Lets note that Psi is by no means a 'doting parent' towards the oversized thing with a childs mind. He does not even try to prevent Thud from grabbing places which he should not be grabbing - and since this is mainly welding work that is into the welding torch or the still molten metal. Looking at the big thing - and watching its reaction, as there is ment-to-injure-armored-humans hot and then there is ment-to-melt-hardened-steel hot he comments.
"See now? Go play with dirt over there. Fingers in bad places make big thing go ouch."
After thorougly working on the equiptment he brings over the executioner over to the Orgryn, or rather to his handler - off who he still doesn't know the name. He lugs the far too heavy thing in his manipulator claw. In a way that is most certainly appropriate to its rugged and venerated machinery but probably seems less-than-holy for a 'holy' weapon.
"The kit is over there. It will be more than up to the standard of this thing. This however eludes me. I have consecrated it with the appropriate litanies but its activation protocols refuse me. I mean Omnissiah forsaken REFUSES me. You will have to appease its machine spirit in some other way. If you do that it just might start working for you at any time."
"It wants... a Shield? It is quite logical to wield such a contraption into battle. But what in the name of the Omnissiah went wrong at its birth that it cares about its life? Ahhh the mysteries. Anyway. Fine.
You, large metal over there. Turn upside down.
And drop stuff. ALL STUFF.
If I make you better, then I make ALL of you better."
For the Omnissiahs sake, I'm not going to embarass my work by being seen on the same... abhuman as that ramshackled contraptions it... wears?
Mechanical work:
Int 50
Master Enginseer +10
Tech Use +20
Combitool +10
= 90
Shield:1d100 ⇒ 24 7DoS Armor:1d100 ⇒ 29 DoS Executioner?:1d100 ⇒ 45 5DoS Rosarius?:1d100 ⇒ 971DoF ah well, he wanted to get a look at that but it seems even if he gets the change he's not going to understand the tech behind it in the slightest.
Seeing that it is a vox transmitter, not common vocal cords the finger there is rather... unhelpful. It only muffles the sound a little.
Hearing this however he turns interested, switching to a... somewhat easier to listen to voice: "Fix? Ah, you're one of those ab-humans. I can most certainly 'fix' you. It is not necesarilly my speciality but I hear it is a good exercise. The Toughness of your species and lack of abundand higher brain functionality makes it highly unlikely to make any lasting misconfigurations. Perfect for the interested tech priest aspiring to a position under a magos biologis."
What happened to his old shield? Celephix made him one mid page 20.
Getting asked... nicely:
Psi is rather displeased with the interruption and shows it by turning away the ogre finger... with his manipulator claw
str:1d100 ⇒ 88Not even close to anything despite +20 from the claw
which feels like shoving a tree, and with the same success too.
Seeing how trying to strong-arm anything here is doomed to fail he falls back to his other way of showing people his displeasure. By using the "my ears are murdering me" setting on the vox machines that double as his vocal cords.
"A handle on the inside of an armor plate is illogical. It will be weldet to a tank which will mean the handle will be in the way of the compounding process. Even if circumvented the handle will still be between armor plates, far outside of reach for any personal that is not of liquid or gasous state. In which case said personal would not gain anything from reaching said handle because said state would make them unable to grasp it. I cannot accede to such an illogical request."
The so-called voice sounds like a headgehog being draped across a blackboard. Your ears WANT to start bleeding after the first sentence but as it still is only sound they can't. Poor them.
I'm still here just super busy with work and my 6 month old son. Which is probably the reason why GoW is asking about this in the first place. I'm that uninspired guy he talked about in the initial post, and being super busy makes it hard-ish to get my lazy backside to post here.
I actually super enjoy Psi as a character. It's really just the work as a gunner that's uninspiring to me. "Yeah I use my skills to somehow find a target despite being enclosed in a metal sarcophagus, then roll to hit it. Oh and I get to choose the ammo type."
