Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
No. It isn't.
The sooner sci-fi and fantasy gives up its idiotic romance with the idea that 'more swords = better' the better.
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You Are: A sector admiral of a strained imperium.
- Thread starter Packrat
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
No. It isn't.
The sooner sci-fi and fantasy gives up its idiotic romance with the idea that 'more swords = better' the better.
You're telling me this isn't the most dangerous swordsman in fiction?
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
You're telling me this isn't the most dangerous swordsman in fiction?
That isn't even a swordsman. You can tell because they're not wielding a sword.
To be fair, given how energy blades work, people probably should be using offhand parrying daggers and a case of rapiers Florentine approach might also be valid.
Though given how augmented soldiers work stabbing is also pretty ineffective unless you get the central nervous system, any Imperial or NASP marine let along an Imperial officer will just shut down pain and bleeding almost immediately so cutting bits off people is actually really important for incapacitation.
Also this is pretty overwhelming in favour of Threaten. I will shut down voting and work on an update tomorrow.
Though given how augmented soldiers work stabbing is also pretty ineffective unless you get the central nervous system, any Imperial or NASP marine let along an Imperial officer will just shut down pain and bleeding almost immediately so cutting bits off people is actually really important for incapacitation.
Also this is pretty overwhelming in favour of Threaten. I will shut down voting and work on an update tomorrow.
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- Location
- the Netherworld Dood
You do realize that due to superhuman stats, skills and the setting conventional logic need not apply right?
Space combat would look nothing like how it's protrayed now. The closest to actual space combat was Enders game and that shit is hard to follow at the best of times
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
Quad wielding is a respectable first step.
There is nothing that explicitly states that an energy blade has to only cut. The cutting may just be to get inside armor, the bulk of the actual damage being the fact that a big chunk of meat connected to your circulatory system is being flash boiled while electrical discharges burn twisting arcs up and down wherever the current takes them.
And, besides, this is honor duel territory. Something being an inefficient means of killing the other guy isn't a bug, its a feature. You could make an argument that a Klingon Bat'leth is a brilliant piece of weapons design purely on the basis of how bad it is as a weapon.
So... the long blade spec'd for cutting, the other spec'd for turning internal organs into water balloons?
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Well, based off those rolls Reinhard would have been trading evenly with Jose until he eventually beat the man and would not have been fit to fight Athryn at all.
Though odds are if Reinhard did not use a second, Athryn would not have either, in which case he would have defeated her with some wounds.
But that is all hindsight and revealed rolls speaking. Going with Ranca was the better choice.
In other news, there were four Arlan's of prominence in this system. Now three:
Jose is wounded of course and won't be doing anything for months.
Next is the Captain of the Falkor: Captain Lord Atrin Rames Arslan (Diplomacy 11, Strategy 9, Tactics 11, Prowess 10, Subterfuge 13)
He will need to have an eye kept on him thanks to that subterfuge score. Otherwise he is rather ordinary and poses no threat in gathering support or moving against us while in enemy space.
And then there is the last one on the Attack Skiff:
Attack Skiff 'Mizrak'
Captain: Lieutenant Dame Ariah Brighte Arslan (Diplomacy 7, Strategy 6, Tactics 5, Prowess 9, Subterfuge 9)
(......And we were complaining about Adald's stat spread...)
The Skiff has no marine Contingent so the only defense against boarding is essentially the good lieutenant and her subordinate officers.
Anyway, I am not too concerned about House Arslan going hot. They were banking on a renewed war with the NASP to drain the Imperial coffers and attrit the fleet.
Without that they are just left with what alliances they have with other Houses and their own Ducal fleet which probably adds up to 3-4 dozen Capital ships. Impressive, but faces dire odds against the 120+ Capitals of the Imperial fleet.
Though odds are if Reinhard did not use a second, Athryn would not have either, in which case he would have defeated her with some wounds.
But that is all hindsight and revealed rolls speaking. Going with Ranca was the better choice.
In other news, there were four Arlan's of prominence in this system. Now three:
Jose is wounded of course and won't be doing anything for months.
Next is the Captain of the Falkor: Captain Lord Atrin Rames Arslan (Diplomacy 11, Strategy 9, Tactics 11, Prowess 10, Subterfuge 13)
He will need to have an eye kept on him thanks to that subterfuge score. Otherwise he is rather ordinary and poses no threat in gathering support or moving against us while in enemy space.
And then there is the last one on the Attack Skiff:
Attack Skiff 'Mizrak'
Captain: Lieutenant Dame Ariah Brighte Arslan (Diplomacy 7, Strategy 6, Tactics 5, Prowess 9, Subterfuge 9)
(......And we were complaining about Adald's stat spread...)
The Skiff has no marine Contingent so the only defense against boarding is essentially the good lieutenant and her subordinate officers.
Anyway, I am not too concerned about House Arslan going hot. They were banking on a renewed war with the NASP to drain the Imperial coffers and attrit the fleet.
