Please, check out post #59 - I know this post will push it over to a new page for me. Re: the forge, Punkey asked a good question.
To fuck with the forge during Gate construction, someone would have to get to the forge and make Willpower and possibly Persuasion rolls to interrupt the process. The forge is not something you can just shoot, at least not with anything currently on this planet. If someone dropped shit from orbit on it, THEN it'd have problems. You could maybe mess with it if you tagged it with all the explosives you have on hand as well. But generally once it starts it goes until told to stop or it finishes its job. It's semi-sentient, like the kaukas.
Now, re: prisoner storage. I -think- you have 30 prisoners now? 8 Turai, 12 Keepers, 10 refugees.
Underground bunker: 8-10 people.
Maintenance Bay: 30 people, but it's cramped as hell. 20 is much more comfortable.
Dome Chamber: 40 people will fit in here just fine if you clear it out. As-is, maybe 10-15 people.
Hab 1: 12 people.
Hab 3: 12 people.
Hab 2 (the mess): 30 people.
Maybe these numbers don't make any sense. It's 2 am here and I reserve the right to fuck with these stats later on after I sleep. The thing that is important is this:
1. The maintenance bay is large enough to put a Gateway in there, and its door is large enough to let out whatever might come through there.
2. The dome chamber is large enough to hold a Gateway but there's no doors big enough to let out a tank or the like. The chamber was built over the Groi shipwreck and all the pieces were already there (or broken smaller than a tank).
3. You can't store the prisoners in one place anywhere but the mess hall, the chamber, or the bay. And then where do the 40 wherren plus 10 of you guys live?
Wherren: Most of them can sleep, we just need enough to guard the prisoners and walk perimeter, and we don't need 40 of them to do that. I don't know where they Wherren would prefer to sleep, probably in the habs, but if they're comfortable sleeping outside, that would be good.
Martin: We can give him the plating and voxes right now, either a few of us or the Wherren can deliver the materials. Depending on how things go with moving the gate pieces and how long that will take, we can also give them the monotask, but I doubt that'll be able to happen until the morning. He should have enough to do with the plating and voxes for right now, anyway.
The Keg: Well, it looks like the keg is going to have to go in the maintenance bay, unless it's capable of being moved once the gate construction is underway, which I doubt. That means we'll have to clear out the bay of the Imperials and move them into the dome and the habs until we can work on clearing out the dome enough to make room for all of them. We'll also have to move the gate pieces we need into the bay, which means using the monotask. If we can do it all in one go, that'd be awesome, just one run and we're done, and the monotask can deliver the plating and voxes Martin needs. Otherwise, more thought will be required.
Crates: Crates go in the bay with the keg, or wherever it is we're sleeping.
Sleep: Well, that depends on how long the rest of this takes. If it's going to just take another half-hour to an hour to get the Imperials and Wherren situated, the keg, gear and gate pieces moved about, deliver Martin's parts and get guard set up, then we should just knock it all out. Otherwise, we'll have to pick what we do now and what we do in the morning. Some of us should stay up with the Wherren and get sleep on the next shift. Also, can we sleep in the bay where the gate is working?
Patrols: My thoughts extend as far as "we should have some". Obviously, the Imperials should be under guard, ten Wherren or so should be fine, with a few more walking perimeter, and if we can't get the monotask out of the dome tonight, we need to have one Wherren specifically guarding it and keeping the Imperials away from it. Other than that, I got nothing.
Wherren will be happy to sleep. It is the dead of night and they have walked a long way to stand around. They'll take the mess hall and one of the habs unless those are explicitly claimed by someone else.
wherren can take the plating and voxes to Martin, that's fine.
Keg: Keg can't be moved once activated with the equipment you currently have. If it's in the bay, it will expand to fill the bay. I don't see a problem with moving the prisoners and the Gate pieces at the same time; you can simply put the prisoners outside and under guard until you finish putting the Gate fragments in the bay with the keg and reactor, then you'll have to clear out the rest of the stuff in the dome, then the prisoners can go in there. And then the monotask can go to Martin.
