Battlegroup 8 - Phalanx: Comms

[naive owl]

Just fill that out and we are all good glad to have you aboard

[sharp mortar]

Back up to 2 MBT's

[dusky cape]

And make sure to activate your unit

[rich glacier]

Campaign signups are closed now so you can’t activate if you haven’t already

[dusky cape]

Oh no

I hope you activated your unit already

[rich glacier]

Yeah they did

[sharp mortar]

His unit is active

[rich glacier]

I’m checking everyone that says they want to join us from here on out

[tropic burrow]

I activated my unit like day one

[rich glacier]

Once we actually deploy we won’t accept new people

[rich glacier]

Yeah you’re a vet. I figured I didn’t have to worry about you but I checked anyways just to be sure😆

[sharp mortar]

Never hurts to double check

[dusky cape]

Awesome! More armor and they brought their own repair supplies!

[tranquil frigate]

Morning all what have I missed, ngl I’ve been on one hell of a bender this last weekend 😅🤣

[frosty dew]

Same tbh, midsummer celebration are kinda wild in the nordic countries. As for what happened, our medic joined a blood cult, we got a company grandma who is made of small spiders, and some light human trade hapenned to get us our engineer. Oh, and the vote for our patch and motto happened.

[sharp mortar]

So yeah, nothing much

[tranquil frigate]

Average weekend i guess 🤣🤣🤣

[sharp mortar]

On the bright side we got us a engi so now we don't have to worry about vehicles being destroyed

[icy magnet]

Yes, only one set of spiders no more spiders anywhere else

[frosty dew]

Wasn’t sure if that was part of the official company lore for you 😆 btw, while i called dibs for the ride (and would still love to keep that spot), i was thinking how would a company with anti vehicle missiles work with the fast-deployment? Could they come out and immedietly launch the missile if we ran into an enemy vehicle?

[icy magnet]

Not oficial, still a funny joke

[icy magnet]

Yep they could

An no one else called for it, so its still yours

[twilit badge]

Is there a mythical spider grandmother? Like does anyone have a name that I can start using as my callsign after this?

[sharp mortar]

Shelob (I think that's how her name is spelt)

[frosty dew]

If you want a known spider god, anansi (trickster spider spirit) would be a good callsign but not any kind of grandmother. Quick googling also fond Kokyangwuti which… is not quite as memorable, despite being spider grandmother spirit.

[tranquil frigate]

*be me trying not to make a joke......

[sharp mortar]

🤔

[frosty dew]

@rich glacier Would it be allright if i added a ”lore” page for the sheet in the style of pathfinders unit? Everyone who wants to could add their units backstory and whether they are willing to roleplay?

[dusky cape]

I think dark is referring to a joke like a deez nuts joke.

[sharp mortar]

Ah, now I get it

[sharp mortar]

Should we try to convince light to name all his units after spider/spider related characters?

[rich glacier]

Hmmmm I’m definitely not opposed to the idea but I do want to try and reduce the size of the spreadsheet if possible. So if you can find some way to compress stuff or combine some sheets well then yeah you can go ahead with a lore section

[frosty dew]

Well, the units tab and the logistics tab could probably be combined once the latter is updated, since we wont be getting new joiners anymore. The upgrades would need to be transferred though.

[twilit badge]

You can just link a separate doc somewhere for lore

[frosty dew]

Yeah, meant i would make a chart where everyone could link their lore docs, with a short overview of their unit. Plus their willingness to roleplay.

Same kind as BG pathfinders have in their sheet.

Plus maybe players timezone so we know who could be online at same time.

[rich glacier]

Yeah I’ll be getting to that right before we deploy. As we’ve seen there is still a few stragglers so I want to keep them both for a bit longer

[frosty dew]

So, can i make the tab? It should be fairly compact, with links to lore documents and short overviews.

[rich glacier]

Yeah that should be fine

[rich glacier]

Just wanted to throw a quick update up in here for people not as addicted to this game as some of us. So the fastest groups jumped through the gate into the system and we really didn’t have a good idea what would be there besides some fighters maybe. Turns out it was about worst case scenario and there’s a full bot battle cruiser there. TF3 Fluffle has some weaponry and mid size ships but they aren’t really fitted for combat as their main purpose. Discussions for the next orders are ongoing with both groups and so I can’t really give you any more specifics but just check in and keep watching the #midround-events when you get a chance.

[naive owl]

This is why we are the second wave reinforcements not the first boots on the ground. Thank you Reaper for not getting us all killed we appreciate your foresight

[rich glacier]

Yep going in with little intel has almost never ended well for Armco. I am good with waiting an extra week to be able to play the full campaign😆

[naive owl]

Remind me to keep my LV crew near your mech so I’ll be protected by your plot armor

You do get built in plot armor right

[rich glacier]

We are going to find out here soon enough😂

[frosty dew]

So, it seems we wont be arriving without resistance. Will this delay our landing, if storm cant secure the spaceport as fast?

[twilit badge]

Yes, we have no friends in the navy so we have to wait for a site to be cleared.

[frosty dew]

Well, if that means we wont be facing the bots battlecruisers, im good with that 😆 it seems storm is heading straight there anyway, so if they dont face too many space forces the original plans should be almost on track.

[rich glacier]

Yeah plan seems to be to have storm at least and probably also TF3 continue to rush Elim spaceport while TF2 and TF1 mop up these aerospace assets

Which it’s what I would have done if I was in command of any of those groups so I’m feeling good about the outcome

[frosty dew]

Yeah, seems logical. Im a bit worried about the state of the space-station though. If those civilian transports who were heading there are here instead, presumably waiting for our arrival and help, they either were intercepted or the station is no longer safe. I fear for the station folk if its the latter.

[drifting canyon]

We’ll just have to kill some bots

Same story, different scenario

[frosty dew]

True, but with one enemy in the rear of our orbital forces (maybe). Safe place to store the civvies wouldnt have gone amiss either. Our job is to protect people and the planet, not just kill as many as we can. Though it is a major part of it.

[sharp mortar]

Hey the quicker we can get the civvie's out of the way, the quicker we can get turn bots to scrap metal & get paid

So long as they don't run into active firefights or warzone then their good

[nimble bridge]

Out of curiosity where do you get news or see this game information?

[rich glacier]

Just #midround-events and #campaign-briefing-room mainly. Other than that I just chill in here and watch all the comms channels a bit to see what other people are talking about

[nimble bridge]

Cool, thanks!

[sharp mortar]

Hey is it just me or is anyone else seeing Nalla?

[sharp mortar]

Hello 🤚

Can someone else acknowledge Nalla so i know i'm not talking to a version of SCP-079 who communicates via anime?

[tropic nest]

I think your just locked in a room with me Hellhound. It's okay, the walls are padded, we can't hurt ourselves in here.

[sharp mortar]

Guys please tell me i'm not going mad

...

[tropic nest]

Real talk though, whats Phalanx up too? I can't quite remember what your target was?

[sharp mortar]

GUYS?!?!

Phalanx is a QRF (Quality Reaction Force) we're mostly going to be bolstering/rienforcing the front

[tropic nest]

Oh thats right, nice. I think you'll be seeing a lot of action then. I'm expecting this to get a little messy all over the place

[sharp mortar]

You looking to join?

[tropic nest]

Oh no, I'm on trench duty over in Dwarf Fort. Forgot hands upgrade gets rid of my gun so I'm basically going to be digging trenches all game and being a little counter charger into melee as needed with Templar when not digging. But thanks for the offer.

[sharp mortar]

...

So let me get this straight

You made your LM a melee build

[frosty dew]

Well, thats an interesting idea. But at lest the charge distance must be pretty good.

[tropic nest]

I bought a light mech with one of my 3 req points for that giant rush of smaller games, thinking (wrongly) I'd get into one and make that point back. I never did.

This campaign started and at first we didn't have many engineers... so I bought the Hands upgrade for the construction point to help out the engineers with my remaining 2 REQ. I DID NOT REALIZE THIS TAKES UP THE WEAPON MOUNT. I thought it was a marginal upgrade and I could still have the laser rifle.

I don't have a 4th Req Point since the orbital test did not have a reward... soooooooooo I can't buy the sword upgrade.

So Yes. I'm a lightmech with a little tungsten combat knife and the enemy are gonna catch these hands

I look forward to RPing picking up cars to use as charge shields and ripping robot infantry apart with my hands like some king kong gorilla in a glorified forklift of a light mech.

[sharp mortar]

I am just lost for words

[frosty dew]

Yeah, i was trying to join every short campaign but jeez, thats some luck there.

[sharp mortar]

Something else you could've bought with your req is either jump jets or supply pack

[tropic nest]

I am only kiiinda over it. Someone said that a mech with hands gets a d4 on charge instead of a d2 but I have no idea where they got that info so I think i'm just stuck at a d2 damage.

I was going too but I was like 'whats the most helpful for the team..... OH I can get fists and have the construction point and small melee option but still have my ranged laser. I'll do that.'

And apparently, I can't read.

[sharp mortar]

Evidently

Otherwise you wouldn't have a robot hand where your laser should be

[tropic nest]

I'm just gonna RP it that there was a shipping mix up and I got sent one of the Bomber Torpedos and some bomber in Atlas is going to press the fire button and sling a mech laser rifle into space.

[sharp mortar]

Good call

Blame the Amazon delivery drone

[tropic nest]

Its not the end of the world, just means I can't really do any damage. I'll work with the engineers to instant build trenches in 1 turn instead of

1. Sandbags
2. Trench

and then have some fun roleplaying bits if I get to charge into melee. I'll probably mostly stick to supporting Templar (infantry with melee weapon) or countering charging if one of our infantry gets slammed.

If Shovels ever swings over to us, I can help them build the Airfields and Depots

[frosty dew]

A helpfull worker mech. I really like that image.

[tropic nest]

Nia Nettle is not going to be happy about it. She's going to be pouting the whole time in a black combat mech being forced to be a glorified forklift.

[sharp mortar]

And whose fault is that?

[frosty dew]

The delivery guys, apparently

[tropic nest]

I mean, mine obviously for failing basic reading comprehension, But i'll blame my shitkid HAT pilot, Aura.

[sharp mortar]

And why's that?

[tropic nest]

Cause she's my shitkid and I adore my little Transport pilot... but also shes on the logistics team and is Nia's roomate on my company's orbital in ARMCO, so this is obviously her fault.

[sharp mortar]

Uhuh

[frosty dew]

Now tell us how you really feel 🙂

[sharp mortar]

Velma dropped her glasses 👓

[frosty dew]

Man that sounds fun for roleplay though, im a bit unsure how that part of the game works since our battlegroup isnt that active in chat (excluding those few days we all went crazy and … did a lot of stuff)

[tropic nest]

I mean you do whatever you want with it. The RP side is just creative outlet for certain types. It's entirely unnecessary to actually play the game at this size.

[rich glacier]

Yeah RP is just for the people who enjoy it. I myself am not really one of them besides the occasional WH40k thing😄

[frosty dew]

Yeah, just hoping to get to engage with it more. I love traditional pen-and-paper rpg’s, but it feels SO much easier to innitiate face to face.

[sharp mortar]

You mean like the Human trading, finding out one of our medics is an organ harvester, finding out our other medic worshipps a blood god who cuts off our limbs and sacrifices them to said god and the engi we aquired via human trading whose a lunatic with homemade car battery emp mines?

[frosty dew]

Yeah, that stuff

[tropic nest]

Yeah it's really disjointed with this size of a group

[frosty dew]

Oh and dont forget the group of spiders we elected as our BG’s grandma. And to be fair the medic reataches those limbs, only missing a few toes or such.

[twilit badge]

I was elected?

[tropic nest]

The RP aspect of Meta might be fun if you had a smaller group doing it. Say 5 or so and doing this more like a traditional tabletop kinda small group game.

