Partially, yes. You're also intended to, eventually, build a gateway on your end so that EuroCorp can properly exploit this Earth as a market. You can think of the gateways in a way similar to the wormhole gateways in the Commonwealth Saga. That is to say, you can get to a location using only one generator (though it's difficult and expensive), but with a generator on each end, you can have a stable link that's easy to maintain and use.
Partially, yes. You're also intended to, eventually, build a gateway on your end so that EuroCorp can properly exploit this Earth as a market. You can think of the gateways in a way similar to the wormhole gateways in the Commonwealth Saga. That is to say, you can get to a location using only one generator (though it's difficult and expensive), but with a generator on each end, you can have a stable link that's easy to maintain and use.
1. Approach Cuba (or any other local faction that desperately could use some help) and offer them tech and help against American aggression.
2. Gain more and more control over their economy, making them dependent on our products, exploiting their workers and natural resources in the name of industrial progress.
3. Build gate
4. Profit
Granted, communists might not like supercorps, but there's no reason we can't just lie to them.
One step at a time. And it doesn't have to be Cuba, if we flub things trying to get power here, well, there's plenty more countries out there. This is just the closest and most immediate and our superiors would deeply appreciate quick results I'm sure.
[x] Send UAV and behind it the agents, time it for the UAV to get a good look at the action before the dropship touches down. No. of Votes: 4 Asmodemus Deathwings Pyro Hawk Syn0
"Tell Neill to prep the Agents," you say to Ellie as you move back to your seat in the command room.
"And get the flight deck to prep a UAV for recon; I want eyes on location before our Agents get there."
As Ellie gets to work, you settling into your seat and lean back against its padded surface. Closing your eyes, you open a link to the Return's control systems and for a moment you hang in darkness, your sole company the ghostly glowing shapes of your DART's HUD. Suddenly, as brightly and silently as the dawn, a dozen windows open in your mind's eye, and a heartbeat later a dozen more appear. Cracking your neck, you bring the first of many items into focus with a flick of your finger and you pore over the twisting figures it contains.
It's good to be back in command, you think to yourself with a smirk.
===
Choose what you want to equip your agents with here:
Please note: Agents can only carry a maximum of two weapons and four grenades total.
Available budget: 50,000 EC
Agent Outfitting:
Equipment
[] Default Weapons: TAR-39 Assault Rifle, Razorback M786 Revolver, and APP-3 Semi-Automatic Pistol. (0 EC per squad member)
[] Level 1 Weapons: Bullhammer Mark II Revolver, UMK Mark IV SMG, Castellano CQC-11 Combat Shotgun, or Kusanagi ACR-10 Assault/Sniper Rifle combo. (1,000 EC per item)
[] Level 2 Weapons: EMWS-56 Gauss Gun, LTB Thermite Gun, and RLX-240 Electron Mace. (2,000 EC per item)
[] Level 3 Weapons: Mjolnir H.O.G. Automatic Shotgun, COIL Laser Rifle, and Kusanagi HSR-6 Sniper Rifle. (4,000 EC per item)
[] Heavy Weapons: LAWS-92 Rocket Launcher, SWARM Launcher, and HARBINGER G290 Minigun. (8,000 EC per item)
[] Grenades: SEEF-2 Fragmentation Grenade, Fuel-Air Grenade, and Seeker Grenade. (250 EC per item)
[] EWAR Gear: Viral and EMP grenades, man-portable distortion generators, and Riot Lances are all in the mix when it comes to electronic warfare. (3,000 EC per squad member)
[] Mini-UCAV: A semi-autonomous, flying drone armed the size of the small dog, the Mini-UCAV is armed with a light machine gun and equipped with the same kind of gel-based defences used in liquid armour. These drones can provide much-needed fire support and come in a variety of appealing colours. (8,000 EC per drone)
=====
Seen through the UAV's camera, the air above the flight deck roils like a storm-tossed sea, the near-cloudless sky beyond the shimmering dome warping and twisting until only a diffuse powder-blue light shines through. With a series of rapid twitches, you cycle through the drone's various camera modes only to see the same image presented in each before dejectedly returning to the visible spectrum.
Turning your attention away from the sky, you think about the flight control tower a hundred meters away instead, and dutifully the image in your mind swivels until the shark-fin like structure is centred in your view. Blinking once, the image swells until you can make out the individual freckles on one of the air traffic controllers sitting inside.
