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Ace Combat XCOM: Enemy Skies
- Thread starter hYGP
- Start date
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
I don't expect them to attack directly. What is very possible, however, is that they'll attack somewhere where forces from Fort Grey will be able to sortie, while our Lighthouse forces can't intercept in time. In that scenario, having only two low-tier teams stationed there will put us in a very tricky spot.
I also feel like you're more than a bit too paranoid about alien observation. While putting higher class units on a base does maybe slightly raise the odds of it being targeted, their AO is the entire planet, and there are way juicier targets than that base they could hit, if they wanted to hit us in our weakest points.
So...what, two on High Alert, one On Duty, one Unavailable? Or the other one? Are we going to keep to the exact same rotation, or go through every possible permutation, then repeat? Keep in mind, the more shifts involved, the more complex the Duty Schedule, the more administration time required to work it out. Mostly because we're asking the GM to keep track of a rather complicated system.
There's a reason I'm keeping our protagonist teams together. That gives us some heavy-hitters, and then some teams where you have built-in, skilled babysitters. Plus, then you can pair the weaker units with the stronger ones, who might help mentor them, like how Mobius One mentored Baker. Having to dispatch one heavy hitter to babysit the weak squads in every fight isn't the greatest thing in the world.
I'd say they both managed air superiority, then. Talisman and Garuda Team were fairly ridiculous in their level of skill. They managed to pretty much turn the tide of an entire war by hitting the enemy when and where it hurt, and took down multiple major super-weapons, pretty much on their own.
Then what about using Pixy and Cyclops Squadron, over Strider? Sending out 2/3rds of our SSR Pilots is a bit much, I think. If you really want to only bring out the big guns for this, that might be a better team. Maybe throw in Salamander, too, and have them fly with Pixy. That latter case would be 1 SSR, 2 SS, 5 S, and 3 A ranks, vs your proposed 2 SSR, 1 SS, 4 S, and 3 A-Rankers.
...Right, most of our spare planes don't have stealth coatings. That sounds fine, then.
That sounds like a better long-term solution, and one I would apply to the immediate families of any of our married pilots or major staff. No point in making our people worry about their wife and kids being defended by someone else a continent away, and they may even fight better on base defense, knowing they're protecting their families.
Plus, the Lighthouse is probably the most well-defended, non-alien controlled spot on the planet at the moment. Even if the continent itself isn't at its safest, I think it's still the best option available.
Pilots above S seem to (mostly) be listed under "assets" in the Country Stats section on the front page. Some of them seem to still be listed under their countries-of-origin, despite being under the command of other XCOM branches. The Osean Federation actually didn't have a single S-class Ace until our last combat, when Monk Two advanced to S-class. I can't recall if she's working for XCOM yet or not. Other than her, there's Falco One and Gryphus One (S and SS, respectively) listed under Aurelia, though they work for XCOM now, and "Elcero", who has returned to SSR-class, in the Nordlands.
To compare to the other continents, Anea only lists one Ace: Talisman, at SS, under Emmeria, though I believe Garuda Team is now under XCOM command. On Usea, the only units listed are Sol Squadron in Voslage, but not their ranks. Albatross Squadron is similarly unranked, but listed under Yuktobania, and are apparently under XCOM VERUSA command. Sotoa and Verusa both have a single Ace listed, but neither has a ranking. Neither appear to be under XCOM command.
Overall, Osea is probably the second best defended continent. Their XCOM branch is likely the second best in the air, after us. Comparatively, XCOM ANEA is worse supplied and worse staffed, though they may be able to expect some amount of reinforcements from XCOM VERUSA, and vice-versa. If we were to give away a unit, I'd say the best place would be to send them to Anea. Talisman still doesn't quite have all the rust shaken off (assuming he was previously SSR), and they just generally have a weaker economy, albeit their ground forces are top-tier. That might actually be a more valuable trade: exchange Cyclops Squadron for a high-level (S+) Spec Ops team, and maybe one of their weaker squadrons.
Hence why I want to send out a more skilled team there. If the Aliens want to hit anything on that side of the continent, they're the ones closest to the incoming enemies. The ones with the best intercepts. Remember, the aliens aren't necessarily going to always aim for directly for airbases.
That said, now that I think about it, the fact that we're in the midst of a war does mean that Fort Greys is going to potentially get help from the air forces of the combatants. Maybe. So that could be helpful.
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
If we wanted more information on different assets of other countries, including ranks of their aces, it would require doing Focus actions to read briefings and such.
