The Battle in Seattle!

Game day: Saturday, 11/08/14

Research efforts are proceeding well for the Elma Resistance, enough so that our heroes realize they could definitely use some extra personnel! They plan on recruiting some additional eggheads. Professor Jenkins has gathered a bunch of contact info from the current batch of scientists and engineers. This will give the team a place to start. Word is out on Resistance Radio Network that a benevolent agency is looking for scientists. Will this make them easier to find? And if so, who will find them first? The Mensa Muster is nigh!

The team may travel up the I-5 corridor, where most of these eggheads are known to live/work. AJ has also mentioned trying to recruit cartographers from a university in Idaho.

The Battle in Seattle!

Let's get ready to rumble! But first, let's get the known quantities down on the table:

To allow all the players (if they so choose) to peruse these notes at their leisure, and not in the middle of a game session, the notes left by Dr. Lucille Kristoff can be found here:

Dr. Lucille Kristoff's trail of breadcrumbs

The Eggheads' location has been confirmed to be the Pacific Science Center, the location of the "Secrets of the Cold War" exhibit, wherein is rumored to be some artifact(s) of potentially alien origin that the Eggheads are using to process the signals they were hunting. Unfortunately, their final rally point seems to have drawn the attention of the WSP, who are utilizing the rapidly spawning numbers of chryssalids.

The WSP has formed a loose cordon around the PSC, about 3-4 blocks around it. They are staking a large number of "avoidance beacons" around the area to corral approximately six chryssalids. There appears to be about 30-40 WSP troopers with approximateley 20 operable vehicles in the area. Another threat and potential complication to any extraction effort is the presence of Red Hand forces in the area. They are known to be atop the Columbia Center Tower, and possibly at the Westin Towers.

Opposing Forces

Chryssalids

Size of force: Six as of now. It is possible that if given more set-up time, the WSP may be able to corral more of them, but for now, six is all they have. (And that is about six too many!)
Capabilities: From the battle in Westport, the chryssalids are known to be excellent climbers. They are also extremely fast, being able to run at an estimated 30-40 miles an hour, at least for short bursts. They are extremely dangerous if allowed to close in. Because of their extremely icky nature, and their outright dangerous-ness, the chryssalid produces a sort of aura of fear, which has a chance of panicking anyone they get close to. The arrangement of multiple eyes on their head appears to give them nearly 360-degree vision, but their vision may not actually be that acute. They are easily attracted to loud noises, though (like car alarms, evidently). Chryssalids, while heavily armored to begin with, are especially resistant to explosive attacks like grenades.
Known behaviors: The chryssalids are described as being "hyper-aggressive." They will attempt to attack just about anything that moves except each other; for them, there is no such thing as a "friendly unit". Because of this trait, the aliens (and now the WSP) wear "avoidance beacons" to keep the chryssalids from attacking them. The WSP is setting up a kind of fence comprised of these beacons (The devices have the size and dimensions of a tiki-torch one would post around their backyard to keep the mosquitos away. The chryssalids have been seen actively probing the perimeter of their corral, trying to get out, even trying to attack the Troopers hemming them in. Taking out portions of the fence could be easily achieved, which could allow the chryssalids to break out of containment. Because of their hyper-aggressive nature, the chryssalids are likely highly prone to diversionary tactics. It would be very easy to aggro them, because they seem to forget about the avoidance beacons until it repulses them.
Known weaknesses: The same aggressiveness that makes the chryssalids so dangerous could possibly also be their greatest fault. Depending on how they prioritize stimuli, it is likely they are prone to diversionary tactics. As Doug's drone has seen, the presence of the WSP cordon is causing the entire force of Chryssalids to swarm at the edges of the target area. Their carapace is much thinner on their backs, making attacks from behind that strike their torso or cephalothorax areas much more effective.