With this size, it's just whatever with a few limits Shak sets (No war crimes. were all mercs. etc etc)

[dusky cape]

What if you just didn’t use the upgrade? Like okay cool, I bought these mech hands but nobody said I had to install them on my light mech

[sharp mortar]

Or that the fact the organ harvesting medic tried to make me strip as an alternitive to having my organs harvested

[tropic nest]

Nah, where's the fun in that.

Plus, it's better that I take them. D2 or not, Templar and I are the ONLY ones with melee weapons... and with the melee rules being specifically added back in, you KNOW we are going to get melee charged by a bot swarm or something

[dusky cape]

Wait, Templar? Like the Templar that participated in the small ambush mission?

[frosty dew]

Well, the title was chosen by popular demand so kinda. You just did not have any say in it whatsoever.

[tropic nest]

Yes, that Templar

[dusky cape]

Nice! I worked with them on that mission. I love the fact that I can start to recognize some people around here XD

[frosty dew]

Ah, speaking of the organ harvester

[tropic nest]

Templars been on my mental follow list since C2. They had a GREAT time up in the north. Probably the one area of the map where the rules actually worked out as intended. haha

[dusky cape]

Kapu, I’m gonna sacrifice your appendix to the blood god if you ever need healing from me

That’s a promise not a threat

[sharp mortar]

So yeah that's the blood god medic

[frosty dew]

Thanks buddy, i appreciate it. Mixed you up with mellow. We support our medical staff, even the culty folks. Religious freedom and all that.

[sharp mortar]

No one knows why he worshipps the blood god and i'm pretty sure no one wants to know

[dusky cape]

Oh yeah, mellow is the one who wanted someone to strip

[tropic nest]

What 2 lungs?! Don't be so greedy, you only need one of those.

[sharp mortar]

That someone was me, and for the record i did not

[frosty dew]

I mean, healing, blood? Pretty close yeah, seems logical. I trust him notably more then mellow.

[dusky cape]

Exactly! Besides, if I sacrifice your toe so that I can reattach your leg. That’s obviously a fair trade

[sharp mortar]

I rather like my lungs thank you vey much, AND YES BOTH OF THEM!!!

[frosty dew]

I gotta say tho, using ”im gonna sacrifice your appendix” as a well-wish sends a POWERFULL message. Maybe not the right one but still.

[dusky cape]

Yeah, but if we gotta reduce your oxygen exchange capacity in exchange for restarting your heart, imma do that on any day of the week

[tropic nest]

ARMCO Medical Services...

Good Times.

[frosty dew]

Agreed. Maybe be a bit carefull around the civvies tho, yeah?

[sharp mortar]

Yeah no, your not doing that, i'm specifcally having a "Do not let Triskele resusitate order" on ALL my bodies

[dusky cape]

You’re right, my apologies. It was said in the heat of the moment. Just not a huge fan of the term organ harvester. We prefer the phrase, sacrificial healer in our community 😛

[frosty dew]

Look, its him or mellow (or the one maybe sane one if you are lucky. Id choose the well meaning cult over organ trader any day of the week.

[dusky cape]

^ true statement. We don’t allow organ dealing at the church

[sharp mortar]

I'll take my chances with thesane one first, and if that doesn't workout.....

[dusky cape]

You either make sacrifices with the patients body or your own

[sharp mortar]

😮‍💨

[frosty dew]

Noted. Gonna write down ”dont upset the the blood cult” in my to-do.

[sharp mortar]

then make them WITH YOUR OWN

[dusky cape]

Wait, you couldn’t tell that I was joking about sacrificing your lung earlier?

[frosty dew]

But they dont have enough bodies for that. Plus kinda unethical to demand your doctor cuts off their finger.

[sharp mortar]

YET ITS ETHICAL FOR HIM TO CUT OFF MINE!!!!

[dusky cape]

Yeah, it mostly depends on the severity of the healing. Sacrificing one’s own body typically results in better healing. But as you stated, there is limited healers and they can only heal so many people with sacrificing their own bodies

[tropic nest]

https://tenor.com/view/popcorn-anime-gif-25275767

[dusky cape]

Not really cutting off yours it’s it’s already detached from your body

[frosty dew]

If it reataches a separeted limb, and its a necessary part of the process… i would invoke principle of lesser harm.

[dusky cape]

Yes, I too get much enjoyment from this very common debate Nalla XD

[frosty dew]

Either no leg, or leg with no toe. Seems worth it, since its actally needed, not just religious reason.

Yeah, most fun i’ve had with the campaign so far

[sharp mortar]

Nalla i hope you have more sane medic than i do

Also, if i ever see you charge into battle i want you to know i will be looking at you like this

https://tenor.com/en-GB/view/huh-jack-sparrow-salt-javkal-gif-167664285880811395

[frosty dew]

I think they would need and engineer. @tropic nest You are an android, right?

[dusky cape]

Mmm, yeah, that’s more the job area of the bio engineers. We don’t deal with that science heresy 🤣

[tropic nest]

I do have sane and normal medical teams this time around, yes. Last campaign mine were all insane.

Nia Nettle is an Android, yes. She'd need an engineer to fix any would be bullet holes.

Shes got a pretty realistic body, she'd probably bleed quite a bit and even have a digestive track sooo lets hope it doesn't get to that. Some medic is going to be really confused if they're trying to put her back together a bit.

[sharp mortar]

I'm trying to think of a famous android character but i've got nothing, i think the closest character i can think of is an adeptus mechanicus priestess

[tropic nest]

I'm not too much into warhammer 40k... so I couldn't say, but knowing what I do know... probably?

Pegasus Works Androids are pretty advanced, if your familiar with the Girls Frontline game series, they're like the dolls from that franchise.

so they have internal organy bits, they're just synthetic... Not quite like humans but not that faar off either... thus my comment on very confused medics.

[sharp mortar]

Honestly if Mellow and Triskele are the medic attending you, please confuse the ever living shit out of them

[frosty dew]

Well, good news. If we ever meet on the field, apparently tr1skeles magical sacrifices dont discriminate between species, organic or synthetic. Cant do shit about the mech though. And feel free to confuse mellow, but they might try to sell you for parts.

Not that we’d allow that

[icy magnet]

We live in a weird timeline if the engis are the sane ones

[sharp mortar]

Thats not even true

[frosty dew]

Well, ours… probably not so much. But we gotta take what we can. Even the jury rigged car battery emp’s.

We just have insane logistical support (except the truck driver, he seems cool)

Is this some kind of coping mechanism for them, since they dont get to unlesh the murder on acceptable enemy combatants?

[sharp mortar]

Well on that topic, ladies and gentlemen i shall be going to sleep to try and recuperate what remains of my sanity, Triskele i will get that "Do let triskele resusitate order" and Nalla when i see you charge into the bots i'll be holding up a boom box blasting hardcore music i your general direction

[tropic nest]

I have a few playlists picked out. Her theme song is from Driver though (I've had it on repeat all day cause i'm not sane). I referenced it in her RP post last night.

[frosty dew]

Yeah, i should go too. Side note, why do all the funniest talks occur at 2am. Curse you eastern european timezone and the global timekeeping system fro keeping me from the funnies.

[tropic nest]

Sleep well Kapu and Hell, enjoy the evenings.. or mornings 😄

[frosty dew]

Good luck for the operation, Nalla

[tropic nest]

I'e been lucky so far knock on wood You too!

[sharp mortar]

Night.... btw how do you feel about nightcore?

[tropic nest]

I liked it a lot more when I was a kid, havn't given it much thought other then a blue moon or so in over a decade though. 😄

Might still have someo ld youtube bookmakrs from 2010 saved around though

My favorite artist is Joe Pug, Really good songwriter (probably best one out there currently right now)

And my favorite genres come and go but I suuuuper enjoy Midwest Emo these days.

[sharp mortar]

Mhmm i see

Puts away pre-selected cassette tape for boom box

[tropic nest]

Nia Nettle's favorite music is going to be 80s synthwave kind of stuff I think though...

All of Pegasus works music is a little... dated? 80s/90s/early 2000s kind of stuff. The whole company is based out of a super sized slower then light generation ship earth launched forever ago.

[naive owl]

I see you’re a man of culture…and I missed all the fun conversations because of work…

…Again…

Always ends up like this

[tropic nest]

EZ just have them at work like me 😄

Welcome home though

[naive owl]

hello fellow human irts good to know someone else is alive

I have found certain lines of work lack that sort of thing though

[tropic nest]

Ah yeah, its hit or miss with that sort of thing. WOrk is work

[naive owl]

yeah... I am around a quite odd hours and I have never seen you before are you from another unit or are you a new recruit

[rich glacier]

Nalla is one of the dwarves. Just giving us some company😄

[naive owl]

yes the thing that is always so desperately needed yet very rarely given

glad you are here though

any word on our poor ships or on the BC

[rich glacier]

We won’t get a map update until Thursday I think? It’ll be all good as far as I can tell

TF3 and Storm push onwards to Elim. Atlas arrives and domes the BC with an auto cannon and tries to take out as many fighters as they can. Then the next turn Victorum arrives and slaughters everything

[naive owl]

"The victorum" is that our HMS victory/THE USS ENTRPRISE equivalent

[rich glacier]

It’s TF1. I think their main ship is the Victoria though

[naive owl]

ok I was curious if we somehow had some legendary ship that I was just oblivious to wouldn't be the first time but ya know gotta check

[rich glacier]

It’s the first campaign with the orbital system so no vet ships yet technically. Shack does captain the Endurance though which has come up in another campaign before

[dusky cape]

Wait but Shack said that he used Ai when making the maps. I thought he was on the robots side of this conflict?

How can he fly a ship that we are on?

[rich glacier]

Shack is playing a pc this time around and he chose to be captain of the Endurance. It’s one of the lighter ships but it has a couple hull slots they filled with stuff. He’s in Atlas

He also will control the bots because he’s the GM. If he had multiple GM’s though he could theoretically have the other person control the enemies

[dusky cape]

Ahhhh, so Shack is half robot and half ARMCO… I think they call those things cyborgs now?

[naive owl]

something like that or a double agent

[nimble bridge]

https://tenor.com/view/star-wars-admiral-ackbar-its-a-trap-meme-gif-8125029

thats a great way to get led into an ambush lol

have our GM also command the bots haha

[rich glacier]

Morning Soldiers

[frosty dew]

Good afternoon reaper. How goes the Tac-comming?

[cyan robin]

I'm in a similar boat there - I thought the smoke launchers might also provide additional defense for the IFV itself, but it turns out the bonus is only for a mounted unit of infantry on the turn they dismount.

In retrospect, I probably should've just gone for a bigger gun with the two R points I had

[frosty dew]

Might be very welcome by us INF if we manage to get a mechanized flanking/conter-attack force together in the operation.

[twilit badge]

So if the fleet is wave one, are we planning to be wave two and go down securing a spaceport or are we wave three?

[frosty dew]

I think wave one is fluffle and storm, going in as first beachhead. Wave two is atlas, carrying iron hammer (plus maybe others? Not sure). We are third wave of ground forces going onto the planet. We will see if we get the civvie transport for other BG to use though, so that might fluctuate.

Depends how you count them tbh

[dusky cape]

Irl Smoke Launchers: * Creates a wall of smoke *
ARMCO Smoke “Launchers”: * Creates a small cloud of smoke with the vehicle exhaust*

[cyan robin]

Yeah, in my head I was thinking of something a little more dramatic.

It’s not that what I got is useless - just not what I’d had in mind.

[dusky cape]

That’s what I want to imagine, but it lasts 1 turn and only for the dismounting troops. Which means the smoke appears to the rear of the IFV and doesn’t even cover the entire IFV…

[dusky cape]

Agreed

[cyan robin]

It not lasting a while, that I understand. But I was at least thinking it'd provide a bonus to people in a given area or something like that.

