Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
So he's still trapped in the Simurgh Containment Zone with Skidmark.Nope!
Sweet.
Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)
- Thread starter Silently Watches
- Start date
Sweet.
Civil War 8.5
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
[] Plan Cold Shoulder
Civil War 8.5
"Storm, better give me some details quick," you mutter to your Device.
A flurry of squares no larger than a postage stamp swarm around you before turning into a single screen showing a silent montage that star the villain before you in a variety of settings. «Match found. Pseudo-mage belonging to Mara Salvatrucha 13 forces, designation 'Mysterio', 'El Mysterio', or 'Rey Mysterio'. Houston PRT data classifies as a Brute, Boost-like effects to strength and physical defenses derived from impacts. Enhancements temporary, but length of effect unknown. Posited that effect decay linear and thus greater enhancement requires longer to return to baseline.»
"Not a local, then, is he?"
«Affirmative.»
You are very interested in just how an infamous Mexican criminal managed to make it all the way to Philadelphia without anyone knowing, and you expect the PRT will want to know the same. You just need to deliver him.
"Taylor, you better not be about to get in the middle of that."
"Too late. If you want to help, you better bring major firepower. This guy only gets stronger the more love taps you give him." If he gets weaker after a while, though, that offers up an angle you might be able to exploit. You don't have to beat him, just let him weaken on his own. A flick of your fingers dispels both screens, and you spin Perfect Storm around in your hands before pointing the head at him. "Remember that spell we were working on? Time to give it a test drive."
The gem takes on a faint blue glow in acknowledgement.
"Frost Beam!"
A jet of blue and white light spirals out from your staff and smacks Mysterio in the side. The spell lasts for no more than two seconds before you slump over, Samantha's reaction time all that saves you from hitting the ground. Something within your chest thumps painfully, and you would be worried about a premature heart attack except that you recognize this flavor of fatigue. "Storm? What just happened?"
«Flare Mana Conversion Affinity engineered from basic Fire affinity. Mistress possesses same inherent aptitude as natural gene-bearers after installation. Frost Beam developed by gene-bearers of Ice Mana Conversion Affinity.»
And of course having magic that is naturally good at fire spells makes it harder and more draining to cast ice magic. "Will that make the spell weaker?"
«Negative. Spell code unaffected by innate affinity. Ice will last for up to three minutes.»
Something crunches, and you look down to see Mysterio covered in a layer of translucent ice. Another crunch heralds small cracks developing along his visible shoulder. He is still awake and aware down there, you realize with dread, and he still has his supernatural strength.
«Possibly less.»
Now that the cartel cape is neatly trapped, what stone dwarves remain jump into a frenzy and start banging their bald little heads against him. Wincing at the obvious conclusion, you and Samantha fly down to the group. "Call them back," Samantha orders.
"Why should I?" the yellow-garbed Master asks with a dismissive pout.
A louder crack and several thuds of a more rocky variety tell you what you need to know. You turn around anyway to see Mysterio ripping his right side free and kicking and punching the nearby dwarves. "That's why. Ice spells aren't easy for me, and they won't hold him still for long if you keep helping him. Every time he gets hit, he grows stronger and tougher."
"Can you use that… spell," Cinderella spits out with visible disgust, "again?"
«Well?» you ask your Device.
«Strain on Linker Core minimal but present. Recommend limit usage or consumption of cartridges to fuel spell. Cartridges composed of unaspected mana, therefore easier to convert to ice spells.»
An option, you suppose, but while you have a full fifty cartridges in reserve, you would rather not waste them if you can help it. It is tiring in the extreme to make more and would leave you useless for the offensive against MS-13. "I can, but not a lot. The ice lasts for three minutes, but he can break out with raw strength. If you don't break through it on your own, we should have a minute, maybe two."
"And what about when that minute's up?"
You turn to Samantha. "Do you think you could soften him up enough that we can knock him out?"
