forwardmomentum (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
forwardmomentum) wrote2016-06-22 08:21 pm
forwardmomentum) wrote2016-06-22 08:21 pm
[ DEFENSE TEAM PLOTTING ]
Hey all! Madi/Miles player here; I thought that now that we've got more information (especially considering there was some confusion about what the event actually was at first), it might be good to put everyone's ideas in one post and revisit them and hopefully get some more cohesive discussion going on! Obviously we don't all have to agree on a single thing, especially given the huge variety of people/mindsets on this team, I'll submit whatever we have to the mods at the end of the week, but let's get some more discussion and ideas going on!
I've gone through the defense team thread on the OOC event post and reposted everyone's contributions (with links back) but if I seem to have missed anyone's post please let me know! I'll put Miles & Bel's suggestions at the bottom of this post; Miles has got some Strong Opinions on how to handle this because, like some of the other folks on this team, he was present for the destruction on Caducus Primary. So, have a look at all of this and let's plunge into some discussion! If you/your character has changed mind in light of new information, feel free to make amendments. And if you've got top-levels for your characters at the event, feel free to link them in this post! I'll add a link for Miles's top-level when it's up, if anyone wants to hit him up about this ICly. ANYWAY:
Elle (quixotically) thread
Elle's suggestions amount to making barricades out of anything they can -- there's lots of metal, right??? That'd make decent barricades?/ Setting traps wouldn't be a bad idea, either?
She also suggests that, if it comes to it and negotiations aren't helping, that they work with the offensive team to try to lure as many enemy combatants into an area that they can seal off, and then open the airlocks. Like... Elle doesn't want to kill them, but she doesn't know a lot of other defensive options. She's used to offense being her defense when negotiations go south, she's sorry :(
Something that'll be important, though, is taking advantage of the fact that they know their way around their ship, and the enemies don't.
Arcee (ninjabike) thread
Arcee is all about setting up some choke points and lethal traps in strategic locations in the event of boarding and breech. She also thinks those with no combat experience should be put in the back and run communications and first aid.
She also thinks a good defensible position is needed to be fortified and marked as the fall back point in the event they are boarded. This area would be where the noncoms would go since just because they're assigned a team doesn't mean you should send some poor idiot that's never fought before out into a fight. They can help in other ways.
This also means communicating with the other teams so they don't walk into a trap or barricade when things go pear shape.
Rinzler (notglitching) thread
Rinzler's tendency to contribute may be erratic (initiative and verbalizing are likely to drop noticeably when Clu's paying attention to him), but he'd express the opinion that the best defense is a good killing-all-the-threats-before-they-can-kill-you.
If When that idea is thoroughly shot down, he'd suggest combative tactics primarily oriented around stopping them before they can even make it on the ship. Mine the area between, send out the transporters and all other armed flightcraft to destroy any attempts at docking or shuttle transfer and take out any guns they may have. They can't damage the crew if they can't even access the system properly.
It'll be clear he doesn't see much reason to leave an attacking force like this alive at all, and while he can be nudged into prioritizing protection, he's going to be actively opposed to any attempts at appeasement. All that does is let everyone else know this system is an easy target for exploitation. They're attacking the Moira, and if (for some glitched reason) the users here are opposed to wiping them for it completely, they still need to be made to lose in every way. Not (just) for pride, but for making sure no one else thinks it's a good idea.
Meh Yewll (imaginary_wife) thread
Doc Yewll's going to do everything in her power to create some forcefield locked areas of the ship for safety. So who would be down for creating "Safe Rooms"? I know she'd try to keep them out of Med Bay with the same sort of elements she used for the Hulk's cage.
She'd also be down for trapping intruders.
I also love for her to build stuff with people.
Napoleon Solo (smoothaf) thread
napoleon is strongly of the opinion that they do whatever it takes to survive so kill as many of them as you can if they get boarded
he will also encourage every underhanded trick, rig traps, cutting power and life support to areas, messing with gravity and then sending in like a transformer to pick them off since they'll be unaffected by lack of oxygen and heat
pretending to not be a highly trained spy comes second to not dying
Liquid Snake (saveyourserpent) thread
Liquid isn't going to have any qualms in killing these guys. If they gotta fight, they gotta fight (and he loves a good fight). He's had to deal with unwanted people coming into his shit before (HI SNAKE) and he's also used to working with a team.
