Remember, the craft that took off from Cape town didn't show up on our radar. Who knows how many dark Jellys are out there? Learning their communications will help us to pinpoint these hidden bases.
Remember, the craft that took off from Cape town didn't show up on our radar. Who knows how many dark Jellys are out there? Learning their communications will help us to pinpoint these hidden bases.
The bigger issue we have is that there appears to be an interstellar war going on above Earth. We've got ships we can't see, apparently destroying - effectively - the ships we can see.
I'm wondering if the Jellies are actually foes.
Do we know if the ship which assassinated the world leaders was radar detectable?
Specials
[Gunslinger] - On a natural 20 gains an extra attack
[Tough] - +1 Wounds
[Revenge] - +2 on combat rolls if a squadmate is killed in action
[Slow] - Fires every other turn
[Even The Odds] - +1 on combat rolls if outnumbered
[Iron Will] - +1 Psyche
Europe +€20 [Level 1] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 14]
Middle East +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13]
Asia +€20 [Level 1] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 14]
Africa +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
Oceania +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
North America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
Central America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
South America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13]
Internal: +€20
Research
Gear I: Personal Armour [Cost €10M, 5EP. Gives a soldier 1 armour]
Narrative
Speculation was rife following the sighting of the second alien species, one which seemed to be made of writhing shadows. The two distinct types of alien craft were also raising questions. Could the Earth really be some no man's land in an intergalactic war?
Engineers were drafted from across to globe and presented with confusing, vague and occasionally self-contradictory plans for sets of armour suitable for field use. Extensive meetings were held where the two castes met and attempted to understand one another's ways. It was slow progress, but it was progress.
The preserved fragments of Jelly landing craft material were taken from storage. It was time to subject them to an endless series of assorted spectroscopy methods. Early results were puzzling, and many interns were promptly dismissed for defying basic laws of physics in their conclusions.
Next
A - Perform focused research [additional +1d12 RP this turn]
B - Perform focused engineering [additional +1d10 EP this turn]
C - Hire new military personnel (specify number) [€20M each, you can afford up to 4]
D - Train existing military personnel (specify soldier) [Difficulty 10+Rank to promote]
E - Hold negotiations to improve funding (specify council) E - Start on a second hangar [€100M, 50EP]
F - Start producing [n] suits of Personal Armour [€10M, 5EP]
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
Jako is right, need to find out what is going on with these multiple species. A little eavesdropping will likely clear up a lot. But absolutly need to get a new hanger started the moment we have the chance as well.
Specials
[Gunslinger] - On a natural 20 gains an extra attack
[Tough] - +1 Wounds
[Revenge] - +2 on combat rolls if a squadmate is killed in action
[Slow] - Fires every other turn
[Even The Odds] - +1 on combat rolls if outnumbered
[Iron Will] - +1 Psyche
Europe +€20 [Level 1] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 14]
Middle East +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13]
Asia +€20 [Level 1] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 14]
Africa +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
Oceania +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
North America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
Central America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
South America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13]
Internal: +€20
Research
Gear I: Personal Armour [Cost €10M, 5EP. Gives a soldier 1 armour]
Materials I: Basic alien scrap analysis [Allows exotic material lab]
Narrative
Even working at the very fringes of acceptable science there were some things that a man in a white coat just found hard to take. For Dr. Estefan one of these things was being unable to measure the density of a chunk of misshaped metal. If you could call it metal. No, he was sure he could at least state that this material was indeed a metal. He entered that onto the data sheet for the sample he'd been studying, then crossed it out, then wrote it once more and sighed,
Sample 001-MANTARAY-00E
Description: Twisted five-sided plate, see Figure 1.1. Edge length 42±5mm. Thickness 5±4mm
Classification: MetalSemimetal Metal
Mass: 7±1g
Density: ~250 kg m^-3 ???
Composition: Magnesium [Mg-24] 3.01±0.02%, Iron [Fe-60] 25.13±0.02%, Unknown element[Atomic Weight > 300amu, Atomic number ???] 71.86±0.04%
Metal that was low enough density to easily float on water and yet apparently was made up mostly of several incredibly elements. Elements so heavy that not only did they not exist on Earth but they passed through the region of instability that was typically associated with the superheavy atoms produced by cutting edge reactors and existed in a second island of stability far beyond the established periodic table. If an material was made of gigantic atoms and yet appeared to weigh next to nothing (when he could even get a stable reading from it) then it said terrible things about gravity. Having to question one of the fundamental forces was just not how you wanted to spend a Monday morning.