"It wouldn't do anything for his strength, and I think you better hit him again."
Mysterio had just ripped his foot free, his body still covered with ice but not longer in large enough pieces to keep him from moving. Pointing the staff at him again, you smile at his expression of angry resignation before you spray him with frost once again. This time Samantha is prepared and braces you upright before you can collapse in front of your past and future enemies.
«Protectorate Console,» you call telepathically in lieu of showing the Fairyland capes that aspect of Perfect Storm's abilities, «it's Calamity Witch. MS-13's new cape is Mysterio. He's neutralized for now, but I need someone with containment foam at my location before I run out of gas.»
"Copy that, Calamity Witch. Containment trunk will be deployed to your location. ETA five minutes."
Five minutes. Five castings of Frost Beam. You force a smile and shake yourself. Okay. You can manage that. All you need is for nobody to screw everything up.
Mysterio is working his way free of the ice again when Samantha's ears perk up. It takes you longer to hear the whine in the air, and then a meteorite lands in the alleyway. The bulk of gleaming grey unfolds into a steel soldier, thick armor plates shifting as hydraulic musculature flexes beneath. The helmet is a plain, ugly thing with the thin eye slot its only distinguishing feature. "Calamity Witch," it rumbles.
The capes of Fairyland shift into offensive stances, but you wave to the armored figure before they can do anything else. "Has it been two minutes already?"
"It has," growls someone else, and you can't help but grin as Sleeping Beauty eeps. A second armored Privateer waits behind you, this one airborne thanks to the six tongues of blue fire streaming from his back. You knew Tim had designed his second suit of power armor with thrusters so it could fly, but you hadn't realized it was also strong enough to carry its older brother. That's the only way both of them could have gotten here so quickly. "We can take it from here."
"This isn't someone you can just beat into submission," you remind him. Don't they understand? If they start hitting the Brute, all that's going to happen is— Samantha taps on your shoulder, and you spin around to demand, "What?"
She raises an eyebrow and points at Mysterio.
You turn to see what she means, and you have to admit that Alexander and Carl certainly took your warning to heart. Whoever is wearing the ground suit walks up behind Mysterio and wraps his arms around the Brute's and back behind his back. The plates of said arms slide around, and smaller rods of metal extend to lock into their neighbors. Support struts, you realize. «Were those always there?» you ask into their radios via Perfect Storm.
"Tim wasn't sure what we'd run into out here," answers Alexander. "The muscles are fine for pushing and pulling, but they use power, and holding up a wall or something would wear on them. Struts don't get tired."
They don't get tired, and more importantly they don't hit back. So long as Mysterio isn't already stronger than the suits can handle, they can hold him in place for as long as need be. That will wear down Mysterio's strength just like Frost Beam would. Better, even, since it will not cost you any mana.
Mysterio jerks on the metal bars now trapping him, but between the resilience of Tim's custom-forged steel and the loss of strength he suffered while he was in your ice, he can't overpower his captor. He is well and truly caught.
«Console,» you send, «containment foam will be appreciated, but don't break any laws getting here.
«The Privateers and I have matters under control for the moment.»
Remember what I said about Frost Beam not being the solution to every problem but that it's still good at what it's meant for? This is definitely an example of the latter, though as a physical effect it is vulnerable to Brutes as shown.
Anyway, another fight equals another spell. Pick something off the skill trees.
That said, you'll need to wait 24 hours to do so because it's also time to discuss what Tim's going to build next. The reason I held back was partly because I wanted to give you a glimpse of what the power armor you already have could do. Very small glimpse because you contained Mysterio too well. (*pouts*)
Civil War 8.5
"Storm, better give me some details quick," you mutter to your Device.
