Crimson Typhoon: The Dragon With Three Heads

You do know I have two plans posted, right?

edited 26th Nov '13 2:27:20 PM by TheSpaceJawa

The new one?

As Shaolin Rogue was airlifted away for the journey home, its pilots simply waited in the Drift. Command suggested they should deactivate it - remaining in the Drift for too long in one go was hazardous, after all - but there was a sort of solace and comfort to it. Just two people in total silence, alone with their memories. It'd only be for another couple of hours or so anyway.

The memory of a child with a loving family in Shantou. Father working long, dull hours in a factory, without much time to care. Mother a painter, and someone who she had always been close to.

Two times the Kaiju struck that city, and two times they fell, and the people were safe and reasonably happy.

Typical, that it would be an earthquake - admittedly one of the many side effects of a hole being torn in the fabric of reality, from which massive, nigh-unstoppable beasts would emerge -that would ruin her life by taking those dearest to her.

She was young, at the time. Death was a strange and unwanted thing. It wasn't a long funeral - not enough wealth for one of those. There was wailing from some, cold silence from others. She didn't really care about the details beyond what her distant relatives thought she needed to do at that particular time and place.

New memories. Elsewhere, exploring the ruins afterwards. Corpses, everywhere. Bones, everywhere. And the sounds of the screaming can be heard and could be heard and will be heard, and the rattling, and the splintered, pale, bloodied forms, dusted in concrete like a macabre banquet.

The memories become dream like, after a while. The drift, the rabbits, the trauma, the migraines, the painkillers, the lack of sleep...

Li Min had given up working out which was which, these days. Daniel, meanwhile, always wanted to help, but sometimes that wasn't enough.

Almost as soon as the fight was over, video footage of Shaolin Rogue - both from the most recent fight and older ones - was spliced together by various fans, in time to the popular 1990's single 'U Can't Touch This', and uploaded to You Tube (amongst other similar sites). Though not an official production, it succeeded in bringing attention back to the Hong Kong shatterdome and brought back some popularity for the Mark II Is, which were generally falling out of favour to the appeal of the experimental Mark I Vs.

Marshall Stacker Pentecost observed from Anchorage (via cameras, of course, though some held the man in such awe they would rumour and joke he could smell a Kaiju from the other side of the Breach and once beat Chuck Norris in a boxing match). And he did so again, as a month later a Category III Kaiju struck Osaka and was dispatched by Echo Saber with as much ease as the first one. Then as another Kaiju attacked, this time heading East - right smack bang into the waiting fists of Mammoth Apostle, one of the two Mark IV American Jaegers. The biggest Jaeger ever built, it was slow but powerful in the extreme. Even as the Kaiju attempted to leap towards Mammoth, all it did was uppercut - with such force that the Kaiju's head was taken clean off.

Then another attack, exactly one month afterwards, as a Kaiju approached North Korea - who were endlessly frustrated when their hated southern neighbours launched their so far only Jaeger, the Mark IV Nova Hyperion. Its unfolding 'Stance Blade' allowed it to exploit specific weaknesses in the particularly strange Kaiju, which appeared to change colour and become immune to certain forms of damage as the fight went on. Finally, the Jaeger slew it by freezing the chest solid and shattering it with a single blow.

As he observed these battles and read the reports, the Marshall began to realize something. The Kaiju were getting stranger, smarter... but how? Why? And if so, how could they use it to their advantage?

Actions taken towards 'New Training Programs'. Number of actions to complete unknown (completion may be Story Based).

Meanwhile, life carried on at the Hong Kong Shatterdome for most. In K-Science they kept working at the Artificial Breach Project, though much of their time was spent theorizing and performing low-budget tests rather than intensive study. Yes, it was interesting, but many of the higher ranking members of the division felt it was unlikely to bare any fruit.

"Bah, imbeciles," says Dr Gottlieb, "I believe this project has potential! It'll just take a lot of time. Finding a way to make holes in God's handwriting isn't exactly easy - but nothing in life is worth doing if its too easy!"

