LAST TIME

"So there's still no word from Ramba Ral yet?" David checked with the Mail Ships Captain.

"Nothing on either coded or encoded channels. Although given the cloak and dagger games you've been playing on my ship, I wouldn't expect there to be. They'd probably use a personal courier to deliver the message whatever it is."

"So we still don't know where..." Jolyne looks over at the Captain, remembering belatedly that he hadn't been cleared for the full story.

"... the target is." She finishes.

"No. The suits are prepped for a quick launch, and were taking a long way through a debris field to cover that, but eventually were going to reach Grenada Fortress. Then we're going to have to think up an excuse to leave the base at a moments notice."

"Low Gravity combat exercises?" Bernie suggests.

"I mean, we might as well, we might need the practice." he continues.

"That could work..." David muses.

"Couldn't we just ask Nell where they are?"

"Assuming I've gotten the gist of what she can do right, then she'd need to know every facet of the economic and political scene on Von Braun to work out where the target is, and I don't think she does. I also don't think it's appropriate to put the mentally disturbed twelve year old under and any unrequired pressure."

"It's getting pretty fucking required sir." Jolyne comments.

"I'll ask Sara before we reach Grenada. Satisfied?"

>>12854719

>headache tablets

I've had migraines since I was five, and, let me tell you, nothing the doctor prescribed helps me as much as smoking a couple of bowls of weed.

Today on ZEONQUEST!

"I'm sorry Commander we do have a newtype vehicle called the Zeong but it's only 80% complete."

>>12854719
>WHY WILL MY HEADACHE TABLETS KICK IN? WHO CAN TELL?

PRESUMABLY BECAUSE YOU'VE TAKEN THEM, THAT IS WHY.

>>12854734
Wait for a report from our wingman ZOLOMON RINGO. I'm sure he'll be here any minute to tell us what he's found.

>>12854734
>your lover's mecha

God damnit, I cannot into Gundam. Is that Elaine or Jolyne?

You return to where Sara and Nell are staying for this journey and press the door chime.

After a few seconds a somewhat haggard looking Sara answers.
"Yes?"

"Can we come inside? There's some things we'd like to possibly discuss with Nell?"

She rolls her eyes but let's you in anyway.

"So what is it?"

"How much about the Zeonic civil war are you aware of?"

"Just that Gihren's on one side with Side 3, A-Boa-Qu and few other places, and were on the other with Solomon, Pezun and Grenada, why?"

You tell her about the theft of the Jupiter Ghost, and Gihren's plan to nuke Von Braun.
She just rubs her eyes in frustration, you suspect she has a headache, or didn't get a good nights sleep.

"... and you want to see if Nell can guess where they are?" she surmises at the end.

"If that's possible."

"Well, I suppose you could ask. The tranquilisers should have worn off by now, I'll go see if I can wake her."

She leaves for the adjacent sleeping quarters.

>>12854798

Yes.

FUCK YEAH ZEONQUEST!

>>12854809
Presumably Jolyne, as that seems to be a Gelgoog Cannon. But clever apologized seems to have gotten a picture with another Gelgoog and a Gyan in the background...wait...does that mean Zolomon is a potential love interest? GAH....

>>12854734
Well, if we're going to ask Nell to do anything, Jolyne should be the one to talk with Nell while David talks to Sara.

Bernie's idea sounds good; tack it down to zero-gee training and practice of the Jet Stream Attack, since it seemed to work well in practice against mobile armors. Maybe ask if a Musai or some other ship could help, as we try the Stream Attack on a ship.

>>12854798
Elaine, Jolyne and Cima's MS are all in the same pic. Nice shoop.

>>12854815
Huh? Oh, they're both piloting that model, so there's no way to tell. Gotcha. I thought they were in different MSs.

>>12854809
>tranquilizers

:<

Presently Nell Dyland comes into the main quarters where you're sitting in pink pajama's with tiny acguy's on them.
She still seems to be half asleep, Sara ushers her to sit on one of the chairs.

You take your time to retell the situation to Nell.

"...and we were wondering if you'd be able to guess where the enemy would be hiding."

Nell scratches her head and thinks.
"It'll be somewhere close enough that they can launch the attack without getting intercepted, it'll also be somewhere that activity wouldn't be unusual, but still just out of the way to avoid people spotting what they're doing by accident. They'll always be ready for an immiediate launch for if they get discovered and they'll probably have two mobile suits as back-up and base defence. Rick-Doms as Gelgoogs are to expensive and useful to have sit in a cargo container for days on end at the moment. Sorry, I can't really think of anything else now."

You tell her that's fine. You thank them both and take your leave.

"Well, if she's right then that's a point in our favour, our suits can shred through Rick-Dom's if needs be, Gelgoogs might have been able to stall us long enough for the Ghost to escape."
Jolyne comments.

"To be honest, I wasn't expecting even that much."
You state.

YOUR ORDERS?

>>12854875
>>12854825
>>12854819
I'm hopeless. Thank you though.

>>12854881
Prepare our cover story for zero-g exercises when we're at Grenada?

>part 83

Can someone briefly explain to me what ZeonQuest is? Has it really been going on for that long?

Science bless your creativity, dear OP.
Unfortunately, I haven't been following these threads, although I DO remember part 1.

Hell yeah, Zeonquest

>>12854881
Oh hey, she's not spazzing out from being near us. Awesome. As for orders.... I dunno. Train some more, I suppose. We've only had those new heat rods on our Act Zaku for a couple of days, if not less right? Along with the foot blades? We could use some practice, I think. Try to come up with some new maneuvers.

>>12854900
I have not read a single one of these quests.

I am the man who suggested the hero be named David Lister.

I feel both bad and strangely proud.

>>12854900
Been going on for a little over a year now.

ZeonQuest is about ace Zeon MS pilot David Lister, and his elite Nactmaren Unit. A what-if of the One Year War is someone competent and without their head up their ass about revenge were to go around tearing up Amuro's whiny bitch ass and generally making a mess of the Federation's shit. But mostly being competent and not stupid. And staying the fuck away from Amuro's plot armor.

>>12854945
>go around tearing up Amuro's whiny bitch ass

Oh come on. You never did this. Hell, even that one time when you were about to kill him you WERE outnumbering him 6 to one at the time, AND you nearly lost Bernie in the process.

>>12854987
Still, I consider that a victory against someone who has such plot armor, because we came away from that fight alive, and Bernie didn't die.

>>12854987
Any landing you can walk away from, ect. Or, Gundam in this case.

Anyway, what's currently stationed at Granada? Is there a chance Ral could be feeding Kycilia updates somehow?

How far out from Grenada are we?

Slightly off topic, but has anyone else been enjoying the Men of War: Assault Squad beta? I have been playing the fuck out of it lately, I can't believe I never tried it before.

Kind wish I had bought it when they had that special offer on it, as the full collection £30 from Steam.

Panzer II Luchs are fucking beasts at clearing infantry, and Brandenberg Commando's are utterly lethal against Tanks if you can get them close enough.

>>12855031

You should reach Grenada in a few hours.

As for Ramba Ral feeding Kycillia information about what's going on, it seems unlikely as Ramba was concerned about possible leaks in the Legitmacies communications lines. Plus from the sounds of things, he still doesn't fully trust Kycillia, the two have never really gotton on if you remember rightly.

>YOUR ORDERS?

Doesnt seem like there's much we can do until we get to Grenada.

Read up on some MS tech manuals since we havent piloted much other than the Act Zaku lately. If we have to borrow a Gelgoog some day it'd be handy to know more about them.
Also ask Bernie if he wants to try out any suits other than the Zaku Kai, he was kicking some ass at Odessa. Enough that Monsha surrendered to him while he was piloting a GM Sniper II wasnt he? Or was that to distract from Revil escaping?

>>12855159
>read up on tech manuals
Maybe those on the Rick Dom, to pinpoint weaknesses we could exploit?

