new one!

Woo!!

My understanding is, the Morningstar is kind of a conceptual hybrid between an A-10 and an AC-130 (which doesn't do close-air missions like the A-10, but is really effective at dumping massive amounts of firepower in a very focused area).  I'd love to have a few more of them, but so far, we've only had one PC with any sustained interest in flying them, it seems.  Like the USAF, everyone wants to fly the new fancy fighters...*grin*

  lots of people   seeing  Vids  of Shadow  and  the Hermes  fighter   Piltos, and  shiny Blue Max..and they say..'we have  the need... the need for speed!"

Yup Lizzy has the need, the need for speed, but if there was another one Lizzy would be open to flying one when needed. Yes she loves her fighter but with everything she has been through, she will do whatever is needed to help them win the war.

I am just saying she would be open to flying one if they needed her too, when they did ground assaults, in space battles she would use her fighter. But they only have one for now correct?

The thing about the AC-130 is, if they do the job right, there's not much publicity about it...their guys get home safe and there are no bad guys left to tell horror stories about how Hell opened up all around them.  It's scary how much damage one of those can do, and most of the time, the only people who have any idea they're there are the guys who called for them and a couple of radar operators.

Pretty cool vid of the inside and outsides during operation. There's a reason their called spookys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG8A3FXhZ_c

Also a narrated version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lrfdzU8k4k
This message was last edited by the player at 20:48, Fri 27 Mar 2020.

Sorry I wasn't around yesterday: our distance learners were having their projects assessed. The first time we have done that online, they are normally invited to visit the university. Amazingly, it went pretty well. One or two technical hitches, but we overcame them and every student had the opportunity to present their work.

I worked from 9am to 7pm, with a 15-minute break for lunch. Didn't get time to do anything non-work related.

But today I play!

(Well, I may record a story for colleagues who are coping with small children. I do traditional storytelling, so I've downloaded our lecture recording software and will record some stories they can play for the youngsters.)

and on the covid front:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej803Z1TYvY

tell them stories of  the ESN Hermes!

  ::chuckels:: Nikki..i might have  to send that to  my football friends  tonight

for the game ....

 everyone seems  able to post a bit ( a little ) so , when Jump off  time comes, ground  folks  will  be in a separate  thread, while  'air war'  will be in another....Space will be used   for   Sarah and  'fleet actions'

 now..  Garrat and his other  characters.. Garrat  will be concerned  for  Teela, and   trying to  Help on the  LG...

 Teela  is   still down with  a sickness ( sadly it mirrors the arrival of RL  stuff!)

 Mortica  has been given leave  to 'try and find' Viktor.

 If, at any time  the players  can  post we'll  figure them into the  mix,otherwise..like a  good TV  show, they'll  wait until the 'next episode' to return.

 My reasoning is this?  Both players  are  highly active when they are able to post. I do not  feel like  i could  do  justice  as the players would think of thier characters.

 Another reason..maybe the most important one, Anyone can die in this game. its  a tenet  i adhere to, ( even for my NPCs), because  that makes the game a bit more 'scary', and ( hopefully) stops  people from doing ...'stupid stuff".... if you need  a reference as  folks who did not adhere to that..go back and Read Ajax's  on the Qarl ship..and the   Prylok ship...or   'mind reader guy' when he wanted to capture   Captain Si's sister.

 In  the  9+ years that this game has operated... Shadow   (2 times)   CAptain SI (1)  Will  (2) Frans  (1)...Roy (1)were saved by  outrageous rolls...

on the  'bad'  end... Bo was killed when he was given  the 'last chance' roll after  mine was bad... Mine reader guy wasn't even close... Shade  was saved..not by a roll..but  by Teela. He was trapped on  the  crumbling   'cliffside' on Aqra  as Nikki and the other  shuttles  saved Will.. Shade  couldn't make the  Jump to the  shuttle   and   just saluted  the  aircraft as  it  went away... he tried , after it  went away.. to scramble up the deteriorating   rock slides, when  Teela     used her  wings  to  dive  down and  save him...( something i did not foresee, when it became apparent  there wasn't  anything  anyone  could do.....this also   made Shadow  get   Shade to start working out  in the tunnels and such.)

 so?.. rookie  PCs   and those who ghost alot, i might  drag along  and   either do rolls for them..or play them as PCs  ( or both)...but i hate to take established characters into a battle, with the  chance they could  die!

