[cutscene] 2011/11/19(Sat)21:48 No. 366588 ID: 1a1779
File 132176813285.jpg - (194.68KB , 749x561 , battlequest2.jpg )

Commander Ekia: "Tactica Command, you have a status update I assume?"

TacticaCommand: "indeed Commander-Ritualist, the exact location of the artifact has been confirmed, though the energy signature is widely out of our sphere of prediction. I have taken action to redetermine a safe landing position, landing parties have been briefed on the change of plan and are ready to implement the revised course of action. the landers are on standby I need only your order to commence this excavation mission."

Ekia: "Very well, make it so tactica-"

Tactica Command: "forgive me Commander-Ritualist, a new developement has occured."

[cutscene] 2011/11/19(Sat)21:49 No. 366589 ID: 1a1779
File 132176816626.jpg - (185.34KB , 749x561 , battlequest3.jpg )

Officer Mook: Tactica Command is right! an alien vessel has just jumped in from hyperspace!

Tactica Command: "Incoming Transmition from Alien vessel, auto negotiation set to begin on your order."

Ekia: "no Tactica Command, I think I'll take this call myself."

Tactica Command: "Commander Ritualist this course of action is ill advised, take caution. opening channels on your order."

Ekia: "initiate."

[cutscene] 2011/11/19(Sat)21:50 No. 366591 ID: 1a1779
File 132176820901.png - (268.11KB , 800x600 , battlequest4.png )

Commander Radde: "Hey! What's up, my dawgs (and assorted other mammals)? What are you doing all the way out here?"

Piyerra: "Radde..."

[cutscene] 2011/11/19(Sat)21:50 No. 366592 ID: 1a1779
File 132176824725.jpg - (203.93KB , 749x561 , battlequest5.jpg )

Commander Ekia: *sigh* "and to think I was just starting to relax . . . "

Radde: "Not exactly neighborly of you to set up a party and not send out invitations, even if it's a landing party."

Piyerra: "Radde."

Radde: "Kind of a shame, since it looks like we've booked the same venu-"

Piyerra: "Radde! If you ARE going to talk to them it's DIPLOMACY and I'M in charge of that! Get off the screen!"

[cutscene] 2011/11/19(Sat)21:51 No. 366593 ID: 1a1779
File 132176829362.png - (256.89KB , 800x600 , battlequest6.png )

Radde: "Damn it, P-R, this is a military operation and I'm the comman- oi!"

Piyerra: "Astranian vessel! I am Piyerra San-Onnka and in the - Radde, get OFF - in the name of the scellor government I DEMAND that - I said go! - that you return to your borders!"

Tactica Command:" my logic engines dictate the all lives creatures desire survival. Scellor agents on these grounds you have made an error you have passed into Astranian colonial territory and unless you leave the sector immediately this can only result in your complete and utter annihilation."

[cutscene] 2011/11/19(Sat)21:52 No. 366594 ID: 1a1779
File 132176833523.jpg - (176.04KB , 749x561 , battlequest7.jpg )

Radde: "Ha, you don't know us very we-"

Piyerra: "I'm pretty sure this wasn't your territory last week, and I KNOW our government hasn't formally recognized any such change! We have five ships and three hundred troops rea- HEY!!"

Radde: "Ok, that's enough."

Ekia: "Scellor As you can see you've already lost, obviously your precious undermind in it's omnipotent glory has seen fit to excise some of its defective biology, loathe as I am to obey the will of alien entities, in this case serving as a waste incinerater serves my purposes as well.

[cutscene] 2011/11/19(Sat)21:53 No. 366596 ID: 1a1779
File 132176839770.png - (252.88KB , 800x600 , battlequest8.png )

Radde: "That's a cute threat, plush-doll, but you seem to think we give a garg. For us, death's an inconvenience: for you, it's reason enough to get your ass-train outta here. Far as my eye sees, our forces are just about equal. And I just got a new one."

