Wait what? That plan won? Why?

It wasted 2 actions and 4 AP! Or 3 AP if you plan on using all of them next turn for some readon.

Not to mention taking the hard, 40AP action to learn more advanced biotics instead of learning and mastering the basics first. Which is a medium difficulty 1AP action.

Ugh.
Well, I did propose another plan, immediately following the chapter, which I have edited to use up all 12 AP points. You could pick that, too.

Or, if you're unsatisfied with the current plans, make your own or make suggestions for where our priorities should lie.

For instance, Base Survival seems to be mostly about setting up or improving our landing base and making equipment for ourselves, plus throwing some AP at Biotics* for training.

*Here you should note that that plan does NOT call for training Biotic control, which is the 40AP monstrosity, but instead the general "train biotics" option in the Security menu. So that's one of your concerns managed already.

Hunting Prep, meanwhile, is much more focused on an immediate issue: training and preparing for making hunting trips nearby our perimeter. If we can hunt the local wildlife, it nets us actual combat experience for improved training (because the local wildlife sounds like it involves more "combat" than any Terran hunting trip...), secures a food source, and helps protect our perimeter. It's mostly a training plan, plus improving the autodoc in case of catastrophic failure and beefing up the perimeter. There's no gear fabricating actions because there were only so many AP points to allocate and I wanted to drop multiple AP into each training action, and the autodoc and flamethrowers ate half the AP on their own. There's a preference for training weapons over our biotics because we want food, not smears.

So, again, if neither of these plans meet your expectations, you can make your own, or offer some suggestions for someone else to assemble a plan you'd feel better about voting for. Nobody has "won" yet, this is just the initial bandwagon phase, still. Hopefully those bandwagonners are actually paying attention to the thread, so they know what new plans are being cooked up.
 
Last edited:
So, again, if neither of these plans meet your expectations, you can make your own, or offer some suggestions for someone else to assemble a plan you'd feel better about voting for. Nobody has "won" yet, this is just the initial bandwagon phase, still. Hopefully those bandwagonners are actually paying attention to the thread, so they know what new plans are being cooked up.
I was talking about the last turns winning plan, not the current ones.

Also, you can not spend multiple AP on options without an AP cost, so both of your plans are invalid.

The weapons you are building will also result in us having three different side arms, when Light Armor can carry 2 at most. And no long arms.

Looks like i'm gonna have to make a plan.
 
I was talking about the last turns winning plan, not the current ones.

Also, you can not spend multiple AP on options without an AP cost, so both of your plans are invalid.

The weapons you are building will also result in us having three different side arms, when Light Armor can carry 2 at most. And no long arms.

Looks like i'm gonna have to make a plan.
Did you actually read the rules?

That very specifically and explicitly is allowed.

A/n: gentle reminder that if you don't assign additional points to things, they'll only use a single Action Point, which will extend how long they take and-or increase the 'actual' difficulty involved (since you aren't really focusing on them.) You can absolutely throw points at repeatable actions (like training) to 'stack' them up and gain more benefits.

Otherwise there would be no point in giving us 12 AP but only 6 actions to use them with. Not unless a significant number of possible actions took 2 or more AP each. Which, you will note, is not the case.
 
Last edited:
Did you actually read the rules?

That very specifically and explicitly is allowed.
No, this is for when we take a multiple AP action without specifying how many AP we are spending.

Tasks may have a POINT COST. This is the number of points needed to complete them in one turn! You absolutely do not have to do so, though some tasks may require you to continue them the next turn or turns in order to maintain your progress! Tasks without a Point Cost will always complete in a single turn.
 
No, this is for when we take a multiple AP action without specifying how many AP we are spending.
Once more, even more focused on the relevant part:

You can absolutely throw points at repeatable actions (like training) to 'stack' them up and gain more benefits.

My plan is a training plan. There are two actions there that get done ASAP, with assigned point values, and three repeatable actions that have two AP applied, each.

As for the "multiple sidearms" thing, for now I just made the plan using the same setup we had in the prologue battle. Pistols are absolutely a primary weapon in Mass Effect, and we have a unique pistol, to boot. The omni-tool is a great offhand tool or weapon, particularly with an omni-shield as an option, and the baton exists because the local wildlife is unlikely to politely keep its distance while we clumsily shoot in its general vicinity.

A long arm would be useful there but, again, there's no fabrication action in my plan, and no way to train with a long arm that does not exist. Even if there was a fabrication action in there, we wouldn't be able to practice with it until next turn anyway, thanks to how these turns are structured.
 
