All Along the Watchtower - a Modern Strike Witches Quest

[Zoosmell]

---

[><] Escort them home, then
-[><] Patrol the area for 10 minutes
[><] The Su-35 has one of the best radars in the Orussian Air Force. Everything is not fine.

---

Everything is not fine! Brand new radars do not go wonky for no reason, not even brand new radars that have seen some combat!

N-now hold on. Just because your radar is acting odd doesn't mean you need to contact the base. There is a chance, however small, that it is nothing, and you're just overreacting.

You also definitely don't want to alert those down below that anything is wrong with your Strikers. No sense causing them to panic, too. Not like they can do anything if a Neuroi shows up (besides crawl in a hole to hide, that is).

However, whatever's causing the radar static is... not doing much besides that. There's not even any radio chatter about it - it's either localized or in the other direction from the base, whatever is causing this interference. And it's rather odd that it's only affecting the radar...

Damn Neuroi and their advanced tech. But until it attacks, shows itself, fires a laser into the heavens in celebration, does something, there's not much you can do. You have no missiles, and even if you did you have no radar lock. IR reveals nothing out of the ordinary either, so IVR missiles would not be of much use either.

No, all you have is your gun and your shield, as you approach the manor. It's done in a style reminiscent of the early Hispanic colonial buildings of the region, and bright blue to make it pop out from the surrounding greenery. You can tell because it is well-lit - Colombia has stubbornly refused to make night-time darkness mandatory despite repeated warnings from the LoN, the Colombian military, and the rest of South America that it was a terrible idea. But there had been no (successful) night raids on Colombian cities yet, so the lights stayed on.

You wave at the limo's passengers as they reenter the mansion, then do a slow spiral away from it, scanning what little of the horizon you can see. Were this the deep jungle, you'd maybe be able to make out whatever is jamming under the light of the moon. But the moon is almost completely waned to new, and Caracas's light pollution is too intense to see much of any stars.

A full ten minutes later, and still nothing. Your radar remains full of static, but there's been no indication of jamming from Caracas.

---

[ ] It's probably nothing. RTB.

[ ] Contact Caracas about the situation and...
- [ ] RTB
- [ ] Call for backup
-- [ ] Write-in who (Note: cannot be Eli or Ruya)
- [ ] Stay in the area for...
-- [ ] 10 more minutes
-- [ ] 30 more minutes

[ ] Try to get the attention of whatever-it-is
- [ ] Use shields
- [ ] Use gun
- [ ] Use countermeasures
-- [ ] Flares
- [ ] Use flare gun
- [ ]

 

[Zoosmell]

---

[><] Contact Caracas about the situation and...
-[><] Call for backup. Don't care who as long as we get a wingwitch.
[><] Fly a wide orbit to determine the area jammed, then home in on the rough middle point/highest intensity part of it.

---

<<Dekabrist to Caracas.>>

<<Caracas.>> He sounds twice as tired as you are, and you're three tired.

<<I have detected a UFO to the southwest that is jamming my radar.>>

<<A Neuroi?>>

<<I do not know. I will attempt to triangulate its source and find out. I would appreciate some backup, though.>>

A few seconds of silence as you begin your wide orbit of the city.

<<Understood. We'll send Tomoe out. Let us know if it's a Neuroi.>>
Detection roll: 100 (Kek wills it)
It doesn't take much triangulation to find where it is, with the two of you. Actually finding it is another matter.

It's due southwest of Caracas, about 100 miles away and not moving. You can hear the low hum of its engines, you can sense the air being pushed downward to keep it aloft, but you can't see it.

At least until you slam into it.

Spoiler: New Enemy Type

Neuroi Reconnaissance Aircraft

Vaguely resembles a Blohm & Voss BV 141 with a tiltjet on the wing instead of a cockpit. Has a number of antennae on its back.
Rolls d150 for Dodge, Accuracy.
Rolls d50 for Damage.
Receives a +20/20% (whichever is higher) for Dodge rolls
Lightly Armored: Armor-piercing weapons will do reduced damage
Small: Certain weapons will destroy it in one hit.
Cloaking: After a failed dodge or damage roll, can Cloak and either leave battle or roll 3d100 for Dodge until it attacks.
Rapid Regen: Damaged components (Engine, Wings) will regenerate at a rate of 1d100% per turn.
Chicken: Will attempt to flee combat unless damaged.

It decloaks, surprising all three of you. Unlike any other Neuroi you've seen so far, this one is a bright, clean white.

