Rpg: Starscape

[Xomeron]

IC:Its jump engines recharged, the Syrrinx fleet jumped from 2-6 to 2-7. Were one to envision a line between Calinar Starbase and the bulk of the Diemawr fleet, the Syrrinx fleet would be roughly 45 degrees off that line. Antimatter engines flared, nine miniature stars appearing on the Diemawr's scanners. The fleet opened up the moment their computers had perfected the firing solutions. Three starcannon shots, dozens of railgun rounds, and a veritable cloud of missiles headed on well timed Intercept courses towards the assaulting fleet; the Fleet shifted immediately into constant-fire mode.Of course, the much much more massive cloud of rockets flaring from the Starbase was not to be neglected, as the huge quantities of kiloton-yield rockets were certain to be tearing into the Diemawr fleet.OOC: For jump recharge times, I'm going by real world hours for recharge, since I can't figure out a better guide.

Edited December 9, 2011 by King Of Shadows

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: Real-world recharge times are completely broken, though, largely thanks to the fact that we aren't playing 24/7. I can make a post and it can be hours before someone else involved in the scenario posts, meaning that hours in our time can be seconds in-game.

[Xomeron]

But it makes some sense, since Space Combat is so slow. It's the best system I can think of. I don't want to count posts or ICs because those are much more variable than real world time is.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: Or you could just go with a somewhat more elastic system going by the actual time that would have elapsed in-game for those characters, which is pretty much what I'm doing.

[Xomeron]

Which is prone to heavy misinterpretation, as we saw in IL 1.Anyway, gonna do anything about that fleet that's blasting you?EDIT:

In addition, a Jump Drive is a fickle and unpredictable device, requiring a certain amount of waiting time before it can be used again. However, the actual length of time is near impossible to predict. Thus, a Jump Drive can be used once every real-world hour, no matter how much time in-game this represents.

Abstracting with real time; my favorite method of solving problems. Stealing from EVE Online is close though... Edited December 9, 2011 by King Of Shadows

[Alex Humva]

OOCIn celebration of the fortieth page and zero ships destroyed as of this post, I hereby dub thefollowing races with the following character traits;Natsirt: Railguns and militarism for all!Alizarin: We sit back, think about things, and then we kill you with twenty small ships.Diemawr: We do our work with pride; even our trash men are proud of what they do!Syrrinx: Here at Aperture Science, we fire the whole missile. That's sixty percent more missile,per missile.Kalarii: Coilguns and lasers, and pop stars as our representatives to other races, that's our motto.Osalieli: Spying is the name of the game; we did it before anyone else even thought of it.Veeci: Biological warfare is awesome; it kills all your enemies.Treanu: We believe in oppressing four other sentient species, just because we can.IC [Location: Citamgine. Identity: General]The TAP fleet continued to grow as the requested Kalarii vessels joined up, and with the Osalieli having finished their accounting, while they could not offer anymore ships in the name of defenses of their own worlds, they did keep their two ships with the TAP fleet. Fact of the matter was the Osalieli fleet was not yet large enough to commit anything much to this assault, but they did eventually agree to send a few mediums and smalls; it would reduce the fleet guarding their worlds, but with no visible threats on the horizon and the wish to save face in this alliance, they had to at least give some support to this attack.OOCI foresee Syrrinx Prime being glassed at the end of the day; sure, the TAP charter specifically prohibits mass genocide, but they don't have to be the ones doing it. I'm sure proud warrior guys will happily do it for them.

Edited December 9, 2011 by Cartographer Alex Humva

[Veeci]

