Trouble Squad - Discussion Thread

The golden star on the map—is that where our ship is parked? Because I really don't like the idea of Imperial forces taking our ship and then advancing on our peninsula.

Yeah, the star's where you're parked but you shouldn't worry too much about that since the Imps won't necessarily see the ship as they advance on the fort. There'll be more info about this in one of my future posts in the main thread but basically, I plan for the Imps to advance from that upper right hand corner of the pennisula near the trees, not near the ship if that makes sense. Although, you could always station yourself at the ship to guard it, I suppose.

If we didn't have to worry about orbital bombardment I'd be happy to just use the ship's weapons to rip up the attackers (optionally with die Walkurenritt blaring from the speakers).

What do you mean orbital bombardment? The platoon doesn't have any ships reinforcing them because of the whole shield generator thing. The only reason they're on the planet is because they disguised themselves as a trading vessel and snuck in. And you could technically use the Pioneer but it wouldn't be recommended given the close proximity that Imperials are going to be to friendly forces. So like it'll be hard to aim at the Imps as they're marching through the forest because of the tall trees and such but once they get into the sandy clearing, it'll be easier to see them but it'll be harder to hit them without risk of friendly fire given their proximity to Trouble Squad and the Tynnans. I know it's hard to see on my...ahem...expertly crafted map but most of the sandy bit of the pennisula is covered by the fort. Is this making sense? I get the impression that I can see this place in my head but am not explaining it well.

I'm kind of imagining Fort Wagner from Glory, even if that would cast us as the Confederate defenders. And hey, we get air superiority to boot.

We won't need a lot of firing passes, we just need access to the one weapon we have that can actually harm an AT-ST (the alternative involves laborious digging, chopping, and other feats of field engineering that are vulnerable to the tactic of "going around"). It helps that shiny white Stormtroopers show up very conspicuously in woodland; a strafing pass or two on their approach would cause quite a few casualties, and the survivors—minus their armored vehicle support—get to deal with angry fortified defenders.

Basically, unless the attackers have access to air-defense missiles (space!Stingers) or something else that makes it a bad idea to fly the ship around them, which is very plausible), I see little reason we shouldn't use the house-sized, armored, shielded, flying thing we have that's equipped with heavy automatic weapons. That could send the scenario further off the rails than you might like.

It wouldn't send it off the rails at all. However, just keep in mind that the Empire might have some tactics up their sleeves as well . Also, once you're briefly briefed (haha - pun!) by Arc Scrambas, you'll have a better grasp on the Empire's combat capabilities and what they might try and pull. Also, I'll keep in mind those with Imperial backgrounds because, odds are, they might be familiar with some tactics the Empire might use.

Also keep in mind, you don't actually know yet if they have an AT-ST or not.

edited 5th Jan '17 1:56:57 PM by FantasyLiver

I got a strong hunch that the number of AT-STs they have is directly proportional to the number of ships we decide to use

It's actually a platoon of AT-ST's - not stormtroopers .

In all seriousness, I have a set amount of troops, equipment, and weapons for the Empire and I don't intend to deviate from it, regardless on whether you easily curbstomp them or are easily curbstomped by them.

I will give you a helpful hint - the AT-ST won't be the biggest threat you'll encounter if you decide to use the Pioneer. Well, at least, not initially.

"Hey, did this planet always have two moons?"

"Two? This planet doesn't have any moons..."

Also, you've reminded me that I haven't specified what time of day it is on Tynna, nor what kind of weather it's having. I'm going to say, in a way that I'm not just totally making up, that it's approaching nightfall and that it's pleasantly crisp with some clouds in the sky.

...they have TIE fighters, don't they.

Okay. Well. Step one is to determine just what the composition of the enemy is—we'll need to do things differently depending on if it's an infantry squad escorting an armor platoon, or one or two armored vehicles escorting an infantry platoon. Presumably Arc knows.

After which, I suspect, wild and extreme improvisation to put together anti-armor weapons. Oh for a humble RPG-7...

edited 5th Jan '17 2:25:59 PM by SabresEdge

Yeah Arc knows. Also, Portreaver has been fighting them for a few days so he'll also have information about them too. But, no there's no TIE's. Or any air support for the Imps since they had to smuggle themselves in and the Tynnans wouldn't have lowered the shield had they seen TIE fighters. I guess they have the trading vessel they smuggled themselves in on but I don't think you guys will see that on the battlefield. But, yeah, have your characters talk to Arc or Portreaver and they can give you the deets.

Personally, I'm hoping that they have AT-ST's. They're dangerous, but they're also pretty weak to specific things- ramming log traps can destroy the cockpit quickly, roping their legs together can bring them down, and dropping rocks on them can knock 'em over. All things that would probably be available to the squad at the moment, even as under-prepared as we are.

edited 5th Jan '17 3:55:15 PM by Cwest5538

Oh yeah. Earth BMP-1s or other tracked armor? Pack it in, guys.

