and the fact that we posted

I'm here and I already posted twice already.  I might not be able to post again till after Monday as I am currently moving, but I will try.

Hi All

I have been assigned as a new member of Taskforce Besh. I know most of you probably know me so I'll keep this brief. I am a Bridge Officer on the Fearless. I know it probably doesn't mean much to you guys but I figured I'd introduce myself anyway. Post Outline goes like this for the Second Fleet story.


-Detailing the circumtances which led Kazack to be transferred to the Fearless.
- Arriving on the Fearless
- Taking up my post in the current battle.
- Post the Fearless engaging the Flare.

Slasher, please let me know if that's not ok. I figured it was better to start from the begginging rather then have Kazack magically appear on the Fearless's Bridge.

Excited to see what you have in store for us, Slasher.  Posted to the new TF story: Trick's got a lot going on, so he may be a bit... off, for this mission.

Slasher, if you could edit your second story post to reference me instead of Amacuse, that'd be great. I'll be fulfilling the position of Regents' SC until Amacuse comes back from leave, and that includes in-story.

that's fine Kaz...we just thought you were dead, so any activity is okey doke by us.

  Glad you're alive, and no worries - we'll look forward to your post, as soon as you can manage it, Kazack. 

Gentlebeings of Task Force Besh:

Slasher, our fearless leader (and leader of the Fearless), will be mostly away from the VE for the next ten days.  So, just for this week-and-a-half, please send your TF-level reports to myself and Drac, along with any questions or comments/suggestions about our current story, "Snatch and Grab."

And, while we're on the subject of the story, let's get posting!  I know Kazack mentioned he'd be getting something up tonight, and several members of Regents have checked in, too: I'm excited to see where the tale goes, so I'll be prodding you to get those words up.  Planning and prep for the mission is over; let's get the operation underway! 

-Trykon

Great work so far, guys!  Love what's been posted.  Okay, we're moving from planning/prep stage to actual combat, now.  If you're working on a pre-battle post, finish it quick and get it up, but all new work should be about the actual battle. 

I have a post in the works it should be up sometime today.

Ladies and gentlebeings, Slasher is officially back from leave!  Make sure to welcome him back to the VE.

On another note, I should have a post up to the story by the end of the day.  Carry on, folks. 

Is it bad that my first thought was: I am SO Charlie Sheen!

You heard the boss-man folks: this week, please send your reports through me again, so I can craft the Task Force-level report for the brass. 

For the story: the Second Group is about to wrangle with some unexpected third-party combatants: a full squadron of B-wings... Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with as the Battle continues to develop!

Hey, Beshians.

So, I've just been chatting on irc with Maroy, and I realized that I haven't really given any indication to you guys about what the general story arc might be for Snatch and Grab.  Just thought I'd share my ideas for the Battle of Coveway here, then, so you have more concrete information to play around with as you see fit.  Remember, nobody - least of all me - dictates our stories' plots; the contents of this post are just some of my ideas for places we could take the task force tale, along with my rationale.  Feel free to discuss, disagree, modify, etc., but try to include why you want to write it the way you do when you discuss your choices, so we can all make choices which support each other. 

So, as some of you may have noticed, I've deliberately given us a stronger enemy than we were anticipating.  The New Republic B-wing squadron and the loss of many of our Avengers on the one hand, combined with the tough Y-TIEs on the other hand, make for a rather difficult fight.

But these enemies were also chosen with care, so that the scenario is difficult, but NOT impossible to win IC, and yet also remains plausible OOC.  B-wings and Y-TIEs are tough... but they aren't really capable of matching Interceptors or Avengers in a dogfight, for example.

Also remember, Regents isn't alone in the fight.  We have a number of capital ships in the task force, and Reprisal Squadron is not quite as bad off as my last post suggested (ah, the suspense-building benefits of using a character with a limited Point Of View), and there are still the other squadrons aboard the Fearless...  Feel free to USE these assets, as writers!    Your characters are probably stressing out, given the unexpectedly tough fighting, but they're not defeated.  Regents and the remnants of Reprisal can focus on the B-wings, while the bombers from the Fearless can try to pick off the uglies at long range with missiles...  And that's just one suggestion.  The capital ships are certainly not insignificant, either.

But try to challenge yourself to ONLY use these assets.  Plot twists can be fun, but my instinct is to try and keep them plausible.  We can do this best by really immersing ourselves in our characters - what WOULD our characters do in this situation?  Survival is rarely accomplished with flashy, complicated moves.  In other words, capturing enemy assets - while a viable strategy (and a lot of fun to write) - is fraught with drawbacks: the ship doing the capturing is effectively out of the space battle for as long as the takeover takes, is the primary consideration.  Instead of focusing on what equipment you WISH you had to win the battle, and then writing yourself obtaining that wished-for equipment, I think it's more realistic to use what you have on hand.

Pilots, focus on using your starfighters in the most effective way.  What is your primary target in any given moment (most of the time, it'll be whatever is the greatest threat to YOU personally in that moment)?  And, where are you most needed in any given moment in the battle?  Sometimes, those two things will be at odds, which makes for a more dramatic situation.  Try not to invent the coolest thing that could happen... try to challenge yourself to do the most realistic thing a person could do - the reader will identify with your character so much more, and the story will be better, for the effort.

Captains, focus on battlefield management.  The pilots, as mentioned, don't have the luxury of long-term planning; you don't really, either, but you certainly have a more complete idea of what's going on.  SCAPs, use your ships' strengths, and be honest about their shortcomings.  As an example: the Defiance is going to do her best, but we're simply not equipped to handle a squadron of B-wings very well without support.  Sometimes, that kind of thing happens in a battle...  With the more challenging foes, the capital ships are going to have to make some hard choices about what to do when the pirate freighter start to scatter in an escape attempt.  What ratio do we want between completing the mission objective (securing the Bacta and ending the pirate raids) and our own survival (in the face of steeper-than expected odds)?  Every ship that tries to intercept a freighter is one less fighting the armed pirates...  That's another decision with dramatic potential.

Anyway, I'm rambling.    My point is: use the admittedly limited resources your characters have to solve the problem(s) they face.  It's a writing challenge, which requires attention to detail and realistic choices.  It's not that I'm opposed to plot twists and the unexpected, but my preference is for those elements to always be secondary priorities, underneath verisimilitude, one of my favorite words. 

As I said, these are just my general thoughts, not rules or anything, and I wanted to share them to get a discussion going about where we're taking the Battle, and how we're going to write it. 

-Trick

Thanks for chiming in, Maroy; I appreciate the candor, and the acknowledgement that more NPC writing would be a good thing overall for the Division. 

As for the part about avoiding "requirements," I'm inclined to agree with you.  For this story, I think Slash wants as many NPC posts as possible (feel free to jump in with clarification, Slasher), but, yeah: in general, this is something I (and some of the NHC members) want to encourage people to experiment with, not something we're trying to force on anyone.  And I'll be vocal about my opposition to any kind of strong-arming - but I'll also support incentive programs for encouraging people to try writing techniques they aren't as familiar with.  I'm a carrot guy, not a stick guy. 

As for flashy: I have no problem with flashy, but those moments have to be earned.    Even the occasional illogical plot development can't be totally avoided, but, yeah, minimizing such things would be a good exercise, I think.

Anybody else have any concerns they want to air?  Only way we can find a way to be good collaborators is to share the places where we have differences of priorities and desires...