints anymore; Avril should know, she's maintained several.
Her submachine gun was pointed at the cockpits; for the first time in ... wow, a while, she was finally likely to outgun her attackers.
The cockpits hissed, and the lead pilot took off his helmet, before suddenly looking around.
"Whoa, whoa, easy there. No need to shoot, we're friendlies!" Blaze said, throwing his hands into the air.
"Name your squadron and affiliation, then," Avril said, lowering her gun.
"Come on, you haven't heard of the Razgriz Squadron?" he exclaimed.
"What, the children's story?"
"No, not that one - oh, it's still classified, isn't it?" he said, slumping over.
"Above what a penal squadron would know anyway," Avril shrugged.
"Either way, you're all coming with me, got it?" she said, pointing with her gun.
Razgriz Squadron recruited!
Razgriz One - Blaze, piloting X-02A Wyvern, no Special Weapons.
Razgriz Two - Heartbreak One, piloting X-02A Wyvern, no Special Weapons. Injured.
Razgriz Three - Pops, piloting X-02A Wyvern, no Special Weapons.
Razgriz Four - Archer, piloting X-02A Wyvern, no Special Weapons.
Long Caster
Long Caster sighed, and took a moment to breathe. That had gone much better than he had dared hoped for.
Then came hailing the other incoming contact, headed in from due west.
It was thirty minutes from a flyby, but hadn't responded to any of the hails at any distance. The plane itself was apparently an F-15 on the radar, but its payload was unknown.
The base had been hailing it for thirty minutes, but there had been no response ever since the communications had started. An ever-escalating series of warnings had done nothing from deterring the plane from a direct path straight to the runway; at this rate, the flight would intercept the unknown contact in five minutes about ten kilometers to the west.
Not a great safety margin.
Engagement orders?
[] Fire first
[] Fire when fired upon [] Do not fire
Razgriz Squadron recruited!
Razgriz One - Blaze, piloting X-02A Wyvern, no Special Weapons.
Razgriz Two - Heartbreak One, piloting X-02A Wyvern, no Special Weapons. Injured.
Razgriz One - Pops, piloting X-02A Wyvern, no Special Weapons.
Razgriz One - Archer, piloting X-02A Wyvern, no Special Weapons.
"For the last - you know what, forget it. The view's been pretty great, but something's been bothering me recently. That stubborn raincloud won't go away, and it's stinking up the sky something fierce. I'm thinking you're here to do something about that?"
[X] Fire when fired upon
[X] Fire when fired upon, or if evidence of deception emerges.
A lone F-15 probably isn't carrying enough payload to be a major threat in and of itself given that nuclear weapons are nearly unheard of on Strangereal. If this is just a nonresponsive dickhead, I'd rather let them land, but if there's evidence of a trick, I'm all for opening fire.
Also, Bartlett and Pops may be a bit long in the tooth for this; they're both Belkan War vets from 25 years ago. And Pops wasn't a young man even then. Canonically, going by the wiki, he's officially 66 years old as of 2020, and I believe the wiki on this one. Bartlett, by contrast, is 'only' 52- he was still a fairly young pilot in the Belkan War.
Pixy and Cipher, by contrast, would be somewhere between those two ages, probably. Pixy isn't obviously an old man when the cameras catch up with him in 2005, so I'd expect him to be no older than in his fifties now- but he can't be much younger, either. And the Demon Lord of the Round Table is, well, a cipher.
Strictly speaking, the standard ROE blurb is "Do not fire unless fired upon", this is us sorta expecting that lone F-15 to be hostile and prejudicing us to engage
It's why hostage negotiators don't talk about negotiating with the suspect, but the subject, because suspect is an inherently pejorative term and subconsciously prejudicing.
Razgriz One - Blaze, piloting X-02A Wyvern, no Special Weapons.
Razgriz Two - Heartbreak One, piloting X-02A Wyvern, no Special Weapons. Injured.
Razgriz Three - Pops, piloting X-02A Wyvern, no Special Weapons.
Razgriz Four - Archer, piloting X-02A Wyvern, no Special Weapons.
He didn't care. The sooner that he could soar, the better. And as he felt the flaps, felt the throttle, and felt the brakes of the CFA-44, he knew that his baby did too.
Harling as a beloved Elder Statesman has a lot of pull, even as a former president. He may be dead, but those in the know wouldn't want to get in the way of Razgriz and Harling's friends.
