LuciDreamer
Maliciously Incompetent
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
-
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Beneath Celestial Depths (An Arpeggio of Blue Steel Quest)
- Thread starter TheBleachDoctor
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
That... is a very good question.
Nuke them?
TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It's all narrative. But don't count on plot armor.
AnonymousRabbit
Rabbit Faced
Or any armor.
- Location
- Should be a bit higher
It's called a airburst round for a reason and that reason isn't for a delayed detonation after penetrating into the reinforced structure around what should be the most durable and secure part of a manned warship.
ltmauve
"Excuse me?"
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Thought so. Are APHE rounds a thing? (for later)
What about knocking out the sensor mast with them? Would that work?
- Location
- Should be a bit higher
APHE should still exist. Solid penetrators aren't ideal for a lot of situations.
And taking out sensors and communication equipment with airbursts should work. Those systems are usually pretty exposed and unarmored. If we don't want the enemy firing (effectively) or radioing back anything we can try that.
And taking out sensors and communication equipment with airbursts should work. Those systems are usually pretty exposed and unarmored. If we don't want the enemy firing (effectively) or radioing back anything we can try that.
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TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
If you check Surcouf's control panel on the front page, you'll not that while you do possess kinetic AP slugs and airburst rounds, you do not have any APHE rounds.
ltmauve
"Excuse me?"
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hence the "for later." Also, maybe see about some kind of napalm for burning off the anti-beam coating. That's more of a long shot, and clearly Blue Steel doesn't have anything like that if they're not using it.
Anyway, actual plan.
[x] Plan Blind Them
-[x] Fire airburst rounds into the battleship's sensor masts until they're visibly broken
-[x] After the sensors are down, fire kinetic AP rounds into the battleship's photon cannons until those stop working.
-[x] Synchronize torpedo launches with Blue Steel, using standard warheads.
Anyway, actual plan.
[x] Plan Blind Them
-[x] Fire airburst rounds into the battleship's sensor masts until they're visibly broken
-[x] After the sensors are down, fire kinetic AP rounds into the battleship's photon cannons until those stop working.
-[x] Synchronize torpedo launches with Blue Steel, using standard warheads.
[X] Plan Blind Them
There is a reason the trope Nothing Is Scarier exists. Let's see how the Americans react when all of a sudden their missile battleship goes silent. Or fails to return.
There is a reason the trope Nothing Is Scarier exists. Let's see how the Americans react when all of a sudden their missile battleship goes silent. Or fails to return.
- Location
- Should be a bit higher
[x] Plan Blind Them
According to World of Warships you can set pretty substantial fires with HE shells...so there's that too.
According to World of Warships you can set pretty substantial fires with HE shells...so there's that too.
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LuciDreamer
Maliciously Incompetent
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] Plan Blind Them
Sounds good to me - changing vote!
Sounds good to me - changing vote!
TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Tally!
Tally!
Tally!
Depth 30
TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[x] Plan Blind Them
-[x] Fire airburst rounds into the battleship's sensor masts until they're visibly broken
-[x] After the sensors are down, fire kinetic AP rounds into the battleship's photon cannons until those stop working.
-[x] Synchronize torpedo launches with Blue Steel, using standard warheads.
"Hello, my American darlings!" you croon over the comms as your autoloader slams airburst rounds into your railgun, the capacitors charging up with a loud, ominous whine, "Remember me?"
"Blind them!" Mary orders, as you grin. Just what you had in mind. You two synergize well.
Two rounds fly from your main guns, screeching through the air before exploding near the Missile Battleship's sensor masts, shrapnel shredding the delicate targeting instruments. An attack of such precision was only possible with a Fog vessel with an active Core, so the Americans know what they are up against. With military precision they switch over from radar to their operational optical and thermal sensors along the hull. Truly a commendable response time.
But, sadly for them, not nearly fast enough to contend against you.
Their targeting software hasn't even switched over to the intact sensors before your main guns have two more AP rounds loaded.
"Fire!" Mary shouts, an entirely unnecessary command, as the shells are already sent screaming downrange before she's halfway through the word. The armor-piercing projectiles slam into the foremost Photon turret, flames spewing from the impact points before the entire protective armor shell explodes outwards. One gun down, more to go.
Your next salvo has loaded when the American Battleship switches over to their turret's secondary rangefinders and resume their fire, the lion's share directed at you. Even as glowing blue beams tear past your Klein Field you notice armor plating on the side of the American vessel slide aside... revealing railguns in casemates.
