RE: Art of Domination Thread 04
03-14-2018, 11:05 AM
(01-31-2018, 10:04 PM)Ajnin Wrote: »Does it fuck with radar?
Can we burn it?
Would destroying a transport clear the air around it, or at least let the smoke dissipate a bit?
Can we get a spec analysis of the composition of the fog, or would that take too much time?
- Yes. Radar indicates the entire smoke-covered area as one singular, massive vehicle, and this is clearly not the case. Everything in it is hidden from radar.
- Destroying a transport would clear out the smoke immediately surrounding it, as well as increase overall visibility. Right now, the smoke is making it impossible to see anything past one metre.
- The smoke itself, according to the scanners, is made up of an unknown element. Whatever it is, it’s outside both the human and saramis periodic table. At least it’s not harmful to breathe.
On the subject of flamethrowers: They will definitely be on the table after this battle.
Quote:smuchmuch’s plan
You carry out the plan. The weather machine does its work, and the air clears. 20,000 RP is spent, leaving 75,900 RP in reserve.
You can see the transports still pumping out the smoke, but they’re now visible to attack. You see Bodyjackers also pouring out of those transports. You quickly order the construction of 30 SID clusters, 10 Savior Drones.
Grenda and the Usurper Knights armed with Phantomic Repeaters get to work clearing out the Hotel District. Hawkeyes and Talbat also volunteer, risking themselves to save as many as they can. With her present, the local guards also have explosive rounds.
Regular Army troops are dropped in via Skyshadows, and engage as many monsters as they can. Your tanks and APCs are also in the fight, clearing out the roads with as much firepower as they can deliver. Savior Drones and SID clusters are on the move too.
Ghulls updates you with the situation at the prison.
Ghulls: Vora, the enemy is setting up artillery pieces in the city’s prison, right up on the roof. 12 prisoners confirmed dead, along with 4 security officers. The enemy is just ignoring everyone who wasn’t in their way. Our Swarm Intelligence Drones were spotted and fired upon. They’ve sustained damage from grenades. We’ve lost 2 SID clusters.
Suddenly, Grenda is yelling at you from Cadrow.
Grenda: PRETENDERS! THE BODYJACKERS HAVE PRETENDERS INSIDE THEM! WORM ALERT! WORM ALERT!
Ghulls: Oh no.
Hawkeyes: Vora, we already blew them up but even after that shock we’re still seeing worms crawling out of the remains!
Talbat: I wish we had flamethrowers. Hawkeyes, how fast can you make firebombs? Maybe find some iodine?
Hawkeyes: Gimme a minute! I’m still busy shooting!!!
Ghulls: Anna, if things get too rough, pull out of there!
Hawkeyes: Don’t worry about me, cowboy! I know when to fold!
Some of the Bodyjackers were full of Pretender worms. Even with your soldiers’ best efforts, many of the worms are able to flee and attack weaker targets.
![[Image: eDMOTLj.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/eDMOTLj.jpg)
Civilians are shouting in mass panic as Pretenders are crawling through drains and vents into people’s homes, killing people and taking over their bodies. Many are desperately fighting back or fleeing in whatever way they can. You can hear some of it through the radio chatter.
“SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE US!”
“RUN! RUN! RUN!”
“GERALD! WORM! KILL IT KILL IT!”
“GET THAT HOSE WORKING OR WE’RE DEAD!”
“EVERYONE GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!”
“GET TO THE PORTALS NOW NOW NOW NOW!!!”
The number on your display tells you grim news. 820 confirmed civilian casualties. 65 soldiers are dead, killed by relentless Bodyjacker hordes. Their BARA suits were not enough to stop their claws. Your fists clench.
Then you hear an unwelcome voice.
???: Shadow Company. Five. Seventeen. Nine.
Feathers: Commander, we’ve figured out what Shadow Company is. These signals are being broadcast from invisible units in Cadrow. The messages are being sent beyond our borders.
You: What are these messages saying?