[X] Plan Mama Bear
-[X]Aircraft training: learning to pilot an aircraft isn't exactly easy. Fortunately, you have simulators, so you don't need to risk expensive or irreplaceable equipment learning. (Difficulty: Easy) (increases Piloting (aircraft) Skill) 1AP
-[X]Develop Autodock Upgrades: your Medbay's autodoc is hopelessly outmatched by your enhanced physiology. Developing an upgrade package for it is necessary to use it as anything other than a decoration. (Difficulty: Moderate) (Cost: 4 AP) (allows Autodock to be upgraded to funcion on your enhanced physiology) 4AP
-[X]Pharma Problems: your Pharmacopia can make nearly any drug, but the simple compounds currently in its memory are definitely not up to the task of dealing with your highly enhanced body. Perhaps your databases have some better options? (Difficulty: Moderate) (Cost: 3 AP) (potentially allows Pharmacopia upgrades) 3AP
-[X]Train with your Biotics: Biotics are a weapon that nothing can take from you. Unfortunately yours appear to be rather more powerful than your flash-education assumed, making them dangerous to use on or near anything you want to avoid damaging. Taking some time to train with them is the only real way to deal with that. (Difficulty: Moderate) (increases your Combat: Biotics skill, improves general Biotics skills) 2AP
-[X]Fabricate Gear: Use your Armory to make some guns, armor, or related items. Not exactly complicated, but time-consuming. (Difficulty: Trivial)(variable cost)(uses variable amounts of Omni-gel, Rare Earths, and Element Zero. see Gear List.) 29OG 26RE 19E0 2AP
  • Raider Medium Armor: Equipped with integral jump-packs and mass effect cores allowing for sustained flight, Raider armor combines speed, maneuverability, and decent armor protection into a package extremely popular with fast-moving assault troops. (cost per unit: 16 OG, 6 RE, 6 E0, .5 AP)
  • P-11 'Shrike': The Shrike is a light man-portable particle-beam gun that is highly effective against infantry and moderately armored targets. Its cooling systems can allow the weapon to fire for up to a minute and a half continuously, allowing the user to 'sweep' the beam across multiple foes without releasing the trigger. As a Particle beam weapon, it is effectively pinpoint accurate to any distance within the limits of its stream coherence. (makes one unit: 8 OG, 8 RE, 5 E0, .5 AP)
  • G-250 'Suppressor': The Suppressor doesn't look like much, just a big block of metal with what looks like a drum magazine attached. But don't let its humble appearance fool you, as it can fire a variety of flash-forged grenades: high explosives that can damage a tank, concussion grenades that can stun clusters of enemies, incendiaries that can burn armor away, even special Warp Grenades that can cause kinetic Barriers to violently detonate. (Makes one unit: 15 OG, 12 RE, 8 E0, 1 AP)

12AP. If we spend 11AP or less next turn no downsides.

Examine pod is a given, very useful that. Edit: Swapped for flight training, we have too much to do to make use of more options, and the best defense against these creatures is, I believe, finding their nest and bombing it. Also they are very weirdly determined about their suicidal probing attacks, we should look into what that's about soon.

Med upgrades to make the Exowombs viable, preparing for the population boom, and to keep us alive if needed. Though we are damn tough and regenerate so I do not expect the latter to be needed. Still, our survival is paramount.

Biotics are a powerful tool, but currently a rather dangerous one. I would like to get at least Lift and Barrier down, but mostly I just want to be able to use it near our stuff.

Raider Armor because it is hard to appreciate enough just how useful 3D movement is. And we have to survive, so having the option to take to the trees, fly away, escape encirclement... invaluable. Also excellent mobility, so shorter travel times. Also no sells most melee enemies.

We already have a side arm, so one long arm and one heavy. Still place for another long arm, but that would cost 0.5AP, rounding up to 1AP. I choose a kinetic (sidearm), particle (long arm), explosion and versatility (heavy) combo.
 
Last edited:
Once more, even more focused on the relevant part:

My plan is a training plan. There are two actions there that get done ASAP, with assigned point values, and three repeatable actions that have two AP applied, each.

As for the "multiple sidearms" thing, for now I just made the plan using the same setup we had in the prologue battle. Pistols are absolutely a primary weapon in Mass Effect, and we have a unique pistol, to boot. The omni-tool is a great offhand tool or weapon, particularly with an omni-shield as an option, and the baton exists because the local wildlife is unlikely to politely keep its distance while we clumsily shoot in its general vicinity.