Goes to show, read before you pick.

[frosty dew]

Yeah, yesterday i talked to a mech pilot who bought the hands upgrade without relizing it replaced their weapon.

[drifting canyon]

IFV drivers when they don’t read their upgrades

[dusky cape]

Nalla mentioned

[frosty dew]

Tbh you have to be careful with all upgrades. Quite a few are not as useful or universal as the name or the description would suggest. The cook stuff requires the big bucks.

[sharp mortar]

I thought wave 1 was both hammer & storm and we were wave 2?

[naive owl]

Depends on how you count it

[cosmic crater]

Nope, NPC transports are wave 3, Atlas with Hammer is Wave 2

[frosty dew]

Allright, added a lore tab into the BG sheet. Feel free to add as much lore of your unit as you feel is appropriate 😁

[rich glacier]

Wave 1 is Fluffle and Storm. Wave 2 is Atlas and Hammer. Wave 3 is Victorum. Idk if the transports are also coming with wave 3 or 4 but 4 seems likely

[icy magnet]

i mean at this rate we won´t deploy until mission is over

XD

[frosty dew]

I don’t think we need to worry about that. I got a feeling this campaign will be a lot longer than any of the previous ones. We got a whole planet to take back from the bots.

[sharp mortar]

Also several sectors of endless and a space gate which will no doubt be spitting constant reinforcements until we either close or destroy it

Also i think its 2 planets

Or a planet and a colonised moon

[timid birch]

isn't it a moon

[tropic nest]

cough the objective listed at the top of our huds is "Survive until reinforcements arrive"....

[timid birch]

or just blow them up

choice is yours

[sharp mortar]

At the end of the day it will all come down to the TF's cause so long as the gate is open the bots won't stop

[timid birch]

so just camp the gate

[frosty dew]

Land our artillery on the gate to bombard any ships coming trough.

[sharp mortar]

....Yeah there's kind of a problem with that sentence there buddy

[tropic nest]

I can picture the artillerists floating away in space now.

[sharp mortar]

I just have the image of an art unit deploying on a small random asteroid and as soon as they fire the asteroid starts spinning

[naive owl]

I would like to point out we are to retake the planet the HOLD UNTIL RELIEVED I have a VERY long list of historical events of battles of units who had those same orders and had to hold for a rather long time

[tropic nest]

The artillerists afterwards

This is shaping up to be at least 1.5x if not 2x as long as previous campaigns. 90% of players are not deploying until turn like... 5 or 6.

So we could be here for a long time.

[sharp mortar]

Is one of them of the siege battle led by Caesar with his favoured 10th legion where they were starving to death and built a secondary rear palisade because there were defending against counter attackers while sieging?

[naive owl]

I’ll have to check what was the name of the battle

[naive owl]

Yeah I feel bad for the people who will die day one

[sharp mortar]

Baller ass battle, Caesar did not deserved to be shanked

[tropic nest]

Battle of Aleisa

[naive owl]

Yep number 236-A

[sharp mortar]

Hey Nalla, why do you happen to have a large variaty of anime related emoji's?

[tropic nest]

Because I am in two servers with an EXTREMELY high number of anime related emoji's and I have Nitro, so I can use them freely anywhere.

The sailor moon ones are my favorite though.

[frosty dew]

Nice way to stand out i suppose. And yeah, storm folk might have it rough with dying sooner than the rest 😅 I am suddenly very happy i was too late to join ‘em. I’m sure we will get our chance to die gloriously too.

[frosty dew]

Ok, but this is objectively funny so i see no problems here.

[sharp mortar]

Apart from the fact non of our arti units are trained to go out into the vacuum of space (At least i would believe) and the majority of our units who don't have asteroids to deploy on will be piloting their arti guns like the tank in the A-Team film

[sharp mortar]

I could tell, nice boba btw

At least i think that's boba the emoji is drinking

[tropic nest]

It's boba or iced tea. I couldn't tell but considering that all varients of this are boba.. gonna assume boba.

Arty is going to be a lot of fun this game I think. They're gonna have some great highlights.

[sharp mortar]

Absolutely, most likely going to be crucial in taking out large clumps of bots and sieging the cities and crossroads

[frosty dew]

I really think fleet is gonna steal the show. I mean, none of us can really do much about the bot ships (except maybe arty), and the strategic stuff and high orbits are brand new.

[tropic nest]

I don't think the fleet can steal the show as easily in this ruleset as in C2. Ground can absolutely THRASH orbitals if need be and orbitals do not have weapons that can just CHOOSE a grouping of Hexes and delete everything inside of it on a 2 turn cooldown.

[frosty dew]

Hmm, yeah that does sound kind of bullshit. I guess they are more in their own world now. We can touch them except in low orbit, but they cant do any damage from high either. Transport is going to be critical though, both for redeployment and the bot ODT/PAI units.

[naive owl]

What kind of guns do transports have

If they have heavy enough firepower they would be great for hot drops and could be used as quick direct fire support

[sharp mortar]

You mean our NPC's or Fluffle?

[naive owl]

Our dropships not the NPCs

[frosty dew]

Depends on the ship. Our primary battle fleet has pretty decent armaments, but they cant transport anyone. Atlas (our transport fleet) has fewer guns but still respectable amount. The freighters we might get have none. All ships can still dive into the atmosphere at least shortly to shoot at stuff, but they have a fuel limit of 1-5 turns.

[naive owl]

Once they use those turns can they drop down again or are they done

[frosty dew]

They are done in atmosphere and return to space, no refils. The bigger the ship the shorter the time. But usually more guns too. The fighters can also sortie from space to atmosphere, at cost of 1 large supply from the fleet per turn.

[naive owl]

Thank you

[frosty dew]

No problem. There are a few more things, like arty being anti-orbital weapon (if they are in atmosphere) and the fact that they are always targeted first but you can red that from the rules. Mostly, we wont be able to do shit about them and try to keep our heads down.

[sharp mortar]

Honestly the best thing we can do on the ground is to go from Elim to Cell'dar mine to Ziyal, cut them off and then mop them up

[frosty dew]

Cell’dar isn’t accessible from the ground right? We’d need transport trough air or space.

[naive owl]

What should we do when the counter attack

[frosty dew]

Hang on for dear life

[naive owl]

We can’t hold the whole planet we don’t have the troops so where should we hold

More importantly what can we afford to give up

[sharp mortar]

We don't need to hold the whole planet

We only need to hold Elim, Cell'dar and Ziyal they're the only point of ingress the bots can use

[frosty dew]

Probably prioritizing the cities, and the mines. The villages might be worth protecting to keep routes open and the possible civies safe too.

[tropic nest]

We do not, just survive until assistance arrives.

But yeah, and each point probably has something of importance on it for us, otherwise there'd be no point to listing it.

[sharp mortar]

We could use the engi groups to fortify each point and make it absolute hell for an attack

[frosty dew]

I think they can fly over the planet, same as us. And therefore deploy pretty much anywhere. Though most of em are probably allready in ziyal.

[sharp mortar]

I don't think they can, otherwise why would shack highlight pathways on the map

[frosty dew]

I thought it was for separating air and ground accessible routes with every spot having a high orbit spot above them.

[rich glacier]

Orbitals have to move along the paths between strategic locations just like we would have to. They just have a different tac map because they almost always only exist in high orbit for combat and such

[sharp mortar]

So the surround and chokehold plan could work

[frosty dew]

Only if we block the high-orbit routes. We do have three fleets though, so it might be possible. Not sure if fluffle can stand up agaist much though.

If i understood that correctly

[rich glacier]

They maybe could if they are forced to but considering orbital hulls are permanent deaths I doubt they want to risk it

[sharp mortar]

All the TF's would need to move as one fleet

[frosty dew]

But that would leave two spots open, right?

[rich glacier]

It’s not even necessary. Victorum is stacked enough to smash though nearly any fleet Shack throws at them. It’s just that the other two task forces are quite lightly armed for ship to ship combat

[tropic nest]

Yeah if they want to drop on any of the points, they pretty much can for the most part, unless we are camping both A-2 and W-2 in space

[sharp mortar]

So victorum and atlas could be the spear head and fluffle's could reinforce

[rich glacier]

Atlas is a logistics task force. They are here to supply us and while they have some weapons it certainly isn’t going to win a real ship to ship battle😅

Victorum is our combat fleet. Atlas is logistics. Fluffle is scouting and light support

[sharp mortar]

I mean Victorum and fluffle could rush for the gate?

Cut the head of the snake essentially

[rich glacier]

Yes they could. I’m not sure what exactly they plan to do honestly after the first few turns

[tropic nest]

While possible, this feels like the spot where the GM goes 'You can certainly try.' and pulls out another box of dice.

[rich glacier]

Likely the bots can produce more units on the ground already. Shack has heavily hinted as much

There’s a reason they want the mines and populated areas

[frosty dew]

Yeah, thats what i was thinking too. Problem is that victorum is pretty slow, and the amount of bots and bot ships on and above the planet might be problematic without their fire support.

[cosmic crater]

Victorum can't rush anywhere at speed 1. Last I heard, they were going to clear a path towards the gate while RabbitFluffle dangit scouted for the main enemy fleet presence, though

[rich glacier]

Fluffle is going to do scouting of some sort. Tabby seems a little fixated with landing troops on the moon or an asteroid though😝

[sharp mortar]

So in other words, we're in an information and planning stalemate until we're already in

[rich glacier]

Yep! Same position we’ve been in for the past two weeks. That’s why I’m not trying to rush any of our plans😂

[frosty dew]

Btw @sharp mortar is the lore section i added readable enough? I noticed you only filled like half of the fields, and was wondering if that was due to clarity?

[sharp mortar]

Oh yeah its perfectly fine

[frosty dew]

Ok, thats good then. Dont feel any pressure to add more if you dont want to, just wanted to make sure it was good.

[rich glacier]

Didn’t see this from earlier today

[sharp mortar]

Is this the entirity of the area we'll be fighting in or just the city?

[frosty dew]

Its the same as on strategic map, so probably out of date. The area close to spaceport did match auroras repports though.

Might be mostly similar at leas in the middle.

[rich glacier]

I would compare it to the Crossroads map we got to see how many hexes there are. This does seem like it might be zoomed in on just the city at a glance

[sharp mortar]

Storm has ODT's right?

[frosty dew]

Nah, wouldnt be usefull for them. ODT require an orbital with a drop pod bay to drop from, which storm doesnt have, and otherwise they are just an FS5 infantry unit.

Atlas has some though

[rich glacier]

TF2 Atlas has all of our drop troop capacity. They actually have quite a few and are planning to use them to secure the port

[sharp mortar]

I thought fluffles had drop pods?

[rich glacier]

They might honestly. I just know a lot of drop troops got funneled to atlas at one point

[frosty dew]

Let me check

Nope, none on their ships.

[sharp mortar]

Could've sworn they did, or i'm mixing them up with atlas

[tranquil frigate]

What did I miss other then we’re not being deployed yet?

Also can someone Pin our Org Doc

[sharp mortar]

Talking to Nalla about how she needs her glasses to read upgrade details so she doesn't accidently swap out her only weapon for a hand

[frosty dew]

That and some orbital mechanic analysis. Also added a lore tab onto the sheet.

[naive owl]

Mornin lads what have I missed

[twilit badge]

Everything ops over, and we only lost 4 kidneys to the blood god

[sharp mortar]

AHHH, MY KIDNEYS!!!!!!

[naive owl]

What I thought we agreed on the no human sacrifice thing

[naive owl]

But I mean it’s fair to respect someone’s religious beliefs sorry hellhound

[drifting canyon]

Yeah man we have rights

I know my rights

And I take my lefts.

[twilit badge]

Who said they were your kidneys? Do you know how many spiders sacrificed themselves for our medical insurance?