"Broadside tactics?!" you shout incredulously as Mary clings to her chair, the depleted uranium slugs slamming into your KF and transferring a noticeable amount of kinetic energy, "Really?!"
"Having trouble?" Gunzou's amused voice crackles over your comms, "I never thought I'd see the day you were reduced to railguns, Surcouf."
"Oh be quiet," you snap back irritably as you send him a data package, "Link me to any ships with missiles. I'm going to teach these Americans a lesson."
He huffs at the demand, but the uplink is established quickly. Yes, they have quite a lot of missiles... this will do.
"Not to emulate a friend too much, but..." you laugh as you load ten standard missiles into your deck tubes, and an additional 60 ready up on the Blue Steel ships, "You're all invited to the carnival!"
With a deafening whoosh and thundering roar of rockets, 70 missiles are sent flying at the American Battleship, all weapons on the vessel suddenly spraying wildly at the incoming horde even as you continue to pound their main guns with your own railguns, destroying the turrets one after the other.
The swarm descends upon the Missile Battleship, although several are swatted from the sky.
American CIWS is good.
But not that good.
In a display usually not seen outside of Hollywood and Fog War documentaries, the titanic amount of missiles slam into Missile Battleship, gouging holes in the hull the size of city buses while mauling weapons emplacements. Explosions rock the vessel from stern to prow as it's savaged by an amount of ordinance that it was never really meant to defend against.
Smoke and flames engulf the warship for a long few seconds... before it sails right out of the cloud, completely worse for the wear.
You don't think a single weapon survived that bombardment, and you can see the guts of the ship from this side! Super effective!
"We did it!" Mary cheers, but you shake your head.
It's not over yet.
Hatches all over the intact parts of the ship bang open, some forcibly ejected by charges.
"They're firing off all their remaining missiles!" Gunzou warns over Blue Steel's channels, "Prepare to intercept!"
Sure enough, missile after missile lances out from the beleaguered battleship, sailing off aimlessly before their onboard computers acquire targets and veer towards them.
When the missile count reaches the triple digits and finally halts, your subroutines make your eye twitch.
Damn Americans. What is this, some sort of defiant last stand?
"Prepare countermeasures!" you announce (for the sake of doing so, there is no one but you to do this after all), turning to Mary, "Helm control is yours. I will handle intercept duty."
Mary's eyes beam at the chance to operate your controls, the little Design Child nodding enthusiastically as she grabs the joysticks that rise from her armrests. In the meanwhile, you dedicate most of your processing power towards your targeting suites. You'll need them.
The American missiles streak across the water towards your position. Your sensors read... a little less than fifty... yes, 48 missiles have locked onto you. You feel rather annoyed that so many targeted you, but you suppose that opposed to the Blue Steel ships, which must have one crewmember per gun, you're in a slightly better position to intercept these things than them.
Case in point when you see their lead ship, a Heavy Cruiser of Russian design, take no less than three missiles on the prow of the ten that targeted them, one of which was a Corrosive Torpedo, if the lightshow going on is any indication.
As for the missiles coming after you, two are Corrosive....
And five are nukes.
"Who uses nukes as a close range tactical weapon?!" you grit your teeth as your guns spray lasers and energy bolts into the sky, dropping a few standard missiles.
"The Americans!" Mary replies tersely as she tries to steer you away from the barrage while still keeping the missiles in your gun's arc of fire.
You splash missile after missile, but it's when they're within 1 kilometer that you know you aren't going to get all of them.
Defiant American fucks!
The good news is that you got enough that your destruction is no longer assured.... merely possible.
You're still reading one radiation signature from the missile swarm, and one Thanatonium signature. With your accuracy and rate of fire, you estimate that you can take down either the Corrosive Torpedo or the Nuke if you concentrate fire. You could try and get both, but the chances of actually downing both is kind of a 50/50 chance, and you're not really happy with betting your life on the flip of a coin. If both hit, you're sunk. Literally.
If the Corrosive Torpedo hits, along with the standard missiles, that'll saturate your Klein Fields again. Not exactly a large amount of firepower, but you're a submarine, not a battleship! Your Wave Force armor will be, once again, trash.
However, if it's just the nuke and regular missiles, you're certain you can safely bleed off that energy and preserve your Wave Force Armor... you'll just be betting then that none of the other ships in the vicinity have problems with their own Klein Fields. While a nuke will almost certainly not sink them, the detonation of a nuke does nasty things to Humans.
Nasty things.