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
- [X] Strider Squadron: Unavailable, Selatapura Air Force Base
- [X] Razgriz Squadron: High Alert, Selatapura Air Force Base
- [X] Mobius Squadron: Active Duty, Selatapura Air Force Base
- [X] Pixy: Active Duty, Selatapura Air Force Base
- [X] Cyclops Squadron: Active Duty, Selatapura Air Force Base
- [X] Salamander Flight: Active Duty, Fort Grays Island Base
- [X] Rigel Squadron: Unavailable, Selatapura Air Force Base
- [X] Druid Squadron: Active Duty, Selatapura Air Force Base
- [X] Bard Squadron: Active Duty, Fort Grays Island Base
- [X] Waltz Squadron: High Alert: Selatapura Air Force Base
[X] [Dove] Write-In: Project Dove proposal noted and viewed favorably, pending personnel availability.
[X] [Tac] Jasper Rhodes
[X] [Op] No (Costs nothing, diplomacy continues, ???)
[X] [Zane] Which divisions inside Administration get how many teams?
- [X] 1x Twenty person teams to Logistics
- [X] 1x Twenty person team to Human Resources
- [X] 1x Twenty person team to Command Staff
So...actually, why are we making this in plan format? It looks more like @huhYeahGoodPoint intended for simple yes or no questions for most of these.
Anyways, I'm voting to reassign Salamander Flight to Fort Grays, and have Druid Squadron come into Selatapura to have training with Mobius One. Hopefully it results in the B-Rank pilots quickly getting points while there are available S rank pilots in Fort Grays Island. And all squadrons bar Razgriz, Rigel, Waltz and Strider are now on Active Duty. Razgriz remains on High Alert since they are the freshest player protagonist squadron we have, with Waltz to be their High Alert backup, while we have Strider and Rigel on unavailable so Jaeger can go visit his son, and start preparations to move his family to Selatapura if we can write that in, and for Rigel to be unavailable so they can have a break, since they had received all the casualties we have so far.
As for the Zane consulting, I vote for an even distribution of teams among Human Resources, Logistics and Command Staff. I voted to assign one team to the Command Staff so we can hopefully get more Focus out of Bradford and Longcaster.
What do you think folks?
Also, @huhYeahGoodPoint, when...will "Pixy's #1 fan" make an appearance in your update?
Last edited:
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
1000% top-level canon, rewards:
A betting pool is out on when Count and Huxian finally declare they're in a relationship. A similar pool has started about Avril and Trigger, and a third is now out on Mobius One and Baker. Of course, everyone knows about it, and gives each other shit about it. That's just how it rolls.
Strider and Cyclops Squadrons all take the piss out of Count for his animal metaphors again.
But the real bonus is
Mobius One walked over to Trigger. Trigger's pose looked casual, hands slumped in his pockets and leaning against the wall, but a tension stood out across his body. He stared straight ahead, eyes sharp enough to cut diamonds.
They could only be looking at one thing - no, one being.
"You feel it too, don't you?"
Trigger nodded.
"Betcha anything Blaze feels it too," Mobius One said, pointing towards Blaze standing a ways away. He couldn't take his eyes off the alien either.
The three of them locked gazes, looked towards the alien, and nodded.
They all felt something.
+???
Not reassign to XCOM OSEA; you need to give him a vacation to see his son.
:3
Strider and Cyclops are getting stressed again; The Lighthouse War and now this (yet unnamed) war taking its toll on them.
Razgriz is doing alright; no big losses, just need to get back into the swing of things.
Salamander and Rigel Squadrons are getting pretty stressed, though. Both of them fought through the Lighthouse War, and both of them lost two pilots from the squadron. That's not easy to get over.
Mobius Squadron is honestly pretty alright; Baker seems to be taking the stress on the chin.
Pixy apparently hasn't heard of a break in twenty-five years and he's still going pretty strong.
Waltz, Bard, and Druid seem to be doing alright, though Waltz One is going through a lot of teasing about the broken arm.
Wellll, she's in a walker, not a wheelchair; there was some spin gravity but not quite enough to preserve bone strength entirely. She's going to need extensive physical therapy yes, but she says she should be good to go after a few more months of PT.
Yep.
... fixed
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
Oh Mother of God we got our Psionics.
Who else...Talisman, Phoenix, Cipher, Gryphus One and Falco One?
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
Hmm, interesting. Psionic potential, perhaps. Or the alien is trying something. Probably the former.
What about my question of Project Dove? Will approving it take away from our current engineering projects?
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Ah. It'll just mark down those resources for later, but it won't actually interrupt your current engineering projects.
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
Alternatively, we may have gotten some of that info because we fought alongside several of them.
...Of course the three protagonists are all potential Psions. Why wouldn't they be?
Probably. Cipher seemed pretty unaffected by Flowing Guard Unbreakable's intimidation aura. If anything, he might be the guy closest to becoming a psion, given his exposure to their abilities. Pixy...might also have the gift, might not. It's also possible that human psions in this are closer to Newtypes from Gundam, and anyone who hits SSR has started to unlock their potential. We'll see how it all shakes out.
