>>18844449
You've recieved an email from your parents. Apparently there's a 3 day delay on both sending and recieving to ensure the fleet's operational security.

According to your Mother the family business wasnt doing as well as your Father had let on. Rather than wait out a long slow decline your Father has secured a position with House Logistics as an officer. His not inconsiderable contacts list has already proven its worth.
Your sister was suspended from school again after getting into another fight.

>>18844449
>RP purchases
Nah, there isn't anything interesting or important we could afford at the moment.

>get some rest
Sounds good. Grab a nice book and simply try to catch some sleep.

>something else
Does one of the bigger ships have a proper swimming pool where we could do some laps?

I'd like you to go to bed and come back when you have a thread that isn't a shitty quest to post.

>>18844558
>swimming pool
...I actually have no idea. Those three supers are freakin huge though, there's bound to be one among the fleet. Odds are good that its use would be restricted to higher ranking officers.
You could always try the holo booths and claim its part of some survival training.

[ ] try to sneak into the high class pools (roll 1d20)
[ ] Holo booths (Roll 1d100 for wait times)
[ ] forget it, get some sleep/read

rolled 42 = 42

>>18844630
>high class pools

Could Alex get us in there? He's upper class, after all. If not try our luck with the booths, but take the book along and just head straight to bed if the line's too long.

>>18844683
why would we even want to go to the high class pools and not just sleep it off?

And on our lonesome ?

I say sleep.


but if the vote is for the pool, i'll throw in a d20 dice. mayhap we get denied access as soon as we try to enter.

rolled 5 = 5

>>18844726
buggers.

still, i vote for sleep.

>>18844483
Ouch, what kind of business did he have? And why does Sonia's sister keep getting into fights?

>>18844683
>>18844726
>>18844736
you know, we could sleep, and once we wake up grab alex and try our luck at sneaking in with a entourage at least and not on our lonesome.

You contact Alex and, after finding out which ship has a swimming pool, head over.

"I cant promise this will work." he tells you.

You fail to sneak into the area undetected, security is too good for that. Alex is able to bluff the two of you past but ends up trapped in a debate with a few noble born officers. After escaping the two of you double back to the holo booths rather than risk alerting others that might be more perceptive.

The wait time is more than 40 minutes for the holo booths so you take some time to read a book. you dont get to spend as much time swimming as you'd like but on the upside you dont have to dry off the holographic water when you're done. After getting back to the ship you hit the bunk.


>>18844747
You father was a merchant.

>And why does Sonia's sister keep getting into fights?
Most other kids wouldnt bother her when you were on planet believing her big sister would protect her if they did anything bad. In reality it seems to be the other way around, and any bullies trying to bother her rapidly get their shit kicked.

>>18844861
Atta girl! Send her a marine's handbook on non-leathal combat, or something.

A few hours later you're called to the bridge.

"This is Knight Sylvan to the Third attack squadron, glad everyone is back. We have an assignment available but I'm reluctant to deploy without the entire squadron. The Knight Commander agrees on that part which is why I've postponed deployment until we've decided on it one way or the other."

*Colony in Distress
"For those of you that have been away and didn't receive the new assignments update the Colony world of Robrinaan is under attack. They were already raided once in the opening wave of pirate activity. The orbital shroud that helps maintain their terraforming was boarded and held for ransom until the locals handed over some valuable supplies and transports.
Since then locals have moved the shroud into a temporary close orbit to protect it with planetary shields. A mixed fleet of pirate ships have been attempting to knock down the shields so the fleet dispatched a Taskforce from House Erid to stop them.
The real sticking point is that House Erid is a rival of ours, and any losses they take will strengthen our position back home. On the other hand if we do nothing it could endanger the civilian populace which totals approximately 2.2 Billion.
I'd like some arguments either for or against deployment."

You check over the other assignment options just to see what else is available.

*Smuggler Interdiction
Weather in peacetime or war smugglers are one of the great constants in the universe. Fast ships are needed to slip through patrols meaning even faster ships are needed to catch these malcontents.
Threat Level 1
Intel: Fleet intel is rapidly narrowing down the number of systems pirate forces are still located in. Fast ships are needed to intercept smugglers that may be headed to these locations. Subdue unregistered freighters and transports long enough for our Frigates to put new crews aboard.

>>18844988
*Royal Logistics Depot
The Royal Logistics branch are responsible for coordinating long range resuply of Dominion fleets outside of friendly territory. While many Houses may provide the transports and cargo ships it is this group that keeps them organised.
At the moment the First Expeditionary Fleet is close enough to its home galaxy that resupply is not an issue. This will change as the fleet moves farther away.
To head off any future problems Royal Logistics wishes to secure a cargo depot in the Ulatt Dwarf Galaxy.
Threat Level 1
Intel: All cargo ships native to the system the depot is in are believe to have been stolen in the opening wave of Pirate activity. Most local defenses were destroyed and the remainder may have been stripped. Only items of value remaining are the depot and groundside algae processing plants.

>>18844926
A grateful population of 2.2 billion is an asset that might be worth something, if our squadron manages to be in the right place at the right time.
And if we have some good spin doctors with us.

And Erid probably only sent old crap to the support the fleet, so any losses aren't probably going to hurt them much either.

>>18844926
I say we go for the colony. who knows how much they will resist.

