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Situation Foxtrot (SAO/Foxhole) [COMPLETE]

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Votes closed, ZAIRMAN DO IT AGIAN
Scheduled vote count started by 7734 on Aug 16, 2022 at 1:56 AM, finished with 39 posts and 26 votes.
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7734 threw 1 10-faced dice. Reason: Bypassing Ulysses Total: 7
7 7
7734 threw 1 10-faced dice. Reason: Wraith's Gate Holdout Total: 8
8 8
7734 threw 1 10-faced dice. Reason: Bypassing Juliette Total: 3
3 3
7734 threw 1 10-faced dice. Reason: Engagement with 4th Squadron Total: 5
5 5
7734 threw 1 4-faced dice. Reason: sekret plot dice go brrrrr Total: 2
2 2
 
So, Ulysses's is an inconvenience but we break through, Wraith's gate punches our side at best and holds us there at kinda bad, and pushes us back at worst, Juliette holds firm, and the 4th engages us with mixed results.
My interpretation of the events at the moment
 
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Weathered Expanse Push: Marine Recovery
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    • View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79UlFCD1kwo


    Breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth, you got to work planning things out. Your artillery was good, and that "flying" descriptor wasn't a joke, but your friends holding the flanks down weren't going to be good for serious anti-tank work. They did, however, presumably have an existing 40mm stockpile. Your reputation could take the hit- Tepes' force couldn't.

    "Asuna," you said, mind whirling at a hundred miles a minute. "You're the current acting regimental leader. Hustle on over to Tepes, get the guns moving. If he's having trouble with armor, you've got the guns and the experience to help handle it."

    "I understand, ma'am."

    "Good. They'll probably be trying to get through to the old Fort Sierra so they can get the Weathered Wall supply line. Whatever you do, don't let that happen. We can't pull supplies out of Kirknell, and King can't support two brigades hanging off it- and neither can our bunkers. Take Calico and Landry with you as support staff, and their NCOs. Run the guns hard, I'm putting in an order to bring the rest of them down."

    That done, you looked at Silica. "Have the infantry called back yet?"

    "Yes ma'am. The 62e is regenerating now, and 1/11th is already re-establishing their garrison company on Revenant's Path."

    "Keep them at it; when both units are ready get them forward to the remains of Fort Isabel."

    "And me?" Tymur asked from behind you. "What is my role?"

    "Get mounted up, soldier-boy," you said, smirking. "We're riding hot to trod here, and you're going to be the tip of the spear. If we're lucky, the 163e and 99e will be beating on the remains of Fort Ulysses, and we can slip past."

    "Do you want me to bring my regimental train?" he asked, lips pinched. "I don't think we'll need the cranes, but my people have been running around like mad and these Reliquary Tanks drink fuel like an American truck."

    "Better to bring it and not need it than the other way around," you said, shrugging. "We'll need CVs anyway, just to build a temporary foothold at Wraith's Gate. Someplace to do fast respawns from knocking over Wightwalk's defenses."

    "I've still got a fires section off Company Anna to detach, so they'll cover the CVs. You'll ride with the rest of us, of course."

    You raised an eyebrow. "Of course?"

    "Melanie, you're a great officer, but they have mortars and we're going to be a long way from respawn points. We need you to stay up, because MacLaine is not going to listen to me for shit."

    "Fine, I'll take a King Spire," you groused. Tymur's smile was worth it, though, as he went over and barked something into a radio. Soon enough, the scout tank was pulled up outside, and you went up to it with a light stare.

    "You ride in the turret. Visibility is pretty terrible with the hatch closed, but they're warm on the inside. I made sure the crew speaks English, and they'll keep you safe and sound."

    Smirking, you got up, getting to the turret carefully. The hatch opened, making you blink and look down.

    "Hey, get in!" the gunner said, glaring at you. "It's cold out there!"

    "Sorry," you said, sliding in and grabbing the headphones off the wall. "First tank ride."

    "Ah, don't worry," the gunner said, grinning. "Call me Pedro. Driver's name is Thames."

    From down below, you heard a smack on the tank's hull, before the engine started rumbling. As you put the headphones on, Pedro reached over to clack a switch on them, and you heard him crisply- through the headset, over the sound of the diesel engine purring.

    "There's a toggle on the side of your headphones! Forward is A-set, talks to us. Back is B-set, talks to the field radio! There's a detent in the middle to listen to both too!"