The ESAC labs were just not equipped to study superheavy exotic material. No labs were. Dr. Estefan was going to have to persuade somebody to build him a new lab if he was going to get anywhere. A new lab with lots of brand new bits of kit inside it. He looked over at the carefully packaged material samples from the exploded Jelly craft and went to go and find himself a drink. A strong one.
At least it meant that these really were aliens. He'd been wondering if it was all some kind of elaborate hoax.
[Research complete: You now have the option to build an exotic material lab]
Maybe that delightful Dr. Thomas had something. She was Scottish. She had to have a bottle of something strong and palatable. He hoped he could find her. If not he knew he'd find himself down with the assorted Eastern Europeans drinking homemade plum/apricot/potato brandy/vodka/paint stripper.
In the end he did find her. She was sitting in one of the coffee rooms looking at a large TV screen. A field reporter was standing beside a smoking ruin. It was the British Consulate in Chile. Or it had been. The Yellow Sign were claiming responsibility. A fictional terrorist group had just bombed a building and killed half a dozen civilians.
"Wait. Was that us?"
The Scottish scientist turned to answer when the lights dimmed and changed colour. The voice of Mother interrupted their conversation with what was starting to become a familiar terror. Another triple spiral was unfurling above the Caspian Sea. There was no time to find out what was going on in Chile, Dr. Estefan was Aleph Level and that meant he had to get to his station to give technical support to the interception / ground strike.
And he'd still not had that drink.
Next
1 - Interceptor away to UFO #1 (projected engagement in Serbia, Europe)
2 - Interceptor away to UFO #2 (projected engagement in Xinjiang, China, Asia)
3 - Interceptor away to UFO #3 (projected engagement in Iran, Middle East)
4 - Do not engage, it's Cocktail Time
A - Hold back the assault lander for a follow up if the interceptor generates a crash site
B - Send the assault lander to chase down a different UFO [1,2 or 3] and engage if it lands
C - Leave the lander parked up. Rainbow force need their sleep
Mojo_Jojo on
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
Whereas keeping the world's fastest growing economy on our side might be a good idea. Also, when the scientists figure out some new weapons for us, we'll need them to build us the all new iKill.
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Options
jakobaggerLO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTOREDRegistered Userregular
Ok guys... it's reality check time. These aliens are attacking at such a rate that I doubt we can ever catch up. We dont know how far the research rabbit hole goes and engineering is so pathetic its like working in grandma's living room. We need to come up with a small list of potential councils that must stay with us, or who are close enough to base that some other nutjob (like central america) wont ruin our assault lander party when we go after 2 alien craft like this. The rest... they have to defend themselves, because the difficulty threshold for acquiring funding will kill us.
My list of Councils:
Europe
Middle East
Asia
Africa
it is unfortunate that all three attacks are occurring on three of the councils I've listed.
Specials
[Gunslinger] - On a natural 20 gains an extra attack
[Tough] - +1 Wounds
[Revenge] - +2 on combat rolls if a squadmate is killed in action
[Slow] - Fires every other turn
[Even The Odds] - +1 on combat rolls if outnumbered
[Iron Will] - +1 Psyche
· is a Black Mark. Collect two to drop a funding level with a council
Europe +€20 [Level 1] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 14, +2 bonus]
Middle East +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
Asia +€20 [Level 1] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 14, -2 penalty] ·
Africa +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
Oceania +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
North America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
Central America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
South America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13]
Internal: +€20
Research
Gear I: Personal Armour [Cost €10M, 5EP. Gives a soldier 1 armour]
Materials I: Basic alien scrap analysis [Allows exotic material lab]
Narrative
The Majorgeneral had been having some trouble sleeping lately. These UFO spirals were becoming a regular occurrence and the agency just didn't have the man-power (or more airpower) to take them all down at once. And that meant that every time they showed up the international tide turned a little more and somebody just gave the vice that was currently holding his balls another turn.