Washington State Patrol

Size of force: 30-40 troopers with about 20 cruisers (mostly Chevy Caprices, a few Crown Vics and a couple unmarked SUVs.
Capabilities: The compromised Troopers encountered thus far have exhibited no super-human capabilities, but it is possible they are highly organized; who or whatever is controlling them might operate as a "hive-mind," in effect allowing any single unit to instantly be aware of anything any other unit can see or hear. Oh, and they have guns and body armor. Some of the troopers have been seen wandering around waving hand-held scanner things.
Known Behaviors: The troopers are all staying outside their cordon, maintaining a distance of about 3-4 blocks from the PSC. It appears that if they wander inside, they will probably be swarmed by the Chryssalids, even if the things can't attack them. Based on information from the "Trail of Breadcrumbs" notes left by Dr. Lucille Kristoff, it appears as though the WSP is at odds with a force of "commandos dressed in black tactical gear" who have access to a VTOL craft that was seen to land at the Westin Towers. It is probable that these are Red Hand forces, which means that the WSP and Red Hand are at odds. On an interesting note, none of the operable WSP vehicles are parked anywhere with line of sight to the observation deck of the Columbia Center Tower. A few destroyed WSP vehicles are, though! A few of the troopers are patrolling around with some kind of scanning device. It is unknown at this time what they are using them to scan for, but by the frustration exhibited by the users, it's a safe bet that they are not working properly. Because of the reported interference produced by the artifact at the PSC, this may be why the troopers' devices don't appear to be working, and possibly what drew them here in the first place. Based on their activities in Olympia, it is highly possible that the troopers are trying to "process" the scientists, a polite term for jabbing mind-control probes into their spines.
Known weaknesses: The WSP troopers are squishy humans, so the team has the best knowledge of their strengths and capabilities. Most of the Troopers seen in the area don't seem very active, which might suggest that groups controlled via NOI are not good at multitasking.

The Red Hand

Size of force: Unknown at this time. At least one soldier atop the Columbia Center Tower, and possibly a squad with a VTOL craft atop the Westin Tower.
Capabilities:The Red Hand forces are known to have railgun fire-support on the Columbia Center Tower. This weapon appears to have a range of at least 1.3 miles (an in-game overestimate of the range was made due to my lack of scale reference. The use of online resources has shown that the actual shot taken at Doug's scout drone was 1.29 miles). Keep in mind, however, that this long-range shot was taken at a stationary airborne target. Once the drone started moving, the follow-up shot was way off. In the past, the Red Hand has been seen to field regular soldiers in tactical gear, and also heavies outfitted with power armor and heavy weapons. In this area they also reportedly have a VTOL craft that has been used as a troop transport.
Known behaviors: Little has been seen from the Red Hand forces in the area. They took a couple pot-shots at Doug's drone, and according to her notes, Lucille Kristoff saw them investigating the UW medical research center, depart in a VTOL craft and land on the Westin Tower. In the past, the Red Hand's motives and activities have been erratic. In one engagement they were hostile, another they kidnapped Doug and tried to beat information out of him. In another, they helped the Elma Resistance fight the Pershings, and aided in the rescue of hostages. They even shared technology (plasti-flesh). Project Covenant is at odds with them, however, and it is likely that their presence in Elma was because they were searching for bunker November.
Known weaknesses: While the Red Hand are also squishy humans, some of them are undoubtedly wearing power armor. While not a weakness per se, the motivations of the Red Hand are not well understood. By the admission of Ian Church, he and Dean Vickers were in the area investigating Red Hand activities, which suggests that the Red Hand has been in the area for some time. The notes left by Dr. Kristoff also details that the Red Hand were at the Columbia Tower and Westin Tower long before the eggheads ever went to the PSC nearby, which means their presence is not a reaction to the events unfolding for the scientists, just that the scientists' rally point happened to be near the Red Hand strongholds.

The Target

The breadcrumb trail of messages and clues the team has followed through Seattle has led them to the Pacific Science Center. A group of approximately 50 scientists and engineers have holed up there with X-Com Agent Dean Vickers. His partner, Ian Church, has been following his own breadcrumb trail from other scientists that led him near the UW campus, where he met up with the team. Doug has been able to open some kind of dialogue with Dean Vickers in the PSC, using his scout drone to communicate at extremely low bandwidth.

Incoming railgun fire from the Columbia Tower is a scary proposition, and while the PSC is well within the known range of the weapon, almost no areas immediately surrounding the Science Center have direct LoS. There are numerous tall buildings, and plenty of trees to block a shot. It would be better if it weren't February and the trees still had leaves, but at ground-level, one could largely remain safe from being seen from the observation deck just by staying in the shadow of any of the number of tall buildings. Possible fire from the tower does pose a threat to sustained movement on the city streets, however, because plenty of thoroughfares have spots here and there (especially at larger intersections) where gaps between buildings allow for LoS to the Tower. Ironically, the closer to the tower, the safer it is to travel.