    "Thanks!" you shouted, quickly finding it, before tuning the field radio. Thank heavens you'd learned how to do this from Silica: it was tricky, in the cramped turret of the King Spire. Soon enough, you had all the important channels earmarked, with the auto-tuner set, and the detent pushed in.

    "So does it automatically only broadcast to crew if I've got it on forward?" you asked- with the radio on a dead channel in case it didn't.

    "Yep!"

    "Good," you said, taking the radio back to the command circut. "Gonna talk to everyone now."

    "Wilco, boss! Thames is going to follow the Colonel's command tank unless otherwise noted!"

    "Good by me!"

    With that done, you got on the command circuit. "All commanders, sound off."

    "Zairman here."

    "Kazoo, present. Read you three by five, though."

    "MacLaine, read you two by five, please boost transmission strength."

    Right, yeah. You were definitely sailing into jamming here. "Boosting signal strength," you said, pushing up the amps to the stops. "Better?"

    "Four by five," Kazoo said, mimicked shortly after by MacLaine. Good enough.

    "Alright everyone," you said, cracking your knuckles and standing up in your seat to look out the hatch. "We've got some idiot-ass Marines to rescue. We're doing this fast and dirty- get in, save their asses, and get out. We know there's going to be at least one fort in the way, code-name Juliet. We'll be setting up a small bunker base in Wraith's Gate to help supply the offensive with fresh bodies, and frankly not much else. Questions?"

    "Who's bringing the CV?" MacLaine asked quickly.

    "I've got it in Zairman's train. Current marching order is the armored regiment, then the 1/11 with MacLaine, then the train, and bringing up the rear is the 62e."

    "And that truck following you?" MacLaine asked, a silent grin in his voice. "I didn't hear mention of any of your girls joining us."

    "One second," you promised, before switching over to your regiment's frequency. "Unknown truck, sound off."

    "You forgot to bring your staff," Mihay said back, dryer than champagne. "So I rounded up some volunteers. I have a mortar battery, and three trucks of ammo coming up."

    "Why?" you asked.

    "Because, Colonel, sometimes you need to stop pussyfooting about and do shit yourself," Mihay said bluntly. "Besides, there's no translation here, and even more importantly, there's no 'may I have' going up and down the chain of command. Call me, and the target gets blasted."

    "I see. Thank you for the… we'll call it foresight."

    "I have done this before," Mihay said, chuckling. "The words you're looking for to describe this is 'NCO acting on their own initiative to support the commander's objective' if you want to be fancy in the memoirs."

    "So noted," you muttered, before jumping back to the command circuit. "That's my personal artillery stick being annoyed I left home without them, apparently."

    "Let's hope they're useful," MacLaine opined, earning an eye roll.

    "Quite. Either way, let's go."

    ///

    You didn't want to describe how incredibly boring most of the trip was, hugging the side of Mount Fuck-Fuck in your little collum of trucks and tanks, turret skewed over so Pedro could keep a watch on things. Fort Ulysses seemed to be under assault from Tepes, which hoovered up all the troops from actually covering the flank you were sneaking out of quite rapidly. However, you did see some light combat: a few of Zairman's scouts had rushed forward to make ambush positions on the road, whacking supply trucks that were screaming inbound with… well, whatever Goblin supply trucks carried. More than a few of them, they actually captured intact- full of shirts, crates of B-mats, and sometimes bullets and ammo. Those were repaired, and added to the train so that you could tap them for resources.

    Wraith's Gate was surprisingly tame when you got there, the tanks having pacified it easily. Still, as hours passed and everyone dug into thin snow and sandy soil, you waited for the CV to trundle up. It was nerve-wracking, the headlights of your tank barely illuminating anything as the infantry scanned the area, with rifles drawn. Occasionally, foot patrols would stir out beyond the edge of the wire, poking and probing at the defenses of Fort Quebec. Everything was quiet- too quiet.

    Walking up to your tank, Mihay looked surprisingly small in his parka and ushanka, before he clambered on top to sit next to you on the open commander's hatch. "Colonel," he said, casually scanning the area. "Everything going well?"

    "Perfectly fine, thank you," you said, resisting the urge to dig out a smoke from your ration packet. "Is your mortar section alright?"

    "They're fine, I've got a corporal looking them over," he said still scanning. "I'm surprised you're not pushing through Yves, though, instead of this."

