Defeating Epics

[RJWB0mb]

thought it was fun where people created there own epics, but i thought it would be interesting to turn it around so its kinda a game. after an epic has been posted please fill out the catigoies below for what is needed to defeat the epic.

1) materials, resources and people.

2) setup ( where the confrontation may happen what traps would be placed etc.)

3) action ( how this may play through and also how it may go wrong)

[RJWB0mb]

I guees ill create a first epic.

hive mind

a psyic gifter epic

powers include:

mind reading and mind control

hive mind's gifting power creates drones that the epic can manipulate with ease,

drones have powers that hivemend can not use directly such as being able to survive low caliber bullets higher athletics and poisonous touch. drones are in constant mental contact mentally but can not read minds of others.

hive mind has taken over a city and uses underground system as a base.

weakness include

smoke breaks the psychic link.

poison from drones can be cured by eating charcoal.

and drones can be injured by bashing much more easily than bullets knives etc...

Edited October 5, 2013 by RJWB0mb

[RJWB0mb]

1) too defeat hive mind i would like three teams of four. a number of explosives, smoke bombs, and blunt weapons. also the telephone like devices from the book maybe needed.

2) so plan has two parts

a) set a false attack to attract the drones and follow the back to Hive mind.

use the other teams to create a number of explosions across the city then smoke bomb the drones who come. while the main force under hive minds control is gone then hive mind is open for attack.

3) my biggest worry would be some kinda safe house retreat, that would set plan back further, anther is fighting in small tunnels against forces who can kill by touch. i would imagine thick clothing and various blunt weapons would be fine to counter this. since hive-mind has no physical power the actual defeat would be straight forwards.

[name_here]

His mental control powers are useless against things that have no mind. However, nothing appears to be stopping the drones from using guns.

 

1. Autonomous or remotely controlled attack robots of some form. How many you need really depends on what sort of technology he's got in the city. You could do it with a tiny bot carrying a poison dart if he doesn't have countermeasures for that, you could send in UGVs with smoke projectors if he has a rocket launcher shortage, you could hit him with a Predator UAV if he happens to have left his underground fortress.

2. The first step is getting him away from his defenses and better-equipped guards. Fortunately, it is most likely he cannot add new drones without getting at least somewhat close to them, since we're presuming there are people on earth who are not under his control yet. So it would be possible to lure him out by convincing some powerful group to approach the city and give him an irresistable target. Ideally the bait would be entirely unaware of the actual plan, but if necessary you can design implement a plan that will doom him as soon as he gets within mind-reading range.

Assuming it's necessary to directly assault his underground fortress, bombard the approaches with smoke shells and send robots along those paths; flood the safehouse tunnels with smoke.

3. The biggest worry, basically, is what he's got besides mind control, and exactly what's necessary for smoke to break the link. If it needs to contact the drones, any of them in enviromentally sealed powered armor will still be under his control. Tunnels are excellent for booby traps, and he doesn't have to worry too much about accidentally setting them off. In the worst-case scenario, you're basically assaulting a fortress manned by seemingly limitless hordes of fanatically loyal and well-armed elite soldiers. Even worse, since they aren't serving him by choice, destroying the fortress and its occupants entirely is not really ethically acceptable.

Edited October 8, 2013 by name_here

[Gloom]

Divert an Aquifer into his tunnels.

[RJWB0mb]

name_here

i like that plan be interesting what kinda robotics have been created in this world simply adding the gravitonic( i think that was thier name) to a drone would add some interesting abilities.

Gloom

dang it, that is much simpler then i thought it would be, awesome, it would drive hivemind from the tunnels and destroy alot of minions but what happens if hive mind survives and rebuilds.

[RJWB0mb]

i read Gloom's epic created from anther page and thought it would be a very challenging epic not just to defeat but even find.

1) Powers suite would include:

A ) Dominion over animals. No animal would willingly harm him, and he could maintain direct control over two dozen animals.

B ) The ability to mutate any animal.

C ) Regeneration.

D ) The ability to gift control of his animals to others and to gift regeneration to his animals.

