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One of Rioja's orbital stations lie in ruins, it's core module and several others partially destroyed from the inside by a terrorist attack. What was at first suspected to be a simple escape of medical nanites was something far worse cooked up by a small group that seemed to have it in for you. The group may have been planning to consume the station's interior with upgraded offensive nanites then crash it to the planet's surface.

There's no way to be absolutely certain.

Defeating them required energy weapon modifications that hadn't seen large scale use in more than two thousand years. Starships that had been docked were quarantined and teams of marines or anyone else rated with vacuum suits and phase rifles are helping to scour them for any traces of the weapons. Other ships are conducting sweeps of the orbital space for debris, making sure that nothing that might be contaminated survives.

House Intel and R&D are working on tearing out the guts of the stealthed LST the terrorists used to get aboard the station. Alliance and House Ber'helum personnel are assisting to a limited extent until the tech you've decided to hand over to them can be removed.

Within the day the emergency blockade of the Orbital space above Rioja is slowly being lifted and transports allowed to and from the surface through a small gap in the planetary shields.

Your PR department with assistance from intel have released public statements admitting that a terrorist attack has taken place. The only details they've confirmed to the populace was that weapons banned by the Factions were used but that they were stopped before they completed their objectives.

Down on the surface the capital arcology is once again secured. Powerful field scanners have been set up to make it even more difficult for Recon teams to gain entrance, though security admits there may yet be other methods of getting through.

Roll 2d100 for your Bodyguards to find and seal gaps in security.

Rolled 81, 14 = 95 (2d100)

>>46733249
FOR SALVAGE AND SALVAGE

AND FUCK THESE TERRORIST FUCKING SHITS

Rolled 88 (1d100)

>>46733249
>Roll 2d100 for your Bodyguards to find and seal gaps in security.
1

Sonia should get an armored desk.

Rolled 32 (1d100)

>>46733721
2

Rolled 23, 45 = 68 (2d100)

>>46733249

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Construction teams have flown in new sections for the high speed tram links connecting the capital to the rest of the planet's grid. Additional work is also beginning on secondary communications hard lines and additional secure wireless coms that will make it harder for an attacker to cut off the city from the fleet or the rest of the planet.

Once repairs are completed and the blockade is lifted expansion of the surrounding city will resume.

With the exception of their HAG (which was stolen from from one of your own bases) the team that attacked the capital seemingly took no significant losses. There is no evidence that they're still present in the city but also none that would indicate they've left. Wind from the nearby ocean would quickly mask any tracks in the surrounding desert even if someone didn't take such precautions themselves.

Two bodies recovered from the crushed ship have unmarked armor and equipment consistent with those of a Dominion special operations team.

>>46733721
>Sonia should get an armored desk.
It was.
Ballistics confirms they were using some of the better mass production models of your repulsor weapons along with a mix of different 20mm rounds. Two identical weapons recovered from the HAG had their serial numbers scrubbed.

Your office is still a mess so for the time being you're back aboard your command ship.

>88, 45
With a bit of work your bodyguards have managed to locate and secure one means of egress and entrance that special forces might use. They're certain that there are more which will take time to locate.

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>>46734467
Missed a piece for the picture there.
Rufaro suggests that you upgrade your office furniture with additional countermeasures should someone else try to kill you.

Back in your home galaxy, the Forbearance has joined the fleets launching a counter attack. Its powerful new siege weapons have made an already dangerous ship a deadly one for any of the larger ones trying to confront it.

Alex has gained some additional notoriety by employing a somewhat unusual combat tactic in a larger fleet battle. He ordered all assault corvettes to activate a rarely used Dominion IFF setting that shows additional information about a ship's commander. This is occasionally used in duels to show number of kills as intimidation.

Combined with a high number of elite House units being present, enemy formations that had been moving to engage soon broke off, leaving them vulnerable to long range fire. Enemy reinforcements trying to shore up the formation inadvertainly caused the retreating units to scatter. The entire debacle nearly turned into a rout and most of the enemy formation had to be reorganised to stage of fighting retreat.

Alex has been commended but also quietly warned that it could have easily backfired and made his fleet units priority targets.

>>46734850
>Alex has gained some additional notoriety by employing a somewhat unusual combat tactic in a larger fleet battle. He ordered all assault corvettes to activate a rarely used Dominion IFF setting that shows additional information about a ship's commander. This is occasionally used in duels to show number of kills as intimidation.
Aww shit, we Ace Combat squadrons now.
Maybe we should make everyone have their own squadron emblem.

>>46733176
FOR HOUSE AND DOMINION: Unexpected thread edition!

Hope you're doing well TSTG/

>>46734850
>Alex has gained some additional notoriety by employing a somewhat unusual combat tactic in a larger fleet battle. He ordered all assault corvettes to activate a rarely used Dominion IFF setting that shows additional information about a ship's commander. This is occasionally used in duels to show number of kills as intimidation.

>Combined with a high number of elite House units being present, enemy formations that had been moving to engage soon broke off, leaving them vulnerable to long range fire. Enemy reinforcements trying to shore up the formation inadvertainly caused the retreating units to scatter. The entire debacle nearly turned into a rout and most of the enemy formation had to be reorganised to stage of fighting retreat.

I feel that 'jousting' has never been so metaphorically appropriate a term.

>>46735014
>Maybe we should make everyone have their own squadron emblem.
Most wings or special squadrons have unit markings, just House markings tend to be considered more important.

>>46735154
Windsor is expected to be livid about this development given his low number of front line combat missions. Simulated kills don't count.

Back at Rioja the entire disaster with the nanites means your Generals and Marine commanders are debating the necessity to keep weapons prepped for such an attack again. While a quick modification for armories that know how to do it, it still takes time to refit the phase rifles.

Did you want every base and ship with Marines to keep a small stockpile of them at the ready?
One of Drake's people suggest that an under barrel attachment could be made to fit most rifles and carbines and rigged for the more disruptive pulses.
Or you could implement mandatory training for all armories that they know how to refit their weapons in a hurry?

[ ] Keep stockpile
[ ] Under barrel attachment
[ ] Mandatory training
[ ] Probably won't face this threat often, add info to basic training

>>46735580
>[x] Under barrel attachment
>[x] Mandatory training
>[x] Add info to training

An under-barrrel attachment we can sell as well. It's an entirely separate device which means a) we can amp it up purely for destructing nanites and b) we get to name it

>>46735580
>[ ] Keep stockpile
>[ ] Mandatory training
Seems like the cheapest effective option, and won't add more bulk to the weapons.

>Windsor is expected to be livid about this development given his low number of front line combat missions. Simulated kills don't count.
Is Windsor that guy from our year that became a corvette test pilot?
Good, because FUCK that guy, I hope he NEVER EVER gets rotated to the front, and retires with everyone laughing at him for his tiny penis kill count.

>>46735580
Would it be possible to modify stun pulse grenades?

>>46735580
[ ] Keep stockpile
[ ] Under barrel attachment
[ ] Mandatory training
We are nothing if always prepared for most situations and I don't want us to be caught unaware by a large scale use of combat nanites.

>>46735773
Yes. They cant be switched back and forth easily though so it's not really possible to do it as a field mod.
With the extra parts needed they're 50% more expensive to manufacture than normal stun pulse grenades.

>>46735722
Yes. He helped train your pilots in the use of high maneuver drives when they were first developed. He also assisted in pioneering the use of modern g-suits among starship pilots of your House.

>>46735014
I am just waiting for the vote where we get to pain all the ships in our Cruiser wing pitch black and set them up as Deaths Hand. Ah a guy can dream.

>>46735995
That's unfortunate. He's clearly good at what he does, I had hoped he'd have changed for the better.

>Other stuff
>Soldiers who survive the nanite apocalypse despite holding their position
As it doesn't make much sense to knight random soldiers regardless of their ability to lead troops or represent the house, I think they should get some land with this award, in case they're not capable of the things required of a night.

>Gift for darrow
He's supposed to like all kinds of oceanic sports, so why not gift him a mobile marina / with a detechable command submarine? Just in case there's an emergency while he's doing some R&R?

>Baron Dante
I think we should gift him one of the deluxe reynard rifles, if we haven't done it already.

>The best thing while we figure out what to do with them is probably therapy.
That's a given. Once sweep operations have been finished everyone involved in the nanite battle will be evaluated. Especially those in the thick of it.

>>46736368
>As it doesn't make much sense to knight random soldiers regardless of their ability to lead troops or represent the house, I think they should get some land with this award, in case they're not capable of the things required of a night.

You could give them a similar offer as what Winifred did after Sonia tracked down the cloaked ship. Money, armor/gear, land, etc.
Maybe just replace land with opportunities to train to become a Knight.

Thoughts?

>Gifts
And opinions on these?

>>46736368
> I think they should get some land with this award
That would still mean they get Knighted because they need to be nobles to own land. Just offer to make them Men-At-Arms for us and if they don't want that then give them like 4 years worth of wages.

The other two gifts seems decent enough.

>>46736686
>Thoughts?
I'm up for money/gear, and placing them in the position to move up to a knight.

>Gifts
I'm happy with any giftings.

>>46736788
Is also good idea.

>>46736686
>Maybe just replace land with opportunities to train to become a Knight.
This (if they want it) and some bonus cash to spend and better armour sounds good to me!

>>46736686
Their "How did they survive this?" medal could come with the added bonus that the soldiers' families still gets the survivor benefits despite the soldiers not actually being dead.

Sorry, not feeling great.

>>46737100
Medals usually come with an additional monetary reward. It's how Sonia got most of her spending money for smaller purchases while in the Smuggler's Run.

Looks like they're going to be given some offers in addition to some equipment and cash. Sonia will watch their careers with great interest.

>>46735580
Could have sworn I posted this.

Mandatory training for all armories will be implemented so that they know how to fend off a nanite incursion.
A stockpile will be maintained for now and a team will work on developing an under barrel weapon. The effectiveness of each system will be evaluated in the future, along with assessing the need to maintain them.

Gifts will be sent off.

>>46302958
>We could have the hull of one of these frigates he likes so much converted into a yacht / emergency command ship.
Just for clarification, which Frigate was this?

>>46734850
> Military grade armored transforming mechanical desk

I want office furniture that shoots back. And a desk that converts into a caterpillar tank.

I think we should really hit back at whoever was behind the Nanites/assassination attempt.

Pull in Eldal and that old intel guy who was our enemy when in Erid (completely forgotten his name) and have them work on tracking down any information possible.