Why not both?
- Location
- Seattle, Washington
What I think is that aces who surpass what should be human limits (Aka SSR tier aces) are really pilots who have had their latent psyhic potential "unlocked" by combat. They are unconsciously using psychic abilities to do better in combat, IE reducing the stress of High G manuvers allowing them to talk casually and act normally while in dogfights, or pulling their aircraft into tighter maneuvers than what should be possible.
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
Could also be reading the minds of their opponents to figure out their next move, or be seeing a short distance into the future. Trigger has shown a pretty accurate ability to predict the next move of his opponent. Or, in one particular case I can think of, a certain someone may have been holding his one-winged plane steady with telekinesis.
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
[X] Plan: Assign, Hire, Talk
-[X] [READ] No, Reassign (write-in).
--[X] High Alert
---[X] Razgriz Squadron (Selatapura)
---[X] Pixy (Selatapura)
---[X] Mobius Squadron (Selatapura)
--[X] Active Duty
---[X] Cyclops Squadron (Fort Grays)
---[X] Rigel Squadron (Selatapura)
---[X] Waltz Squadron (Selatapura)
---[X] Druid Squadron (Selatapura)
---[X] Bard Squadron (Fort Grays)
--[X] Unavailable
---[X] Strider Squadron (Selatapura)
---[X] Salamander Flight (Fort Grays)
--[X] [Tac] Jasper Rhodes
--[X] [Dove] Yes (New Engineering project started, Pilgrim One and TLS consumed, 100 IC required)
--[X] [Op] No (Costs nothing, diplomacy continues, ???)
---[X]
-[X] [Zane] Which divisions inside Administration get how many teams?
--[X] 2x Teams to Logistics
--[X] 1x Team to Human Resources
I think that in the future we should keep 2-3 squads on High Alert (with at least one SSR-Ace squad among them, aka Strider, Razgriz or Mobius), 1-2 squads Unavailable (depending on stress levels) to make sure that we're not burning out our pilots, and rets on Active Duty. Salamander, Strider, Rigel and Cyclops are getting worst of the stress, so sending Strider and Salamander on vacation this week, we can think about sending Rigel and Cyclops next week, depending how things go. Things are calm atm and I'm not planning to start fighting against the Eruseans this week, so this is probably best opportunity we're going to get.
Pulling Druid from Fort Grays and giving them Cyclops and Salamander to make sure they have some more firepower so that they can look after themselves if they get attacked. Though if people have better ideas to distribute our forces, I'm listening.
Jasper Rhodes chosen as lead analyst, considering how the aliens have been combating us and approving Project Dove. It is a good plan and won't interrupt our current projects. Also, two teams of people to aid Logistics cause they're so hilariously overworked, and one to HR to help us get more people.
Not launching operation against the ERF this week yet, hopefully diplomacy makes some headway. I'm also writing a list of things our diplomats can use to get them to the negotiation table, though it will take a moment. A stick and carrot, if you will.
Edit.
Finished the list of Sticks and Carrots. Extending it, if I come up with anything new.
-[X] [READ] No, Reassign (write-in).
--[X] High Alert
---[X] Razgriz Squadron (Selatapura)
---[X] Pixy (Selatapura)
---[X] Mobius Squadron (Selatapura)
--[X] Active Duty
---[X] Cyclops Squadron (Fort Grays)
---[X] Rigel Squadron (Selatapura)
---[X] Waltz Squadron (Selatapura)
---[X] Druid Squadron (Selatapura)
---[X] Bard Squadron (Fort Grays)
--[X] Unavailable
---[X] Strider Squadron (Selatapura)
---[X] Salamander Flight (Fort Grays)
--[X] [Tac] Jasper Rhodes
--[X] [Dove] Yes (New Engineering project started, Pilgrim One and TLS consumed, 100 IC required)
--[X] [Op] No (Costs nothing, diplomacy continues, ???)
---[X]
Sticks:
- Erusean military has taken massive losses, both during the Lighthouse War and during the current Civil War that has also torn the military to pieces between ERF, FE and all nations declaring themselves independent.
- They're having a multifront war, even if they could defeat FE and take over all their old territories they wouldn't have forces left to police it all and deal with all the resistance forces and guerilla warfare they'd employ. Erusea is no superpower like Osea or Yuktobania, especially not now.
- Erusean and economy and industry took massive hits during and after the war, especially when the satellite coverage and power were lost. Power, which I might add, is given to them by the Lighthouse which is governed by IUN (bluff, we wouldn't dare make Shen angry, but Eruseans don't know that). They wouldn't have resources or industry to rebuild all of that area, their people already are at low living quality.
