Bay 12 Games Forum

Try to cuss about your poor luck, in English and call for reinforcement in English, the Slinkar might get scared, thinking the Vanguard are coming to slaughter them.

((The main character has not had any luck with English at the moment. If you do that now, you'll probably just break down coughing.))

How different are our uniforms from Vanguard ones?

((They are very different. The Slinkar know you aren't Vanguard, as they have met Vat-Born in combat before (It was how Ari lost most of her Brood, remember).))

oops and yes but we have more pressing matters... at this rate wo won't have a chance if the slinkar try for a counter-attack or the vangaurd get serious about this war.

((Really, it was due to your unlucky rolls on the Scouts that lead to the heavy casualties for Ankara. Had you got a better roll than a 2 for your scouting/recon, you would have seen that there were elite troops there.))

All things considered, this seems like an excellent time to lose consciousness...

((May i ask why? Your wounds arent that bad. Also, your troops need leadership. I stopped the update where i did to give people the chance to react to the current conditions.

Just tell me if you guys want to continue as planned))

((You had some really good rolls there, and some really bad rolls.))

Considering what the GM has said let's keep a small 3 (wo) man group behind to survey from the top using thermals and normal vision. We'll hopefully be told if the vanguard come and prepare adequately.

Continue as plan otherwise.

Leaving a force behind to cover our escape vehicles would not be the worst plan, if things go badly in the air, then we may not end up with a backup means of departure... Although, we can't really hold 'random clearing' so there is no point leaving more than basic scouting and sniping forces to spot and delay an attack long enough to let the vehicles leave in an orderly fashion. Otherwise, I am in favour of sticking to the plan.

You make sure to leave two small teams of 5 Long Range Specialists plus a team of 6 infiltrators, who are tasked with defending the shuttles and fortifying and defending their location.

They set about setting up even more traps, bombs and mines and taking up positions in trees. They cover their sectors adequately. You expect your shuttles should be safe, for the time being.

Afterwards, you decide to stick to the plan.

We need to start moving forward against that HQ fast. Send what spare scouts out to find us some path's while we get the rest of the Brood organised for a march forward.

Also: lets get geared in the best armor possible.

You set the plan you decided on into action straight away, without any changes or on the spot modifications. You send the Scouts out on their mission. They are first tasked with finding paths through the dense jungle for the main force, an objective they fulfill very skillfully.

They find plenty of well trodden paths through the Jungle. You theorise that the Slinkar troops who have left the Spaceport and the HQ came this way when they were told to move out. This will make your job much easier. In fact, it makes your job very easy as you get close to your main objective in a little less than a day, making sure to adopt sparse, mutually supporting formations. You do not encounter any small enemy groups, which helps you maintain the element of surprise as, for all the enemy knows, your shuttles weren't actually carrying troops, just supplies.

Your Scouts set up in trees and on the tree line, observing the enemies actions. They fail to see any meaningful information on the enemy, their quality, their equipment nor their movements. They do, however, get fantastic coverage of the Slinkar's positions, which, luckily for you, are tactically horrible. the Slinkar seem to have set up defensive positions outside the outer perimeter buildings, which exposes them to fire from three sides, instead of setting up in the entrance-way of the buildings, which would have bottlenecked your forces and helped the Slinkar inflict heavy damage on you.

You remind yourself that your primary target is the HQ. You theorise that the current conditions will be ideal for also taking the Spaceport, due to the seemingly small number of enemy troops. You, however, remember to exercise caution, as you do not know the quality of the Slinkar troops left behind.

Assessing your plan, you have all the remaining Long Range Specialists, plus a dozen heavy support and ten medics set up a fall back position. They find a densely forested hill, which they choose to dig in, setting up overarching positions of fire and a small perimeter of mines and bombs, plus heavy weapons nests. Both the Long Range Specialists and the Heavy Support will be able to provide supporting fire for the assault as the sight lines are descent. As Elianna has tagged along, you put her in charge of this position, a responsibility she is happy to take.

You make sure your Infiltrators are doing their job. You send the Infiltrators of the Broods ahead, making sure they observe and, where possible, harass the enemy, disable sensors and distract the enemy. Unfortunately, your infiltrators cannot disable the sensor arrays. This unfortunately leads them to be detected as the Slinkar troops seem to have had the presence of mind to make sure to use the HQ's perimeter sensor arrays, which the Infiltrators failed to disable.

