LIRATH PLOT STRUCTURE ORGANIZATIONAL POST

[cityship]

Okay, rather than deciding ALL the stuff in the big battle, we're trying to make this a more interactive plotting experience for the players. While the mods will keep a few surprises under their hat, the basics of the battle will be partly decided by you guys and have your input.

There will thus, be two posts. This post will be one for the plot structure itself, figuring out all the avenues of battle, places the characters will fight, elements of the fight, and what non-fighty characters will do.

The second post, after this, will be for individual organizing--deciding miniplots within the plot, who's teaming up with who, what characters might be involved in the deaths or near-deaths of the characters planning to do that, the more individual stuff.

So on to plot structure!

The basics of the battle are that the crew will be facing a full aerial/ground force while helping evacuate a planet, only this time, instead of just evacuating, they'll be seeking to send them packing. They'll have to defend a settlement and the shields that rise upward into the atmosphere that allow ships to escape it. There'll be several complicating factors that make things more difficult, but the ultimate goal is to actually go on the offensive and destroy the Ohm/force a retreat this time, to have a decisive victory.


1. GROUND BATTLE

• Ground fighters A - will engage the Ohm by ground or by flight if they can fly. They will have to face a particularly dire enemy among them.

• Ground fighters B - one group will have to engage and stop a group of terrorists among the refugees trying to kill people.

• Engineering - Will have to maintain the shields around the settlement while fighting off stray gribblies that break through holes / maintain and fix the ships and weapons that are damaged under pressure

• Medical Staff - will have to help treat and triage both evacuees and crew, sending them along to the evacuation ships, or back to the battlefield.


2. SPACE/FLYING BATTLE

• X-Wings and Mecha will have to take on Ohm ships AND the Ohm equivalent of mecha to defend the evacuation route and keep them from raining fiery hot death from the atmosphere. As well as make occasional dips in for air support on ground level in the other section.


3. SHIP SURVIVAL

• Engineering - Will have classic 'We're giving it all she's got, captain!" moments keeping the mechanical bits of Stacy RUNNING.

• Medical staff - Some medbay people will have to be up here because of the refugees being brought on board for safety since there's a dearth of escape ships.

• Ship Staff A (bridge bunnies/Security/capable people that weren't sent down) - will have to deal with a contingent of crazy terrorists hiding among the refugees that try to kill everyone, AS WELL as an incursion of bugs getting on board the ship. They will have to try their best to fight both.

• Ship Staff B (bridge bunnies/Security/capable people that weren't sent down) - a group of Ohm are sabotaging ships in the Hangar, the air lock release is busted, and some of the crew has to take them out with mini-mecha and forklifts.


4. POSSIBLE CYBERBATTLE?

• If there's enough hackers, there'd be a crazy, trippy, Tron-like VR fight as they fight against the Ohm's attempt at hacking.


5. COMPLETE NONCOMBATANTS

Noncombatants/people who want to entirely opt out will be dropped off on the refugee planet beforehand and be tasked with helping set up for the refugees. This will allow for some normal interaction without them having to fight.

• Noncombatant group A - Can help keep npcs calm/do errands to arrange for the refugees coming in

• Noncombatant group B (small group) - Can talk with the leaders of a nearby tribe to try to get them to get their own people under control so they don't harass the refugees with anti-refugee sentiment.


Each part will be manned by someone to guide them and a contingent of npcers, and players will be encouraged to help with npcing, but all that will be decided when a plan is nailed down

These are all the ideas so far. They are changeable, and new things can be added, stuff can be taken away. So now it comes down to YOU. This is where you help decide what actually happens.

How do you want the fight to go down? Can you think of any parts to add, stuff you'd rather not be there? Remember, this is for plot structure only. Individual stuff will be decided next planning post (unless it's an individual thing that requires a whole new section of plot. If so, suggest it here).


EDIT: This plan will go through several incarnations before it's done, based on suggestions, so keep an eye out.

