[rednblack]

the Force 6 Air Spirit really puts a crimp in these plans.  The only weapon that James has that poses a serious risk to the Spirit's material existence is his Ares Desert Strike, but unless he starts sniping from 110+ meters away, that isn't going to happen, and doing so loses him the advantage of surprise.  That means disarming the female human at the stern as he scrambles up the sub, or relying on his Ares Redline.  I don't like the 5P damage much, but -10AP should go a long way toward Disrupting it. 

I'm really going to have to hope that the dice gods are with me.  Or, I could abandon the swimming idea and go back to following the smugglers, but honestly this just seems like more fun.

Order of operations:
1. Assemble Ares Desert Strike, and sling it to the tree that James is hiding behind.  Clip grenades to James Chameleon Suit.  All but a single HE grenade will be set to Motion Sensor Trigger.
2. Activate Internal Air Tank.
3. Swim to stern of air boats, and attach HE grenade above the waterline between the two crafts.  Set grenade to Wireless On, Running Silent.  As long as he's turning Wireless On, he'll do the same for his Hydraulic Jacks and Chameleon Suit.  This will indeed knock out the air boats as an easy ride home, but James would rather have the submarine anyway. 
4. Swim to stern of submarine.  Retrieve Ares Redline and pocket it. 
5. Give mental command for grenade to explode.
6. Climb up the stern side of the submarine amid the chaos, and toss a Flash-bang to the Conning Tower.
7. Dispense with Human Female (#2)
8. Make way to conning tower and dispense with Ork Male (#3).
9. Gain entry to interior of sub, and close the hatch.

Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy, but with a little luck, one group of smugglers will think that the other is double-crossing them, and James can use his super-human speed and strength to get in the sub, commandeer it, and get it underwater before they can mount an effective resistance.

Rolls:

For Sneaking, I have: AGI (11) + Stealth Group (6) = 17 dice.
Sneaking: 17d6t5 5

V. Matrix Perception, I have: LOG (4) + Sleaze (4) = 8 dice
V. Matrix Perception: 8d6t5 3
That's one I probably should've pre-Edged, if it's possible.  If it is possible, I would like to post-Edge
V. Matrix Perception Edge Push the Limit: 5d6h5 1
Not much help.  4 hits total. 

We ready for me to put in an IC?

[Tecumseh]

Let's resolve some of the OOC rolling before we start laying down the IC posts.

Semi-important point: James is not entirely certain that he can pilot the submarine competently. He does have Pilot Watercraft 2 ("Novice. You’re a hobbyist, but not an enthusiast."), which is somewhat less than the standard threshold for proficiency in helmsmen. The submarine is small enough that it likely does not require both a helmsman and a planesman, but grounding it and/or crashing it into trees are real risks.

There are two orks on the conning tower (#3 and #4), not just one. The flash-bang would affect them both.

The orks are hauling product up out of the submarine via ropes. One is hauling while the other detaches the package and tosses it to the troll and dwarf. James will have to deal with the rope so that it does not prevent the hatch being closed.

Other than that, it's a reasonable outline. I'll give you an opportunity to confirm or revise before we move forward.

[rednblack]

Ok, I'd rather not risk grounding the craft.  James will put the grenade on the air boat with the Male Troll (#5) in it.  Would really rather not be hit by an LMG. 

The other revision to the plan involves tossing either a Flash-bang or HE grenade into the hull of the sub via the conning tower.  Chunky salsa ftw. 

Also, I didn't answer your previous question.  I teach English Comp at one of the local universities.  It's a part-time gig I've been running there for about 6 years now.  I generally like it, but I like it a lot less those weeks when I'm absolutely overrun with grading, which I have been these past few weeks.  My wife is also back in school now, and that has seriously put a crimp on my time, as she generally has had papers due right around the time that I'm under a stack of papers to grade. 

[Tecumseh]

Alright, let's start this and see how far I can get before the baby needs attention.

1. I suppose I should have asked for Armorer for this. Usually it would be a given but under the challenging circumstances we should roll it. Logic 4 + Armorer 4: 8d6t5 3 hits, no problem. Desert Strike is reassembled and slung to a tree.

2. Jame activates his Internal Air Tank and slips into the water.

3. Swimming underwater to the stern of the air boats is easy. James pops up and attached the grenade. Goons' collective Perception: Intuition + Perception + Modifiers + Teamwork - Concealment 6 - Ruthenium Polymer Coating 4: ?d6t5 3 hits

Does not beat James' 5 hits for Sneaking so he remains undetected. He turns the grenade (1), Chameleon Suit (2), and Hydraulic Jacks (3) to Wireless On Running Silent. Technically his commlink (4) needs the same setting.

Goons' Matrix Perception: Matrix Perception: ?d6t5 7 hits, that was fast

Randomly rolling what they find: Random: 1d4 4, James' commlink

That's good and bad. The good news is that they're so focused on the commlink that they don't bother looking for the grenade. The bad news is that they immediately start looking for James.

Brute Force attack looking for a MARK: Cybercombat + Logic: ?d6t5 3 hits
James' defense: Willpower 7 + Firewall 7: 14d6t5 5 hits

Hacker eats 2 boxes of Matrix damage for the failed Attack. Next attempt, this time via Hack on the Fly:

Hack on the Fly: Hacking + Logic: ?d6t5 3 hits, I swear the hacker is better than this
James' defense: Intuition 9 + Firewall 7: 16d6t5 6 hits

James gets a MARK on the hacker. He knows his presence has been detected (but probably not his precise location) and that the guards might be scrambling once he surfaces. I'm going to say that this does not alter the plan significantly, as the guards were already going to freak when the grenade went off. This just moves up the timeline a few seconds.

4. James retrieves his Ares Redline as he surfaces near the stern of the submarine.

5. James gives the mental command for the grenade to explode.

I'm going to say that these airboats are a bit larger - 8 meters - as they are intended to accommodate cargo. The troll and the dwarf are near the front of their respective crafts in order to be closer to receive the packages from the submarine. Plus they need to stand toward the front to counterbalance all the weight they are adding to the back. We'll say that the troll is 4 meters away while the dwarf is 8 meters away, mostly so I can skip rolling for the dwarf.

The troll needs to soak 16P - 8P for distance = 8P with an AP of -2. Troll bro is wearing an armor vest due to the heat (as are most of the goons).

Troll bro soaking 8P: Body + Armor + Dermal Deposits - AP: ?d6t5 8 hits, a strong roll. Troll bro takes no damage from the blast.

Now, das boot, which needs to soak 16P: Body + Armor - AP: 16d6t5 4 hits, glub glub glub

The grenade annihilates the back of the airboat, which lurches violently and is probably destined for the bottom of the swamp shortly. Embarrassingly, Troll Bro does not have Gymnastics.

Troll Bro Gymnastics default: Agility - Default: 3d6t5 1 hit, that's enough to keep Troll Bro in the boat but not enough to keep his footing. He's now prone.

6. Chaos and shouting everywhere. Let's roll Initiative here and drop into regular initiative passes.

Go ahead and roll Initiative. I don't see any circumstances where James doesn't act first, so declare your actions and roll accordingly.

Oh, and you get to IC all this! Hurray!

What timing, baby is crying. Off I go!

[rednblack]

Initiative:
Initiative: 16+4d6 28
Boo, no fourth pass.  And probably not even the third, as James will be going Full Defense, at least if the Spirit jumps in right away.

Actions:
Complex: Climb up to the deck of the submarine. 
STR (8) + Athletics Group (6) = 14 dice: Climb that sub: 14d6t5 6
(Note: I did not include any modifiers for that roll.  Adjust as necessary.  1 meter per hit.)
Free: Run
Movement: Begin charging toward Female Human Sentry (#2)

If James does not make enough Hits to land on the deck of the sub, he would spend his Free Action on turning Wireless Off on his commlink.

Nothing in R&G says what kind of action it is to activate Pulse Weave, but I'm assuming it's a Free Action, as it's slaved to James' commlink.  Ruling?

Additional Sneaking test for good measure.  I have: AGI (11) + Stealth Group (6) + Chameleon Suit Bonus (2) = 19 dice.
Sneaking: 19d6t5 4
Opponents are still at a -4 for visual Perception.  Other considerations will most likely come into play, though.

