Which orders would you want to defend your "barge" ?

[Necessary Eagle]

You've got a hypothetical big slow floaty platform that's going to spend the next couple weeks floating slowly and bigly over hostile territory. You've also got a glossy Ordering Radiants: the Complete KR Catalogue that just came in the mail. Just going by their skillsets, which orders do you prioritize for your defense team?

My first pick would be Skybreakers. Flight and heavy-duty destructive powers. They just have to hover around the Fifth Bridge and bam! fused gets Division straight in the carapace! And in an emergency, they can help with evacuation.

Second is Lightweavers. In hopefully they can just camaflouge the Fifth Bridge to head off any trouble. If we do get spotted, they can at least make things as confusing as Damnation for the baddies. Soulcasting might also be helpful, if they know how to do it at a distance like Jasnah.

 

[Nathrangking]

Skybreakers and Truthwatchers I think.

[Innovation]

Skybreakers and Lightweavers, certainly. I would add some Windrunners, as they have a lot of Squires. A Bondsmith for Stormlight and some Edgedancers and Truthwatchers for healing, to name a few. Willshapers for Transportaion, considering that the Inkspren seem unlikely to bond more. I don’t think we entirely know how Cohesion works, but it could have some potential benefits like turning your enemy’s sword to a useless metal blob. 

Edited August 2, 2020 by Innovation

[Karger]

We don't know a lot about a bunch of the orders.  You are going to need either Skybreakers or Windrunners.  I personally think Windrunners are better because of their number of squires.  Then Lightweavers for camouflage and Truthwatchers if I am right about them having enhanced senses for surveillance.  Seeing the other guy first is 80% of combat.

[LordTheodore]

At least 1 of each. I would priorities having 1 of each order before having multiples of any single order. I value versatility and having the ability to deal with as many problems as possible.

Edited August 2, 2020 by LordTheodore
Elaboration

[Karger]

13 minutes ago, LordTheodore said:

At least 1 of each. I would priorities having 1 of each order before having multiples of any single order. I value versatility and having the ability to deal with as many problems as possible.

I would take two windrunners over an edgedancer if I had a truthwatcher on board.  One Windrunner could easily be flanked.  In fact I would probably want at least four people with gravitation.

Edited August 2, 2020 by Karger

[Truthless of Shinovar]

I believe Lightweavers would be invaluable on a barge, just because of their camouflaging abilities. Couple that with the fact that Lightweavers can create matter out of literal thin air, and you have got the ultimate siege machine/surprise attack weapon. Hover over an army, disguised as the sky, then drop down giant rocks, burning pitch, or whatever you want! Not to mention, they could disguise other Radiants as well. Think that’s just a cloud? Nope! That’s the Skybreaker assault team about to flank you!

[Karger]

3 hours ago, Truthless of Shinovar said:

I believe Lightweavers would be invaluable on a barge, just because of their camouflaging abilities. Couple that with the fact that Lightweavers can create matter out of literal thin air, and you have got the ultimate siege machine/surprise attack weapon. Hover over an army, disguised as the sky, then drop down giant rocks, burning pitch, or whatever you want! Not to mention, they could disguise other Radiants as well. Think that’s just a cloud? Nope! That’s the Skybreaker assault team about to flank you!

You would have to be careful or you will limit visibility. 

Also we don't know what defenses the barge has.  This will impact all of our choices.  If they have a Deathray on board then I don't think Dustbringers are necessary.

[+Oltux72]

6 hours ago, Necessary Eagle said:

 

Second is Lightweavers. In hopefully they can just camaflouge the Fifth Bridge to head off any trouble. If we do get spotted, they can at least make things as confusing as Damnation for the baddies. Soulcasting might also be helpful, if they know how to do it at a distance like Jasnah.

 

You can visibly see red mists coming from a mere spanreed. Fourth Bridge weighs dozens of tons. It is going to alert every Screamer spren for miles around. Camouflaging it is, well, a wasted effort would be a polite understatement.

[Karger]

4 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

You can visibly see red mists coming from a mere spanreed. Fourth Bridge weighs dozens of tons. It is going to alert every Screamer spren for miles around. Camouflaging it is, well, a wasted effort would be a polite understatement.

We have no idea how many screamers Odium has access to.  He used them during a siege or methodically across a large area but I doubt he can maintain global coverage.  Doing so in already concurred territory would be a waste of sprenpower.

Edited August 3, 2020 by Karger

[+Oltux72]

37 minutes ago, Karger said:

We have no idea how many screamers Odium has access to.  He used them during a siege or methodically across a large area but I doubt he can maintain global coverage.  Doing so in already concurred territory would be a waste of sprenpower.

He does not have to. Fourth Bridge is a major fraction of the Radiants' power. They are going to go to important places, not just fly over occupied Alethkar except for testing purposes. Hence he'd send Screamers to important places.

In addition a great part of the value of a flying barge is to serve as a mobile base. Hiding your base yet operating visible Windrunners or Skybreakers is not a very good option.

[Karger]

9 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

They are going to go to important places, not just fly over occupied Alethkar except for testing purposes. Hence he'd send Screamers to important places.

Except they were not going over anywhere in Alethkar that was actually important.  Harthstone is not important unless you know about Kaladin's history and if you do know that then you don't need screamers spies work better.  Also in urban areas especially I don't think Odium wold want to enforce a complete fabrail ban.

[BasementDwellingRadiant]

I'd say a combination of surges is more important than specific orders. That said, if you can double-up on certain surges, all the better. And, if the surges work differently for different orders, that might throw a wrench in the works. But...