    "Do you want the nice version, or the math version?" you asked, picking up your binoculars to stare south, towards the lights at Huntsfort's relatively unguarded Relic base.

    "Math version first."

    "Manpower is a limited resource, space is not. Weathering Halls is useless to us unless we capture Rime, so until we capture Rime this expedition hasn't paid off the blood we've spent so far. I'll trade shells for construction any day: we can get more shells. Lives, especially when we don't understand the permadeath mechanics, are much more precious."

    "And the nice version?" Mihay asked, taking out a Cascadier and opening it up habitually to check the insides- still loaded, of course.

    "Fuck trying to go through Yves," you snorted. "I built, completely by accident, a unit that's somehow not shit at maneuver warfare. Throwing away tanks by having them play whack-a-mole with concrete bunkers is just fucking stupid."

    That earned a laugh from the grizzly NCO. "Thanks, Colonel."

    "Out of curiosity, why are you asking?" you said lightly.

    Sighing, Mihay looked over at the rest of your tank, before shaking his head. You got the memo, dismounting and moving away from it a little, before you were ready to talk. "I haven't been hiding this since you never asked," Mihay said calmly, "but I work for the US Department of Defense's video games research unit."

    "They have a what."

    "Video games research unit. Not the stupidest thing the government's ever spent money on, but certainly up there. I personally think it's a sinecure to old vets like me, but… who cares?"

    "Considering I'm only nominally American," you muttered, "I don't think I have a dog in that fight. Either way, your help's been invaluable."

    "You're not American?" Mihay asked, blinking. "Really?"

    "Mom's an engineer for DCNS, Dad was an accountant for Huntington-Ingalls. Make a boatfucker joke and I shoot you. Generally we'd spend a few years in France, then move back here until Dad got sick. Cancer treatment over here is better, and we had the money to make it work," you said carefully, brushing a bit of snow off your shoulder. "We're getting sidetracked, though. Why did you ask me about this?"

    "Because we've got one terminal glory hound already, and we really don't need another one," Mihay admitted. "The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success, so I needed to check against a different metric."

    "If the 'how' question is fuzzy, ask then 'why' and perhaps 'wherefore' instead," you said, smirking. "You've done this before."

    "I hit sergeant first class before I retired, damn skippy I've done this before."

    "Good to know," you said, pointing your head back towards your tank. "I should probably get back to my tank, though. I think I hear the CV in the distance."

    "Yeah, keep the leadership on the radio. I've got a feeling it'll all go downhill from here."

    "We've been in action for nearly two days now, I'd be surprised if we didn't end up with fatigue casualties."

    "Hopefully this is enough to let everyone get a nap," you muttered. "Naps are good."

    Unfortunately, whoever was getting the naps wasn't you. The thunder of the CV's pounding hammer to build the bunker base kept you up, and more importantly the humm of the King Spire's little auxiliary power unit was just enough noise so you couldn't doze off in your chair. Still, as the soft, false rays of dawn started crawling over the horizon at about 0600, you clicked on the A-set.

    "Driver, move to the bunker base. I need to brief everyone," you said. Wordlessly, the engine came to a high rumble, and soon enough you were standing at the shitty little hole in the ground. Getting out, you rolled your neck and moved up to the meeting room, where everyone else was already waiting. "Morning, gentlemen," you said idly, before grabbing a cup of coffee and a 'sandwich' that seemed to mostly be radishes, cabbage, and layer of garlic sauce. Wheee. "Everyone ready for a hell of a day?"

    "That's a good description for it," MacLaine muttered, "because Juliette noticed us, and has spent all night extending their lines."

    "Are they anchored on Mount Fuck-Fuck?" you asked as one of MacLaine's aids brought in a hastily-drawn on field map.

    "Yeah. No garrisons, but they've got trench lines and a bunker core on the foot of the mount. If we stick around to de-husk them and cut the snarl, then we'll never get done."

    You frowned, drinking your coffee. "Kazoo, if we clap that mountain base and take it over, do you think you can form a countervailing line and hold us open a passage?"

    Stroking clean-shaven chin, Kazoo stared at the map. "I'll need your armor to actually break that base- I didn't pack enough Mammons on this trip to handle a bunker base."

    "Do you have Foebreakers or anything else to handle it?"

