[adamu]

Troopers grenade the hell out of the lead car and the rest of eTher's sec forces...guess who's next???

Consarn it.

I was hoping the NeoNet guys would grenade the hell out of the troopers. Or at least get a single shot off, maybe keep their heads down and buy us, say, one or two extra microseconds.

Where did she find these guys?

The front lot engaged the troops, that's what got them dead with extreme prejudice!

Well, then at least they took some grenades for us!

[adamu]

@Pistol - damn, dude, certainly didn't mean to leave you behind. 

Thought we had everything all worked out, and assumed you were coming with.

Al certainly would have waited for you if you'd meant to come with the van.

If you need me to fix anything, just say the word.

Or if this is how you wanted it, right on to that, too!

[pistolgrip]

No problem. I'll catch up.

Well, I guess that depends on Aria. But I think I'll catch up.

[Aria]

@CoP:
 
Actions[spoiler]
1/1
2x Missile fire
Isaint knocks one missile off course
Jackhammer misses 2nd
Al shoos Spike out and starts driving
 
1/2
Missile 2 hits the limo despite follow car's efforts
1 x Missile fire, 1 x FA burst on Isaint's position
Isaint shoots missile
Jackhammer misses drone (you need a range finder or vision mag or something for shots like this!!! or edge it?)
Car moves towards limo
Lorry moves towards Al's van
Al rams the lorry, takes 3 stun, driver unconscious, vehicle takes 8 damage, autopilot cruises it to a stop…passengers?!?
 
1/3
1 x Missile fire, 1 x FA burst on Isaint's position (misses again!)
Isaint shoots drone out of the sky
2 soldiers emerge from the lorry, L Milspec armour
Al’s van…please resist damage from FN HAR [A5(7), 10P, -6AP, SA/BF/FA, R2] 6 hits &
Auto-Assault 16 [A4(6), 15P, –2AP, SA/BF/FA, R2( 8 )] 5 hits!!! 14 of 20 boxes of damage!
Frenchman shoots Beetle 1AR: 4 hits DV10 AP-5 -2def(cancels cover mod), minor damage
 
2/1
Missile hits follow car, eTher knocked back again, unidentified gunmen from car knocked over
Isaint shoots second drone out of the sky
Frenchman shoots Beetle 2Shot: 5 hits DV10 AP-5 -2def(cancels cover mod), moderate damage
Beetle 1 shoots at Al inside the van cab (blind fire, Al adds to def +4 cover, +3 vehicle, -2 restricted space, -2BF, -wnd mods, +combat sense etc), 3 hits with assault rifle, but I doubt it will actually result in damage given you get to add vehicle armour after your likely impressive reaction+intuition roll…
Beetle 2 retreats out of sight
Al driving towards limo/exit?!?
Jackhammer fires explosive arrow at Beetle 1, major damage
 
2/2
Al & Frenchman at limo/crash site
Isaint shoots through car at Beetle 2, major damage
Beetle 2 shoots air burst mini HE grenade to a point 3m above ground above Isaint’s location [16P, –2AP, –2DV /m]
Jackhammer rips door off limo
Roadmaster swings into view off M40, deploys rotadrones
 
2/3
Isaint shoots down the two drones
Jackhammer drags William out
Frenchman ‘talks’ to Spooks
Al drags William inside the van
Spooks wave their guns about and look pissed at being ignored
Isaint has to dodge incoming sniper fire (twice so I’ll need a second roll at -1 please), both miss, just!!!  Not much edge left though!
Roadmaster ‘vomits’ out more troops than you care to see!
 
2/4
Isaint sprinting for his bike (stealthily) – pretty sure you didn’t go on FD in the end?
Sniper drones repositioning
[/spoiler]
3/1
Isaint visually hunts for the aerial drone, spots one
Frenchman assists eTher onto van
Al begins to hightail it towards the services building/café
Engine block shot from sniper drone using Ranger Arms SM-5 [A8, 14P, -9AP, SA, R(1), 15(c)], 5 hits!  No damage
Troopers grenade the rest of eTher’s sec team
Jackhammer breaks for the services building under cover of a smoke grenade
 
3/2
Isaint sneaks off to break LOS
Al driving
Troopers fire on the van…3x FN HAR [A5(7), 10P, -6AP, SA/BF/FA, R2] @ 4 hits, 5 hits & 4 hits (the van won’t explode if it takes full damage…this ain’t the movies ya know!
 
