5210 réponses à ce sujet

[Terca]

As cool as the image would be for the Armigers to descend on the swarm of Collectors like vengeful valkyries is, that's not what's going to happen.

[Kel Riever]

FavoriteH: handled nicely! I like the flashback.

[Redbelle]

Aye.

 

And Kel? PM'd ya!

[Kel Riever]

Roger that.  Working away. 

 

Mega post up with RedBelle.  This is behind the scenes stuff, but Iyana has sent one of her lieutenants to meet The Lord of the Kings and Queens while awaiting Jess and all the people coming to retake the Medusa.  Well, among other things that she's been doing, like finding out everything she can about the Janiri and all the people aboard   These posts are about that meeting, and it will, of course, come back to impact the story in some way.  There's some more incoming but for what is done so far, read away!

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Okay, what's a MIP?

[Kel Riever]

MIP: http://forum.bioware...res/?p=16352761

 

They are also reference in the index, because I am good like that.

 

@Redbelle, you'll see from your message there that, well, now you're beginning to see the cold logic...

[favoritehookeronthecitadel]

FavoriteH: handled nicely! I like the flashback.

 

The more I write, the more Avan is becoming a sadist. 

[Cainhurst Crow]

The more I write, the more Avan is becoming a sadist. 

 

It begins.

 

Characters taking on lives of their own is always fun to watch.

[Kel Riever]

(Retaking the Medusa, Part I:  http://forum.bioware...ead/?p=17307818 )

Retaking the Medusa, Part II:

This is so we can reference the specific 'rpg' setting while we write this scene, so as they play out, I'll keep linking these posts.

 

GETTING ON BOARD:  So, as the villain person, let me sort of say when I think someone comes across a plan that could work, so this doesn't devolve into a bunch of speculation.  That is to say hey if I see good input, then I should identify it so we can all write about it, yeah?  Also if something seems downright off the charts bad I may say so, but I don't want to shoot down ideas so I may not do that so much.

 

From RedBelle on using MIPs: 
 

MIP's are essentially the smallest people carrier in space. Big enough to carry a couple of people, an engine which isn't used when sneaking up on people, and presurrised gas jets to point it in the right direction. MIP's have no life support systems so whoever rides one will need to be in their own armor. And very little in the way of electronic equipment so there's nothing to pick up.

 

Essentially the MIP is launched and allowed to drift towards it's target. So there's no heat or power signature's to detect and the hull scatter's radar bounce.

 

About radar, active sensor's need power to fire out a signal which burns the life span of the radar. So most ships rely on passive sensor's where they essentially listen to the surrounding environment. This measure doesn't pick up things in a timely fashion but it does allow the operator's to target the active sensors towards area's of interest. The MIP's are designed to get through passive sensor's without triggering an active radar bounce. And if the radar goes active, it present's a very small cross section that doesn't show up as something the size of a shuttle.

 

The MIP's go first to allow the shuttle into the hanger of the Medusa so they can put a team aboard. The MIP team also sabotage the relays from the hanger to the bridge so the bridge don't know they have people aboard. Basically the MIP team scout the lay of the land and decide the best cause for bringing the team aboard the docking section of the ship. The back's protected by welding rigs.

re:  the actual landing from RedBelle:
 

MIP team 1 and 2

 

1 heads to the hanger and makes it safe to bring the shuttle aboard without tipping off the bridge.

2 docks on the outer hull and proceeds up the spine to make sure it can be severed in case of need. ( And discover a surprise when they get there)..

 

I presume RedBelle has something planned for how the MIP people get into the ship, so I would say leave that in RBs hands.

 

THE IMPORTANT SPOTS:  This has been edited mostly for FYI, since RedBelle has a plan.

 

The bridge and engine room are the most important objectives. Anyone with marine training, and there are plenty around, would presume these two locations to be heavily guarded.   There is next to no chance of coming directly into these locations without being spotted.  So the question becomes how close to them can someone get and board safely?  Consequently, a ship can't cover all its hullspace effectively so the further one is from the bridge or engineering, the less likely to encounter resistance.  There are other places to expect clusters of guards.  Possibly the front cargo area for aforementioned reasons, also the airlocks might be watched, and there could be patrols to check the ship cargo bays that are unoccupied, cabins, etc. other areas of the ship.  But like anything else, there is no foolproof plan to see someone in these locations and organize an immediate force.  More like once a boarding is detected, the alert goes out and then the guards come running.

 

So there are some comments based on the ideas thrown out there in the room.  And to simply say, if Iyana wanted to blow the ship up, she could have already done it.  So the likelyhood of her wanting to destroy the ship before she knows her enemies are aboard is zero.

 

Hope that helps!

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

A battle with the Janiri vs the Medusa - picture the Collector vessel vs the Normandy SR1. The Janiri would get out unscathed, The Medusa would go down in flames, but all the resources we want out of the Medusa would be lost, Iyana would get away, and anyone important we would want to capture would get away as well. Jess would be very upset and would not have closure. This would not be acceptable. We're taking the ship. Naleena sees the ship as a resource.