<<Dekabrist to Caracas, I->>

But before you can attack it, it starts to fly away at a surprisingly high speed. And not towards the Hive - or Caracas.

---

[ ] After it!
[ ] Let it go

[ ] Inform Caracas...
- [ ] Tell them all the details
- [ ] Just say you found a Neuroi

 

[Zoosmell]

---

[><] After it!
[><] Inform Caracas...
-[><] Tell them all the details

---

Like hell you're letting a Neuroi get away! Without a second thought on the matter, you charge after it at full afterburner. It makes one of those odd Neuroi-noises, though this one is less 'squealing electro pig' and more 'singing electro whale'.

<<Caracas, I am in pursuit of unidentified Neuroi jammer craft, bearing 220. Asymmetrical design, straight wings, single horizontal tail stabilizer, antennae on upper fuselage, all white...>>
{{Rasalhauge to Zodiac. I have been targeted by the locals and am currently evading. Requesting orders.}}
Nothing.

You check your radio and soon find the problem. The Neuroi is selectively jamming only transmissions coming to you, not coming from you. Smart bastard.

It doesn't even try to attack, only to flee. You raise your gun towards the main engine.

Spoiler: Rollan for shootan

Accuracy: 97
Enemy Dodge: 99
Rounds Used: 25
Rounds Remaining: 125

You fire a spray of bullets as it jerks away at surprising speed. Nothing hits - the Neuroi cloaks part of its body as the bullets approach, then banks into a steep climbing turn.

<<Bandit... is that right? Bandit? Yes, bandit has high mobility and armor for craft its size. Unsure if it is armed.>>

It is more than happy to answer that question, though.

Spoiler: Enemy fire

Enemy Accuracy: 30, 12, 1
Dodge: 58, 56, 7

To your credit, none of its beams hit you, either. Even the beams look different - unlike the Neuroi you've seen so far, these beams seem... denser. Less transparent or glowy, more like solid tubes of red.
Cloak: 89 Detect: 83
As it rises towards the cloud deck, it starts to cloak. You watch as it starts to vanish, starting from a point on the wing near the base and spreading outward like ripples on a pond. You expect it to make a visible hole in the clouds you could follow, but it doesn't. It just accelerates at tremendous speed through the cloud deck.
{{Wilco. Returning to base.}}
Well, at the very least, you know where the core is should it ever appear again.

<<...s...b.s.t.... ooo.... de... bri... Dek.... b.... Dekabrist, are you there?>>

Oh, right.

<<Yes, I am still alive. The Neuroi has fled the area. I was unable to destroy it, it was too fast.>>

<<We detected something moving at almost Mach 7 a few seconds ago before vanishing, was that it?>>

Mach 7! No wonder you couldn't catch it, it was pushing hypersonic speeds in the lower troposphere!

<<Yes.>>

You yawn.

<<I am returning to base.>>

---

I feel like picking up the pace for the plot. Who would be interested in going after the Hive next?

[ ] Me
[ ] Not Me (Write-in next battle idea)

 

[Zoosmell]

---

[><] Me

---

March 29, 2016

For the first time since you've met her, Eli's wearing her Dress Blues to address the squadron. Beyond this, there are two incredibly unusual things about her this morning.

Firstly, she shows no sign of a hangover.
Secondly, she lacks that look of childish malevolence in her eye. Instead there's just malevolence.

The rest of you are also in your dress uniforms, something Eli oddly insisted on - said the brass wanted to see you in it for 'commemorative pictures'.

You and the rest of the 501st are standing in a line in front of the main airstrip. She paces back and forth before standing in front of the exact middle of the line.

"All right, chrilden. Today, we go to war for real."

What.

"I know, I know. 'But Lieutenant Colonel Silverstein,'" she says in a mock-idiot voice, "'haven't we been fighting the Neuroi for the past month?' Yes, you have. But now we're going to really go after them, instead of being on the defensive all the time, or doing simple probing attacks. Now we're doing real attacks."

"The USS Ohio and USS Michigan cruise missile subs, the destroyers USS Chafee and USS Spruance, and the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman have graced our humble front with their presence, and have promised to assist our task in delivering the first real hammerblow to the enemy hive. The Colombian Air Force has also agreed to throw in two squadrons of Su-30s to assist."

"The destroyers and submarines will fire the first strike, blasting the hive and the surrounding area with a full salvo of Tomahawks from the subs and Standard Mk IIIs from the destroyers. Then us witches, in addition to the Su-30s and witches and F-35s from the Truman, will mop up whatever's left."

