Post by Maelstrom on Aug 6, 2017 21:55:20 GMT -6
Hello Everyone,
I wanted to give you a sneak peak about what we're looking at on the upcoming mission, so everyone can begin thinking up ideas before the planning chapter goes up.
The planet's name is Dakora, and this is our map for the mission. This is topographic, with the highest elevation being purple and the lowest being yellow. Each color is a change of about 300 meters in height. As you can see, we'll be wedged between two very steep mountains.
The planet is a rogue body, being theorized to have been ejected from an established system millions of years ago. It would not have been detected were it not for passing through an inhabited system at a right angle to the usual orbits, showing up on a number of sensor systems. The planet is geologically active in many areas, though the surface topography seems remarkably slow to change. Chemical and geothermal energy are in abundance, providing for the abundance of bio-luminescent flora and small vertebrate and invertebrate fauna populating the world in abundance. Temperatures remain just above the freezing point of water, and the atmosphere is barely breathable, with high percentages of methane and alcohol vapors. There are two unusual side-effects to this. Thermal explosions and particularly intense kinetic impacts are capable of igniting the atmosphere in a small area, resulting in additional damage (though small sparks and rounds from handheld mass-effect weaponry do not cause this). Also, unfiltered breathing is both unpleasant and intoxicating in short order; prolonged unfiltered exposure results in a toxic buildups of chemicals within the body in a matter of minutes. Except for the light provided by the flora, this is a world shrouded in darkness.
I'm afraid the buildings aren't quite to scale, so I'll break things down for everyone.
The orange rectangles are the structures that the research team and their employees (and now the pirates) use for housing, and each is approximately four thousand square feet of living space, made up of bedrooms, restrooms, and one each of large communal kitchens, dining rooms, and living rooms. They are designed for functionality and some comfort, not for military security. For our techies, it should be noted that the systems in this model of prefab structure can be upgraded significantly for security- whether that is to keep things in or out is up to the one doing the upgrades. These systems, while not providing military-grade security, can be altered in such a way as to be above the abilities of the average sentient or omni-tool app to circumvent.
The pink square is a landing pad, approximately one hundred and fifty meters on each side. It is approximately fifty meters high, and there is a gently sloping ramp that goes up all four sides. It is well lit, but there is no security structure atop it.
The small frigate used by the pirates sits atop the landing pad. It is of an old salarian design which was decommissioned three decades ago. A number of these vessels were moved to the criminal underworld through a series of transactions, beginning with the definitely-legal and transitioning to the clearly-illegal. The frigate's core systems may have been outdated, but it retains a maneuverability competitive with modern warships of its class. Its weapons have been upgraded with illegal systems, giving it teeth comparable to a Council fleet vessel. Its shields are the weak point, as most prey for pirates does not fight back vigorously. This vessel is manned by a minimal crew at all times, though its systems are currently offline.
Three FTL-capable drop-ships are also landed aboard this pad. These vessels have a formidable turret to port, starboard, and aft, and a rapid-fire rocket-launcher to the fore. A separate dropship of the same class is landed by the science lab (to be discussed later). None of these ships are manned, and with systems offline, they are extremely vulnerable.
The white circle represents the science lab, where the researchers conduct their work. Artifact- and computer-analysis take place in this building, which is approximately ten-thousand square feet, containing room for storage of artifacts prior to shipment offworld, medical facilities (for the workers), and a number of labs of various purposes. It is two stories. This structure also contains the research base's sole long-range transmitter and the controls for the anti-air turrets (discussed later).
The black circle represents the digsite. This will not be discussed until encountered in the chapter itself, except to say that there are ruins made up of an uncommonly-hard substance sitting atop an underground structure which seems largely intact. An access to the underground structure lies at the center of the ruins.
The gray and brown pentagons represent caves (the colors corresponding to separate caves). Maps of these do exist, and they are relatively stable, but there are dangers to be found within (and some of these are known). They include unstable stalactites, vents of volatile gasses, and possibly large predators.
