#not enough dakka

[nhaneh]

getting past the WH40K Rogue Trader character creator, challenge rating: impossible

kind of thinking maybe officer or operative, maybe criminal lord origin?

[newtypezaku]

Just keep adding cars until we have enough dakka

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

The War of the Mr Beast part 2

“Giving 100 Orks Enough Dakka!!! (Not Clickbait)”

“We Made DA FASTEST Car in the Universe?!? (Gone Wrong)”

“MAKING MY OWN SPESS MARHEENS!!!!!”

This made me feel physically exhausted, just so you know

[itsseannotshawnart]

I will give one very minor spoiler for Da Big Dakka that made me smile. Ready?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

That should be enough. There's a trans woman Drukhari in the book and it just makes sense.

[voices-of-favor]

As if two las-cannons weren't enough, heres one more heavy bolter

"She weighs one hundred fifty kilograms and fires two thousand Aquila, custom-tooled reclusiam cartridges at eight hundred rounds per minute."

"It costs four hundred thousand Aquilas to fire this weapon... for twelve seconds." ~ Battle brother Graven Telumus

Let us show the orks some real DAKKA

[howlingday]

Oh we're doing Mentor Summons now? I will put forth the ALMIGHTY GHAZGHKULL MAG URUK THRAKA AND HE SPEAKS WITH THE WORDS OF THE GODS!

*I'll leave it up to you who gets him.*

"It needs more red."

"The shoota is yellow, but the dakka is red!" Yang defended as she sat in her room.

Her mentor, summoned from her mother's black book, could barely fit in her room with his massive frame overtaking the floor. His feet bent in unnatural ways for an Ork, but he just imagined his legs were fighting against his bones. Since his arrival, Yang had working hard to make herself strong enough to protect her sister from any Grimm that lurked in the woods outside. And since meeting the little humie, Ghazghkull had taken a shine to the little yellow spawn. Reminded him of a Squigg who still didn't know how big a Grott was, let alone how big an Ork was.

"Whuh about purple?" He belched a chuckle. "Yous gonna put purple in it somewhere?"

"Maybe." Yang smiled as she painted black stripes on her shot-gauntlet design. "I like purple."

"Yeh..." Ghazghkull scratched some mold off his chin as he grinned his big, toothy grin. "Me, too."

[faecatastrophe]

Crafted twin grakatas for funsies and... They are actually so good. I love them. Still a bit slow tho - if you aren't shooting your whole magazine all at once are you even shooting? Need to use forma so I have enough space for gunslinger.

I subscribe to Clem theory of warfare. More dakka.

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

I know relatively little about warhammer - I'm far from a Lore-Nerd on it, but I think I can have a surface level conversation about it.

But I can't get this Idea out of my head, and I don't know how well it fits into the GrimDark setting of Warhammer 40k

~~~~~

Kriegsmen have Hollow eyes, for it all they need to see to their duty - Die for The Emperor - at least, that is what some claim.

It would make sense - they are born to die, and they do it well.

At least, they usually are.

The base had been overrun with Orks, the greenskin having felled most others here.

The Krieger shuffled about, taking piece from broken vehicles and hurriedly riveting them together, pulling their mask off and using it's hose to finish their makeshift weapon - a Jury-rigged flamer.

The Orks closed in, chortling and laughing, slinging lead and insults, jeers and blades.

"Emperor I plead for your mercy ..."

One Ork entered the wrecked garage, spotting the small Human.

They were hardly an adult - not that the Ork knew, it was just an 'Umie to it - Pale, sallowed skin with yellowed teeth, and eye that were sunken in.

" ... For I'm not Dying Here."

Then Fire came. It roared, burning so bright the beige clothes of the Krieger seemed bleached to pure white, reflected in Full, Vicious eyes that refused death.

In seconds the Ork was immolated.

In Minutes, word spread of the Ash-Black 'uman with the Whitest of Fires spoutin' from their Dakka.

In hours, even long after the Krieger should have run out of Fuel, the fire raged on - The toughest, Deadliest human any Ork in the area saw, and they each knew every death fueled the Flamer just enough to kill another two.

In a day Orks flung themselves at the Krieger who Couldn't Die, swift from the Blood on their coat, Too tough to die from Dakka, and with Dakka of their own too white to survive, each one hoping to be the one to win such a fight - None could.