E ) Minor elemental resistance. He would be comfortable in any natural temperature extreme.

2) Weakness - Can be slain with a silver tipped arrow. Other silver weapons can slow regeneration.

3) Name - Lord of the Hunt

4) Costume - The Lord of the Hunt would wear furs over his body armor and a medieval helm with stag horns. He would frequent the forests in the northern tier states and Canada.

5) Epic behavior - The Lord of the Hunt travels with a pack of mutated wolves and hunts those who disturb his forests from the back of a mutated stag. He believes he is the Celtic myth reborn, and tries to emulate all of the darker parts of that legend. He lives a nomadic lifestyle and believes in his own superiority. Few know of his existence and live to tell about it. His atrocities are little known because they often occur in isolated locations. He controls several isolated towns in the wilderness by proxy through his huntsmen who each have control of several mutated animals.

many thanks to gloom

[name_here]

If forest-related problem, use fire.

 

1) Enough people and/or cameras to watch the outskirts of his forest, armed with rifles loaded with silver bullets, and incindiaries.

2) Set up a perimeter around the forest and light it on fire. Make sure to stay well back from the firestorm, although I'm pretty sure that the northern european forests are considerably less flammable than the southwest US, so safe distance is closer in.

3) The fire should theoretically suffice to handle his animals, and the perimeter guards can shoot him with silver bullets from high-powered rifles to incapacitated him for an archer to provide a finishing blow. Four complications exist. First, burning the villagers is not the desired outcome, so they would have to be evacuated somehow. Probably by air so it can happen after the fire starts. Second, forest fires can be fendishly unpredictable and could easily spread back; if it goes out of control the mission will have to be scrubbed and the guards evacuated. Still, it will wreck his cover and probably allow a successful follow-up, or even draw in another Epic in the area to fight him. Third, it's possible he could break through the perimeter; in this case he can be hunted down with rifles from helicopters if forced into open terrain. Forth, if his regeneration is up to the task he could stay inside the fire; this is probably less of a problem because once his animals are killed or driven off he's just a relatively ordinary person and five-man kill teams with silver could chase him down.

 

An alternate plan is to drop Agent Orange on the entire forest and obliterate his cover from aerial search parties without having to deal with the consequences of fire. However, he might have some caves to hide in and if he can't be killed from the air (and archery from a helicopter just sounds dubious) his mutant animals will still be a threat. Also, the villagers would suffer from Agent Orange side effects, but those are more treatable than incineration.

[RJWB0mb]

the lord of the hunt seems to me a master of gurrila warfare, and with animal abilitys at his disposial mixed with some modern technology fire may not be enough to stop him. agent orange may be a safer option since he may trap the near by area to the forrest as well.

though i would like to know the mutation of his animals and how powerfull they maybe. he may also use a bait stratigie sending one of his huntsmen to lure the fir burgaid in.

[name_here]

Wildfires are famously difficult to put out or contain once they get going, even with the full resources of first-world nations, and there's a huge variety of nasty incindiaries to kick it off with that are basically impossible to extinguish. He might withstand the fire, and possibly even protect his minions, but extinguishing it would probably require a powerful elementalist Epic or help from a Newcago-level power, and having that sort of backup opens up alternate routes of attack by tracing his location via his allies. The main point of the fire is to wreck his enviromental assets and force him into an open confrontation against a superior number of armed adversaries. Ideally he'd be isolated and on the run, as well, but it's still better to engage him in the forest after the undergrowth and canopy have been burned back to deny him ambush oppertunities.

 

Admittedly, confirming the kill would be potentially difficult, although you'd know you got the right one if his powers go out of control on death.

[Gloom]

Overkill.

 

Okay, first The Lord of the Hunt ranges through the forests of the Northern Tier US and Canada. Tracking his location would be difficult even if you knew he existed. Then of course you have to know what his weakness is. First guess would be that silver can kill him. It does slow his regenerative abilities, but a silver arrow is the real ticket. But it isn't necessary.