The broods Infiltrators take minimal casualties, mostly wounded. Five of your broods infiltrators were killed however. Your infiltrators, mostly useless form now on, fall back to the secondary position to await further orders. Your scouts report that the Slinkar have made no movement to pursue. They have just dug in further and now the entirety of their forces are located in the defensive positions seen earlier.

Your support positions and troops now in position, you organise your troops for the assault.

You do not have any Scouts, Infiltrators or Long Range Specialists in your assault force, however both the Scouts and the Long Range Specialists will be able to provide supporting fire.

Your Medics are down ten women, and your heavy support are down twelve women, due to being needed as the secondary support position. Apart from the five infiltrator deaths, your troops are in prime condition for the assault, as are Ankara's. As a final order before the assault, you tell the Infiltrators to hunt down any fleeing enemies if the battle goes well, with specific emphesis on not letting any escape.

You go over your strategy in your head:

First, you will lead the main assault force which will be made up of two thirds of your Brood. Your objective will be to annihilate any enemy resistance and secure the HQ. You will clear both perimeter rings plus the main building of enemy forces as quickly as possible, in an effort to prevent them from calling for reinforcements.

Second, Ari will lead her contingent of your joint brood in an effort to seize control of at least one auxiliary control room, ideally the main control room as well. If or when she fulfills that objective, she will reprogram the AAA and the Anti-Orbit defenses to fire on all non-Morey spacecraft and aircraft.

Thirdly, Ankara will lead her brood in a secondary assault from the opposite side, which should split the enemy forces, leading to a quickly victory. You warn both your sisters and Ankara's brood to check their fire if or when they break through and start sandwiching the enemy forces.

After making sure your sisters know their jobs, you call for the assault to begin.


Your frontal assault goes well, with heavy fighting erupting around three entrances closest to your starting position. Your left flank gets bogged down mainly due to the Slinkar troops moving to support their comrades. They start taking casualties, but fortunately, all of the casualties are just wounded, for the moment. They have, however, taken 5% casualties.

Your centre, led by yourself, actually makes headway. Your troops expertly fire and move towards the Slinkar troops. You see that more reinforcements are coming to support them, however this does nothing to slow your advance. You are, not advancing rapidly, though, and at times you feel as though your troops are about to get bogged down. You take few casualties, mostly just light wounds.

Then your luck takes a turn for the worst. Just as you get hit by a plasma shot in the lower stomach from a Slinkar heavy weapon, you also get shot in the left knee by a Hyper-Laser whilst a railgun round hits and cracks your helmet on your right side, disabling your standard communications array (which you use to talk to Morey troops). You collapse as your wounded knee buckles, screaming in pain, your armour steaming from the powerful energy blasts, blood pumping from your stomach.

A medic grabs you and drags you behind a boulder, quickly applying healing spray to your plasma wound, which managed to penetrate your armour, and give you heavy burns in that area. She also applies a less powerful healing gel to your knee, where your armour has been melted to your skin. The medic tells you the gel should un-fuse the skin and armour and help heal the wound. The medic then tells you her advanced Medical field pack got destroyed by a Slinkar Plasma grenade and she cannot analyze your wounds any more deeply. You report your condition to Ari and Ankara, telling them to  continue as planned, as you believe your life is not in danger at this moment. You are, for the moment, out of the fighting.

Back to the battle, your right flank does exceptionally well, steamrolling over the Slinkar resistance and their reinforcements from the entrances not attacked by your forces. They take casualties, but they are light wounds at best. They rapidly take their entrances and move to support your centre and left flanks. Slinkar resistance starts to crumble, slowly.

Fire from your scouts helps, however due to their distance, and the fact they dont have the best firing angles, they are only a mediocre help at best. Your Long Range Specialists and Heavy Support firing from your secondary position, led by Elianna, however, lay down fantastically accurate and devastating fire, raking the Slinkar defenses with devastating fire.

However, even with your long range support, the Slinkar only still give territory slowly.

Your scouts report that they have finally identified the troops you are fighting. They are just standard Slinkar cannon fodder, with weapons ranging from obsolete coil and Gauss weaponry to Plasma, nothing higher. Lucky for you.