I can agree with that.  I mean, there have been times where I knew I would be gone for a day or two, and I asked you to NPC Roy until I got back...but that's a different situation in that I knowingly gave you permission to use him in what could be a very perilous situation, plus I knew, more or less, when I was coming back.  But these PCs haven't been active (except Garrat) in weeks, and their players have no idea what's going on in the game at this moment to give consent about.  Better to have them otherwise occupied.

And thanks for making the decision on Garrat for me...I was pondering whether or not to have him along.  This frees up a normally-assigned seat for Izzy...

i have  ways, of  course  , to drop them back into the action, should then  be able. but.. ...as if  it were RL... most folks  won't know , unless it happens..if it happens, then it  will be in a RP...non-magical..way

I posted the Load  out shection.. and will set up the shuttles  with some input from Roy.

 Feel  free to  add your own load outs.

 For Pilots?... its   assumed you have at least an Enviro suit and Head gear.... sidearm and Bootknife.

  anything else you have in your  small cargo  box on the outside of your fighter needs to be listed...

 You can state in your load  out  that you are  wearing   light..or Medium  Boarding armor ( heavy armor  won't  fit in the aircraft. )

 if a Pilot doesn't want to make a laod out..then state in IC  what you  are wearing , because  it can make a difference if you get hit, or  you get shot  down and   don't  furn into a ball of flame

 Ground troops ...sadly..should make   a list of the  goodies  they bring to the party.

...............

 The reasoning for this is  simple..'semi-realism '.. if its not listed..you don't have it..i have   a  'default' loadout for NPCs  based on who they are and what they do..Supe has  differant things then Will...Will will have  diffrant things  then  Scarlett ect ect.

 an example.. , Shadow has  to POD  out.,..ot crash lands.. he gets  his  weapon rations  ect from the compartment.... as he  tried to amake his  way to our lines, he comes across   a squad of Verians... he cannot  pull out his handy dandy Heavy Pulse gun..because?.. he doesn't have one!

 If  a PC  doesn't have a load  out..then  i will  either  ;let it go' what your character is using... or  PM you and say..'nope..you  wouldn't have that'

 Grenades are important to keep count of..if no listing i will give you one or two..if you have them listed  i will keep track( the best i can) during the battle.. and when you  run  out..I will let you post stand, but  say "...and  as  he reached   for his  belt..he realized he was out of grenades.."

 its  a bit of   bookwork  for you guys...alot for me... but it keeps the framework solid.

sometime tonight  or  , tomottow afternoon, i wil set up to Vera  threads...

one will be  for Ground   forces, on will be   for   'war in the air'

 add to that...'Space'...'Hanger Dec"..maybe some  use  of 'Hermes Bridge'

 Med tech  may be used   if   Cat stays behind...... if other  NPCs   figure into the  action  they'll pop up in threads that  suit them.

...............

 I believe  we only have  1  'rookie' , but i'll go over this.

 when the  Jump off  starts, it will be like a 'movie', from there on out until the end..Scan the  threads  for your characters    to see if you were mentioned..COMed ..whatever. I hate to 'double post' and i like to show  views from different POVs.

 So?  fighters  zooming over head  and seeing   bad  guys  closing  it, Might COM  the ground forces  about that  as they try to   circle back to strafe them..

 from the Ground's point of   view   they'll be seeing hearing all this  while do what they are doing.

 on the Hanger Dec, the  Admiral and Board   will be watching from his   makeshift war room there.. ect ect...it  will be a bit chaotic ..its  supposed to be...

.....................

 now?  'misunderstandings'..... They can and do happen..heck? it happens  on shore leave or the Rec dec when some one didn't see some one come in or leave... In the battle  it is all considered  'fog of war'.

 getting buried  by some posts  would be like    being caught in a firefight  or   in a furball in the air.. if you miss  something, or misunderstand that  will be part of the  game... to go back and chance   or edit something, that someone else

 ...........

 remember..you  state your  Actions in RP .. and what you hope to do... I will post a 'result/answer' post ..some posts  i may answer right away ( that is , as soon as i see it)..others  i may  wait a bit to  see if anyone  esle is alble to reply...its  as close  to 'turn based'  as we'll get, and depending  where you are in the  battle, you may get more   answers then others.... I try  to keep the battle s going to keep the  intense  feeling  behind the game... it works  some times..sometimes it doesn't... the average is, the game  keeps moving as  PCs   act.