let's go

>>23506301
Yup

File: 1362428977135.jpg-(224 KB, 1200x582, Tourta.jpg)

224 KB JPG

>avolobt phylacteries
No captcha the players don't want a clone backup.


In the Dominion Land means power and you are determined to buy up as much as you can while prices remain low. You're hardly the only person with such plans but few in the fleet are as willing to cash out stocks to buy up territory you otherwise wouldn't be able to acquire.

You've selected an industrial park on Surakeh as the land you've been awarded by the House for the Fleet's success. Even with your cash reserves you would have only been able to buy up a fraction of the area.
The same can't be said about Tourta. Even with a half million set aside you're conflicted of what to buy for several days, eventually settling on a bit of everything. A contract with the colony administrator sets plans in motion for the creation of a high security resort. Be it Knights, Nobles or officers who visit should be well protected. The island's bunker complex might also be expanded to make room for more shuttles and starfighters below ground. You don't expect progress in development to be rapid but it should pay for itself one day you're certain.

It turns out there's some overlap between the other two land options you were looking at for Tourta. You're able to buy up abandoned land seized by the administrator located near a number of cities. Refugees and merchants from dozens of worlds are beginning to stream into the planet and your land will be needed for new development within the year. Even if you don't put any money into the construction itself you'll still be making plenty from rent.

After the conversation with the Commander regarding the Rovinar weapons stolen in the middle of the Lat'tham Coup attempt you offered to volunteer. The older woman asked you to hold off on that for the time being as for the moment there are other things to be done.

"Still, if you're determined to take part then make preparations you feel would be appropriate. All I ask is that you maintain a level of secrecy about the operation."

After agreeing you saw yourself out and contact Captain Saputo giving him his code word by suggesting buying up jewellery on Tourta while its still cheap and selling it on the homeworlds. He promises to talk to you about it in a few days time. The rest of your day is spent performing drills with the Wing to make sure they're ready if something comes up and are forced to scramble.

The next day you find out members of the Kelshier family have arrived to begin negotiations with the House. They're offering to help operate the Refinery you took away from them a few weeks ago. While there are already crews operating it they'll be needed to bring the industry on Surakeh back to full production. Your willingness to vouch for them helps speed up procedures in getting them cleared for work.

You find out later from Intel that the Pirates aren't the only ones they've been working for lately. The Kelshiers have provided the House with the locations of two materials stockpiles used by the Free Planets League. With them they'll be able to expand their fleets of small ships by several thousand. More importantly it seems the League does not have access to a planet where the rare element for FTL drives can be mined. They're using Moliminous class transports they've captured over the years -now stripped of their cargo modules- to relocate dozens of their sublight ships between systems.

You're called into a briefing with the Commander and ten other Knight Captains from the House Fleet.

"You've all been requested here to discuss the House position in regards to the Free Planets League. As we ourselves have not directly engaged them over the years it has been suggested that it might be possible for us to claim neutrality in the squabble between them and the other Houses. As we're already putting measures into place that would hinder their objectives this should draw attention away from us and towards Houses that are more... belligerent. However the neighbouring Houses would refuse to offer us aid if the League ever did turn their attention towards us.
The Terrans, Rovinar and Kavarians refuse to be dragged into the mess and will not offer support to anyone." She gestures to the Fleet's Intel officer who speaks up.

"At the request of the Ruling House they're claiming the entire thing is an internal affair, this will allow the Houses to decide what to do with the territory one way or another. We shouldn't have to worry about allied ships rushing to the aid of rebels this way."

The Commander resumes. "Some of you that I've already spoken to believe we should carry out a preemptive strike to cripple the League fleet. Our attack and battlecruiser squadrons should be quick and powerful enough to seriously harm their infrastructure before withdrawing. Striking at their materials stockpiles would dramatically slow their ship production. Enough for the allied Houses to exploit and invade their territory.
Finding their few FTL capable starships would be more difficult but would also deal a serious blow. It could take a very long time for them to recover enough ships to resume their expansion. This would only serve to bottle them up in their current systems however and would not end the threat.
Opinions?"

>>23507613

Are we being asked to strike at the FPL by other Houses? Or have any Houses had incidents with them already?

Or does our House see them as an eventual threat as well?

