[Forum Game] Edge of Darkness: Ashes of the Phoenix

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I need somebody to sub in as a Captain.
 
Baboush will officially be Subbing in as Captain of the Sirius.
 
Turn 2

Captain Ross ordered Lieutenant Drake to punch it to A - 1, or Tin Town, as it was better known, in order to get the valuable information straight to the Rebel High Command. Unfortunately, even as they were moving, other events were unfolding across the Solar System.

In the Inner System, the factories and gears of War burst to life on Terra and Luna. Expecting a clean and easy win earlier in the War, the Earthling Generals and Presidents hadn't deemed a full military mobilization necessary, but they were disillusioned by the bloodbath on the Red Planet. New Super Carriers and Battle Cruisers were quickly laid out, and within a month two brand-new Terran Fleets were setting course from mother Earth.

The purpose of these new vessels soon became apparent. An all-out assault was launched on the asteroid belt, and 2 of the 3 bases held by the Colonies were Assaulted. A-1 was blockaded and embargoed by 2 Terran Battle Fleets, prime Units that had seen combat in earlier campaigns around Mars and Jupiter. Tin Town is a highly strategic base, controlling vital information that would allow the Earthlings to discover and navigate to Far-Reach, and there is no possibility that the Colonies will let it go lightly.

Meanwhile, the Terrans (also known as the Bluecoats, because of the Solar Fleet Uniform) scavenged among the freighters and transports of Io, Jupiter, and Ganymede, and soon had a new, auxiliary fleet under construction. Most of the ships were refitted with armor and weaponry, but were much poorer counterparts to the main Bluecoat fleets, but some of the ships, especially one carrier and a full bay of fighters, were fresh, top-of-the-line vessels created by the few remaining factories in and around the largest planet.

A-2, another mining belt, also known as the Great Conveyor Belt, for its position resting at the center of Solar trade, was also attacked. With the garrison fleet in Tin Town held down by Terran advances, and no other way for reinforcements to reach the isolated station, The Conveyor Belt was surrounded, and the fleet there destroyed. Upon Reaching A-1, the only reports you can here are that the defenses took a heavy toll on Earthling approaches, but in the weight of numbers carried the day.

Not all hope is lost, however. In order to mount their assault on A-3, the Solar Fleet had to peel off one of its garrison groups, specifically the fleet station over Jupiter. With no real support strong enough to counter them, the Colonials eagerly pushed forward with their own battle fleet, quickly landing on and blockading the Gas Giant. Fighting rages on in the skies and clouds, although with such an overwhelming aerial advantage, and all of the cities floating (there is no real surface), the battle's result seems a foregone conclusion.

Meanwhile, gathering refugee ships, cargo vessels, and producing their own, more efficient (though not as heavily armored or armed) Combat vessels from factories scattered across rebel space, the Outer Planets (and Venus) manage to scrounge another 3 Battle Fleets together, and even though many of the fleets are undisciplined, poorly equipped, or even militia, they all share a profound leadership, and determination to fight back against their "oppressors".

But the Crew of the Sirius couldn't worry about, or even catalog, the transmissions that they received upon disembarking from the jump drive. Instead they had to focus on avoiding the sudden presence of two large enemy fleets, circling around the target destination.

Because you failed the Negotiation roll on Mars, the enemy has been tipped off that your ship may be coming, and it will be more difficult to avoid the enemy patrols.

You must beat a 0 to remain undetected and pass on your way.
The pilot rolls a d10 for a 7 + 1 (Leadership skill of Captain) + 6 (rank of Pilot) + 3 (Evade Skill) = 17. A decent effort, but not enough to evade the enemy patrols. They were looking for approaching vessels anyway, and with the tip they were able to focus some squadrons around the Mars approach, and engage you in combat.
((OK, this will serve as a sort of combat tutorial, as well as giving me a place to implement an experience mechanic that will allow you guys to rank up. I'll be subtracting some fuel for the journey, but otherwise you guys will have to manage what power goes where in order to poer the various functions of the ship. I'll also list the stats of your opposing ship shortly.

EDIT: Because the Pilot is Rank 6, he is more efficient plotting the course to Tin Town, and therefore the total energy expenditure is less than I assumed it would be. 2.5 * 6 = 15. So 15% of the initial PU expenditure is cut away.
- 131 111 PU, depleting one fuel cell down to 9, though not expending a cell entirely.))
 
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First Blood


3 Ships in a flying V formation come barreling towards the ship. They're marked in Terran Blue, and the tri-star of the Solar Fleet. Experienced veterans as you are, you can tell that these ships are Vipers. The first Version Viper in fact. Quickly, you rehash what you know about this common Bluecoat scout and light-assault ship.