Brood's Assault force split into three roughly equal parts. Current Condition:
Left Flank: 5% casualties
Centre: Light casualties only.
Right Flank: Light Casualties only.
Enemy Condition: Defenses failing. Troops falling back, however resistance still heavy.


Ari's contingent manages to fight their way into the base and, due to their small numbers, make their way to the central building fighting only light resistance. However, as they come to a control room, concealed Slinkar heavy weapons open up, raking Ari's troops. Her troops take roughly 12% casualties in the first exchange, as well as Ari herself taking a plasma shot to the upper left arm, which does not manage to penetrate her armour all the way through. Her troops then scramble for cover, which they find easily in the cluttered hallways and rooms of the HQ, still a mess from when it first fell to the Slinkar.

Ari's troops quickly clear the enemy resistance, and treats any minor wounds. They then proceed to the control room. Unfortunately, as they get set up and ready to attempt to hack the system, more Slinkar arrive, but they do not get the drop on Ari's sisters. They didn't need to though, as they quickly found cover and started a second gun battle. Aris troops only take some minor casualties, but the Enemy are stubborn and do not go down easily.

The fighting continues, with little sign of it letting up. The walls start becoming even more pitted with weapons fire, and bodies start to fill the rooms and hallways, the stench of death filling the air, along with Slinkar battle screams. More Slinkar arrive to reinforce the enemy. Casualties for Ari start to mount......

Ari's force together as one force. Current Condition:
Force Casualties: 14% (12% from initial ambush, plus 2% from continued fighting)
Combat Status: Both sides fighting hard, and taking casualties.


Ankara leads her troops in an assault at the same time Pandora leads her assault, split into the same three equal groups Pandora's troops were split into.

(Roll: 1. Oh dear.)

Slinkar resistance is extremely heavy and, even with supporting fire from both the secondary positions heavy weapons and the Scouts behind the main force in the trees and tree line, Ankara's troops take heavy casualties and make little headway. The Slinkar also seem to be using weapons not usually associated with Slinkar cannon fodder.

It is then that the Scouts send through over the Battle-Net extremely bad news. It seems that, by their calculations there was a force of roughly 1200 elite Slinkar Val-Tar, or Heavy Infantry, who are known for two things: Marksmanship and ruthlessness. They also make use of similar weaponry as your troops.

On Ankara's left side, her forces are stalled before they even get started, and take 43% casualties, with none coming away unscathed. The ones in best condition had light wounds, the worst lay dead on the battlefield. Ankara almost called for them to retreat, however the left flank rallied and pushed hard, managing to gain a foothold. They managed to return fire and devastate portions of the Slinkar defenses. Energy projectiles filled the air between the assaulting Vat-Born and the defending Val-Tar.

In Ankara's centre, they took similar casualties, at roughly 47%. They too rallied, though, but didn't manage the same feat of skill the left flank had. They managed to get to cover and return fire, however the Slinkar centre on this side seems to be the most heavily fortified, with fire even coming fro the perimeter walls of the HQ.

Ankara herself got hit in the thigh by a Hyper-Laser pulse, and a destabilised Plasma shot skimmed her mid-rift, ugly greren tendrils snaking over her armour, melting it. Ankara managed to rip off the affected plates of armour, however. This did expose the smaller, slightly weaker under-plates, but it protects her from been slowly melted by the plasma.

Ankara's right flank took equally heavy blows, but took the least amount of casualties. They only took 34% casualties, and many of them were mediocre wounds. Few died. They managed to push hard and get in position. They even managed to annihilate most Slinkar resistance, moving and taking the Slinkar positions easily, mopping up the last of the resistance without a hitch. They then moved to reinforce Ankara's centre forces.

Brood's Assault force split into three roughly equal parts. Current Condition:
Left Flank: 43% casualties. Shaken.
Centre: 47% Casualties. Shaken. Bogged Down.
Right Flank: 34% Casualties. Moving to support the Centre.
Enemy Condition: Defenses failing on Ankara's right flank, however holding strong in the centre and being pressed hard on Ankara's left. Resistance heavy. Enemy elite.


What do you do now? Any changes? Strategy? Tactics?