 

He can mutate any animal to twice it's normal size, and gift them with regeneration. He likes wolves, and he can make additional mutations on those animals. Things like replacing fur with scales, growing an extra head, etc. He can't give them supernatural abilities or intelligence, but he does get an empathic read on them, so if they detect you, so does he. What he would actually do is alter the jaws by making them wider, give them an extra row of teeth, and make them more muscular. Two of his huntsmen use mutated grizzly bears gifted with regeneration to keep the locals cowed.

 

I will give you the keys.

 

A Hind or Black Hawk equipped with thermal imaging.

Napalm.

A high caliber rotary gun loaded with silver bullets.

 

His elemental resistance, and regenerative abilities would still work theoretically, but if you shoot someone with a rotary gun and drop napalm on them, you probably don't even need to know their weakness. If you wanna be real careful, you can send a couple a hard core mercs down with flame throwers to clean up.

 

This, of course, all depends on accurate intelligence. If you can't find him, you can't kill him. Thermal imaging will make locating him easier if you know where to look though. The best time to hunt him would be in the winter when there is a lot of snow. This will minimize the hazards of an uncontrollable forest fire, and make his heat shadow stand out against the ambient background.

 

Of course, you know I'm setting you up for failure.

Good Luck!

[name_here]

Maxim 37: There is no "overkill." There is only "open fire" and "time to reload."

 

Going in with such a broad-spectrum plan minimizes the odds of the target turning the tables; a less extreme plan carries higher risks of him managing to find a counter. Although if it's not strictly necessary to get him with a silver arrow, a whole lot of options open up.

 

The entire northern tier is a bit large for my plan, I'll admit. It's also pretty big for an airborne search; people who get lost in the Northern Tier often aren't found by airborne searches for days while trying to be noticed and in a constrained subsection. With that much area to cover, it'll be necessary to lure him to a specific location. Fortunately, since he's imitating a myth, his actions become relatively predictable so long as he doesn't feel threatened enough to break character.

 

Let's see, if I have my myths right then he'll chase anyone who crosses his path unless they join the hunt, particularly at crossroads and at night. Thus, you can prep a trap anywhere in his territory and put out bait teams nightly until he shows up. The hard part will be figuring out how to make sure the bait stays ahead of him without causing him to break character. Motorcycles are right out. Hopefully, he won't control animals people are riding out of fair play, although it'll take some work to get one which won't panic. Put up claymores somewhere off the trail, position a couple machine guns covering the area, and draw him into it, then detonate the mines to sweep his minions and hit him with the machine guns. Keep silver arrows around just in case. The key risk is that he might be more tech-savvy than he appears, and have an explosives sniffer or other detection device. If he notices the trap before entering the killbox, you can either rush him or abort; he is relatively unlikely to want to assault a fortified position and you can get away clean. If you really want to assure a kill, bring something too armored for teeth and fast and small enough to chase him in the forests.

 

General Epic-fighting gidelines:

 

1. For the sake of argument, we're assuming you know their weakness. Never go after an Epic with defensive powers if you don't know their weakness unless their powers cannot stop you from winning; if you need to test it directly make sure you have a plan to run away. You can probably figure out their weakness by asking around and ideally analyzing security footage, or you can conoct a method of exposing them to various potential weaknesses without getting attacked on a failed test. It seems kind of like the more powerful the Epic, the less bizzarely specific the weakness, which is good.

2. Minus their powers, Epics are just people and will die if you shoot them. Your plan for any Epic can end with "expose them to their weakness, then shoot them"

3. It is relatively likely an Epic will walk straight into a trap on purpose if they don't think you know their weakness. Exploit this. You can, for instance, set a trap you know won't work, then run to lure them into a trap that will.

4. Remember, Epics have human-level intelligence; you are not the only people who can be clever. Ideally, you want a plan that no possible action on their part can counter by the time they realize they're in danger. This is most easily accomplished via overwhelming force.

5. Don't get too clever for your own good. If an Epic does not have Prime Invincibility, you definitionally do not need to shut down their power to kill them. If they've got a defensive power that needs to be actively triggered, they can be killed by an attack they don't see coming. If their power is always active but not absolute, you can overwhelm it.