Nice work on getting through that before the baby started doing its thing.  Tec Jr. working on solid foods or anything yet?

IC forthcoming. Done.

[Tecumseh]

Tec Jr. has been eating solid foods for about two months now. Favorites so far include apples, pears, yogurt, bread, and steak.

As for the game, one thing I'm going to experiment with more is using thresholds for unopposed tests. The Gymnastics test to climb aboard the sub is a good example in this case. The deck is wet and slippery, plus the hull is round and there's nothing really to grab onto. This is in the Hard to Very Hard range. Per the threshold table (p. 45 of SR5) James' six hits are enough to accomplish something Very Hard, so in this case he succeeds admirably and he's up on deck and running toward #2.

Next steps will be me making an ugly number of rolls for initiative and Perception checks. James can't really "sneak" while running, at least not after spending his Complex on climbing on board. Early odds are that the air spirit (#7) will spot James but that the others will remain oblivious due to distractions and the water spirit's Concealment power. We'll see if the dice back that up.

Activating Pulse Weave with a Free Action sounds reasonable to me. It will undermine James' efforts to be stealthy though.

[rednblack]

All that sounds good. The Pulse Weave is for that time when James has lost his stealthiness. Nothing like the Predator turning straight into Lo Pan.

[Tecumseh]

I'm just going to post this here for ease even if there's some OOC knowledge transference.

CT1 IP1
28 - James - climbing and moving toward #2
25 - #8 - (action hidden)
24 - #6 - Perception pool is 0 due to modifiers, looks around in confusion.
22 - #1 - Opposite side of the conning tower, so can't see James.
21 - #7 - Scores 1 hit on an Assensing test.
13 - #5 - Perception pool is 0 due to modifiers, looks around in confusion.
12 - #2 - Manages to score 2 hits on a hearing test!
11 - #3 - Perception pool is 0 due to modifiers, looks around in confusion.
11 - #4 - Perception pool is 0 due to modifiers, looks around in confusion.

#2 Perception: Intuition + Perception - Modifiers: ?d6t5 2 hits, she detects James and thus gets a Surprise check. She needs to get 3 hits on a Reaction + Intuition + 3 from Perception test.

Reaction + Intuition + 3 Perception: ?d6t5 5 hits, she can act normally against James

#7 Perception: Intuition + Assensing - Concealment: ?d6t5 1 hit, the air spirit scratches together a hit and sees James on the astral out of the corner of its eye

So while the rest of them are standing around with dumb looks on their faces, #7 and #2 will be engaging James.

#7 - air spirit
Perhaps the smugglers were nervous around having an air spirit in the vicinity of their big metal tube. This does not appear to be an "I'm going to electrocute you" air spirit. The spirit flies at James and will be on him next turn. In the meantime, it is using Psychokinesis to grapple him.

Psychokinetic grapple: Psychokinetic Agility + Unarmed Combat: ?d6t5 3 hits

James "dodges" as normal (roll Reaction + Intuition) to reflect slipping out of the invisible hands. However, James' ability to "dodge" is constricted by the narrowness of the submarine hull and the slipperiness of his footing. He is at -2 to dodge.

The spirit doesn't have enough net hits (along with Strength) to exceed James' Physical limit, so there's no chance of James being tied up. If James loses the roll somehow, the spirit's net hits will apply as a negative modifier until the psychokinetic attack stops.

#2 - human female
Now that he's up close, James can tell that she's physically the smallest of the lot. She must have something going for her because she either hears James (over the sound of the explosion) or feels the vibration of his footsteps on the metal hull. She turns and is not surprised, so she gets to shoot with her AK-97.

Free: Shouts "Contact!"
Simple: Aim
Simple: Burst Fire

#2 firing: Agility + Automatics + Modifiers: ?d6t5 1 hit, nervous Nellie here. She may not be surprised but she is clearly alarmed at the swamp coming alive and advancing on her.