>>23507898
You're being asked if you think the House should leave them alone or if you think they'll be a threat to your worlds and should be dealt with now.

Some of the other Houses want to remove them from the equation now while everyone isn't shooting at each other. The Jerik-Dremine attack and battlecruiser squadrons would be a big help in that regard. Other minor Houses are hoping to just leave them alone or seek non-aggression pacts.

>Next Thread scheduled: Febryary 26 2013Edit
>20:00 (8pm) GMT / 15:00 (3pm) EST
>Following thread ???? (Unknow, assume Tuesdays)
>Active surveys: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Y9VWCPW

ಠ_ಠ

>>23507898
We can claim neutrality and not be seen as a large threat by the FPL, since we are non combatant but some of our goals are crossed, most likely claiming the same land, etc.

If that would erupt into conflicts other houses would not help us should we have claimed neutrality.

If we do help the houses, we have to fight the FPL now aswell, and we will be at war with them, but we might get some neighbouring houses good will and perhaps some allied status, should we find a way to defeat and preferably dismantle the FPL.


>>23507613
My opinion is hunting their FTL ships with some fake necessities. Something like a fake major house offensive, having them need to redeploy their fleets, when we can come in and blast their transports, or once they are back at their docks. that would need some infiltration to be able to pull it off, and while we are at it we can bomb some stockpiles.

All the while interdicting the critical FTL materials they need to build drives.

We should somehow find a way to aid the local houses in the best way possible case of a FPL conflict, by putting us in such a position that we are a natural ally while if possible do as little conflict with the FPL as possible (preferably striking only at the FTL carriers), so that if we take some FPL planets, we should have a easier time and not face terrorist and insurgent activity, most likely in a Tourta like deal or something, but with a baron or house appointed governor, while leaving them local subplanteary level administration and government to them.

The hard point is that if we do engage in a pre-emptive strike against the FPL, we must ensure that we cripple their military, and that other houses join in to ensure it gets dismantled, so that we dont get assfucked down the line by it, and localize the most long term allies we can get with this action.

>>23508282
samefag.

Preferably by taking ftl hub systems, even if non populated with a few transit stations, and as such be the ones to provide logistics across conquered FPL and as such be the natural allies to other houses that have territory there. or perhaps houses that have to pass through tourta to get to the FPL, and ensuring they get some productive planets that that keep them bound to Jerik-Dermine, while at the same time keeping them from taking over tourta via another ally that has the same interest, or by making it to costly for them.

Thus ensuring some kind of help should there be war.


I don't know the geopolitical issue in that region and at home or ho this works on a grand scheme to offer more advice atm

>>23507613
Well, I think that depends on a couple of factors.

How likely are we to come into conflict with the FPL? Which houses are planning to attack them, and which houses have territories close to our new acquisitions?

>>23507613
I am not sure if its wise to make other enemies when we are already having to deal with a fuck huge pirate fleet... Besides, the FPL started of as a revolutionary terrorist organization, i can only imagine this turning into Space Afghanistan for the houses that actually make a land grab against them.

But on the other hand we need to secure our territory. Claiming neutrality will result in the other nearby houses regarding our holdings with suspicion and greed, making it harder to hold on to what we have after the pirate war is over. And if the others attack the FPL their terrorist will very likely also target our holdings.

This is a rather hard decision, but i am leaning to participating in this attack. We cannot stop the other houses from declaring war anyways.

>>23507613
Who are FPL and what they conflict with the Houses is about?

May need a rebrief, I thought the FPL was made up of pirate warlords, with the South Reach League being a splinter group.

No Hune support either, becasue Internal affair, right?

Do we have intel on any enemies the FPL has internally?

What possible targets are we looking at for infrastructure, and how fast has FPL defense response time been in past altercations, and could we handle the average forces they've brought to bear?

Any idea what some of the other Houses might be planning, and are we un/allied with any
(I assume no one who sat out the wipe-out-pirates campaign will be joining in against the FPL)?

Personally, rather not get involved while there are still forces to fight, especially given their recent penchant for sabotage, but if Dominion forces are already being diverted, may aswell see this quashed quickly.

>>23508413
FPL are former house worlds who were in pirate territory, that have been insurrectionists before the pirates came towards the dominion and have fought against the pirates too, and now they have formed as a political block. Houses do not like them.