Some potential angles:
-They set a bomb off when the majority of our admirals and fleet command personnel were ground-side and in one place. It's possible at some point that someone who oversees the schedule may have slipped the terrorists a copy.
-The repulsor rifles they used. Even though they removed the serial numbers, looking at the parts manufactured for any defects/manufacturing errors and comparing it with the defects in previous batches made should, theoretically, give us a rough time frame from when they were bought.
-Any hits with voice recognition software when they were talking to the negotiator
-There might be some DNA fragments left on the station from the ones we killed.

>>46737890
>Just for clarification, which Frigate was this?
I think you mentioned he likes the archerfish class.

>>46737956
>Sonia chasing assassins out of her office in a tiny desk transformer tank
Do you think she realises she's become some kind of cartoon villain?

>>46737995
>completely forgotten his name
Remembered it, it's Vanderwal.

>>46737995
I think this will be hard but maybe doable. Would be good if it means we could get any survivors off our back. What I would like is to get our own working combat nanite tech. Implant that into the Bonrah Avalanche and giggle gleefully as it's devoured from the inside.

>>46737956
[Transformer noises]


You're contacted by your PR people, Intel and Fadila all in short order. A number of news stories have started circulating among neutral media companies indicating there are suspicions the terrorist attack on the station may have been your own doing.
Supposedly sources claim your House may have been illegally researching nanite weapons and they got loose.

They have no proof but there is plenty of speculation about the well above average R&D investments your House has made over the years. Also that large amounts of your own money seem to disappear into what are probably black projects.
The public doesn't exactly know about the advanced cloaked ships the House has and you're not in a hurry to tell them.

"We can deny it as much as we wan't, a small number of people may still believe it. I'm more worried about how our allies may view this. Houses that are maintaining a mutual defense pact but otherwise don't have the best relations with us may start to rethink their position.
This isn't so bad if more ally with Helios, Ber'helum or the Ruling House, but it's a problem if they ally with Bonrah."

Ber'helum and the Factions Alliance are studying the tech involved.

How do you want to counter this?

>>46738012
Like that doesn't make you want it even more. Besides, can you imagine the looks on potential assassin's faces when we blast them apart with our desk and then do dynamic entries through the hallway to take out their backup?

It's not paranoia if they've deployed nanite suicide squads after you.

>>46738361
Go full open source. Declare it a heinous attack that violates all precepts of honorable warfare between Nobles of the dominion on part with the clone wars.

Disseminate anti nanite tactics and play up the Neeran tech angle. Even offer information on the nantes very publicly to our enemies while making a lot of noise about the Ares stealth craft pointing towards corporate interests behind it.

>>46738404
Tiny automated walkers disguised as regular furniture.

>>46738361
>How do you want to counter this?
What do people who are better at PR than Sonia suggest?

>>46738361
>How do you want to counter this?
This is honestly a difficult situation.

I do like >>46738492 but it raises more questions down the line like, 'Sonia, what did you do with the nanite tech you salvaged?'

I think releasing footage of the attackers with their nanite armor would be a good start.

>>46738361
>How do you want to counter this?
Ask them if they really think we'd be stupid enough to put something so dangerous and obviously illegal so close to the majority of our investments.

>>46738619
What salvage? We have destroyed medical nanites being held for investigation by Berhlum and the FA to ensure neutrality.

Our goal is to prevent the use of nanite warfare due to the abhorrent human cost and applications for terrorist attacks like these. To that end, we're more than happy to host a conference on how to deal with nanites to ensure it's common knowledge again throughout the Dominion.

"We might on occasion argue where to steer our Empire through space, and occasionally push one another out an airlock. But only a madman tries to blast a hole in the hull. The's nanites are a weapon of a madman, and even someone as . . . .eccentric as I am can recognize that. I swore to protect my house, but also The Dominion, and I keep my word." We have, too, even when it wasn't convenient or when it caused difficulty.

>>46738361
Time to milk this for all it's worth. Nanite terrorist attack, thousands are dead, most likely the work of hostile Houses, we will retaliate and avenge the dead.

Also look into the media companies who are covering these negative views on us. Perhaps there happens to be a paper trail that leads us to someone funding them to say it like that?

>>46738404
>It's not paranoia if they've deployed nanite suicide squads after you
"Paranoid is what they call people who imagine threats against their life. I have threats against my life." -Garak

>>46738492
>Go full open source.

>>46738749
>Ask them if they really think we'd be stupid enough [...]
[polite coughing from advisers]


>>46738569
>What do people who are better at PR than Sonia suggest?
Revealing just what you're funneling R&D money into would make it pretty clear you couldn't afford to work on a nanite program. This shouldn't be done.

Ask a politically influential House or other group to give assurances that the tech involved is well beyond the capabilities of your own House. This may be somewhat embarassing as, depending on who you ask, they could easily become somewhat dismissive of your House in general.

Public handover of a majority of the salvage to the Alliance.

The above plus your public intention to combat the proliferation of such weaponry within the Dominion. As
>>46738813
suggested.

>>46738619
>I think releasing footage of the attackers with their nanite armor would be a good start.
"While this might work, letting others know just how effective the suits and equipment were might only cause more powers to take an interest in it."

>>46739363
> Release pictures of the damage done, do a bunch of emotional humanitarian pieces while downplaying the actual tactical damage and decry it as a weapon of terror not destruction.

Weave in recognition of the soldiers we're commending and do some interviews with the ones that are willing - these are PTSD cases let's not push anyone but instead give them the option to help keep it from happening again.

>>46739363
What if the FA confirms Neeran tech currently unavailable to the factions was involved?

Could that get the press off our back without telling too much?

>>46739694
>What if the FA confirms Neeran tech currently unavailable to the factions was involved?
You could ask them to make a statement yes. I'll count that as "Influential House / group assures tech is out of J-D capability"


[ ] Simple denouncement / promise of retaliation
[ ] Media showing Aftermath / emotional humanitarian piece
[ ] Influential House / group assures tech is out of J-D capability
[ ] Public handover of tech
[ ] Public handover of tech + Crusade against proliferation

>>46739363
>>46739694
How about weaving that into the rumor mill ourselves? Just have lots of informants spread that all over the place. Neerans did it along with some hostile House. Will probably spike peoples fear levels over Neerans striking close to home and increase their hate for Houses "working" with them.

>>46739363
I'm for handing it over to the FA and distancing ourselves and condemning the attack. We already have a bio-weapon that is sketchy as hell and the nanites don't really help anything.

>>46739997
>the nanites don't really help anything.
Wut? Those nanite armor suits are awesome.

>>46739773
>[ ] Media showing Aftermath / emotional humanitarian piece
Yeah, we're not handing over all this tech to the FA no matter what. JD is a tech house and this tech could be yet another ace or could give us a distinct advantage some other way. Like selling a countermeasure for them.

>>46739850
>How about weaving that into the rumor mill ourselves?

We could it blame it on the (((krath))) on space/pol/.

While we're waiting on people to agree on anything, did anybody manage to track the fleet that attacked the FA base?

>>46739773
>[x] Influential House / group assures tech is out of J-D capability

I really don't want to give it away just yet. The non-combat applications could be intense.

Can we also point out it's really dumb to have nanite research going on, on a station that's used by the public? We're clearly the type to build an underground lab or mobile research ship.

>>46740286
>We're clearly the type to build an underground lab or mobile research ship.
"Dear concerned citizens,

if I had a secret underground lab researching deadly killer nanites, don't you think I would have the decency to put it in the one place on Rioja where the factions treaty allows me to nuke it from orbit?"

>>46739773
> [ ] Public handover of tech + Crusade against proliferation

> [ ] Media showing Aftermath / emotional humanitarian piece

>>46740060
Also horrifying with the whole "destroying your body as fast as they rebuild it".

>>46740355
How about we not draw attention to our history of "technically not a war crime".

>>46739773
[ ] Simple denouncement / promise of retaliation
It's not a big deal. People aren't revolting.

>>46739773
>[ ] Simple denouncement / promise of retaliation
>[ ] Influential House / group assures tech is out of J-D capability

>>46740398
I'm really curious how the controls for the nanites worked. Did the suits come with a low level AI?

>>46739773
>[X] Simple denouncement / promise of retaliation
>[X] Influential House / group assures tech is out of J-D capability

>>46740525
Probably direct control from the pilots with some embedded subroutines so that they would bE able to switch between predetermined configurations and then tweak them on the fly. Ie "make a wall" and then shape the wall manually.

>>46739773
> [ ] Public handover of tech + Crusade against proliferation

> [ ] Media showing Aftermath / emotional humanitarian piece

>>46739773
>] Simple denouncement / promise of retaliation
>[ ] Media showing Aftermath / emotional humanitarian piece
No throwing away perfectly good tech,

I do wonder if the Lightning gun would have shredded the nanites, and if the powerball simply has the ability to turn them off.

>>46740227
>did anybody manage to track the fleet that attacked the FA base?
They did not flee into the Run. The new sensor arrays would have been able to track them had headed in your direction.
Long range coms and sensors in the area were being jammed during the attack. Probably using some of the older jamming craft once used by the Warlords with a few upgrades thrown on.

The traffic along the main trade lanes didn't report a sudden influx of private warships aside from the occasional mercenaries. Ber'helum believes they may have fled the immediate area around the base then loaded onto larger transports for long range travel.
There's still a chance they're hiding in deep space between stars or have a closer hidden base nearby.

>>46740917
>I do wonder if the Lightning gun would have shredded the nanites
You do have captured examples to test it on.

>and if the powerball simply has the ability to turn them off.
Powerball? The suit reactor?

>>46741055
>You do have captured examples to test it on.
Sure.

>Powerball
The Energy Convertor. It was described as a sphere at one point iirc?

>>46741147
Right. Not quite spherical. Closer to a rounded disc.
Looks like we'll need another page on the wiki for recovered toys.

>>46740428
>How about we not draw attention to our history of "technically not a war crime".
To be fair most of those were places you were ordered to bomb. With notable exceptions.

Looks like we're going with these two.
>Simple denouncement / promise of retaliation
>Media showing Aftermath / emotional humanitarian piece

You can always fall back on asking the Alliance to speak up for your inability to produce this tech if things are still going against you.

>>46741055
>Probably using some of the older jamming craft once used by the Warlords with a few upgrades thrown on.

Didn't one of the pirates say they had sent sleeper ships into the nav hazard zones? Have the aliens we're having talks with met any of these guys? Did the SRL ever make any information about them available?