<"Signal is clear on my end and hardware seems 100%,"> you tell the flight crew standing on the side of the deck. Blinking again, you zoom out from the tower and return the UAV's powerful camera to its default, forward position.
<"Roger that sir,"> shoots back one of the flight crew a moment later. <"Everything's clear on our end. The launch is good to go.">
With a sudden jerk, the image in your mind judders as the ten-meter long electromagnetic catapult the drone is hanging onto begins to swing out over the edge of the airship's hull. With a final shudder that makes you twitch involuntarily, the device halts its movement and locks into place pointing a good 35 degrees away from your airship. Despite yourself, you can't help but look down towards the sea that stretches out below you, and you try in vain to suppress the wave of vertigo that floods your mind as you imagine yourself in the drone's place.
As you twist your attention back to the safety of the horizon, a countdown timer silently appears in your HUD and a moment later begins to tick down.
3...
2...
1…
With a brutal shudder, the catapult fires and the drone is launched into the air like a missile. For an instant it simply plunges forwards, the arc of its motion slowly curving down towards the sea below, before automatic systems cut in with mechanical precision and its five meter long wings unlock and swing out into position. With an almost effortless flick of its wings, the machine catches the air and transforms its fall into a controlled glide before activating its whisper quiet engine and accelerating. Rising swiftly, the drone circles the Return once like an eagle hunting prey before peeling off towards the Cuban coastline and beginning its long climb to operational altitude.
The UAV's launch complete, the timer in your HUD sullenly fades away only to be replaced by a new one.
15:00
14:59
14:58
14:57
Now for launch number two… you think to yourself as you withdraw your control over the drone and turn your attention to the off-white Rapina dropship sitting on the flight deck.
****
00:05
00:04
00:03
Dismissing the ETA with a thought, you retake control of the drone's powerful cameras and turn them onto the secluded bay that stretches out below you.
Where the sea meets the shore lies a thin, u-shaped strip of coarse pale-yellow sand that gives way here and there to small dunes covered in wiry grass and the occasional jutting rock. To the north-east and south-west, past the coarse sand and dunes, lay sandstone cliffs a good ten meters tall that shield the beach from sight and which provide cover from the wind for a small huddle of dilapidated looking buildings. Meanwhile, in the exact centre of the bay's U-shaped beach and in stark contrast to the look of the buildings, is a well-maintained wooden pier that appears to be relatively new and to which two expensive-looking speedboats are moored.
Zooming into the pier, you spot a mass of footprints in the nearby sand which lead toward a large building on the shoreline. Following the tracks, you quickly spot two men slowly circling the building, archaic assault rifles held loosely in their arms and bodies heavily tattooed. Smiling, you mark the figures as targets and add them to the map forming in the Return's control systems as bright red diamonds orbiting a golden building. Blinking the drone's cameras into infrared, you start looking for the US special forces team and a swiftly spot two clusters of white light standing out amidst the blacks and greys of the trees and cliffs to the north.
Looks like whatever they're waiting for hasn't arrived yet, you think to yourself as you note their positions. That could be useful, you continue as you think about your next move.
====
OOC: I've updated the equipment post. I'll try to come up with a better layout tomorrow or the day after.
[] Put your Agents' dropship into a holding pattern.
[] Drop your Agents in the cliffs to the north and infiltrate closer to the special forces.
[] Drop your Agents in the forest to the south-west and infiltrate closer to the building.
[] Drop your Agents on top of the building.
[] Drop your agents on top of the special forces.
[] Write-in.
How many agents do we currently have? Just two? Maybe us as well if we wanted to pilot an extra body?
Character sheet hasn't been updated in a while.
Can't parse information about the weapons, it's too much for me. Especially since I don't know how it translates to the in-game rules, the damage, the range, this stuff. I guess we could go with something that narratively makes sense, and then figure it out from there.
...what were our goal here, again? No, this is not a question to GM, it's a question to the players about what we want from the encounter. Prisoners? No witnesses? Something else?
...what were our goal here, again? No, this is not a question to GM, it's a question to the players about what we want from the encounter. Prisoners? No witnesses? Something else?
I'm thinking prisoners to interrogate. And maybe we can save some cuban gang-boss from being kidnapped to some American blacksite and gain an 'in' to organised crime. That should help significantly with stuff like cover identities, shell companies and so on.