Research Progress made towards Artificial Breach Project! Two of fifteen actions taken to completion!

The weapons division, meanwhile, was more than happy to get some recognition and funding.

"What with the whole 'no more Jaegers are being built until 2021' approach the PPDC is taking while they budget and save up funds at the headquarters over in Anchorage, we were worried we might get the sack!"

The schematics for Crimson Typhoon's plasma caster are looked over a second time since their 'finalization'.

"Well, believe it or not, when we designed the IB 22 we really were trying to produce something efficient as well as powerful... but some of the guys were talking about it the other day, and they reckon that there might be a way to really reduce the charge time, back down to the sort of charge time used on the 'standard issue' I-19 plasma caster: you know, the one on that american Jaeger, Gipsy Danger."

He bites his lower lip.

"It'd lose some of its punch, but to be honest, with the generators on a Mark IV... the difference'd still be noticeable. Crimson Typhoon'd still be slagging Kaiju skulls like nobody's business. Just, not quite so instantaneously."

And with that, they began to look into it.

Research Progress made towards IB 34 Plasma Caster! One of three actions taken to completion!

Meanwhile, the suggestion and funding for an 'Overclocking' system for the Jaegers is responded too with a few odd looks.

"Isn't that what basically all of the South American Jaegers have? A 'super mode'?"

"Yeah, and it nearly got Diablo Intercept's head taken off by a Kaiju. Admittedly, that's because Diablo's pilots are hotheaded jackasses who used it too early and too often, but still. Reminds me of a certain pair of triplets, actually."

The first engineer gave a worried frown, before shrugging.

"While we could implement such a system with relative ease, we should let you know that following in the footsteps of Lima probably wont look so great for Hong Kong's popularity outside of South America. That, and the system is awfully risky... though, I suppose it would be fine if used properly. The other thing is that once we build it into a Jaeger's systems, it'll be about three times harder to remove it later if you guys change your mind."

Research Progress made towards Overclocking System! The project is now complete and can be applied to Jaegers (one action per Jaeger), though each application will reduce Hong Kong's respect by a small amount.

It is currently March, 2019

The Breach opens again on March 07th, 2019. The Kaiju - so massive and toxic that it's been dubbed a Category IV, the first one ever sighted - heads for Okinawa Island, Japan. Essentially forming a barrier across the east china sea, it is a 'bridge' of sorts between the Hong Kong and Tokyo shatterdomes, neither of which are at an 'ideal location' for quick deployment.

Tokyo promises to deploy Echo Saber and Coyote Tango.

How many Jaegers should be launched, and which ones? Launching more than two may reduce respect for the Shatterdome, but can be done so if you wish. Launching only one will noticeably increase respect for the Shatterdome if it succeeds, but will drastically reduce respect if it fails.

[X] Launch Crimson Typhoon, with Shaolin Rogue as the backup.

I support this plan. A category IV deserves a four Jaeger deployment, at least so long as we have no idea what they're capable of.

Theoretical side note: Could we potentially attempt to leverage our respect towards lobbying for one or more other Shatterdomes to contribute resources of their own to helping with larger projects? Like the artificial breach, for example? See if we can't speed up the research time on that by getting others in on helping out with it?

edited 28th Nov '13 10:07:41 PM by TheSpaceJawa

Wait so the faster charge time is at the cost of being weaker? Why not just implement the I-19 on Crimson? Oh and how does the overcharge work, +1 - 10 on roll but take damage to our reactor?

edited 28th Nov '13 11:13:28 PM by BlazingGuns

Man, I wished I had seen Pacific Rim.

The IB 34 Plasma Caster is still stronger than the I-19 but has a charge time just as quick (but requires a Mark IV power supply to do it).

Overclocking is something you attach to a single turn (AKA your next action and during the action of the Kaiju). When used, it adds +3 to all rolls involved on that turn, but reduces the user's stability by one rank for all future turns.

