Traveller: Life in the Marches - A ship of our own

Fourier

jasonb wrote: »

Glenn thinks to himself... It’s all well and good being able to teleport and read peoples’ minds, but it would be handy to have some sort of weapon. He searches the ship to see if he can find anything useful.

He also periodically checks the sensors, both for the Pirate ship and the Rescue Ships. By his calculations the Rescue Ships should be appearing on the sensors soon.

The rescue vessel, an outfitted far trader, shows up suddenly on sensors. Given its current headings, it will be thirty hours away from them at its closest approach.

Fourier

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

Seneca calls Drew into the common and attempts to mount the drone. "It's been a long time" he thinks to himself. "Hope I remember what to do."

Seneca mounts the drone with ease. Initially he has trouble staying up....on the drone, but soon gets into the right position.

Evan watches on, soup sachet from the common room in hand.

Baggly

Fourier wrote: »

Seneca mounts the drone with ease. Initially he has trouble staying up....on the drone, but soon gets into the right position.

Evan watches on, soup sachet from the common room in hand.

OOC: lololololololololol

Professor Moriarty

Seneca approaches Milt while riding the drone. "This is great, feels so natural. Want a ride?"

OldGoat

Nestor comms Alex:
"So, if you were a pirate attacking a scoutship how would you board it? I might just take up position behind a barricade near the most likely breach area with my shotgun for the next day or two. Just in case."

Comm to Dhinor:
"Well there Mr.Engineer. Any chance of cobbling together a paintball gun for me?"

OOC: Projectile weapons in a spaceship, what fun.

jasonb

Fourier wrote: »

The rescue vessel, an outfitted far trader, shows up suddenly on sensors. Given its current headings, it will be thirty hours away from them at its closest approach.

OOC: Not too sure how they went from being 38 hours away, to being 30 hours away from us when they're closest to us. I know we're moving too, but I thought we were moving towards them, not at a right angle to them? How long before they're closest to us? Any sign of the Pirate ship on the sensors?

Glenn comms the ship... "With Dhinor asleep, can anyone else use the gun to aim us towards the Rescue ship?"

conor222

A scoutship like this, I would expect them to either radio for surrender and if we dont, target depressurizing the hull.
They could take us all out without putting themselves at risk and then raid the ship for whatever they wanted in vacsuits. Our best bet if we see them coming is to try to cover any signals of life coming from the ship and let them think that we're an abandoned ship.
Theyll expect no resistance and will have to act fast, expecting a repair or rescue crew soon so we might eb able to get the element of surprise that way.
Hey engineering, could we mask vital signs from scans? Or even minimise them, show that the cryo pods are in use and have some of those robot things flying around. Look like theres no active resistance on board?

Fourier

jasonb wrote: »

OOC: Not too sure how they went from being 38 hours away, to being 30 hours away from us when they're closest to us. I know we're moving too, but I thought we were moving towards them, not at a right angle to them? How long before they're closest to us? Any sign of the Pirate ship on the sensors?

OOC: The original 38 hours refers to how long it would take them to reach you at distress transmission point. This thirty hours refers to how long it would take you to reach them at your current speed at their point of closest approach. At their speed, they'd reach you in a few minutes, but they don't know where you are.

Professor Moriarty

Seneca dismounts from Drew and pats the drone fondly. "How about we load up a drone (not Drew obviously) with explosives and send it in the direction of the ship? It can shadow the ship once it makes contact. As soon as the ship becomes identifiable and we are certain as to its intentions, we can either detonate the drone or stand it down."

OldGoat

"We can send a drone to intercept the rescue ship and relate our updated rendezvous point also letting let them know that there are pirates in the area. Hopefully they don't change their mind about picking us up at that little nugget of news.
We could also try making a harness out of cargo strapping, leashing up the remaining drones and have them tow us towards the rendezvous to reduce waiting time."

jasonb

OldGoat wrote: »

"We can send a drone to intercept the rescue ship and relate our updated rendezvous point also letting let them know that there are pirates in the area. Hopefully they don't change their mind about picking us up at that little nugget of news.