6. The real X-factor, and one that I haven't been able to properly take into account, is the presence of things other than the target Epic. Other Epics are simple enough; since they're not the target you just need to run them off by employing their weakness. However, Epics have minions and are surrounded by civilians. The minions can be handled by adding sufficent firepower to overwhelm them, or by convincing the Epic not to bring them for whatever reason, or in some cases by long-distance sniping against the target. You presumably don't want to kill the civilians, though, limiting the avaliability of indiscriminate overwhelming force. The most straightforward solution is to openly call out the Epic so the civilians will scatter ahead of time, but then you're limited in preparing the battlefield.

Edited October 9, 2013 by name_here

[RJWB0mb]

this one is a bit different, it is not technically a high epic so resources are conserved. limits include a four man team, no grifters and a month time limit.

sword barer

a energy based epic that is a prime assassin to a high epic over a city. he travels a lot enjoying hunting down and killing targets. considers killing an art often hangs murders in public view. lives in what was Florida

powers include.

1) energy channeling through a blade to cut through anything( high epic invulnerability not included)

2) super agility

3) minor ability to see very near future

4) can change friction of something he touches directly

weakness

1) losing his object he channel power through. no sword not cutting.

2) agility doesn't work if its snowing

3) his power to see the future shows him a number of possiblitys ignores strange or improbably things such as purple acid spiting teddy bear.

4) friction powers don't work on iron.

real stuff

he lies about his primary power and weakness.

power is to cut anything he can see

weakness is he can't cut what he can't see. Blind him and his cutting power is gone.

[Gloom]

Okay, I say the arrow isn't absolutely necessary, because I believe outside of the odd epic, most epics can be checkmated in various ways. Fortuity wasn't checkmated as expected. He was placed into checkmate after the plan had failed. I believe that in the case of an epic who regenerates, but doesn't have an energy field like Lime Light, really hot fire would be an effective way to put them in checkmate. Natural fire would be painful, but I wouldn't bet on it to stop someone who regenerates and has a minor elemental resistance. Dropping them in lava, covering them in napalm, or using phosphorous grenades is a better bet. If you have a good supplier, maybe a couple of phased plasma rifles, or failing that an MK 153 SMAW rocket launcher armed with XM1060 40-mm grenades.

 

Satellite imagery of an area should still be on the table since most satellites don't require constant maintenance, and it has at worst been a little over a decade since most efforts to maintain them ended. I could see this being of use provided they could be hacked. Locating the Lord of the Hunt while on the move would be your best means of eliminating him away from a population center, but if minimizing civilian casualties is important to you, you may want to kill off his huntsmen that are maintaining control of isolated frontier towns. Once the Lord of the Hunt is dead, those animals that were left in control of his huntsmen will be free. They will lose their regeneration, but they will also be out of control and mentally unstable. Most of them have at least one mutated Kodiak, Grizzly, or Polar Bear as well as a wolf or two under their control. The animals are sterile, but they could do a lot of damage. The Lord of the Hunt generally travels with a pack of a dozen wolves and his stag steed. That leave eleven animals that need to be accounted for in population zones.

 

He is wearing body armor, and he does wear a helm, so you're going to need to chew through that before shooting him with a silver arrow. You're going to have to kill off a dozen over sized mutated wolves that regenerate, immobilize and destroy a very large stag that also regenerates, and I highly recommend that you stay off the ground while you attempt this. Unless the Lord of the Hunt has imported and mutated a giant South American fruit bat, you should have an advantage in the air.

[Gloom]

this one is a bit different, it is not technically a high epic so resources are conserved. limits include a four man team, no grifters and a month time limit.

sword barer

a energy based epic that is a prime assassin to a high epic over a city. he travels a lot enjoying hunting down and killing targets. considers killing an art often hangs murders in public view. lives in what was Florida

powers include.

1) energy channeling through a blade to cut through anything( high epic invulnerability not included)

2) super agility

3) minor ability to see very near future

4) can change friction of something he touches directly

weakness

1) losing his object he channel power through. no sword not cutting.

