The ship left without incident, pulled out of harbor by Hanover and then sent on its way.
The trip is going smoothly enough. Olla plays her lute in the evening, although you’ve convinced her to sing in common as of last night instead of in her own tongue. It seems to have a calming effect on you all, and work has gone smoothly. The crew seems happy enough after Taz demanded their pay of 500 cogs from the ships stores prior to departing. Since it was there, the captain agreed rather than take the time to argue.
The course to Bridgeways seems particularly direct and a steady tailwind has been keeping you lofted along. However, 1 set of sails appeared off and on along the horizon last evening ahead of your ship, and then two more were spotted behind about 3 hours ago. The hull of the leading ship is obvious even at this distance: elven, most likely one of those that left around the same time you did. At a guess, you’re only 2 days from the TC pickets around Bridgeways, but with the 3 vessels around you as they are now, it’s unlikely you’ll avoid them that whole time.
ooc: As a refresher, here’s the ship to ship rules. You might need them soon.
http://skyshipgame.blogspot.com/2009/12/avast-ship-to-ship-combat-rules.html
Right now, they are at extreme range, and I won’t be dealing with it on a turn by turn basis just yet. Otherwise, what’s the plan of action here? Also, I’ve had you leave headed to Bridgeways since that was the last plan I heard. If you want to head somewhere else, we’ll see if we can work that out.
Blendin will care for his horns, sing his little songs with his adorning friend, and keep a sharp eye on those elven ships.
ReplyDeleteOn first sighting of the elven ships, Tooly sets to work building a makeshift version of the flare cannon he had on the Swoose (Weird Science 7).
ReplyDeleteOOC: Actually, does Obscure stick with a ship it's fired at, or would the ship leave the obscured spot behind as it moved?
ReplyDeleteooc: I'll have to look at the obscure rules in detail when I'm at the house. Either way, if you started work on it during your normal night shift, either of these devices can be cobbled together with misc. bits and pieces. You and your damnable mix of edges.
ReplyDelete"We'll double up the watch for now since we've got two sets of ships to watch." Gardner will attempt to ascertain the heading of the three vessels (are they all moving at our same heading, just the elven ship is further along and the other two are further behind, or are they moving different directions?) and see if he can make out any details of the ships. He will try to maintain extreme range from all 3 ships if possible and maintain course for Bridgeways.
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Boating 6, Notice 11, Knowledge(Skyships) 3
OOC: I think we need a house rule on Obscure, as it seems the writers didn't account for moving areas. It just says it creates an area of darkness, but doesn't say it's attached to anything. I submit that since it will be some sort of magical smoke bomb, said bomb would land on the ship and stay with it, especially once I attach it to a crossbow bolt to make it stick.
ReplyDeleteooc: yeah, so this seems like a case of the trappings to me.
ReplyDeleteI'll rule that you can choose between these two trappings: either have it be an air burst large burst template steam bomb that lasts 2 rounds (its windy in the void), in which case its as written, or it can be a hissing steam canister attached to a crossbow bolt, in which it sticks to a target and is small round 1, med round 2, and large round 3 before dissipating. Both will have crossbow range, and consume a couple of your remaining crossbow bolts.
ship positions and whatnot inbound.
Gardner identifies the vessels as 2 skiffs and a sloop, all elven design. The lead ship, a skiff with yellow striped bark that looks something like a hornet is tacking elegantly back and forth with half its sails pulled in, slowing down, while the trailing vessels have all their sheets full and are making good time. You remember those stripes from its arrival a few days ago on Timber.
ReplyDeleteTaz looks grimly towards the aft, and his voice takes on its accented common as it often does when he is stressed. “Suh, I think they mean to catch up. And no signal flags at this distance doesn’t bode well.” Medicus goes to his medicine chest and begins checks bottles, while Olla tries to get out of Wung’s way as he carries a barrel of shot towards one of the near cannon.
Olic. Current speed is 8.
Elven skiff 1 “The Hornet”, bow, 9, 1, port bow, 5, falling
Elven skiff 2, portside aft, 10, 1, bow, 10, closing
Elven sloop 3, aft, 11, 0, bow, 10, holding distance
OOC: Some clarification questions:
ReplyDeleteHow many crew does each cannon require? Whose shooting skill do they use, is it the gunner of that cannon, or can a master gunner lay them all? Is there any skill required to man a cannon? We can have all 4 guns on one side, right?
I'll re-read the ship-to-ship rules tonight. My internet was out and I was having to post from my phone for a couple days, there.
ooc: cannon take 2 crew to load, and 1 to fire. Pintle guns take 1 to load, 1 to fire, but do less damage (you don't have any pintle guns, currently).
ReplyDeleteA master gunner can act as a spotter (using notice skill to judge range and motion). Success on his roll will enhance the targeting of the gunners, but each gunner rolls shooting per each gun. Remember, ship-to-ship combat suffers from moving platform penalties unless you have that awesome ignore moving platform edge. There is no skill required for loading.