PR gets to work right away and works with Intel to sift through data before sending a media crew aboard the station. Everyone is thoroughly vetted before being allowed into the containment area.

Money is set aside to help the families of the victims, most of which will end up coming out of your own pockets.

The armored station module production lines at Forbearance station are modifying an incomplete set to act as a replacement core module. They may not have all the same features but it can be upgraded later once it's in place and station operations are restored.

>>46741903
None of the Warlords you're on good terms with know about any and suspect it may have been a bluff. Some of their records were lost during the Faction invasion of South Reach though so they can't be 100% certain.
The Gelsan are still in talks with the navigators and local Houses. This could still last quite awhile. They haven't provided data on numbers of ships that currently make slowboat trips out of their space and into the surrounding systems. It will be added to requests for information on the grounds of navigational safety.

Bernard Foss, the commander of the South Reach mercenary fleet you've previously hired is attempting to contact you.

"Bonrah has tried to get us to alter our arrangement with you as far as our base in the Smuggler's Run goes.

They wanted us to testify that one of your local allies orchestrated the attack on the Alliance base to steal the torpedoes. In return they would give us up to half of the territory in the Smuggler's Run after they secure it.

They're hoping this will cause Houses outside the Run to break off relations with you.
Or at least suspend some of the mutual defense pacts. Helios they especially don't want helping you."

Yeah you can imagine that. They're already on bad terms with Helios and would have trouble dealing with both of your forces in the Relay at the same time.

"I take it you refused?" you ask.
"Not yet. Told them we needed to think it over. They've offered a few hundred million in cash or a couple medium cruisers if we allow them to resupply their fleets at our base once everything starts."

>What say?

>>46742436
"That's a rather impressive offer. What's Bonrah's reputation? Could you expect them to keep their word once things have quieted down?"

Are they still working for the ruling house at the moment?

>>46742436
>if we allow them to resupply their fleets at our base
How many ships can that base supply?

>>46742436
Isn't Foss' boss one of the independent warlords?

Wouldn't industrial infrastructure for their (new) home territory be a much better payment than territory within the dominion that's going to be contest again as soon as somebody important enough gets annoyed by the idea of having pirates run an impirtant part of drh 1?

>>46742436
Forgive my bluntness, but is this a bribe, Foss?

>>46739773
>[ ] Simple denouncement / promise of retaliation
>[ ] Media showing Aftermath / emotional humanitarian piece
Simple is best here, don't overplay it.

>>46742794
Not that many all at once, but rotated through properly it could keep a couple of wings operational in the Run without the need to leave for anything but serious repairs.

>>46742875
>Isn't Foss' boss one of the independent warlords?
Yes, and that infrastructure would be a better offer, but even you changed your mind after the fact and re-negotiated your way out of it.

>>46742987
"Forgive my bluntness, but is this a bribe, Foss?"
"What? No! We had an agreement. We hold this base and in return we let you know about threats in the area. If I wait until a Bonrah fleet is parked on my station it's not going to help anybody. Not that I wouldn't turn down a bit more armor for my ships mind you."

>>46742652
"What's Bonrah's reputation? Could you expect them to keep their word once things have quieted down?"
"Maybe. They seemed to be implying that at least cooperating with them to some extent was an offer we shouldn't refuse."

>Are they still working for the ruling house at the moment?
The Ruling House is financing their assistance to another House bordering on their space in the DRH 2 Relay. The House in question is suffering an internal uprising in favour of a new government that would not support the current Ruling House.

>>46743455
I think we should let Foss know about the incoming invasion so we can coordinate our forces. He has the the two supers and they're going to be pretty critical in hitting the asteroid fort.

>>46742436
Well Foss, you know us. You know we keep our word and that we look after our friends.

Look at our career. Look at where we started, and where we've gone. And look at who came with us. We've only stepped over our enemies, we haven't left a single friend behind.

Foss, I could offer you a counter bid. But I think that you coming to me shows that you know who is better in the long term. So let's talk about your plans for afterwards, and for what you think having a Baron who is also, if I say so myself, rich. As. Fuck. With friends both inside and outside the alliance. Who broke through the ranks and shook things up.

We could make the base a permanent thing. And as for the short term . . .

Well, if you were to agree and then help us close a trap on Bonrah, you might end up with more in salvage than what they're offering plus a commitment to a long term relationship. My resources extend past this war, and who knows your mercenary company might end up being a power in its own right more so than it already is.

Or maybe you'll decide to move on and stay more independent. But if that happens you know I'll pay you out fair.

> Time to bank on our rep

Seriously. We've gone above and beyond to share the wealth all the way down the ranks every time. Foss even coming to us shows he would prefer a relationship with us, he just wants an official agreement because mercenaries.

>>46743455
>but even you changed your mind after the fact and re-negotiated your way out of it
I wouldn't mind sending some help once the civil war is over. If we ever want them to become less of a menace, they need to be able to do some productive work in their own territory. And it might net us some exclusive contracts.

>We had an agreement. We hold this base and in return we let you know about threats in the area. If I wait until a Bonrah fleet is parked on my station it's not going to help anybody. Not that I wouldn't turn down a bit more armor for my ships mind you.
I wouldn't mind upgrading some of his ships as long as we keep to medium cruisers and smaller.

Didn't we pick of a sledge medium we don't need a while back?

>>46743455
If he's going to be fighting for us, we'll make sure he has the equipment to survive. We don't expect him to shy away from danger, but we don't spend lives callously or carelessly.

Have to stop here, need to get up super early. Will resume around 1PM EST. See you tomorrow!

Foss is currently in the Smuggler's Run overseeing upgrades to the base and the merc fleet stationed there. Another of the Warlord's commanders are currently managing the Supers.

Did you want him to fake accepting the deal?

>>46743953
Oh yes.

>>46743953
It's an absolute golden opportunity, however, it's ultimately up to Foss, and if he thinks it'll hurt his reputation long-term...

>>46743953
>Did you want him to fake accepting the deal?
I'm half asleep from pills so my brain didn't put this together very well.

Keeping in mind if he goes along with their plan he'll be saying that one or more Houses in the Run helped raid that alliance base for SP Torpedoes.
Did you guys have a plan in mind to minimise the fallout from that?

>>46744394
I've got no ideas other than letting the FA inspect our ships/sensor logs.

bump

>>46744394
Let's plant "proof" for them to use that we can disprove easily and pin it on one of the criminal factions we'retrying to clamp down on.

That way we can have a big public investigation where they can act as honest impartial reporters and we can play the innocent aggrieved victim who is ultimately exonerated. And the criminal group gets publicized as a subversive organization that we now have an excuse to Crack down on.

We should definitely have contacts on tortuga who can pass that along/sell that to a patsy who the mercy can buy it off of. It might cost us some money but we should recoup the losses from sizing the assets of our patsy.

Bump

>>46748431
That sounds like it could be a decent plan.

>>46749934
The trick would be to drag it on long enough to get Bonrah to take the bait, without damaging ourselves too much so that we can do a dramatic reveal.

Bonus points if we can tie it into Ares somehow, but I have no idea there.

>>46750107
Oh, and making sure it directed investigation AWAY from anything we were doing. Is there something like European vs. American date systems that we could use to mix up the data and have to reinvestigate if necessary?

"Everything happened on Nov 10, not Oct. 11th!"

>>46744394
>Did you guys have a plan in mind to minimise the fallout from that?
Point fingers at Bonrah.

Is Foss married?

>>46750545
Foss. . . . I want to salvage our relationship.

>>46750545
Happily married, father of 4, 2 of them adopted. His wife specializes in creating marine ecosystems during terraforming and is currently busy in the new SRL territories. He has taken an interest in jellyfish and tries to bring back interesting species from the various worlds he visits during his deployments whenever possible.

Your guess is as good as mine.

>>46750545
Is Sonias absent womb tingling in his presence?

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Oh good, windows update closed all my programs again. MFW.

>>46743592
>Didn't we pick of a sledge medium we don't need a while back?
If you did an ally or someone not under your command got it.

>>46750545
No.

>>46748431
Just keep in mind that Tourta is roughly 12 days travel away. They don't necessarily have the reach to quickly put things in the Run. Had the one asteroid base in the Avoubic system continued to pretend to have rough relations with you they would be a potential vector.

>>46752676
Windows forced updated me to 10 not to long ago. I feel your pain.

Was hoping I could come up with a few other options but my brain is just not liking this particular arc.

[ ] Ask Foss to refuse the deal
[ ] Ask Foss to refuse the deal. Offer to help if they need it.
[ ] Fake accepting deal. Point fingers at Bonrah.
[ ] Fake accepting deal. Give Alliance full access. (Plus above)
[ ] Fake accept. Plant evidence on criminal factions.
[ ] Other

>>46753573
Skip it? We could always timeskip to like a few or so before the invasion or when we take on the local Bonrah forces. I think we all need some good ol battles.

>[ ] Fake accepting deal. Point fingers at Bonrah.
Would it help if we offered them some territory from Bonrah in the relay after we've taken it over?

>>46753573
>[x] Fake accepting deal. Give Alliance full access. (Plus above)

>>46753573
>[ ] Fake accepting deal. Give Alliance full access. (Plus above)
Hopefully this will damage Bonrah even further if the Alliance adds their voice against it. And hey, if the SRL gains a couple of hundred millions from it then they should be happy as well.

>>46753573
>[ ] Fake accepting deal. Give Alliance full access. (Plus above)
Fuck Bonrah.

>>46753573
>[x] Ask Foss to refuse the deal. Offer to help if they need it.

Bernard Foss will go ahead and fake an agreement with House Bonrah.

Over the next few days media within the Relay are still debating the events that destroyed your station. PR and reports on the damage to the station combined with your response seems to be getting the message across that you wouldn't intentionally do this to your own people.

Several of the major Houses are beginning to demand that you, Ber'helum and the Alliance provide more information regarding the investigation. While all of you refuse to release data that might be used to recreate these weapons, the Alliance eventually makes a statement that the attackers would have required the assistance of AI.

This news sparks a host of increasingly divisive arguments over artificial intelligence and its use. While the Alliance does not discuss their use, some Terran sources have leaked data that they've provided several military grade AI to the Alliance.

The incident above Rioja is getting less and less coverage of people pointing fingers at you.

It's in this situation that Bonrah begins to act. Rather than itself publicly accusing the Run Alliance of stealing the torpedoes, another House that has somewhat divided loyalties between Bonrah and Helios does so.

