Super Robot Wars ∀: Deep Space IC Thread - Part 1: The Culmination

[Phoenix]

Brant checked his display and was delighted to see that his target had taken a rather bad hit. Not only that, it hadn't recovered just yet. It would no doubt be ready to counter him when he came around to finish it off, but that could only happen if it survived his attack. "Let's make damn sure this hits home," he said, arming another spread missile as he came around for what would hopefully be the last pass. And hopefully the others were doing okay. He didn't have quite enough time to check, just yet. The tank was quickly locking onto him, but as long as Brant shot first ...

"Disappear!" Brant launched the missile. The main shell broke apart just in front of the target and let loose a swarm of smaller missiles that exploded all around the target, covering the area in fire and smoke. Brant was already performing evasive maneuvers just in case, but he couldn't actually see his target through the chaos. He supposed his word choice could have been a little better. A brief chuckle escaped him as he considered how he would approach the next pass if the computer didn't get a confirmed kill.

Target: Mark #8(10,11)
Weapon: Spread Missiles
Notes: If you could just explode, that'd be great.

[Terrador]

Bruno checks his monitor--half the targets had been destroyed, and everyone but he had destroyed at least one. As far as crew status... [Mateus seems to be struggling. He still has an opponent to battle.] Though Bruno was behind, he wasn't terribly concerned; shortly, they would both be defeated.

"Giant-4, transmitting shields to Steel-4, over."

Bruno casts Trust on Mateus!

Bruno to (2,11), attack Neupanzer #1 with Incision Knife

Edited June 14, 2016 by Terrador

[Shin]

The first hit he'd taken was a little rough, the impact was larger than he'd anticipated, but all systems were still functional... just something to get used to. Tarquin could feel his heart racing, they weren't real enemies but it was certainly a step up from the simulations. His aim had been perfect so far, he just needed to steady his nerves. Success wasn't an arbitrary target, it was something he was attaining.

There was one target left, the angle and distance were perfect - there was no way he could miss.

Tarquin fires his Revolver at #11!

[Balcerzak]

Thorvald had taken a few decent scrapes, but his breadth of experience had taught him how to keep the damage to a minimum. A sweep of the sensors of the other units showed that nary a test pilot had made it through fully unscathed, but that was really to be expected. This was a test, not a cakewalk. The troops were already exhibiting some good teamwork, limited of course by the mission constraints, so there was nothing further to handle on that front. He'd surprised himself a little on that first shot, hitting a weakness he'd not expected to exploit, allowing a quicker than foreseen elimination of one of the tanks. Now it was time to send the other to the scrap heap as well. While his instincts told him that taking the high ground and raining down death was the single best option, the captain had let something slip when telling people to either idle or "return to the base" to prepare for phase 2, and considering that taking the plateau would only increase his distance, he settled to simply unleash the now fully charged shoulder cannons of the Legionary.

Thorvald holds position, Beam Cannon AI13

Edited June 14, 2016 by Balcerzak

[Nanami Touko]

"Wonderful~" Jess watched with a calm sigh as things finally started to work themselves out. Mateus had been shielded by Bruno, everyone else was cleaning up their remaining bots. This was a pretty good test, all things consider--

"Captain, new heat signatures approaching from twelve o'clock." The helmsman spoke up and interrupted her pleasant thoughts, Jess sitting up in her chair.

"What are they?" Jess had planned for the recruits to fight another wave of robots, but not until they were finished with their current tanks...

"They're... ARGMS-X17-- The Heracles we had prepared for the test-- on main screen."

And then, there they were. All five... Wait, there were six, speeding towards the test zone. What? A rather worried chill slid down Jessica's spine. She turned on comms. "All units, advise caution, this is no longer a drill. Finish off your marks as quickly as possible and move towards the base!"

Astin uses Gain!

They move in and strike down their last Mark!

Target: Neupanzer #16
Weapon: Incision Knife
Final Hit: 100!
Final Crit: 44
Roll: 38,2
Hit
Crit!
Final Damage: 54
Final Crit damage: 82
 
Neupanzer #16 explodes!
 