[twilit badge]

Yes no human sacrifices… very specific wording

[dusky cape]

👀

[timid birch]

I didn’t know about that

When did that happen

[dusky cape]

Idk, apparently they created something called a “union” or whatever after I promised to sacrifice someone’s appendix when I heal them during the battle. Idk what they’re complaining about though, not like the appendix does much.

[twilit badge]

🕷️ 🕷️

[timid birch]

Sacrificing an appendix seems fair to me

[dusky cape]

Preaching to the choir here, though I’m glad to see that atleast some people understand my methods 🤣

[timid birch]

It's like you said the appendix doesn't do much

and who made this so called union

[sharp mortar]

Can i execute Im and Triskele?

[drifting canyon]

You’ll never be able to take antibiotics well again

[frosty dew]

I will point out, you might be in the minority here Hellhound. I for one would trade an appendix (or a bunch of spiders, thanks grandma) for reataching my leg. As would most other here it seems.

[naive owl]

Yeah my knights have a strict gotta do the honorable thing and right now the whole sacrificing the body part thing is stuck in the legislature for of it’s honorable or not so I can’t do anything

[frosty dew]

And i do love the fact that sentence seems completely insane to anyone not in the know of our in jokes

[frosty dew]

Well, cultural norms are a completely valid reason to refuse offered treatment. We do have two other medics… one is an organ trader though.

[naive owl]

Yeah good thing I chose a vehicle I don’t know if it would fit the lore to let them be tended to by our medics. Death before dishonor and all that jolly rot

[frosty dew]

Well thats good, would hate for your folks to die on the field. Not that our engineer is much more sane then the medics…

[naive owl]

Well he isn’t sacrificing anyone to a dark fire blood god or something so it’s fine

[rich glacier]

If any of you have some spare time or are interested I would recommend looking in #1386030427130564769 to see what all the groups are planning on doing for their turn. It’s a nice channel to keep an eye on

[naive owl]

I had no idea that existed that is awesome actually

[rich glacier]

Yep! Just trying to share all the tidbits of how the game is played so you all know what is happening😄

[thorny patio]

I plan to chop people up

[sharp mortar]

Mellow no

[icy magnet]

Please we need our infantry forces in mostly one piece

[sharp mortar]

Mostly?!?!

[icy magnet]

We made an exception for the medic sacrifices

[sharp mortar]

I DIDN'T!!!

[icy magnet]

Shouls have read the micromolecular writing in your mission contract

[sharp mortar]

Where in my contract?

[icy magnet]

points at the page 47

[sharp mortar]

Mumbled reading

continuous mumbled reading

...

SON OF A BITCH!!

[frosty dew]

To be fair, with mellow its probably not a sacrifice, at least in the religious sense.

[twilit badge]

yeah would the terminology be: you shall not oppose the religious practices of your battle group up to and including ritual dismemberment so long as said rituals leave you in a better* state then when the ritual started.

[naive owl]

Yeah gotta have a distinction between having fun and religious practices

[twilit badge]

Yeah because for all the blood or organs that have been thrown about it’s always been for a purpose not for the lols

[frosty dew]

Hear that, mellow? No stealing organs for fun and profit.

[rich glacier]

Every other group is talking strategy and we are worried about the organ stealers😝

[dusky cape]

ARMCO Medical Waiver:
By signing this form, you consent to receive medical care from any authorized ARMCO medics. Should you refuse care from such medics, ARMCO and its constituents will not be held liable for any death, mutilation, injuries, etc. sustained during the course of ARMCO operations.

Note: All Authorized ARMCO medics have had their various medical practices reviewed and authorized by a review board prior to acceptance into ARMCO services. Should any medics perform actions outside of approved medical methods and practices, please submit a CA-5578 form to your BattleGroup leadership for review. Should a false report be made, the complainant will be fined and/or punished.

Note 2: Approved medical practices include but are not limited to: Standard medical, magical, ritualistic, nanotechnology, religious, sacrificial, and hypnosis.

Note 3: Actions considered outside of approved medical methods (with some exceptions),involve a net negative to the patients health. Restoration of a critical biological organ, system, or part through the usage of sacrifice of a non-critical part, is not considered a net negative towards the patients overall health.

[frosty dew]

Not much strategy to talk about. We now know the orbital situation, but still no clue of the ground situation.

[icy magnet]

no reason for planing if we don´t even know our dropzone

[rich glacier]

Yeah I’m not serious about the talking strategy part. Just thought it was funny😆

[sharp mortar]

Well it's important I know my KIDNEYS ARE NOT BEING STOLEN!!!

Damn

Warren's been boarded and Lonely suffered heavy damage

[twilit badge]

Yeah and we’re stuck in nebulous cargo containers unable to help… by also protected from having those containers explode.

[rich glacier]

I mean you don’t really need them anyways. Hardly worth me doing the incident paperwork for

[sharp mortar]

DON'T SIDE WITH THE ORGAN HARVESTER!!!!!

[naive owl]

No he works a 9-5 paperwork sucks I fully agree with him it’s so much easier to just not see anything

[cyan robin]

Hard to tell how well the void battle it going, but it's definitely racking up hits

[rich glacier]

We will crush them easily but it’s time I’m most concerned about. Wasting a single turn getting ground troops down is going to hurt a ton

That’s how many actions wasted essentially

Like 200-300

Also I think the rest of us just want to actually play🫠

[thorny patio]

Hmz. Hypnosis

[thorny patio]

Don't see it at stolen just...requisitioned

[sharp mortar]

...

...

Mellow...

If you try to STEAL my organs

I will shoot you

[rich glacier]

No please. We would have to have Tr1skele patch him up and I don’t want any medic on medic theft. It’s bad enough our infantry is losing organs😅

[timid birch]

I feel like this would have a lot of paperwork after the fact

[sharp mortar]

I don't mind

pulls charging handle of assault rifle

[twilit badge]

oh dear....

[timid birch]

do I need to be scared

[frosty dew]

At least wait untill he actually tries something. Its only a matter of time at this rate, anyway.

[sharp mortar]

sadly puts safety on

[timid birch]

immediately starts scheming

[sharp mortar]

takes assault rifle safety off

[timid birch]

starts waiting till they go to sleep

[sharp mortar]

Sets up booby-trap

[rich glacier]

pretend I don’t hear shit because I don’t want to do the paperwork

[sharp mortar]

I'll make sure you hear everything Reaper

[timid birch]

begins spying for traps

[twilit badge]

Begins turning the paper shredder on

[rich glacier]

You guys are legit making me want to have so much rp in our orders

Our lore is peak

[sharp mortar]

Is that a good thing or bad?

[twilit badge]

the swords screaming not to let the medics get near them after sustaining injuries.... While the medics are rushing over gleefully

[rich glacier]

Good thing? I expect to have a lot of organ harvesting when we reach cities🤔

[sharp mortar]

You know that scene in the first starship troopers film where Seth gillman is shooting the bugs covering Rico's escape?

[twilit badge]

well, do you want to live forever marine?

[sharp mortar]

No, near the end of the film where he's been injured and is holding the nuke

[twilit badge]

ahh yes I'm with you in spirit now.. definitely not on site for that aciton though

[sharp mortar]

Yeah that will be me if mellow or Triskele get near me

[timid birch]

still safe I am

expect me he does not

[sharp mortar]

Like hell you are Yoda

exits shadows covered in grey camouflage holding combat knife in right hand

[timid birch]

run I must

[sharp mortar]

I push a button and all the doors close and lock

[timid birch]

trapped I am

fight I will

[twilit badge]

Someone pushes another button and a door opens

[sharp mortar]

pushes button again and locks it again

[timid birch]

strategically reposition I will

[twilit badge]

button

[sharp mortar]

Button

[dusky cape]

button

[twilit badge]

Button

[sharp mortar]

Button

[twilit badge]

oh dear we broke the door

lets not tell the one engineer about this yeah?

[sharp mortar]

pulls out assault rifle and shoots Im in his right leg

[timid birch]

nice that is not

respond I will

[twilit badge]

alright I didn't want to do this: "MEDIC!"

you forced my hand Hellhound

[sharp mortar]

Do I look like I care?!?!

[timid birch]

cursed you will be

[sharp mortar]

pulls out detonator

I have this whole ship rigged to blow

I'm taking you all with me!!!!

[timid birch]

empty threat that is

[twilit badge]

um please don't

[timid birch]

shows explosives

[sharp mortar]

Maniacal cackling

[twilit badge]

Leaves the room

[timid birch]

crazy he is

[sharp mortar]

What part of "I rigged the whole ship with explosives" did you not understand?

[timid birch]

explosives I have found

searched for more I did

[twilit badge]

Im heading out to a different ship

[sharp mortar]

pushes button

[twilit badge]

and I wake up from this nightmare

[sharp mortar]

pulls back your bed curtains holding detonator

[rich glacier]

You all are the best. I’m happy I get to spill oil side by side with you

[sharp mortar]

Are you sure about that?

[rich glacier]

Yes even the medics

[timid birch]

starts a movement to detain Hellhound

[rich glacier]

We will have replacement kidneys for everyone by the time we leave the planet

That’s your bonus pay

[sharp mortar]

Try it!!

[timid birch]

from the locals?

[rich glacier]

Idk, it’s not my job to question where the medics got them. Just to be thankful our unit has an abundance of organs

[timid birch]

got it

[timid birch]

sneakily drugs water

[twilit badge]

please dont go that far

[timid birch]

to late it is

happend it did

[sharp mortar]

Jokes on you, I only drink coke mfr

[timid birch]

falls for own trap

[sharp mortar]

Does anyone think this is getting to out of hand?

[twilit badge]

yeah

[timid birch]

maybe just a little

[twilit badge]

gg guys?

[sharp mortar]

Yeah....

No

pushes second detonator button

[timid birch]

guess the paper shredding department has their work cut out for them

[sharp mortar]

I think we're the only reason the paper shredding department is still employed

[timid birch]

perhaps

[sharp mortar]

Can't wait for some poor bastard to scroll through this not knowing what the hell is going on

[timid birch]

same

[dusky cape]

Worked at a level 1 Field Hospital that my unit set up today. We treated over 70 injuries and heat casualties today… today was pain 😐

[frosty dew]

So, whats our stance on RP-only orders pre-deployment?

Also, we should keep our medics behind the infantry. They would inspire us to run towards the enemy even faster.

[rich glacier]

You would have to ask Varsen about those. He will be in charge of the discord side of things like orders and making sure everyone submits in time

[frosty dew]

@icy magnet opinions on pre-deployment RP only orders?

[naive owl]

What the hell happened and why are people threatening to kill each other

I leave for like three hours and people are threatening kill each other

[twilit badge]

dont worry about it, it was a nightmare

[naive owl]

You wouldn’t lie to me right grandma

[twilit badge]

Of course I'd lie to you, for your own good. Somethings are better left unknown......................................................................

[naive owl]

My knights are the keepers of peace we are the sword of justice if something must be done…

But I mean if you say so

[twilit badge]

Better for the knights to remain unmarred by mud or misdeed. Let the spiders deal with such things

[naive owl]

Understood we owe you a bottle of Jack Daniel’s then

[loud hound]

literally me fr

[bronze kayak]

haven't been paying so much attention, are we on an orbital battlegroup, or are we just magically arriving after a starport is secured?

[twilit badge]

We are in <details not found> but will be landing with civilian support at a starport

[icy magnet]

Allowed and encouraged

[frosty dew]

Hell yeah. Allthough, might not be that many turns before we finally get on the map.

[sharp mortar]

God knows if i could add more i would

[rich glacier]

Okay Shack has said that I should make a simple graphic to submit this turn for our plans in the transports. I don’t need anything from you guys so you can just submit RP orders and I’ll just say we are going towards the star port to land

[sharp mortar]

Ut Vivant Alii

[sharp mortar]

So when do we set boots on the ground?