Think of them as Palestine or some uppity colony that has always been rebellious and need to be put down. This is the most recent episode. Of course view this through a XVIII century mentality not XXI one.

>>23508553
>Of course view this through a XVIII century mentality

It's space MURRICA, let's better not get involved.

>>23507613
Refrain from publicly claiming neutrality yet, but don't act in a bellicose manner towards the FPL. This way we can move against them if asked to by the Houses (in return for something of course), without breaking any prior claims. So basically adopt an internal policy of neutrality towards them.

Also TSTG, can I grab a few more specific details about our land purchases, such as the monetary value of each holding and their rough size for the wiki?

... so basically, we're being asked if we should strike now or if we believe they should be allowed to undermine Dominion Houses, gain FTL materials, and be allowed to build an FTL-capable fleet before we're forced to deal with them?

This isn't much of a choice, really.

>>23508601
Actually, 'murrica was not relevant or close enough to bother with. Think of it as if the empire had a land border with it. Now see how a rebellion would have worked out.

Do keep in mind that the american war of independence was quite a lucky break, on their naval part, for preventing the hessians to land a year earlier. Without that ther would have been no America in its current configuration.

So, what we have to do , is ensure that they dont pull the same shit. Thus, killing of their FTL carriers.

>>23508780
Well not really. From what i see the other houses could, and likely will defeat the league unless we fuck up and get overran by the pirate lords.

Problem is, they still might lash out against surrounding planets and cause trouble for us before going down. With our elite attack and battlecruiser wings we could launch a crippling first strike, making it easier for the other houses to win this.

>>23508553
Oh, i see so it is indeed Space Afganistan. In a way that it always be a gorilla warfare clusterfuck.

>>23508413
>>23508530
>May need a rebrief
They began as a terrorist organisation about 60-80 years ago in this area and attempted to drive the forces of numerous Houses off of the habitable worlds any way they could. Over the years they increased in numbers and sophistication and began to receiving funding from the first Pirate Warlords.
The Warlords used the League to weaken the defenses of the local Houses before driving them from the area completely over the past few decades. Once that was done the Warlords had no more use for the organisation and slowly clamped down on control of a number of systems, especially the shipyards and high population areas.
Since then the Free Planets League has begun fighting the Warlords.


>What do they want. What would they be willing to negotiate about.
They dont want to be involved in the power struggles between the various Houses.
They want Independence, not to be ruled over by the Dominion or barring any of those the right to self govern.
When rogue Dominion Houses got their asses kicked trying to invade independent colonies in the PCCG people on many worlds decided to attempt much the same thing on worlds the Dominion already held.
Even before that some Houses have worlds within their territory that self govern and hold elections, etc and so on. This is a small number but they do exist.

>What is absolutely not up for discussion.
They get to choose their leaders.
Their people cant be forcibly conscripted by any House.

>>23508871
>With our elite attack and battlecruiser wings we could launch a crippling first strike, making it easier for the other houses to win this.
Which is something we should refrain from doing unless we are definetly getting something out of this deal. Otherwise we are potentially weakening our House assets by making rival (if currently allied) Houses stronger.

>>23508601
On the opposite, we must crush them before they filled the galaxy with the sweet air of freedom, which Dominion is allergic to.

>>23508871

Sorry, let me update that option list.

Strike now

Wait and let them undermine Dominion Houses, gain FTL materials, and build an FTL fleet before they force us to deal with them

Do nothing, hope other Houses deal with it, hope our holdings don't get fucked by LFP, and hope other Houses don't fuck us over later for lack of help.

... still not much of a choice.

>>23508998
You do understand that the FPL is currently focused on fighting pirate warlords, not the Dominion. If we strike at them in a large way, we become target no.1 for them; whereas we probably arn't even on their radar at the moment.

Even when other Houses begin to attack them, I heavily doubt that the FPL would risk drawing the ire of yet /another/ enemy by attacking us out of the blue.

The biggest thing we have to worry about here is annoying some of our 'allied' Houses.

>>23509104

I'm thinking long term. The pirates will be gone, and these guys will set their sights upon expansion. Likely going for the stuff to get their own FTL first, if they don't capture it from the pirates.

