Re: Dark Gate OOC Thread
Well, I wish I'd been here an hour ago. A lot of ye points have come up and then been answered (pretty much correctly) by people without me having to get involved!
RE: A flight of angels vs a mothership: See the Fated Gathering thread. Yon aliens didn't use the brunt of the abilities of their ships because the majority of the time they've been trying to capture civilian populations rather than engaging in open combat with aerial targets who are highly resistant to capture like angels. Cinders do not make good gemini. Also, while the motherships remaining (as of the present DG3 timeline there are three left, all in Anudor) are quite powerful, they aren't the only problem. The dropships (smaller motherships that end up over towns) are similarly dangerous, and even ignoring them the elder lords, who are on par with some of the most powerful things fielded by their enemies, are a lot more numerous than their counterparts and also often aren't seriously inconvenienced by being murdered. They can just go grab another body at a tower or dropship and continue right where they left off. Generally, the PCs win when encountering them by weight of numbers and shock and awe, and by me also being fairly merciful and having them fight sub-optimally because if they fought seriously it would be nigh impossible for PCs not relatively optimized and with 40+ experience in to win.
Shrike and thetwo are both correct in what they said earlier, that the majority of ye aliens departed from Donevrion after DG2 and a skeleton force was left to mop up the leftovers. It has mostly been a cold war save for their gradual spread from their various points of control, mostly Anudor and central Badaria, since Crolia pushed them off fairly well and they didn't bother staying in the Amazon because it was so hostile and sparsely populated of an environment.
As for the question on how fucked they'd be if the PCs all banded together, I'll just pass on how far fetched an idea that working out is given how varied the various characters are in terms of personality and location in order to keep the glorious(ly derp) idea of DG Avengers alive. Skipping that, it certainly wouldn't help them... Right away. Remember that any character that falls is going to be joining their side, and that they aren't going to lose much of their ability in doing so. Also remember that they're not a small band. Even with their present reduced numbers, the aliens can potentially field millions of mooks in the form of hunters, grabbers, skyrays, and gemini to clog the wheels of any force trying to attack them. They also don't have easily accessible leadership to get rid of, as killing an elder lord's body doesn't really mean a whole lot if you don't trap or destroy the soul too.
If everything went after the aliens at once, theoretically, they'd get wrecked. Utterly wrecked. Even with yon whole fleet and the motherships actually doing what they're supposed to do, they'd still most likely lose, but at that point I'm really just dealing with fairly nebulous and vague concepts, so meh. I would point out that at this point the formerly mentioned Godslayer is being somewhat more of a hindrance than a help, as a lot of the other gods and greater dragons still try to lay low in fear of being murdered should they attract his attention. Such is a thing that I planned on exploring in various threads, but I don't count it as a spoiler and so do not feel bad for stating it here.