With regards to our tactics, I agree that we aren't doing too bad. That all the PC's are even alive and (mostly) unharmed at this point is a testament to that. That said, I don't think our plan is good enough, as is, to keep us alive. At this point, we aren't doing much but keeping sweat on Paragon's brow as she prepares to murder us.
I spent hours thinking about this last night; I feel really bad for helping convince everyone to get their characters killed (Tom excluded, of course). I've gone over scenarios again and again.
The problem, as I see it, is that we all built powers based on reliability, whereas the Ross's team is min-maxed for death-dealing. Normally, we'd be screwed, but at this point in the fight, we still have the numbers. Two of their members are prone, and Squad Leader is going to continue to burn willpower to shut Paragon down. What we have to do is focus our fire on individuals from 2-3 angles until they go down whilst neutralizing the others' actions. That way, even with their 10d pools in everything, we gobble the shit out of their successes, attacks, armor, and dodge checks.
Think of the grenadier in the hydroplant game; no amount of super power keeps you from becoming paste when attacks come from 4 angles. We can coordinate this in game because of Squad Leader's Luyten communicators, so it isn't even a role-playing issue.
I don't want to play anybody's characters, but I made a table of declared actions by round, for everyone, just to see if we had a chance. It's the only idea I have as to how to live through this. Any other plan would be great, but I feel like if we go in there with the strategy of "...um...I'll do this next," we'll be screwed.
For instance, a few things would have to happen in the first round...
1. Shift has got to chuck that bitch over the railing. The catwalk isn't 50 feet so it won't kill her, and it might knock her out. Even if it doesn't knock her out, the weapons are all on the catwalk after the disarm and she'll be prone for a round; it'll reduce her threat greatly and allow shift to immediately grab the .50 (WHICH WE NEED NEED NEED FOR CANDIDE AND HIS SPORE CANNON)
2. Wheaties has got to kill Aegis (even if he dies in the process)
3. Jason has to get the Angel to heal Raoul and get him in the game (and if Jason can act separate of the Angel, then some Attack Illusions on Aegis wouldn't hurt)
4. Aaron has to reboot
5. Baz has to spend his death round attacking Paragon
6. Squad leader has to nullify Paragon
7. Norm has to attack Paragon.
8. Thad has to attack the Finn on the ground before he can start nullifying again.
See how this could work? Paragon's matches would be gobbled by the nullification, the fire, and Norm's attack, and only then would she have sets for attacking Thad (no fucking way at a 10 d max); she might even take damage. The Finn has 3 Killing to every location because of Baz and will be easy to take out of the game as he is getting up. If Aegis and the Veera get taken out of the fight (if only temporarily), the only ones with line of sight on the forcefield are Pryo (who'll have trouble penetrating 4 HD) and Candide, who is spending the whole round standing back up.
Best case scenario, we damage Paragon while eliminating both Finns and Aegis, while getting a flyer with ranged lasers and a tank back in the fight for more focus fire. And we can even survive some disappointments with that scenario...maybe.
Next round, we focus fire the next big threat (probably Candide) with increased firepower and less concerns. Reposition and repeat.
Like I said, I don't think we are doing bad, but if keep up the current strategy--if anyone does anything other than fight as a single unit--ain't nobody getting out of there alive. Other ideas are welcome and will receive my vote (I don't hunger for any more responsibility in this bloodbath), but I feel like anything we do has to be collective or coordinated if don't want to re-roll. We can get back to our typical in-fighting and backstabbing if we survive; for Thursday, we need military-levels of discipline.