You can indeed attempt to get support for larger projects from the other Shatterdomes, though it'd require the use of other actions.

Here's Echo Saber's stats:

Echo Saber

• Shatterdome: Tokyo
• Appearance: Tall and thin, Echo Saber has a curving, segmented form that resembles the traditional armour of a samurai. Its conn-pod arcs upwards into a pair of horns, while its shoulders, joints and fists are all marked by spikes. Its colour scheme, a dark reddish purple with gold and white trims, is further enhanced by large numbers of neon lights between the segments - it strikes a truly imposing form. Its mighty Plasma Katana is normally sheathed on its back.
• Mark: IV
• Pilots: Hira Eiji and Hira Rei
• Number of Drops: 2 Real (2 kills), 117 Simulated (99 kills)
• Agility: 8 (+1 when using weapons, -1 movement in water)
• Armour: 7 (+1 resistance to Impact, +1 resistance to Blade)
• Stability: Good (+1 to all stats)

• Equipment, Weapons & Techniques
  • Jet Thrusters: On its back are a set of four, high powered thrusters not unlike those of a massive aircraft, linked up to the central core. Echo Saber can dash forwards, even lifting itself up into the air as a sort of jump or pounce. Echo Saber can launch itself up to 2 spaces in any direction besides its standard movement that turn.
  • Plasma Katana: Extremely unique, Echo Saber is the only Jaeger so far to have a detachable 'handheld' weapon. Its hands, the most flexible of any Jaeger so far, can grip with 98.3% efficiency. Its pilots, trained in several martial arts and the use of a real life katana, can make effective use of the weapon - a massive blade, 12 meters long, lined with tubes that can ignite to 800 degrees celsius. Melee use only, will be dropped if Stability goes into a negative rating. When used instead of basic punch attacks, deals +2 Plasma and Blade damage to the target.
  • X13 Alternate Fire Mode: The Plasma Katana can also 'transform' into a 'sniper rifle' that fires beams of plasma. Up to 8 spaces of range. Deals 5 Plasma damage to Armour.

edited 29th Nov '13 5:55:39 AM by Eventua

Strategy suggestion - here's what I'm thinking our overall battle plan should be: Coyote Tango and Shaolin Rogue should engage first, but focus on distraction/keeping the Kaiju busy and not dying over scoring an actual kill. That'll will give time for Echo Saber and and Crimson Typhoon to ready their plasma weapons and score the actual kill.

If Echo Saber's sniper rifle readies first, we'll let them take first shot at the beast and if they make the kill, well, good for them - it just means that Category IV's shouldn't be as big a concern in the future as we were first worried. However, if the Cat IV is still standing by the time that Crimson's plasma caster is ready, we'll have them finish the beast off.

What do you guys think?

Naturally, I was more interested in if it was actually an option.

Also, I think the second post is in need of a post-battle update yet.

edited 29th Nov '13 8:27:53 AM by TheSpaceJawa

A small nitpick, but we don't have Tacit, Coyote is the other one Japan is launching. Which will most likely be a ranged heavy Jaeger.

Maybe send in Crimson and Horizon, not only does that have the matching of a Mark IV and a Mark I being launched from each country, but Crimson and Echo should be able to relatively safely engage at close range while Coyote and Horizon shoot it. And it doesn't have a Mark I being sent into melee with a Cat IV.

edited 29th Nov '13 8:25:49 AM by Badwolfwho

Coyote doesn't have to get into a melee to keep the Cat IV distracted - we can have Rouge keep its immediate attention while Coyote takes pot shots at it from nearby. Ideally, the Cat IV will be distracted by the two immediate targets, and that will mean it won't have its attention on the two more dangerous Jaegers as they prep their most powerful attacks.

