Mecha Space Pirate Quest XXIX

GLORY BE TO WONG. Hey Wong, got a question. How is CP gained? I mean, I get that it comes from salvaged enemies and all, but how do you determine how much CP?

Oh... also, my DM is a massive science nerd, and wants to know if this setting has colonies moored at the lagrange points, and if so, did they bother slapping them down 'in the boonies, like L3'.

Herp. Forgot to actually respond. Can the shields just be removed? I somehow doubt we will need them for this short little jaunt. If not, let Siren know we will be held up just a bit while it is handled.

Normally the equation for CP is the surviving total kills of the enemy mech divided by 4. However, for now, it's all just building towards a mid-season upgrade I statted late last night.

As for the lagrange points, yes, among other places. I'm not as up on the science of colonies as I should be.

It would take about as long as taking the clamps apart.

Got caught between a few things doing some rush jobs, so I am a bit slow.
Then I guess if one shield can be removed we'd likely have enough room to leave. Otherwise we may just have to stick with a harpy or something until the kaiser is freed up.

Its honestly been pretty slow the last couple of threads

"It's fine. Just get it ready and hurry as much as you can." You smile encouragingly and she nods and cuts vidcomms. You sigh, lean back in your cockpit's chair, and use the comms to contact Red Siren.

"There's a problem with the docking clamps, I'll be there in a few minutes."

Her answering voice is quite smug, "So you're saying I'm the winner? Hooray! I'll go down to the colony and start searching. Do try not to keep me waiting, ohohoho~" With a peal of throaty laughter, she cuts the comms and leaves you to stew and wait.

...So for the time being, you get to be someone else.

[Continued]

I wonder if it's something I said.

The only thing I can really see it being is when the people were either talking about the Scrying

You are no longer, for the moment, Roarke Starwind. Your name is Alice Clementine Farragut, nicknamed 'the Butcher', and you are a bloodstained legend of the extrasolar division of the UJCIDF. More importantly, you are a pure maiden in love. Just a good, sweet girl with a husband she wants to see. Your foot in its spotless white boot taps against the hull of the ship like the ringing of a dainty little hammer. You've already met Captain Ashta and made it clear what would happen if he didn't wait for your darling to arrive, and met the Clancies although you haven't had time for a full conversation.

“I have to get off this ship now.” You announce to no one in particular. The crew have been trying to avoid your eye ever since you threatened to make one of the scavvies a little uglier with your knife if he used nasty no-no words like that in front of little Athena again. You can't stand sitting around, and since the ship is berthed in a bay you can't even see space or keep watch for your darling's black-and-white ship. “Right now.” Your heart beats faster as you think about finally seeing him again. You've waited so long!

[Continued]

Hey just got here, glad I could catch this one. On the subject of things said is it possible you uttered the most horrid of words (as shrubbers would know)?
>Ni Ni Ni Ni Ni.

I lurk a lot, which is my bad. Query, are there out of system colonies? What's up with that sort of stuff?

Probably not. The time of the quests is off peak, so numbers are going to be low naturally. Not a big issue, they'll come when they'll come.

You had to throw such a fit in front of Fairy for this to work, you're almost embarrassed. Sure, she hasn't been as friendly to you recently as she usually is, but that's okay! You're a good friend, you understand sometimes people are like that, and that she's just under a lot of stress. Of course, she didn't know you were working with Cassius, so when you ranted and raved and started breaking things at the insult of the fact that you'd been chloroformed, had your ID keycard taken, and then had two prisoners AND an impounded junk scow accused of trading with pirates escape while you were snoring and demanded over and over again that you should be the one to hunt them down...she gave in with a frankly surprising lack of resistance. You know she was angry too, because she used the phrase 'dead or alive' a lot and pounded her fist on her desk. You're sure she didn't mean it, Fairy has always been so dramatic! You took your lovely S-Flowerhorn and hopped a ship to get here, alone. It took you all of a few minutes to find the Pure Pure Puru, and several hours to convince the prisoners and Captain Ashta that you're a friend. Despite that, you've stuck around the mech bay, you don't like the way the Captain is looking at your mech and expect he'll sell it if you turn your back to it for a moment.