    "I'm saving my Foebreakers in case they have armored cars," Kazoo said. "Zairman, you think you can spot me an armor platoon?"

    "If I wasn't running one short, yes."

    "Damn," Kazoo muttered. Shaking your head, you looked over at Zairman.

    "You two need to remember we're in a brigade now. I might not be able to get a container of shells up to this bunker base, but I can get a few trucks of crates to make it so we aren't helpless," you said, tapping your fingers on the table. "Zairman, assume you've got… six hundered shells here in this bunker base."

    "I don't, though."

    "You don't yet," you stressed, tapping the table. "Four hundred shells is six trucks half-full of shell crates and half-full of everything else. I can do that, even if we're only getting one or two trucks an hour. It won't make up for if you lose a tank, but we shouldn't be afraid to shoot the guns."

    "Then I can give you Vasily Company's tanks," Zairman said, grinning.

    "Good. You've got until everyone gets fueled back up to get organized, and make sure everyone knows they need to be riding in on a full gas tank." you said, grinning as you threw your empty coffee mug in the corner. "Let's fucking do this."

    The rabid grins from the rest of the table agreed. Going back out, you mounted up and told the driver to get you fueled up, while you dialed into the supply network on the radio.

    "This is General Orr to supply, come in Weathering Halls."

    "This is Weathering Halls Supply, how copy, over?"

    "Read you, four by four," you said honestly. "You've been told there's a small bunker base at Wraith's Gate, right?"

    "Yeah, we're packing the trucks right now."

    "Throw about a short container's worth of crates on it of four-zero-mike-mike," you said. "Doesn't have to be all at once, but we're gonna need tanker ammo."

    "Forty crates a tanker ammo, aye," the Weathering Halls grunt told you. "That'll be a bit tricky, ma'am."

    "What's the holdup?" you asked.

    "Valkyries are burning it like water, ma'am. Their major's been making runs up and down the line like it's Colonial Christmas, and Tepes' tail is in a knot for some fucking reason."

    "He's got it for his armored cars, he should have more than enough for her!"

    "Yeah, uh, she's gone through all his. We're keeping a few truckloads of it here in case shit gets serious."

    "Wonderful," you muttered. "Free the shells up, and tell Asuna to stop spraying and praying. We're not getting an airbridge out here."

    "Yes, ma'am."

    "Gotta stand up to your field officers, kid," you advised. "You might not know better than them, but they don't know what's happening in your bailiwick unless you tell 'em so."

    "Yes, ma'am."

    "Right, back to work," you muttered. "General Orr, out."

    With that, you looked down. "Ey, Pedro, we good to go?"

    "Yeah, we're good on gas and the armor's starting to roll."

    "Good," you said. "Put us by the 1/11's leadership, I've got to get on the horn."

    "Wilco!"

    Clicking over to the B-set and the command circuit, you rolled your shoulders. "Alright everyone, showtime. Zairman, you've got your boys briefed?"

    "Affirmative, General."

    "Then we're good to go. Kazoo, radio in when you need help, or if you can take the edge."

    "Understood, General Orr. Sixty-second Regiment, time to ride or die!"

    ///

    Unfortunately, your decision to hold back the bulk of your forces turned out to be the right one: while it was easy to roll the edge of the containment off of Mount Fuck-fuck, securing passage was harder. Sure enough, the Colonials did have some form of what you were starting to think of as their regulars in Wightwalk, and they were fast to reinforce the boys in Fort Juliette that had been cut up in your attack.

    It was rapidly turning into a nasty little slugging match, but Kazoo had been smart and packed his lines conservatively. It was a slow, trudging single-file line that pushed through behind his blocking force while a CV got him a temporary repast and local respawn point, and it was nearly 1400 hours by the time you got the 1/11 and 64e through with their trains. Once you were through, though, it was an easy drive up the edge of Mount Fuck-fuck, until you started hearing the artillery fire.

    It was this deep, low thumps in the distance, combined with the sound of onrushing trains- and then you watched in the distance as a thin fountain of dirt shot skyward, higher than your tank. Must be 120s, you thought mildly, as another round hit by a crane, forcing it to start to list in the distance dangerously.