A long arm would be useful there but, again, there's no fabrication action in my plan, and no way to train with a long arm that does not exist. Even if there was a fabrication action in there, we wouldn't be able to practice with it until next turn anyway, thanks to how these turns are structured.
Huh, thought that you made Plan Base Survival too. Sorry for the mix up.

The AP thing really should be explained better in the mechanics post, thanks.
 
Biotics are a powerful tool, but currently a rather dangerous one. I would like to get at least Lift and Barrier down, but mostly I just want to be able to use it near our stuff.
In this case you want to drop points into Biotic control, which is that 40AP monster. Training biotics is going to get us working with them more naturally, but not necessarily more precisely.
 
In this case you want to drop points into Biotic control, which is that 40AP monster. Training biotics is going to get us working with them more naturally, but not necessarily more precisely.
[]Train with your Biotics: Biotics are a weapon that nothing can take from you. Unfortunately yours appear to be rather more powerful than your flash-education assumed, making them dangerous to use on or near anything you want to avoid damaging. Taking some time to train with them is the only real way to deal with that. (Difficulty: Moderate) (increases your Combat: Biotics skill, improves general Biotics skills)
It explicitly works on that issue.
 
It explicitly works on that issue.
Hmm, alright. The control option also specifically mentions collateral damage, though. But it makes sense to go for the easy stuff first anyway, so sure.

You also may want to consider that in just one turn our perimeter went from "just assembled, doing fine" to "there is obviously something trying to get in, now". It's why both other plans call for flamethrower turrets. I wouldn't want to vote for a plan that doesn't accommodate the defenses somehow.
 
Hmm, alright. The control option also specifically mentions collateral damage, though. But it makes sense to go for the easy stuff first anyway, so sure.

You also may want to consider that in just one turn our perimeter went from "just assembled, doing fine" to "there is obviously something trying to get in, now". It's why both other plans call for flamethrower turrets. I wouldn't want to vote for a plan that doesn't accommodate the defenses somehow.
There has been no sign that machine guns are not good enough, or that flamethrowers would do better. Getting our biotic issue under control, equipping ourselves, and preparing for reproductions are all a much higher priority then researching (not even building) a new from of defense that might not even be worth the trouble.
 
Last edited:
There has been no sign that machine guns are not good enough, or that flamethrowers would do better. Getting our biotic issue under control, equipping ourselves, and preparing for reproductions are all a much higher priority then researching (not even building) a new from of defense that might not even work any better.
Just to be clear, your stance is "the defenses haven't fallen yet, we're fine"? We have been told on multiple occasions that this planet is going to do its level best to murder our faces off. In a single turn we have gone from "all is well" to "there is a dedicated force moving on my perimeter."

This is more than a little concerning, and the fact that they are not presently inside our base is not a reason to leave it be.

As for flame throwers, as the description mentions, most things can recognize "fire bad". The machine guns may be passable defenses, and the anti-personnel upgrade might make that perimeter better at killing shit, but the flamethrowers are probably our best bet for a deterrent to get us some definitive breathing room. Also, they're a passable area denial tool in a way single-target weapons and defenses are not.
 
Last edited:
Just to be clear, your stance is "the defenses haven't fallen yet, we're fine"? We have been told on multiple occasions that this planet is going to do its level best to murder our faces off. In a single turn we have gone from "all is well" to "there is a dedicated force moving on my perimeter."

This is more than a little concerning, and the fact that they are not presently inside our base is not a reason to leave it be.

As for flame throwers, as the description mentions, most things can recognize "fire bad". The machine guns may be passable defenses, and the anti-personnel upgrade might make that perimeter better at killing shit, but the flamethrowers are probably our best bet for a deterrent to get us some definitive breathing room. Also, they're a passable area denial tool in a way single-target weapons and defenses are not.
The probing of her base's defenses was gradually increasing in frequency. At first, it was only sporadic, but the sound of gunfire and insectile screams was becoming more frequent… and, worryingly, taking longer to halt.
No indication of the defences being close to failing. And what dedicated force?

I am not denying that flamethrowers could be useful, but their usefulness is unknown. Also, fire is bad but so is the blood and corpses of your kin. If that does not stop these strangely suicidally determined predators (could they be intelligent?), I highly doubt that fire will.

Machine guns are not single target, not at full auto.


Decided to swap pod examination for learning to fly the UAV. The best defense against these creatures is probably finding their nest and bombing it.
 
Last edited:
Decided to swap pod examination for learning to fly the UAV. The best defense against these creatures is probably finding their nest and bombing it.
See though, this is just a waste of a resource.

This is why I wanted to focus on preparing to get a repeatable-per-turn hunting action. We don't know if these things are edible yet, but most things are in the animal kingdom, which means they pull double duty as training dummies and food source. And they probably count for extra training value over our normal training actions, because real combat. Only if they were completely worthless for eating would I vote for a plan that prepares to bomb out the nest, since then the extra combat training isn't worth the continuing security issues involved.
 
Last edited:
See though, this is just a waste of a resource.

This is why I wanted to focus on preparing to get a repeatable-per-turn hunting action. We don't know if these things are edible yet, but most things are in the animal kingdom, which means they pull double duty as training dummies and food source. And they probably count for extra training value over our normal training actions, because real combat. Only if they were completely worthless for eating would I vote for a plan that prepares to bomb out the nest, since then the extra combat training isn't worth the continuing security issues involved.
We do not need combat training. We need to stay safe, make babies, and develop industry, in that order. Risking ourselves in combat unnecessarily is horrendously irresponsible.

We are nowhere near as strapped for food as to rely on hunting and eating pack hunter almost-bioweapon predators. Also note that we have had no option to examine their corpses yet.

That would lose us people and precious resources spend on equipment for food which we could relatively easily gain in other ways, like farming.
 
Last edited:
We do not need combat training. We need to stay safe, make babies, and develop industry, in that order. Risking ourselves in combat unnecessarily is horrendously irresponsible.

We are nowhere near as strapped for food as to rely on hunting and eating pack hunter almost-bioweapon predators. Also note that we have had no option to examine their corpses yet.

That would lose us people and precious resources spend on equipment for food which we could relatively easily gain in other ways, like farming.
It's not the danger of running out of food that's the problem right now, it's morale.

I'm assuming the QM will be treating this quest, and the people involved in it, somewhat realistically. Now, imagine you have an all-MRE diet. Obviously you can live off of it, and do so for quite some time, because that's the whole point of MREs in the first place. But now imagine you've had nothing but MREs to eat for twenty years. 40 turns of rations at 6 months a turn. By the time you finished off your stores, you'd barely be able to choke the vile things down for how your body would react to getting the same thing, multiple times a day, every single day, for that long. And you might even be quite willing to starve yourself between meals just to prolong the time you don't have to deal with it. Eating would be a matter of survival and nothing else.

I want to set a goal that we live entirely off of rations for no more than three years. Six turns. That means foraging, farming, or hunting. Foraging is a limited resource unless we space it out well enough or start cultivating things locally. Farming or using the hydroponics facilities means spending actions each turn doing that for no further benefit than extending our food supply and making sure we don't go insane on an all-MRE diet. Hunting does that, AND trains our combat abilities, AND helps keep our perimeter secure.

As for the danger, there are a few reasons to do it anyway.

We NEED to get some combat experience in at some point. You want babies? You need to go out there and find something worth Melding with. That means fighting our way through the jungle, no ifs, ands, or buts.

And then after we manage to produce more Scions, we need to teach them. Education. They're being raised on a death world, which means some of that is going to be combat. What exactly do you expect to teach the kids for combat if we don't even know how to conduct combat ourselves?

"So, I figured out you point the gun that way, more-or-less, and pull the lever button. What? What do you mean you need more information than that!? That's all I got for you!"

And let's not even get into the fact that, even in the best case, zero-combat-necessary scenario for our kids, where they can stay safely hidden inside the base, or inside whatever tanks or IFVs we produce, they still need to know the local dangers. This means, go figure, going out and poking those dangers to see what bites back.



Finally
, I never suggested ranging far for our hunting trips. Like I said already, the local wildlife is probably going to try and come to us. That means we don't actually need to go further than, say, a short jog from our fence line. If we get into shit we can't handle? Just step back to the wall and let the defenses sort it out. It's sort of dangerous, but not existentially so.

And, even if something went horribly, catastrophically wrong, that's why we're reinforcing the autodoc. But with the actual situation we'd be getting into? That's the realm of "rolled a nat 1" which, frankly, you can't adequately plan around, only prepare for. It'll happen eventually, regardless of how we go about our business.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top