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(RFC) Untitled SI (Nanoha)
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Hmmm. Fenspace... R. Jail Scaglietti... no, no, must get evil thought out of head....
-- Sucrose Octanitrate. Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
That's going to be a while, Tennie. I have two or three major story arcs between now and then, covering a solid thirteen years of in-universe time.
I've actually got three different statuses on this thing- one for where I've written to, one for where I've posted to, and one for how far along the SB rewrite is. At the moment, SB is at early August of 0059, you guys are early in March 0061, and my fic file currently ends in early August 0061. If this keeps up, I may have to slow down posting and/or take a Saturday to whip out ten more pages of fic. Rob, Hayate has sparring partners. What she needs is a chance to get away from politics long enough to use them. That, and several different conveniently abandoned wastelands to spar in, because you know she's going to ruin them at a rate of at least one per session. ECS: That's an evil thought? I thought that was an awesome thought... assuming you keep him doing SCIENCE!, and not cissolar conquest. ********** [Malleus, give me telemetry for that new spell. I want as many of them in the blast radius as possible.] [CALCULATING NOW.][Might as well cast now, and aim when you're done.] "Arcane Blast!" Thankfully, the spell worked as designed. The Arcane Blast charged up just like the Bolt version did, manually pointed at the cloud of dots that represented the M-Drone horde. Halfway through the process, I shifted my arm minutely, retargeting towards the target point; Mal handled the rest, altering the angle of the magic circle slightly. The instant it was ready, I gave the firing command, and watched it fly. The beam went flying into the air over the fortress, incinerating a drone along the way, before finally reaching the target point. The front end of it stopped instantly, wibbling and wobbling as the rest of the beam pushed into it, turning it into a ball of blue mana as tall as I used to be. The instant the entire beam had been absorbed into the ball, it (quite predictably) exploded. I didn't see the blast (being busy dropping another Blast on one of the drone launch facilities- I'd apparently only torn half of it down) or feel it (with the spinning winds in the way); I heard the blast, though, and looked up in time to see a mass of red dots wink out off my AR. Arcane Blast: High Explosive, Anti-Everything. When you absolutely, positively need something destroyed.Another Blast took care of the second drone facility, and another three low-power shots cleared up the drones I'd missed in the first wave. Drones... check. Launch facilities... check. Mages? Two in the outer ring, stationary. A bunch in the fortress, fighting Tre and Cinque. Looks like a lot of red dots there. Maybe they could use more exits? That seemed like a reasonable enough idea, so I set about collapsing sections of the inner wall with a few well-aimed Arcane Bolts. Five different exits should do it. Time to clear some of the guns off the place. None of them were moving at the time- what are these people doing?!- so it was a turkey shoot. Two Magic Missiles per turret did them in nicely. I used the occasion to practice quickly retargeting my shots. Who was it who said everything was training?, I thought to myself as I drifted (rather loudly, quickly, and awkwardly) around the fortress, bringing up half a dozen missiles as two more guns came into range. I think that was Ranma. Let's see... aim it there, adjust for wind, put a bit of backspin on it... Three of the six missiles arced around, doing a neat 270-degree turn to hit a turret dead-on. The other three were aimed straight at a turret to begin with. Both exploded rather smartly, leaving half the inner fortress disarmed. For another couple minutes, I amused myself with the outer part of the fortress. Most of it just got blasted to bits, of course, but every so often, I tried a more... entertaining... approach. One rather tall building lost half its first floor to an Arcane Bolt; the entire thing fell over, crumpling as it hit the ground. It had another, similar one next to it; that one collapsed down onto itself when I blew all its support beams out with Magic Missiles. A third building got pulled down to its foundations by grav-mana: as it turns out, the higher the part you pull down, the more damage you do. Physics! All told, I wrecked about 40% of the compound that way before my conscience kicked in. Stupid conscience making me worry. Always ruins my fun. My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours. I've been writing a bit. Quote:[Malleus, give me telemetry for that new spell. I want as many of them in the blast radius as possible.]I'm slightly confused here. Why did you ask for telemetry, and then not wait for it? ----- Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea. "Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.  ECSNorway Wrote:Hmmm. Fenspace... R. Jail Scaglietti... no, no, must get evil thought out of head...."It's the only maximum-security wing Azkaban has! How should we have known putting R. Jail Scaglietti and R. Quattro in the same wing was a bad idea?" Yes, let's not go there... unless it leads to a really good story. Jorlem Wrote:Because Nanohaverse spells can be steered in-flight, much like wire-guided missiles can. Launch the attack, then aim it once the telemetry's online.Quote:[Malleus, give me telemetry for that new spell. I want as many of them in the blast radius as possible.]I'm slightly confused here. Why did you ask for telemetry, and then not wait for it? -- Rob Kelk "Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law." - Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012 Bluemage Wrote:you guys are early in March 0061, and my fic file currently ends in early August 0061. Hmm...0061 was the year that Fate was awoken, IIRC. In addition, Nanoha, Hayate, Arisa, and Suzuka would all be around five years old at this time. The first season would begin in about four years or so, and StrikerS in about fourteen years. That should give you plenty of time to affect the course of the timeline. For example, consider the Combat Cyborg Incident that canonically killed Zest Grangeitz and Quint Nakajima and left Megane Alpine in a coma. Perhaps, if you so choose, you could at least make an attempt to keep them all alive somehow. Whether or not you succeed, well, I'll let you decide. Keeping even one alive could change the character dynamics noticeably if not drastically (depending on who gets saved and perhaps even how they're saved). That's just one example of how you could change the timeline, if you so choose (and really, changing the timeline would keep things interesting, as you could keep us guessing as to how things would play out this time around!). Bluemage Wrote:That, and several different conveniently abandoned wastelands to spar in, because you know she's going to ruin them at a rate of at least one per session. I wonder if there are any uninhabited worlds that the TSAB would normally use as weapons-testing ranges. Perhaps those would do as sparring grounds...  Quote:“Destruction of land isn't normal during Snu-Snu?” Starfire asked as she scratched her head. “Landscaping afterward is supposed to be half the fun!” http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-27028-18 ... annels.htm Not actually expected to be relevant, just something I happened to be reading last night -- "Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
I told Jorlem out of thread, but I'll say it here, too. The intent was basically 'I don't need to wait for telemetry to cast the spell- just to fire it.' The post was edited for precision. I plan to rewrite that bit for SB, anyway.
I have plenty of time to change things, yes. I also already have plans for that incident. I also also need to spend a good bit of that time grinding XP to have a chance at being useful in 0075, and also^3 sent a TSAB admiral quite a bit of information on the future. How much she changes the timeline can be expressed by (Desired End State - Unaltered End State)*Confidence in Me/TSAB Influence, roughly enough. She knows which stations of canon I want to change, and which ones should stay the same (since I do want Vivio to find her mamas), so we'll see how much of a butterfly she becomes. Expect lots of OC enemies until StrikerS, followed by a bit of semi-pure canon, followed by things spiraling off the rails. There will be plenty of snu-snu in this fic... all of it involving other people, behind closed doors, where I can't participate in it, or sense it in any way. There may or may not be landscaping afterward, but correlation shouldn't imply causation. ********** "Tre? Cinque? What's your status?" The windows that popped up were disheartening. My allies were in what looked like a T-shaped intersection, judging from the bits and pieces their com windows gave me. They were on the top line of the 'T', trading fire with a group of enemies at the bottom of the middle line- in this case, another hallway intersecting their own. "Imma? Get in here! We're pinned down!" I get the feeling Cinque isn't too happy at the moment. Not going in there. Maybe I can do something from out here? Staying calm (as only somebody not being fired upon usually can), I checked over the fortress, looking for purple dots. Purple dots... looks like third floor, right by a window. Can't see the enemies on Argus- that area's a bit too magically charged to pick them out. "Found you, but I don't have a good fix on your opponents. Can you give me a range and direction, please?" Tre tried to lean around the corner, only to pull back immediately. "We can't. Their fire is too thick right now." Drat. Wonder if the hallway runs the length of the fortress? I could just go to the other end, and- "Just shoot through the window!" -feel like an idiot. Why didn't I think of that? I grimaced, and lightly smacked myself upside the head. "Thanks, Cinque. Can't believe I didn't think of that." Dropping down below the window, I charged up a quick Arcane Bolt. [Confirm Arcane Bolt set to non-lethal mode.] [ORGANIC STUN ONLY.] I grinned savagely. [Good.] A little more power to the Air Cutter raised me into position. "Move!" The purple blips on my AR dashed to the sides. Once they were far enough away, well... When the dust settled, I looked the scene over. Scratch one window. Wait- make that two windows... and was that a barricade? Two humans laid out there, anyway- and half a Mark I next to them. Not bad at- [ANOMALOUS SIGNATURES DETECTED AT 110 MARK 72] ...what? Turning to the right, I looked up into the distance. Mark IIs? Three of them?! This could get dicey. I was right. Things did get dicey. My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours. I've been writing a bit.
Isn't it nice to be right?
And good on your sisters for remembering that your love is an awesome power - and nothing says "love" like close air support. Now, it's time to gently caress those Mk.IIs! -- "Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
I could do with a good bit less being right, thank you.
 Been browsing SA much, CD? ...so if nothing says love like close air support, what does DEMOLISH ALL THE THINGS! say... assuming you leave them out of the 'to be demolished' list? ********** The three drones noticed me around the same time I noticed them. As one, they turned and started flying in my direction. Just in case it was a common AI-breaker, I opened with the same gambit that the Mark Is had lost to; aim a group of magic missiles at one enemy, and split off part of it to target another in mid-flight. Both drones managed to dodge their missiles without apparent effort. So I tried it again, this time splitting one group to aim at all three. The remains of a single Mark II M-Drone completely failed to blow away on the next gust of wind, on account of there still being three of them. So the more advanced models can dodge. Good to know. Snapping off a couple dozen magic missiles at one of the drones, I saw it begin to drop out of the way. "Burst Shot." A block of twenty-four missiles became an expanding cone of shots- almost too late, as it turned out. A quick projection suggested that, at the pace the drone was moving, it'd dodge all but two of the missiles- and I doubted that two missiles could even mission-kill a Mark II. I didn't expect it to stop moving, put up a shield (a shiny, neon-orange hexagon), and block the nine missiles that would've hit it, but that's what it did. [Mal, analyze enemy shield. Compare initial and post-attack strength, and extrapolate damage required to drop.] I also didn't expect the other two drones to tag me with cutting beams while I was busy with that, but guess what happened? Dodging skills and shielding are one thing, but now they can actually deal damage, take the initiative, and react fast enough to matter. These Mark IIs are actually dangerous! [SHIELD DEPLETED BY APPROXIMATELY 75%. ESTIMATE SHIELD POWER EQUAL TO TWELVE MISSILES.] I flew backward, away from the fortress, occasionally tossing out a few missiles to keep the drones dodging. It didn't take long for me to be standing over the zone of desolation I'd made earlier... and it wasn't much longer after that that I was standing in that zone, with Air Cutter shut down. I found myself grinning savagely. Let's see you dodge this. Two sets of missiles formed in front of me; I started by firing the set in front of my left hand, splitting it into three groups along the way. As soon as the drones began to dodge their respective missiles, I fired the second set- this time at where they were going to be when the missiles got there. When they got close, I triggered Shot Blast, just to make sure. As predicted, the drones stopped to shield the few missiles that would've hit them, instead of taking the hits. While the drones were busy shielding, I lifted my left hand again, and dropped the Arcane Blast it'd been charging right into the middle of the group. Looks like they're not any more durable, at least. They blew up just as easily as the M1s did. No other dangers were in range, so I shrank Malleus back down, took a deep breath, and did a quick self-diagnostic. "AAAAAAGGGGH! THAT HURTS!" My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours. I've been writing a bit.
Nnnooo... what's SA? It sounds like I might like checking it out, if you thought I already had.
For the dodging problem, why is it one when you've already got keeping your spells dirigible after casting going? Do they have a turn radius limitation or something? (And if so, how is that even possible!?) Maybe you should design a flight path like Macross missile barrages that spreads out to englobe the target as they arrive, or a g-mana effect that pulls in all the others if a single shot hits. -- "Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows ClassicDrogn Wrote:what's SA? It sounds like I might like checking it out, if you thought I already had. Sa is shorthand for the comedy website Something Awful. The forums there have a rather unusual swearing censor on them that replaces certain swear words with loosely similar terms (e.g., "fuck" becomes "gently caress"), but if you're a member(*) and you're logged in, you can see the uncensored words. (*) Be aware, membership requires paying a $10 fee up front, although after that the only times that you'd have to pay would be to access certain features (e.g. the archives). I would recommend lurking as much as you can before deciding whether or not to become a member, and also be aware that the forum's owner has a tendency to put up and take down a paywall at random intervals (basically, whenever he feels like it). ClassicDrogn Wrote:Maybe you should design a flight path like Macross missile barrages that spreads out to englobe the target as they arrive, or a g-mana effect that pulls in all the others if a single shot hits. In other words, something similar to the shotgun-like patterns typically demonstrated with various spells in the series. (Don't take this as criticism, as I don't mean it in that way.) Bluemage Wrote:"AAAAAAGGGGH! THAT HURTS!" Might want to get some painkillers and the like for that.
Pay site for humor product, huh? Well, gently caress that. I prefer http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp01142002.shtml]something positive anyway.
(I actually just meant it as normal sarcasm, given Imma's lack of subtlety in casting ability) -- "Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Tennie has the right of it. Also, the forums and the website are almost entirely different beasts. I paid my :tenbux: years ago, just to get onto their Let's Play subforum. Never gone to the main site, except to get to the forums once or twice. Think of the place less as a comedy site with a paywall, and more as an online community with 180,000+ members... and a comedy site attached to it. I've gotten more amusement out of it than any twenty games I've ever bought.
As for dodging my spells, that's my problem right now. ALL SORTS OF POWER... but very little control over it. Notice how I can't maintain too many of them at once? Notice how they aren't doing as much as I expect? The spells I'm using right now are both inefficiently designed, and insufficiently optimized. I'm getting fewer spells than I should for my mental buck, spending more power for the effect than I should be, and getting effects that are either not what I need, or not flexible enough for what I need. Magic Missile is capable of the sort of crazy maneuvering that, say, Divine Shooter bullets can do. The problem is that I don't have the free mental bandwidth, skill, or experience to make it do that. (There's a scene in A's where Nanoha is battering down Vita's shield with 20ish independently controlled shooter bullets. That is SKILL and TALENT. I don't has it.) I'm attempting, at this point, to compensate in a few ways. First, volume of fire. I can't get as much out of each bullet as other mages, but I have the thoroughput to make WTFHAX numbers of them... or will, once I make a Magic Missile variant adapted to sustain more than 32 shots at once. Second, grouped fire. Giving 32 missiles proper guidance is well beyond me. Controlling 4 groups of 8 missiles each is much more possible. Third, limited guidance. Scatter fire is easier than aiming. One-time course corrections are easier than aiming- and take a lot less time. Even at this point, I can take one group, give it a new vector, bounce to another group, revector it, move to the next group... Incidentally, look back a few posts. Shot Blast is basically what you're describing- the logic for that particular MM post-cast mod is basically 'For each bullet in this volley, add random Y- and Z-bearing deviations to its current vector, not to exceed 45 degrees', plus a bit of code to make sure that the groupings can't get weighted too much. I've used it three times in this engagement. Painkillers, Tennie? I have something better. :3 ********** ...on second thought, let's turn the pain editors back *on*. Why does the diagnostic do that, anyway? If I'm hurt badly enough to need it, I'm hurt badly enough to make it a bad idea.At least the chest wound missed all my favorite organs, and I can still move that arm. Good enough for me right now! Oh, look. Here come the other three Numbers... wait. Three? The infiltrator was one of us? From where I was, I could see three women in beat-up blue bodysuits slowly moving down the trench I'd dug. The tallest of the three- must be Tre- I'm sure she was the tallest of the girls- was on one side, an arm around the middle girl's chest to hold her up. The shorter of the three- Cinque- I can see that coat from here- was on her other side, helping to keep the other girl balanced. In the middle, though...Is that Sein?! I don't remember her being activated... but then, I've been sort of busy for a while now. I could've missed it. Blasted sunset! I'd know who it was already, if they could just WALK INTO THE LIGHT! That's a little better. Hair's not dark enough for most of the Numbers I don't know by sight, not dumb enough for Quattro, and not bright enough to be one of the redheads. Could be Due- I think she was blond, not that that matters- but wasn't she on assignment in the Bureau? Why would she be here? With the sun setting, I didn't manage to catch a good look at the third Number until they got fairly close to me... not that my amateur landscaping efforts really helped. Of course, once they got close enough to talk to, it quickly became obvious what was going on. "Hey- what happened to you?"Way to go Vita on me, Cinque. "Some Type-IIs caught me by surprise." The light hit the three of them just right, giving me my first good look. "...Sein?!" No doubt about it- I'd know that hair any day of the week... as long as I could see it. The newest Number lifted her head- wow, that's a lot of bruising!- and smiled wanly. "Hey, big brother! Wait, why are you big if you're so..." Her eyes lost focus mid-sentence, and she slumped back down again. All I had to do was look at Tre, quizzically. "Concussion, a lot of bruising, and some lacerations. She'll recover in a few days." I had to sigh in relief at that. Sein was always one of my favorites. Good to hear she's safe. "That is, if we can get her back to the lab." With the emphasis Tre put on those last few words, even a deaf, stoned rhinoceros would've taken the hint. "Oh. Right." The spell actually initiated before I thought to order it, my Device being far more on the ball than I was at the time. Soon enough, the four of us were taking the long sequence of hops that'd lead back to home base. Mission. Freaking. Accomplished. Finally. My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours. I've been writing a bit. Bluemage Wrote:ALL SORTS OF POWER... but very little control over it. Yep, I can certainly see you and Hayate getting along famously! Bluemage Wrote:Painkillers, Tennie? I have something better. :3 Well, I did say "and the like"! Bluemage Wrote:not dumb enough for Quattro Well, I wouldn't necessarily say "dumb", although she's very good at acting the part. Bluemage Wrote:Sein was always one of my favorites. I'm in the same boat. Her "Deep Diver" IS can come quite in handy.
Your scatter-shot varient has the "spread out" part, but "home in from multiple angles" is just as important for the Itano Circus missile barrage. Of course, you already explained that that's the part you still need more experience and refinements in the spell itself to work in, and Macross missiles have remarkably smart onboard guidance for their size, and I'd imagine that a per-shot energy-state AI matrix is something that's rather tricky when you have to specify every aspect of their function via mathematics at cast time.
"not dumb enough for Quattro" - it took me a minute to realize you were still talking about how her hair looks. It is rather like Dark Helmet's headgear, isn't it? -- "Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows ClassicDrogn Wrote:It is rather like Dark Helmet's headgear, isn't it? Oh God...now you've got me imagining a Lyrical Nanoha/Spaceballs crossover with Quattro as Dark Helmet, and I can't decide whether it's a Crossover That Should Be or a Crossover That Should Not Be!
The hair and the glasses, my headcanon goes, were intended to be obnoxiously goofy- all the better to obfuscate her stupidity with.
...wait. That did NOT go right... As for the idea, I've actually been kicking around something similar for some time, based on the Hellzone Grenade move from DBZ. You just gave me two different mechanics for it. ********** Entry 40 (Day 627) It's hard to believe I'm writing this entry right now. For one thing, the doctor just let me out of my jar with a clean bill of health- and by 'just', I mean all of ninety seconds ago. If I were still at home, I'd be too sopping wet to look at my computer, much less type anything. For another, it's a wonder I didn't get myself killed. A week ago, the three of us went on another mission- this time against one of the doctor's rivals, the Krepani Syndicate. We got into one of their bases, got Sein (who was apparently activated without any unnecessary drama) out, and got back to the lab alive. (As to why she needed our help in the first place, I'm not sure. Deep Diver should've just let her swim right out of there, but for some reason, she couldn't get out of the building. Not sure if it was the building, user error, or some sort of glitch.) On the good side, everything I cast worked precisely as intended- no miscasting, no gravity problems, and no other unexplained magical phenomena. The problem was that everything I cast worked precisely as I'd intended... and what I'd intended wasn't nearly good enough for what I was doing. On that last mission, I utterly demolished half the Syndicate base, and took out dozens of their combat drones... from a distance. When they got up close, a mere three drones managed to do real damage to me. Clearly, I need to be better. I need guided missiles, guided beams, and more explosives. I need a flight spell that doesn't mess with my vision- not to mention one that doesn't attract the attention of everybody in a two-mile radius. I need airdodging, binding spells, and fast movement. I need everything I cast to take less time and less mental bandwidth... and a version of Argus that doesn't take a whole bloody core to manage. On top of all of that, I need the experience to use it all properly. If I'm going to do this, I'd best do this right. It's going to take time, lots of practice, and several metric arsetons of math, but it'll be worth it. It might be a while before I write another entry... not that that's unusual, these days. Procrastination, and all that. Now, where did I put that book... My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours. I've been writing a bit.
So how does an arseton stack up against a donkeytonne or a goatload?
As a possible alternative to engineering an AI guidance package to include in spells, how about if they have a two-stage effect, first with a proximity trigger that makes the shot explode like a firework or a net, then any submunitions that hit suck in the rest? It seems like a much easier behavior to describe than target recognition and tracking - all they have to track is other parts of the spell that switch over to "Ooh, ooh, I hit sump'in, Moe!" mode. Actually, that sounds the same as what I suggested before, just explained a little better, and with justification for calling it a Curly Shot despite not trailing a spiraling streamer of light. Could you get your Wide Area Search motes to do some kind of target designator duty, to increase fire-and-forget capability on the salvo shots? How about something like the Magnet spells from Kingdom Hearts, where you throw a big blob o' g-mana near an enemy or group of them, and it sucks them up to spin around for a while while getting crushed a bit, and generally hanging there disoriented and helpless? I think there's something like it in Mass Effect too, though I haven't played those. A simpler effect that you could try first would be a "time release" version of your current Sit Boy Missile that messes with an enemy's movement and sense of balance by making the gravity they experience fluctuate randomly for a few seconds. I already mentioned the "fly on a boulder" trick, but how about ripping up a small squadron of cement sidewalk slabs or large stones at some point and using them as shields/battering rams? -- "Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Very well- in terms of furlongs per fortnight, that is. Not so well in terms of barleycorns per jiffy, though.
The big problem with one submunition sucking in others is that they all start from the same place, and leave at roughly the same speed. How do you ensure that a) one hits the enemy, and b) the rest are still available to re-vector? Targeting with Argus is quite possible, since it's half the point of the system. The problem is that what I can automate is rather limited; I could do the mathemagical equivalent of 'See this target? Your vector is the least-distance bearing from where you are to its current location', and let Mal do the updating, but the result would be rather lacking. Probably could be fooled into running into me, for one thing, or into walls at the very least. There is a reason why mages learn to guide shooting spells personally- the human element is what puts the 'smart' in 'smart missile'. That one's on the agenda, but requires a good bit more control. I like this concept. Probably wouldn't work against a prepared enemy, but it sounds like the sort of cheap trick I'd want to have a bushel or two of handy. But how effective is matter at blocking magic? My understanding/headcanon is that ripping up firmament to block magic is a lot like trying to block synchro cannon shots with iron shields. If you get a big enough one, it's possible... but there are better ways to do it. Charging with a hunk of land in front of me would be both obscuring my view and not protecting me all that much. ********** "Hey, Little Bro! How's it going?"Sigh. Not again. I paused the simulations I had going, and turned my Absurdly Comfy Chair (tm) around. Sure enough, there was Sein... the top half of her, at least, sticking out of the ceiling like, well, something that hangs upside-down from ceilings. I've been mathing for two days straight. I can't metaphor right now. "...grinding to a screeching halt, as they usually do when I'm interrupted. Come to bother your older brother some more?" Since the end of the rescue mission, Sein and I had fallen into a pattern. She'd show up at the strangest times, through whatever surface she thought would be most amusing at the time, and make cracks about my apparent relative youth. Try saying that one three times fast. I'd, of course, pretend to be upset about that or shocked about her sudden entrance (or, on one memorable occasion, both), and then rub her nose in the fact that I've been alive for about fifty times as long as she has. Once we had the formalities out of the way (so to speak), we'd move on to other things. "Yep!" She dropped out of my ceiling, landing in a crouch. The crouch left her in a perfect position to spring forward, leaping straight at me with her arms outstretched. It was a remarkably fast maneuver, and it left me completely blindsided. The next thing I remember was being wrapped in a remarkably affectionate hug. I'm a bit of a hypocrite; I don't generally like to be touched, but I've always had a weakness for a good hug... and what Sein was lacking in technique, she more than made up for in feeling. I would've gladly savored the experience- my first hug in a year and a half or so- if I'd been given the chance. Unfortunately, I'd rezzed up a rolling chair, and Sein had leapt at me rather forcefully. We went sliding backwards for half a second before the chair finally overbalanced, flipping over onto its back. Sein and I tumbled on a bit further, coming to a stop right next to the wall in a tangle of limbs. Neither of us said anything for a few seconds. Sein had hit her head on the wall, so she had a good excuse. Me, on the other hand...This is the PERFECT time for a deadpan snide remark. Which one, though? I don't think she's ever heard of Twister, so that's out. Don't want to imply anything untoward, so there goes the next four ideas. Quick, say something! "Ow." I really dropped the ball on that one. My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours. I've been writing a bit. Bluemage Wrote:I don't think she's ever heard of Twister, so that's out.(Bolded for emphasis) I'm going to admit something: I know of the party game of that name, and yet when I first read this sentence I instead immediately though of the 1996 disaster movie of the same name. I'll let you imagine the implications of that statement...
Um... I thought of the SI author, myself. No quips came to mind here either, though.
On the Curly Shot, what I mean is you shooot a single large "shell" that's basically a whole barrage of Magic Missiles in a bubble somewhere near the enemy(ies,) which then explodes like a firework, with the secondary shots just sticking to things at first, then attracting any that haven't stuck to something to the closest that has. Then they all explode. If the initial pre-MIRV manages to hit directly, well, then they've all stuck to it anyway, and explode. How big the flak burst is you'd set ahead of time so terrain features or allies aren't in its area of effect, to avoid exploding them. -- "Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Hmm. Guess I'll have to be more specific on SB, then.
I'm not coming up with much on that, Tennie. Twister (the game) has more entertaining implications, I think. As for the author... yeah. That brings back memories. I get the concept you're suggesting. My problem with it is the 'just sticking to things' bit. It basically guarantees that most of the missiles will blow up something that's not my intended target. Sure, that's probably a given anyway, but I'd like to at least have a *chance* at not wrecking everything in a 50ft. radius every time I cast. Optimism, people! ********** Sein shook her head- probably trying to clear it, after hitting the wall- and slowly disentangled herself from me. She looked about as guiltily abashed as anybody I've ever seen, with a side of panic. "Sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to- here, let me put your chair back-" As Sein picked up the chair, the back of it wobbled in a rather disturbing manner, and one leg fell right off. She set it back on its remaining five, and knelt down to examine the damage, only to start when I put my hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'll just make a new one." Whe she looked back at me, sniffling a bit, I smiled teasingly. "Besides, that one was clearly defective. I could tell, just by looking at it." Sein looked puzzled. Aww- I was hoping she'd get it. "How-" I pulled my finger back from her lips, and grinned. "The chair wasn't Sein-proof. Sounds like a design flaw to me!" Spreading my arms, I waved her in. "Before I get to fixing that, could I get another hug?" Sein's eyes lit up, and she pounced- this time with no chair to mess things up. I could swear I felt my ribs creak- impressive, given what they're made out of- but I didn't let it show in my expression. Instead, I reached up, ruffled her hair, and then patted it back down. "Don't ever change, little sister." Several minutes later, when Sein had left (through the floor, natch) and my new chair (like the old one, but with antigrav in place of legs and enough back reinforcement to take a pounce) was humming away, it finally hit me. ..."Well, that hug certainly had an impact on me." THAT'S what I should've said. Dangit- why do I ALWAYS think of the best lines AFTER the moment's passed? My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours. I've been writing a bit.
Well, the Curly Shot is supposed to be a spell to use on flying opponents, or at most in a wide open area where you can throw it high enough to hit enemies standing around but not the ground. You'd need something else for obstructed terrain.
I don't have much to say about the latest snip, except to give you this coupon for a bushel of d'awws. Clearly Sein is the cute genki oneechan of the set. -- "Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows Bluemage Wrote:Dangit- why do I ALWAYS think of the best lines AFTER the moment's passed?Because you're human. That's a good sign. -- Rob Kelk "Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law." - Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
This is a comment on a story snippet from a while back. (from when he just got of the ship and someone was waiting for someone.)
In the rewrite on SB you had R.o.b. make a comment about a different magical power. (The rewrite made it better, so my compliments.) Does he still have that power? |
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