V1 Viper:
Hull Points: 5
Power: 50 PU
Guns: 2 - Frontal
Shields: 1 - Frontal
Fuel: Unknown
Cargo: Unknown
Base Systems:
- Accuracy: d5
- Interface: d5
- Evade: d10
- Maneuver: d10

What's more, these fighters are small enough that only an individual crew member can pilot it. This is a different kind of soldier to the Crew member that plays a crucial role on-board a larger ship.

Fighter pilots are an interesting mix of both Pilot and Combatant. Like the pilot, they are responsible for maneuvering while in combat. However, the weapons mounted on their craft are not rotatable as the weapons on the Sirius are, so accuracy is less important than being able to correctly use the weapons and move the ship. Therefore, interface is the second skill available to this Class.
 
First let's cover the PU expenditure for the Sirius.
The Captain ordered all of the PU to be expended on guns and shielding. Shielding can be completely covered for 50 PU (but they'll eventually be worn down), providing 75 PU of protection. Guns will use the remaining 70 PU

Sirius' Maneuver = d0 (0 PU was diverted to thrusters) + 6 (Rank skill) + 1 (Leadership) + 3 (Maneuver Skill) = 10

Fighter A Maneuver = d10 for a 9 + 2 (rank skill) + 1 (Maneuver Skill) = 12 Fighter A managed to outmaneuver Marty, despite the pilot's mad efforts, and is able to bring to bear 2 Guns and one shield against (would be 9, for one side and the front, the most efficient possible angling for your ship, but he beat you, so that number goes down; similarly the shields also decrease, although this is halved, since there aren't as many shields.) 7 Guns and 4 Shields.

Fighter B Maneuver = d10 for a 6 + 2 (rank skill) + 1 (Maneuver Skill) = 9 Fighter B was roughly on par with Marty, though he was caught at an angle where he couldn't get his Left-side gun to fire directly at the Sirius. 1 Gun and 1 shield against 9 Guns and 5 Shields.

Fighter C Maneuver = d10 for a 4 + 2 (rank skill) + 1 (Maneuver Skill) = 7 Not expecting such a rapid shift in position, and predictably holding his course form the original entry formation, Fighter C is unable to outmaneuver our pilot, and is caught by the full force of the Sirius' weaponry, side exposed.
0 guns and no shields to 9 guns and 5 shields.

For every point of accuracy, likelihood to hit is increased by 5%. Any accuracy total above accuracy is therefore guaranteed to hit. Shots that hit have a chance to critically hit (affected by gunner's Interface), which is a shot that does 3x damage (15 PU or 3 Hull points worth). Each enemy shield is powered at 10 PU.

The Captain ordains that Fighter C is targeted first.
With d5 = 1, 5, 1, 2, 4, 2, 2
We'll tackle these one by one:
First Shot: 1 + 5 + 2 + 1 (I can go through these if you wish) = 9, or a 45% chance to hit. The shot missed.
Second shot: 5 + 5 + 2 + 1 = 13, or a 65% chance to hit. The shot Hit. It has a 12% chance to cause critical damage. It did not cause critical damage.
Third Shot: 1 + 5 + 2 + 1 = 9, or a 45% chance to hit. The shot missed.
Fourth Shot: 2 + 5 + 2 + 1 = 10, or a 50% chance to hit. The shot hit. 12% chance to cause critical damage. It did cause critical damage.
Fifth Shot: 4 + 5 + 2 + 1 = 12, or a 60% chance to hit. The shot missed.
Sixth Shot: 2 + 5 + 2 + 1 = 10, or a 50% chance to hit. the shot missed.
Seventh Shot: 2 + 5 + 2 + 1 = 10, or a 50% chance to hit. the shot missed.

The enemy got a grand total of 3 shots off at the Sirius.
Shot one: 5 = 5, or a 25% Chance to hit. The shot missed.
Shot two: 5 = 5, or a 25% Chance to hit. The shot missed.
Shot three: 5 = 5, or a 25% Chance to hit. The shot missed.

End of Round one of the skirmish. If people want, I can continue to write out my process for how combat goes, but it'll look fairly similar. I'd prefer to just show summaries of the founds of combat. Input is appreciated.

Sirius: Undamaged
Fighter A: undamaged
Fighter B: undamaged
Fighter C: -4 Hull points, only one hull point left.
 
OK, I've decided to go with myself just privately doing the combat, and informing y'all of the results. The Captain decides to stick with his strategy, except for a slight modification that allows for a d1 on maneuver (or a guaranteed 1 at the price of 5 PU). The shields are also no longer overcharged, all of the excess power 25 PUs, going to guns.

