YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
BOOM BANG, SET OFF THE FIREWORKS CUS IT'S BACK

Grid Square I12 [cutscene] 2013/07/25(Thu)05:45 No. 527298 ID: ba8629
File 137475633474.jpg - (101.00KB , 800x600 , battlequest-2-1.jpg )

The fight hasn't been very even. Scellor psionics and soft-power tricks prove outmatched by the raw firepower the Astranian Alliance can bring to bear.

Here, southeast of the prize, the sky rains fire in long, straight lines. Ritualist-Commander Ekia's carrier engages with impunity. Beneath her guns, Scellor combat drones and sentient coordinators scramble to reorganize, scramble to respond to a target their weaponry can't scratch, or just scramble for cover.

[cutscene] 2013/07/25(Thu)05:46 No. 527299 ID: ba8629
File 137475641671.jpg - (85.92KB , 800x600 , battlequest-2-2.jpg )

Many kilometers away, Tozols watch their screens and reconsider their situation.

[cutscene] 2013/07/25(Thu)05:50 No. 527302 ID: ba8629
File 137475660117.jpg - (101.83KB , 800x600 , battlequest-2-3.jpg )

"Admit it. You're a little jealous," says Sergeant Ota.
"Return fire's just bouncing off," Lt. Vaejra says softly. "Nothing we have can hurt that thing."
"Yeah, I'm short on ideas. The prisoners haven't been flush with suggestions, either. Kinda got me wondering."
"Yes?"
"If we do manage to trash the ground forces, and any of us are still alive, do you think they'd blow up the Spire?" asks Ota. "Could they even do that?"
Vaejra stares in silence for long instants.
"There is nothing the evolved cannot destroy," he says. "Because there is nothing they cannot covet."

Suggestion 2013/07/25(Thu)05:52 No. 527303 ID: ba8629
File 137475672763.png - (15.25KB , 600x600 , BQ_select.png )

Choose your faction:

TOZOLS or SCELLOR?

>>527303
TOZZELS. ALWAYS TOZZELS

Scellor.

toz

TOZOLS GOTTA TOZ!

Scelzols.

Scellor. Because logically it is time for the Daring Raid on the Sky Fortress.

I think about now is the time schellor heros are born!

tozzles 4 life yo

Scellor

TOZZLS

There isn't room for more plant people in /quest.

scellor

Tozols! :D
The best kind of Battle Weasel. <3

>>527303
Scellor, because they most need to react.

>>527344
Scellor, because they've got open and altruistic goals.

Tozels

tzls fo rzls

Toz.

Tozols.

Scellor, they need a turn

Scellor just because I would like to lend them a hand before they bit it.

Scellor, because if they don't do something clever soon the rest of the battle will basically consist of Astranians bombing the site from orbit repeatedly.

Scellor!

There's pretty much nothing the Tozols can do right now but watch as the opponent they can't fight destroys the one they can.

Scellor.

Scellor ahoy

Scellors because GOD DAMMIT I MISS WILL OF THE UNDERMIND

tozols gonna toz

tozols

Scellor. Maybe one of them can go back in time and suggest an alternate course of action.

Scellor, we should reduce casualties, also maybe kill a few more astranians.
Seriously, they're dicks.

Tozols

Tozols!

Tozols

So far...
Scellor: 16
Tozols: 14
Scelzols(?): 1

tozols

tozols

TOZOLS

tozazzle

Okay, Scellor it it.

Scellor, for the same reasons everyone else has been mentioning.

>>527360

Trying to do something 'clever' was what got them in this mess in the first place.

>>527711
NO ARGUING IN THE QUEST THREAD.

Scellor please!

[I'm calling it.

Scellor: 18
Tozols: 19 ]

>>527842
nooooooooooooooooooooo so close

talk about neck and neck.

>>527842
You forgot
>>527315
(Which I still don't get unless they're some sort of joint science project)

Either way, I hope we'll get to beat some asteranian behind.
They're a bit to... what's the word?
Nationalist? Xenophobic? Full of utter douchebaggery?

>>527877
Belligerent?

[Test saying "I'm calling it" means "I'm going to start making the update now". It was 19-19 but one person had voted twice.

That means stop voting.]

>>528081
I voted twice, meaning switch my earlier vote from Tozol to Scellor.

"The Avalanche has begun, it is too late for the pebbles to vote."

Test Pattern 2013/07/28(Sun)02:04 No. 528679 ID: ba8629
File 137500226490.png - (773.86KB , 1450x1400 , BQMapTZL_Ch2.png )

Baj and Rinis return without fanfare. A look at the screens brings them up to speed. The two left base before the enemy arrived in system to perform maintenance on the sensor network, and now swap toolkits and cameras for heavy weapons.

The network’s serving them well. Both groups of aliens landed just beyond its outer cordon. It’s producing excellent intel, for now.

Despite this, Vaejra has a big problem. More than the battlecarrier, or the enemy in general, the problem is that he doesn't have a plan. The eight of them have been preparing and practicing together for many years, but they never put serious thought into the possibility that two separate groups might arrive at the same time and fight each other.

...Granted, most plans are going to be about the carrier. He’s got to find a way to deal with it, or convince himself he can worry about it later.

>>528679
Now would be a good time to do some damage to the Astranian force, with its carrier support far away.

As for the carrier itself, since we can't harm the machine, we need to find a way to get on board and harm the crew.

>>528679
Isn't taking out the carrier going to take artillery? It's going to either be that, or setting off explosives in the most sensitive of spots in a sneaking mission inside the ship itself. Isn't their a scellor ship of equal size anywhere? You could also grand theft auto something like that and crash it into the fucking thing.

You don't have to worry about that that much if you remain out of the spotlight. Little sabotage here, little sabotage there, make sure the fight stays equal until they spend all their resources and pull out.

Possibility of Weaponizing the spire?

IIRC it was mentioned that monkeying around with it caused a power-drain on Tozol power-packs, is there any way to direct this effect and project it at-range to the Battlecarrier?

You know, the battlecarrier with the invincible shields, that is currently Heavily Engaged with the Scellor and not bothering to try and evade incoming fire because fuck-them it's got invincible shields?

Yeah. I kind of like the ship-wide power failure idea. At least if the spire can become a focused siphon. The last thing we need is for the weapon power packs to be drained, since I don't imagine there's much in the way of melee weapons. Even though it would render the astranians basically useless without their heavy armour.

I thought it was that we could basically go BLIZZARD MODE! And crank the bad weather up, or down. Which...Might be something we'd want to do.
Bad weather is not good for aircraft, even if the 'stranners have 'screw you, I've got shields!' I imagine dealing with that weather will probably help.
The Scellor though...It's hard to say. Ice is a traditional weakness of plants? But I can't see a reason why it would be particularly bad for them. Plus, their psychic powers probably would come in handy navigating around something like bad weather.
But yea, I'm pretty sure air superiority is a pain and a half to deal with, so we want to drop those carriers out of the sky!

>>528688

Doesn't even have to be a total power failure.. if we can just weaken their shields while they're busy 'LOLNOPE' tanking Scellor missiles and one or two of them get through that changes the game massively.

>>528687
Is the carrier inside the atmosphere? If we use the Spire to generate inclement weather effects, it might jam their sensors, forcing them to break off the attack and allowing the Scellor a chance to regroup.

I'm going with the EMP'ing-the-carrier-plan. If it's possible.

>>528720

>>527299

I highly doubt the Battlecarrier is so fuggoff-HUGE that it looks like that from the ground while in low-orbit.

So, we seem to have consensus to at least looking-into seeing what weaponized effects we can coax from the spire. Might should see about that before further deciding on a definite plan of action.

Also, what's up with the Astrannian ground-base and it's big walker? (and isn't Tactica Command there?) One thing at a time I know, but keeping track of that for now would be a good idea.

Someone explore the spire! Its mysteries could provide essential to surviving this conflict.

>>528767
We're already in the Spire. We've been here years. We have troops positioned on top of the Spire.

Two Questions: First how does Tozol biology interact with Astranian shields (and do our vehicles have the same capacity)? If responds with the same mocking laughter it does to Displacer missiles and Psionics it should be possible to infiltrate either the carrier or the base.

Second: How stealthy is that dropship we've got? If it's sufficient we could probably convey some troops to infiltrate the carrier or one of it's support ships.

If either of those questions are no, I'd recommend infiltrating or harassing the Astranian base while they're focusing on the Scellor. If those ground forces are threatened and outmatched there's a chance they'll realize they're overextended and retreat to defend themselves. Even if not we can eliminate some of the ground forces that will be needed to capture the spire.

Toying with the Spire settings may well add some snowstorm based cover or other support but it should be in addition to our main attack, not the bulk of it.

We are going to have to use the tower to drain its power. That's the only thing I know we have that can touch it.

IIRC we can't actually aim the tower, we don't know what might happen if we crank it up(might it, you know, explode?), and the carrier's presently a ways off, it's potentially out of range, and turning it up would almost certainly drain all Tozol equipment dry well before it shut the carrier down.

I'd say that that's a card we're going to have to save for later.

>>528866
Well, we need to weaken that carrier SOMEHOW, otherwise the Astranians are going to pound the Scellor into paste.

>>528682

Yeah, attacking them while the carrier is away is a good plan.

2 Plans of attack at once then? Small group to the tower to try to lower the energy shields, 1 or 2 to stay and watch the base, and the rest to raise hell at the camp.

Test Pattern 2013/07/29(Mon)03:31 No. 529018 ID: ba8629
File 137509391188.jpg - (104.31KB , 800x600 , battlequest-2-6.jpg )

Lt. Vaejra assembles his tozols. This might be the last chance to gather this many together. Maybe the last chance ever.

Baj, young and impetuous, leads the discussion.
“What happens to a force field if we crank up the Spire?” he says.
“We fucked with it more when you were a squealer,” says Rinis. “The carrier’s a good thirty kilometers from the Spire. We’ll lose every power pack and freeze the jungle before its reactor feels the strain.”
“Could we board it, then?” asks Baj. “Like, drive through the shields in the dropship?”
“Heh. Once,” says Thaen. “Maybe. Best case scenario, we fall out of the explosion in a cloud of wreckage and land on top of the carrier, then fight our way inside. Then crash the carrier, because there’s no way out.”
“Cool...” says Baj.
“We don’t have enough tozols to be suicidal, Baj,” says Ota. “Now, the talky prisoner, name’s Rook, says you can go through a shield, but only in an Astranian craft, with an Astranian flying it.”
Rinis grunts. “Convenient for Rook.”
Ota shrugs. “I’ll hold a gun to his head. Keep him honest.”
“Doesn’t matter since we don’t have one of their planes,” says Kaselir. “We’d need to raid their camp. We should do that anyway.”
“Also cool,” says Baj. He idly thumbs his tribarrel’s stock.
“Could we really steal a ride before the Scellor finish getting fucked?” asks Thaen. “Doesn’t sound like they have a lot of time.”
“The Scellor are only useful insofar as they kill Astranians,” says Lt. Vaejra.
“So, what do we do, boss?” asks Ota.

