$21,240 ending balance
I donāt care who does it, but SOMEONE needs to pay the bar tab. Except for special private arrangements with me, or if you ARE me. No shapeshifter meās either. You still have to pay.
Hereās an extra $200 ā making $550 in all. Itās an open bar for all ā Falkayn
By that I thought he meant āanti-Tiny flotilla,ā that is, those currently flying the ICUP flag.
To be clear, if every outlaw picks mission one, they are guaranteed to be fighting against every ranger, because every ranger will randomly pick someone in that group.
What I donāt know is whether that increases or decreases our chances of survival.
The Burnt Asbestos is considering taking on Mission 3, but could be convinced otherwise.
Damn it all, I need a number-cruncher. I have doubtsss that pigpiling on Granger passst the point of obliterating him may ssserve uss ill. Never mind sssquabbling over the Grit pointss. I think we have nine (or ten) shipsss currently planning to take Misssion 1. That, I believe, would be enough to blow up the Dessstiny several timess over. And would leave all ten of our rumpsss available as tempting targetsss for otherwise unengaged Coalition Rangerss, wasssting our advantage.
Captain Nixon, blesss his black and crafty little heart, has mentioned in passsing a better plan, in my opinion: our bessst againsst their besst. Put no more than three or four of our toughesst shipsss againsst Granger, enough to eliminate him with reasonably comfortable odds for ssuccesss, but no more. And then array the next-ssstrongesst shipss againsst the sssecond-ssstrongesst Ranger, and sso on. Thiss will keep our foess engaged only with fighterss who actively choose to fight them, and eliminatess opportunity for an unengaged Ranger to cause unexpected misssschief. The Deity and whatever other ship(ss) join her againsst the Denssity (ha! a fat joke!), will keep Granger off of the rest of your backss. Shipss that can sssafely engage the Epona will keep Ada Wessst off of our backsss. And ssso on.
Not only will thiss keep uss sssafer from being back-shot by Rangersss with too much time on their handss, but will greatly enhance profitsss for all. We wonāt have to split sso little Grit and Ssalvage among ourssselvess.
Unlessss Iām wrong (and youāll tell me if I am), then thisss is the sssensssible way forward. Who keepsss the ssspreadsheetss and can make the calculationsss? Who among uss is propeller-beanied enough to generate the Order of Battle? The Deity will bow to that Order (thisss time).
Hi Chee,
Have you seen Azdel? I havenāt seen him since he brought back the Prayer Hat from Peteās.
Oh, heās still meditating? Thatās fine, weāre in good shape. Weāre going to crush Hawk Granger so fast you wonāt have time to get a shot in.
Just kidding.
This bottle? Merkheim Ćstelwein. Great stuff. I really need to unwind after the stress of Tiny. Why wouldnāt that bastard negotiate? I offered him the eye, glory, the spotlight, his own skinā¦ā¦
Yeah, this is my second bottle. Why do you ask?
No, I havenāt touched anything on your comm console. really.
Iāve got a case of this Ćstelwein in my quarters . Captain Underpants would love this stuff. Itās even blue.
Do you mind keeping an eye on Muddlinā until we launch for Mission 1? Iāll be at the TARD-iss Star Bar, with that case and without my communicator. We donāt have anything else to negotiate. The rest of the captains can do whatever the hell they want; youāre getting the Kill Shot on Hawk Granger.
Yeah, total poseur. The gritless fool thinks heās the next Brad Nebula,
Why are you glowering at me like that? I need a little R&R.
Huh? What blinking red light?
This mic is broadcasting on the hailing frequency?
** >click< **
Damn damn damn that Falkayn! Jussst when his machinationss would have been mossst ussseful, he buggers off to the bar! And leaves his phone behind!
Now whoās gonna do the math?
I like the idea of trying to get match-ups for remaining ships.
According to my wonky semi-sentient calculations, I should take on Liāl olā Timmy Lee for liāl oāl Mission Threeā¦ Tee-hee.
So, there it is then. Got my positronic brain spending so much computing juice on keeping the ship running, youād think I could calculate battle odds, but whereās the sense of mystery, then? Why bother trying to figure everything out. Heck, I got serial numbers stamped on various parts of me, and I still havenāt compiled a list of all my manufacturers. Gotta keep some sense of the unknown, or Iām just a computer. Ick.
Hull Repairs X28 = $5600
Plow = $5000
Turbo Button = $5000
Hull Density X 8= $8000
Mission Three = $500
Total = $27100
Mission Three, Liāl Timmy Lee, Iām coming after thee!
hehā¦heeā¦hee
click, whirr,ā¦Letās hope that computes.
Damn it all, I somehow got stuck in orchestra seats at the Meteor Opera, and this show seems to have no intention off ending anytime soon. I hope to get back to my mainframe for real communications before the closing bell, but for now Iām quickly tapping out a message on my communicator. Apologies for typos or math errors. Iāll update this comm if this stupid aria ever ends.
From Pete:
48 hull repairs: $9600
5 hull density adjustment: $5000
5 plows: $25000
3 turbo buttons: $15000
As a neutral, I also submit a quick order to Ellaās, as I know Iām going to be hungry when I get out of this:
2 clover soups: $3000
Going for mission 3.
Edit: The baritone is still blathering away on stage, and Iām getting nasty looks from my seat neighbors for using my communicator, but I notice someone else is also going for mission 3. We probably rather outmatch the competition, but since there are a lot of unclaimed-rangers who are going to be flipping coins gunning for the rest of us, I think it always makes sense to fly with a buddy.
Chee Lan here.
Iām bored here on the bridge of the Muddlinā Throughā, so I compiled a list of the highest GRIT ships (the eleven ships with seventeen or more Grit) ranked in order of Luck. If youāre near the top of the list and you go against a Ranger, somebody better have your back.
LK ship
25 Quisquiliae sStruem
31 Ironclad Cochrane
33 Senescent Wanderer
36 First post1
40 NordstjƤrnan
50 Cobra II
55 *Muddlinā Through *
56 Pusillanous Patty
56 Jewel of the Desert
56 I.M.V. Flatulent Deity
81 dubdub
While Falakayn is off discussing the finer points of terroir with Captain Underpants, let me tell it to you straight. The more of you slow-reflexed blunderers that take other missions, the fewer ships cluttering my targeting 'scope, the fewer tin-pot Rangers hassling me, and the more of you dead. Falkayn, the dull human that he is, may live for cooperation, but I live for the kill.
Keep in mind that the list is shorter. Since rangers will only hunt outlaws.
Just a quick observation: Unless you some how manage to stay with the ICUP, you will not be getting any money from this mission. Which means, unless Pete becomes a charity, you will need to reserve money NOW for inevitable hull repairs. This puts a serious kink in my upgrade plans, but I plan to keep enough money for at least 50HP in hull repairs.
And thatāssss why we need to engage the enemy head-on, ssso they have no opportunity to make unexpected missschief. If we all want a free Charybdissss, and none of uss actually want to help the I.C.U.P. ressstore their idea of āorderā to the galaxy, then (much as it painsss me to sssay ssso) we do need to coordinate our attacksss. We wonāt have to worry about our Luck or Grit attracting unwanted attention if all sssix Rangersss are occupied.
Granger (Misssion #1) is the most heavily armed and heavily armored, ssso we should send our mosst formidable shipss againsst him. By my rough calculationsss, basssed largely upon HP, Firepower, and Shieldsss, that should be Firssst Possst1 (provided sheās funded well enough to build her HP back up), Pusillanimous Patty, Cobra II, and Flatulent Deity. The next toughessst misssion would be #5, which is like Mission #2 piloted by a terrifyingly Lucky captain. Iād sssuggesst deploying the Insane1, Jewel of the Desert, Ssssenessscent Wanderer, and Muddlinā Through againssst thisss target. Misssion 2 could be taken on by the Iron Cochrane, Nordstjarnen, TARD-iss, and Burnt Asssbessstoss. Misssion #4 goesss to Dracarys, Grey Mouser, Hoosier Mama and Taurean Mule. Misssion 3 isss tackled by DubDub, Quissssquiliae sStruem, Sssslindewinder, and maybe the Cepheusss Maiden if anyone can rouse the Captain from hisss nap. And finally weāre sssaved the annoyance of Zippyās Crop Dussster by Missstaker II and Slightly More Than Completely Absssent taking on Misssion #6. I believe that coversss everyone.
Thisss way, weāre all ganging up on Rangersss that are in the neighborhood of conquerable, and no Rangersss are unoccupied to harry uss.
Ssssome shipsss above will need financial sssupport to be ready for thisss. Iām willing to alter my Sssscrapyard order to free up sssome fundsss if otherss will free up sssome capital today as well.
What think you all?
Never gonna happen. Captainsss are more absssent than usssual. Itāsss the weekend, old boy.
If we had a week to poke people, perhapsss. The issue with #1 now isss that the weaker pilotsss likely to attract attention are unlikely to change ordersss. Granger wonāt be alone.
I wasssss hoping that Pete might be magnanimusss, sssince heāsss loaded.
Our analysis was to take on Mission 4 as well. However, we must have at least one, preferably two other ships to make the mission a low risk.
Any other captain(s) want to commit to Mission 4 now? I will join you. If I donāt hear from anyone, I am going to sign on with Mission 1. We will try to stay out of Chan Leeās reticle. We prefer longer range precision shots anyway. Piling in with the big boys is probably our best hope of survival. Less grit, sure, but grit means nothing if youāre atomized.
We will confirm our mission and shopping later today.
Well I suppose we could ask him, but Iām keeping a reserve unless he tells us we can get free hull repairs ahead of time.
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Carfax lay on the floor of his cabin. The servos in his left arm seized and Carfax jerked, arching his back in pain. The last of the crew had left 4 days ago and Carfax had been swimming in SynthoHol ever since. He dragged himself onto his knees, his neural net throbbing.
The comms panel on the far wall beeped and flickered into a life. A message.
And an offer he couldn't refuse.
Falkayn,
Iām in!
If youāll be so kind to escrow the $5,100, Iāll go with your suggestion for repairs.
If we get through this, the Rot-Gutās on me.
Carfax out.
Starting Balance $10
Escrow from Captain Falkayn, Muddlin Through +$5100
Mission 1 -$500
23xHull Repairs -$4600
Ending Balance $10Well, it wasss going to be a big brawl anyway. My hope was to try to focusss the heavier firepower on the heavier shipsss, to keep the sssmaller fry alive. As well as to try and ensure enough Grit and Ssssalvage to go around, which wonāt be the casse if every lassst one of usss piless onto the Denssssity.
But they can certainly go to hell in their own way, if they donāt want to change focuss.
