- Location
- New England
Without knowing much about the opposition's relative capabilities, I'd be tempted to focus on an easy target to give our force a shakedown. So, hitting the tidal plant with everything, witches on ground support.
That Gleaming Age (A Sci/Fantasy Historia Quest)
- Thread starter Happerry
- Start date
Sadly, given the tidal generator's forces are apparently mostly in tunnels, I'm not sure how use the Witches will be. Actually, tunnel fighting is a real problem with our current setup, since Assault troops are about mobility, and come with artificer weapons that seem of limited use underground. The best thing we can really do is choke the tunnels with conscript corpses, and that's gonna suck. Still, going after the main force first seems overly dangerous, and at least First Company is Seasoned.
@Happerry how useful will Assault troops be in tunnels?
@Happerry how useful will Assault troops be in tunnels?
- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hell, maybe we should go all in on the center and take the power for ourselves.
Alternatively, we have 400 mooks, which is maybe enough to garrison the garden if we go all out on it.
Alternatively, we have 400 mooks, which is maybe enough to garrison the garden if we go all out on it.
Happerry
Bat out of Hell
- Location
- Kanto
Not as useful as a CQC specialist company, but more then a generic company. Speed and short ranged firepower are both attributes found useful in tunnel fighting.
[x] Plan By the Roots
-[x] Tidal Plants:
--[x] Third Company
--[x] Blademistress Evaine
-[x] Sky Gardens
--[x] First and Second Company
[x] Air Priority
-[x] Ground support.
Best I got for now.
-[x] Tidal Plants:
--[x] Third Company
--[x] Blademistress Evaine
-[x] Sky Gardens
--[x] First and Second Company
[x] Air Priority
-[x] Ground support.
Best I got for now.
Last edited:
[x] Plan By the Roots
It is not like we have enough units to attack all three locations.
How is that different from ground support?
It is not like we have enough units to attack all three locations.
How is that different from ground support?
- Pronouns
- Reader
[X] Plan Tunnel Skirmishing and Weed Clearing
-[X] Sky Gardens :
--[X] 1st Company
--[X] 2nd Company
-[x] Air Priority
--[X] Dedicated Support Operations
---[X] Sky Gardens ;
-[x] Tidal Plants:
--[x] Third Company
--[x] Blademistress Evaine
While I get sending the assault specialists into tunnels with Evaine, Air strikes will only compromise the tunnels integrity, forcing us to wait until we get a sapper unit to bypass them. A sham we don't have a sapper unit now, as we could have used it to get much closer and just blow a whole into one of the tunnels to cut down on the amount of fighting needed.
Regardless, we can do much better with the Air Priority. We specifically went for numbers with the 1st and 2nd companies so we can send them to start clearing out the gardens with air Support. We can do ground support for inreased enemy elimination or Medical evacuation for limiting casualties. Better to put all our forces to work and increase the odds of securing something. Let me know which of the two Air Priority options you prefer.
-[X] Sky Gardens :
--[X] 1st Company
--[X] 2nd Company
-[x] Air Priority
--[X] Dedicated Support Operations
---[X] Sky Gardens ;
-[x] Tidal Plants:
--[x] Third Company
--[x] Blademistress Evaine
While I get sending the assault specialists into tunnels with Evaine, Air strikes will only compromise the tunnels integrity, forcing us to wait until we get a sapper unit to bypass them. A sham we don't have a sapper unit now, as we could have used it to get much closer and just blow a whole into one of the tunnels to cut down on the amount of fighting needed.
Regardless, we can do much better with the Air Priority. We specifically went for numbers with the 1st and 2nd companies so we can send them to start clearing out the gardens with air Support. We can do ground support for inreased enemy elimination or Medical evacuation for limiting casualties. Better to put all our forces to work and increase the odds of securing something. Let me know which of the two Air Priority options you prefer.
Last edited:
- Location
- New England
I'd go with ground support or aerial reconaissance, as both would be helpful in the sky gardens arena. We haven't heard or seen anything about airborne hostiles.
- Pronouns
- Reader
Aerial reconnaissance would be good for a phase 2 as we eliminate the more obvious enemies and need to coordinate our teams to hunt down those that remain, but for first mission while there numbers are still high and enemies are easy to find ground support or med evac are better. I'll edit in ground support.
