[LP CYOA] Epic

[TOME]

But you could it use to your advantage and take a hit in order to get to better position? Without any damage to the mech?

Yeah hoping some flops too. The degeneration field doesn't sound so good anymore.

 

[treave]

Very well, some tips. The degen field is a lot more useful in close range combat, rather than hoping you can hold down the entire enemy fleet. Which means it actually works great with the energy armor. Small AoE slow and AoE burst. The field will destroy volatile, small objects like missiles quickly. It doesn't really sync all that well with the black hole cannon, which has to be fired at long range for high yields unless you want to get caught up in the singularity.

If you don't pick the variable cannon you'll still have the original version available (and why wouldn't you have it, it's something you could mount on any thing sporting a black hole engine), so that's something to note.

 

[Anabanana]

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.

Sounds like what we need here is agility and maneuverability then! Flopping from degen to gravity wings - those seem like they'll work well with the warping ability. I'll edit my previous post.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

On the plus side, everyone seems to think the black hole cannon and wormhole upgrades are worth it and they are. If you read carefully, it says without the black hole upgrade we'll only be at "frame busting levels". I rather doubt we'd be able to hold off an entire enemy armada one CF at a time.

Also, the wormhole upgrade will let us make deep strikes and then pull back before we are surrounded and die, like treave just said. Not to mention: "Whats that? Enemy about to reach earth 100,000km away? *wormhole* *blackhole* Not anymore!" vs running around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying futility to zoom around the battlefield it in time to stop 10,000 ships from breaking though to our pathetic defense forces - who, btw, should be REALLY glad we didn't just give them the black hole tech and then use them as bombs against the enemy...

So good choices on those 2, bros.

 

[treave]

On the plus side, everyone seems to think the black hole cannon and wormhole upgrades are worth it and they are. If you read carefully, it says without the black hole upgrade we'll only be at "frame busting levels". I rather doubt we'd be able to hold off an entire enemy armada one CF at a time.

Also, the wormhole upgrade will let us make deep strikes and then pull back before we are surrounded and die, like treave just said. Not to mention: "Whats that? Enemy about to reach earth 100,000km away? *wormhole* *blackhole* Not anymore!" vs running around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying futility to zoom around the battlefield it in time to stop 10,000 ships from breaking though to our pathetic defense forces - who, btw, should be REALLY glad we didn't just give them the black hole tech and then use them as bombs against the enemy...

So good choices on those 2, bros.

Wrong. The original cannon will handily let you wipe out a regular sized fleet of about a hundred ships if they cluster together in standard formation, given the power of the new generator. More if Rei charges it up for you. The improvement refers to the ability to change the scale of the attack, and also fire off multiple mini-black holes.

As for the wormhole, the tactical system allows you to make quick, short-range jumps around the battlefield. Long-range jumps of 100,000 km or more are already doable without picking the upgrade. If you want to jump a long distance you'll have to spend a lot more time setting up the wormhole, like before.

 

[TOME]

I'm also flopping to gravity wings. It sounds much better than energy armour in long range combat.

 

[Anabanana]

Wait a minute. If we're focusing on using the long range black holes to blast away the entire fleet anyway, why don't we concentrate all our resources into doing just that?

We should pick either A or C for the second option, and then put the variable black hole cannons on BOTH the CFs. After that, we do D for the third option. With the combination of the massive laser array, the asteroid kamikaze attack, and the two variable black hole cannons, we might be able to destroy the entire fleet before they can even get into firing range! Our remaining two thousand ships can just hang around for mop up duty.

 

[treave]

The Imperial fleet is expected to drop out of slipspace somewhere near Jupiter. The laser array won't retain coherence that far out, they'll have to be somewhere beyond Moon orbit for maximum effect. The asteroid attack will occur when they enter the asteroid belt. As for the black hole cannons, you'll have to be rather careful with the aim. Even a planet-eating black hole doesn't last long enough to travel a million kilometres. Overloading the reactor to create super-massive black holes is a different matter. But it could still work. The strategy would be to utilize long range wormhole jumps and black hole cannons to harass and pick off the fleet every step of the way.

This was one of the possible strategies I'd offer in the next update.

But then again, they say no plan of attack survives contact with the enemy, so...

edit: That, and I suspect there might be plenty of votes for the option to wait until the fleet is hovering over Earth so that we can conduct diplomatic negotiations with the Emperor. Having him disappear into a black hole on the way here might let some people down.

 

[Anabanana]

...perhaps it might be a good idea to let us take a look at the possible strategies before we decide on our upgrades? Totally understand if you don't want to though.

 

[treave]

Attempt to assassinate the Emperor by performing an unprecedented slipspace boarding.

Pull them out of slipspace around Uranus and attack them early. Can be followed up with hit and run attacks. Riskier, but also delays them from reaching Earth.