    Ducking into the cover of your vehicle, you breathed deeply. "Alright people, showtime. They've obviously got naval support, and I don't know enough about the range of naval guns to say how far out they can hide. What I do know, though, is they're not able to bombard the front for long," you said into the command set. "Zairman, you've got a simple job. Go up towards Rime, and smack everything in the way. MacLaine, you need to form a defensive line about two hundred meters north of the bunker base. Dig in deep and spread out: I don't know how this game calculates damage, but it'll definitely help if you're in cover. Your job is to accept the inevitable countercharge. I'll try and get one of the Navy guys to spit me some details out."

    "How long do you want me to stay in contact for, Orr?" Zairman asked.

    "Good question. If you can keep in contact with us, use your best judgment and keep me posted. If you lose contact, fall back when you start taking serious heat from the naval 120s. You're buying time for us to get dug in to start the evacuation right now."

    "Understood. If their anti-tank is weak, I might end up somewhat deeply committed."

    "Don't overcommit- I don't think we can beat off their naval assets."

    "It's hard to know what overcommital is until you do it a few times to get the flavor right," Zairman mentioned. "I'll try not to delve too greedily and too deep."

    "Just come when we light the fires, Eomir," MacLaine joked.

    "We're not nearly up to riding for the world's ending. That's after we tech Outlaws."

    "Focus, please," you said stiffly. "I'll be starting the evacuation as soon as I can get some work parties assembled. Either way, let's move fast."

    "Wilco!"

    With that, you were off, the infantry and the armor moving up to the north while your tank and logistics train moved in towards the base. Thankfully, the 120s had stopped firing- for now- and as you pulled in a horde of beleaguered poilus stuck their heads out of makeshift, ramshackle firing positions- many tracking you with rifles and grenade launchers as you drove past. As your tank pulled up in front of the bunker core, you took a second to go over to the ninth of your ten radio presets- the one to Mihay.

    "Mihay," you said, quickly. "Find or dig some octagons, get them up to tier two. I know you probably can't actually hit them, but I want some ability to counterbattery those damn gunboats."

    "Are we trying to sink them, or scare them off?"

    "Scare them off mostly. If they managed to battle-barge most of ours, then they should be pretty fragile."

    "Alright. I make no promises, though."

    "I'm not asking for any- I'll probably retask you if the 1/11e gets pounded on too hard."

    "Got it. Good luck with the Marines."

    You chuckled, getting ready to jump out. "I'll need it."

    With that, you dismounted the tank fluidly, winter winds kicking up so you landed on the ground in the middle of a flurry of snow. Ramming a hand in your left pocket to fix the drift of your uniform, you tossed your hair back around to fall flat on your back, striding into the bunker base like you owned the place.

    "Alright, who's in charge?" you snapped, eyes flitting about. No answer, naturally. "Sound off if you're not dead."

    A few, weak noises from critically injured troops. Snapping a call for a medic in Ukrainian out of the bunker, a few of the people present flinched. Finally, coming in through a door in the bunker core- who had built this dump, that was forbidden- was a young woman with a beret and Naval insignia.

    "Lieutenant Kitsuragi, ma'am. Seniormost officer left, and current officer on deck," she said stiffly. "And you are?"

    "General Orr, Fólkvangr Brigade," you said equally stiffly. "You don't have a colonel available?"

    "Most of the Marines senior officers were on the first wave in. The first wave that got savaged by enemy anti-tank being used as a shore battery. I'm technically part of the Navy, but my gunboat took critical damage and fell back to here to rearm and repair. Since then, I've been in charge of this mess."

    Well, shit. That explained a lot. "We heard you were getting slaughtered out here."

    "Yeah, that's about right. Someone didn't expect the Colonials to have gunships in-theater, and we've been getting slaughtered by them. With the port facilities knocked down by their 120s- again- we can't really do respawns."

    "That settles that," you muttered darkly. The operation couldn't keep its resupply going, it was doomed. That was literally all there was to it- even the most zealous grab-goblin tendencies couldn't solve the problem of "I am out of shirts and must scream" that plagued many operations.

    "It's about-" Kitsuragi said, checking her watch to be sure, "-four hours until the next wave gets here. We're not in as bad of a position as we could be, but it'll be rough holding on until they get here."

    "Excuse me?"

    "Yeah, I'm standing relieved when they get here. It's been bad, but I'll be home free soon enough."

    You chuckled darkly. "Nah. This has turned into a clusterfuck, and pouring more troops into it isn't going to help."

    "I have to hold here- that's everything. Without it, the next wave is going to get smashed."

