M'kay. So just a tl;dr recap:

MiG-31 went in high and fast, pegged each of the four big ones with a bloody huge missile each, zoooooom-cliiiiiiiiimb, used sun to blind their weapons-fire before doing a cropduster-turn to re-engage two more with missiles.

MiG-23 went in low fast and hot, pegging a few fighters along the way (some with unguided rockets) and dragging most of them down into the weebs. Creative use of the R-60 ensues.

Dalcon finally shows-up, pegs a big one with a super-sidewinder, then an AIM-120 to finish.

So... this pretty much means fighters engaged:
MiG-31: Engaged two fighter craft. Probably still has an R-73 and guns (260 rds / 1.75 sec).

MiG-23: Aggro'd everything. Packing two rocket-pods, guns (200 rds / 3.4 sec), and a single R-60 pointed aft. That's it.

Dalcon: Searching for targets. Short a sidewinder and AMRAAM (presumes has one of each still). Also has a JDANM. Oh, and guns (500 rds / 5 sec)

There were 8 of them. And the most Clem got was 5.

So there's at least two more bandits up my tailpipe, pls declog. kthxbye.

Didn't peg, just scared.

I still don't know how I am going to get my character into things at this point in?

I still don't know how I am going to get my character into things at this point in?

You've got a jump-jet.

There's an A-6 that'll need an escort.

We'll assume you were inoffensive at the briefing.

Didn't peg, just scared.

I saw brevity-codes for hits and descriptions of bandits trailing smoke.

The big ships are probably right-rattled by now, but right now I'm more worried about the two completely unmolested fighters that could be doing anything.

She launched the AIM-120, but not the AIM-9X

Post will be forthcoming over the weekend, I have had a crap week, so haven't really felt like posting much nor had the time. Hopefully unwinding tonight will allow me to marshall my thoughts and get my imagination flowing to get something worth putting up into place.

You've got a jump-jet.

There's an A-6 that'll need an escort.

I have AMRAAMs and gunpods, I don't need that much babysitting, ta.

Dalcon finally shows-up, pegs a big one with a super-sidewinder, then an AIM-120 to finish.

I'm pretty sure Virginia was targeting and took down a fighter since all four of the larger craft were already in flames. It wouldn't make any sense for her to waste one of her best missiles on something already on fire and going down. Coming in low, she would have had a good opportunity to get in the shot while the remaining fighters turned to focus on MiGfest.

An easy way to get in our new member quickly would just be to have our AWACs NPC vector him over to help out the squad. Let's just say there's more ground forces than expected and he happens to have some AGMs available to help out then he's in after Silver's next post.

<Snipped quote by Foster>

I'm pretty sure Virginia was targeting and took down a fighter since all four of the larger craft were already in flames. It wouldn't make any sense for her to waste one of her best missiles on something already on fire and going down. Coming in low, she would have had a good opportunity to get in the shot while the remaining fighters turned to focus on MiGfest.

An easy way to get in our new member quickly would just be to have our AWACs NPC vector him over to help out the squad. Let's just say there's more ground forces than expected and he happens to have some AGMs available to help out then he's in after Silver's next post.

Well to be fair, lead's orders were for the MiGs to engage the fighters and leave the bombers to him and 2.

>Sides with Massa on this one, because sticking to designated targets from flight-lead prevents redundant targeting.

Like spamming 20 missiles at once for a target that only needs one hit.
-which'd kinda demonstrate that pilot's faith in that particular missile.

Also, iirc, USAF wrote something about bomber-sized target-drones (QB-52 FTW) being able to take an AIM-7 sparrow hit and keep chugging to their target like a boss.



I mean, y'all know the punishment an A-10 can take [it'll buff]... lets assume the big things can take that and scale it.
-Sometimes those pesky SA-2s jumped up and bit the pilot/co-pilot, just to make the flight home more challenging.