The Alliance is given full cooperation in the search for their weapons, even though they're reluctant to send forces into what could at any moment now turn into a hotly contested war zone. Fortunately they feel that they'll have enough warning to risk it.

Vanderwal arrives from the capital along with his escort from RTS security. The old man seems to be in good spirits.

"That was fun. Nothing like giving a few of the established nobles fits when they suddenly realise their dirty little secrets might actually bite them in the ass. Bottom. My apologies, I've been hanging around some of your," he gestures to his escort, "uncouth security personnel too much lately. They're fast learners for the most part."

>>46733176
wait when did sonia become a baron? Damnit im still on the start of the second neeran war tour. I love how your still going with this TSTG.Thanks for all the good reads!

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You ask Eldal and a few of your other people to bring him up to speed on things here. He's not particularly thrilled with some of the reports.

Before the end of the week he asks to speak with you urgently.

"The Alliance captured a survivor from the attack on their station. Some of the shock troops that were used in the boarding action were acquired from prisons. The old join the army, get out of jail free card. Only it looks like a lot of them were picked up from prisons belonging to Run Houses."

You point out you're cooperating with the Alliance investigation and the information that Bonrah is trying to frame you.

"I know, they're just trying to make it look good. How long are you planning to wait to reveal your trump card?"

That is the question isn't it?

You're interrupted by an incoming call.
"Baron, this is Admiral Tama. Bonrah has deployed a fleet from their local holdings. They've skirted one of the navigation hazards to reach a station without violating any other Houses territory. They're headed for the DRH 2 Relay."

That can't be good.

>Do you want to try and take advantage of this new development?

>>46755692
Shadow them with cloaked ships?

Does our stuff have any suggestions what we could do?

>>46755964
>stuff
Staff.

>>46755692
Which way is DRH 2 again? I can't find the large map on the wiki.

Shadowing them with a cloaked ship is a good idea, but I think it's probably a distraction for their main fleet.

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>>46755964
>Staff meeting.jpg

"If Forbearance was still here it would be the perfect time to launch a preemptive attack into Bonrah space." Says Tama.

"Its too bad so much of our fleet is taking part in the counterattack." agrees Drake. "We should still keep an eye on their movements."

"Shadow them with cloaked ships?"

"It seems like the minimum we should do."

Fadila points out that the longer the Run Alliance maintains the charade that you may be guilty of stealing the torpedoes the more it will hurt relations in the long run.

"We may want to see what sort of rebound we could achieve now while Bonrahs local forces are weakened. Some political agitators in the right place might be able to help things along."

>>46756276
Thought I had uploaded a larger map to the wiki, but if I did it's not there anymore.

>>46756571
>see what sort of rebound we could achieve now while Bonrahs local forces are weakened.
Do it. Fund dissidents, arm rebels, etc.

In the mean time I think we should inform Winifred. The house is worried that she's going to break away at some point, which means she must have significant forces in the south reach. See if she can intercept or blockade them.

>>46756571
Can we scout out DRH 2? It's possible they might have a staging facility there, and if they've been sneaking ships in on the J-25 lane somehow they might be planning to hit us via two fronts at once.

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>>46756627
>See if she can intercept or blockade them.
To what end? Or just so that you have forces there to counter as necessary?

Even if she rushed a fleet there they would at best both arrive about the same time.

>>46756814
Actually you to have 3 squadrons operating in there area, trying to keep one of the lanes clear.

Roll 3d100 to see how they've been doing.

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>46756860
>Roll 3d100 to see how they've been doing.
1

>Bonrah
What's their DRH1 territory like atm? Are any of the minor houses unhappy?

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>46756920
2

Rolled 97 (1d100)

>>46757009
3

Rolled 1, 9, 20 = 30 (3d100)

>>46756860
Rolling bones

>>46756920
>What's their DRH1 territory like atm?

Well, there's a map here >>46755692
There was an intel report on the general strength and composition of their DRH 1 forces in a previous thread that I'm trying to find.

>Are any of the minor houses unhappy?
Some are not thrilled that they had to side with Bonrah to deal with the piracy that was previously plaguing them. Some are more than happy that their problems were so quickly dealt with. They also enjoy more steady trade of civilians goods with Terran space.

>>46757047
>Rolled 1, 9, 20
For one moment I though you were rolling d20s.

>>46757107
Me too.

Rolled 24 (1d100)

>>46756860

Rolled 16, 37 = 53 (2d100)

>>46757365
oops did 1 instead of three, heres the other two

>>46757070
Where does the DRH1 leadership of Bonrah stand on the conservative/progressive scale? And what about Bonrah in general? I think we know very little about them other than that they're opposed to to continuing the war against the neeran.

What makes Bonrah different from the great houses we know when we disregard their opinion on the war?

Also, what's che'len doing now that they've signed peace treaties with our half of the dominion?

I say we attack Bonrah space along with Ber'Helum and reveal our trump card at the same time that their fleet leave. Their fleet is weaker now than in a long time and if we can cause unrest on their planets they will be easier to capture. A full on blitz lightning strike along their entire border should do it. We've waited long enough.

1st squadron has the same number of ships as when they arrived but most of their time has been spent getting repairs.
2nd squadron had good or average performance but failed to increase their numbers from ship captures. They have picked up other gear and payment for their work.
3rd squadron is apparently carrying the team, having salvaged a whopping 17 ships from combat since their deployment there a few months ago.
Promotions are almost certainly in order.

>Have the new cloaked ships been able to find out about Bonrah's fleet in our relay?
They have at least 6 Eminence class and 4 more Shukhant parked back near secure bases. There are Assault corvettes but not in huge numbers. A mix of Dominion and Aries designs.
Someone is smuggling in old Mk1 Firestorm corvettes to upgrade their attack corvette units.

Their BS/BC squadrons are equipped with a mix of Apollo Class BS and Kryptah Battlecruisers which they look to be upgrading heavily.

Bonrah is a strong supporter of opportunistic expansion of the Dominion as a whole. After coming to an agreement with the Ruling House (a bit late) in the Warlords campaign, they backed the invasion of South Reach in a bid to secure ships and resources there.
Their position is that the Dominion should break off current obligations and renegotiate support for the Alliance.
They are in favour of cloning, to an extent, and the expansion of the Dominion's Assault corvette program. While newer toys are always good they've tried to do what they can to augment older tech units so that they don't need to be replaced entirely.

Other than that they're somewhat conservative. They're against adding new species to the Dominion's nobility unnecessarily. The House might still do so but it would not be their first choice.

>>46757493
>Also, what's che'len doing now that they've signed peace treaties with our half of the dominion?
Rebuilding and assessing options. They're aligning towards Helios, but not towards any of the other majors.

>>46757910
>Someone is smuggling in old Mk1 Firestorm corvettes to upgrade their attack corvette units.

>Their BS/BC squadrons are equipped with a mix of Apollo Class BS and Kryptah Battlecruisers which they look to be upgrading heavily.

So basically the longer we wait the stronger they will grow in the region? Wreaking ball time?

Could we get an Eminence Mk II for Drake? It seems fast medium cruisers work pretty well for people who started out in assault corvettes, and it's the only model that's realistically available to us at the moment.

1) Have Foss recant testimony on Torpedo theft?
1a) Yes, now
1b) Wait until more forces/ allies are mobilised
1c) Wait until Bonrah fleet is near/in other Relay
1d) Hold off until cloaked ships see what Bonrah is up to

2) Have Fadila / others attempt to take advantage of political rebound?
Y/N?

3) Prepare your fleets for possible invasion of Bonrah space?
Y/N?

>>46758266
1b
2Y
3 Ask our boss back home, and our allies about this.

>>46758266
1b
Y
Y

Yeeeeessss. War is happening.

>>46758313
>Ask our boss back home, and our allies about this.
"Bonrah poses a significant threat to our House, both in DRH 1 and with their ability to cut us off from our South Reach territories. Barons Winifred and Rna have a relatively secure position out there but it would be endangered if another force were to come in from the nearest Relay. Combined with existing threats I'm against them providing you with another fleet's worth of reinforcements.

If you were successful in your own Relay that would turn things back in our favour and allow us to launch later attacks against DRH 2 from two sides. It could be worth it.

Our Home territories here are isolated from Bonrah's group so we would see little direct effect here. The question then becomes will Helios get involved."

"You're not worried about the Ruling House and Ber'helum? You ask.

"I'm sure both would see the value of committing local assets. The Ruling House has been discussing the possibility of nominating you as marshal of the DRH 1 forces. Of course they're hoping that draws you more towards their camp than Ber'helum."

>What say?

>>46758266
>1B
>Y
>Y

>>46758773
"If it wins the House prestige, allies, territory and riches what's not to like? Besides this war is far from over so nothing is decided yet. The important thing is that we will be close to the next ruling house.

>>46758773
facepalm, followed by "I need a few weeks of vacation right now."

"Has Helios indicated how they'd react in any way? I would assume they would at least do little to aid Bonrah."

>>46758970
"Whichever that House happens to be."

>>46759093
"They're already on the verge of war with Bonrah right now. If it looks like one of their most powerful rivals are going to send forces away from their homeworlds they'll probably wait until they're as far away as possible before starting anything. Don't expect Helios to immediately jump to our aid."

>>46758266
>1c
>y
>y

>>46759333
What does our House expect the endgame of this civil war to be?
Is the current offensive doing anything to improve our relations with kharbos?
Is there a House J-D would try to avoid becoming RH at all costs?

>>46758266
>[x] 1b
>[x] Y
>[x] Y

All fleet elements are being prepared to deploy on a possible offensive. Your allies in the Run Alliance are doing the same. They're fine with following your lead in this case but as Branimir Kelly informs you; "Remember Reynard, we'll follow you but we'll still expect your elites to be the tip of the spear.

After twelve hours of hurried preparations House Kadnil reports that their Heavy Cruiser is operational and ready to deploy. Their engineers still have concerns about some of the sublight engines and secondary systems that needed to be rebuilt. Without technical assistance from the Ruling House and Ber'helum they wouldn't have it fully repaired by now.

Tama gives you an update.
"It's been sixteen hours since the Bonrah fleet began their long jump. There's no possible way they could turn back now. They'll need to reach the DRH 2 Relay before they can double back and any reinforcements from their territories there will take five days to reach us."

Your fleet is ready for just about anything but it will take more time for the Army to load up on their transports.
Which means it's time to get Foss to talk to the Alliance and the Media.

When you contact the Mercenary Commander the first thing you notice is that he looks deeply concerned.

"Baron Reynard... good. I think we need to talk."
"What's wrong?"
"I think I just sent one of Warlord Krussk's Commanders into a trap."

"Who and where?" you demand to know.

"Alaunno Kh'Fi. Commander of the fleet we have in the DRH 2 Relay. Bonrah offered a bonus since we'd gone along with their plan. They wanted us to move logistics equipment to our base in the Smuggler's Run so they could keep more ships in the field when making use of it. We would get to keep it. I figured we could swipe the equipment before we flipped on them."

That sounds like an ok deal.

"After I sent the rendezvous coordinates to the fleet I haven't been able to raise them."

>What do?

>>46760238
>>What do?
How many ships did he send?
What do we have in that area?

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"Alaunno doesn't do anything half way. He's seen too many fleets picked apart fighting the Dominion or Neeran because they split up. The fleet was at roughly the same strength as the one we brought to Magdalena plus the occasional upgrade.

He was finishing up a contract for the Ruling House then they were supposed to go to a location on the border of contested space."

>>46760539
Has he contacted the RH?

>>46760238
"If a fleet with two Super Heavy Cruisers can't take care of itself there is very little I could do at this time. I just don't have the forces to deal with such a potentially large enemy fleet and the Bonrah forces infront of me right now. What I can do is contact forces in the area. Intelligence and I do think I got some raiders there as well that could perhaps help shed some light on what has happened. Hopefully they are still alive and well and have just been jammed. We however need to focus on what's in front of us. One problem at a time."

Gather intel from DRH2. Deal with Bonrah in DRH1

>>46760563
Only to see if they could contact the fleet.

The Run Alliance are the only ones that know the full details of your plan.

>>46760539
Can we send our scout ship there will the rest of us continuous to mobilize? I fear their ships have been boarded and taken over by Bonrah once they arrived and docked.

>>46760746
>Gather intel from DRH2. Deal with Bonrah in DRH1
>>46760896
>Can we send our scout ship there will the rest of us continuous to mobilize?
Your advanced cloaked ships are still tailing the Bonrah fleet on it's way there from your Nav Relay. They'll arrive in 4 days.

You do have the 3 attack squadrons already in the DRH 2 Relay that could investigate.

>>46761012
>You do have the 3 attack squadrons already in the DRH 2 Relay that could investigate.

Do it. Need to know what happened to that fleet. I don't like ghost fleets.

Regardless of whatever is happening with the Warlord fleet in DRH 2 do you want to have Foss talk to the Alliance and everyone now to get the ball rolling?
Or did you want to put things on hold while your attack squadrons investigate?

>>46761012
>You do have the 3 attack squadrons already in the DRH 2 Relay that could investigate.

Could we ask Ber'h or the RH for a recon ship as support?

>>46761351
>Or did you want to put things on hold while your attack squadrons investigate?
How long would that take?

>>46761351
>do you want to have Foss talk to the Alliance and everyone now to get the ball rolling?
[x] Yes

>>46761351
Shouldn't stop the rock now that we've given it the first push. Proceed with the plan.

>>46761355
>Could we ask Ber'h or the RH for a recon ship as support?
Sure. One of them is bound to have a ship available provided you tell them it's a vital mission, etc.

>>46761377
>How long would that take?
Depends how much trouble they run into.
Worse case scenario is of course that you don't hear back from them.

I'm getting increasingly worried that we're going to wake up to an entire wing of enemy supers invading the run eventually.

We really really need something that can deal with the heavier elements.

>>46761496
We got AM Torpedoes and a ship to carry and shoot them

>>46761496
We have that super heavy sized mass driver.

>>46761586
>>46761619
We should start an Invasion war page and list all the significant assets on it I think.

What other items have we acquired?

>>46761708
Mobile war furniture on all command decks.

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Sonia's available forces, not counting the rest of your other allies in the Relay.

>>46743592
>Didn't we pick of a sledge medium we don't need a while back?
Addendum: Your Helios taskforce captured one a bit more recently but it was pulled back to the homeworlds when those units were recalled for promotion and reassignment.
Command promises that you'll get most of them back in time to repel the anticipated invasion.

>>46762326
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/File:Lazy_Marine_Dreadnought.jpg

Do we have an idea how many ships Bonrah sent to DRH2?

>>46762419
This is probably a silly question but what if our attack on bonrah causes nasidum to rush their asteroid fort to drh1 with less of an escort than originally planned? Is it likely they have one already operational and available for this?

>>46761708
SP Plasma maybe, if the Terran or the Republic or anyone else don't sabotage it.

>>46763294
can we even use SP PLASMA without getting killed for it? We're a small house, and that's a big secret.

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>>46761619
>We have that super heavy sized mass driver.
Currently being salvaged.

>>46762503
3 Eminence, 4 mixed wings, a squadron of battleships and a carrier group.

>>46762957
Then you'd have to hold out until someone like Ber'helum could bring in reinforcements, or decide what level of survival you are prepared to accept.

>Is it likely they have one already operational and available for this?
Unlikely. They wouldn't risk deployment without a full weapon compliment. The same can't be said for the fleet that would have escorted them.

So these are the general numbers I could come up with. Helios isn't listed. Neither are other Houses that don't want to get bogged down in an invasion. They'd rather just protect themselves.

Keep in mind that you'll need to leave some of your ships behind for defense. Bonrah would also be able to rely upon orbital defenses around their worlds.

Bernard Foss and his mercenaries are ready for action but they're preparing to head off to DRH2 in an attempt to assist the rest of their fleet. You'll have to talk them out of it to make use of them in DRH1.
You could instead send a force to assist them, or have the 3 squadrons already present there help when they arrive.

>>46763294
>>46763363
Did we ever ask the Rovinar if they'd be willing to provide us with limited SP production capabilities?

From what I understand they're sensible people, and Sonia... is kinda nice most of the time. That's gotta count for soomething.

>>46763363
I'd like to think it won't spook people, but it definitely will, however, the thing that seems to attract real attention is trying to produce the SP casing material. I think as long as we stick to buying the material from the Terrans/Rovinar/Republic, we'll be gucci.

>>46763584
Yeah, let's hope we have some other not-so-secret secret project to cover the diversion of materials we'll be needing. In the event we can't use the stuff ourselves, we can always sell it to either Ber'helum or the RH.

>>46763445
I think we should find out what's up with the SRL fleet in DRH2.

See what support we can get from our allies for a recon mission and decide what to do afterwards.

>fleet numbers
Is there a reason why the ruling house isn't fielding more carriers? With a drone as their unique fighter mod, I'd expect to see a lot more ships to bring them along.

>>46763294
>>46763363
SP plasma project status update.

At present the team has been able to achieve consistent -if limited- shield penetration when using materials from SP Torpedo casings. This alone is tricky but not overly complicated when compared to some exotic weapons systems like e-beams and linked phase cannon.

So far no other materials have been able to produce the same effect, even drive plates.

With refinement of its current configuration an SP plasma weapon could prove a credible threat to heavy walkers being used as mobile shield platforms. Next generation vehicles like the Dante Gunship are too heavily armored for the weapon to be a threat, especially with the addition of stasis based shielding.

Cost benefit analysis indicates that it would be cheaper to simply fire SP kinetic kill vehicles at anything this weapon might pose a threat to.

It is the teams recommendation that this project be shelved until larger stockpiles of material are available, or mass produced starfighters begin mounting energy shields.

>TL;DR You'd need to scrap dozens upon dozens of SP Torpedoes in order to load a starship grade plasma cannon with enough to threaten a ship. Your people haven't cracked the secret yet.

>>46763658
>Is there a reason why the ruling house isn't fielding more carriers?
That would be because I forgot to add them.

I am falling asleep due to being up so early this morning so I'm going to stop here. Decide if you want to talk Foss out of it or send ships / special forces to assist him.

[ ] Talk him down
[ ] Ships you have there can help him
[ ] Send more support
[ ] Send special forces support (Recently returned Recon team, etc)

>>46763864
>[x] Send special forces support (Recently returned Recon team, etc)
>[x] Ships you have there can help him
Recon's the correct force multiplier for this mission, and the other stuff's just in case I guess. I wonder how he'll look now he's been helping us, perhaps we should tempt him over to our side? Foss best husbando

>>46763864
>so I'm going to stop here
for the night. Will resume in the morning and run until I need to leave for work around 4PM EST

>>46763981
Sweet dreams TSTG.

>>46763864
Ships there can support. Doing anything more jepordizes our ongoing operation

>>46763864
> [ ] Send special forces support (Recently returned Recon team, etc)

>[ ] Ships you have there can help him

Quite frankly, anything that took out that fleet we can't handle, but we can at least get some info. If he helps us with the coming fight against Bonrah though we can get it over with quickly and decisively and then turn our full forces to helping him out.

>>46763864
Just use the ships we have there already to support. Everything else should be getting prepped to move on Bonrah.

>>46763864
>[ ] Ships you have there can help him
>[ ] Send special forces support (Recently returned Recon team, etc)

This should be enough to make them happy with us while we wreak Bonrah and their allies. This coming campaign is going to be a bloodbath. I just know it.

>>46763445
Bonrah forces (Rough Estimates)
3600 Cruisers/Frigates/Corvettes
8 Mediums
96 Battleships/Battlecruisers
8 Carrier Groups

That's a pretty big fleet they got there. Would be a shame if something where to happen to it.

Run forces (Rought estimates)
8784 Cruisers/Frigates/Corvettes
26 Mediums
324 Battleships/Battlecruisers
12? Carrier groups

>>46769109
That's mainline forces, pretty sure the image doesn't include the supers theuret bringing or the asteroid fort.

>>46769273
I'm pretty sure that are the forces currently in the run, no including any invasion or response fleets.

>[ ] Ships you have there can help him
They should probably investigate before he arrives.
>[ ] Send more support
Let's just ask the friendly houses in drh2. They'll also be able to investigate much faster than we could hope to.
>[ ] Send special forces support (Recently returned Recon team, etc)
Do we have a space forensics team?

>>46769841
>Do we have a space forensics team?
At some level. Sciences and salvage teams from the House are usually called upon to determine what kind of weapondy a crippled ship was hit by, how it was disabled etc when there are no records.

You're not going to talk down Foss from his decision. Instead you'll make the ships you already have in the region available to him. Special forces including one of your more experienced Recon teams will be going along.

Looking at their available equipment and gear your Recon personnel request a slight budget adjustment.
"We've like enough money to purchase an Aries Steathed LST off the black market."

You hate giving Aries more money but it may be worth it.

