If people want her to go lethal here, can we not just do a non-lethal Solar Wrath instead? Wide area search to make sure no civilians would get caught up in it, Solar Wrath, put out fires with Frost Beam.
It was mentioned in-update, but the problem with Solar Wrath is all those nice innocent buildings/vehicles/other-property that get in the way of the beam as the enemies are hiding amongst them for cover. Not to mention any risks involved with incompletely wrecking the terrain, whether its a gas main leak because we knicekd the road (and then sparks from gunfire and missed shots) or a building they're in toppling because we took out one of the support beams. I don't know if they're quite as clustered up as the last fight with MS-13, but SW did say how effective even the flurry of rust shooters was despite what it did to us.
But whether its Solar Wrath or Flare Shooter or whatever, the unanswered question is what happens
after a successful non-lethal victory? Will Winter Hill just sit back and ignore the dazed enemies, will they shrug and let the guys get away with prison time while their friends are dead, will the prisoners get safely transported and securely held by a gang known to recruit and operate inside prisons as well?
Miss Militia does want us to capture if possible, but that was given at the outset and now they have seven teams actively deployed and more keep seeming to pop up. Seven seperate attacks in the space of twenty-seven hours or so, and anyone spent guarding transports is someone who's distracted and maybe leaving the city while more attacks happen. And any losses taken during this battle are wasted if even one of those prison transports gets sprung and the knocked-out MS goons go back to fighting.
But I do see the point about rocky roads and slippery slopes, and how this is an easy argument to apply elsewhere. It seems to me a smallish step, as the "risk of escape" is not remotely comparable with Capes who follow the unwritten code and don't kill (Cadejo and MS-13 are seemingly rare for this?), and not truely comparable when forces are at their usual and not stretched thin between recent-Endbringer and S-class-Beast-Attacks AND a full out gang War to make RL "gang wars" seem a playground scuffle.
I wonder what Militia would say if we called in and asked whats the status on containing captured MS-13 so far, are we stretched too thin etc. I suspect she wouldn't like saying "yeah we are too busy to bother, just kill them" but it would be a nice detail to have on hand.
It
looks like, with the clear mention of "Isn't it lucky Winter Hill is here" and mention of their specific roster and numbers, that none of the Winter Hill are yet dead? Jotunn's ice-car barrier seems effective so far. So that could shape our lethality and tactics a bit. If there were Winter Hill dead on the ground I feel like it'd modify Taylors impulse to hold back, but its not quite clear she needs to go all out? They seem to be doing fine thus far even before we show up with WAS-guided sniping (that grenade launcher could've done nasty things to the car cover potentially, so its already improved).
@Silently Watches can we get confirmation that there are currently no Winter Hill bodies in sight, at least? It'd be pure bonus if we knew any more details on casualties so far (I know the Warlocks capes were mentioned specifically, how about non-capes?) but less important since its not "protecting lives right this moment".