Status:
1. Demeanor: Shaken, in pain, wounded.
2. Mental Condition: Mentally fit and stable.
3. Physical Condition: Chest wounds healed. Extensive Scarring. Plasma lower stomach wound, Hyper Laser knee wound, very mild concussion.
4. Clear thoughts and currently inactive mental factions.
5. Free moving.

Inventory:
1. Mark 3 Vat-Born Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Suit (Wearing) (Damaged x2)
2. Mark 3 Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Helmet (Wearing) (Cracked and damaged) (Disabled standard Comms system)
3. Advanced White Cooled Skin Tight Full Body Under-suit (Wearing) (Damaged)
4. Mk5 Mass-Driver pistol (sidearm) (Holstered)
5. Arishok Plasma pulse rifle (In Hands)
6. Dikari Plasma shotgun (Holstered on Back)
7. Warrisk Mass-Driver Battle Rifle (Holstered on Back)
8. Combat Engineering Equipment and explosives. (In Backpack)

Available Equipment:
1. Mark 3 Vat-Born Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Suit
2. Mark 3 Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Helmet
3. Basic White Skin Tight full Body Under-suit x 4
4. Advanced White Cooled Skin Tight Full Body Under-suit x 2
5. Mk5 Mass-Driver pistol (sidearm)
6. Arishok Plasma pulse rifle
7. Dikari Plasma shotgun
8. Warrisk Mass-Driver Battle Rifle
9. Combat Engineering Equipment and explosives.
10. Stun/Concussion rifle
11. Casual clothes x10 (White skin tight suit, Gloves, Boots)
12. Ceremonial robes
13. Royal Guard Armoured Powered Exoskeleton suit

Implants and Augmentations:
1. 2x Loyalty probe in the Striatum part of the brain.
2. Multi-range optics (Thermal, magnetic, IR, UV, multi-stage magnification etc) implant on eyes.
3. Command and Control (C&C) nano-module implanted in head.
4. Communications array nano-module implanted in head.
5. Fortified 7th Generation reverse engineered biological nano-machines in blood stream, bones, muscles, tendons and organs.
6. Nano-memory modules in the Cerebrum, holding all relevant non-personal data.

Brood Composition:
1. Forward Command and communications: 10 Vat-born.
2. Field Combat Medic: 50 Vat Born (10 at secondary position)
3. Long Range Specialists (Snipers): 50 Vat-Born
4. Heavy assault: 250 Vat-Born
5. Light Assault: 250 Vat-Born
6. Infiltrators: 45
7. Heavy Support: 120 (12 as Secondary Position)
8. Combat Engineers: 120
9. Scouts: 100
                 
Ari's Contingent:
1. 10 Scouts
2. 6 Infiltrators
3. 4 Forward Command & Comms
4. 16 Field Medics
5. 11 Combat Engineers
6. 22 Long Rage Specialists (Snipers)
7. 21 Heavy Support
8. 20 Light assault
9. 55 Heavy Assault (including Ari herself)

"I was gonna suggest Pulleydanger, but Necrisha kinda has a point. How about The Places of Holding until we can decide on something?"

"Sounds good to me"

((Sorry guys, my computer keeps on blue-screening for some obscure reason. I'm going to spend this evening trying to sort out the problem. Update will be tomorrow sometime.

Good news though as the first batch of new equipment for my new computer has arrived, and i am finalizing the other half of the build. Just need to select a few more parts and then i can finally start getting my new rig under way, so these problems should disappear within the next few weeks.))

"Snake? Snake! SNAAAAAAKE!"

"Jesus Christ, Colonel, stop shouting in my ear!"

((Sorry for the shortness of this update, guys. Take comfort in the fact it s just the first part in a loooong campaign.....

EDIT: Almost bloody murdered my computer as firefox crashed and the computer blue screened just as i pressed the 'post' button. I thought i had lost my update......))

Next steps:

1. Quick practice including firing range practice, survival tactics, a briefing of everything we know about the planet and our assumptions, and a "we will survive no matter what" speech.

2. skip to where we land on the planet cause we honestly need to be their. This intense waiting is killing me.

You think about last minute things to do before you retire for the evening.