"We expect heavy resistance, very heavy, the heaviest, and it'll make air combat suck again. But so long as you don't get wrapped up in fighting the defenses, we should be fine enough. Focus on the core above all else - it's tough, but it isn't invincible. A shitty nuke from the 40s could take one out, a modern air and sea task force should do well enough."

"Everyone will carry a minimum of four air-to-air missiles, no exceptions. Anyone flying attackers, try and clear out what AA you can, but feel free to help take out the core."

"We will attack in eight waves spaced three hours apart, starting at 0800 hours. You may sign up for multiple waves, but not all of them. You know your limits, don't be stupid."

"Takeoff is at 0800 for the first wave, like I said. Stay frosty. Dismissed."

---

Which wave(s)? You may take no more than six waves and no more than two in a row.

[ ] Wave 1 (8 AM - 11 AM)
[ ] Wave 2 (11 AM - 2 PM)
[ ] Wave 3 (2 PM - 5 PM)
[ ] Wave 4 (5 PM - 8 PM)
[ ] Wave 5 (8 PM - 11 PM)
[ ] Wave 6 (11 PM - 2 AM)
[ ] Wave 7 (2 AM - 5 AM)
[ ] Wave 8 (5 AM - 8 AM)

You fly an Su-35, so you will only be carrying air-to-air missiles. But what kind?

[ ] Visual range only (Vympel K-74M/AA-12 Archer, infrared homing, 40 kilometer range, top speed Mach 2.5, maximum of 6)
[ ] Long-range only (Vympel R-77-1/AA-12 Adder, active radar homing, 110 kilometer range, top speed Mach 4, maximum of 12)
[ ] Extreme range only (Vympel R-37/AA-13 Arrow, active radar homing, 400 kilometer range, top speed Mach 7, maximum of 6)
[ ] VR-primary VR/BVR mix (6 Archers, 8 Adders)
[ ] VR-primary VR/EXR mix (6 Archers, 4 Arrows)
[ ] BVR-primary VR/BVR mix (2 Archers, 12 Adders)
[ ] BVR-primary BVR/EXR mix (10 Adders, 2 Arrows)
[ ] EXR-primary VR/EXR mix (4 Archers, 6 Arrows)
[ ] EXR-primary BVR/EXR mix (4 Adders, 6 Arrows)
[ ] 'Even' mix (6 Archers, 4 Adders, 2 Arrows)
[ ] Write-in mix

 

[Zoosmell]

---

[><] Wave 1 (8 AM - 11 AM)
[><] Wave 3 (2 PM - 5 PM)
[><] Wave 4 (5 PM - 8 PM)
[><] Wave 8 (5 AM - 8 AM)
[><] 'Even' mix (6 Archers, 4 Adders, 2 Arrows)

---

Missiles are nice and all, but your reflective shields are much nicer, and it's kinda hard to aim those in the dark. As a result, you elected to take only day sorties. It also will (unless things go wrong) make your sleep schedule much less chaotic. Bonus!

The sky outside the hive itself is unusually cloudless for the tropical north coast of South America, barring the typical black clouds of the Hive streaked with greenish flecks of who-knows-what. Most scientists think it's solid-state etherial waste from the Hive's production of drones - which makes sense, because in order for anything to produce so much solid-state waste would require enormous amounts of magical energy generation. And Hives have quickly revealed themselves to generate so much that missiles that detect magical signatures for tracking are completely useless in their proximity, with the exception of Karlsland's Gungnir missile, which uses infrared as well. It would be like trying to use infrared missiles next to an erupting volcano.
All devices that run on consuming ether produce small amounts of solid- or liquid-state waste, with more powerful engines (like jets) emitting solid-state waste. It evaporates too quickly to be seen into regular ether, but the more is in an area, the longer it lasts.
You soon form up in a delta formation with Hermina and Tomoe, who both volunteered to take the first wave. Below you is Maria, and behind you are a squadron of ten Colombian Su-30s loaded to the brim with anti-air missiles.

The first wave announces its start with the Liberion supersonic missiles screaming in from the north, with the subsonic Tomahawks trailing behind them.