Test Pattern 2013/07/29(Mon)03:32 No. 529019 ID: ba8629
File 137509396395.jpg - (31.54KB , 700x700 , battlequest-2-7.jpg )

Reya takes over the network while Vaejra holds his meeting.
"How you holding up, Anak?" she asks. She knows already. He’s cold. It’s cold as fuck up there, but Anak’s too professional to say it.
"Saw some energy spikes earlier,” he says. “Psionics. Flashed right through the Spire’s interference. The Scellor are stepping up their game."
"Okay,” says Reya. She missed the psi flash, forced to watch with cheap cameras instead of tozol eyes. “The sensors aren’t- wait, the battlecarrier’s changing course. Losing sight through the cloud layer. Call contact?”
“Contact,” says Anak. “It’s still firing. Reckon the Scellor just won some breathing room.”

Now while the 'stranners are going 'WTF did the Scellor jus do?' would probably be a good time to organize a raid on the Astrannian camp.

Best case, get an Astrannian flyer and 'cooperative' pilot and go raid the Battlecarrier.

If not, settle for snagging some more deep intel, maybe some command codes to launch an infowar attack on the 'carrier?

So it sounds like a shopping trip to the Stranner base is in order. Ideally a sneaky one to increase the odds of getting away with something working and hopefully not even give away that it wasn't a Scellor action.

Yeah, hit the Astrannian's now.

Send a recon team out to keep tabs on the Scellor though. Don't want them to do something that messes up our plans while we don't notice.

Playing the long game: lower the spire's output the closer the battlecarrier gets to it. Let the Astranians draw the conclusion that their shields, or something else aboard their ship, diminished the effect. Lure them in.

I think the best time to hit the Astrannian would be now when there battleship is focusing on other things. As for what to do... well it seems like the Astrannian are the best contestants for coming out on top in the fight of Astrannian vs Scellor so I say find there camp and and use the Tozol's "invisibility" (the fact that nothing can pick you up on there sensors) and locate ammo caches and fuel storage areas and put a nice big explosive on them to not only get yourself a distraction to steal a ship but also if it comes down to you guys vs the entire Astrannian fleet here, it would help even the playing field a bit in your favor.

If we are going to attack the Astranians then it might be a good idea to steal some Scellor weapons to use in the raid.

>>529263

The Scellor are IIRC on the opposite end of the disputed territory from the Astrannar camp.. and currently having the bejeesus blasted out of 'em.

Let's not forget, Tozols are great commandos, we don't have to go all-or-nothing yet. We Have the basic encryption of the Astrannian infonet cracked don't we? If we can't engage in Cyber-Warfare now maybe we'll get some intel from the camp that'll let us do so?

whaat 2013/07/30(Tue)00:01 No. 529472 ID: b0d1a8
File 137516770333.png - (692.05KB , 1450x1400 , akjsdfhksdfh.png )

If we are going to attack the Astranians I think assaulting from two different positions would be best. The primary assault squad would attack from the south as it is also along the likely path of their advance. Their goal would be to provide a distraction for the flanking assault squad, which will attack from the east, to do direct damage to Astranian assets.

The predictions I have marked of which directions the Astranians and Scellor will attack is based off the path of least resistance and does not take into account of enemy intel of mine locations and air assets. I marked out some sites where the tozols can ambush from along both the Astranians and the Scellor predicted path of assaults as they move to capture the spire.

Another Idea I have is instead of turning the spire up why not instead try to turn it almost off so that the pond it is resting on melts denying both forces to heavy ground assets. The ice may take awhile to melt but the water would make it harder of heavy vehicles to traverse the melting lake.

So is there just like, a big knob dial on the wall that says "Winter <---> Summer"?

>>529473
Well, they had 20y to experiment and already said something about tampering heavily with it...
If it is some quiet way to disable it temporarily then the astr. will maybe think it works periodically and is naturally weakened. Then we have time to wait for the ice to melt.
If you plan to shut it off with some heavy explosives or easy to read electroweak fields, then you probably won't have enough time to use this advantage. As those plant-man doesn't seem to be able to produce such, your existence will be supposed and at least counter measurements taken to either take you out fast or turn the artefact back on...

>>529491
Tozols aren't going to destroy a precursor anything, they're charged with protecting it, that's their purpose here.

If anything they should be prepared to abandon it if it proves untennable and continue an asymetrical campaign from the land and hidden bases, with the goal of disrupting attempts to damage the structure(disassembly/research/etc.) and weaken enemy forces to the point they can be displaced or destroyed in time; they can't afford to let an enemy pin them down defending a stationary point against overwhelming force.

Lt. Vaejra is also wrong about the Scellor; beyond killing Astran, they are, obviously, useful in distracting them, and screening Tozol activity. Their continued presence in force substantially increases Tozol freedom of action. Although I'm going to assume that line was just to underline that the enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy, no more, no less, for the benefit of the readers, and that they're perfectly aware of how the Scellor presence benefits them.


As for what we do now, I'd say recon/probe the Astran camp, with the goal of determining if they can successfuly 'jack an aircraft such as to enable an attack on the carrier, and otherwise identify high value targets. Let's see what we have to work with.

The longer the Scellor and Astranians are fighting each other, the longer they aren't directly engaging you. Considering your limited personnel, that is a good thing.

The Scellor are getting hammered right now. Which is good, since the fewer forces they have the less likely they can take you. However, leading an attack against them right now is pointless. Focus on the Astranians.

Two suggestions:
-Astranians are well known for their tendency to engage in infighting. We should learn what we can about their commanders, see if we can't drive a wedge between them and/or their officers.
-Lead a raid on the Astranians, as suggested previously, and seize one of their ships. We'll decide whether or not to risk Rook's suggested action later. If nothing else, you'll have access to one of their ships' communication systems and tech to study for weaknesses.

Test Pattern 2013/07/31(Wed)02:09 No. 529855 ID: ba8629
File 137526177566.jpg - (77.35KB , 800x600 , battlequest-2-8.jpg )

"We infiltrate the Astranian camp," says Vaejra. "Very soon. Before the Scellor cease to be a useful distraction."
"Yessir!" says Baj.
"Finally," says Rinis. "My trigger itched watching those transports coming in fat and slow."
"Careful now. According to the prisoner, even the aircraft are shielded," says Ota.
"Think we can make this look like we're Scellor?" asks Thaen.
"Not actively," says Vaejra. "But if we're unseen, they'll rationalize."
"Unseen til we eatfuck the carrier, you mean," says Rinis.
"Ideally," says Vaejra.

Reya, listening in from the Spire's command post, interrupts: "Sir, I'm having serious misgivings about how much you're trusting the prisoner. Is this shit at least being confirmed by the other captive?"
"No," Ota says. "The female's uncooperative, and we don't have time for a real interrogation."
"Then how do you know this isn't garbage?"
"He seems to get that we'll kill him for lying."
"But you're bringing him to their assembly area! He'll figure he can just escape and call the guards. Or sacrifice himself to kill you."
"It's a gamble against unknown odds," says Vaejra. "We don't have a lot of options."
"But you do have a choice," says Reya. "We could wait and- Oh shit, we just lost a camera in the main tunnel, near the Spire."
"How?" says Thaen.
"Hang on," says Reya.

Test Pattern 2013/07/31(Wed)02:14 No. 529857 ID: ba8629
File 137526207468.jpg - (96.34KB , 800x600 , battlequest-2-9.jpg )

"A Scellor's in the tunnel," says Reya. "A fucking one-armed Scellor's bleeding in the main tunnel."
"How?" repeats Thaen, with emphasis.
"It's a teleporter," says Vaejra.
"How do you stop a teleporter?" asks Baj.
"Grab it," says Ota. "Or kill it."
"What, me?" asks Reya.
"Take me fifteen minutes to get there," says Ota.

eh just keep an eye on it while however deals with it. and how to deal with it, just have whoever run at top speed once they have eyes on the scellor and just bash it's head in. I mean even if the blow doesn't kill it, it should still knock it out.

As for the Astranian. Even if the little shit is lying do you see yourselves getting a better chance at scoring an Astranian ship. If you don't get one now you're just going to have to hope the scellor have enough fire power to take out that ship's shield so you can board it with something else. Even if the mission is a bust then you'll still be putting a few dents in the Astranian war machine which will, if nothing else, slow them down.

We can't trust the astranian. They are either cowards or death-seeking fools. It's very possible that it would kill itself to harm you.

And the scellor. Send someone to kill that motherfucker. We can't have him breaking our cameras.

Yeah, that scellor kinda needs to be dealt with. Breaking things? No thanks. Besides I'm sure the tozols need as many cameras as they can get to make sure they aren't, y'know, taken by surprise.

Leave the prisoner in lock-up, this is to be a scouting mission not an immediate set-up for a raid on the Battlecarrier. Too many unknowns going in and the prisoner would be an undue liability.

Reya, time to Tozol-up.

Hmm. You know, a scellor prisoner would probably be happy to tell you anything you want to know about their enemies. Vice versa, too. This one should be halfway to unconsciousness already, so the trouble would be keeping it rather than getting it. Maybe putting it in a room where it can't see or sense what's where outside, so it can't safely teleport out?

>>529857
We can't trust the Astranian as far as we can throw it.

... On the other hand, we could leave it naked. Anything that makes going back to its people seem like a bad idea is good for us. They reacted pretty badly to the loss of their suits, if you recall.

If we can get an Astranian ship, we have immediate access to their communications, plus tech to study. We could find out if the Astranian was telling the truth about the shields before heading in with the crazy suicidal plan >.>

Remember, Tozols are immune to teleportation, and that immunity extends to everything in their immediate vicinity. Assuming Reya is Tozol enough to do so once she wrassls this guy he's pretty-much stuck there.

Remember the Scellor are undermind linked. If one of them knows we're here, they all do. So if we don't want it to wander around, then we should shoot it from surprise.

A single Scellor's not that much of a threat though, so maybe just ignore it.

Send Reya to deal with it. She's the closest

Scellor put self interest before all else so reasoning with them isn't likely to be of much help. They're also the most powerful psychics in known space due to their bogarting of all the psykonium; you may be protected against telepathic shenanigans but if there's a way around that a Scellor will find it. And finally they don't exactly die when you kill them; it just sets them back one body and 18 years. Kill enough of them and the psykonium residue can start doing Strange Things, but just one is practically nothing.

You don't want them to know there are living organisms for them to manipulate in this spire. You don't want them mapping the inside to undermine your defenses. And they care less if they die. So sneak up on him and cap his ass. Head shot should be easy if you go chameleon mode. They might even think it was an automated security system.

...technically you guys are an automated security system, but putting that aside.

If Reya does go, shunt the sensor network to someone else, or somewhere else. For instance the tank destroyer.

