[LP CYOA] Epic

[Smashing Axe]

As a final note, I don't think using the elixir now is a good idea. Grimrock will provide three ships' worth of suppressive fire (given that the NSI has the most powerful conventional navy, that's a lot), our natural capabilities should be enough to keep the attackers at bay. Thing is, this is not the last time we'll have to fight our way to Earth (goddammit treave, what is Earth in Shin'Ar) and I am fairly certain they will call in for reinforcements to intercept us. We will need that last bit of juice to get everyone out of this shit alive.

In before steroids enable us to play ping-pong with the nuke for MAXIMUM lolz.

I disagree, we only have seven minutes left, when that runs out we'll be in a weakened state. We're going up against a fighter ace known for taking down whole damn armadas, and I don't know how long it will take us to get ready and pull out. I think we need an extension on the time we have.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Consider that in the field, our ships won't have targeting either.

Yeah, but none of them are within the distortion field as of yet, Grimrock is planning to retreat through it

More information about the battlefield: the Crab Frame's particles are jamming a pretty wide area. The respective ships aren't in it yet, but the captain plans to flee through it.

So we will have enough concentrated covering fire to escape into it.

Right, and once they are inside how will they be able to help us against the enemy Ace? If she's as good as we are, she'll easily be able to evade their fire outside of the field, and inside the field she'll completely outclass everyone except us (only we are already down to 7 minutes, who knows how much time we'll have left, if any, by then...)

 

[Baltika9]

I disagree, we only have seven minutes left, when that runs out we'll be in a weakened state. We're going up against a fighter ace known for taking down whole damn armadas, and I don't know how long it will take us to get ready and pull out. I think we need an extension on the time we have.

Right, and once they are inside how will they be able to help us against the enemy Ace? If she's as good as we are, she'll easily be able to evade their fire outside of the field, and inside the field she'll completely outclass everyone except us (only we are already down to 7 minutes, who knows how much time we'll have left, if any, by then...)

I'd love to see him, (her?) go up against three battleships's worth of firepower, not to mention two Vizala IIs and an Anhur. Thing is, I don't think this is our last battle before getting to Earth/Mundus, so we'd better conserve the juice until we really, really need it. Like "surrounded on all sides, desperately need a hero" need it. We should be fine with Grimrock in command. Although, playing ping-pong/tennis with a nuke sounds fun.
Edit: where do you get the "her" in Rei Wakayama?

 

[treave]

You're inside the field right now, the Kaguya-hime and its companion cruisers are headed your way, with the Indus carrier and its Vizalas following behind. It should take you less than a minute to reach the Kaguya-hime at full throttle, and another minute after that if you plan to dive into enemy lines. The ship should begin to enter the field about 4-5 minutes from now at their current speed. In your weakened state you're still capable of piloting semi-competently with Yua assisting more and Anhur's specs compensating for your reduced capability, as long as you don't use your eyes of mass destruction, which still cause you to pass out from the strain.

The advantage of taking the drug is that once it takes effect you can shut off the ability so that you can use it when it's needed, saving precious minutes. There's no real disadvantages to taking it here, it's just a matter of whether you think you need it or not.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Baltika9: Eh, it's not a gender specific name. I defaulted to female, due to Eva brainwashing in my youth.

You can have all the firepower in the world, if you can't aim at the enemy, you can't hit them.

treave, are there enough gunners on our ships to manually target the enemy fighters once in the field? Or is it all computers that will be useless once in the field?

Also, I forgot to mention earlier: treave, crabs are well and good, but the lack of a giant mecha-bunny has me seriously doubting your commitment to weeaboo.

 

[treave]

You never know what will appear on the battlefield. Perhaps a Rafflesia next.

You have enough gunners to target manually, but actually hitting them is another matter. The enemy force consists entirely of Vizala IIs. Doctrine in this case usually calls for the warships to lay down continuous salvos to suppress the enemy's movement, denying them the ability to maneuver freely. Even though you don't hit them, you can ensure they avoid certain areas or the most direct path to their target by aiming the salvos with sufficient tactical foresight.

 

[Baltika9]

Baltika9: Eh, it's not a gender specific name. I defaulted to female, due to Eva brainwashing in my youth.

You can have all the firepower in the world, if you can't aim at the enemy, you can't hit them.