The same -2 dodge modifier from above applies here as well, as does the -1 for defending against a second attack, and the -2 for dodging a short burst, so -5 to dodge total. Still, if you can't dig a single hit out of your dodge pool then you should just throw yourself back in the swamp and swim away in shame and see if Illeana still wants you.

CT1 IP2 is next. James is first @ 18 unless he uses an interrupt action.

[rednblack]

Defense against Spirit, I have: REA (7) + INT (9) - Environmental Mod (2) = 14 dice.
Dodge: 14d6t5 5
Not this time, spirit.

Defense against #2, I have: REA (7) + INT (9) - Environmental Mod (2) - Previous Attack (1) - Burst (2) = 11 dice.
Dodge: 11d6t5 2
Yikes, that was close!  I'm going to chalk that miss up to poor shooting rather than James' superhuman abilities.

CT 1 IP 2
Complex: Charge Attack with Cyber Spur
Free: Pop Cyber Spur
Free: Called Shot (Vitals)  (if allowed)

For the melee attack, I have: AGI (11) + Close Combat Group (7) + Charge (2) - Called Shot (4) = 15 dice.
Charge Attack: 15d6t5 4
Base damage is 11P AP-2, staged to 13P AP-2 with called shot.

[Tecumseh]

The rules are not clear on what sort of action is needed to extend a cyberspur. Forearm snap blades require a Simple, or a Free if wirelessly enabled. Cyberspurs don't say but the overall description is similar. We'll say that it can be done with a Free.

That still leaves James with three Free actions for the round:
1 - run (for charging attack)
2 - pop cyber spur
3 - called shot

The called shot is a bridge too far, so we'll drop that. Adding those dice back in: No called shot: 4d6t5 1 hit, so 5 hits total on the attack

The rules technically say that you need the full amount of initiative to perform an interrupt action, but I always play it that if you have another action coming then you can spend it on an interrupt. In this case, #2 at initiative 2 will be going on Full Defense, which may involve jumping into the water.

Reaction + Intuition + Willpower: ?d6t5 4 hits, not enough, and - in hindsight - better that the called shot to vitals was not allowed since it would have just been a glancing blow

Damage is 12P -2AP.

#2 soak: Body + Armor - AP: ?d6t5 2 hits

#2 takes 10P, which probably involves the spur sticking out the other side of her. She collapses on the deck and will bleed to death without medical attention.

CT1 IP2
18 - James - shishkabob #2
15 - #8 - (action hidden)
14 - #6 -
12 - #1 - (action hidden, on the other side of the conning tower)
11 - #7 -
3 - #5 -
1 - #3 -
1 - #4 -
0 - #2 - bleeding out

More bullets coming your way, but probably not until tonight.

[Tecumseh]

So James drops #2. Between #2's cry of "contact!" and the short burst, all heads swivel to focus on James.

#6 - female dwarf
The dwarf female has no problem picking out James and lighting him up with some automatic fire. Under other circumstances she might be concerned about friendly firing #2, but #2 largely looks past the point of mortal concerns. (#6 notably declines to use the grenade launcher from her Ares Alpha, so perhaps she has not completely given up on #2 yet.)

Free: "Open fire!"
Simple: FA burst
Simple: Take Cover (taking a knee, which provides cover behind the front edge because she's short)

#6 firing: Agility + Firearms + Smartlink - Recoil: ?d6t5 4 hits

James needs to dodge 4 hits with a -5 modifier for the FA burst. Damage is 11P -6AP + net hits.

#7 - air spirit
The air spirit will attempt to Engulf James.

Agility + Unarmed Combat: ?d6t5 4 hits

James dodges as normal, except with -1 for this being the second attack.

If the attack succeeds, I'm going to say that James is actually immune to the "inhalation-vector toxin attack" because he's running on his Internal Air Tank. Take that, magic! However, he will still be trapped and unable to move until he breaks free.

#5 - Troll Bro
Troll Bro spent IP1 getting back on his feet. He now looks back and forth, debating whether he should save the packages that are busy slipping off the back of the boat into the swamp. He decides that they are well-sealed enough to retrieve later, so he jumps to #6's air boat. The lack of his weight acting as a counterbalance at the front of his boat sends it nose-up in the sky, accelerating the rate that packages fall off the back into the swamp.