Also while Erid is a rival , it is not a enemy, from what i gather and should we act in a diplomatic way we may make these pilots and perhaps their contacts more amicable towards House Jarik-Dremine

also, 2.2 billion people.

>>18845057
although i hope we will be able to complete the royal logistics support after we fight above the colony.

>>18845011
>>18845057
Sylvan makes a noise of annoyance.
"You make some good points, as much as I'd rather let them burn. It's been so long I doubt we'll ever get our old systems back from them. Besides, its' not like the civilians are part of their worthless house. Since enough of you seems to be in favor of it I'll let the Knight Commander know. Get ready to ship out."

Ten Minutes later the squadron moves out, but it is not alone. The Knight Commander Winifred's Eminence class medium cruiser comes about and takes up formation behind your squadron along with four escorting light cruisers.

She contacts the squadron shortly after. "I've decided this situation could potentially be unstable and have decided accompany you Lieutenant."

"We're uh, greatful for any assistance Commander." Sylvan eventually spits out.

"My ship will be transmitting jump data, all ships jump in formation." The Commander orders.

All ships jump as scheduled and begin the fourty minute flight to the target system.

The fleet ends its jump deep inside the target system, the local gas giant being located far enough away that its gravity well could be avoided.

Your display lights up with yellow tagged objects with flashing with low priority collision warnings.
"Detecting a debris field thats expanding into our approach vector." reports sensors "Remains of both friendlies and enemies. Friendly wreckage is made up of more than thirty corvettes, three light cruisers, two carriers and a Crescent class Medium cruiser. There might be some frigates but I cant tell them apart from the enemy wreckage."

Alex is the next to speak up over squadron coms.
"This is Palaiologos. Lieutenant I'm detecting the rest of the House Erid fleet. Most of them are clustered around the Shroud which is still protected by part of the planetary shields. The shields have fallen around other regons of the planet however and we're detecting enemy HLVs and transports transiting between the surface and low orbit."

"House Erid Fleet composition?"
"One Shukhant... err Crescent class Medium cruiser, three carriers, 5 light cruisers, 5 Frigates and twenty corvettes."

>Your orders? / suggestions to the LT?

>>18845472
Protecting the planet and its population should be our top priority.

So we should probably try to capture the ships in lower orbit, in case the pirates are abducting civilians from the surface.

Whatever ships aren't needed to help with that can lend support to the Erid fleet.

>>18845472
We should ask the Erid forces what their situation is. They will know better than us what the greatest threat is at the moment.

If they can hold the Shroud by themselves, we should protect the planet itself.

>>18845472
Allow House Erid to nobly defend the Shroud to the last while we go stop the pirates that are attacking the civilians?

I GUESS the Knight Commander and some of her escort could go help them at the Shroud if we don't need them to cover the civies

>>18845472
>>18845364
I say we bumrush the pirate mother ships, and prevent the landers from getting away, with any spoils or prisoners.

this way we rescue our rival house a bit and the civilian populous.

they will have to play Anvil to our hammer though,

>>18845531
>>18845585
a well coordinated assault would certainly swing the momentum and have the pirates too busy to gather up the loot and hostages or attack the shielded shroud.

we need to coordinate with Erid. have the Knight Commander be the one to issue it to ensure maximum cooperation.
It would be good though to let Erid know the co-op idea came from Jarik-Dremine once they are committed through implications , to lessen the hostility down the road , but that depends on the local officer.

>>18845685
>didn't proofread before posting
gah!

"House Erid forces, this is Knight Commander Abigale Winifred of House Jarik-Dremine with the expeditionary fleet. We are here to assist in repelling the Pirate forces please respond."

A Dro'all male responds. "This is Knight Captain Desh Xisoth. State your intentions."

"Captain, as I've already stated we are here as part of the expeditionary fleet and wish to help protect the civilians. What is your current status and that of the planetary defenses?"

"I dont know what you're playing at but... but I cant afford to turn down help right now. We believe Baron Zoluw is dead and I have assumed command.
The pirates have only made light attacks against the shroud but we cant afford to pull ships away at the moment or they'll have a clear shot at it. With us pinned in place they've begun raiding the surface. According to reports they're not even stealing equipment this time, they're capturing as much of the populace as they can. Any areas of organised resistance are being destroyed by orbital bombardment. They also have large numbers of light attack ships which are hard to hit."

All ships in the squadron begin recieving sensor data on small sub corvette sized ships similar to the Terran Delta class light attack ship. They dont appear to have any FTL systems.

"If you could either kill the ships closest to our position or distract them by attacking elsewhere we might be able to go on the offensive."

would it be possible for our force to make an angled attack to strike the pirate craft near the shroud, then use the planet's gravity well to "lance" thru the enemy formations?

basically, we just gun our way around the planet, aiming to cripple everything we can. Our slower ships can either attempt to capture the larger pirate craft, or just follow as a second "death wall" wave around the planet.

and since the enemy has non-FTL ships, they must have a mothership or carrier of some sort. We should have our entire force unleash a missile and torp barrage on it at once, if possible.

also suggesting that we treat any captured civilians as "dead" once they're on an enemy ship capable of ftl. Better to cripple the ship and save some than to let the ship escape.

also requesting enemy force info for larger ships, can we spot any prime targets or HLV motherships?

