His Majesty's Dragons: World at War

[JimmyTheCannon]

Question - how close together are the three rows of spines on the Razorback's back?

A few feet I imagine. Enough room for a person to sit comfortably between them.

Between each row, or between the spines in a particular row? I'm asking about between the rows.

[General Havoc]

Hey Havoc, I get the winchester not being heavy enough to pull a razorback into a spiral, but whatever happened to the 180 degree roll that was supposed to break/sprain its tail that happened BEFORE the pull-down? The concept I was going for was something along these lines. Imagine you're a 150 lb person doing a pullup. Now imagine a 60 lb child jumps onto your leg and twists using his entire body weight for momentum. Even with the weight difference, that's gotta possibly result in a sprain at best, and a compound fracture at worst, no? figure something's gotta give.

The pull down after that was a seperate component to the maneuver... and probably doomed to failure from the get-go... so... ow.

One important aspect to remember here is that the 150 pound person doing the pullup is anchored to something (the pullup bar), while the dragon you seized was flying. A better example might be if the 60 pound child grabs the adult's leg while both of them are in a swimming pool. While he will wrench the leg somewhat, what will more likely happen is that the child will simply pull the two of them together, as there's nothing anchoring the adult to force the break or sprain, and nothing the child can push off of to ensure all the force is delivered to the proper place.

There's ways for a courierweight to deal with something larger than it, but I'm afraid the tail-hammer-throw is not one of them.

Is Kalter Sturm still diving?

Yes he is, and therefore you're free to chase the Bavarian down with your frost breath and claws. I'm afraid even in a dive you were not close enough to intercept her post-charge, but you're in striking distance now and you're moving faster than she is.

Do try to avoid sending a second Axis dragon into incalculable blood rage...

Yeah, I read it as intentional as well. That gets... pretty close to the infamy of the Stuka. Though not quite so jarring.

The Antichrists of Sicily have not acquired that nickname lightly. Most dragons, as Cyncat pointed out, love and revere their captains, even such terrible beasts as Wendigo or Jannisaries or Mongolian Skyflayers. Nemeses are truly vile dragons, whose bitter hatreds will accept no limitations, and while behavior like this is rare, even for a Nemesis, it does occasionally surface. They are one of the few breeds that nobody tries to pretend they are more evil than. Not even Wendigo.

That said, what is scarier, the breed willing to trigger a captain-death-bloodrage on itself? Or the dragon that doesn't appear to have one?

[dragnl0rd]

There's ways for a courierweight to deal with something larger than it, but I'm afraid the tail-hammer-throw is not one of them.

I'd love to hear them. Truly. Machinegun fire seems to be nigh useless unless it's an LMG mounted on a heavyweight (and not even that will dissuade most dragons it seems) and even with the fixed relative position of Alacritas and the razorback right now, I'd prefer NOT to use the benefit to aim to cause another blood rage.

I'm not OUT of ideas, but I'm definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel.

[frigidmagi]

Correct me if I'm wrong but Stuka's don't have a bond with their captains right?

If you ask me that's a form of dragonic sociopathy.

Also...

SILVER! RUN AWAY! FLY AS FAST YOU CAN BAYOU RAT!

[Dark Silver]

WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING!

[LadyTevar]

Now would be a GOOD TIME for Capricorn to catch up. Hopefully Judith's "ALL HANDS!" message got out to Rankin, Kunja, Storm, and the Weyekin. This is a definite clusterfuck. Once we find out the Nemesis did this deliberately, Judith and Jeb will be making comments about which are worse, Nemesis or Stuka.

Hint: they're still gonna think Stuka are worse. For one thing, the Stuka's "perfect Uberdrakke" hits the Uncanny Valley dead on. That's why everyone's so creeped out. Second, the Stuka don't care for their Captains or much for themselves... it's all The CAUSE

Nemesis, on the other hand, seem to look out for #1, and fuck all the rest.

