“Modified Harpoon.” She says back, hurriedly. “No guidance package, improved warhead.”

“Improved warhead?” You ask, opening your throttles just a hair and taxiing away from your spot in the hangar.

“Mhmm.” She says. “Bigger. Closer to six hundred pounds of explosive.”

“Christ. What about guidance?” You ask, watching Maverick and Goose taxi by. Goose waves, and you raise one nomex-clad hand back as she passes.

“None.” Merlin says, still distracted. “The motor should burn quicker, so it'll fly faster, but it's going to fly in a straight line. There's a rocket setting on your HUD for it, but we should probably be pretty close.”

Katya starts rolling as soon as you do, shooting you a thumbs up as she passes you. You return the gesture, taxiing your fighter into the bright sunlight of the island, and watching as another pair of Phantoms claw their way skyward.

“Alright, listen up.” Ice breaks into your conversation across the squadron frequency. “The reds are shifting their flight track north, towards the kitty hawk's battlegroup. We've been asked to pour it on and intercept the group before they get in range to attack. ONI doesn't think they have the antiship missiles to do any real damage, but no one's real sure. Frank, you can burn longer and harder than any of us except Maverick, but I'm going to leave it up to you. Do you want to get out ahead and engage with the Kitty hawk's fighters, or do you want to go in with us?”

[] “The cat's wing is gonna need all the help they can get. Me and Maverick will go on ahead.”
[] “Splitting up is stupid. We'll stick with our group.”

>>22607615

[x] “Splitting up is stupid. We'll stick with our group.”

>>22607615
>Goose waves
Looks like a death flag if I ever saw one...
[] “Splitting up is stupid. We'll stick with our group.”

[] “Splitting up is stupid. We'll stick with our group.”

>>22607615
>[] "Splitting up is stupid. We'll stick with our group."

Dragging Mav at full burner out there with us might be hazardous to her health.

File: 1358291493820.jpg-(282 KB, 960x500, 1737604776_ee4686660b_o.jpg)

>>22607615
[x] “Splitting up is stupid. We'll stick with our group.”


remember most likely they are going to throw there best pilots and witches at us. they are low on planes

File: 1358291642397.jpg-(74 KB, 600x666, 1352499224867.jpg)

>>22607615
[x] “Splitting up is stupid. We'll stick with our group.”

File: 1358291699532.jpg-(164 KB, 960x720, 1355267819232.jpg)

>>22607615
>[x] “Splitting up is stupid. We'll stick with our group.”

File: 1358291734530.jpg-(15 KB, 550x322, Wyvern.jpg)

>>22607615

[X] “Splitting up is stupid. We'll stick with our group.”

>>22607717

I sure haven't, anon. I, for one, will feel so much better when that new aircraft and Witch arrive. A new F-14 Tomcat in the squad has at least a chance of staying with Fronk and Merlin's Wyvern when we're in the shit.

>>22607615
>[] “Splitting up is stupid. We'll stick with our group.”

remember what happened last time we went solo

File: 1358292113680.jpg-(555 KB, 1280x853, Russian_Air_Force_Tupolev(...).jpg)

>>22607615
>ONI doesn't think they have the antiship missiles to do any real damage, but no one's real sure.

What if Backfire's?
What if Kh-22's?

>>22607598
Splitting up is real stupid.

File: 1358292400908.gif-(1.04 MB, 320x240, TENTH SECOND FUSES.gif)

Wohoo! Time for strikers!

Btw where do they put the fuses in these things.

>>22607959
no idea

>>22607959
The fuses are in the front, I believe. They're impact-triggered. Pretty sure they're made to only trigger from somewhere around force of impact at terminal velocity in freefall, so that's harmless, if terrifying.

were hunting big game today

File: 1358292955318.png-(123 KB, 1000x700, wonder if she's worried.png)

[x] “Splitting up is stupid. We'll stick with our group.”

“Splitting up hasn't proven to be the best plan ever.” You say, somewhat drily. “We'll stick with the squadron.”

“Point.” Ice says. “We've got the runway right after these-” Her voice is drowned out by the roar of a quartet of J79 engines on full afterburner as the last pair of Phantoms climbs off the runway.

One of the biggest advantages of flying with witches is not having to worry about turbulence in the air behind them on takeoff. At least, that's what you're always told- those little strikers just don't fuck up the air the same way your monster engines do. That's why you're always last off the ground- Ice and Slider lead out, rapidly climbing to altitude while you're still rolling. Above, your formation awaits- two squadrons of phantoms, hurriedly recalled from reserve at Davis-Monthan and crewed by air guard pilots, and a single squadron of marine hornets. Your own squadron is above and behind the marine hornets, tucked in between the Phantoms.

“Frank, C-can you promise me something?” Merlin asks quietly over the intercom.

[] “Depends. What is it?”
[] “Of course.”

>>22608091
[x] “Depends. What is it?”

>>22608091
[x] “Depends. What is it?”

>>22608091
>[] "Of course."
Within reason, but of course.

>>22608091
>[] “Depends. What is it?”

inb4 something like "if you go down i go down with ya"

>>22608091

[x] “Depends. What is it?”

>>22608091
>two squadrons of phantoms, hurriedly recalled from reserve at Davis-Monthan and crewed by air guard pilots

Those poor bastards...

[x] “Depends. What is it?”

>>22608091
I don't know what to choose.
>>22608132
>Within reason, but of course.
I like this one.

>>22608191
I just hope there the version WITH guns..

>>22608091
go ahead kiddo

>>22608210
wait there were phantoms with out guns!?

>>22608091
[x] “Depends. What is it?”

>>22608247
the original ones did not. Gun pods were fitted later.

>>22608247

In the early stages of Vietnam: yeah. Which is why the kill ratio was only 3:1 in the early going: Phantoms would fire all their missiles and then become sitting ducks for the MiG-17's guns in a dogfight.

>>22608091

[X] “Depends. What is it?”