>>23509104
Problem is, if they turn on their propaganda machinery in response to a attack by other houses that might very well lead to rebellions on our own planets. Urge for Freedom is hard to direct.

>>23508774
I like this suggestion. Personally speaking the FPL seems like they've earned their autonomy, since they beat back both various Houses and the Pirate Warlords.

I don't care for the idea of subjecting that region to another battle for independence. If we come onto the stage at this point, the locals would just see us as hostile invaders regardless of how we try to spin it.

>This way we can move against them if asked to by the Houses (in return for something of course), without breaking any prior claims. So basically adopt an internal policy of neutrality towards them.

Agreed. Not taking a public stance for or against the FPL will allow us to be more flexible with a response in the future. Add in the Warlords massing their fleet for a possible last-ditch all out attack, and I say we've got a surplus of trouble as it is. Let the other houses have their Afghanistan if they want it so bad, we've got pirates to kill.

>>23508780
You've got a good point, but I don't think we should preemptively strike at this moment. Instead, I'd recommend we at least dedicate some time and effort to collecting intel on the FPL region. That way, we can draft contingency plans in case we're dragged into a fight with them.

>>23509238
I was under the impression that the pirates were actually winning against them... If is not the case however, maybe we should include a token force to help the other houses. Ensuring that we please our allies, but do not commit so much as to make taking on the FPL a cake-walk for them

@TSTG, did we end up ordering the construction of that hunting lodge on our Homeworld holdings for use by our family?

File: 1362436850116.gif-(11 KB, 607x647, SR-North-DG2-mini.gif)

11 KB GIF

>>23508261
While you're correct I didn't update the wiki I did say several times in the thread last week that the game would be monday.

>>23508413
This goes back to a long running argument that multiple votes were unable to resolve due to vote rigging on both sides.
>>23508530
>(I assume no one who sat out the wipe-out-pirates campaign will be joining in against the FPL)?
No, their fleets are still back home nearly 3 weeks journey away.


>>23508404
>How likely are we to come into conflict with the FPL?
Not very atm. Your worlds are at the far edge of the dwarrf galaxy while the FPL ones are in the core region.
Pic related.
>Which houses are planning to attack them, and which houses have territories close to our new acquisitions?
There are 10 other Houses that have taken territory of value in the area. Three of them are in support of all out invasion of the FPL worlds with House Dunab'im and House Cilumlawr being the most powerful. Three other Houses are considering joining them but are hesitant because they lack the fleet strength to make it through a campaign.

>>23508998
You're missing one option.

>>23509491
>@TSTG, did we end up ordering the construction of that hunting lodge on our Homeworld holdings for use by our family?


Okay, tons of stuff to answer still. I'll resume as soon as I'm back from dinner.

>>23509609
>missing one option

I just don't see how ejecting the warp core is going to help, Captain.

>>23509609
>You're missing one option.

Trying to foster an economic cooperation with the FPL so they can't afford any over action against the Dominion?

>>23509609
Are any of these houses near our homeworlds?(we had 2 if i recall correctly, quiaff?) If so, then we better try to get them some planets here. If they are amongst those without the military strength to do so then even better, provided they wont be able to reinforce them, while having more at home thus giving us a de facto hostage situation in case they go to war with us, and a very good trading partner as a ally.


tl:dr
We need more info on the houses, here and at home, and in the smugglers run, if we have planets there too.

>>23509827
samefag.
A map with current house holdings and neighbours would be very helpful to make such foreign policy decisions.

And due to the low resolution of the map here >>23509609 perhaps with connecting lines to a larger name in a table for our holdings so we can better see them.

>>23509827
I agree with this, as well as the request for a more detailed map.

Also, wiki updated to reflect our new landed holdings.

Shit. Your running a Monday thread? I'm glad I decided to sweep through early today.

Small question, does anyone know what the DHI stands for in terms of our personal finances?

File: 1362442642583.png-(585 KB, 790x580, Home2_B.png)

585 KB PNG

House situation back home. Sorry if its still a bit small.