- Location
- New England
[X] Plan Tunnel Skirmishing and Weed Clearing
It's not, I just forgot the name while tabbing back and forth, heh.
- Location
- A beautiful new land, at once alien and familiar.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] The True Plan 2
-[X] Sky Gardens :
--[X] 1st Company
--[X] 2nd Company
-[x] Air Priority
--[X] Medivac
-[x] Tidal Plants:
--[x] Third Company
--[x] Blademistress Evaine
The One Plan To Slay The Clones
With the sky garden battles being lots of smaller fights it seems to me that our green forces should be capable enough, and the best case scenario is that those green companies learn a lot and become more experienced + learn which gear works, what doesn't etc.
And for that, I think my giving them the best chance of learning tough lessons and living to tell the tale will do us better in the long run. Additionally, given that it's been noted to be a large area that will be hard to hold with our current forces, every body counts, and we'll want to conserve them as well as possible.
-[X] Sky Gardens :
--[X] 1st Company
--[X] 2nd Company
-[x] Air Priority
--[X] Medivac
-[x] Tidal Plants:
--[x] Third Company
--[x] Blademistress Evaine
The One Plan To Slay The Clones
With the sky garden battles being lots of smaller fights it seems to me that our green forces should be capable enough, and the best case scenario is that those green companies learn a lot and become more experienced + learn which gear works, what doesn't etc.
And for that, I think my giving them the best chance of learning tough lessons and living to tell the tale will do us better in the long run. Additionally, given that it's been noted to be a large area that will be hard to hold with our current forces, every body counts, and we'll want to conserve them as well as possible.
- Pronouns
- Reader
No. By the Roots doesn't target the gardens at all. It only goes after the Tunnels.
Nevermind. Apparrently Kreen has changed his plan since I posted mine.
Last edited:
Happerry
Bat out of Hell
- Location
- Kanto
Going by the conversation, did either of you mean for that ground support vote to be Dedicated Support Operations? Because Dedicated Support Operations is the one that assigns the fliers to a specific operation, Ground Support is a battlefield wide tasking.
- Pronouns
- Reader
Hmm. I thought it assigned support to a specific company, not a mission. I'll make the adjustment.
Happerry
Bat out of Hell
- Location
- Kanto
Well, it seems we have a tie. I'll call the vote as soon as someone gives me a tie-breaker vote.
Vote-Tally said:
- Pronouns
- Reader
Kreen warrior only has someone voting for his groundforces deployment plan, not his Air Priority, so technically my plan is leading in that part of the vote. Could we count that as leading overall? Since that is the only part of our plan that is different?
Last edited:
*goes to vote*
*remembers I helped write the update*
*goes to leave*
*remembers I helped write the update*
*goes to leave*
- Location
- New England
Dice at ten paces?
Happerry
Bat out of Hell
- Location
- Kanto
I'm not going to have the free time/energy to work on the update until tomorrow at the earliest, so if I don't get a sixth vote by then I'll probably just take RandyTrevelyan's suggestion/point because the plans are almost the same.
...Actually, you know what? I'm just going to do it formally and get it over with so if I do find the spare time tonight I can start doing typings.
Vote called, Plan Tunnel Skirmishing and Weed Clearing wins.
...Actually, you know what? I'm just going to do it formally and get it over with so if I do find the spare time tonight I can start doing typings.
Vote called, Plan Tunnel Skirmishing and Weed Clearing wins.
Turn 0-D
Happerry
Bat out of Hell
- Location
- Kanto
It would be completely accurate to say that you are stalling. The banners have once again assembled, pulled back from disparate duties, patrols, and probes to the temporary camp. Ranks and files of spear points catch the rising sun on their edges as their wielders shift in place, visible from your improvised command center. Climbing vines from one planter or another frame your view of the soldiery marshaled before your raised viewpoint and are backlit by the holoprojector being run by two automatons from your fellow commander.