Ever heard of "concentrated firepower?" I'd love to see him/her(it?) try to maneuver through three ships' worth of ordnance and try to take us down at the same time, the results should be luzly. Seriously, though, Grimrock has our back, we should be fine. This isn't the last engagement in this operation. This is a situation where safe is waaay better than sorry.

but the lack of a giant mecha-bunny has me seriously doubting your commitment to weeaboo.

Be careful what you ask for, next thing you know we may be encountering a mecha that performs the whole Kama-Sutra by memory in battle.

You have enough gunners to target manually, but actually hitting them is another matter. The enemy force consists entirely of Vizala IIs. Doctrine in this case usually calls for the warships to lay down continuous salvos to suppress the enemy's movement, denying them the ability to maneuver freely. Even though you don't hit them, you can ensure they avoid certain areas or the most direct path to their target by aiming the salvos with sufficient tactical foresight.

And considering that Grimrock is not a doctrine bound commander, he;ll have enough initiative and creativity to improvise on the spot. We will be fine, bros.

 

[Bloodshifter]

I still want that Mother Crab...

If it only takes a minute to get there can't we drag the weight of another frame into the hangar in like 3-4 Minutes?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Baltika9: Eh, it's not a gender specific name. I defaulted to female, due to Eva brainwashing in my youth.

You can have all the firepower in the world, if you can't aim at the enemy, you can't hit them.

Ever heard of "concentrated firepower?" I'd love to see him/her(it?) try to maneuver through three ships' worth of ordnance and try to take us down at the same time, the results should be luzly.

What, do you think they'll all just form a line and attack from one direction? This is space, not land or sea. All ten of them will attack at once, from different directions, zig-zaging and moving about. The red frame alone has already destroyed 6 warships. (That means (s)he already knows the precise points to shoot at to destroy them.) If we go down (or lose our ability to take out the enemy), so could our ships.

Seriously, though, Grimrock has our back, we should be fine. This isn't the last engagement in this operation. This is a situation where safe is waaay better than sorry.

"Safe" would be using the serum now, bro.
Grimrock is smart, but that doesn't change the fact that his pilot's/crew's skills are still stuck at the human level. Naim is supposed to be the best and even he couldn't hit his targets within the field.

 

[treave]

That thing isn't the size of a regular frame. Even if you can get it there within minutes, you still need to slow it down and load it into the hangar properly, unless you mean to ram your own ship with a flying crab. Launching construction mechs to help with the salvage would just get them shot down in the middle of the battle, too, so the captain will not order that.

Regarding the field, to be fair, it's easier to hit a large mech-sized target than a small 2 meter orb that bobs around like a bee on crack honey.

 

[Azira]

the specs match Anhur

Rumours say that the Scarlet Lightning is untouchable in battle, piloting a blood-red combat frame that moves three times faster than any other frame..

Hearsay. A pilot that has racked up the kills Scarlet Lightning has, will always build a myth around themselves. Consider that he chews through fighters like no tomorrow (Senya would too), anyone surviving an encounter with him would be likely to exaggerate.

If the Indus/UNS really had a CF that could match the Anhur, don't you think they'd have deployed more of them already?
A possible explanation if we lend credit to the tales of his speed might be that he can indeed boost his speed due to some superpower.
Until we have clear confirmation of this fact though, I'll chalk it up to simple battle-field awe. Most likely his CF is faster than regular Vizala IIs, but three times faster than any other frame? Nope. Don't buy it. That sort of thing would be spread to the rest of the forces as quickly as was possible. And this ace has been around much longer than we have, in the same frame.

He's built a myth much like Manfred von Richthofen did. Which begs an important question....

treave? Is Jean canadian? And do we have any australian gunnes on the Kaguye-hime?

 

[Baltika9]

Baltika9: Eh, it's not a gender specific name. I defaulted to female, due to Eva brainwashing in my youth.

You can have all the firepower in the world, if you can't aim at the enemy, you can't hit them.

Ever heard of "concentrated firepower?" I'd love to see him/her(it?) try to maneuver through three ships' worth of ordnance and try to take us down at the same time, the results should be luzly.

What, do you think they'll all just form a line and attack from one direction? This is space, not land or sea. All ten of them will attack at once, from different directions, zig-zaging and moving about. The red frame alone has already destroyed 6 warships. (That means (s)he already knows the precise points to shoot at to destroy them.) If we go down (or lose our ability to take out the enemy), so could our ships.