The red triangles are anti-air turrets, capable of tracking fast enough to take down shuttles but powerful enough to take out even light cruisers. These turrets are capable of targeting into the canyon, but the areas containing buildings are too low for their firing arcs to target. The pirates were somehow able to circumvent these defenses, though the method is unknown. What is known is that these weapons are currently functional. These emplacements will be unable to be reached without specialized climbing equipment, due to the steep incline of the surrounding terrain.
Regarding the pirates, it will soon be found that there are in fact eighty-seven mercenaries currently stationed on the planet (excepting the leader and his/her leutenants, which will be discussed separately). Of these, six are the crew of the frigate and keep it manned at all times, comprising two salarians, two quarians, a volus, and a hanar. The makeup of the remaining eighty-one is as follows: ten krogan of varying combative talents, eight turians of varying talents, two quarian technicians, two elcor heavy infantry, one raloi (his talents will be a surprise), five volus biotic support personnel, eleven asari of varying talents, thirteen humans of varying talents, nine salarians of varying talents, seven batarians of various talents, and the remaining personnel being vorcha intended as fodder or manual labor.
All of the original crew of researchers are still alive, except for the expedition leader, who was executed as an example to the rest of the researchers of what would happen if any of them attempted escape or subversion of any kind. It was a particularly long and painful death, orchestrated by the raloi and vorcha. The exact fate of every member of the work and security crews contracted by the researchers is unknown, though they are assumed to have all been executed.
A satellite remains in orbit to conduct scans for any incoming vessels, and the pirate band is known to historically keep heavier vessels a short FTL jump away from high-value targets as a means of securing their finds from other pirate bands without leaving valuable starships open to an obvious ambush.
That's what we have for now. There may or may not be more information incoming regarding the commander of these men, but you'll know when the time comes. In the mean time, I hope I've tempted you to start coming up with ideas for how we're going to take down this target and retrieve our objectives. Keep in mind, we will be operating from a stealth vessel equipped with a stealth shuttle and that we will have about three days of travel time (as of the beginning of the planning chapter) to make our preparations.
This should be fun!
Sincerely,
Co-GM Maelstrom
I wanted to give you a sneak peak about what we're looking at on the upcoming mission, so everyone can begin thinking up ideas before the planning chapter goes up.
The planet's name is Dakora, and this is our map for the mission. This is topographic, with the highest elevation being purple and the lowest being yellow. Each color is a change of about 300 meters in height. As you can see, we'll be wedged between two very steep mountains.
The planet is a rogue body, being theorized to have been ejected from an established system millions of years ago. It would not have been detected were it not for passing through an inhabited system at a right angle to the usual orbits, showing up on a number of sensor systems. The planet is geologically active in many areas, though the surface topography seems remarkably slow to change. Chemical and geothermal energy are in abundance, providing for the abundance of bio-luminescent flora and small vertebrate and invertebrate fauna populating the world in abundance. Temperatures remain just above the freezing point of water, and the atmosphere is barely breathable, with high percentages of methane and alcohol vapors. There are two unusual side-effects to this. Thermal explosions and particularly intense kinetic impacts are capable of igniting the atmosphere in a small area, resulting in additional damage (though small sparks and rounds from handheld mass-effect weaponry do not cause this). Also, unfiltered breathing is both unpleasant and intoxicating in short order; prolonged unfiltered exposure results in a toxic buildups of chemicals within the body in a matter of minutes. Except for the light provided by the flora, this is a world shrouded in darkness.
I'm afraid the buildings aren't quite to scale, so I'll break things down for everyone.
The orange rectangles are the structures that the research team and their employees (and now the pirates) use for housing, and each is approximately four thousand square feet of living space, made up of bedrooms, restrooms, and one each of large communal kitchens, dining rooms, and living rooms. They are designed for functionality and some comfort, not for military security. For our techies, it should be noted that the systems in this model of prefab structure can be upgraded significantly for security- whether that is to keep things in or out is up to the one doing the upgrades. These systems, while not providing military-grade security, can be altered in such a way as to be above the abilities of the average sentient or omni-tool app to circumvent.