[rich glacier]

Well it’s not super straightforward as there’s still enemy contacts in the tac map outside the gate. So we have to get through there a bit slowly but then after that we can get to Elim in a couple turns and set down at the port

[twilit badge]

Excuse me, I'm the Grandma shouldn't I be holding the leash? (ineffectively)

[sharp mortar]

Look at yesterday and tell me you should

[dusky quartz]

take of the leash and cause murder

[dusky cape]

I like that this picture is species neutral XD

We don’t discriminate against our spider and other species friends

[naive owl]

Yeah 100% definitely nobody would ever do that ever

[frosty dew]

Actually, how many of our companies are non-human in their lore? There’s spiders at least.

[naive owl]

Like 20 ish percent android give or take

[sharp mortar]

What about alien life form?

[icy magnet]

I mean in theory everyone thats not from armitage is alien life form

[frosty dew]

Yeah, but actual biological non-humans? I think i’ve only seen Lightsdeath. And thats probably partially because i suggested it as a joke.

And to be fair, the idea of a hive-mind of small spiders mimicking a human shape is awesome.

[twilit badge]

part of me goes with the cannon that they are spiders, and the other part of me thinks this is just a prank the rest of the BG is pulling on you.... definitely one of those two though

[rich glacier]

I mean who ever said they were small

[buoyant jungle]

I've been toying with the idea of some non-humans in mine

[sharp mortar]

Ok here's an annoying question, if there is animalistic sentient life in the form of a cow, pig, chicken, sheep ect. and you decided to kill it & eat it.
Would it be considered animal slaughter or cannabalism?

[naive owl]

Animal slaughter because it’s not human

I don’t mean human in the biological sense I mean like being human in the moral and ethical/ spiritual aspect maybe even a cognitive sense

[rich glacier]

Pray for a 2 speed roll😝

Get us there for some action but not in danger

[rich glacier]

Let’s goooooooo

Speed 2 confirmed

[naive owl]

We are really shmooving now

[rich glacier]

Not the first wave but we should be able to land pretty quickly and get moving

[naive owl]

Hopefully if all goes well

[tropic nest]

[rich glacier]

The maps should come out tomorrow sometime so be watching. Storm is landing all around the starport so we will have some very important ground intel that we will need to analyze. Our transport should get there the next turn so we will have to have a landing formation ready and everything

[naive owl]

Well I hope you got your speech ready

But yeah if we could coordinate a time so we could all discuss the landing formation that would be great

[rich glacier]

I’ll try and make sure everyone is aware and has an input into the conversation. A lot about our landing formation will be about which way we decide to head for the rest of the campaign so we will have some big decisions to make

[twilit badge]

remember everyone we are the quality reaction force, not the quick reaction force

[dusky cape]

Well apparently we’re gonna be quicker than the pathfinders XD

[twilit badge]

yeah because we have a quality dual engine setup

[drifting canyon]

Oh shit, we droppin?

[twilit badge]

next week

we get to see storm fight alone this round, next round another BG lands, then we will on the following turn... soon

[dusky cape]

Has any BG committed to going to nery’s village?

Not saying we should go there, but someone (TF or BG) should probably scout it to make sure it’s all clear and not hiding a flanking group

[twilit badge]

sadly the scout BG traded their engines for extra rations so they will be arriving last

[drifting canyon]

Gotta make sure to pack those ice cream bars

[buoyant jungle]

Hey, can someone ping me so I don't completely forget?

[sharp mortar]

Better be sharing those mfr

[sharp mortar]

I got you

[frosty dew]

There are some groups that have mentioned the idea, like pathfinder, but no-ones plans are final yet. We’ll need to see what happens.

[sharp mortar]

If anyone wants to get to Nery village, they'd need aircraft to transport them cause the only way to get to it is via aerospace craft

[frosty dew]

I think their idea was to go through crossroads, so they wouldnt need it. But i guess 212 logi was theoreticaly capable of airlifting another group when i asked them.

[icy magnet]

Would be kinda funny if because of the random speed we end up being second to land after storm

[rich glacier]

We very well might be if no one else gets a speed 3 roll. Spearhead has 3 but they are going to the mining station and transferring over to their ships

[sharp mortar]

Hey is it ok if we start talking strategic planning for our most likely hot landing zone?

[rich glacier]

Sure but there isn’t much point until Storm lands today and engages in Elim

After that happens we can do all the big planning for sure

Reminder orders will be due Wednesday night

[frosty dew]

There also MAY be the option of boarding the battlecruiser that has possible civilian captives on board (very conditional though, the engines need to be sniped and the BC must be alive for auto-transports to dock). I think it might be worth to at least see if that happens, we have an infantry-heavy BG, and i'd really prefer trying to save those civvies. I do realize this is very unlikely though, considering victorums guns.

[rich glacier]

I doubt those civilians are going to be savable. Even if we could arrange a situation to get on board they seem like they might be cyborgs at this point and other groups would be better suited for the mission

[sharp mortar]

BC HAS TAKEN 7 HITS?!?!

[frosty dew]

Yeah, you're not wrong in the strategic sense. I'd just really like to save them both personally and "in character". Gotta hope some other BG do it i guess.

[frosty dew]

WAIT, IT DIDNT GO DOWN?

[sharp mortar]

ITS TAKEN 8 TOTAL AND IS STILL UP

Victorums lighting it up

Someone hold me, i'm scared

[frosty dew]

Hugs you tightly
Yeah same buddy, might be a bit of a rougher ride than planned. Lets just let the orbitals focus on eachother and slip past, yeah.

oh they haven't even resolved the MBCs or other guns. That ship is not surviving.

[sharp mortar]

Um.... what if i does....

[frosty dew]

Shush, dont think negatively. The void-spirits will be with us. And we wont be the first in the line of fire

spearhead on the other hand....

[sharp mortar]

Yeah, i thought it was the civvie transport the was ramming the BC

BC IS DOWN, I REPEAT, BC IS DOWN!!!!

[rich glacier]

Ez😝

[sharp mortar]

https://tenor.com/lL5tfgTGsF4.gif

[frosty dew]

Kind of a solemn moment. Allthough this was likely necessary, there were possibly civilians on board. May their spirits live on in the infinity of space. We still have a job to do.

Well folks, with the hostiles cleared (exept the ship on high orbit in elim) it looks like we are getting to ground soon. Prep your gear and vehicles.

[sharp mortar]

So throughout the entire engagement, 4 fighters were hit, 1 destroyer was hit and another was boarded, and a battlecruiser suffered 3 hits

[frosty dew]

Yeah, victorum is pretty overwhelming as a combat fleet. All of the damage on our side can be fixed, no permanent losses yet.

Actually, do we have a name for our transport? I called it Ekdromoi in my RP order.

[rich glacier]

We do not but we also won’t be using it for very long either

[twilit badge]

It’s going to be good to get some info on how resilient and murderous the bot ground assets are.

[frosty dew]

well with redwall and iron hammer we wont be the first on the ground. Funny how our scouting element is the slowest BG so far

[dusky cape]

Wait, what orders do we have to put in? As far as I’m aware, we are just flying to Elim orbit this round?

[sharp mortar]

We don't need to put in order unless its for RP

[dusky cape]

Ah okay 👌

Yeah, we should figure out a name of the ship we are in for RP purposes

How about “Logades”, which means “the chosen” and refers to those who were selected from regular civilian infantry to server in small elite units in Ancient Greek armies.

[frosty dew]

As mentioned, i used "Ekdromoi". Light, independant infantry units of ancient rome, that also fought in phalanxes.

[dusky cape]

Ah, the light high speed variant of the hoplite whose job was to run outside of the phalanx formation and fight in an irregular order

[frosty dew]

I think their role was to be a flexible unit, able to fight both in and out of phalanx, but i see your point. Calling it hoplite just seemed boring. Logades could work though.

[sharp mortar]

Oh

Shit

[frosty dew]

Oh my. Thats a risky move. We salute storm and their bravery to go where no (sane) man has before.

[sharp mortar]

I can't watch🙈

[rich glacier]

I always knew they were going to be our meatshield😆

Not bad considering what they’re running into

[frosty dew]

The first man down. On the plus side, thanks to planning and a bit of luck, no ground units lost. Could have been worse.

[frosty dew]

So, assuming the enemies above elim are not wiped, how many turns will our arrival take?

[sharp mortar]

Probably the start of next week

[rich glacier]

Well it seems like our actions this turn are limited to coming through the gate only. There won’t be a tac map for the gate anymore after this turn so we will go straight through it consuming one speed and then through the next strategic point as well next turn. So this time next week we will be dropping in to the surface

[sharp mortar]

https://tenor.com/bht5C.gif

[frosty dew]

So, it looks like basic bots are in squads of 4, with 1 armour. AP will be very usefull.

[dusky cape]

Casualties in Inf units appear to be very high. I would advise against us splitting into a ton of small groups and trying to stick closer to 1 of our 3 medics

[frosty dew]

Our IFVs and MBTs will probably be invaluable as “bait” for fire. We got the supply to fix em.

Flanking as an armoured assault group might be good too.

[rich glacier]

I mean this is basically what we knew already so no huge surprises here for us. It just reinforces the fact that we need to leverage our own armor and AP to give time for our infantry to dig in

A lot of the losses here are from infantry units being swarmed and out of cover of any kind

[dusky cape]

Right, but that means it would be better for us to be on the defensive as Inf. And since we are on the offensive to push out the robots rn, I’m not sure how best we could even leverage the Inf.
Rn, the best I can think of is there will be 4 Inf teams. 3 teams will have medics and 1 will be the mobile team with the IFVs.

[frosty dew]

Or 3 teams, and the IFV squad gets a medic in a n LV

[dusky cape]

True, that would allow the LV to get into the fight if they want. Only downside would be a 5-6:1 medic to Inf ratio

[rich glacier]

We will have to hammer all this out here soon. We have another week though so there’s no rush thankfully

[dusky cape]

The other LV should stick with the mechanized units, so I’m kinda assuming the 3 light mechs and 2 MBT’s will be in a group. But then idk what to do with the IVFs

[rich glacier]

1 MBT right?

[dusky cape]

Didn’t Chewy sign up and was registered in time already?

[frosty dew]

I'll start making some optional plans on splitting up our force. Might want to stick together for most part though. They shouldnt be able to kill any one unit with 4-5 guys in one hit.

[rich glacier]

Oh shoot I guess we do have two MBT’s. I thought we only had once since our trade for the engi

[dusky cape]

Yeah, we got another after the trade

[rich glacier]

Perfect😆

Yeah Kapu if you want to make some formations then go right ahead and we will use them. I honestly don’t have a ton of time atm to dedicate to that

[frosty dew]

Will see what i can cook up. Not an expert by any means, so if anyone has ideas, i'd be glad to hear them, either hear or in dm's. Or even voice.

[tranquil frigate]

"with rifle and shovels in hand, we heed the call of battle, for glory, riches... and maybe fine bitches (shut up Gary!)" - Common Galavant war chant

[frosty dew]

We have the starport. Now storm just needs to hold it untill reinforcements come.

[loud hound]

is our patch on the tactical map ?? i don’t see us :((

[frosty dew]

wait, yeah. we are on orbital map though

we will likely arrive on elim with venator and maybe dwarf merchants, possibly after redwall. Not quite sure how far their speed will carry em.

[dusky cape]

Im thinking the mechanized portion of the unit could be in this kinda formation with the light mechs acting as forward scouts that can drop back quickly to engi if hit or are disengaging. MBT's can assist the forward force with range 3 and IFV's can push directly up to the enemies to deploy Inf onto the front line. Any Inf that get hurt can load back into IFV's to be brought back to the medic. Or, medic can push forward to heal.

