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Silenos System, Epsilon Sector TCS Phoenix, cruising through the Silenos Nebula Ready Room 2656.138 0914 Hours The comm report had come through. It was believed the Kyoto would be too late if sent after them. It was going to face the enemy force directly. That left this little task force with no hope of strong backup. The Admiral promised she would still send what she could but the promise seemed like little more then morale-buttressing false hope. Commodore Ackerman looks up from the latest intel reports as Major Riley, CAG, entered. The Major was a skilled administrator but had never seen combat. His job was supposed to have been training and evaluating all the fresh blood until the real Wing and Squadron commanders could transfer from the Kyoto. Now this backbencher was in charge of a Wing going into combat. God help us all. “Just under two days until we jump into the T’Rel Meh system and then four more days to Virgin where the real mission begins. Are your pups ready?” Riley responded: “They are terrified. Some are hiding it under a show of bravado. Some are withdrawing. Some are trying to live fast to cope with their fear of dying. I hope once the shooting starts their training will kick in. The waiting is not helping.” The unspoken statement is that they would either become veterans or end up dead. “What do you think of the intel report on T’Rel Meh? Any thoughts?” “The last probe into the system was ten months ago. A starfighter base on the minimally habitable moon of the system’s gas giant with an estimated 25 fighters probably still operating. We also suspect they base a corvette or two. With the heating up in this sector it could easily have been upgraded since then. In fact I expect it will have been.” “Intel has a partial decrypt on a Kilrathi transmission. The message is still not entirely readable but we expect something to come through the jump point from Valgard into T’Rel Meh anywhere from 12 to 36 hours after we enter the system. It could be a carrier or a transport or anything in between. “Inconvenient timing. That jump point is far from our intended path of travel. We could send patrols but they couldn’t monitor it for an extended period. Commodore, I would suggest we begin refitting the Raptors into minelaying configuration. As soon as we hit the system we send the entire squadron to the jump point to mine it. That could cripple or destroy whatever is coming in.” “It will take time to get them converted back once the mission is over and it would put our heaviest fighters out of range for a full day. Do you think they can handle it?” “It is a risk but it might hurt enemy forces we will not have to fight later. Even if it is just a transport providing supplies to the base this could pay dividends later. It will take most of a day to get the Raptors back to normal configuration but I think the payoff is worth it.” Does the Commodore: A. Approve the Jump Point Mine Laying Mission and begin the conversions B. Veto the Plan and hold the Raptors close to home for now So, finished the first vote. Figured I would give another option. This should be the last one before things get started, tentatively on Saturday. I would like to have the flight roster full but that may not happen. Might leave some pilots unnamed for now and let late sign ups get on board immediately replacing the nameless. If you want to sign up there are still tons of slots open!
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Aug 2, 2018 21:20
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| # ? May 22, 2024 05:11 |
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Xenocides posted:
I'll hyperfocus on improving Gunnery. My special ability will be Sim Junkie.
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Aug 2, 2018 21:23
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Approve the conversions. We can do without the heavies for a day, can't we?
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Aug 2, 2018 21:29
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Oh let the raptor boys have some fun before we get stuck in. Go lay some mines
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Aug 2, 2018 21:30
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I've never played Wing Commander, but, eh, why not. Ens. Leslie "Unicorn" Foulke Focus: Discipline Penalty: Leadership Ship of Choice: Raptor If "speak softly and carry a big stick" could be distilled and personified, the result would probably look like Unicorn. Quiet and reserved, the most emotion they're likely to show on their face is a hidden pout or a subtle, bemused giggle. And while that means they don't blink when everything's blowing up around them (handy during a set piece attack!), having to turn up the radio gain to hear their whispers of status callouts isn't likely to get command attention. Also yes, let's do the mining.
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Aug 2, 2018 21:31
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Let's plop some mines down, thats not a war crime if it's in space right?
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Aug 2, 2018 21:36
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Command would like to remind you that while we applaud discretion when it comes to military matters, There are certain limits to this. -No, the captain's cat is not a Kilrathi spy. -Not even if it tries to bite you -The captain is not a Kilrathi spy either -Cats and Kilrathi both do not possess 'Mind control rays' -Do not attempt to take matters of internal security into your own hands. Notify the proper authorities.
