>>[That said, one of the active units does not have superhuman strength. If anything that unit's member(s) has slightly below average human strength (though human strength varies such that that's a bit mooted).
>>[That's the Second I believe.
>>[The other active unit (4th I think) has somewhat higher strength (far higher stamina), so that group is more inclined to simply augment the existing WIC kit. Which is rather heavy, as the much maligned HOG is testament to.
/Interesting; one group of... magic users? Fey? Something weaker, anyway.
[It's more a utility magic. They have a much higher survivability to damage and ability to return information than humans.
[But they don't have an enhanced physicality.
/And the 4th, then, could probably use some of the Fifth's weapons, though perhaps more in a heavy weapons role rather than the 5th's primary weapons role.
[True, at the very least the 5th's weapons are handier.
[I should say that WIC has a few "contractor" groups like Yohko who are not as permanent (or large) as the NH Task Forces.
[Though Yohko may be reluctant to take that much equipment as she would then be dependent on WIC's supply chain.
Similarly, Blacksky visited her granddaughter of 10 years, Yohko, and encouraged her to visit Ranma, who is in much need of a discussion with a more experienced succubus, especially as she is the eldest and the cornerstone of her brood.
>>[Indeed.
>>[That's also a good way to obliquely bring BlackSky and her plans back into the picture.
>>[Also that BlackSky can write to Ranma about Yohko's visit, and that Yohko and her spawn are registered with WIC will prevent unpleasantness at a first meeting.
/IDPS - Neither snow nor rain nor fires of hell nor dread of Cthulu stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. (Inter-dimensional Postal Service)
[Hehe. It's probably a bit more mundane than that.
[Someone from Alexia's court would teleport over and drop the letter in the mail. Or give it to aWIC facility (though that has verification issues too)
>>[Recall that the last cousin Ranma met was Alexia.
/And the most recent non-brood succubus she met was Cynthia.
[Do you mean Cecilia? Who's also of the Alexia line.
[I suppose a problem with Yohko is that while she offers a different perspective, she's still of BlackSky's lineage.
[I should probably include some succubae from the other Houses.
>>[We'll be seeing more of Yohko and her daughters.
/Good! They need some upgunning... at MSRP. They'll learn to handload if they want to save a few yen.
[Heh, reminds me that Ranma hasn't learned how to budget training expenditures or equipment. Ammunition alone is hugely expensive for her girls, not counting the rest of their kit.
[Then again, Ranma's fallen to a military lifestyle where the "big grey-machine" pays for everything, in exchange for telling her where to go.
[I can contrast the differences with how Yohko operates. With the latter being more of an independent contractor versus someone that is integrated into WIC's command structure.
>>[The Interlude has shown that Ranma is also getting more into another type of succubus hunting.
/I actually find his 'date' with a male human more disturbing; I'd be more comfortable if he had another date with a female human.
[Yes, sexuality and gender are viable issues for Ranma.
[Especially as she's now part of a single gendered species.
[We've seen the issues that come with getting close to a female human.
[And as a succubus Ranma would be physically attracted to both genders of humanity.
[But that physical attraction is linked into the feeding and turning aspects.
[It's a different with succubae (not that she can't feed or turn them)
[But as shown with the Yohko thing Ranma is related to every single succubus she's met.
As always, I'm looking forward to Ranma teleporting... perhaps to the Moon to scavenge before the Main Senshi or the Dark Senshi can manage more.
>>[The moon is quite a bit of distance.
/True; but one can hope! We never did cover if succubus teleportation was distance or time limited... or if Senshi teleportation was distance or time limited. If they're different... well, that's quite interesting.
[There's a difference if only by the mechanics.
[As for cooldown it would probably be quite unusual for a succubus to be able to do Nightcrawler style (IE no delay between teleports) teleport spam.
[Though if there's still a few minutes to a couple hours that has a very, very useful tactical advantage. Though would need to coordinate with local jammer use.
[BlackSky shows that succubae can do inter-dimensional teleportation.
Is it time for Eve and her original daughters to get their Senshi transformations and attacks, as well, catching up with Ranma's daughters?
>>[It's nearing there. I have Morgan's abilities lined up.
>>[Still thinking on Eve and Morrison's and Sophie's (but she's younger).
/I'd also note you appear to have quit using the "Pattern X Class Y" system entirely; Y has completely dropped off.
[I'll occasionally use the Class Y.
[That is a bit of a mistake as it was too hard to scale things.
[Especially as characters grew more powerful. I even had that mentioned from the start.
[That said, it's also fallen off because against the Numbers the Pattern and Class values aren't quite as useful.
[With other enemies the pattern and even class identification will become more useful.
As a question, what _are_ Company policies on leave, time off, relaxation, psychological care, and so on and so forth? While the Company may have little experience with brand new succubus brood mothers on combat duty, they do have extensive experience with teenagers who have suddenly become killers and undergoing other assorted stresses; Kasumi, for example.
>>[Yes the Company does have a system in place.
>>[I've been remiss in not showing more (or much of any) of it.
/Hopefully we'll see a more... professional... approach to the psychological problems a teenage transnatural, transspecies, transsexual mother who went from a life of solitary training to a life of military combat might have; though I can see the Company having a hard time finding the right specialist.
[WIC has the advantage of being a large organization, but they'd need a specialist with the right knowledge and the correct security clearance.
[Naturally such people would be privy to a boatload of personal information, information that is highly secure.
[On the upside, if the WIC brass think Ranma (and the others) could benefit from counseling there's enough trust that they (especially Jacob) can make the case.
[Kasumi herself has had quite a bit of work in that area and can talk with Ranma about it.
