The 5 hour siege of Big Red

[ThePiachu]

Today we witnessed a ~5 hour battle over Big Red. I would like to share some of the stories with you.

Since the xenos are winning so much recently, I decided to cut my teeth as being a xeno queen - I figured worst case scenario I could give marines that 25% win rate. Spawned at Virology, moved to Research. We began to spread out and weed the colony. Despite me pushing xenos to weed more, break more and so on, the job was only half done. Oh well, life of a queen. Through the round, we had a bald carrier, a good carrier, and two or three more sisters that went carrier but got devolved for not asking permission. By the time marines showed up we had tunnels to virology and lambda, and three ravagers somehow.

Marines hunkered down between filtration and engineering. It took a long while to break in, but a hero crusher managed to wreck havoc before dying. We lacked a boiler early on, so it was hard siegeing them. In the end we managed to push valiantly into hospital, but then we lost a few more sisters so I had to de-ovi. Short while later I was dead since I suck at combat.

Hive got a new queen, got pushed back a bit. Got born again, became a drone. Weeded around, finally met the predator of the round face to face - Ka'Torag-na Halkrath. He was a strange one. I think throught the entire round he killed 1 marine, and abducted Edward the synth onto its ship. They eventually had a duel Edward narrowly lost. Somehow the synth got back into the fight though, as I ran into it late round.

Anyway, we had to think of something new. So we decided to melt into tcomms, as well as the other side of LZ1. Both ends were pretty well fortified, and after queen de-ovid and has a small siege of tcomms, we ended up abandoning that idea. There as an OB there, plus blue flame flamer, and the queen was BALD. After a short lobotomy, we were pushing the east passage into LZ1. We did siege it for awhile. I died again after we got flanked and I had to run into LZ1.

The battle continued, eventually we got pushed back into Research. At around that time, 3 hours or so in, 5 sisters bursted on Almayer. I was one of them, quickly ran around, hit under a table that someone missed two times, and turned into a runner. I once again suck at hand-to-hand combat, so I died 1v1ing the CMP in brig. RIP me #3.

While we were sieging Research, the predator & Edward fight took place. After that, a new predator joined in - Kwei Ikthya-de. Both of them went down to the planet and proceeded to... Cut some weeds and resin. They were around the Research siege, waltzing between xenos, or standing on the sidelines of Marines and not attacking much. Eventually they even got a hellhound each, but those also didn't do much...

I'm born the 4th time. A poor marine is dragging his friend onto LZ pad. I burst out of him mid-step and run away. No drones, so I drone again. It's already 4 hours in. I stat weeding, harassing, I see Edward again - good on him. Around this time queen mother decided to hurry us to push and send us some new xenos to fight (4 T1s last I heard). What we didn't know is that some freelancers also joined the game. RIP Xeno. I died dragging a sister's body away from gunfire. After another 10-15 minutes, the queen dies. Was apparently killed by Lydia. Around this time Predator #2 finally started getting into the fight with marines, but not much came of that.

Last xeno to survive was Spitter 898. He killed Edward before dying attacking the front line. Many medals were awarded that day:




GG ALL, GG.

[Daniel Rockwood]

CMP here, GG

[DefinitelyAlone0309]

I mean, GG and all, but I was an MT FOR FOUR FUCKING HOURS. AND I WAS ALONE FOR THE FIRST HOUR, getting harassed by reactors and TCs who proved themselves to be useless planetside. At least I got to build some autism dance boxes in reactor room. The fun only came when people started bursting on the ship. Tracking down benos and welding vents were exciting, and getting in some close calls vs 2 runners were also intense.

[Steelpoint]

I was Predator #2 (Kwei), my inaction stemmed from me not wanting to have a major impact on the round. I killed one high ranked Defender and layed low for most of the round, I tried to hunt the sole Elite Ravager towards the end of the game but he got gunned down by the Marines. I did end up having to blast some Marines down but that was more than charging me and not withdrawing after I kept pelting them with low power plasmacaster fire.

[Rohesie]

It was a fantastic round. If the CO hadn't cryo'ed before the end I'd have bothered him to give at least two more medals. To PFC Max Dallas, who kept doing the path between the frontlines to FOB (the only place with medical aid) with a roller bed, and saved a lot of marines who'd have husked otherwise. And to Dr. Haley Altman, who after all medics were gone was fixing us time and again for hours straight. At the end there were over 10 patients around her either dead or in crit, and she just kept going.

After Heinz cryo'ed issuing a retreat order we got a scan that 4 xenos were left. The XO was adamant on retreating and every single other person in command channel was urging for him not to. Eventually we heard no more from the XO and a SO retook the reins to stop the evacuation. We got a distress beacon and fought the last xenos.