Or in other words being in a tank is like playing 1/3 of a character.
Manouvering -> Driver.
Shooting -> Gunner.
Spotting stuff -> Tank Commander(if applicable)
And before each of us did all of this because hey, feet.
I wouldn't mind either of those options but I do think I could enjoy Psi by freeing up the position of main gunner - just let him squeeze... somewhere... in the tank and have him be an intelligence / hacker type of support.
I don't think Psi used the main gun in several rounds.
Awareness Per31 -20(Difficulty) -20(Untrained)
not even possible.
1d100 ⇒ 71
Resist Fear:
Wp34
No officer on Salvus, so no +10 either.
Not possible either, not against 5DoS
Resist Fear:1d100 ⇒ 59
Psy tries to ignore the incoming ordnance and concentrate on his work getting the coordinates ready but seeing the blessed tanks around him get shredded by a single salvo shakes even his well oiled faith in being kept safe by the will of the Omnissiah.
His hands shake as he adjusts the turret towards the last landmark required for his calculations and the equations being loaded from his memory storage seem... somehow hazy to him.
-10 this round means applying logic succeeds with 1DoS instead of 2DoS
Yeah well the thing about such old monolithic systems is that rebuilding costs a LOAD of money NOW.
Maintaining them is more costly in the long run, but that buttload of money is spread over months and years in smaller maintenance costs.
"Confirmed, Leutenant. Prioritizing strongpoint coordinates over shooting the tanks' main gun."
He queries the Leman Russes cogitator for the current coordinates, then aligns
the main guns sights on the strong points, reading off the range from its range finder and applying it along with the gun heading to the tanks coordinates - resulting in the most accurate coordinates of the strong points he can get
Tech Use Own Coordinates:1d100 ⇒ 347DoS Logic(50I+10) - apply Range and direction to own coordinates:1d100 ⇒ 332DoS
Probably going to take a few rounds with how slow the main gun swings around. If a logical pattern appears, like a constant distance between strongpoints, then Psy will start to use logic more than the gun sights to get the coordinates.
"The Omnissiah blessed me with the information then given to the Major which has prevented us from losing any of our own to the attack. I believe it is Feral who has to step up his scanner game. Not to reach me, for I am but a humble vessel but to reach the boons of the Omnissiah, Miss Tark. Now let us pray the lord of the machine will once more grant me the insight to guide us through battle."
He intones the litany of data bountyfully given, as he checks the main gun is loaded and swings it to the right as ordered. He then opens a connection between the scanner and Felix' data display so he won't have to rely on the imprecision inherent in gothic to transmit his data
"Aye, Sir. I do not plan to overstay the 5 Minutes left to me by the Major... The balms I could work on Salvus if I had 10..."
He disolves into mumbling as he keeps hammering, welding and bending away - something he never stopped even while berating the flesh bag mind you. And who needs Orgryn when the Omnissiah has granted him a manipulator mechadendrite specifically tailored for exactly this task?
It only takes a moment for this mumbling to take on a reverential sing-song as he mumbles the approriate prayers of maintenance and repair to his beloved machine
Tech Use vs 100:1d100 ⇒ 733 DoS, assuming the MIU bonus is active for checking the logs earlier
After 4 minutes and 30 seconds he takes a few steps back and grumbles a bit
Not the work it deserves, but it will have to suffice for now. "Tracks are up to an estimated 78.11 percent. May the Omnissiah forgive me for this rushed work and may he inspire me to do better on the vox set."
Yet he still enters Salvus without any more complaints, hitting his seat at exactly 5 Minutes after being reprimanded by the Leutenant
Tech Use vs 90:1d100 ⇒ 198 DoS before reduction for working in a cramped tank and the difficulties of attaching the whole thing while the tank is in motion
A rythimcal stacato of 2 different forms of clicks lasting seemingsly for random amounts of time, with varying tempo, is the first sign of Salvus Vox coming back online. The tech priest is singing the hymn of communication in binary. To everyone else it scrapes at their ears.