"I think this is a good idea... Assuming the drone can travel faster than us, we should configure it and send it towards the Rescue Ship. Then, when it's a little bit away from us (therefore not giving away our exact position, in case the Pirate ship is still around, even though they're not on our scanners) it could contact the Rescue Ship and tell them to head towards it. When the Rescue Ship is close to us we can then hail it ourselves. What does everyone think? Evan, can you reconfigure the Drone? Or does someone else have the skills to do it?"

Glenn stands on his chair and gently says "Oh Captain, My Captain", but there's no reply...

Mollyb60

[OOC: your 'captain' is busy doing 2 jobs at once at the moment folks. You'll have to work this out yourselves. Good luck]

Baggly

Dhinor spelled something out on the glass of the cryopod before it activated. The frost on the glass of the door frosted around the word.

M-U-R-D-E-R B-O-X

Dhinor sleeps on.

Fourier

Mollyb60 wrote: »

[OOC: your 'captain' is busy doing 2 jobs at once at the moment folks. You'll have to work this out yourselves. Good luck]

Verne completes his "Shrine of Heroes", an Aslan meditative chamber, in his room and retreats into contemplation of the nature of the world.

OOC: Giving Molly a pause while Werewolf is on. Come out when suits Molly

jasonb

OOC: Would it make sense to put this game on hold while the other game is being played? Or will those of us who are left still continue?

Fourier

The ship, realising the importance of the meditative process for Aslan and Dhinor being on ice, switches to joint captainship under Evan and Glenn.

"Acting captains Evan and Glenn, ready to act on your orders"

Fourier

jasonb wrote: »

OOC: Would it make sense to put this game on hold while the other game is being played? Or will those of us who are left still continue?

OOC: Continue and if something major starts to happen I'll check with those paused.

jasonb

"Ok, let's get moving. Let's get one drone set up to fly towards the Rescue Ship, and contact them a little while later (so it's not too close to us) to tell the Rescue Ship that we're this way. And lets work on how we can use the other drones in case the Pirates turn up. Evan, I think I can program the first Drone, can you work on the others?"

Glenn starts working on one of the Drones to program it to head out on a intersect course with the Rescue Ships, and contact them after a delay...

Banjo

OldGoat wrote: »

Comm to Dhinor:
"Well there Mr.Engineer. Any chance of cobbling together a paintball gun for me?"

A short while later, Evan appears, red faced, out of breath, dusted head to to in a savoury powder. He limps over, wincing as he hands over a narrow-gauge pipe attached to an improvised handle and trigger system with a small top-mounted silo. There's also a bucket of thin, squishy balls that smell like mushrooms.
"Here you go. Don't.. just don't ask where the 'paint' came from. " He minces painfully to the door pausing to ask "say, you're not ovulating at the moment are you? Ah look it's none of my business. Just...just be careful with that."

Pter wrote: »

Dhinor spelled something out on the glass of the cryopod before it activated. The frost on the glass of the door frosted around the word.

M-U-R-D-E-R B-O-X

Dhinor sleeps on.

He pauses his waddle at the occupied Cryopod, ensuring the earlier brief interruption hasn't affected the occupants stasis. Interesting message, he thinks, readjusting his raw nethers. Murder box indeed! He wipes up a soup stain he must have missed in his haste earlier, ensures the custom settings haven't been tampered with and totters on.

Fourier wrote: »

"Acting captains Evan and Glenn, ready to act on your orders"

"Too little too late you fickle c***" he screams back, "I am no ships sloppy thirds!" shambling off to find some Gatorade.

Fourier

jasonb wrote: »

"Ok, let's get moving. Let's get one drone set up to fly towards the Rescue Ship, and contact them a little while later (so it's not too close to us) to tell the Rescue Ship that we're this way. And lets work on how we can use the other drones in case the Pirates turn up. Evan, I think I can program the first Drone, can you work on the others?"

Glenn starts working on one of the Drones to program it to head out on a intersect course with the Rescue Ships, and contact them after a delay...

OOC: Drone programming is Electronics(Remote Ops)[Intelligence], Difficulty: +2

Banjo

Evan watches Barrymore as she glides her smooth, gleaming carapace across the common room, like a hot metal cat down a soapy gutter. "Min-es-troney!" He whistles. "Alex, you have the tactical training, l need you down in the cargo bay in 5."