>>22608247
Yep early models didn't have guns as the Air Force thought no more dogfighting as missiles took up the roll. They were wrong.

>>22608296

This....and the initial gunpods were unreliable. The 20mm Vulcan didn't become standard equipment until the F-4E was produced.

so uh
happy birthday strike witches quest

>>22608412
Isn't it the 16th?

>>22608433
archive.foolz.us/tg/thread/17545010
>15th

>>22608444
Welp, I'll shut the fuck up.

File: 1358294836863.jpg-(9 KB, 320x180, of course, shit can still(...).jpg)

[x] “Depends. What is it?”

“That depends, Merlin.” You say, looking out over your formation. “Are you going to ask me what I think you are?”

“I... I don't want to leave the plane if anything happens.” She says, her voice barely audible.

You sigh. “That's what I thought you were going to say.”

it's not like you didn't expect this. Hell, you knew it was coming since DC. But if her mind's not in the game, Ice will send her home- that much has already been made abundantly clear to both of you.

And you could easily agree- how much would it really mean? Ejection is automated, after all- if you pull yours, her's will fire first anwyay. But you know, deep down, you'd be lying if you agreed.

[] “Of course, Merlin.”
[] “I can't honestly promise you that, kiddo.”
[] "YAR, MERLIN, YE BE ME FIRST MATE, AND WE AIN'T NEVER PARTIN', SAVVY?”

>>22608598
[x] "YAR, MERLIN, YE BE ME FIRST MATE, AND WE AIN'T NEVER PARTIN', SAVVY?”

>>22608598
>[] “I can't honestly promise you that, kiddo.”

>>22608598
>[] “I can't honestly promise you that, kiddo.”

>>22608598
[] “I can't honestly promise you that, kiddo.”

>>22608598
[X] “I can't honestly promise you that, kiddo.”

"Merlin, I will never lie to you, so I can't promise you that. I can't tell the future. But if something really bad does happen I'll be sure that you and I both leave at the same time, I'll be with you no matter what happens."

>>22608598
"Can't make that promise, Sam. But I can promise that I will do everything- and I do mean EVERYTHING- to keep you with me, in the plane or ejecting. I didn't like making you leave me in the Cat, and I don't intend to make you do it again."

>>22608598
>[] “Of course, Merlin.”
I wonder if right now that kind of talk is the best option. We are about to head into and hell and fury and she needs to be on her game.

>>22608598

d'awww

but on srs business...uh

[x] “I can't honestly promise you that, kiddo.”

you're going out first girlie wether you like or not, thems the breaks

>>22608598

THESE!

>>22608661
>>22608665

>>22608598
[x] “I can't honestly promise you that, kiddo. But I CAN promise that I won't be a dumbass and try to glide over enemy territory to land in a tiny pocket of allies. Where there's no strip. With both engines on fire.
Again.”

>>22608598
>[x] “I can't honestly promise you that, kiddo.”

>>22608598
[x] "YAR, MERLIN, YE BE ME FIRST MATE, AND WE AIN'T NEVER PARTIN', SAVVY?”

>>22608734
Oh, shit nigger. The fuck are you doing?

>>22608734
pfffffffttahahahaha

>>22608598
I suck at phrasing but it needs to made clear to her that, should Bat Shit™ happen, doing his damnedest to make sure she makes it out takes priority and is his responsibility and that Frank would never forgive himself if he let something happen to her. She is practically his little sister after all.

Then again maybe this is something that would be better left until they were back on the ground and not speeding into combat.

Oops!

>>22608598
Great, she's gone Catch-22...
[X]"I Can't honestly promise you that, kiddo."

Also, hopefully if we have to eject, we can eject Merlin from the main console.

>>22608761

This really isn't what Merlin needs to hear right now, given her separation anxiety.

>>22608827
Hence the spoilered bit.

>>22608769
I'd have to add to my post that we are well within our rights to scrub. Our RIO is showing signs of being psychologically compromised.

>>22608598
[x] "YAR, MERLIN, YE BE ME FIRST MATE, AND WE AIN'T NEVER PARTIN', SAVVY?”

>>22608869

right, because that would go over great with the rest of the squadron.

keep in mind, we're trying really hard to avoid sending Merlin off for psychological evaluation in the rear.

>>22608598

[x] "YAR, MERLIN, YE BE ME FIRST MATE, AND WE AIN'T NEVER PARTIN', SAVVY?”

>>22608598
>[x] "YAR, MERLIN, YE BE ME FIRST MATE, AND WE AIN'T NEVER PARTIN', SAVVY?”

>>22608915
Ah, forgot... still, not gonna let our Merlin commit suicide. We eject, we eject together. In fact if memory serves a twin seater can eject tandem.

Anyways... carry on. Keeping my choice though.

File: 1358296116870.jpg-(73 KB, 1087x766, 1145599303242.jpg)

>>22608598

[x] "YAR, MERLIN, YE BE ME FIRST MATE, AND WE AIN'T NEVER PARTIN', SAVVY?”

WE PIRATE NOW

>>22608598
>[x] "YAR, MERLIN, YE BE ME FIRST MATE, AND WE AIN'T NEVER PARTIN', SAVVY?”

>>22608598
>[x] “I can't honestly promise you that, kiddo.”

>>22608952

the F-14 will always eject the RIO first, regardless of who pulls the ejection handle, and I don't see why it wouldn't be the same for the two-seater wyvern.

>>22608598

[x] "YAR, MERLIN, YE BE ME FIRST MATE, AND WE AIN'T NEVER PARTIN', SAVVY?”

>>22609039
Ah.

Good to know... so we will be with Merlin no matter what... You know what, changin my vote...

[x]"YAR, MERLIN, YE BE ME FIRST MATE, AND WE AIN'T NEVER PARTIN' SAVVY?"

>>22608598
>[X] “I can't honestly promise you that, kiddo.”

[x] “I can't honestly promise you that, kiddo.”

Brutal honesty is best.