- During all of this, the aliens are still here. Even if ERF were to win, they'd be left as easy pickings for the aliens. Humanity needs more united front to deal with them.
- Surely they've heard of the recent battle and how though of a fight the aliens put against the Osean Federation. If superpower with and Arsenal Bird had so much trouble, what can they do when in middle of a civil war when the aliens decide to come here?
- The global opinion of Erusea is already low enough after the Lighthouse War with it leading to nearly total destruction of the global satellite coverage, nearly causing an AI apocalypse (even if that is not widely known) and that's not even counting the warcrimes found on Tyler Island. Not helping during alien invasion would make that reputation even worse.
- If ERF refuses to see reason and continues on their current path, it might force IUN to step in. The same IUN that employs both Strider and Mobius squadrons.
Carrots: - Working together with IUN and the nations that have unannexed themselves to bring an end to the war would show ERFs desire to be better and help the world to combat the alien threat and not redo past mistakes. It would also save their forces for the real enemy and help them to start rebuilding over an area they can actually police.
- XCOM Usea is willing to help them rebuild and continue providing energy through the Lighthouse. War ending would also make it much easier to protect Erusea from the alien invaders.
- The unannexed nations just wish to gain their independence, as long as ERF is not hostile to them, they have no reason to be hostile back, unlike FE. Working together to deal with FE would bring peace between humanity in Usea and let everyone turn their attention to rebuilding their military and industry.
--[X] 2x Teams to Logistics
--[X] 1x Team to Human Resources
I think that in the future we should keep 2-3 squads on High Alert (with at least one SSR-Ace squad among them, aka Strider, Razgriz or Mobius), 1-2 squads Unavailable (depending on stress levels) to make sure that we're not burning out our pilots, and rets on Active Duty. Salamander, Strider, Rigel and Cyclops are getting worst of the stress, so sending Strider and Salamander on vacation this week, we can think about sending Rigel and Cyclops next week, depending how things go. Things are calm atm and I'm not planning to start fighting against the Eruseans this week, so this is probably best opportunity we're going to get.
Pulling Druid from Fort Grays and giving them Cyclops and Salamander to make sure they have some more firepower so that they can look after themselves if they get attacked. Though if people have better ideas to distribute our forces, I'm listening.
Jasper Rhodes chosen as lead analyst, considering how the aliens have been combating us and approving Project Dove. It is a good plan and won't interrupt our current projects. Also, two teams of people to aid Logistics cause they're so hilariously overworked, and one to HR to help us get more people.
Not launching operation against the ERF this week yet, hopefully diplomacy makes some headway. I'm also writing a list of things our diplomats can use to get them to the negotiation table, though it will take a moment. A stick and carrot, if you will.
Good point.
Edit.
Finished the list of Sticks and Carrots. Extending it, if I come up with anything new.
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Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
Might be a touch overkill to assign them Salamander, though Cyclops isn't a bad choice. Also, you moved Druid, not Bard. Not that there's much difference, they're basically interchangeable. Rest seems fine.
Giving diplomacy more of a chance is fine, but we should really get the political mess fixed up at some point in the near-future. I think "we're in command of three of the top five pilots on the planet, including Mobius 'f*ck the odds, I win' One" is probably a pretty major stick to bring to the table.
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
Blargh, it was supposed to be Druid from the start, my typo. Fixing.
I thought about adding Salamander, since they're good pilots but a squadron at half strength. But if people want us to keep them at Selatapura, I can change that. Also, since the idea was to send Rigel and Cyclops on vacation next week, then no Salamander there would mean there'd not be a high ranking squad at Fort Grays there.
My thought process is that if there is no chance within a week, we're taking the kid gloves off. And yes, using the fact that Eruseans are terrified of Mobius (and Strider) is a stick, though in a realm of politics we want to avoid direct threads. i juts finished the list, take a look if you have any recommendations. I'll add more If I come up with anything.
- Location
- Austria
Ehh.
What about we just tell Eruseans that we have Trigger and Mobius One and are not afraid to use them if they don't calm the fuck down? Or do, like, a warning strafing run without destroying much of anything? At least because every IC we destroy is IC which must be rebuilt - IC which could have been spent on fighting aliens.
What about we just tell Eruseans that we have Trigger and Mobius One and are not afraid to use them if they don't calm the fuck down? Or do, like, a warning strafing run without destroying much of anything? At least because every IC we destroy is IC which must be rebuilt - IC which could have been spent on fighting aliens.
- Location
- Seattle, Washington
A strafing run in which you destroy anything is an act of war.
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
That is a possibility if we decide to do an operation, but I'd prefer trying the diplomatic approach first. Gunboat diplomacy also doesn't build good relations and lasting alliances, it just breeds spite and resentment.