[Continued]

“You! Get me ready to launch, I want to go see the stars for a bit!” You point at a random technician, who nods jerkily. The crew is certainly eager to help you leave, which is very sweet of them! You know you almost burned a hole in their hull earlier, but that was a misunderstanding and their own fault for firing the CIWS turrets at you. You wave at them with one of the S-Flowerhorn's delicately clawed fingertips as you hop onto the catapult and zip out into the bay. If you were paranoid, you'd almost think that they used the catapult closest to the wall on purpose hoping you'd get splattered, but you're waaaaaay too good at piloting for that! You bounce off the wall, and do a cute little corkscrew pirouette before zipping out into space.

[Continued]

You love your mech. You really do. You love, most of all, that it's the proof that you've been bound to the one you love by fate itself. You've always favored Bucephalus mecha, even if you always end up fine-tuning them for melee, and you think it's just awesome that your Thoroughbred-MP frame is supposedly cursed. It was big and blocky when it was first taken out of storage, but it's been heavily worked on and modernized. The armor of its narrow stomach and ribcage is heavily articulated, with wavy patterns of black and gold, leading up to a deep chest. It was missing its limbs when you first got it, but the replacements are even sturdier. They're long, giving the Flowerhorn a more slender look, but with powerful pistons and high-budget construction. The feet resemble slightly elevated, cloven hooves, dainty and nimble atop their multitude of automatic thrusters, while the hands have decorative claws. The black and yellow coloring reminds most people of a wasp, but you've always thought of it as a giant metal soldier. The high, black bulge above the yellow head reminds you a lot of a cossack's cap you once saw in a book, after all. Originally, the Thoroughbred-MP had a Y-shaped sensor mask, but you've customized yours. It's now a big, thick, U shape, like a huge eyless smile in white.

You launch one of your magnetic grappling harpoons and catch the edge of the bay door, swinging you around and firing your thrusters to compensate and travel parallel to the colony's hull. Which is very nearly a problem, as you nearly cannonball into a pair of little red Harpies dumb enough to cross your path. You don't like Harpies much, and right now you have a particular grudge against red ones.

"Scuze me~" You hail them, grabbing the nearest one and shoving it right into the other. They get tangled but manage to avoid being damaged as they extricate themselves.

[Continued]

Ah shit, she basically has knuckle kaiser mobility addition. Likely lighter, but that harpoon-kun probably has some ks to it compared to our grapple-chan.

What if harpoon-kun and grapple-chan gets tangled mid fight...

i'm just too busy/tired to do something else other than lurk on the weekday threads. sorry wong

..that'd be incest since they are clearly siblings. That or you end up with a third line in there somehow.

I know you don't like it but a twitter might help

>Thoroughbred-MP frame

Oh. Oh dear.

Well then

"Watch it, you bitch!" The girl in the lead Harpy points at you. You don't like being called bitch by her, and you don't like being pointed at, either.

The second Harpy makes the mistake of chiming in, "Yeah, don't you know who we work for? Mess with us and you're messing with Red Siren!"

You snort at the idea of being threatened by some puffed-up dancer and idol. The sound is funny to you, and you start laughing, and once you start you can't stop, "Wahahahahaha! O-oh no, please, not S-Pop! My o-o-one weakness, oh nooooo~" You giggle at the thought of being sung angrily at. Then a thought strikes you, "Eh, wait. My darling is on Auditorium. Hey, you two, I'll let you go if you tell me where Roarke is."

"Let us go!? Wait, you're looking for the Admiral?" The tone of the girl's voice changes abruptly as the lights of a freighter passing overhead illuminate the flag of Jove and SOUL insignia on one of your pauldrons. "Oh hell, this is a trap!"

"Red Siren would kill us if some military bitch arrested her boyfriend." The other chimes in unnecessarily as they shift into humanoid form and bare the axe-like claw they each have replacing their right hand.