>>18845798
I think OP is still typing.

>>18845810

just throwing it out there for digestion, sir.

>>18845810
Drawing up a fast map actually.

>>18845867
Go all out on the main force. If we pull press off of Erid, great. If not, whatever.

>>18845798
>also requesting enemy force info for larger ships, can we spot any prime targets or HLV motherships?
Alex stats sending data on the size of the main enemy fleet.
1 medium Cruiser, 4 ships that seem to be acting as carriers for lighters and the light attack ships and a pair of 2km long Mining barges acting as FTL transports for the HLV's. There are also numerous smaller ships including 3 battlecruisers, 30 frigates and 15 corvettes that can be made out.
Some of the Frigates and 1km long Y-Type transports are leaving the atmosphere.

"Watch yourselves, there's a Lance Class Medium cruiser present. That thing could make our squadron disappear if we get close. They're meant for taking out battlecruisers or smaller, their guns are accurate at closer ranges."

>>18845867

how do those "fast" ships compare to our House's forces?

and what do we know of the composition of the enemy's "main" force?

If we have the firepower, perhaps we should hit the enemy's main force, then ride the gravity well around toward the shroud.

Hopefully the nearest enemy "fast" unit will turn and strike for us, and our allied force can strike the far "fast" unit and slingshot themselves around the gravity well opposite us, striking anything that gives chase or they could try to reverse course with the gravity well and join us for a second pass.

but force compositions will make a difference

>>18845946
Maybe make a fast pass on the main force, avoid the heavy hitters, then keep right on truckin and slingshot around to hit the further group of fast units.

Sounds like we are going to need the Erid force to actually take on the main pirate force.

>>18845585
>>18845650
>>18845798
So, the plans I'm seeing are 1) full out attack on the enemy main force
2) Hammer/Anvil of main
3) a sort of fast slingshot attack to hit those closest to the shroud first then the main force.

>>18845946
>battlecruisers
Are those bigger than our attack cruiser?

>plans
Have our biggest ship deal with their lance class cruiser. The rest should focus on disabling the carriers and mining barges ftl engines.

BRB 10-20 minutes, grabbing something to eat.

>>18845946

what sort of chances do we have to cripple or destroy that cruiser?

Can we call for immediate support from the main fleet?

... how much pain could our force inflict on those mining barges with a long range torp/nuke salvo? They can't be very mobile that close to a planetary body

>>18846016
Lets combine slingshot with hammer and anvil.


kinda like this way, getting the fast units between us and Erid in a crossfire and zipping either above or below the second group.

>>18846016
Can we combine 2) and 3)?

Go for the fast units first, free up Erid to go round the other way?

>>18846114
I like the way you think, but not the way you do it faster than I do.

>>18846114
and considering now that i read it a bit more in detail, lets focus on the FTL barges and then spam the medium cruiser from afar with some serious barrages.

we do have some torp heavy armaments, and i hope Erid has too.

>>18845946
>>18846040

glorious combined plan mspaint hivemind.

fourthing, I believe.

>>18846133
thanks.

your slingshot is all crap though, but i went with the Erid's through the shield.

so if we were to take my slingshot and your Erid movement we would get a great action plan, get one light force into some heavy crossfire, zipp past another one and pincer the main force.

we need to blow up that medium cruiser and those barges though , and fast.

so the question is, spam everything we got on the cruiser and then focus on the barges ? or the other way around.


I am ambivalent to both.

on the one hand we prevent the heavy landers any opportunity, on the other hand we loose firepower and guns while we focus on them that could be crucial against the medium cruiser

meh. i say lets go fore the medium cruiser first.

pump it full of torps and beams and then refocus on the barges.

>>18846205
on the god thing we will end up in their ass since we will arrive only shortly after Erid, so we can pump some heavy duty torp volleys in between their buttocks.

back, reading.

>how do those "fast" ships compare to our House's forces?
They seem to be frigates and a couple of attack cruisers tricked out with more powerful engines. They're only slightly slower than your ship.

>battlecruisers
>Are those bigger than our attack cruiser?
Yes

>what sort of chances do we have to cripple or destroy that cruiser?
Any of the medium cruisers present have roughly 50/50 odds against each other if alone. The enemy battlecruisers are sticking close to the medium to prevent that.

Plan is looking good so far, just some minor things to clear up.
>FTL barges first
>medium cruiser first
please pick one.

>>18846229
By the looks of it you'll be moving faster which will land you at the enemy main fleet first.

>>18846400
>>FTL barges first
>>medium cruiser first


Are they actually loading colonists onto these, or are they only used as carriers for the lifters themselves during ftl transit.

>>18846400
Barges first. Civilians take priority.

>>18846423
"Those HLV's have already made multiple trips to the surface." reports Captain Xisoth. "With your arrival this will likely be their last flight. If the barges have not started moving out of orbit yet they will soon. We have no way of knowing how many people are aboard those ships."

i say we plink the medium cruiser first.

in case we see Heavy landers approaching the barges we can spew a few torps their way and refocus fire to prevent them form getting away.

>>18846449
Disable them barges asap

>>18846448
>>18846449


we cant raly blow them up, only take out their FTL if you want to save civilians.

Meanwhile the medium cruiser will eat us for breakfast.


this all depends on the shields of the minnig barges.

if they are to powerful there is no use in trying to wear them down before we take out the medium cruiser.


if they can be downed and the FTL taken out for both of them in one or at the maximum two volleys then its possible to focus on them first

>>18846449
In that case, engines on the transports first, unless our ships have severe problems dealing with the cruiser or it's impossible to avoid it.
If we have to choose between disabling the transports or saving our own forces, keeping our comrades safe is more important.

"Captain, I reccomend we launch a coordinated attack. My fleet will swing past your position and engage enemy forces on the far side of the planet. I recommend that your fleet should make its way around this side of the planet attacking forces on the way. If both our fleets converge on the enemy main force simultaneously we stand a chance at overwhelming them."

Captain Xisoth nodds. "Sounds to be a solid plan. How do you know we wont arrive late and attack only after your unit has been decimated?"

"I have already had my crew deploy transmitter beacons and spy satellites." The Knight Commander replies icily. "Do try to keep up. The attack squadron I brought is quite fast."

Roll 3d20

rolled 17, 2, 10 = 29

>>18846585
1, 1, 1
>everything explodes

rolled 16 = 16

>>18846585
First roll.

rolled 11 = 11

>>18846632
Second one.

rolled 18 = 18

>>18846640
And the last one.

rolled 6, 2, 20 = 28

>>18846585
My meager contribution.

rolled 11, 7, 20 = 38

onwards!

>>18846670
>>18846629
>>18846640
>>18846685

Whatever die number 2 will be used for, the dice gods do not like it too much.

rolled 8, 2, 9 = 19

so the average for the four rolls is a end result of 35

average for the first is
13
the second
6
and the third
17

>>18846740
GAHHHH!

forgot to disable dice!

FOUL! now my average calculations are FUCKED!

Please disregard it.

>>18846755
>>18846740
ಠ_ಠ

rolled 5, 2, 5 = 12

>>18846770
Not that guy but I got you some more shitty rolls to fuel your anger.

rolled 9, 18, 14 = 41

hate.

"All ships move out!" Commander Winifred orders. "Do what you can to lay down long range fire on the first group so that those Erid ships have no excuse for a slow advance."

"You heard her Third squadron!" Yells Sylvan. "Lets punch it up but try to hold formation. There's strength in numbers here."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzo4ONrI8n8

The twelve ships of your squadron plus the LT's Attack cruiser lead the way. At maximum range all ships open fire with their phase cannons, a few dozen orange and white beams filling the space between you. You spot Missile trails incoming.

"Staggard formation. Watch your spacing." Orders Sylvan, trying to maximise outgoing fire without changing course. Occasionally some of the missiles will detonate early spoiling your gunners targeting.

"Additional contacts." Warns Alex. "Light attack ships and fighters."

"I sure hope those power feeds are going to hold up this time." you mutter as your point defense guns turn to track the incoming craft. You can almost feel the guns rapid firing bursts of particle beam shots.
Your enthusiasm is short lived as the attack craft open fire with Light pulse cannon. Others fire off missiles from bulky external racks.

"God dammit, they can mount pulse cannon on ships that small?!"

Your gunners shift fire from the enemy fast frigates and cruisers to the to the attack craft harassing you. While the craft are smaller and more maneuverable than corvettes they still cant take many hits on their shields. Knight Sylvan rolls his ship and rams his way through one of them, the shield impact disabling the smaller ship.

Knight Commander Winifred's ships open up, filling space around the squadron with deadly fire striking many of the small ships. Previously too distracted with the attack squadron the pirates turn their attention to the Medium Cruiser falling slightly behind. They soon think better of it and begin to retreat.

"House Erid forces are on the move towards the retreating unit." sensors report.

In a few more seconds the squadron is closing in on the shroud. The solar mirrors and sails have all been retracted, reducing it to a wheel filled with girders and support trusses 30km across. The LT leads the unit around the station just outside the range of its shield.

"Enemy forces have already begun moving closer to the station to take advantage of the Erid fleet's departure."
They apparently weren't expecting your fleet to come sailing around the horizon in response.

"Haha! They're trying to run!" someone shouts as everyone resumes fire. With all of the pirates attempting to maneuver they seem to be difficult targets for your gunners. Your unit is forced to concentrate fire one or two ships at a time, taking down a few corvettes and two Frigates before they can scatter.

The surviving ships begin to flee in different directions which would have forced your unit to split up and hunt them down. Merely a distracting you from your real objective, and a dangerous one as they've taken few real casualties. More attack ships detach from the hulls of the survivors.
"They shouldn't be able to harm the shroud for a few minutes."

Your squadron followed by Commander Winifred's begin a quick orbit of the war side of the planet. It turns out to be a bit too fast, the older woman ordering everyone to reverse engines for a second or two to ensure the House Erid fleet can catch up on their side.

"Surviving enemy ships from the unit we just blew through are forming up in our wake." Warns Alex.
You glance at your own scanner and sure enough there they are getting into a formation.

"Targets coming up." Warns Sylvan.
Appearing over the horizon you can see the larger ships in the enemy formation making a hard burn away from the planet. Frigates, HLV's and transports from the surface are all doing what they can to catch up. Fourth flight opens fire on a nearby Frigate burning through its shield and disabling some of its engines.

As the enemy medium cruiser starts to throw fire in your direction and that of the house Erid fleet Sylvan leads the squadron into the stream of Pirate transports using them for cover. One of the larger ships takes a heavy phase cannon shot that otherwise would have hit you, losing it's shield. Mike takes out one of the ships engines while Alex hits the other. You unload pulse cannon fire into Frigate causing some of its engines to explode and tumble out of control. Breaking free of the transports the LT keeps you in line with one of the mining barges even as the squadron opens fire on it.
Corvettes from the House Erid fleet close in on the other barge firing madly, even as the enemy battlecruisers turn to face you.

Everyone in the squadron with a launcher dumps a few torps into the aft shield of the escaping barge then its engines as the protective barriers fail. One of your heavy pulse cannon bursts strike what looked to have been a control tower. You dont get a clear look as the drives on the ship explode under the heavy fire throwing fire and debris in every direction.

"Third squadron break off!"

You pull up and away trying to get some distance as the enemy Lance maneuvers to get a better shot at you and the House Eris ships.

Roll for Evasion!
1d20

rolled 15 = 15

>>18847425
>1d20
;_;

rolled 5 = 5

>>18847425
HARD A' STARBOARD

>>18847454
>>18847462
That's an average of 10. Do we dare...?

>>18847482
I have no idea if OP even averages rolls. I'm also surprised somebody thought he needed to improve on that 15.

>>18847503
Yes I average. I think what he mean sis, do you dare trying to improve on what you now have.

rolled 10 = 10

>>18847482
I dare.

>>18847542
I'm neutral regarding that outcome.

rolled 13 = 13

>>18847542
>rolled 1 = 1

>>18847542

Been reading this in the archives and love the depth you've created. Gona wait on the roll because I know I'd roll a 10 as well.

If we dodge this I think it's time to focus fire that big cruiser since we have now broken formation. It's gona be hectic here in a sec and our PDF turrets should be able to deal with swatting off the small ships.

Oh, can the pdf's be calibrated to auto target incoming missiles with an ai or algorithm? Those seem to be our biggest problem and I'd think a missile defense screen would be nice for the rest of our wing.

>>18847711
I wonder if we could bolt some mass drivers to the hull and throw up a flak screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejyBcX_gUNQ&feature=relmfu

Lieutenant Sylvan uses the narrow profile of his ship to maximum advantage, doing everything possible to cut down on the chances some of the heavy fire will hit. He's good but even he takes damage, a gouge cut in the topside armor of his cruiser leaving a trail of burning armor in his wake. You dont know how the House Eris forces fare but as you do everything possible to randomize your movement you are painfully aware that your ship always presents a large profile.

"I'm hit!" yells Alex."

You can still see Alex's signal on the screen. He couldnt have been hit too badly.
"Incoming!" Shouts Kavos just before the impact causes the ship to shudder. It must have been a torpedo hit or two, your shields didnt go down too much.

The next hit throws you forwardagainst your harness sending the ship off course and setting off multiple damage alarms. Your diagnostics display lights up showing damage to one of the wings and an engine. You have to roll the ship a few times to get it under control during which you take a few lighter hits which collapse your main shield.

Eventually the fire towards you and the rest of the squadron stops. Looking back you can see both friendly medium cruisers trading fire with the Lance and enemy battle cruisers.

"Damage report?" you dare to ask.
"We've lost one engine and quite a bit of the surrounding super structure. We're going to need dock time for sure but we're still good to fight."

Alex has lost most of the armor off the bottom of his ship. Mike is unscathed. Someone from first flight is adrift.

Light attack ships from the rest of the pirate fleet are forming up on an intercept course for the Knight Commander's Cruiser.

>Your orders?

>>18847743
Completely forgot about flak! Have the ships recyclers send all trash into a collection bin, then we use a rail gun to launch trash in front of us for a screen. Or we just mount up a few nukes and use some precision explosions to catch/screen incoming missiles or use the radiation to throw the guidance systems off. Again, I think we should see about an algorithm for automating this since it seems our pilot,commander, and main gunner are the same person.

>>18847777
What's the situation around us? Any transports/carriers still able to leave the system? How many enemy ships are still operational?

>>18847777
Status of barges?

>>18847793
I'd rather save the weight and complication and just be faster than the things trying to hit us.

>>18847777


What major enemy targets are still functional or unengaged by friendly forces?

awesome quest slow typing guy.

>>18847777
Intercept those light attack ships with anyone else we can round up. Gotta give our Cruisers time to take out theirs.

>>18847840
We can't outrun missiles. At least, not without converting most of the Bittenfeld's mass to engines.

>>18847777
Lets get a run on the medium cruiser with whatever torp ships we can find and incapacitate it as well.

Perhaps try to screen the knight commander.

>>18847840
From the requisistion page it looks like we are a whale of a ship, granted a FAST whale, but still a large target on the battlefield. Some kind of missile defense would be nice since it seems our enemies like to missile spam us out here.

Also, status report of our forces. Seems we are going to be assisting the LT with the other cruisers, let our vettes deal with their small craft.

>>18847868
we are a cruiser.

mike and a flight of non torp corvettes ought to try and screen or divert the incoming interceptors, while we and the rest of the torp boats and cruiser pump the Medium Crusier to kingdom come.