An Official Plan should definitely be made but he knows a lot of stuff's going to happen on the fly.
Charlie (springlocking) thread
Charlotte/Charlie here will happily contribute to the least violent ideas for defense. (e.g. making barricades, setting traps, etc.)
She will also happily sneak up on lone enemies and sap 'em with blunt instruments. She's good at that.
Other than that, uh...she's not big on planning aside from "make sure you're prepared for whatever you can think will go wrong," so maybe she'll advocate that? idk? If anyone has any good ideas for what/how she can contribute more/better, lemme know!
Han Solo (straightouttacarbonite) thread
Like a number of others above, Han is in favor of getting rid of their enemies before they get aboard. To that end he'll volunteer to take the Millennium Falcon out, leave it inconspicuously stuck on the side of the Moira, and give 'em hell once it becomes clear that they're gonna have to fight. It's a fast, agile ship with pretty formidable weapons, and it's definitely how he feels he can be most useful in this situation. Likewise, any other free transporters or weapon-equipped private spacecraft should be pressed into service. He'd much rather see a space battle than have a full-on invasion.
Given his experience in this kinda thing he is happy to do as much strategizing / sub command etc as seems reasonable, though I haven't decided whether I want to put him up as a candidate for team leader.
He'd probably ask Lando to fly with him, and they could probably use one or two more people to man weapons systems, if anyone is interested.
Riptide / Aurelia (knaval/diamondslap) thread
OKAY THIS IS A REALLY CHEAP PLOTTING COMMENT but riptide isn't much of an Ideas Guy and was literally built to be a follower, so i'll just OFFER UP THIS 32FT GIANT ROBOT who will basically do whatever as long as it's not like, actively killing the other ship.
aurelia, however, will very vocally want to kill them all and/or get a megaphone and tell them to stop being gigantic wussies and accept that it was natural selection and also kind of funny
Peridot (peridork) thread
FIRST OF ALL, Peridot is VEHEMENTLY against giving Bruce up, THAT IS HER FRIEND, YOU DON'T!!! GIVE FRIENDS UP!!! TOTHE TOTALITARIAN LEADER YOU ONCE SWORE YOUR UNDYING ALLEGIANCE TO THE ENEMY!!!
Anyway, Peridot's MAIN reaction is going to be to do this, but barring any backup or retaliation from the captains on that, she'll mostly be itching to set up traps/barricades/strengthening armor and defensive weaponry, rather than trying to like. Get involved in the plan-making discussion, because as far as she's concerned the Cauducians have every right to be angry but she's also not going to roll over and let them kill them all, or take her friend.
She agrees with the idea of protecting non-combatants (especially since she IS one herself), and guarding those in cryo. She's also prioritizing defense of life support/engines because lmao that's what got knocked out on the LAST ship she was on and it ended with her being stranded on an enemy planet.
tl;dr talk less build more, and anyone who harms one hair on Bruce's head has to anSWER TO HER.
Nihlus (beautifulspaceraptor) thread
There's a lot of quiet facepalming at the team arrangements. After that, he opines in.
Regardless of anyone's personal (or lack of personal) opinions on Bruce, the fact of the matter was that they needed scientists like him if they were going to sort out the mess with the Ingress. His work on Ceta's forcefield was was also immediately useful for defense.
The other issue is the fact that he needed to have a reinforced cage built in the cargo bay to hold whatever kind of monster he turned into. Did they really want to push the issue on that front? They could very well bring about another round of the incident that'd caused this entire mess to begin with.
So, Nihlus is going to be backing everyone on reinforcing the ship's defenses. With the fabricator up and running, making parts they need will be relatively easy and they still have a lot of salvage from Del Pascia and various others and sundry that can be converted. Ideally, they prevent the Caudacans from boarding entirely, but if worse comes to worse then he advocates non-lethal traps and misdirections.
These are, after all, the last people left of their world.
And with the increased number of able crew and with the powered number amongst them, they could afford it at any rate. Moira's own crew are priority, but they have enough technical and medical knowledge that they could handle a lot of potential attackers without necessitating lethal force.
