Page 211: Grand Theft Umiak Cruiser

[Cthulhu]

The comic lives, again!

Page 211Show

Our intrepid heroes shall delve into the lair of the Enemy, for honor and glory (but mostly, for survival). What wonders or riches are they going to find? What dangers must they face? Will Alexander impress all the ladies with a heroic feat, or will he be dragged around like luggage?

Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?

[Krulle]

Well, his vacuum suit seems to be the most delicate one.
I wonder what he can really do.

(Plus, he's never been in a war against a space-age enemy)

Alex running along quietly (as told, showing awareness of where to be extra careful, recognising hand-signs, ...), and carrying some equipment will already be considered a success under these circumstances.


His biggest chance to impress will be if the Umiak have some kind of interface he recognises partly from the Orgus and which tells the Loroi nothing (as they had contact with the Umiak from a different part of Umiak space than the Loroi do have contact with), but I consider this unlikely.

The other thing may be his broader range of education which may help to impress (as the caste system may result in a rather narrow-minded education, on top of the short time to learn due to fast maturing of the Loroi). We humans have more time to do a bit of this and that.
But he's competing against a Listel with eidetic memory, and the chance to have learned telepathically from a lot of different Loroi.


But my question now:
What about Shoe Girl?

[orion1836]

But my question now:
What about Shoe Girl?

Rest in peace.

[inxsi]

I'm thinking the loroi will be happy if Alex doesn't alert the umiak or panic, doesn't wander into any exposed position, and does as he's told without needing too much of Beryl's attention. If he manages to carry anything or do anything useful is above and beyond in my opinion. I may have watched too much Stargate SG-1 recently with the non-combat folks on enemy starships for my assessment.

Though part of me is thinking we get some long, drawn-out scene of Alex fighting a barely-enhanced umiak (both without guns). He eventually gets the upper hand, celebrates for a second, then staggers out to see the truly massive amount of umiak the others have killed in the meantime. 99% sure this won't happen but it struck me as humorous.

[Cthulhu]

Well, his vacuum suit seems to be the most delicate one.
I wonder what he can really do.

Well, he's supposed to be the genius kid, perhaps he can help with an unconventional insight. Maybe even a telepathic one, considering what we saw on the last page. He has the unique chance of obtaining a "space elf harem" like in some fanfics here.

SpoilerShow

My money's on a heroic act where he will save either Fireblade or even everyone with the help of his newfound telepathy.

But my question now:
What about Shoe Girl?

She was sacrificed for this witchery to work. Either figuratively (as a distraction) or maybe...

[DevilDalek]

Well, his vacuum suit seems to be the most delicate one.
I wonder what he can really do.

Well, he's supposed to be the genius kid, perhaps he can help with an unconventional insight. Maybe even a telepathic one, considering what we saw on the last page. He has the unique chance of obtaining a "space elf harem" like in some fanfics here.

SpoilerShow

My money's on a heroic act where he will save either Fireblade or even everyone with the help of his newfound telepathy.

But my question now:
What about Shoe Girl?

She was sacrificed for this witchery to work. Either figuratively (as a distraction) or maybe...

How about an act of strategic genius? Something we know he is already capable of.

Since it looks to be a heavy gunboat, it says the crew can be 25-50,
Not sure how those odds translate though.

Also.. looking at this..

Do you think there might be a chance the renegade is onboard?

[Cthulhu]

Since it looks to be a heavy gunboat, it says the crew can be 25-50,

Nope, it's a Type-KT cruiser, those have around 300 bugs on board.

It is the same ship as on p.135, but it's a variant on the KT hybrid missile/strike cruiser.

Although it has the same quad PD blasters that the Type-KTKh are supposed to have. Well, the Shells use whatever's available, I guess?

[inxsi]

Well, his vacuum suit seems to be the most delicate one.
I wonder what he can really do.

Well, he's supposed to be the genius kid, perhaps he can help with an unconventional insight. Maybe even a telepathic one, considering what we saw on the last page. He has the unique chance of obtaining a "space elf harem" like in some fanfics here.