"Ehhhhh!? You really want to do this? You want to die?" You indulge them just a little, condescending to activate one of your beam sabers. The hilts of yours are unusually ornate, with a smaller projector that arcs over the knuckles and produces a glittering dome of plasma that protects your hand. The blade itself is long and needle-like, glowing a bright lemony yellow. More importantly, though, they just referred to your Roarkey as Red Siren's boyfriend. That won't do. That won't do at all.

"I've already c-called for backup, they'll be here any minute. Eject your cockpit and surrender and w-we'll be merciful." One of the Harpies says, you're not sure which. You can feel that old, reckless fire running through your muscles, your hands twitching on the controls.

[Continued]

Shit, for some reason I thought the thread was going to be tomorrow.

Posting the Mohammed I randomly statted up as as a two-stage boss fight while I get caught up: pastebin.com/P7FgT4r8

not bad. Looking at my mated weapon design, considering it uses only one set of kills, it makes me wonder if it'd be just that to determine weight. If so, I likely just saved a lot in weight efficiency.

"Y-you're outnumbered and there's nowhere to run." Promises the other, leveling a cute little cannon at you.

You lick your lips. You'll show him. You'll show him. You'll show him that you're the best girl. The strongest girl. You'll break these little bugs with just a fraction of your power. You'll crush them. You'll rip them. You'll pull them apart. You'll break them and show your beloved husband how much stronger he could be with SOUL than with his scruffy friends. You're going to do it. You can practically feel it, he's so close. You want him, you need him. You're GOING TO GET HIM!

After all, it's just nature, right? He's the same kind of creature that you are, you've seen it in his eyes and the way he fights. He's not like most people, the ones who are afraid of you or look at you like a tiger prowling loose on the streets...he's a beast too. Like anyone encountering the one they're destined to mate with, of course you're going to be protective of him! It's perfectly normal!

"E-e-eject your cockpit or I'm shooting!" The Harpy promises again.

You shrug, "That's fine, that's fine~ Go ahead if it makes you feel better~ It doesn't matter how many of you there are, a million maggots are still just maggots. You won't stand in the way of my love."

The cannons fire, both of them shooting twice. You don't bother dodging. You don't even bother activating the systems that replaced the Flowerhorn's original old-fashioned arm shield. The rounds sprang uselessly off your armor, a pattern of hexagonal impact-dispersing plates briefly visible on the gold-and-black stripes of your mech before they fade away.

>Armor: Officer's Light Heavy (7 SP, 10.5 CP, 3.5 tons) on all locations, does not ablate from damage caused by attacks dealing less than 4 Kills

>[Feed me unmodified 1d10s, Clemmy has 18 in Pilot, 18 in Melee, and 16 in Fight.]

Rolled 9 (1d10)

here you go then. This is going to be one hell of a experience.

Rolled 8 (1d10)

Best girl!

Rolled 10 (1d10)

Oh that reminds me. I was hoping for a little feedback on the mech I built for the game I will be playing in based on this quest.

Paladin S(ilver) is the starting mech here.
pastebin.com/uDTRday4

Paladin G(old) is a straight upgrade.
pastebin.com/x7Ey0a88

The Paladin O(mega) will have a bit pair of Wings for a ton more thrusters, be Super Heavy in the frame and armor, and have a big reactive shield built into it. ...if I could figure out reactive shields. The cheatsheet excel mech builder I a using refuses to calculate cost or space for Reactive Shields.

Plsnokill, Clemmy.

Rolled 2 (1d10)

Man, Beta armor really trivializes mook fights.

There's nothing to indicate the components for both mated weapons don't still exist physically and discretely. I'd assume you still total and half the kills for both, as you would separate weapons systems.

So, if you're talking about the Zulfiqar from yesterday, you'd have both a 6-Kill sword and a 5-Kill gun for a total of 5.5 tons per mated system.

Clemmy is a beast

Rolled 7 (1d10)

if I can do it right. Get it together user!

I originally thought that, but when looking at the rulles, it always said use the kills of the weakest weapon. These are energy weapons so their kills(and thus weight) are halved. If I only need to worry about one, then the weight would drop dramatically.

Rolled 7 (1d10)

Red's gonna need some more backup dancers after this.