Reinforcing any potential entry points such as the windows and airlocks will be priority. Medbay, navigations, engines, tower and gunnery are next on the list. The idea of using holographic Bruce as bait is certainly sound, especially with the Cybertronian holoform tech.
In addition to that, however, they should probably plan out designated areas to keep any knocked-out Caducians. They can even be used for negotiations after or during fights.
Clu (a_perfect_end) thread
Shoring up the walls is good and wholesome fun for the entire crew, but, but, consider!
TRAPS.
They don't even have to be good traps! Given adequate parts and preparation time, the whole fiasco could be solved with a sufficiently large Dremel.
No? Perhaps a tuning fork?
...When this endeavor is justly shot down, he'll sulk a bit, but then commit completely to whatever the team decides.
Frisk (gainedlove) thread
Frisk is going to be exactly useless, and suggest that the ship as a whole, in list of priority:
A: Not hurt any of the Caduceans
B: Try to make friends with them
C: * Flee
They're not very good at the whole 'necessary force' idea.
Miles Vorkosigan & Bel Thorne (forwardmomentum & hellsbel) thread
If defense/escape really becomes the only viable option (and Miles wishes it won't, but he's seen Caducian diplomacy before and they're not very...flexible), a big part of Miles and Bel's approach to defense would be to come up with a non-lethal method of preventing the Caducians from pursuing them. Fending them off so the Moira can escape should be the objective, not to eliminate the enemy. Disabling or mucking up any of their ship's parts or systems -- preferably remotely, but if there are any brave souls up for a spacewalk, raise your hands -- messing with their navigation, their engines, whatever might slow them down enough for the Moirans to run and lose their tail. Because the Caducians are obviously more than one planetary settlement, destroying the ship and slaughtering its crew would be an even bigger political disaster, so Miles and Bel want to avoid loss of life and keep ahead of the Caducians long enough to reach their destination.
Depending how fast the action goes down when the Caducians attempt to board and how much warning or chance to protest the crew has, Bel & Miles would argue that if negotiations break down, the Caducians should be kept off the ship. Defense of airlocks, windows, and outer corridors would come first; non-lethal weapons if possible, but priority goes to the Moirans' lives if the Caducians choose to get violent. Defense of Engineering and Navigation is also crucial -- the ship's weapons, engines, sensors, and life support cannot be allowed to fall into unfriendly hands.
Bel & Miles would ask for someone to monitor the ship's internal cameras and direct the defenders to where they are needed. Assuming there are external cameras that can show the ship from the outside, those should be watched too in case of mines, EVA troops with laser cutters, etc. To minimize loss of life, external threats would only be fired upon if they were attempting an action that would lead to loss of life, such as trying to blow up part of the ship. Attackers who manage to board would be met by military-trained crewpeople, stunned or otherwise incapacitated, and held in a secure area for delivery back to the Caducian ship when it's all over. They would both argue strongly against proactive attempts to kill the Caducians if they can be neutralized without killing; they've suffered enough and there is a moral duty to preserve the lives of such an endangered population.
If the ship is boarded en masse, Bel and Miles recommend placing everyone who can't (or shouldn't) be in combat in the most inaccessible place on the ship, decompressing the outer corridors, and placing military-trained defenders in space armor (or the equivalent, especially crewpeople who can operate in vacuum without a suit) there as the front line, defending the ship's vital systems and the rest of the crew at all costs. Some tactics would depend on what the crew knows about how well the attackers are armed and protected, and how to exploit any weakness in that protection to take them down without killing them. Having a ship full of superpowers could make a difference also; speedsters, teleporters, illusionists, and the like could ambush the Caducians with sedatives or otherwise incapacitate them.
HOO BOY OKAY. I know that is a LOT to read (and I'm still making my second pass at it) but I figured it would be easiest to take in all in one place. I'll put up my top-level for Miles shortly and link it for anyone who wants to tag him, and for discussion purposes, the above plan is still the one Miles & Bel are advocating. Anyway, GO FORTH, FRIENDS, AND DISCUSS
ETA: Miles's event top-level is here!