In addition to sending someone to deal with the Scellor, it might be a good idea to keep one or two Tozol at the base or send them to the spire; We're lucky to be up against only one guy at the moment but being attacked in force while we're at the Astranian base is a real possibility, especially now that the Scellor know someone has been here for a while. Given a well maintained corridor, They may well deduce it was Tozols as soon as the Ayarr gets captured or killed by something he can't sense psychically.

Would recommend sending Kaselir (Because if we're attacked in force a tank destroyer will be more useful than another soldier in a stealth mission.) No preference for second.

As to attacking the base: At this point I'm inclined to say "Fuck the carrier infiltration mission". Our objective should be to do as much damage as we can, steal or ground anything we can use, and get away before they can get organized. If the Astranian can get us past shields so, for example, Ota can lay explosives on anything sensitive: good take him but don't rely on an asset we, emphatically, cannot trust.

>>529891
Paralyzers should be able to take care of that. Agree with capture method. A Scellor captive could be useful for a lot of reasons and they'll know something's up anyways.

>>529860
Kill the scellor without revealing what you are. You'd do the gun around the corner thing.

Put some sort of camera on top of it so you do not reveal you can see without looking. That is a vital piece of information that will cause the enemy to underestimate us.

Check the sensor net to see if this scellor is attempting to report in via radio. If it is, than that's very good evidence that it's out of telepathy range or something else is interfering with its telepathy. In that case, if there's any chance of its radio signal breaking through from down here, jam it, if possible. Otherwise monitor the scellor radio channels for a reply or acknowledgement.

Even if it doesn't use its radio, it's still and unknown if it reported in psychically, but if its left for too long then it'll definitely recover enough to teleport away, and at that point it's pretty much a given it'll get what it knows back to the scellor forces. So the best course of action here is to kill it before it can get away. At the very least it'll mean one less teleporting fucker to deal with later.

Just killing it out of the blue is more likely to encourage more probing to see WTH happened.

But why don't we let Reya, our resident Xenopsychologist (or closest to one) weight-in?

may I add: Reya's surprised face is absolutely adorable

>>530241

Indeed, if all else fails Reya can just take her helmet off and cute it into submission. ;3

Actually, why do we need to take Rook? He's probably got some kind of plan. Could we bring the other prisoner?

>>530522

Right, the one that refuses to cooperate at all, not even talk to us, will be much safer and more cooperative when we drag her into the middle of the enemy camp.

Test Pattern 2013/08/02(Fri)04:37 No. 530631 ID: ba8629
File 137544347679.jpg - (83.27KB , 800x600 , battlequest-2-10.jpg )

"Pursue and engage, Reya," orders Lt. Vaejra.
"Yes sir," she says. Apprehension fills her, but that's no excuse to hesitate. "The Spire is yours, Anak."
"Good hunting," Anak says.

Reya almost says 'I love you' back. She doesn't.

She advances into the ice tunnels with speed and caution. The main line is a racetrack-like straightaway designed to let the tozols move at a full run, but it branches off into lots of little tangles. She'll need to be careful.

She knows the Scellor play tricks. A psychic illusion won't fool a tozol, but it can fool a camera. Worse, maybe they hacked the network. Maybe they know everything. Maybe this is the first step in a plan to isolate the tozols and eliminate them.

She hears something in an ice tunnel ahead...

Test Pattern 2013/08/02(Fri)04:42 No. 530637 ID: ba8629
File 137544375473.jpg - (71.09KB , 600x600 , battlequest-2-15.jpg )

Maybe Reya worries too much.

"Hey babe, wanna Synchronize?"

"What."

"Think you'll still go to Psychic Heaven if a tozol kills you? One telepathic whisper and you'll find out."

"Oh shit."

Reya isn't sure how well that'll work. The plan for psychics was to lock them up in the Spire and hope that jams them, but this is an Ayaar Scellor.
>>530240
She's read about people strapping psi-inhibitors to their orels, the little forehead antennas, but the tozols don't have equipment like that.

You don't have much choice really. However it might be best to interrogate it for now.

Just them knowing you exist isn't a game ender though, so don't worry about it too much.

>>530637
Scellor are more trouble dead than alive. Take it captive and get it medical attention.
Interrogate it, but nothing rough. Keep it to simple Q&A, and keep it friendly; if you can warm them up and get them talking they're terrible at keeping secrets, but Scellor are absurdly hard to break if you try to use force.

It's certainly worth noting that their side is in deep shit, and the Stranners are mopping the floor with both of you. Consider cooperating against the bigger threat, and once the Stranners are dead you and the Scellor can work this out diplomatically or with bullets.

That's not how Scellor work, Reya, goddammit. You totally flubbed that.

You might as well kill her, it's pretty much just an inconvenience to her anyway and it's going to be waaaay more annoying to try and keep her penned up in here. Maybe question what she's doing here first. Say the Soldier's Prayer over her body:

"Dear God /
Please let me get this bastard /
Before he gets me"

Amen.

>psychic heaven, isolate her
If I remember right, you can't isolate a scellor from the undermind. Their consciousness is on that side of the equation. If you somehow figured out a way to jam the connection, you'd be isolating the scellor from it's body, not vise versa.

Not that they have seamless long range communication with others via that connection, though.

Hmm. Ayaar are teleporters and spys, and their tails make a memory suppressing goo. Probably the most difficult type to try and keep prisoner.

...well, she's pretty badly injured, she's potentially a valuable source of intel, and hopefully the spire will fuck with her powers. And if she does try anything, you can kill her without guilt or hesitation. Scellor do get to respawn, after all.

Ceiling Tozol is watching you Bleed.

>>530637
Hurry up and snap the neck, we don't have time for bullshit. Interrogation is next to useless in this situation at the moment while we're short on time and just gives the boys more dumb ideas.

>>530637
"Let's start with an easy one. Name, rank, likelihood of cooperation against the Astranians. In reverse order, please."

>>530665
Scellor connection to the Undermind is completely independence of Scellor Hivemind.
It's easy to sever a link to the Scellor Hivemind, you can either jam the psychic connection, or knock out the scellor.
It's takes a shitload to knock out a scellor, IIRC. Like taking a wooden oar made of solid oak and beating them with it for two hours straight.

EAT THAT OREL. Then take it captive and put it in the Interrogation Bucket.

Delete your old suggestion if you change your mind, dude

>>530770

That is a thing you can do, isn't it. It slipped my mind. Oops.

I'm going with trying to cooperate with them. Instead of torturing.

We're not the commanding officer. We don't get to make decisions like 'offer the enemy an alliance'. We were sent to kill or capture her at our discretion.

There's no reason an interrogation has to resort to torture, anyways.

My vote is capture. We need them for the cross interrogation. We can't trust either of the captives answers alone, but maybe we can get some solid info if we compare the two. Plus, captives make for good bargaining chips.

But if it turns out we have to have someone holding them down at all times to keep them from porting away, just kill em.

How much do other species know about Tozols? This one might be quite cooperative if they know their link to the Undermind might be severed forever if we kill them by hand.

tell him "We're not at war yet. Keep that in mind."

>>530852
Not offering an alliance, probing for one. 'Testing the waters', so to speak. Whether or not the scellor are willing to consider an alliance against the Astranians is a good piece of intel, it'll inform our future interactions with them. At the moment, they're getting hammered pretty hard and will (probably) be desperate for a leg up.

Eventually we'll have to destroy them anyway but there's little point in ignoring the potential for manipulation here.

>>530871
Her.

>>530866
Agreed, capture.

Capture. The only reason to kill was for the element of surprise, which you used on a witty one-liner instead.

>>530899

Yeah, pretty-much this.

May as well go for a capture since you've already blown the element of surprise you could have used for a kill. Just make sure that the Ayaar can't telepathically communicate at all, since even "tozols" getting out before you sheathe your mercygiver in her brain would be bad.

Don't give the Ayaar any more time to regain it's wits and decide to risk not returning to the Undermind. Quick as you can ram your mercygiver through the base of its orel and rip that thing off. That'll remove its ability to psychically focus, and presumably the ability to send a coherent message any distance telepathically. Also let the wound bleed to weaken the Ayaar from blood loss before bandaging it.

Call in your capture of the Ayaar while you pin it to the ground, strip its armor, and bind, blindfold, earplug and gag it. The gag won't keep it from talking since scellor don't have vocal chords and use telekinesis to vibrate the air to speak, but it will keep it from biting.

When it comes time to interrogate focus much more on getting what intel the scellor forces know of the Astranian forces and their tech out of the Ayaar than anything about the scellor forces. That might get you a corroboration on what Rook said as well.

Also, the glands in Ayaar tails are known to secrete a compound that interferes with memory formation in most organic beings. Definitely wouldn't work on tozols, and very likely not on for scellor either (though it could be tested on the Ayaar to make sure,) but on Astranians it's almost certain to work. Might be useful to collect some, just in case there's a situation where it'd be better for a 'Stranner to not remember than to end up dead.

Test Pattern 2013/08/04(Sun)05:58 No. 531326 ID: ba8629
File 137562110946.jpg - (72.10KB , 600x600 , battlequest-2-16.jpg )

Reya hauls the captive back to the Spire. This close, the tozol's senses should detect any psionic funny business. She's noticing little flickers when it speaks, but nothing strong.

Reya contacts Lt Vaejra about their new prisoner. An Ayaar commando is a good find, but dangerous. She doesn't trust their planned methods of blocking a psion. She has an idea. She asks permission. With hesitation, he grants it.

"You talk fast," says the Ayaar. "Suppose I know your tongue?"

"I strongly doubt it," says Reya, in standard.

"How do you figure?"

Test Pattern 2013/08/04(Sun)06:02 No. 531327 ID: ba8629
File 137562132394.jpg - (47.97KB , 600x600 , battlequest-2-17.jpg )

Reya cuts off the Ayaar's orel.

"Ah! AAAAAAAAH!!"

"You've got a great poker face if you knew that was coming."

Test Pattern 2013/08/04(Sun)06:04 No. 531328 ID: ba8629
File 137562144013.jpg - (57.73KB , 600x600 , battlequest-2-18.jpg )

"AAAAaahhhhuhhuhhhh! You fffffffuck!" says the Scellor. Its voice has changed. Reya realizes that they use psi just to talk. It's good that it can still speak. "Thahaat hurt worse than the arm. Hhhhhhhhh... Running out of ffffucking manipulators hhhere..."
"Sorry. It's for your own good. Can't leave you alive and broadcasting."
"Scellor don't fear death. Hhhh. Lots of us fear pain, thhho."
"Then it's for our good."
"Hhhhehh... Honesty suits you, Gun."
"I want to ask questions about the Astranians," asks Reya. "Will you cooperate?"
"Aheh. Certainly. Certainly. The mutual foe looms o'er us," says the Ayaar. "Quhestions about Scellor come later, and with the body parts removed more slowly, and in smaller pieces, I trust. My name is Ellatriz Gundain."
"Cooperation isn't out of the question," says Reya. It feels like a formality. "Rank?"
"I am Ayaar. Not how it work. I'd like to get moving again before I freeze."
"The cells are the only heated room in the place," says Reya.
"Gentle killing machines."
"Hardly going to interrogate a corpse."
"You can, if you do it just right. If it's fresh. Heh."