"<NES-Actual,"> comes the voice calmly, a hint of an American twang only just audible beneath a heavy South American accent, <"this is Fox-1. We are on site and have eyes on a Jack and King of Clubs. Be aware, dealer has yet to draw the Queen of Hearts, or the King of Diamonds.>"
Cubans depend on how things go. If we end up friendly with them, then probably not. Avoid being seen if possible, but considering the presence of American special forces in the area, we may just be dismissed as them after the fact unless we use blatantly high-tech gear.
Well, I'm not sure they want to kidnap someone, but generally speaking you don't send special forces to foreign soil while the cold war threatens to go hot unless you're after a very high value target like a high-ranking member.
To be honest, we really can't make too many plans or draw too many conclusions as is. We'll need to be ready for circumstances to change and go in prepared for anything.
As for loadout, we can probably expect to face infantry and we won't need any anti-armor. I'm thinking one sniper rifle and mostly automatic smallarms aside from that. We should probably bring an Electron Mace for taking prisoners.
How many agents do we currently have? Just two? Maybe us as well if we wanted to pilot an extra body?
Character sheet hasn't been updated in a while.
Can't parse information about the weapons, it's too much for me. Especially since I don't know how it translates to the in-game rules, the damage, the range, this stuff. I guess we could go with something that narratively makes sense, and then figure it out from there.
...what were our goal here, again? No, this is not a question to GM, it's a question to the players about what we want from the encounter. Prisoners? No witnesses? Something else?
Guess which nerd spent the past three hours writing up various weapon stats and the start of several character sheets?
Said weapon stats and character sheets can be found in the 'Equipment Stats' and 'Characters' sections of the Informational Threadmarks tab. Please let me know if you spot anything weird, or think something needs clarification/adjustment as I haven't written an RPG before
You can puppet one of your Agents if you want, or you can run overwatch/mission control. If you choose to puppet one of your Agents, be aware that while Monahan is more likely to be more hesitant and to do things of her own volition under certain circumstances; Agent Webb knows best how to use his DART to hack things.
If this were SHIELD we were going up against I'd be for leaving him in. But we're seemingly going after normal special forces and dealers in Cuba. Might be surprises, might be a SHIELD op we're mistaken on. Might be other things pop up. As is though I'm for us puppeteering Webb for this first op, get eyes on.
If we want more than two guys we should probably send in some troops with the agents to carry the people they nab. Unless I missed a piece of tech that'd make that not much of an issue.
I'm for scoping things out, grab two spec ops guys and if there's a prime opportunity nab a guy on the other side. But potential gubmint secrets > underworld contacts to me on this particular mission.
*notes we don't have info on armor and 'riot lances' in the equipment sections bookmarked*
As for loadout, we can probably expect to face infantry and we won't need any anti-armor. I'm thinking one sniper rifle and mostly automatic smallarms aside from that. We should probably bring an Electron Mace for taking prisoners.
Think we should grab a shotgun for Monahan, especially as it has cover piercing. She likes to run in and get in close, shock and awe. Webb can carry the sniper rifle as he's the more ranged guy. Both of them carrying electron maces as it's a snatch and grab and one can get in to subdue someone the other gets an opportunity on. Shouldn't be too risky without much long ranged fire, we expect the opponent to be mundane.. though if we can also put pistols as backup on them I'd be alright with that.
I am thinking two frags and one seeker on each of them. Frags to get options to add chaos and mess up evidence, deal with larger than expected groups and seekers just in case we need to retreat, we can set them up to be an ambush against a following force or for other potential reasons. Overall I think this weapons loadout gives us bang but without overly revealing anything outlandish about us unless we utilize the seekers which we want to keep for emergencies or unique situations.
As for where to drop.. we're here to nab special forces. Let's be in a position to take advantage after they engage. We can change up the game plan after if a juicier target appears.
50,000 - 10,500 =39,500 EC
[x] Weapons Plan A:
-[x] Kusanagi HSR-6 Sniper Rifle on Agent Webb -4,000
-[x] Castellano CQC-11 Combat Shotgun on Agent Monahan -1,000
-[x] 2x Electron Maces, one on both agents -4,000
-[x] 4x Frag grenades, two on both agents -1,000
-[x] 2x Seeker Grenades, one on both agents -500
[x] Drop your Agents in the cliffs to the north and infiltrate closer to the special forces.
Looks like a plan. The only change I'd maybe consider is a mini-UCAV.