    Oh hell. You did not expect there to be more than one wave. "Can you get in contact with them?"

    "No, we don't have cross-hex radios here. We don't even have a proper long-range radio, that ship got sunk."

    Which meant your King Spire was the best radio immediately available. Shit. "We're going to try and push the north force back into Rime for a bit," you said carefully, mind spinning at a hundred miles a minute. "Meanwhile, I need to figure out a plan."

    "What was the original plan?" Kitsuragi asked.

    "Get everyone here, pile you into my trucks, leave."

    "Well that's fucked now."

    "Yeah. Which means its improvisation o'clock," you muttered. "This is gonna be tricky."

    Tricky, you said. Tricky. What a wonderful understatement.

    ///
    MAP



    ///

    New Plan

    [] No new plan: You didn't bring the supplies, the troops, or the equipment to bring this dumpster fire of a base into spec. Get everyone into trucks, pull them back to Wraith's Gate, and then sort of float back to there and then do this all over again when Hooker and the rest of the goon squad gets here.
    [] New Plan: Play for time. That gunboat artillery is powerful, but if its anything like the mortars you're used to, it's also inaccurate. If you keep moving so that they can't correct their shots, and keep running anti-tank on the coastline as a threat, and the gunboats will either have to focus fire the bunker base you're getting re-fortified to accept the next load of troops at, or stop Zairman from harrasing their lines. It's a dicey plan, but it's also the one that saves the most people- you think.
    [] Very new plan: Tell Hooker to waive off. You've got rank on him, you're the woman on the ground, and most importantly you can put Kitsuragi on the line to make very sure Hooker understands this is a dead letter. If he's in-hex, your King Spire's radio will reach him, if he's not then the radio sets at Quietus can. You don't know how many dead bodies are on the beach right now, but the number is too damn many for his "brigade" to stand a chance in hell of engaging Rime, even if you called Asuna right now and told her to start pounding.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Very new plan: Tell Hooker to waive off. You've got rank on him, you're the woman on the ground, and most importantly you can put Kitsuragi on the line to make very sure Hooker understands this is a dead letter. If he's in-hex, your King Spire's radio will reach him, if he's not then the radio sets at Quietus can. You don't know how many dead bodies are on the beach right now, but the number is too damn many for his "brigade" to stand a chance in hell of engaging Rime, even if you called Asuna right now and told her to start pounding.

    He's going to hate it but we get out pretty quick and we don't need to hold the beachhead for the next wave. Besides it's not about progress or rank it's about not getting people killed for real in what was supposed to be a video game
     
    [X] Very new plan: Tell Hooker to waive off. You've got rank on him, you're the woman on the ground, and most importantly you can put Kitsuragi on the line to make very sure Hooker understands this is a dead letter. If he's in-hex, your King Spire's radio will reach him, if he's not then the radio sets at Quietus can. You don't know how many dead bodies are on the beach right now, but the number is too damn many for his "brigade" to stand a chance in hell of engaging Rime, even if you called Asuna right now and told her to start pounding.
     
    >Multiple waves
    >without cross-hex radios

    Hooker what the fuck

    [X] Very new plan: Tell Hooker to waive off. You've got rank on him, you're the woman on the ground, and most importantly you can put Kitsuragi on the line to make very sure Hooker understands this is a dead letter. If he's in-hex, your King Spire's radio will reach him, if he's not then the radio sets at Quietus can. You don't know how many dead bodies are on the beach right now, but the number is too damn many for his "brigade" to stand a chance in hell of engaging Rime, even if you called Asuna right now and told her to start pounding.

    "Soft-coup the War Bureau" it is I guess like bruh
     
    Yeesh. What a shitshow.

    Look, I know Option C is probably the good, responsible plan, but Option C also lays the blame on the operation's failure squarely on Orr. Since, you know. She'll be the one who told everyone to go home. Nobody likes the messenger with bad news, even if she's objectively correct.

    I want to give Hooker the rope to hang himself with. Let's help him and his landing and see this through. If he succeeds, well, great. We'll still have a new hex, fame, glory, and maybe the western front can ease up a bit. If things go to shit, that isn't an end either, so long as someone grabs the tags. And at least then that would mean we went down fighting. I don't want no-one daring to say that the Fólkvangr were confronted by an unassailable threat that day, and ran.

    Besides, I know Melanie's soul will be screaming at her if she just up and left.