"We'd also like the holographic camo system off the the captured LST the Terrorists used to attack the station."

>What say?

>>46770682
"I except the best and it's only fair that you should get the best toys in return. Requisition approved."

>>46770682
"How much will that cost?"

>>46770782
Ideally less than a million but it's the black market and short notice so it would be a good idea to bring 5 million along just in case.

>>46770913
I guess it cannot be helped. Is there anything else they need while Sonia's got her wallet out?

I need to spend time on one of my days off to get learned up on Hexographer.

>>46771115
They should be good with that.

>>46770682
"So many problems can be solved by throwing money at it. This is one of them. Go buy yourself something nice while you're at it since I don't except any money to be left over."

>>46771662
Let's not do that.

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The Fleets are ready and Foss has given his new testimony.

The Alliance is pissed that he obstructed an investigation. As a result they've banned him from Alliance mercenary contracts for no less than three years. The Pandora Cluster mercenary guild will probably blacklist him as well but that doesn't automatically preclude him from being hired for work in the Dominion.

With the revelation that Bonrah is attempting to take advantage of the theft there are concerns among the other Houses of the region. Some are wondering if your side made this up, or if Foss was telling the truth before and is now being paid off.
Fadila's people are doing their best to capitalise on the situation. Before long some areas are experiencing severe unrest.

This may be the best chance you've got.

Do you want to ask both the Ruling House and Ber'helum to assist in the invasion, or would you prefer to keep the Ruling House out of it to strengthen Ber'helum's position?

>>46772124
>The Pandora Cluster mercenary guild
Anything we can do to reduce this?

>Do you want to ask both the Ruling House and Ber'helum to assist in the invasion, or would you prefer to keep the Ruling House out of it to strengthen Ber'helum's position?
Can we get Helios in on this? I would like to see them with a stronger presence in the relay.

Anyway, I think we should include the Ruling House. I would prefer to keep Ber'helum+allies at roughly the same strenght as the Ruling House in DRH1 so that the relay won't be completely controlled by one major house after the civil war.

>>46772124
I for one would like to ask both the Ruling House and Ber'helum for the simple fact that I want this invasion to go off without a hitch. Both will get their own piece of the pie and if this pushes the Ruling House to nominate us as Marshal of DRH 1 forces? Well...that would just further cement our position in the relay now wouldn't it.

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>>46772278
>Anything we can do to reduce this?
Not without making yourself a target for the ire of several Houses and the Alliance.

>Can we get Helios in on this?
You can ask but ultimately they'll commit when they want to and not before.

>I think we should include the Ruling House. I would prefer to keep Ber'helum+allies at roughly the same strenght as the Ruling House in DRH1.
Good reasoning.

>>46772551
>Both will get their own piece of the pie
No arguing with that logic.

Anyone else?

>>46772551
Supporting RH and BH as well for basically the same reason.

>>46772124
>Do you want to ask both the Ruling House and Ber'helum to assist in the invasion

On one hand I don't want the Ruling House to gain more territory in the run, especially around the last nav station they don't have territory at.

On the other hand I want to overwhelm Bonrah forces so as to minimize our own loses. It's still a LOT of territory we will be conquering and I'd say that we and the RUN alliance are looking to get around half of it if we only look at ships being commited.

So yeah, let's have both Ber'Helum and RH come along.

>>46772124
Ber'Helum, Ruling House, Run Alliance and us should be able to wipe out any Bonrah resistance fairly easily and with minimal loses.

>Before long some areas are experiencing severe unrest.
Don't suppose we can take advantage of this further and push them into rebellion?

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There are three main invasion corridors available for attacking Bonrah space. East, Center and West.
Did you want to split up and try to give them too many invasion points to counter, or focus them to overwhelm opponents?

Regardless of which strategy you plan to use, which corridor would you prefer your own forces to concentrate on?

>>46772951
I'd like to focus on the Center and East for the majority of the forces. Us at the center backed up by the Ruling House, and Ber'helum on the East supported with Run Alliance.

I'd also like to give allied houses some command opportunities, so I'd like to form a fast raid squad to take the west, and put a non-JD commander in charge of it.

>>46772951
I would like a two front attack. Majority of the fleet comes from the south and southeast on the map. This so they can roll over any local defenses Bonrah has there and so they cut of any potential escape they could have through the DRH2 Nav station approach should they run there AND a strong push up north to the Terran NAV station should ensure that they can't escape that way either. Then their only vector of escape would be deep into our territory where fleet 2 is pushing in from. Coming in from the east to act as the anvil to the largest fleets hammer. With any luck that should neat us plenty of opportunity to crush a large part of Bonrah forces and trap them so we can finish them off rather than let them escape like we did Nasidum.

>>46772951
What happens to Bonrah forces that retreat to terran space?

>>46772951
>>46773066
To work further on that I would like JD and Ber'Helum to come in from the south with Run Alliance while the RH moves in from the east. The Run Alliance did want us to be the speartip after all. Also the RH force is large enough to be able to work on it's own on such a large front, mostly since it's under one command unlike most other forces.

>>46773130
Blockade. No warships may pass through that Relay from the Dominion nor may the pass into the dominion from it.

>>46773066
I'll support it if only we could add a force which specifically moves around the Nav hazard between the two navigation stations and then moves directly for the station leading to Nav Tac 4 so it can intercept escaping Bonrah forces without having to first move through hostile territory.

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>>46773066
I'm not entirely getting this. Do you want to draw on one of these maps please?

>>46773517
No can do. At work so no downloading stuff since I can't delete them but I'll try to explain better.

One large fleet consisting of JD, Ber'helum and the Run Alliance forces move up from between West and Center. Could probably use that logistics base for a rough estimate.

They block Bonrah forces from escaping behind them and going through to the DRH2 Nav station and escaping that way. All the while pushing forward and spearheading towards the NAV TAC 4 station where the can then blockade Bonrah from escaping that way.

>>46773308
Even if this may be a good idea regarding NAV TAC 4.

Meanwhile the Ruling House launches their part of the attack from the logistics base just below East on a wide front. Keeping Bonrah forces from escaping deeper into our territory and acting as a anvil should their forces try to escape there until we can corner them with our full force.

>>46773703
>Meanwhile the Ruling House launches their part of the attack from the logistics base just below East on a wide front.
That'll be difficult since it would mean having to pass through Helios space which is neutral. There's a reason the East and Center invasion corridors go around Helios space.

If you launch attack from inside Helios space Bonrah can use it as justification to declare war on Helios immediately, rather than letting Helios wait until their enemies are more vulnerable.

You'll get a large negative standing hit with Helios for doing so.

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How are these?

>>46773019
A

>>46773066
>>46773703
B (Modified slightly)


>>46773308
>>46773150
Bit of both of these.
C

>>46774173
[x] A

>>46773922
Dick, I forgot about those being Helios territory. My bad.

>>46774173
I'd say C is looking mighty fine there. Just hope the Guild does not take offense at the small fleet parking itself near them.

>>46774173
A seems decent.

>>46774388
>Just hope the Guild does not take offense at the small fleet parking itself near them.
No more than they would everyone else in the civil war doing it.

>>46774173
Let's go with A. It's straightforward enough for our needs.

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Looks like we're going with A.

how much of your fleet are you leaving behind to protect the Run?

>>46774852
>how much of your fleet are you leaving behind to protect the Run?

One Kilo, 2 BBs, one DA/CRV - V wing, 2 squads of ACRS. Would this be considered sufficient?

>>46774852
Leave garrissons as is except take the BCRS squad from the Forbearance Yard.

Everything else is going with us in force.Including Carrier groups and Troop Transports. We want no problems from all those BCRS and Mediums Bonrah fields.

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>>46774964
DA/CRV - V wing at Rioja
Attack squadrons at Kaptlyn and Magdalena
BC squadron at Forbearance Yard

Kilo and BC squad as reaction force

>Would this be considered sufficient?
Working in concert with orbital defenses and the platforms guarding either end of the Run, they should be able to hold out until reinforcements arrive if attacked.

>>46775126
I assumed the other squads protecting the planets would stay in place, and I would prefer if they did.

>>46775191
Well, this is something I really really hope you guys can figure out while I'm at work. With discussion between players.

But since there isn't much chance of that, here;

Defenses
[ ] Leave highlighted >>46775126
[ ] Leave current defense fleets
[ ] Leave current plus >>46775083
[ ] Other

I'll resume around 9PM EST.

>>46775289
>[x] Leave highlighted >>46775126

To be honest, picking what forces to deploy/leave has never been my strong suit.

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I think we should leave a decent force in the run, just in case there are more surprises lurking around, like the fleet that attacked the FA base.

Keep the garrisons in place, put two squads of assault corvettes around the planets with assault corvettes.

The Kilo, battlecruiser squad, and 2 assault cruiser squads form a rapid response unit / command squad.

>>46775492
>put two squads of assault corvettes around the planets with assault corvettes.
*station two squads of assault corvettes at each of the planets with only attack corvettes protecting them currently.

Personally I think we should leave a few more assault corvettes stationed in the run whilst bringing heavier stuff with us. If there's hostile fleets hidden, like those that attacked the FA base, it's pretty reasonable to assume they'll be small, effective raiding parties. Stationing a greater number of assault corvettes will give us a force that can pursue smaller targets quicker and reinforce other positions if needed.

>>46775289
>[X] Leave current plus >>46775083

>>46776453
I suggested keeping a medium around because more traditional elements in the Dominion seem to get annoyed when they're not dealing with somebody of adequate status. Regional commanders so far seem to have at least been posted on battleships, and it's probably a good idea to give them a ship large enough to be used as a mobile command post if necessary.

Is anyone else worried about commanding in larger battles? I feel like Sonia has tons of fantastic experience fighting outnumbered with a small but effective force, but now we're in charge of large masses, could it all fall apart?

>>46776885
Nah. I am confident in our ability to command. We've seen enough battles to be able to tell how things will turn out.

>>46776885
I'm pretty worried we're complete shit at recognizing new talent. Winifred already knew Sonia personally when we were still commanding a small corvette unit, while Sonia barely manages to know a handful of wing commanders.

>>46776944
To be fair Sonia stood out a lot "Why is there a Cruiser in our Corvette wing?" "As you can s- Is that a Battlecruiser?". Not to mention we did pretty cool stuff like infiltrating pirate holdings, Tracking down the next generation of tech. Securing secret SP tech REDACTED. And on and on.

We did the equivalent of Hercules 7 great deeds or slaying a dragon to earn our knighthood. Plus there where a lot less of us back then.