Ouch, slow day. I left to take a shower and get some food and when I get back there are only 4 new replies.

You do realize that encoded means that something is in code, right?

>>12854881

Study up on the missile type being used to deliver those nuclear payload. Have any instance of said weapon system being launched prioritized on our system above and beyond normal combat operations.

Even if someone's tossing a dozen 880mm rockets at us at the time, NUCLEAR LAUNCH DETECTED better come up first.

Consider beam scatter guns if possible, assuming the missile is thin-skinned enough. Shotgunning enough beam spray in it's path might be enough to cripple the thing.

>>12855353
Oh yes, we need to remember that the JG has a beam shield. It'll only last for 60 seconds, but that's still far too long for my tastes.

>>12855364
I believe it was discussed that someone armed with a number of low powered beam weapons engage the Jupiter and "miss a lot" in order to trick the pilot into raising the I-Field Barrier. Once the barrier was depleted or switched off if they figured out what we were doing, then higher powered beam weapons then be used.

That or a loadout made up of all solid state weapons. Personally, I'm less worried about the Jupiter itself and more about the nukes. If we are unable to prevent the Jupiter from taking off, then I think we should just beam spam the hell out of it. Even if we don't get luck and take it out before it can use its barrier, beams are better than bullets if we need to shoot down the missiles.

>>12855364

The JG itself isn't the danger. The nukes are. And yeah, that's another reason I'm suggesting beam scatter guns. We're probably better off getting up close, latching on with a heat rod, and hacking/point-blank blasting the thing to pieces.

Otherwise, I'd suggest sticking to our favorite beam carbine, but we're going need more antimissile, less anti-JG.

I'm just going to put my tea in the oven.

No, that's not a metaphor for anything.

>>12855159
I'll deal with Arty's suggestions when I get back.

>>12855487
Borrow some MS from Grenada or the Flanagan institute. If we cant get a newtype suit see if we can get Jolyne into a Jelgoog Jaeger and David and Bernie into Kamphers. Then we take a Komusai shuttle to our destination and launch from as close as possible.

>cartmart impatient

>>12855487
>>12855459
I'm concerned with shooting down the JG because the faster we take it down, or the longer we can keep it on the defensive, the less chances it has to fire its nukes.

>>12855538
I'm hesitant to take a Kampfer. While using it with a melee loadout would probably be pretty decent for getting in close to the JG and taking it apart, I am skeptical about how useful it would be at intercepting a missile. Combine the facts that it can't use beam weapons and we've never even piloted one before, and I say we should stick with the Nacht-Zaku.

If we can get some Kampfer training commandos to tag along with us though, that shit would be pretty cash. In fact, I like that idea so much, I'm going to add it to the list of things we need in the event we ever get transformed into a full Company, Kampfer Kommandos, high speed low drag fast reaction and raiding force.

>>12855619

I'm also of the opinion that if we can load up Hovis's MA with flak rounds for it's point defense battery (and artillery), it might well be worth it.

If anyone can direct-fire a shell to intercept a missile in space, it's him. Put him in close as the last layer of mobile defense when we do this.

It's also the only time in my life I'd consider nuclear warheads. With those, a near-miss interdiction is still going to do the job, but detonating one in open space is dodgy on the Antarctic Treaty. Is using a nuke on a nuke violating that?

>>12855538

The thing is, that Jolynes Gelgoog Cannon has been repaired with a mishmash of standard and UMP parts, so it's getting pretty close to being a Jaeger with a Cannon backpack anyway.
Kampfers are possible, but do you really think you should be swapping out for Mobile Suits you've never used before?
It's not something you haven't done before admittedly, I distinctly recall you having fun with the hoverskirt settings on the first Dom prototype in Canada, but still.

>>12855159
>Also ask Bernie if he wants to try out any suits other than the Zaku Kai, he was kicking some ass at Odessa.

You ask if he want's to trade up at some point.
"Well, I suppose it would be nice, but honestly, I just like the Eff-Zee Zaku, it's basically the same Zaku I trained in, but better, and it has all of the carrying spaces and hardpoints I could want, so I never have to go into combat feeling undergunned. I suppose I could try out some new Mobile Suits if you really want me too though sir."

>Enough that Monsha surrendered to him while he was piloting a GM Sniper II wasnt he? Or was that to distract from Revil escaping?

Can't it be both? Although if you must know, it was probably more the latter than the former, even in 83, Monsha was hardly privy to the decisions of his superiors.

ANYWAY, YOU'RE ORDERS TO BERNIE ON TRADING UP?

>>12855655
Hovis isn't with us though, he's back on Pezun.

>>12855660

Let him know that if there's anything we can do to customize his ride, let us know. He's one of the best pure Zaku pilots in the Zeon armed forces, and his insights on the design might prove valuable for everyone else riding one on the line.

You never know. He comes up with a good simple modification or two, and we might save even more lives of the average grunt Zaku pilots. Zeon needs every man it can get.

>>12855660
We'll look into trading up, AFTER this mission, when we can all sit down and think about and try out new suits with him at Pezun without having to worry about impending nuclear attacks.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If something better is available, let him look at it and test it out and think about it. But we don't have time for that now.

If we can, lets run some simulated highspeed interception drills.

>>12855660
>I distinctly recall you having fun with the hoverskirt settings on the first Dom prototype in Canada, but still.

Heh. Good times. Yes, let's get Bernie into a more high-performance MS. At least a Rock Dom for space combat.

>>12855660
Right now, I don't think we can afford Bernie to be in anything other than what he's used to. It's too risky in my opinion to have him pilot an MS that he's new to in such a high stakes operation.
We'll consider having him move up after this mission.

To keep him busy, have him write down ideas and suggestions for further improvements and modifications on the Zaku II, to be forwarded to Pezun.

Let's get some high-speed zero-g intercept mission training in.

>>12855686
>>12855750
Supported. I suppose we shouldnt really be swapping out right this second. I'm just worried about keeping with with the Ghost if/when it launches.

>At least a Rock Dom for space combat.
>a Rock Dom for space combat.
>Rock Dom
>Rock Dom

I'm now imagining a Dom with a giant electric guitar, dressed like Jack Black from School of Rock. Thanks for that.

You decide to put the idea to upgrade Bernies ride on a back-burner until the threat of nuclear DOOM has been averted.
Around about 10 o' clock Zeon Time you arrive at Grenada, you're arrival is fairly low key, and nobody greets you.
It's not suprising, not that many people even knew you were coming. You sign in at the arrivals office, and then have your Mobile Suits transferred to one of the hangar bays on the base.

You then ask for somebody relatively high up on the totem pole. About 10 minutes later a Commodore from the Space Assault Fleet greets you.

"It's a pleasant suprise to see the Nachtmaren in Grenada, what can I do for you today Commander?"

"I have some personal mail to hand deliver to Lord Degwin from Lord Captain Garma, could you tell us where to find him?"

"I'd be glad to help sir, let me ring ahead and tell Lord Degwins guard detail what's happening."

A few more minutes pass. During this time you see Sara and Nell exit the mail ship. Their shuttle to the Flanagan Institute is already ready and waiting for them. As they move to leave, Nell waves goodbye to you.
You wave back.

The commodore returns, and asks you to follow him.

>>12855839
I try, I try.

Follow the Commodore, but keep an eye out in case anything seems amiss.

>>12855794
We should probably give Bernie a beam scatter gun for this mission; also, was there any kind of high-mobility space warfare pack that the Zaku II's could use?

After being led down towards the deepest parts of Grenada, you arrive in the redoubt, a part of the fortress designed to resist even nuclear attack. There, Degwins guards pat you down for weapons, and when they're satisfied they lead you to him.

Lord Degwin, it is clear has seen better days, his skin, always an unhealthy colour, now seems pallid and hangs even looser on his frame. His hands seem emanciated and frail.
Despite this, he still retains some of his imposing presence, and it is clear as he sits on his comfortable chair in front of his office desk that he still has his full faculties.

