World On Fire: Shadow Ops [a Fantasy WWII Quest]
- Thread starter Zoosmell
- Start date
- Mature Fantasy Alt. History
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All Guns Blazing Pt. XV
Zoosmell
Blind Idiot Arcana
- Location
- Kansas
[><] Focus on the Onmyoji
Zeroes may be made of paper, but even a paper tiger takes more work to bring down than a human focused on fighting other humans mid-air - and unlike you, these IJN onmyoji aren't even wearing leather to protect themselves. Their uniforms are clearly derived from Shinto priest and priestess ones (albeit more form-fitting), but are clearly not made of silk. That's good for a few reasons, but the most important is that silk takes really well to enchantment, while cotton isn't any better than any other cheap plant-based fabric.
<<Focus on the girls!>> you shout into your radio as you do just that. You dive on one of the onmyoji applying a large ofuda to one of the Devastators, hooking her in the stomach with your sabre. It's not sharp enough to cut her in half, but the onmyoji still leaves a red trail like a comet as she falls to the ocean.
You turn to the ofuda itself. For a moment you think of simply hacking it away with your sword, but flying so slow for that long just makes you as much of a target as the torpedo bomber, and you might damage the sword, the plane, or both. So you simply grab on and rip it off, taking care to lean out of the path of any stray magical energies released.
You look up as you level back off some hundred or so feet below the flight, and note that your squadron of witches has drawn most of the onmyoji and some of the Zeroes into a respectable hairball-type dogfight. It's certainly keeping the IJN flying elements away from the Devastators by tying them up in the fight, but if many more launch and aren't lured by the promise of kills, your own squadron will be just as tied up and kept away from said Devastators.
[ ] Stick with the Devastators
- [ ] and try and draw more enemies towards the group
[ ] Stick with the hairball
- [ ] and try and draw more enemies into it
Wanted this up Thursday, but I had a busy weekend and was too tired yesterday. Happy Memorial Day anyway.
Zeroes may be made of paper, but even a paper tiger takes more work to bring down than a human focused on fighting other humans mid-air - and unlike you, these IJN onmyoji aren't even wearing leather to protect themselves. Their uniforms are clearly derived from Shinto priest and priestess ones (albeit more form-fitting), but are clearly not made of silk. That's good for a few reasons, but the most important is that silk takes really well to enchantment, while cotton isn't any better than any other cheap plant-based fabric.
<<Focus on the girls!>> you shout into your radio as you do just that. You dive on one of the onmyoji applying a large ofuda to one of the Devastators, hooking her in the stomach with your sabre. It's not sharp enough to cut her in half, but the onmyoji still leaves a red trail like a comet as she falls to the ocean.
You turn to the ofuda itself. For a moment you think of simply hacking it away with your sword, but flying so slow for that long just makes you as much of a target as the torpedo bomber, and you might damage the sword, the plane, or both. So you simply grab on and rip it off, taking care to lean out of the path of any stray magical energies released.
You look up as you level back off some hundred or so feet below the flight, and note that your squadron of witches has drawn most of the onmyoji and some of the Zeroes into a respectable hairball-type dogfight. It's certainly keeping the IJN flying elements away from the Devastators by tying them up in the fight, but if many more launch and aren't lured by the promise of kills, your own squadron will be just as tied up and kept away from said Devastators.
[ ] Stick with the Devastators
- [ ] and try and draw more enemies towards the group
[ ] Stick with the hairball
- [ ] and try and draw more enemies into it
Wanted this up Thursday, but I had a busy weekend and was too tired yesterday. Happy Memorial Day anyway.
- Location
- Singapore
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Stick with the hairball
- [X] and try and draw more enemies into it
- [X] and try and draw more enemies into it
- Location
- United States
That's what happened to Yorktown's torpedo bombers, although to be fair they only had four Wildcats to work with, we might have more luck.
[X] Stick with the Devastators
- [X] and try and draw more enemies towards the group
I'm thinking we want to get the enemy as evenly split between the two sections as possible so no one group gets overwhelmed. I'm leery about deliberately luring more bogies towards the Devastators but so long as we're there to run interference and they remain in formation, it should be good. I definitely want to keep as many of us sticking with the torpedo bombers as possible, though, the Japanese still have more CAP to deploy and without an escort, they'll get mulched.
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
This fight is turning into a real hairball.
[X] Stick with the Devastators
Interesting tidbit.
Good thing it didn't immediately just explode.
[X] Stick with the Devastators
- Location
- Pittsburgh PA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Stick with the Devastators
- Location
- Internet
[X] Stick with the Devastators
Dark Lord Potato
Aspiring OverLord from Canada
- Location
- Ottawa, Ontario
[X] Stick with the Devastators
- Location
- USA
[x] Stick with the hairball
- [x] and try and draw more enemies into it
- [x] and try and draw more enemies into it
Vote closed
All Guns Blazing Pt. XVI
Zoosmell
Blind Idiot Arcana
- Location
- Kansas
[><] Stick with the Devastators
You wait a few seconds before giving your next set of orders. The allure of killing Zeros is a strong one, but you're not here to escort fighters.
<<Fall back to the Devastators!>> you call out over the radio. <<If the Imps want a fight, they'll damn well have to come get one!>>
With great and visible reluctance, the witches do fall back to the Devastators. A few onmyoji try to pursue, but three are sent down into the ocean. Eventually, they form back up with the Zeroes and begin to circle around the formation, even as you and the witches try and herd them to the rear. The problem is that onmyoji are, well, flying mages, and the Zero's stall speed is actually lower than the Devastator's from estimates.