In the aforementioned cargo bay, he powers on drone#2.
"Ok Cilla, diagnostic check, sync with the ship and let's see what you can do."

Professor Moriarty

Ooc I have intelligence of 9 - is that any good?

"I'm still unsure as to how we know the 'Rescue Ship' is in fact friendly but I trust my various captains. Still think rigging up a bomb drone to shadow the ship is a good idea and we could maybe send one to the pirate ship. But I'm only the cabin boy."

jasonb

"Well Seneca, we've got plenty of drones. One of them will head towards the Rescue Ship, the rest Evan is working on with Alex, so go have a chat with them and see what can be rigged up. If the Rescue Ship isn't friendly, the bomb drone could come in handy. If they are though, and they find out about the bomb, they might not be too impressed!"

OOC: I'd say 9 is pretty decent. Mine is actually 15, but I think that's really high. I'm not sure what the 'average' is?

Banjo

Ooc .Int 13 and 1 in electronic engineering, should be able to do this. Have no computers knowledge but can borrow the ships computer I think (my manual is not for the efition of Traveller we're playing). If you have computer skill pile on!. I think Alex is the one with tactics training, assume that's worth something for reprogramming.

Professor Moriarty

jasonb wrote: »

"Well Seneca, we've got plenty of drones. One of them will head towards the Rescue Ship, the rest Evan is working on with Alex, so go have a chat with them and see what can be rigged up. If the Rescue Ship isn't friendly, the bomb drone could come in handy. If they are though, and they find out about the bomb, they might not be too impressed!"

OOC: I'd say 9 is pretty decent. Mine is actually 15, but I think that's really high. I'm not sure what the 'average' is?

Ooc You're the egghead! You should do the programming.

"Okay, I think Milt is powering up another drone. If they are here to rescue us they'd probably see the bomb drone as prudence on our behalf."

Seneca goes to the cargo bay to find Milt fiddling with a drone. "Em, Milt, are you done with that drone? Glenn needs one on the bridge."

jasonb

OOC: I already have a drone, and have rolled to program it (this is the drone to go to the Rescue Ship). Got a good roll, just waiting to hear back from Fourier.

Banjo

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

Seneca goes to the cargo bay to find Milt fiddling with a drone. "Em, Milt, are you done with that drone? Glenn needs one on the bridge."

"I'm building an army, not boiling an egg! I think one of our captains needs Tea - see to it!

Carey, Cilla, show me again - attack pattern Delta!"

conor222

Alex heads down to assist

Fourier

jasonb wrote: »

OOC: I'd say 9 is pretty decent. Mine is actually 15, but I think that's really high. I'm not sure what the 'average' is?

OOC: Average Intelligence is 7. 15 is the limits of human intelligence.

Fourier

jasonb wrote: »

"Well Seneca, we've got plenty of drones. One of them will head towards the Rescue Ship, the rest Evan is working on with Alex, so go have a chat with them and see what can be rigged up. If the Rescue Ship isn't friendly, the bomb drone could come in handy. If they are though, and they find out about the bomb, they might not be too impressed!"

Glenn programs the drone to reach the rescue ship in time with very precise instructions, even managing to improve its AI in the process. It'll be able to report on their situation intelligently and independently, as well as send back rough psychological estimates of the rescue team via onboard lie detectors and pupil dilation meters.

Fourier

conor222 wrote: »

Alex heads down to assist

OOC: Okay so Alex, you do Tactics(Military)[Education], Ease: +2. Based on the results we'll do Evan's roll and see how well the droids were trained.

jasonb

Fourier wrote: »

Glenn programs the drone to reach the rescue ship in time with very precise instructions, even managing to improve its AI in the process. It'll be able to report on their situation intelligently and independently, as well as send back rough psychological estimates of the rescue team via onboard lie detectors and pupil dilation meters.

OOC: I guess that's what a good roll gets ya!

Glenn sends the drone on its way towards the Rescue Ship, and then heads down to see if he can help the others at all...

Banjo

"Alex! Ok, let me finish this one, then you start programming some actual manoeuvres in, this'll give you an idea of their syntax and an idea of how little Dune 2 has prepared me for life as a general.

