Everyone should pick a speech color for your characters (anything but Gray, since that will be used for nameless background NPCs) and head over to the IC thread to get into character and ask the helpful comm officer whatever questions you have. And don't forget to watch the opening crawl! You can ask questions OOC here as well, and I'll provide a general sitrep in a bit, I just thought a chance to get into character would be better than my continuing the infodump.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by abadguy
Darn you PoDL for making me care about a bunch of NPC Commoners!
If possible I want to have Varon make a Knowledge (Tactics) check. This check will be to think about a possible way to better the surviveability of the ships outside. His current thinking is to conserve forces and spread them in a good tactical way on the edge of the front and work on keeping the Vong where they are instead of driving them back. Then when the civilian ships try to escape from the planet all efforts will be focused on protecting them then.
I'll throw in my own Knowledge (Tactics) roll: (1d20+13)[23]
I figure Velin's looking primarily for signs of anything like what he asked about, assuming we have data on the ground battle yet. I'm not sure if we do.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ertier
A good background is like a skirt. Short enough to keep my interest, but long enough to cover the important bits.
Given that I am not very militarily minded or very experienced when it comes to strategy and tactics, I was wondering if you might be able to tell me what sort of things Wren would think to ask the Comms Officer about. So, Lieutenant Ozzel will also make use of her knowledge of tactics. (1d20+12)[18].
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If possible I want to have Varon make a Knowledge (Tactics) check. This check will be to think about a possible way to better the surviveability of the ships outside. His current thinking is to conserve forces and spread them in a good tactical way on the edge of the front and work on keeping the Vong where they are instead of driving them back. Then when the civilian ships try to escape from the planet all efforts will be focused on protecting them then.
Knowledge (Tactics): [roll0]
From the information the comm officer gave you, it looks like spreading the fleet a bit and pulling back the starfighters would indeed make things a lot safer and faster for the evacuees, but that would lower the density of Imperial firepower and thus allow the Vong capital ships to get closer, which would be bad for the fleet. That would thus be a good strategy to implement when (if ) you guys manage to save the day on the surface and are in the process of pulling out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jallorn
I'll throw in my own Knowledge (Tactics) roll: [roll0]
I figure Velin's looking primarily for signs of anything like what he asked about, assuming we have data on the ground battle yet. I'm not sure if we do.
The data on the ground forest is obviously patchy (literally), but you can make some inferences. First, the display doesn't show any major cities right where the Vong are, and they're staying concentrated rather than striking out at the nearby cities, so presumably the cities aren't their key target(s). The supply lines seem to be the transports the comm officer mentioned, so with (hopefully) only nine freighters' worth of matériel and personnel they probably don't have very strong defenses yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AvianMalkavian
Given that I am not very militarily minded or very experienced when it comes to strategy and tactics, I was wondering if you might be able to tell me what sort of things Wren would think to ask the Comms Officer about. So, Lieutenant Ozzel will also make use of her knowledge of tactics. [roll0].
Right now, you don't know much about the effectiveness of their weapons, what sort of defenses they have, and other stuff related to getting your ship down safely. Anything on the ground is out of sensor resolution right now.
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Better to DM in Baator than play in Celestia
You can just call me Dice; that's how I roll.
Sig of Holding
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Quote:
Originally Posted by abadguy
Darn you PoDL for making me care about a bunch of NPC Commoners!
((Knowledge (Tactics) to try and work out what they are up to: [roll0]))
The only significance to their current position is that they're located "underneath" Sernpidal's smaller moon. They might be trying to prepare the way for setting up a base on that moon, or launching an attack on the hangars there from two directions, or something similar.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Battleship789
Are the Worldships the only notable Vong capital ships in the system?
Yep. Aside from the transports the comm officer mentioned, they've only seen worldships and coralskippers here thus far.
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Better to DM in Baator than play in Celestia
You can just call me Dice; that's how I roll.
Sig of Holding
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Quote:
Originally Posted by abadguy
Darn you PoDL for making me care about a bunch of NPC Commoners!
Guess Alstair will do a Knowledge (tactics) check to see how balanced the two worldships are against the Imperial forces that are deployed. (1d20+11)[12]
I know the Star Wars franchise does horrible, horrible things to astrophysics, but you cannot "hang out under a moon" unless said moon is in a geosynchronous orbit-and neither of Sernpidal's natural satellites are described as such.