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Aug 2, 2018 21:40
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RBA Starblade posted:Let's plop some mines down, thats not a war crime if it's in space right? Only if the Kilrathi ship is filled with refugee war orphan kitties.
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Aug 2, 2018 22:04
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Let's drop some mines. Might lead to a difficult fight now, but would we rather have that or an extremely difficult fight later on?
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Aug 2, 2018 22:11
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If we can't expect much backup we need to minimize the enemy's maneuverability and numbers as quickly as possible. Having our Raptors unavailable in a pinch won't be fun but I think the fact we'll probably have less Cats to deal with will create an acceptable tradeoff. Lay the Mines!
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Aug 2, 2018 22:43
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Mine the jump point. Every chance we get to wear down the Kilrathi without engaging in combat might end up being valuable.
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Aug 2, 2018 22:46
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Mine the jump point Low risk, high reward mission.
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Aug 2, 2018 22:59
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Xenocides posted:______________________________________________________________________________________________ Special Ability: Speed Demon (gotta go fast to earn some kills and show off my awesome moves!) Balanced improvement of skills, if I manage to keep my rear end alive long enough, that is. Also Xenocides, if you feel that you need to fill out the Rapier squadron you could always transfer me. EDIT: also, mine the jumppoint
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Aug 2, 2018 23:06
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Name: Oscar "Zoroaster" Diggs. Gender: Male. Bonus: Piloting Penalty: Leadership Ship: Rapier Hailing from the emerald isle, for a boy from a family of poor farmers there are 2 ways off the land; winning the lottery and going to war. While getting murdered by space cats isn't his first choice, it seems a lot more likely to get him off the family farm then saving up for lottery tickets. And let's mine the jump point.
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Aug 2, 2018 23:07
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Name : Osmand "Duke" McDowell Gender : Male Bonus : Gunnery Penalty : Leadership Ship : Raptor Even in the distant future, it's who you know rather than what you know. Having a family with the family name can get you where you want to be, and impatient and rash youngest son of a well connected family wanted more than anything to be in space obilterating furballs. Despite family trepeditation and a potentially undeserving level of ability, young Duke, as the young aristocrat is unaffectionaley known, has managed to weasel his way into flying some of the confederation's heavier machinery. Veto the plan, because a semi-aristocrat with bloodlust would probably be prefer to be out dogfighting for no tactical purpose than actually doing something useful with his space ship
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Aug 2, 2018 23:26
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Sylphosaurus posted:Whelp, I´ll be surprised if I even survive one sortie but let´s roll with it. With 3 piloting you probably have some of the best odds of not getting shot compared to most of us. Course, you couldn't lead a cat out of a paper bag and will probably be like me when things go south, IE blind panic. But hey. You'll juke like a mofo.
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Aug 3, 2018 00:15
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Let's mine the jump point.
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Aug 3, 2018 00:17
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Makes tactical sense, Approve the conversion, let's lay some mines.
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Aug 3, 2018 00:18
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Drakenel posted:With 3 piloting you probably have some of the best odds of not getting shot compared to most of us. Eh, Phalanx is a competent pilot and very disciplined, she just can't hit the broad side of a dreadnought.  Hopefully she'll survive long enough to start filling in those skills, I'd imagine that Discipline will be vital for bomber pilots if we last long enough to be assigned some.
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Aug 3, 2018 00:38
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Lay those mines. Soon enough, we will have victory or death. Both grand reasons to drink. 
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Aug 3, 2018 01:41
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Oh jeez. I played all the wing commanders up to 4 and have read every single terrible tie-in novel at least twice. Name: Michael "Spud" Merritt Stats: Bonus to Piloting, Penalty to Discipline Preferred Fighter: Rapier Spud's a relatively new graduate from the boonies of Ireland, part of a family that mostly has Marines. He doesn't even have the decency to be a great marksman, let alone a ground-pounder like the family tradition, but he always preferred the flight simulators as a kid. He's a bit spacey, and pitches in to help work on his fighter more than his crew chief is 100% comfortable with. Got his callsign in an ill-advised eating competition at the academy that ended with a trip to the hospital for a stomach pump. Will be focusing on Balanced Improvement, and will opt for Approve Minelaying
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Aug 3, 2018 02:15
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Mine the Jump Point We likely won't be using the Raptors for a full strike anytme soon, this makes them useful. Jump points are useful chokepoints, and the fewer the Kilrathi can use the better. Plus,it means in the future they have to operate as if all jup point sare mined, which will slow them down. Cats we kill now are ones we don't have to kill later, and it will hopefully slow thier offensive down a bit.