Hit and run all the way from Jupiter to Earth.

Wait till they reach Earth for negotiations.

Popping off black holes from long range might be useful, but you should really expect it to work only once. They wouldn't have conquered a galactic empire if they couldn't adapt on the fly. Jumping interplanetary distances will force you to have a recharge time of hours before you can perform the next jump.

I think that's enough information to go on.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Ok. Flopping to Gravity Wings for hit and run awesomeness.

 

[ScubaV]

Alright, I'm convinced. Flopping to wings.

 

[Baltika9]

1A's winning, huh? So, uh, why exactly would the Masters fuck us over if we're solving their problems, namely Marduk, and furthermore, how exactly can they deactivate Innana-based nanites if Zeus had to be pretty much point-blank to deactivate Ean's. Worrying about the computer, I understand. Our nanites, I don't. And the increased durability from them is pretty damn useful and meshes well with our playstyle. Besides, what's to say Ean can't show us his tricks after the battle.
Imagine: Senya as Ean's apprentice, the Masters will be fucked.

B- discounting that he's our TRUEBRO, guys, this is Motherfucker Ean we're talking about here. The guy that faced Marduk before, the guy that travelled dimensions for a millenium, the guy that withstood three thousand years of sphere torture and fought against all kinds of terrors.

Shit, what if it does come down to land warfare? He excells at that, and I'm pretty sure Marduk can't straight-up devour a plaert from space. This gives us a trump card. Or, why not go for the jugular and strike at Marduk before he even comes, again, Ean is the only one with enough martial skill to actually be of use to us there. Punch a hole in the ship, unload our team and reap the benefits. (What would happen if we use black holes in slipspace, treave? I'm assuming it won't be pretty.)

Hell why not lure Marduk into negotiations and let Ean sneak up on him? The possibilities are endless.

This is the ultimate warrior, and you're throwing him away on the irrational chance that the Masters will fuck us over in the middle of battle... why, exactly? We're solving their problems here.

C- we don't have that much familiarity with Rei and her style to be an effective two-seater, but flexibility and additional processors are always good. Think about it, how well do we know her, really? It will be hard for these two to sync in a two-seater.
I, IV, VII- teleportation, plus mega cannon, plus ramming/explosive armor seems like a good combination. I'd go for wings, but they're kinda redundant with teleportation and Rei can use some extra protection. The cannon is self-explanatory.
C- I'm with Kayerts here.

And do consider that getting Ean back may not be an option when this is over: Sek or Rei may die, this is war, after all, and Marduk isn't stupid enough to forget about the Gieloth we took from him. Not much we can do without those two in regards to Ean.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Do consider that Ean was the master of pyrrhic victory - that's how we made him - so relying on him to save the day is rather silly. If we brought Ean back, the LAST thing we should be hoping for is a ground war. That would just result in Ean dead - albeit after having stopped Marduk...barely...with hundreds of millions dead as well. Maybe we could do the slipstream boarding to assassinate Marduk, but other than that, Ean would be quite useless against the fleet proper.

As for Marduk killing/eating Sek, he'll have a difficult time with that after being crushed and swallowed by a black hole.


edit: Oh, and it wasn't just the master's dickishness I was worried about. Marduk ATE Zeus. He ate a Master. He may have they ability to shut off the computer himself.

 

[Baltika9]

Something tells me it won't be that simple. Marduk is cunning and very powerful(I'm getting Darth Nihilus vibes here). True, we haven't revealed ourselves, but Belly-A still has his feelers out, and while we can twist our mind to escape that, the moment he knows Senya is on the field, he's raising the fleet on high alert. And like treave said, the Empire didn't get where it is now by being retarded. Expect deployments from multiple ends of the system and an aggressive feint as soon as they enter. Better yet, expect a hundred-ship strong scouting party.
If anything, they won't warp out in one neat parcel to be black'hole'd. And as soon as we reveal our cannon, expect Marduk to pull an Olympus Switcharoo (is his capital ship named Olympus, by any chance?)

Pyrrhic victory? By himself, maybe, but he has Senya this time around and Rei, too, as unstable as she is. With Senya's smarts, Ean's strength and the sheer mass of their testicles combined, Marduk has no chance.

And ground combat is indeed the last resort, but if it comes to that, we really will need Ean, the guy is just too useful to pass him up for tentacles.

Edit:

edit: Oh, and it wasn't just the master's dickishness I was worried about. Marduk ATE Zeus. He ate a Master. He may have they ability to shut off the computer himself.

I'm not following. Since when can you deactivate a computer just by "POWAH!"
Marduk has no connection to Master-tech, except for Vajra and while he may try to short-circuit it, it would be really retarded of us to let him get anywhere near our CF with that thing, unless we're engaging in ramming action.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

edit: Oh, and it wasn't just the master's dickishness I was worried about. Marduk ATE Zeus. He ate a Master. He may have they ability to shut off the computer himself.