[cutscene] 2011/11/19(Sat)21:54 No. 366597 ID: 1a1779
File 132176844541.jpg - (235.11KB , 800x600 , battlequest9.jpg )

Ekia:"you are not the only ones with true sight fool! for all your arrogance I can feel the uncertainty in your network, and will relish in its realization of your ultimate destruction!"

Radde: "Hah. Uncertainty is what makes things fun, handlebars. We'll see you on the surface - if you get that far. Radde out!"

[cutscene] 2011/11/19(Sat)21:55 No. 366600 ID: 1a1779
File 132176852695.jpg - (104.67KB , 600x600 , battlequest12.jpg )

"Reya."

"Sir."

"Alert the squad, spool up the network, and bring us to condition white. We've got company."

"Looks like several companies, sir."

"Looks like. We'll find out soon."

Anonymous 2011/11/19(Sat)21:56 No. 366601 ID: 1a1779
File 132176857260.jpg - (321.36KB , 800x599 , battlequest13.jpg )

>CHOOSE YOUR ARMY

>The Astranian Alliance: A spiteful people boasting mechanization, automation, heavy weaponry, and technology far beyond their peers. But, for all their technical skill, they are physically weak, complacent, greedy, arrogant, and prone to infighting.

Anonymous 2011/11/19(Sat)21:56 No. 366604 ID: 1a1779
File 132176860710.png - (485.70KB , 800x600 , battlequest14.png )

>The scellor are a race of curious, hedonistic reincarnating plant/mammal hybrids, united by the will of their collective consciousness, the Undermind. Strong-willed individuals rule over the masses of mindless drones and explore the stars in search of resources to fuel their endlessly expanding population, wielding psychic power, advanced medicine and unreliable technology. Their tough bodies suffer several weaknesses, and their "immortality" makes them reckless, undisciplined and rather annoying to others.

Anonymous 2011/11/19(Sat)21:57 No. 366605 ID: 1a1779
File 132176862925.jpg - (97.62KB , 800x600 , battlequest15.jpg )

>A small team of tozols, super-soldiers engineered by ancient star-gods, was quietly deployed to this planet over twenty years ago. Fast, stealthy, cunning, and preternaturally puissant, the tozols are nevertheless massively outnumbered and outgunned.

Tozzles! If one can hold back several platoons of trained and equipped soldiers, then imagine what ~10-20 can do!

scellor!

Tozzles, because they're the least obnoxious.

omelette du scellorrrrrrrrrr

Tozols, duh.

Astranians.

Astranians! They're really going to need our help.

Tozolitos

Scellor if we're gonna see a lot of Piyerra. Astranians otherwise.

Scellor

if you guys don't choose tozols i will find and destroy you

tozols it is

>>366623
i didn't need that tripcode anyways

Tozzizles.

Scellzolnians.

I mean Tozols. With Scellor interludes for comedic effect.

Scellors?

[The army choice is not permanent!]

[You will have opportunity to switch between sides several times during the quest. For now, you are selecting a side to control during Planetfall!]

Vulcans.

Er wait no I mean Tozols.

Scellor, if you may.

tozols. the Astranian's are dicks, and the scellor are obnoxious.

Astranians

>>366644

Wait, Planetfall? Will Weasel make a cameo?

Tozols. I vote this not out of personal bias but out of a sense of fairness. A handful of tozols will need the most guide in dealing with two pissed-off forces dropping on their planet if they're going to have any fucking chance at all of surviving.

Scellor. The tozols can almost certainly handle themselves through the initial wave with their crazy stealth technology; we can switch over to them later when they're actually doing interesting things.

Scellor

Tozols

i choose shrimp baby.

or scellor if that won't work.

Tozols, because I'm in the mood for some curbstomping.

>During planetfall
Scellor. SURF'S UP, DUDES!

Scellor all the way, baby.

Tozols please!