Logi will be at the back of this force but will also be mobile incase other medics need supply

[loud hound]

good thoughts but it’ll all come down to terrain, smart to try and set up like so if we’re off the ship on a flat area tho

[frosty dew]

humm, seems like a sensible mechanized battle-line. Will have to see about making something similar to the infantry element. Its getting late in my timezone, so i'll try to clean up any proposals and ideas into viable battle formations by tomorrow. Feel free to send em though, i'll be reading em as long as i can

[dusky cape]

Well, if the units in the previous formation are all together, this would kinda be what the remaining teams look like. Just some Inf and 1 medic per team

(For my pictures, I used shape to represent movement speed and color based on unit tab in BG spreadsheet to differentiate units)

Circle = 1, Rectangle = 2, Triangle = 3+

[frosty dew]

Or possibly one big unit of 9 inf 2 med. But the formation is sensible

[dusky cape]

Im thinking if we have a team or teams thats just Inf and Medics, we should make sure our Inf with upgrades are in those teams so that have some flexibility with options. (Inf with upgrades = Davasaur, Darkusdudemedia, and egdawg). The Inf inside IFVs should be base Inf.

[icy magnet]

Yeah casualties on the starport are really high

[sharp mortar]

So far 5 units have died

[dusky cape]

Yeah, seemed like most were from the unexpected drop pods

[sharp mortar]

Storms deployment was not good at all

[dusky cape]

I think they prioritized eliminating all bots currently on the map over sticking together to not get ambushed

[sharp mortar]

They split a lot of their inf and left themselves vulnerable to being flanked

[dusky cape]

Yeah

[icy magnet]

The choose impact over defense it was a calculated risk

Getting bogged down in a drawn out fight was not an option

No starport means no reinforcements and bots can be rebuilt

[sharp mortar]

So 13 out of.... 18? Of Storms ground units are on the ground, 3 are dead & more to come if they don't get more support

[frosty dew]

Redwall and Iron hammer will be there soon. Maybe even next turn, not quite sure.

[tranquil frigate]

i'm down for that strategy, my only concern is having our specialists being to exposed, tell me to hold a location and we'll go to the last man but the risk is if the bots get the jump on us in that formation they could cut our ability to adapt down

[frosty dew]

We would have the mechanized element for support though. And hopefully, with the mechs scouting, we shouldnt be getting jumped.

[rich glacier]

I feel not as worried having mechs scouting knowing that bot infantry has equivalent weapons to our infantry. So the armor should really help us

I’m going to catch up on the messages right now but I want to know everyone’s general idea of what we want to do once we land. I see 3 ideas really. 1 is to march toward Crossroads. 2 is to march towards the northern mines. 3 is to help fully clear the city and then come as a second wave like we intended to either of those locations

[rich glacier]

Honestly we are going to kind of be stuck with this no matter what we do. We still have such a high concentration of infantry. I don’t mind it though because we have medics in both groups still and yes we will make sure to have the upgrades infantry distributed as well so all areas have some AP available. It’s also important to remember that infantry are not just fodder in this game. They are a very solid unit if they dig in and really their big disadvantage is movement speed which we have a formation to help with already

Also just going over the tactical map for Elim right now and the amount of casualties is staggering. There’s not an absurdly high amount of full deaths yet but most squads will be killed next turn it looks like😅

[frosty dew]

I’m between option 3 and 2. 3 as that is the original plan for the battlegroup and clear rearlines are needed. As for number 2, heading to the mines early (Dwarf fort is running late due to engine trouble) could help save civilians, and prevent manufacture of more bots.

[rich glacier]

Those are what I’m kind of leaning towards as well although I wanted to mention all options to start out

I kind of want to see what the big target in the northeast building in Elim is👀

[sharp mortar]

How about you start a vote for our main objective?

[rich glacier]

Probably about time😝

[sharp mortar]

As for combat formation, depending on the situation, we have the tanks and IFV's form a Frontline with inf in between them and meds behind the inf groups, or essentially form circles around the medics with the inf, 1 half of the circle act as the Frontline the other as a rearguard

[rich glacier]

Hold on going to redo that

[icy magnet]

Okay cheched everything again

[icy magnet]

Combar losses are due to two things:

[rich glacier]

I think this is alright?

[icy magnet]

1° infantry out of cover

2*° shack rolling lotd of 4

No formation could have saved those soldiers

[rich glacier]

Can’t do anything about luck

So find some cover soldiers

[sharp mortar]

Could've stopped them from being flanked

[icy magnet]

Flank does not matter if you got no defense

Nor armor

[rich glacier]

Alright everything seem decent with this poll? I let multi vote be on so people can vote for a specific direction if they don’t care if we help clear the city first

[frosty dew]

Yup, all seems good

[rich glacier]

@cloud dew whenever you get a chance could you pin this? I appreciate it

[dusky cape]

True, and a lot of the units that got flanked had already shot that turn so even if they weren’t flanked, they wouldn’t have been able to shoot back

[frosty dew]

Either way, moving as a group will be safer for us. Splitting fire, it seems unlikely a squad of 4 can kill any of us at once.

[dusky cape]

Honestly, I’m not too worried about clearing the city. I think by the time we are arriving, there wouldn’t be much clearing for us to do. In addition, don’t we still have to move all the way to the east side of the map before we can move to the cross roads?

That’s gonna take us a lot of turns if that’s the case

[icy magnet]

That is also true

[rich glacier]

Honestly I don’t feel the same confidence. Storm is like barely surviving and we are trying to figure out with the orbital above the city if even speed 3 transports will be able to land next turn or if they have to hold for 2 turns

Atlas is going to deploy their troops so I know we will keep the city secure but there’s still a lot of unknown targets and large targets as well

[dusky cape]

That’s true. If they can’t learn before us (which I was assuming they could), then we’d definitely have some clearing to do

[rich glacier]

Yeah depending on how things go next turn we might essentially be part of the second wave

Also movement is just going to be a bit of a pain no matter what we do. We have the rushing formation to get speed 2 but we might be walking for a while even then

[icy magnet]

We will need to be careful

[icy magnet]

We cant take that formation in a black sky situation

[rich glacier]

Ty Dresden. W mod

[icy magnet]

If they drop near the infantry and roll over a 3 on a dice, thats a dead unit

And they seem to be inteligent

[rich glacier]

Yeah rush formation is risky af. If we are the first heading into an area I will protest us doing that if at all possible

[icy magnet]

Thing is with black skies not even as a reinforcement movement

[rich glacier]

Yep. The bots are going to be an extremely different adversary than the bugs. This campaign is going to be a step up in every way as we have seen so far

[icy magnet]

They did position themselves on purpose to focus on the tip of storm

So they do play taking advantage of the rules

[rich glacier]

I want to get everyone’s thoughts on the 5 wall contacts to the south west as well. They seem like friendlies do they not?

[frosty dew]

I think where we go should depend on if anyone else is going north. If no-one else is, we might have to start clearing the way for the civvies in the mine. Both ultra and dwarf fort who were planning to go that way are delayed by two turns at least.

[rich glacier]

I mean there’s nothing wrong with clearing the way honestly. We know we have strong support coming and getting a view of the tac map would be invaluable for both those groups. We just would have to be careful not to overextend for sure

[sharp mortar]

Could be enemy reserves, could be storming the complex, could be gathering prisoners, we don't know but i say we be caution every step

[frosty dew]

Seems unlikely to me. I think civilians would be in buildings, considering bots have been assaulting the area. Prisoners prepared for transport might be a possibility though

[rich glacier]

We probably won’t even head that way but I just found the formation of them very interesting

You guys are most likely right. All friendly forces were backed into the starport to hold off the retreat there

Also worth mentioning. Most likely if we get the 3 option of city and then north we will be clearing the fully unknown group of buildings to the north west

[sharp mortar]

I don't mind investigating it after we clear out the starport but under every circumstance we must be cautious and alert, if we do go over there to investigate, we do it with 2 IFV's with 2 squads of inf

[rich glacier]

If we go and investigate stuff it’ll be with everyone except maybe some medics and infantry staying behind to heal other groups units

[frosty dew]

Im surprised people want to head to crossroads. We don’t really have any objectives there, and there are a bunch of battlegroups already heading that way.

[sharp mortar]

We could check in with all the groups and see who plans to go north, if there are too many going east, should we choose we could coordinate with other BG's to head north

[rich glacier]

If people want to go east then we will go east. We are a direct democracy here for better or worse🤷‍♂️

[sharp mortar]

But we should also consider the possibility of being ARMCO rearguard, because i'm not sure if any groups will be heading to Nery

[rich glacier]

Realistically the only way to get to Nery village is to hold crossroads. Sure storm could funnel people in and out but most groups are too big for that especially after their loses

The options essential remain the same as before. North has less people but more direct benefits to it. East has more people and is a very useful location to possess for traversing the rest of the planet

[dusky cape]

Ik this is a stupid question, but I’m assuming that we have to land at the star port with our ship and can’t land it anywhere else?

[rich glacier]

This is correct. We didn’t go for the mining transports as they were all taken by other groups already

[dusky cape]

Cool

[frosty dew]

No stupid questions. The transport rules are honestly bit unclear.

[rich glacier]

Rabbit and Spearhead are using the mining transports. Idk where they are going honestly

[frosty dew]

Spearhead had the southern mines, and rabbit crossroads in initial plans.

[sharp mortar]

I thought spearhead was taking Cell'dar?

[frosty dew]

Yeah, they needed the transports to get a ride there

[rich glacier]

Those are the same thing

Yeah the transports just give them a more direct route to there although they will be without any adequate reinforcements

[sharp mortar]

One thing is for certain those drop pods need to be stopped, we need our TF's to take out any orbiting craft to prevent their pods dropping cause before storm landed the otter stated "the pods are early"

Meaning the pods are scheduled

[rich glacier]

Fluffle and or Atlas are going to deal with it this coming round so it’ll be alright

[sharp mortar]

Lets hope so

[rich glacier]

I think their goal is to board but don’t quote me on that

[sharp mortar]

We've lost a lot of ARMCO blood today

And i think i speak for everyone when i say....

I want to spill some oil and a bot skull under my boot

Lets

kill

them

ALL

[icy magnet]

SPILL OIL

[sharp mortar]

NO MERCY FOR SCRAP METAL

[frosty dew]

SO OTHERS MAY LIVE

[nimble bridge]

https://tenor.com/view/bradley-ifv-modern-war-gif-5080869901272583317

Just realized I don't think I am transporting anyone yet, does anyone need a ride?

[loud hound]

i’ll take it :))

[loud hound]

hey hey hey there are robots in armcos ranks and i happen to be one of them

today is ‘scrap metal’ i better not hear clanker come out of that mouth

[rich glacier]

Could you both update yourselves in the logistics hub then? It makes it a lot easier me to keep track of who is in what vehicle

[nimble bridge]

yep already on it

[rich glacier]

Appreciate it🔥

[nimble bridge]

is the name of your unit Iron Guards? My group is called iron sentinels lol, quite fitting

[loud hound]

lmao yes ❤️

[nimble bridge]

so looking here, looks like the infantry updates and says "inside Blank" as the IFV do I have to update anything?

I'm set to carrying troops as my supplies. Just wanted to make sure that was all

[loud hound]

i’ve written a lil note that says you’re carrying me

[nimble bridge]

sweet, looking forward to hitting the road... And buildings, and robots, really pretty much anything lol

[rich glacier]

Yeah that’ll work just fine

Also check pins and make sure to vote

[nimble bridge]

Pins?

I already voted in the discord poll if that's what your talking about

[rich glacier]

The newest poll for what we are going to do. Just want to make sure everyone gets a chance to vote in that

[dusky cape]

BG Phalanx logo missing from all the logos at Lussan Gate?! Oh no! We were forgotten!