Astin gains 200 EXP, +7 Will, +2 PP

Elaine strikes down her last mark as well!

Target: Neupanzer #10
Weapon: Gatling Gun
Final Hit: 96
Final Crit: 22
Roll: 45,23
Hit
no crit
Final Damage: 46
 
Neupanzer #10 is totaled!
 
Elaine gains 100 EXP, +6 will, +2 PP

Brant has suave words for his last Mark

Target: Neupanzer #8
Weapon: Spread Missiles
Final Hit: 100!
Final Crit: 11
Roll: 18,75
Hit
No crit
Final Damage: 59
 
Neupanzer #8 is slag
 
Brant gains 100 EXP, +7 will, +2 PP

Bruno Casts Trust on Mateus!

And then sizes up a tank for a major gutting!

Target: Neupanzer #1
Weapon: Incision Knife
Final Hit: 100!
Final Crit: 41
Roll: 62,99
Hit
no crit
Final Damage: 53
 
Neupanzer #1 is taken out
 
Bruno gains 100 EXP, +5 will, +2 PP

Tarquin starts to settle into his inner pilot!

Target: Neupanzer #11
Weapon: Pierce Revolver
Final Hit: 100!
Final Crit: 47
Roll: 30,55
Hit
No crit
Final Damage: 52

Neupanzer #11 is flak!
 
Tarquin gains 100 EXP, +8 Will, +2 PP

Thorvald's finished his last mark, everyone's almost done-- for now!

Target: Neupanzer #13
Weapon: Shoulder Cannon
Final Hit: 86
Final Crit: 14
Roll: 21,47
Hit
No crit
Final Damage: 66

Neupanzer #13 is ash!
 
Thorvald gains 100 exp, +5 will, +2 PP

Edited June 14, 2016 by Melissa

[scorri]

Astin let out a sigh of relief as they easily dispatched the last robot, glad that they weren't even close to being the last one done. But then the Captain's voice came over the com and the relief was replaced with slight worry. Broadcasting over the main channel, Astin called out, "Steel-3, finished up here, will head back to regroup now." Just relax Astin. You've got this.

[Ether]

"One approaching pilot, Captain. They seem excited, Caution, one unit facing... full deploy, unlikely. How many approaching?" Seung-Min asked calmly over the comms, despite her English, turning towards the direction of the incoming feeling. Excitement for battle? The growing heat in one's gut as a promised moment arrived, seemed a better descriptor.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Ether

[Nanami Touko]

"S-Steel-3, good-- K-Kim-- Ah, S-Seung-- LIEUTENANT, what?" Jess was starting to trip over her words as the comms came through with the crew scrambling to get the Riese into battle stations. "Uh, s-six-- only one pilot? A-Alright, that... That's--" eyes freeze, "that's actually good for us." A slightly calm demeanor washed over her, though her tone was definitely frantic. "If there's only one pilot then that means the other five are most likely the rest I had set up for the test. They aren't heavily armed. So it all depends on who this pilot is, and what they're running... Just, stay alert, everyone. We can make it through this; you're all competent pilots." But am I a competent enough Captain to direct them?

[Ether]

"Recommend... offensive formation. Deploy... Heion Reise, prevent enemy from reaching base... main force already deployed... they try catch us off guard... reverse tactic." Seung-Min replied calmly... normally it wasn't a good idea to question a superior mid-battle, but this was a special circumstance, with Jessica being inexperienced, and she herself being able to feel out the lack of human opponents.

"We outnumber... 9 to 6. Shoot down enemy pilot... before realize plan failed."

[scorri]

"Copy that Captain. Steel-3 moving to rendezvous with the rest near the hanger." Astin let go of the com button and settled in, a slightly nervous energy building. Who was the one person with the test bots? Something wasn't right and hopefully things weren't about to go to pieces. The group just needed to settle in and work together. Speaking off... Reaching over and pressing the com button again, Astin was about to call out to Thorvald when Seung-Min spoke up again. With a slight frown, Astin spoke up, "Steel-3 here. Wouldn't it be better to regroup like the Captain ordered? Yeah we outnumber but we're also spread out and not all at full health. Settle into a good formation and take the fight head on all together not spread apart which could leave us as easy pickings."