TOZOL TOZOL TOZOL.

fuck yeah TOZOL!

Tozols

Astatians, they are superior after all

Schellor

>Tozzles! If one can hold back several platoons of trained and equipped soldiers, then imagine what ~10-20 can do!

And fully equipped, too!

Tozzles or bust.

ASTRANIANS!

tozols, I want to see that they are like without head voices calling them fat

I vote for whichever currently has the least votes because I'm awkward like that.

Tozols

CUDDLE BEES, or wait... they didn't barely exist.

astranians then- closest things to bugs anyway.

Tozols!

Tozols for the win!

Tozols.
Because we must play EUROPEAN EXTREME MODE.

Tozols!

tozols

Tozzles

Rynh

Astraaaaniaaaaaans because draaaamaaaa

Scellor

TOZZLES AND ALL THE NOZZLES THAT COME WITH THEM.

Tozols.

Welp, since I abhor Scellor "morality", and find the Astranian's lack of tact distasteful, I'll go with the unknown. Tozols it is.

nozzle puns would not be out of the question...

Tozols Test Pattern 2011/11/21(Mon)02:59 No. 366973 ID: b79855
File 132187319414.jpg - (78.48KB , 600x600 , battlequest16.jpg )

This is Lieutenant Vaejra Alhar, a starborne pathfinder, officer of Valatan, and disembarked crewman of the cruiser Sword of Lies. Vaejra, until very recently, was having an uneventful day, in an uneventful week, in a grinding but ultimately uneventful year.

Vaejra's team was deployed to secure a relic of the old masters the ship had detected. They were only supposed to secure a landing zone for a larger force. After that, he was sent a stealthed supply drop, a hibernating technician, and a message to hold until relieved. That was twenty years ago.

He is owed a great deal of back pay.

Test Pattern 2011/11/21(Mon)03:02 No. 366974 ID: b79855
File 132187333315.jpg - (85.58KB , 600x550 , battlequest17.jpg )

This is Ota Karsti, his sergeant, and chief architect of the kilometers of minefields, fighting positions, and kill zones the squad has built over the years.

"This is for real, boss?" she asks. "Eight hostile ships? That's FTL warships? That's confirmed hostile?"

"Nothing's confirmed," says Vaejra. "Assume yes. Assume hostile."

"I'll help the girls get their shit together."

Test Pattern 2011/11/21(Mon)03:04 No. 366975 ID: b79855
File 132187347429.png - (531.13KB , 1450x1400 , BQMap.png )

This is a planet of sand and dusty rocks, baked dry from a nearby sun. However, at this spot, unnatural forces dominate the atmosphere. A gleaming, ancient spire juts skyward from a plate of solid ice, sucking vast quantities of heat from its surroundings, shifting the earth, and allowing a slender band of vegetation to survive.

From space, it looks something like this.

Test Pattern 2011/11/21(Mon)03:05 No. 366976 ID: b79855
File 132187354324.png - (714.36KB , 1450x1400 , BQMapTZL.png )

Vaejra knows better. His tozols have been busy, digging kilometers of tunnels, laying mines, and seeding the terrain with a network of sensors and land-lines.

He dials Anak Utaza, one of the two tozols maintaining the perpetual vigil in the frozen tower, nineteen kilometers southeast. Anak hides his surprise at the news, and confirms readiness. Anak might have been a sniper, if he weren't already a tozol. He has the best weapon of the team, an exotic and difficult to manufacture beam rifle with incredible range, power, and accuracy. Anak wants to know if he's cleared to engage aircraft.

Vaejra thinks. There's many variables at play. He's heard of Scellor, but the others are new to him. Are the aliens really sloppy enough to announce their actual troop strength? If so, his tozols are outnumbered seventy five to one.

Please suggest an action.

both are in mid landing, shooting now would announce to whoever is shot at that there is a third force here. for the scellor that means they would get they psychics active scanning where the beam came from. and who knows what the other could do. so no, wait until they send things to do flyovers towards their enemies. would make them think the fly over failed and overestimate how many defensive measures the enemy has.