~~~~~

So how'd I do? This any good? It's kind of an abrupt end, but I genuinely don't know where to go from there. Won't the Kriegsman get a name for doing something of this scale, or does it need to be bigger?

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Agitation 3.7 Live Reactions

(This is me, writing reactions as I read, because why the fuck not. They're not complete, mature thoughts taken after I sit back and evaluate what I've read. Consider them as such)

Grue was already out of his vehicle and halfway to us by the time Tattletale and I had shut the doors of the van.  He was using his power at a low degree over the entirety of his body.  The darkness soaked into and through the porous leather of his costume, making him look like a living shadow.  Brian had showed me how the visor had vents at the edges, to direct the effect of his power around the sides and top of his head, so it wouldn’t obscure the face.  It wasn’t that he couldn’t see through the effects of his own power – he could.  He’d explained that the vents were there to create an effect where you could see glimpses of a black-painted skull floating in the vaguely human shaped form of even darker black.  When he had the money to spend, he had told me, he was going to get a more complete costume custom made for him in the same way, to expand on the effect.

I read a fic where Grue was describe as suffering from 'FYGEP' - Fuck You Get An Evil Power' (i.e. he got a power that's just... really hard, optically, to use as a hero even if he was so inclined) and... yeah, he's playing that card hard here.

“Got enough?” his voice echoed.  I thought maybe I caught a touch of humor in his tone, behind the influence of his power.

Two things you can never have enough of: Dakka (If you're an Ork) and Bugs (If you're Skitter)

These weren’t just the bugs I could draw in at a moment’s notice, though.  Traveling the city had given me the chance to be picky.  These were the good ones, each of them fast enough to keep up with me, or capable of being carried by those that were.  More than that, though, the majority of them were either durable sorts like the larger centipedes, cockroaches and beetles, or capable of stinging and biting, with bees, wasps, ants and blackflies making up their bulk.  To round out their number, I’d gathered moths, houseflies, and mosquitoes, who weren’t the best attack bugs out there, but were easy enough to get, and served to distract the enemy or bulk out the swarm. There were three hundred and fifty cubic feet inside the rear of the van. Tattletale had told me that.  When they were packed in just tight enough that they wouldn’t damage each other or spill past the barrier and into the front seats, it added up to a pretty amazing amount of insects.  I called them out of the van and watched as their mass seemed to expand as they spread out.

Gyah! Just reading all that is making me twitch.

Her costume was skintight, beaded with droplets of water

And I'm sure that does nothing for you. :rofl: (Jk, technically, but also the council has made a stupid-ass decision meme and all. Canonically straight or not, no Taylor is not)

He still wore the hard white mask with the silver coronet, but he had shown me how the interior of the mask had foam shaped to the contours of his face, with only his mouth left free, so he could talk without being muffled.  In a similar vein, the loose white shirt he wore covered up a mesh vest that was molded to the shape of his body.  He was idly twirling a scepter in his fingers.  The scepter wasn’t purely thematic – apparently the crowned orb that topped the scepter had two electrodes built into the tines, for the taser that was built into it.  It was all about misdirection, misleading and giving the impression of vulnerability.

Of all the costumes, this one sounds the most visually interesting. Definitely would love to see a life action interpretation.

To do that, you punch in the regular code, 3-7-1, but you hold the one down, then press the number sign and the asterisk keys down at the same time… Voila.  Try it.” Grue pulled on the door.  We waited in tense silence for a moment for the angry blare of the alarm, but none came.  Tattletale grinned at us. “What’d I tell you?”