Now wasn't the time to mull over how bleak the situation was though, he was in charge of the military aspect of the agency and he had work to do. He tipped back the tiny cup of espresso that had turned up next to him. The near-boiling liquid scalded the roof of his roof and caused him to splurt most of it back out across the plasticised screen set into The Pit's command desk. Today was just not Majorgeneral Reichenbach's day.
The interceptor was now eighteen seconds away from expected visual contact, he flapped his arm at the aide who had rushed up with tissues and was busy trying to mop up the mess. The screen was hooked into the forward-facing cameras on the interceptor. He briefly glanced upward at the vast slowly spinning map of the planet to make sure that nothing untoward had happened to the Rainbow Force as they slowly tracked one of the other craft out over China.
"Craft A Visual Contact Confirmed - It's another Rock"
Of course it was. Three alien spaceships skirting along at high altitude and swirling outward in a spiral. Of course it was another flying rock. This was meant to be a foundation comprised of the best modern scientific minds, why hadn't one of those damn white coats figured out what these spirals were all about yet? Or at least come up with a better way of shooting them down.
"Engaging hostile target - Missiles away"
White streamers of water vapour traced the paths of the missiles as they streaked through the clear blue skies. The land below was obscured by thick rolling clouds that flashed with lightning. A small chime sounded as the alien craft deviated from its near-perfect geometric path. For once it had reacted too slowly though. Both missiles struck as the interceptor swept upwards and over the fiery eruption. A fraction of a second later the interceptor screens jolted, the jet fighter was in a spin.
The UFO had taken both barrels and come out fighting, hurtling upwards and colliding with a wing that had sent the interceptor into a dangerous roll. Alarms sounded as instruments struggled to make sense of what was happening and to prevent a stall. Tumbling down the interceptor plunged through the cloud barrier into driving rain and dense blackness. The alarm stopped suddenly, the pilot had recovered. A second later the screens were bleached white as the interceptor rose out of the clouds.
"I've lost visual and radar contact. Please advise. Repeat: This is Purple Rain, I have lost all contact with the hostile target."
"Roger Purple Rain, this is The Pit. Hostile appears to have been brought down. Request you reduce altitude and confirm"
All he had to go on for the moment were a few radar readings. The hostile had struck the interceptor and then just dropped out of the sky. Like... Well, like a stone.
[Phase 1: Interceptor: [19, 15] Two hits hit. Enemy: [14] One hit
Unknown craft crash lands]
Despite a damaged wing, the pilot brought the interceptor down through the cloud to sweep over the Serbian hills below. Visibility was virtually nil due to weather conditions.
Things were tense in The Pit as the craft moved out in a search pattern. Mother broke the silence a few minutes later to report that the two other craft had left the atmosphere. The Rainbow Force were virtually out of fuel and heading back to ESAC.
[No available transport to investigate the crash site]
Even when he won he lost. They'd finally taken one of down a Spiral Rock and he'd sent his ground team a continent away. By the time they refuelled some yokel would have carted the wreckage away. Or been eaten by whatever was flying the wreckage. He was going to have to think very carefully about how explained to Mr Fish or Ms Chia why he'd decided to send the lander out on its own mission despite their previous intelligence on all rock craft fleeing after any one of them was engaged in aerial combat. Very carefully.
[-2 on diplomacy checks against the Middle East and Asia. +2 on diplomacy checks with Europe next turn. You've earned a Blackmark against Asia for failing to deal with an extraterrestrial threat, you can make a diplomacy check to remove this. While there's a Blackmark you can't increase funding with that council. If you have two Blackmarks with a specific council you'll go down a funding level with them.]
Next
A - Perform focused research [additional +1d12 RP this turn]
B - Perform focused engineering [additional +1d10 EP this turn]
C - Hire new military personnel (specify number) [€20M each]
D - Train existing military personnel (specify soldier) [Difficulty 10+Rank to promote]
E - Hold negotiations to improve funding / remove black marks(specify council) F - Start construction of a second hangar [€100M, 50EP]
G - Start construction of an exotic materials lab [€500M, 50EP: Opens up new research options, €10M/turn upkeep, +1d12 RP]
H - Start producing [n] suits of Personal Armour [€10M, 5EP]
1 - Research Powered Armour [RP 100]
2 - Research High Capacity Transport Aircraft [RP 25]
3 - Research Alien Communications [RP 25]
4 - Research Jelly Corpses [RP 50]
5 - Research Alien Stun weaponry [RP 75]
6 - Research Alien Beam weaponry [RP 75]
7 - Research Alien vivisection lab [RP 100]
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
On the one hand I feel a bit of a meanie for letting you go ahead with what was a fairly poor choice but on the other you did have a fair amount of evidence about how when you attack one of these spirals the other two also sod off leaving nothing for the strike time to do. And really, I make everything always work out fine then there's less importance attached to your decisions.