Approximately a century ago Feron dealt House Jerik a crippling blow, defeating much of their space forces and conquering half their territory in short order. Jerik and Dremine entered into negotiations to form an alliance against Feron. Before it could be finalised their neighbours moved to crush both. In the time it took the two Houses to consolidate their fleets into a single powerful force they had been driven back to their current borders. The Harmen family negotiated for the return of a small strip of space with numerous uninhabited star systems in return for the cesation of hostilities. Worried that Jerik-Dremine could still cause considerable damage with their remaining fleet assets the other Houses agreed. The Harmen family then terraformed 10 previously uninhabitable worlds within the current territory, half of which were in the retaken strip of space.

1-House Feron (A larger contributor to the fleets)
Upper territory.
2-House Erid (Has widthdrawn their fleet from expeditionary force after heavy losses)
Lower territory.
3-House Hase'tos (Forces are with 2nd Exp Fleet in another dwarf galaxy)
Right side.
4-House Eminia (Is not participating in expeditionary fleet)
Left Side.

>>23511693
So we are the only minor house in the neighbourhood?

>>23511693
Neat. Anyway, I think we should participate in this strike only if the houses who intend to do the actual conquest are willing to put in writing an agreement for additional territorial gains. Preferably Large numbers of easily terriformable worlds and low population high income worlds.

File: 1362443121853.gif-(31 KB, 1174x1336, SR-North-DG2-XL-icons.gif)

31 KB GIF

>>23511647
Dremine Heavy Industries


>>23511693
Houses trying to drum up support for an invasion.

House Dunab'im
House Cilumlawr
House Tinadeim (Mostly providing support)


Houses that either don't want to waste forces invading the FPL or give no fucks about them.

House Feron
House Ceres
House Talos

>>23511693
Hmm, interesting. Who is the third house who supports an all out invasion of the FPL, and who are the three on the fence?

Also, you didn't actually answer whether we did anything with our Homeworld holdings, just quoted it, ha.

>>23511848
We're doing pretty good for ourselves in this dwarf galaxy considering how puny our House is. I'd rather not start shit with the FPL, particularly with House Feron's holdings so close to ours. There is a good chance Feron will want to take our shit once the ceasefire ends.

>>23511990
I think we should grab more territory while we still can actually.

>>23511848
>House Dunab'im
>House Cilumlawr
>House Tinadeim
Are they any close to our position home, at least one of them?
And if they do not do they have collectively enough forces to fuck up the FPL permanently if we give them support.

File: 1362445675335.jpg-(699 KB, 1600x1103, Fairmont Banff Springs wi(...).jpg)

699 KB JPG

>>23508282
>Feint by allies to lure jump ships
>Kill jump ships by infiltration or while using allied IFF
>Blockade their space
>Try to stay neutral
>If joining invasion make other Houses rely on us for supplies.
Interesting ideas.

>>23508601
>It's space MURRICA, let's better not get involved.

>>23508774
>So basically adopt an internal policy of neutrality towards them.

>Also TSTG, can I grab a few more specific details about our land purchases, such as the monetary value of each holding and their rough size for the wiki?
One sec.
-Industrial park is spread out but in total the land comes close to approximately 5 square km. No idea on the exact value but it has to be worth a couple million at least.
-Tourta abandoned/urban/near urban land, you bought approximately 600k worth of property for less than 400k.
-Resort, have signed over a little more than 100k for development. As a Knight with the House military you will have access to the bunker complex just it will still belong the House and PDF.

>>23511850
>Also, you didn't actually answer whether we did anything with our Homeworld holdings, just quoted it, ha.
Yes, realised as soon as I posted it.
>@TSTG, did we end up ordering the construction of that hunting lodge on our Homeworld holdings for use by our family?
I think a couple people agreed to it? How big are we talking here? The size of a 2-3 story home or something more pic related?

>>23512609
I think its more like this, but with extensive cellars or possibly bunkers for wine barrels and mushroom cultivation.

File: 1362446037345.jpg-(432 KB, 1600x1103, example.jpg)

432 KB JPG

>>23512713
Pic.

>>23512609
That is a palace. Add some reinforced walls and we have a castle.

Is everyone waiting for something?

>>23513053
response to attack or not.

>>23512745
And it just so happens that our hunting lodge is a castle.

>>23508998
>Strike now

>>23509476
>Not taking a public stance for or against the FPL will allow us to be more flexible with a response in the future.