Before you lies the corpse of the city of Sky-Dorado. Today many of your troops will give their lives in order to impose your vision of order on the city. It is quite a maudlin thought, and clashes badly with the glee you incongruously feel about the chance to "prove yourself". Funny, that anyone could take glee in the suffering of others. Yet, despite that, you and your engram could agree on one thing: it was a shame that the cost had to be paid in the blood of your people.
[Synch Rate UP - Progress gained towards the first General trait.]
The clamshell heads of the technical aides whir, attracting your attention as they track Evaine's careful steps over to you.
"Erin?" Her tone is light but serves the same purpose as an elbow to the side. This event is inevitable,having been ordered by those above you, and putting it off further would be a poor start to the campaign.
"Yes." You answer, brushing aside her concern and striding out onto the balcony to address your troops. Flanked by the captains of your banners and in the appropriate wear for one of your station (despite the overwhelmingly protective nature of your light armor rather than being built for combat) you stop as the soldiers, no, YOUR soldiers snap to attention. Ready to receive your last remarks before executing their orders.
You pause, standing there, as instincts of this age and another clash. Violence, one memory-life preaches, is not and should never be the answer. Violence, another world replies, is a necessary fact of life and is no different than any other honorable professions. For a second revulsion attempts to rise, revulsion and horror at what the world has become. And then it is gone, forced under by adreamed life of necessity.
"Today." You tell your army "We go to war. We go to war for those we have left behind, those in need of food, shelter, and energy. Today, we secure our food supplies and begin the pacification of this fallen city. It is broken and ruined and in pain, and we will bring an end to that which can not be saved and save that which can be saved. In Arcadia's name, we march for life. For light. For hope!"
You pause, catching your breath. "Today." You proclaim. "We begin a struggle that will not end until the Gleaming Age is reclaimed."
-[X] Sky Gardens :
--[X] 1st Company
--[X] 2nd Company
-[X] Air Priority
--[X] Dedicated Support Operations
---[X] Sky Gardens
A trio of security androids are the ones to try to halt the wave of Arcadian soldiery at the designated ingress point. It seemed that small teams of a handful of soldiers are not considered to be the same as nearly a half thousand. Perched on ledges and wall tops the physically undamaged shells gave their order to turn back from "an emergency area". If they were capable of seeing the absurdity of the demand it was not apparent, as armor and weapons detailed to look like enchanted stone flared with color.
With the enemy in front of them the Arcadian levies hardly needed the orders from their command units. Spears were leveled and the crack of lightning projectors filled the air. With bolts bracketing their positions the androids reacted with smooth efficiency; jumping forward to engage their foes. To their minds they must have been containing a riot before anyone was injured.
As the regular levies flinched backward their command sections swept forward in their stead, exhorting their troops to follow in their footsteps. Blessed with the grace of their liege ladies the two noble officers and their squires put lie to the facade the androids put forward, carving through decorative armor and withstanding the nonlethal mechanisms they struck back with in a furious melee that the machines did not, could not, back down from.
Once the particle effects from stunners and enchanted blades faded, and the officers finished chiding their charges for their inaction, the operation continued. Files of Arcadian levies went down passable alleys and streets to emerge onto patches of greenery to confront their guardians. Civilian androids in garden wear were not true threats, despite their myriad of tools designed to corral and beat back the plants they tended to. Chain-blades, high frequency shears, soil drills, and weed whackers were weapons of terror but the androids holding them had no skill in their use (verses people). Straight rushes against choke points, an utter absence of effective duck and cover verses the Arcadian's ranged fire capacities, and a tendency towards target fixation that ignored alternate routes were the most noticeable issues, but by no means were the only signs that their military ineptitude so far managed to outmatch that of the levies.
In any remotely even match, numbers wise, actual soldiers no matter how badly trained were more than equal to malfunctioning and insane civilian androids. And with almost half a thousand soldiers dedicated to this front the Arcadian expedition had numbers to spare. Numbers which proved needed as the true extent of the territorial expanse of the Sky Gardens made itself clear, stretching the levies farther and farther as the perimeter of claimed territory extended. It is here that the oversight and fast response capabilities of the 1st Combat Witch Wing would prove invaluable, their high flying elites capable of keeping watch on substantial numbers of scattered conscripts and capable of relieving any unit that came under the sort of multi-directional or overwhelming assault that risked overwhelming them in less time then it took for them to call for assistance.