>His tozols are outnumbered seventy five to one.

Let's not announce we're here, then. Let them kill each other until the odds are better.

sounds like entrenchment is the order of the day here.

>>366976
Scellor are sloppy due to not really caring about consequences.
Astranians are sloppy due to having their master-race heads up their master-race asses.

If you want to fight then the name of the game is false-flag attacks. Keep your presence hidden from them while staging strikes on one that look like they came from the other.

You could, however, attempt diplomacy with the Scellor. They're an easygoing species, and if you make it clear that you've been here for years and won't relinquish your claim then there's a very good chance they'll back down from combat in favor of negotiation.
Attempting diplomacy would sacrifice the element of surprise, so these two options are mutually exclusive.

It is not possible to dissuade Astranians from attacking due to their deeply-rooted belief that they are the rightful owners of the universe and all it contains.

Don't engage yet. We need to lure them into fighting one another. They're obviously eager to do so, so let's try to get with that.

Hold fire till you can take shots into the battle without immediately raising the alarm of a third hostile force.

Please tell me it's the very best kind. >>/questdis/338706

"Direct application of force is a failure of tactical thinking." Don't start slappin' dicks with the enemy straight off the bat. Limit to recon for now.

>>366976
Stealth works better if you don't announce your presence right from the get go.

No he cannot fire at air targets. What a waste of a surprise attack.

>>366976
Our ideal endgame here is if one enemy force takes heavy losses but destroys the other completely, and then leaves the planet not realizing that we're here at all. That's not particularly likely given the forces arrayed against us, but until we realize that they've recognized our existence we should ensure that all our strikes can be attributed to someone else.

I would consider the Astranians a greater threat than the Scellor, overall. The Scellor are overly dependent upon psychic powers to which we are highly resistant if not immune, and their command structure is very vulnerable due to being concentrated in a highly limited number of self-aware individuals. We should therefore focus primarily on damaging the Astranians in a manner which leaves both them and the Scellor unaware of our presence. While that is ongoing, we should attempt to identify as many self-aware Scellor as possible, and when the Astranians are weakened enough we try to hit the Scellor with a decapitating strike.


As far as engaging aircraft- not for now. Hopefully the enemy will be foolish enough to land most or all of their ships; if they do we can attempt to destroy all enemy vessels before they have a chance to take off again. Failing that, let's keep our anti-aircraft capabilities sleeved until we need them.

>>367039
Fuck that shit, the astranians are so one-track minded and so piss-poor at communication that even if one of them takes notice of us, they'll never manage to alert the rest of the fleet to the Tozol presence, if the individual is even smart enough to figure out "Oh hey, it's a tozol, that's kinda bad for us."

Meanwhile, a scellor sees a tozol or gets suspicious, and you get discovered a fuckton faster due to memory-sharing and psychic communication.

Damage the scellor and sabotage their efforts in every way possible, the astranians are the ones we need in charge around here if we want to remain hidden.

>>366987
If you can actually make a deal with the astranians and never mention how tall you are you might be able to do some trade with them or even find an ally, where the scellor are just going to want to fuck you and probe your mind. Hardly useful.

So hey, now that we agree to remain sneaky for a while, just how many guys do we have here? Are they all at one base or another or spread out? Any clue yet as to where the alien ships are landing?

The best weapon in a war is information. The second best weapon is the element of surprise.

No. He may not shoot at aircraft. He may not shoot at anything unless he absolutely has to.

Do we have any inflitrator-ey types? Or some way to hack into their communications and eavesdrop on what they're doing.

>>366976
Yeah it's probably better if no one knows you guys are here yet.

what exactly is our objective? is it to keep either force from settling the planet or is it to secure the artifact? forcing both parties off the world is not going to happen, but we might be able to cut some sort of deal for them to leave the artifact alone. the Scellor seem more the type to keep there deals than the Astranian's.