Without that they are just left with what alliances they have with other Houses and their own Ducal fleet which probably adds up to 3-4 dozen Capital ships. Impressive, but faces dire odds against the 120+ Capitals of the Imperial fleet.
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- Location
- the Netherworld Dood
Don't be sure you don't plan a coup d'état and recruit uncertain people unless your certain you have a shot.
If it was early days they would not risk recruiting us especially in the middle of a battle where they can't position agents to ensure our silence or couperation.
Basically, Athryn thought you would be much more bribable and eager to do whatever it took to advance, given you are a particularly cunning commoner grasping for significance rather than a noble to treat as an equal.
She was also quite willing to up her bribe level if you had just refused her or asked for more, 5 shares to make you a baron was her planned expenditure there and why she had 26 shares on her instead of the bare 20 to be a Viscountess, six of them were for bribery.
She was also quite willing to up her bribe level if you had just refused her or asked for more, 5 shares to make you a baron was her planned expenditure there and why she had 26 shares on her instead of the bare 20 to be a Viscountess, six of them were for bribery.
Really depends on what the 2-3 Great Houses that we haven't seen yet are like.
Houses Arril and Jamoor are still too weak and beat-up to rebel, while House Wison appears to be setting themselves up to weather the conflict and come out ahead no matter who wins.
So that leaves the unknowns to provide the forces to match the Imperial fleet. Unless Arslan has a decent chunk of the Imperial fleet set to defect to them on day one of the rebellion.
That is another option.
@Valerian That was why they wanted to both trigger the war early to attrition the fleet and get you on side, they wanted you to become an admiral then defect with a fleet. Imagine if they moved on the Imperial Fleet but you were a Rear Admiral within it commanding 20ish battleships. That would be a sudden swing 40 battleships their way combined with your abilities and the betrayal factor of turning mid battle.
They could quite possibly have taken the throne without having to make any concessions to other ducal houses at all.
They could quite possibly have taken the throne without having to make any concessions to other ducal houses at all.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That's what I voted for
Not a bad plan, but not a story I was interested in pursuing.
Looks like investing in that spy network may be a way forward so we can spot any "shaky" Rear Admirals who House Arslan may try to turn instead.
Unless the war starts soon, in which case better to save up the money for other pursuits.
- Location
- Nova Scotia, Canada
Arg. If she'd have brought this up either before we left for Chuang Mu or waited until after we had the 3 battleships I think we'd have been fairly likely to make a deal to work for Arslan for a few shares and the chance to save our most loyal crew/officers. We were able to come up with better plans to kick of the war early. As it was, the timing and way she made the offer meant we couldn't trust her.
Ugh. Damn. And the Reinhard could have played the ducal houses against each other, before launching his own coup.
Oh well, that road is closed.
Remember Reinhard is a commoner. Asking the viscountess to deal with this better is close to asking her to not be a noble. If the playerbase is going to murder every noble that treats Reinhard as an inferior, even Ranca is going to get overwhelmed.
Remember, we can place spies on the NASP side of the border.
After this turn, I am doubly convinced that we need that. If we know when the NASP are coming, we could survive the NASP starting the war much better.
Not to mention the whole dang snake pit of ducal schemes. I am tired of tripping over ducal schemes, I am thinking the 40 wealth option is actually worthwhile now, since we can finally start being proactive about the shit these guys are stirring.
fasquardon
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Because it's a way of being polite.
How about we get enough lasers and THEN purge the nobility then?
Also, the QM just marked this old post of mine as "insightful". That's... Interesting.
fasquardon
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"Boss, I appreciate the opportunities you are giving me but I do need some downtime. Even God rested on the seventh day."
trooperist
Cinnamon Roll AI
Tell me about it. There's certainly better times to bring up bribes and possible coup attempts than "Hey I know this is the middle of an invasion but let me nuke this planet and kill these defenseless cadets. Trust me, it's important."
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
"If you're going to argue for labour rights I think we're in the wrong polity."
"Who said anything about those? I was talking about my rights!"
"Alright, alright, the next batch can duel the Sword's main railgun battery."
"Thank you, honey."
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
She had even less reason to trust us than we did her. There was also a chance we'd just let her destroy the Monitor, and we were already going with a pretty extreme plan for Chuang Mu - once the Monitor was destroyed and the orbital defenses cleared, we probably could've been bribed to go further to spark a war.
Besides all of that, honestly, I think a lot of people would've reacted very differently if she'd been a man.
Forgothrax
Not Going Gently
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Insults are not an appropriate response to an argument.
I'd like to know which ass you pulled that one out of.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Yeah, that's pretty entirely unfounded and I'd appreciate it if you didn't tangentially accuse most of the thread of sexism. Her entire approach was poorly constructed - not that it was exactly her fault, but still. I wasn't willing to work with that, certainly not directly. Her gender was irrelevant, I was going after the type of politics being played.