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All Along the Watchtower - a Modern Strike Witches Quest

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Vote tally:
##### 3.21
[X] Investigate the water things (go with Felix)
No. of votes: 3
sgtbaker47, lordhasen, veekie

[X] After that bomber (Go with Eli and Ruya)
No. of votes: 1
SaltyWaffles

[X] Investigate the water things (ourselves)
[X] Suggest Felix flight attack the bomber as well
No. of votes: 1
Ol'Delux

[X] Investigate the water things (ourselves)
No. of votes: 1
obssesednuker

[X] Stay put in case something else shows up in the area
No. of votes: 1
Spectre

It's a good thing we have anti-ship missiles then.
 
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14.0 - BOSS 1 (1/???)
  • Threadmarks
    • [><] Investigate the water things (go with Felix)
    You would love to go after the bomber. You really would. But all you have is a machine gun, and against bombers, you don't think that will be of much help. Besides, with your lack of speed and agility compared to the Raptor witches...

    "I will go with the Hornets."

    "Good call."

    <<Felix, Dekabrist will be joining you. Be nice to her.>>

    You can hear Felix One-Six roll his eyes at Eli as you move to join their flight, flying about 20 meters behind them in an inverse-V formation. The formation is fairly wide to allow you to be close to them without having to worry about inhaling exhaust or getting torched.

    <<Dekabrist to Bonneville, have any of the submarines detected the underwater objects?>>

    <<...Bonneville, roger. All four submarines, hell every ship is detecting it on sonar. Whatever they are, they want us to know they're there. Or they don't care that we know they're there.>>

    They're either that confident or that stupid.

    <<Felix One-Six to Bonneville, then why not send out one of the submarines after them?>>

    <<We... aren't sure what we're even looking at. All we know is it's     loud as hell. It sounds like someone's towing a shipwreck at warp speed.>>

    As the two objects breach the water, you can't help but think he isn't that far off.

    Boss theme


    ORUSSIAN DESTROYERS VICE-ADMIRAL KULAKOV AND ADMIRAL VINOGRADOV

    HP: 9000 (each)
    Max speed: ??? knots
    Armament:
    • 2x4 SS-N-22 Sunburn ASM (P-270 Moskit)
    • 8x8 SA-N-9 Gauntlet VLS (3K95 Kinzhal)
    • 2x SA-N-11 Grison SAM (Kortik SAM)
    • 1 x 2 AK-130 DP (130 mm)
    • 2x Kashtan CIWS
    • 1x6 ??? Laser battery
    • 1x4 ??? Laser battery (Vinogradov)
    • 36x ??? Vertical Laser Battery (Vinogradov)
    • 50x ??? Vertical Laser Battery (Kulakov)

    <<Felix One-Six to Bonneville, the unidentified objects are-er, were, the escort destroyers of the Varyag. The Vice-Admiral Kulakov and Admiral Vinogradov.>>

    Both warships have clearly taken a beating from whatever sank them. The Kulakov has most of its stern replaced entirely with Neuroi metal, along with smaller spots peppered along its left side. Its rear mast is also entirely missing, instead replaced with a pyramid of Neuroi metal with a red laser pad on each of the six faces. The stern is covered with evenly spaced laser pads like a VLS - obviously Neuroi have no need for helicopters as primitive as a Helix.

    The Vinogradov has the same pyramid, along with a smaller, four-sided pyramid replacing its fore gun turret. The area around its front magazine is Neuroi metal, along with all of the bow deck and the upper deck just before the bridge - there are a series of lasers on the bow deck too, arranged like a VLS. There are fewer than there are on the Kulakov though. The two quickly slow down to a much more reasonable surface speed of 70 knots.