Lightweavers or Elsecallers: The keys to success. This really depends on the above issue in regards to screamers. How many does Odium have? And, can the sense the "louder" fibrials through the "quieter" illusion wrapped around it. If they can't, than Lightweavers take priority. If they can, Elsecallers become more useful. In either case, Soulcasting is extremely valuable if you need to magic up some supplies to make repairs while on your journey. Assuming the screamers are able to sense what's going on through an illusion, Elsecallers can double as artillery by magicking up things to throw, and applying the Transportation surge to them to give them some scary oomf. (NOTE: I am assuming Jasnah's speed mentioned by Renarin in the final Oathbringer battle was her using this surge) Soulcasting food would also mean you could exchange some space you would otherwise have dedicated to supplies, and do something else with it.

Willshapers or Stonewards: These two are primarily here for Cohesion(making hull repairs much easier), and as infantry if fighting hits the decks. Tension would be good, too, if you need to fortify the hull against attacks that might break inside.

Windrunners: While Skybreakers' Division might be useful... we don't actually know the extent of what it does yet. We only know that it is the more dangerous of their two surges. So, until further information is provided on the topic, safety in numbers seems a good rule. Plus, low ranking Skybreaker squires can't fly, which would limit them pretty heavily to deck fighting while you have fewer people in the air to cover all angles.

Edgedancers or Truthwatchers: Healing is good, though we don't really know the extent of what Truthwatchers can do outside of that. Again, more information would be nice. But, in either case: Healing good. Lack of healing bad. Yes? Yes. Good, we all agree.

Bondsmith: Maybe it's a Dalinar only thing. Maybe not. But, stormlight on-demand for all the above is kinda important. You don't want to get caught out in the middle of nowhere with no stormlight when you need it. They could probably also help with repairs if needed.

Honestly, the only one I'd be hesitant about bringing is the Dustbringers. And, that's more because I don't know much about their powers yet. Putting people who will fire into existence on a wooden flying barge seems kind of dangerous to me, especially with their reputation for breaking things, and if they can't make it happen at a distance. If they have to be touching where they want things to burn, like Malata's little scene with Mr. T... I don't want them onboard. Sorry guys, you are still one of my favorite orders, and last time I took the quiz I had a pretty good chance of matching with you. But, It's just not a good idea. 

Edited August 3, 2020 by BasementDwellingRadiant

[+Oltux72]

19 minutes ago, Karger said:

Except they were not going over anywhere in Alethkar that was actually important. 

Well, Team Odium has to be successful only once, while the Radiants need to fear an irreplacable loss every time. This is like a mine field. You already take an advantage from it, even if nobody is blown up. Your enemy needs to move more cautiously.

19 minutes ago, Karger said:

Harthstone is not important unless you know about Kaladin's history and if you do know that then you don't need screamers spies work better.  Also in urban areas especially I don't think Odium wold want to enforce a complete fabrail ban.

He does not have to. You put people with spanreeds near potential targets. And a few random observation posts. And you put Screamers and Fused team into bases near but not in cities. You can let the Fourth Bridge strike as long as it cannot hide while fleeing. And that is where your Screamers come in.

[Karger]

9 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

He does not have to. You put people with spanreeds near potential targets. And a few random observation posts. And you put Screamers and Fused team into bases near but not in cities. You can let the Fourth Bridge strike as long as it cannot hide while fleeing. And that is where your Screamers come in.

If they have eyes on the barge then they are not going to loose it no matter how good your Lightweavers are.  It is just too big and too slow.

[Kuram]

Lightweavers could probably just hide the barge.  I figure they'll eventually figure out how to bend light around things, or to have the illusion look like the background.  Even if you just make it look like the sky from the bottom.

[BasementDwellingRadiant]

2 hours ago, Kuram said:

Lightweavers could probably just hide the barge.  I figure they'll eventually figure out how to bend light around things, or to have the illusion look like the background.  Even if you just make it look like the sky from the bottom.

There's an issue with that, though. Sunlight carries heat with it. And, if you bend all - or at least a bunch - of it around you, temperatures will drop pretty dramatically in your little no light/minimal light bubble. Mind you, I'm not a scientist and the last time I took a science class was in the beginning of college about seven years ago, so I could be wrong about the specifics. Please correct me if I am.

[Karger]

32 minutes ago, BasementDwellingRadiant said:

Sunlight carries heat with it. And, if you bend all - or at least a bunch - of it around you, temperatures will drop pretty dramatically in your little no light/minimal light bubble

Like in shade?  Thankfully thermodynamics makes it unlikely that you will cool yourself too much as heat will be carried from the atmosphere.  A bigger concern is actually that your light will bend in such a way as to make viewing difficult for yourself and look outs.

[Watchcry]

I'd use a Lightweaver to create a large cloud covering only the bottom and sides of the bridge, a Stoneward to repair the bridge, an Elsecaller to turn any projectiles into smoke, and a Windrunner to divert projectiles away from it. 

[Kuram]

18 hours ago, BasementDwellingRadiant said:

There's an issue with that, though. Sunlight carries heat with it. And, if you bend all - or at least a bunch - of it around you, temperatures will drop pretty dramatically in your little no light/minimal light bubble. Mind you, I'm not a scientist and the last time I took a science class was in the beginning of college about seven years ago, so I could be wrong about the specifics. Please correct me if I am.

They wouldn't have to cover the top, and even if they did there are heating fabrials that exist.

[Karger]

I suppose bringing Dalinar makes sense now. Unlimited stormlight is a pretty big draw.