The only concern I'd noted from the GM standpoint was that Urakaze and Aoba together in a situation without many other shipgirls present would be likely to go south as they don't get on that well.
Also I must admit that I wasn't expecting this combination to be the one that's winning. Still, things not going quite as expected is part of the fun of leaving votes more open ended.
-Akizuki. Destroyer. (AA)
-Urakaze. Destroyer. It's finally the day to embark. You spent some time deciding on your choices for who to bring with you, but ended up deciding on Akizuki and Urakaze as your choices; you felt a screening force to back up Jintsuu would be useful, so you were looking at the lighter ships. Urakaze's done some work with shipgirl logistics before, so you chose her. Meanwhile, your choice of Akizuki was one more based on conjecture; abyssals have displayed capabilities roughly equal to various naval vessels, and shipgirls are similar; as such, there's the chance of heavier abyssals showing up. And since a lot of your own capabilities are based around air power and drone strikes, you don't want to be defenceless if an abyssal capable of air power shows up.
You take some time to go on deck to admire the refitted Fuyuzuki; the hull and bridge have both been reinforced with some additional armour, particularly towards the bow of the ship, and there'es now a pair of low angled AA guns present, which should also be capable of firing on seagoing targets as well. As far as the internals go, you've lost a couple of spare cabins to make room for the machinery for the new turrets, and the mechanisms in the engine room and the main gun battery have both been tweaked as well.
You take position on the bridge, Akemi falling in behind you. From the bridge, you can see Jintsuu and the others at the bow of the ship, waving to the other shipgirls and Tenpei who're here to see you off.
"Southern Fleet, deploying." You announce, feeling the rumble of the engines as your ship begins to move away from the docks. You're finally getting to go out and do something. You're finally going to get to make a difference.
The first day and night pass without incident; once you're clear of the mainland, you deploy the shipgirls in a screening pattern throughout the day, having one of them outside at all times. Nothing happens though, but they're still in good spirits when it comes to mealtime.
In the late morning of your second day of travel, something does happen, as your radio operator, Goro Kitase, calls out to you from across the bridge.
"Captain- I'm picking up a broadcast from one of our listening posts; they've caught sight of an abyssal fleet; it's heading right for them. That's not all- at the head of the fleet is an abyssal that looks way more human than anything they've seen before, and they don't like the look of it's guns either. "
"Which listening post is it?" You ask, bringing up a map of the area on your screen.
"Uhh- J-22"
It's a ways away- it'll take you maybe 2 hours at full speed to reach that post.
"How long do they have before it hits them?"
"They've no idea; maybe a couple of hours?"
It's going to be close. You can get there in time, if you hurry. You... [] Approach aggressively; you're not letting the abyssals reach that outpost
[] Approach cautiously; you don't want to get caught off guard, even if it means letting the abyssals attack the outpost
Combat? In my quest about botes? It's more likely than you'd think.
-Approach aggressively; you're not letting the abyssals reach that outpost. "Full speed ahead!" You order, bracing yourself on the seat as the ship accelerates, before taking up the mic for the intercom. "This is your captain speaking. We are making a course change to head towards listening post J-22, to intercept an Abyssal fleet heading for it. We have estimated 2 hours until contact is made, so I want all hands ready for combat within the hour, and our drones airborne. Jintsuu, Akizuki, Urakaze, get your radios and come to the bridge so we can discuss your deployment."
You put down the mic, and glance over towards Goro. "Tell them to hold on, we're on our way. "
With that, your crew springs into action, orders being relayed throughout the ship. Akemi taps you on the shoulder, gesturing towards the exit. "I'll head up top then, keep an eye out for you. Call me when you want me to take the shot."
You nod. "Take care of yourself though; get your ass back inside if things get too hairy out there."
Akemi nods back, before leaving the bridge, the large case containing his rifle already strapped on his back.