[x] Weapons Plan A:
-[x] Kusanagi HSR-6 Sniper Rifle on Agent Webb -4,000
-[x] Castellano CQC-11 Combat Shotgun on Agent Monahan -1,000
-[x] 2x Electron Maces, one on both agents -4,000
-[x] 4x Frag grenades, two on both agents -1,000
-[x] 2x Seeker Grenades, one on both agents -500
[x] Drop your Agents in the cliffs to the north and infiltrate closer to the special forces.
I thought about it, but we're wanting to avoid anything too noteable, or things we might want around later. The sniper rifles and shotguns are generic enough, seeker grenades shouldn't get revealed if things go as planned. Electron maces aren't too far fetched. But the UCAV would demand either full victory or to not use it in public after this.
And little UAVs like that carrying weaponry could be so very profitable..
Well, I'm not sure they want to kidnap someone, but generally speaking you don't send special forces to foreign soil while the cold war threatens to go hot unless you're after a very high value target like a high-ranking member.
Heat means nothing when we are literally off everyone's radar at the moment and can choose to appear anywhere in the world at our leisure. The only real dangers are if these guys have some random superpowered dude among them or in the drug cartel that messes things up.
They have radios, but shouldn't have helmet cams or the like. Unless we really screw up, we should leave no evidence beyond signs of higher powered than normal ordinary sniper rifle and shotgun rounds. Nothing world altering and could be just some of the enemy got some their hands on some Stark weaponry or whatever.
SF guys could give us information on how the world's biggest power does it's black ops, give us insight into things, give us potential targets to raid(now that's heat, but the heat can be worth it for the kinds of crazy things Marvel can make), all sorts of juicy intel.
Drug guys? Unless the guy that they're waiting for is an actual version of The Mandarin, or the head of all drug organizations everywhere somehow, they're not worth it. Shady contacts? Sure, why not? Knowledge of the underworld? Big whoop, we can raid at our leisure, go through cartels bottom to top as we please. This is our opportunity for taking SFs away from their homeland, unexpected, our way into the US' black areas! Potential for knowledge on at least one active or previously active site to harvest superpowers or supergear from before things start to get really crazy.
Compare that to "Our cocaine fields are grown over here, I know pretty much nothing else about that part." ...Pretty damn underwhelming.
And if we get spotted and don't take them out, they'll probably be able to realize there's a third party as opposed to some heavy hitters working for the guys they're waiting for.
Heat means nothing when we are literally off everyone's radar at the moment and can choose to appear anywhere in the world at our leisure. The only real dangers are if these guys have some random superpowered dude among them or in the drug cartel that messes things up.
If we moved our ship in closer maybe that'd be an issue. Or if we stuck around they might detect the dropship if they send in fighters to sweep.
We're just doing a quick snatch and grab in my mind. Taking advantage of the chaos of battle then retreating with as little evidence as possible behind.
They should just see it as their team got ambushed by more cartel guys and some guys got taken out, and the area gets subjected to further scrutiny while we move out of the area for a bit and examine what we've got before deciding on our next course of action.
[x] Weapons Plan A:
-[x] Kusanagi HSR-6 Sniper Rifle on Agent Webb -4,000
-[x] Castellano CQC-11 Combat Shotgun on Agent Monahan -1,000
-[x] 2x Electron Maces, one on both agents -4,000
-[x] 4x Frag grenades, two on both agents -1,000
-[x] 2x Seeker Grenades, one on both agents -500
[x] Drop your Agents in the cliffs to the north and infiltrate closer to the special forces. No. of Votes: 2
===
From the bird's eye view of the battlefield that your high-altitude UAV provides, you watch as a white and orange EuroCorp symbol materialises a good five kilometres away from the drop zone. Even with the drone's highly-tuned sensors turned up to maximum and pointed directly at the marker, you can't make out any sign of the cloaked dropship that you know is there, and you release a breath that you didn't realise you were holding.
Still can't get used to using these things for ourselves, you grumble to yourself as you watch the EuroCorp née Cayman-Global aircraft hurtle toward the bay below.
<"Drop in one minute,"> you send to your Agents via DART, and an instant later you watch the symbol peel off to the right as the dropship's pilot follows the plan uploaded to their DART.
A few seconds later, and less than two kilometres from the drop zone, the pilot suddenly cuts off the dropship's noisy thrusters and instead uses the craft's momentum to coast toward target point. Overlaying the position of your targets onto your drone's video feed, you watch as the pilot skillfully pulses the dropship's hover pads to slow the heavy aircraft and bring it to a halt twenty meters above the drop zone and less than three hundred meters from the special forces taking cover in the cliffs.