Fighter A: 2 guns one shield against 7 guns 4 shields.

Fighter B: 0 Guns 0 shields against 9 guns five shields.

Fighter C: 0 guns 0 shields against 9 guns five shields.

Allied:
Shot 1: Hit, no crit. Fighter C destroyed.
Shot 2: Missed.
Shot 3: Missed.
Shot 4: Hit, no Crit.
Shot 5: Hit, no Crit.
Shot 6: Hit, no Crit.
Shot 7: Hit, no Crit.
Shot 8: Hit, no Crit. Fighter B destroyed.
Shot 9: Hit, no Crit. Damage done to Fighter A's shield, but not enough to penetrate.

Enemy:
Shot 1: Hit, no Crit. Was absorbed fairly easily by the Sirius' multiple shields.
Shot 2: Missed.

After the initial assault failed, the disorganized enemy was further outmaneuvered. Marty paid most attention to the fighters that he had already caught at a disadvantage, particularly the damaged Viper. Shifting forward as he turned, Marty was easily able to turn inside of the panicked Pilots' own turns, and gunner Tamrath swiftly mowed them down, turning their fighters into so much debris. Unfortunately, the continued swivel was only barely able to catch Fighter A, the last to be targeted. Fighter A also turned, unleashing a couple of quick shots at the Sirius that melted ineffectually into the shields.
 
Round 3:

Captain Ross moves all of the remaining power into the engines and the weapons, directing Marty to go in for the Kill.

Fighter A: 0 guns 0 shields to 9 guns 5 shields.

Allied:
Shot 1: Hit, no Crit.
Shot 2: Missed.
Shot 3: Missed.
Shot 4: Hit, no Crit.
Shot 5: Hit, no Crit.
Shot 6: Hit.
Shot 7: N/A

The last Fighter has been destroyed, and while he scrambled for a time to flee with his life, the aim of Lieutenant Tamrath steadied and the last Bluecoat was blasted out of Colonial space. Unfortunately, the three fighters that we encountered are only the tip of the iceberg. Two entire solar fleets, comprised of hundreds of larger ships and thousands of fighters, each, were circling Asteroid Mining Outpost A-1, and it was time to leave. Unfortunately, the Terrans are expecting Colonial reinforcements to come from the direction of Far-Reach, so there is no way to leave the vicinity by going towards the Rebel Citadel. Instead, you must decide which direction to travel, using some measure of subterfuge, or simply fleeing, in order to escape the Earth-born forces.

((I'll cover experience and PU loss shortly.))
 
Through inner comms

"Nice victory Captain! But we´ll need more of them, a lot to be honest. Sirius is lovely lady, but she will need fuel and upgrades to be able to reach Far-Reach. Over and out."

Marty gets back to maintaining engine.
 
Communication From the weapons control panel to The bridge
Nice flying captain, but I'm not gonna be able to hold of many more then that. We got lucky at some key points and these old lasers arent operating at top of the line. We need to find some new Hardware I reckon.
Tamrath over and out
 
((Alrighty, this should be an interesting experience. First things first, we'll handle battle experience and how that affects your rank. I don't have a well balanced way of determining how much experienced is gained from battle, but I'll try with this method.

Captain: In battle, the Captain gains one experience point per roll that succeeded and that he also influenced via the Leadership trait. This encompasses Combatant and Pilot rolls, mostly.

Pilot: For every point that he outmaneuvered the enemy by, he gains one experience point.

Combatant: For every point of damage done, he gains one experience point.

Engineer: Per every shot blocked by shields (few in this short skirmish, but should be larger later on), he gains one experience point.

Using this method, I can compute a total of:

Captain: 14 Points of Experience.

Pilot: 19 Points of Experience

Combatant: 15 Points of Experience

Engineer: 1 Point of Experience

The Engineer should have other opportunities to earn experience, since he can heal and modify parts of the ship. As well, we should perhaps take into account the Pilot's evasive techniques back on Mars when selling the contraband weapons to the Martian scavengers, so that would be another 2 Experience points for the pilot. The Captain epically failed, so no cookie for him from that particular mission (in fact, I'm pretty sure that it was impossible to escape detection by Terrans because of how badly the negotiations were failed.)

But how much of an impact does this XP have on the actual rank of characters? I want a scaling system, so I've decided on something that looks like this:
Level 1: 10 Exp
Level 2: 30 Exp
Level 3: 60 Exp
Level 4: 100 Exp
Level 5: 150 Exp
Level 6: 210 Exp
Level 7: 280 Exp

So, from here, we can see that:
The Captain is 14/280 on his way to Level 7.