Edited June 14, 2016 by scorri

[Nanami Touko]

"Y-Yes, that's, that's fine. Alright, just..." Jess shut her comms off and took a deep breath, sitting up properly in the chair. She placed her hands on the rest and looked out over the battlefield. From her elevated point in the ship, she could see the dust trails forming behind their movement. Alright, then... "Helmsman, get us moving! All gunners, eyes on targets once we get clear visuals!" She turned her comms back on, shaking that last bit of worry out of her brain. Things were going to be fine. Astin's comments made sense, but Jess had order them back in a panic. They didn't need to retreat all the way back to the base. "Everyone, I'm moving forward! We don't need to pile all the way back to the base; we're coming to you. Treat this like the test-- five of these vehicles are unmanned, and even if they're being controlled, one pilot can't control five remotely by themselves, over."

The AI on board was probably the same as for the test, that meant it was simple and wouldn't put up much of a fight. That ALSO meant, their only trouble would be the one pilot. The helmsman had gotten the thrusters moving, and the Riese was start to go forward. "Engines engaged! Take off!" With a sudden burst of energy, the Riese went from floating, to soaring towards its destination, guns pointed at the ready. "To all units. Kim's call is not a bad decision, but neither is Astin's. Thorvald, you're in command of the squad right now. If you think we should push forward and take it to them, or hold back, then make the call, over!" It was best to leave this in the recruits hands, as much as part of Jess was screaming at her to not have taken back that retreat order. This will be fine, this will be fine, this will be fine...

Heion Riese to 9,6

MAP UPDATED

Edited June 14, 2016 by Melissa

[Terrador]

Bruno listens intently to the squadron comms... a hostile? An excited hostile? Far from what he expected (the timing!), but it didn't seem impossible; not every mecha in the world was tidily accounted for. Still, some fairly obvious action and ideas seemed to go unmentioned.

"Giant-4 reporting. If the readings of Steel-1 are accurate, we should expect a suicide attack, an enemy with very poor reconnaissance, or a non-aggressive pilot," Bruno notes, in roughly descending order of likelihood. To continue, he offers... his protege? some advice, with an offhand mention of an expected response that Jessica may have been too frazzled to consider. "Tarquin, your intimate familiarity with AI systems affords you a unique opportunity. If overriding the AI mecha is not viable, please assist the telekinetic in identifying the rogue pilot. Over."

Edited June 14, 2016 by Terrador

[Dandragon]

It wasn't hard to tell that the Captain was panicing. And who wouldn't in this situation? Rouge pilots were rarely a good thing. Elaine's mind wandered back to the incident on Colony 2. She had 2 years to mull over that victory. Those 3 pilots she had fought were taken by surprise at that point, and that was a major factor in the reason she had come out of that alive. Here, she was out in the open along with several other pilots on her side.

Her mind clicked back into reality with Giant-3 talking on the radio. As much as attempting to hack into an AI's system sounded cool, it would be better to take them out. They were gonna be scrap anyways. Elaine readied her rifle and attempted to get a lock on the pilot's mech, waiting for the order to pull the trigger. "Come on, you son of a bitch. Give me a reason..." She said to herself.

[Phoenix]

Brant would have let himself relax a little after the blip representing Mark Eight on the monitor winked out of existence if this wasn't merely phase one of the test. Chatter over the comms soon made it clear that things weren't going exactly as planned. Captain Gefalscht seemed on the verge of panic before Kim's report about there being a single pilot with the rest of the test machines. Brant wasn't sure what to make of that at first. Another pilot joining in as an enemy for the test wasn't necessarily a bad thing ... a bit dangerous for that pilot, yes, but other than that ...