I remember seeing a photo of the one TBM Avenger that made it back at the battle of Midway (pilot was blind [eyes blown out by flak]). Swiss-cheese and a box of purple-hearts.

Post is up - Clem and Xi have the fighters hot on their heels, after poking them with a stick. Luckily, Tony has arrived and is there to even up the odds a bit.

Down low, Ryan and Diane in the Intruder and Maverick and Mako in the Desert Falcon have some established bad guys to ruin the day of - if they can weave through the fire coming after them well enough, that is.

Amidst all of this, it seems like the survey team might have found more than they expected, which explains the... energetic reception from the Yerrill.

Also, because we lost Slypheed, Remipa's character takes over the same slot in the squadron and the same number as well.

Couple issues with some of the replies above that I want to point out for the record because I had a feeling this was going to happen when I replied to this post, which sets the initial IC scene, in the OOC thread.

I said pretty specifically what I intended to write for everyone to see and received no objections whatsoever.

>Sides with Massa on this one, because sticking to designated targets from flight-lead prevents redundant targeting.

I really don't want to get into using the word "sides" particularly when we're looking to attract more membership. I would like to point out, however, that when I submitted my post in the OOC referenced above, this was your reply:

Clem. [+]

Translation:
-Seems good, get their CAP's attention by getting a few good hits in, lead them away, try not to die.

Lose them, re-engage as-needed.

Although the MiG-23's speed is really only any good at low-level... there it screams.

No issue with redundant targeting then. It's just fortunate for the MiG-31 (and the rest of the squad for that matter) that the situation presented, as written, made for a VERY favorable target set for the MiG-31. This aircraft has the ability to hit targets at a far greater range than any other platform presently in the squadron and as stated in my OOC post it was simply best practice to fire them on very high percentage shots. Anyone was welcome to speak up then, but did not do so and the post has hung out there uncontested for seventeen days up until now. I would have rewritten back then if someone had an issue and a better method with which to move the plot and fight the enemy IC.

<Snipped quote by Pilatus>
Well to be fair, lead's orders were for the MiGs to engage the fighters and leave the bombers to him and 2.

I'm going to refrain on debating semantics on this one as far as what "orders" are in a fictional military, sci-fi rpg. In your post you stated at least three times that Virginia was engaged with a "fighter" so it doesn't seem to be too much of a stretch when I said above that she had indeed engaged a "fighter". This would make since in terms of continuity as well since all four heavy contacts were already going down in flames before any other aircraft in Ranger Squadron came into firing range.

I'll conclude by saying that continuity is important to me and in my experience can be a game destroyer for more than several reasons. I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I do go back and reread posts fairly often. I understand that it may appear that Lonnie/Xi got some of the easy meat on this one, but the setting initially was strongly suited to their weapon set. Now that there are ground contacts there's really not much they'll be able to do that will help the ground forces other than cover Ranger 1 & 2 and that's fine with me.

<snip>

For my part as GM, I don't disagree with anything you've done; you took initative and behaved in character, and also did what was sensible with the a/c you have. Ryan wouldn't complain too much as it made sense from a tactical point of view and he did urge Xi to engage targets and his words were 'scare' the big targets for himself and Ranger 2, rather than engage them - and it would be redundant and less-than productive for him to get up in anyone's face for taking out the enemy. Plus it wouldn't be in character for him either.
As the GM, I'm not going to argue with it; it made sense, it's been done, and it keeps us moving in the right direction, so I have no problem with it, and I don't really see why anyone else should either. There are more than enough targets to go around for all of us to tangle with at the moment.

Also, because we lost Slypheed

You haven't lost me.
I'm just temporarily unavailable.
I am coming back Soon^tm.

Remipa can take over as Ranger 2 from now on then.

Dibbs on placing an Cuban MiG-23BN as ranger 2.

