yoink wrote:I've done some minimal editing and tried to keep the pictures a reasonable size, but it's still over 200 pages of excellence. I might remove the 'Assets' sections for the next issue if people think it'd work better as a document.
Nice job, I'm impressed!
Llama8 wrote:Wouldn't a few Hammerhead/Firestorms have sorted out that lot more easily? Assuming you were able to catch several fighters in each blast radius.
If I could get enough of them grouped together it woud have been worth it but hitting M3/M4 with a heavy torpedo like a Hammerhead/Firestorm can be tricky with a torpedoes poor agility.
shanrak wrote:Since he's playing good with pirates, getting a nice supply of hammerheads is a bit harder now. Though if he hangs around fights between pirates and patrols long enough, he's bound to pick up a few.
Firestorms are also rare, haven't seen many traders haul those around.
Actually I've approx 50 of each but I prefer to save such nice toys for special occasions.
80 - Lifter
.. exiting the other side straight into the jaws of a Tyr battle fleet..
Nah, just kidding. Actually, aside from one lone Claymore which I presume to be a straggler from the Yokohama group I just tangled with, the immediate area is clear of anything but traders so pulling a few kilometres ahead I settle in position blockading the gate, switch turrets to fire free and wait for my fleet to catch up, which takes a suprisingly long time actually. You wouldn't think it would be that much of an issue really being as I'm sat the other side supressing the outbound traffic so they have a clear jump thru, but there you go.
Eventually they all make it thru safely tho and we can start pushing for the Orbital Support base over in the north west of the sector before anything big turns up..
http://dbbr17626.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ut/80-1.gif
.. For now it's all largely clear. There is a five-man wing of ATF Vali M6 class ships up to the north, but they're blue to me for now so I'm not concerned, might make for possible secondary targets tho? Also there's a couple Terran combat ships appeared on the edge of gravidar range but they're wisely staying well clear for now, although probably screaming for backup.
The Atmo-lifter itself takes a little while to locate as it's quite far out towards Jupiter and I'm fairly deep into the sector before I spot it between the spars of one of the terran stations way off in the distance. Having experienced their tendency to not be cooperative and stay in one place I'm taking a slightly different approach this time. Leaving my M2 to trail along behind and catch up I split off the Kraken and move ahead of the main force with Gold wing as outriders until the Atmo-Lifter come into gravidar range at which point I split Gold wing down into it's component fighters and send them all in ahead of me with orders to bring down the shields..
http://dbbr17626.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ut/80-2.jpg
http://dbbr17626.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ut/80-3.jpg
.. I'll meantime be trailing behind and should be able to launch a pod as soon as they reduce them down to a suitable level, it makes for a long pod-shot but I'm sure it'll be fine. I've chosen to break down the wing because it makes it much easier for me to control how many ships are firing on the Atmo-Lifter if they're all operating independently rather than as a wing. If it turns out that four is doing too much damage I can just order one to stop and immediately reduce the level of fire heading it's way.
This particular Lifter is operating with only 650Mj of shields, which is only about 2/3 it's rated capacity, so my little Solano group doesn't have much trouble bringing them down to a point where I can fire my first pod. Sadly one of them gets a little over-excited on the job and manages to ricochet itself off the Lifter at a point when it's shields are practically zero which removes most of the shields of the Solano but causes no damage. The Lifter isn't quite so fortunate and gains a sizeable dent which is most unfortunate.
By this point tho Leo and the rest of the team are firmly attached and this time around, with their increased knowledge in the art of making big holes in things, the hull proves no problem for them. The hull was always the hard part, inside I've no doubts they'll be able to get the job done and my faith is well-founded as within a short time ship-control is handed over to me. No casualties, which is always a bonus, but unfortunately no jumpdrive remaining which means I'm going to have to sacrifice Gold wings homebase Zephyras in order to get it home. Not a problem tho as that was always the plan if I wasn't suitably lucky.
Calling in the TM then ready to transfer equipment I'm all set to head out when I suddenly realise there's something else off in the distance that I hadn't noticed before..
http://dbbr17626.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ut/80-4.jpg
..
Assets
1x Brigantine 'Why So Serious?'
1x Kraken 'Just Who Is This Steve Anyway?'
1x HCP 'Feersum Endjinn'
1x Albatross 'Two Jam Butties Short Of A Picnic'
1x Atmo-Lifter 'Big Daddy'
2x Heavy Centaur 'Yang/Yong'
4x Solano 'Gold Wing'
1x Solano 'Scout - 01'
1x Minotaur
1x Centaur
1x Vali 'SecDef - 01'
2x Heavy Nemesis
2x TP
3x M8 Bomber
3x TM Zephyrus
1x Pleco
1x M
1x Caiman Miner 'Ore miner - 01'
Credits: 376,944