[sharp mortar]

For the record, I was calling THEM scrap metal

And I WILL be calling them CLANKERS

[rich glacier]

Nah we are there. No worries😝

[dusky cape]

??? But no logo??? Or am I blind

[rich glacier]

Ohhhh you meant on the strategic map. On the tactical map for the location we are placed there

I’m not too worried about that. Shack knows where we are

[sharp mortar]

Btw pathfinders and Ultra are going for the fed listening post

[rich glacier]

I was kind of hearing a little about that. Makes sense as they are speed 1 anyways for the time being

It’ll be good to have the info

Reminder to everyone you’ve got 6 hours left to vote. Check pins

[sharp mortar]

And whatever tech the feds left

[twilit badge]

Stealth measures engaged

[frosty dew]

Well, its good that dwarf warriors kept their course for the planet. They and ultra are the only groups who are planning to go north, though they still will take many turns to arrive. I still say we should go up there to clear the way, but we'll see what happens.

[rich glacier]

I feel the same but a vote is a vote. Clearing the east side of the city will take us 3-4 turns anyways so we have time if the group opinion shifts

[frosty dew]

yeah, i'm willing to go anywhere the group wants, but chance of leaving civilians behind kinda sucks.

Anyway, made tho formations that should be pretty universally usable. Should i drop them here or into our BG form?

[rich glacier]

Both honestly would be nice. I’ve got a plan made on paper for capturing the east part of the city so I just have to get that into a map sometime and share it here

[frosty dew]

Allright. these are more general formations so using them might be impossible depending on terrain, but anyhow heres the first one. The updated "Rush" formation for tactical mobility in cleared areas.

The distances between units are not to scale. The front two light mechs are meant to be a recon element, while mechanized units protect infantry. Any incoming fire should prioritize one of them first.

[rich glacier]

Yeah I really like that. I think it works really well and covers all our angles in the best way possible

[frosty dew]

Secod formation is defencive/flanking manover, ment for combat in open fields. As the bots seem to just keep advancing, we can dig in and let them come to us. Meanwhile, we can set up a flank with the mechanized units to ignore their armour. Optionally, we could also leave the MBT's with the main battleline, if there are enemy vehicles present, but that would mean moving the engineer away from them or the IFV.

As with the previous one, all IFV carry one INF, and LV's carry a MED and an ENG, for logistical support.

[rich glacier]

I also really agree with that but idk how much open field fighting we will be doing in this campaign. Better to have a plan than not though

[frosty dew]

Lastly, for urban combat we cant really make a plan, but i tought we might want to split into smaller groups in cities as we wont have the space to move as a group. As with the previous, MBT's can be shifted as needed to support others against vehicles. Group three would need to keep the logi truck safe, as others push ahead. Pretty sure the groups would spread apart or get mixed fast though.

[winter forum]

Anyone opposed to heading straight to Cell'dar mines, or has someone already called dibs on that.

It just seems tailor made for us.

[rich glacier]

Yeah I have a similar idea for urban combat as well. Infantry working together in their own groups with the medics and playing around buildings is a great strategy to have. Then reinforce wherever needed with firepower and scout with mechs

[rich glacier]

South mines? Spearhead has plans to go there already and more than likely another group will join them(Venator)

It’s a tricky location honestly so I’m not sure if we really want to consider it

We have zero air mobility

[frosty dew]

Not to mention, if its mostly empty (for now) as the intel says, having too many battlegroups there would be a waste.

[rich glacier]

I would imagine their idea is to push east from there but there isn’t much point in doing that if we lack enough presence on the west half of the planet

[pseudo crane]

Spearhead is planning on using the mining transports, and helping to clear out Elim first

Though as always, plans change with intel

[rich glacier]

You guys are getting the transports and then coming to Elim first?

Not what I expected

[pseudo crane]

From what I’ve heard, Venator isn’t going there either

So the elevator is wide open if you want to take it

[rich glacier]

Venator is confirmed for Elim next turn

I’m just honestly surprised you guys want to make a stop at Elim first. It doesn’t really seem necessary and would slow you guys down

[pseudo crane]

Depends on how much resistance they are facing. Being able to land put the outskirts and not be bottlenecks at the starport

[rich glacier]

We’ve got Hammer and Atlas landing troops this turn and then next turn we will have Phalanx, Venator, and Redwall that I know right now

Truly I would rather you guys just go get a foothold in Cell’dar a turn earlier than worry about us. We should have it under control and the sooner you can get boots on the ground to secure the mines the better

[tranquil tendon]

Will we all need to make orders for landing or will you do that then we will make moves afterward?

[frosty dew]

At least, if the frigate is eliminated this turn. If not, everyone lands next turn.

[pseudo crane]

If/When Elim is clear, we’d take the over planet route to Cell’Dar

[rich glacier]

You guys will all need to make real orders for our landing turn. That will be turn 5 though and orders for turn 4 close tonight so there’s time still. I’ll make sure to brief you all when it gets closer what you’re able to do and we will try to watch everyone’s order submissions very closely to help everyone this first turn to understand how to play.

[twilit badge]

It seems like the democratic process is pushing us to help secure the city then move to the cross roads.

[rich glacier]

Yep looks like that’s what we will be up to

[pseudo crane]

The trouble with the turn earlier approach is that we’d be stranded with no lift out, so we’ll possibly still take the transports

[rich glacier]

Wait are you guys just going to fly above Elim in the mining transports? I thought you were landing in the mining transports at Elim and that’s where I was getting the extra turn from. If you’re just passing through once you get the mining transports then absolutely go for it. I just meant that we probably didn’t need more help on the ground

[pseudo crane]

A battle group with a speed 2+ transport could get to Cell’Dar this turn, I believe. Whether or not we stop at Elim will depend on how the situation is looking after this turn. Either way it’ll be 2-3 turns before we reach Cell’Dar

[rich glacier]

Yeah I didn’t mean to reach Cell’dar this turn. I just thought your plan was to for sure stop at Elim

I guarantee Elim will be well under control by turn 5

[pseudo crane]

Regardless, we won’t be using the grav lift at Cell’Dar, and will have transport to redeploy if it isn’t attacked (very unlikely)

So it’s your call if you’d rather go Cell’Dar or Elim

[rich glacier]

Unfortunately I don’t think we will be joining you guys in Cell’dar but best of luck to you

[solar cedar]

@rich glacier ,

Please have your BG Intentions filled out in the ELIM GROUND AO Coordination Document.

Standby for a Unit Group Order Tracker.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qFkFUIQjjFQVOd7Au0cdv8I-KX31-_6jAF_U4JfvRUU/edit?tab=t.rlkkap8apxfz

[rich glacier]

Appreciate it

Okay I just took a look through everything

Sounds good and Phalanx will be able to move ahead with our goals as well it seems like

We will take the SE pad since that is still available. It’ll be best for our east focussed deployment anyways

Once again I am on mobile so I can’t write that in right now

[sharp mortar]

Tam, how many Engi's do you have?

[rich glacier]

Okay so we are the only group heading eastward on turn 5. I’m going to dump my initial plan for us turn 5 in a minute. Then you guys can look it over and share your thoughts on it

[pseudo crane]

1 :)

[sharp mortar]

Oh god nvm

I was thinking you could use your engi's to repair the lift but nvm XD

[rich glacier]

So the main objective for us as I see it will be to get infantry to take and station inside the closest east buildings from the starport. Those being the six pack looking building and then the empty building of similar size just south of it. We have Mechs and LV’s evasive outwards from our position to absorb fire and whittle down infantry to the NE and SE in a < shape essentially. We have one of the MBT’s at least take a shot at the medium target in the structure to the SE of us to just get a good first shot on it or kill the regular target in there. Infantry advance to the east and some of them might make it to the first smaller building to clear the one target in there and stage for the following turn. Now the IFV’s I’m not super sure on yet as they have a few options. One is that they assist the mechs to the north and deposit their infantry in that duplex to clear it out and hold it. Two would be to get an early breach of a couple infantry in the six pack building. Three they could take shots at the targets in the six pack building and deposit their infantry in the big empty building to the SE.

[sharp mortar]

Ok so just to be sure, this is your plan?

I left out the IFV's until we've made a decision

[rich glacier]

Yeah that’s pretty much it. The infantry will take two turns minimum to get into the large 6 section building without IFV support but that’s the goal

If we can control that building and the one below it with infantry we have the entire east side of the city secure

[frosty dew]

Yeah, that seems smart. We likely wont be there in time to help with the current problems anyway, so securing the area against further enemies is good. I’d say ifv+inf should probably check the duplex at NE. Storm will be heavily damaged so we need to shield them from any further units.

[rich glacier]

The thing is that literally every other angle except the east is being covered by another BG already. So it really works out well for us to just hard focus east like we want to and create a wall against further bot attacks against the starport

Also those buildings work out super well for us since we are so infantry heavy

Mechs and LV’s really are going to be there to deal some chip damage and mostly to draw enemy infantry fire while using evasive to minimize damage to our own infantry

[sharp mortar]

@buoyant jungle important decision are being made

He asked me to ping him

[rich glacier]

Yeah ping anyone you know well enough and that want to see the discussion. These are the big decisions I want as many people to voice their opinions on as possible

We have time though thankfully so no huge rush

[frosty dew]

If other directions will be covered it seems good. We just have so many inf it seems like a waste to make everyone clear the same building.

[sharp mortar]

Can we put our second MBT to the north along with 1 or 2 IFV's, i see us heavily securing the south and direct east but not a lot up to the north

[rich glacier]

That is true. I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to one of the tanks heading up there

The only real plan I had for the tanks was to soak some damage early for the infantry to advance and take out that medium unknown target to the south

[frosty dew]

Also, a tank fireing into an unknown contact in a city formerly filled with civilians seems… inadvisable.

But we’ll likely get more info next turn for that

[rich glacier]

Ehhhhhh all the civilians as far as we know are out already or at the port

We just won’t leave evidence

[sharp mortar]

I can't tell if he's joking

[rich glacier]

True but the idea is to also occupy the currently empty building to the south and the duplex to the north

[frosty dew]

At the risk of being the fun police, lets not make jokes about warcrimes. Shack is not a fan, and i believe mods will take offence

[rich glacier]

No it’s a completely fair thing to say. I get it

I’m not trying to make jokes about war crimes though. I genuinely think a blind shot there is worth it given the situation. Like 90% chance it’s a bot of some type and I would rather get the jump on it since it’s more than just a regular infantry unit

I’ll try and see if Atlas can give us a scan on it

Give me a sec

[sharp mortar]

While i'm not particularly fond of Kapu's over obsession with the civvie's, i'd have to agree with his imput on firing at building the MAY harbor cut off civvies

[buoyant jungle]

I don't think if there's a sizeable chance we might be targeting a civ we'll get the option to shoot.

Also appreciate the ping

[rich glacier]

I’m not sure at what range we would get a view of them either

[frosty dew]

Also fair. I have been trying to stay in character, plus the job is about protecting civilians, but i understand i may have been annoying.

[sharp mortar]

I told you i got you

[rich glacier]

You’re all good. We are just weighing options is all. I probably don’t consider the civilians enough😆

It seems reasonable to assume we could get a view of it depending on how close the tank is willing to get to the target on that turn. I am asking for a scan though so we will see

[frosty dew]

The blind shot i dont really have that much trouble with. After all, the bots allready reached the spaceport so i agree that the chance of civvies is low. But a scan would go a long way, if it is available.

[rich glacier]

What’s tank range again? 3?

[frosty dew]

2, i believe

[rich glacier]

Alright working on the scan. Looks like tanks aren’t allowed to take blind shots anyways so it probably won’t matter

[sharp mortar]

If i may i would like to upload an updated map with some adjustment of mine?

[rich glacier]

Sure!