A flurry of squares no larger than a postage stamp swarm around you before turning into a single screen showing a silent montage that star the villain before you in a variety of settings. «Match found. Pseudo-mage belonging to Mara Salvatrucha 13 forces, designation 'Mysterio', 'El Mysterio', or 'Rey Mysterio'. Houston PRT data classifies as a Brute, Boost-like effects to strength and physical defenses derived from impacts. Enhancements temporary, but length of effect unknown. Posited that effect decay linear and thus greater enhancement requires longer to return to baseline.»
"Not a local, then, is he?"
«Affirmative.»
You are very interested in just how an infamous Mexican criminal managed to make it all the way to Philadelphia without anyone knowing, and you expect the PRT will want to know the same. You just need to deliver him.
"Taylor, you better not be about to get in the middle of that."
"Too late. If you want to help, you better bring major firepower. This guy only gets stronger the more love taps you give him." If he gets weaker after a while, though, that offers up an angle you might be able to exploit. You don't have to beat him, just let him weaken on his own. A flick of your fingers dispels both screens, and you spin Perfect Storm around in your hands before pointing the head at him. "Remember that spell we were working on? Time to give it a test drive."
The gem takes on a faint blue glow in acknowledgement.
"Frost Beam!"
A jet of blue and white light spirals out from your staff and smacks Mysterio in the side. The spell lasts for no more than two seconds before you slump over, Samantha's reaction time all that saves you from hitting the ground. Something within your chest thumps painfully, and you would be worried about a premature heart attack except that you recognize this flavor of fatigue. "Storm? What just happened?"
«Flare Mana Conversion Affinity engineered from basic Fire affinity. Mistress possesses same inherent aptitude as natural gene-bearers after installation. Frost Beam developed by gene-bearers of Ice Mana Conversion Affinity.»
And of course having magic that is naturally good at fire spells makes it harder and more draining to cast ice magic. "Will that make the spell weaker?"
«Negative. Spell code unaffected by innate affinity. Ice will last for up to three minutes.»
Something crunches, and you look down to see Mysterio covered in a layer of translucent ice. Another crunch heralds small cracks developing along his visible shoulder. He is still awake and aware down there, you realize with dread, and he still has his supernatural strength.
«Possibly less.»
Now that the cartel cape is neatly trapped, what stone dwarves remain jump into a frenzy and start banging their bald little heads against him. Wincing at the obvious conclusion, you and Samantha fly down to the group. "Call them back," Samantha orders.
"Why should I?" the yellow-garbed Master asks with a dismissive pout.
A louder crack and several thuds of a more rocky variety tell you what you need to know. You turn around anyway to see Mysterio ripping his right side free and kicking and punching the nearby dwarves. "That's why. Ice spells aren't easy for me, and they won't hold him still for long if you keep helping him. Every time he gets hit, he grows stronger and tougher."
"Can you use that… spell," Cinderella spits out with visible disgust, "again?"
«Well?» you ask your Device.
«Strain on Linker Core minimal but present. Recommend limit usage or consumption of cartridges to fuel spell. Cartridges composed of unaspected mana, therefore easier to convert to ice spells.»
An option, you suppose, but while you have a full fifty cartridges in reserve, you would rather not waste them if you can help it. It is tiring in the extreme to make more and would leave you useless for the offensive against MS-13. "I can, but not a lot. The ice lasts for three minutes, but he can break out with raw strength. If you don't break through it on your own, we should have a minute, maybe two."
"And what about when that minute's up?"
You turn to Samantha. "Do you think you could soften him up enough that we can knock him out?"
"It wouldn't do anything for his strength, and I think you better hit him again."
Mysterio had just ripped his foot free, his body still covered with ice but not longer in large enough pieces to keep him from moving. Pointing the staff at him again, you smile at his expression of angry resignation before you spray him with frost once again. This time Samantha is prepared and braces you upright before you can collapse in front of your past and future enemies.
«Protectorate Console,» you call telepathically in lieu of showing the Fairyland capes that aspect of Perfect Storm's abilities, «it's Calamity Witch. MS-13's new cape is Mysterio. He's neutralized for now, but I need someone with containment foam at my location before I run out of gas.»