Reya considers what to ask. She'd better hurry. Vaejra will make a move towards the Astranian camp soon.

>Scellor do get to respawn, after all.
Reya doesn't actually believe in the Scellor religion. She was just trying to get in the target's head. However, she knows that important Scellor are wired to transmit partial backups their memories when they die. An Ayaar commando is definitely going to have that. Reya assumes the memory-upload is long ranged and hard to block, because it's so central to their religious beliefs.

>>531328
What did the main Scellor force do to drive the Carrier away?

Why are you here missing an arm?

!!!
I'm not sure, but I think that Schellor is getting ready to stab you with it's tail! Watch out for that!

What do you know about the Astran leadership of this expidition, their forces, deployment and disposition, and exploitible weaknesses?

>>531335
If it is it must not know tozols very well. That's a good way to lose a tail.

Ask what the Ayaar knows about Astrannian tech, particularly about shields and their supposed species-specific tech-lock.

Ask what they know about the Astrannian command structure. The ones you've encountered so far were just rank-and-file, but their airs of professional soldierdom turned out to be a pretty weak facade rather quickly once shit went down, knowing if this is a tendency that goes all the way up the command chain could be helpful.

>>531335
...The tail is made of flesh. It's a bulb. It's not a spike.

She's not going to stab her with her tail. Theoretically, she could spray her, though. Ayaar get tail-goo that blocks long term memory formation (amnesia dust!). Not sure if that would work through armor, though.

>questions
...we could confirm some of the stuff the Astranian told us. Third party verification, see how much of his claims are bullshit.

>>531328
Well then, let's interrogate this prisoner.

We can see if there's any way to quickly and soundly hinder the Scellor, possibly wipe them out and bring the battle down to two factions, much easier to manage and focus on for your already limited resources and personnel.

...Sorry, I should have said WHY I got that vibe. That last image had the tail pointed seemingly right at the Tozol's face, so I was scared it was because the Schellor in question was getting ready to stab the Tozol in the face or something.

>>531379
Are you trying to help the Astrans win?

>>531418
We CAN'T exterminate the Scellor, or the Terrorists Astranians win! I recommend Interrogation and possibly imprisonment. Or tranquilization and examination, if that's actually possible with Scellor.

>>531328
Why did the Astranians come here? And what effective tactics have the Scellor come up with for stopping them?
Put up a lie that the tozols built the spire and that they are both attacking your home. You're merely defending it, you've lived here for many decades now, so it's important to understand how this meetup was possible. It seems hardly a coincidence they would show up on the same day for conflict.

Seriously though, if we want to hinder a faction, it's the Astranians hand down, because the Scellor are already pretty far on the back foot.

If he attacks you with his tail, grab it and cut off the sharp part of it. I'm sure you'd be able to stop it.

>>531448
There is no sharp part! It's a tail-armored bulb!

>>531448
May as well take her other arm as well as the tail piece since she insists on attacking you.

And she's lost a lot of blood so try to cauterize it or turnakit or something.

>>531461
Let's not mutilate her further unless it becomes necessary.

>>531461
What is WITH you and cutting things off?!

>>531461
It's like you're not even reading a word I say.

Can we dial back the meta gaming for a bit?

We can't trust any information about Scellor from this prisoner. Same deal with the Astranian prisoners, they will lie to suit their purposes. Especially since this one is a spy, they will know how to subvert and twist information. But we can more or less trust them to reveal the enemy secrets if they know any.

Ask about the Astranian tech, numbers, location, stuff like that. Specifically ask about the shields. Then throw them in a warm room as a reward for cooperation. Also, tie up the tail.

As for alliances, lets hold back on that for now. We don't know how zealous either party is about taking control of the tower. Remain mostly as a hidden faction until lines of communication can be opened. Preferably after we have successfully hacked into their tech, acquired more prisoners, and crippled some of their devices.

>>531328
Ask about Astranian shields. If rook was outright lieing to us, we need to warn Vae right the fuck now.

((As an ooc side note, I love seeing you guys draw each others' stuff))

>>531478
Perhaps. But I don't think we can trust the Astranians' information on the Scellor either. The two we have are (basically) field grunts. They'll know very little that we could turn into a game-shifting advantage.

...It was a mistake to ask about Astranians from the Astranian. Anything our prisoners say about their own faction is suspect. Ask them about the Scellor, and ask the Scellor about the Astranians.

Keep the two groups of prisoners separate if at all possible.

>>531446
Agreed.

>>531379
Any information that a spy gives us on their own faction is highly suspect. We need info on the Astranians - the Scellor are already scrambling and, as someone else put it, "on their back foot". Sure, we can't ignore them forever, but for now the Astranians are a bigger threat.

>>531461
... When the fuck has she attacked us? We dropped down like a ninja, held her at knifepoint and are now dragging her through the tunnel. We ripped off her orel basically for safety, if anything, we're attacking her.

>>531352
Agreed, but don't tell the scellor we have Astranian prisoners. Keep her in the dark as much as possible - spies are very good at using that kind of info against their foes.

Wuh oh, now you've done the only thing that can piss off the scellor collective, caused inordinate amounts of pain. I hope for your sake it's just a religion after all, and not an actual hive mind.

>>531495
>The two we have are (basically) field grunts. They'll know very little that we could turn into a game-shifting advantage.

Actually they are the first strike heavy mech pilots. They might know something. Being deployed to be the first to encounter the scellor first strike teams. They should have information on scellor battle psyonics, where they landed, and targets of interest.

Maybe nothing game changing, but knowing who is important is pretty important. Give a Tozol a name and a face and you can expect that name and face to get fucked or abducted.

>>531524
I'll grant you that they would definitely have info on positioning, but I don't think they'd give faces or names to the guys whose job is to blow shit up with heavy artillery =/ They wouldn't need faces.

>Battle tactics
We're Tozols, we have that in spades.

>>531418
Destroying one of the two factions when you're facing two factions is pretty much always a good idea.

[OOC: Please try to keep discussions in the discussion thread:
http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/45791.html
Thanks]

Test Pattern 2013/08/06(Tue)03:45 No. 531907 ID: fc5469
File 137578595529.jpg - (91.52KB , 800x700 , battlequest-2-19.jpg )

"How did you lose the arm?" asks Reya, leading the Ayaar to the cells. Ellatriz offers no resistance. She's amicable, despite the bleeding. The smell makes Reya hungry.

"We found some Stranners picking over some downed Stranner mechs. You wouldn't know anything about those, ah?"
"I might," admits Reya. "But go on."
"We didn't know that," says Ellatriz. "We think, maybe they fucked up their drop? Got the trajectory wrong, smashed them into the ground. Figure it's just engineers and some guards. So we move in, ambush them, get our asses kicked. The little bastards brought a whole pile a marines. One chops through me like my armor's made of candy. I'm down, but they don't finish me off. Think they forgot. Coupla minutes later, I teleport away. Spent the time in between making little jumps, til I find a burrow underground. Seek shelter, patch myself up. Then, next thing I know, there's a fuckin' tozol in my face."

"So you don't know about the bombardment?" Reya asks.
"I didn't say that."
"Do you know how the Scellor forced the battlecarrier to back off?"
"Magic," says Ellatriz. "Won't last. Hey, not my business or anything, but maybe you guys could I dunno shoot it down before the rest of my friends die."
"I thought you didn't fear death?"
"It's inconvenient."
"So's killing warships," says Reya. "This isn't a negotiation."
"It's advice, Gun. That thing's everyone's problem. Why'd you let it get that close? This place just you and a fake radio?"
"It might be," says Reya.
"Heh. Some day you guys gotta let the Precursors go, Gun. Makes me sad to watch. Ah, don't get mad. Just how you're built."
Reya ignores it. "Tell me how to bypass their shields," she says.

Ellatriz cooperates, freely answering questions that don't compromise the Scellor. She seems to confirm what Rook yammered. Astranian shields let Astranians through, plus guests, without alerting control system. Astranian guns won't work if you aren't one. Astranian vehicles won't work if you aren't one. Their shields stop at the ground level, so they slip over things. Ellatriz thinks a tozol could powerslide right underneath. She says that would be cool.

"What can you tell me about their leadership?" asks Reya.
"What, you miss the broadcast?" asks Ellatriz. "There's a drunk bat in a fancy dress on a huge throne in the middle of a carrier bridge yelling at the AI. Figure she's a fuckin' secretary, ah?"
"So you don't know anything."
"Not really, no."

Gods i like ell alot and y is she naked?

(missed one)
Even Quest can miss things. Well, sounds like she's pushing us to do what we already decided to do-kill the stranners.
She knows a surprising amount about Tozols as well-curious. Makes me wonder if she knows about the Precursors or is just guessing from reconizing the architecture or something. I wanna ask her about that...Oh man. Respawning Schellor, functionally immortal-she could be old enough to have SEEN The Precursors!

>>531909
Holy... i think you maybe right there ask her something only some one who has faced tozol well know if she says the right thing ask how old she is not that body but her conscoius is? she may be older then you think

I suppose molesting the prisoner would be a bit too much.

Doesn't surprise me too much she knows a fair bit about Tozols and the precursors. She is a spy after all, probably several hundred years old at least too. Consider asking her about that latter, we have bigger fish to fry.

I think it would actually be easier to let the Astrinams think they have won, or let them assume they have a massive superiority on the situation, and let them land. We don't have much along the lines of ground to air firepower. Unless we opt to team up with the Schellor, but I'm still on the fence about that. It is out mission to defend this place from everyone. On the other hand, 20 fucking years. We kill this group and then what? another 20? Or do more ships come flying in wanting to take over the tower. I do not think we have the luxury of time anymore.

> I suppose molesting the prisoner would be a bit too much.

for shame. Reya and Anak are going steady

Hmm. Right. Time to lock her up, then. I don't think we have the time to press her for information about the scellor she's less willing to give up, and the Astranians are the bigger problem right now.

Not sure if we need to offer her a minimum of first aid to keep her alive? She seems to be doing a pretty good job not bleeding to death on her own. (...and I'm not sure how much tozols would bother stocking medical supplies anyways, with their own crazy regeneration).

>y is she naked?
Because smart captors don't let enemy commandos keep their gear. ...and she's scellor.

well if they fly the ship over some of the mountain ranges we could try and slip on when there shields brush against one since she said the shields stop working when there close to the ground, but that would be more luck then anything so we shouldn't rely on it but if we see a chance we should take it since it would let us bypass a lot of issues... like relaying on a Astranian prisoner to get us to the ship that only he can pilot and expecting him not to try and screw us over.

Inform her that if the Scellor did not have the equipment to kill the battlecarrier themselves they made a huge mistake coming here at all, and that it's not your problem.

Should we guard this room? I don't think she can teleport without her orel, but she's full of surprises, and it might be unwise to leave her alone.