Spoiler: Rollan for missile luck cause I ain't rollin that many missiles

Standard Mk IIIs: 94
Tomahawks: 12
Neuroi: 47

The Tomahawks are, for the most part, quickly disposed of, only a handful getting anywhere near the core and either being lasered away or hitting something irrelevant, like a cube or a small tank. The Standards do far better, some even managing to reach the core, and one managing to swat a gunship out of the sky by the sounds of things. Still, they too fail to take the core out. But you expected that much.

<<This is AWACS Consigliere to starting wave. Begin the attack!>>

Spoiler: Your loadout

6x Vympel K-74M/AA-12 Archer
4x Vympel R-77-1/AA-12 Adder
2x Vympel R-37/AA-13 Arrow
3x50 rounds ammunition

Spoiler: Tomoe Loadout

4x AIM-120 AMRAAM
6x AIM-9M Sidewinder
4x Stinger missiles

Spoiler: Hermina loadout

4x IRIS-T
4x MBDA Meteor
3x100 rounds ammunition

Spoiler: Colombian Su-30 loadout

6x Vympel R-27ER/AA-10 Alamo-C (Semi-active radar homing, range 117 km, top speed Mach 4.5)
4x Vympel R-73E/AA-12 Archer (Initial version of K-74M, range is 30km instead of 40km and has inferior guidance but is otherwise identical. -5% Accuracy)
150x rounds ammunition

---

Where will you go?

[ ] Stay at long range - It's safe, it's easy, and it puts you at less risk, though it strains the range for missiles, and will force you to rely on radar tracking for your shields. (-10% Enemy Accuracy, +10% Shield strength rolls, Missiles use 20% fewer Accuracy rolls, -10% Shield Accuracy)
[ ] Get up close, to well within VR range - more dangerous, but aiming with your eyes and radar is just far easier with your shields. (No bonuses/debuffs)
[ ] Be Witnessed - It's such a lovely day, isn't it? (+10 Enemy Accuracy, -10% Shield strength rolls, +10% to all Accuracy rolls)

[ ] Mostly Shields
[ ] Mostly Guns
[ ] Mostly Missiles
[ ] Use Everything

 

[Zoosmell]

---

[><] Stay at long range - It's safe, it's easy, and it puts you at less risk, though it strains the range for missiles, and will force you to rely on radar tracking for your shields. (-10% Enemy Accuracy, +10% Shield strength rolls, Missiles use 20% fewer Accuracy rolls, -10% Shield Accuracy)
[><] Mostly Missiles

---

As the sky darkens and fills with black smoky clouds, you remember that you haven't even contacted the enemy yet. This deep into their territory... it's not a good sign.

Oh, wait, here they are, on your radar at long range.
Luck: 21

Spoiler: Enemy ORBAT Wave 1

225x Cubes
60x Light Fighters
40x Medium Fighters
60x Light Interceptors
40x Medium Interceptors
5x Heavy AA Gunships
35x Type I Artillery
30x Type II Artillery
20x Light Tanks

Spoiler: New Enemy Type!

Neuroi Medium Fighter
Standard Neuroi light fighter.
Rolls d100 for Accuracy and Dodge.
Rolls d100+d20 for Damage and Armor.
Armored: Damage from non-armored munitions is halved.
Medium Fighter: +10 to Dodge, +5 to Armor

Spoiler: New Enemy Type!

Neuroi AAA Type 2


Standard Neuroi missile-based artillery. Used for taking out heavier or smarter targets.
Rolls d50 for Accuracy and Damage against non-aircraft with missiles, d100 with lasers.
Rolls d50 for Armor, Dodge
Rolls d100 six times for Accuracy against aircraft, d200 for Damage
More of a threat than Type 1 AAA, but still not too big a deal. Shoot the legs. Or the missiles - they're notoriously explodey and the AAA is still dumb as bricks.

You get the distinct feeling this will be a long day. Well, it could still be much worse. They could be attacking you.

You hear the AWACS whistle. That does not help things in any way. Tomoe whistles too. That doesn't help either.

<<That's... a lot of enemy fire coming your way.>>

Oh, shit!

Spoiler: Rollan for no way in Hell am I rolling that many times

I have determined that the current Mass Enemy Wave Roll system would still require a lot of rolls for Shield Hits. So here's a new one that uses fewer.
Hits: 97
Enemy Damage: 27
Shield/Armor: 36
Shield Hits: 82
Shield Damage: 28
Enemy Armor: 46

Miraculously, no-one is hurt. A few of the Sukhois receive light damage, and one of the Liberion Hornets gets its refueling nozzle shot off, but otherwise nobody is hurt. Sadly, none of their numbers are seriously reduced, either. Not even the cubes are damaged - they're just too damn fast.