We should probably have Crimson closer to the Kaiju than Echo will be (at least if it's going to use its plasma cannon instead of simply mixing it up with the sword), though. I'm pretty sure that their plasma sniper rifle has greater range than our more conventional plasma cannon, and depending on how the fight goes, we might need to aid Rouge in keeping the Kaiju distracted enough for the first plasma shot to go through, at which point, if the Kaiju is still alive, we can give a point-blank killshot.

Other thoughts: Between Crimson and Shoalin, we could probably set up a wicked tag-team kill with Echo, or between our own Jaegers.

Don't forget, Coyote also has a plasma launcher of the I series.

Except it's a prototype, hmm, maybe while Coyote's done taking potshots at the kaiju she can charge up her launcher?

So I realized that Badwolfwho may have had a point about something, and it caused me to come up with a new potential battle strategy. Then I came up with a third one that's based on Rule of Cool.

Previous suggested battle strategy:

* Battle Plan Big Gun Finisher: Coyote Tango and Shaolin Rogue should engage first, but focus on distraction/keeping the Kaiju busy and not dying over scoring an actual kill. That'll will give time for Echo Saber and and Crimson Typhoon to ready their plasma weapons and score the actual kill.

Then, the two new ones:

• Battle Plan Ring of Fire: Echo Saber takes point and leads the initial engagement with his plasma katana while Tango and Rogue provide a 'ring' to box in the Kaiju and cover it from all sides. Tango can take shots from behind as he gets clear opening and Rogue can standby to provide close up assistance as needed. While this is happening, Crimson can charge up their primary plasma caster and, if the Kaiju isn't dead by the time its ready, the other three can set up the Kaiju to give Crimson a clear finishing shot, one that if it isn't enough to kill the Kaiju outright, should prove a mortal enough blow to allow Echo Saber to pull off some kind of awesome close-range flashy finisher with their plasma katana.
• Battle Plan Skeet Shoot (AKA Battle Plan Rule of Cool): Crimson Typhoon and Shaolin Rogue move in on the Kaiju to grapple it, then throw it around so that Echo Saber and Coyote Tango can shoot at it while its flying through the air. Just like target practice!

Note that I'm not expecting a vote on these, I'm just putting these forward as potential strategies to consider for when the battle starts.

In either case, I think that sending Crimson Typhoon and Shaolin Rogue in is our absolute best option - not only is sending in Horizon Brave instead of Shaolin Rogue for the reason of "have the matching of a Mark IV and a Mark I being launched from each country" a dumb reason to do so, but its worth noting that Japan doesn't have any other Jaegers above Mk I other than Echo Saber. I'm pretty sure that if they had a Mk II-III, they'd probably be sending that instead, so to limit ourselves against a Cat IV to 'match' the Japanese Shatterdome is shortsighted at best.

Elite Mk Is like Cherno Alpha aside, there's no reason not to send in a Mk II over a Mk I. A Mk I Jaeger is still a Jaeger, yes, but as long as we still have access to plenty of other, more advanced machines, we shouldn't need to deploy them except as emergency deployment units and 'shadow trainers' that can be there to provide new Jaegers with backup if something goes wrong.

edited 29th Nov '13 8:08:08 PM by TheSpaceJawa

As the teams were suited up, there were murmurs amongst the staff.

"You sure we shouldn't send the veterans?"

"Is it really smart, sending Hu or Li Min into the fray? That guy's been spending more time partying than training, and you heard how she had a weird episode when fighting Skullface?"

"Echo Saber'll probably be able to handle it all fine on their lonesome anyway."

But regardless, orders were orders. The Jumphawks - a veritable fleet of them - were fueled up and the Jaegers were hooked up to them as effectively as possible within the time constraints. And so, off they went.

But the pilots, alas, all had problems - while in principle they *understood* the idea that this was a Category IV, something terrible and vast and unknown, and they would need teamwork and coordination and caution, they all had a problem.

Jin wanted to destroy Kaiju. Hu wanted glory. Li Min was still ticked off, and Daniel and Cheung couldn't help but be worried about their teammates.