That has got to get old fast.

Muscle and bone showed beneath, and the arrangement of said anatomy wasn’t exactly typical.  The change was slow enough that you couldn’t see it if you were looking for it, but if you looked away and looked back a moment later, you could tell they were bigger, that bone at the shoulder was longer, the eyes were deeper set, and so on.  Spikes, spurs and an exoskeleton of bone growths had appeared to fill or cover gaps and grow in at places where the bone was already close to the skin.  The tail of the smallest dog – Angelica, I think Rachel called it – was twice as long as normal and prehensile, now, and the other two were well on their way.  It looked like someone had torn out a pair of human spines, the meat still hanging off them, and attached them one to the other before tacking the end to the dog’s hindquarters.

Kill them! Kill them with Fire!

(Have I mentioned I'm afraid of/hate dogs?)

would be making a call to 911 and reporting a crime in progress by costumed criminals. 

I guess the fear of Cape interference would encourage normal criminals to not wear elaborate costumes to protect their identities during robberies.

In the next room, Regent grabbed another hostage.  I caught a glance of the man, graying hair and thick around the middle with a pink dress shirt and no jacket, staring at us with eyes wide.  He opened his mouth, I think his intent was to cry for help, but broke down into coughs and sputters instead.  A second later, he keeled over and collapsed onto the floor.  He tried to climb to his feet, but his elbow buckled and he hit the ground a second time.  While he continued to struggle, Regent strode into the room with an almost lazy air, grabbed him by the collar and shoved him towards the hallway where we stood.  Defeated, Pink-shirt didn’t resist, half-walking, half-crawling forward as he joined us.  He met eyes with the other employee, but didn’t say anything.

Pretty terrifying power when you think about it.

I closed my eyes.  With a mental command, my bugs flooded into the room from the hallway behind us, flying and crawling over, under and around us to spread through the room.  I noted each person in the lobby as my bugs made contact with them, and left several bugs crawling on each individual.  I took five seconds to double check I’d gotten everyone, and belatedly remembered the two employees we had brought forward from the back offices.  A group of bugs returned from the darkness, brushing my skin on their way to make contact with the pair.

Gyyyyyah!

“Fifteen minutes,” I called out to the room, my heart in my throat, “We won’t be here any longer than that.  Stay put, stay quiet, we’ll be gone before fifteen minutes are up.  You’ll be free to give your statement to the police and then go about your day as usual.  This isn’t a TV show, this isn’t a movie.  If you’re thinking about being a hero, don’t.  You’ll only get yourself or someone else hurt.” I held up my hand, finger outstretched, a familiar spider perched on the tip, “If you are thinking about running, making a phone call or getting in our way, this is a good reason to reconsider.  This little creature and her one hundred sisters that I just brought into this room are under my complete control.”  I had the spider drop from my fingertip, dangling by a thread, by way of demonstration. “She’s a black widow spider.  A single bite has been known to kill a full grown human, or put them into a coma.  You move, talk, try to find or kill the spiders I just put on your bodies, in your clothes, in your hair?  I’ll know in split second, and I’ll tell them to bite you several times.”

That slope is looking preeeetty slippery, innit Taylor?

But also, a pretty effective speech. Did she practice this one ahead of time?

 A teenager with freckles and brown curls was glaring at me with raw loathing in her eyes. 

AMY! Babygirl! You're here! Don't worry, this won't go down as the worst day of your life for more than a few months!

What a great way for the members of a ship I like most to meet! (Not sarcastic, I love hate at first sight as the start for a ship :P )

My taking hostages like this?  It had been my idea, so help me.  As horrible as it was, it had been necessary.  The worst case scenario was some regular schmuck in the bank pulling some stunt and getting themselves or others hurt or killed.  I couldn’t let that happen, if I was in a position to help it.  If it meant keeping them quiet and out of the way, I was willing to terrorize them. As I saw the effect I’d had on these people, that justification felt really thin. I was going to hell for this.