At current, the ship has ports for 2 guns on each side. In theory, bulkheads could be moved to make mounting all guns on a side happen, but to my knowledge that hasn't been done yet (it was on the todo list of mods, after the bronze armor upgrades if I recall. I'll look through the old posts and see if I'm wrong though.) At current, you have 4 banded cannon, coated in supergoo at 2 per side. They are currently unloaded, battened and not run out.
in the interest of self-consistence, here's what I've said before on cannon crew:
ReplyDelete"All cannon require a crew of two, except for pintle guns which can be fired with only 1, but need 2 to load normally."
so we'll go with that. Still, a single shooter, but it'll be at a penalty without a second gunner present.
OOC PLANNING:
ReplyDeletePERSONNEL DISPOSITIONS:
Okay, sounds like Tooly and Blendin should each man a gun, Gardner will be piloting, and Wung and Taz can help load. If Xisco's got decent Notice and nothing better to do, he can be spotter. If/when we get close, Taz can take over Tooly's gun with Olla loading (if she will. Medicus, if not) so the dwarf can use his special weapons.
AS I SEE IT:
We should have a major range advantage, as elf ships usually use ballistae. If they have cannon, they'll likely suck with them. We should also have a handling advantage with our tiller. They'll probably want to close to 50" or less, which will put them in range of my Obscure weapon, which'll mess 'em up nicely for a turn to let us hammer them up close.
MY PLAN:
We should load port guns with stone. We charge the Hornet, at an angle to starboard, slightly away from the other skiff so our port guns can bear. We decided that stone shot got 50% more range, but no AP, while lead acts like in the rulebook, right? That means the ballistae have range 25/50/100 vs. our cannon: 75/150/300 with lead and 100/225/450(?) with stone. We should be able to get 2 medium-range salvos with the stone shot before they can even fire their ballistae. We then load the lead for close-range if they're still up. If they're STILL coming, Tooly blinds them and we hit 'em with lead point-blank. If we can cripple or sink the Hornet, we can run from the others, especially if one stops to save their buddies.
Finally:
So if I go with airburst Obscure, it'll stay with the ship for 2 normal rounds, or 2 ship-to-ship rounds? As long as it lasts a full ship round, I'll go with that. It'll look like a double-barreled shotgun with crossbow bolts sticking out.
I agree, we should try to engage and subdue the Hornet as quickly as possible and then figure out what to do about the others, with Blendin and Tooly acting as gunners.
ReplyDeleteIncrease speed to 10, course directly toward the Hornet, we'll bear to port when we start getting near the 150" range mark. Signal "cease hostilities and bear away or be fired upon" or something like that. Lets go ahead and load the starboard cannons as well if we've got the time. Basically I want to time it so that I can take a "steady" action on the turn where we'll reach the 150" mark and fire. Lets try to verify that they have ballistas if possible as we get closer.
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boating 8, notice 5
OOC: With stone shot, we can open fire before the 150" mark and still be a medium range, I think. Best to fire at 225" or whatever medium range is, so we can get in an extra salvo.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking we shouldn't bother loading the starboard guns unless it's faster to turn than it is to reload, which it doesn't seem to be. We only have 6 shots each of stone and lead (3 two-gun salvos), so we might not want 2 of them in the wrong guns. We could load them with grape, but I don't see what use that would be.
ReplyDeleteooc: I'll update fully this evening - please keep updating as you see fit until I do, but loading now might not be a bad idea on the basis that you can do stunt based 'emergency' hard turns (assuming a sufficient difficulty level boating roll, of course). Your guys' call.
ReplyDeleteAlso of note is the new official expansion book for sundered skies comes out a week from monday. I'll be picking it up and will let you know if we are going to implement any of the new edges/spells/etc. from it after I give it a read.
Let's load with stone and plan on firing at 225. I think we should load both sides so we can make a hard turn and a surprise volley at some point. Maybe we should go with lead on the starboard side under the assumption it will be made at shorter range.
ReplyDeleteooc: Starboard side lead, port side stone, aye.
ReplyDeletehow are people doing on understanding the ship positions? If needed, I can toss up a relative position map each round. Lemme know.
Drawlight barks out orders as Fang makes his move from a pile of comfortable rope to stand by his master, alert. Xisco runs the flags up at Taz’s direction as the mate helps Tooly load stone in the port gun. Wung is joined by Blendin on the other cannon; their asymmetry of size giving each an advantage as Wung hefts the stone shot and powder while blendin fills the striking pan. Olla is tuning her instrument, having retrieved it from her spot in the hold, and is now seated on a barrel of shot. Medicus places a few more of the hairy dried fungi onto Tooly’s brazier and it begins to glow brighter. A few brands with charred ends used to stir the embers lay at the ready for when the time comes. The crew quickly positions on the other side of the vessel, loading lead shot in those cannons, before returning to their positions on the port side. For now, all the gunports remain closed (takes a round to run out the guns).