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Aug 3, 2018 02:37
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RBA Starblade posted:I look forward to crashing the ship leaving the hangar. This is why they designed Automatic Landing Systems. So you can blame it on the computer!
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Aug 3, 2018 03:07
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All right, catching up with signups. Going to be just using this going forward now that it is in pretty good shape.  If you have "Pending" in your Special column please choose an ability. If your focus column is blank you can give me one or two skills to focus on or stick with balanced. If you do not tell me I will assume balanced. For those curious the T XP points determine whether you get a special ability. If it is 100 or more you get one. You can get another at 200. Going forward sign ups can put in a request for a special ability and what to focus on during creation. I should have done that earlier. Have 6 Hornet slots left and 4 each for Scimitars, Rapiers, and Raptors. Would love to fill out the roster before Saturday so if you are interested please sign up. Noticing a few trends. No one in the Rapier squadron is a leader but not a single 0 in piloting. Raptors have the only 3 leaders. Hornets have good gunnery. Scimitars have good pilots in general and a surprising number of 3's in Discipline.
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Aug 3, 2018 03:42
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Pilot Growth Thought I would vomit some more words about how I see stats changing. XP is given for just flying a mission in a combat zone. You also get xp for just getting into at least one fight while flying. You also get xp for kills and the xp is modified for ship type. A Hornet gets more XP for a kill then a Raptor does. I am still working on how to figure capital ship kills. I also put in some medals and badges that can be earned that give XP. Some are based on the Wing Commander I medals and I added more for stuff like number of missions flown and reaching ace status and the like. I will also probably give some XP for a promotion. For each XP point I roll a d8. Four numbers are assigned to the four skills. The other four are divvied up based on your current focus so a hyperfocus gives you a 5/8 chance of improving a specific skill. I am probably going to lock down focuses during a campaign and only allow switching in breaks in the action like the end of a campaign or Operation to limit when I have to change them up. If you acquire a special ability I will let you choose that immediately. Also:  Thread Contest I need a name for the Operation. The objective is to jump behind the Kilrathi attack and wreck their supply lines so something that conveys that blatantly or obliquely. I will throw in 5 xp to whichever gets the most votes in thread and/or I like the best. Any ideas?
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Aug 3, 2018 03:53
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Operation Chosen Famine. We'll starve their operations on the front of supplies.
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Aug 3, 2018 03:56
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Operation Dog's Breakfast
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Aug 3, 2018 03:57
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http://www.generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=4251 Operation Enduring Grave Vigilo Confido! RBA Starblade fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Aug 3, 2018 |
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Aug 3, 2018 03:59
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Operation Anaconda Divide em and starve em worked for the Union. Also throwing out another series of squadron name suggestions, this time just rolling with the Phoenix ship name for mythical fliers. Hornets: Camazotz Squadron Scimitars: Stymphalian Squadron Rapiers: Thunderbird Squadron Raptors: Roc Squadron
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Aug 3, 2018 04:00
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Cogman'll focus on Piloting and Discipline. As for the operation name? If we're going to be going behind enemy lines to beat up on supply trains, clearly we're going for a Saharan Gutpunch 
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Aug 3, 2018 04:06
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Oh hell gotta try this. Let's see... ...Operation Forgotten Stroke Pfft. Yeah that'll work. ((The next result was Hot Hymn. I love this silly thing.))