"Copy that, Calamity Witch. Containment trunk will be deployed to your location. ETA five minutes."
Five minutes. Five castings of Frost Beam. You force a smile and shake yourself. Okay. You can manage that. All you need is for nobody to screw everything up.
Mysterio is working his way free of the ice again when Samantha's ears perk up. It takes you longer to hear the whine in the air, and then a meteorite lands in the alleyway. The bulk of gleaming grey unfolds into a steel soldier, thick armor plates shifting as hydraulic musculature flexes beneath. The helmet is a plain, ugly thing with the thin eye slot its only distinguishing feature. "Calamity Witch," it rumbles.
The capes of Fairyland shift into offensive stances, but you wave to the armored figure before they can do anything else. "Has it been two minutes already?"
"It has," growls someone else, and you can't help but grin as Sleeping Beauty eeps. A second armored Privateer waits behind you, this one airborne thanks to the six tongues of blue fire streaming from his back. You knew Tim had designed his second suit of power armor with thrusters so it could fly, but you hadn't realized it was also strong enough to carry its older brother. That's the only way both of them could have gotten here so quickly. "We can take it from here."
"This isn't someone you can just beat into submission," you remind him. Don't they understand? If they start hitting the Brute, all that's going to happen is— Samantha taps on your shoulder, and you spin around to demand, "What?"
She raises an eyebrow and points at Mysterio.
You turn to see what she means, and you have to admit that Alexander and Carl certainly took your warning to heart. Whoever is wearing the ground suit walks up behind Mysterio and wraps his arms around the Brute's and back behind his back. The plates of said arms slide around, and smaller rods of metal extend to lock into their neighbors. Support struts, you realize. «Were those always there?» you ask into their radios via Perfect Storm.
"Tim wasn't sure what we'd run into out here," answers Alexander. "The muscles are fine for pushing and pulling, but they use power, and holding up a wall or something would wear on them. Struts don't get tired."
They don't get tired, and more importantly they don't hit back. So long as Mysterio isn't already stronger than the suits can handle, they can hold him in place for as long as need be. That will wear down Mysterio's strength just like Frost Beam would. Better, even, since it will not cost you any mana.
Mysterio jerks on the metal bars now trapping him, but between the resilience of Tim's custom-forged steel and the loss of strength he suffered while he was in your ice, he can't overpower his captor. He is well and truly caught.
«Console,» you send, «containment foam will be appreciated, but don't break any laws getting here.
«The Privateers and I have matters under control for the moment.»
Remember what I said about Frost Beam not being the solution to every problem but that it's still good at what it's meant for? This is definitely an example of the latter, though as a physical effect it is vulnerable to Brutes as shown.
Anyway, another fight equals another spell. Pick something off the skill trees.
That said, you'll need to wait 24 hours to do so because it's also time to discuss what Tim's going to build next. The reason I held back was partly because I wanted to give you a glimpse of what the power armor you already have could do. Very small glimpse because you contained Mysterio too well. (*pouts*)
LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
@Silently Watches, if we were to give Lacey an Advanced Device, what would be the best we'd get if we were to give her, say, healer-type spells? How much could they work on brain damage? Could it be used in conjunction with Tim's Integration?
I imagine the "Possibly Less" being said in a deadpan manner.
Hmm. A wrinkle in using Frost Beam(one we probably should have expected honestly, given our affinity >_>). Given Taylor's reluctance in wanting to use Cartridges to power it, I don't see this spell seeing nearly as much use as some of our other abilities.
Someone's quick thinking. I do like the ingenuity displayed here.
Hmmm. Looking at the unlearned spells, I am thinking about either Crescendo or Shell Barrier. Speeding up time is potentially very useful, and given how tanky our upgraded Jacket is, the shell barrier would be good in setting down over ground-bound allies for protection.