Anyways. I could consent to leaving a Kilo behind, they aren't the best of ships after all, but I do not want to leave behind the ACRS wing or the BCRS squadron. Both offer a LOT of firepower which we would miss out on when we need it. Leaving a Corvette wing however along with the Kilo would be agreeable. Do not forget that we have allies in the run as well who also have local forces.

>>46777436
You're probably right but it just feels like we don't meet people any more. We used to run into somebody new almost every thread, even if it was just a mechanic or tailor.

We didn't even get to meet the governor's assistant for 40 threads or so.

>fleet
Current garrisons + kilo + da/crv wing?

>>46777847
>Current garrisons + kilo + da/crv wing?
Indeed. That's still a lot of ships plus whatever our allies in the run can bring forth PLUS our planetary defenses.

>>46777847
>Current garrisons + kilo + da/crv wing?
I'm happy with that plus an extra corvette wing. Could swap out the Kilo for a Battlecruiser, even.

>>46763864
>It is the teams recommendation that this project be shelved until larger stockpiles of material are available

Could they make SP Plasma ammo for our pistol? Actually, given that the Republic is trying to get Plasma pistols back into service, we could probably sell the ammo to them for a decent markup.

>>46779058
>Could they make SP Plasma ammo for our pistol?

Considering there are going to be more and more stasis shields around, is our House researching ways to counter stasis fields?

>>46779058
Why would we need that? Personal shields aren't really a thing on the battlefield.

>>46779140
Didn't one of the Neeran commandos we ran into have an actual shield and not just magic that one time? Maybe I'm just misremembering.

>>46779488
I don't think ammo designed to pierce energy shields would help against what's more or less a super sturdy space riot shield.

>>46779488
It had a solid metal shield made of high density materials like your power armor. It had a sloped triangular profile to increase chance of deflection. Your 20mm fire was able to damage it and subsequent impacts in the exact same place may have been able to penetrate but this would be difficult to accomplish.

The Plasma pistol while unlikely to penetrate in a single shot would damage a larger area of the shield and leave it increasingly vulnerable.

>>46781387
>>46781460
Woops, I meant to say *actual energy shield

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The current defense fleets will stay behind along with a Kilo and an extra assault corvette Wing.

>>46779058
>Could they make SP Plasma ammo for our pistol?
Yes btw.

>>46782300
>Yes btw.
I think we should just keep a pack on hand for an emergency.

I think we should send a smaller unit along with the RH fleet. Just to show some presence on that side.

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Baron Darrow sets out with a fleet from House Phobos and one of their allies. Shortly after leaving the main trade lane they signal that they're in position. Officially they're conducting fleet exercises with a House concerned for the security of their borders.

It takes longer for Ber'helum and much of the Run alliance to get into position with their Heavy Cruiser and support elements.

Your fleet rebases to the Ruling House logistics base not in Ber'helum Territory. Ruling House fleet bases are heavily monitored by their enemies so they're the last to mobilise. Because of the plan for them to advance through the center they're also the closest to the main trade lane, cutting down on deployment time.

When Fadilia issues the formal declaration of war you get word of approximately 800 warships heading down the trade lane from the nearest Ruling House base. Your fleet launches and heads for enemy territory, arriving around the same time as the lead RH elements.

House Phobos then declares their intentions to liberate the House on the West approach suffering from a not so minor uprising.

"Ber'helum has declared war." Mayborune informs you, "but they're not asking all of their minor allies to do so. It looks like they're trying to keep them out of the fighting in the DRH2 relay."

The few enemy contacts you detect upon your entry into their space turn and flee as they detect the large incoming fleets. Each of the other RH fleet groups are larger than yours but are comprised largely of attack corvettes. A fleet with a larger number of assault corvettes are being held back along with their Medium cruisers.

Admiral Tama is concerned with logistics.
"We're operating within the Relay so flights back to logistics bases aren't very far, but we still don't have much in the way of field support aside from repair and salvage ships sticking with the Carrier groups. Just worth keeping in mind."

Majestic is currently guarding the House homeworlds. The Earl would probably be happy to send the Neeran Heavy Carrier Qlippoth to support your forces. After its upgrades and conversions it's ideally suited to field support of assault corvettes which your offensive fleet heavily favours.

It will take a few days to reach the Run. If things go well it may not be needed, or in the reverse it might arrive too late.

You could also have your forces focus on the capture of forward logistics bases or enemy ships better suited to support roles.

RSS could divert it's Kilo from station construction support which will cause temporary construction setbacks.

[ ] The trip to friendly bases isn't far. Endure the inconvenience
[ ] Focus on the capture of forward bases
[ ] Focus on capture of support ships
[ ] Divert RSS Kilo
[ ] Request Qlippoth

>>46783556
>[ ] Focus on the capture of forward bases
>[ ] Focus on capture of support ships
Let's give our troops 12 hours to see if we can capture enough of these, if we can't consider the other options.

>>46783556
>[x] The trip to friendly bases isn't far. Endure the inconvenience
>[x] Focus on the capture of forward bases

>>46783556
>[ ] Focus on the capture of forward bases
>[ ] Request Qlippoth

You'll see about focusing your efforts on the capture of forward bases. It won't earn your people as much fame or glory as some of the battles sure to take place, but it will keep your fleets fighting at peak effectiveness.

Knight Kim contacts you.

"The Antimatter torpedoes on our Helios, and the Bombard class Frigates are our only real siege weaponry at this point. What sort of targets do you want us to focus on?"

Kims ships are in escort formation around the Helios Medium. Currently the fast battleships are carrying conventional weapons. Not all of the antimatter weapon systems have arrived for them yet and they didn't want to risk those they had being damaged in a skirmish.

The Plasma Frigates and the Medium may both be ideal for long range engagements but they fight very differently. Frigates have better accuracy and can handle smaller targets if necessary, while AM Torpedoes are an area effect weapon. Friendly fire can become a serious issue.

>>46783556
>[ ] Focus on the capture of forward bases
>[ ] Focus on capture of support ships

>>46784629
Use the frigates against stations and larger targets, and the AM torp for things like mine fields or gun sats.

None of the siege decis were completed yet?

>>46784629
Could we cold fire AM torpedoes and co-ordinate them to go off after a squad does a micro jump out of the AoE? Take out large corvette groups at once?

>>46784629
I can see them being useful for two types of targets:
1) Large, relatively immobile units like supers, stations, etc.
2) Formations of smaller enemy units.

#2 is the most interesting, since the AM torpedoes would let us effectively break up enemy formations into smaller pieces that our squadrons can pick to pieces.

>>46784893
We could also maybe make decoy AM torpedoes to force this to happen and generally mess with them, providing there's any identifiable difference in AM and regular torpedoes.

I mean, why use expensive ammo when we don't have to. Also, maybe they will think they aren't actual AM tops and not scatter when they should.

>>46784834
Yes but they're much larger than normal torpedoes (heavy torpedo sized) and there's the chance that they'll be detected more easily. This could make them vulnerable to point defense.

>>46785002
>We could also maybe make decoy AM torpedoes
The on-board torpedo assembly system could build empty cases without the expensive containment system. These are still more expensive than dedicated decoys but there aren't really any of that size available yet.

Whenever we talk antimatter I always wonder what happened to that container that was filled with it, drenched in Neeran blood, then sent off on one of their teleporters. We never got confirmation if that was what crippled the local command ship.

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>>46785243
You're right...

>>46785150
I imagine the dump and ditch tactic could be useful once since the would be cold fired and honestly why attack those when there are ships shooting at you and active torpedoes being launched. They might even assume they were defective somehow. Even then shooting them when in dogfighting range would be a bad plan as opposed to getting out yourselves.

Like, it would be something to do while in close proximity as an emergency tactic maybe.

Also I presume we would be doing it fairly quick.

>>46785243
You have no way of knowing in character. It's a secret.

>>46785335
>>46785002
Well the option for decoys and related shenanigans are there.

>>46784779
>Use the frigates against stations and larger targets, and the AM torp for things like mine fields or gun sats.
These fine with people?

>None of the siege decis were completed yet?
Lets see, there was apparently a tie breaking vote. Helios is designing a version based around the light siege cannon. Due to reasons previously discussed it will take time for Helios to finish the design process and get ships to you.

A squadron should be ready in time for the new year.

Kim has one primary concern. "I think we shouldn't use the Medium for bombardment of planetary shields around colonies. There's too much that can go wrong and it could be bad for PR if we're seen warheads of that size."

Stopping here for the night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Huuacl6oqI hyped.

TSTG you got a steam account or something?

>>46785586
Kim has a valid point. We do want to keep these Colonies afterwards.

>>46784629
>What sort of targets do you want us to focus on?"

That's not really something that can be decided right off the bat or streamlined. Each battle flows differently and is composed of different units.

Also it's hard to decide since we lack any sort of experience with AM weapons besides seeing one explode while planetside. But rule of thumb seems to be to attack Large ships or dense formations of ships.

>>46785586
>I think we shouldn't use the Medium for bombardment of planetary shields around colonies
I completely agree. To much could go wrong with a payload of that size. We don't want to accidentally the entire atmosphere now would we?

>>46787949
I will forever be skeptical towards space sims ever since Sword of the Stars 2

>>46785586
>You have no way of knowing in character. It's a secret.
That thing better have not killed our wizard somehow!

>>46789614
So long as it isn't meant to be massively multiplayer it should be good.

Multiplayer orientated games ruin fucking everything though.

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>>46785586
>could be bad for PR if we're seen [firing?] warheads of that size

>>46787949
I will wait until after it is released, has the bugs worked out, so on and so forth before getting it. Steam sales will happen eventually. Hell I didn't get Retribution until last year because I hated Chaos Rising. Except the all Terminator space hulk mission. That was awesome.

My new machine can run SotS2 but it's just a game I don't like playing. Don't like how the mechanics of it works and took me years to find out because it runs so poorly. So I'm going to hold off on potentially similar ones until I know how they work.
I haven't played it much but BFG:A seems like a game I'll like. I do sort of wonder how a Dominion Heavy would do in that game. Probably get wrecked by Torpedo spam.

>>46790979
I have somehow managed to spend 48 hours on the skirmish mode alone, BFG:A is very decent. Even if they still haven't included grand cruisers and the games controls and physics aren't really able to do Eldar ships justice.

>My new machine can run SotS2 but it's just a game I don't like playing.
I watched a le's play on youtube a few months ago to see how it turned out after the addon and various patches.