3/3
Isaint shoots down one gas bag despite its evasive manoeuvres
Al reaches the front of the services building (maybe)
Isaint draws fire from remaining gas bag Ranger Arms SM-5 [A8, 14P, -9AP, SA, R(1), 15(c)] @ 4 hits and Auto-Assault 16 [A4(6), 15P, –2AP, SA/BF/FA, R2( 8 )] @ 2 hits
 

[Jack_Spade]

Seems like I made some new friends...
Evade Sniper:
Defense 1: 22d6t5 6 [22d6t5=1, 6, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 5, 5, 3, 4, 3, 6, 6, 2, 4, 2, 6, 4, 1, 3, 2]
Evade Shotgun:
Defense 2: 21d6t5 6 [21d6t5=4, 5, 2, 6, 2, 3, 5, 2, 2, 6, 1, 3, 1, 6, 5, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4]
...who clearly missed me

Round 4:
Ini 33
Free Action Adrenalin boost
Ini 35
Simple Action: Command Agent Cluster
Free Action: Adept Centering (Ignore Long Range penalties)
Simple Action: Shoot Sniper Drone 2 (Short Burst)
AGI 8 + Skill 8 + Smartlink 1
Shoot Sniper Drone 2: 17d6t5 8 [17d6t5=3, 4, 6, 2, 6, 3, 3, 1, 6, 6, 1, 6, 6, 5, 1, 4, 5]
12 P AP 7 Dodge -2 + Successes

Interrupt -10 Ini: Full Defense

Ini 15
Simple Action: Get up
Free Action: Adept Centering
Free Action: Called Shot
Simple Action: Bullseye Burst
AGI 8 + Skill 8 + Smartlink 1 + Aim 1 - Called Shot 1 (Adept Centering)
Shoot Milspec Shotgun Man: 17d6t5 6 [17d6t5=3, 5, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 6, 5, 6, 2, 5, 4, 1, 2, 5, 5]
12 P AP 13 + Successes

Ini 5
Complex Action: Hide and change position Stealth: 14d6t5 5 [14d6t5=4, 3, 3, 6, 6, 2, 1, 2, 6, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3] - 3 to enemy visual perception (Ruthenium Polymer Poncho)


Ok, now comes some icky matrix stuff.
Isaint orders his Agent to find a van slaved to a single commlink, both within 100m on the parking lot. (That's three bits of information, so I need at least 3 successes)
Next action is a Teamwork check of the Nixdorf Secretaries Agents to my main Agent Susi (Rating 6) for a Hack on the Fly against the owners commlink (They'll reboot if unsuccessful)
With this MARK, Susi will spoof command the car to start up, open door, grant manual control and go wireless offline.
Also the team should receive a message where their new ride is.

Easy, right 

[spoiler= Icky Matrix Stuff]
At start round 4 gear has rebooted:
Agent Susi: Ini Agent Susi: 13+4d6 24
Agent Cluster
Agent 1: 9+4d6 18
Agent 2: 9+4d6 25
Agent 3: 9+4d6 19
Agent 4: 9+4d6 20

Ini 24
Simple Action: Agent Susi changes mode to running silent for all gear, Smoke and Mirrors loaded with 5 Noise and 5 to Sleaze, Jammer 6 active w/ wireless on (11 Noise for all tracking tests), 7 Noise Compensation through Fresnel Fabric w/ wireless on

Simple Action: Matrix Perception: Looking for suitable sized car in the parking lot (100m radius)
Agent Susi (Matrix Perception): 10d6t5 6
Interrupt -10 Ini: Goes on Full Matrix Defense

Ini 18
Agent Cluster prepares Teamwork check: Hack on the Fly:
Agent 1 (HotF): 6d6t5 5 [6d6t5=5, 6, 6, 5, 5, 2] Limit 1
Agent 2 (HotF): 6d6t5 3 [6d6t5=3, 6, 5, 2, 5, 2] Limit 1
Agent 3 (HotF): 6d6t5 3 [6d6t5=6, 6, 4, 4, 1, 5] Limit 1
Agent 4 (HotF): 6d6t5 1 [6d6t5=3, 3, 4, 1, 4, 6] Limit 1

Total: +4 dice and +4 to Sleaze Limit

Ini 14: Agent Susi (HotF)
Attribute 6 + Skill 6 - Running Silent 2 + Teamwork 4 vs. Inuition + Firewall
Agent Susi (HotF): 14d6t5 7[14d6t5=5, 6, 4, 4, 5, 2, 6, 6, 2, 2, 5, 1, 3, 5]
Limit 1 + 5 (SaM)+4=10, all 7 successes count

Ini 4:
Agent Susi (Spoof Command) vs. Logic (Owner/Pilot) + Firewall (Car or Commlink)
Agent Susi (Spoof Command): 10d6t5 5 [10d6t5=2, 5, 3, 6, 4, 5, 6, 4, 2, 5]
Limit 6, all 5 successes count
[/spoiler]

[pistolgrip]

I suppose I'll just be running for those rounds unless someone starts shooting at me perhaps.
Running 3 [12d6t5=5, 2, 4, 3, 5, 4, 6, 2, 2, 3, 4, 2]
Running 3 [12d6t5=1, 3, 3, 1, 3, 3, 6, 6, 1, 2, 1, 6]

[adamu]

…this ain’t the movies ya know!

Yeah I know - if it was the movies all those people in the food court would miraculously dive out of my way!

Anyway, first thing to do is not lose the van!

No sure if all the general ranged defense mods apply to shooting vehicles, but assuming they are:
I have had my action since the sniper shot, so that won't apply, but the second and third shots from the troops will be at -1 and -2 respectively for me.
Got my current -1 wound mod.
And since it is pedestrians vs. vehicle, the tactical speed rules apply, under which I am running, so +2 for me.

So first attack
Defense vs. first trooper's shot: 19d6t5 4
Damn, another very close call, but no soak needed.

Second attack
Defense vs. second trooper: 18d6t5 6
No soak needed.

Third attack
Defense vs. third trooper: 17d6t5 4
Consistently rolling under average, but once again just enough to avoid a soak.

Okay suffice to say will not crash into the cement planters....

How about the main entrance, the part that juts out juts out to the northeast just beyond where I was going to crash in - are there planters across there as well?

If I can get through that entrance, I'll still be out of sight of aerial surveillance. Their deckers may the the sec cameras inside, but if there are that many people swarming about, well, I can slow down once I'm in. Won't have the speed, in that case, to crash through into the kitchens, but I think I'm a good enough driver not to kill anyone, and then if I fishtail in the crowds a bit, we could still unload eTher, William, and Frenchman pretty discreetly, and then I can go back out the way I came in, plan basically intact.

So if no planters across the entrance, I can make that in one more combat turn of driving.

If there are, then I'll swing around the north end of the building - from where I am now, I should also be able to get around it and thus out of LOS of the troopers shooting at me from up on the M20.

[Aria]

@CoP:

Possibly a slight misunderstanding of where the Roadmaster is in relation to you lot...my fault, it wasn't exactly as clear in the IC as it is in my mind   ...it's 20-30m beyond the destroyed limo, on the hardsholder of the off ramp from the A418/motorway, but Al's comments about soldiers 100m from the van probably isn't too far out - I'll try and get a birdseye view from Bing and post it to OP, but probably tomorrow!  Going around the north side of the building actually means getting closer to the troopers...the other direction possibly?

In 3/3 Al's van is unfortunately going to bear the brunt of two airburst grenades just in front...you'd have been better off getting shot   ...I believe that you add half the power of the second blast to the DV of the first, so even 5m or so in front is going to smart!  This may seem vindictive but that's what happens when you piss off corp hit squads!  Isaint is going to take some more fire coming his way in round 4 too unless he does something to get out of sight.  If there are some troopers left i'm sure they'll shoot at Jackhammer for good measure!

Don't forget the Roadmaster is still road worthy as Isaint didn't end up shooting the shit out of it (yet)... there is no way for a vehicle to leave the site without passing it!  And people are starting to abandon their cars in the vicinity of the burning limo so there's not much traffic cover...just saying.

[Aria]

@TB:

This seems to have stalled a bit, I'm not sure if it's because I'm not leaving your options open enough, the posting speed, or what!?  Would help me to get some more OoC discussion going as it allows me to craft the IC without feeling like I'm railroading you...some notional action declarations have been helping in CoP to keep the action moving along even if I haven't got the time to craft a decent IC, let's you lot post on without me (sort of)...of course it could just be that the pace needs to be accelerated to keep people interested but I welcome your feedback any which way as I don't want this thread to start to limp too badly!

Hope to get IC for both threads up tomorrow!

[Jack_Spade]

@TB
Personally, I'm just waiting for more info on the opposition Thorn is tailing. (Don't want to throw an axe into someones head I could have grunted at instead)

@CoP
I'm not sure if I understood you right, but I updated the map and have enabled other people to change it.
Wheatley Station

[Aria]

@TB
Personally, I'm just waiting for more info on the opposition Thorn is tailing. (Don't want to throw an axe into someones head I could have grunted at instead)

@CoP
I'm not sure if I understood you right, but I updated the map and have enabled other people to change it.
Wheatley Station

Ok noted, and I thanks for the map, that works fine (although we'll ignore the one way system for the services otherwise the limo would be slightly further from the building and on the left hand side (Brits, sheesh)

[adamu]

@CoP - Okay, this is going to be a toughie.

This is going to be very important, so I have some questions first.

Question 1: Rules aren't clear to me - for grenades, is there a ranged defense roll, or just a soak? There is no mention of it in the grenade rules (though it does specify that additional hits beyond those to eliminate scatter do not add to damage value).
However, a defense test seems to be assumed in the general combat rules, and under defense modifiers, the Targeted by Area Effect Attack mod explanation specifically mentions defending against grenades. So if their extra successes don't count, does the defense test just reduce damage from the base level prior to the soak?

Question 2: If the vehicle is destroyed, is there also a Crash (additional 16P to all passengers)? Rules aren't really clear here, but they leave a lot of GM discretion. I would assume the destruction of the vehicle, with its attendant damage to all passengers, IS the crash, but your call...

Question 3: Do you want me to roll for William and/or eTher (grenade attacks against vehicles attach both vehicles and passengers equally)? Would need Body and any armor they might have on, and whether they have any Edge.

Question 4: (repeated from earlier) Are there also cement planters blocking the main entrance to the food court?

Assuming: HE grenades, no scatter, wireless trigger for simulaneous detonation, and that if the front of the van is 5 meters from the blast, then the people in the back of the van are 7 meters away..

[adamu]

@TB - yeah, just waiting on (A) action or further description of the people Thorn is tracking and/or (B) any developments with Gunther, Pinion, and the drone.

With Thorn going up against the entire other group all by himself, Al's pretty much tied to his sniper roost. It's a powerful covering position, and too far away to help him in any other way.
Meanwhile, since it was decided that the other two would go their merry way with the drone, well, I can also cover them from where I am if they run into trouble.

So Al's just waiting for action or an all-clear.

[obidancer]

@CoP
Ok just an idea and possible Plan B before all hell break loose:
ISaint or Jackhammer go grab the roadmaster, drive it to the buses car park while Al, Frenchman, William and ether make a dash away from the van into the building (cover) and meet the roadmaster in the back.

I have a bad feeling about those grenades...

[adamu]

@CoP
Ok just an idea and possible Plan B before all hell break loose:
ISaint or Jackhammer go grab the roadmaster, drive it to the buses car park while Al, Frenchman, William and ether make a dash away from the van into the building (cover) and meet the roadmaster in the back.

I have a bad feeling about those grenades...

I think that is a great Plan B.
Still trying for Plan A whatever the, um, headwinds, but a solid Plan B is looking increasingly like a good idea.
Because absolutely will not give up trying to save this family, even if only William.

And yeah, the grenades are bad news for the van...and everyone in it!
We'll see what pieces we have left to work with after I get rulings on my questions...

We knew the job was dangerous when we took it!!!