    <<The Neuroi have made some modifications, though, a->>
    <<FELIX ONE-SIX, BREAK, GAUNTLET!>>
    Enemy Aim: 93, 54
    Enemy Damage: 62
    Felix Dodge: 72, 44 (Hit!)
    Felix Armor: 47
    Felix One-Six does indeed break. In half. The Gauntlet missile's frag warhead destroys the entire midsection of the Hornet, separating the wings, cockpit, and tail from each other, and the cockpit somersaulting through the air. He pulls the cord to eject...
    Enemy aim: 81, 73
    Enemy Damage: 98, 93
    Felix Luck: 81, 60
    ..and is hit by a pair of lasers from the Kulakov. The first hits him squarely in the torso - a powerful shot, but it doesn't appear to be lethal. The second incinerates his parachute. Hitting the water at his altitude probably would be lethal.

    <<Felix One-Seven to Bonneville, Felix One-Six is hit!>>
    <<The fuck?>>     Eli.
    <<All ships, fire anti-ship missiles!>>

    The Bystryy's supersonic missiles are first to arrive in the area. It fires two.
    Accuracy: 55
    Missile Dodge: 42
    Damage: 33
    Enemy Jamming: 80 (Missile fooled!)

    Accuracy: 74
    Missile Dodge: 16
    Damage: 37
    Enemy Jamming: 57 (Missile not fooled!)
    Enemy CIWS: 87
    Neither hit - the first is tricked by the Kulakov's jamming, the second destroyed by both ship's CIWS after making the mistake of flying between the two. The second to arrive will be the Gorean SSM-700K missiles with the Harpoons close behind, though considering the two Neuroi destroyers just shredded a pair of supersonic missiles, you doubt they'll be much use.

    <<Empress to Bonneville, just finished off that bomber. Should we assist?>>

    <<Negative, Empress, you don't have the same anti-ship capability at the moment. Return to the carrier ASAP and hold until you can land. We're sending up a squadron of witches armed with Harpoons in case the first Harpoon wave doesn't finish them off. Dekabrist, Felix One-Seven, try to keep the destroyers attention focused on you - we can't let them fire anything at us!>>

    What will you do now?
    [ ] Wait for the next wave of missiles (SSM-700K and Harpoon)
    [ ] Attack with
    - [ ] Missiles
    - [ ] Guns
    - [ ] Shields
    - [ ] Grenades
    - [ ] Everything
    -- [ ] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    --- [ ] Felix One-Seven stays at long range
    --- [ ] Felix One-Seven stays with you
    --- [ ] Write-in
    -- [ ] Fight on your own
    [ ] Write-in
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Attack with
    - [X] Everything
    -- [X] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    --- [X] Felix One-Seven stays with you
     
    [X] Attack with
    - [X] Everything
    -- [X] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    --- [X] Felix One-Seven stays at long range
    -- [X] 'Escort' Felix One-Seven's missiles to their target using shields
     
    Last edited:
    [X] Attack with
    - [X] Everything
    -- [X] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    --- [X] Felix One-Seven stays with you
     
    [X] Attack with
    - [X] Everything
    -- [X] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    --- [X] Felix One-Seven stays at long range
    -- [X] 'Escort' Felix One-Seven's missiles to their target using shields

    This gives us the chance to actually use the 'grenades' included under the 'everything' option by getting us close to the ships (for whatever good that might do) while also not making it an impossible escort mission (going by what happened to the other Hornet, it would be a Bad Thing to bring him along on any attack run) and still possibly getting a benefit from the Hornet's missiles instead of them getting slapped down by beam-spam.

    Of course, it puts us in a pretty shitty position, but I don't think there's much avoiding that at this point.
     
    Spectre said:
    [X] Write-in
    Have Felix stay at standoff range and chuck his Harpoons from the destroyers roughly 4-5 o'clock. We come in from the 1-2 oclock with our laser guided ones at the same time. force the CIWs to split its fire or focus on only one of the attacks.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    We don't know that their point defenses work that way. For all we know, those pyramid-like CIWS have firing ports in multiple directions, so approaching from two separate directions would merely let it engage both of us at once. Plus, setting up for an attack like that would just take more time.