>You'll show him that you're the best girl

Rolled 8, 8 = 16 (2d10)

25 and 24 versus these two rolls. Both are at +13, A-Class crew in Harpy Customs (a Harpy Custom is kind of a misleading term for it, it's basically a Bluegill-sized chassis with wings that can turn into a jet like a normal Harpy).

No, it says that when the mated system takes damage, both component systems take the damage individually; and that, when one system is destroyed, both are. Hence, a mated system is only as strong as its weakest component.

You really need some ranged countermeasures beyond simply being fast (especially since you're not even that fast). Not all fights can be solved with pure close-range melee.

Also, I imagine that if you're at the tech level where Gamma armor is available, you'll want to have some means of penetrating the theoretical 15 SP Reactive Shield that might eventually come up.

I should probably bump down to Beta instead of Gamma. It IS the MSPQ setting, after all. And I'm trying to figure out some sort of way to get a ranged option, without negating 'this is a high speed melee mech'. Sorta like Knuckle Kaiser is a FIST mech, the Paladin is a TONK and SWORD mech.

Rolled 2, 5 = 7 (2d10)

Again, +13

Having Wings makes you more tanky, by sheer fact that you have more locations to hit, right?

Reading it over and looking at the side panel it says if one is destroyed the other is destroyed but not about it being individual damage for each. It also says to take the value of kills of the weaker weapon. Weight is directly corallated with kills, so when you fuse a weapon together, the weight efficiency makes sense along with space. Mind you, combining a physical weapon with a energy weapon screams bad idea since the draw for physical weapons are their cost and durability. Wong's discretion at the end since the rules are vague about that.

Throwing swords! Throwing shields! RCS-controlled sword drones! Entangling weapons! Sword beams! Throwing Entangling weapons!

...Returning Entangling weapons? How would those even work, mechanically?

The point is, you ideally shouldn't limit yourself always having to face enemies in range 0. Even the Exia mounted token vulcans, and even Roarke has Grapple-chan.

One more d10 please. I'm very happy that Clemmy actually had to parry, I like her preferred weapons a lot and enjoy the chance to show them off.

Rolled 4 (1d10)

here ya go

Rolled 2 (1d10)

Yes...sort of. Against a gun, it definitely does. However, against a mech that can aim at any servo it wants through being based on melee, like the Knuckle Kaiser or King Swordfish, it doesn't help.

Rolled 8, 3 = 11 (2d10)

Versus +13

Now is finally the time to find out the most important question, What type of music does Clemmy like?

I can't find any point where the manual says to 'take the value of kills of the weaker weapon'. The only statements relating to kills or damage are:
>If one weapon takes damage, the other weapon takes the same damage—if one is destroyed, so is the other.
>if one weapon is lost, so is the other, and the package is only as tough as its weaker component.
and, from the sidebar:
>The Rapier normally carries an assault rifle (9 Spaces, 5 Kills), but the Gun Rapier variant has a grenade launcher Mated to the assault rifle (the grenade launcher takes 8 Spaces and has has 7 Kills). [...] a hit of 5 Kills to either weapon will destroy both.

Interesting, also do you like this ship?

I too, wish to know what the Butcher sings in the shower

Rolled 9 (1d10)

Almost forgot a roll

youtube.com/watch?v=qF4RCOcz9ow

oddly enough, only in her mech she can match tiny tim's notes

yes, perfect

You sigh, realizing that it just wouldn't be smart to kill them. They have information, and Red Siren probably has Roarke, so if you start things off that way it won't be productive in the long run.

Oh well. This won't take much effort anyway. Even just using one sword.

>[Handheld] Variable Beam Rapier x 2 (stats show an individual sword): WA+3, 10K (only 2K of structure), EMW (treats SP as 4 less than usual), Variable (can be converted back and forth as a free action between its sword form and a beam shield form with 8SP and DA 0), 44 CP, 8 Spaces, 1 ton

These Harpies are bigger ones, about the size of a Bluegill in humanoid form. That doesn't bother you at all. Unlike your awful subordinate, you don't see enemies like this as something to brag about beating. It's just work, like chopping firewood. You check your sensors and make sure that, yes, the lifesigns are in the head and not the torso before you turn and fire your left arm's grappling harpoon at the Harpy further away. At the same time, you casually extend your right arm, holding the beam saber, and put it through the chest of the Harpy that had the poor sense to get up in your face. A little wriggle and a twist and its power goes dead as you sever the cables delivering power to the other servos.