Keeping one eye on the feed from your drone in case either the special forces or the cartel members that they're stalking noticed the arrival of a third party, you access your Agents' DARTs and bring up a feed taken directly from their eyes and ears before expanding it to the forefront of your DART's HUD. Watching the feeds, you start the breathing exercises you learned long ago as your two psychopaths-for-hire calmly extricate themselves from their seat harnesses and ready their weapons. Advancing toward the Rapina dropship's nose-mounted clamshell hatch and with the precision of clockwork, Monahan loads shell after shell into her shotgun while Webb inserts a hand-sized magazine into his weapon and lets the bolt snap into place with a metallic thunk and a vicious grin.
As the two agents glance at one another and nod in readiness, you notice that Monahan seems unhappy at having her shotgun's standard-issue depleted uranium pellets replaced a less effective Tungsten alloy version. Nonetheless, Monahan pounds on the underside of the dropship's hatch, and an instant later the hatch shudders before opening wide and letting hot Cuban sunlight stream into the dropship's interior like molten gold.
Here we go, you think as the two Agents step into the void and let themselves fall.
There's a moment of disconnection as you watch them hurtle towards the ground from their perspective; wind whistling shrilly and trenchcoats whipping back and forth as the two Agents plunge downwards. Unhurriedly, the augmented soldiers look down towards their landing site and you have to fight the creeping sensation of vertigo as you see only an endless expanse of white and brown rocks stretching out beneath their falling bodies and rapidly approaching.
Before you can even flinch, the two Agents slam into the rocky surface of the cliffs without a hint of effort despite taking a fall that would shatter the legs of a normal human. An instant after landing, the two Agents spring into motion with Agent Monahan raising her shotgun to her shoulder and advancing a half dozen steps toward their target while Agent Webb hangs back and scans for enemies. From ground level, the entire layout of the cliffs changes, with water-smoothed peaks and plate-like shelves of rock shortening lines of sights and forming tight corridors with only just enough room for a single person. Realising that his sniper rifle won't be effective until they get to the edge of the cliffs, Webb swiftly stows the long gun before drawing and readying his Electron Mace.
With a nod to Monahan from Webb, the two Agents begin their advance toward the nearby special forces team; mindfully skirting around scree and foot traps as they follow the Augmented Reality guideline that winds its way through the labyrinthian network of crevasses. As the two Agents slowly make their way towards their target, you expand the drone's view in your HUD and watch the ominously glowing symbols of the US and cartel forces closely as they shift seemingly at random. Seconds begin to stretch into minutes and the edge of excitement that bites into your mind eases off and makes way for a kind of patience.
Rolling: Dexterity versus Hard check (12)
Agent Webb: Rolls 9 versus 12 = Failure!
Agent Monahan: Rolls 15 versus 12 = Success!
Suddenly, a loud scraping sound rings out and with a start, you bring back the feed from your Agents. Instantly, you're presented with a view of Webb's long sniper rifle's barrel pressed against the rocky wall of a crevasse, a long streak of white sandstone running behind it.
Rolling: Intelligence versus Very Hard check (14)
SF Team member #1: Rolls 9 versus 14 = Failure!
SF Team member #2: Rolls 11 versus 14 = Failure!
SF Team member #3: Rolls 14 versus 14 = Success!
SF Team member #4: Rolls 14 versus 14 = Success!
Flipping back to the drone's view, you see the two closest members of the special forces team stir and turn towards your Agents' location. While the rough terrain means that they can't see your forces, you can tell from the sudden change in their body language that they know that someone or something is behind them. As if to confirm this, you watch as one of the two turns to the other members of his squad and gesture in the general direction of Webb and Monahan.
"This isn't great," you mutter in irritation.
=====
Pick one: [] Go Loud, charge forward, and lob grenades at the special forces team. With luck, you'll catch them off guard and you can capture the survivors at your leisure. [] Stop immediately, hunker down, and deploy the seeker grenades as mines. Best case: they'll write it off as an animal or natural rockslide and not investigate. Worst case: they'll be advancing into an ambush. [] Meet them halfway. Advancing as stealthily as possible, attempt to meet the enemy halfway to maximise the chances of capturing one alive on your terms. [] Write in.
Optional: [] Posses an Agent. (Who and to do what?)