I've gone through the defense team thread on the OOC event post and reposted everyone's contributions (with links back) but if I seem to have missed anyone's post please let me know! I'll put Miles & Bel's suggestions at the bottom of this post; Miles has got some Strong Opinions on how to handle this because, like some of the other folks on this team, he was present for the destruction on Caducus Primary. So, have a look at all of this and let's plunge into some discussion! If you/your character has changed mind in light of new information, feel free to make amendments. And if you've got top-levels for your characters at the event, feel free to link them in this post! I'll add a link for Miles's top-level when it's up, if anyone wants to hit him up about this ICly. ANYWAY:
Elle (
quixotically) threadElle's suggestions amount to making barricades out of anything they can -- there's lots of metal, right??? That'd make decent barricades?/ Setting traps wouldn't be a bad idea, either?
She also suggests that, if it comes to it and negotiations aren't helping, that they work with the offensive team to try to lure as many enemy combatants into an area that they can seal off, and then open the airlocks. Like... Elle doesn't want to kill them, but she doesn't know a lot of other defensive options. She's used to offense being her defense when negotiations go south, she's sorry :(
Something that'll be important, though, is taking advantage of the fact that they know their way around their ship, and the enemies don't.
Arcee (
ninjabike) threadArcee is all about setting up some choke points and lethal traps in strategic locations in the event of boarding and breech. She also thinks those with no combat experience should be put in the back and run communications and first aid.
She also thinks a good defensible position is needed to be fortified and marked as the fall back point in the event they are boarded. This area would be where the noncoms would go since just because they're assigned a team doesn't mean you should send some poor idiot that's never fought before out into a fight. They can help in other ways.
This also means communicating with the other teams so they don't walk into a trap or barricade when things go pear shape.
Rinzler (
notglitching) threadRinzler's tendency to contribute may be erratic (initiative and verbalizing are likely to drop noticeably when Clu's paying attention to him), but he'd express the opinion that the best defense is a good killing-all-the-threats-before-they-can-kill-you.
If When that idea is thoroughly shot down, he'd suggest combative tactics primarily oriented around stopping them before they can even make it on the ship. Mine the area between, send out the transporters and all other armed flightcraft to destroy any attempts at docking or shuttle transfer and take out any guns they may have. They can't damage the crew if they can't even access the system properly.
It'll be clear he doesn't see much reason to leave an attacking force like this alive at all, and while he can be nudged into prioritizing protection, he's going to be actively opposed to any attempts at appeasement. All that does is let everyone else know this system is an easy target for exploitation. They're attacking the Moira, and if (for some glitched reason) the users here are opposed to wiping them for it completely, they still need to be made to lose in every way. Not (just) for pride, but for making sure no one else thinks it's a good idea.
Meh Yewll (
imaginary_wife) threadDoc Yewll's going to do everything in her power to create some forcefield locked areas of the ship for safety. So who would be down for creating "Safe Rooms"? I know she'd try to keep them out of Med Bay with the same sort of elements she used for the Hulk's cage.
She'd also be down for trapping intruders.
I also love for her to build stuff with people.
Napoleon Solo (
smoothaf) threadnapoleon is strongly of the opinion that they do whatever it takes to survive so kill as many of them as you can if they get boarded
he will also encourage every underhanded trick, rig traps, cutting power and life support to areas, messing with gravity and then sending in like a transformer to pick them off since they'll be unaffected by lack of oxygen and heat
pretending to not be a highly trained spy comes second to not dying
Liquid Snake (
saveyourserpent) threadLiquid isn't going to have any qualms in killing these guys. If they gotta fight, they gotta fight (and he loves a good fight). He's had to deal with unwanted people coming into his shit before (HI SNAKE) and he's also used to working with a team.
An Official Plan should definitely be made but he knows a lot of stuff's going to happen on the fly.
Charlie (
springlocking) threadCharlotte/Charlie here will happily contribute to the least violent ideas for defense. (e.g. making barricades, setting traps, etc.)
She will also happily sneak up on lone enemies and sap 'em with blunt instruments. She's good at that.
Other than that, uh...she's not big on planning aside from "make sure you're prepared for whatever you can think will go wrong," so maybe she'll advocate that? idk? If anyone has any good ideas for what/how she can contribute more/better, lemme know!