I gave up after there hadn't been a single battle 5 hours in on the small map. I still don't understand how they could go from something genuinely fun like SotS 1 to that game.

>>46791088
There is only ONE good thing about SoTS 2 and that is the ship customization. Everything else is a hell of poor optimization, show and boring gameplay, incredibly tedious micro management and the fact that you can't play more than 100-200 turns before turn times become 5 minutes long.

>>46790979
Would probably rip apart Eldar ships since it has a shit ton of guns pointing in all directions. Raped by torpedoes and Nova cannon.

>>46791529
>There is only ONE good thing about SoTS 2 and that is the ship customization
I was really hyped for the game but even that didn't work on release.

>Let's build a crusier
>Ooooh, the game is pretty this time
>What the fuck is a semper fi? Or a camel?
>Why does the game crash so often?
>Why does this remind me of MoO3?
>Yay, finally, a battle.
>So, what is happening?
>Why aren't there ships shooting each other?
>Just pieces of the map are turnung red.
At least paradox relealised how crap the game was and offered refunds.

Too bad they never revisited SotS 1 again to add some more stuff like the said they would.

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>>46791529
>ship customization
The prototypes cost an arm and a leg. I don't think I ever built one because I was waiting for better tech to justify the cost.
>can't play more than 100-200 turns before turn times become 5 minutes long.
They didn't fix that from the first game?

>>46791588
>Why does this remind me of MoO3?
HAHA OH WOW. That's what it reminded me of.

Moving on, you have some targets available.
The usual assortment of colonies, military and logistics bases.
Most of the enemy forces from this House are either mobilising from the bases, in orbit of the colony to help with suppression of the population, or fleeing into Bonrah space.

The fleeing fleet, while small compared to yours, has a Medium cruiser and may have all of their assault corvettes. 1 Wing's worth.

Military bases will need siege weapons to crack open, while the colony's shields will also take time to wear down.

Where do you want to focus your efforts? The Ruling House will take up the slack elsewhere.

>>46791711
JD will be the speartip as promised. We target the Military bases and the fleeing ships. We are not letting any enemy force escape. Operation Typhoon

Also I hope everyone in this campagin can agree on dividing territory and stuff AFTER we've won. Else everyone would want to go after the colony and high value targets and such.

Also there are plenty of siege weapons out there. They are called asteroids.

>>46791711
>The prototypes cost an arm and a leg.
Don't forget how an unfortunate roll of the dice could give an entire design some crippling flaw.

>The fleeing fleet, while small compared to yours, has a Medium cruiser and may have all of their assault corvettes. 1 Wing's worth.
Can we catch them before they have a chance to join Bonrah's main fleet?

>Where do you want to focus your efforts?
Don't bother besieging the colonies for now. If some are unhappy enough to join htat's great, if it would take a large portion of our fleet to take the planet leave it for later. Get the logistics bases first. Try to cut off the Bonrah ally that's not suffering from internal unrest.

>>46791711
Focus on taking over the Logistics.

Maybe we should also send out 1 or 2 wings to both scout and raid Bonrah's region. It is our specialty afterall.

>>46791711
Focus all efforts on taking out hostile ships and soft targets that do not require sieges. We will soften the enemy up for the others to take. Like one big raiding fleet.

>>46791711
>The fleeing fleet, while small compared to yours, has a Medium cruiser and may have all of their assault corvettes.
Didn't Alex warn us about stuff like this?

I've been wondering for a while. If we ever get our hands on or encounter a ship with a hybrid cruiser/carrier role, what would we categorize it as?

Assault carriers? 'Aviation' cruisers?

>>46791861
>Can we catch them before they have a chance to join Bonrah's main fleet?
Yes but they'll be a little ways inside Bonrah space. There may be additional border patrol ships nearby to help them.

>>46792077
>Didn't Alex warn us about stuff like this?
I can't recall and it's not turning up in a quick archive search.

>>46792264
Normally there aren't ships in the light cruiser category that can do both well. It would probably be regarded as an escort carrier.
Battleship sized ones would be assault carriers but most experiments with them haven't had the best results. They're usually more expensive and endanger both the starfighters and the ship during deployment and recovery.

Looks like Fleet followed by logistics.

Do you want to keep everyone together or split off a small force to go after a logistics base at the same time?

>>46792477
Split into 3 forces

Sonia takes Kilo, her own ship, frigate wing, one Corvette wing, one mixed squadron(AB unit) and two Cruiser Squadrons. Rest split evenly for two equally sized forces. Sonia takes on the escaping fleet. I wish to see the new Bombard class in action

>>46792477
>I can't recall and it's not turning up in a quick archive search.
Something about luring pursuing fleets into an ECM ambush becoming more popular. I think it was in the thread when he picked of our super heavy.

>carriers
Wouldn't drone bays make sense on future designs?

>wat do
Send scout ships to the colonies and military bases to see how many ships are present.

Sonia takes a sufficient part of the fleet to take the western logisitics base, Drake the one to the center of this region, and the rest of the fleet goes after targets of opportunity.

>>46792640
I will support this.

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>>46792695
>Send scout ships to the colonies and military bases to see how many ships are present.
As you're going after the Fleet and Logistics bases the Ruling House will take care of scouting and attacking the colonies and military bases.

So far the main colony is defended mostly by corvettes and older model Frigates being used as troop ships. What ships that are still at the bases are evacuating.


>>46792640
Sonia takes a force against the fleeing fleet, Drake and Kim each take a fleet against the logistics bases?

Enemy strength updated after picking up a couple patrol squadrons.

>>46793127
If we're doing that we should probably grab at lest one additional BCRS squadron. Just to be safe and in case any of those are elite wings.

>>46793127
>Ruling House will take care of scouting and attacking the colonies and military bases
We should send them our siege ships in that case.

>>46793160
Agreed. Then we will be able to take out that fleet with little to no problem.

>>46793160
>>46793234
Battlecruisers moved from Drakes force to Sonia's. Sonia group will be taking most of the assault corvettes fully equipped with point defense just in case the enemy carrier is a problem.

>>46793228
Did you guys want to divert Kim's unit to helping the Ruling House with base attack? Or have him take care of his Logistics target first?

>>46793127
>Did you guys want to divert Kim's unit to helping the Ruling House with base attack? Or have him take care of his Logistics target first?

I would like to suggest we give our plasma frigates and the AM medium to the RH's fleet for now.

Sonia gives a medium to Kim's fleet.
Drake and Kim each give half a BCR/BB unit to Sonia.

>>46793319
>Did you guys want to divert Kim's unit to helping the Ruling House with base attack?
Nay, we can probably still use it as an offensive tool if we run into anything heavy while we raid.

Troop transports on the other hand serve little use here.

>>46793372
Why don't you want to try out our Bombard Frigates?

>>46793508
>Why don't you want to try out our Bombard Frigates?
Mostly because they're likely of more use against fortifications, instead of trying to nail other corvettes.

>>46793372
>I would like to suggest we give our plasma frigates and the AM medium to the RH's fleet for now.
Because of how many ships were left behind in the Run that's a significant fraction of your fleet.

I can't tell how many people are for or against reassigning Kim so the answer is forward.

Splitting your fleet, you have Drake and Kim head off to assault Logistics bases that will be of use. If the Ruling House needs help securing the tougher bases Kim can help them later.

These plasma cannon equipped Frigates should be quite the surprise for your enemies, though you're a little concerned about how they'll fare in close combat. So far they've been practicing wall formations and stand off tactics but many of the crews or their instructors have had training with Alex or Lorraine Day before.

Roll 1d100 to see how quickly your group can overtake them.

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>46793809

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>46793809
>I can't tell how many people are for
I think it was only me.

>Roll 1d100 to see how quickly your group can overtake them.

Rolled 92 (1d100)

>>46793809

I'm actually a little disappointed we Bonrah is hostile. They seem to be pretty agreeable and not too different from JD, and they only want to renegotiate with the alliance rather than outright leave.

The enemy fleet is retreating through a more difficult to navigate area, probably hoping it will delay your fleet's pursuit. Unfortunately for them your scout ships have previously mapped the region thoroughly and had used it on several occasions to enter Bonrah space.

They've barely crossed the border when you catch up with them.

Dropping out of FTL your fleet begins to engage them at range.

"If they jump again we'll be in an even better position the next time they return to real space." says Tama.

Sensors show the fleet angling for the nearest system and preparing to jump again.

"New course has them headed for a nearby gas giant."

Do you want any elements of your fleet to drop out as close as possible to them or stay together as a cohesive group?

>>46794575
Stay together.

>>46794575
As one. Let's see how they like a face full of Light Plasma cannons!

>>46794575
Stay together. The plasma frigates would be ripped apart if unsupported

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"Keep us together, I don't want them to surprise us."

The enemy fleet jumps followed by yours a moment later.

All of the enemy assault corvettes are turning back and spreading out to make it more difficult for massed fire to hit multiple ships. The Carrier is hurriedly deploying all of their starfighters and launching escape pods.

Meanwhile all of the larger or older ships carrying more crew are burning hard towards low orbit, going for a slingshot.

"Looks like they're trying to save as much of their fleet personnel as possible." is Maybourne's assessment.

Your orders?

>>46794928
Corvette wing move in to engage along with BCRS squadron. Bombarders target the Carrier group first then the Medium. Move and fire, we are aggressive right now. AB unit move on past enemy Corvette line and harass fleeing forces. Other lone squadrons support them.

All unit forward and engage.

>>46794928
Sonia takes her Medium, half of the BCR squad, the plasma frigates, and one of the smaller assorted squads, and micro jumps to the opposite side of the gravity well to intercept the fleeing forces.

The rest of our forces engages the assault corvettes and fighters.

>>46794928
Corvettes move on ahead and engage in enemy lines.

Plasma frigates and command ship move forward and provide firesupport.

The rest micro infront of the fleeing enemy force and cut them off.

>>46794928
Don't forget to broadcast a surrender request too.

File: Sonia Vs03b.gif (11 KB, 1162x619)

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>>46795037
>micro jumps to the opposite side of the gravity well
>>46795205
>The rest micro infront of the fleeing enemy force and cut them off.

Just be aware that being together your fleet is already at speed.
Not everything is as fast as your command ship. It will take awhile for your larger ships to reverse course and micro jump because of the close gravity well.

>>46795364
In that case we should just push on. We got superior range and just need to take out that Medium.

Changing >>46795205 to >>46794989

>>46794989
Full speak ahoy! Wreaking ball formation is a go.