<Snipped quote by Foster>

No issue with redundant targeting then. It's just fortunate for the MiG-31 (and the rest of the squad for that matter) that the situation presented, as written, made for a VERY favorable target set for the MiG-31. This aircraft has the ability to hit targets at a far greater range than any other platform presently in the squadron and as stated in my OOC post it was simply best practice to fire them on very high percentage shots. Anyone was welcome to speak up then, but did not do so and the post has hung out there uncontested for seventeen days up until now. I would have rewritten back then if someone had an issue and a better method with which to move the plot and fight the enemy IC.

CAP = Combat Air Patrol = Fighters = those things that are fast and nimble enough to utterly murder us all

1st salvo, using russian long-range lock-on after launch missiles are well suited for such head-on "ambushes" due to their tiny launch signature (no radar-lock ping needed until about 1 sec from merge). Making them the cheapest and easist way to whittle them down.

Is why Clem burned all four of his R-27s on fighters, and on first read, I was assuming you had done the same with R-33s.
Resault: Nearly complete squad-wipe of all enemy fighters in a single pass.
-Which is why these sorts of engagements are called "Fox One Cheapshot" in brevity (also "Mad-dog" because they [the IR guided missiles launched w/o any lock] can accidentally lock onto friendlies or outgoing missiles).

But if you really want to try your luck against an infitiy-gen alien fighter in a turn & burn fest, by all means.

The bomber-sized stuff can probably even be targeted by air-to-ground ordnance. Such as JDAMs and rocket-pods.

Remipa can take over as Ranger 2 from now on then.

Oh, are you leaving us then :(

<Snipped quote by Massasauga>

Oh, are you leaving us then :(

Yeah, I'll be taking my leave.

<Snipped quote by Silverwind Blade>

Yeah, I'll be taking my leave.

I'm sorry to hear that, as I was really enjoying your characters. But, it's up to you. Hope to catch you around later and somewhere else

CAP = Combat Air Patrol = Fighters = those things that are fast and nimble enough to utterly murder us all

1st salvo, using russian long-range lock-on after launch missiles are well suited for such head-on "ambushes" due to their tiny launch signature (no radar-lock ping needed until about 1 sec from merge). Making them the cheapest and easist way to whittle them down.

Is why Clem burned all four of his R-27s on fighters, and on first read, I was assuming you had done the same with R-33s.
Resault: Nearly complete squad-wipe of all enemy fighters in a single pass.
-Which is why these sorts of engagements are called "Fox One Cheapshot" in brevity (also "Mad-dog" because they [the IR guided missiles launched w/o any lock] can accidentally lock onto friendlies or outgoing missiles).

Like I said, the post was up for over two weeks and you replied in the affirmative to the proposal. It had crossed my mind initially to spam all the fighters with a big missile barrage right out of the gate sort of like you suggested here, but that didn't feel much in the spirit of the game. In this post it was stated that we would be allowed to take care of our own business for this round, but any portrayal of the enemy as ineffective or weak would not be looked upon kindly. It seemed to me that blowing them all away in one pass would fit that description pretty accurately and furthermore wouldn't make for a very engrossing writing experience. Targeting the heavies made sense for characters, weapons, setting, and mission plot movement to name just a few reasons.

I'm here to write a story with other players in a moderated game setting and have fun doing it. The "best" way of doing things may not always be the way that's chosen for the sake of the game, but it's a fictional story so there's not a lot of point in debating what would happen if these planes and weapons were really fighting this battle. We can make suggestions and inferences, but at the end of the day the law of plot overrides everything else (see bullet point #11 in the rules section).

It's great that you know all these fun facts and radio codes, etc. Maybe you've flown a military aircraft in combat- I haven't and I'd hazard a guess that most people in this forum haven't either. I may not be Chuck Yeager, but I can speak to some knowledge of what we're trying to do here in a Casual-RP and I think that's what will attract more membership and move the plot along.

But if you really want to try your luck against an infitiy-gen alien fighter in a turn & burn fest, by all means.

I'm having an absolute blast writing about it.