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Ace Combat XCOM: Enemy Skies
- Thread starter hYGP
- Start date
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Whenever the aliens stop trying to win a war without ever touching the ground, it'll probably come up.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
So something to keep in mind --
This is the geometry of the Deep Space Network antenna layout, NASA's deep space tracking system. Three radar sites, set 120 degrees apart, means that any object farther than 30,000 km from Earth is always within sight of at least one telescope, given Earth's rotation. (We'd need one at each pole to provide polar coverage, but presumably we can buy ships to do that.)
Conveniently, we have one already right at 60˚W; this makes the math easy, such that we want one at 60˚E and one at 180˚, preferably on the equator. That means... Osea and Yuktobania, and polar coverage through Wellow, if that's a priority?
(if someone else wants to sketch out the octahedral coverage geometry that would be cool)
In addition to what the QM said, recall that AC6 had the ally aid system where-in allies you aided earlier in the mission could be called on to do stupid amounts of damage to enemy forces. Talisman just didn't have to work as hard because his countrymen were actually competent.
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
Goddamn that's so much ouch.
We need more aces. Cipher, Pixy, Phoenix, Blaze. Where are they!
Also, Long Caster? Didn't the winning plan just kick out Long Caster from the POV seat and decided to wage all the decisions of this quest from now on from the POV of...someone not Long Caster?
Last edited:
January 1st to MISSION TWO INTERRUPT: HOLD FAST
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Long Caster
Pulford stared at Long Caster through the videoconference screen. His hands bridged under his nose. His military uniform appeared slightly crinkled, as if he had literally just gotten out of the operations center and into the airplane before calling in for an explanation. His stony face and annoyed eyes told Long Caster what this meeting was going to be about, but Long Caster wasn't totally sure what precisely he had done wrong.
Finally, after staring at Long Caster for five long minutes, Pulford spoke.
"Lieutenant Colenel, do you understand why I am frustrated?"
"No, sir," Long Caster responded. Damn, he could really go for a snack right now.
"Allow me to explain, then. You nominated me for the position of overall Commander, which is why I'm brought to understand I am now the overall XCOM Commander. Your immediate next action, after receiving your orders and clarifying that you believe that your base of operations should be the overall Headquarters, is to requisition personnel and equipment without ever stopping to consult me or the IUN which nominally controls this initiative. Those were not insignificant requests you made: those CFA-44 Nosferatus would have broken the economies of small nations to purchase, and the experts you asked for are in extremely high demand, many of whom are very nearly considered strategic assets. The only reason I cannot have you hauled before a military tribunal for insubordination is because you acted without negotiating authority, before I was capable of giving you orders," Pulford said, eyes closed.
He cracked one eye open.
"That being said, I reviewed the plan and its constituent elements afterwards. It is a solid plan, and because of your quick thinking and initiative, we will be able to equip our greatest assets all the quicker. The request for scientists is cogent, especially since Usea currently has the most alien wreckages. The request for pilots as we inevitably take more losses and the request for engineers to replace the planes as our pilots eject, also well-considered. Logisticians were a particularly inspired touch," he said.
"So, on the one hand," Pulford said, leaning back and holding his hands out as if a scale, "you did undercut my authority and seized power for the IUN-PKF-XCOM branch that we technically should not have. On the other hand, what you did was well-thought out, and very much in line with what we needed to accomplish to make this branch succeed."
Pulford rested his hands on the airplane's folding table and leaned forward.
"In conclusion, I find myself bereft of other options," he said.
"Congratulations on your promotion to Usean Base Commander, 'Long Caster'," he smiled sardonically.
[Internal Practices Technology: Temporary Assumption of Powers researched!]
Long Caster reorganized the chart for what he swore was the twentieth time that day, hoping that it would finally start to make sense. The scientists would be grouped as one group here, which would have an overall lead, the engineers would be grouped up - wait no, that didn't make sense, and it would mean that only one project could be worked on at a time, which didn't make much sense; no, better to group them up as discrete groups but keep the scientists and the engineers grouped.
Where, then, did the logisticians fall into this mess? Where did the pilots, for that matter? Rigel and Salamander squadrons were pretty much solely their wings at this point, let alone Skoll Sqaudron's single pilot.
Well, one thing at a time. First, organize the scientists and engineers into groupings, organize the logisticians into a big group, deal with the pilot bullshit later, and pick a group leader from all of them to report directly to him.
Fine, that should work.