Outnumbered and outgunned while fighting a foreign power on familiar soil, I think I read this story before.
-stay mobile; towers and bases can be recaptured, the war is not lost when they are captured its lost when you die trying to defend them.
-stay mobile; hit the enemy where you outnumber them or where they are wounded or lost, then retreat before they can counterattack.
-stay hidden; if the enemy can see you you're doing something wrong, if you use a weapon that gives away your position then relocate after every shot.

Test Pattern 2011/11/22(Tue)03:18 No. 367232 ID: b79855
File 132196068237.jpg - (114.40KB , 800x500 , battlequest18.jpg )

The lieutenant considers his assets, beginning with himself. He's equipped with a cybernetic computer interface, a rarity these days, and specializes in information warfare. He has a broad skillset, however, and is over a century old.

Sgt Ota Karsti is not much younger, and has the stories to prove it. She knows fieldcraft, mines, traps, explosives, and every manner of entrenchment. She takes care of the squad, doing whatever she can to keep them in working order, physically and mentally.

Trooper Rinis Ayen is a tinkerer, an engineer, and an aggressive and capable warrior. Though much younger than the old hands of the squad, she's fought aliens on five worlds. This will be her sixth.

Trooper Reya Oriat is the only other member of the squad with a cybernetic uplink, and serves as backup infowar and technician. She loves to read, claiming it gives her a xenopsychological edge.

Trooper Anak Utaza is the best rifleman on the squad, and carries the best rifle. All tozols are marksmen by design, and infantry by nature, but Anak has struggled to master small unit combat, often at the expense of the technical work that's dominated the squad's life for the past two decades Despite this, he's friends with everyone in the squad.

Trooper Thaen Sinh is not native to Valatan, as the others are, and likes to tell wildly exaggerated stories of his early life on a nomad starship. He's a good mechanic, is responsible for running the base's fabricator, and the best pilot on the team.

Trooper Baj Oriat was born on this planet, the son of Reya and Anak, and is less than half as old as anyone else. To him, Valatan and tozol civilization are just one of many things he reads about, and he displays a worrying fascination with alien cultures as a result. Nevertheless, he's trusted to fight and kill.

Specialist Kaselir Vrin was deployed to this planet in a hibernation cocoon packed inside her tank destroyer, part of a rushed package to let the squad dig in for the long haul. Not being part of the original unit of pathfinders, she considers herself something of an outsider, even after all these years.

Test Pattern 2011/11/22(Tue)03:19 No. 367233 ID: b79855
File 132196074703.jpg - (74.36KB , 600x600 , battlequest19.jpg )

In addition to a whole stockpile of guns, ammunition, grenades, bombs, and crates and crates of mines, the squad has access to two vehicles:

A Light Dropship. It's tough, maneuerable, and still spaceworthy, but is absolutely nothing compared to the warships and fighters duelling overhead. Still, could be vital. Rated pilots: Thaen, Vaejra.

A Tank Destroyer. Kaselir nicknamed it Syel, after some old girlfriend. It's meant to have a crew of two, but can be operated by one. With so few tozols, it's Kaselir's alone, though Thaen knows how to drive it.

Test Pattern 2011/11/22(Tue)03:21 No. 367234 ID: b79855
File 132196086080.jpg - (337.55KB , 1303x1107 , battlequest20.jpg )

Vaejra tells Anak to hold fire, and to have Thaen activate the secondary control center set up inside the spire. The network, and its arrays of sensors and command-armed mines, can be controlled from either location.

Rinis and Baj were out on patrol. Not wanting to break radio silence, Vaejra waited until they came within range of a low-power relay to tell them the news. They're awaiting orders.