I didn't kill the last queen, though. I got screeched, dragged away by a defender into boiler acid and behind, but thanks to tramadol I got up, buckshot'd the defender dead and then buckshot+bayonet-charged the boiler dead. The queen died outside my field of vision, and the resulting acid took a toll on me and I died. I was being defib'ed by a doc when the round ended, so canonically Lyds survived for me.

Very intense round. Medbay did great and Req was simply on point. Kept a steady supply of building materials through Almayer scavenging, made us never lack AP, got us sweet OBs, even got us pulse rifles by the end of it, which were used to great effect on the last queen.

There were many medals but I see none of them lightly awarded or undeserved.

[Mvp777]

I was the hellhound Beast Scar, worked alongside Steelpoint for most of the round acting as well, an attack dog. It was an extremely enjoyable role.

[Pogo92]

That was a really fun game. Adan Howard should have been given a damn medal, and I'll tell you why:

Him and I were scouting just south of FOB when we saw a Pred in camo flash by. Adan followed to investigate and I chased after him to bring him back--BOOM, face hugger from a resin hole gets me. The Pred sees this and kidnaps me and drags me back to the sandstone ruins to the south, Adan pursues to try to rescue me. The Pred (First one, I think) ties me up and straps me to a chair as Adan arrives and battles the Pred for a solid 4 minutes to try and resue me, all while the Pred taunts him and me. After a grueling battle and multiple de-limbings, the Pred kills Adan and proceeds to eviscerate his body in front of me. At this point I've accepted my fate and start taunting the Pred to goad him into killing me before my chest bursts, trying to put on a brave face. Pred doesn't like that so he starts torturing me--For 20 minutes. Even gives me Adan's headset so I can tell Bravo squad all the gory details. He brings me up on to the ship to arm me in gladiator garb before I burst--Being desperate to die at this point, I chased him out of the changing room then tried to kill myself with my boot knife. No luck, just passed out, so the Pred passed the time by taking a surgical drill to my legs and sawing off my feet. Eventually I burst, and apparently the Preds plan was to capture the larva and try to domesticate it. How nice.

Very odd Pred. Fun RP though. I got a lot of sympathy from dead chat when I finally died, lol.

There was also a fun moment where we pulled Eggbert out of a brutal beatdown and three of us, myself a PFC, a SL, and a Medic, spent 2 minutes applying every bandage, trauma kit, and defib we could to him to pull him back from the brink. Very dramatic.

[BillyBoBBizWorth]

It was a fantastic round. If the CO hadn't cryo'ed before the end I'd have bothered him to give at least two more medals. To PFC Max Dallas, who kept doing the path between the frontlines to FOB (the only place with medical aid) with a roller bed, and saved a lot of marines who'd have husked otherwise. And to Dr. Haley Altman, who after all medics were gone was fixing us time and again for hours straight. At the end there were over 10 patients around her either dead or in crit, and she just kept going.

Hey, thanks for the kind words and acknowledgement, and yeah Haley was a superstar that round, even when she was yelling at me to take off their exosuits for defibbing hahah, had no time really.We were abit of a duo for that part of the round.

I think i came in on that round between 3-4 hour mark, and it still felt like a siege for me.

After making sure FOB was secure i headed south like most other marines, and just saw all these dead(Poor private doesnt know if they can be defibbed or not!) SL's laying on the floor just south of engineering, a blue one, a red one, hey theres my yellow one! Its abit of a curse as the inner medic said "Aww jeez, i probably should help them if i can" and especially after noticing no alive medics were anywhere in sight, my objective had became clear and why i was sent down onto the planet in the first place, its wheely bed time!

I saved Lydia first, sadly i didnt have time to get Cooper, a few others and runs later, Lydia is down again screaming about FF and to EVAC her, so i did.The last time i saw my SSGT that round was just north of Marshall hallway i think and there she was again, on the ground, dead.This time though i had the screecher on my six and the gods of the round for doing my good deeds, granted me a M4 Heavy Rifle and Tactical shotgun i then used to assist destroying the Queen and her minions, success, a marine victory!

I may have been able to save her a third time, i guess ill never know..

Good times.

[Meatshield]

Props for giving queen a go. I like the idea of a queen that has to rely on her team for combat, and hope they become more common. Maybe a focus on xeno army composition and strategy. Could be difficult, as xeno organisation can be problematic.

[Sulaboy]

Ah yeah I was wondering how this round turned out, it was so long I couldn't finish it. I was an engineer and I fondly remember that it wasn't a crusher that broke that engineering mini fob, but an OB that a SO mistakenly launched. Only actual kill I racked up was catching a boiler cornered, but playing engineering isn't about that. Also engineering was filled with girders, guess the other engineers didn't have enough metal.

[ThePiachu]

Oh yeah, the crusher did poke a few holes from the sides of the FOB, but the OB was what broke the lines. Unfortunately for us, I think that's the moment some xenos got cocky and you managed to kill hero crusher and a few others, so we couldn't have a decisive victory.