Think Tanks created! Engineering Groups created! Logistics Division created!
60 Scientists recruited! All scientists will join the pool, but the Lead Scientist will generally set the tone of the Think Tank.
Nominate Lead Scientist:
[] [Sci] Dr. Moira Vahlen
She heard about the prospect of xenoresearch and jumped on immediately; from what you know of the background that came with the report, she is focused and quick, if more than slightly sad and disappointed when she was informed that most of her work would be in weapons development, calling the endeavour "an abuse of science, but a necessary one."
[] [Sci] Charlie Burns
One of the up-and-coming aircraft designers in Macmillan Heavy Industries, he's been dispatched to the IUN-PKF-XCOM to both get practical experience and to see what the real needs of tomorrow's aviation are. From what rumors you've heard, however, he's a bit of a hotshot, absolutely willing to "move fast and break things"; in fact, that disregard for caution is likely why he's been dispatched in the first place.
[] [Sci] Audrey Jones
A consummate Aurelian patriot, she signed up for XCOM nearly as fast as she heard the word come out, on account of perhaps being able to leverage her considerable ability in particle physics to the problem. However, she considers herself to be an Aurelian liason first and foremost; there is an unspoken understanding that her work is likely to end up in Aurelian hands sooner or later.
24 Engineers recruited! All Engineers will join the pool, but the Lead Engineer will set the tone of the group, as with the Think Tanks.
[][Eng] Avril Mead
The known choice, Avril "Scrap Queen" Mead is one of the most capable engineers on the continent, capable of making planes out of literal rusted junk, given time and extra hands. However, she lacks a formal grounding in engineering, and thus has holes in her understanding that she wouldn't necessarily know about.
[][Eng] Dr. Raymond Shen
A Raikalan expat, he felt obligated to his adopted country of the Verusan Federation to assist with the international XCOM effort. He brings an incredible wealth of engineering expertise, but that wealth of expertise comes with a perfectionism and demand for rigor that the fledgling command may not be able to satisfy.
"So I'm your new chief logistician, huh?" Daniel said. "Well, show me what you -"
Wordlessly, Long Caster turns his computer around.
Daniel stands and stares for five seconds.
Slowly, he raises his palms to his face.
"Fuck, they really don't give me the easy jobs, huh?"
Daniel Snow is the Emmerian Chief Logistician. He is, "and you can quote me on this, working on unfucking your godforsaken everything".
...
He certainly does not - "Yeah, I know what you're thinking, asshole, and if you fucking think for one second that Emmerians are oh so proper and polite you've never been to a fuckin' Emmerian hockey game in your life."
Long Caster also remembered to tell Avril Mead to work on checking out the Lighthouse again; would it be possible to evaluate and repair the place?
Avril Mead gave Long Caster an impressive stink-eye, and told him that "sure, tell the cripple to go check out and fix the Lighthouse yourself!"
Long Caster asked again.
Avril Mead threw up her hands, and started heading over to the Lighthouse.
On the second day, Avril Mead gave the same stink-eye, only telling him that obviously she hadn't found anything after one day would he please dial back his expectations to be more human and less godlike.
On the third day, Long Caster was treated to the sound of Avril Mead screaming that she was such a fucking idiot for missing the heavy industry under the Lighthouse. Whatever Trigger was signing at her was only driving her into more of a rage.
Long Caster blinked. Perhaps now was not a good time.
Gunther Bay Emergency Administration gains +5000 IC, and as a result, its citizens now have a Medium Quality of Life!
Then, on January third, the message hit.
US STRONG YOU WEAK TOGETHER DESTROY AGAINST DESTROYED
When the initial shock wore off, the base radar installation scrambled a report to you:
Four strike forces of alien craft in high atmosphere over the eastern Usean seaboard. Headed west and descending fast.
Pulford stared at Long Caster through the videoconference screen. His hands bridged under his nose. His military uniform appeared slightly crinkled, as if he had literally just gotten out of the operations center and into the airplane before calling in for an explanation. His stony face and annoyed eyes told Long Caster what this meeting was going to be about, but Long Caster wasn't totally sure what precisely he had done wrong.
Finally, after staring at Long Caster for five long minutes, Pulford spoke.
"Lieutenant Colenel, do you understand why I am frustrated?"
"No, sir," Long Caster responded. Damn, he could really go for a snack right now.