The pink square is a landing pad, approximately one hundred and fifty meters on each side. It is approximately fifty meters high, and there is a gently sloping ramp that goes up all four sides. It is well lit, but there is no security structure atop it.
The small frigate used by the pirates sits atop the landing pad. It is of an old salarian design which was decommissioned three decades ago. A number of these vessels were moved to the criminal underworld through a series of transactions, beginning with the definitely-legal and transitioning to the clearly-illegal. The frigate's core systems may have been outdated, but it retains a maneuverability competitive with modern warships of its class. Its weapons have been upgraded with illegal systems, giving it teeth comparable to a Council fleet vessel. Its shields are the weak point, as most prey for pirates does not fight back vigorously. This vessel is manned by a minimal crew at all times, though its systems are currently offline.
Three FTL-capable drop-ships are also landed aboard this pad. These vessels have a formidable turret to port, starboard, and aft, and a rapid-fire rocket-launcher to the fore. A separate dropship of the same class is landed by the science lab (to be discussed later). None of these ships are manned, and with systems offline, they are extremely vulnerable.
The white circle represents the science lab, where the researchers conduct their work. Artifact- and computer-analysis take place in this building, which is approximately ten-thousand square feet, containing room for storage of artifacts prior to shipment offworld, medical facilities (for the workers), and a number of labs of various purposes. It is two stories. This structure also contains the research base's sole long-range transmitter and the controls for the anti-air turrets (discussed later).
The black circle represents the digsite. This will not be discussed until encountered in the chapter itself, except to say that there are ruins made up of an uncommonly-hard substance sitting atop an underground structure which seems largely intact. An access to the underground structure lies at the center of the ruins.
The gray and brown pentagons represent caves (the colors corresponding to separate caves). Maps of these do exist, and they are relatively stable, but there are dangers to be found within (and some of these are known). They include unstable stalactites, vents of volatile gasses, and possibly large predators.
The red triangles are anti-air turrets, capable of tracking fast enough to take down shuttles but powerful enough to take out even light cruisers. These turrets are capable of targeting into the canyon, but the areas containing buildings are too low for their firing arcs to target. The pirates were somehow able to circumvent these defenses, though the method is unknown. What is known is that these weapons are currently functional. These emplacements will be unable to be reached without specialized climbing equipment, due to the steep incline of the surrounding terrain.
Regarding the pirates, it will soon be found that there are in fact eighty-seven mercenaries currently stationed on the planet (excepting the leader and his/her leutenants, which will be discussed separately). Of these, six are the crew of the frigate and keep it manned at all times, comprising two salarians, two quarians, a volus, and a hanar. The makeup of the remaining eighty-one is as follows: ten krogan of varying combative talents, eight turians of varying talents, two quarian technicians, two elcor heavy infantry, one raloi (his talents will be a surprise), five volus biotic support personnel, eleven asari of varying talents, thirteen humans of varying talents, nine salarians of varying talents, seven batarians of various talents, and the remaining personnel being vorcha intended as fodder or manual labor.
All of the original crew of researchers are still alive, except for the expedition leader, who was executed as an example to the rest of the researchers of what would happen if any of them attempted escape or subversion of any kind. It was a particularly long and painful death, orchestrated by the raloi and vorcha. The exact fate of every member of the work and security crews contracted by the researchers is unknown, though they are assumed to have all been executed.
A satellite remains in orbit to conduct scans for any incoming vessels, and the pirate band is known to historically keep heavier vessels a short FTL jump away from high-value targets as a means of securing their finds from other pirate bands without leaving valuable starships open to an obvious ambush.
That's what we have for now. There may or may not be more information incoming regarding the commander of these men, but you'll know when the time comes. In the mean time, I hope I've tempted you to start coming up with ideas for how we're going to take down this target and retrieve our objectives. Keep in mind, we will be operating from a stealth vessel equipped with a stealth shuttle and that we will have about three days of travel time (as of the beginning of the planning chapter) to make our preparations.
This should be fun!
Sincerely,
Co-GM Maelstrom