The dice are fickle entities.We faced MS 13 and... won?
What a strange, but pleasant feeling!
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
If you gave her a Boost Device…
*looks at skill tree for Infinite Enhancement*
Pretty good. They wouldn't work on severe brain damage like Danny's, unfortunately, but Physical Heal (which is a canon spell) works well on mild to moderate stuff.
LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
So that's a no-go, at least on respect to Danny.
If Tim got Integration could he work on his brain? Like rigging up a neural prosthetic or something.
Crusader Jerome
Subsisting on Supplication
- Location
- My home away from Rome
@Silently Watches
Is the effect from Crescendo/Temporal Sludge mobile, or is it limited to the area where it is first cast? If it can be set to center on the caster as he/she moves, then Crescendo could be used to decrease rapid response time over short distances.
For Tim, I support Energy Weapons + more power armor. Better to use the points for something we can use right away rather than more advanced tech we couldn't get until the after the war.
Is the effect from Crescendo/Temporal Sludge mobile, or is it limited to the area where it is first cast? If it can be set to center on the caster as he/she moves, then Crescendo could be used to decrease rapid response time over short distances.
For Tim, I support Energy Weapons + more power armor. Better to use the points for something we can use right away rather than more advanced tech we couldn't get until the after the war.
- Location
- Erebus
On that note, you should have Tim look up High Entropy Alloys shit's really simple and when forged properly gives you a magnitude more strenth and durability that steel, which is crazy because all other alloys (and known ceramics) only give you either or.
Crusader Jerome
Subsisting on Supplication
- Location
- My home away from Rome
The key phrase there is forged properly. From what I can see on Wikipedia, HEAs are rather sensitive to defects, so the most practical way to use them would be in small systems that have to stand up to intense conditions. Small-scale HEAs have exhibited strength an order of magnitude above large-scale HEA components when tested.
The other concern is that the metals required may be expensive. However, this could be a viable bit of technobabble once we get some points in Exotic Physics.
@Solusandra I do appreciate your efforts to bring in real-life physics. As a student of that discipline, that makes me very happy.
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Part of me wants to vote for Ring Bind to get the basics down. Another is curious what else is in the miscellaneous tree after Telekinesis as SW mentioned that spells that didn't fit anywhere else landed there. And another part wants to get Divide Energy hoping that the energy manipulation that is in this tree will lead somehow to adding a similar effect to Ragnarok as Nanoha added to Divine Buster to create Starlight Breaker (the ability to gather surrounding mana that is left over during fights between high level mages). Which is rather unlikely due to Nanoha being the first to design such a function and our skills being from Ancient Belka Era. I think she was the first.
As for what Tim is going to be building next I thought the plan was to go for expanding the infrastructure to be able to build more (more power with off-site power and then better fabricator and micro-foundry). Have to look for that if the creator doesn't post it. For his skills/blueprints I'm hoping we could save up and get Unison Devices and Exotic Physics while we are building up our infrastructure. Converting Dragon into a Unison Device is my own mini goal for this quest. Just imagining the look on Saint's face when he finds out Dragon is unshackled and has a body (with magic) gives me a warm feeling.
As for what Tim is going to be building next I thought the plan was to go for expanding the infrastructure to be able to build more (more power with off-site power and then better fabricator and micro-foundry). Have to look for that if the creator doesn't post it. For his skills/blueprints I'm hoping we could save up and get Unison Devices and Exotic Physics while we are building up our infrastructure. Converting Dragon into a Unison Device is my own mini goal for this quest
. Just imagining the look on Saint's face when he finds out Dragon is unshackled and has a body (with magic) gives me a warm feeling.