    Ol'Delux said:
    [X] Attack with
    - [X] Everything
    -- [X] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    --- [X] Felix One-Seven stays at long range
    -- [X] 'Escort' Felix One-Seven's missiles to their target using shields

    This gives us the chance to actually use the 'grenades' included under the 'everything' option by getting us close to the ships (for whatever good that might do) while also not making it an impossible escort mission (going by what happened to the other Hornet, it would be a Bad Thing to bring him along on any attack run) and still possibly getting a benefit from the Hornet's missiles instead of them getting slapped down by beam-spam.

    Of course, it puts us in a pretty shitty position, but I don't think there's much avoiding that at this point.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    We couldn't escort missiles to the target; we're not fast enough, nor could we accelerate quickly enough. We'd also be way too close to the blast radius of the missile itself when it either hits the target or gets shot out of the air.

    Question for QM: is there a particular downside to attacking with "everything", as opposed to using only guns and missiles? Also, shouldn't Felix One-Six have a reserve parachute in his ejection seat? (That's how he would have ejected--with his ejection seat.)
     
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    [X] Attack with
    - [X] Everything
    -- [X] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    --- [X] Felix One-Seven stays with you
     
    SaltyWaffles said:
    We don't know that their point defenses work that way. For all we know, those pyramid-like CIWS have firing ports in multiple directions, so approaching from two separate directions would merely let it engage both of us at once. Plus, setting up for an attack like that would just take more time.

    [X] Attack with
    - [X] Everything
    -- [X] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    --- [X] Felix One-Seven stays with you


    We couldn't escort missiles to the target; we're not fast enough, nor could we accelerate quickly enough. We'd also be way too close to the blast radius of the missile itself when it either hits the target or gets shot out of the air.

    Question for QM: is there a particular downside to attacking with "everything", as opposed to using only guns and missiles? Also, shouldn't Felix One-Six have a reserve parachute in his ejection seat? (That's how he would have ejected--with his ejection seat.)
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    yes my plan might not work but charging in on a single attack vector with a Hornet right on our tail is even less likely to work. We don't have the firepower to overwhelm a single point in its defenses. our only hope is to force it to deal with multiple attacks at once. notto mention bringing the already proven to be extremely vulnerable strike fighter, not to mention our only remaining support, even closer to the point defense porcupine that a Russian destroyer is seems like a very good way to end up being the sole target of two pissed off Neuroi.
     
    SaltyWaffles said:
    We couldn't escort missiles to the target; we're not fast enough, nor could we accelerate quickly enough. We'd also be way too close to the blast radius of the missile itself when it either hits the target or gets shot out of the air.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    The Harpoon is slower than dog poop coming out of a constipated Saint Bernard (relatively). The vast majority of its speed comes from the booster (not applicable in this situation) or the launch aircraft's initial velocity (adjustable in this situation). Coordinating with the Hornet to launch at a lower velocity would put it well within the ability of an SU-24 to keep up with (particularly as we can spend that time accelerating towards the ships and dropping down to the deck where the missiles would follow).
    I figured we would be smart enough not to go full idiot and fly right alongside the missiles or follow them into the teeth of the ships in some kind of kamikaze mission 'for the motherland'. Particularly when we accomplish the same thing by putting ourselves (and our shield) between the missiles and the ships. Then, at a suitably close range, we break left/right/up/out-our-own-backsides and allow the missiles to pass us and have the chance to use our shield towards the missiles detonation if absolutely necessary.

    Even if I'm horribly off-base with my understanding of the Harpoon (perfectly possible, I am by no means an authority), @Spectre is right about not bringing the squishy Super Hornet with us into shoot 'em up range of the ships. All that will do is get the dude blown out of the sky like his wingmate. Dude needs to dump his missiles to help us and then skeedaddle.
     