Not long after he leaves, Jintsuu and the others arrive on the bridge, each carrying their own portable earpiece and microphone setup so you can keep in touch with them during the fight.
"Asuka, what is the plan?" Jintsuu asks, taking the lead of the group. The others nod, clearly eager to hear the plan.
"Right, we'll be coming in fast, so I want the three of you out in front in good time. We'll be starting off in fairly close formation so we've all got an angle of fire and so they can't really single any of us out. Jintsuu, Akizuki- save your torpedoes for their flagship if you can, your guns should be more than enough for their lighter ones. We'll be giving you support as well. Urakaze, you've not got any torpedoes have you?"
"Nope- I've got depth charges though." She replies.
"In that case, you'll mostly be dealing with their lighter ones, but don't forget those charges; any of them tries to take a bite out of you, shove one down their throat."
Urakaze grins. "Yup- I'll give them something to chew on, you can count on that!"
"That's the spirit- saay, I wonder who'll get the big one?" Akizuki ponders. "Don't wory, Commander Kita- We'll take them out."
"Yes! I won't let you down Asuka- let me know if there's any change in plans" Jintsuu nods,.
"One last order," you say, as the three of them go to leave. "Take care of yourselves."
Time passes, and after what feels like far longer than two hours, you have visual on the enemy fleet; they're closer to the island than you'd thought they would be, but they've not got an angle on the outpost just yet; you're here on time.
You can see three of their bestial destroyers crashing through the waves at the head of the fleet, the sunlight glinting off their armoured bodies.
Behind them are a pair of humanoid Abyssals; one has it's face covered by a jaw-like plate of armour, with thick metal bands encasing it's arms, gun turrets poking out from within this armour. The other is far more human looking; while a hornlike protrusion of metal obscures half it's face, a blue eye glints from beneath white hair, and while the armour covering it's legs looks somewhat reminiscent of a pair of tights, it's torso is clearly covered by a tattered piece of black clothing looking like the remains of a uniform. Of far greater concern however, are the pair of three barreled turrets growing out of the abyssals back on long, rope-like knots of flesh.
Situation at start of combat
(Authors note- Me; I'm not using a dice based system because I don't want it to get too complex and clog things down with endless rolling and mechanics)
(Also me; BATTLEMAPS AND TACTICAL PLANNING)
Ah, crap. They have a Tsu. For those unfamiliar, they're basically Atlanta-clones, with staggering numbers of 5" twin mounts (and a seaplane catapult, for some reason).
"Captain- I'm picking up a broadcast from one of our listening posts; they've caught sight of an abyssal fleet; it's heading right for them. That's not all- at the head of the fleet is an abyssal that looks way more human than anything they've seen before, and they don't like the look of it's guns either. "
You can see three of their bestial destroyers crashing through the waves at the head of the fleet, the sunlight glinting off their armoured bodies.
Behind them are a pair of humanoid Abyssals; one has it's face covered by a jaw-like plate of armour, with thick metal bands encasing it's arms, gun turrets poking out from within this armour. The other is far more human looking; while a hornlike protrusion of metal obscures half it's face, a blue eye glints from beneath white hair, and while the armour covering it's legs looks somewhat reminiscent of a pair of tights, it's torso is clearly covered by a tattered piece of black clothing looking like the remains of a uniform. Of far greater concern however, are the pair of three barreled turrets growing out of the abyssals back on long, rope-like knots of flesh.
So, the new abyssal type, that was heading the fleet, is presumably accounted for. But since the listening post never gave us a fleet make-up, I would like to contact the Listening Post to confirm that they're all accounted for. Last thing we need to to find out they have subs or sent another group around the long way.
Combat in this quest is handled by a diceless system. Attacks will hit, unless you or the enemy has a circumstance / ability which means they don't; Note, this system may change if it turns out I've fucked the balancing by mistake. Perils of system design.
Each unit has a number of health levels.
Light Damage
Medium Damage
Heavy Damage
Crippled.