 

Naleena is prepared for Iyana possibly wanting to scuttle the ship once we're on board. And Jess is thinking the same thing. This is why it is important to take engineering. The only way to scuttle a ship like the Medusa is to cause a critical overload of the reactor core. Having it in an orbit around the gas giant, but in a low enough one where its orbit is maintained by mass effect fields and kinetic barriers, and not by normal orbital velocity would be another - again this is a shutdown of the reactor core, and the need to take engineering otherwise just cutting power to the kinetic barriers and the mass effect fields could send the ship crashing -- see the derelict reaper for precedence.

 

THE ASSAULT: If we were to do the shuttle attack with the cutting like Naleena suggested, the MIPs would have to be held back until the shuttle detached because Iyana could order the Medusa be moved if sensors detect anything. They might detect the MIPs. The Janiri would just be getting readings from its sensors. It cannot send any signals, nor can the shuttle send any signals. We are going dark. It would be out of the Medusa's sensor range, and relying on its *classified* sensor array and VERA.

[Kel Riever]

Actually, according to RedBelle's fluff, it is sort of the other way around.

 

The MIP's are really too small to be detected effectively.  Aside from size, we can assume there are other reasons.  So sending the MIPs before shuttles would generally be the case.  And I'm just adding the part where they can attach to the hull.

 

Now Naleena's personal Scythe has a cloak.  That would protect it from visual scans and presumably it is ultra special game mastered ju ju that it has stealth.  That was established when you made Naleena up.  SO, the Scythe could approach the ship too.  But I presume all that other stuff above where it still would need some sort of rig to connect its pressurized environment to that of another ship, which might compromise that stealth.

 

Anyway, the second part about the Scythe was my understanding of it.  But the first part about the MIPs were established.  Of course the disadvantage of the MIPs is they can carry next to nothin, whereas the Scythe can transport all the players (10 passengers+pilot & copilot)

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Yeah, now it needs a co-pilot. Thanks for mentioning that. Prior to Illium it had VERA.

[Kel Riever]

It could have a co-pilot.  I never saw an actual co-pilot in any ME game.  Maybe someone who can just happen to fly in an emergency sits up front with the pilot?  You know, science fiction and all that

[Cknarf]

Co-pilot

[Terca]

Off Topic: There's nothing quite like going to a place where your last memory of it was 'f*ck all ya bastards' and saying 'hello' there again. Exhilarating. Also makes me want to get into arguments. Bad choice?

 

On Topic: Not posting much right now because Eteon is a young soldier and while she has some field experience was directed under a commander in all her missions. She has stuff to learn here, and her own abilities to state, but not a lot of planning is in her skillset right now.

[Redbelle]

@Kel and SGJ

 

MIP's are essentially the smallest people carrier in space. Big enough to carry a couple of people, an engine which isn't used when sneaking up on people, and presurrised gas jets to point it in the right direction. MIP's have no life support systems so whoever rides one will need to be in their own armor. And very little in the way of electronic equipment so there's nothing to pick up.

 

Essentially the MIP is launched and allowed to drift towards it's target. So there's no heat or power signature's to detect and the hull scatter's radar bounce.

 

About radar, active sensor's need power to fire out a signal which burns the life span of the radar. So most ships rely on passive sensor's where they essentially listen to the surrounding environment. This measure doesn't pick up things in a timely fashion but it does allow the operator's to target the active sensors towards area's of interest. The MIP's are designed to get through passive sensor's without triggering an active radar bounce. And if the radar goes active, it present's a very small cross section that doesn't show up as something the size of a shuttle.

 

The MIP's go first to allow the shuttle into the hanger of the Medusa so they can put a team aboard. The MIP team also sabotage the relays from the hanger to the bridge so the bridge don't know they have people aboard. Basically the MIP team scout the lay of the land and decide the best cause for bringing the team aboard the docking section of the ship. The back's protected by welding rigs.

 

This is how I have the team's setup atm

 

MIP team 1 and 2

 

1 heads to the hanger and makes it safe to bring the shuttle aboard without tipping off the bridge.

2 docks on the outer hull and proceeds up the spine to make sure it can be severed in case of need. ( And discover a surprise when they get there)..

 

Shuttle Team, breaks into several groups.

 

Spine team - Goes up the spine. If they haven't attracted attention, they can move down all the way

Cargo cutters - Go EVA and go to one of the cargo crates at the rear to breach a cargo container to gain access further up the spine.

 

 

The spine is essentially the bottleneck and can't be gotten around since the command section has autonomous welding rig's that'll cut anyone and anything that don't belong off the hull.

 

Once in the command section we split into three groups.

 

1 goes for the bridge.

2 goes for engineering

3 goes on patrol to find resistance and lock it down so 1 and 2 can operate unimpeded

[Kel Riever]

I edited my post above to reflect what you said RedBelle.

 

For landing, let's go with what RB is saying.  There might be some additional recommendations, like the one from Frank (Just walk onboard...if you like the front door approach) and/or Avan (send people in disguise, or people who are not us).  I'll have Morgan address those as a character, but that is as a character, not my judgement.