In worst case scenario, if we make a direct threat/attack with Mobius and/or Strider, ERF and FE might decide to forget their differences long enough to deal with us first, which is not a preferable situation and destroy any chance of us getting any of them as allies. Aliens are the true threat we're supposed to be facing, we can't let ourselves be tied up with other conflicts for too long.
- Location
- Austria
Diplomacy has been fruitless so far, and I doubt it's going to change on its own.
Aliens are a true threat; and I am not sure we can afford to spend too much time appeasing fools who do not see it, instead of crushing them and letting sane people take their place in power vacuum. If those morons don't see that aliens are true threat, I am not sure the idiots can be convinced at this point.
So I think we want to combine show of force with diplomacy; tell them that we think aliens are the true threat and that if they get in the way they are going to get Ace Combat'd by two protagonists.
But you make a good point about the possibility of them allying to take us down. We would have losses if we tried to fight all at once.
Therefore, it may indeed be better to go Six Days War on them: destroy their militaries first, one by one, preferably without warning, to ensure they cannot ally against us, cause they have already lost by the time they got their bearings.
Like, it's going to destroy a lot and harm our goodwill among many - XCOM's reputation is definitely resting on them being anti-alien force which does not fight humans.
But if humans intend to fight XCOM anyway, why should we give them initiative?
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
I mean, that's mostly what my plan is about. We try diplomacy and try to get through to them of how aliens are through threat and it would be much better to work together, and if it doesn't work, then we have to take the kid gloves off. We should avoid actually fighting them if possible, as it is a resource sink that would also destroy valuable forces and industry for a long time. As everyone has brought uyp, this is not something we can let tie ourselves for long.
Remember that the Six Days War did not end because enemies of Israel were rendered incapable of continuing. It ended when Russia and USA stepped in and said: "Ok, that's enough." And right now their equivalent superpowers are busy and have no personal interest in what's happening here.
The problem is that atm, the Eruseans have had no actual encounters with the aliens, so they most likely don't see them as a current threat/opposition to them, unlike FE and and the unannexing nations.
As for initiative, rep wise it would actually be better if they crossed to our side of the border first, since in that case they would be the invaders and we'd be in full rights of striking back. Of course, that would mean we'd need to repel their first assault before they managed to do any damage.
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
Oh yeah.
@huhYeahGoodPoint, a question.
When can we write-in a request for all XCOM Usea personnel to have their dependents move to Selatapura for the sake of Logistics? Or is that a no go?
@huhYeahGoodPoint, a question.
When can we write-in a request for all XCOM Usea personnel to have their dependents move to Selatapura for the sake of Logistics? Or is that a no go?
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
You could put it under Bradford, but come on. Long Caster knows them personally; hell, he was there for Jaeger's big barbecue birthday party, it'd be rude to not do part of it himself. (Doing so will probably end up costing Focus).
In other news: more votes please. The winning vote has all of two votes right now, and I'm not writing an update on that.
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
Fair enough. While 6 S+ class Pilots is a lot of firepower to redirect to another base, covering the other half of the continent, including a huge chunk of our main source of IC (Commonwealth of Usean States, at 35k IC) is probably worth it.
Been looking closely at the data on various countries. Noticed some interesting things.
First, the amount of IC the rebel factions have is unreal. The FE Remnants have 35k, as much as the CoUS is providing to us per turn, and the Restorationists have 55k, as in "almost as much as we get per turn". We may actually have to risk Shen's wrath if we fight them, because not nixing their power would result in way more bloodshed and suffering than it would save.
Second, something's a bit off with Voslage's numbers. It seem like every 1 IC costs 4 power, but their industrial power-draw is 75k, which should result in 18,750 IC. But they are only listed as having 16,250 IC. I don't know if that's an error (@huhYeahGoodPoint?), or if they've got some unaccounted for IC, possibly in the form of some secret project. Northpoint's numbers are also off, drawing only 140k of power, when they should be drawing 148k for industry.
Third, there are a number of places it might be good to invest some IC in.
-The Gunther Bay Emergency Adminstration just flat out doesn't have enough to support their population at a High Standard of Living, even without the seemingly obligatory 500 spare IC and the 4,500 they're giving to us.
-Voslage has enough, barely, to meet the 1 IC per 1,000 people standard, but they're using it for other things. None of which are "support XCOM", so investing some there might win us an ally.
-The Comona Islands look like they should be giving us something in the way of IC (2/10), but aren't, possibly due to some mandatory minimum free IC (500 IC, most likely). Their overall IC output is, frankly, pitfiful. Our new airplane manufacturing equipment gives us more than they produce (2,400 vs 1,500).