I'm really tempted to put her in a cell with an Astranian.

>I'm really tempted to put her in a cell with an Astranian.
And give the prisoners the chance to exchange information and possibly conspire against us? And risk losing one source of information if one kills the other? No.

We don't want them to have to opportunity to cooperate (unlikely as that is). And as long as they can't communicate, we can fact-check information from one against the other more easily. As soon as we put them together, everything they say is suspect. (Well, more suspect, anyways).

>>531907
Okay, so Rook's telling the truth, at least to a point. Let's raid the Astranian camp, get a ship. Then we can get on the carrier and take down it's shields. At that point it'll either get blown up by the scellor or retreat.

>>531927
Threesome! =D

>>531908
Because she was naked under the armor and we need her gear where she can't use it, I presume.

>>531922
>Twenty years
You and I know that the Precursors and the Tozol command structure are, for all intents and purposes, gone. These Tozol don't know that and have little reason to think so. To them it's just a long period of silence from command. At worst, they might think they've been abandoned.

You wanna try convincing the supersoldiers to commit what is, as far as they know, treason, good luck :p

>>531940
Also do not even /imply/ that you don't have the resources to bring it down at the moment.

>>531941
>And give the prisoners the chance to exchange information and possibly conspire against us?
>Scellor
>Astranian
>cooperate


>And risk losing one source of information if one kills the other?
It's unlikely that the Scellor would try to kill the Astranian because they are both noncombatants and Scellor are mellow. It's unlikely that the Astranian would succeed in trying to kill the Scellor because they are marshmallows, and it's naked. It really doesn't strike me as much of a worry.

>>531944
I don't think we should do anything that directly compromises our presence on the battlefield. Any direct action we made would be traceable because there's simply no firepower small enough to do that that doesn't make a big show of it. Now, if the equipment necessary to take out the carrier's shields were to happen to appear in the Scellor's possession anonymously, well... who could say where it came from or who did it?

"I fully expect you to be gone when I get back. If you make it back to your friends without freezing to death, tell them to pack up and go home."

>>531909

Precursors are ancient, in galactic terms. 100 years or two is nothing. Too bad the Undermind is just a silly religion because it may have run into them at one time or another.

>>531907
Well, lock her up, tell the raiding party what you found, return to the watching the computer stuff.

>>531944
>You wanna try convincing the supersoldiers to commit what is, as far as they know, treason, good luck :p

You got a point. I remembered from the general thread that the Tozols are prepared to be here for a century if need be. An alliance of convenience may be the only way to go, and would be up to the Scellor to make happen.

So yeh, lock the door, relay information, and start fucking shit up.

Grid Square C3 Test Pattern 2013/08/07(Wed)15:31 No. 532409 ID: ba8629
File 137591469861.jpg - (119.52KB , 700x700 , battlequest-2-20.jpg )

In the meantime, Lt Vaejra assembled a team, consisting of Rinis, Baj, and Thaen, (plus Rook, the Astranian prisoner, stuffed in a bag) and moved out. Ota and Kaselir remain at their hidden home base. Ota, so she could monitor the network. Kaselir, in case they need her Tank Destroyer. Vaejra's hesitant to deploy the vehicle. It's the most firepower the tozols have, but it's also visible, which makes it vulnerable.

With Reya back on station at the spire's command post, he can also call for Ota and Kaselir to fight as infantry. In the meantime, Reya's relayed what she learned from the Ayaar prisoner.

His team arrives at the treeline, where the narrow savannah meets jungle. From here, they can observe the Astranian 'camp,' two kilometers distant, and closing.

Grid Square C2 Test Pattern 2013/08/07(Wed)15:33 No. 532411 ID: ba8629
File 137591478001.jpg - (65.09KB , 700x700 , battlequest-2-21.jpg )

The enemy is on the move. The large, shield-generating structure the tozols first took to be a prefab base actually has legs, and trudges sedately, making two to three kilometers per hour.

The only things outside its dome shield are three scout walkers, like the ones the tozols fought.

Inside is crowded with slowly moving materiel. The tozols count five combat walkers, larger than the scouts. Rook claimed their shields aren't weak to the rear, unlike the scouts. Around them floats a cluster of boxy hover-trailers. Infantry robots and Astranian marines march alongside, leaving or entering structures seemingly at whim. The tozols estimate a company of infantry, all told; mostly robots.

At irregular intervals, a shuttle or other craft finds enough space to land, to exchange troops and supplies.

Grid Square C3 Test Pattern 2013/08/07(Wed)15:33 No. 532412 ID: ba8629
File 137591482487.jpg - (121.55KB , 700x700 , battlequest-2-22.jpg )

"Looks like a fucking parade," scoffs Rinis.
"Nah. Parades are organized," says Thaen.
"Maybe this is what they're organized to look like," suggests Baj. "I mean, they're aliens."
"Looks like a shitty plan, if so," says Rinis.
"Technology informs tactics," says Vaejra. "They may know something we don't."
"Damn, what I wouldn't do for a nuke," says Rinis. "You ever seen a target begging for a nuclear mine harder than that?"
"No, ma'am," says Baj.
"Well I know you haven't."
"One time," says Thaen. "Visited a planet with these giant fuck-off tanks. Never saw one in action, but it didn't look fast."

Ota comes in over the radio, low-powered tightband connecting the team to landlines.

"Surviving Scellor have had time to find defensive ground," she says. "They're still shooting back, but less often. Dunno if their shit's suppressed, destroyed, or it's just not worth wasting ammo against the carrier's shields. Ships on the ground seem, eh, intact-ish."

>>532412
How well do you reckon you can bury yourselves shallow in the jungle soil, ready to pop up play surprise hugs as they pass over, visibility cluttered by foliage? Because if "well", do that. Knobbling that thing is looking as important as the carrier.

The obvious way past the carrier shield is to build a laydown position with good top cover and the Stranner and you guys in it and just let the shield roll over you.

Alternatively plant a large mine relatively deep and detonate it once the stranners pass over it.

Burying down and waiting is a dubious idea with that many troops and so few of our own, robots or otherwise those are almost suicidal odds, even if it was something as discreet as sabotage. And as much as I'm sure Kaselir isn't happy with it, the destroyer should remain concealed, if at least ready, until the odds are at least a little more favorable. Or the air threat is removed.

Although there IS an idea. If there is ANY way to cripple that walking shield tower, it'll force them to lose mobility. Either forcing them to stay inside until they affect repairs, or until someone gets impatient enough to leave.

Best bet in my opinion is to set extremely high explosives, mines or otherwise, in the thing's path. Either time it to cripple that behemoth's legs, or make it pressure (in)sensitive, so that only something that heavy could set it off. Or spread as many lesser explosives around as possible to cripple as many soldiers and assets as can be managed.

>>532420
Derp. The command walker, not the carrier

>>532423

Any defences they have are primarily the shield and the walker vanguard. Once we get past those we can sneak about and Tozol to our hearts content against the relatively soft interior.

Technology informs tactics...

I think in this case and from past observation it means the 'stranners are too reliant on their tech-advantage, it makes them sloppy and complacent.

Gotta take out the main shield generator, then maybe the Scellor will take care of the rest. Let them do the heavy lifting for us. Hopefully they will take advantage of the window we give them.

Too risky to have us go against so many troops with so little we know about their weapons.

Set mines and/or Tozols in its path. Have someone stay unburied and out of sight to tell the one buried when to pop up and to book it in case they are discovered.

The walker base is headed for the minefield at E4.
http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questarch/src/132204742917.jpg
That should be the opening attack. Infantry weapons are no use against those base shields. Fall back to wherever you may have a good view. Get the tank killer in a position to hit any air support that flies in for the walker base. Fire and leave. No loitering.

>>532412
The ambush ideas presented here are good, but we'd probably have to do them in thicker bits of the jungle for it to be properly confusing.

And if we want a ship, we're going to have to wait until a ship comes in. This is gonna be a pain to time properly...

Recommended tactic: Plant a bomb in such a way that the command walker will be crippled, preferably deep enough in the foliage that planes can't land within the shield. If not, enough to make manuvering difficult for their troops.

Then, stay back and wait for a ship to land before moving in and going Tozol on their asses. Remember, we're here for a ship. While it would be nice to utterly obliterare this half of the Astranian's forces, it's unlikely even with four Tozols.

>>532425
As well as the troops and robots that walk around at random (apparently >.> i mean, wtf?)

>>532486
Negative: the walker is just now moving into C3, nowhere near our mines at D4-H4.

If they're good enough, with the right camo, it's entirly possible to hide in the grass, let the shield pass over them, and then grab a ship. A stationary expert with proper camo is insanely hard to spot, functionally invisible even up close; you can walk right over them and not know it unless you actually step on them. Even somewhere as 'open' as grassland, tho denser cover would probably be better and aid in prepositioning.

But that's a big if, and their bag of marshmallows could spoil the opt if they don't... apropriate... a pilot on site. Also depends on them being able to defeat Astran sensors, but they *are* tozols, so that's not impossible.

Real qestion is, are these tozols up to pulling something like that off?

Also, now I'm wondering if those forcefields would contain smoke. Tozols probably have something that'll block scanners; good for cover if infiltrating once in, or just plant it with some mines; blind them and get them shooting... heh.

>>532491
>Negative: the walker is just now moving into C3, nowhere near our mines at D4-H4.
They will reach the mines eventually. It's either that, or climb that thing up the side of a mountain.

Are the shuttles landing within the main field or outside it, that space around the big walker looks crowded..

Maybe try and guestimate where the next landing will be and arrange Tozol-party? Just something subtle at first, something that'll cause a minor problem so the marching camp will leave it behind and then *pounce*

>>532511
>I'm wondering if those forcefields would contain smoke.
That's affirmative, commander.
Astranian force shields are also kinetic barriers. You can also just guess that by the need for 'slip-space' underneath the edge of the shield.
What do you plan, that the Tozols' should start a pre-placed brushfire inside the shield?They lack the quanity of smoke bombs to produce such an effect.

What heavy weapons do the tozols have with them? Do they have any AT-mines or the like on them if so can they be romote det'ed or timed for the best K/U? If not the smoke idea is best for this with the data we have at hand

The big worry I'm having with any plan that involves digging up the ground and placing stuff in the path of the command walker is its scanners. They prolly got nearly every sensor and scanner available to them in the front of that thing, and every one that is used for terrain and subterranean scanning and mine detection, since it has to know where to safely plant those legs without blowing up or sinking in, and to detect enemy that are attempting to hide and slip under the shield.

While they certainly won't detect a tozol, or anything attached to a tozol (I assume,) they may be good enough to detect our mines. They could even be good enough to detect the disturbed soil over a buried tozol. I really don't want the first that we know of this being a mine-clearing charge burrowing in and blowing up next to one of our tozols.