    Either way, the failures of this operation can be understood to be Hooker's. We weren't even supposed to be here in the first place.

    [X] New Plan: Play for time. That gunboat artillery is powerful, but if its anything like the mortars you're used to, it's also inaccurate. If you keep moving so that they can't correct their shots, and keep running anti-tank on the coastline as a threat, and the gunboats will either have to focus fire the bunker base you're getting re-fortified to accept the next load of troops at, or stop Zairman from harrasing their lines. It's a dicey plan, but it's also the one that saves the most people- you think.
     
    LuciDreamer said:
    but Option C also lays the blame on the operation's failure squarely on Orr.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Eh... yes and no. Yes in the sense that sending a "Hooker pls go and stay go" inter-hex won't be subtle, no because it looks like the story of "Orr did a little trolling, Hooker got Big Mad and went in unprepared" is already starting to spread - and frankly, if we get the Marines out, I'm willing to bet they'll be happy to join the "put Hooker in a box and never let him out" train.
     
    [X] No new plan: You didn't bring the supplies, the troops, or the equipment to bring this dumpster fire of a base into spec. Get everyone into trucks, pull them back to Wraith's Gate, and then sort of float back to there and then do this all over again when Hooker and the rest of the goon squad gets here.

    If Hooker wants to continue to go in all half cocked, he can continue to do so and get the reputation of Haig. We simply came here to save the troops at the beach and GTFO, we don't have the supplies for a sustained battle or a continuous skirmish. While we can radio Hooker to tell him to bugger off, I doubt we'll get that much success due to how much he's put in already and the reputation of not pulling this off after all of this. So let's just get everyone off the beach to a safer position and then do another push to the beach to coordinate with the next wave.
     
    [X] New Plan: Play for time. That gunboat artillery is powerful, but if its anything like the mortars you're used to, it's also inaccurate. If you keep moving so that they can't correct their shots, and keep running anti-tank on the coastline as a threat, and the gunboats will either have to focus fire the bunker base you're getting re-fortified to accept the next load of troops at, or stop Zairman from harrasing their lines. It's a dicey plan, but it's also the one that saves the most people- you think.
     
    [X] Very new plan: Tell Hooker to waive off. You've got rank on him, you're the woman on the ground, and most importantly you can put Kitsuragi on the line to make very sure Hooker understands this is a dead letter. If he's in-hex, your King Spire's radio will reach him, if he's not then the radio sets at Quietus can. You don't know how many dead bodies are on the beach right now, but the number is too damn many for his "brigade" to stand a chance in hell of engaging Rime, even if you called Asuna right now and told her to start pounding.
     
    [X] Very new plan: Tell Hooker to waive off. You've got rank on him, you're the woman on the ground, and most importantly you can put Kitsuragi on the line to make very sure Hooker understands this is a dead letter. If he's in-hex, your King Spire's radio will reach him, if he's not then the radio sets at Quietus can. You don't know how many dead bodies are on the beach right now, but the number is too damn many for his "brigade" to stand a chance in hell of engaging Rime, even if you called Asuna right now and told her to start pounding.
     
    [X] Very new plan: Tell Hooker to waive off. You've got rank on him, you're the woman on the ground, and most importantly you can put Kitsuragi on the line to make very sure Hooker understands this is a dead letter. If he's in-hex, your King Spire's radio will reach him, if he's not then the radio sets at Quietus can. You don't know how many dead bodies are on the beach right now, but the number is too damn many for his "brigade" to stand a chance in hell of engaging Rime, even if you called Asuna right now and told her to start pounding.
     
    [X] New Plan: Play for time. That gunboat artillery is powerful, but if its anything like the mortars you're used to, it's also inaccurate. If you keep moving so that they can't correct their shots, and keep running anti-tank on the coastline as a threat, and the gunboats will either have to focus fire the bunker base you're getting re-fortified to accept the next load of troops at, or stop Zairman from harrasing their lines. It's a dicey plan, but it's also the one that saves the most people- you think.

    It's about four hours. Not the easiest amount of time to hold, but we've already gone overnight just to get here. Four more hours is manageable, and then we'll have (some kind of) reinforcements to help us. More importantly, if Orr thinks this is the plan that saves the most people, we have to try it. We can replace everything else, but we can't replace anyone who hits permadeath.
     