"Welcome again to Grenada Commander Lister. I hope you have managed to find yourself in less trouble than the last time Garma had you hand deliver his mail!"

You pause, imperceptably. Before demurring.

"That remains to be seen, but in any case, here is the Lord Garma's message."
He takes the letter, opens it and reads it's contents, you wait patiently as he does so.
After he finishes reading it, he turns you.
"I will take the time to forumlate a response to Garma, and I would be grateful if you could escort it back, at least as far a Pezun perhaps. But know, I would like you tell me what is afoot here on the Moon David."

YOUR ORDERS?

BRB DINNER

>>12855924
Should we tell him about the Jupiter Ghost?
It might be the final straw for Degwin, and push him to decisive action against Gihren.

>>12855924
Heh, nothing gets by him. Make sure that we're alone except for people he trusts with sensitive info.

"The moon? Why, whatever makes you say that sir? It's not like Gihren and his men have managed to steal a nuclear-capable MS and are planning to use it to attack Luna 2. No, that is most definitely what is not going on. And I have certainly /not/ dispatched one of my men to investigate and ascertain where the non-existent MS is so that we can attack it. That's sheer lunacy sir."

>>12855976
But then again this is Grenada. Is Kycillia above listening in on her father?

>>12855924

I advise we clear the room of anyone Degwin doesn't trust explictly and inform him of the potential threat and why we're here- and why we're being quiet about it.

We are a man of honor and duty above all else, and not letting Degwin know of something that could potentially obliterate his position and him with it? He's no coward.

Give him the low down. His asshat of a son stole the JG and a handful of nukes and it planing on nuking Von Braun to he can take over mining operations.

We have a man in play and are waiting to hear back from him. We had planned on taking a little walk after delivering the mail so that we could get into position and be able to act on short notice.

rolled 35547 = 35547

ACGUY PAJAMAS.

I want.

You know, I just had a thought. Von Braun is sounded by a ring of mass driver to protect it against meteors right? Meteors can be small and fast moving, not unlike a missile.

If things go to Hell in a hand basket, it might be worth sneaking one of Ramba Ral's men into the control center for those guns and see if we can't use them as a last ditch defense.

>>12856002
Probably not. But then I'd bet that a wily guy like Degwin has already checked to make sure that he isn't being watched. I'll admit I don't know much about him, but he seems pretty observant and clever. Putting aside the whole not realizing it was his own son who was poisoning him bit....

>>12856076
Which if anything would make him even more cautious and likely to check to see if he's being spied upon even here.

"How often is this room swept?"

>>12856076
>>12856164

You surreptitiously check the room. It appears that there are no guards or listening bugs here, you also would assume that it would be something Degwin would be deeply paranoid about, now more than ever.

So you decide to once again relate the story of the Jupiter Ghost.
Honestly, you're getting a little tired of having to repeat the same story over and over again...

When you're finished, Degwin sits back in his chair. If he's shaken by the news, he doesn't show it.

"Gihren is making several bold plays this month. I beleive it either hints at an overconfidence in his position, or possibly a desperation. The root of this must be Odessa and the loss of Beijing. The loyalists resources must be stretched well beyond their means now, and Gihren has become desperate if he's will to risk everything on a play like this. Commander, above all else, you must capture the nuclear weapons of the Jupiter Ghost, this smoking gun may just give us the breathing room we need to finally retake A-Boa-Qu and to bring Gihren to book for his crimes. Whilst I am irritated at Ramba Ral keeping such things from even me, I fear I can understand his mistrust of me. First and foremost, before his death, Ramba Ral and Zum Deikum were like brothers, and to my knowledge he never truly believed Deikums death to be natural. In anycase Commander, I will aid you in anyway I can. What would you need of me?"

YOUR POLITE REQUESTS?

>>12856358?
I have no idea. A fast ship? An Alibi? A request to the Flanagain institute to borrow a vehicle?
What could he potentially get us that we wouldnt have been able to pull together on our own?

>>12856358
I think what we need right now is to be able to perform those 'training exercises' so that we're in a position to move when Ral and Zolomon contact us. Any kind of overt military maneuvers could spook the JG team and cause them to launch their attack.

rolled 30224 = 30224

The support of Degwin is all that we really need. Maybe we can just keep him informed of our actions this sortie and if he feels the need to move, we should trust his judgement.

>>12856358

A pre-arranged priority code to clear Luna traffic for intercept might be useful, especially as we may have a minute or two advance notice on the Ghost attacking.

Something along the lines of an "unexpected meteor shower alert" to get regular airspace to make emergency descent and/or docking in shelter. If nothing else, it'll minimize debris spray or out-of-control ships if one of those nukes near-misses and airbursts instead of splashing on surface.

A good relay sat/network or the like to get whatever Zolomon's come up with to Degwin (and us) ASAP would help as well.

rolled 37208 = 37208

>>12856547

Ohhhh good thinking. I second this.

Not having to dodge traffic AND fight at the same time is good.

>>12856358
Overconfidence, desperation.... or possibly insanity. To be frank sir he seems like a megalomaniac. I think he truly believes that he can win the war with the Federation somehow if he manages to defeat us. Which is ludicrous of course, we were having trouble just keeping up before the split, with all the resources gone fighting this civil war an outright victory would be impossible."

Rub our eyes in a sign of apology. "Sorry for repeating what you probably have heard a dozen times already from people more knowledgeable of our position than I sir. This war is dragging on longer than it has any right to."

>>12856462
>>12856547

You talk with Degwin about what could be done to make your life easier. He agree's to forwarding any messages to your position as being not only top secret, but also of highest urgency.

He also agrees to talk to have some high ranking (and vetted) dignitaries from Von Braun shipped over in highest secrecy and try to get them to take the threat seriously.

Is there anything else, or will that be all.

>>12856692
I think that's it for this specific operation.
Ask him to please consider some way in which we can force the Federation to a cease-fire; we don't need to defeat the Federation, just not lose to them.

I think that's everything.
>>12856748
>Ask him to please consider some way in which we can force the Federation to a cease-fire; we don't need to defeat the Federation, just not lose to them.
That might be above our pay grade still.

>>12856795
Eh, you're probably right.

Okay with nothing further to discuss you leave your audiance with Lord Degwin, he says that he will forward his response to Garma to you for delivery.

So, the plan was to take the Mobile Suits "out" somewhere in preparation for the intel from Ramba Ral and Zolomon.
But prior to that did you actually want to do anything with your Mobile Suits?

Also, what loadout do you want with them as well?

>>12856960
I think we wanted to go with a beam-heavy loadout, with Bernie using a beam scattergun rather than his regular SMG.

>>12856960
Can we visit the Flanagan insttitute? I mean we only just got here. I doubt we'd want to sit outside for the better part of 2 days waiting to hear news.

rolled 5203 = 5203

>>12856960

Plus we repaint our suits the traditional Zeonic colors yes? I am pretty sure we did, but I'm making sure.

>>12857144
Should we paint them traditional or Camo?

rolled 39710 = 39710

>>12857214

... is there a space camo?

Damn, really slow today. I went and watched two episodes of Fringe and completely forgot about this. I was expecting it to be over by now.

Give me a sec to review the JG specs and finish cooking cupper and I'll get back with my loadout/tactics suggestions.

>>12857248
Yes. Black.

Although to be honest, you can get way with no camo at all, ships had tremendous trouble in the one week war telling if they were up against a mobile suit that was some distance away, or a guy with a bazooka who's gotten really close.

>>12857259
Visit Flanagan Institute for shiny new prototypes while our suits get painted black 'like the depths of space'?

>>12857256

No matter HOW quick we are, I've never had an episode of ZQ end this early, except possibly due to illness.

rolled 13712 = 13712

>>12857259

Well, its more like we don't wanna get recognized and make Ghiren think that there is another group of awesome badass True Zeon that can kick his ass.