Many of the levies were saved by the witches during the fighting, their wide-brimmed hats and traditional black robes signs of hope and victory alike as they struck from on high when the levied in mass soldiers of the first and second banner needed their support. Most often this was needed not versus the gardening androids that serviced the Sky Gardens, gone insane from the disaster, but the security response forces that were attempting to resolve what they saw as a massed public disturbance. While armed and equipped for riot control over true combat akin to those androids met on the border-zone of the Sky Gardens, they were still superior foes in comparison, capable of functional tactics and understanding of lines of fire and attention in ways not matched by farming specialists or surviving civilian servitors.
Of course, after the Sky Gardens were taken would come the no easier task of securing the Arcadian Expeditionary Force's new territory. The very feature that made the gardens an attractive prospect for an assault, their sprawling fields of green, made keeping out intruders an effort of constant toil. Even without the many street level accesses that needed to be secured and garrisoned, a myriad of service tunnels stretched throughout the gardens to allow for ease of transport for the gardening androids and their heavy machinery without intruding upon civilian transport areas which were in themselves also connected to the city's utility work passages. While a large amount of these access ways ended up just as broken and shattered as the city streets from the fall, a surprising amount were still traversable in one form or another. This resulted in a continual brushfire containment effort against the farming androids whom continued to pop up throughout the Sky Gardens as time went on, attempting to return the gardens to the patterns they considered correct instead of the farming patterns used by the expedition.
While tiresome, this insurgency was not a true threat to the expedition's control over the Sky Gardens, but until the city could be brought fully under the Arcadian First Expeditionary Force's control it would result in the continual need for active garrisoning and defense of the gardens entire to prevent the loss or replacement of desired crops, whether they be of food or biofuels, with flowers or other more aesthetically pleasing plant choices.
More delicate is the discovery of more than a dozen human survivors holed up in a former flower conservatory, guarded by a batch of reprogramed security androids. Paranoid and unfriendly, they are insisting that your forces remain at least a block away from their base on pain of aggression.what happened to them, to make them so untrusting? you can't imagine why but you can in the engram's whispers.
But the Sky Gardens, and what grows within, are now under your nominal control.
[Sky Gardens conquered. Now comes the issue of holding them. A number of injuries and a smaller number of fatalities were taken from the locals. The Combat Witch Wing is proving highly useful for spotting potentially dangerous concentrations of force and allowing for countermoves to be made]
-[X] Tidal Plants:
--[X] Third Company
--[X] Blademistress Evaine
Beneath the city, it is less dark then one would originally expect. There's no sunlight making its way through broken stone and metal, but the fires of the crash smolder yet. Much of the undercity was dedicated to machinery that was less than picturistic to have above, and the crash wrought havoc upon it all. Arcs of lightning from the broken iron illuminate the darkness fitfully where the flames do not flicker, dimly visible through the smoke or worse that chokes the passages regardless of light.
It was between these quiescent wrecks that a lone figure picked their way through. Embedded sensors threw back the gloom and idly traced power lines that still carried some sort of charge. A useful ability, given the denizens of these artificial caves…
Two power signatures flared as androids silently rose from ambush positions, arms spreading into lethal implements to disable and disassemble the intruder in their territory. A simple sweep of Evaine's blade cut through one's processor, sheering off the legs of the other with a twist of the wrist. Alloys forged for impact resistance and holding an edge, powered by electromotive fibers, tested the structural materials of pre-Collapse service units and found them wanting. Standing above the corpse of a feral foe and the scuttling half of another, the Arcadian Blademistress couldn't help but feel the same. Her implanted memories were in agreement: this was pest control, not honorable combat.
An almost silent whistle cuts through the air, causing Evaine to turn with her sword driven through the chest of the crawling robot as the commander of the third banner company salutes the Blademistress from the rear of the chamber. "No problem with the lurkers my lady?" She asks as she takes in the scene. "As expected of our lord's champion then. I am lucky to bear witness to such skill."