Ooc: Sorry for falling off the face of the Earth; computer issues and an insane school schedule have been rather hindering. Oh, and Alex, I'm not sure if the ships in 1-32 would have left or not, but I'll just go ahead and continue the Ic.Also, I'm rather glad to see a spark of war. Shall I perhaps throw on some kindling?(@Alex) Ic (1-32): Niikka tapped her finger against her desk as she watched the last grains of sand fall into the bottom reservoir of her hourglass. It was a shame that the engineers still were on the alien ship, they had been a particularly talented duo, but the time had come and the plan had to continue. Pushing out from under the desk, the High-Minister casually exited her room and waltzed through the irregularly shaped and confusingly sloped hallways of the interior of the Leben vessel. Upon reaching the bridge, a small circular room dimly illuminated by gold, bioluminescent bacteria in tubing lining the walls, Niikka calmly began giving orders to the pilots on duty."... Disengage from the Natsirt craft... now. Bring the engines to full thrust in reverse and detonate the device."On board the Valiant class craft the two mechanics felt the ship rock as their ship left without them; fear filled their eyes as they realized what was about to happen. Simultaneously they turned and ran for the door, barging through the group of Natsirt behind them. Their efforts to preserve their lives were in vain. A deafening hiss ruptured out of the pod.A multitude of chemical reactions took place instantly as the pyrophoric mixture touched the air, igniting the additional solid explosives stashed throughout the Leben's equipment. The resulting roaring inferno engulfed everyone present in the compartment, rapidly expanding to other parts of the ship. Screams filled the air as Natsirt and Leben alike were burnt alive. The waiting Klein immediately took action, claws outstretched as it raced for the "healthy" Valiant.(@Power) Ic (2-5): "I think our kind could return the favor as well. Well, are we at an agreement? Protection pact, basic trading, and sheltering; to be quite honest I think that's enough of an undertaking for our first meeting."Ooc: Oh, and hello Rakata, welcome to the game. May the force be with you.

Edited December 9, 2011 by Veeci

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: Well, keep in mind the missiles from the Starbase have already been shot out of the sky in droves, and I'll get right on that.IC(2-7): Five out of six Diemawr ships scattered. The four Marwolaeth simply ran as fast as they could, fleeing through the outer edge of the system, away from the Syrrinx counter-attack. The Branrhyfel, having done less work in this system than its counterpart, warped out of the system, emerging in 2-8.The Hebogrhyfel, however, stayed, point-defense guns and lasers firing as quickly as possible into the oncoming wave of enemy fire, vaporizing ballistic shots and prematurely detonating missiles. As the first few rounds managed to impact the unusually thick armor that was the trademark of Diemawr ships, a message was sent to the Syrrinx fleet."First contact proved ironically fortuitous. The Syrrinx are predictably inferior, yet it is our branch which follows the prime string. Ware the oncoming storm, the storm that shall drown your roots, the storm that shall tear your limbs, the storm that shall fell the Syrrinx tree."OOC: Point-defense guns mounted directly on a ship, gotta love them. Since they're designed to be able to pick fighters out of the sky, ballistic rounds and missiles should be a piece of cake, though, naturally, with only two clusters of the guns, some shots will get through, and it'll die eventually, but it's basically stalling so the other ships can get some space between them and the Syrrinx ships.As for the time thing, it's a flawed system, but I'm not going to put myself at an unnatural disadvantage by not following it. Meanwhile...IC(Dugrhyfel): After taking some time to recharge its engines, the medium gun-boat of the Diemawr navy warped into the Calinar system (OOC: which, in case you've forgotten, Xom, is 2-9. Lianka is in 2-7, and exactly one of us is great at remembering these things.), far from the Syrrinx Dragon, but still in full view of the Starbase. Taking careful aim, the Dugrhyfel began cruising towards Calinar, keeping its single gun locked on the Starbase, ready to fire at the first sign of a response from the base.OOC: Oh, that reminds me. Xom, you've got a blog, even though you've never used it. Might want to follow Alex's example and post your weapon specs there. Full transparency, just like the rest of us.