[General Havoc]

There's ways for a courierweight to deal with something larger than it, but I'm afraid the tail-hammer-throw is not one of them.

I'd love to hear them. Truly. Machinegun fire seems to be nigh useless unless it's an LMG mounted on a heavyweight (and not even that will dissuade most dragons it seems) and even with the fixed relative position of Alacritas and the razorback right now, I'd prefer NOT to use the benefit to aim to cause another blood rage.

I'm not OUT of ideas, but I'm definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Razorbacks are one of the trickiest lightweights to deal with, thanks to their myriad of close range weapons, so if you're feeling outclassed, recognize that you're going up against the Varsity here. Bavarians, as a whole, will be easier to tackle.

That said, might I suggest talking to Jeb and Judith? They do have some experience in the field of Courierweight-vs-Lightweight studies.

[Charon]

There's ways for a courierweight to deal with something larger than it, but I'm afraid the tail-hammer-throw is not one of them.

I'd love to hear them. Truly. Machinegun fire seems to be nigh useless unless it's an LMG mounted on a heavyweight (and not even that will dissuade most dragons it seems) and even with the fixed relative position of Alacritas and the razorback right now, I'd prefer NOT to use the benefit to aim to cause another blood rage.

I'm not OUT of ideas, but I'm definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Wingblades are generally going to be your friend. If you're looking for awesome shit to do with wingblades, look to any previous encounter we had with Albatros. Short of that, think of ways to use your superior maneuverability to most other dragons on the field.

[dragnl0rd]

I'd already considered having Captain Wainwright requisition a pair of wingblades after the fight. Either they were never equipped to facilitate a light load / faster transit from malta to Gibraltar, or were ditched sometime during pursuit to lighten the load and facilitate escape. I'll try to figure out how to abuse the maneuverability advantage in the meantime.

For the record: To whoever came up with the razorbacks: SO MUCH HATE!

[JimmyTheCannon]

Yeah, I think Faust should get a pair of wingblades, too.

Or a smaller version of Haakon's thagomizer... mmm...

[LadyTevar]

Shit, Jeb does fine without wingblades.

But now, Children, listen to my lesson here: Note Jebediah got the LightWeight chasing him, and lead him closer to Haakon. Once Haakon turned this way, Jebediah turned about to try to block the Razorback's escape from Haakon. Jeb, unlike a Winchester, does have a natural weapon, so Jeb was able to do a little damage, but the main thrust of Jeb's attack was to DISTRACT and OPEN A PATH for Haakon.

Which he did, far better than I hoped. It helped that no one knew what Jebediah could do, but either way, Jebediah's tactics have always been the same -- Distract, cause a little damage if possible, and let a bigger dragon move in. Kunja, Frostfell, AEquitus. Set them up, and watch them get rolled over.

How to do this? Strike from above, go for a wing, or the head/neck. They'll try to protect themselves, and most dragons do not like things coming from above them. If you hit, good, if you don't, you made them flinch which probably helped someone else get a shot on them. One of Jebediah's best tricks was when he landed on a Aufseher, and proceeded to use all 6 claws to climb up it's back toward the Captain. The dragon freaked out, the crew bailed out, and the Captain cut the battle harness so Jebediah wound up bringing home the section of chainmail barding he'd been climbing up. (BTW: It's now been cut down and he wears it proudly, and all his ground crew at Tangmere had a link or two made into bracelets. Judith wears one on each wrist.)

So, that's my lesson in How To Fight Larger Dragons.

[General Havoc]

For the record: To whoever came up with the razorbacks: SO MUCH HATE!

That would be me.

I invented about three quarters of the dragons in this game out of whole cloth, including all of the German, Russian, Australian, American, and Canadian breeds. The remaining quarter is split between canon dragons from the books, and contributions from players such as Comrade Tortoise (part of Italy), Cynical Cat (another part of Italy), and Charon (Most of Turkey and Spain). The Razorback, like the Centurion, Discrimator, Raider, and Nemesis, was my invention, created to lend credibility to my claim that the Italian Air Force would be a truly terrifying force if it could ever get its organizational act together and stop being riven by internecine fighting.