Brant shook his head. No, the captain was treating this too seriously for that; she'd said this wasn't a drill. Best to assume the incoming hostiles would be as much of a threat as real enemies. He guided his Accensus into a wide bank and started heading back toward the base. That was when the Heion Riese started heading toward them and the Captain issued new orders for the team. "Stealth One to Giant Two ... it looks like it's time for phase two. Over." He was certain the big grin on his face had somehow made it to Thorvald's ears.

[Xinnidy]

Unsettled Dust

Having rested and acquired her glass of water, Roxanna still wasn't in the mood to think anything about the current test. How dare her. She isn't even moving that spaceship. Of course not, the test if for the mech pilots! Why couldn't she just wait and let me in? Stomping the ground beneath her was only going to distract her nerves for so long. Roxanna took a deep breath. Alright, I'll just go back to my office and get proper things done, then. I guess somebody has to be the bigger woman here. If thoughts could cut, Roxanna's would be leaving deep marks on the walls of the hangar's entrance.

A loud sound of thrusters engaging shook Roxanna out of her inner thoughts, eyes widening in surprise. Scrambling, Roxanna nearly hit the door leading outside in her hustle to confirm her fears. What. The Heion Riese was moving, for whatever reason. "Wha-- Why is it moving?!" The Officer stared, mouth agape. There wasn't reason to move it without a direct order, definitely not for a live-ammo field test. What was the point in that? "What's wrong with pipsqueak?" Roxanna muttered, under all the noise of that flying, massive vehicle. "Gh-- What the hell?!" She waved her arms frantically, were they really leaving her out if they were going to move that thing? She was the XO! The damned XO. Grrr... I am *so* not paid for this.

[riariadne]

"A pilot approaching? Hmm, an unexpected turn," Dwight observed, significantly more calm than Jess was at the new information. Her own orders seemed to be scattered, so the former vice-admiral turned his headpiece on for a moment. "This is your navigator speaking. There's no time for a formal introduction now, but I advise you all to try and remain focused. In the face of adversity, it's important to keep a level head, even when complications like this arise. Keep calm and think rationally about how to best approach the situation at hand, just as you would if the training exercise were continuing as normal. That will be all for now."

Dwight turned towards Jess shortly after. "You would be wise to keep that in mind as well, Captain. Losing cool at sight of one more foe certainly won't inspire much confidence in the new recruits. Panic in a leader can easily inspire panic amongst a team, so you must keep an even mind in tough situations- calm, collected thinking is a keystone of leadership."

[Nanami Touko]

"Y-You're right, Mr. Turner." Jess kept her comms off after the ship had moved, sighing and slouching back into her chair. "I'm not good with things going wrong, if that wasn't entirely evident... And we have no information on this sixth mech. I truly hope nothing bad comes out of this..." With how beaten up some of the recruits had gotten during the tank half of the test, fighting against robots without any knowledge of if they would stop near danger parameters was terrifying. Someone could actually die out there, or get seriously hurt... Jess bit her lip again, one of her more nervous habits resurfacing. I just wish I could get info on that mech...

[Juliette]

Juria had made her way over to the Heion Riese at a leisurely pace, but not so slow as to miss it. She ran diagnostics with other engineers on the ship while training started, all of which were going well, before suddenly the engines were on and the ship took flight.

The young engineer flailed her arms around, once again dropping Reo. "Oh no!" The robot cat was retrieved quickly before Juria headed towards the main bridge panicking. "Miss Captain! Not expecting leviathan ship to be going yet. Thought it would be still in place for training! Not all tests for checkup were finished, things could have went bad! More warning for next times works better for us, please."

[Shin]

A single living pilot? The rest had to be computerised enemies - Tarquin's speciality. He was almost surprised by Bruno's request, was this working as a team? His computerised allies never really gave any feedback and the children he'd worked with didn't speak to him. Or he didn't speak to them, both were very valid answers.

"Copy that, Giant-4. AI enemies have predictable patterns, it should be easier to identify their lead once they draw closer." Tarquin replied, checking his monitors. All his weapons were still online, and core systems were fully functional even after the damage he'd taken. It was a standard defense scenario, he could easily pick them off as they approached. He'd had success with the revolver, but it was time to try something a little more potent.