ReplyDeleteWith the sails unfurled, the Olic pushes forward, tracking carefully to port to keep the ‘Hornet’ directly in front of the small viewslit from the wheelhouse. Gardner’s steady hand keeps the ship in line and trimmed carefully to the gusting Void (boating roll 14). The hornet for its part continues on its path bearing slightly to port attempting to gain some speed on the charging Olic. It’s pilot is skilled, but he is outmatched (boating roll 4).
A quick glance out the rear ports show that the other two vessels are continuing their track towards the Olic, but lost a few steps when the captain opened his sails and pushed into the wind. The crew hopes this advantage will given them enough time to engage the Hornet before their foes from behind can fall on them. There is no response to the signal flags.
Bphage asked about obscure bolts – they will last 1 ship to ship round as air burst. You have two in a wooden double barrel shotgun. I rolled actions and movement for 2 rounds here, hope you don’t mind. Just wanted to get you close to action other that “continue”
Olic. Current speed is 10.
Elven skiff 1 “The Hornet”, bow, 6, 1, port bow, 8, falling
Elven skiff 2, portside aft, 10, 1, bow, 10, steady
Elven sloop 3, aft, 12, 0, bow, 10, falling
OOC: So I make that range as 300". Time to run out the guns, I think.
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Tooly shouts to the skipper, "Can we run 'em out, boss?" He seems a bit more eager than a sane person should be about engaging three enemy ships. Maybe he likes his new toys, maybe he's nervous, or maybe he just wants to put some holes in some elven ships.
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OOC again: Unless it will get in the way of crewing the cannon, Tooly's wearing his breastplate over his altitude gear, with the flame gun on its sling tossed over his shoulder across his back. If it'd get in the way, the armor and flame gun will be off to the side with his helmet, musket, and new smoke bomb launcher.
ooc: checkin in, what's the plan?
ReplyDeleteChange heading 1 degree to starboard to bring our port guns to bear (is it possible to make the turn partway through the movement to maximize distance moved toward the Hornet but still be able to take a "steady" action next turn), and climb to match elevation of The Hornet. "Run out the guns."
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Boating 7, Notice 2 to make out armaments on the Hornet
Blendin will run out his cannon and take a hard look at the hornet when it comes into view.
ReplyDelete-----------------------------------------------
Notice: 4
Tooly eagerly runs out his gun with Taz's help and peers at the target ship, looking for aiming points or weaknesses.
ReplyDeleteNotice 6
The Void fills the gundeck with its warm, unpleasant glow. Tooly decides to leave his bronze armor aside, as it tends to bind with his free movement around the gun. The pulleys creak as the crew heaves to pull the cannon forward into their locks. Tooly knocks a peg from each carriage in with his hammer, and the guns are in place.
ReplyDeleteThe Olic Haversham heels slightly to starboard, while the 'hornet slings itself port. You can see large wooden leaves being folded back on the port side of the vessel. Blendin and Tooly both readily identify what they hold within - a catapult, loaded with smooth wooden shot the size of a man's torso. The guns are in line with the hornet now.
ooc: map added above of current situation. using initiative cards.
JOK Olic. Current speed is 10.
9H Elven skiff 1 “The Hornet”, port bow, 4, 1, port aft, 8, closing
4H Elven skiff 2, aft, 10, 1, port bow, 10, holding
5S Elven sloop 3, starboard aft, 12, 0, port bow, 10, holding
Reshuffling.
I make the range 200, so medium for stone. If I'm wrong, or if they're not in the firing arc, ignore the following:
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Tooly checks his range and speed estimates with Taz and Xisco, aims, and fires.
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OOC: Drafted Xisco as spotter unless he's busy. Initial shooting roll was 1 on shooting die, so last benny spent. Final roll: 10, plus 2 for joker = 12.
ooc: range may change if the olic moves - I'll hold off resolution until everyone has a chance to check in. I heard from Xisco's driver earlier, and he said he'd help where he could (been busy w/ all kinds of things I hear), but if he wants to do something else, lemme know.
ReplyDeleteSteady as she goes.
ReplyDelete-------------------------------------
Boating 9 (if possible Gardner would like to use his piloting advantage to keep the ship steady and the Hornet at close gun range rather than extra distance).
OOC: BAAAAAAAD idea to get to close range. They have a catapult, which will rip the hell out of us if it hits. They're at -4 to hit, and 200" is max range for a catapult, giving them an effective to-hit of 12 before movement mods, while we have a 6 before mods. If we could stay at a range of 3 (or 150"), they'd still be at long range and we'd still be at medium, but at 2 (or 100") we're at short for stone, medium for lead, and they're at medium. They only need one hit to tear us up with that thing. We want to stay at range 3 or 4 for safety and decent shooting.