Behind her the rest of the third company's command squad file into the room, the bodyguard warriors moving to take custody of the bodies at a motion from their commander as she stands at attention to make a report. "We're continuing to encounter roughly the same levels of resistance as was last reported, mistress. The androids down here are mostly broken and desperate, but any that are still alive generally are the ones that have figured out how to actually be dangerous so we're taking some losses despite most of them being civilian models."
"But we're still spending more time clearing a safe passage for the company than we're spending fighting." The noble says with a shrug as the androids corpses are taken out the door behind her to join the other ones collected so far for disassembly, sorting, and recycling. "Between the cave-ins, the fires, and the spills of whatever alchemical gunk they were using for their workshops this is the kind of job that calls for a professional mage-engineer unit. We're doing our best, but… progress is slow. This just isn't what we were trained for."
With her report finished, the noble falls silent, shifting only slightly during the time spent waiting for Evaine's reaction.With body language that reminds Evaine of nothing less or more then a child waiting for their parent's reaction.
After a short moment, spent cleaning her blade of oil, Evaine nods. "Nothing new then, as you said. We'll press on." And, Evaine doesn't say, hopefully your trust in me will continue to remain unneededfor dare she fail again?.
And press on the company does, Evaine at their head, winning victory against whatever foe dared test her down in the darkand so the children worship once more but mostly spending her time in overwatch as the company attempts to find or forge a safe path through the wreckage. With the Blademistress in command no level of opposition that is possible by the native androids can meaningfully slow the unit's progress, but it was never the androids down here that were the main impediment.
Eventually the Generators are found, covered in wreckage and trapped in stagnant, dark water. Here the largest cluster of undercity androids is found, feeding and surviving off the remaining reserves of power held by the generators, but like those before they die to Evaine's bladeas well as the rest of the Assault Company, but that's not what the stories say is it?, her legend growing once more.
To get them operational they'll have to be repaired, a relatively simple job for a properly equipped team if not a small job, the waterways cleared out, a job which will not be simple or easy given the amount of wreckage needing to be moved, and probably hardest of all a safe and guarded way of transmitting the power to the surface will have to be rebuilt.
But despite those issues, the mission is a success.
[Tidal Generators functional but clogged by junk, and will need clearing.]
In the aftermath of the two missions, the seizing of the Sky Gardens and Tidal Generatorsas brute force becomes the world's coin you and Evaine meet once again in the headquarters section. New long ranged scrying arrays holo-radio sets, installed during the days of campaigning, now line one wall. Injured troopers recovering from wounds man the stations to coordinate outlays of precious supplies only now beginning to be replenished by seized stocks of power and provide a low murmur of activity to accompany the meeting.
On the face of things the battle has gone well. Swathes of the fallen city have turned blue on the maps and the nearby turbines have heavily guarded technicians prodding the machinery to see what it will take to get them operational again.
Your engram lent skill tells you a different story.
While any enemy group was located and purged through a combination of air strikes and ground teams, lone combatants are an ever present threat both in the city as stragglers return to their posts or activate from their maintenance cradles now that their competitors are no longer pulling power as well as in the turbine depths as androids creep into now vacant territory to seek power and parts from your soldiers. While open battle has ended, this conflict is far from over. Garrison posts will be a chronic necessity for some time though not necessarily a tactical necessity.
Speaking of which, there is a vital choice to make. With the seizure of a sizable amount of growing space and the accompanying variety of biological organisms, exotic and otherwise, alongside the feeble sparks the turbines contained that had yet to be accessed by the undercity dwellers it is possible to sit back, reorganize, and replenish the losses generated by the campaign, replace combat consumables on your combat witches, and engage in some number crunching to allow for new combat units to be fielded.
Conversely, it could be time to gather all your forces and crack the last bastion of organized resistance in the city. For one, it is unknown what conditions those of your troops that were overpowered and dragged off by security automata might be suffering. For another, it is likely that some sort of reaction will be had once a constant level of skirmishing begins to keep hold of your new territory.
[ ] Initiate the battle for the Central Reserves.
[ ] End this combat phase and begin the first strategic turn.
[Writing Prompt: Wars are not just fought by units, but by people. Who are they that fight by your order? This includes leaders (company captains), banner specific uniforms and flags, and what the formations have done "before" they were Arcadian levies (ie, the false memories of the "land" they hail from). The nature of your nobles will inherently influence that of the banners they command.]