No, but we will be dictating their path of advance, since we are the prime and center target, so we will be able to put them into the fleet's line of fire by our maneuvering, as the Anhur is the fastest and most maneuverable CF around (I still say we should've went with a Titan expy, with it's thick armor and heavy firepower, and Senya's foresight it would've made a deadly combination); using the elixir isn't the safe option, it
s the panic, "oh shit, we're outclassed!" button.
Really, there are going to be tougher fights around, so we'd better conserve our resources. I'm positive these guys are going to call in for backup.
<sigh> I don't like this job. Esquilax, you can take it back.

But then again, playing tennis with a nuke sounds cool. Why must this be so difficult.

 

[treave]

Jean probably hails from somewhere in the Gallia-Britannia union... if by Canadian you mean someone of mixed Anglo-French origin, I suppose so.

As for Australian gunners, Australia is Higashi territory, so some of the Kaguya-hime gunners do hail from there.

We're in luck I figure.

edit: As far as myths go, our exploits at Base 43 have already started the seeds of the rumour that the ISC/Higashi have deployed a terrifying black frame as their secret weapon. Right now it's a toss up between the enemy grunts calling it the Night Reaper or the Black Devil, but that can change depending on what you do as you gain more and more exposure through your fights.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Then the main threat is still the enemy Ace. The question is: is three minutes enough time for us to hold off or defeat him or her? If she has our skills, she probably won't activate until she's in the field - just like we did. Assuming she has an operational limit, that would mean all she'd have to do is last 3 minutes and then we're toast...

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

If the Indus/UNS really had a CF that could match the Anhur, don't you think they'd have deployed more of them already?
A possible explanation if we lend credit to the tales of his speed might be that he can indeed boost his speed due to some superpower.
Until we have clear confirmation of this fact though, I'll chalk it up to simple battle-field awe. Most likely his CF is faster than regular Vizala IIs, but three times faster than any other frame? Nope. Don't buy it. That sort of thing would be spread to the rest of the forces as quickly as was possible.

Consider that this one is Higashi. Consider that she fights for the Indus (where the cult is from iirc). Consider that Anhur is a high mobility version of a frame that was designed to fight on par with Visala 2s. Consider that the only reason we can pilot it so well is because of our powers. Consider that the enemy might have designed a high mobility version of their frame to accommodate a pilot with similar skills to our own, but not deployed it widescale due to the other normal pilots not being able to handle it.

 

[Baltika9]

Assuming she has an operational limit, that would mean all she'd have to do is last 3 minutes and then we're toast...

I thought we had seven minutes, but a confirmation would be nice. And, yeah, this is probably the Dante to our Vergil, so we'd better be careful.

Well, blowing our load like this, in the spur of the moment, doesn't seem like a Good Idea; better to conserve our resources until we absolutely must use them; and if we don't need to use them ata ll, well, that just means less addiction points for us, so we win either way.

 

[Kipeci]

That thing isn't the size of a regular frame. Even if you can get it there within minutes, you still need to slow it down and load it into the hangar properly, unless you mean to ram your own ship with a flying crab.

why didn't you mention this
this changes everything, there are no other choices available now

RAM THE BLADE SHIP

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Assuming she has an operational limit, that would mean all she'd have to do is last 3 minutes and then we're toast...

I thought we had seven minutes, but a confirmation would be nice. And, yeah, this is probably the Dante to our Vergil, so we'd better be careful.

Takes 3-4 minutes for our ships to enter the field.

 

[Azira]

Jean probably hails from somewhere in the Gallia-Britannia union... if by Canadian you mean someone of mixed Anglo-French origin, I suppose so.

Great! And we probably have a gunner somewhere from british stock. We've got you this time, Manfred!

If the Indus/UNS really had a CF that could match the Anhur, don't you think they'd have deployed more of them already?
A possible explanation if we lend credit to the tales of his speed might be that he can indeed boost his speed due to some superpower.
Until we have clear confirmation of this fact though, I'll chalk it up to simple battle-field awe. Most likely his CF is faster than regular Vizala IIs, but three times faster than any other frame? Nope. Don't buy it. That sort of thing would be spread to the rest of the forces as quickly as was possible.