Alternatively, if you manage to shoot down the Corrosive Torpedo and Nuke, then you can just face-tank the standard missiles and be no worse for the wear. Being Fog has its advantage.
Oh, you have so many revenge fantasies to carry out on those Americans, but first you have to deal with these missiles, so you...
[] Shoot down the Nuke. (100% chance loss of Wave Force Armor)
[] Try and shoot down both. (25% chance of success, Major Equipment Loss on failure)
-[x] Fire airburst rounds into the battleship's sensor masts until they're visibly broken
-[x] After the sensors are down, fire kinetic AP rounds into the battleship's photon cannons until those stop working.
-[x] Synchronize torpedo launches with Blue Steel, using standard warheads.
"Hello, my American darlings!" you croon over the comms as your autoloader slams airburst rounds into your railgun, the capacitors charging up with a loud, ominous whine, "Remember me?"
"Blind them!" Mary orders, as you grin. Just what you had in mind. You two synergize well.
Two rounds fly from your main guns, screeching through the air before exploding near the Missile Battleship's sensor masts, shrapnel shredding the delicate targeting instruments. An attack of such precision was only possible with a Fog vessel with an active Core, so the Americans know what they are up against. With military precision they switch over from radar to their operational optical and thermal sensors along the hull. Truly a commendable response time.
But, sadly for them, not nearly fast enough to contend against you.
Their targeting software hasn't even switched over to the intact sensors before your main guns have two more AP rounds loaded.
"Fire!" Mary shouts, an entirely unnecessary command, as the shells are already sent screaming downrange before she's halfway through the word. The armor-piercing projectiles slam into the foremost Photon turret, flames spewing from the impact points before the entire protective armor shell explodes outwards. One gun down, more to go.
Your next salvo has loaded when the American Battleship switches over to their turret's secondary rangefinders and resume their fire, the lion's share directed at you. Even as glowing blue beams tear past your Klein Field you notice armor plating on the side of the American vessel slide aside... revealing railguns in casemates.
"Broadside tactics?!" you shout incredulously as Mary clings to her chair, the depleted uranium slugs slamming into your KF and transferring a noticeable amount of kinetic energy, "Really?!"
"Having trouble?" Gunzou's amused voice crackles over your comms, "I never thought I'd see the day you were reduced to railguns, Surcouf."
"Oh be quiet," you snap back irritably as you send him a data package, "Link me to any ships with missiles. I'm going to teach these Americans a lesson."
He huffs at the demand, but the uplink is established quickly. Yes, they have quite a lot of missiles... this will do.
"Not to emulate a friend too much, but..." you laugh as you load ten standard missiles into your deck tubes, and an additional 60 ready up on the Blue Steel ships, "You're all invited to the carnival!"
With a deafening whoosh and thundering roar of rockets, 70 missiles are sent flying at the American Battleship, all weapons on the vessel suddenly spraying wildly at the incoming horde even as you continue to pound their main guns with your own railguns, destroying the turrets one after the other.
The swarm descends upon the Missile Battleship, although several are swatted from the sky.
American CIWS is good.
But not that good.
In a display usually not seen outside of Hollywood and Fog War documentaries, the titanic amount of missiles slam into Missile Battleship, gouging holes in the hull the size of city buses while mauling weapons emplacements. Explosions rock the vessel from stern to prow as it's savaged by an amount of ordinance that it was never really meant to defend against.
Smoke and flames engulf the warship for a long few seconds... before it sails right out of the cloud, completely worse for the wear.
You don't think a single weapon survived that bombardment, and you can see the guts of the ship from this side! Super effective!
"We did it!" Mary cheers, but you shake your head.
It's not over yet.
Hatches all over the intact parts of the ship bang open, some forcibly ejected by charges.
"They're firing off all their remaining missiles!" Gunzou warns over Blue Steel's channels, "Prepare to intercept!"
Sure enough, missile after missile lances out from the beleaguered battleship, sailing off aimlessly before their onboard computers acquire targets and veer towards them.
When the missile count reaches the triple digits and finally halts, your subroutines make your eye twitch.
Damn Americans. What is this, some sort of defiant last stand?
"Prepare countermeasures!" you announce (for the sake of doing so, there is no one but you to do this after all), turning to Mary, "Helm control is yours. I will handle intercept duty."
Mary's eyes beam at the chance to operate your controls, the little Design Child nodding enthusiastically as she grabs the joysticks that rise from her armrests. In the meanwhile, you dedicate most of your processing power towards your targeting suites. You'll need them.