I wonder what he could do with his telepathy that Tempo and Fireblade cannot - maybe he is actually picking up the location of physical objects? I suppose that could be useful. I wonder how much the loroi will trust any such revelations if they have time to think the issue through.

Also, that is a lot more umiak than I thought there would be on board.

[Arent]

The comic lives, again!

Page 211Show

Our intrepid heroes shall delve into the lair of the Enemy, for honor and glory (but mostly, for survival). What wonders or riches are they going to find? What dangers must they face? Will Alexander impress all the ladies with a heroic feat, or will he be dragged around like luggage?

Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?

As I said, it's a typical Monday morning for Tempo. Getting boarded by Umiak, taking over their vessel. Been there, done that.

Also nice to see the FYH of the original Star Trek in Loroi form.

[DevilDalek]

Since it looks to be a heavy gunboat, it says the crew can be 25-50,

Nope, it's a Type-KT cruiser, those have around 300 bugs on board.

It is the same ship as on p.135, but it's a variant on the KT hybrid missile/strike cruiser.

Although it has the same quad PD blasters that the Type-KTKh are supposed to have. Well, the Shells use whatever's available, I guess?

Well then, even more chance the renegade is onboard.

[Zorg56]

Though part of me is thinking we get some long, drawn-out scene of Alex fighting a barely-enhanced umiak (both without guns). He eventually gets the upper hand, celebrates for a second, then staggers out to see the truly massive amount of umiak the others have killed in the meantime. 99% sure this won't happen but it struck me as humorous.

Umiak worker 5 times his size and weight with hard shell, he wont be able to do any damage to it, let alone umiak soldier.
They cant even give him a gun, their guns dont have either iron sight or holo, so most likely they are tied to their eye implants or somehow connected to them via telepathy, so no luck for alex

[Mk_C]

Umiak worker 5 times his size and weight with hard shell, he wont be able to do any damage to it, let alone umiak soldier.

I really doubt that Alex will have to get his hands dirty, but then again I also doubted that they'll try and board the Krooza. In any case - Umiak are big and heavy since they normaly live under weak gravity. So humans and Loroi have a John Carter of Mars situation in relation to them.

They cant even give him a gun, their guns dont have either iron sight or holo, so most likely they are tied to their eye implants or somehow connected to them via telepathy, so no luck for alex

They don't have sights because those are guns for a ship's crew, for shipboard combat - firefights at distances rarely exceeding several meters. Nobody needs any sights in situations like that.

[Zorg56]

In any case - Umiak are big and heavy since they normaly live under weak gravity. So humans and Loroi have a John Carter of Mars situation in relation to them.

It shouldnt be to that point and can even be not the case.
Humans could have lighter build compared to umiak etc.
I dont think that organisms that will be born in low gravity should be much weaker, yes you need less strenght to support yourself, but that means also that with same amount of strenght you will run faster and jump higher, which means you are in advantage to hunt prey/escape preadators.

They don't have sights because those are guns for a ship's crew, for shipboard combat - firefights at distances rarely exceeding several meters. Nobody needs any sights in situations like that.

It dosent work like that, all modern submachineguns for indoor fighting have sights. You just wont hit anything without them, it is almost impossible to hit meaningfull target with a hipfire even at point blank range. You need them unless you literally shovel your gun into enemy face.

SpoilerShow

[Mk_C]

I dont think that organisms that will be born in low gravity should be much weaker, yes you need less strenght to support yourself, but that means also that with same amount of strenght you will run faster and jump higher, which means you are in advantage to hunt prey/escape preadators.

We know that canonically Umiak are very uncomfortable and clumsy under 1 full g.

It dosent work like that, all modern submachineguns for indoor fighting have sights.

There's no such thing as "modern submachineguns for indoor fighting". Most modern firearms are produced for a wide variety of purposes and circumstances - none of them are made with the assumption of the users spending their entire service in a system of tiny hermetically-sealed boxes traveling through vacuum. The closest to that would be specialized experimental firearms for submariners and combat divers... many of which had no sights.