    [X] Very new plan: Tell Hooker to waive off. You've got rank on him, you're the woman on the ground, and most importantly you can put Kitsuragi on the line to make very sure Hooker understands this is a dead letter. If he's in-hex, your King Spire's radio will reach him, if he's not then the radio sets at Quietus can. You don't know how many dead bodies are on the beach right now, but the number is too damn many for his "brigade" to stand a chance in hell of engaging Rime, even if you called Asuna right now and told her to start pounding.

    FC Error said:
    rankly, if we get the Marines out, I'm willing to bet they'll be happy to join the "put Hooker in a box and never let him out" train.
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    They're probably on the "put him in a box with a few grenades, sans pins" train at this point.
     
    [X] New Plan: Play for time. That gunboat artillery is powerful, but if its anything like the mortars you're used to, it's also inaccurate. If you keep moving so that they can't correct their shots, and keep running anti-tank on the coastline as a threat, and the gunboats will either have to focus fire the bunker base you're getting re-fortified to accept the next load of troops at, or stop Zairman from harrasing their lines. It's a dicey plan, but it's also the one that saves the most people- you think.

    Hooker earning himself the Distinction of being Haig and Churchill in one Battle is pretty fucking incompetent, if Hooker actually manages to get here and reinforce this Clusterfuck though then at least he was somewhat useful.
     
    [x] New Plan: Play for time. That gunboat artillery is powerful, but if its anything like the mortars you're used to, it's also inaccurate. If you keep moving so that they can't correct their shots, and keep running anti-tank on the coastline as a threat, and the gunboats will either have to focus fire the bunker base you're getting re-fortified to accept the next load of troops at, or stop Zairman from harrasing their lines. It's a dicey plan, but it's also the one that saves the most people- you think.
     
    [X] Very new plan: Tell Hooker to waive off. You've got rank on him, you're the woman on the ground, and most importantly you can put Kitsuragi on the line to make very sure Hooker understands this is a dead letter. If he's in-hex, your King Spire's radio will reach him, if he's not then the radio sets at Quietus can. You don't know how many dead bodies are on the beach right now, but the number is too damn many for his "brigade" to stand a chance in hell of engaging Rime, even if you called Asuna right now and told her to start pounding.
     
    [X] Very new plan: Tell Hooker to waive off. You've got rank on him, you're the woman on the ground, and most importantly you can put Kitsuragi on the line to make very sure Hooker understands this is a dead letter. If he's in-hex, your King Spire's radio will reach him, if he's not then the radio sets at Quietus can. You don't know how many dead bodies are on the beach right now, but the number is too damn many for his "brigade" to stand a chance in hell of engaging Rime, even if you called Asuna right now and told her to start pounding.

    I am not taking anymore chances, this naval landing is scrapped, we lost naval supremacy when it was needed, now we hit the bleeding edge of dumb when Hooker has 2nd wave and possibly more going INTO a completely broken advance, with no intel basically.

    No, both of us can take the hit, this landing is scrapped until we find a new method of clearing the Waters off Rime, until than yea, we cannot afford more landings of this type when we barely have a foothold to counter the next enemy wave.

    We need to do a different method to either capture Rime, or get the enemy off our back.
     
    Torn between new plan and very new plan.

    Old plan does not commit, it's waffling back and forth under fire until we all bleed out.

    Very new plan is toast if Hooker won't take orders and we can't undercut his chain of command fast enough to stop the next wave.

    New plan is dependent on Hooker sending a reasonably balanced wave that will take orders when is arrives. (and on us keeping the enemy boats distracted long enough for them to land without getting shot up too badly)
     
    [x] New Plan: Play for time. That gunboat artillery is powerful, but if its anything like the mortars you're used to, it's also inaccurate. If you keep moving so that they can't correct their shots, and keep running anti-tank on the coastline as a threat, and the gunboats will either have to focus fire the bunker base you're getting re-fortified to accept the next load of troops at, or stop Zairman from harrasing their lines. It's a dicey plan, but it's also the one that saves the most people- you think.

    I don't want to go for a plan that relies on A) we manage to raise Hooker through iffy coms when he's likely to be very busy and perfecting willing to blow off Orr and B) if we do manage to get Hooker on the line he'll actually take orders (when we know for a fact he's pretty pissed ATM).

    Very New Plan is probably better if it works, but I'm worried it won't work forcing us into de facto New Plan or Old Plan without being prepared for either of those.
     
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