The American missiles streak across the water towards your position. Your sensors read... a little less than fifty... yes, 48 missiles have locked onto you. You feel rather annoyed that so many targeted you, but you suppose that opposed to the Blue Steel ships, which must have one crewmember per gun, you're in a slightly better position to intercept these things than them.
Case in point when you see their lead ship, a Heavy Cruiser of Russian design, take no less than three missiles on the prow of the ten that targeted them, one of which was a Corrosive Torpedo, if the lightshow going on is any indication.
As for the missiles coming after you, two are Corrosive....
And five are nukes.
"Who uses nukes as a close range tactical weapon?!" you grit your teeth as your guns spray lasers and energy bolts into the sky, dropping a few standard missiles.
"The Americans!" Mary replies tersely as she tries to steer you away from the barrage while still keeping the missiles in your gun's arc of fire.
You splash missile after missile, but it's when they're within 1 kilometer that you know you aren't going to get all of them.
Defiant American fucks!
The good news is that you got enough that your destruction is no longer assured.... merely possible.
You're still reading one radiation signature from the missile swarm, and one Thanatonium signature. With your accuracy and rate of fire, you estimate that you can take down either the Corrosive Torpedo or the Nuke if you concentrate fire. You could try and get both, but the chances of actually downing both is kind of a 50/50 chance, and you're not really happy with betting your life on the flip of a coin. If both hit, you're sunk. Literally.
If the Corrosive Torpedo hits, along with the standard missiles, that'll saturate your Klein Fields again. Not exactly a large amount of firepower, but you're a submarine, not a battleship! Your Wave Force armor will be, once again, trash.
However, if it's just the nuke and regular missiles, you're certain you can safely bleed off that energy and preserve your Wave Force Armor... you'll just be betting then that none of the other ships in the vicinity have problems with their own Klein Fields. While a nuke will almost certainly not sink them, the detonation of a nuke does nasty things to Humans.
Nasty things.
Alternatively, if you manage to shoot down the Corrosive Torpedo and Nuke, then you can just face-tank the standard missiles and be no worse for the wear. Being Fog has its advantage.
Oh, you have so many revenge fantasies to carry out on those Americans, but first you have to deal with these missiles, so you...
[Major Action]-1
[] Shoot down the Corrosive Torpedo. (30% chance damage to Allies and Blue Steel reputation loss)[] Shoot down the Nuke. (100% chance loss of Wave Force Armor)
[] Try and shoot down both. (25% chance of success, Major Equipment Loss on failure)
Kinruush
Who?
- Location
- USA
[] Shoot down the Corrosive Torpedo. (30% chance damage to Allies and Blue Steel reputation loss)
70% chance of complete success, in which we lose nothing, but we're risking our burgeoning relationship with Blue Steel. Also, importantly, Mary might not like it if we're cavalier with our allies' lives.
[] Shoot down the Nuke. (100% chance loss of Wave Force Armor)
The boring choice, but maybe not the worst.
[] Try and shoot down both. (25% chance of success, Major Equipment Loss on failure)
75% chance of losing major equipment, but no risk of rep loss. There's still a good chance the nuke will hit, but no risk of a reputation loss. I guess trying to hit the nuke counts for something? Wait, do we even have any major equipment we can lose?
70% chance of complete success, in which we lose nothing, but we're risking our burgeoning relationship with Blue Steel. Also, importantly, Mary might not like it if we're cavalier with our allies' lives.
[] Shoot down the Nuke. (100% chance loss of Wave Force Armor)
The boring choice, but maybe not the worst.
[] Try and shoot down both. (25% chance of success, Major Equipment Loss on failure)
75% chance of losing major equipment, but no risk of rep loss. There's still a good chance the nuke will hit, but no risk of a reputation loss. I guess trying to hit the nuke counts for something? Wait, do we even have any major equipment we can lose?
- Location
- Voidbetweenstars
It sounds like were tanking a nuke to the face, how is it boring?
Whatever we have failed to activate from the fight against the super carrier.
Kinruush
Who?
- Location
- USA
That choice is shooting down the nuke and tanking the Corrosive Torpedo. Also, I'd meant that there wasn't a gamble to it, but you still make a good point, though. I shouldn't undersell the excitement in getting explosives in the face.
I asked about the equipment because all I could find with that classification in our character sheet is the Mirror Ring System which is already destroyed.
TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You can still lose weapons, Wave Force Armor, missile tubes, etc.
[x] Shoot down the Nuke. (100% chance loss of Wave Force Armor)