Oh, you're not going to hell for this Taylor. You'll have a lot more and better reasons to go to hell by the time Contessa shoots you in the head and tosses you into Earth Aelph.

But as usual, the rationalizations continue, and I just love each one.

[shabbytigers]

book for the next six weeks arrived, along with secret weapon grammar companion nobody tells you about

there is also an app nobody tells you about with all of the listening recordings to replay at home! i may need to set up some kind of incentive bc listening is such hell. but there’s a real test at the end of A2.2, so the incentive of last resort, terror, will kick in at some point.

tbh with 3 4h afternoons a week we could go faster? there’s like 7 real language lessons per volume 😩 this said, live teaching is wildly helpful and this class is ten minutes’ walk away and €235 for the whole 72 hours, which would buy me one seventh of private tuition or like 4 sessions of tutoring. it doubles as the integration course mandatory for most incomers (you can get it for free but there’s a long ass wait) and i’m conditioned by the US to expect government cheese to be abysmal, but it’s a decent language course. and maybe throwing enough hours at it will eventually help me with the wretched speaking part. ‘more dakka,’ etc.

[kaxen]

COMBAT LOGS DONE, ON TO S-RANKING, POSSIBLY AGAINST MY BETTER JUDGEMENT ((HEAD EMPTY, JUST WANT TO BE COOL FOR HANDLER WALTER))

Took me a smidge over 10 hours to do Fires of Raven all over again.

Though it would have been faster if I wasn't scuttling around for combat logs... I fucked up a few missions rushing around for combat logs. I can kill Ayre with Mr. Scuttles now, but I still can't kill CEL-240 with the build of my choice. I don't understand how to kill it without Quad Gats and Tank Treads and I have no idea how I will S-rank that damn mission... I was dreading the hell out of Prisoner Rescue, but I got the combat long and an A on it, so I think I an probably S-rank it if I am a little less sloppy and/or re-memorize where the stupid crap spawns. Protecting the Xylem still pissed me off. The only mission I had to redo twice from fuckin' up this run and for non-combat log reasons.

Walter's last message still makes me so fuckin' sad….

The biggest problem with running Walter's build is that I have not for even 1 second considered ever using a shield. SHIELD?! SHIELD?! WHY PICK SHIELD WHEN MORE DAKKA IS ON THE TABLE?!

The only thing stopping me from quad gats all the time is that it's not ideal for S-ranking and I will hurt my hands with a repetitive strain injury death-gripping my controller

I assume I will grind enough cash to buy all weapons while trying to S-rank. The only achievements I haven't gotten yet are S-ranking, owning all weapons, owning all parts, and all achievements achievement.

........I have never in my life felt compelled to 100% achievements a game.......

[creeping-kommando]

Rebuild’in Wot Woz Skrapped.

Boss Kommanda Grimgrod

Burgeoning Warboss of the Segmentum Solar:

“Ain’t nothing left but to start over. Lotta you runts fink we’re done, that without Da Kaptin, we’re good as ded. Well, I’m ’ere to tell you sorry gits that you’re wrong. Sure we mighta lost our Dakka, our Kroozerz, and ‘ell, we may ‘ave even lost the battle. But, we’re ORKZ Zog it! You good for nothing grots must’ve forgotten, that we ain’t ever beaten! We’re gonna come back bigger, better, and smarter than before, and show those bugs that they ain’t won yet!”

|Rules|

Height: 10’3”/ Age: 20-25 Years/

Grimgrod had always been seen as a joke to his superiors, and even to some of his inferiors. Many Orks would’ve heard stories of the infamously bad luck that tailed the Nob like a loyal Squig, and found it easy to bully him into jobs no one else wanted to do. So during the brutal tyranid attack that wiped out the Circuit Jawz, Grimgrod had survived by being made a lousy messenger. To tell the tale of good ole Kaptin Zagbad Grimgul.