Sleep: To keep from making it a huge drawn-out process, let's say it'll take a short enough time to where you can all sleep at once if that's your choice. You cannot sleep in the bay once the keg is active, NOR can you store other stuff in there. At least, not stuff you want easy access to.
That will leave you guys with the choice between 1 hab or the bunker for your own sleeping.
I'd hoped to talk a little to Shenest and the other researchers while we were setting things up. Among other things, I'm curious what she meant with her "one day" thing in the first talk in the comm center.
I edited the IC post above Angel's last to remove the reference to dawn. It is still the dead of night. Prisoners are in the dome. Keg is in the bay.
Who is activating the keg? "Was to be turned on last night" isn't the same as giving me a name.
I also set Luis up for a conversation with the Keepers.
EDIT: From gtalk with E:
I'm mainly interested in sort of a general "what did you find about the ship" (destination, why it's here, if they know what it was doing, that kind of thing), plus asking Shenest about her "one day" comment.
The ship is a Gate carrier, but it's loaded with Homeworld Gates, a type seen very few other places.
How old is the crash? Where was it taking the Gates? Did it go down before or after they lost contact with Earth?
I'd like to get an idea of how you intend to defend the camp. Remember that people will still need sleep, so consider shifts and swapping people out. Remember you have both paint/marking Claymores as well as the normal kind, and either can be set to manual detonation or you can rig boobytraps.
Other things to do besides planning or constructing defenses include contacting Hiigra and seeing if the other village wherren have had time to make contact with the closest villages. The Sheen will need to talk to someone very soon as well.
Davis' priorities, in order: Contact Hiigra, get sorted how well he's doing, if we can expect to have reinforcements on standby, and if so, how long will their response time be. Talk to the Sheen, get them all squared away (probably better to have one of the more shooty guys along). Check on the prisoners, make sure everything's good with the Turai, the researchers and especially with the orbital survivors, and make sure the researchers have what they need to wrap up their work. And finally, check on the gate construction, see how that's going, through the interface if possible.
We'll definitely need to involve the Wherren in our defense. I'd like to have one of our guys leading some Wherren as the basis of our perimeter defense teams. Cowboy, Semo and Hugh are probably best-suited for that. I'd like to use Luis and Arketta to supervise the prisoners and how they're guarded. Angel could take to the jungle to map out the approaches and trap - with marker claymores - likely angles of attack. Our defensive position against a straight-up assault sucks, but the Khiraba aren't that numerous.
Anything goes down, I recommend everyone retreats into the structures and we make them come in close. Hmm...maybe we can dig some defensive positions, though. We're not lacking for physical labor at this stage and it'll make a Khiraba first strike harder if we've got prepared foxholes. (On the other hand, foxholes in a jungle environment need to be dug right to not flood when there's rain. I need to read up on that.) If we're proper dug in, we can stand up to a blitz attack and still have the retreat option.
That should leave Davis and...oh, Kang. Yeah, do whatever with him.
Anything goes down, I recommend everyone retreats into the structures and we make them come in close. Hmm...maybe we can dig some defensive positions, though. We're not lacking for physical labor at this stage and it'll make a Khiraba first strike harder if we've got prepared foxholes. (On the other hand, foxholes in a jungle environment need to be dug right to not flood when there's rain. I need to read up on that.) If we're proper dug in, we can stand up to a blitz attack and still have the retreat option.
That should leave Davis and...oh, Kang. Yeah, do whatever with him.
Ask the US Army about digging foxholes in Vietnam.
The advantage we have is that the Turai lack vehicle support. They do have spear bombs, but they are only useful in a limited capacity and aren't more effective than a grenade. I also say we police up what movable/heavy cover we can and fortify our weak points with said cover.
