Battle of Althorn Point AAR
Published May 14th, 2009Technical notes: A full-up RP post will follow in proper RP voice as time allows. This is more of a quick narrative with some observations and QA stuff all sides agreed to later. Thank you for pictures from Nabila Nadir and Viv Trafalgar, I had settings dialed back for less “crashiness”.
Summary of RP Narrative:
Dateline Roatan: A small patrol of ironclads, led by the embittered LCDR James Montgomery Messmer, FWE, is returning from long range patrol in the waters near Dismal Swamp. The patrol consists of Two Kotetsu, a Lavanco and a Tyrann Mortar Boat. This was the patrol mentioned at the end of the Punishment Fleet post. Messmer has ordered a return, perhaps earlier than usual, as his coal bunkers are getting low. Ammunition supplies are full. Messmer is a complainer by nature and a bit of a stick, but he is still a professional, and he would not have his patrol endangered by running low on fuel. The patrol discovers a small landing party at Althorn Point flying the flags described flying on “the Object” in Lamunda’s report. There are humans about, but also some form of sea creatures, in shiny bubbles of water that are floating .. moving fast.. on the water. The mer people attack viciously upon sight and engage using a very rapidly firing pistol at close range. There are rapid fire guns mounted on the tower as well. Messmer formulates a battle plan on the spot, and it’s not bad. Tyrann to hold back and engage the artillery at a distance. Kotetsus and Lavanco forward to engage close. And thus, the battle is joined.
QA NOTES:
I enjoyed playing with the Armada crowd. This is my kind of thing, setting up a scenario and turnign it into a battle. We all had a blast, everyone was very sportsmanlike and nobody had to be “called down” for anything. The perfect battle no matter what the result, in my opinion.
Setups: Armada had a tower to defend. We put up targets to shoot at that were ICS enabled. I’m not sure if that worked or not, the guns should stop firing when the target says “destroyed”. As I did get an IM from Viv saying “Guns out” both times, I assume this worked well as a means of counting victory for our side.
Wrath had their Mortar Ship to defend, which didn’t go down either time. We improvised a “Forward Observer” as best we could. The other ships did go down, though, far quicker than I would have liked, and part of that is the nature of the mer-weapons. They do fire a tad to quickly and as the firing target is so small and fast moving it’s almost impossible to hit them. An ICS ship just can’t react quickly enough in Second Life. My suggestion might be to have someone with a mouseviewing ICS gun along to engage mers with. I have also spoken with Jasper about the pistols and Viv about the bubbles.
Communications were by shouting and IM. If we fight another one at Lilliput, I’ll attempt to use the state channel if possible, as it’s critically important for action to cease when the HOLD!!! order is shouted.
Victory: Outcomes were pretty straightforward. We gave the first battle a draw, as our last vessel other than the mortar went down before HOLD was called, and the second one was a Wrath victory as the tower, a gun, the phalanx, and the other side’s ironclad were all dispatched before we lost our third non-mortar ship. All present agreed to these results in good humor.
In sum, The Wraths greatly enjoyed this event and are willing to host more in the future. I am already speaking with Viv about a projected round two and will follow up on it. I wish to thank everyone who participated for showing up and enthusiastically participating in good spirits and sportsmanship. You all make it a pleasure to work on these events.
Hotspur
Proud to roleplay with grownups!
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