You just wont hit anything without them, it is almost impossible to hit meaningfull target with a hipfire even at point blank range. You need them unless you literally shovel your gun into enemy face.

Firstly - "not using sights" does not equal "hip fire".
Secondly - that's just blatantly not true. It's entirely possible to hit a body-sized target at up to 15 meters if you have at least some practice, and it's trivial with automatic fire. I've done that personally. It would be even more trivial for awesome sci-fi guns that have no recoil and serve as their own LS - like Loroi particle blaster pistols.

[entity2636]

I have a feelinh this is gonna get interesting and we will soon see just now badass the loroi officers are!

Alex to Beryl: "What are we up against? How big is their crew?"
Beryl: " Oh, just some 300-ish, piece of cake!"
Alex: "*censored*"

[gaerzi]

His biggest chance to impress will be if the Umiak have some kind of interface he recognises partly from the Orgus and which tells the Loroi nothing (as they had contact with the Umiak from a different part of Umiak space than the Loroi do have contact with), but I consider this unlikely.

It'd do nothing to assuage the suspicions of those who think he may be an Umiak plant if he mysteriously understand Umiak interfaces better than the Loroi (including intelligence officers such as Tempo and inquisitive turbonerds such as Beryl) do.

[Zorg56]

We know that canonically Umiak are very uncomfortable and clumsy under 1 full g.

Still Alex shouldnt be able to hand to hand combat it even if we get Mars case, exoskeleton should prevent any damage.

There's no such thing as "modern submachineguns for indoor fighting". Most modern firearms are produced for a wide variety of purposes and circumstances - none of them are made with the assumption of the users spending their entire service in a system of tiny hermetically-sealed boxes traveling through vacuum. The closest to that would be specialized experimental firearms for submariners and combat divers... many of which had no sights.

Indoor fighting is the closest thing we have that can compare to the spaceship boarding action, underwater guns made with the range of 2-3 m in mind and water being around.
Submachinegun fires pistol rounds, 9x19 for example effective on ranges up to only 50 meters, all submachineguns made for close quarters fights and this is what boarding action is.
There is no modern weapon aside from, probably, mentioned underwater guns, that dont have sights of any kind or mounts for them.

Firstly - "not using sights" does not equal "hip fire".
Secondly - that's just blatantly not true. It's entirely possible to hit a body-sized target at up to 15 meters if you have at least some practice, and it's trivial with automatic fire. I've done that personally. It would be even more trivial for awesome sci-fi guns that have no recoil and serve as their own LS - like Loroi particle blaster pistols.

It really is.
I didnt said it is impossible to hit anything- i said it is impossible to hit meaningful target, which it is.
I done that too, and thats why i say that despite being cool it is useless unles you dont have other options.

[Cthulhu]

1. You can fire without sights just fine, and you can hit stuff, but it's more of a hitting the general idea of a target. However, with heavy armored hardtroopers, you'd need either big guns or precise fire to hit weak spots. Therefore, the "sights" are most probably built into the helmets and offer HUD aim assists.
2. The Umiak are described as agile, dangerous creatures in their native gravity, like on their own ship. While a human might be stronger, he will be unaccustomed to low-G combat and hand-to-hand combat with a six-legged giant bug is insane. You'd switch to literal unarmed combat in no time at all.
3. While I have no idea how they are going to defeat 300 bugs, they will need to do this faster than them realizing that something is fishy. Otherwise, they can either swarm them or simply self-destruct.

[CrimsonFALKE]

We are missing the star meter at the top left gang! The only question is what will keep the crew from sounding an alarm and scuttling the ship.

[Arioch]

1. The Loroi weapons don't have familiar features like trigger guards or iron sights because they are meant to look futuristic and alien. We suppose that an ultra tech weapon has more advanced features. Iron sights are not the only type of sight.
2. Gun sights weren't a feature of regular military firearms until the late nineteenth century. Surely we are not to assume that nobody hit anything during the first 500 years of their use?