It was only after he first regaled the death of his mighty Kaptin that Grimgrod finally decided he had enough. Something in the young Nob finally snapped, and from then after his misfit mob and him flew through the stars, tackling former Circuit Jawz, absorbing them into the fold, and brutally assaulting lost territories. This new tribe was dubbed the Doom’eadz, with Grimgrod as their Warboss. Only time will tell what plans he has for the former allies and enemies of Zagbad.

Occupation: Mercenary, Tactical Consultant, Part-Time Freebootah

Skills: ‘Diplomacy’, Close Quarters Combat, Amateur Mek Know How, Tracking, and Sneaking.

Goals: To pick up where Zagbad left off, but instead of being a measly pirate, Grimgrod wants true domination. He wants to prove every git who doubted him wrong, and crush the Hivefleet who did in his Kaptin first as a demonstration of his superiority. Not to mention a need to show that Blood Axe thinking is right.

Allies:

The Heg Ravens

Da Gear-Klaws (Begrudgingly)

Da Mad-Kapz

Appearance:

Standing at 10 feet and 3 inches tall, Grimgrod is much smaller than his former Kaptin, but still a hulking behemoth. Lightly armored, the heaviest implements the Ork carries are his taloned cybernetic legs and arm, while the rest of his attire is military wear based upon imperial foes. His helm holds a skull like visage, a visor hiding everything but the monster’s gleaming red eyes. Across his form, is a color of blue and black, a camouflage pattern with a bit more subtly to it than the average Ork would care to wear. Around his neck is a flag turned scarf taken as a final farewell from his Kaptin, which Grimgrod now uses as a sign of his era and the passing of the torch.

His shoulders meanwhile are armored by a typical checker patterned plate and a looted astartes pauldron. It’s been outfitted with spikes to present a more fashionable appearance, one befitting greenskin sensibilities.

Equipment

Snik & Snakk: Two overly long knives that Grimgrod keeps on his person at all times. They’re great for slitting throats, picking locks, and generally giving anything a good stab.

Da Hush Hush Stabba: Grimgrod is a Blood Axe, and Axe Boyz never play fair. Within his bionic arm is a secret blade he can extend from underneath his palm, and then cleanly retract. Some gits need that extra nudge to understand that they’re deceased.

Da Final Say: A large revolver that Grimgrod uses when he realizes the time for words and headbutts are over. Snagged off a Beast Snagga who gave him lip, Grimgrod’s put the weapon to far greater use than its previous owner.

Da Kultural Exchange Bouquet: Grimgrod has an assortment of throwable weapons and explosives in his arsenal, and when in a real pinch, will decide to use all of them. Flash Bangs, Stikkbombs, 'Sploding Squigs, and Tankbusta Bombs are all deployed in a wired ‘Bouquet’, usually as a parting gift courtesy of the Doom’eadz.

Studguf’s Kustom Nanites: After Zagbad was deemed dead, Grimgrod attempted to replicate the past Ork Kaptain’s strange ability to both harden his skin and weapons to a steel like quality, a technique the Kaptin failed to teach him. After months of tensing his muscles and concentrating really hard, Grimgrod abducted and forced a Mek to instead make him an artificial copy. When faced with a knife to the throat, Studguf obliged, and Grimgrod was gifted with a similar ability to Zagbad. It’s still a sore spot however.

Credit Notes

The first image was drawn by @/rowscara

The second image was drawn by @/ChumiiCham

The third image was drawn by @/hydroxianchaos

[true-blue-sonic]

Shadow, Omega and Metal Sonic are all characters who could live long enough to be in Silver's time line.

I'm just imagining some kinda forbidden love scenario where Metal Sonic has changed due to not having Eggman around, Silver seeing that Metal has changed and wants to take a chance with them, Shadow not wanting Silver around because he doesn't want Silver anywhere near the 'cold hearted Eggman murder machine', and Omega just wanting Metal dead because this apocalypse isn't big enough for two cold hearted Eggman murder machines.