"Steel-2, Sniper Rifle is loaded and calibrated, awaiting targets to enter effective firing range." Tarquin reported, his nerves having settled. This wasn't any different to his test scenarios, some of them were frighteningly similar to their current situation. He knew his role to play, the question was if the others would perform theirs.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Shin

[SB.]

It was difficult to tell if Mateus was grinning or snarling at this point. He'd missed his first shot, but he'd only needed one more to drop one of the targets. The flashing indicators inside of his suit indicating he'd taken heavy damage didn't bother him much, even before Bruno's shields came through. "Received." he grunted, although he was already considering pressing on without them.

Before he had a chance to finish off the second dummy however, something seemed to cause a disruption in the comms. It seemed like they had an unexpected guest to deal with - but they were far enough away for now. Although Mateus had been advised to back away, he instead hurriedly closed the distance between himself and the second target, taking a swift slash at it.

Mateus to 5,11, Beam Sword #4.

"Target dispatched." He radioed in. "Preparing for further combat." He didn't think that the 'ambush' mattered that much. They still had the advantage of sheer numbers, and as far as he was aware none the other pilots had sustained enough damage to force them out of the fight. "Should I move to intercept?" Even if he didn't see them as much of a threat, they certainly didn't want the enemy forces to reach their commander. Everyone else was talking about preparing to stop them, but nobody was actually doing anything about it. Were they really going to wait and let them make the first move?

[Xinnidy]

(PSA: Will move Mateus to 5,12 instead of 5,11; since that seems to be the intended tile)

Mateus finishes his last target cleanly with one swipe of his Velite's beam sword!

Target: Neupanzer #4
Weapon: Beam Sword
Final Hit: 100!
Final Crit: 27
Roll: 86, 1
Hit!
Crit!
Final Damage: 89
 
Mateus gains +100 EXP, + 4 Will, +2 PP

[Dandragon]

If there was one thing Elaine was not good at, it was patience. It seemed to take an eternity for these robots to arrive. She could have gone back to base, refueled, and gone back into the same spot several times now. But here she stayed, waiting for them to come in range, for the telekinetics to find some sort of emotion, SOMETHING. "Gaaaaaah! Giant-3 to base! How much longer until enemy contact?!" The suspense was killing her. Was this a friend or a foe? Jesus fucking christ can they just fucking MOVE?

[Balcerzak]

Oh boy, when it rains it pours. The expected phase 2 coordination role he'd allowed Brant to talk him into had suddenly escalated into a full-fledged, potentially do-or-die decision making role, one not made any easier by the captain's obvious panic and fluster. Thankfully there was a calmer voice on-board the Heion Riese, though not the one he'd expected as it was the navigator, and not the XO. Curious, there was surely a story there somewhere. Thorvald hadn't just idly accepted the responsibility though, and had been working at keeping track of everyone's status in the midst of trying to focus on his own test results, which thankfully hadn't had any adverse effect.

"Alright everyone, there's been a lot of good ideas tossed around. Steel 3 had made the very salient observation that none of us are operating at peak, so even if we do outnumber the enemy, we need to be careful about our approach and should gather into a formation, while Steel 1's recommendation against falling back also has its merits in catching the enemy pilot off guard. If we take a tempered approach and combine both, we'll be better off, especially now that the Heion Riese will be pulling up alongside us. Looking at the general strengths of our current loadouts, we have two craft that desperately crave close quarters, two that are at their strongest from a distance, and the other four aren't so specialized and have a little bit of flexibility. It's my recommendation then, that the long range troops, that is to say Giant 3 and Steel 2 refrain from advancing while the short and middle ranges collapse on their position to provide support. While the individual positions will obviously need to ajust to meet any changing developments, based on current intel my recommendations are as follows: Giant 4 will obviously be guarding the western flank after they dispatch the final tank and play catch up. Stealth 1 and Steel 4 should take position on the north, being ready to respond to threats on either side, while Steel 3 and myself will draw up along the eastern flank. The best position for Steel 1 is probably halfway between the northern and eastern positions, a little in advance of our long range duo. So in about a minute's time I'd expect our positions to look roughly like the following," Thorvald sends a small file across the comms channel with various positions highlighted. "Steel 2 can certainly use the downtime to attempt Giant 4's suggestion of probing the enemies AI, though I'm not overly optimistic on the result. Giant 3... may have a shot to take depending on how fast the enemy fly in, and will have to evaluate the situation as it comes. Giant 2, over."