[Xomeron]

OOC: Missiles will actually be more of a problem than fighters, since they're smaller and faster, the guns will have a harder time tracking their smaller radar signatures, unless this is a consistent Flak Barrier like what the Syrrinx use(I don't think it is since lasers can't put up that sort of barrier). Of course picking them down can't stop that many missiles.Vaporizing a railgun shot wouldn't do much; it'd be less dense, sure, but now it's a ball of hot gas flying towards your ship; it still has the same kinetic energy, plus the thermal energy you added.And everyone has thick armor, of course. But remember that thicker armor means a slower ship; the Syrrinx, using a more brittle composite armor(and being accustomed to a higher gravity) will be fasterIC:"Save the rhetoric for the historians, this is war." Missiles comprised the bulk of the Syrrinx armament, but they were by no means the only one available; Railgun shots, uncaring for the few laser bolts that splashed against them(even for a computer it is obscenely difficult to hit a fist sized target going at over three thousand kilometers per second), were tearing holes in the Diemawr ship's armor, having little overall effect. A moment's pause in the firing, and the same railgun shots were adjusted to fire on the Point Defense Networks themselves. The Kraken's Starcannon added its voice to the railguns, this shot certain to do heavy damage to the ship.Hobgoblins broke off from the fight against the heavier target to chase the four smaller ships, rapidly gaining on them as streaks of annihilation particles flew behind them across the sky and flights of missiles streaked ahead of them.

[Toast of Awesomeness]

OOC: Where's the fight at, so I can warp in?

[Xomeron]

OOC: 2-7. As it would look to your sensors from first glance, the Syrrinx are outnumbering the Diemawr and pounding their ship with quantity over quality.

[Toast of Awesomeness]

IC: The Treanu fleet warped into 2-7, spreading out silently. They sent two messages on secure channels.Syrrinx. We are here to assist. Moving in for aid.Diemawr- help has arrived.

[Xomeron]

OOC: Still not sure who you're really working withIC:The Syrrinx Commander who was in charge of interfleet communications received this message, and sent out a message on the Syrrinx Ansible net. Even if it were possible to intercept it, the meaning was lost."All ships, Bloody Arrow. Repeat, Bloody Arrow."The starbase at this point had stopped firing, the melee was now too tight for safe, accurate tracking.

[Alex Humva]

IC [Location: 1-32. Identity: Captain Darcip]"What in the name of-" The engine testing room was located far from the bridge, but the fireworks going on another deck instantly set off alarms in the bridge. "Status report!""Fires on deck three sir! Compartments five through nine are not responding, and ten through thirteen are reporting out of control fires!" The ensign raced his fingers across her panel. "Fire suppression systems are containing it on deck three; weapon systems are uneffected!""Vent atmosphere in those compartments!""Sir?!""If it makes you feel better ensign issue a warning to grab onto something; we need to put those fires out!""Aye sir!" The ensign made the warning, and atmosphere vented out into space, all while the railguns charged up. "Sir, fires put out! Seven dead and three wounded; nav systems are offline. We can't be able to jump out of here!""Well then we just have to fight our way out." The captain opened his comm. "Unwavering Strength, we have been attacked and our nav system is offline. We cannot jump; I repeat, we cannot jump.""Understood." The captain of the Unwavering Strength looked out the window as the blast doors closed down over it, the Leben ship approaching. "Let's show these demons just how ready we are to fight. Open fire, all machine gun batteries! Charge and fire the railguns; aim for their weapons!""Sir, what in the name of Llef are their weapons?!" A lieutenant asked."A fine point lieutenant; aim at whatever looks most menacing and pray it's something critical."Meanwhile on the Unwavering Courage captain Darcip was issuing his own orders."Focus all machine gun and railgun fire on the middle of their vessel," he ordered. "These things are organic; we'll rip through them like a knife and cut the ship in half. Keep us at a distance of one hundred kilometers; I want our fusion engines to put some heat on them.""Sir, at that range, they could hit us with one hundred percent accuracy!""And so can we; make it so ensign, now!" The captain flipped on the FTL comm, sending a burst to the TAP committee. "We are under attack by Leben! I repeat, the Leben have attempted to sabotage our vessel and are attempting to destroy us! Request IMMEDIATE assistance!"So the Unwavering Courage kept at spitting distance of it's previously docked vessel, a combination of armor piercing machine guns, railguns, and a magnetically accelerated flak gun ripped into the vessel, the railguns aimed at key connection points while the machine and flak guns ripped through the skin of the ship. The Unwavering Strength kept it's distance however, firing it's railguns into key points while it's machine and flak guns aimed at general targets, hoping to hit something important.[1-9]The TAP committee received the burst, Tarshiar cursing something even worse than before. "Two wars in one day? Our luck has run dry. Very dry."OOCBeing organic, those ships are going really hate flak guns.