With much credit to DaLintyGuy for their assistance.
Before you lies the corpse of the city of Sky-Dorado. Today many of your troops will give their lives in order to impose your vision of order on the city. It is quite a maudlin thought, and clashes badly with the glee you incongruously feel about the chance to "prove yourself". Funny, that anyone could take glee in the suffering of others. Yet, despite that, you and your engram could agree on one thing: it was a shame that the cost had to be paid in the blood of your people.
[Synch Rate UP - Progress gained towards the first General trait.]
The clamshell heads of the technical aides whir, attracting your attention as they track Evaine's careful steps over to you.
"Erin?" Her tone is light but serves the same purpose as an elbow to the side. This event is inevitable,
"Yes." You answer, brushing aside her concern and striding out onto the balcony to address your troops. Flanked by the captains of your banners and in the appropriate wear for one of your station (despite the overwhelmingly protective nature of your light armor rather than being built for combat) you stop as the soldiers, no, YOUR soldiers snap to attention. Ready to receive your last remarks before executing their orders.
You pause, standing there, as instincts of this age and another clash. Violence, one memory-life preaches, is not and should never be the answer. Violence, another world replies, is a necessary fact of life and is no different than any other honorable professions. For a second revulsion attempts to rise, revulsion and horror at what the world has become. And then it is gone, forced under by a
"Today." You tell your army "We go to war. We go to war for those we have left behind, those in need of food, shelter, and energy. Today, we secure our food supplies and begin the pacification of this fallen city. It is broken and ruined and in pain, and we will bring an end to that which can not be saved and save that which can be saved. In Arcadia's name, we march for life. For light. For hope!"
You pause, catching your breath. "Today." You proclaim. "We begin a struggle that will not end until the Gleaming Age is reclaimed."
-[X] Sky Gardens :
--[X] 1st Company
--[X] 2nd Company
-[X] Air Priority
--[X] Dedicated Support Operations
---[X] Sky Gardens
A trio of security androids are the ones to try to halt the wave of Arcadian soldiery at the designated ingress point. It seemed that small teams of a handful of soldiers are not considered to be the same as nearly a half thousand. Perched on ledges and wall tops the physically undamaged shells gave their order to turn back from "an emergency area". If they were capable of seeing the absurdity of the demand it was not apparent, as armor and weapons detailed to look like enchanted stone flared with color.
With the enemy in front of them the Arcadian levies hardly needed the orders from their command units. Spears were leveled and the crack of lightning projectors filled the air. With bolts bracketing their positions the androids reacted with smooth efficiency; jumping forward to engage their foes. To their minds they must have been containing a riot before anyone was injured.
As the regular levies flinched backward their command sections swept forward in their stead, exhorting their troops to follow in their footsteps. Blessed with the grace of their liege ladies the two noble officers and their squires put lie to the facade the androids put forward, carving through decorative armor and withstanding the nonlethal mechanisms they struck back with in a furious melee that the machines did not, could not, back down from.
Once the particle effects from stunners and enchanted blades faded, and the officers finished chiding their charges for their inaction, the operation continued. Files of Arcadian levies went down passable alleys and streets to emerge onto patches of greenery to confront their guardians. Civilian androids in garden wear were not true threats, despite their myriad of tools designed to corral and beat back the plants they tended to. Chain-blades, high frequency shears, soil drills, and weed whackers were weapons of terror but the androids holding them had no skill in their use (verses people). Straight rushes against choke points, an utter absence of effective duck and cover verses the Arcadian's ranged fire capacities, and a tendency towards target fixation that ignored alternate routes were the most noticeable issues, but by no means were the only signs that their military ineptitude so far managed to outmatch that of the levies.
In any remotely even match, numbers wise, actual soldiers no matter how badly trained were more than equal to malfunctioning and insane civilian androids. And with almost half a thousand soldiers dedicated to this front the Arcadian expedition had numbers to spare. Numbers which proved needed as the true extent of the territorial expanse of the Sky Gardens made itself clear, stretching the levies farther and farther as the perimeter of claimed territory extended. It is here that the oversight and fast response capabilities of the 1st Combat Witch Wing would prove invaluable, their high flying elites capable of keeping watch on substantial numbers of scattered conscripts and capable of relieving any unit that came under the sort of multi-directional or overwhelming assault that risked overwhelming them in less time then it took for them to call for assistance.