You mentally go over the survival tactics your brain contains, making sure to check your equipment for the necessary tools needed to survive in dense jungle. You fortunately have everything in order, ready to go. You sigh, thankful that at least one small thing has not gone horribly wrong.

Then, after donning a set of your casual clothes, you walk towards the firing range the ship has for practice shoots. You pick up one of the test rifles at the range, load in some ammunition and set to work. You surprise yourself with your marksmanship. You hit all 34 targets in quick succession, without missing a shot.

After about an hour on the range, you return to your room, completely exhausted after the day you had. You aren't really one for speeches, but you believe it is best that you give some words of encouragement to your sisters. At least, some kind words to calm them.

Opening the link you share with your sisters, you say a short speech.

"Sisters, as you well know we are heading into a real hell storm tomorrow. I want to say everything will be alright, that everyone will return, but that would be a lie, and I do not like lying to the people i care about. The fact is, we will be pressed hard at every turn. There are enemies down there who will no hesitate to kill us where we stand without a second thought. However, we are not weak. We shall survive. We shall bend, but not break. We shall be like the wind in the trees, adapting to the obstacles in the way. Remember that. Blood shall be spilt tomorrow. Look to and rely on your sisters, and we can make sure that it isn't ours."

After closing the connection, you sit on your bed in silence. Eventually you undress and get ready for bed. Hope for a successful mission fills your mind as you slowly slide into a deep sleep....




You are aboard one of 6 shuttle drop ships that carry your troops towards your destination planet, along with roughly 10 supply ships and two 3 craft fighter wings. You look out through the pilots window as the Morey pilots guide them stealthily past the Vanguard fleet's orbit over the planet. Even from here you can see the lush greenery on the planet below.

You keep an eye on the Vanguard ships. They make no move to intercept you, even though you are sure they will have detected you at this range, even if you are cloaked using the latest in Morey cloaking technology available to the fleet. Your shuttle glides speedily past.

Everything looking good so far, you message Ari, Ankara and Elianna who are on the other ships. Elianna's presence surprised you, as the rest of her brood is out of action.

"Everything looks good so far" You say over your mental connections to them.

"So far being the major point there" Ankara responds, sounding nervous even over the mental connection.

"Remember, we hit the HQ hard, and we hit it fast. If, and i mean if, we manage to take the HQ withing a reasonable time limit and start getting those Anti-Orbit weapons online, i want half of our force to attempt an assault on the Spaceport. It is an important secondary objective. However, if we lose to many of our sisters, or the enemy puts up enough resistance to delay us, we will have to make do with the HQ. And do not forget, we will be using the infiltrators to both deactivate any ground defenses and sensors they have, as well as setting up an defensive perimeter behind us made up of mines and traps so that no one can hit us in the rear. Everyone got that?" All three of the others respond with a resounding 'yes'.

You remember that all of your sisters had the layout of the area and the terrain broadcast to them when you went over it. They all seem to have memorized it. You checked before the shuttles took off. 'Good thing too. We dont want to get separated if we end up having to march anywhere long distance' you think to yourself.


Time seems to pass slowly in the shuttles, with the planet getting ever larger in the cockpits window.

You start to feel nervous, however that quickly dissipates as your shuttles speed towards the atmosphere. It doesn't take long for things to get bumpy. Things get very uncomfortable, however nothing serious happens as you breach the atmosphere and are soaring above the clouds.

Your shuttles flatten their trajectory, but not for long. They dive down again after roughly ten minutes flying horizontally, breaching the cloud cover and descending until they are almost brushing the high tree tops of the jungle canopy below, the shuttles weaving in between the emergent mega-trees that reach far higher than the canopy. Your brains quickly tells you that this is the best way to avoid AAA fire and detection.

It is now that the supply shuttles and the fighter wings break off to head to the Morey front line not far (by speed-shuttle) from your target. "Good Luck" You hear a Morey say over the comms. You hear one of the two pilots of your shuttle say a thanks before shutting the connection.

You then see something you were secretly hoping for.

The HQ, and a little further off, the Spaceport on the coast, both huge complexes.

But the best bit is, they do not seem to be under attack by the Vanguard. Unfortunately, not all the Slinkar seem to have gone, as your sensors are picking up Slinkar signatures and radio chatter.