[x]"YAR, MERLIN, YE BE ME FIRST MATE, AND WE AIN'T NEVER PARTIN' SAVVY?"

She needs to take her mind off her problems right now, there is killing to do

>>22609179
>Our 15 year old RIO needs to stop worrying about dying, and start worrying about killing other people

Just putting that into context. War is Hell. Let's not forget that.

File: 1358297252026.jpg-(63 KB, 478x720, 1356906278440.jpg)

>>22609222

yeah, pretty much.

Can't promise you that kiddo.

File: 1358297550850.jpg-(31 KB, 500x407, Ok merlin, time to put do(...).jpg)

[x] “I can't honestly promise you that, kiddo.”

As much as you want to do your best pirate impression to lighten the mood, you decide against it.

“Merlin, I can't honestly make you that promise. We're a combat crew, shit can happen.” You say, sadly. “What I can promise you is that, no matter what, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure we stay safe and together. You savvy?”

“I... what?” She asks, and you grin beneath your helmet.

“Trying out my pirate.” You say.

She giggles. “A-as long as you don't make me leave without you, I guess...” She says.

“Yeah, I promise I won't try to glide this thing back with both engines on fire into a tiny pocket of friendly troops and no way to make the airstrip.” You say with a grimace.

“That was the dumbest thing ever.” She says, flatly. “Our jet knew neither one of you were going to make it.”

Ahead of you, the conventional squadrons start to drift apart, spacing themselves out and giving themselves room to maneuver if they need to. The Phantoms, outclassed as they would be in a fight, drift back, their old sparrow missiles no defense against modern soviet fighters.

You kind of feel bad for them. They're ideally suited towards shooting up soviet shipping, and launching ground attack missions. This, though? This is pushing it. Their missiles can still kill, of course, but they're still pretty poor compared to modern ones.

Still, you're nearing the flying carrier- brief flashes in the sky ahead of you proving the fighting going on there. You're not sure what they are, but something tells you each small flash is another fighter dying.

[] “Alright Merlin, let's get to work. Heat up the set and start warming up the missiles.”
[] Leave the set cold, see if you can get a datalink with an AWACS or the kitty hawk herself.

[x]"YAR, MERLIN, YE BE ME FIRST MATE, AND WE AIN'T NEVER PARTIN' SAVVY?

>>22609354
[X] “Alright Merlin, let's get to work. Heat up the set and start warming up the missiles.”

>>22609354
>[] Leave the set cold, see if you can get a datalink with an AWACS or the kitty hawk herself.
At least for a little bit

>>22609354
[x] Leave the set cold, see if you can get a datalink with an AWACS or the kitty hawk herself.

Rolled 71

>>22609354

>[] “Alright Merlin, let's get to work. Heat up the set, get a datalink with an AWACS or the Kitty Hawk and start warming up the missiles.”

Lets mark ourselves as the target with the active radar and get a datalink on where to vector to.

[x] Leave the set cold, see if you can get a datalink with an AWACS or the kitty hawk herself.

>>22609354
>[] Leave the set cold, see if you can get a datalink with an AWACS or the Kitty Hawk herself.
And if no, go hot asap.

>>22609354
>[x] Leave the set cold, see if you can get a datalink with an AWACS or the kitty hawk herself.

keep it quiet tell we get close, lets try and surprise those red bastards

>>22609354
[x]Leave the set cold, see if you can get a datalink with an AWACS or the kitty hawk herself.

Let's get tactical first, then let's get Merlin into the game if we can't. If we can share targets through the AWACS or the Kitty Hawk we can really go to town once Merlin starts doing her magic.

>>22609354
>[x] Leave the set cold, see if you can get a datalink with an AWACS or the kitty hawk herself.
But ready it to go hot.
Also, those Phantoms they are dead.

>>22609354
>[] Leave the set cold, see if you can get a datalink with an AWACS or the kitty hawk herself.

less beeb beep means more boom boom

>>22609441
We probably rank the pilots flying them. We should order them to go nose-hot.

[x] “Alright Merlin, let's get to work. Heat up the set and start warming up the missiles.”

Full power to the weapons.

>>22609354
[x] Leave the set cold, see if you can get a datalink with an AWACS or the kitty hawk herself.

>>22609354
[x] Leave the set cold, see if you can get a datalink with an AWACS or the kitty hawk herself.

Best we not draw attention to ourselves until we get close.

>>22609405
Hah, that reminds me of that one time in Rogue Squadron where Corran pretty much did the same thing.

Think we can use our avionics and Merlin's sparkly shit to boost the range the Phantoms' sparrows?

>>22609354
[x] “Alright Merlin, let's get to work. Heat up the set, get a datalink with an AWACS or the Kitty Hawk and start warming up the missiles.”

we have LPI and LDAR, though we aren't a stealth airframe, so might as well go in hot.

Go hot.
We are flying in formation with the plane known as " The victory of thrust over areodynamics" They can see us.
Plus, if they're in battle, I give good odds they don't notice an extra radar signal.

File: 1358299295384.jpg-(91 KB, 830x467, Woefully outclassed here.jpg)

[x] Leave the set cold, see if you can get a datalink with an AWACS or the kitty hawk herself.

“Merlin, see if you can't get us a datalink with an AWACS or something” You order, dropping yourself back from Ice and Slider by a few hundred meters and climbing just so slightly above them.

You wait a minute, then two, as Merlin tries to get you a good picture. Finally, frustrated, she gives up. “Something out there must have a really good ECM suite.” She says. “I can't even get the kitty hawk to respond, and even our radios are starting to degrade.”

“Outstanding.” you mutter beneath your breath. “What about our fancy sensors? The Tesla one?”

“Nothing. Well, nothing I'm sure of. It's supposed to be able to detect and process information on electrical sources in the air, kind of like those things a shark has? But there's nothing ahead of us but one great big blob. Radar's the same way, I bet.” She says.

“What about using magic?”