I quite wonder if Metal can change, to be quite honest. After Heroes, Eggman seems to have programmed him into total obedience. But that being said, I think in such a situation, Silver would feel bad for Metal in a way: Metal is unwaveringly loyal to Eggman, but Eggman is presumably gone. Eggman Nega is Eggman's descendant, so we know that he somehow does have children and his bloodline continues for 200 years more. So does Metal become loyal to those descendants for being related to his creator? Or will he only ever try to somehow remain loyal to Eggman, in whatever way possible and without ever being able to break free from it, because Eggman is no longer around to do it and wouldn't have done it even when alive because he's a jerk like that? It's a saddening situation, I think, and I figure Silver would feel sorry for Metal once he realises that.

In that situation, I think Shadow would take a much more pragmatic "You cannot change him anyway so it's better to destroy him before he causes too much trouble" stance. Silver probably will agree that is best; I cannot imagine Silver would e.g. try to capture Metal just to explore the possibility he can break free from his programming, considering the dangers he brings to the world at large. And besides, Omega might just go full dakka on him whenever Metal's in range XD (Speaking of, there's also interesting parallels there with Omega vowing revenge on Eggman and his creations, where the former part cannot be fulfilled anymore once Eggman is gone. How would he take that?) But I do think Silver'd be saddened by the concept Metal will never truly be free and able to decide what he wants out of his life, when taking into the consideration that the person he is bound to is no longer there. It's an intriguing scenario to think about them all in the future!

[generic-magical-girl]

Okay but Mami is insanely strong and low key kinda broken when you actually think about it

Not counting Madoka (who is an outlier power wise because of time loop shenanigans) Mami is probably the strongest member of the Holy Quintet and one of the strongest magical girls we’ve seen full stop, being both incredibly powerful and highly competent/tactical

To start with the fact that Mami’s muskets aren’t summoned weapons like with Sayaka’s sword or Kyoko’s spear, but instead are made out of her ribbons not only shows Mami’s sheer dexterity and precision with her ribbon manipulation but also just how creative she is, for Madokami’s sake the girl literal got ribbon magic and just went ‘you know what would be cool to make out of this muskets’

Speaking of which Mami’s muskets have some frankly absurd firepower with her volume of fire ranging from average bullet hell game to almost enough dakka

Destruction wise her Trio Finale is basically a ballistic missile she can summon which is powerful enough to easily kill witches in a single shot or level buildings if she wanted, seriously in the Magica Record anime after she transforms into Holy Mami it takes everything Sayaka has just to deflect one of Mami’s Trio Finale (after getting her arms blow off trying to block it) and the resulting explosion is absolutely massive

Mami is also a very experienced fighter being a veteran magical girl with years of experience fighting witches and the occasional other magical girl giving her incredible awareness and instinct in battle

Even in a smarts/tactical sense Mami is pretty incredible not only using her ribbons in a variety of ways to give herself the edge such as swinging around to increase her mobility or restraining/binding her opponents but also how in Rebellion she managed to both work out a strategy to counter Homura’s time-stop and stealthy attach a ribbon to Homura without her noticing

So yeah basically Mami is actually a beast, what an absolute queen.

Oh, and she looks elegant and graceful as hell while being a badass.

[kivaember]

bc zoids was my first ever mecha obsession it only makes sense to smoosh zoids and ac6 together and im thinking of the types of zoids the ac6 characters would pilot...

C4-621: HOUNDSOLDIER

It suits 621 bc this is a mass-produced ZOID but is a solid performer... ALSO DOG REFERENCE. I did look at the bird Zoids but none of them really matched 621 really... I wanted to stick to a ZOID that was deemed 'basic' in terms of like, it's a dime a dozen, just to fit with LOADER 4.