Feathers: They’re reporting civilian locations. They are informing Centricom, our enemy’s strategic leaders, where civilians are hiding and how many there are. Commander, the enemy is focusing on inflicting as many civilian casualties as possible. Every single reported civilian stronghold is a target for Pretender swarms. Radio chatter analysis also shows that enemy forces at the prison are preparing mortar strikes with shells full of Pretenders to be used civilians.
You can hear an enemy soldier at the prison speaking through the radio:
“Direction and distance confirmed, will deliver Pretenders on the turncoats ASAP. Load those canisters. Watch out for enemy activity.”
Those mortars could hit anywhere in Cadrow.
Feathers: Commander, the enemy intends to use the worms and convert the city against us.
You: Attention, all gunships, engage enemy artillery crews at the prison’s rooftop! Kill those bastards now! Make sure you don’t hit their canisters, those things have Pretenders inside!
Your pilots acknowledge and rush back into the battlespace, eager to stop another atrocity.
As your forces do their best to save Cadrow, HQ calls in and reports a disturbing sight.
HQ: Commander, we’re seeing civilians walking towards us from inside the smoke.
You: Civilians?
![[Image: 8y71kX0.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/8y71kX0.jpg)
Humans and saramis, all wearing similar clothes. You can see children among them.
HQ: They’re warning us to get away and not shoot them.
Feathers: Commander, these people are walking as if there’s something behind them, pushing them forward. I’ve been analyzing their speech. They sound lucid, aware of what they’re doing, but they cannot stop walking.
HQ: That’s not all, Commander. Some of our soldiers have begun acting strangely. They’re saying words in sync with the people walking towards us. Here, listen to one of them.
Pvt. Garyn: Please don’t shoot. Get away, please, we can’t stop it. It hates us. If you shoot we both die. No, please. I’m sorry, please, no more, I’m walking, I’m walking, stop please stop.
HQ: They’re also mimicking their gait. We’ve had to pin them down on the ground or else they’d be walking forward too. All scans indicate no presence of electronic implants or parasitic life-forms.
Feathers: Commander, this is definitely a psychic attack. I believe that these ‘thralls’ are now linked to your soldiers who are speaking along with them. In short: If you kill a thrall, a soldier dies along with them. By my count, there are 300 soldiers affected.
Ghulls: Goddamn it, are we going to have to make Overmind Armor for everyone?
You: This can’t be all there is. Why keep these thralls alive, if their death can kill off my soldiers? They must have been placed here to act as a shield for whatever they have deeper in the smoke.
Feathers: I agree. We need more information as to what’s controlling them. We might have to consider the possibility that the creature causing this predicament is invisible to the naked eye.
Lagan, who has made it down planetside, chimes in.
Lagantis: We could clear the smoke with the weather machine, but we don’t know how the enemy might respond if their hand is revealed. They could just instantly kill off our troops the moment they get exposed. We do have other options, though. We could try shooting them in the shins to try and slow them down, or send out our fast ground vehicles to nab them.
You: What if we send in Savior drones to grab them and fly them out of the battlespace?
Ghulls: Hold on, we got portals now! We should just generate portals right under those thralls and just send them elsewhere that way.
Lagantis: That could work too. Our real problem here is that we don’t know what we’re dealing with. We’ve never seen any enemy like this. We don’t know if the enemy will just execute these people the moment we pop a portal open.
As Cadrow City is embroiled in fierce, horrific combat, your forces at HQ watch as the thrall draw closer. Three hundred Alliance soldiers and three hundred prisoners are at risk of instant death. 15 minutes remain before the thralls reach HQ.
What are your orders?
- Make use of Portal Wagons and transport those thralls away to an empty field.
- Send out Savior Drones and get those thralls as far away as possible!
- Clear out the smoke using the Weather Machine first! (8,000 RP per minute)
- Shoot the thralls in the legs.
- Drop artillery strikes where the transports landed. Maybe it will save the thralls by killing whatever’s behind them.
- Send out troops in Sahela-9 vehicles to try and grab the thralls.
- Try getting your affected soldiers out of the combat zone and see if that frees them from the psychic effect.
- Order troops to dig holes in the hopes of trapping the thralls.
- Something else!
>_
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