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    Ol'Delux said:
    The Harpoon is slower than dog poop coming out of a constipated Saint Bernard (relatively). The vast majority of its speed comes from the booster (not applicable in this situation) or the launch aircraft's initial velocity (adjustable in this situation). Coordinating with the Hornet to launch at a lower velocity would put it well within the ability of an SU-24 to keep up with (particularly as we can spend that time accelerating towards the ships and dropping down to the deck where the missiles would follow).
    I figured we would be smart enough not to go full idiot and fly right alongside the missiles or follow them into the teeth of the ships in some kind of kamikaze mission 'for the motherland'. Particularly when we accomplish the same thing by putting ourselves (and our shield) between the missiles and the ships. Then, at a suitably close range, we break left/right/up/out-our-own-backsides and allow the missiles to pass us and have the chance to use our shield towards the missiles detonation if absolutely necessary.

    Even if I'm horribly off-base with my understanding of the Harpoon (perfectly possible, I am by no means an authority), @Spectre is right about not bringing the squishy Super Hornet with us into shoot 'em up range of the ships. All that will do is get the dude blown out of the sky like his wingmate. Dude needs to dump his missiles to help us and then skeedaddle.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Okay, fine. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, there.

    [X] Attack with
    - [X] Everything
    -- [X] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    --- [X] Felix One-Seven stays at long range
    -- [X] 'Escort' Felix One-Seven's missiles to their target using shields
     
    [X] Attack with
    - [X] Everything
    -- [X] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    --- [X] Felix One-Seven stays at long range
    -- [X] 'Escort' Felix One-Seven's missiles to their target using shields
     
    Vote tally:
    ##### 3.21
    [X] Attack with
    -[X] Everything
    --[X] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    ---[X] Felix One-Seven stays with you
    No. of votes: 3
    lordhasen, veekie, obssesednuker

    [X] Attack with
    -[X] Everything
    --[X] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    ---[X] Felix One-Seven stays at long range
    --[X] 'Escort' Felix One-Seven's missiles to their target using shields
    No. of votes: 4
    Spectre, Ol'Delux, SaltyWaffles, sgtbaker47

    RIDIN ON MISSILES but not really
     
    15.0 - BOSS (2/???)
  • Threadmarks
    • [><] Attack with
    -[><] Everything
    --[><] Coordinate with Felix One-Seven to attack (Has 2x Harpoon missiles)
    ---[><] Felix One-Seven stays at long range
    --[><] 'Escort' Felix One-Seven's missiles to their target using shields
    This is so very much not good. Orussian destroyers may not be the jack-of-all-trades type Liberion destroyers are, but they are very good at anti-air defense. And with these... modified... destroyers having Neuroi lasers as well, that makes them even better at anti-air. You're going to have to use everything you've got just to kill one of them.

    <<Dekabrist to Felix One-Seven, I would suggest you stay at long range and fire your Harpoon.>>

    <<Wilco.>>

    You think it odd that he so casually follows your orders when he outranks you, even if not by much. But then you're a witch and he's a pilot - you guess Liberion doesn't train their pilots as deeply in anti-Neuroi combat as they do their witches, or at least not as deeply as Orussian pilots are trained in the matter.

    Before pulling away to merge with him, you fire off one of your Kedges to test its reaction to a witch-fired anti-ship missile.
    Accuracy: 72, 26
    Missile Dodge: 93
    Damage: 43
    Enemy Jamming: 20, 10 (Missile not fooled!)
    Enemy CIWS: 64 (Hit!)
    Enemy Armor: 17 (Full damage!)
    It goes pretty well actually. The missile, guided by your steady laser guidance, manages to avoid most of the Kulakov's lasers, and the ones that hit it aren't enough to stop it from exploding in the bridge section. Were it commanded by humans, that would be seriously damaging to it.

    As it is, though, all you did was make a huge hole in its side, and make it target you instead.
    Accuracy: 56, 49, 61, 28
    Damage: 60, 90, 43, 71
    You Dodge: 24, 90, 16, 44
    You Shield: 23, XX, 50, XX
    You Accuracy: 74
    You Damage: 61
    Enemy Armor: 20 (Hit, full damage!)
    A mixture of lasers and bullets are fired your way by the Kulakov. You bob and weave to avoid the incoming fire, and manage to block a laser well enough to fire it back, knocking out the CIWS mount on the side facing you. Unfortunately that is not before the same CIWS manages to nick you with a 30x165 mm anti-air shell. Ow.