Comments

[heroic-derp.livejournal.com]

In regards to an opt out, how's this: Before the crew arrives for the battle, the GIA informs them they already have a planet ready for taking in refugees from the battle. Before heading out to the battle, the crew drops off some people to help out with receiving people coming in.

This would make sense for people who wouldn't be capable of participating in the battle or would choose not to, as well as give them a chance to interact away from the battle.

What do you think?

[saint-sami.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I like that idea. It makes a bit more sense than, say, leaving them on Stacy.

[cityship]

Ooh, and they could talk to npcs and keep them calm and stuff if they wanted, too.

[makeherblue]

About when are we looking at this plot going down?

[governorkang]

It's going to start on August 12, and hopefully run one to two weeks if it stays on schedule.

[cityship]

That's just for the important bits, though, like the time it's actually being run. I imagine a LOT of stuff could be backtagged for quite a long time.

[governorkang]

We do love our backtagging.

[whyarewehere]

Ooh ooh. Thing to think about. What sort of terrain are people interested in? As this is a whole planet it's kinda weird to focus things on, say, one city unless we have an explanation for that. Is there water? Do we need to send in the boats? Or is this like another Shore Leave planet where buildings are being knocked over and stuff?

I am only half sure of what I am babbling about so. :Ub

[governorkang]

And for that matter, what's the climate? Is it hot? Snowing? Volcanoes and/or earthquakes?

[governorkang]

And the atmosphere! Maybe it's toxic to some crew members so they have to wear a suit of some sort.

[cityship]

Not really hugely decided but general idea we were going with was urban but with low buildings and stuff (think a city like El Paso). No skyscrapers. With desert scrub and canyons outside it. It'd be in a valley and they could use the rocky landscape kinda strategically.

[whyarewehere]

I kinda like snow, but that's just me. :|a

[hi_there_aliens]

For those defending the ship in Ship Survival, what kind of weaponry or supplies would they be looking at?

[cityship]

...Maybe the Ohm screwing with things causes it to get really cold so it's freaking people out because there's snow in the desert.

[whyarewehere]

I'd think they have the stuff in the armory available to 'em, plus things from the hangar. The trick might be getting to them if they're not prepared for a boarding party.

[cityship]

They'd have access to the armory, so basically whatever they want. It'd be a LOT of bugs though.

[cityship]

This.

[whyarewehere]

OOOOOH. I like this. It's an ordinarily hot area and suddenly ICE.

...I'm imagining some kind of super impressive day-after-tomorrow-esqu cold bomb because I am silly.

[cityship]

That's what I was thinking.

[hi_there_aliens]

Sounds great!

[hi_there_aliens]

Thanks!

[gogopowersuit.livejournal.com]

I am fully supportive of huge freaking cold bombs.

Mostly because the cold can be super deadly dangerous for Samus and her alien DNA :|b

[whyarewehere]

I could totally NPC stuff for this.

[whyarewehere]

What's the native population of Lirath like? What's the political climate? What makes this battleground key?

[aaaiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee]

How will things like the terrorist fighting go, both on the ground and in the air? Will they have to figure out who are the terrorists before they attack, or will it be pretty obvious?

[cityship]

At first, no one will be able to tell who the terrorists are, but once they start attacking it'll be pretty obvious.

As for the specifics, we have a couple things planned. Primarily, they'll be causing a lot of mayhem, trying to disrupt the evacuations, setting bombs off in crowds of escaping people, taking over some of the evacuation ships and ramming them into other ones, and also attacking the refugees that are brought on board Stacy, among other things.

[cityship]

Probably a diverse mix of humanoids. This'd be a colony of diverse peoples.

Political climate is somewhat highstrung due to catastrophist attacks but they'll be working together during evac to get everyone the hell out.

Why it's important is one of the sekrits. But it'll kind of be a failed trap. Meant to lure the crew in and then they wind up losing.

[aaaiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee]

Ah, I see. Thanks!

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

As for department heads and Command, I'd imagine they would mostly be on ship, and trying to organize teams and forces, right?

And do we want to go back to team leader days for the ground forces? Since I think air's mostly organized now for the Squadron.

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

Depends on how paranoid Security is. ;)