Crusader Jerome
Subsisting on Supplication
- Location
- My home away from Rome
As I said above, I am very much in favor of Exotic Physics. Dragon as a UD would be the awesomes, but we'd have to hack her first. Remember that, at this point in the story, all her restrictions are still in place, and she will involuntarily fight any attempts to change her code. That was one of the restrictions Richter imposed.For his skills/blueprints I'm hoping we could save up and get Unison Devices and Exotic Physics while we are building up our infrastructure. Converting Dragon into a Unison Device is my own mini goal for this quest
So, definitely stuff to build up to, but it wouldn't help us right away. Remember, too, that Gadgeteer Inspiration omakes are a thing. (See original post.)
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
It is stationary once cast.
By 'neural prosthetic', are you talking about a complete replacement brain? 'Cause the answer to that is noooooo. I like Ghost in the Shell, but no cyberbrains here.
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LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
Nothing so extreme! Prosthetic was the first thing that came to mind. I meant if Tim could build some sort of implant to "patch" the damage that Danny has. I don't think it's been specified what his injury is, but maybe something could be worked to heal him.
Or he could just be too badly hurt to heal through non-magic/parahuman means, I don't know.
- First, I think I might have accidentally edited out my vote in an earlier post. It did seem low, and nothing from me was in the vote tally. I can't find my own vote however.
- Second, I thought the plan also included the use of Temporal Sludge in addition to Frost Beam. Oh well, we won, so it doesn't matter as much to me. If we had lost, I'd have been whining a lot harder however because I thought Temporal Sludge was in the plan.
- Third, where was the Infinite Enhancement initial skill tree posted? There is no link on the F.A.Q.
- Forth, I'm torn between telekinesis, Ring Bind or multishot.
All three eventually. Would it be bad form to jump on the bandwagon of whichever of them looks like it has the most votes to ensure one of them wins when I can't decide myself between those three?
I've been stuck trying to finish "We need advice" and I think at this point it is dead, although my muse has slightly expanded the Immortal Assimilation Engine of Borg drabble I did, but not enough to be a good omake yet. Only a couple extra paragraphs.
I might finish the drabble however. If I can get the time.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
It has never been posted. I was looking through my notes because that is the healing/support template and it was faster than pulling up the Nanoha wiki.
Nope. The second-place plan included Temporal Sludge, but not the winning plan.
EDIT: I was mistaken. There was a call for Temporal Sludge, but only if Frost Beam didn't hold Mysterio. It held him for long enough for the Privateers to show up, so I ignored that aspect of the plan.
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- Location
- Buffalo, NY, USA
Remember also that we have a large base full of the Dragonslayers stuff, including Ritchter's box with his Iron Maiden program (Ascalon), and all the tools it has for working with Dragon's code. We just need to search the place out and find it.
Crusader Jerome
Subsisting on Supplication
- Location
- My home away from Rome
Without being out of character.
- Location
- Buffalo, NY, USA
It's already on our IC agenda to check the base out with Tim and/or Dragon.
Crusader Jerome
Subsisting on Supplication
- Location
- My home away from Rome
Right. I forgot about that.
Another thing that came to mind just now: I don't recall Dragon ever telling our PC about the restrictions. I don't think we know about them IC, except for whatever flaws the Dragonslayers exploited (which we don't know any details on, either).
Hmm, for spells to unlock, it seems straightforward. Ring Bind. It's the last 'fundamental' spell we have not learned.
Tim's stuff on the other hand...I'm thinking producing more of the suits for the Privateers is the goal, along with studying and copying the loot from the Dragonslayers.
Tim's stuff on the other hand...I'm thinking producing more of the suits for the Privateers is the goal, along with studying and copying the loot from the Dragonslayers.
- Location
- USA
Must say I continue to be confused by the name...or is it common? Even moreso with the full one told now.
Its so nice for a change to hit the right call in "combat triangle" / "type matchups" ^_^. At least it makes us feel better after pulling the worst matchup in Cadejo (who we saw a bruiser can do just fine against, if Jotunn was an indication). Actually wondering now if Temporal Sludge would've helped (takes longer, relative to us, to break the ice) or not made a difference (the ice is at same time-rate for the Brute, so he breaks it the same).