>>23509491
>I was under the impression that the pirates were actually winning against them...
The Pirates pulled all of their remaining forces from this dwarf galaxy while the big raid was going on. Before that the pirates were winning against them.

>>23511797
>So we are the only minor house in the neighbourhood?
No, the others with the exception of Feron are all minor houses as well, you just got dropped to the lower end.

>>23511806
>I think we should participate in this strike only if the houses who intend to do the actual conquest are willing to put in writing an agreement for additional territorial gains. Preferably Large numbers of easily terriformable worlds and low population high income worlds.
Not entirely out of the question.

>>23511990
>There is a good chance Feron will want to take our shit once the ceasefire ends.
Actually you both have rather good relations these days. Not sharing a border helps. Then again who knows what will happen within their House before then?

>>23512164
>I think we should grab more territory while we still can actually.

>>23512237
>Are they any close to our position home, at least one of them?
Two are in the same galaxy as your House but are otherwise nowhere near you.
>do they have collectively enough forces to fuck up the FPL permanently if we give them support.
They may stand a good chance against the FPL navy but their effectiveness against Dominion forces hasn't really bee determined yet.

>>23512745
>That is a palace.
I thought I'd find the upper limit first.
Be advised: Like Loran II someone though it would be a great a idea to seed Redwoods everywhere when the planet was colonized 8 centuries ago. Some will need to be cleared.

>>23513142
So, economic cooperation and interdependance is unlikely?

>>23513142
I think we should attack personally for more lewt.Or advise them to form a "house" quick.

>>23513142
well, if they are at least in the same galaxy (home) and have a god chance of winning, lets aid them.
Wait for some time to get intel via infiltration if we can. Cloak it for now as a fact finding mission, if the FPL might get hostile, while having only incidental FTL ship surveillance. Then use that data to Kill the FTL ships to cripple their mobility and then interdict them from FTL production.

We will need some stations bought or something to have them rely on logistics, but if we can do that that we are going to be in a good position to be in very good relations with them and ensure that we are in a almost symbiotic relationship. So that we can guarantee our safety once the pirate warlord campaign is ended.

>>23513300
strategic battleplan right there.

File: 1362451646460.jpg-(90 KB, 712x531, whycantiholdallofthisplanning.jpg)

90 KB JPG

>>23513230
>So, economic cooperation and interdependance is unlikely?
I don't know if the other Houses wou-
>>23513257
>Or advise them to form a "house" quick.
That is a most unique suggestion.

>>23513300
1 more for invasion.

At the Commander's question speculation breaks out around the table. You're still torn between wanting to stamp out the potential rebellion and solving the problems causing it in the first place. Any planets your House conquers would hopefully hold out against FPL hardliners better than others but there would still be the issue of dealing with their navy.

Sylvan speaks up. "If they cant FTL jump we can let the other Houses fight them. It just means finding a few of their ships."

"That might be more time intensive than you realise." Point out one of the others. "and we don't have cloaked ships for the recon missions to find them."

Saputo is next. "The question is are they a threat to our House? At the moment I would have to say no they're not. Yet. That may change if we ignore them."

"Why can't we just negotiate a peace treaty with them? The Warlords are gone." Says the woman in charge of the Frigate squadrons. Everyone turns to look at her.

The Commander merely sighs.
"Captain Reynard I notice you haven't commented yet."

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2N2HHTM
Sorry that took so long, this is kind of a divisive issue. Please do everyone a favour and only vote once.

>>23514297
>>Or advise them to form a "house" quick.
>That is a most unique suggestion.

I actually like that one. Has my vote.

>>23514297
What? Form a hereditary nobility that isn't particularly hereditary and has basically no power anyway.
>What do you mean were actually a democracy? Nonsense! We're a despotic and exploitative Feudal territory like the rest of you assholes and we have a piece of paper around here somewhere to prove it!

>>23514297
I have to say i quite like the idea of telling them to make their own "house".

>>23514297
I'm liking this House option. If we introduce them to Inter-house politics, then we would have a MUCH greater control over them than if we decide to let them be/invade them.

>>23514461
As do I. Maybe we can gain a valuable ally against dastardly House Feron.