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I know the Star Wars franchise does horrible, horrible things to astrophysics, but you cannot "hang out under a moon" unless said moon is in a geosynchronous orbit-and neither of Sernpidal's natural satellites are described as such.
I believe that this is only referring to where the landing area is at currently. It will not be "under" the moon after a while, it just happens to be at that location now.
Guess Alstair will do a Knowledge (tactics) check to see how balanced the two worldships are against the Imperial forces that are deployed. [roll0]
[...]
Natural 1. Guess that shows that Alstair is more focused on ground combat.
They're not.
These things are about as large as a Death Star, which is five orders of magnitude (100,000x) larger than a Star Destroyer. The worldships don't even look slightly damaged, and the fact that they're sitting there defensively rather than going on the offensive is what's kept the fleet alive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Battleship789
What equipment is aboard the freighter?
Blaster rifles and grenades for the stormtroopers, food and other supplies for you and the refugees. Otherwise, just what you brought with you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Battleship789
I believe that this is only referring to where the landing area is at currently. It will not be "under" the moon after a while, it just happens to be at that location now.
Precisely. Give me some credit, people.
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Better to DM in Baator than play in Celestia
You can just call me Dice; that's how I roll.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by abadguy
Darn you PoDL for making me care about a bunch of NPC Commoners!
Since the posting rate has stalled a bit, I assume people are kind of stuck on what to do next. Should I have the General order a raid or suggest some possible plans or something?
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Better to DM in Baator than play in Celestia
You can just call me Dice; that's how I roll.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by abadguy
Darn you PoDL for making me care about a bunch of NPC Commoners!
I believe our Medic was going to go examine the bodies.
Indeed he was, but since only half the party has been posting and no one responded to the "Hey officers, come up with a plan!" in the last post, I figured I'd check in with people.
__________________
Better to DM in Baator than play in Celestia
You can just call me Dice; that's how I roll.
Sig of Holding
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Quote:
Originally Posted by abadguy
Darn you PoDL for making me care about a bunch of NPC Commoners!
I didn't realize until I looked over everyone's sheets that I was the only one with any stealth skills. This is going to be a lot scarier by myself than with a comrade or two.
I'm now also thinking that Velin isn't too happy about his team's makeup. He's gotten used to operating with more subtlety than I'm sure he's expecting from the others.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ertier
A good background is like a skirt. Short enough to keep my interest, but long enough to cover the important bits.
You can effectively "buy" Skill Training (Stealth) with the 125-cred camo poncho.
Still, that was why I reasoned we would need some sort of diversionary action to make the raid stick.
Also, I have to ask-did the Empire learn nothing in repelling the 1st invasion that was alluded in the alternate history you posted up for this game?
I mean, I would understand if the results were classified above the clearance of a battle group commander or a fringe world militia officer, but you would expect they would tell the guys they sent to gain intel so they would not waste time re-discovering the wheel.
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I am not crazy! I prefer "reality impaired".
I don't know that we've ever formally decided on a Chain of Command. I'm fairly certain that Velin isn't on the top of it though. He's mostly a mercenary right now, albeit one that used to be a full part of the chain, though admittedly in a side one then as an Intelligence Agent. That being the case, he's used to being allowed, sometimes, to say, to hell with the chain, this is what's happening because I know things you don't.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ertier
A good background is like a skirt. Short enough to keep my interest, but long enough to cover the important bits.
Also, I have to ask-did the Empire learn nothing in repelling the 1st invasion that was alluded in the alternate history you posted up for this game?
I mean, I would understand if the results were classified above the clearance of a battle group commander or a fringe world militia officer, but you would expect they would tell the guys they sent to gain intel so they would not waste time re-discovering the wheel.
The first assault wasn't a full-scale invasion, it was a fleet showing up and getting pulverized by a prepared Empire. If you recall Vector Prime, the Vong sabotaged a station so no one saw them coming, then sent in a worldship or two and attendant forces, and that gave the New Republic a ton of trouble for several books because they had no warning and no intel.
