I said this as James, but I think it bears repeating OOC: IMHO, splitting up the core team is too risky. I'd prefer we focus our full PC strength on one target or the other.

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OK, so from what’s been said so far there’s some reluctance to split PC’s into two teams, in which case we'd need to choose one objective and focus on it.

It sounds to me like we’re saying that we’re in agreement that some sort of covert attempt to grab the Russian is a logical IC option but may not be the best strategy from an OOC point of view for various reasons (espionage scenario runs the risk of slowing things down, potential to sideline some players, some characters’ skill sets not best suited) so on a meta level the best option may be to ‘delegate’ grabbing the Russian to the French commandos and concentrate our efforts on kicking down doors at the container facility? @Keys, I hear ya about having PC's initiate the surveillance of the Russian then handing it over to the Commandos to do the grab. I'd be happy to run with that, I just don't know how it would work with keeping everyone involved).

(I’m also presuming that the objections to splitting the team don’t extend to splitting off some of the Commandos to try and grab the Russians).

Is that an accurate summary of what people are feeling? Or am I totally off the mark? Any thoughts / comments / suggestions? And if we do go down this road and actually grab the stuff at the container port does anyone have any suggestions as to how we get it off site?
This message was last edited by the player at 09:34, Tue 14 Aug 2018.

You've captured my preferences. I'm OK with splitting the team for surveillance only, if that's something y'all would like to play out, but for any sort of direct action, I think the team should operate as one (I'm fine, however, with tasking the NPCs with whatever objective we decide to forego). As always, if the consensus is to go another route, I will roll with it.

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This.

I'd be up for having Cooper work the container angle.  He is the son of a shipping exec after all.  My general thoughts are:

1) Locate the containers and conduct surveillance to determine who/what is protecting them.
2) Strip away the security, through a diversion, or eliminate it through direct action.
3) Transport the containers offsite, onto a ship, and back to the USA.

Depending on how hands-on they are about container transport, it's possible we might be able to play the shell game to some extent.  Perhaps we could work up a set of containers with identical markings/numbering and swapping them during any transport phase.  It's highly unlikely that they can be eyes-on material transiting commercial ports at all times (transport, loading/unloading, delivery, etc.).

@Anders

That's a pretty cool angle.  We can get some straight up Oceans 11 stuff going on.  I think overall Dacovetti would want to lay down a pretty sophisticated electronic monitoring net to try and get a grip on the hostile communications.  Especially if we can spook a significant response.  But if we can get the containers out quietly (and the Russian), so much the better.

Are you proposing that we put the Russian in one of the containers?

I am not sure that Hannah knows how to drive a loading crane.  Though she is more than willing to try ... :D

EDIT: Oh, and the cargo containers and shell game mention always makes me think of the A-Team remake ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429493/?ref_=nv_sr_1 ) with Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper and where they literally try to do the shell game with a cargo crane and containers.

Though Ocean's Eleven (new and old) is a good reference, too.  If we can work in some armoured trucks, motorcycles, or mini-coopers (ala The Italian Job) that might be interesting as well...:D

Side note: I was going to say that a single container might be managable with a sky-crane helicopter (say, a Sikorsky CH-54 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_CH-54_Tarhe ), but eight containers is likely going to require time (to load) and a ship ...

Or eight helicopters and pilots, I suppose.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:56, Tue 14 Aug 2018.

In reply to Hannah Omdahl (msg # 20):

Well, I wasn’t suggesting smuggling them out together, but it is definitely an option.  Also, the image of set piece battle with multiple sky-cranes moving cargo containers full of alien hardware while a fight rages on the ground and in the air between Typhoons and a UFO is pretty damn epic.

If our investigations lead to the conclusion that ET are sending a ship (one that goes on the sea, not in space) to move the containers somewhere we could let them go to the trouble of loading them up and then intercept the ship on the high seas.

Heh, we get to be pirates.  Nice.  Might eliminate some diplomatic issues (if they are on international waters?) while creating others, potentially (Maritime law isn't my strong point).

But, we would still likely have to 'motivate' our targets to move the stuff.  The raid on the base in Florida was the only way we got them to flee to Cuba in the first place; so, no matter what, I think that we are doing some naughty sh*t on Cuban soil.

http://www.plenglish.com/index...cy-and-safety-photos


The container terminal at the Port of Havana

I'm not sure we need pilots or pirates as much as we need a good hacker.  Change a shipping manifest or bill of lading and we may be able to have those eight containers delivered anywhere in the world.

