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 Scenario Idea: The Fall of the Bentusi
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| Ironwatsas |
Posted on 28-09-2015 18:27
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 Posts: 856 Joined: October 21 2005 |
Now, I've had this one roiling around in my head for a while. We need a few proper scripted missions for PDS, both for story reasons and because it would be awesome. A specific idea I've had was a Vaygr vs Bentusi mission, which would give a bit of insight into how exactly Makaan was able to whittle them down to just Bentus. Background The mission takes place a few months into the invasion. The Vaygr Armada is rapidly overrunning the Republic, but Makaan has other priorities. He and a large detachment of his elite guard are far-jumping to a Bentusi rally point, far above the galactic plane. Intelligence has suggested Bentus, and the First Hyperspace Core, are present here. Makaan's advisers, both spiritual (Jakuul) and military, belive that an overwhelming first strike against the Bentusi is both possible and would substantially accelerate the progress of the war (having two far-jumpers would allow him to strike against Hiigara easily), as well as prevent the Bentusi from in any way assisting the HGN, logistically or diplomatically. The Bentusi meanwhile have been heavily weakened, both by skirmishes in the early war (as part of Galactic Council peacekeeping forces sent to cover the evacuation of refugees), and attrition during the Beast War (many Bentusi left the galaxy). Furthermore, the technological gap, while still great, has gradually begun to close between them and their contemporaries; Unlike the ancient Hiigaran Empire's foolish attempt to fight the Bentusi, they are largely demilitarized and poorly equipped for a direct confrontation without the support of the Council or T-MAT. The Mission Ambient Music: HW2 M11 ambient Battle Music: HWC Bentusi Theme Player Forces: Vaygr 23rd ACR w Supporting Elements Allied Forces: Makaan Honor Guard Enemy Forces: Bentusi/P3 combined force with Republican Taiidan support The Battlefield is arranged with a large open area, free of asteroids and space dust in the center, with a large ellipsoid ring of dust and small asteroids around it. Bentus itself is parked smack in the middle, with no less than 3 Bentusi exchanges patrolling around it. Numerous cargo barges and formations of Super Acolytes are also patrolling around. The Bentusi also have frigate class warships (hopefully using HW@'s Bentusi frigate, if possible). Phase 1 The Player starts in a dense dust cloud on the far edge of the map, with several asteroids and excellent concealment. Makaan himself will lead the attack, but will be a non-controllable ship. His honor guard will consist of at least two Battleships and several smaller vessels. The initial objective will be for the Player to move three cloaked carriers equipped with powerful hyperspace inhibitors into a position around the edges of the battlefield, while avoiding detection. All Bentusi ships will be assumed to be able to detect cloaking at short range, so proper recon is essential. The Player will be able to build probes only at this phase. If any of the carriers are detected and destroyed, the mission will fail. Once the Carriers are in place, their ownership is transferred away from the player, and they remain on station. An NIS plays, where the bulk of the Vaygr Fleet hyperspaces in, including a whole bunch of battleships and destroyers for the player to command. Makaan and the Bentusi have some sort of badass pre-battle dialogue as the Armada moves in to engage. Phase 2: The Mission objective then changes to the destruction of Bentus. The Exchange ships and escorts will attempt to blockade the Players' fleet and attempt to keep them away, launching squadrons of Super Acolytes and small groups of Frigates in an attempt to flank. The Player will be given a number of Taiidan Gravwell generators, to slow down the Bentusi ships and make killing them easier. Use of tactical hyperspace jumps to outflank the powerful exchanges will be necessary, and the player should expect substantial attrittional losses. At some point during this phase of the battle, a Taiidan Republican carrier will hyperspace to the edge of the battlefield, responding to the Bentusi distress call, and start launching fighter sorties. They're largely bit players and eliminating them is purely optional, though they may attack the nearest inhibitor carrier, so it may be necessary to park some frigates nearby. Once the player starts attacking Bentus, the tactical adviser mentions that the weapon strikes appear to be doing no damage. It is then revealed that 'Bentus' is merely a colossal mimic field, projected by a P3 megaship, parked in the center of the 'keyhole' surrounded by explosive crystals and asteroids arranged in the vague size and shape of Bentus. The P3 then self destructs, causing a chain reaction which sends asteroids flying everywhere, severely damaging or destroying anything nearby. It was a trap all along, and Bentus was never there. Another Exchange and a P3 Megaship, each with substantial escort then hyperspace into the area, launching a pincer movement against Makaan. The Player's objective then changes to the elimination of all surviving Bentusi ships. The Bentusi will converge and attempt to destroy Makaan's flagship (which will obviously fail the mission if successful). The destruction of these and any other surviving Bentusi warships will end the mission. The Taiidan Carrier force, if still alive, will attempt to retreat. The ending NIS explains that the Bentusi continued to sacrifice themselves against Makaan's fleet, continuing and continuing to buy Bentus precious time to escape, and complete whatever tasks needed to be done before their prophecy was fulfilled. At every turn Bentus evaded Makaan's wrath, but the lesser tradeships and Bentusi guardians were less fortunate. The mission, overall, will be a large fleet battle against a technologically superior but numerically inferior foe, requiring coordination of large forces, reinforcements, and use of specialist ships and technologies to outflank and outmanuver the powerful Bentusi vessels, somewhat unlike the vanilla HW2 Keeper Missions. |
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