In this continuity, the Empire was on watch, they detected the Vong coming, the Praetorite Vong infiltration fleet was met by a half-squadron of Death Stars and attendant forces, and the Vong basically imploded. There was no chance for the Empire to really learn much about their enemies, since the point was to stop them with extreme prejudice; when the Vong saw their first probe fail utterly and went for a full scale assault with everything they had, the Empire started to get stretched thin and that's why they're trying to learn about the enemy now.
__________________
Better to DM in Baator than play in Celestia
You can just call me Dice; that's how I roll.
Sig of Holding
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by abadguy
Darn you PoDL for making me care about a bunch of NPC Commoners!
I don't know that we've ever formally decided on a Chain of Command. I'm fairly certain that Velin isn't on the top of it though.
Which is why Thanas does not view Velin as part of it. Truth be told, he probably views Velin in the same light as Admiral Piett ("We don't need their scum"), but he will not say it out loud in front of high-ranking officers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PairO'Dice Lost
The first assault wasn't a full-scale invasion, it was a fleet showing up and getting pulverized by a prepared Empire. If you recall Vector Prime, the Vong sabotaged a station so no one saw them coming, then sent in a worldship or two and attendant forces, and that gave the New Republic a ton of trouble for several books because they had no warning and no intel.
In this continuity, the Empire was on watch, they detected the Vong coming, the Praetorite Vong infiltration fleet was met by a half-squadron of Death Stars and attendant forces, and the Vong basically imploded. There was no chance for the Empire to really learn much about their enemies, since the point was to stop them with extreme prejudice; when the Vong saw their first probe fail utterly and went for a full scale assault with everything they had, the Empire started to get stretched thin and that's why they're trying to learn about the enemy now.
Actually, I was thinking of Vector Prime, especially considering by the end of it, the heroes had (VP and possibly game plot spoilers)
Spoiler
-Defeated the shield-stripping abilities of dovin basals by extending the radius of their inertial compensators.
-Captured a dead warrior, his amphistaff, and ooglith masquer.
-Started improvising stutter-fire on their fighters.
-Captured a fairly intact coralskipper
-And broken the language barrier
Granted, I do not remember how much of this had happened by the point Sernipidal got blown up.
Although that explanation would certainly make sense.
Also, by a show of hands, has anybody not read Vector Prime so I can stop spoilering this stuff?
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I am not crazy! I prefer "reality impaired".
I have not read, but I'm not too worried about spoilers either, since I'm not likely to read the books any time soon (I've got about half a dozen books I actually own that I'll be reading.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ertier
A good background is like a skirt. Short enough to keep my interest, but long enough to cover the important bits.
Actually, I was thinking of Vector Prime, especially considering by the end of it, the heroes had (VP and possibly game plot spoilers)
[...]
Granted, I do not remember how much of this had happened by the point Sernipidal got blown up.
To the latter, there were plenty of discoveries they didn't make for several more books after that; to the former, in theory you're the guys who are going to
Spoiler
capture Vong warriors and coralskippers so you can figure out how their shields work and how to defeat them, how to speak their language, what kinds of biotech they have, etc., since those are your mission orders.
Just imagine that you guys are the Dozen-and-Two Avengers on page 140 of Vector Prime, just running into all this stuff for the first time and figuring things out for the New Republic, and the pacing will make more sense.
__________________
Better to DM in Baator than play in Celestia
You can just call me Dice; that's how I roll.
Sig of Holding
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by abadguy
Darn you PoDL for making me care about a bunch of NPC Commoners!
To the latter, there were plenty of discoveries they didn't make for several more books after that; to the former, in theory you're the guys who are going to
Spoiler
capture Vong warriors and coralskippers so you can figure out how their shields work and how to defeat them, how to speak their language, what kinds of biotech they have, etc., since those are your mission orders.
Just imagine that you guys are the Dozen-and-Two Avengers on page 140 of Vector Prime, just running into all this stuff for the first time and figuring things out for the New Republic, and the pacing will make more sense.
Let's hope it goes a little smoother than that...
How many soldiers are in our stormtrooper squad?
Sorry for not posting at all, it has been rather hectic lately.
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Unstoppable Vong vs. Immovable Empire [OOC]
Derailed in the best way, thank you good sir.
) you guys manage to save the day on the surface and are in the process of pulling out.
Guess that shows that Alstair is more focused on ground combat.