How will you answer their attack?

---

[ ] Start with long range missiles
[ ] Start with medium-range missiles
[ ] Get within VR missile firing range - yours, of course.

 

[Zoosmell]

---

[><] Get within VR missile firing range - yours, of course.

---

The most annoying thing about hive combat, according to what little records there are of fighting against Neuroi in their own hive, is how hard it is to pull any sort of maneuvers. Against Neuroi flying out in the world, hell, even against the occasional Neuroi swarm (used mostly to take out bases... or cities) there's still enough room that you can weave and dodge attacks, and for even the primitive missiles of the Second Neuroi War to avoid getting hit sometimes.

With hives, the Hive Core craps out a shitload of Neuroi to defend itself, and they're packed in like constipation. With a normal grouping of Neuroi, the lasers are dangerous but against a skilled, fully energized witch with an average shield, they don't do diddly.

When there are hundreds in the air, well, that's a whole lot of diddly.

Spoiler: Dakka dakka

Enemy Hits: 62
Enemy Damage: 88
Shield/Armor: 50
Shield Hits: 10
Shield Damage: 40
Enemy Armor: 19
Luck Hit: 9
5x Medium Fighters, 3x Medium Interceptors, 2x Light Fighters Destroyed!

And a whole lot of diddly soon comes your way, unpleasantly enough. Two of the Sukhois and one of the F-18s are damaged, one of the Sukhois being destroyed completely, exploding in a fireball. A second 'thump' of secondaries points to at least one of the missiles going off as well.

<<Well what are you standing around for?! RETURN FIRE!>> commands Louise to the best of her abilities - she is, after all, not that above you in rank.

Thankfully, no-one seems terribly interested in ignoring that order. You don't either. Ten kills in such a target-rich environment is just... well, bloody bullshit!

<<Dekabrist, Fox Two!>>

Spoiler: Rollan for missiles

Target: Light Fighter
Accuracy: 90, 10, 33
Enemy Dodge: 36, 93, 105

Target: Light Fighter
Accuracy: 95, 62, 110
Enemy Dodge: 41, 46, 39

One misses by a mile as the light fighter it's chasing bullrushes a gunship and pulls up at the last second, with the missile exploding harmlessly on the gunship's top armor almost parallel to it. The second fighter tries the same, but it's just a little too late pulling up and gets shattered into the usual white shards.

---

[ ] Remove fighter
- [ ] Lights
- [ ] Mediums
[ ] Remove interceptor
- [ ] Light
- [ ] Medium
[ ] Remove Cube
[ ] Screw picking a specific target, kill whatever crosses your view!

Reading SWQ over on sup/tg/ has got me thinking. Do I really need a combat system? I mean, it takes a fair amount of time to roll so many numbers and come up with performance statistics for every new enemy. Really, do I need it?
[ ] Yea
[ ] Nay

 

[Zoosmell]

---

[><] Screw picking a specific target, kill whatever crosses your view!

---

The steelwings of the Colombians and Liberions finally take up decent positions, high and away right at the edge of their least BVR missile's range. And then they all fire, simultaneously, targeting everything except the cubes.

<<Well let's not let the witches have all the kills! All units, release missiles!>>
89v45: Success!
And brother does it not rain. The barrage of missiles from thirty-two different fighters (twenty Sukhois, and twelve F-35s) make quick work of the medium fighters and interceptors, blowing all but six of the medium interceptors away and all of the medium fighters. The light interceptors have a bit more luck, only half of them are destroyed, and only about twenty of the remaining light fighters are destroyed.

Still, that's a lot fewer Neuroi to deal with than before. As an added bonus, one of the gunships is destroyed, and another badly damaged - though with that thing's regeneration, almost doesn't count.

<<Much better. Clean up the rest.>>

You three witches of the 501st do just that, diving into the swarm of cubes, guns a-blazing and shields a-reflecting. Cubes are, at best, an annoying distraction from actual targets. At worst, they form up together in huge walls of continuous fire, but that rarely happens, even around hive cores. Only the really big hives of eastern Europe, Burma, and Fuso were known to have done that.

These ones, mercifully, do not. You make a sizable dent in them, but there are still hundreds. You don't care, you're after the biggest fish here.

The core, a massive red dodecahedron the color of a glowing ruby and the size of a six-story building, glows brightly ahead of you.