Usually, a unit has 2 boxes per health level, unless modidied by traits (Fodder DDs are likely to have less health, while say, a battleship princess is likely to have more.
A visual representation may be seen below.
Jintsuu
Light
Medium
Heavy
Crippled
When a unit takes a hit, it will fill up the first health box of the corresponding damage level, going from the top down. If there are unfilled boxes to the left of that box, they will also be damaged. (Examples- undamaged ship takes heavy damage, light medium and heavy damage on top row are filled. Ship with medium damage on top row takes light damage, now has medium damage on top row, light damage on top row.)
If all boxes for a given damage type are filled, any further damage taken will be bumped up to the next level of damage (EX- a ship with both light damage boxes filled will treat light damage a medium. A ship with both heavy damage boxes filled will treat all damage as crippling.)
As a general guide, missiles and torpedoes will do heavy damage, but may be intercepted or evaded by certain classes of ship and have a delay in their attacks.
Gunfire varies by class, usually from medium to crippling. Individual modifiers may apply; for example, gunfire from Akizuki will only deal light damage.
Each turn of combat follows the following order.
Start
Each side gets 2-3 grid spaces free movement
Human action #1 (Actions may be to attack with a given weapon, change formation, evade incoming missiles or torpedoes, or something else.)
Abyssal action
Human action #2
Delayed attacks from last turn hit; First missiles, then bombing runs, then torpedoes (Note; Torpedoes and Missiles fired at close range hit at end of turn they were fired in, and so ignore their delay property. However, they cannot be fired at targets in brawling range.)
End
Votes will be for the entirety of a turn, but do not need to be full on SRPG levels of detailed. "Group A, Attack X" "Stick with the plan" "Get out of the way." "Kill X now" are much more likely ones. You and your shipgirls are intelligent and do not need constant micromanagement to prevent lemming tendencies.
Fuyuzuki (Flagship, modified)
Available weaponry
Main gun- Medium damage
Missile fire- Heavy damage, delay (4 uses remaining)
Torpedo fire- Heavy damage, delay (4 uses remaining)
Secondary gunfire- Light damage to light abyssals. May stun larger abyssals.
Drone strike- As missile fire. (2/drone/encounter. 2 drones.)
Akemi- Light damage + Stun to any target (Medium range only)
Jintsuu
Gunfire- Medium damage (Heavy damage vs DD)
Torpedoes- Heavy damage, delay. (4 uses remaining)
Akizuki
Gunfire- light damage. May be used as staggering fire.
Torpedoes- Heavy damage, delay (4 uses remaining)
Urakaze
Gunfire- medium damage
Depth charge- Crippling damage to sub, can be used in brawling range against any target
Your orders?
Plan of attack? [] Take out the weaklings first so you can focus on their flagship.
[] Attack their leader first, you don't like the look of it's guns
[] Other (write in)
Using? [] Be conservative with your missiles and just use gunfire for now
[] Go all out; you're heading to base after this, there'll be time to resupply then
[] Other (write in)
Any additional actions you wish to take? [] Write em in
[X] Attack their leader first, you don't like the look of it's guns
[X] Go all out; you're heading to base after this, there'll be time to resupply then
The base on the island here is just a small outpost so it can't resupply you, but your main base will be able to resupply you; the usage restrictions on your missiles and such will normally be for any given sortie from the base until you get back; in the future, for longer excursions, you may end up bringing supply ships with you, in which case you'd be able to resupply between battles; resupplying mid combat is a rather risky thing that isn't a wise option.
[X] Attack their leader first, you don't like the look of it's guns
[X] Go all out; you're heading to base after this, there'll be time to resupply then
[X] Take out the weaklings first so you can focus on their flagship.
[X] Be conservative with your missiles and just use gunfire for now
Pick off the mooks with guns, then focus on the flagship. Big unit looks like it won't go down so quickly, so we'd be taking a lot of extra damage from the smolboats