We ought to place a test for this in the path of the command walker, as close as possible without being detected. Send a single tozol to crawl out into the tall grass to dig a patch out of the sod and disturb the dirt, like what would be over a "tozol hole," then crawl back a bit and bury a mine before returning. Time this for right after one of their cargo fliers has lifted off and is out of visual range so there's minimal risk of being spotted from above. Then have a spotter stay back to see if they respond to either while the rest of the team moves into the jungle to prepare. If the enemy does not appear to spot the mine, deactivate it before one of them steps on it and it raises an alarm.

For the hiding spot, the tozols and mines should be arranged so the tozols are within the shield when the mines blow up under the command walker. It ought to be easy to predict the command walker's path to place them, since it's apparently stuck to mostly even terrain and is likely moving on a course to the Spire. We're close enough to the main base that more mines could be brought in for this. Perhaps in addition to AT mines, some incendiary "fountain" type mines could be mixed in. The smoke from their fire will be much less suspicious than smoke from a mine.

There's also another problem we're going to have to deal with: Rook. The mere fact of his squishy physiology is going to get in the way. Whichever tozol is holding that bag of marshmallows is gonna have to check their actions so he doesn't end up dead or injured to the point of worthlessness, and that limit on that tozol will have to be taken into account. Special care is also going to have to be taken so he doesn't die while buried with a tozol. While the tozol can protect him from being crushed by arching over him, he'd likely asphyxiate before before the shield passed over. Making an air pocket big enough for him to breath would show on the command walker's sensors, so he's going to need an air tank and breathing mask, which will have to be made in the fabricator back at the main base.

I smell a big ol' pile of Catch-22/chicken-and-egg. Need a way to bypass the shields here to get a way to bypass the shields there...

Think, dammit!

A company. That ought to be anywhere between around 100 to 200. Probably... sixty to eighty percent of that being 'bots?

Regardless of the odds, fragging up the mobile camp is bad. We need a shuttle, whilst it's landed there. Worst case scenario they throw up a general alarm to the fleet that things are going pearshaped on the camp, and if a shuttle is known to have been stolen then it'll probably get iced before it can get anywhere near the carrier. This calls for stealth and infiltration.

And maybe a distraction.

A big one.

If the command walker is expected to pass over any tunnels then one option would be to pack the tunnel with explosives and collapse it while the walker is above. Potentially it could trap the walker in place or even do some significant damage if done right

POWER-SLIIIIIIIDE!

Test Pattern 2013/08/11(Sun)02:07 No. 533513 ID: ba8629
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"Why not... why not just build a huge mine in the big walker's path?" asks Baj.
"Could work," says Thaen.
"I was actually just thinking that," says Rinis.
"Predicting its route through the jungle will be difficult," says Vaejra.
"True," admits Rinis. She makes a sound, watching the way the machine's feet fall. "But I think I can do it. I think it's worth a shot."
"You thought the volcano was worth a shot, too," says Thaen. "And that was rather a damp squib, to say the least."
"The charges on the southern volcano weren't finished," says Rinis. "Who cares? The Astranians are butt fucking the Scellor camp to death anyway."
"We'll risk it," decides Vaejra. "Fall back for supplies, then build an IED at the best guess for a chokepoint.

Test Pattern 2013/08/11(Sun)02:10 No. 533515 ID: ba8629
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They contact Ota at the main base. She helps work out the details.

"...After that, wire the transmitters and the main charge together," she says. "That way, the detonator also arms the normal mines, so the enemy's trapped inside a mine field. Pack pyrolytic grease over the main charge and it'll fill the forcefield with smoke, too."
"Laying mines. We've spent twenty fucking years laying mines," says Thaen.
"So you're good at it," says Ota.
"Fine. Then what?" asks Thaen.
"We pop out of spiderholes and move in, obviously," says Rinis. "We can finish off the big walker that way. Break in, kill the crew, leave before the smoke disperses."
"That could put us under a huge volume of fire," says Thaen. "I thought we were here to steal a shuttle? We've got to deal with the carrier."
"Do we? That's not our problem right now. Tozols can hide from air power," says Rinis.
"Also, isn't that carrier in a pitched battle right now?" asks Kaselir, cutting over the channel. "You're gonna fly past all their excited gunners, through active Scellor air defenses, which are still putting up missiles, by the way, and try to land through their shield? Wait, check that. You're gonna have your critter-in-a-bag fly you there. Now, if you take out that force field, I can bring out Syel and hunt their heavy assets, one by one."
"What are you all talking about?" asks Rook, in standard. "I can't understand any of you."
"Technically, just for the record, we can just detonate it, laugh, and start building the next IED, without getting close. Target's slow as fuck," says Ota.

>If the command walker is expected to pass over any tunnels then one option would be to pack the tunnel with explosives and collapse it while the walker is above.
Ordinarily, not a bad idea. But it'll be quite some time before the target crosses a main tunnel, and Vaejra's worried it's simply too large.

>>533515
The large mine + smoke + spiderholes sounds like a plan. Then fuck up the walker, because this seems like our best chance to deal with another huge shield bubble.

Someone needs to babysit rook, now's not the time to bring him into the middle of a shoot-out.

...Kas has a pretty good point there.

Frag the basecamp. Denying them that is more important than getting a shuttle for now.

Should offer some exploitable opportunities in the long run too, played right.

Yeah, let's put a check on that plan. It was probably never a good idea to begin with. IED the shit out of that walker.

>>533515
Kas makes a good point. Even if we got a shuttle now, the situation the carrier's in makes it too dangerous to get on.

Blow 'em up, get in, get out. Make it quick. If the Scellor get lucky, the sudden destruction of ground assets combined with whatever the scellor pulled earlier will make the carrier back off.

If not, fuck 'em.

... Come oooooon, Scellor! D= you can make it!

>>533520
We've got him in a bag. He won't be doing much, and if Astranian tech only responds to Astranians in other ways we don't know about yet, we might need him.

Also, I think he's still naked. He's not gonna be too eager to run off on his own.

>>533536
For now, no, but we need to deal with that carrier eventually and our only other plan was a suicide run.

Primary objective is taking the walker base force field offline.

Move fast and get inside the walker base. I predict panic and mass friendly fire inside the shield.

Spiderhole it up. But again, keep one on overwatch. Don't want it walking over one of the Tozols, stopping to kill it, then moving on. High tech means good scanning equipment. In all likelihood they will be able to scan the bombs unless we make them out of wood or something, no metals. We need backup plan.

We want to fuck the shield generator beyond all repair. Then when it's properly fucked, get the fuck out before all the smoke dissipates. After that we can start the war games with guerrilla tactics, sniper fire, and Kaselir can use her tank a bit. Lets get Baj his first stealth kill.

>>533520

We will probably need his hand to open doors or something like that. Question is, do we need it attached or not? Lets ask it.

>>533518

This. Let's get in there and kill the command walker.

Suggested priority list for after the boom..

Personel targets:

Priority 1: ANYONE AND EVERYONE THAT GETS IN YOUR WAY AND/OR POINTS A WEAPON AT YOU.

Priority 2: Senior NCOs

Priority 3: Mid-grade officers.

Priority 4: Flag-level officers.

Priority 5: lower/lowest-rung personnel.

Put a Big honkin' hole in their command chain right in the part which transmogrifies Ideas into Action. Between generals shouting useless indignation and the PBI's and REMF's pissing themselves with fear they'll flail themselves to bits.

Material priorities:

Grab as much as you can carry of anything and everything not bolted down that looks like it might contain intel.

Go Penji on all robots within range.

EatFuck as much of everything else as is practicable.

Reviewing prior events...

If 'company' is indeed accurate, then this mobile camp contains roughly 30 to 60 percent of the Alliance forces.

Taking it out - completely or otherwise - would be a pretty major blow to their side of the fight.

got a quick question with this plan, Can we get out of the shields from the inside while they're up or not? cause if we can't, short of picking up an Astranian and fleeing for the shield we won't be able to run away as long as those shields are up. Oh and about that nuke plan you guys had earlier... if that thing has the same amount of shield power as the ship that the scellor are bombing the hell out of now then whatever is powering that walker is likely to go up real nice if you could put something explosive in it and would probably take a good chuck of the Astranian's ground forces with it or at the very least take out an enemy command center which is always a plus. Of course unless you can bring the shields down then kinda S.O.L. if you go through with that plan though.

Presumably the shields do not have an independant power-source. Find whatever powers the Big Walker, do Tozol to it, should bring down the shield as well.

>>533642

I support this plan. If we cut off the snake's head the body shall wither!

Stealing a shuttle and running a short distance might be a bad exfil plan actually.

......

What exactly are the odds those shields can push the trees aside like a giant bulldozer?

this is entirely unrelated to the current situation, however I would like to pose a temporary truce in the future between any remaining scellor forces and the tozol squad until the Astranians are dealt with. Terms can be argued on later, but for now this seems like a mutually beneficial plan if only because it gets rid of a major threat to both factions.
Shame we psychically neutered the one prisoner we had, that could bite us when it comes time to talk about these.
More on topic, I am gonna throw my lot in with the spiderhole thing. Taking out that mobile base's mobility is gonna help a lot.

>>538147

Maxim 29: The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.

A truce would reveal too much.

Assuming the mobile camp is successfully neutralized, a follow-up attack against the Scellor may be necessary (assuming the Astranian commander doesn't flip out on the Scellor and rip them to pieces) to ensure that neither side gains too much of an advantage over the other.

So long as the battlecarrier remains operational, every moment the Scellor live and remain a viable threat is a good one for the Tozols.

Test Pattern 2013/09/10(Tue)19:37 No. 540182 ID: ba8629
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His decision made, Lt. Vaejra calls down Ota and Kaselir to help build the ambush. They load up a pallet of explosives, tools, and supplies leaving Reya to take over surveillance and communications from her post in the Spire.

Test Pattern 2013/09/10(Tue)19:37 No. 540185 ID: ba8629
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"Network's all yours, Reya," says Ota.
"Mmh," replies Reya.
"Something on your mind?"
"Oh, it's just, those forehead antennae on the Scellor? They taste fucking amazing. Wow."
"I did not know that. How's the prisoner handling it?"
"One moment," says Reya. "They're fine. Just pacing around in their under-clothes."
"You left it equipment?"
"It's just a thermal underlayer."
"Remove its equipment, Reya."
"It's cold."
"You ate part of its body and that's what you're worried about?"
"I didn't want to hurt it more by accident," she says, but relents a moment later. "Okay. Fine."

Test Pattern 2013/09/10(Tue)19:38 No. 540187 ID: ba8629
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The tozols have one hour, and a lot of preparations to make. They get to work. They've been laying mines and building traps for many years, but Sergeant Ota still knows more tricks than anyone.