2) agility doesn't work if its snowing

3) his power to see the future shows him a number of possiblitys ignores strange or improbably things such as purple acid spiting teddy bear.

4) friction powers don't work on iron.

real stuff

he lies about his primary power and weakness.

power is to cut anything he can see

weakness is he can't cut what he can't see. Blind him and his cutting power is gone.

 

What climate is he in during the specified time period, and what is the whether like?

[name_here]

Swordbearer made a bad choice about what power to disguise, I'd say. No one with sense plans to fight a guy who can cut through anything in close combat anyway.

 

The power to watch is his precog/reflex combo. However, it's limited in duration where Fortuity could sense direct danger far in advance.

 

The master solution to people who evade danger by dodging or appearing to be elsewhere is to arrange a situation that will kill everyone in the area they could possibly dodge into. Precog expands this area because they have extra time to dodge.

 

Plan mad bomber

1) We need explosives and one of his targets; if necessary put a hit out on a team member.

2) Wire a large, abandoned area where you are unlikely to be observed with explosives, then convince him the target is in there. Ideally do this without putting the target in there, but if you select a location which he can only approach from one direction (trivial in Florida if he can't walk on water, otherwise near-impossible) you can trap the path to the location of the target. Alternately, pick a target you do not like, or stick him in a bomb shelter.

3) Since he's a contract killer, he can be expected to come to the target. When he reaches the center, or when he suddenly turns and runs, detonate the explosives. Since you're on a time limit and have a limited team, you probably can't plant enough to be assured of a kill in the entire zone, so sweep the rubble.

 

Plan clever bomber:

1) Get a contact explosive and some method of making it look wildly implausible. Maybe improvise it out of brightly-colored fireworks, stick it into a plush cthulhu, or something.

2) Same lure, but this time into a confined space.

3) Throw the bomb at him; it'll detonate if he cuts it or it strikes the wall or floor

 

Plan used all our explosives last time:

1) automatic weapons, lots of.

2) Still the same lure. However, now it actually matters how he enters the area. Analyse his typical behavior to figure out how he usually approaches targets and station the team elsewhere.

3) Once he's in an area with no effective cover, ideally at a lower elevation, the team emerges from hiding and shoots at him. Honestly, I don't like this one very much; as Megan says it's hard to checkmate precogs with bullets. Still, with enough bullets it can work, and his sword negates most nonexplosive methods of forcing a checkmate.

 

Plan rave

1) Lots and lots of multicolored lights, noisemakers, etc.

2) Same lure

3) Hopefully he can be disoriented by sensory input and his precog will be effectively negated, at which point he can be shot.

 

Plan real weakness

1) Flashbangs, heavy armor, nets and spears

2) This plan can be implemented anywhere, but the smaller the area the better

3) Throw flashbangs, taking out his cutting powers and disorienting him, and throw the nets then stab him. Varient: Do it indoors with night vision and kill the lights.

 

His fake melee weakness cannot be exploited if it would matter, since anything that can break a sword he's holding could just hit him instead, so I'm not going to write up a plan based on that theory

 

As for climate, it never snows in Florida.

[RJWB0mb]

/>What climate is he in during the specified time period, and what is the whether like?

he is based in Florida expect tropical weather.

[RJWB0mb]

for sword-bearer

hiding his ability to cut through anything he sees does have benefit since he can now take people off guard by killing them at a distances instead of close range.

a lot of these plans are good but can be countered with the secret distance cutting power allowing him to carve out trenches to survive explosions deactivate bombs or tear apart weapons. also his ability to change friction allows escapes in methods not normally possible.

[MathEpic]

I am a little surprised that nobody else on this forum has quoted this rule yet:

 

220.  Whatever my one vulnerability is, I will fake a different one. For example, ordering all mirrors removed from the palace, screaming and flinching whenever someone accidentally holds up a mirror, etc. In the climax when the hero whips out a mirror and thrusts it at my face, my reaction will be "Hmm...I think I need a shave."

 

(From the evil overlord list by Peter Anspach.)