Many of the levies were saved by the witches during the fighting, their wide-brimmed hats and traditional black robes signs of hope and victory alike as they struck from on high when the levied in mass soldiers of the first and second banner needed their support. Most often this was needed not versus the gardening androids that serviced the Sky Gardens, gone insane from the disaster, but the security response forces that were attempting to resolve what they saw as a massed public disturbance. While armed and equipped for riot control over true combat akin to those androids met on the border-zone of the Sky Gardens, they were still superior foes in comparison, capable of functional tactics and understanding of lines of fire and attention in ways not matched by farming specialists or surviving civilian servitors.
Of course, after the Sky Gardens were taken would come the no easier task of securing the Arcadian Expeditionary Force's new territory. The very feature that made the gardens an attractive prospect for an assault, their sprawling fields of green, made keeping out intruders an effort of constant toil. Even without the many street level accesses that needed to be secured and garrisoned, a myriad of service tunnels stretched throughout the gardens to allow for ease of transport for the gardening androids and their heavy machinery without intruding upon civilian transport areas which were in themselves also connected to the city's utility work passages. While a large amount of these access ways ended up just as broken and shattered as the city streets from the fall, a surprising amount were still traversable in one form or another. This resulted in a continual brushfire containment effort against the farming androids whom continued to pop up throughout the Sky Gardens as time went on, attempting to return the gardens to the patterns they considered correct instead of the farming patterns used by the expedition.
While tiresome, this insurgency was not a true threat to the expedition's control over the Sky Gardens, but until the city could be brought fully under the Arcadian First Expeditionary Force's control it would result in the continual need for active garrisoning and defense of the gardens entire to prevent the loss or replacement of desired crops, whether they be of food or biofuels, with flowers or other more aesthetically pleasing plant choices.
More delicate is the discovery of more than a dozen human survivors holed up in a former flower conservatory, guarded by a batch of reprogramed security androids. Paranoid and unfriendly, they are insisting that your forces remain at least a block away from their base on pain of aggression.
But the Sky Gardens, and what grows within, are now under your nominal control.
[Sky Gardens conquered. Now comes the issue of holding them. A number of injuries and a smaller number of fatalities were taken from the locals. The Combat Witch Wing is proving highly useful for spotting potentially dangerous concentrations of force and allowing for countermoves to be made]
-[X] Tidal Plants:
--[X] Third Company
--[X] Blademistress Evaine
Beneath the city, it is less dark then one would originally expect. There's no sunlight making its way through broken stone and metal, but the fires of the crash smolder yet. Much of the undercity was dedicated to machinery that was less than picturistic to have above, and the crash wrought havoc upon it all. Arcs of lightning from the broken iron illuminate the darkness fitfully where the flames do not flicker, dimly visible through the smoke or worse that chokes the passages regardless of light.
It was between these quiescent wrecks that a lone figure picked their way through. Embedded sensors threw back the gloom and idly traced power lines that still carried some sort of charge. A useful ability, given the denizens of these artificial caves…
Two power signatures flared as androids silently rose from ambush positions, arms spreading into lethal implements to disable and disassemble the intruder in their territory. A simple sweep of Evaine's blade cut through one's processor, sheering off the legs of the other with a twist of the wrist. Alloys forged for impact resistance and holding an edge, powered by electromotive fibers, tested the structural materials of pre-Collapse service units and found them wanting. Standing above the corpse of a feral foe and the scuttling half of another, the Arcadian Blademistress couldn't help but feel the same. Her implanted memories were in agreement: this was pest control, not honorable combat.
An almost silent whistle cuts through the air, causing Evaine to turn with her sword driven through the chest of the crawling robot as the commander of the third banner company salutes the Blademistress from the rear of the chamber. "No problem with the lurkers my lady?" She asks as she takes in the scene. "As expected of our lord's champion then. I am lucky to bear witness to such skill."