Edited December 9, 2011 by Cartographer Alex Humva

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: You forget that the Marwolaeth Mawr has Dant-a-Grafanc point-defense guns built in. They can blast pretty much any kind of projectile out of the sky.And yeah, Diemawr ships are just a little bit slower than other ships if they're putting the same amount of power into their engines. That's why ships like the Marwolaeth can't attack with their lasers while running, they can only use them to cover their retreat as far as enemy projectile weapons go. They're putting more power into their engines to go faster, and can't spare as much for the lasers.Also, a cloud of hot gas would tend to diffuse rapidly in space, so vaporizing a railgun shot would tend to take quite a bit of the punch out of it. There'll be some heat damage to the outer hull, sure, but no real impact damage.IC(2-7): The Marwolaeth, now out of the Syrrinx firing line, opened fire, firing as one on one of the medium ships (OOC: your choice) in the Syrrinx attack group. The Hebogrhyfel continued to stand against the onslaught, bathed in a cloud of hot gas and debris from intercepted projectiles and, increasingly, damaged flakes of the ship's armor."Ware the storm, Syrrinx."Given the initial enmity that had been hinted at between the Syrrinx and Treanuans, the Diemawr were confident that the new ships were on their side, and so maintained their positions, firing only on Syrrinx ships - or, in the Hebogrhyfel's case, Syrrinx projectile weapons.

[Toast of Awesomeness]

IC: The ships spread out, moving towards the Diemawr ships- suddenly the Poseidon, as did the other Treanuan ships, turned around. Once their rotations were complete, the fleet stood with the Diemawr, capital ship at the back of the fleet, in perfect range for the superweapon. Burn in ****, Warmongers.Without further warning, the Trident-Class particle weapon activated, the super weapon arcing out in a twisting column of blue light, slamming into the starbase even as the rest of the fleet opened fire, missiles, lasers, and railguns slamming into the Syrrinx fleet.Diemawr, we stand with you. Alizarin, travel quickly.

[Xomeron]

Okay, seriously, details on that gun, now. I mean Rover's magical everything-shooter gun.IC:"Bloody Arrow Confirmed, Bloody Arrow Confirmed"With the starbase suddenly a hot cloud of gas and falling metal, the Kraken spun on its axis, aiming at the Treneuan Capital ship; the Syrrinx ships suddenly rushed out of the melee, their antimatter drives burning, before they spun about and fired on the Celaphod fleet. The Large ship was the primary target; First the Antiproton Gun that hadn't yet fired stripped holes in the armor and communication arrays. Then three Starcannon Shots, Railguns from the Faeries and the eight previously hidden Changelings, which abruptly decloaked followed, aimed directly at the Treneuan ship and certain to destroy it. Sheets of rockets streamed in at the Diemawr-Celaphod fleet. On one Faerie, the commander spoke up. "I knew they'd do this." He said, growling as his ship spat fire at the opposing "But why?" A lieutenant asked. The commander lost his nerve then, yelling."BECAUSE IT'S A BIG, STUPID, JELLYFISH!"

Edited December 9, 2011 by King Of Shadows

[Alex Humva]

IC [Location: 1-9. Identity: Tarshiar]"This is a dark day indeed, to have two assaults on my people." Tarshiar brooded for a moment. "I move for immediate declaration of war."Meanwhile, the beam was redirected to Citamgine, to be used there to be given to the Alizarin.

[Toast of Awesomeness]

OOC: Considering you approved the thing, it should be chilling in your inbox.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: Okay, seriously, details on all of your guns, now. Preferably posted in your as-yet-unused blog for easy perusing. Only reason my guns aren't in my blog is because I'm lazy, so they're just scattered throughout this topic.

[Toast of Awesomeness]

OOC: Me or Xom?

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: Well, mainly Xom, though you've got a handy-dandy blog you can use too. Just plop an entry right in there and throw all your guns and ships on it.