As with most of the awful shit you will encounter in this game, blame me :D

[Comrade Tortoise]

For the record: To whoever came up with the razorbacks: SO MUCH HATE!

You should direct your ire toward me as well. Havoc came up with them, but I wrote them (Havoc edited what I wrote, naturally)

And Hawkings is about to suffer the fury of my personal baby... The Nimbus

[LadyTevar]

Amusingly, the SmokeDevils were my invention. During a talk with Havoc about the Virginia Emerald (bred from English Dragons), I started griping about Native Dragons of the Appalachians. By the end of the conversation, the SmokeDevils and their relationship to the moonshiners and other hillbillies was fully fleshed out. Jebediah was born during that discussion, and Havoc gave me free reign to tweak him. The alar-hooks were my idea alone.

[Charon]

The reason Jeb does fine without wingblades is because Jeb would actually have more harm than good come from using them. Wingblades limit your maneuverability slightly, and would make it nearly impossible for him to use his winghooks. Jeb comes from probably one of the few breeds that would be weakened by including wingblades, and his hooks mean he can come at dragons in a completely different way from most other lightweights. Any dragon that can dive and end the maneuver maintaining the height advantage over their opponent? HUGE advantage there that not many other dragons can accomplish.

As for the Razorbacks... I'm still determining how Kunja will go about cracking those particularly tough shells. Personally I think Havoc made them to attempt to spite me.

Kunja's another sort of homebrewed dragon. I wanted to play a lightweight but I wanted more of a brawler, where all the available lightweights were more focused on the weaving and dodging and not being able to really take hits. So I talked to Havoc and we came up with Kunja as a miniaturized Victorian who was an experiment in making an Australia Native Lightweight dragon. It didn't end up working because they couldn't get a stable breed out of it. Too much in the genetic cocktail to get it to work. I had no idea at the time he was being made at how successful he would be against other lightweights.

[General Havoc]

As for the Razorbacks... I'm still determining how Kunja will go about cracking those particularly tough shells. Personally I think Havoc made them to attempt to spite me.

Now would I do something that mean? :D

Kunja's another sort of homebrewed dragon. I wanted to play a lightweight but I wanted more of a brawler, where all the available lightweights were more focused on the weaving and dodging and not being able to really take hits. So I talked to Havoc and we came up with Kunja as a miniaturized Victorian who was an experiment in making an Australia Native Lightweight dragon. It didn't end up working because they couldn't get a stable breed out of it. Too much in the genetic cocktail to get it to work. I had no idea at the time he was being made at how successful he would be against other lightweights.

There are lightweights more focused on brawling than maneuvering, but the term is relative. No lightweight can brawl with even a light midweight and expect to come out alive, and sustained grapple-fighting tends to be the provenance of midweights (Heavies can certainly grapple, but it's not the showcase for their strengths. Heavyweights tend to be about massive, irresistible blunt-force-trauma). A sized-down midweight turned out to be a very scary thing.

Probably why everyone's breeding them now...

[Charon]

Kunja's a trend setter!

You're all welcome for the death that will eventually be coming our way, by the way.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Yeah, I think Faust should get a pair of wingblades, too.

Or a smaller version of Haakon's thagomizer... mmm...

You have your own. Ankylosaurus vs Stegosaurus, really. In fact... exactly. You have about the body dimensions of an ankylosaurus, and the tail to match. That tail could shatter the leg bones of a T Rex, which is bigger than these lightweight dragons. You can in fact kill them outright on a good hit. You just cannot do the same to a medium weight (if you get a good flank hit in, you will break some ribs though). You have to remember, a midweight is 20 tons. Three times the mass of a T Rex, and a heavy is... well... the size of some of the medium sized sauropods. They are fucking huge.

Just hit the damn razorbacks with it. The spikes might stop the club, but they will probably shatter in so doing.