The Pilot is 21/280 on his way to Level 7.

The Combatant is 15/210 on his way to Level 6.

The Engineer is 1/210 on his way to Level 6.

Does this seem fair? My plan is for their to be a niche for the engineer at spaceports where he can get more exp, and the same for the combatant. As well, as accuracy and opposition gets better, both the Combatant and the Engineer should earn more exp in proportion to the Pilot. As well, the Captain has a range of abilities that he can use, as well as his ability to gain exp off of his Leadership ability, so he should also keep pace. In this situation, maneuverability played a pivotal role in defeating the fighters, although the enemy pilots were more or less fresh recruits (which seriously crippled their dogfighting capabilities), so it makes sense that the pilot gets the most Experience. If there are any problems or questions, just ask.))
 
((OK, so as far as PU and fuel loss goes, you spent quite a bit firing your weapons, and yet more in rapid space maneuvers, plus a little bit on your shields withstanding the one shot that actually hit them.

All told, you've lost 290 PU due to this, and because nobody has any power efficiency, there is no reduction on that. This takes away the 9 remaining in your fuel cell, wears down an additional 2, and takes the next fuel cell down to 79 PU. You now have 45 fuel cells.))

You decide to go to Europa, or at least in that direction. That means going to Io. You need to get a total of 15 to evade the enemy patrols. d10 for a 6 + 6(rank) + 3 (skill in evade) + 1 (leadership). You beat the requirements by 1, and safely make it to Io, blending in with all of the other star-craft bustling about, and streaming in from all directions. Well, all directions but A-1, but your cloaking devices mean that you go more or less unnoticed until you can appear in an area of higher traffic, unnoticed by authorities. ((+1 Exp Pilot; +1 Exp Captain))

Io is a planet caught unprepared for the major engagements swirling around it. News shortly reaches the Sirius that the fighting over Tin Town and Jupiter have escalated while you were in transit ((map will be up soon)), meaning that the important mining bases in Io need to move their cargo. Now.

Metal prices for all varieties of valuable metals, such as gold, titanium, platinum, copper, and much, much more, have plunged, as the big mines that drill deep below the volcanic surface of Io liquidate as much product as they can, There's no telling when the Colonies will arrive, or if the Earthlings will seize the metals for the war effort. Perhaps here is the place to make some adjustments to the ship, refuel, and perhaps make some side credits, whether that be through contracts with local business or metal freight, the choices are yours.

Welcome, weary travelers, to Io; Moon of Fire.




((As I have already mentioned to Bab via IRC, there will be several new things to do on Io that you haven't been able to before. Foremost, you can modify the ship and refuel, though this comes at a price. As well, you can pick up cargo, possibly recruit an additional team member (at a high price), and even engage in ground combat or negotiations in order to complete work contracts. All of this, along with a Solar Map, as soon as I get to it. :p ))
 
Commodities Market:
Gold: 500 Credits/Ton
Platinum: 650 Credits/Ton
Copper: 400 Credits/Ton
Zinc: 400 Credits/Ton
Indium: 450 Credits/Ton
Nickel: 300 Credits/Ton
Phosphorus: 500 Credits/Ton (Weapons Grade)
Lead: 100 Credits/Ton
Silver: 350 Credits/Ton
Tin: 100 Credits/Ton
Tungsten: 300 Credits/Ton
Iron: 50 Credits/Ton

((I'll probably need to modify this, but there is some pretty cool stuff that you can do hear, just give me a few seconds. Also, I'll need suggestions to fix any prices, or for new elements/alloys or whatever.))

Lead + Phosphorus can be made into enhanced mass drivers as additional ship weaponry. Basically, it will be an inaccurate gun that you can spend energy to fire at opponents before closing into traditional weaponry range. Iron will need to be bought, and the engineer will roll for effectiveness of the weapon (d5, d7, d8, etc.). The Mass Driver will take 100 PU to fire, but will cause devastating damage if it hits. You may need to purchase help for this.

As well, Phosphorus and lead can be used to enhance the weaponry used on-planet. Bullets are more accurate, are more likely to go through armor (shielding fries them), etc. Against ships or on-board, they are ineffective. Of course, Engineer must make these modifications.
If you want to make modifications to the ship itself, such as attaching a cargo bay, tin is useful in making the process cheaper.

Copper, Tungsten, and Indium, in addition to being valuable trading items, also make it easier and cheaper to upgrade electronics. ((Interface, Accuracy, Evade))

((If there is anything else that you would like any information on, please ask.))
 
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