[zoboomafoo]

I named my gun shooty shooty bang bang this round. It did a lot of that...

I think I went through about 20 or so mags thanks to the BFA.

[AmazinglyAmazing]

All of these epic stories.

Meanwhile I got body blocked by a Delta during a xeno charge, and got prea spitted fourty or so minutes into the round. Despite being able to walk up and drag me, for a solid five seconds nobody bothered to grab me until a lone runner ran up and dragged me off while scratching me to death. Fun round.

[Roaven]

This was a hell of a round. I was Delta PFC Aleric Caldwell, deployed second wave, about thirty or so minutes into the round. PO let me ride shotgun on the way down, and then I reluctantly left the cockpit and joined up with my squad. Holding the east flank of the marine position, I fought for a while until the tank put a round too close to me and I got a foot fractured. I opted to Medevac so the splint slowdown didn't get me killed, and then returned to the fight later. I don't remember exactly which order they happened it, but over the course of the fight I get double-fractured by FF (and more importantly IB'd), fractured again by the Tank, facehugged, so several more Medevacs are required.

The most dramatic of them came when I got a hugger slapped onto me by a carrier in...either Operations or Dorms, I want to say. Over the next couple of moments my unconscious body is passed between several marines, who are engaged in a fighting retreat that leaves many of those who had been with me dead or captured. I come too in time to grab a rifle from where a marine had been next to me, spraying suppressing fire and bolting for evac. Medbay is backlogged but a doctor gives me turbo surgery with space drugs of some kind, so I'm stable. At one point, we have the Xenos pushed to research, but we have zero medics left and can't get a good push going, so I do the one thing I never advise anyone to do. I try to be a hero.

OB goes off, and we need to push, so I hop the cade line and I push. Two bullets to my back and a Ravager to my front, and I'm down for the count. D-E-A-D fucked. It's really late, so I'm waffling on pulling the plug on going to bed, but I wait out my defib timer for fun. Shamrock drags my dead ass all the way back to the FOB and the Doctor there revives me, but with four fractures I'm not going back into the fight. We evac while I'm in medical, getting sugar pills and surgery from the doctors, and I'm on the fence about redeploying, with how crippled we are, but yonder shines a ray of light: an ERT. I head over to the airlock to greet them, figuring I'll either regain confidence or be killed. Fortunately, it's Freelancers, who join us on our deploy. As I told Shamrock, it would be the end of it, one way or another.

I don't remember exactly how I went down, because of how late it was, but I get defib'd again, fading rapidly in and out of consciousness. At my best, I try to drag the equally incapacitated, but alive, Shamrock to the DS, and at my worst I lay there and do nothing at all. The round ends before I can recover, but I have survived it, against all odds. For hours, the outcome balanced on a razor's edge, and while I was reasonably confident that the Freelancers tipped the scales enough, I wasn't confident in the outcome until the very end.

[ThePiachu]

Yeah, it was Freelancer major. They tipped the scales, and the Predators could've also forced an end to the stalemate, but didn't (which was perhaps for the best).

[Bancrose]

Was so sick and tired of that round, I just said fuck it.

Went to cryo and hopped on my phone.

Turns out 15 minutes later you guys won. But fuck me sitting in the CIC, running between consoles for a greater part of the round was stressful. Much more than I wanted it to be but I aint finna give up. There was a few times where I genuinely lost hope planetside and was going to order evac.

Than like a life coach Sam Green came on the command comms. Sam told me to man the fuck up and I had a whole renewed confidence and ordered you sorry bastards back into the front. Somehow through the sacrifices of Lydia and Sam we won that god forsaken round. While I think its fun for marines planetside but I was just dreading life. I was sitting there doing all the heavy lifting for a greater part of the round with my XO. Thank god we had a GREAT RO and a few SO's that woke up. Because there were a few points on the planet where I thought it was just a wrap. I won't try to complain too much for benos even know they know they are losing but there are points where it just gets me HEATED when benos just run and run. They rinse cycled us with that boiler and screech so GG to them.

And Yes, Even the Kommandant loses hope in the round from time to time. That little pep talk from Greene was pivotal in that moment. God bless the marines who fight to the bitter end and than some. Because its people like you that put all of us and the baldies on your back in those marine majors.

[CCRWasHere]

A good round is where there's a constant, brutal back-and-forth between two sides. A good round is when you have to wade through destroyed buildings, human and alien blood and bodies, and past shredded barricades from by-gone forward bases. When you're a marine, a good round is when you've been through so much shit, you've got a thousand-yard stare, and have been reduced to grunting as your only form of communication.

That was a good round.

[RedsPro]

Through the leadership of Lydia and myself we pulled it back from the brink of destruction