[dragnl0rd]

Kunja's a trend setter!

You're all welcome for the death that will eventually be coming our way, by the way.

I'm going to be made to regret not choosing the parnassian for a first character, aren't I?

[JimmyTheCannon]

Yeah, I think Faust should get a pair of wingblades, too.

Or a smaller version of Haakon's thagomizer... mmm...

You have your own. Ankylosaurus vs Stegosaurus, really. In fact... exactly. You have about the body dimensions of an ankylosaurus, and the tail to match. That tail could shatter the leg bones of a T Rex, which is bigger than these lightweight dragons. You can in fact kill them outright on a good hit. You just cannot do the same to a medium weight (if you get a good flank hit in, you will break some ribs though). You have to remember, a midweight is 20 tons. Three times the mass of a T Rex, and a heavy is... well... the size of some of the medium sized sauropods. They are fucking huge.

Just hit the damn razorbacks with it. The spikes might stop the club, but they will probably shatter in so doing.

Oh, I know. I just kinda rub my hands together with glee at the thought of spikes on the bonetail.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Yeah, I think Faust should get a pair of wingblades, too.

Or a smaller version of Haakon's thagomizer... mmm...

You have your own. Ankylosaurus vs Stegosaurus, really. In fact... exactly. You have about the body dimensions of an ankylosaurus, and the tail to match. That tail could shatter the leg bones of a T Rex, which is bigger than these lightweight dragons. You can in fact kill them outright on a good hit. You just cannot do the same to a medium weight (if you get a good flank hit in, you will break some ribs though). You have to remember, a midweight is 20 tons. Three times the mass of a T Rex, and a heavy is... well... the size of some of the medium sized sauropods. They are fucking huge.

Just hit the damn razorbacks with it. The spikes might stop the club, but they will probably shatter in so doing.

Oh, I know. I just kinda rub my hands together with glee at the thought of spikes on the bonetail.

They are superfluous. Crushing damage is far worse. A puncture can be lethal instantly, but if you are less than accurate or have an armored opponent it wont be and the wounds will be relatively minor. Against armored scales, a drubbing impliment is effective no matter where you hit. Bones shatter, internal bleeding, organs pulverized on the other side of the torso from a body hit... it is fucking horrible.

You can survive being impaled by rebar, but you almost certainly wont survive having your chest caved in by a sledge hammer that hits at the same velocity.

[Cynical Cat]

They are superfluous. Crushing damage is far worse. A puncture can be lethal instantly, but if you are less than accurate or have an armored opponent it wont be and the wounds will be relatively minor. Against armored scales, a drubbing impliment is effective no matter where you hit. Bones shatter, internal bleeding, organs pulverized on the other side of the torso from a body hit... it is fucking horrible.

You can survive being impaled by rebar, but you almost certainly wont survive having your chest caved in by a sledge hammer that hits at the same velocity.

What you have to remember is that it won't be that lethal. Dragons are preternaturally tough. Even a lightweight takes multiple hits from 20mm shells to go down and bigger dragons are far tougher. It takes serious effort for Frostfell to shred a dragon he outweighs five to one. The thagomizer is nasty, but don't expect insta-cripples even on creatures your own weight class.

[dragnl0rd]

Even a lightweight takes multiple hits from 20mm shells to go down

is that assuming body shots? I'm kinda assuming the wingsail is significantly thinner/more fragile. (Sorry about the tangent)

[Cynical Cat]

Even a lightweight takes multiple hits from 20mm shells to go down

is that assuming body shots? I'm kinda assuming the wingsail is significantly thinner/more fragile. (Sorry about the tangent)

Sure it is but a 20mm just puts a 20mm ( or for you Yanks less than an inch wide) hole in a wingsail and a few of those is only a minor impairment to flying. You want to take out a dragon's wing then you're really going to have to rip it up, which is again more than a few hits with a 20mm. Wings are, however, big targets.

[frigidmagi]

You know, there is still something weird about being called a yank by someone who hails from further north then I do.