>>12857289
what what please don't end it

Okay, so, the loadout is from the sounds of things a standard loadout, which you were carrying anyway.

So, you want to go to the Flanagan Institute. Will you be taking a standard shuttle, or your Mobile Suits?
Obviously, you'll have to ring ahead to tell them that you're coming but the Flanagan Institute have been wanting to "talk" to you for a while now.

Alright, the JG is based on a Rick Dom II with added thrusters and fuel tanks, so it's fast, very fast. Lucky for us though, it's armament is very limited, and geared heavily towards taking out large stationary targets. Unless the pilot gets REAL FUCKING BALLSY, he'll probably reserve the nukes for his main target and not use them on attacking suits, especially if we're spaced out a bit. That leaves it with just the long cannon, which may or not be a beam weapon. We also can't discount the possibility of a Vulcan pod or some other small armament. But it all comes down to a few long range heavy hitters. It's not built for MS on MS combat, or close range fighting. It will probably rely on its speed to get it out of danger, it may also have a small escort. For such an important unit, we're probably looking at two or three Gelgoogs.

We're going to have to close fast and take it out even faster, because something tells me the JG pilot is going to want to stick around if things get ugly.

I propose a three team strategy: Team one is kitted out for close range fighting and tries to stop the JG before it can take off. Team two stands back in support and also acts as intercept if the JG is able to sortie and/or launch its payload. The Third team is the trickiest, as it involves getting a force close to Von Braun, and act as a last line screen to try and shoot down incoming nukes.

Nachmaren would make up the first two teams, with drafted Zeon regulars making up the third.

rolled 32933 = 32933

>>12857489

I'd suggest taking our mobile suits with us.

>>12857489
A ship of course

even if we're not using our colors, these high end suits going through space is a problem.

>>12857514

You know they've probably put Gato in that thing, right?

>>12857545
Ugh, I never got past the first few episodes of 0083, but what I can remember of Gato I hate. He's the sort of asshole you hate simple because he's right.

I vote we take our suits with us to Flannigan, unless that would be a lot slower than by ship

>comus crasighip
Whatever we do, lets NOT use a Komusai for transport.

You could, if you wanted get a ship that can carry your Mobile Suits and take that. There might be one heading that way anyway. Otherwise you might have to commandeer it.

>>12856960

Beam scatter guns for our fastest folks, ballistic weaponry for the rest. Rick Dom's (which the Ghost is built off of) aren't that heavily armored, but our window of when we may be able to hit this bastard is small.

The good news is if we do hit him, odds are we're going to blow part of his thruster array out at full power. That oughta throw anyone off for a bit.

>>12857685

What? I thought all Dom pattern MS were quite heavily armored.

>>12857695

They are. They're the heaviest armoured Mobile Suits in the OYW. That part made me go Lol wut? as well.

Whatever.

Whilst your mobile suits are getting resprayed you opt to take a shuttle to the Flanagan institute. The journey takes about 30 minutes by shuttle, as the facility is quite close to Grenada.

As you land, you are greeted by man with wild hair and a lab coat. His nametag identifies him as a Dr William I. Lee.

"Well, well, if it isn't the infamous Nachtmaren team. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in our humble abode! What brings you here to the Institute?"

"Well, we really just wanted to take a look around the place since we were here on the moon."

"Of course! A pleasure to do so. It's all been going on today!"

"Really?"

"Oh yes! Why a few hours ago Captain Char arrived, of course he's been visiting off and on this past week, talking with the big man Dr Flanagan himself."

"Doing what?"

"Most likely pushing for more Newtype use Mobile Weapons for Lady Kycillia I would imagine."

"That reminds me, did Sara and Nell arrive without problems?"

"Nell? Oh Subject 16! Yes she and Sara arrived just fine. They're currently in section 5 which is off-limits to all non-institute personel, but I'll be sure to tell them you were asking about them."

He presses an intercom button and asks for an intern. Presently one appears.
"Ah Hackle. These young fellows are from Nachtmaren, here to nose about, be a sport and give them a tour of all of the non-maximum security facilities would you? I have work to do."

The intern appears somewhat put upon, but with a little pressure from Dr Lee agrees. The good doctor bids you adieu and returns to his lab (you assume.)

>>12857695
>>12857738

They are. The additional thruster arrays and extra-large fuel tanks, not so much. Otherwise, protecting that big a propulsion system so well would cost it in more mass it'd need to shove around to begin with, making it clumsy as hell.

They'll be the best target on the thing when on an attack run, if you can get a good deflection shot.

The upper body, launchers and main gun are much better protected- most of the firepower a long-range fire support unit like this is expected to take is frontal, and that beam shield can soak up a lot of what it'd normally need to worry about from that angle.

If there was some way to entangle the thing- a net or chains or something...

We should keep our eyes peeled for Char, and if we see him, ask to talk to him later. We could discuss Newtypes, anti-gundam tactics, and why Ghiren is a colossal douchebag.

Hackle the Intern begins to show you around.

"Here in the facility we basically evaluate, investigate and experminet on the Newtype phoenomina."

"What is a Newtype? Out of curiousity?"

"That's an answer we don't fully have yet, but at it's basic level, it's a human who has begun to adapt to living out in space. Whilst many Newtypes have abilities that manifest themselves in wildly convergent ways, one of the unifying features is highly superior level of spatial awareness. This is one of the reasons why newtypes make such good Mobile Suit pilots, and are so good at fighting in space in general. Beyond that, were still testing."

"You meantioned more diverse Newtype abilities? What sort of things are we talking about?"

"Well, a wide variety of things, Neuromancy, Hypernuerokinetics, telemechanics, telepathy, Psychometry.."

"Telekinetics?"

"Oddly enough no. All abilities exhibited by Newtypes appear to be centered around the concept of sense or communication. In theory in future, communications could be performed over long distances by trained newtype telepaths instead of relying on conventional laser and radio communications systems."

"So, newtype telepathy is faster than light?"

"Well, actually were still trying to detirmine that, so far we've had results ranging from near-light speed, to vastly slower than that. It's Dr Eight's theory that it varies from Newtype to Newtype."

ANY QUESTIONS?

Can you train me to kill people with my brain and/or mind bullets?

>>12858035

"So when do we get to shoot laser beams out of our eyes?"

>>12858035
>Any questions?

More for you than Hackel: Did we ever tell Char about the tea cup and all that it meant? Because if not we should try to find him.

>>12858092
>>12858102

"No and no. Just no. There are no such thing as Newtypes who can crush the federation with their mind, Lalah's forehead spot is just that, and it's called Telekinesis.... god, why do I have to answer that every time."

>>12858130

"We're flying around in giant robots in space, suddenly we hear about this psychic power stuff, and sooner or later you have to wonder what crazy stuff is gonna happen next. Wait, did Char ask that too?"

But seriously, inquire further about the potential uses of newtypes and how Nachtmaren figures into all of it.

Serious question though, is there any viable military application for this, or are we going to have to wait 14 yeas before something really useful comes out of this tech? All I've seen so far are a lot of gimicky suits and wonder weapons piloted by unstable little girls. It's not helping our war effort to be pouring resources into a project that isn't going to produce something of real use.

>>12858035
"Are there any standardised tests for newtype abilities and potential yet?"

"Has Char been here many times?"

>collect taride
I dont know what this is.

>>12858153
>>12858160

"Well, one of the more direct uses we've discovered so far is that Newtype telepathy is completely unaffected by Minovsky particles. So we've working on a way to try and get a long range weapons system that works via Newtype communication, I think we've finally got a working prototype up and running, if you're interested in seeing it?"

"So how do you find out what the test subject newtype power are I mean there must be a lot of different variation."

>>12858130
>Lalah's forehead spot is just that

I see what you did there.