[rich glacier]

So it seems like once we get in range with the tank it will be able to identify the medium contact

[sharp mortar]

Context: Green circles= IFV's, Orange=Engi, White=Medics

[rich glacier]

Yeah absolutely. Should put a ton of armored targets for them to split their fire between and screen our infantry to advance

[sharp mortar]

I should also remind you we have one more IFV, so consider that as well

[rich glacier]

We will need to figure out people’s max movement ranges as well once we get closer. I think we maybe lose some amount of speed disembarking the transport so things may not be as close as they seem on paper

[frosty dew]

The idea of making a safe corridor is a good one if enemies still remain. It should give us plenty of time, and keep the chip damage to a minimum.

[rich glacier]

Exactly. The way I see it we have two objectives with this turn. Secure as much of the area east as we can to stabilize the city. Take as little damage as we can to conserve supplies and minimize time spent healing afterwards

[rich glacier]

Results are officially in

[sharp mortar]

I feel like Varsen should carry some inf seeing as they have the RRD

[rich glacier]

Yeah that would make a lot of sense. I would just ping him and ask. No harm in pinging people to make sure they are seeing the plan and asking what part they want to play in it

[frosty dew]

I ”reserved” the spot in varsens IFV at some point, if they are still down for it.

[rich glacier]

I’m sure they are. We will also do pings to get orders in from everyone in advance of our turn 5 orders due date. Which should be on Sunday I think

Try and get everyone in here and caught up. Hopefully once we get started and have the orders schedule rolling in we will have some more daily activity

[twilit badge]

Form the phalanx and hold the east, seems simple enough

[rich glacier]

Yep

[twilit badge]

I am personally a fan of trying to get our two heavy weapon teams into the buildings first via IFVs sp they can lay down covering fire when the rest of the infantry try to get in cover

[rich glacier]

I keep forgetting we have stuff like that. Thank you guys for bringing it up😆

[twilit badge]

we also have 3 anti-vehicle rockets if heavy assets pull up on the inf

[nimble bridge]

Just catching up on everything. As an IFV I believe I have 2 movement. I would be down to scout out targets that may be civilian, my armor and speed should (in theory) allow me to at least take a hit and then I can evac out of the danger. If I had a tank with 3 range that would also mean it could handle my retreat

[rich glacier]

Please feel free to compile this somewhere or edit the map or whatever you want. You guys can plan as much as your heart desires without my input needed

[nimble bridge]

I can offload infantry squad before scouting too. That way if it is civilian I can just load them up and run if the size is small enough

[rich glacier]

IFV’s currently we aren’t sure where you guys are heading but yes that’s the general idea. You are going to scout for us a bit but also your auto cannon could do some serious damage if you get within range and getting infantry into buildings right now is also a priority

Options for IFV’s are to head to the north duplex and siege that. Get an early wave of infantry into our major target of the six sectioned building. Or to get some infantry into the empty building to the south east

You are extremely useful whichever way you decide to go. I would just recommend we don’t offload infantry into buildings alone to face enemies. Our infantry is at a disadvantage on a level playing field

[twilit badge]

agree if inf is being put on the front line it better be a hvy weapon team that can deploy and fire that round with a medic to keep them up.

[frosty dew]

I dont think inf is outclassed in the short term. They do max 4 damage, we do max 6. We can take them down, they cant do the same. In the long term the chip adds up though, and we should absolutely use our massed firepower.

[rich glacier]

I’m not familiar with the upgrade honestly but I’m sure you guys can work that out

[rich glacier]

Fair point. I’m just going based off of what we have seen with Storm so far. I would also just generally rather exercise caution. I want to get out of here with no losses😆

[frosty dew]

Yeah, no argument here. Facing terminators in a coinflip would not be fun 😅

[frosty dew]

Im unsure what counts as a horde for the mg. Does it work on infantry squads?

[dusky cape]

Can we organize a list of who is carrying whom? Ik LV’s are carrying engi and 1 medic, but having it organized will help people know where the plans have them specifically going and what they should anticipate

[dusky cape]

I’ll try my best!

[frosty dew]

Will mark it down in the logi sheet we have. I think crowdeater also made a deal with devasaur. Two ifv are without passangers for now.

[rich glacier]

Yeah logi sheet would be best because that’s where I will be looking for orders and stuff. Follow kind of the same format as we have going on right now

[dusky cape]

Sounds good. I believe LanceO’lotte is carrying our engi and the other LV is carrying our 3rd medic (the one that’s not trying to do stuff with organs)

[rich glacier]

I didn’t know that was possible for a medic😝

[dusky cape]

Well “apparently” they don’t worship the blood god or sell organs on the black market. Idk what kinda medical school approved giving a certificate to someone like that. But hey, ARMCO says their legit, so I guess that’s that

@thorny patio I thought “The Finances of Dealing Organs” was part of the curriculum at non-religious medical schools. Did that get updated recently or something?

[sharp mortar]

Also just a quick reminder to everyone, follow the Phalanx mission order thread, make sure you are following it

[rich glacier]

Another one of those things I will just have to double check later on this week😆

[winter forum]

If you could put the order format in the order thread and have it pinned it would be extremely helpful for newish players and those on mobile.

[naive owl]

First I’m a person to not just the “OTHER” LV and I think the LVs could help support the infantry with the assault on the buildings since we have range 2 HMGs and that could help if those buildings are heavily loaded with bots

Man I am cursed to miss all the important conversations

[rich glacier]

Yeah I think everyone has a very important role to play here. One of the main issues vehicles are going to have though is that we are trying to hit infantry that are inside buildings and also have a built in armor point. Unless you’ve got an explosive weapon like a tank or an IFV you are going to struggle to hit that without even taking into account evasive as well. A lot of what the mechs and LV’s are going to be doing is drawing fire because we have those armor points as well and scouting

[rich glacier]

Absolutely. I’ll do it before I go to bed tonight

[dusky cape]

You’re right, I apologize for my laziness and not checking the sheet to find your name.

[rich glacier]

I’m horrible with names so I get it🤣

[dusky cape]

Yeah, but Mental was right. It was wrong of me to refer to them and Dylan like that

[naive owl]

It was a joke I promise nobody cares names are hard to remember as long as we know who you are talking about it’s fine

[sharp mortar]

So we'll have 7 inf units in the buildings leaving 6 left, I believe we should spread them equally between the north and south sections with the tanks and IFV's

[icy magnet]

Im carring
@frosty dew (inf) but we are open to change that if the tactical situation requires it

[icy magnet]

Hwt need movement to deploy they will be open to enemy fire for a turn without much to shot back

Also bear in mind gettion out of a vehicle is 0.5 movement, getting into a building is another 0.5, breaching units won't have much wiggle room unless i carry them, that would remove the first 0.5

Another thing is, unless the fleet is dealt with we might be in a black sky situation

So no rushing or we might get some casualties from dropping bits

[rich glacier]

Yeah rush is not an option due to all the potential damage sources. Turn 5 will most likely be staging and getting into position and then turn 6 we can start doing our thing

[rich glacier]

There’s still definitely the potential to breach turn 5 though because if the infantry start in an IFV then we can drop them right off at the building they want to enter and that’s two 0.5 actions then

[sharp mortar]

Or we can deploy the inf not in the IFV's next to the building and have the inf that are going to the north and south sections (If we're going through with that idea) go with the IFV's

We could also have one of the HMG's in the 6 pack building and have them set up looking towards grid 3718 & 3717

[rich glacier]

Yeah for sure. The IFV’s kind of need to work out which direction they want to go. Really any building would be helpful

[twilit badge]

We just need to be coordinated in this. Move in groups and cover each other. Storm has gotten mauled because they were so spread out. In other words… form the phalanx!

[icy magnet]

I already said why i dont think that is completly true

[twilit badge]

I agree with what you taged that we dont rush and that we might be having bots drop on us but what about that contradicts with moving together in groups?

[icy magnet]

The part about storm, after analyzing the reports what you can see is infantry suffering because they were in the open and shack rolling a lot of max damage

If a robot roll a 4 while shooting at you out of cover no ammount of formation will blunt the hit

[twilit badge]

Ahh, that’s true, is there a place where we can see the log of rolls or did that info come from shack talking about it?

[icy magnet]

You have to check positioning and the images

If there is only a single bot at range and a unit has 4 casualties that was a 4 damage roll

Also bots have a max of 4 dmg, on a 6 sided dice, thats a 50% chance of rolling max damage

[twilit badge]

So are you against us moving groups in favor of covering more ground, or did you just want to point out that storm was just genuinely unlucky with their drop? - don’t mean any malice here just trying to figure out how we want to proceed

[icy magnet]

Oh no, we should move in formation

Just... Temper your damage mitigation hopes

When we face the enemy groups of three infantry in cover might be the mos efficient

[twilit badge]

My damage mitigation hopes lie in blood sacrifices (apparently) and the desire for there to be no bots to attack me after their first shot. Peace through overwhelming firepower

[icy magnet]

Seems reasonable

[sharp mortar]

Remember the damage we deal/suffer is shared if we're buddied up with other units so its best we stick together

[twilit badge]

Friends do take bullets for friends

[rich glacier]

I mean moving together is about the best damage mitigation we have for the situation. Try to split the damage between our armored units and get our infantry inside the buildings to overwhelm them. We can’t sit back and take it slow really

[frosty dew]

Yeah, ifv, mbt and inf cant really get one shotted by their inf, so going in a group makes us really tough to kill. Lv and lm should be carefull though, unless they can be evasive from the start. I think we should have one medic in each building, and the engi can drive back and forth in the lv as needed.

[rich glacier]

Yeah LV and LM should plan to evasive on turn 5 for sure and probably also turn 6 depending on which direction we are and how many enemies are in range

Drawing fire, getting eyes on targets, and maybe doing a little chip damage is all they are really going to do for us on turn 5. Not much else they can do in this situation really

[sharp mortar]

Ok, so i'm pretty sure we've established where everyone should be (But i'd rather wait for imput from people who have been in the conversation yet) now we need to establish whose going where?

[frosty dew]

Have the two other ifv checked in? We should get infantry in them too, if we want them going north or south.

[sharp mortar]

Ok Varsen is carrying you, whose crowd carrying?

[frosty dew]

Devasaur if i remember right

Also @rich glacier could there maybe be a spot for wich direction unit is facing in the model order. Might be important for flanking.

[dusky cape]

So now that I think about it, LV’s and LM’s that are evasive and MBT’s have a 50% chance when being shot at to take a hit. IFV has about a 66% chance of suffering a hit and Inf on average will take 2 shots to be defeated by the bots. If we want as many people to survive as possible. We will probably have to be constantly rotating out who is directly getting hit so nobody takes too much damage.

LV and LM with +3 defense require a 4+ to hit and Bots have a 50% chance of rolling that. MBT’s with 3 armor mitigate any damage 3 and lower. Since 4+ is 50% chance, that’s a 50% chance of being hit. IFV’s only have 2 armor, so they have an even greater chance of suffering a hit (luckily they have 3 health)

[sharp mortar]

Unless we adopt the: My guns bigger than yours doctrine

[rich glacier]

Yes absolutely. I will make sure that is clear in the order format. That’s super important to remember to add

[dusky cape]

True, though hopefully that’ll be something along the lines of “our MBT outranges your bots and just 1 shot them”

[rich glacier]

Added it to the movement/action tracker section

I would play more for a range advantage if the bots weren’t all in cover essentially. We would have to take like 2-3 turns to make a dent in them if we just sat back and shot at them inside the buildings and we don’t really want to waste that much time

[frosty dew]

If their behaviour is the same as the rest, they might just march out of the buildings. They didnt stop to take cover or try to avoid fire.

[rich glacier]

I mean if they want to willfully give up their cover advantage then we will blow them to bits out in the open. I guess we can see what happens on turn 4 and then react to that

You’re right though that they might decide to do that to be on theme for their characters. I just am not going to count on it and plan around it