“Doesn't help, I already tried. Without a dedicated magic AWACS suite, I'm not going to have much luck. Only thing I can say for certainty is that the blob is below fifteen thousand feet.” She says.

Well, at least there's that.

[] Climb above them! In from the sun!
[] Dive low and sea-skim! No way they'll be able to pick you out down there.

>>22609815
>[] Climb above them! In from the sun!
here comes the sun~

Rolled 79

>>22609815

[x] Climb Above them! DEATH FROM ABOVE!

Worked in Alaska, should work here.

>>22609815

[] Climb above them! In from the sun!

>>22609815
>[] Dive low and sea-skim! No way they'll be able to pick you out down there.

Radar renders diving from the sun... less effective.

>>22609815
[x] Climb above them! In from the sun!

>>22609815
>the Tesla one
>things a shark has?
TESLA YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!

[x] Climb above them! In from the sun!

>>22609815
>[x] Climb above them! In from the sun!

I hear the bounce king resigned, I think its time to take the throne

>>22609815

[x] Climb above them! In from the sun!

>>22609815
>[] Climb above them! In from the sun!
DEATH FROM ABOVE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC3mxlwBN_c

>>22609815
>Climb above them! In from the sun!

>>22609863
Height advantage is always relevant when you're using missiles. The less fuel they have to burn getting to the right altitude and speed, the more fuel they have for terminal maneuvering.

>>22609873
eh the throne needs a new king!

>>22609815
[x]BOUNCE

>>22609815
[x] Climb above them! In from the sun!

Shh, no tears now. Only bounce.

>>22609815

[X] Climb above them! In from the sun!

Shit's about to get real...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNud_ybmTV8

>>22609815
>climb above them
aim for the thermal exhaust, chain reaction etc, even marstech has to obey Carnot laws!

File: 1358301545389.jpg-(62 KB, 750x600, Someone's following (...).jpg)

[x] Climb above them! In from the sun!

Without a clear radar picture, your AMRAAMS are just pointless weight. You can fire them into the mess without a lock, of course, but there's about an even three-way split that they'll hit a soviet, hit one of the birds from the Kitty Hawk, or miss completely.

You slowly start climbing- no reason to zoom climb just yet, watching as the witches follow you and Katya up.

Passing twenty thousand feet, you see the faint glow of Katya's 'bubble'- the pressure shield they use at high altitude. Noticing you looking, she points ahead of you.

Down below, the twisting contrails of a dogfight etch themselves around a trio of massive shapes- two lozenge-shaped ships, and one huge manta-ray shaped one that has to be the carrier. Tracer streams reach out from the three of them, searching for American fighters. Below even them, the Kitty Hawk's battle group fights back, missiles and naval gunfire hammering upwards at the Soviet skyships.

Your heart thuds painfully in your chest, and it takes an iron effort of will to keep yourself from shaking with the adrenaline flooding your system.

“Let's get 'em!” Someone unidentifiable snarls, and your group starts to break up, diving into the fight.

You follow suit, rolling inverted and pitching your nose down into the furball raging far below.

[] Prioritize the Soviet fighters! Once they're gone, the Phantoms can go to town!
[] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!
[] Are those martian dreads? Hit them! They're a threat to the fleet and every fighter here!

>>22610482
>Carrier
Attack the carrier, once the carrier is down, we can take out the capital ships, and the fighters can eliminate the dreadnaughts. Also, we will break Soviet morale, its time to sink a carrier.

>>22610482

[] Are those martian dreads? Hit them! They're a threat to the fleet and every fighter here!

You kill the escorts, the big shithead doesn't stand a chance.

>>22610482
[x] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here

The Carrier! We destroy that and this is over! CHARGE!

>>22610482
>[] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!
How many Harpoons do we have? If we have a couple, one for the big bitch, and one for a dread.

File: 1358301800319.jpg-(30 KB, 625x625, 1314394781985.jpg)

>>22610482
>[x] Are those martian dreads? Hit them! They're a threat to the fleet and every fighter here!

are they? FUCK!....... FUCK!

>PANIC

>>22610482
>[] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!

Those AIR-84s are only really good against the big 'uns, and once we drop them, hopefully that'll deal with the jamming.

>>22610482
>[] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!

>>22610482
[x] Are those martian dreads? Hit them! They're a threat to the fleet and every fighter here!

>>22610482
[x] Are those martian dreads? Hit them! They're a threat to the fleet and every fighter here!

they are probably the source of the jamming we should deal with them first

Rolled 33

>>22610482

[x] Prioritize the Soviet fighters! Once they're gone, the Phantoms can go to town!

We're the escort squadron. Lets take those bastards out and let those Attack Fighters do their job.

File: 1358301998599.gif-(1.39 MB, 240x252, 1307079047443.gif)

>>22610482
>[] Are those martian dreads? (Ask this before shooting it) Hit them! They're a threat to the fleet and every fighter here!
WHAT??? Harpoon the fuckers! Figure out if the Martians are fucking RED COMMIE Bastards or just fucking EVERYONE!

>mfw

>>22610598
the reds looted them like orks during the war I bet

So are we escort or attack?

>>22610612
Uncle Joe is half Martian robot, they maybe Martian.

[x] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!

>>22610629
Attack like an A-10 brrrrttttt-ing a column of T-72's.

>>22610482
[x] Prioritize the Soviet fighters! Once they're gone, the Phantoms can go to town!
The fighters are more of a threat, especially against the Phantoms. Once the fighters are dealt with, we can take out the carrier and the dreadnoughts.

[x] Prioritize the Soviet fighters! Once they're gone, the Phantoms can go to town!

I think people are assuming it's just like Ace Combat, a rather foolish notion.

>>22610482
>[] Prioritize the Soviet fighters! Once they're gone, the Phantoms can go to town!

We're in an air superiority fighter let's do what we're best at.

>>22610482
>[x] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here! "Cover me"

Our mission is the carrier, right now we're a flying fortress and Spellcaster needs to channel some red tails.

Once the carrier's down, our AtA load becomes more viable and we can go to town on everything else.

>>22610482
[x]Prioritize the Carrier!

The carrier is king.

>>22610482
[X] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!

We came here with a goal in mind, lets kill this carrier!

Rolled 97

>>22610482

[] Prioritize the Soviet fighters! Once they're gone, the Phantoms can go to town!

We're Air Sup. Not a missile Boat.

Let them do their jobs in peace while we knock shit from the sky.

>>22610482
[X] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!

Lets kill this ship, then we can take out the damn aliens.

>>22610734
look what we are armed with

>>22610482

[X] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!

Harpoon it and then Harpoon the dreads, after that help the Phantoms clear the fighter cover.

we are armed with anti ship missiles people we must attack the carrier before doing anything else

>>22610482
[X] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!

It is what Nixon brought us here for, lets make the old man proud.

>>22610771
WE also have mor AAMs than christ 13 AMRAAMS like 9 Agiles

Rolled 82

>>22610743

Just about all Agiles?

>>22610482
[x] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!

We can tear the fighters a new one once we get rid of this dead weight dragging our bird down..

>>22610734
We have Rocket Harpoons, Phantoms got AIM-7's.

>>22610482

>[] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!

We got antiship missiles....use them first!!

>>22610804
12 and 6 excuse me.

I was just thinking, but the dreadnoughts, they ARE ignoring the Carrier and the Soviet fighters, right?
It's not like this is a surprise attack by the Martians during conflict between the world's two biggest superpowers, is it?

>>22610825

Rockets.

To be used at close range.

That means charging all the way through flak and SAMs and god knows how many fighters trying to nail us.

>>22610482
[X] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!

Finish the carrier, save the world.

I wonder if we could have Merlin sparklefi the Harpoons for even more punch. She's done it before hasn't she?

>>22610835
Good point.

Dreads first. If shooting aliums is wrong, I don't want to be right.

>>22610482
[X] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!

This entire mission is for one thing, killing the carrier. We can kill the dreads later.

>>22610815

And using AIM-7s against frontline fighters like the SU-27s is going to be a waste.

Having the Phantoms form up into attack waves and mass launching them at the flying carriers/dreads means a greater hit probability since they don't need to track as much and their CIWS can only shoot down so many missiles.

>>22610482
either Carrier or Fighters
yay I finally get to post in 89

[x]Kill the carrier

>>22610835

I bet they're captured dreads that have been put into Soviet service.

[x] Carrier! Let's launch those harpoons.

Also, prepare for lewd time with Merlin. Frank/Wyrven/Merlin OTP.

[x] Prioritize the Soviet fighters! Once they're gone, the Phantoms can go to town!

>>22610987
>Frank/Wyrven OTP
FTFY

>>22610482
Awright ladies and gents. WICHIZU, take down those dreads. Because thats what you were originally for. Then we prioritize the soviet fighters.

File: 1358303926881.png-(293 KB, 640x480, 1258354856570.png)

>>22611153
>WICHIZU
My mind immediately screamed 'WACHA!'.

File: 1358304055916.jpg-(359 KB, 3000x2000, 1333154015008.jpg)

FOOLISH PILOT I STILL LIVE!!

File: 1358304186469.jpg-(42 KB, 620x400, sinistar_368527.jpg)

>>22611224
BEWARE, I LIVE.

>>22611187
>>22611224
>>22611275
A NEW KING WILL SIT ON THE BOUNCE THRONE AND VANQUISH ALL THE EVIL.

>>22611305
KINGS FOR THE KING GOD, BOUNCES FOR THE BOUNCE THRONE.

>>22611224
how!?!

>>22611432
EVEN IN DEATH HE STILL HAS BAD TACTICS

>>22611487

>yfw we actually formed up a big wing before heading to meet the Soviets

>>22611506
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

File: 1358304926744.jpg-(128 KB, 750x600, The Soviet theory on the (...).jpg)

[x] Prioritize the carrier! It's the main objective here!

The negative G force builds as your altimeter flashes down, your formation fragmenting around you as each wing pair selects a target and engages, relieving some of the pressure on the Kitty Hawk's fighters as the soviet pilots react to the sudden appearance of thirty more fighters and seven witches, one of the Russian fighters falling prey to Ice's new rifle almost instantly, it's pilot ejecting from his fragmenting craft.

The carrier flies in front of you, it's huge bulk lumbering through the sky, seeming oblivious to the fight around it. Still, someone, somewhere takes an interest in you, forcing you to break off your initial run before you even closed enough range to fire an agile, let alone one of your ship killing rockets. Automatic gunfire tears across the sky after you, though, thankfully, the soviet fighters are too tied up to take any shots at you.

You grunt at the sudden gees as you pull out of your dive, looking up long enough to watch a turret on one of the dreadnaughts flash, a corresponding explosion on the Kitty Hawk smearing across her flight deck. Smoke rises from the damaged carrier, evidence of other impacts.

“Frank! Frank we gotta go! There's a witch on our tail!” Merlin cries out.

You roll right just in time, sensing the tracers burn their way across the sky beneath you.

[] Stay low, Get fast! Loose her amongst the ships of the battle group!
[] Someone come get this bitch off me!
[] Oh no you did not just shoot that commie shit at me! Hold on Merlin, bitch is gonna pay!

>>22611525
>>22611506
Don't mean it's a good thing.

>>22611539
[X] Someone come get this bitch off me!

>>22611539
>[x] Oh no you did not just shoot that commie shit at me! Hold on Merlin, bitch is gonna pay!

>>22611539
[x] Stay low, Get fast! Loose her amongst the ships of the battle group!

>>22611539

>[] Oh no you did not just shoot that commie shit at me! Hold on Merlin, bitch is gonna pay!

>>22611539
KATYAAAAAA!
Failing that, put on some speed. There is a reason we head out last, and this dumb bitch is riding our tail.

>>22611539

[] Someone come get this bitch off me!

"Katya, a little help here?"

This is what wingmen are for

>>22611539
[x] Oh no you did not just shoot that commie shit at me! Hold on Merlin, bitch is gonna pay!

Eat sidewinder, cunt. I hope you can withstand 21 pounds of high explosive and shrapnel.

>>22611539

[x] Oh no you did not just shoot that commie shit at me! Hold on Merlin, bitch is gonna pay!

>>22611539
>[] Oh no you did not just shoot that commie shit at me! Hold on Merlin, bitch is gonna pay!

>>22611602
Yeah, call the wingwitch.

>>22611539
[x] Someone get this bitch off me

cause dogfighting with a fully loaded bird will end BADLY

[x] Someone come get this bitch off me!

I see the "wants to see a witch get splattered" crowd is active (if not samefagging)

Eyes on the mission folks; we did decide on the carrier.

>>22611644
good point change >>22611576

>>22611539
>[] Stay low, Get fast! Loose her amongst the ships of the battle group!
Set up for a run on those dreads. They might have scrubbed our first run, but fuck if they will scrub the second.

>>22611539

Should have loosed the AMRAAMs on the way down, even if we were bearing down on the carrier.

>>22611539

[X] Someone come get this bitch off me!

"Katya, where the hell are you?" Go evasive until Adorable Cossack 2.0 gets here.

>>22611539
Get the wingwitch, that's what she's for.

>>22611539

[] Someone come get this bitch off me!

Call for aid, if we get targets of opportunity, loose agiles.

>>22611644
dammit. I ain't no bird driver. changing to this as well.

>>22611539
[X] Someone come get this bitch off me!

Call in the greatest weapon in our arsenal, Katya, the wingwitch.

>>22611539
[x]someone come get this bitch off of me

Also, oh god the Kitty Hawk is going to take critical damage, that armor plating can't take much more of this, where the hell are the destroyers and frigates!

>>22611539
>Stay low, get fast, evade while having someone get her off you

>>22611539
[x] Someone come get this bitch off me!

We need to unload all the extra ordnance we're carrying before dogfighting. The carrier's huge, so Katya only needs to buy us a few seconds.

>>22611539
[x] Someone come get this bitch off me!

>[] Oh no you did not just shoot that commie shit at me! Hold on Merlin, bitch is gonna pay!
This is almost worth voting for just to see if he lures her in close enough to pop a drogue and gun her down.

[x] Oh no you did not just shoot that commie shit at me! Hold on Merlin, bitch is gonna pay!

We did almost start off this Quest in a school that primarily taught Frank how to shoot down witches, and now we have a plane built just for that.

>>22611539
[x] Someone come get this bitch off me!
Get Katya to get this Witch off our tail; we can't dogfight with a full load of anti-ship missiles.

>>22611880
We can shoot down all the witches we want AFTER we drop our heavy ordinance. Until then we have a job to do.

We're still a crazy pilot, but we're a Professional Crazy Pilot.

>kitted out for air superiority
>attack the carriers

/tg/ decision making at its finest.

[x]Someone get this bitch off me!

Katya, now is your chance to prove that love is loyalty!

>>22611880

Need to get rid of the Harpoons first: they're weighing the Wyvern down. Wyverns sacrifice armor for speed and maneuverability, so we can't take hits even with Merlin's shields.

We can dogfight it out AFTER we hit the carrier and dreads with the Harpoons.

>>22611971
Well what the fuck are these giant harpoons for then?

>>22611935
>AFTER we drop our heavy ordinance
this
>>22611971
>unguided harpoons
>air superiority
after we shoot them, we're golden

>>22611971

Do you even Harpoon??

>>22611606
>Eat sidewinder, cunt. I hope you can withstand 21 pounds of high explosive and FUCK YOUl.
FTFY

>>22611995
>>22612014

Ever considered getting in that close to launch those harpoons might be a tad difficult with all the escorts and top cover?

>>22611987

Then we should have launched the AMRAAMs.

Why did we hold on to long range missiles and get into the middle of a knife fight.

>>22612084

Radar's jammed to hell and back, that's why.

>>22612084

Radar jamming. Launching AMRAAMs blind into the furball would result in a miss, hitting a Soviet fighter, or hitting one of our own.

>>22611539
Drop below the carrier, then Pugachev so that we've got our nose pointed at it and start launching our rockets.

>>22612302
Then take all the FOD damage.

>>22612424
What does that acronym mean?

>>22612474
Foreign Object Damage. Its what happens when an engine inhales things that are not air.

File: 1358307902198.jpg-(5 KB, 320x180, Kill the beast while it&#(...).jpg)

[x] Someone come get this bitch off me!

“Hey Katya! Little help?” You yell into your radio while tearing through the air, a few feet above the sea.

“She is too close! I cannot shoot without risking hitting you!” Katya cries.

“Shit.” You respond, banking hard to avoid ramming into a cruiser wreathed in smoke from her VLS launches.

“Hang on, I am coming!” She calls.

You grunt a response, trying to keep track of the soviet witch hell-bent on killing you and the ocean, which could probably give less of a fuck, but is just as happy to take your life all the same.

Another stream of tracers arcs over your canopy, causing you to instinctively pull away, frantically trying to dodge the witch's aim.

“Any time would be good!” You yell, rolling up and over the helicopter pad on a destroyer.

“Frank, on count of three, Climb!” Katya orders. “One... two.... three!”

You yank the stick hard back, trying to shove your throttles farther forward, to no avail. You can almost feel the soviet witch's glee- you made a fatal mistake.

1/2

You look back in time to see that glee fade into terror as a pair of high-caliber, magically-enhanced slugs from Katya's BAR hammer through her left leg, shredding the striker, and the meat beneath it. She's still alive, you think, but her flying days are over for sure- her left striker, sputtering and flaming, falls away separate from the rest of her.