For Tim... its very tempting in this quest to try and build towards the immediate crisis (or the last war) rather than plan ahead. There's a good argument to be made now, even moreso after seeing how the Privateer suits were much more effective than we imagined in this situation, that we should build new and better power armor so they can continue to play the Hero role with Captain benched for the forseeable future. Plus, Vista might enjoy an extra toy or two! Imagine a telescoping-spear (in her arm or otherwise) combined with the space-distortion of her parahuman power. A spear that branches a dozen ways to hit from every direction, until it seems that it struck you before she even thrust it?!
Buuut... Unison Device can only be helpful in wrapping up the loose end of the Dragonslayers Base and Dragon more generally (is Dragon investigating the base while we're busy, waiting for us? Leaving it open to looters?). And the power production is something we need to commit to long before we'll see real benefits, while machine upgrades are more valuable the sooner you get them naturally.
For Taylor, I'm a bit torn between Telekinesis and Multishot. The former lets us see more of the trees to get a feel for what we can do (and this doesn't seem like an arc that's likely short on fight opportunities?) and we've been over some of the creativity and potential use against odd opponents. Plus, we clearly already have a poor man's ring bind in the combo we just used Three Minutes is a loooong time to charge up a shot....and oh god what if we gave Samantha a suit? But Multishot continues the logic we had for Burst before, in being more useful against a wider spread of light targets (where we already have big knockouts for sturdy ones, so I'm not sure where we want mistletinn) while finishing out the direct Flare branch.
Something to keep in mind, we've been told Telekinesis itself isn't one of the hidden requirements for Ragnarok to be easier. No telling if something below it is... but the flare tree seems an obvious path.
Much more a mover than a brute? Or at least speedster not tank.
Its so nice for a change to hit the right call in "combat triangle" / "type matchups" ^_^. At least it makes us feel better after pulling the worst matchup in Cadejo (who we saw a bruiser can do just fine against, if Jotunn was an indication). Actually wondering now if Temporal Sludge would've helped (takes longer, relative to us, to break the ice) or not made a difference (the ice is at same time-rate for the Brute, so he breaks it the same).
For Tim... its very tempting in this quest to try and build towards the immediate crisis (or the last war) rather than plan ahead. There's a good argument to be made now, even moreso after seeing how the Privateer suits were much more effective than we imagined in this situation, that we should build new and better power armor so they can continue to play the Hero role with Captain benched for the forseeable future. Plus, Vista might enjoy an extra toy or two! Imagine a telescoping-spear (in her arm or otherwise) combined with the space-distortion of her parahuman power. A spear that branches a dozen ways to hit from every direction, until it seems that it struck you before she even thrust it?!
Buuut... Unison Device can only be helpful in wrapping up the loose end of the Dragonslayers Base and Dragon more generally (is Dragon investigating the base while we're busy, waiting for us? Leaving it open to looters?). And the power production is something we need to commit to long before we'll see real benefits, while machine upgrades are more valuable the sooner you get them naturally.
For Taylor, I'm a bit torn between Telekinesis and Multishot. The former lets us see more of the trees to get a feel for what we can do (and this doesn't seem like an arc that's likely short on fight opportunities?) and we've been over some of the creativity and potential use against odd opponents. Plus, we clearly already have a poor man's ring bind in the combo we just used
Three Minutes is a loooong time to charge up a shot....and oh god what if we gave Samantha a suit? But Multishot continues the logic we had for Burst before, in being more useful against a wider spread of light targets (where we already have big knockouts for sturdy ones, so I'm not sure where we want mistletinn) while finishing out the direct Flare branch.Something to keep in mind, we've been told Telekinesis itself isn't one of the hidden requirements for Ragnarok to be easier. No telling if something below it is... but the flare tree seems an obvious path.