My experience with lolspess games has led me to tend toward ships with a large forward firing weapon strapped to a giant engine with a reasonable amount of frontal armor, and little if anything else.

>>18847918

We are a sort of joke excuse for a cruiser compared to what we are up against.

>>18847946
Ships like that have their place in this setting, but any large ship is apparently vulnerable to swarming and missile storming.

>>18847828
>>18847830
Barges are disabled. There are some transports still mobile but thanks to some 20's... I mean expert piloting by your CO, a large number of them took damage. The HLV's are for the most part undamaged but they don't appear to have FTL systems of their own.


The House Erid corvettes have taken worse casualties than your squadron and are retreating. All friendly Cruisers save your squadron are closing in on the enemy Medium along side both of your Mediums. There are still enemy corvettes, and frigates around in addition to the battlecruisers helping the lance.
The remains of the other enemy fast groups are forming up with their fighters and light attack craft. They are headed in the direction of the Knight Commander's ship.

>>18847998
In that case, prepare to intercept the fighters and light attack craft. Make sure there's at least one ship providing cover for Alex's damaged ship at all time. If that isn't possible, have him pull back.

>>18848025
Supported.

Save our co, how do we expect to receive honor when we return if they bite it out here? Big ships first, wingmen take the small.

rolled 4 = 4

>>18847998
I vote for this as our general strategy.

>>18848069
I propose that we replace our damaged engine and superstructure with more guns. I also propose that any further damage we sustain is repaired by replacement of components guns.

>>18848118
*with guns, that is.

Really, though, if the flak idea flies I'll be happy.

In regards to all compliments see the following:
>Thanks!

Constructive criticism is welcome. However to prevent thread from turning into stalled clusterfuck please wait until completion of missions if possible.

>Flack guns
I don't actually have anything against this. Additional discussion to commence at a later time.


"Lieutenant, the attack craft, they're headed for the Commander!"
Sylvan doesn't seem to have spotted them at first.
"What? Whe- there! Good eye. Anyone still operational form up and go after that incoming formation. Reynard, we'll concentrate fire on the starships, everyone else get those little fuckers."

Roll 1d20 linking this post.

rolled 11 = 11

>>18848168

>>18848179
This is fine with me.

rolled 12 = 12

>>18848168
gimme dat satisfaction

Let's see if the dice god favors me posting on a tablet....

>>18848205
Remember lowercase d.

rolled 1 = 1

Nope... No it doesn't...
>>18848205

>>18848230
Our average is now 8.

>>18848230
Good thing you didn't link to OP's post, eh?
Also, the dice god think tablet users are fags.

>>18848230
Fuuuuuuuu..... It was a lower case d in dice my tablet capitalized and when I fix I nat 1. Sorry guys, done rolling. Then again, can't get any worse..

rolled 11 = 11

>>18848168
Rollan'

>>18848230
I'm glad you linked to the wrong post.

rolled 9 = 9

>>18848256
Well, odds are we can improve it.

>>18848168

>>18848272
>>18848281
Okay, if he doesn't take the 1 not linked to his post, average is now 10.75.

rolled 11 = 11

>>18848168

>>18848303
Bravo. That's exactly 0.25 over the expected average for sufficiently large n.

>>18848320
Average has increased to 13.5.

11s, 11s everywhere.

>>18848340
We haven't had a single roll over 12, how the hell do you get an average of 13.5?

rolled 1 = 1

>>18848340
Your math intrigues me.

>>18848358
You're right, it's 10.8. I was still dividing by 4.

I hope That slow typing guy isn't a statistician.

>>18848370
9.1666...

What is this compulsion to continue rolling?

rolled 18 = 18

>>18848168
Rollan'

>>18848370
Thankfully this one is also linked to the wrong post.

>>18848370
>>18848230

Good thing these didn't link the post then.

>>18848403
12.

>>18848392
I don't have the slightest clue. Probably trying to find out how large n has to be in order to be considered sufficiently large.

>protip: somewhere around the point when hypergeometric distribution approaches binomial distribution.

While the squadron formation is broken up it doesnt seem to matter much as everyone opens up.

Alex hangs back firing torps at the larger ships and cannon fire at the attack craft, careful to keep his damaged side away from the enemy.
The combined fire from both your ship and the LT's has enough punch to bring down the shields of any opposition you find. The real trouble are the swarms of smaller ships that your spinal mounted heavy pulse cannon are almost useless against. Your gunners are also annoyed with the small fast moving ships, the point defense guns are about the only thing that can reliably put fire on target. The two remaining frigates break and run and with the larger numbers of enemies still present you're reluctant to break formation yourself.

"This is like fighting a swarm of bugs!" complains one of the other pilots.

"This is getting us nowhere." Sylvan concludes. "Reynard, transfer power from your pusle cannons to shields and just crank the throttle. We'll ram our way through."
You do your best, trying to keep engine power balanced with the missing sublight drive. Your CO punches through a group starting to strafe the Knight Commander's ship sending three spinning out of control. You manage a few yourself but the rest wise up fast, increasing their spacing.

The Lance turns back towards Winifred's ship just as parts of its shield start to fail. The Commander has a poor fire angle on it with its narrow forward profile but the Captain's Crescent class is not faced with the same problem. Not satisfied with the holes being burned in the enemy ship Knight Captain Xisoth rams the pirate cruiser broadside using his still intact shield.
The long spar of the Lance class ship cracks under the impact. Reactors scattered through the ship for weapons power begin to explode as the hull collapses, ripping open the few undamaged sections.