As do the four remaining gunships, forming up to protect the core, lasers pointed forward.

And radar fuzz indicates there's jamming, and probably something else in the area.

---

[ ] Damn everything, focus on taking out the core
[ ] It's too dangerous around the core right now, focus on...
- [ ] The gunships
- [ ] Whatever's causing the jamming
- [ ] Whatever the jammer's hiding
[ ] It's too dangerous around the core period. You've gotten this far, mop u what's in the area and egress.

 

[Zoosmell]

---

[><] It's too dangerous around the core right now, focus on...
-[><] Whatever the jammer's hiding

---

Jammers, in most situations, are used to hide advancing attacks from the air, or reinforcements, or to simply hide a base from incoming attack. But for a jammer to appear now makes no sense - there are too many combatants in the air at the moment for an attack to work, you are all too close to the core for any reinforcements to be hidden (besides, a Hive Core cannot call for reinforcements, it must make its own), and you can see the core - radar won't hide it anymore. It's hard to hide a giant glowing dodecahedron, even in a storm of clouds.

Which makes a jammer being here very suspicious. Triangulating with the rest of the squadron confirms your suspicions - the sneaky boomerang is hovering directly over the core itself. There's also something directly over it...
1v90 oshi

Spoiler: New Enemy Type

Neuroi Advanced Light Fighter

A small fighter of unknown origin, presumably Neuroi.
Rarely seen, and even more rarely seen in the presence of other Neuroi.
Extremely dangerous.

It, too, is black, but not the patterned hexagonal black of most Neuroi - it's a perfectly smooth black, like it was made out of ink instead of metal. Upon looking closer, you realize it isn't hovering above the jammer at all - instead, it's held up by three prongs holding it in place. It shudders against its restraints, as if trying desperately to sink its metaphorical teeth into something. Something humanoid, no doubt.

It seems the other Neuroi are looking at it too, because their laser fire dies down. A little. They're still shooting at you and your comrades of course, but there's less random fire. They're actually waiting for a good shot now.

It keeps your attention away from the strange fighter long enough that you almost don't notice it breaking free, and tearing out to sea like a bat out of hell.

There is a brief pause in the combat, where the lasers stop entirely, then every single remaining Neuroi interceptor breaks off to go after it.

---

[ ] After the fighter!
[ ] After the interceptors!
[ ] Ignore it
- [ ] Destroy the core already!
- [ ] Destroy the gunships!
- [ ] Destroy the jammer!

 

[Zoosmell]

---

[><] Ignore it
-[><] Destroy the core already!

---

That strange, weird fighter is nice and interesting and dangerous and all, but you would much rather deal with the nice and interesting and dangerous cube right in front of you.

It's huge.

It probably has huge guts.

It's time to rip and tear those guts.

You weave in and out of the gunship's heavy fire and ready your aim at the Core.
4 v 96
You fire off both your Arrows at the Core, and the Core completely no-sells the missiles. It doesn't even bother to put up a shield - the missiles simply do nothing to it.

A chill runs up your spine as you remember the Liberions had to use a shaped-charge nuclear rocket to destroy the core over Fuso to conclude the last war, and the Romagnan core took a blast from the magical sword Reppumaru and Yoshika Miyafuji's entire strength to kill it.

Suffice to say, two long-range anti-air missiles aren't going to cut it. Before you have a chance to contemplate your mistakes, two of the gunships gang up on you and you narrowly avoid being double-critadelled by their heavy lasers.

<<Consigliere to all units, fall back and regroup! Repeat, fall back and regroup!>>

You're inclined to agree. The attack on the core had whipped the cubes into a frenzy, and they're back to their laser-spraying antics. Only now they're relying much more on the tried and true Second Neuroi War tactic of air defense: Enemies can't fly in your airspace if the sky is full of lead (or in this case, lasers).

You turn around to fall back, but there's a bit of a problem with that. You see, the cubes and their wall of lasers is a bit in the way. Kind of putting a damper on the whole 'retreat' thing.

The gunships don't help. They never do, gunships. They are the sole natural enemy of witches.

---

[ ] Pull out completely
[ ] Try a full missile barrage
- [ ] Witches only
- [ ] Get the planes to rearm and come back at full speed
- [ ] Have the ships assist with another round, directly at the core
[ ] All-out general attack, guns and missiles
- [ ] Witches only
- [ ] Have the planes assist
-- [ ] Guns only
-- [ ] Have them load up with missiles and help
- [ ] Have the ships assist as well