- Northpoint has very high support for XCOM (6/10), but their spare IC is only at 7,000 total, half of which is going to us. Investing in improving their capacity would be a good way to reward their contribution to the war effort, I think. Even just investing half of what we gain from them (currently 1750 IC) back into the country could be rather beneficial in the long-run.
-While investing anywhere on Usea is going to give us more bang for our buck than most other places, since it's highly likely that, in those other places, we're likely to need to increase their power supply along with their IC, it may still be worthwhile to spend some on Estovakia, specifically Albastru-Electrice. They have a small amount of support for the Aliens, and an equal amount for XCOM. We might want to see about changing that.
Fourth, holy sh*t, we really need to come up with more ways to leverage the power supply the Lighthouse provides, other than just increasing Industrial Capacity in the region. Mostly because I don't think we could really put a dent in the amount of energy we're producing with just that. We produce 100,000,000. To put that into perspective, 10% of the Lighthouse's output could power the entirety of Yuktobania and Osea put together, with power to spare. We really should try and come up with ways to make better use of it. Superweapons, really power intensive systems on our aircraft powered by microwaves, high-energy physics facilities (Large Hadron Collider and the like), sky's the limit when you produce enough energy to power the entire world multiple times over.
Oh, right.
[X] Plan: Assign, Hire, Talk
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
I was thinking that if we have to we could cut the power for a moment, say few hours, as a power move to try to get them on the negotiation table.
Good ideas overall.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
OK, I finally had time to catch up with the discussion from yesterday and today.
Not sure whether I support kilopi's plan or Icipall's plan. Need to think a bit.
We need to take at least a week of getting the Fort Grays force "stood up" and equipped with proper aircraft, in addition to reinforcing them a bit, before we can consider them ready to meet even a weak alien attack.
Basically, my idea is only a rough guideline. We'll have to match our tasking and readiness to the situation, to the ebb and flow of the conflict.
Right now, for example? There's at least a reasonable chance that the next time we fight the aliens over the Usean continent, they'll be badly surprised by the significant improvement in our aircraft's performance. Our planes are, on average, somewhat more maneuverable and significantly better armed, with a type of weapon that is likely to pose a significant threat to the alien craft compared to the relatively puny missiles and autocannon we sported before. Because of that, I am relatively hopeful that we won't need all hands on deck next week, especially if we're not planning to launch airstrikes against any Erusean faction.
But at some future time, we may gain intelligence that greatly alters that situation. Maybe we'll be explicitly anticipating attack, or have a major offensive planned against some earthly opponent. It may be 'all hands on deck' and all leave canceled.
As a rough guideline, though, I'd rather have no more than a quarter of our forces unavailable at a time. The precise mix of High Alert versus On Duty squadrons is more negotiable and depends heavily on who's on duty. One squadron of elite aces on high alert may be worth rather more than one squadron of mooks on high alert.
Breaking up squadrons with a long record of working together strikes me as counterproductive when they're successful and effective.
1) I think you should skip expanding the Command staff (Bradford doesn't seem to be hurting), and double down on putting Zane personnel on the Logistics team. Snow did everything short of grab Long Caster by the shoulders and shake him to say "I NEED MORE PEOPLE," and the sheer size of the operations we're expecting Logistics to handle have gotten crushing. They need more people, fast, because we have hit a bottleneck. I agree with sending the third group to HR, though.
2) I think having only Pixy, the Razgriz and Waltz Squadron on High Alert is not enough. If something weird happens, we probably want to send up more than seven planes from our main base. I suggest putting Mobius on High Alert alongside the Razgriz. Cyclops can be rotated out to Unavailable next week when Strider's gotten a vacation. I support relocating Salamander Flight to Fort Grays, but maybe giving them a week of Unavailable time after the relocation (like @Icipall suggests) would be a good idea. They're under a lot of strain, and Fort Grays isn't really ready to operate anyway, so letting them have a break would probably be a net positive.
3) I am not sure how I feel about moving one of the two mook squadrons from Fort Grays back to Selatapura. Let me read some more of the discussion.
On the whole though, this is not a bad plan, even if I think it could be improved a little. In my opinion the key point is to NOT think in terms of making Fort Grays an operational base this week, because we can't get F-14X-EMLs out to its squadrons for about a week in any case.
One of them says appalling shit, and the other doesn't hear it.
Confirmation of my theory that the aliens can exercise Newtype-style pressure, and that our elite aces have it too, or at least come close enough to be able to resist it.
Flowing Guard Unbreakable may be categorically different from the rest of the aliens in some way. Maybe they actually crew their own craft? Maybe they're brains in jars, wearing their craft like cyborg bodies? I keep expecting brains in jars from this setting, dunno if it'll happen.
We did a lot of damage to them over Sapin, but they've had time to make repairs, adapt, or mobilize more units. Our respite can't last forever.
Do we know what happened to Captain Snow? He's the other former Razgriz we might want to recruit.
It's unlikely the aliens will try a spoiling attack on our base, but it's not impossible, and some wild card like a Free Erusean offensive trying to hit us while our ground defenses are incomplete is also possible.
Secondly, our reputation for not fighting humans affects many people who aren't Eruseans. Such as the various other Usean and non-Usean nations that are funding us.
For example, it's quite possible that we could deal with the aliens' high resistance to laser weaponry by just building a shitload of ground-based diode lasers and feeding them MOAR POWAH. See how well alien hull armor holds up to laser fire when it's being dropped on them by the gigawatt.
Or, hell, just a shitload of microwave beams; at some point the line between "radar/power beam" and "giant fuckoff maser cannon" starts to get a little hazy. We could look into that, at least as a feasibility study: "Weaponize Lighthouse Microwave Beams."
Not sure whether I support kilopi's plan or Icipall's plan. Need to think a bit.
Basically, I think that regardless of what choices we make, the Fort Grays base cannot be considered ready to sortie in response to an alien attack until its pilots are re-equipped with F-14Xs, many if not all of them armed with EMLs. Lightly reinforcing them with tougher aces will help, but if we throw a bunch of B-rank pilots in fourth-generation fighters at the aliens, they'll die in large numbers. That's the situation X-COM Osea faces, for instance- they took massive losses in the recent battle in Sapin, far worse than ours, because they were trying to swarm alien fighters with mooks. Even with a handful of their own side's aces on the field (Gryphus, Falco, Cypher), that proved very deadly.
You misunderstand me. I'm not worried about the aliens observing the base as it is now and deciding to attack it. I'm worried that the base's forces are so unprepared that they're not a meaningful threat to alien operations elsewhere on the continent.
We need to take at least a week of getting the Fort Grays force "stood up" and equipped with proper aircraft, in addition to reinforcing them a bit, before we can consider them ready to meet even a weak alien attack.
I think we're going to have to keep the rotations a bit flexible, prioritizing giving the most highly stressed teams a vacation now while we hopefully still can.
Basically, my idea is only a rough guideline. We'll have to match our tasking and readiness to the situation, to the ebb and flow of the conflict.
Right now, for example? There's at least a reasonable chance that the next time we fight the aliens over the Usean continent, they'll be badly surprised by the significant improvement in our aircraft's performance. Our planes are, on average, somewhat more maneuverable and significantly better armed, with a type of weapon that is likely to pose a significant threat to the alien craft compared to the relatively puny missiles and autocannon we sported before. Because of that, I am relatively hopeful that we won't need all hands on deck next week, especially if we're not planning to launch airstrikes against any Erusean faction.
But at some future time, we may gain intelligence that greatly alters that situation. Maybe we'll be explicitly anticipating attack, or have a major offensive planned against some earthly opponent. It may be 'all hands on deck' and all leave canceled.
As a rough guideline, though, I'd rather have no more than a quarter of our forces unavailable at a time. The precise mix of High Alert versus On Duty squadrons is more negotiable and depends heavily on who's on duty. One squadron of elite aces on high alert may be worth rather more than one squadron of mooks on high alert.
I dunno. Personally I'm more comfortable trying to cultivate Cyclops into another protagonist-equivalent squadron (a couple more level-ups and they're there), and letting the mook squadrons evolve naturally while taking on duties like "cover the SSR-tier squadrons against enemy fighters" and "snipe with railguns against large enemy combatants from long range."
Breaking up squadrons with a long record of working together strikes me as counterproductive when they're successful and effective.
This week, I don't think the Fort Grays force can be ready to fight at all. We need to re-equip them, if nothing else. They should be kept out of battle (to preserve the pilots' lives) until we have proper planes and weapons for them.
Hmmmm. Not a bad plan, not a bad plan, let me think...
1) I think you should skip expanding the Command staff (Bradford doesn't seem to be hurting), and double down on putting Zane personnel on the Logistics team. Snow did everything short of grab Long Caster by the shoulders and shake him to say "I NEED MORE PEOPLE," and the sheer size of the operations we're expecting Logistics to handle have gotten crushing. They need more people, fast, because we have hit a bottleneck. I agree with sending the third group to HR, though.
2) I think having only Pixy, the Razgriz and Waltz Squadron on High Alert is not enough. If something weird happens, we probably want to send up more than seven planes from our main base. I suggest putting Mobius on High Alert alongside the Razgriz. Cyclops can be rotated out to Unavailable next week when Strider's gotten a vacation. I support relocating Salamander Flight to Fort Grays, but maybe giving them a week of Unavailable time after the relocation (like @Icipall suggests) would be a good idea. They're under a lot of strain, and Fort Grays isn't really ready to operate anyway, so letting them have a break would probably be a net positive.
3) I am not sure how I feel about moving one of the two mook squadrons from Fort Grays back to Selatapura. Let me read some more of the discussion.
On the whole though, this is not a bad plan, even if I think it could be improved a little. In my opinion the key point is to NOT think in terms of making Fort Grays an operational base this week, because we can't get F-14X-EMLs out to its squadrons for about a week in any case.
Trigger and Avril have the perfect foundation for a relationship.
One of them says appalling shit, and the other doesn't hear it.
Ooh.
Confirmation of my theory that the aliens can exercise Newtype-style pressure, and that our elite aces have it too, or at least come close enough to be able to resist it.
Flowing Guard Unbreakable may be categorically different from the rest of the aliens in some way. Maybe they actually crew their own craft? Maybe they're brains in jars, wearing their craft like cyborg bodies? I keep expecting brains in jars from this setting, dunno if it'll happen.
OK, yeah, let's see about getting Strider, Cyclops, Rigel, and Salamander a break soon, though all at once isn't feasible. Especially not after this long; the aliens are very likely to start moving again sooner or later.
We did a lot of damage to them over Sapin, but they've had time to make repairs, adapt, or mobilize more units. Our respite can't last forever.
OK, well that's something to look forward to.
Do we know what happened to Captain Snow? He's the other former Razgriz we might want to recruit.
Good to know. I'm for it, then; we can't run scared of alien reactions indefinitely, as long as everyone involved knows that the TLS laser cannon isn't likely to be effective against the aliens. We should probably run Pilgrim One in a lean-manned, somewhat stripped down configuration, for that reason- if captured or destroyed we want to cut our losses, since we have no means of escorting the craft, and since the aliens are presumably all using vacuum-capable vehicles.
Hmmm. I like this plan too, but I question whether Pixy and the Razgriz alone are quite enough muscle. I'd feel more comfortable with that plan if we kept Mobius Squadron on high alert too, since their stress levels are apparently manageable.
It's unlikely the aliens will try a spoiling attack on our base, but it's not impossible, and some wild card like a Free Erusean offensive trying to hit us while our ground defenses are incomplete is also possible.
I think I'd like to give it one more week. Partly so some of our forces can get some rest before a major operation, and partly because I want to give the conservatives a few days AFTER confirmation that we have Three Strikes and the Grim Reaper on the same payroll to reconsider a few of their life choices.
Well, firstly, we're not in a position to say that they intend to attack us.
Secondly, our reputation for not fighting humans affects many people who aren't Eruseans. Such as the various other Usean and non-Usean nations that are funding us.
Still thinking stuff over.
There IS that. Though I strongly advocate treating Fort Grays as still in 'down' mode for this coming week, and letting it be a rest period for any squadrons we redeploy to strengthen the Fort Grays air wing.
Yeah. Note that while X-COM's industrial budget is big compared to small countries and enough to get some amazing things done in a hurry... it's formed from several real countries pooling their resources. Major powers can easily have a hundred thousand IC/turn or more, and the various fragments of Erusea are collectively what's left of a major power, one that if it hadn't been repeatedly dismembered and slammed with asteroids would probably be on par with Osea and Yuktobania as a major player on the global stage.
I support all these goals. The only reason my hope to do them this week didn't materialize is because Daniel Snow's logistics team is desperately overworked and we had to nix that part of the plan.
Again, my support is behind all these ideas. Note that @huhYeahGoodPoint at least implied that running industrial aid projects in several countries at once may take more effort than running one big project, so we may want to concentrate our efforts and see what comes of it.
Absolutely. This is very true.
For example, it's quite possible that we could deal with the aliens' high resistance to laser weaponry by just building a shitload of ground-based diode lasers and feeding them MOAR POWAH. See how well alien hull armor holds up to laser fire when it's being dropped on them by the gigawatt.
Or, hell, just a shitload of microwave beams; at some point the line between "radar/power beam" and "giant fuckoff maser cannon" starts to get a little hazy. We could look into that, at least as a feasibility study: "Weaponize Lighthouse Microwave Beams."
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Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
My theory is that there are actual pilots in them, probably Sectoid Commanders. I wouldn't believe they'd send Ethereals out this early.
I thought about it, but was hesitant due to the fact that being put on High Alert accumulates stress. But if you and @Nixeu wish so, I can change that.
I like these ideas. The problem with turning Lighthouse into a weapon is that its going to make international community very worried, with XCOM getting basically a superweapon. And lot of people are mot going to be happy that this symbol of peace and co-operation is being turned into a weapon. Unless its effective range is very short, then I can only see that working when we have a lot more respect and faith from international community, so that they can believe we'd use it responsibly.