All - Safety engage.
Carey, Cilla, Home - front line!
Loc, Daywalt - Front Line hover mid!
Nancy, Ronnie - Pincer left!
Danza, Soprano - Pincer right!
All - Positions!"
Once the drones fall into position, he calls
"Front line - Attitude : Defensive, Fall back. wait envelop, adjust aggressive, close. Pincers, All - Attitude : Defensive, Wait Proximity, Adjust Aggressive, close.

All - Safety status."
The drones sound off a chorus of "Safety engaged"
Evan runs at the 5 drones in the middle, they fall back to the rapid clicks of disabled weaponry, while from the sides the remaining 4 rush him from the sides as he passes, and then he's swamped by metal. He cries out in a voice that betrays a tiny squeak of panic
"All - attitude - fluffy"
and the drones begin to gently nuzzle him.
"Huh? Huh?" he asks, grinning at Alex, looking for approval.

conor222

Excellent!
Alex smiles, these could be very useful

Fourier

OOC:
So Alex got a 7 (Just to help you conor222, you rolled 4 on the dice, +2 for ease and +1 because you have Tactics(Military) at 1.

Evan you now roll to program the droids based on Alex's instructions, due to his roll you have an extra -1, which has modified the difficulty below.

Roll Engineer(Remote Ops)[Education], Difficulty: -1

Professor Moriarty

Drew does not take part in Milt's drills. Instead, the drone shadows Seneca as he walks around. To the casual observer, it is obvious that Drew is obsessed with Seneca (some might say lovestruck) and becomes defensive when anyone approaches Seneca. Seneca awaits instructions from one of the captains.

Ooc I'm basing this on the fact that there were 10 drones of which 9 were drilled by Evan?

Banjo

OOC : Barrymore is the 10th drone, and she's with Glenn I thought or on her way to the Rescue ship. Drone Carey is a dude, by the way. Not saying that makes it better or worse, I'm not here to judge, I'm here to re-route power to the Kepler Fandangulators.

conor222

Alex struggles somewhat translating normal millitary tactics to formations and structures for the drones, the building blocks are there but it somewhat lacks the feedback hes used to from dealing with people instead of machines.

Banjo

All that nuzzling has caused a rush of blood away from Evan's primary thinkulator.
(2d6-1 = 2, Engineering 0, no Remote Ops specialisation, presume that just means roll with no penalty, Ed +2 - I make that a 4 total?)

Baggly

Banjo wrote: »

OOC : Barrymore is the 10th drone, and she's with Glenn I thought or on her way to the Rescue ship. Drone Carey is a dude, by the way. Not saying that makes it better or worse, I'm not here to judge, I'm here to re-route power to the Kepler Fandangulators.

OOC: We need TL:DR's on some of your more intricate posts :pac:

jasonb

OOC: I'm getting used to the fickleness of the rolls. You think that two dice will give you a decent number, but there's just as much chance of rolling a 2 as a 12, as I'm learning! And yep, super-enhanced Barrymore is on her way to the Rescue Ship

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

"Huh? Huh?" he asks, grinning at Alex, looking for approval.

Evan hears an energy discharge behind him as one of the drones fires a blast into the cargo bay walls.

"Intruder detected, protect Commander Alex" they utter in unison.

Four have their weapons primes on Evan, as the other six spread out into the ship looking for imagined threats to Alex.

Professor Moriarty

Seneca hops into the cryogenic pod and locks the lid.

Fourier

The drones pass by the cryogenic chambers, uninterested in the occupants and proceed to Nestor's room.

OldGoat

In a overly dramatic show of faux modesty Nestor covers her nakedness shrilly shouts at the drones "Why Messrs. Drone, have you no couth?"

Banjo

"Alex," Evan says very calmly while slowly kneeling on the ground, putting his hands behind his head, "I believe it would be in everyone's interests if you give them the 'all - attitude - fluffy' command before they kill the pilot."

conor222

"Drones, stand down, weapons to safety. Attitude.... um... fluffy"

Fourier

The drones stop immediately.

"By your command"

conor222

"Scan the ship layout and build a defense plan for tactical positioning for both breech and distance attack scenarios"

Banjo

Evan slowly gets to his feet, ready to drop if he's perceived as a threat again.
"Vainglorious, when did Alex replace Glenn as captain?"

OOC : If commander and captain are different things, well chalk that up to my lack of naval experience.