The second Harpy yells something very unladylike as she strains against the nanofiber cable and the way you slowly reel it in towards your S-Flowerhorn. It doesn't matter, you haul her much lighter mech in close. She's brave, and aims a surprise slash at you with her axe...but it's just not good enough.

You whip your rapier out through the chest of the first Harpy you struck down, nearly tearing it in half, and adjust the power output from the blade to the handguard. The blade itself shrinks and dims to the size of a dagger, while the guard balloons out into a momentary hemispheral shield. Despite her desperation, her axe can't get through, and can't even leave a scratch on your defense.

[Continued]

Not going to lie - I hope Red Siren gets the better of this fight.

She's a jazz fan. Especially the fast paced ones. They were the only ones available onboard the ship she was on and kept her barely sane during her massacre.

As long as they both survive

>WA+3, 10K (only 2K of structure), EMW (treats SP as 4 less than usual), Variable (can be converted back and forth as a free action between its sword form and a beam shield form with 8SP and DA 0)
Jesus Christ why do the UJCIDF get all the best toys?

Also, what did you use to drops its Kills? I was under the impression you could only do such a thing with Fragile Beam Weapons.

So something like this?

youtube.com/watch?v=iplpKwxFH2I&index=11&list=LLJHtp_FWScL_LPT400OyGNg

You shift the wrist of your sword arm just a fraction, angling the shrunken blade away from its head (and cockpit). Instincts die hard. You flip the power output back to regular and the blade springs to life again, stabbing directly through the Harpy's chest. You whip the Magnetic Grappling Harpoon back in and rip off the Harpy's head properly before you leisurely kick the body away. You hit the powerplant that time after all, tee hee. The Harpy's main body explodes prettily, but it's safe to let the head float there. You're sure someone will pick it up.

...And you spot three more racing along the hull towards you, and your sensors detect more in the distance. You yawn, and make the floating Harpy head spin around with a flick of your finger. "Hey. Heeeeeey~ Don't ignore me, where's Roarke? I want him to see this. I installed this new sensor package so I could record things just for him. Tell me where Roarke is or I might accidentally throw you really far into space away from your ship."

"The Admiral will be here soon! Even if our Lady decides she doesn't want to bother with you, Roarke Starwind is going to rip your mech apart and save us you crazy gold bitch!" You hate it when losers squeal like they're important, so you shake her even more...but you can't help smiling warmly.

"Yeah. He's here~ I knew it, I knew he would come for me~" You hug the Harpy head close, squeezing it with your powerful arm servos, "It's destiny. We're here for good reasons, but it's inevitable, we have to fight. You brats should feel ashamed of yourselves for trying to hurt my Flowerhorn in advance, it's like ripping my wedding dress!" You squeeze tighter, and and the head starts to buckle. You hear a panicked scream and the girl inside cry out a name, and you loosen your grip. No. You're not going to kill her. You're a good girl. You don't want Roarke to hate you. You pet the poor, battered Harpy head, letting the one whose power you cut float nearby.

[Continued]

oh god, I can only think of the weird Al version of that song when it comes up ha...

EMW structural kills are equal to 1/4 of their damage Kills, right? Clemmy's rapiers do 8K (+2 from the Flowerhorn's Light Heavy arms), so they have 2 Kills of structure and weigh 1 ton.

>She's avoiding killing.

I'm proud of you, Clemmy. You're becoming a better person for Roarke.

I can too user, man how great would it be if Wong made one of the characters in the future Weird Al

More like this;
youtu.be/RchOWbmH5Ak

I kinda think Clemmy's a dead end where waifus are concerned. Right now her only conceivable purposes are 1) QM plot device to bring Roarke in for BBEG Final Battle, 2) Psychotic turncoat ally for Righteous Rampage, or 3) Murderer of named characters. I don't see her coexisting with any other women (so she'd have to hugely break character) and I doubt there's a therapist on Auditorium.