Edit: I feel rushed to get this posted, so I'll probably be adding some additional thoughts and narrative flavor after the initial post, but all of the speaky dialogue will remain unchanged.

Edited June 15, 2016 by Balcerzak

[Ether]

"Affirmative. Steel-1, advance." Kim replied, waiting for Thorvald to make his judgment after the Captain had suggested leaving it to him... she supposed it made decent enough sense, it would give them a chance to coordinate on their own, He gave both sides a bit of lip service, before recommending that they take an offensive stance, as she herself had suggested. At the very least, it showed that he didn't necessarily shackle himself to the first impressions of a field commander, which was a good trait to have.

"Taking... forward position." Seung-Min concluded, firing up her thrusters and moving towards the general area noted for her on the map of the battlefield that Thorvald had sent over.

Kim to 12,11, apply cool kid shades to face region.

[Nanami Touko]

Kim cool kids on over to 12,11

"J-Juria?" With comms off, Jess could stand to be a bit more surprised than normal over the mechanics appearance, though it made some sense after she explained what she was doing there. "Apologies-- but it's an emergency. We have unknowns on the battlefield. Please make sure the other mechanics are aware that the ship may take fire, please! If things aren't entirely set up, then you're all going to have to be around in case something sets on fire." It was a grim thought, but a shell blasting through the hull without the E-Field working would cause them hours of trouble and repairs, especially if not tended to immediately.

With that dealt with, Jess listened back into the comms, Thorvald's plan incredibly sound. She smiled a bit. It was good advice, maybe something she could have managed if this were a simulation. You've still got a ways to go. "Giant-1 to all units," she said, comms on live once again, "we will be proceeding with Thorvald's presented coordinates. Stay careful. It may only be a few units, but we don't know what that sixth one has equipped." She felt like a broken record at this point, and even if she seemed calm that time, she was still on pins and needles over this mess... Roxanna was going to give it to her hard.

Enemy Phase/Turn 2

The last tank is still fixed on its AI, moving and firing weak rounds at Bruno

Neupanzer #2 to 2,13

Target: Bruno
Weapon: AA Gun
Final Hit: 86
Final Crit: 4
Roll: 77,98
Hit
no crit
Final Damage: 1
 
Bruno gains +1 Will
 
Bruno Counters w/Gatling Gun
Final Hit: 100!
Final Crit: 16
Roll: 9,29
Hit
no crit
Final Damage: 40
 
The tank is taken out~
 
Bruno gains 100 EXP, +5 Will, +2 PP

"At laaaaaaast..." The silver haired man in the cockpit of the only non-standard colored Heracles grinned wide with excitement. The ones flying alongside him were painted red, but his, it was jet black, the coolest color a robot could be. He licked his lips, cackling quietly. "The idiots at command... These rookies are having trouble knocking down tanks, and they didn't even change the access codes on our mechs they salvaged! Idiots! I'll bet they're fresh from the academy-- Let's give them a real taste of what combat's like. I'm gonna rip 'em all to shreds and come back a hero!" Telling me to leave the new ship alone... This is the perfect time to take it out! When no one knows what they're doing, faced with a proper pilot. I'll show 'em! "I'LL SHOW 'EM ALL!" His grin only grew wider as the machines sped along, finally landing down on the plateau the training was taking place.

"Fish in a barrel-- that's what they say~"

Heracles #s 1-5 spawn, Heracles D spawns!

Player Phase/Turn 3

Objective: Defeat all enemies

Battle Mastery: Complete by the end of turn 5 Player Phase