    You join up with Felix One-Seven, who is ready to fire his Harpoons.

    <<All right, fire.>>
    <<Felix One-Seven, firing Harpoon!>>
    Accuracy: 99, 85, 39, 88, 91
    Missile Dodge: 28, 80, 70, 83, 53
    Missile Damage: 79
    Enemy Jamming: 66, 57, 21, 82, 98 (Missile not fooled!)
    Enemy CIWS: 45, 25, 72, 39, 10
    CIWS Damage: 51, XX, 17, XX
    You Shield: 67, XX, 53, XX, XX (Missile hit!)
    Enemy Armor: 80 (Full damage!)
    It worked well. The Harpoon hit in about the same area as your Kedge did, albeit lower. The explosion was very impressive (and very loud), managing to destroy a few vertical laser pads and rip a hole in the Kulakov's side down below the waterline. While it didn't completely destroy the fore superstructure, most of the interior of that section was probably destroyed. Already it's beginning to list to port, even as the hole is slowly repaired with Neuroi material. It's a start.

    Well screw 'just a start'. Just to add some insult, you throw a grenade as you pull away from the ship.
    Accuracy: 4
    Damage: 15
    Enemy Armor: 92
    It doesn't do anything, but you feel a bit better.

    <<Dekabrist to Bonneville, where are the Super Hornets you've sent out?>>
    <<Six minutes. They'll be in range to fire their Harpoons in six minutes.>>

    What will you do until then?
    [ ] Keep up against the Kulakov
    - [ ] Continue firing everything
    - [ ] Guns
    - [ ] Grenades
    - [ ] Shield
    -- [ ] Go inside
    -- [ ] Stay outside and attack from
    --- [ ] Close range
    --- [ ] Long range
    [ ] Target the Vinogradov, soften it up too before the other Hornets get here
    - [ ] Same strategy as with the Kulakov
    - [ ] Write-in
    Vinogradov: Undamaged
    Kulakov:
    • -1x Kashtan 'Kortik' CIWS (-12.5% all CIWS rolls)
    • -7x Vertical Laser Battery (-14% all laser VLB rolls)
    • -(2x 5d10) 613 HP (8387 HP)
     
  • Threadmarks
    • What can we expect inside? Internal defenses? Impassible bulkheads? Would we have immediate access to things like critical systems? Could we fire a missile inside without blowing ourselves up?
     
    SaltyWaffles said:
    What can we expect inside? Internal defenses? Impassible bulkheads? Would we have immediate access to things like critical systems? Could we fire a missile inside without blowing ourselves up?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Torn up bulkheads and holes. Oh and corpses.

    Depends on where you try to enter it.

    Depends on where you try to enter it.
     
    Zoosmell said:
    Torn up bulkheads and holes. Oh and corpses.

    Depends on where you try to enter it.

    Depends on where you try to enter it.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Okay, so let's say we enter it somewhere, and encounter a closed bulkhead. Could we just open it by hand? Could we shoot it open if we needed to?

    Could we fly up to the CIWS laser and shoot it with our machine gun, and would that actually damage it? Is our gun akin to a 30mm gatling cannon, or is it just a heavy machine gun in terms of effectiveness?
     
    [X] Keep up against the Kulakov
    - [X] Continue firing everything
    -- [X] Draw beams to you and bounce them when you use your last missile.
     
    SaltyWaffles said:
    Okay, so let's say we enter it somewhere, and encounter a closed bulkhead. Could we just open it by hand? Could we shoot it open if we needed to?

    Could we fly up to the CIWS laser and shoot it with our machine gun, and would that actually damage it? Is our gun akin to a 30mm gatling cannon, or is it just a heavy machine gun in terms of effectiveness?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Yes and yes. The force of the ships rising basically ruined the locks on the doors - if they were even intact on the way down; Neuroi don't exactly need locked doors inside their war machines you see. As far as you know.

    Your Kord is akin to a Kord. 'Shrinking' machine guns isn't usually done except for CAS witches.
     
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