I could see her ending in a valiant self sacrifice fighting for love, cruelly struck down when apropos, or perhaps Roarke triggers her moment of clarity, she realizes how much she hurts and mends her psychotic ways. Becomes the girliest of girly girls. Braids Sam and Karen's hair.

>No therapist on the fully functioning space city.

Clemmy is working really hard to be a better person. I think she could handle it, if Roarke was there actively supporting her.

Oh... god what sort of mech would he have...

"Better person" =/= sharing romantic interest.

Huh. I'm not sure how I never noticed that before. Time to recalculate some of my tonnages, then.

i guess he could copy the combat habilities of the enemy mech, or the stats or something like that.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=yzC4hFK5P3g

For fun and WTF. TONS of WTF.

Voting for the Gwadan to be Iron Kestral flagship

That would be nice.
On a side note, Does anyone here know the best way to prepare for the AI Uprising in Stellaris cause it just started in another empire.

You're rather proud of yourself. You did a good thing. You freed those two people, and you know once you show Roarke, and once you beat him, he won't have many more complaints about joining SOUL. Fairy won't need those people back if she has Roarke in SOUL B, you're not privy to everything she's thinking but you know that these shenanigans all have something to do with him being less than controllable. You'll make them get along, you know you can, you bet they'd like each other if they just met once...they're both nice to you, after all.

You think about the Flowerhorn and the Knuckle Kaiser sitting together on the hull of the mighty Iulia Maesa or the Cincinnatus, holding hands. You think about Roarke in a crisp white uniform like yours, a smile on his face and those sunglasses of his hiding his pretty eyes. You think about him putting his arms around you and giving you a kiss before your daring and adventurous missions even though it's supposedly bad luck, and a happy shudder makes its way through your body. You imagine Fairy being the godmother of your eventual child, and as you think about teasing your friend for being a fairy godmother you laugh and sob with joy.

Unlike the Black Ogre, your thruster system runs parallel to your spine, with one in each shoulder and a small trio of them like dangling braids behind the Flowerhorn's head, plus the shoe of thrusters beneath your cloven hooves. All of them spring into sunny, golden light as you lift up off the hull, laughing. You toss the Harpy head gently aside and activate your second beam rapier, your mech's wrists twirling in a full 360-degree rotation to make the beams resemble solid wheels of plasma. You can see the nine remaining mecha have formed a gunline, but you don't care.

"ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARKE~!" You cry out over the comms, tears of joy streaming down your face, "I'M COMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING~!"

You've waited so long to see him, so long. It's time you were rewarded.

[Continued]

She's on an extremely fun drug.

Love can do that. Reminds me of an ex of mine. Crazy girl.

>"ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARKE~!" You cry out over the comms, tears of joy streaming down your face, "I'M COMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING~!"

You know, if Clemmy wasn't best girl, this would be extremely terrifying.

I lied. Red Siren is best girl. Clemmy is close second though.

oh Clemmy, you sweet child.
It's such a shame that (most of) your dreams will not come true.

For being a bloodthirsty mad dog, she's weirdly extremely naive. It'd be cute if we didn't know none of it is gonna pan out

Back in ten, ordering dinner.

Also, yes, I'll be posting the stats for both the Archen and the S-Flowerhorn soon. By the way, Archen isn't an official model of anything and doesn't use a pre-existing frame like most mecha in this setting. It's a unique winged Heavy Striker, and a bloody expensive one.

Did you stick your dick in her? You know they say man, Don't stick your dick in crazy but that crazy chicks also take the crazy with them into bed.

>"ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARKE~!" You cry out over the comms, tears of joy streaming down your face, "I'M COMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING~!"
L-lewd!

Oh no. Noped out of there when she started stomping on the crotches of dudes. Think she's half the reason I like dudes only. Well, me and about 6 other boyfriends of hers.

Who are you anons hoping show up later in the quest

Cassius. ;_;

I want to see the black tri stars or someone trying to do the jet stream attack.

best milf