Also does the idea of Black marks attached to funding councils make sense? Don't defend them twice and they'll get in a huff and reduce funding, but you can remove that penalty with a diplomacy action. I'm not sure if I'll just not bother with a check for actions to remove Black Marks or if it'll just have a very low target (the current funding increase - 10, or so).
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
Black marks make sense, although having a check to remove the black mark and have the guaranteed penalty seems a bit harsh.
Honestly, I thought a dispatched team would at least soften some of the harsh backlash of allowing an attack. Showing we didn't leave them undefended, a way to save face. Clearly I was wrong, but we make mistakes to learn, right?
E (Europe) 3
Lets find out what the hell they are planning and maybe get some advance warning or a clue on what they are up to.
SnicketysnickThe Greatest Hype Man inWesterosRegistered Userregular
E(Europe) 3
Things are getting serious now! Good to see that the flight wing finally got on the board. I think getting the labs up and running needs to go on the list, but first we need a second interceptor if we are going to plug some of these reputation leaks.
We NEED alien communications tech now. At the very least we can figure out what they're doing and why.
At the very best, maybe we can figure out a way to jam communications and prevent them detecting when we engage one.
Our single biggest problem at the moment is that when we have a target rich environment we can't exploit it, and it doesn't look like the 2nd or 3rd interceptor is coming anytime soon.
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jakobaggerLO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTOREDRegistered Userregular
E(Europe) 3
Yeah, we probably should have clued into that whole "The others disappear when we molest one of them" thing.
Ah well, lesson learned for next time.
As for explaining why we sent the lander on it's wild goose chase, clearly we had a hypothesis but needed eyes on target to verify it. I think we can safely conclude at this point that molesting any one of the triad rock ships while they're engaged in their spiral behavior will cause an immediate retreat from the other two craft in the formation.
Yeah, that sounds good. I think the funding nations will buy that for a while.
B - 6, let's finish up the armor so we can get started on that hangar. We got enough cash at the moment I'd say. I'd also like it if our ground troops had a little more toys to bring into battle.
Yeah, we probably should have clued into that whole "The others disappear when we molest one of them" thing.
Ah well, lesson learned for next time.
As for explaining why we sent the lander on it's wild goose chase, clearly we had a hypothesis but needed eyes on target to verify it. I think we can safely conclude at this point that molesting any one of the triad rock ships while they're engaged in their spiral behavior will cause an immediate retreat from the other two craft in the formation.
Yeah, that sounds good. I think the funding nations will buy that for a while.
Let's go with this explanation to the committee, since it looks like progress - it wasn't a failed mission. We intentionally attacked one craft, while pursuing another in order to confirm alien capability and behaviour. In the process we destroyed one craft, and averted alien missions to two other regions.
We can now confirm that any alien spiral by the rock-ships can be aborted by engaging the closest ship, which will cause a mission bug out by the rest and ensure global security. With additional funding for a second interceptor class craft, we could reliably ensure global security from one alien menace, while pursuing additional investigation of the tracking-invisible enemies we encountered in Africa and retain the ability to acquire alien technology from downed craft.
I don't know about you, but that sounds like a pretty good result to me.
I don't think our explanations matter in terms of mitigating damage or affecting results.
Listen, when you put as much time and money into earning a BS in BS as I have, you've got to make use of it somehow, otherwise it just feels like a waste.
Either way, it's not going to hurt to try. I mean, Mojo's not some cold hearted soulless machine like my computer. Might take mercy on us for making some bad decisions if we can fluff them up to look like good decisions.
Posts
Personal armor, but I vote we find out what the hell those stun bombs are, how they work and maybe how we can mitigate there effects.
The bigger issue we have is that there appears to be an interstellar war going on above Earth. We've got ships we can't see, apparently destroying - effectively - the ships we can see.