RUSTY: COMMAND WOLF

Aside from the wolf motif, Command Wolf fits Rusty because it's a very adaptable and decent ZOID. You can easily switch out its armament, and it's one of the fastest land-based ZOIDs around. Also, again, wolf motif. Rusty would pilot the SHIT out of this and put a symbolic muzzle on it too why not

FREUD: GATLING FOX

Listen. I just like the look of this thing and Freud would definitely pilot it. Mortars launched from its tail? Giant fuck off gatling cannon its spine? Dual cannons on its shoulders? Sure yeah why not.

IGUAZU: DOUBLE SWORDER

There are slim pickings for insect ZOIDs but this one is definitely Iguazu, if only bc it has the mandibles like the ants in his design but is also a beetle... also he could be that fucker that'd have a land-based ZOID that could also fly like a little bitch or stick to ceilings.

MICHIGAN: DREI PANTHER

I honestly did think about going for the bull ZOIDs or something, but in the end he's Liger tail, and while the drei panther ain't a liger, I think it suits him well enough with the dakka dakka and the great spinning shields of death. Hell on four legs indeed.

AYRE: RAINBOW JERK

This is the only pretty bird ZOID that doesn't stand like it doesn't have knees, and Ayre deserves to have a pretty ZOID okay.

WALTER: XENO REX

Since dinosaur ZOIDs are a Pretty Big Deal with HAL itself is basically a C-Weapon, I went with Xeno Rex just to reflect that. Also t-rexes are cool.

ALLMIND: GENO BREAKER

I wouldn't mind ALLMIND picking me up in her giant t-rex robot pincers like i'm a bug tbh

[wuxiaphoenix]

Worldbuilding: Taking Ship

Sometimes the inside of a writer’s head sounds a bit like this.

Plotbunnies: That action clip was awesome!

Wary Writer: Yeeees, yes it was. And...?

Plotbunnies: And we should totally steal it for that pirate bit you’re stuck on!

Writer: It was awesome. It was very awesome. And I can see exactly how to fit it in so it would be a horrible surprise, yet still one our heroes could escape by the skin of their teeth. But I don’t know enough of how the local ships are built to know if they could pull that move off, even with magic. And I’d rather they could do it without magic - that’d make it more likely there’s a good reason cultivators didn’t see it coming. Plus, if magic costs you, even if it’s a cost of more concentration than energy, then it’d make sense that in combat you’d want to use as little as you can get away with, as efficiently as possible.

Plotbunnies: So they can use their magic setting people on fire!

Writer: ...I hate to agree with you. But. Pirates. Still, if they want to reserve their cultivation arrays and energy for really messing our heroes up, how do they pull this move without magic?

Plotbunnies: ...What if it wasn’t a local ship?

Writer: I regret my life choices already.

Yeah. It’s like that sometimes.

Fortunately I have accumulated several stacks of research materials, and Pirate of the Far East by Stephen Turnbull had a lot of the information I needed. Notably, the kinds of ships pirates used on the East Coast of Asia, and the fact that yes they had attacked and tried to take European ships from the 1500s on. One particularly notable incident was in 1605, when the English merchant (and yes, pirate) ship the Tiger met some Japanese wako off Borneo. They had what they thought was a friendly encounter, invited the Japanese aboard... things went swiftly downhill from there. It did end in an English victory, but only after the English fired cannon point-blank into the cabin the Japanese had forted up in.

What can I say, I come from a cultural tradition of Moar Dakka.

Some odd Google searches and a few odder Wikipedia pages confirmed I was right about the ship maneuvering, though. The move I’m thinking of is mostly done with a specific sail set, not the lateen sails common to Asian vessels. A captured European ship would be the best way to pull it off.

...Which, now that I think about it, gives me a good reason to place certain minor characters in specific places when the cannonballs are flying.

Note this when you’re building a world. The plotbunnies may have excellent ideas, when it comes to Shiny!

...But then you need to dig and make sure the Shiny will actually work, without blasting new plotholes. Happy digging!