Behind her the rest of the third company's command squad file into the room, the bodyguard warriors moving to take custody of the bodies at a motion from their commander as she stands at attention to make a report. "We're continuing to encounter roughly the same levels of resistance as was last reported, mistress. The androids down here are mostly broken and desperate, but any that are still alive generally are the ones that have figured out how to actually be dangerous so we're taking some losses despite most of them being civilian models."
"But we're still spending more time clearing a safe passage for the company than we're spending fighting." The noble says with a shrug as the androids corpses are taken out the door behind her to join the other ones collected so far for disassembly, sorting, and recycling. "Between the cave-ins, the fires, and the spills of whatever alchemical gunk they were using for their workshops this is the kind of job that calls for a professional mage-engineer unit. We're doing our best, but… progress is slow. This just isn't what we were trained for."
With her report finished, the noble falls silent, shifting only slightly during the time spent waiting for Evaine's reaction.
After a short moment, spent cleaning her blade of oil, Evaine nods. "Nothing new then, as you said. We'll press on." And, Evaine doesn't say, hopefully your trust in me will continue to remain unneeded
And press on the company does, Evaine at their head, winning victory against whatever foe dared test her down in the dark
Eventually the Generators are found, covered in wreckage and trapped in stagnant, dark water. Here the largest cluster of undercity androids is found, feeding and surviving off the remaining reserves of power held by the generators, but like those before they die to Evaine's blade
To get them operational they'll have to be repaired, a relatively simple job for a properly equipped team if not a small job, the waterways cleared out, a job which will not be simple or easy given the amount of wreckage needing to be moved, and probably hardest of all a safe and guarded way of transmitting the power to the surface will have to be rebuilt.
But despite those issues, the mission is a success.
[Tidal Generators functional but clogged by junk, and will need clearing.]
In the aftermath of the two missions, the seizing of the Sky Gardens and Tidal Generators
On the face of things the battle has gone well. Swathes of the fallen city have turned blue on the maps and the nearby turbines have heavily guarded technicians prodding the machinery to see what it will take to get them operational again.
Your engram lent skill tells you a different story.
While any enemy group was located and purged through a combination of air strikes and ground teams, lone combatants are an ever present threat both in the city as stragglers return to their posts or activate from their maintenance cradles now that their competitors are no longer pulling power as well as in the turbine depths as androids creep into now vacant territory to seek power and parts from your soldiers. While open battle has ended, this conflict is far from over. Garrison posts will be a chronic necessity for some time though not necessarily a tactical necessity.
Speaking of which, there is a vital choice to make. With the seizure of a sizable amount of growing space and the accompanying variety of biological organisms, exotic and otherwise, alongside the feeble sparks the turbines contained that had yet to be accessed by the undercity dwellers it is possible to sit back, reorganize, and replenish the losses generated by the campaign, replace combat consumables on your combat witches, and engage in some number crunching to allow for new combat units to be fielded.
Conversely, it could be time to gather all your forces and crack the last bastion of organized resistance in the city. For one, it is unknown what conditions those of your troops that were overpowered and dragged off by security automata might be suffering. For another, it is likely that some sort of reaction will be had once a constant level of skirmishing begins to keep hold of your new territory.
[ ] Initiate the battle for the Central Reserves.
[ ] End this combat phase and begin the first strategic turn.
[Writing Prompt: Wars are not just fought by units, but by people. Who are they that fight by your order? This includes leaders (company captains), banner specific uniforms and flags, and what the formations have done "before" they were Arcadian levies (ie, the false memories of the "land" they hail from). The nature of your nobles will inherently influence that of the banners they command.]
With much credit to DaLintyGuy for their assistance.
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- Pronouns
- Reader
[X] End this combat phase and begin the first strategic turn.
We need a sapper unit, first for clearing the turbines efficiently, and later for fortification of both locations.
It's nearly 12 AM where I live. I'll put an company leader proposal tommorow, assuming I'm not beat to the Assault Company.
We need a sapper unit, first for clearing the turbines efficiently, and later for fortification of both locations.
It's nearly 12 AM where I live. I'll put an company leader proposal tommorow, assuming I'm not beat to the Assault Company.
- Location
- New England
Do we have a more exact count of how much casualties we took, or just the ballpark gut feeling estimates described in the update?