I'm wondering if the Jellies are actually foes.
Do we know if the ship which assassinated the world leaders was radar detectable?
After all, once we hear the Jellys transmission of "Kill all humans" or download their copy of "To serve man" you can erase any lingering fears.
Although I am willing to bet, if there is a second alien race, this will play out more "Skrull vs Kree" than "alien protector race".
Turn 6
Decision: F(5) and then a 3/4 tie which is 4 due to coin flip magic. Building armour and researching the scrap from the Jelly craft
Numbers:
Funds: €165 [+€60/turn]
Research Progress: Alien Craft Scrap 11/25 [+2d12/turn]
Engineering Progress: Armour 4/25 [+1d10/turn]
Agency HQ, Madrid
Distributed Research [+1d12 RP/turn]
Engineering bay [+1d10 EP/turn]
Radar Antenna Array [Allows detection of enemy vessels]
Hanger [Can maintain/hold 2 aircraft. Restores 1 aircraft wound / turn]
Sickbay [Treats 1 wound or psyche damage / turn]
Personnel
Active
Sergeant Blain Cooper
[16x3,4,3] [Even The Odds] [Tough] [autocannon]
Squaddie Steven Hiller
[10,3,3] [Gunslinger] [combat rifle]
Squaddie Edvard Wolner
[10,3,3] [Revenge] [combat rifle]
Rookie Jenette Vasquez
[14(1d4),3,3] [Anti-tank missile launcher] [slow]
Rookie Dwayne Hicks
[10,3,3] [combat rifle]
Standby
Medical Leave
Squaddie Alan "Dutch" Schaefer
[10,2/3,4] [Iron Will] [combat rifle]
Morgue
Rookies: 1
Storage Locker
5 x Anti-tank missile launcher (Target 14, [slow] [1d4 damage])
Specials
[Gunslinger] - On a natural 20 gains an extra attack
[Tough] - +1 Wounds
[Revenge] - +2 on combat rolls if a squadmate is killed in action
[Slow] - Fires every other turn
[Even The Odds] - +1 on combat rolls if outnumbered
[Iron Will] - +1 Psyche
Craft
Interceptor [10x2, 4, 3]
Funding
Middle East +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13]
Asia +€20 [Level 1] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 14]
Africa +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
Oceania +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
North America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
Central America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
South America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13]
Internal: +€20
Research
Narrative
Next
A - Perform focused research [additional +1d12 RP this turn]
B - Perform focused engineering [additional +1d10 EP this turn]
C - Hire new military personnel (specify number) [€20M each, you can afford up to 4]
D - Train existing military personnel (specify soldier) [Difficulty 10+Rank to promote]
E - Hold negotiations to improve funding (specify council)
E - Start on a second hangar [€100M, 50EP]
F - Start producing [n] suits of Personal Armour [€10M, 5EP]
E: it also sounds good. What the hell autocorrect, now you decide not to work?
Pffft who needs basic laws of physics?
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
Next research project let's go with communications.
Jako is right, need to find out what is going on with these multiple species. A little eavesdropping will likely clear up a lot. But absolutly need to get a new hanger started the moment we have the chance as well.