>>18848583
I don't know about the rest of House Erid, but this Knight Captain guy is awright

The shields on Captain Xisoth's ship flicker even it reverses engines to cut down on the impacts with the exploding remains of the enemy ship. With the destruction of their heaviest warship you and the others expect the remaining pirates to run for it. At the very least the fighters and attack ships could hide in other parts of the system until a transport could pick them up in a few days. Instead all of them turn their attention on the Captain's wounded ship.

"This is Xisoth, my ship is taking heavy fire. We cant take pulse cannon fire like this for long, even the light stuff."

"We read you Captain, all House Jarik-Dremine forces move to assist. Enemy forces this is Knight Commander Abigale Winifred. Power down your weapons and engines immediately or you WILL be destroyed. Our victory is now a foregone conclusion. Our attack cruisers and corvettes can run down any ships that remain before they can escape. Resistance is useless and will only bring about the deaths of you and your allies."

The attack doesn't let up. While the transports and HLV's all start sending out surrender signals the attack ships home in on the damaged friendly. A few collide with the engines of the big warship.

"Oh my god they're going to kamikaze!" Warns Sylvan.

The moment the last shields fail aboard Xisoth's ship the attack ships begin to hit his vessel en mass. The heavy armor and transverse bulkheads are the only things that save the ship from complete destruction. In a little under a minute all opposition in the system ends. Two thirds of the ship are burning or venting plasma into space.

"All ships launch shuttles!" The Commander orders.
Send marines to:

[ ] Board the transports
[ ] SAR aboard the House Erid ship
[ ] other

>>18848933
>[X] SAR aboard the House Erid ship

The transports aren't going anywhere, but the people on that ship probably need any help they can get. Right now.

>>18848983
I agree.

Are there house Erid forces left? Leave the command vessel to them if they are, if not we need to help out.
Use our tractors to pull in whichever salvageable ships we noticed For later SAR... Maybe it's just my EVE habits but I hold a ton of salvage around me while doing other stuff.

>>18848933
[X] SAR

Having bros in another house, even a rival, may prove useful if we ever decent to go Errant.

>>18849030
The remaining undamaged forces consist of 3 carriers and 4 Light Cruisers, neither of which carry larger numbers of shuttles. All their Frigates and corvettes are too damaged to assist.

>>18849030
>>18847868
SAR

[X] SAR.

lets go with the shuttle over there.

might make a few contacts in a rival house. - never a thing to be underestimated. who knows when you will use those and for what.

We only have 1 or 2 shuttles right? Not that much ourselves... If they've got assets in the area leave the SAR to them, don't want he citizens venting to atmosphere because we decided to become 1 of 1000 trying to save an officer or two. I'll admit it would be nice to be first there and get recognition but right now we need to follow standard ops and help civilians.

>>18849220
As much as I'm usually for joining our boarding teams, I think this is one of those situations where we would really get in the way of our trained professionals.
We aren't really trained in providing medical help or navigating a highly damaged ship.

"Any damage control teams that we can spare report to the launch bay ASAP!" you order. "Bring additional cutting tools and rescue gear."

"You're not going with them are you?" Asks Kavos.
After some thought you decide not to so as not to get in the way.

The Knight Commander contacts the fleet and requests rescue and salvage teams from any House that can spare them. They balk at the request until being informed the rescue teams are for a rival House. Thirty minutes later ships begin to trickle in.

By that time Marines and damage control teams from several ships are trying to gain control of the reactors and engine rooms of the warship. Evacuation of the crew to other ships and carriers via the few undamaged outer sections has also begun.

Unwilling to let the civilians remain in danger the Commander has ordered some ships with spare Marines but no shuttles to begin boarding the transports using magnetic grapples and thruster packs. As the transports are slowly siezed one by one the undamaged ones are sent back to the surface to begin unloading the captured civilians.

It's a solid six hours before all of the reactors on the damaged ship are brought under control or shut down. Some sections are still cut off and work carries on. The real salvage ships start to arrive, bringing with them teams better equipped for this kind of operation.

You catch a transmission from the marines sent to board the converted mining barges. The ore holds had been replaced with stasis chambers. They estimate there could be two million people just on one of the ships.

>>18849235
We should shell out the 150 RP for another unit of marines when we get the chance.

As rescue operations reach the twelve hour mark all Jarik-Dremine personnel are ordered to pull out. More ships with the fleet arrive to take over and vessels with fleet intelligence also start to show up.

Unloading the transports with the captured civilians is expected to take days as fleet command has ordered all of the captured HLV's to be inspected before resuming operations.

"Third squadron, we did good today. Had some cose calls but most of us are leaving in the same ships we left in. As for our one crippled ship it's going to get picked up by the salvage teams later. Until then we'll be taking the crew back with us and flight officer Daska will be aquiring a replacement ship until the old one is fixed."

The LT clears his throat before continuing. "Fleet intelligence would like us to keep this incident quiet for awhile. You're not to talk to other units in the fleet or anyone outside the fleet about this little kamikaze attack. Recover your marines and other personnel then we'll head back to the fleet."