Thankfully, the sensors seem to say that the number of Slinkar is roughly one third, or 5000 troops, of the number that is supposed to be there, and that that number is spread over both the HQ and the Spaceport.

Unfortunately, heavy AAA fire erupts from the HQ's defenses. Shortly after, the Spaceports AAA defenses roar into life, filling the sky around the 6 shuttles.

Fortunately, your pilots are skillful enough to dodge, weave and duck the attacks, whilst also cleverly regulating the shuttles shielding technology. You get through the enemy fire unscathed and reach good quality landing zones before the Slinkar land any lucky shots.

Your shuttles quickly duck under the canopy where possible, depositing the troops inside them. Fortunately, there is no ambush, nor any Slinkar or Vanguard activity anywhere close to you, as your infiltrators and scouts report as they set about one of their designated jobs aka recon and rear-guard action, however you know it is only a matter of time until the Slinkar come looking for you. That is, if you dont attack the facilities first.

Your infiltrators and scouts also set about setting up mines and traps around the landing sites before grabbing more from the shuttles to help later. The shuttle pilot tells you that they will stay on the ground, cloaked, so as to avoid AAA fire.

As your troops prepare for the next stage of the mission, you take a brief moment to think whilst overseeing the disembarkment.

Are there any last minute changes to make to the plan? Anything else you could do at this moment?

[/i][/b]

What do you think? Do?


Status:
1. Calm, although a little nervous.
2. Mentally fit
3. Physically fit.
4. Clear thoughts and currently inactive mental factions.
5. Free moving.
6. Naked

Condition:
1. Physically Healthy. Chest wounds healed. Extensive Scarring.
2. Mentally Stable.

Inventory:
1. Mark 3 Vat-Born Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Suit (Wearing)
2. Mark 3 Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Helmet (Wearing)
3. Advanced White Cooled Skin Tight Full Body Under-suit (Wearing)
4. Mk5 Mass-Driver pistol (sidearm) (Holstered)
5. Arishok Plasma pulse rifle (In Hands)
6. Dikari Plasma shotgun (Holstered on Back)
7. Warrisk Mass-Driver Battle Rifle (Holstered on Back)
8. Combat Engineering Equipment and explosives. (In Backpack)

Available Equipment:
1. Mark 3 Vat-Born Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Suit
2. Mark 3 Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Helmet
3. Basic White Skin Tight full Body Under-suit x 4
4. Advanced White Cooled Skin Tight Full Body Under-suit x 2
5. Mk5 Mass-Driver pistol (sidearm)
6. Arishok Plasma pulse rifle
7. Dikari Plasma shotgun
8. Warrisk Mass-Driver Battle Rifle
9. Combat Engineering Equipment and explosives.
10. Stun/Concussion rifle
11. Casual clothes x10 (White skin tight suit, Gloves, Boots)
12. Ceremonial robes
13. Royal Guard Armoured Powered Exoskeleton suit

Implants and Augmentations:
1. 2x Loyalty probe in the Striatum part of the brain.
2. Multi-range optics (Thermal, magnetic, IR, UV, multi-stage magnification etc) implant on eyes.
3. Command and Control (C&C) nano-module implanted in head.
4. Communications array nano-module implanted in head.
5. Fortified 7th Generation reverse engineered biological nano-machines in blood stream, bones, muscles, tendons and organs.
6. Nano-memory modules in the Cerebrum, holding all relevant non-personal data.

Brood Composition:
1. Forward Command and communications: 10 Vat-born.
2. Field Combat Medic: 50 Vat Born
3. Long Range Specialists (Snipers): 50 Vat-Born
4. Heavy assault: 250 Vat-Born
5. Light Assault: 250 Vat-Born
6. Infiltrators: 50
7. Heavy Support: 120
8. Combat Engineers: 120
9. Scouts: 100
                 
Ari's Contingent:
1. 12 Scouts
2. 7 Infiltrators
3. 5 Forward Command & Comms
4. 19 Field Medics
5. 13 Combat Engineers
6. 22 Long Rage Specialists (Snipers)
7. 25 heavy Support
8. 23 Light assault
9. 64 Heavy Assault (including Ari herself)

Update incoming? sorry im ansty but i just love this game.

((Sorry, currently doing my required job searching. Update will be in a bit))