"Allow me to explain, then. You nominated me for the position of overall Commander, which is why I'm brought to understand I am now the overall XCOM Commander. Your immediate next action, after receiving your orders and clarifying that you believe that your base of operations should be the overall Headquarters, is to requisition personnel and equipment without ever stopping to consult me or the IUN which nominally controls this initiative. Those were not insignificant requests you made: those CFA-44 Nosferatus would have broken the economies of small nations to purchase, and the experts you asked for are in extremely high demand, many of whom are very nearly considered strategic assets. The only reason I cannot have you hauled before a military tribunal for insubordination is because you acted without negotiating authority, before I was capable of giving you orders," Pulford said, eyes closed.
He cracked one eye open.
"That being said, I reviewed the plan and its constituent elements afterwards. It is a solid plan, and because of your quick thinking and initiative, we will be able to equip our greatest assets all the quicker. The request for scientists is cogent, especially since Usea currently has the most alien wreckages. The request for pilots as we inevitably take more losses and the request for engineers to replace the planes as our pilots eject, also well-considered. Logisticians were a particularly inspired touch," he said.
"So, on the one hand," Pulford said, leaning back and holding his hands out as if a scale, "you did undercut my authority and seized power for the IUN-PKF-XCOM branch that we technically should not have. On the other hand, what you did was well-thought out, and very much in line with what we needed to accomplish to make this branch succeed."
Pulford rested his hands on the airplane's folding table and leaned forward.
"In conclusion, I find myself bereft of other options," he said.
"Congratulations on your promotion to Usean Base Commander, 'Long Caster'," he smiled sardonically.
[Internal Practices Technology: Temporary Assumption of Powers researched!]
Pulford's being a little unfair to you guys, and none of this should be taken as a QM criticism - it was a pretty good plan, and there basically aren't any consequences for it aside from a promotion. That being said, I expect you to be aware that you do have to take your nominal superiors into account when performing actions, yeah?
Front page is updated, by the way.
Links to the plan, briefing on dogfight-capable planes, and briefing on countries.
Front page is updated, by the way.
Links to the plan, briefing on dogfight-capable planes, and briefing on countries.
Long Caster reorganized the chart for what he swore was the twentieth time that day, hoping that it would finally start to make sense. The scientists would be grouped as one group here, which would have an overall lead, the engineers would be grouped up - wait no, that didn't make sense, and it would mean that only one project could be worked on at a time, which didn't make much sense; no, better to group them up as discrete groups but keep the scientists and the engineers grouped.
Where, then, did the logisticians fall into this mess? Where did the pilots, for that matter? Rigel and Salamander squadrons were pretty much solely their wings at this point, let alone Skoll Sqaudron's single pilot.
Well, one thing at a time. First, organize the scientists and engineers into groupings, organize the logisticians into a big group, deal with the pilot bullshit later, and pick a group leader from all of them to report directly to him.
Fine, that should work.
Think Tanks created! Engineering Groups created! Logistics Division created!
60 Scientists recruited! All scientists will join the pool, but the Lead Scientist will generally set the tone of the Think Tank.
Nominate Lead Scientist:
[] [Sci] Dr. Moira Vahlen
She heard about the prospect of xenoresearch and jumped on immediately; from what you know of the background that came with the report, she is focused and quick, if more than slightly sad and disappointed when she was informed that most of her work would be in weapons development, calling the endeavour "an abuse of science, but a necessary one."
[] [Sci] Charlie Burns
One of the up-and-coming aircraft designers in Macmillan Heavy Industries, he's been dispatched to the IUN-PKF-XCOM to both get practical experience and to see what the real needs of tomorrow's aviation are. From what rumors you've heard, however, he's a bit of a hotshot, absolutely willing to "move fast and break things"; in fact, that disregard for caution is likely why he's been dispatched in the first place.
[] [Sci] Audrey Jones
A consummate Aurelian patriot, she signed up for XCOM nearly as fast as she heard the word come out, on account of perhaps being able to leverage her considerable ability in particle physics to the problem. However, she considers herself to be an Aurelian liason first and foremost; there is an unspoken understanding that her work is likely to end up in Aurelian hands sooner or later.
24 Engineers recruited! All Engineers will join the pool, but the Lead Engineer will set the tone of the group, as with the Think Tanks.
[][Eng] Avril Mead
The known choice, Avril "Scrap Queen" Mead is one of the most capable engineers on the continent, capable of making planes out of literal rusted junk, given time and extra hands. However, she lacks a formal grounding in engineering, and thus has holes in her understanding that she wouldn't necessarily know about.