[Xomeron]

Rover: No more demands. Details on that weapon right now. Here's mine.Weapons:Name: AutocannonWeapon Size: SmallMechanics: Similar to a modern tank gun, with an automatic loading system. Fires 30 Shells per minute. Can fire a variety of shells, most commonly used with a penetrating tip.OBSOLETEName: Rotary Missile LaunchersWeapon Size: SmallMechanics: Fires a whole lot of tiny, guided, antimatter tipped missiles to overwhelm anti-missile defenses with sheer numbers. 0.1 Kiloton yield.Name: RailgunWeapon Size: MediumMechanics: Uses magnetic pulses to fling a shell at 3000 m/s with a depleted uranium tip. Kinetic energy immense.Name: StarcannonWeapon Size: LargeMechanics: Uses magnetic pulses to fire what is essentially a thirty gigaton nuclear fusion bomb, fused to go off a moment after impact and designed to take the impact undamaged Capable of destroying large cities and blowing massive holes in enemy formations. Not capable of one-shotting battleships, but it will nicely damage them. Requires a long recharge time for the magnetic coils after firing.Name: Antiproton GunWeapon Size: SuperweaponMechanics: Fires a constant stream of negatively charged antimatter particles. As these particles travel through space, they spread out due to mutual charges repelling each other. Thus, while a tight beam leaves the barrel, a large cone hits the target. Best used against large clouds of small ships, to that effect. Edited December 9, 2011 by King Of Shadows

[Toast of Awesomeness]

OOC: I'll copy and paste them from my computer later.

[Xomeron]

It's Rover's gun which can shoot railgun shots out of space that I care about; the idea is ridiculous on too many levels. Either I missed approving that, or just underestimated what it would do.

Edited December 9, 2011 by King Of Shadows

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: I'm digging the Starcannon, it's a very clever gun. And, oh, alright, fine, I'll stop asking you to post your tech in your blog - not because I don't want to see it blogged, no. Just because I'm ever so helpful.As a side-note, I do hope you're taking all of this with a good sense of humor, mainly because that's the way it's intended to be taken.As for the railgun-shooty thing, it's sitting in my first post in the topic, You called it delicious. It's a ballistic point-defense system. At short range, it can do pretty fun things, but its success rate is hardly 100%. It's the combination of that with the lasers and luck that gives it a maybe 60% success rate here. Add to that really good armor, and the ship isn't quite dead yet. And, frankly, your idea of ridiculous is a little... well...

Edited December 9, 2011 by The Shadows Out of Time

[Xomeron]

I am not taking your magic gun with a good sense of humor. I want the specs on it ten minutes ago.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: Oi. Not magic. Sitting on the front page. Deal with the fact that you need your eyes checked. You've got the specs on it about a month ago.

Edited December 9, 2011 by The Shadows Out of Time

[Xomeron]

Name: Dant-a-Grafanc Weapon Size: Point-defenseMechanics: A turret-based array of autocannons, with an attached targeting computer to enhance accuracy.

So, no. You have kinetic Point Defense Networks. Not lasers.

[Veeci]

Ooc: I know I've said it before Alex, but why are you such a dang-good writer?! Oh, and thought the ships are indeed organic, they have chitinous plating on the exterior. So, it's not like cutting through butter, but certainly weaker than a traditional metal vessel.(@Alex) Ic (1-32): The cloud of the Unwavering Strength's machine gun fire pummeled into the Klein, many bullets richociheing of the rugged plating but a few finding their way into the cracks in between. Small spouts of dark, blood-tainted atmosphere vented sending the lobster-like ship spiraling off course and actually assisting it dodge the first volley of railgun rounds. The unified consciousness of the pilots of the ship quickly contracted several muscles of the creature, momentarily patching the few holes. They corrected course and continued straight for the Valiant class craft fifteen kilometers in front of them.Onboard the Forschung ship Niikka chuckled. Finally, I've been long overdue to spill some blood."Pull back farther, we need to be at a range so we can avoid their projectile weaponry." The High-Minister turned, "Officer, send a top-priority message back to 1-36, to ensure our victory we might need assistance."