High overhead, Astranian fast movers launch from their carrier and begin strafing the Scellor landing ships. The plantfolk are moving for a landing, but are maneuvering too much to do more than guess where they're headed. Vaejra guesses somewhere to the southeast of the Spire. The Astranians may be readying to land, but they'll be using shuttles and drop pods. Impossible to estimate where they'll come.

>What exactly is our objective?
Defend the spire. Hold until relieved.
That said, tozols aren't robots. Flexibility is a cherished virtue. Abandoning the artifact and whittling the enemy down may be necessary. Be aware, though, that the spire can be controlled from inside. If the enemy secures it and uncovers its secrets, it could provide an advantage. The snow and winds around the spire could be switched off, augmenting enemy air assets, or the field could be amplified, with dangerous, unknown effects.

>You could, however, attempt diplomacy with the Scellor. They're an easygoing species
Really? Because Vaejra heard they're aggressively expansionist and have no fear of death.

How fast can your troops move in the tunnels? Can the Syel move in the tunnels? What happens if it shoots something in there?

I thought we might want to spread, so that wherever our guests land, there will be 1-2 tozols waiting for them. We've seen how good a single underarmed tozol can be; so the closest one will be able to spy, or at least not die embarrassingly, until the reinforcements come.

That is, of course, if you can move your troops with a reasonable speed. If not, we might want to split into 2 groups, one for Scellor projected landing site, the other for backup and/or handling Astranians.

Can Anak take out the Astranian fast movers? And if so, how obvious will it be that the fire didn't come from the Scellor vessels?

Begin moving people towards the Scellor field, but don't engage yet. We should wait to see what the Astrians do before we commit to anything.

hold that tower. dig in, and dig in deep.

>>367234
>Be aware, though, that the spire can be controlled from inside. If the enemy secures it and uncovers its secrets, it could provide an advantage. The snow and winds around the spire could be switched off, augmenting enemy air assets, or the field could be amplified, with dangerous, unknown effects.
Begin an immediate gradual ramp-up in the tower's output to it's maximum. For all the attacking forces know, it'd be a 'normal' automated response to their arrival. Your air assets are almost nonexistant, so denial would be entirely to your advantage. If conditions can be reduced badly enough, once the shooting starts you may even be able to take out targets of opportunity without being discovered immediately.
Of course, once someone stumbles into one of the emplaced minefields all bets are off.

On the minefields: predominantly apers, a-armour, or a mix? If it's mostly apers, then readying the tank destroyer might be good, as long as it can be kept under cover until needed.

Kaselir: drive Syen through the tunnel to join the others in the Artifact.
Artifact: observe. The artifact is both factions' goal. They may head straight to it, they may not. Don't engage until the situation's made clearer. The tank, along with its gunner, are sent here in case things get hairy, for a quick retreat.
Rinis/Baj: stay close to the tunnel entrance. The jungle canopy would provide sufficient cover.
The rest: dance party.

> Begin an immediate gradual ramp-up in the tower's output to it's maximum. For all the attacking forces know, it'd be a 'normal' automated response to their arrival. Your air assets are almost nonexistant, so denial would be entirely to your advantage. If conditions can be reduced badly enough, once the shooting starts you may even be able to take out targets of opportunity without being discovered immediately.

Im not so sure sending all our assets towards directly defending that tower would be such a good idea. More than likely one of the enemy forces will try and take the tower as an observational platform or something or another, and if we get found out they find out where most of our troops are. I would suggest that we discretely set up defensive counter measures and send a few troops to the backup base to the south of the tower if things get to hot in there and Anak needs backup, and also so that they can scout out the Scellor landing party. meanwhile move most of the troops to the main base to the north away from the Scellor landing zone. Assuming the Astranians would plan for a drawn out and long conflict, they would probably set up on the north side of the valley between the river and the high mountains, but the Scellor are the only known factor we know about so lets stay out of the hot zones and keep ourselves hidden for now.

This is gonna be great.

By the way, what're the natural abilities of a fully capable tozol? The only one we've seen in action was poisoned and crippled.