Decision:B and only B. Engineering the hell out of those new suits of body armour
Numbers:
Funds: €225 [+€60/turn]
Research Progress: None 0/0 [+2d12/turn]
Engineering Progress: Armour 18/25 [+1d10/turn]
Agency HQ, Madrid
Distributed Research [+1d12 RP/turn]
Engineering bay [+1d10 EP/turn]
Radar Antenna Array [Allows detection of enemy vessels]
Hanger [Can maintain/hold 2 aircraft. Restores 1 aircraft wound / turn]
Sickbay [Treats 1 wound or psyche damage / turn]
Personnel
Active
Sergeant Blain Cooper
[16x3,4,3] [Even The Odds] [Tough] [autocannon]
Squaddie Steven Hiller
[10,3,3] [Gunslinger] [combat rifle]
Squaddie Edvard Wolner
[10,3,3] [Revenge] [combat rifle]
Rookie Jenette Vasquez
[14(1d4),3,3] [Anti-tank missile launcher] [slow]
Rookie Dwayne Hicks
[10,3,3] [combat rifle]
Standby
Medical Leave
Squaddie Alan "Dutch" Schaefer
[10,3,4] [Iron Will] [combat rifle]
Morgue
Rookies: 1
Storage Locker
5 x Anti-tank missile launcher (Target 14, [slow] [1d4 damage])
Specials
[Gunslinger] - On a natural 20 gains an extra attack
[Tough] - +1 Wounds
[Revenge] - +2 on combat rolls if a squadmate is killed in action
[Slow] - Fires every other turn
[Even The Odds] - +1 on combat rolls if outnumbered
[Iron Will] - +1 Psyche
Craft
Interceptor [10x2, 4, 3]
Funding
Middle East +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13]
Asia +€20 [Level 1] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 14]
Africa +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
Oceania +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
North America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
Central America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
South America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13]
Internal: +€20
Research
Materials I: Basic alien scrap analysis [Allows exotic material lab]
Narrative
Next
1 - Interceptor away to UFO #1 (projected engagement in Serbia, Europe)
2 - Interceptor away to UFO #2 (projected engagement in Xinjiang, China, Asia)
3 - Interceptor away to UFO #3 (projected engagement in Iran, Middle East)
4 - Do not engage, it's Cocktail Time
A - Hold back the assault lander for a follow up if the interceptor generates a crash site
B - Send the assault lander to chase down a different UFO [1,2 or 3] and engage if it lands
C - Leave the lander parked up. Rainbow force need their sleep
This isn't good, we have to pick one of our doners to defend. Europe seems the best bet though.
Sorry gents, no rest for the weary.
Unless you're a science type. I suppose you can have a quick cocktail or two before you get back to questioning the fundamental rules of everything.
If so 1 - B(2) .
We already know our guys can kick ass by following in assault lander, lets do it! Vasquez needs some more target practice.
It's Serbia guys. No one cares about Serbia.
Whereas keeping the world's fastest growing economy on our side might be a good idea. Also, when the scientists figure out some new weapons for us, we'll need them to build us the all new iKill.
And good hunting to both teams.
Get some!
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
Ok guys... it's reality check time. These aliens are attacking at such a rate that I doubt we can ever catch up. We dont know how far the research rabbit hole goes and engineering is so pathetic its like working in grandma's living room. We need to come up with a small list of potential councils that must stay with us, or who are close enough to base that some other nutjob (like central america) wont ruin our assault lander party when we go after 2 alien craft like this. The rest... they have to defend themselves, because the difficulty threshold for acquiring funding will kill us.
My list of Councils:
Europe
Middle East
Asia
Africa
it is unfortunate that all three attacks are occurring on three of the councils I've listed.
edit** fixed.. so much red
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
@Mojo_jojo thanks for the flexibility. I'm pretty excited for this next post, air and ground combat, with the risk of losing it all.
And building a new hangar, that is #1 on to do list.
Decision: 1 B(2): Interception at Serbia and send the Rainbow Force on a merry chase around China
Numbers:
Funds: €225 [+€60/turn]
Research Progress: None 0/0 [+2d12/turn]
Engineering Progress: Armour 18/25 [+1d10/turn]
Agency HQ, Madrid
Distributed Research [+1d12 RP/turn]
Engineering bay [+1d10 EP/turn]
Radar Antenna Array [Allows detection of enemy vessels]
Hanger [Can maintain/hold 2 aircraft. Restores 1 aircraft wound / turn]
Sickbay [Treats 1 wound or psyche damage / turn]
Personnel
Active
Sergeant Blain Cooper
[16x3,4,3] [Even The Odds] [Tough] [autocannon]
Squaddie Steven Hiller
[10,3,3] [Gunslinger] [combat rifle]
Squaddie Edvard Wolner
[10,3,3] [Revenge] [combat rifle]
Rookie Jenette Vasquez
[14(1d4),3,3] [Anti-tank missile launcher] [slow]
Rookie Dwayne Hicks
[10,3,3] [combat rifle]
Standby
Medical Leave
Squaddie Alan "Dutch" Schaefer
[10,3,4] [Iron Will] [combat rifle]
Morgue
Rookies: 1
Storage Locker
5 x Anti-tank missile launcher (Target 14, [slow] [1d4 damage])