>>23514338
>>23514387
>>23514461
>>23514540
>>23514547
I love you guys. The anon who suggested this is a genius.

>We're either going to upset one side, or the other.
>psycho_sonia.futurejpg
>"Why not ruin it for everybody involved."

>>23514338
>>23514387
>>23514461
>>23514540
>>23514547
>>23514613
Sudden consensus.

>>23514804
No. Its Anon at work.

>>23512609
How much would something half as good as the place pictured cost to build?

>>23514613
I know right?
Vote is 12 to 1 for crazy.

>>23514917
It would depend entirely on how it was constructed. With brick, stone, or reinforced concrete it wouldn't cost that much. The labour costs and how long you were willing to wait would be the real determining factor.

If you were to have it built with say, starship grade armor and have shield generators installed for emergencies it would cost closer to a half million. The building is the length of a corvette after all and is non standard construction.

>>23515309
Hey, at least we didn't have a huge argument

>>23515309
>>23515433
We're becoming space Hitler, I think.

"Mein Führer, here are our carefully crafted invasion plans. Our diplomats have worked for years to minimise the political fallout."
"Lol, nope."

>>23515309
Crazy Sonia strikes again!

>>23515456
Hitler did sudden betrayals. We're doing sudden Alliances.

>>23515309
Wasn't there a rule that there can only be a set number of house at all time in the dominion?

>>23515618
>Wasn't there a rule that there can only be a set number of house at all time in the dominion?
I'd guess mergers like Jerkins-Derpmine happen often enough to have one or two spots open at all time.

>>23515618
Maybe, but the people who set that rule are the same people who approve of the creation of new houses. So who cares?

>>23515309
I am seeing a pattern here.
We went from hunting lodge to castle to fortress with shields.
I for one am okay with the thought of having our own base of operations to go back to when we are done here.

>>23515720
>I for one am okay with the thought of having our own base of operations to go back to when we are done here.

I think we should either put legs or tracks on our castle, so we can use it to terrorise the peasantry during balls to entertain our guests.

>>23515309
Let's go smaller but stay reasonably well armored.

Spacefuture hunting lodge made out of starship armor with rustic plasma fireplace.

Avoiding detection is probably a better investment than shielding, corvette-grade shields won't do anything to stop the sort of determined people likely to come after us.

>>23515720
I am of the same exactly the same mindset.

>>23515618
It's more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules. Dro'all like the number of Houses at any given time to be divisible by 7 but don't want the number to get too high because that would mean remodelling the grand assembly chamber and that's something people want to avoid.

>>23515720
I'll make up another survey later for the scale people would like. Most castles in the Dominion have shields to protect against damage should there be an accidental orbital bombardment. Also handy against artillery bombardment or airstrikes if you're using the place as a fallback position or base of operations when resisting an invasion.

>>23515772
I have an idea.

1. TSTG said that castle is corvette-size.
2. We know that some corvettes and frigates can land on planets.
3. Therefore, we should make our base of operations a ship, perhaps disguised as a building.

>H&D finally achieves Godwin's Law. Well, that happened.


"Yes sir. I was thinking it would be easier just to make their current territory a new House."

Across the table Kim does a spit take which you manage to largely intercept with the sleeve of your uniform. Once everyone has had a moment to settle down and Kim has apologized the Commander looks to you again, one eyebrow raised.
"Would you care to explain Captain?"

You clear your throat then start in.
"They form their own House which operates more or less as a normal one would. They choose who the leader of their House is however they decide. They'll still have to follow the same laws as the rest of the Dominion, no massacring of nobles visiting to invest in local business for instance. Who cares how they organise their military and government as long as they agree to get along and follow the basic rules."

Captain Saputo leans forward. "This is like the House Terra offer in microcosm, except we're not the Ruling House with the power to make it all happen with just their say so."

Winifred appears deep in thought.
"No. Captain its not. The House Terra offer would never have worked, the Emperor just didn't know it at the time. House Kharbos knew, or the tenth dynasty would never have happened. Captain Reynard?"

"Sir?" you respond, sitting up a bit straighter.