Han Solo (
straightouttacarbonite) threadLike a number of others above, Han is in favor of getting rid of their enemies before they get aboard. To that end he'll volunteer to take the Millennium Falcon out, leave it inconspicuously stuck on the side of the Moira, and give 'em hell once it becomes clear that they're gonna have to fight. It's a fast, agile ship with pretty formidable weapons, and it's definitely how he feels he can be most useful in this situation. Likewise, any other free transporters or weapon-equipped private spacecraft should be pressed into service. He'd much rather see a space battle than have a full-on invasion.
Given his experience in this kinda thing he is happy to do as much strategizing / sub command etc as seems reasonable, though I haven't decided whether I want to put him up as a candidate for team leader.
He'd probably ask Lando to fly with him, and they could probably use one or two more people to man weapons systems, if anyone is interested.
Riptide / Aurelia (
knaval/diamondslap) threadOKAY THIS IS A REALLY CHEAP PLOTTING COMMENT but riptide isn't much of an Ideas Guy and was literally built to be a follower, so i'll just OFFER UP THIS 32FT GIANT ROBOT who will basically do whatever as long as it's not like, actively killing the other ship.
aurelia, however, will very vocally want to kill them all and/or get a megaphone and tell them to stop being gigantic wussies and accept that it was natural selection and also kind of funny
Peridot (
peridork) threadFIRST OF ALL, Peridot is VEHEMENTLY against giving Bruce up, THAT IS HER FRIEND, YOU DON'T!!! GIVE FRIENDS UP!!! TO
Anyway, Peridot's MAIN reaction is going to be to do this, but barring any backup or retaliation from the captains on that, she'll mostly be itching to set up traps/barricades/strengthening armor and defensive weaponry, rather than trying to like. Get involved in the plan-making discussion, because as far as she's concerned the Cauducians have every right to be angry but she's also not going to roll over and let them kill them all, or take her friend.
She agrees with the idea of protecting non-combatants (especially since she IS one herself), and guarding those in cryo. She's also prioritizing defense of life support/engines because lmao that's what got knocked out on the LAST ship she was on and it ended with her being stranded on an enemy planet.
tl;dr talk less build more, and anyone who harms one hair on Bruce's head has to anSWER TO HER.
Nihlus (
beautifulspaceraptor) threadThere's a lot of quiet facepalming at the team arrangements. After that, he opines in.
Regardless of anyone's personal (or lack of personal) opinions on Bruce, the fact of the matter was that they needed scientists like him if they were going to sort out the mess with the Ingress. His work on Ceta's forcefield was was also immediately useful for defense.
The other issue is the fact that he needed to have a reinforced cage built in the cargo bay to hold whatever kind of monster he turned into. Did they really want to push the issue on that front? They could very well bring about another round of the incident that'd caused this entire mess to begin with.
So, Nihlus is going to be backing everyone on reinforcing the ship's defenses. With the fabricator up and running, making parts they need will be relatively easy and they still have a lot of salvage from Del Pascia and various others and sundry that can be converted. Ideally, they prevent the Caudacans from boarding entirely, but if worse comes to worse then he advocates non-lethal traps and misdirections.
These are, after all, the last people left of their world.
And with the increased number of able crew and with the powered number amongst them, they could afford it at any rate. Moira's own crew are priority, but they have enough technical and medical knowledge that they could handle a lot of potential attackers without necessitating lethal force.
Reinforcing any potential entry points such as the windows and airlocks will be priority. Medbay, navigations, engines, tower and gunnery are next on the list. The idea of using holographic Bruce as bait is certainly sound, especially with the Cybertronian holoform tech.
In addition to that, however, they should probably plan out designated areas to keep any knocked-out Caducians. They can even be used for negotiations after or during fights.
Clu (
a_perfect_end) threadShoring up the walls is good and wholesome fun for the entire crew, but, but, consider!
TRAPS.
They don't even have to be good traps! Given adequate parts and preparation time, the whole fiasco could be solved with a sufficiently large Dremel.
No? Perhaps a tuning fork?
...When this endeavor is justly shot down, he'll sulk a bit, but then commit completely to whatever the team decides.