Specials
[Gunslinger] - On a natural 20 gains an extra attack
[Tough] - +1 Wounds
[Revenge] - +2 on combat rolls if a squadmate is killed in action
[Slow] - Fires every other turn
[Even The Odds] - +1 on combat rolls if outnumbered
[Iron Will] - +1 Psyche
Craft
Interceptor [10x2, 3/4, 3]
Funding
Europe +€20 [Level 1] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 14, +2 bonus]
Middle East +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
Asia +€20 [Level 1] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 14, -2 penalty] ·
Africa +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
Oceania +0 [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
North America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
Central America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
South America [Level 0] [Morale 0] [Difficulty 13]
Internal: +€20
Research
Materials I: Basic alien scrap analysis [Allows exotic material lab]
Narrative
Next
A - Perform focused research [additional +1d12 RP this turn]
B - Perform focused engineering [additional +1d10 EP this turn]
C - Hire new military personnel (specify number) [€20M each]
D - Train existing military personnel (specify soldier) [Difficulty 10+Rank to promote]
E - Hold negotiations to improve funding / remove black marks(specify council)
F - Start construction of a second hangar [€100M, 50EP]
G - Start construction of an exotic materials lab [€500M, 50EP: Opens up new research options, €10M/turn upkeep, +1d12 RP]
H - Start producing [n] suits of Personal Armour [€10M, 5EP]
1 - Research Powered Armour [RP 100]
2 - Research High Capacity Transport Aircraft [RP 25]
3 - Research Alien Communications [RP 25]
4 - Research Jelly Corpses [RP 50]
5 - Research Alien Stun weaponry [RP 75]
6 - Research Alien Beam weaponry [RP 75]
7 - Research Alien vivisection lab [RP 100]
Also does the idea of Black marks attached to funding councils make sense? Don't defend them twice and they'll get in a huff and reduce funding, but you can remove that penalty with a diplomacy action. I'm not sure if I'll just not bother with a check for actions to remove Black Marks or if it'll just have a very low target (the current funding increase - 10, or so).
Honestly, I thought a dispatched team would at least soften some of the harsh backlash of allowing an attack. Showing we didn't leave them undefended, a way to save face. Clearly I was wrong, but we make mistakes to learn, right?
E (Europe) 3
Lets find out what the hell they are planning and maybe get some advance warning or a clue on what they are up to.
Things are getting serious now! Good to see that the flight wing finally got on the board. I think getting the labs up and running needs to go on the list, but first we need a second interceptor if we are going to plug some of these reputation leaks.
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
We NEED alien communications tech now. At the very least we can figure out what they're doing and why.
At the very best, maybe we can figure out a way to jam communications and prevent them detecting when we engage one.
Our single biggest problem at the moment is that when we have a target rich environment we can't exploit it, and it doesn't look like the 2nd or 3rd interceptor is coming anytime soon.
Yeah, we probably should have clued into that whole "The others disappear when we molest one of them" thing.
Ah well, lesson learned for next time.
As for explaining why we sent the lander on it's wild goose chase, clearly we had a hypothesis but needed eyes on target to verify it. I think we can safely conclude at this point that molesting any one of the triad rock ships while they're engaged in their spiral behavior will cause an immediate retreat from the other two craft in the formation.
Yeah, that sounds good. I think the funding nations will buy that for a while.
Let's go with this explanation to the committee, since it looks like progress - it wasn't a failed mission. We intentionally attacked one craft, while pursuing another in order to confirm alien capability and behaviour. In the process we destroyed one craft, and averted alien missions to two other regions.
We can now confirm that any alien spiral by the rock-ships can be aborted by engaging the closest ship, which will cause a mission bug out by the rest and ensure global security. With additional funding for a second interceptor class craft, we could reliably ensure global security from one alien menace, while pursuing additional investigation of the tracking-invisible enemies we encountered in Africa and retain the ability to acquire alien technology from downed craft.
I don't know about you, but that sounds like a pretty good result to me.
Listen, when you put as much time and money into earning a BS in BS as I have, you've got to make use of it somehow, otherwise it just feels like a waste.
Either way, it's not going to hurt to try. I mean, Mojo's not some cold hearted soulless machine like my computer. Might take mercy on us for making some bad decisions if we can fluff them up to look like good decisions.