I'm not following. Since when can you deactivate a computer just by "POWAH!"

:shrug: Call it "universal wifi" if you want. I don't pretend to understand how it would work. Only that it MIGHT work that way. That corrupt master that took over Naram had the ability to control the immortals on earth through "POWAH!" - and he did it through the voices, which we now know are just nano-computers/batteries. Besides, it might not even be a matter of POWAH, but KNOWLEDGE - ie, perhaps Marduk somehow gained the knowledge of how to disable certain master tech like the computer when he ate Zeus.

Marduk has no connection to Master-tech, except for Vajra and while he may try to short-circuit it, it would be really retarded of us to let him get anywhere near our CF with that thing, unless we're engaging in ramming action.

Again, he didn't have any connection before. Now he does. He devoured Zeus and all the Master tech he had in him.

 

[Baltika9]

Universal what-now?
So, Marduk is now made out of whatchamacallits and can disable thingamajigs through wi-fi. By that logic we can't fight him at all, maybe he'll hack our asteroids and use them against us, or turn the Ion cannon against our forces. Hell, he may infect our fleet's computers and use that against us!

Although you're probably right about one thing: the Mastets won't and probably can't meddle in our reality directly right now. Master tech can, though, and I think thst's what Sek's warning was really about, namely that Vajra can probably disable the computer, since they don't like sudden power-surges.

But, like I said, we'd have to be either boarding Marduk's ship, or borderline retarded to let him into range to do that. Unless he has his own CF.

...

Fuck.

 

[Anabanana]

True, we haven't revealed ourselves, but Belly-A still has his feelers out, and while we can twist our mind to escape that, the moment he knows Senya is on the field, he's raising the fleet on high alert.

Didn't the tactician's connection to us snap as soon as we warped away?

 

[Baltika9]

Sure did. That's not my point: all he needs is a glimpse of Senya's presence and he'll put the fleet on high alert. In fact, if the Empire will send a scouting party, he'll be leading it, I'm sure.

On another note, why pick wings with the teleporter. Doesn't that seem redundant?

 

[Kayerts]

If we want to try bringing Ean back, it should be in conjunction with a plan to assassinate the False Emepror via a boarding action. (I hear those work really well.) That means picking synergistic choices, i.e. the gravitic drill in a two-seater with Rei, with tactical warp and probably gravity wings for maximum mobility. (I.e., no variable black hole cannon.)

In that instance, it'd probably be worthwhile to at least have 5000 ships on hand, since demoralization effects of a successful assassination, combined with black holes taking out tens of thousands of ships out of fuckin' nowhere, could be sufficient to make fleet-to-fleet combat tenable.

 

[Baltika9]

If we want to try bringing Ean back, it should be in conjunction with a plan to assassinate the False Emepror via a boarding action. (I hear those work really well.) That means picking synergistic choices,

I'm all for that. All we really need to board the ship is one of the two upgrades that lets us penetrate a hull: the drill or the armor (which we can charge up and condense for ramming action); after that, we don't really need wings or huge-ass fleets. Once Marduk is dead, we can use our asteroid traps and upgraded cannon to put the Empire through a harriwing meat-grinder.
Teleportation and our seeming invincibility from the armor will only increase their terror, which is the best way to win here, scaring the fighting spirit out if them. Hence, my loadout.

Anyone who makes it to Holy Terra gets fried, simple as that.

 

[Kayerts]

On another note, why pick wings with the teleporter. Doesn't that seem redundant?

Wings with teleporter make sense if we're pursuing a strategy dependent on extreme mobility. So either hitting-and-running when we pull their fleet out of slipspace at Uranus, or trying to make it out of the heart of their fleet after we ambush them in the Warp slipspace and assassinate their god.

 

[TOME]

But why would you want to get closet to Marduk in the first place? We should sent him through a wormhole to some other dimension and wait 5000 year for a second comeback

 

[Kayerts]

And that was how the Terasphagos Invasion of the Asteroid Belt began . . .

But yeah, if you guys want to try to assassinate the Emperor in slipspace with the EPIC All-Stars team of Ean, Sek, Rei, Senya, and the Dunamis, that'd probably be cooler to read about than playing black hole billiards with Marduk's fleet. I think the latter might have better odds of success, but that's no way to vote.

 

[Baltika9]

Yeah, and let him devour that dimension before he comes back. No thank you.

As for getting close to him: bros, if we can take down Marduk before they deploy, we've pretty much win then and there. He's THE God Emperor, he is the glue of their whole Empire.

Better yet, have Ean steal his identity, the lulz should be enormous.
Edit:

I think the latter might have better odds of success, but that's no way to vote.

Damn right. I'm all for subtlety in politics, but this is another story entirely. And you're right, it will make for much better reading than space pinball.