"The venerable Leman Russ in its perfect STC form will not suffer for the inadequacy of the flesh machine. Augment your soft tissue with the proper gear as the imperial guard regulation demands or pray to the Omnissiah to grant you a direct enhancement of the flesh making said gear unnecessary. I will not have you slander its perfect form with demands for frivolous modification when it is you who is insufficent!"
"The venerable Leman Russ does not approve of such frivolous modification. It suggest following standard procedure of wearing guard issue cranial impact dampener. Language modules suggest adding that it means the equipment commonly refered to as helmet.
If not acceptable I will add my personal offer to replace the underlying cranium with subdermal armor plating en par with the top layers of leman russ battle armor for an equal footing when the physical equations determining which side receives a dent play out when a crash happens."
"Leutenant, Salvus is in dire need of my services. Requesting to switch places with a Salvus gunner of your choice to continue working after we set off."
If granted Psi will grab the stuff to get the Vox Link back up, place it aside in the tank, then work on the tracks until go time, hopefully getting it to somewhere around 80%. Once we start moving again he'll start working on the Vox Tech
"Confirmed, Sir. Also while I am humbled by your confidence in my learning ability taking an initiation into the intricacies of the flesh maschine that the Omnissiah has giftet us with is not something to be done between battle and repairs. It was ment as an offer to increase squad efficiency in the future.
Now. Lets see what those savages did to my beloved Salvus"
He disembarks in his usual manner of shoving himself out with his weight hanging on his manipulator claw and starts by wandering in a circle aroud the tank, assessing the damage
Tech Use, no MIU yet vs 90:1d100 ⇒ 218DoS
"Oh my poor poor Saluvus, not only the damage but the taint of having been touched by their unclean tech. I will reconsecrate your Hull and then get you back on track."
He pulls out his sacret unguents and washes away the stench of ork vehicle with a heavy smoke which smells like a curous mix of machine oil and fine herbs. Only then does he connect to the maintenance ports of the venerable Leman Russ, convening with the machine spirit to listen to its every gripe and soothing its anger with the proper prayers.
Tech Use with MIU vs 100:1d100 ⇒ 510 DoS
Having taken his time to follow the proper procedures he gets to work in a flurry of motion. Every stroke of his hammer and bending of his manipulator claw returns a dent back to exactly where it was, and while no material will ever be exactly the same after having been bent or broken they look so very much in place none other than a fellow tech priest would know it had ever been touched by the filthy Xenos scum.
He starts off with the tracks, to at the very least get it to safety along with them but will work his way to the main turret, then everything else - unless stopped by the press of time by way of his Lts urging voice.
Psy chambers another AP round before he does anything else, making sure the breach is closed with a satisfying thud.
"I will tend to my flock as is its right and due. It will, be it the will of the Omnissiah, return to us in pristine condition. Miss Buck. Please reduce the distance vector between Invictus and Salvus to an absolute amount small enough to cross via bipedal humanoid locomotion using standard sized appendages without taking enough time for the leutenants blood pressure to increase beyond the threshold retainable by his blood vessels.
Also while I prefer to tend to the mechanical it would be possible for me to take the course to the initial biologis exam so I could tend to troops as... biological component of the machines."
"The Omnissiah approves of this course of action. Let the vile Xenos be gone."
Not letting Bekka out of it he pulls some extra power into the Lascanon while
Bekka manouvers.
Tech Use-10 vs 90:1d100 ⇒ 811DoS
"Lascanon power is up, I propose a joint salvo to free Salvus of the xenos
scum" Skill use - half action. Reducing reload to 1,5 rounds -> Lascanon is ready after the first half-round is over.
So no aim action for Psi or Bekka but both weapons are ready.
"Thr Blessed machines' Armor has throughly protected its deciple. I will honor it with all the praise that is its due when the battle is done"
He send through his voice synthiziser while loadin another AP round.
Psi acknowledges with a classic 'click' over the vox. Taking a moment to center the canon on the Trukk he checks the machine spirits' targeting hud to make sure its calculations align with his aim, then he presses the trigger
BS 35
Aim +10
MIU +10
Synchronous Shot called by lt +15
vs 70
AP Shell
Fire!:1d100 ⇒ 592DoS -> 95, Hit to Turret. So since they don't have one to the hull Trukk evades vs 45:1d100 ⇒ 371DoS
Firing dead center at the Trukk the driver sees the barrel swing around and tries to throw the wheel around but he is hindered by the chaos of Lt's salvo - everyone else is dodging where the Trukk driver wants to go - and instead gets an armor piercing shell straight to the vehicles frame
xD that'll be interesting. Might not end healthy for one of them tho - Wielding tank doors as shields and patching together multiple different patterns of armor to fit an Orgryn is not something a tech priest can just overlook mind you =3
(I don't think Psi can hold back his b@$@+ing long enough to actually report it tho. More likely he'd start b&$@&ing and get a tank-door-shield to the head for being anoying)
"Understood Sir. As high as possible..." I'll ignore that part about ignoring machine spirits, he clearly doesn't know what it means to draw the wrath of a venerable leman russ' machine spirit
Valens lets his head roll back as he closes his eyes, letting his conciousness flow into the mind impulse unit. His binary spirit darts between the various systems attached to the locator beacon, optimizing settings, drawing power from systems currently not in need of them, before finally setting the indicator of the system to its maximum value. Then he approaches the machine spirit, prostrating himself before it.
"Venerable machine spirit, please indulge this humble servant in this presumtious request: Please increase the output strength of the locator beacon to the very highest it can sustain." Tech use vs 100:1d100 ⇒ 1 10DoS, or 1 shy of 11DoS. They are going to locate this tank from freaking orbit... 3 planets aways.
He waits respectfully as the binary world around him starts churning, bits and bytes of information starting to flow between the various subsystems where there previously was no need for such communication.
With that, he opens his eyes, slowly returning his senses to his own body.
"Repoting: Locator beacon is now at maximum sustainable strength. Machine check indicates heavy impacts to the rear armor of the turret but no breaches. Main cogitator was overheating but is now cooling down."
"Sir. I am having trouble implementing your instructions. Beacon strength is ranged from 0 to 255. Default strength ranges, depending on unit, between 120 and 195. We are currently set at 143. Instruction clearly states to 'turn it up' to 11, yet setting it to specficied integer would not be setting it 'up' but down."
I think you mean dropping =P Pretty sure they still don't like to be left hanging while dropping. I hear getting shot at without cover is unpleasant. And last time I checked there was not too much cover in the sky xP
While not the operator, Psi will not let anyone else take care of HIS tank. Not even checking it over.
"Comencing system check."
Let's see how much that actually consists.
Int50
+20 from Training in the Skill(does not count to max +60)
+10 MIU
+10 Master Enginseer
+10 Combi tool
+30 Circumstance
Bonuses stack up to the max +60, so full advantage from the extra +30
"This has an odd sort of symetry to it. Altought that pleases the Omnissiah he is naturally equally as appaled by the fact that it is formed by filthy xenos. Let us see if that filhy excuse for a brain in those xenos know of the concept of 'pothole'"
While Psi is talking he is already reconfiguring a HE shell to detonate on quite a bit higher pressure.
Tech Use vs 100(no MIU):1d100 ⇒ 416DoS
He then lowers the turret to point to the ground UNDER the circling ork buggies, and a bit towards the left of the tank and fires.
This might take longer than 1 round to actually load the reconfigured shell. The intend is to fire the HE shell into the ground UNDER the circling orks, have it penetrate a few metres, then detonate the ground outwards, creating a large hole for the ork buggies to crash into - forming a pile of buggies
> So, there will be an action available to actively make yourself a hard target
I think you're thinking of guarded action: Half action. -10Ws/BS (self), +10 all evasion tests
And maybe defensive stance. A bit off an odd one: Full action, +1 reaction, -20WS against you
I used those when Mr Commissar was up against the Ork with the 2 handed axe that wanted to see what 2x half a Commissar looks like
> So, there must be some kind of drawbacks for aiming/bracing to make them less of a no-brainer in combat.
I agree. On the other hand I think we also need to focus a bit more on cover and its benefits. We sometimes had the situation that you either got hit or you didn't, even through cover.
As I understand the RAW it should be check the target area as usual - if its in cover add the cover bonus.
I'd certainly take -100 to dodge if it means only my head sticks out behind the braced gun but the enemy hitting anything else has the +30something armor from the concrete block i'm hiding behind
Makes the talents aimed at called shots a lot more useful as well
I don't mind either way with the opposed tests. There is just one argument about it which has convinced me not to use opposed tests in my games anymore and I'd like to at least throw that in for conversations sake:
The dodge and parry skill loses a lot of its worth when opposing tests are used.
This sounds crazy at first because naturally you'd need even more dodge to successfully keep your character alive - and it is true. For a combat oriented Character that is.
Combat oriented characters already have good dodge to stay alive in what they do best.
The thing is about less combat oriented characters.
Learning Dodge or even going to Dodge+10/+20 is a very worthwhile investment if you will save your characters live at that DC. If, let's say you have a crap Agi with 20 and Dodge +20(pretty expensive in ep terms already) you'll dodge at +40.
Now if you use the same logic with opposed tests - does it really make any difference whether you dodge at +20 or +40 if a combat oriented enemy attacks you with an aimed, braced attack with base WS/BS of ~50? Let's say full circumstance bonus rolling against 110 - rolling under 90 or under 70. You're very VERY dead either way.
The world just got a lot more deadly for not-combat-monsters
I'm having a lot of fun complaining at people for damaging my machines but the format of a tank fight does not seem to agree with me very well.
I currently don't see a gunner making much contribution to the fight aside from choosing HE or penetrating rounds and throwing in the stats to roll the hits with.
(Psi seems to be doing a lot more for the mission tech-priesting, which is good and fun, but could be argued keeps him from firing the big oomph of the tank, so I might switch out with one of the side-gun npcs after all. Given a chance of course)
Psi sighs, brought back to the cold logic of the problem by Macs shouting.
"Main Turret is not going to rotate in time to engage rearward opponents. Engaging forward oponents"
@Choon you COULD argue that commanding your OWN squad should be your daily routine - and routine skill tests are at +10. The +0 we usually do are 'difficult' tests.
I remember a table for commanding people which had various levels of being under your authority in it - from being under your command to being on from an enemy faction - which had people directly under you at +30 even. I think that's a memory from dark heresy tho and I couldn't find it doing a quick skim of my copy(not that that's saying much considering how badly the rulebooks are organized) so I don't think you'll get THAT much but +10 for us being your usual victims errr subordinates might not be too much to ask ; )
Fear+30 vs 64:1d100 ⇒ 984DoF, he's currently more afraid of those little ground based schmucks than he is from the actually dangerous vehicles coming at them. "For the love of the Omnissiah! Get those unholy gnats off of the holy machines! They are going to break my congregation of machine spirits! And afterwards they are coming for US! That's IT. I'm boosting the Auspex on the close range targets!"
Auspex, roll is as before except -10 -> vs 100:1d100 ⇒ 268 DoS Share data through the strenghtened comnet -10 -> vs 100:1d100 ⇒ 70'only' 4DoS. Or maybe 5 DoS if those 8 DoS on the Auspex let him clearly see his feared enemies
Tech Use Auspex:
Int 50
MIU +10
Trained+20 +20
Master Enginseer +10
Combi-Tool +10
Difficulty +10
vs 110
Tech Use: Read Auspex vs 110:1d100 ⇒ 85Lackluster, but still 3DoS Actually, I guess I'm spending that round reloading the main gun? For some reason in my head there was a loader npc along with the ride but I don't think that is the case
"Receiving your data Miss Buck. Cleared up up Auspex confirmed. Data is good and plenty, lining up canon in accordance with data." GoW ruled your epic 4 allows me to use your data to aim the turret with little difficulty, so no extra auspex check is required to fire using the data.
BS 35
Half Aim +10
MIU +10
Tank moving -10
vs 45
"May this servant of the Omnissiah smash his unholy foes! Firing!" Firing!:1d100 ⇒ 282DoS or 1DoS iff no half aim is counted for aiming using the auspex
Psi hands off the new coordinates to the tanks machine spirits, wrapped lovingly in delicately crafted packet frames.
Not to let the machine do all the work alone he still also manipulates the handles in sync with his binary packets.
Any penalties for being distracted if Psi keeps the channel to the others in the star formation open? In an ideal world(so probably not in 40k) he'd like to push an arrow to each tank drivers display, guiding them to a safe evac without getting in eachothers way. IF(when?) things go south and his cogiator implants manage to calculate said routes
"Why yes Miss Buck he certainly has ordered this and I understand how you reached the conclusion that this would be a problem given the current artillery fire.
However I believe you failed to factor in the precondition of having a 'precise' weapon arrayed against you. This Ork artillery is no more likely to hit the star formation than any other single tank on the battlefield.
That said, the formation being a star you might want to opt for the outer edges of the star. It leaves perfectly fine manouverability with the trade for a possible part vulnerability to the flanks.
However I believe maintaining the current level of the data link between the tanks machine spirits will allow us to manouver out of a star formation just as accuratly, or even more so, than the heap of abused machinery those meatbags undeserving of the holy vehilces protection have made until a moment ago."
Valens runs the data through his cogitator once more - it does not do to give half baked data to such a high ranking officer.
Logic vs 50:1d100 ⇒ 55 DoS
Seeing a flurry of patterns in the oncoming barrage he matches them to distance, direction, velocity and their relative counterparts from the areas wind and sharpens his predictions to very much precise points of impact.
Seeing how they are about to lose 34.48% of their fighting strength to a simple communication problem he focuses his entire knowledge, being and future as a disciple of the Omnissiah into the task of getting the information he gleaned to the Major RIGHT THIS INSTANT.
Singing the authorization codes into the voxes MIU he reaches out into the vastness of the datanet, finding the massive block of condensed information that is the Majors Command Level tank he takes but a nanosecond to greet the outter systems and establish his identity and authorisation, letting his consiusness and the data he brings with him float into the vast net of circuits. Comprehendin the inherent logic in the data paths he surges along to the Majors Terminal and gives it just enough of a moment to prepare for the inflood of data, lighting up the Majors terminal with every bit of information the Tech Priest could glean of the incoming barrage.
Talent use: Master Enginseer. Spend a fate point to succeed a Tech Use test to enhance, repair or upgrade a machine's system while taking the minimum amount of time and at the GM's discretion do so without actually having the necessary parts.
It's a bit of a stretch of the wording but Valens is 'enhancing' the data connection between the tanks, isn't he?
The Tech Priest is attempting to relay the data to the other tanks as well, not just the Invictus.
Of course it would be best if he could put it on everyones' screen but that seems a bit... steep.
He should know HIS tanks well enough to get them to display the data as well perhaps?(And don't get him started on whether those are HIS tanks or the SQUADS tanks. He never relented on that one before and he is not going to start now)
Valens lets himself fall back into the guner seat and slots home into the MIU. A moments regret washes over him not to be able to praise the holy machine as is only right and proper but the cold logic of the Omnissiah allows neglecting this step when the imidiate protection of the holy machine takes precedence.
Never having been one to trust his own fleshy eyes he sets to the task of asking the machine to look out for him, redirecting the Auspex towards the incoming fire.
Tech Use vs 100:1d100 ⇒ 288 DoS - half round
Awareness(P) 31 (Untrained)-20 +30+20(Auspex) vs 61:1d100 ⇒ 571 DoS Logic(I) 50+10(Logic Implant)-10 =50:1d100 ⇒ 622DoF
Seeing the incoming Fire Valens tries to make a quick estimate where it will land but the angle is yet too ambigous for a precise direction so instead he communes with Invictus and the other tanks, rejoicing in the connection with his flock of machines, albeit only over the vox.
He tries to convince them to display the Auspex Data on both the Gunners and the Drivers display.
Tech use(I) vs 100:1d100 ⇒ 644DoS - probable difficulty
"And that is why the Omnissiahs holy logic is so rightfully venerated." says the Tech Priest as the clamps down the las canons casing. As he does this his Manipulator Mechadendrite already extends back to the Invicus, securing him to the hull.
"Miss Buck you may start manouvering. I will use my true limbs strength to return to the safety of the venerable machine's interiour" Athletics(S) +37+20(Manip):1d100 ⇒ 76 DoS
Free Action: Secure to something via manipulator mechadendrite
Skill Use: Athletics(Learned via regiment) to pull the Tech Priest back towards the tanks' hatch via the mechadendrite while it is already starting to manouver its way clear
Humming a hymn in binary to himself - or maybe the tank? Valens works his way along the exterior of the tanks first. As if in thought he notices he's close to the lascanon and his head jerks up to look at its lense hard.
Shaking his head he switches tunes and recites the suprisingly short litany of percusive maintenance "By the Omnissiahs will, work!" before striking it with at a percicely calculated angle to reset the lenses angle
Talent: Technical Knock. Thought not sure how that works together with the stated requirements of tech use -10 so -> Tech Use -10 vs 80:1d100 ⇒ 48 DoS
Taking a closer look he scowls "And THAT is why you never let menials do anything important." before getting out his combi-tool and adjusting the calibration once more. Tightening a screw here, readjusting a holder by a milimeter there. After a few moments of work he sactifies the machinery with a single drop of his sacred unguents.
"No, Trooper Elofson. If I had wanted to engage in humour then I would have entertained you with the tale of the mad Magos Van der Screwton who thought he could understand the Omnissiahs will by observation of the entropic behaviour of dead rats. Alas my hypothesis is as founded on facts as such things can be."
"I would have prefered the interpretation: 'I think we're about to get nuked by artillery', Leutenant Sir. But I will get on with the Omnissiash holy work now that you have deemed this conclusion to be irrelevant."
He extracts himself from the Gunner position and gets to work on the other vehicles
Tech Use vs 90 - no MIU:1d100 ⇒ 683DoS
"I was under the impression the Leutenant wanted me to fix things with those tanks here, but I'll gladly take this chance to get rid of some of those beasts.
Thought I do have the feeling that we are looking at an equation with a key variable missing. Logical extrapolation of the current situation presents the following hypothesis:
If it was the Orks coming at us with a line of vehicles similar to the one we are approaching with then the Omnissiah decrees to first thin their rank with artillery fire. In this case we would send out a forward scouting troop with small use of personel to mark the coordinates and stay out of the designated target zone with everything else but hold it in close proximity to strike once the artillery barage has ceased.
Now taking into account that we have been dispatched towards the hive to silence the orks artillery I believe it unwise to stay in this large bunched up heap of vehicles."
Missed the part about the buggies already having been blasted apart - removed that shot. No Shooting at scrap metal for a logical Tech Priest
A horrible metal screeching emits from Bekkas' and Felix' Voxbead, somehow bypassing the other peoples pickups.