“Nice shot, Katya!” You crow, leveling out and taking brief stock of the situation. The Kitty Hawk's crippled, no doubt- you can see the gaping rents in her flight deck from here. She'll spend months in the dry dock for sure.

The rest of her battlegroup's less beat up, though the pair of cruisers show plenty of damage themselves.

Above you, one dreadnaught is trailing smoke and listing, while the other has taken some hits, but doesn't look to be too badly damaged. The Carrier's in similar straights- some damage, a few streamers of smoke trailing hits, but nothing critical looking. The dogfight has begun to thin out, though your phantom jocks have paid a frightful price, and the hornets look to be down more than a few fighters themselves.

[] Let's finish off those fighters!
[] Hit the carrier! There's not enough of those escorts to chase us off anymore!
[] Hit those dreads! They're chewing up the fleet!

>>22612474
Foreign Object Damage
tl;dr shit gets in our engines and rips the turbines up to hell and back.

>>22612506
[x]Hit the carrier.

We have won this battle, lets finish the carrier, then hit the dread, then victory.

>>22612506
>[] Hit the carrier! There's not enough of those escorts to chase us off anymore!

>>22612488
So why would that happen in this case?

>>22612506
>[] Hit the carrier! There's not enough of those escorts to chase us off anymore!
Let loose the rockets and then we can deal with the others.

[x]Hit the carrier.

>>22612506

[x] Now we hit the carrier.

After that, unload ALL THE AMRAAMS into the side of a Dread

>>22612506
Years of sucking at Starcraft has taught me that targeting Carriers is a good plan and I should do it instead of hitting softer targets. Go for the carrier!

>>22612506
>[] Hit the carrier! There's not enough of those escorts to chase us off anymore!
Screw your courage to its sticking place!

>>22612506
>[] Let's finish off those fighters!
Those dreads and carriers aren't going to be going anywhere. Lets finish up the fighters, and then give the carrier a couple of souviniers.

>>22612506
Hit the carrier, because when that goes all the Soviet fighters and witches can either ditch now, get shot down, or crash when they fail to make it to the nearest base.

>>22612506
Are we clear? If so, hit the carrier.

I wonder if we can get some heavy duty Naval SAMs on it too...

>>22612506
>[] Hit the carrier! There's not enough of those escorts to chase us off anymore!

>>22612540
You hit the carrier with the rocket when you're head-to-head with it, that debris has to go somewhere. Hello, engine intakes.

>>22612506
[x] Hit the carrier! There's not enough of those escorts to chase us off anymore!
Use those AIR-84's.

>>22612506
>your phantom jocks have paid a frightful price, and the hornets look to be down more than a few fighters themselves

Should have gone after the fighters first.

>>22612506
Launch half of everything we've got at the carrier and the other half at the active dread.

We can use guns if we still have killing to do after that.

>>22612506
>[x] Hit the carrier! There's not enough of those escorts to chase us off anymore!

Finish the job, then we can kill planes/witches/Dreads as necessary.

>>22612580
You only Pugachev long enough to launch on the carrier. Once the rockets are away, you drop level and zoom off.

>>22612506
[x] Hit the carrier! There's not enough of those escorts to chase us off anymore!

We have multiple carriers but the Soviets only have one flying one. Kill it and they lose all of their power projection.

>>22612595
like one fighter would of changed things

>>22612705

Actually yes.

Our dive in the F-15 over alaska with using the newer model agiles racked up 5 kills and 2 partials in a single pass.

>>22612595
Eh, the Phantoms were meatshields; their whole purpose in this fight was to take the brunt of the fighter cover off of us. They did their job.

>>22612506
[X] Hit the carrier! There's not enough of those escorts to chase us off anymore!

HARPOON!

>>22612705
>like one fighter would of changed things
One fighter jock might not, but the Eagle of Tanana would fuck shit up.

news flash: /tg/ is fucking idiots with anything tactical. If you're not out lusting for blood, you're making decisions based on a video game.

Honestly I'm not sure how it could have been better with /tg/ at the wheel. All things considered... this isn't bad. (that in itself is a bad sign of /tg/'s tactical ineptitude)

>>22612766
that name is still stupid

>>22612725
Unfortunately we didn't have bigger things to worry about like a giant fucking flying aircraft carrier.

>>22612782
Well I sure as shit didn't pick it. It could be worse though.

>>22612772
At least we haven't done the pistol thing yet.

>>22612766
so were mu la flaga?

soon we will run in to a soviet witch with a mask....

>>22612785

So we went after the carrier?

What did we get?

Enough flak and attention from soviet top cover to cause us break off.

We wasted a pass not loosing any missiles or taking any targets down.

>>22612828
We're a fighter jock. Think Macross, not Gundam.

>>22612844
he was a fighter jock most of the show

>>22612858
oh ya the skygrasper

>>22612858
By "most" you mean "half", right?

Also, SEED leads to SEED Destiny, and SEED Destiny leads to suffering. So we really don't want any part of that.

>>22612811
that's better than what /tg/ usually chooses. But /tg/ seems better in combat in SWQ than in this while they handle this story's out of combat stuff better.

>>22612916
Missiles change the combat environment quite a bit.

>>22612916
To be fair, they usually manage not to get tens of people killed and millions of dollars of plane destroyed.

>>22612506

Ghost, which part of the flight deck was hit?

Is the Kitty Hawk still able to conduct recovery operations?

We're might need some tankers out here to get the birds back to the shore.

Agiles probably are not effected by the jamming so use them up on the remaining fighters and then hit the carrier

>>22612916
Actually, that really just depends on the goodwill of the OP.
planefag always plays social interactions out to get Young into the deepest possible shit, no matter how reasonable the decision (Not that /tg/ wouldn't happily ride that train).
GhostDivision simply does not pull that kind of stuff and presents people around Fronk as way more reasonable, which makes it easier not to go full retard or accidentally run into problems.

>>22613014
instead the mix of Ace Combat, more modern stuff and a few other things seemingly ensures that /tg/'s function tactical IQ is below that of an Ork.