 

But let's say the logistics of actually getting aboard are taken care of?  MIPs clear the way, the shuttle lands in the bay.  And it works.  Jess knows because she knows her ship can be presumed.  Sound good?

[Redbelle]

Sounds good. Once the logistics are taken care of I'm happy for everyone to come up with their own obstacles aboard the ship. Got that guy who always was one step ahead who has the prize bounty? the way is clear but the techy guys sense some foul play and don't trust the straight shot to the door? On the outside of the ship, Do they find newly fixed equipment that serves some purpose?

 

I tend to leave it open for player's to decide how the action unfolds rather than script it, but it will mean much talk in this thread to arrange the action if character's group up rather than going solo.

 

I have a few event's planned though. I'll talk about them later.

[Kel Riever]

Basically for me, I'll provide the bad guy narration in the absense of that which players provide.  And of course, I have the baddies.  Plus some important decisions for players to make.  More about that later.  Got to keep up with the flurry of posts!  First, Morgan comment, then back to RB behind the scenes stuff.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Okay, now we have to define what is out of range of the Medusa's sensors? How many km.

 

The range of the Janiri's passive sensors are 20,000 km. This is standard for any war ship. Ship to ship combat typically takes place at a distance of 10,000 km. That is codex. FYI that is about 6200 miles. You realize this makes our ME3 battle scenes look ridiculous, right? Especially that one between the Quarians and the Geth where they were neatly lined up a few miles apart == at point blank range. Yeah, take 'em in close and finish 'em off. But drama and throw lore and stuff out the window. Of course this is because of the Rule of Cool. So we know that the Janiri is going to be hiding about 10 miles away and remain perfectly hidden so that it doesn't take 20 hrs for the MIPs to make it to the Medusa, and have them have to fire their tiny auxiliary thrusters for mid-course corrections and for yaw and pitch correction and deceleration firing for docking purposes.

 

And then there's the shuttle.... Yes that beast flying over. It should need the same one thrust to get up to speed, because constant thrusting will only cause constant acceleration. It'll need mid course corrections with auxiliary thrusters, and then need to decelerate for docking purposes.

 

I also suggest that we post the final plan here in a bullet point format so that we don't have a charlie foxtrot.

[Kel Riever]

Yeah, we can post that plan.

 

On the realism of space combat, I would only worry about it as it matters to the story being told.  Look, 'Lasers' 'make sound' 'in space' in Star Wars.  That's 3 set of quotations to point out the fallability with each of those points.  We don't need to do more work than Star Wars or Star Trek unless it serves us in doing so.  And if it does, I am all for the detail. 

It is codex that all science fiction battles occur within visual range.  Just like all real life combat in movies
 

Call the range what you think is best, I would say, SGJ.  The bullet points for that would be:

• The Janiri is out of the Medusa's gun range
• The approach of the Janiri is undetected
• The approach of the MIPs and the Scythe are undetected (unless somebody modifies them in a way that they would be detected)
• Entry into the ship, once the small craft reach their goal is by authorship: RB will explain the MIPs and should the plan be successful, there will be a bay for the Scythe to land in.

Changes to these, I guess I recommend, should be to enhance the drama and if they require laying out ahead, then I'd say fine.  Some explanation can be made in story, such as MIPs are too small and there are other reasons they won't be detected (as RB mentioned), the Scythe is cloaked so it won't be detected.  The Janiri is beyond common visual range and is a stealth ship as far as its emissions go so it won't be detected.  There are windows and sensors aboard the Medusa, presumably, but based on the above those are foiled.  I only see some attention needing to be given to actually boarding a ship from space without detection, but that can be handwaved a lot...by hacking, by cutting into a part of the ship that Jess knows is off the beaten path, etc.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Okay. I just finished a four day migraine. I would have killed Wrex and the Rachni queen last night. I would have shot Ashley while wearing Cerberus armor last night. I'm a bit cranky and nit-picky today.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

I'm going to say that the Janiri has torpedo tubes (something I forgot), and can use these to accelerate and launch the MIPs. The velocity can be calibrated from reasonable speed so that the MIPs will have enough fuel to decelerate and make mid-course corrections, all the way up to ludicrous speed that will send the MIPs smashing into the Medusa or if they miss, plummeting into the gas giant.

 

And it's JAniri, not JEniri.

 

Let's divide up the teams here:

 

MIP1 (Engineering): Frank, Irina,

 

MIP2 (Bridge):

 

Shuttle Team 1: Naleena,

 

Team Boom:

[Kel Riever]

Put Morgan on the bridge run.  I am recommending Vayne be on the engine room run. I am also recommending Dahlia and Jess to be on the bridge run.

 

as an aside, I am writing dialogue for my villains and some of them make me want to barf I hate them so!

 

By the way, there are two sets of split ups.  Getting there:

MIPs and the shuttle.  Here everyone is on the shuttle except for the two people in the MIPs.  I kind of presume Jess will be in one MIP

Then once on board and together, the teams split into 3.  And that's:

 

1.  The Engine Room

 

2.  The Bridge

 

3.  Sweeping the Ship

[Redbelle]

MIP 2's Spine.