Another four d20s, same deal as last time, but with a 1d5 as well.
You are temporarily Eugene Lindsey. So far, this Army Air Corps witch is proving a very reliable escort, even if she is Japanese and an Army witch at that. Your squadron has taken some damage, but it hasn't lost anyone yet - though there are a few planes that may have to launch their torpedoes early if they want to get home in their own planes.
Still. You're just far enough out that you have a choice to make. Which flattop are you going to put your squadron's fish in?
Choose up to all 4, but keep in mind when you roll for torpedo hits next post its per plane, and each additional carrier you try and hit by splitting up your squadron adds 1d4 Difficulty
[ ] Akagi
[ ] Kaga
[ ] Hiryuu
[ ] Sohryuu
You wait a few seconds before giving your next set of orders. The allure of killing Zeros is a strong one, but you're not here to escort fighters.
<<Fall back to the Devastators!>> you call out over the radio. <<If the Imps want a fight, they'll damn well have to come get one!>>
With great and visible reluctance, the witches do fall back to the Devastators. A few onmyoji try to pursue, but three are sent down into the ocean. Eventually, they form back up with the Zeroes and begin to circle around the formation, even as you and the witches try and herd them to the rear. The problem is that onmyoji are, well, flying mages, and the Zero's stall speed is actually lower than the Devastator's from estimates.
Another four d20s, same deal as last time, but with a 1d5 as well.
You are temporarily Eugene Lindsey. So far, this Army Air Corps witch is proving a very reliable escort, even if she is Japanese and an Army witch at that. Your squadron has taken some damage, but it hasn't lost anyone yet - though there are a few planes that may have to launch their torpedoes early if they want to get home in their own planes.
Still. You're just far enough out that you have a choice to make. Which flattop are you going to put your squadron's fish in?
Choose up to all 4, but keep in mind when you roll for torpedo hits next post its per plane, and each additional carrier you try and hit by splitting up your squadron adds 1d4 Difficulty
[ ] Akagi
[ ] Kaga
[ ] Hiryuu
[ ] Sohryuu
Thebigpieman
I've got this, I think.
- Location
- United States
Roll call!
Edit: Oh.
You know, maybe I should just not roll for the enemy anymore...
Edit: Oh.
You know, maybe I should just not roll for the enemy anymore...
Last edited:
- Location
- United States
@Zoosmell - will there be any mechanical difference between the different carriers? For example, the Kaga is a converted Battleship hull and is thus "tougher" than the other carriers, but also slower. Meanwhile, the Hiryuu and Sohryuu are Japan's first purpose-built fleet carriers, and thus zippy little shits, but also literally made out of paper mache. The Akagi is, of course, the Kido Butai's flagship. Will nailing it impact the rest of the fleet with some kind of debuff? Just want to know how much thought we should be putting into this, essentially.
Now, then we have to consider how many carriers we want to hit. There are a couple factors to consider here - we have twelve torpedo bombers, assuming that none get shot down before the run, which means that we'll be rolling to hit twelve times. If we split up, that means it'll be divided to six, and there'll be an overall debuff due to less force concentration. We also have to consider the infamous unreliability of early war American torpedoes, which presumably reduce the chance of success further. On the other hand, these Japanese carriers are atrociously constructed and their DamCom is awful. I'm completely certain that only a single torpedo hit will be required to knock them out of action and in all likelihood send the hull to the bottom of the sea, which gives us a fair bit of flexibility. Finally, however, we have to keep in mind that we're not the only attack being sent at the fleet. Yorktown's torpedo bombers and all the dive-bombers will both be making their own runs soon enough, and the latter alone proved sufficient to destroy three carriers at once.
With all of this in mind, I believe we're best off targeting a single carrier, and if there's no mechanical difference between them we might as well chose the Hiryuu.
Now, then we have to consider how many carriers we want to hit. There are a couple factors to consider here - we have twelve torpedo bombers, assuming that none get shot down before the run, which means that we'll be rolling to hit twelve times. If we split up, that means it'll be divided to six, and there'll be an overall debuff due to less force concentration. We also have to consider the infamous unreliability of early war American torpedoes, which presumably reduce the chance of success further. On the other hand, these Japanese carriers are atrociously constructed and their DamCom is awful. I'm completely certain that only a single torpedo hit will be required to knock them out of action and in all likelihood send the hull to the bottom of the sea, which gives us a fair bit of flexibility. Finally, however, we have to keep in mind that we're not the only attack being sent at the fleet. Yorktown's torpedo bombers and all the dive-bombers will both be making their own runs soon enough, and the latter alone proved sufficient to destroy three carriers at once.
With all of this in mind, I believe we're best off targeting a single carrier, and if there's no mechanical difference between them we might as well chose the Hiryuu.
- Location
- Pittsburgh PA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Roll number 4 I think witches?
[X] Akagi
[X] Akagi
Icipall
Don't worry, we can fanfix that!
- Location
- Cold snow fields of Finland
Good, we've done our job thus far.
[X] Split
-[X] Hiryuu
-[X] Sohryuu
With how they're built, I think we can spread our attack between two carriers, but no more.
Thebigpieman
I've got this, I think.
- Location
- United States
RIP Zeros.edit:
- Location
- United States
... Did the IJN really roll a fucking nat twenty for the shrine maidens and a nat one for the Zeros? And then meanwhile we have the boring USN with its mildly above average rolls, wondering what the fuck's going on with the Japanese. I suppose it's a good thing we deliberately head-hunted the onmyoji and there aren't many of them left.