>>22613014
>accidentally run into problems.
Making and escalating problems is expected behavior of course, on both our part and GD's.

>>22612836
What the fuck do you expect us to do? We're carrying a strike loadout, not a pure dogfighting one, and our AMRAAMs are useless in this situation.

Meanwhile the carrier's chances of escaping griw higher the longer we ignore it.

>>22613073
>escaping
It's a fat piece of shit, where's it going to go with its escort destroyed?

>>22613100
Back over Russian airspace, where there are undoubtedly a fuckton of SAM batteries ready and waiting to fuck shit up.

>>22612506
Clear the fighters off to simplify the combat space. Taking out the carrier is a tempting 2-for-1, but in the short term, the enemy fighters are still a threat. And since this the Russian Flying Supercarrier, we might get brainwashed Soviet pilots fighting to the death or kamikaze attacks, rather than surrenders.
When we do get around to attacking the carrier/dreads, Boom and Zoom, since we are basically doing an unguided rocket attack against a ground target, just higher up.
>>22612951
Since this was a close range battle, we have some leeway in routing tankers to recover fighters.

>>22613100
Drydock. Because we are going to fuck some shit up before it goes.

>>22613100
Underwater. These things can always fucking submerge in every other show they appear in, so why wouldn't this one be able to?

What part of FLYING carrier do you not understand?

>>22612951
I'd think that all you need to be able to do recovery is to throw a patch over the trashed part of the deck. Launch is the one you can fuck up more thoroughly, since that requires working catapults.

Blowing off an elevator is nastier than either, though.

>>22613146
given this seems to be a carbon copy of the Ace Combat superweapon?

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FUCK NO.

>>22613073

I expected Fronk not to be a glory hound and charge after the biggest target available right from the start. That was exactly the behaviour we avoided when we first went to Mirarmar and worked with Ice to shoot down viper.

>>22613183
It was more than likely anon going stupid over what they had equipped and vidya logic than proper glory hounding.

I doubt the carrier blowing up would magically make the other enemies give up and those lost pilots? Not NPCs.

>>22613183
Big priority target =/= Glory hound.

The Carrier is probably the source of the jamming. It is also the logistical trail for the fighters. It is spewing a wall of AA flak.

It is also easier to get rid of 2 unguided harpoons than ten or so AAMs. which would then probably work again once the jamming's gone.

Carrier was a perfectly legitimate course of action.

File: 1358310649335.jpg-(141 KB, 640x512, RIP.jpg)

[x] Hit the carrier! There's not enough of those escorts to chase us off anymore!

There's not enough escorts to keep you off the carrier anymore, and those dreadnaughts are busily dueling with the ships below.

Fortuitously, your brief flight from the soviet witch put you in a great position for a run on the carrier- the shot won't be the easiest you've ever made, but it's not going to be the hardest, either.

Still, Tracer fire reaches down for you, complicating the shot, and you're only able to get one of your two harpoon rockets off, instead of both. You're almost mesmerized by it's arrow-straight smoke trail, the big, heavy missile scorching a path across the sky.

It impacts up near the intakes on the carrier's port side engines, causing a pair of painfully bright secondary explosions. The carrier lists in the air, it's wing dipping as black smoke pours from the destroyed engine bank.

You dive away from the big ship, evading the sudden interest of several gun emplacements, mentally setting up your second run. The Soviet fighters are almost all gone, and the remaining soviet witches are sorely outclassed- the two or three that remain struggling vainly against the numbers.

Still, the dreadnaughts are proving to be every bit the equal of their reputation- chasing off fighters with deadly accurate maser fire, automatic gunfire from soviet weapons added in some refit, and the occasional missile launch.

The least damaged of the two's underside maser turrets swivel, tracking the stricken Kitty Hawk below. As you watch, it fires, hitting the carrier somewhere amidships.

A pair of small secondary explosions are followed seconds later by a catastrophic detonation as her magazine goes up, simply obliterating the center of the ship. The remaining sections, pitiful remnants of the once mighty ship, bob briefly in the cold water before sinking like stones.

[] Continue the second run. This thing dies, now.
[] Revenge! Kill that dreadnaught!

File: 1358310674702.gif-(454 KB, 320x240, Tomino's Murder Dance.gif)

Guys, I just realized something. You know how we grabbed Merlin the novelization of Mobile Suit Gundam while we were book shopping?
That was a bad idea. Because, in the novel, Amuro gets offed by a random beam bazooka shot from behind at the Battle of A Baoa Qu. Considering Merlin's current mental state...

>>22613229

well, strictly speaking, they are literally NPCs, since fronk's the player character in this quest.

>>22613250
[x] Continue the second run. This thing dies, now.

>>22613250
[] Revenge! Kill that dreadnaught!

MAME KILL BURN!

>>22613250
>[] Continue the second run. This thing dies, now.

>>22613250
[x] Continue the second run. This thing dies, now.
Stay on target

>>22613250
Finish the carrier. We have a job to do.

Besides, once it's dead, we can use the rest of our warload on the dreadnaught.

>>22613250
>[] Revenge! Kill that dreadnaught!
FUCK UP THOSE DREADNOUGHTS, WE SHOULD HAVE FOCUSED ON THEM FROM THE START!

>>22613250
>[] Revenge! Kill that dreadnaught!
Fuck dreads.

>>22613250
[x] Continue the second run. This thing dies, now.

[x] Continue the second run. This thing dies, now.

Keep our eye on the target.

>>22613260
Have you heard of a fatass named Tenzam Nakijima? He's so deluded he sees people as NPCs and it's not a pretty picture.

>>22613288
If we break off now, the carrier is going to do it's best to get in a much harder to kill position.

File: 1358310866285.jpg-(41 KB, 604x453, seemstobeaproblem.jpg)

>>22613250
>Finish the carrier
It's already hurting, we need to finish it off. After that we can kill the dread