Dang. It couldn'ta been easy... :wink:

Fuck. Time for Plan B, let's just kill everyone and make a path back to a Gate.

Let's just try to keep our cool here, okay?

Gatac

And Semo's more reliable 2d6 in Driving beats the manta's d8. A higher maximum, but equal chances of rolling 1s, which is what I did.

Semo beat the manta by a lead of 5. I'll say 2 of that'll bleed off if you just get Max, Angel, and Arketta onboard with what they're wearing. 3'll bleed off if you force Dunamis and the armored suits into the back. That'll still leave you with an advantage should you wish to try to lose the manta in the woods with another chase. Or you could do something else.

Lootz! Want lootz!

...ahem, what I mean is, of course, we'll take the captured equipment and prisoner.

Gatac

Gatac wrote:

Lootz! Want lootz!

...ahem, what I mean is, of course, we'll take the captured equipment and prisoner.

Gatac

Yeah, we didn't get to this point without some sort of lootz. We take everything because I'd like some sort of tangible reward for our troubles.

I'd like to thank the Academy...

Jeez, I'll make him less of a buzzkill in the next post.

Your choices of terrain also determine how hard it is to avoid obstacles. Going through the trees will be more about speed and stealth. Them firing down on you will range from blind-fire at best to plain impossible. The same goes for your return fire, if you wanted to try to shoot the manta down. If Semo rolls a 3 or less on his round-to-round driving check, he'll have hit something (not necessarily a fatal crash, but your sled'll take damage).

Going over the rocks requires a 2 or less, but does allow shooting to and from vehicles. You will have some meager cover from the rocks.

Going flat out over the treetops provides no cover but you only have to not ever roll a 1. Unfortunately, the manta does not have obstacles at 600 feet. Part of your plan could be to lure it into a canyon or valley where it WOULD have to start worrying about rolling low, however. That could very well be another "roll against XdY and dare them to follow me" maneuver.

You can also switch terrain types if your choice isn't working out. You'll start with a lead advantage of 2 points, and the chase goes until someone gets 10 or crashes/is shot down.

"Well, look at this! Appears we got here just in the nick of time. What does that make us?"
"Big damn heroes, sir!"
"Ain't we just."

By the way, I'm just spewing technobabble. I read somewhere that our Internet had around 12 exabytes of data on it as of 2004. I figure most Imperial worlds will have less, a few might have more. Technobabble aside, I'm trying to say that you can't just upload the Imperium's entire Cortex to Max's magic Toughbook and make off with it. Doing that would require a laser-like focus on what you're looking for.

"Guns, guns, guns! Come on Sal! Tigers are playing - tonight!"



Holy shit. I just totally realized who'd play Dunamis Kon. Max has his gun to Clarence Boddicker's head.

So of the two plans thus far, one is using Drive to be sneaky and get close to the city where your transmissions won't be noticed, and the other is to use Tech to be sneaky and make it look like your queries are friendly transmissions.

Basically, the tech plan while giving us enough distance from the ship that it won't betray the Morningstar if they trace us. Good ambush location because we need cover and a place to deploy heavy weapons from in case it gets hairy. Within the canyons so we don't expose ourselves more than necessary.

And once more, being able to speak Whirr proves its tactical utility.

Gatac

Gatac, you're picking the spot so if there's anything specific you had in mind about the ambush location it's yours to say. Just avoid any rather unlikely rock formations or lava waterfalls. Assume the enemy will probably approach from the south. If all you really need is a place with some overhead cover (trees, maybe cliffs) and good cover once on the ground (rocks) then that's no problem at all.

Who is coming on the ride-along? Is the plan still:

1. Stealthily use warsled to get to ambush location well away from Morningstar.
2. Use Khiraba vox to contact Dunamis' ship (presumably you would need Dunamis in the sled with you).
3. Wait.
4. Ambush, loot and pillage whoever shows up.
5. Profit!

That plan sounds fine to me. And I expect Semo will be driving again, unless Hugh says otherwise. If so, he'll have a couple of those nice collapsible spearbombs with him.

What we need is aerial cover *and* higher ground. Like a death bowl...with a rim.

Gatac

Or just bring some sackcloth or something like that, drape it over the top of the overwatch, and cover with dirt and rocks and such.

Cover, not concealment. Plasma beats sackcloth. If they wanna bombard us, I'd prefer if they have to work for it a bit.

Gatac

I'm operating under the assumption that you haven't called anyone yet. How long are you going to stroll around assuming you don't get snipered?

Also, we never hashed out exactly who was coming along. I was kind of imagining everyone came along because nobody said anything, save for Swims (staying with his ship), Bello (not a fighter), One-Ton (again, the ship), and.. well, that's it. Even Ngawai's healed up enough to come along.