OOC, I am against us really delving into Newtype stuff. Nothing really good comes out of it until at least 0083, and again, even then its all super units. The only real viable "normal" MS type units don't come along until 0093. The Nachmaren is built around a bunch of badass motherfuckers in giant robots, not one guy in a super unit killing all sorts of shit with finger guns on detachable hands.

The only thing I see of any use is any sort of training that can help us sharpen our NT powers and be able to activate them more easily.

>>12858200

"YESYESYESFUCKINGYESSSSSSSSYESYESYE- I mean, I'd be delighted to."

Should we know about Lalah at this point?

>>12858249
Probably not. We had some dealings with Flannigan early on, but nothing for a very long while, same goes for our interactions with Char.

I think it's safe to assume that Gato won't be in the JG. He's one of Gihren's most loyal people, he wouldn't use him for this sort of thing. He would have someone like Cima do it.

>>12858338
But Cima is on our side, isn't she?

>>12858394

Cima has... *worked* with us, yes. And she's taken part in operations for True Zeon.

>>12858223

"Oh Excellent, I believe they're getting ready for another combat test with Captain Char. I'll lead you to the observation launge."

"Captain Char is piloting the new test unit?"

"Oh, no, that's Lalah, Subject 2. Captain Char is playing as the opposition in his Gelgoog."

He leads you to a somewhat spacious observation lounger, there isn't too many people in there at the moment.

"It's not too busy now, but in the earlier tests it was pretty crowded, a lot of people hadn't seen Captain Char in action, and they wanted to see what all the fuss was about." Hackle explains.

You see that the test area for the Flanagan institute is a little different than Pezun, as there's little debris but a fair bit of moon cover. On the one monitor you see Char in his Gelgoog, on the other you see a somewhat odd looking mobile armour.
A strange shade of green, shaped like some kind of tricorn hat.

"So what's this Mobile Armour called?"

"The name that's been running about the labs was "Elmeth" If I recall."

There's a mechanical bleep as the exercise start signal is given.

>>12858450
"You know with all of the 'trying to not get shot' I didnt actually get to see much of how well Char fights."

>>12858500
Where is his ablative armor I see no squadmate.

>>12858450

Oh, this will be extraordinary to watch.

>>12858527

It's a test, not a pilot disposal program!

The Gelgoog surges into action, diving down towards the mass of dummy attenae and buildings on the test area's surface.

The Elmeth meanwhile simply surges upwards and begins launching small pods that zip and dart about in erratic patterns outwards from the Mobile Armour.

"What are those?"

"Bit Remotes, they're small thuster pods loaded with a single beam gun shot. Last count she could operate these at a distance of 250km away, far outside the operational distance limit on guided weapons currently in effect in a minovsky zone. After firing they return to the Elemeth where the onboard systems reload the bit."

You see the the bits dart forwards whilst Char continues to try and push forwards through the buildings. You see the first of the bits reach Char and the first of the blasts begin to lance . Dodges the first, shoots the second bit before it get's a chance to shoot. Three and Four he takes cover from behind some buildings, 5,6,7 try to box him in, but he shoots 5 and escapes the net, although he takes a glancing hit from 6.
8 He shoots, 9 he avoids, 10 and 11 however manage to take his right arm out and disable his left leg. He narrowly avoids 12 and takes it out in return.

At which point the Elemeth itself begins firing on Char, bits 1,3,4 and 6 fanning out from behind it. His mobility already degraded he manages to avoid the beam blasts but then the bits manage to take him out.

There's much nodding of heads up front from the eggheads.

Well, that was impressive.
What now?

>>12858746
Char..... lost?

>>12858746
Ask for a turn what els?

>>12858776

You didn't bring your mobile suits with you, remember?

>>12858746

Ask to see Char. We really do need to talk to him.

>>12858803
Ask Char to borrow his gelgoog we can't demolish it... well probably... Ok we could totally wreck it.

>>12858746
"That's a rather amazing system. If you were able to fit some of these to a couple of cruisers to act as long range support ships it could completely invalidate Federation Beam chaff systems."

>>12858804
He already knows about the tea cup.

>>12858746

We just watched Char get his ass kicked.

Short of Amuro being fed into a mass driver, it doesn't get much better than this.

And if they haven't met, Nell should meet Lalah. They're the only two people we've met who share this ability to use a...what exactly do they call this remote operation system?

>>12858846
>>12858804
>>12858848

You ask to see Char when he's free.

You ask about Beam Chaff.

"We've tested it with Beam Chaff deployed, there's a degrade in performance, but if the bits get close enough, they can sometimes punch through. Last we heard, pezun was trying to develop some kind of laser optic scanner to detect chaff density, if that works then we should be able to negate it completely. One of the benefits of the Elmeth being as big as it is, is that we can cram in a lot of stuff."

As for using Char's Gelgoog, you know from previous experience that he keeps his settings pretty personalised, you doub't you'd be able to get any decent results from it."

With nothing more to really do here for now, you decide to return to the docks and wait for Char to turn up.

we should ask about how effective it would be on earth, cause if we could have bits running around inside Jaburo it would be fucking awesome. I have actually been planning the next Jaburo invasion as well as a few upgrades we could make to increase the damage done. If your interested I can put them up in a bit. its a bit of a mix and match right now, but it should let us do some major damage.

>>12859020
Show us what you've got.

>>12859020
>we should ask about how effective it would be on earth, cause if we could have bits running around inside Jaburo it would be fucking awesome.
Bit tanks? But armed with a Zaku MG?

Waiting in the lounge. Char, in a pair of sunglasses and ochre coloured suit.
"Well, I wasn't aware I had such an esteemed audiance. I would have tried harder."

"It looks like you finally met your match out there."

"I wouldn't put it quite like that. Lalah has the skills, but really, she's meant for better things that war."

"In any case, how are things for you? Last I heard you were on earth."

"I've been everywhere these bast few days. My skills seem to be in demand as of late, and you?"

"Oh, you know. The usual."

"That bad huh?" he states wryly.

"Pretty much."

ANYTHING SPECIFIC YOU WANT TO ASK CHAR?

>>12859020
Bit at this point in the timeline don't work on earth.
Well I know those on the psychoframe don't.

>>12859072
Ask if we can borrow Lalah and the Elmeth to destroy our target I guess... it would make everything easier

>>12859072
"So, that sure is crazy how Gihren killed Zeon, right? That guy, what a dick. Makes the rest of his family look bad."

Seriously though, ask for his help in stopping the JG. Tell him that Gihren is trying to fuck shit up and we're feeling pretty pressed at the moment.

>>12859087
>Seriously though, ask for his help in stopping the JG. Tell him that Gihren is trying to fuck shit up and we're feeling pretty pressed at the moment.
This without the previous part.

>>12859086
>Ask if we can borrow Lalah and the Elmeth to destroy our target I guess... it would make everything easier
First ask Char if he's ever piloted the Elmeth. The last thing we'd want to do is take a kid into combat. Especially since Nell was supposed to be the one most able to travel.

>>12859072

Fighting Gundams. Char's possibly the only person who knows enough for us to learn from. Also, IF WE REALLY AGREE WE SHOULD, we should mention the JG crisis and ask for help. Oh, and don't mention Nell. We should be keeping small girls as far away from Char as possible.

>>Expand perform

Captcha seems to be backing me on this.

>>12859037
im typing it up, will have it up in a couple of min.

>>12859072
>>12859121
>>12859086

This, so much. The Jupiter ghost is only effective if it knows what we might be doing. For the most part, a Mobile Suit acts generally the same, even if the individual armament is different. Bits are going to be a massively unpleasant surprise, especially if he doesn't know what they are till they shoot off. The pilot will panic, and activate the anti-beam field damn near immediately, which is a great time for us to shank him with char and zol at close range.

Best thing? Lalah will probably be willing to help if it would save lives, and same with Char. There is no way we can pass up on their aid, as it would basically fuck us worse than the damn Odessa nuke to let the Jupiter Ghost succeed. Plus it would fuck up Ghiren and that's something we know Char would love to do, at least OOC, and it would make sense IC for different reasons..