Upon putting in to dock back at the fleet you're hit with the repair bill.
400 RP to replace the destroyed fusion drive and the damaged super structure.

I don't know how serious you guys were about replacing the destroyed engine with guns but you'll need an engine there.

>>18849712
Pretty cruddy pay for the mission we've just been in. But eh, we don't need anything beyond those repairs.

>>18849712
Was the destroyed engine one of the shitty ones we were supposed to replace anyway or one of the good ones?

>>18849712
How about the flak idea, and the thoughts we had last thread about putting actual starfighters on the hull to augment point defense?

Would it actually be possible to replace the engine with an entire corvette?

>>18849761
ಠ_ಠ

>>18849712
'nother engine and how bout a second squad of marines?

>>18849761
>How about the flak idea,
Flack guns are possible. If you wanted you could replace (or modify) the current point defense guns with autocannons/gauss cannons that fire exploding flak rounds, canister shot, or solid slugs.

>and the thoughts we had last thread about putting actual starfighters on the hull to augment point defense?
That... you mean to act like turrets or fighters that detach? If turret like they'd either count as spinal mount weapons or you'd need a special turret built. If detaching then that's relatively easy, your fighter pilots are just going to hate you.

>Would it actually be possible to replace the engine with an entire corvette?
Let go with "No" or "Not until you have a couple of months to make the structural modifications, along with your own shipyard."

>>18849815
Rodger on the Marines.

>>18849757
Shitty one. The more expensive ones are in the main body of the ship where they have more armor.

>>18849935
Do we have to replace the point defense guns or can we just add flak turrets to our existing arsenal?

Fighters that could act like turrets and detach if necessary would be neat. Really, all I wanted was a point-defense gun that was as self-contained as possible so that it would not stress the Bittenfeld's resources so much.

What I want is flak to deal with missiles and torpedoes and more point defense beam weapons to deal with small craft.

>>18849988
I think we've maxed out our external mounting points. We'll need a bigger ship or some more juice and hull modification for more guns.

>>18850043
Exactly why bolting on starfighters would be a quick fix. They have their own reactors, so they wouldn't effect our own power consumption.

>>18850061
Seems like they'd be more useful flying around doing starfighter things

>>18850154
If they're bolted to our hull, they're protected by our shields. If they're flying around, they're not.

Bolting on starfighters in a spinal mount configuration would be cheap. Having a custom built turret to put them in is not.

Bolting on some Flak turrets could work but there will be some drawbacks depending on where they're put and so on.

Cheapest would be to slap them on and string some control cables inside the ship for either a gunner in some room to control. Ideally the turret would be computer controlled and only need a gunner for fire authorization and target priority. If something happens there's no way to manually take control of the gun unless somebody put on a suit and walked along the hull to the turret. It would also have internal ammo stores and have to be reloaded after battle.

If you want one that can use ammo stores inside the ship and allow emergency access for an gunner from inside the ship, you'll need to cut a hole in the hull which will compromise structural strength. You do not want to to this a whole bunch of times.

>>18850340
I'd rather just pour money into shield upgrades then.

>>18850340
I think we don't want that at all.

>>18850340
I suggest we hold off on the starfighter idea again because they're not really that cheap.

Can you give me an RP estimate for a slapped-on flak turret?

I don't think the benefits of a more-thoroughly integrated flak turret are worth the drawbacks.

I'm up for a self contained flak canon externally mounted where we re load after the fight and computer controlled. Have it screen for the initial missile volley or when we see missile spam incoming. Obviously won't work for cold launches... But it well help for the big shit

>>18850394
The turrets would cost the same, 100 RP apiece. It would just take some time to find ones that strap onto the hull. Weeks most likely, but who knows.

>Roll 1d100 for number of weeks
Hahaha! No I wouldn't do that. Let me think about it, I might make them available as part of a mission completion reward.


I'm remembering the last time I had a ship in this setting with any of those strap on turrets. The UNSF Langley had something like 140 flak and chemical laser turrets strapped onto her hull to ward off starfighter attacks. Mind you half the human starfighter corps had just been wiped out.

>>18850612
Well, strap-on turrets seem to be our only option to increase our point defense power without tearing up the hull.

Honestly, I'm surprised ships don't use flak in this era, given the fact that missiles are unshielded.

>>18850612
>The UNSF Langley had something like 140 flak and chemical laser turrets strapped onto her hull to ward off starfighter attacks

My kind of ship.

>>18850663
>>18850679
Back in the first Terran/Kavarian war Human starships only had the most basic shields and beam weapons. They mostly used rail and gauss weapons. Kavarians had never even thought about using those as true weapons, not for a few centuries anyways. Figured their deflection repulsors could handle any incoming debris so their shields were weaker against kinetic impacts. Then again they also thought it was crazy to arm unshielded fighters with torpedoes and use them as a primary means of attack. When they finally dusted off their old fighter designs and put them into combat they ran smack into human Point defense systems.

Mind you shields got a lot better after that war so fighters faded out for awhile and everybody just learned to take a missile hit here and there.

>>18850902
Well, now that we've got the Bittenfeld, missiles are a problem again. Maybe our example will bring flak turrets back into vogue.

Bump?

>>18851767
One more I guess.

uno mass

What's up guys?
Were you waiting for this?

>End Mission 9

>>18856096

you forgot this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reBuz97GgBM