"Hey, Baj," she says. "Come help me program the radio mines. Key drive's set up already. You remember how to do that, right?"
"Yeah, I know," he says. "You watch and transmit the key, and they all activate at once."
"Close," she says. "We're laying fiber optics to remote transmitters. That way their direction-finding sets won't home in on my position. Plus, we don't know if their shield's opaque to radio, or if they've got jamming."
"Can't they jam the remotes?" asks Baj.
"That's where it gets tricky. Our transmitters are shit, so I'm laying down three to hit more channels at once, and spacing them away from the main explosive charge. I got a networks box already rigged for this, because I'm so fuckin' smart, but you have to make sure they're listening on A through G. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good. I gotta go make sure they're digging the hole the right way."

Test Pattern 2013/09/10(Tue)19:39 No. 540188 ID: ba8629
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Kaselir approaches Vaejra.
"What about the prisoner?" she asks. "He's our only intel source, and we're dragging him into a real fight."
"What are you suggesting?" asks Vaejra.
"I can take him back to base to swap with the other Astranian. The uncooperative one. She can get you through the shield just as well as the male."
"You, specifically?" asks Vaejra. He can tell she has another angle.
"I can come back in my tank destroyer," she says. "Sir, this is the perfect time for it. They've got heavy armor. As soon as you drop their force field, I'll bring down the fuckin' lightning. I'll cover your escape. I'll get kills, too. I'm sure of it."
"You're not going to win a stand-up fight," he says.
"I won't have to. They don't even know Syel exists. They're shitty soldiers. You know that. They're shitty tankers, too. I know the terrain. I'll be gone before they realize what's happening."

Vaejra considers. There is enough time to make a round trip to base before go-time. Should they...
a) Swap Astranian prisoners? (Removes serious risk of information source dying, but means they can't steal a shuttle if the opportunity presents itself)
b) Let Kaselir bring her tank destroyer? (Less help before the shield drops; more firepower/distraction value after it drops)
c) Both?
d) Neither?

B. it's time to show that there is more to tozols than light infantry!

I feel kind of sorry for poor Kaselir, I kind of want to let her bring Syel to the fight. :< Although I honestly don't know if the tactical advantage of having a stranner on the field in general is a good one, the useful pilot, or the uncooperative shmuck.

I feel maybe option c, if he's cooperative and a source of information, that's more important than hijacking a shuttle that's a suicide mission in the making anyway, and they're gonna find the tank destroyer eventually, use the surprise while you have it?

As far as plans go, stealing a shuttle has already been pretty much tossed aside.

I'd be wary of revealing the tank destroyer unless some comm-jamming can be done. The Alliance might be all mad about privacy but surely somebody around there is going to have their shit together enough to call the fleet about an unknown/probably-non-Scellor tank destroyer wrecking their shit.

What do you guys think?

>As far as plans go, stealing a shuttle has already been pretty much tossed aside.

Agreed. It's pretty much our only shot at taking down the carrier, but we can't use it right now. So yeah, switch out the male prisoner... but make sure we also gag the female prisoner. We're trying to keep the fact we're Tozols secret. Hard to do with a squealing mouse on your back.

But our objective is to sow disarray in their command structure and take down their shields. Bringing Syel in will keep a Tozol (possibly two?) out of that mission and put her (Syel) in unnecessary danger.

Even if we bring the giant shield down, we don't have any guarantee the rest of the shields can't stand against Syel's cannon. Infantry'll die, sure, but you can probably handle those anyway. What about their walkers? They'd probably last long enough to counter-attack, and with the jungle, there's a good chance you'll be cut off even WITH knowledge of the terrain. No, leave Syel behind for now. You'll get your chance, Kaselir, but it's the wrong mission.

...Also, we should check in on Reya before we go in. She's alone with an Ayaar commando... psychic powers or no, you can't underestimate spies and warriors of that caliber.

>>540188
Since the plan to get under the shield was to be underground, just return/leave the stranners at base?

Only bring the tank destroyer if it fits down the tunnels. If it's got to flee back to base on the surface it'll get spotted and possibly destroyed by aircraft.

B, bring up the tank destroyer. Just be careful of enemy aircraft.

C) Both

The Tozol's know their stuff, if plans have shifted slightly then it's probably because this is the most workable way to pull off what we're trying to do. That tank destroyer should also be able to crack any armour or walkers that give the Tozols trouble their infantry can't handle, and, well, it's a tank destroyer - hit and fade. It should be kitted out to disengage rapidly, and the tozol's planning and prepwork incorperate facilitating that.

If there's any situation where the Tank Destroyer would be much of any use, it'd be this one... so plan C.

Also, idea.. seems Psychonnium is if not one thing healthy Tozols need, it's something their metabolisms can very easily break down into something Tozols need, another possible reason to open a dialogue with the Scellor...

Can't guard that spire if the troops are half-starving.

Stop cannibalizing another sentient race this instant.

I vote C. But be careful about it. Don't tip your hand.

B). I can't think of anything else for the tank to be used on. Since we can already take down their mechs and I don't think the scellor have any massive ground targets. Keep the co-operative prisoner with you, since that air carrier has gotta be taken down. Plus having a second shuttle may be useful if it doesn't get used to board the carrier.

B. Time to wreck shit. Above all, don't get hit.

A. The tank hunter will draw too much fire towards it and just make you down a tozol.

>>540185
i see that tasteful art in the background

Voting for A; Rook is too valuable to risk putting in harms way as a shield and door opener here. And I say keep Syel out of this fight. We want to keep the odds the Astranians will attribute what we're gonna do to the Scellor and not a third party as high as possible. A tank killer of obviously non-Scellor origin showing up will blow that chance out of the water.

Make sure the female prisoner is not only gagged, but bound, blindfolded, and stunned right before the fight starts. We do not want her being noisy or struggling in any way once the "party" starts.

Outfit as many tozols with stunners as possible. They'll give us the chance to snap up more shield openers if the opportunity presents itself. And if we run across any command staff or others that may have valuable intel this way we can stun and bag 'em for later interrogation. Also bring extra bags.

If there's smoke bombs or grenades available back at base, Kaselir should bring them back with her. We're gonna need them to hide us if we need to break inside the command walker or a hover-trailer, since the smoke outside won't get in those places. Priority here is to make sure that we're not seen, and those that do see us we kill before they can report a description back.

Ask Reya to ask the Ayaar prisoner about Astranian reactors. Specifically ones of the size that'd be in this command walker and what their catastrophic failure mode is. It may turn out that breaking into the command walker to sneak a timed anti-armor charge onto the reactor core would send the entire enemy ground force up in a mushroom cloud, or at least wreck the command walker for good.

Reya should also ask if the Ayaar prisoner thinks she could still act as a lie detector against an Astranian even without her orel if their heads were put together. Because if it's possible then not only could we find out how Rook is probably going to try and screw us over if we pick up any enemy commanders then we could get intel out of them even while they're uncooperative.

Radio jamming units would be great for this operation, if we have any. Not just to stop the ground forces from radioing back to the command carrier, but to also disrupt local radio communication. It'll keep all units from coordinating, but especially the robotic ones. Keeping those robots from being able to instantly exchange data and intel will be important. If they catch a glimpse of a tozol we do not want that getting out before the 'bot is destroyed.

Best way to set the jamming units up would be at least two high-power directional ones pointed towards the command walker, positioned equidistant from each other, and set to operate in series. If one is destroyed the next one will pop on. But if that setup isn't possible then burying an omni-directional one deep under where the command walker will probably go would work for awhile. They'll have to blow the ground out from under the walker to get to it. Of course these would activate after the minefield does.

Could the Spire's power be ramped up enough to block the Astranian ground forces' communication back to their carrier without causing too many other problems for us?

Test Pattern 2013/11/26(Tue)08:05 No. 549916 ID: ba8629
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While the other tozols finish setting up ambush, Vaejra sends Kaselir back to retrieve her vehicle and swap prisoners. She locks up the valuable, cooperative astranian (who screamed the whole run home), and fires up the tank destroyer.

Kaselir is giddy. Keeping Syel running for the last twenty years hasn't been easy, but the old girl's driving like a dream.

I'm coming for you motherfuckers, she thinks.

The other prisoner, Sout, is tied up in the secondary crew position. She finds little to say.

Test Pattern 2013/11/26(Tue)08:07 No. 549917 ID: ba8629
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The team takes their positions. Kaselir sets up a good pop-up firing position outside the shield. Ota overwatches, detonator in hand. The other four tozols, Rinis, Thaen, Lt. Vaejra, and Baj, hide in spiderholes, near where the action will be. Vaejra's elected to babysit the prisoner.

The walker looms. Birds scatter as its shield passes through thick foliage. The ground shakes with slow, thunderous, wet footsteps.

Test Pattern 2013/11/26(Tue)08:12 No. 549919 ID: ba8629
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Sergeant Ota watches, thumb rested lightly on the detonator.

There's a problem.

The walker has strayed slightly from its expected path. One of its feet might come down on a spiderhole, burying its occupant.

Ota has to make a call. She can jump the gun and detonate the IED early. It probably won't disable the walker, but it will kill and startle nearby astranians, and fill the forcefield with thick smoke to cover the attack.

Instead, she could wait for the best moment. That's more likely to immobilize the walker, but there's a risk it might step on a tozol, probably Rinis or Thaen.

... My liking everyone aside, I don't think it's wise to risk a casualty this early into the engagement. Especially if you're still going to attack inside of the shield bubble. While on the other hand a debris/smoke screen would be quite useful in keeping surprise up. Since Kaselir is bringing Syel up as well, bringing down the shield is more important than immobilizing the beast anyway since I'm sure the destroyer can do that easily enough.

My opinion? Detonate it early. Use the smoke/debris as cover for an early assault into the panicked astranians' confusion, try to bring down the shield.

>>549919
Risk it. This is looking like one of very few chances to disable something that huge and that shielded.

Blow it early. We will do our best to disable the walker manually.

>>549920
i highly doubt a step from that thing can kill a tozol. at most bury them and keep them out of this fight. the issue is that if complete victory isn't accomplished, recovering the tozol will be an issue.

it is, however, very important to destroy that thing. i don't think you'll be able to win the all out fight without a sufficient surprise attack to engage it.
don't blow it early, don't blow anyone's cover, wait for the best opportunity to detonate. if Rinis or Thaen can get out of there unnoticed, good. if not, they should brace for impact.

Consider; on top of the chance of a spiderhole getting stepped on, there's a chance of that spiderhole being the one with Vaejra and the prisoner - even if Rinis or Thaen are probably the ones most at risk.

Advise Rinis and Thaen of the situation, then risk it.

I don't know if we should let the perfect be the enemy of the good here. Unless the Tozol can dig themselves out of a collapsed spider hole it seems like you've got to go early.

>>549919
...Check my thinking here.

We have a way to bring down the walker without this bomb. If we bring down the shield, which is the plan anyway, Kaselir can knock the walker down by shooting its legs with her tank. On the flip side, we only have a few Tozols. Each one we lose is a blow we won't be able to recover from.

Granted, we could probably recover the Tozol in question eventually. But at that point, the enemy knows we're here and we lose an advantage anyway. And the Astranians aren't exactly the friendliest bunch. They could very easily just kill any Tozol they capture.