OOC Maybe Char will fuck us over to get on the good sides of Gihren so that he could get close enough to kill him.

>>12859072
We need to ask Falagan about letting us adopt Nell and putting her into our Squad or something.

Also, I second asking if we can borrow Lalah and Nell to stop NUCLEAR GHIREN!

>Puribing StarBriefs
Sounds like some fancy UC era underwear.

>>12859086

You ask if Lalah is capable of battlefield combat. He shakes his head.

"I don't think she'll ever be what we might call ready, she's able certainly, and if pushed she might be deployed into combat. But it will never really be her place."

"What about a different newtype in the Elmeth."

"I don't believe that there's any other newtype in the facility with Lalahs level of newtype sensitivty. Which is required to use the bits at the range they require to be effective. Plus I'm also largely sure that the Elmeth has only been used by Lalah. But what's this about?"

Once again, you have to relate the tale of the Jupiter Ghost. Char seems semi-shaken by this.

"That his ambition and greed would be so..." he trails off.

"In any case, you have my arm if you need it Commander."

"I can't really refuse an offer like that from the Red Comet now can I?" you joke.

"You say that as if by now you aren't probably the better ace pilot Commander!" He jokes back.

"If that's the case, how come you made Captain before I did?"

"Simple, political connections!"

In any case, Char calls up his ship, the Falmel and tells them to prepare to launch immiediately once his Gelgoog is loaded aboard. He offers to take you with him, since his ship get's priority traffic, and will be able to return to Grenada faster.

Understandably, you have no reason to refuse such a generous offer.

>>12859333
Shit yeah, riding with Char.

>>12859333
Oh, shit. This means we're his Wingmen.

>>12859360

>>12859360
not really, we can assign him to the interception team while we go for close range. I also realized that the Jupiter Ghost is exactly what we need for the next Jaburo assault, so if we could save the suit as much as possible that would be a big aid later.

rolled 14987 = 14987

>>12859360

>>12859360
Dun dun DUNNNNNNN!

>Falmel
Wasnt the Falmel at Pezun? meh whatever.

>>12859037
Okay, a fair bit does depend on if we can get the stuff built(don't want to skimp when they have gundams)
First: we upgrade the rhino:preferably with either a fuckhuge beam cannon, or a number of beam rifles(thinking four or so for constant beamspam) on a turret.

Next, is to produce more rhinos, to be used specifically as mobile strongpoints and fire support. These would be modified for extreme forwards firepower(tunnels should negate the need to protect from behind) and have at least two beam weapons(i dont care if they are only beam rifles the goal is to lay down as many beams as possible). To be effective, they need to have powerful reactors(which shouldnt be a problem considering how much bigger they are than any MS), or dedicated reactors for each beam weapon. If available, we could bring in hildolfrs to back up the suits, but they don't have beam guns, making them less effective against anything with lunar titanium.

Ideally we will have flight capable Mobile Armors to reinforce any strongpoint that comes under heavy counter attacks, preferably something that can do a massive alpha strike and then head to the next place its needed. this is where something like the elmeth or psycommu zaku would be useful, with the beam heavy alpha strikes that would fuck up a defensive position and crush/disorganize a counterattack.

>>12859438

Then, while we are doing this, we can have zaku tanks and engineers setting up traps on the rails(specifically for the blocks) and building rail cars. The traps would be some kind of single activation beamspamming that should go right through the lunar titanium, re-usablility is (obviously) unimportant. These are the most important, as crippling a block like 5 days after we leave would get them seriously paranoid and slow down rebuilding even more.

The rail cars would have two goals- one would mount a beam cannon for seige, and the other would be a suicide bomber with an operator who steers it close to the enemy, then retreats on a wappa or something similiar, after setting a timer to detonate the explosives. This rail car would be less useful for taking out the blocks, due to their lunar titanium, but we will be hunting them down the rails so they can clear a path through whatever blockade shows up hopefully. they dont have to be more than a bomb, some armor and an engine. a bonus would be destroying the rails, especially if we can blow up multiple spots, as to prevent them from moving around while we are chasing them.
A final set of rail cars would be built after this, which would be true suicide cars, meant to be aimed from far away and shot towards the enemy on the retreat.

>>12859458

During this entire time we would have engineers building as many MS scale traps as possible, and human scale traps to stop them from just disarming them. To make this effective, we have to cause massive amounts of damage to the surroundings so as to disguise the traps. Even if they know they are there, it will slow them down, which is the goal if we have to retreat.

The biggest problem is how the hell we are gonna get in, there is the giant hole we left last time, but it will probably be well defended. If we could capture the jupiter ghost and rearm it with non-nuclear weapons, it could seriously help here. Actually, it would make for a damn useful rapid response unit, if we could rearm it. I remember that there were some Apalus MA's running around, we need to get our hands on all of those for rapid response and breaking in. A big question is, could we get Dozle and the Big Zam? Another problem is that we can't grab too many of the Legitimacy's troops without leaving them exposed to Ghiren's insanity. He has already shown himself to be willing to nuke a neutral party, and that's really about as far as you can go off the deep end.

>>12859438
>>12859458
>>12859466

any questions/suggestions/additions, be my guest. I am still reworking bits of the plan as a think it through.

You arrive at grenada half an hour later, the Falmel surging across the luna landscape like it owns the place. Which is apparently not entirely unusual behaviour from Captain Char's personal ride.

You set down in Grenada and dock with the hangar complex. You find your suits have all been handily painted a matt black.
Just in time too, as Grenada Traffic Control just alerted you that a one man transport shuttle just docked with a priority communication for the Nachtmaren. You quickly tell them to send it directly to you.

The small shuttle docks alongside the Falmal, the larger vessel dwarfing it. As the umbelical connects with it, a single figure you don't recognise escapes out of the hatch.
When he sees you, he makes a beeline towards you and salutes. You quickly return the gesture.

"Commander. We found it."

TO BE CONTINUED.

>>12859489
>matte black

>>12859430

A falmel class was at Pezun. They're semi-popular for long distance recon and with mid ranked naval officers as command ships. It's entirely possible that Char is on a different Falmel now for various reasons as well.

Nachtmaren, Char, and Ramba Ral fighting together?

It's going to be a massacre.

>>12859489
>>12859540

I was thinking, maybe it would be possible to snipe the pilot of the suit to take it out with minimum damage. If we could capture it, the Jupiter Ghost would be very useful for Jaburo.

>>12859503

--OMAKE--

MESSAGE -11230-

REROUTED FROM: LUNA-NODE112, LUNA-NODE032,LUNA-NODETRUNK-2,LUNA-NODE22,COLONY-NODES322-A-BOA-QU-TACNODE-4, LUNA-NODE145,UNREGISTERED NODE, UNREGISTERED DATAPORT.

FROM: L
TO: Circe
Nachtmaren were here. The operation is in the open.
REPEAT: OPERATIONAL SECRECY HAS BEEN COMPROMISED. LOCATION STILL BELIEVED TO BE SECRET, BUT YOU MUST LAUNCH NOW.

END OF MESSAGE.

>>12859574

Well, damn.

>>12859574
That's it von braun is dead meat

>>12859574

GATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

>>12859574
....balls. Who the fuck is L and can we set Incognito after the bastard?

Also, who is the pilot, Circe? High level ace? mid level? I want that Jupiter Ghost captured, but not at the cost of Von Braun.

>>12859466
>I remember that there were some Apalus MA's running around, we need to get our hands on all of those for rapid response and breaking in. A big question is, could we get Dozle and the Big Zam?

This. I would like those Apsalus to act as part of a defensive screen once we've begun our landings. Their beam weapons could take down any Fed Carriers that try to assault our drop zone. The Big Zam if we got it could be out ticket into the Jaburo, just burn a hole straight through the rock big enough for whole MS battalions to enter. Once that's done it can assist in the surface defense.