Edited December 9, 2011 by Veeci

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: ...How thick are you? Remember the main weapon on the Marwolaeth Mawr? The Llygad o Dan, or, if you hate Welsh, the no-doubt-grammatically-butchered Eye of Fire? The laser system that has rapid-fire capabilities and adaptive optics as one of the selling-points? The laser system that is largely controlled by a targeting computer? You know, the one that could be used for limited point-defense with little difficulty?

[Xomeron]

Take this to PM, I won't have an argument cluttering up the topic more than it is.I liked Welsh before I knew anything about it. Now I hate it with a fury worthy of the shadowed god who crafts the souls of the dead into unholy armor. It makes no sense to me at all.ToA: If you're waiting an hour to let your ship jump out, you can, but the moment you do, I'm adding Jump Disablers to the game.

Edited December 9, 2011 by King Of Shadows

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: As of now, it is physically impossible for kinetic weapons to be intercepted by any form of point-defense, ever.

[Toast of Awesomeness]

OOC: I'm sorry, didn't see your IC.IC: The Poseidon put full power to its engines, speeding towards the end of the system along with the rest of the fleet. Point defense systems stopped many of the attacks, while others were dodged. Still others hit, creating deep furloughs, debts, and even holes in the armor.Meanwhile, the fleet fired back, the flights of small ships working in coordination to take on mediums and other smalls, while the medium battleships paired up on the Syrrinx's mediums.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC:

I'm adding Jump Disablers to the game.

...Quick question. Why?

[Xomeron]

OOC: On Point Defense: Until January. :sly:On Jump Disablers: This new real-world time system means someone can just go offline for an hour, then say their Jump Engines recharged very quickly and escaped.IC:The Syrrinx Medium ships, being Battlecruisers, built to hunt their equals among enemy ships, met their opponents with twinned railgun fire along with fire from two RMLs per ship. The Dragon gave chase towards the Poseidon, twin Starcannons firing, joined by a flight of ten Elementals from the Kraken, which was joining the Faeries in targeting medium ships.

Edited December 9, 2011 by King Of Shadows

[Toast of Awesomeness]

IC: The fighters were intercepted by the Poseidon's own, while two flights of small ships provided defense to the ship as it prepared to fire on it's attackers.

[Xomeron]

IC:The Starcannon had time to acquire a perfect firing solution on the Dragon; it emptied three quarters of its capacitor to fire two shots from the Starcannon; if a Small Ship got in the way, it would be smashed aside from the massive shot.The fighters, meanwhile, took losses; one fighter transitioned from solid to hot gas. Three others took minor hits. Despite this, they had momentum already, and they flew directly past the Poseidon's fighters, firing rockets at the sides of the Poseidon(they were at sharp enough an angle that their shots avoided the ship's Fusion Wash)

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: I said why, not when.IC(2-7): With the Hebogrhyfel effectively out of commission, the four Marwolaeth remaining in the system continued picking out targets among the Syrrinx fleet and firing as one on them, using high-energy shots to ensure maximum damage. So far, the Syrrinx seemed more focused on the Treanuan ships than the handful of Diemawr ships, giving them free reign to do as much damage as they could manage.IC(2-9): With a clear shot on the Starbase over Calinar, the Dugrhyfel opened fire, launching a 1-metric ton chunk of ferromagnetic metal at Mach 20 at the satellite. The five Marwolaeth, meanwhile, were using their superior maneuverability to do strafing runs on the Dragon, with the main purpose of keeping the ship distracted. Weapons systems and sensors were made priority targets in these runs, as there was relatively low chance of these ships piercing the Dragon's hull with their lasers.IC(2-8): The Branrhyfel, meanwhile, was in orbit over Ath, and its lasers had targeted planet-side governmental installations. No Starbases were detected in orbit (OOC: I'm going by your IRs here, Xom)."You will surrender your control of this world, or your leaders will burn. Civilians will not be harmed unless they struggle, in which case they will burn with you."

[Toast of Awesomeness]

OOC: I'ma wait till TPTI posts to IC again, don't wanna leave him hanging. Plus, it'd be nice to be at my computer so I could have my ship sheets to work with.