It vaguely sounds like "What are you meatbags doing to my precious machines?!?"
While a little confirmation click answers Macs shouted command.
Having lost his aim from the driving Valens instead gets right to the new order by getting the Invictus back online throught the MIU
Tech Use vs 100:1d100 ⇒ 397 DoS and maybe throw a technical knock into it. Althought this is not exactly the jam the talent is designed for.
Soothing octets of binary float around the engine and appease its burning up anger at its blatant abuse. Switching tune Valens sings hymns of binary praise and awakening for the venerable machine, reawakening it in the softest of ways, yet taking no more than the few miliseconds it takes to transfer his hymns to its machine core.
"Confirming order to fire at will.
Leutenant, the abundant data hidden between the incoherent meatbag screams
reveals to me there are two more groups of enemy vehicles beyond the hilltops.
Eight vehicles each. Size close to the one we are seeing.
One is moving east, the other south-east.
I am unable to see the logic in their behaviour, most likely because there is none.
Miss Tark, there is not complication in waiting for clear and definite order.
Miss Buck, yes you have in fact told me, what you have told me however remains untrue
as it is Leutenant Mac who has the authority to order fire, which he only just now has."
Valens takes his time to line up a shot with the main gun.
Full round aim.
Aim target:
If the normal rounds have a decent explosive radius he aims between 2 trukks
driving closely together
If the normal rounds are only effective against single vehicles he'll aim for a
buggy out front, with another close-ish driving behind. His intend is if the
shot is good and the buggy goes out of control for the one behind to crash into
it. Maybe.
"Ah, yes Miss Buck I have understood your comment. Thank you. I was pointing
out the flaw inherent in the logic from which said statement stems. The
Leutenant has only given the order to fire to the sponson gunners and even from
them he requires conservation of ammo. He clearly intents to use as few
resources on this little diversion as feasibly possible.
Thus I am afraid it is not a question of wanting, or not wanting to shoot.
Military legislature is quite strict about discharge of armament against the
implied disconsent of a superiour officer."
"I believe the Leutenants order was for conservation of ammo, Miss Buck.
Invictus Main Armament confirming hold fire. Tracking center of formation and
awaiting command."
Valens swings the main gun around to aim at center of the approaching group.
While the venerable turrent swing he takes his time to query - and parse - the
sensor data of other vehicles in the group, specfically focusing on the data
from the opposite flank of where the buggies appeared.
These brutes are stupid, but their chaos is rumoured to happen to form quite
efficent strategems out of pure bloodlust and ruthlessness Tech Use(Int)50 +20Learned +10 Master Enginseer + 10 MIU + 10 Combi Tool vs 100:1d100 ⇒ 247 DoS Logic(Int)50 + 10 Calculus Implant vs 60:1d100 ⇒ 661DoF
He is able to read the data mingled in between the bursts of static - and even
worse, the shouts of meatbags losing their heads - just fine but it does not
seem to form a coherent whole. He seems to be missing a single key part of the
data to form a deeper understanding.
Double Skill use should be around 2 half actions, so if swinging the main gun
around takes much attention he'll finish after the first half action of the next
round
So if my count is correct we have drivers for all 3 proposed pc tanks(Felix,
Asbjörn, Rebka) which would mean Valens takes a main gun after all.
Neither I nor the character care where he is posted but that never actually
helps.
So - since both Salvus and Invictus are stock LR I don't think it matters, so
I'll throw out Gunner for the Invictus.
Being undefeated both in name and (short) history sounds like a good place for a
tech priest. He'd have to choke some menials if his tanks should actually have a
flaw in it's workings big enough for enemy ordnance to get through.
"Leutenant, considering the total speed is the sum of our own and the approaching... fast subjects a detection range of a single click is very much unsatisfactory. I volunteer to recalibrate and reconsencrate the scouting parties detection machinery. They must be lacking on the holy blessing of the Omnissiah."