[][Eng] Dr. Raymond Shen
A Raikalan expat, he felt obligated to his adopted country of the Verusan Federation to assist with the international XCOM effort. He brings an incredible wealth of engineering expertise, but that wealth of expertise comes with a perfectionism and demand for rigor that the fledgling command may not be able to satisfy.
"So I'm your new chief logistician, huh?" Daniel said. "Well, show me what you -"
Wordlessly, Long Caster turns his computer around.
Daniel stands and stares for five seconds.
Slowly, he raises his palms to his face.
"Fuck, they really don't give me the easy jobs, huh?"
Daniel Snow is the Emmerian Chief Logistician. He is, "and you can quote me on this, working on unfucking your godforsaken everything".
...
He certainly does not - "Yeah, I know what you're thinking, asshole, and if you fucking think for one second that Emmerians are oh so proper and polite you've never been to a fuckin' Emmerian hockey game in your life."
Long Caster also remembered to tell Avril Mead to work on checking out the Lighthouse again; would it be possible to evaluate and repair the place?
Avril Mead gave Long Caster an impressive stink-eye, and told him that "sure, tell the cripple to go check out and fix the Lighthouse yourself!"
Long Caster asked again.
Avril Mead threw up her hands, and started heading over to the Lighthouse.
On the second day, Avril Mead gave the same stink-eye, only telling him that obviously she hadn't found anything after one day would he please dial back his expectations to be more human and less godlike.
On the third day, Long Caster was treated to the sound of Avril Mead screaming that she was such a fucking idiot for missing the heavy industry under the Lighthouse. Whatever Trigger was signing at her was only driving her into more of a rage.
Long Caster blinked. Perhaps now was not a good time.
Gunther Bay Emergency Administration gains +5000 IC, and as a result, its citizens now have a Medium Quality of Life!
Then, on January third, the message hit.
US STRONG YOU WEAK TOGETHER DESTROY AGAINST DESTROYED
When the initial shock wore off, the base radar installation scrambled a report to you:
Four strike forces of alien craft in high atmosphere over the eastern Usean seaboard. Headed west and descending fast.
Last edited:
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
[X][Eng] Avril Mead
[X][Sci] Dr. Moira Vahlen
Ah. Can we call Sol Squadron to help us? And did the Nosferatu fighters come?
4 squadrons? 16 UFOs? Hmm. We need some drones and former player protagonists to pad our numbers in the future.
[X][Sci] Dr. Moira Vahlen
Ah. Can we call Sol Squadron to help us? And did the Nosferatu fighters come?
4 squadrons? 16 UFOs? Hmm. We need some drones and former player protagonists to pad our numbers in the future.
Last edited:
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
So something to keep in mind --
This is the geometry of the Deep Space Network antenna layout, NASA's deep space tracking system. Three radar sites, set 120 degrees apart, means that any object farther than 30,000 km from Earth is always within sight of at least one telescope, given Earth's rotation. (We'd need one at each pole to provide polar coverage, but presumably we can buy ships to do that.)
Conveniently, we have one already right at 60˚W; this makes the math easy, such that we want one at 60˚E and one at 180˚, preferably on the equator. That means... Osea and Yuktobania, and polar coverage through Wellow, if that's a priority?
(if someone else wants to sketch out the octahedral coverage geometry that would be cool)
This is a freebie because I should've been paying attention to these things, but Osea has the Basset Space Center nearly dead on the 180 degree marking, and Yuktobania has an installation at the 60 degree marking
The Nosferatu fighters came. Pulford really pulled through on that one, because if you're blowing a fuckton of favors to get two superplanes, what's a few more to get it a little bit faster?
The Su-33 Flankers have not come through, though.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
[X][Eng] Dr. Raymond Shen
[X][Sci] Dr. Moira Vahlen
Shen can optimize for time, if we specifically tell him to. (He won't like it, but like all good engineers he will understand.)
April can't optimize for correctness when we need it, for example during a launch sequence.
[X][Sci] Dr. Moira Vahlen
Shen can optimize for time, if we specifically tell him to. (He won't like it, but like all good engineers he will understand.)
April can't optimize for correctness when we need it, for example during a launch sequence.
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- Location
- Anchorage, Alaska
Well here's to testing our shiney shit out, and giving more super materials the aliens craft are made out of to get shit done as good as possibly to prevent them from fucking us over.
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
Perfectionism trait. In an ace of aces level?