Troll Bro still does not have Gymnastics: Agility - Defaulting: ?d6t5 1 hit, but he manages not to glitch/fall in the swamp himself. He is now in the other air boat, which shifts violently with his added weight.

Let's resolve the attacks from #6 and #7 before moving through the rest of the order.

[rednblack]

Ok, I must be confused on placement.  I have envisioned something like my attachment below, where the conning tower would break line-of-sight between James and the smugglers on the air boats.  Does he have visibility on 1-7 right now?

Considering how the negative mods are really going to start adding up, I think it would be wise to go Full Defense.  That will knock James out for any future passes however.  What is your ruling on Free Actions during IPs?

Defense V. #6 I have: REA (7) + INT (9) + AGI (11) - Environmental Mod (2) - FA Burst (5) = 20 dice.
Dodge: 20d6t5 3
Wow, that is some sub par rolling.  I really need James operating at 100% for this to work, so I'm going to use Edge to re-roll failures and see if I can scrounge up another hit on 17 dice.
Edge Re-roll: 17d6t5 7
Ok.

Defense V. #7 I have: REA (7) + INT (9) + AGI (11) - Environmental Mod (2) - Second Attack (1) = 24 dice.
Dodge: 24d6t5 5

Alright, James is still up and kicking.  Let's see if he can survive the rest of the CT so he can return fire.

[Tecumseh]

Move the airboats to the 9 o'clock position on the submarine (so the left hand side of your image). That position makes it easier for the orks to get the product from the conning tower to the airboats. In your set-up, they'd have to throw the packages the length (well, half-length) of the submarine. Other than that, you have it correct.

Using Edge is wise and, quite frankly, part of my GM calculations. I'm not sure how you'd get out of a 7-on-1 encounter without spending some of it. Do you have James' current Edge count readily available?

Shots miss, as does the air spirit.

You get a Free Action in every IP, even if you don't have enough initiative to act.

Oh, interesting aside before I forget. Critias made a comment on the old boards that when the wireless bonuses were being designed, some were supposed to be PAN-specific and others were supposed to be Matrix-specific. In other words, the local nature of certain bonuses (like internal air tanks and hydraulic jacks) were never supposed to be dependent on Matrix access, while others (like for medkits) were supposed to require Matrix availability. Evidently the distinction was lost during the editing process and the oops wasn't discovered until it was too late. That goes a long way to explain some of the less-logical descriptions. For our purposes, we can treat many of the bonuses (including smartguns) as PAN bonuses rather than Matrix bonuses.

And, on that note, #3 and #4 grabbed their Uzis during CT1 IP1 and will now be opening up on James.

#3 and #4 - orks on conning tower
Simple: Take Aim
Simple: Short Burst

Orks shooting Uzis: Agility + Automatics + Laser Sight + Take Aim: 2#?d6t5 4 hits and 3 hits

James is at -2 for environmental and -2 for dodging short bursts, plus -2 for the third attack (for the first roll) and -3 for the fourth attack (for the second roll).

Base damage with explosive ammo is 8P -1AP.

I'll let you dodge again before lighting you up in IP3.

CT1 IP3
5 - #8 - (action hidden)
4 - #6 female dwarf -
2 - #1 male elf -
1 - #7 air spirit -
0 - James - Full Defense

[rednblack]

James is at 3/5 Edge and has one box of Stun damage from swimming.

I'm on the phone right now, but I'll get my rolls up shortly.

[rednblack]

Defense against #3 I have: REA (7) + INT (9) + AGI (11) - Environmental Mods (2) - Burst Fire (2) - Subsequent Attacks (2) = 21 dice.
Dodge: 21d6t5 6

Defense against #4 I have: REA (7) + INT (9) + AGI (11) - Environmental Mods (2) - Burst Fire (2) - Subsequent Attacks (3) = 20 dice.
Dodge: 20d6t5 2
This is not shaping up well.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to need some of that Edge for next IP when the Subsequent Attacks mods really start stacking up.  But, I've got to re-roll.
Edge Re-roll: 18d6t5 9
And again, the re-roll is just ridiculous.