I never did understand why the Empire used walking tanks like the AT-STs and the AT-ATs. I would say for the sheer terror value if not for the fact that they look ridiculous and the fact that the Republic has been using AT-TEs since the Clone Wars.

edited 5th Jan '17 4:22:54 PM by AllHailThrall

Other than looking cool, the only practical reason I can see for keeping it around would be for its ability to traverse stairs and other incline obstacles that might prove troublesome to tanks.

Also, in addition to a main thread post tomorrow evening, I'll also post a list of all nine of the NPC Tynnans' names and a brief skills section so you guys have a better grasp on where each NPC might be useful and don't constantly wonder whether you sent the big one with the Imperial blaster to stop the AT-ST or the psycho with the axe.

Double post again but where did Amelia get a hover-stretcher from? There's not much on the Pioneer as is and Kul doesn't have one. I see on her signup that she has "other equipment as mission dictates" so I guess that would qualify but I was thinking that "other equipment" would be stuff like extra power cells or a grappling hook or something. I guess McQuarrie could have loaned you one so I'll let this slide but I ask that in the future you either stick to the equipment on her signup or to specify in the main thread when she asks to borrow something from another character.

Also, clone trooper armor isn't technically Imperial.

If I thought I could give Kul one, I would've. I just thought it'd be too big for him to carry around.

Okay so here are all the NPC Tynnans to better help you decide what to do with each of them. Also, I attempted to give them a brief background so they could have some different sets of skills but that ended up turning into me thinking up of backstories for all of them, which kind of eliminates the point of them being random NPC's but whatever. Such is GM'ing. I figured that instead of having your characters asking Portreaver or Arc separately about the capabilities of each Tynnan, it'd be easier to just post them here since Portreaver would probably have filled you in at some point. As for weapons, the Tynnan hunting rifles are decent long range weapons but don't have a high rate of fire and have less stopping power than the Imperial blasters. Also, main thread post incoming.

• Portreaver
  • Background: Firefighter chief. Leader of Tynnan resistance.
  • Skills: Brawny for a Tynnan. Natural leader. Owns a SE-14C blaster pistol and a knife.
• Skygazer
  • Background: Unemployed moocher. Portreaver's daydreaming nephew.
  • Skills: Some hunting skills. Strong swimmer. Owns a Tynnan hunting rifle and a knife.
• Bopwalker
  • Background - Musician turned resistance fighter because of her strong sense of ethics.
  • Skills: Tambour player. Gifted singer. Owns E-11 blaster.
• Pawgum
  • Background - Starship mechanic at one of the ports in Tynna who wants to stop the Empire because they killed some of his fellow port workers.
  • Skills/Equipment - Mechanical skills. Good climber. Owns Tynnan hunting rifle.
• Zarbee
  • Background - Portreaver's grumpier coworker.
  • Skillls - Firefighting/Lifesaving skills. Good shot. Owns scoped Tynnan hunting rifle.
• Fuggle
  • Background - Old man. Last traditional boatmaker of his village. Only speaks his native Tynnan language
  • Skills - Boatmaking. Tynnan history and geography. Owns a Tynnan hunting rifle and a knife.
• Sevenstreams
  • Background - Young hustler and fast talker. Only in the resistance to get with Riverdance.
  • Skills - Manipulation. Good shot. Owns scoped Tynnan hunting rifle.
• Riverdance
  • Background - Young girl whose parents were killed by the invading Imperials
  • Skills - Fastest of the assembled Tynnans. Good boatsman. Owns E-11 blaster
• Grubdaw
  • Background - Gruff, old man who shuns society and lives his life at one with nature.
  • Skills - Wilderness survival. Tracker. Owns simple axe.

edited 6th Jan '17 2:09:19 PM by FantasyLiver

A DL-44 would be pretty large and clumsy for an ankle gun. I can't help but wonder if all the table legs and doorframes have little scuffmarks around ankle height.

Maybe that's why Arc is so ill-tempered - he keeps scuffing his legs on pieces of furniture . Also, apologies if you see a bunch of grammatical errors in that last main post. I was doing two things at once when I typed it up and messed up a bunch. I fixed most of the mistakes by now though.

Finally got around to posting. Was a busy week for me, but I can post much more often now. Also, in case you didn't see, I edited my signup a bit.

No worries. I haven't gotten around to looking at it yet but what kind of edits should I look for?

Also (and this applies to everybody), feel free to autocommand any of the NPC Tynnans to go and help your characters do any task you want. The only two who won't follow your commands are Sevenstreams and Zarbee since they've been assigned as lookouts. The rest will help out.

edited 7th Jan '17 4:54:21 PM by FantasyLiver

Added something about religion, and added a bipod for the DLT-19. I'm pretty sure they already come with bipods, but I added it just in case.

Alright, have a lengthy, rambling post about a Cyborg telling a bunch of aliens things they probably know.