Scrap Queen already pulled thru a rush job in the last mission of AC7. Why start putting still untested talent in this situation Scrap Queen already did well before?
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- Location
- Anchorage, Alaska
[X][Eng] Dr. Raymond Shen
[X][Sci] Dr. Moira Vahlen
Eeehhh gotta go with the classics! Maybe we can get real science off the ground and make sure everything is good with our bosses...also make damn well sure we get anti-alien aircraft guns ready for all the nations...shits going to go to hell soon and I can only hope if we ever get fusion engines we can start to really fuck over the alien invasion...
But this is ace of aces...we're going to eat hammered hard by the enemy right out the gate.
[X][Sci] Dr. Moira Vahlen
Eeehhh gotta go with the classics! Maybe we can get real science off the ground and make sure everything is good with our bosses...also make damn well sure we get anti-alien aircraft guns ready for all the nations...shits going to go to hell soon and I can only hope if we ever get fusion engines we can start to really fuck over the alien invasion...
But this is ace of aces...we're going to eat hammered hard by the enemy right out the gate.
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
Again, Scrap Queen is the one experienced with Scrambles and rush jobs. Do you really want a perfectionist at the helm during a scramble? Or a full on war even?
Also, XCOM setting is intruding into Ace Combat setting. It figures that in this quest UFO assaults will occur at a rate that would leave the aliens in Vanilla XCOM and NewXCOM blinking in surprise and shock.
Shen isn't the one we want in a real wartime tempo.
Also, real science?
We got BELKAN SCIENCE as a counter....ACE COMBAT SCIENCE as a counter.
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- Location
- Massholistan
[X] [Sci] Dr. Moira Vahlen
[X][Eng] Avril Mead
[X][Eng] Avril Mead
- Location
- United States
[X][Eng] Dr. Raymond Shen
[X][Sci] Dr. Moira Vahlen
Because XCOM. Speaking of which,
@huhYeahGoodPoint - how wide are our duties going to encompass as 'X-COM?' Are we purely focused on air defense or will the quest expand to encompass greater aspects of defending earth, both political and tactical? If we remain focused on airplanes, will the other stuff still be happening in the background or are the aliens just flying in UFOs?
[X][Sci] Dr. Moira Vahlen
Because XCOM. Speaking of which,
@huhYeahGoodPoint - how wide are our duties going to encompass as 'X-COM?' Are we purely focused on air defense or will the quest expand to encompass greater aspects of defending earth, both political and tactical? If we remain focused on airplanes, will the other stuff still be happening in the background or are the aliens just flying in UFOs?
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
checks notes
Depends. What is a nation, after all? :3
Now is probably also a good time to mention that not all technologies are required to win the game. They just make it easier.
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
@huhYeahGoodPoint, do we even have an SSR GROUND unit?
...oh God. Please let Volunteer get ISOTed to our world. We need a ground pounder Mobius 1 tier person.
...oh God. Please let Volunteer get ISOTed to our world. We need a ground pounder Mobius 1 tier person.
- Location
- United States
That's ... not quite what I was asking. And I'm not sure what you were trying to answer, to be honest.
To clarify, I wanted to know if the scope of the quest would expand beyond 'airplanes' to a more 'XCOM' experience.
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
More bluntly, your duties are in wild flux; see the latest update, where by never stopping to ask "am I allowed to do this" you got XCOM the right to order planes and requisition people without IUN oversight; what abilities and what falls under your jurisdiction as XCOM is pretty much entirely determined by what you try to get away with, and what the other actors will allow you to get away with.
So yes, you can totally try to push your jurisdiction to a more "XCOM" experience; it'd actually probably still fall under the "IUN Peacekeeping Forces" mandate.
When we start pushing into the political is where we start asking the real questions of XCOM's limits.
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
I have faith that ACE COMBAT SCIENCE can match ET science blow for blow.
All we need is ET's propulsion and FTL tech, then we can take the fight to their home planet.
- Location
- United States
That's neat. I wonder if we're going to be going with small squads or start deploying a conventional military in order to fight off full-scale invasions. There's a lot of ways this quest could go and I'm pretty eager for all of them.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
I see Shen as the the guy who will tell you "fast, good, or cheap -- pick two", and will respect whatever answer we give him; given Mead's lack of formal training, one of the things I'd be concerned about is whether we'd get that choice at all.
EDIT:
There's an ongoing coup we could intervene in...
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines