[LP CYOA] Epic

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Eh, treave, they can already access our reality, can't they? I thought it was just Earth that was off-limits for a time... Besides, my understanding was that the masters can access anything inside a WORMHOLE. A BLACK HOLE would probably just atomize Varja, wouldn't it?

 

[treave]

They can access it in limited ways, mostly via the Star League. They don't have full access, and probably can't as long as Ean and Sekh are around. They could probably retrieve Vajra from a black hole if they manifested themselves fully and rewound time, but that's actually more trouble than it's worth to them.

Basically if you black hole Vajra you can expect it to be gone.

 

[ScubaV]

treave, can you explain more how the Degeneration field works? When you say visual radius is that strictly line of sight or is it what we could potentially see in a spherical shape? Also, it should work on kinetic projectiles and missiles, but what about laser weapons? Photons aren't made of atoms, but you said yourself this is anime so...

I'm thinking the degen field might be better than armor. Wormhole mobility will give us good defensive capabilities and the degen field can not only stop physical projectiles and prevent guns from turning to face us, it will also prevent enemies from dodging a planet-busting black hole. I'm imagining using tactical skills to herd large groups of enemy ships in relative close proximity, then freezing them with our degen field and swallowing them with the black hole gun. Or just warp to the flagship, freeze it, and swallow.

Edit: Reply #10,000! Suck it bitches! Woooooo!

 

[Baltika9]

Ean and Sek are, basically, scrambling devices then? Cool.
Still, is there anything interesting us, Sek or humanity can do with Vajra? It is, after all, a powerful artifact and I'd hate to make it lost without considerations.

Welcome to the ten-thousand post mark, bros.

 

[treave]

The range is spherical. Though I say visual range, the effective range probably goes for less than a hundred kilometres in radius. Any further and there are far too many particles for you to track without blowing your mind. Requires a lot of concentration in the first place. You can actually pull this off on foot, albeit with far lesser range. I did say atoms, but you can think of it as slowing down and breaking everything. A de facto time slowing spell, in a sense. It can be resisted by strong immortals with high regen.

Edit: Vajra is Vajra. You can extrapolate what it can do from what it has been shown to do, I guess. We hit 10k, huh. Time to end the LP and make a new one.

 

[Azira]

End the LP? Already? We're only on page 401 here..

I'll vote later, need to mull this over. Especially the first choice is a stickler.

 

[ScubaV]

Alright, here's my votes:

A - Fuck you treave for making me choose between Ean and the optimal choice.

B - This gives us the most APS's and reunites us with our "sister". This battle is going to really tax our concentration and energy reserves and so we'll need Rei to boost us here. And since we'd be giving up the nanomachines, perhaps her creation abilities will also extend to healing us and/or the CF from damage.
I - I agree with everyone else here.
IV - Ditto.
VIII - This is where I diverge. I strongly believe the degeneration field has better synergy than the armor. It's much more versatile, with both defensive and offensive capabilities and allows us to exert control over the battlefield, whereas armor does not. At all. We cannot win a slugfest, our only hope is tactical superiority. IX contributes to that.
A - I'm not sure 10,000 ships is much better than 5,000 against 100,000. I like the idea of having a trump card that we can play at a key moment.

 

[Tigranes]

ACA skipping equipment, no time to really think it over as I'm on another transatlantic flight soon but I think putting all the eggs into one basket could be a little dangerous. Having two CFs gives us a very large degree of flexibility compared to one, and Rei is generally competent enough not to drag us down.

 

[Kipeci]

I'm going to say ACA and hold off voting on the weapons focus until later, or perhaps never.
Edit: Throw in votes for 1, 2, and 4.

 

[Baltika9]

Bros, I strongly believe that the decisions we make should mesh with the CF upgrafes we pick, so I discourage you from voting for only half the choices.

In other words, don't be a faggot, vote for the whole damned thing!

 

[Esquilax]

Wait bros, I'm almost caught up! Gimme a few hours to get through all the stuff first!

 

[Baltika9]

GodEanspeed.

 

[Kayerts]

One thing to consider is that the Masters probably aren't going to sabotage us through the quantum computer, yet. They did fight a war with the Gieloth and instill the immortals with a desire to hunt and kill them. While Marduk seems to have become something more than just a Gieloth, I can't imagine that's made the Masters friendlier toward him. He's also the preeminent threat to their pet League; I doubt they'll intervene in his favor.

That said, it's probably a dead-end as far as research goes, and tentacles now may mean more opportunities later--should we survive.

Also, I'm not sure Vajra is controllable by the Masters, since Zeus could not compel Ean to hand over his piece. Treave's said its powers are "linked" to the Masters, so presumably a path that would enable us to use it might entail employing technology (i.e. nanomachines) that they may have backdoor access to. Course, if hypothetically some friendly superpowered immortal were to find his way onto our side, he might find it useful.

 

[Stygian Lurker]

A
B
I
IV
VII
A

 

[Kayerts]

Edit: I've been won over by dramatic appeal of resurrecting Ean and attempting a defensive deep strike to slay da Dragon. It's a little stupid, but seems like it'd make for a better story. Preferred vote is for 1B, 2B, 3 (I - IV - V), 4A.
If, however, 1A wins and we don't attempt an Ean-led assassination strike, my vote should be taken as described below.

1A: 420 / grow tentacles e'ery day. I'm hoping the rest of my choices should be sufficient to ensure our survival, and I suspect Gieloth abilities may be our best long-term shot against the Masters.

2B: Maximizing our chances of combo attacks sounds cool, and if we end up having to duel a major deity, having Rei on hand seems good.

3: I (Tactical Warp), II (Devourer Shield), IV (Variable Black Hole Cannon), and VIII. Gravity Wings, because I see some stupidly good combos with that. I think it'd be cool to be able to fire black holes through wormholes, or to open a wormhole for incoming barrage of concentrated enemy fire whose exit hole points at Marduk's flagship. Every strategist knows that no one can stand against multiple, simultaneous, defensive deep strikes.

4C:

At the right time, we will activate the rockets and send the asteroids on a kamikaze attack into the enemy fleet

So to recap, there's a massive invasion fleet from a powerful, militaristic neighboring civilization en route, and we must hope the Divine Winds are with us, or we shall be lost. Treave is so anime that he's channeling the Japanese's collective ancestral memories.

Based on this observation, and my own confidence that there are no important differences between a fleet of horse archers on river barges and a fleet of marines and supermen on spaceships, it seems like our best chance of survival lies in ensuring the enemy fleet is scuttled before we even engage it. This will require pulling a miracle out of our ass; thus, the best way to prepare is to cram our ass with as many miracles as possible.

 

[treave]

At the right time, we will activate the rockets and send the asteroids on a kamikaze attack into the enemy fleet

So to recap, there's a massive invasion fleet from a powerful, militaristic neighboring civilization en route, and we must hope the Divine Winds are with us, or we shall be lost. Treave is so anime that he's channeling the Japanese's collective ancestral memories.

Based on this observation, and my own confidence that there are no important differences between a fleet of horse archers on river barges and a fleet of marines and supermen on spaceships, it seems like our best chance of survival lies in ensuring the enemy fleet is scuttled before we even engage it. This will require pulling a miracle out of our ass; thus, the best way to prepare is to cram our ass with as many miracles as possible.

Current tally:

BBA
ABA
BBA
ABA
ACA
ACA
ABA
ABC
BBC
BBD
ABA
BCC

I - 111111111
II - 1
III
IV - 1111111111
V
VI
VII - 1111
VIII - 1111
IX - 11

 

[Azira]

Alright, I'd better vote then.

B
B
I, IV, IX
D

 

[Anabanana]

A - From the sound of it, Ean's presence won't make or break this battle, and I'd much rather get rid of any potential Master fuckery first.
B - We're sacrificing flexibility to get more combos, but the warping ability should help make up for it a bit. Plus, having Rei's support at all times sounds useful.
I, IV, IX - I imagine warping into the middle of the fleet, slowing them down before they can attack and then firing off black hole cannons to destroy them at our leisure. Fuck yeah.
I, IV, VIII
A

 

[TOME]

Is there a mental toll using the degeneration field? Also, can you use other APS through the tactical warp system? It would do wonders for the morale if the enemy flagship crumbled down to atoms before the battle even began.

 

[treave]

The tactical warp system only teleports your mech. If you want to fire your own weapons through the wormholes you need to use the ring slaves. The devourer shield only functions as a defense mechanism. Also, the warp system uses wormholes so it's not instantaneous teleportation. You still need to open the wormhole and travel through it, though the process is much quicker than what has been described before this. Still, if you're getting pummeled with enemy fire at the moment that might be hard to achieve.

The amount of concentration required for the degeneration field increases exponentially according to distance. You could probably hold a small field for minutes at a time with no problems, but expand it to hundreds of kilometres and it will take a large toll on your mental stamina or possibly short-circuit your brain for good. Seeing that you need to hold it for at least a minute to kill a normal human, and the larger the object, the harder it is to destroy, it is best used in short bursts to slow things down enough for you to take out multiple weakened targets, moving at high-speeds between bursts to confuse the enemy. The decaying effect is just a nifty bonus, don't expect it to do the bulk of the damage.

 

[Anabanana]

Can you use other powers while using the degeneration field? Or do you have to focus exclusively on it for it for work?

 

[treave]

Depends on the area you're affecting. Let's say, if you're in the mech, within 50 metres you can hold it easily and multitask, up to one kilometre you will need to focus quite a bit, though you'll still be able to move normally, and for distances more than a kilometre you will need to concentrate fully on maintaining the field. The maximum duration that you can hold it is five minutes at up to one kilometre, the duration drops progressively the further out you go. You'll need a co-pilot to control the mech.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Really hoping some people flop to energy armor. I kind of doubt this degeneration gimmick is going to be of any protection when tens of thousands of ships have a target lock on us and Marduk is firing Varja.

treave, actually, how much damage can these shields take anyway? You mentioned it'd be hard to open the wormhole if we were getting pummeled so...

 

[treave]

Not enough to tank thousands of ships firing at you. The devourer shield won't allow you to do that either. If you're forced into a position where all the ships have locked on to you and you're pinned down, you've already fucked up.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Not enough to tank thousands of ships firing at you. The devourer shield won't allow you to do that either. If you're forced into a position where all the ships have locked on to you and you're pinned down, you've already fucked up.

Fucked up by focusing all our energy into cool sounding attacks an none on defense, amirite?

Given the way the choices are going, it would seem to be best we pick something to do with protection for the third choice.

I'm actually surprised so many people are picking the degen field at all. I think it sounds really cool, but maybe no one is reading the comments describing it... Really, the gravity wings sound much better if you want to slow down the enemy as it would also offer a speed boost and a little bit of protection too.