Consider that this one is Higashi. Consider that she fights for the Indus (where the cult is from iirc). Consider that Anhur is a high mobility version of a frame that was designed to fight on par with Visala 2s. Consider that the only reason we can pilot it so well is because of our powers. Consider that the enemy might have designed a high mobility version of their frame to accommodate a pilot with similar skills to our own, but not deployed it widescale due to the other normal pilots not being able to handle it.

You do make some points, you really do. But if the Indus/UNS were tailoring frames for their superhumans, why did the White Fangs pilot ordinary CFs then? Why not deck them out in the latest, most fear-inducing toys?
You might be correct. But, and I believe Senya would be likely to concur here, I'd prefer to save judgment until I can verify it in some manner. All we have so far is rumour.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

You do make some points, you really do. But if the Indus/UNS were tailoring frames for their superhumans, why did the White Fangs pilot ordinary CFs then? Why not deck them out in the latest, most fear-inducing toys?
You might be correct. But, and I believe Senya would be likely to concur here, I'd prefer to save judgment until I can verify it in some manner. All we have so far is rumour.

The White Fangs may have immortal powers, but immortal powers don't necessary allow for superhuman mental processes - see Ean's tiny brain for more on this. That's why they aren't as fast. Also, it's hardly a feat of engineering to add more propulsion jets, so I'm guessing it was a pretty simple accommodation.

It may be a rumor, but it's such a rumor that one of the finest captains in the fleet is turning tail. For all we know, he's seen her in action.

 

[treave]

That thing isn't the size of a regular frame. Even if you can get it there within minutes, you still need to slow it down and load it into the hangar properly, unless you mean to ram your own ship with a flying crab.

why didn't you mention this
this changes everything, there are no other choices available now

RAM THE BLADE SHIP

I suppose that's an acceptable tactic to delay the enemy. Throw the crab at them and run away.

edit: Oh, great, missed out on this: from the reports, the frame that the Scarlet Lightning pilots appears to be a customized Vizala II, though the ace's recorded history started out by taking down 3 fighters and 1 battleship with a normal Vizala, all the way back in the Skirmish of Kawamura.

It could be just a different paint-job, or there might be more thrusters too. No one on your side is entirely sure how much of the Scarlet Lightning's performance is due to skill and how much due to the machine, and no one wants to stick around to find out.

 

[Azira]

For all we know, he's seen her in action.

If that is so, it would be prudent to ask. The more info Senya has, the more informed a decision he can make regarding how to attack/defend from this ace.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Wait. 3 fighters? That doesn't sound too challenging. The battleship is more impressive though. Man, with everyone pussying out it makes me want to kick this guy in the teeth with A1 again.

edit: though I'm not flopping yet.

 

[Baltika9]

That thing isn't the size of a regular frame. Even if you can get it there within minutes, you still need to slow it down and load it into the hangar properly, unless you mean to ram your own ship with a flying crab.

why didn't you mention this
this changes everything, there are no other choices available now

RAM THE BLADE SHIP

I suppose that's an acceptable tactic to delay the enemy. Throw the crab at them and run away.

Only then we're risking them recovering the enemy prototype.

Takes 3-4 minutes for our ships to enter the field.

And after which, we don;t give two shits on a popsicle stick, we're within range of covering fire. He/she/it wants to get to us, he/she/it will have to get through he ships and our rifle to get to us.

You do make some points, you really do. But if the Indus/UNS were tailoring frames for their superhumans, why did the White Fangs pilot ordinary CFs then? Why not deck them out in the latest, most fear-inducing toys?
You might be correct. But, and I believe Senya would be likely to concur here, I'd prefer to save judgment until I can verify it in some manner. All we have so far is rumour.

Right, because they will hand out top-of-the line military hardware to some mercs, superhumans they may be[/sarcasm]More likely than not, this Wakayama is as hardcore as his PR plays him up as, at least that is the attitude we must take with the Crown Princess onboard.

see Ean's tiny brain for more on this.

I take offense to that. Ean was a simple and overly-friendly man ( ), not a dumbfuck.

 

[Bloodshifter]

FA
Can't we use our Super thought powers to plot a course through the Asteroid belt to leave the Crab near the Hime's course?
Seeing as in space there is no air resistance we can more or less gurantee the arrival of the package. (you are seriously under estamiating my willingness to get this crab.)
Outside of that without any sort of Back up near by we can beat them simply by blowing up that Carrier.