I like the idea about bringing our own rail cars in to use their block transit system. We'd want them to be as cheaply and easily made as possible though so that it doesnt matter if we lose a couple. The MS that get carried aboard pack the real punch. I'm not so sure about the intricate anti-Block traps as they might be able to use those against us.

Back up to the Rhino, I doubt we'll be able to get those mass produced in any serious way. We are hard pressed for resources as it is. Doubly so now that we dont have Odessa. There is a beam weapon version of the Rhino design that replaces the 300mm with a mega particle cannon which might be effective.
Hildolfers and Gigan AA units proved their effectiveness at Odessa so they'll be stuck around the breach point and the primary landing zone(s).

>>12859708

Sorry brah. All Aspalauses were destroyed when Beijing fell.

>>12859643
>Who the fuck is L [...]?

>Dr William I. Lee
>I. Lee
>Lee
>L
Tell me I'm looking too deeply into this.

>>12859720
Damn. You'd said before that they'd bought time for a Zanzibar to escape but hadnt said they'd been toasted in the process.
Was kinda hoping they'd fled to Siberia with them.

>>12859720
Well Shit. okay, what other heavy support flight capable MA's might we have access to?
>>12859708
yeah, i knew there was that rhino with the mega particle cannon, but i didnt know hwat it was called. As for the anti block traps, they wouldnt go off for anything but a block, which we wouldn't have to worry about seeing as we are destroying them. Its more of a way of forcing them to either not move the blocks, or spend valuable manpower searching them out. Imagine this, we attack, they drive us back. Five days later, once everything is back to normal, a production block suddenly is anihillated with a massive number of beams shots. And then, another. even if it only gets two, that is totally worth it, as they will shit bricks and go "oh fuck we missed them!?!?!!?" or think that we are still inside, leading to a waste of time searching for us, while damaging morale due to high tension, as well as the fact that we are still fucking them up.

rolled 23586 = 23586

DAmmit. Things never go our way do they?

>>12859466
>>12859438
>>12859458
Interesting....

>>12859907
yeah, i basically went, okay, how do i fuck them up as much as possible for the longest time for the greatest effect. Its pretty much gonna be an all or nothing battle plan, with most of our aces taking part in the attack, so as to not get wiped out by enemy aces. The biggest issue i have is getting into Jaburo, its got some pretty fucking nasty defenses, last time the returning airforce nearly annihilated our retreat, which will arguably be even more of a threat this time cause they will be at the base. With Rhino-x models leading the interior assault, the confines of the tunnels will help keep down the rampant matrix style speedhax of gundams down to a minimum of bullshit dodging, which is why the rhino-x is intended to have a very high forwards facing firepower. its pretty much a standard rhino, but with beam guns/rifles instead of machine guns, and the machine guns on the back side ripped off and put on the front. A rhino is larger than a Zaku, so it can take multiple reactors, and use those to power a lot of beams. basically, its a micro land battleship, which we admittedly killed a lot of, but by flanking mainly, which would be a lot harder in the tunnels. Especially when they have mobile suits covering the rear/sides.

The thing I'm most worried about? Political fuck-ups/ limitations on available forces due to Ghiren asshattery. I actually thought about inviting his people to the attack on account of the federation being the enemy of both of us, but then i realized how much of a bastard Ghiren is, and figured he would smuggle a nuke in, set it off and blame us. Any suggestions?

>>12860081
About the nukes? Nothing. Incognito can deal with that. If it gets to the point where we have to take care of it in the middile of the attack things are already FUBAR.

What we need to figure out is what to do about the remaining Federation army on the Rio Grande defense line. We have to remove their ability to either attack California base or retreat to reinforce Jaburo. On top of that there's the Army at Odessa (which might not even be there anymore) and the Jaburo Orbital garrison.

Okay, this is my personal take on the distribution of Federation armies immediately after Jaburo. Each army would be in the 70-80 MS range at most. (Hopefully a lot less)

5 at Odessa
1-2 at the Rio Grande
2 at Jaburo
1 each in India and/or China
1/2 of an army in Canada and similar or less in Australia.

With so many Zeon forces on the sothern US border if there were any more than a half army in the north we'd be totally screwed up there.

>>12860081
Yeah, good ideas. Though, by being so big and having little space to move, it does make it so that the Rhinos will be taking lots of hits. And with Beam weapons, no amount of armor will help. We could use beam chaff, but then our own beam weapons wouldn't really work. Also, we've seen that 440mm missiles can destroy even Lunar Titanium-armored GMs in Canada. So maybe sticking with solid-slug weaponry of a high calliber and resorting to anti-beam chaff would work.

>>12854719

L is Lalah.

Hold on to your trousers, because shit just got real.

>>12861082
>So maybe sticking with solid-slug weaponry of a high calliber and resorting to anti-beam chaff would work.

We have that captured GM railgun. Railguns. Railguns everywhere.

But yeah, having the Rhino underground with a beam weapon might be a problem with mobility. Then again, if it was configured like an MA size beam spray gun it might act like a giant beam shotgun.

>>12861082
They would be pretty heavily armored, but with beam weapons armor doesnt really matter. Replacing the missiles with chaff might help, but it wont solve the problem. My solution was simply to outgun them so massively they wouldn't get that shot off with any accuracy. That was part of the reason for having 4 beam rifles, massive beamspam. Hell, if we have enough reactor power(with a dedicated reactor we probably would) we could put 8 or more on it. Also, they would be a mobile strongpoint rather than a front line assault. Think moving fortifications, with MS scouting and protecting their flanks. The mega particle cannons would be more for taking on blocks and fortifications, while rifles go for mobile suits.

>>12860784
Nice guesses on the federation. What do you think Zeon's deployment is? If i could figure out what area's we should retreat from, it would help my strategy. For all intents and purposes, we might have to give them back a continent in order to do enough damage to keep Jaburo out of the rest of the war. I know nobody wants that, but shit, the real threat is the Federation managing to launch that Magellan fleet. If they get into space with that fleet we are pretty much screwed. However, if we can annihilate/mission kill Jaburo, they would be much more likely to talk peace terms, especially if we let the world know that Jaburo got torched. The absolute best case scenario, would be us crashing into Jaburo, fucking shit up, and leaving right when the Odessa Garrison got there as relief forces. We would then immediately retake Odessa and dig in, regaining that advantage. Seriously, if not for Ghiren's betrayal, we would have made the Federation bleed a whole lot more for Odessa. I also was wondering, the Mega Particle Cannon mounted on a Rhino, is that affected by beam chaff? I had this hilarious mental image of a Rhino blowing away at a Pegasus carrier.

>>12861082
SP weapons are probably sufficient for dealing with the mobile suits we'll run into, but I still think there's nothing better than a good beam weapon for gundam hunting. You really can't go wrong with a little overkill in a situation like that. Maybe we should use the Rhinos mostly as anti-structure and fortification units backing up a squad of mobile suits. Whenever the squad runs into an industrial target or a big metal door, they solve it with some liberal use of mega particle action. Basically do what >>12861468 is talking about.

Actually, here's an idea.

We take a bunch of these beamspaming Rhino Kais and blitz them into Jaburo under MS support. The heavy firepower from their mega particle cannon melts through most targets and obstructions and lets us get the Rhinos deep into the center of Jaburo while the attached MS squad runs interference and deals with the GMs deployed in defense. Once the squads are far enough inside we use the mobile suits to evac the Rhino pilots and overload the massive reactor packs that the rhinos are carrying to power all of those heavy beam weapons. Basically we use them like giant fusion powered demolition charges that can fight their way into their target.

I'm not sure how big of a mushroom cloud each of these would cause but I'm guessing even if we don't take out everything we could mission-kill enough of Jaburo's industrial capability to remove it as a major factor for the remainder of the war. And since MS reactors aren't covered by the Antarctica Treaty, we should be ok legally speaking. Unfortunately, Jaburo is on the scale that you really need some kind of weapon of mass destruction to reliably disable most of it (either a conventional one like nuclear weapon or an unconventional one like a Big Zam alpha-strike).