In their place, we route 8 containers full of Hello Kitty backpacks to our alien friends.

^
|
Yeah.  That.

Go Dealer!  Hannah is more than willing to pack special exploding Hello Kitty backpacks for just that occasion.

Right, so putting this into the context of the whole mission...

1) We conduct surveillance/recon of the container site and the Russian simultaneously.
2) We line up the container swap, to be conducted when the adversary pulls out.
3) The entire team conducts the direct action required to secure/exfil the Russian.
4) That action triggers the air-to-air engagement and subsequently the container removal, which, Insha'Allah, goes according to our plan, not theirs.
5) A few weeks later, containers arrive at their respective locations.

As part of the container recon, one option we might consider is emplacing a few demo charges on them, to trigger simultaneously to the Russian takedown, depending on how close we can get during recon.  We could rig the charges to malfunction, destroying perhaps only one or two containers, leaving the others to look like a damaged det cord link kept them from blowing.

When they don't all blow, we call in a direct airstrike to take out the remaining 6-7.  That could trigger a UFO response, as they seek to counter our incoming air-to-ground assets (which are really Typhoon air-to-air interceptors) to prevent the destruction of the remaining containers.  #allwarfareisbasedondeception

When the dust settles on the atmospherics, they'll be wanting to move those containers to their next location ASAP.  That's when our container re-routing plan kicks in.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:03, Tue 14 Aug 2018.

That's two thumbs way up from me.

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I’m down with all of that.  Michael isn’t a hacker, but we’ve already established that he knows people who are.

Side trip!!!

I’m good with most of the above - I have some reservations about calling in an airstrike on Havana harbour per what I said earlier about acts of War although I suppose there’s no reason why a ‘training flight’ can’t head straight for Havana provided they peeled off before they crossed into Cuban territorial waters in the event the aliens didn’t take the bait.

Feast your Kiroshi's on this Chombatta...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euqbMkM-QQk

In reply to Cooper Williams (msg # 30):

want, want, want

Sign me up. Now that I've finally finished the main quest in Fallout 4, this game is pretty much the only reason that I haven't gotten rid of my X-Box. I wish there was a release date. To quoth the late great Tom Petty, the waiting is the hardest part.

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Holy crap, they actually recorded Johnny Silverhand music.  I hope the soundtrack is available.

With this on the horizon, hipsters playing 5e, and a turn-based Battletech game already released, it seems that we are in a Golden Age of old-school Gaming!

Unfortunately, I am completely failing to get traction on this game right now.  Is there something else you guys have been wanting someone to run that I might try to organize as a change of flavor?

Based on the above, maybe Cyberpunk.  I’d be disappointed to watch this halt, but it has been lacking velocity for a bit.  I’ll just write Dacovetti fan fiction.

Also, if you mix Ender’s Game, X-Com, The Last Starfighter, and Ready Player One, you get Earnest Cline’s Armada, which isn’t as good as Ready Player One, But is still pretty okay.

Agreed. I bought it in hardcover, day it came out, on the strength of RPO. It went in the resale pile as soon as I was finished with it.

Teg, honest answer, is this lack of traction due to player inactivity? I can only speak for myself, and this is a really bad excuse for not posting, but I've been waiting to see if someone else would go first. I've been working on a Lizard King on a speedboat post, but didn't want to fast-forward too far, in case others had unfinished IC business they wanted to care of. I've confessed before- and it's still true- that I sometimes hold back because I'm not sure what the expectations are.

Last time you asked, we were all more (me) or less (?) gung-ho to continue. I don't think there's a lack of interest, just uncertainty of how to pick up the thread of the story and get going again. Like I've said before, I could use a wee bit more structure.

On the other hand, if you're just not into the milieu any more, than I shouldn't try to talk you into continuing this campaign. It was real good while it lasted. If it's a case of concept burnout or whatever, my vote is for something cyberpunk flavored. After watching that CP2077 gameplay footage, I'm super jacked for that sort of thing.

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I feel like I’ve been struggling with Seb for a while. It’s definitely a case of ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ but I just can’t seem to find his voice at the moment. It started during the last Aftermath interlude - Rae, it’s the main reason I never came back to you about the prisoner interrogation.

So apologies if I’m causing a hold up inasmuch as the designated IC team leader isn’t doing much err...leading. I’ll take that on board and look at how to resolve it.

If, as Rae has said, there’s other reasons why you might want to take things in a different direction I’m fine with that too although as most of you know my knowledge of other genres / rulesets is pretty limited so I might need some help dependent on what direction we ended up going in.