[A big problem is that WIC takes a "squeaky wheel" approach with this. They knew Kasumi was an issue from recruitment and took measures.
[With Ranma they had to build up trust first and Ranma's been such a success...
[Though a major point of Interlude 3 was that even Ranma has her emotional and psychological limits.
>>[I went with queen partially for the sovereign and conquering nature.
>>[as a brood queen does control a group of subbroods and is basically a chieftain of a tribe that has carved out a territory.
>>[I also picked it over matriarch because queen is a shorter word as a pure stylistic choice
/Unless Ranma gets some land gifted from a grateful government for an embassy, I don't see Ranma as ending up as much of a ruler or conquerer... except, perhaps, of the Moon; let the Main or Dark Senshi do the initial cleanup, then simply move in and take over.
[She'll get the former actually which gives some de-jure land.
[In the defacto sense she has claimed much of Toronto.
[Yohko will find that when she visits. How strong Ranma's presence is in the city "marking" much of the territory.
I also ask - the first DarkStar was a Prince of earth; was that Prince also a Mage... and if so, is Ranma remembering magic beyond using someone else's pre-prepared spells, in addition to succubus powers?
>>[Not much of a Mage no.
>>[Though succubae can learn and expand their magical powers.
/Point; what did Ranma learn from Mercury's little contingency "freeze everyone in the bar solid if bad things happen to me" spell? We're seeing many more Darkstar Bursts with finer control; but that's still merely pulling the trigger on someone else's spell.
[Ranma hasn't been doing much if any new magical learning.
[She has limited time.
[She has been refining the use of her DSB's to use them in more of an intelligence/recon role but she's not doing as much new study.
[That will be changing as she works with Usagi and refines her abilities however.
[So there's some new casting coming from there.
If a succubus can summon and unsummon weapons, electronics, and armor, can't they have multiple sets in case of damage? Further, they can, as Nodoka mentioned, change the protection/danage vs. weight balance very quickly and repeatedly. For a non-flying succubus, even a smaller armored vehicle weapon like an M242 25mm Bushmaster would be practical (perhaps on a bipod, perhaps hand-held; 120ish kg isn't _that_ much more than their current equipment sets must weigh). A Russian 2A42 30mm cannon is also around 120ish kg, and the 2A72 (fixed fire rate, not selectable, and less moving parts) is only 90ish kg. Any of these would be very much in the line of treating the combat cyborgs like a vehicle (or punching through Minako-armor), not a person, and all of them support dual feed for two different ammunition types (a "normal" HEI or armor piercing, and an anti-NH, for example).
>>[This goes to the question of just how much can put in "storage".
>>[Both in terms of mass and volume. Also how much would mass be reduced while in storage?
/Precisely; what are the physics, including air resistance changes?
[That is something I should run some hard numbers for
>>[I'm not sure they have the strength and endurance to go quite to that size in heavy weapons.
>>[The limit there is probably handiness of weapon and endurance of the succubus and not as much raw strength.
>>[That said Morgan's gun is an anti-material rifle and Morrison did use a man-portable version of an M2.
>>[Such a 30mm weapon could be the succubus equivalent of a crew-served. Where you have two that carry the weapon, support mount, and ammunition.
/I was figuring a 2A72 on a bipod, perhaps either the 2A42 or M242 on a tripod. Note that Oerlikon was working on an APDS variant of this; per
http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/corrections.html"More information has emerged about APDS ammunition for the Russian 30x165 cartridge used in the 2A42 and 2A72. The first generation was known as "Trezubka"; the entire projectile (including sabot) weighed 390g and was fired at 870 m/s to achieve a penetration of 25mm/1000m/60 degrees, the latest is known as "Kerner", with figures of 304g at 1,120 m/s and 25mm/1,500m/60 degrees."
Wholly authoritative information is available at
http://articles.janes.com/articles/Jane ... ation.html[might go with a M242. Though ammunition supply simplicity is less of an issue than for other forces.
[and more mobile is better for such forces.
[Though the Canadians have the M242 so WIC could pick one up surpluss from them
[Hmm will have to think about that.
[I would say any such system would about push the limit for a succubus team.
[With one carrying the gun and the other carrying the tripod and extra ammunition
[at least I don't think these need spare barrels so there's that.
>>[For adaptive armor, do plan to have some adaptive coloration aspects and some adaptive thickness/weight.
>>[However the latter is rather complicated. And would be more energy intensive in how many simultaneous bits of armor could one succubus hold.
/If you can, skip the adaptive thickness/weight; just use layers and/or complete replacements. When one set is damaged, swap it out for a new set; hopefully that's simpler, and the advantage of basic armor is it can be mass produced. Alternately, succubae coming in on the ground can start with a slab of armor from an APC or tank as a shield - pick a melee style from the past and use it, perhaps Roman; they can simply drop or throw it if it's too damaged, too heavy, or too unwieldy for the situation.
[Replace of armor does have a simplicity advantage.
[As we saw with Ranma, she got battered in a fight with Galina, and regenerated much of her body, but was stuck with her broken armor.
[Not sure how often they'd use such shields. Though since they're droppable may not be too bad to simply keep around.
And I'll hold out hope that the combat cyborgs can be turned into Ranma's daughters or granddaughters; her brood needs some trained professionals, as well.
>>[Heh, cybernetic components versus the succubae's healing abilities would lead to some complications.
/What are complications but interesting plot developments? And the cybernetic are fully compatible with at least one form of magic.
[Yes one form.
[Where succubus regeneration is rather aggressive.
[They have issues keeping piercings from healing if left open for practically any time.
>>[Great thoughts
/Thank you; sorry I'm late.
[No worries.