Frisk (
gainedlove) threadFrisk is going to be exactly useless, and suggest that the ship as a whole, in list of priority:
A: Not hurt any of the Caduceans
B: Try to make friends with them
C: * Flee
They're not very good at the whole 'necessary force' idea.
Miles Vorkosigan & Bel Thorne (
forwardmomentum & hellsbel) threadIf defense/escape really becomes the only viable option (and Miles wishes it won't, but he's seen Caducian diplomacy before and they're not very...flexible), a big part of Miles and Bel's approach to defense would be to come up with a non-lethal method of preventing the Caducians from pursuing them. Fending them off so the Moira can escape should be the objective, not to eliminate the enemy. Disabling or mucking up any of their ship's parts or systems -- preferably remotely, but if there are any brave souls up for a spacewalk, raise your hands -- messing with their navigation, their engines, whatever might slow them down enough for the Moirans to run and lose their tail. Because the Caducians are obviously more than one planetary settlement, destroying the ship and slaughtering its crew would be an even bigger political disaster, so Miles and Bel want to avoid loss of life and keep ahead of the Caducians long enough to reach their destination.
Depending how fast the action goes down when the Caducians attempt to board and how much warning or chance to protest the crew has, Bel & Miles would argue that if negotiations break down, the Caducians should be kept off the ship. Defense of airlocks, windows, and outer corridors would come first; non-lethal weapons if possible, but priority goes to the Moirans' lives if the Caducians choose to get violent. Defense of Engineering and Navigation is also crucial -- the ship's weapons, engines, sensors, and life support cannot be allowed to fall into unfriendly hands.
Bel & Miles would ask for someone to monitor the ship's internal cameras and direct the defenders to where they are needed. Assuming there are external cameras that can show the ship from the outside, those should be watched too in case of mines, EVA troops with laser cutters, etc. To minimize loss of life, external threats would only be fired upon if they were attempting an action that would lead to loss of life, such as trying to blow up part of the ship. Attackers who manage to board would be met by military-trained crewpeople, stunned or otherwise incapacitated, and held in a secure area for delivery back to the Caducian ship when it's all over. They would both argue strongly against proactive attempts to kill the Caducians if they can be neutralized without killing; they've suffered enough and there is a moral duty to preserve the lives of such an endangered population.
If the ship is boarded en masse, Bel and Miles recommend placing everyone who can't (or shouldn't) be in combat in the most inaccessible place on the ship, decompressing the outer corridors, and placing military-trained defenders in space armor (or the equivalent, especially crewpeople who can operate in vacuum without a suit) there as the front line, defending the ship's vital systems and the rest of the crew at all costs. Some tactics would depend on what the crew knows about how well the attackers are armed and protected, and how to exploit any weakness in that protection to take them down without killing them. Having a ship full of superpowers could make a difference also; speedsters, teleporters, illusionists, and the like could ambush the Caducians with sedatives or otherwise incapacitate them.
HOO BOY OKAY. I know that is a LOT to read (and I'm still making my second pass at it) but I figured it would be easiest to take in all in one place. I'll put up my top-level for Miles shortly and link it for anyone who wants to tag him, and for discussion purposes, the above plan is still the one Miles & Bel are advocating. Anyway, GO FORTH, FRIENDS, AND DISCUSS
ETA: Miles's event top-level is here!
no subject
However, if there's any functional way for him to have learned about it, up to and including having chosen someone he knows is not on his team to trail after, he will have shown up anyway. (I am so sorry.)
If not challenged (or challenged late), he sits quietly at the back of the room, his hand to his mouth, and listens without contributing or disrupting. He will lean forward a little and seem to be paying more attention when Rinzler's ideas come up.
If challenged, he'll calmly explain that he's interested in everyone else's strategies and capabilities and that he doesn't think the teams have been set up as efficiently as they might have been, and will ask, reasonably politely, to be allowed to sit in. If asked to leave, he'll be reluctant (this is not a competition, it's our lives! etc.), but he'll go quietly.
If asked for a contribution, he will explain that it's not his team and he thinks this team is doing well on its own, but he wanted to be broadly well-informed about the ideas and capabilities of the rest of the crew. He thinks the best strategy will probably turn out to be a combination of the three that are developed.