The greatest threat in the immediate vicinity of the PSC is probably the roving pack of murder-beasts in the form of a half-dozen chryssalids. It might be possible for a single person or a small group to sneak by them, but the team has not been able to accurately test how perceptive they are. The more numerous threat around the area is the WSP, but they are staying several blocks away, and their cordon is not exactly shoulder-to-shoulder.

One challenge facing the team in their task of rescuing the scientists lay in the fact that there are 50 of them. One or a few people sneaking in or out of the PSC area might go unnoticed, but a herd of 50 nerds with their paramilitary wranglers could likely be seen from orbit.

Points to Consider

• The PSC is hardly impregnable. The chryssalids are highly visible right now, and the WSP cordon is thin (and often distracted by corralling chryssalids. If the team felt it might help in their plan, it would not be impossible (it might not even be difficult, just dangerous) to sneak a few people inside for some purpose such as to concoct a plan with Dean Vickers and/or talk to the eggheads (to, I don't know, try and get them on board and keep them from panicking when shit goes down or something...)
  
• The Red Hand is assumed to be hostile, but consider that their only hostile action toward the team in this engagement was to shoot at an alien drone. They have no way of knowing who was operating it (and there are actual aliens around now that use the very same drones). For all the team knows, they might have thought it belonged to the aliens. Or, the Red Hand are just trigger-happy dicks.
  
• The Red Hand is known to be hostile toward the WSP, and based on the current distribution of WSP forces (all in areas with no LoS to Columbia Tower) this hostility may still be in effect.
  
• Because of their seemingly random motivations, the Red Hand might be kind of a wild card. Depending on how much animosity the team chooses to adopt toward them, it might be a viable option to try and talk to them. Of course, there is always the possibility they are actually hostile or unreliable. I'm not guaranteeing anything by suggesting options, just role-playing opportunities if the players want to explore that option.
  
• There is some talk of trying to utilize armored vehicles owned by the SPD or WSP. If these vehicles exist (which they probably do), it is unlikely that the PCs would know where they are, if they are even still there (which, considering the potential usefulness of such a vehicle, they are probably not). Counting on them as a resource is probably not an option (not that it's a bad idea, but there are plenty of good ideas out there that we can't act on because of lack of resources).
  
• While a fire engine literally spewing liquid fire is metal as fuck, such an endeavor would require hundreds of gallons of fuel, benzene and polystyrene. If the team feels they are on a timetable, the gathering of these resources and finding a suitably safe site to mix the chemicals (and time involved waiting for the polystyrene to dissolve and the napalm to set up and properly gel) might blow that idea out of the water. Cool idea, but probably not practical or realistically achievable to accomplish without plenty of preparation and a willingness to burn hundreds of gallons of fuel (which, as I now recall was the selling point that turned the group off of this idea).
  
• If the Red Hand forces are hostile to the WSP, it is no great leap of the imagination that they would be hostile to their terror beasts. The chryssalids do not observe the same precautions as the WSP troopers when it comes to hiding from the Columbia Tower; they wander all over the corral probing the electronic fence and trying to attack the troopers. If the Red Hand wanted to take them out, they can surely see the chryssalids from time to time. By the monsters' continued existence, one can either assume that the Red Hand is holding their fire for some reason (other than to avoid giving away their postion, since they already did that at least twice now), or perhaps the shooter(s) do not feel they can hit a moving target at that range.
  
• The team has contact information for a "Brother Weez" and "X-ray Tango Marauder", both big wheels in the RRN. XT Marauder was the voice for the "News from the Front" game recap, and Brother Weez was the host he introduced for the radio segment on perimeter security and fire discipline. These people, according to Dr. Kristoff's notes, were communicating with the eggheads before they went to the PSC, and might have useful information. However, they are also supposedly being supplied intel by Project Covenant (and possibly Lillian Kjelstad herself), so take that at face value.
  
• The scientists gathered at the PSC because of the influence of and clues given to them by members of the RRN.
  
• The group has one avoidance beacon of their own. While the ideas involved in modifying the device are clever and inventive, such a pursuit in this endeavor is outside the scope of knowledge available to the team at this time.
  
• A group of 50 or more scientists managed to make it by ground (probably on foot) from multiple directions to the PSC. They did not realize the threat posed by the Red Hand, and likely did not take evasive measures like avoiding LoS to the Columbia Tower. They were not attacked by the Red Hand, which suggests either the Red Hand wants them, too, or the Red Hand does not simply kill anything they can see.