>>12861468
cont'd
>>12859742
No, you're probably not. Lee is probably the bastard, he did ditch us with the intern and go off. Considering that we are pretty highly respected, and we tested a lot of their stuff i think, he should be more interested in helping us. Of course I could be looking too much into that, but we should have Incognito check him, NOW. God help us if it is him, and he runs off with Nell to Ghiren, who has the really nasty newtype academy(that place that starts with a G right?). Wait, never mind that, god help THEM, cause the skull night hungers for souls.

Rule of thumb, if it could go wrong it will go wrong, and nell getting kidnapped would be very damn wrong. It would also probably cause us to go overprotective big brother Skull Knight on Ghiren, which would be the only good thing to come out of it.

>>12861552
You got my plan almost exactly. The Rhino-x(my personal designation for now) is meant as a moving fortress really, with siege and fire support capabilities. They would not be on the front, but on the main line behind scouts. I personally wouldn't have them self destruct, because I want to blitz Odessa right after Jaburo if possible, because you can be they would pull reinforcements from everywhere to protect their main production capabilities.

>>12861672
That is the one major flaw with that plan. You might blow up most of Jaburo, but then you're out a half-dozen expensive and possibly irreplaceable mobile armors. Maybe we could use something a bit cheaper, like a mega particle cannon equipped Zaku Tank? Or would that be just too silly and impractical when we might be able to upgun a variant of the Gelgoog Cannon that Jolyne is using now?

>>12861838
I chose the rhinos because they would be effective at hurting anything in the way, using anything smaller would decrease the amount of power available, and thus slow the advance speed. The Rhino-x is really meant to keep the advance moving, by raining beam death on the enemy mobile suits and fortifications. A Zaku tank might be able to carry many of the same weapons, but not the same danger. Its more a matter of the Rhino being a really good way to bring a lot of beam weapons to bear on a target. Imagine if the back guns are removed, the front rifles are replaced with dual beam rifles, and the turret gets replaced with 4-6 more beam rifles, or a massive particle cannon? I never watched gundam so i don't know what the ROF for a beam weapon is, but that is a lot of firepower. the rhino was an upgrade of hildofrs, so i figure that we can take the hildolfr pilots out of the older hildolfrs and put them into new Rhino-x's which handle much the same(two arm based weapons , and the turret). The sheer intimidation factor of watching a rhino-x roll down at you while shooting the same amount of beams that a team of 6-10 MS could bring to bear? That is going to be massively intimidating, especially to the standard MS pilot. More so if we put them in natchmaren colors(it has the half zaku torso thing on the front, why not terrify them with the unstoppable elite squad?) I would rather use MS scale satchel charges if we have to blow stuff up. This is supposed to be our final attack on Jaburo, so we have to make it count. We should bring in every MS that escaped from Odessa, and more from wherever else we can spare them, even if it means giving them a few cities or some land. In the end, the decrease in their abilities to produce weapons will have much more of an effect on their war effort than holding some land.

I generally like the idea of upgunning the Rhino. We could take some of the beam weapons off of a Zock instead of strapping expensive beam rifles onto it for additional guns. Over all I think we'd be able to get away with it but only for 1 vehicle. We dont have the resources to build several of these let alone waste them as demo-truck bombs.
If any of the Mass Production Big Zams get built they could fill a similar role to our beam Rhino. They're much smaller than their big cousin and could in theory fit inside. That'll mean less big guns up top that could shoot down carriers though.

On to the matters of being able to field enough MS for the mission. We can increase the effectiveness of the any Acguy suits by upgrading the modular beam arms they have the option of being equipped with. Using Hygog and or Z'Gok-E beam arm tech it should help to give them an edge.

>>12861468
>What do you think Zeon's deployment is?
North America is pritty easy to figure out, 2-4 South West US, 1-2 New York, 1 Central Canada.
Evewhere else is a crapshoot that only apologised would be able to answer. Africa belongs to Girhens forces which we dont care about except that they seem to pritty solidly hold the continent.
Asia is collapsing following the loss of Odessa and Beijing. If we have anybody left in Asia they want to be getting the hell out now or finding places to hide for the next ten years.
Speaking of, we still have that Agg back at California base dont we? I wanted to dig some underground/water bases in remote areas across NA for fall back points if we were cut off from space.

>>12862204
Yes! More dakka for the Rhinos! Keep the missile pods or replace them with more beam spam? Maybe replace the missile with anti-beam chaff dispensers just in case they need to retreat? I don't know, I think it would be a good "just in case" measure. And it still leaves the fuckheug mega particle cannon, 2 beam rifles and possible another 2 beam weapons if the techs can work out a design that shifts the rear flack turrets to the front.

I am the guy that came up with the plan to upgun the rhinos. it was someone after me that suggested using them as bombs, my original strategy had them as mobile strong-points, and had rail cars meant specifically for bombs. >>12859438
That's the plan I originally came up with, basically using the Rhino-x to beamspam its way through anything short of a gundam, and giving a gundam a bad day with all of the forwards facing firepower. I was thinking to upgrade some with the mega particle cannon, but most with a quadruple beam rifle turret, to lay down more beams. it probably would be best to rethink some of their weapons, as they enemy doesn't only use beams, but they like them a lot, so they are less likely to beam chaff us. We have the ability to make beam weapons, its just a matter of getting a powerful enough reactor for the Mobile suit to use it. The Rhino is a damn near perfect platform to deploy a lot of beams from.

And holy crap its late, I need my sleep. If someone wants to start a thread on how to deal with Jaburo/ overall strategy/tactics, I will try to make it, but right now I'm too tired to think straight.

>>12862374
enh, i figured that it really doesn't need power to trigger a missile launch, and i was looking at having it with 4 guns aimed forwards, with dualbeam rifles/cannons. the original rhino has 4 guns all around it, the Rhino-x puts them all in the front. if we go with 4 dual beam rifles? thats the equivalent of 8 beam rifles. somebody is gonna have a horribly bad day. Whatever we put on the turret, mega particle beam, array of 4-6 more beam rifles, hildolfr cannon, is merely going to be frosting on the cake.

for the record, dual beam rifles are just two rifles welded together, for twice the rate of fire, while one is recharging the other fires. and yes, we are going to need multiple reactors on this variant.

Are we concentrating everything on hitting Jaburo and Odessa, then?

From the sounds of it, the Federation has moved most of their HQ and Command functions to Dublin, and Luna 2 is still their big space stronghold.

>>12862787
they did? well shit. Garma said that we were going to hit Jaburo again, so i figured that most of their production was still done there. If they are producing from somewhere else I have to remake the plan. Enh, we can ask Apologised next week. it would be a problem, but I'm pretty sure that Jaburo is where they have a lot of their production, because it so so incredibly hard to attack. Even breached as it was, i doubt that they would just ditch the production facilities, Jaburo built all the Trojan horses so far, and a ridiculous amount of Mobile Suits for the Odessa attack. I doubt they would just ditch that capability.

>>12862787
Prolly not Odessa. That's where most of their forces are right now. They only took it from us a few days ago, they're consolidating their position. To attack them any time within the next few weeks would just be asking for a long, grueling battle that Zeon simply does not have the resources to fight.

>>12862835
No, the Federation still has major industrial capacity at Jaburo. They simply relocated Command and HQ functions elsewhere.
Jaburo is still a fucking huge factory, and losing it will still hurt the Federation plenty. It's just no longer a game-ender like it was before, where we'd also get their High Command as well as MS production blocks and assault carrier dockyards.
From what I remember, the MS production and ship construction has started to be spread out, but it's still mostly concentrated in Jaburo.
If we can't hold it, we need to slag Jaburo in order for it to be a victory.