As such, the risk of losing a Tozol outweighs the benefit of bringing the walker down.

>>549942
Agreed. Warn them if possible, then blow it.

>>549972

Agreed, the one thing that's keeping the walker safe is the shield.. if we have Tozols under the shield all it'll take is a satchel charge or two to cripple it, and Tozols move damn fast..

I don't trust that any Tozol in a spider-hole will survive being stepped on, not with that kinda mass comming down.

So, try and signal that plan's gone pear-shaped.. blow early, try for the shield generator or a crippling blow with the Tozols under the shield.. whichever is most expedient.. let Kaselir take her shots of opportunity.

Blowing it early and taking out the shields is fine since we have the tank here, which can strike the mech to disable it as if we blew the bomb not-early.

Detonate the IED early. The objective to take out the walker's shields so Kaselir can open fire is more important than immobilizing that lumbering beast, and that requires mobile tozols. Risking taking one out of the fight before the battle even begins is an unacceptable risk to completing that vital objective.

The walker is very likely going to be holding still during the whole battle, so Kaselir can pre-target on one of it's leg joints and make blowing that away her opening shot as soon as the shield drops. That'll likely end up immobilizing the walker more than the IED anyway.

>>549972
Uh, did you misread >>549942? 'Cause if you agree with >>549942 then that runs counter to the rest of your suggestion, since >>549942 appears to be in favor of waiting for the best moment to detonate and risk a tozol getting stepped on.

>>549988
you are seriously underestimating tozols and overestimating the rigidity of the mud under them.

>>550079
I would contend that you underestimate the strength and weight of a giant walker stepping on someone and possibly collapsing while still on top of them, if we're particularly unlucky.

Tozols are tough but there are limits even for them.

>>550039
......

Yes, yes I did misread it. *facepalm* I thought 'risk it' meant 'risk the walker get away'. Thanks for pointing out that out.

I still think that we should warn them before blowing it.

>>549988
>the one thing that's keeping the walker safe is the shield
And any armouring of the walker itself. It would be damn embarrassing for Tozols to get stuck inside the shield without anything powerful enough to take out the generator.

Test Pattern 2013/11/30(Sat)05:06 No. 550357 ID: ba8629
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>we should warn them before blowing it
No can do.

Ota waits for the shield to pass over her position, still too soon to hurt the command walker, and triggers the charge.

Here goes everything.

Test Pattern 2013/11/30(Sat)05:07 No. 550358 ID: ba8629
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A terrible noise splits the earth, churning mud and targets skywards.

Test Pattern 2013/11/30(Sat)05:14 No. 550360 ID: ba8629
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A thick blanket of smoke rolls in like a fog in fast motion.

Twenty antivehicle and dozens of antipersonnel mines are now armed.

Test Pattern 2013/11/30(Sat)05:16 No. 550361 ID: ba8629
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The explosion, still thundering, masks the rush of air and rapid footfalls of high-speed tozols.

Coordinating in ultrasonic battle-language, the team rapidly assesses the situation. It's crowded inside the shield, but they knew that already. Around them are five combat walkers, eleven active Astranian marines, and fifty-eight combat robots, not counting whatever's inside the eight boxy hover-trailers arrayed behind the unharmed command walker.

Locations: Everything is right next to everything else, all distances are point blank, and the team can reach anything in seconds.

Please suggest an action.

As tempting as it is to kill every last soul inside, it's not very viable, I don't think. Not right now anyway. Priorities I feel would be to find some way to drop the shield for Kaselir, followed by disabling the drone/robot controls if that's available. Remove their strongest assets. Even if it's just locally.

Get to the walker. Kill anyone who tries to stop you or seems organized.

>>550365
That.

Try not to be seen by anyone who's not dead shortly thereafter. Ideally we want them to conclude that the Scellor did this.

>>550364
>>550365

Seconding. Top priority is to get to the command walker and disable its shields, so that Kaselir can provide effective supporting fire.

Do a suicide attack

Nades under hover thingys. Take shots at anything you pass as you get inside the walker. You need that shield down.

If the mechs don't have their shields up, add them to your list of things to shoot at while running.

>>550365
>>550373
Agreed. Focus on bringing down the shield. I would also like to recommend you don't take shots or attack anything if it can't see what you are.

Once the shield is down, feel free to teach them how a soldier is supposed to fight.

>>550361

Attempt to hijack one of the mechanized units and turn it against the Astranians.

Don't attempt to hijack anything they're gene locked. Just fuck up the shield generator.

Test Pattern 2013/12/01(Sun)01:38 No. 550443 ID: ba8629
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The tozol battle language rises like a song: An instinctive, encrypted, transcendental, high-bandwidth exchange of perception and intention.

>Kill anyone who tries to stop you or seems organized.
No one is trying to stop them. The enemy is still assessing the blast. They aren't moving around much, perhaps aware of the mine threat, perhaps awaiting instructions, perhaps just confused.

The tozols search for anyone who looks to be in charge, but radio traffic suggests the command walker is managing them down to the squad level.

Test Pattern 2013/12/01(Sun)01:39 No. 550444 ID: ba8629
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The team ascends the walker, careful not to alert anyone or snap the prisoner's fragile neck.

Test Pattern 2013/12/01(Sun)01:40 No. 550445 ID: ba8629
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"Not seeing any sign we were spotted. Pretty ninja, so far," says Ota.

"Fucking yes," whispers Baj. "I can't believe we just-"

"How's it going with the lock?" interrupts Rinis.

"One moment," says Vaejra, pressing the prisoner's hand to a palm scanner. "The door should open in moments."

"How do you want it?" asks Thaen.

No one knows the walker's internal layout or how to disable the shields, but guidelines can be useful.

>>550445
blowing it up sounds like a good enough idea.

an even better one would be to commandeer it, i guess, but it's not a very tozol sort of tool.

Possibilities...

1) Go for command-central, try and power-down on command.

2) Try and isolate and destroy the shield generators.

3) Find main power and destroy/deactivate that.


#1 I would put at lowest priority, too many failsafes in 'stranner tech to make that a convinient option.

#2 or #3 depends. #3 might be harder to find but would completely disable the walker.. at least for awhile. The Shield, the weapons, the C3, everything. #2, I think the shield generators may be external, like on top of the walker.. might not need to navigate the interior at all to take that out, and anyway there's Kaselir out there waiting to drop the big bastard.

Smashing everything is tempting, but impractical due to lack of specs and the possibility of failsafes. Triggering a self-destruct or reactor explosion or something could be unfortunate.

I'd say neutralize personnel as a primary focus and then asses the walker for vulnerabilities. Neutralize doesn't necessarily mean kill, member of staff could be useful, but we don't want any transmissions getting out so take no chances. Keep an eye out for anything that might be coordinating those combat robots. Remote self-destruct/shutdown would be ideal, but anything that would reduce their combat effectiveness would be welcome.

We've got enough captives. Find the biggest glowy thing and cover it in explosives, probably somewhere in the middle. Kill anyone you can't ninja past.

Not even the prisoner has any idea? Figures. if I had to guess though - this thing is a walking dome, from what I remember - it probably has a bunch of primary ring corridors that run all the way around, with stuff branching off that.

Important shit'll probably be close to the center. Easy to defend and rally forces about quickly in case of a critical breach.

Look for the control room. Just go as quickly and explosively as possible. Astrans don't seem all that organized. Exploit their cowardice against them.

Fuck yes I love you guys so much.

Although I don't think anyone can speak 'stranner? Which is unfortunate, since I'd say ask that prisoner what the layout looked like.

I still hold that trying to find a power source and disabling it would be a good idea. No explosives unless necessary, the quieter the better. Might bring the shield down AND get the walker to stop moving, which would be super good great.

Kill only if necessary, the less noise you make or have to make until things get really loud, ultimately, the better.

>>550455
They SHOULDN'T be able to speak Astranian given they didn't know what they were, but judging from the fact that they could tell what the three walkers were saying during first contact I'd say the Astranians are speaking basic. Or tozols can translate everything they hear/see.

>>550445
...Well, my recommendation is simple: find something that looks big and important and shoot it. If nothing else you could potentially melt the walker's controls to slag.

Stealth it up for as long as possible and get as far in as you can without detection, otherwise we're gonna have to punch through all the internal defenses. Unfortunately that may not be possible if this entrance has a camera or sentry watching from the other side. You won't have the benefit of smoke to hide your entrance up here like you did below.

Speaking of smoke, did you bring smoke grenades? Even if your presence is known they'll still be useful in a fight.

Alright, we can make some informed guesses about the internal design of this command walker; Run them by Rinis in case she spots any flaws. It's dome shaped so the assumption is there's concentric ring corridors on each level with offset spoke hallways between them. The most hardened and armored locations would be in the center. Presumably those are the power core and command center. But we've seen that the shield generators are mounted on or near the exterior, so that means there's big, fat power conduits leading from the core to them. And they likely follow the near-shortest path from core to shields, so their position can be estimated.

So target the power conduits running from the core to the shield generators. They'll be less protected than the power core itself. Rinis can make a guess as to their general location, and from there you can use your senses to detect the EM flux or whatever of them to zero in.

Potential next targets would be the power conduits running to the walker's weaponry and its leg drives. In fact, getting near the core and destroying all the conduits leading out of it would be quite effective.

Also, how possible and risky would it be for you to hook your cybernetic computer interface into the walker's internal network at some point and attempt to hack some of its systems?

...Wait a sec... How come the lock here is accepting our prisoner's palm print? You'd expect a MIA unit such as her to have had her security access frozen by now to prevent exactly what you're doing... Or marked to raise a silent alert and flag it for immediate investigation when it is. Though, it wouldn't be surprising if the palm scanner just checks if the palm is an Astranian's.

blast the bits that look important, kill all officers as rapidly as possible.

Also remember, the Stranners are heavily dependent on robots.. anybody remember to bring EMP charges?

Prisoners, prisoners, prisoners, and more prisoners. Take fucking everyone captive. Blow the bots. Get to the control room and shut the thing down.

We've killed 2 so far. Try to keep it small in case we can get the astranians to fuck off our planet.

>>550903
Interrogation 101: The most important thing that you do to whomever you're interrogating is to isolate them, mentally and physically. Getting an additional batch of prisoners just gives the Astranians we have more opportunity and motivation to escape. It's not like we can hide that we're taking more than just Sout back with us.

Moreover, how exactly would we be able to take them back? It's not like we planned to contain half a dozen Astranians (in the middle of a battlefield with hundreds, i might add) we came to blow shit up.

Taking all bets! Odds of running into the other Sout, now that we have his mate with us.

There's a middle ground between killing or avoiding everyone and everything and cuddle-hugging a giant pile of tiny furries all day long, and it's quick, violent interrogation.

See an isolated Astranian? Grab them, disable their com equipment, make one or two to the point inquiries. If they don't talk immediately, kill them. If they do, still kill them, we don't need more long-term captives.

>MIA Palm Print Accepted.
IT'S A TRAP!