ReplyDeleteIf Gardner's old eyes can't see it, Tooly will inform him of the catapult if he tries to close.
That said, question for BR:
Catapults have AP 10, 3d8 damage, and hit a medium burst template. How does that work against ships. Is the AP 10 for ships, or people? Is it even a Heavy Weapon? It should be, but that doesn't jibe with the medium burst thing to me. Please clarify.
right, by close I don't actually mean CLOSE because I'm maintaining current speed and heading. I'm just saying I would like to maintain as much possible current range rather than shoot past them with a high boating roll.
ReplyDeleteAh, okay.
ReplyDeleteooc: blendin buddy, weshootin or we holdin fire?
ReplyDeleteooc: alright, since LR appears to be afk, if one of his cohorts wants to plan his move for this round, I'll allow it.
ReplyDeleteOOC: Unless someone has a brilliant idea, I say we use the medium range and joker and fire.
ReplyDelete------------------
Blendin smirks as he remembers the last time he fired a cannon and the improbable result. He hopes for just a fraction of that luck as he aims the big gun, listening to the range estimates from Xisco and Tooly as they check with each other, then fires, using the catapult as an aiming point.
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OOC: I don't know how picked targets work, but if there's a lower chance of hitting the ship if he aims for the catapult, ignore that. Don't know what his Shooting die is, so I'll let BR roll it.
I interrupt my posting hiatus to share a possible live action interpretation of Tooly's Wink. Back to my posting hiatus
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry guys, I thought I made a post until the LR is afk... silly Blogger.
ReplyDelete"Fire in the Hole!"
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Shooting = 10 (without modifiers)
ooc: no problem LR – I think we’ve all had blogger irritation a few times.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Drawlight heels the ship evenly, bringing her guns in line with the higher altitude Hornet. Xisco calls out his estimates of range (notice 5), speed and angle to the gun crews. Tooly fires first, a wash of heat and flame belching from the side of the ship as the stone carries whistling towards its target. Blendin’s shot follows moments later, and his patience appears to have paid off (Tooly’s shot: 10-1(depth perception)+2 (joker)+1(xisco spotting)-2(unsteady platform)-1(high relative speed)-2(range)= 7, hit); (Blendin’s shot 10+1(xisco)+2(marksman)-2+2(steadyhands/moving platform)-1(high relative speed)-2(range)+2(joker) = 12, raise).
The stone from the lead gun bounces with a splash of dust and splinters, leaving only a surface scar (damage = 3,2,4+1+2 = 12 AP 0 vs 15, no damage) but Blendin’s shot from the following gun finds purchase and batters through the hull (damage = 3,4,5,3+1+2 = 18 vs 15. Hit no raise, boating roll response is 7 – still in control, no effect. Sorry, crummy damage rolls there.)
The hornet turns to bring its catapult to bear as the Olic’s crew busily begins reloading their guns. The shot launches in a menacing arc, but sails safely overhead (4 before mods, which ain’t pretty). It continues its turn, circling to keep the Olic in line as they reload.
The other elven vessels continue to stalk behind, not gaining on the speeding vessels before them.
Ship to Ship round 2. Reload is taken care of by the start of this round – so each gunner can choose their shot as they see fit I imagine. Just lemme know what you decide at current there are 4 shots each of stone and lead (with 2 more lead loaded in the starboard guns) and quite a bit of grape.
AD Olic. Current speed is 10.
9H Elven skiff 2, aft, 10, 1, bow, 10, holding
5C Elven skiff 1 “The Hornet”, port, 3, 1, aft, 8, closing
4S Elven sloop 3, starboard aft, 12, 0, bow, 10, holding
Blendin'll defer to Tooly on the type of amo, but he'll take my second shot when he can.
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Shooting: 10 (before the mass of mods)
(Okay, trying this a third time...)
ReplyDeleteTooly bellows something about stone spitballs and loads a lead slug. He checks with Xisco and fires.
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OOC: If 3 isn't 150" and medium range for lead, load stone.
Shooting 5. Should have loaded stone.
JWW: Can you get us to short range outside their firing arc or get above them?
150 will be medium. lead shot loaded. Xisco, you still spotting? How bout it captain, wither you sailing?
ReplyDeleteooc: oops, forgot to update the map last night. bada-boom! mapped!
ReplyDeleteoh, and benny for Xisco on his awesome link.
ReplyDeleteHe'll still spot. New smartphone so should be able to post a bit more. Swype is neat.
ReplyDeleteGardner will turn hard to port and try to bring the Olic's port guns in line with the aft of the Hornet. Boating 7.
ReplyDeleteclosing thread due to length. new one opening now.
ReplyDelete