 

If an Epic Killer learns through intensive research that an Epic's weakness is grapefruit, they would be well advised to have a backup plan in case a quick stop at the local grocery store is not enough to protect you from the dreaded Fruit-stand Crusher.

[Gloom]

Sword Barer:

 

Hire him to make a hit. Have the target appear to be hiding in a stainless steel walk in freezer unit without a light. Seal the door and release VX nerve gas. Make an expedient exit just in case he cuts his way out and releases the gas. He's dead unless he is hiding the ability to regenerate if he fails to exit his location in seconds.

[RJWB0mb]

/>Sword Barer:

Hire him to make a hit. Have the target appear to be hiding in a stainless steel walk in freezer unit without a light. Seal the door and release VX nerve gas. Make an expedient exit just in case he cuts his way out and releases the gas. He's dead unless he is hiding the ability to regenerate if he fails to exit his location in seconds.

perfect though i maybe worried bout his foresight and experience he may open the whole building like tuna can, before moving in. his power set i imagine works better in open areas going into a place would weaken hime why not just gut the building instead.

[Gloom]

No plan is perfect. KISS is the best policy. If he cuts his way in, you can still release the nerve agent. If he lingers to get his bearings, it could still kill him. You just have to release enough to contaminate the room. He will still believe his target is there, and as long as he doesn't know it's a trap he will still be likely to investigate the thug you left tied up inside.

 

If he does cut his way in, you cordon off the building with bio-hazard tape after the fact and hope no one else decides to crash inside. If they do, hey, you can't stop stupid. Give them a Darwin award and carry on. If Sword lives, you make sure that it looks like he was set up by another epic, walk away from your contract and live to kill another day.

[RJWB0mb]

the Tank the juggernaut

a epic with invulnerability. he doesn't need to eat, breath, sleep, or drink. he is a living machine, tactically intelligent, and sees himself as a conquer him and his generals of five march across Europe Africa and Asia, taking all land in their path.

powers include

1) high epic invulnerability and super strength

2) epic endurance (not needing food sleep etc...)

3) gifting (can give up to five people abilities similar to his own though they normally go insane and go bezerk after a year. the five have been known to die from tank shells and need to sleep and eat once a month. given by touch

3.5) gifts durability to what he touches so if he carries a sword he wont smash it to pieces first swing.

weakness

1) can be hurt by at one of the magnetic poles of the planet.

2) known to conquer paths with loops in mind bring him back to his main base always in same time of the year where he disappears for a week in his palace before returning to conquest, people believe thats when he is weakest.

3) gifting powers can be canceled if they are affected by a strong magnetic field while submerged. works on objects as well. regular weakness also affect their powers.

[name_here]

Defeating the tank:

Okay, so we need to exploit his weakness. Unfortunately, the magnetic poles of the Earth are not in his territory, so cleverness will be required.

Do his generals also disappear during the week he's in his palace? If so, then it is reasonable to assume that he's mostly powerless during that period; if they're still around then he is at most somewhat weakened or maybe even faking it. In either case, he is ideally confronted during that time period with methods expected to possibly work on his full-power state, but there's the issue of infiltrating the palace.

Since strong magnetic fields can cancel the gifted powers, it appears likely the weakness at the magnetic poles is due to the geomagnetic field and not the location. Thus, simulating the field there should disable his powers at any location. Also, certain types of solar activity can distort the geomagnetic field. Unfortunately, it's hard to predict when those will happen, and they are of relatively short duration, so depending on that is out. We need an array of electromagnents tuned to alter the geomagnetic field at a location. The geomagnetic field is suprisingly weak, so that's more achievable than it sounds. Setting one up for a fixed location is much easier than setting one up for an arbitrary location, which means it'd take some real work to do it at the palace. What this calls for is luring him and any generals nearby downriver from a dam with a buried, watertight electromagnet array, blowing the dam, and activating the electromagnents, then shooting him before he's swept away from the magnets.

Alternately, if his strength is finite, catching him in a woven nanotube net and attaching it to a supersonic plane might be able to forcibly drag him to a pole.