We should keep back at least a squad of Wherren in the event we do get overrun and need immediate CQB support. Overwatch should also be a consideration. Having some well-hidden shooters up high will be very advantageous.
Another thought is that when the Imperium attacks, those prisoners we have cannot be trusted to anything other try and escape. We should have the ability to lock them down at a moments notice. We'll have enough problems on our hands and the last thing we needs is an internal revolt.
As for sleep, the grunts should operate in 4hr rest rotations. Guard duty can be relegated to the Wherren once the initial siege plans are set into motion.
That's why, by and large, Davis is trying to keep them in the dome. They're gonna get let out to go a few places, but they're not just going to be wandering around in the camp. If shit goes down without notice, they can be quickly contained and moved or secured.
Dave's 'Nam comment is pretty apt. I don't think I'd stop you guys from digging foxholes here.
High ground: There's not much, unless you actually put people in trees or climb them on top of the dome or the habs (which are both round). However, they made cupolas for the round-topped gas truck in the Road Warrior, so some Mad Max-style roof cover wouldn't be out of the question. It just won't stand up to sustained fire very well.
All the habs have shuttered windows that can be opened for firing ports if needed. However, if you remember, while the hab walls will stand up to stinger fire pretty well, energy weapons will penetrate. You'll still get cover bonuses, they just won't be as large as otherwise. The dome itself can turn its outer walls (or portions thereof) transparent but it's much more locked down. No actual windows on either floor, its kept comfortable through the AC systems powered by the bunker reactor.
You have pretty good surveillance of the camp's clearing from the dome antenna's camera. Beyond the treeline, though, nothing.
That said, I think we should use our claymores sparingly....at chokes points we can control and in areas where the Khiraba are most likely to gravitate toward. I'd much rather be able to control the end of the battle than what happens at the beginning of the battle.
Leave them no choice but to go through our designated kill zones. There is too much area to cover with what resources we have. Let's get medieval with this plan. We have maybe two or three defense points, which serve as fall backs for if/when the forward position falls.
We can run with the idea of choke points and stuff on the approach into camp (ie, in the jungle) as opposed Tactics and Demolitions and stuff like Cowboy's Unconventional Warfare rolls, but that's for the bad guys approaching the camp outside in the jungle. You're very right - you do not have enough gear to cover the 360 degrees around the camp unless it's very close to the buildings themselves.
You have plenty of explosives and plenty of muscle - you could always extend the clearing if you wished. You could even (at the cost of fatigue) build some sort of crazy palisade from the freely available trees. It's better than nothing, but only by a little. It'd serve to slow a full-on melee charge or something, but likely not enemy explosives or firepower. Foxholes are easier options for people who expect firefights, and they're just blown out of the ground with C4 and reinforced with wood or whatever (I also do not know the secrets of foxhole-making in jungle terrain).
I need to dig up a field manual, but basically, first you dig out a small depression in the ground that's enough to take you lying down. Shift earth forward and to the sides, leave the rear open. Ideally, you're doing this so the back is lower than the front. This is your basic defensive position and will probably require a mat or poncho liner underneath. Once that's dug, you go in deeper, depending on where the ground water level is. You wanna go deep enough that you can stand in it, then you've got a proper foxhole. Again, you'll need to line the bottom and also dig even deeper as a sinkhole for any water coming in. Use the excavated material to reinforce the small walls front and side. (I don't think we brought sandbags with us, but if we did, this is a good time to fill some and put them to use.) On top of THAT, you can then use branches from the jungle and another plastic liner or so to make a waterproof roof over it. Cover with more dirt and voila, you're dug in. From there, it's "just" a matter of digging connections between those positions and you'll have a proper trench run.
Yes, very good news. Now we can go crash another manta.
Does the bunker have any materials that would be used to repair the habs? We might be able to use some of that as cover or to fortify cover. Or even repair hab 3.
Admiral Duck Sauce
Davis would be okay with it, since he's already been mind-fucked twice already. 