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Aug 3, 2018 04:07
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Rick has the twin problems of being one of the best pilots of his generation, and knowing it. He's an obnoxious rear end, a gloryseeker who was moments from being washed out when it was decided that warm bodies in pilot seats were worth more than putting an rear end in a top hat in his place. Rick, of course, is too up his own rear end to realise that his instructors are mostly hoping he'll end up absorbing fire that would otherwise have killed other, less erratic pilots. Focus on Piloting and Leadership, special trait is Speed Demon. I imagine this moron just charges headfirst into dogfights assuming that his piloting skill will keep him safe and allow him to kill the other guy first. Assuming he doesn't get killed I'd love to see some personal growth (hence the leadership gains) but let's be honest; if he doesn't get himself killed he'll be the reason someone else dies. Should be fun!
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Aug 3, 2018 04:29
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Oh, wow, looks like Unicorn got a pretty good roll. How good of a roll is that, probability-wise? I'd like to focus on Piloting and Gunnery, and take Surgeon as a trait. As for operation name, may I suggest Operation Kitty Litter?
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Aug 3, 2018 04:47
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I vote for Operation Canary in the Coal Mine
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Aug 3, 2018 04:52
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Can I take a seat in a Rapier? James "Pepper" Jordan, with a bonus to leadership and a penalty to piloting at first. From the OP we get to pick skills to focus on? So I'll focus on piloting and discipline. If I'm lucky enough to get a special skill I'll take survivor. Pepper narrowly escaped joining a street gang as a teen, and focused instead on school as an escape. He's doing his best to put his past behind him by killing cats and staying safe, but he often gets distracted looking out for teammates rather than watching his own six. Also, how about Operation Fall Harvest? Arcturas fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Aug 3, 2018 |
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Aug 3, 2018 05:02
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Have another pilot: Sybilla 'Dogsbody' Baldric Female Strength: piloting Weakness: leadership Special: survivor Balanced advance Ship: Hornet Sybilla received her callsign from trying a little too hard to be friendly and helpful at any cost, and she'll go out of her way to aid and assist others to the point of self-sacrifice. No-one as yet has been able to achieve the latter, though, as she is also a born survivor. There's an odd knack that runs in her family for making it alive through the hairiest situations along with an even greater knack for ill-advised decisions. If, in any given situation, you're at a loss - ask Sybilla's advice and proceed to do the opposite. Sybilla would advise you not to lay any mines at all, as somebody might hurt themselves on the things.
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Aug 3, 2018 06:55
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Have yet another pilot! Alan "Cimbri" Davik Male Strength: Leadership Weakness: Gunnery Special: Sim Junkie (Assuming I get one) Ship: Hornet Hyperfocusing in Discipline to start unless I roll well in it, in which case I'm going for a Balanced approach. Alan's not the sort you usually see in a fighter group, soft-spoken and bookish, he wanted to be a professor before he joined the force and his callsign even comes from an offhanded remark involving an ancient Earth tribe(Shush it's totally plausible and not just to make things easy for me and Xeno). Joining up almost on a whim and for idealistic reasons he'll be the first to acknowledge he's not the best pilot in the unit, in particular, he's known for his lacklustre weapon leads. Nevertheless, he's proven competent enough on extended duty to be assigned to the patrol oriented Hornets, especially since he's proven to be something of a peacemaker amongst the more boisterous light fighter pilots during his training, and his education and predilection for the simulator lends him the occasional insight when things turn hot. Also I vote Mine the Point, while it might bite us later the Commodore doesn't seem the type to hold back because of a maybe. (Or at least I'm going to pretend he isn't for now.) Cimbri fucked around with this message at 07:45 on Aug 3, 2018 |
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Aug 3, 2018 07:43
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Pilot : Perry "Pops" Pachman. Craft : Hornet (I guess? No preference to anything) Plus to LDR, Malus to PLT, Surgeon. Balanced Grow. Late thirties, with a partner and two kids. Enlisted relatively old. Care about the younger pilots - attempt to play dad to the squadron earning him the nickname of Pops. Not as fast as the younger pilots.
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Aug 3, 2018 07:54
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Operation Boney Hand?
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Aug 3, 2018 09:00
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| # ? May 22, 2024 05:11 |
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Oh wow Zoroaster can't even shoot straight. I guess that means he has to focus on piloting and gunnery for now. Operation Raptor Egg OscarDiggs fucked around with this message at 11:39 on Aug 3, 2018 |
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Aug 3, 2018 09:39
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