"Guys, remember - this thing is a Category IV, and we've only had one actual drop. We've got to be careful, keep our distance, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah," came Hu's predictable, dismissive reply, "'keep our distance' blah blah. I say we go straight for Sawblade Mode, own this guy."

Jin was silent most of the time, even in the Drift. The effect was surprisingly oppressive.

As the southern most chain of Japanese islands loomed on the horizon, an unfortunate message came over the radio.

"Coyote Tango's launch mechanism has delayed! I repeat, Tango's launch mechanism has delayed! Some sort of system error!"

Echo Saber, launched preemptively, waited on the southern coast of one of the smaller islands, connected to Okinawa by a single thin bridge. It stood there on the bay, a silent, ominous sentinel, Plasma Katana sheathed but a single hand resting at the hilt. The voices of the twins spoke over the radio, two voices in perfect harmony.

"The Chinese Jaegers will serve as our support. Tokyo command requests that Echo Saber be given the killing blow."

"Yeah, screw that!" shouted Hu through the Drift, though he didn't quite have the courage to say it outloud.

On-board Shaolin Rogue, Li Min had similar sentiments.

The map - as you can see, Echo Saber is on Ojima Island (Okinawa is the larger island north of it)◊

Coyote Tango's launch systems have failed, as have Tacit Ronin's - the error appears to be coding issues, similar to what delayed Shaolin Rogue's launch during Skullface's attack, only more severe. The system will need to be completely rebooted, causing several hours of delays.

If Echo Saber is allowed to take point on the operation, Tokyo will provide resources to the Hong Kong shatter-dome.

Where will Shaolin Rogue and Crimson Typhoon be deployed? The Kaiju, dubbed 'Zeruel' based on early scans of its appearance and limbs, has not yet emerged from the water and appears to produce a greater 'scrambling' effect than most Kaiju, making it difficult to tell where it is other than 'somewhere just south of Okinawa Island'.

edited 1st Dec '13 2:17:22 PM by Eventua

Plan Fan Out Eyes Open◊ - Should give us plenty of coverage area so that no matter where Zeruel pops up we'll have someone in range to intercept.

Huh, when will Coyote arrive?

Anywho, Plan Fan Out it is.

Since Tokyo wants Echo to take point, should we consider deploying it somewhat forward? Something like 3 south, 2 east from where you have it? Then after that, we also have a nice, open drop zone for our artillery support once they get unhooked.

Also, "Zeruel", quite the ominous name, that.

I don't think Echo's deployment is up to us. Where it's positioned right now is was on the original default map that Eventua posted.

If we had any say in the matter, yeah, I'd vouch for positioning them further from the shore, but I went with the assumption that our deployment would have to take their set position into account.

Wait we're fighting a Kaiju named Zeruel.

Huh, never knew we were fighting angels, uhm can Jaegers handle angels? We might need an AT Field.

We'll do just fine kid.

I vote for Jawa's plan.

If we can't do so, we might have to pull back farther than we'd like to to meet the "Echo on point" condition.

We could take the riskier, but easier-to-make-clear-Echo-is-on-point formation of having everything deploy right around and only slightly behind Echo.

I mean, the current plan is probably most tactically sound, but I'm trying to figure out what we'd have to do to fulfill the bonus objectives.

I think the "Echo on Point" thing is far more about them taking the lead in the action and letting them score the final kill than about where the robots are positioned at the start of the fight.

Pretty sure that it also implies taking the lead position.

"Lead position" is arguably relative - Echo is centered between the other two on a coastline with a concave curve, so provided that Zeruel doesn't strike at Crimson or Rogue first and force them to make the first move, it wouldn't be difficult for the Hong Kong Krew to circle around behind and allow an initial showdown between Echo and Zeruel.

That is, provided that Rogue or Crimson don't wind up grabbing the Kaiju and throw it through the air so that Echo can take pot shots at it. How cool would it be if we could pull of a move like that?