"I know you have ships outfitted with afterburners. Prepare a unit of your fastest ships. You'll be taking an ambassador into League space and you have a better chance of making it our alive should something go wrong. Only fitting since it's your idea. If the ambassador can convince them, only then will I risk political suicide by contacting other Houses about this. I suspect I'll have to request assistance from House Feron who would much rather be building than fighting"
She shakes her head.
"Captain Saputo, I may need to throw you at the Ruling House as an impromptu ambassador. I know they'll at least talk to you after Lat'tham space.

>>23515964

No achievement for writing our own death warrant and volunteering to deliver it in person?

At least it is convenient that we already formed an afterburner flight.

>>23515964
>A unit of our fastest ships
Mike sure does have incredible timing.
It's almost like he knew we would do something crazy like this.

>>23515964
So it begins, it can only end silly.
>Prepare a unit of your fastest ships.
Hah, WAY AHEAD OF YOU

File: 1362458909182.gif-(42 KB, 1770x1382, 3rd Wing RP & ORG 14.gif)

42 KB GIF

>>23516137
I assure you he had no idea. Neither did I.

>>23515964
6th squadron and the EX-K are all equipped with afterburners. At the moment only the base number of shuttles are assigned to the ships in addition to your LST.
(Your personal starfighter isn't counted.)

There is room for 24 starfighters if you wanted to transfer some from another unit. Did you want to assign any other specialist vehicles or personnel?
Be advised your body double has arrived from the infantry unit she had been assigned to but has not had time to undergo any training with the armor or memory imprinting to speed up that process.

File: 1362458992145.jpg-(426 KB, 1003x628, 40k ship 1275270455628.jpg)

426 KB JPG

>>23515841
>Therefore, we should make our base of operations a ship, perhaps disguised as a building.
Uh huh. You want it to look like a cathedral?

>>23515964
I think we should form a plan we can dust off if things go poorly but we are able to extract ourselves and the ambassador. If we can get the ambassador to safety and put him on his way back to the station, we could then use our remaining forces to mount a quick strike on FPL units, obviously focusing on their FTL transports. We shouldn't waste the opportunity if we're going to be right there anyway.

Of course, I am anticipating great diplomatic success.

>>23516265
If we did use such a design, I'd like the outer ornamental sections to act as ablative armor that can be quickly jettisoned, as with our recon armor.

>>23516285
>Lets attack the place we're sending an ambassador to!

That doesn't really seem like a bright idea.

>>23516241
Transfer 24 starfighters. I assume the shuttle with the decoy generator is part of the EX-K's standard complement.

>>23516241
>Starfighters
12 of our best all-round (space/atmo) superiority fighters and 12 attack bombers, all preferably of Dominion origin, mix of fighters and bombers on each cruiser.

We want a lot of SP torpedoes, like a whole lot.

LST with heavy strike team is a given, If we could get Knight Ki from the Commander that'd be really great.

>body double
At the very least we can use her in a dress uniform as 'Knight Reynard' while we go as 'Knight Reynard's Power Armored Bodyguard'

>>23516351
Read the first sentence. If negotiations fail and the FPL tries to blow us up, we might as well hit them as hard as we can as soon as the ambassador is safe.

>>23516381
>>body double
She has roughly the same measurements. Nothing more.

>>23516393
We've got a few days and space medicine

At the very least we can probably manage the same hair and eye color/distinguishing facial features

>>23516386
I somehow managed to skip the "if things go poorly" part. Nevermind, good contingency plan.

>>23516412
I think the soldier didn't sign up for that.

>>23515841
I'm pretty sure that /someone/ would notice a corvette-sized ship landing in a dense forest, so if this was meant to be secret...it won't be.

>>23516241
Prepare 6th Squadron and the EX-K for immediate departure then. Have 2nd Squadron and both escort carriers standing by in a nearby system so they can jump in to cover us if we need to retreat suddenly.

>>23516386
Why start a large war over failed negotiations? It would simply tax our resources and let House Feron build their strength while we're depleting ours. If negotiations fail, we get the fuck outa dodge and then think of our next move.

But I am confident of great diplomatic success!

>>23516429
Dye, colored contact lens and makeup. There is no need for surgery.

>>23516515
We were already contemplating a first strike on the FPL's FTL transports. I want the plan available if it turns out we need it.

>>23516546
Hmm, if talks do break down then I guess we should just join up with the 'invasion' group; but simply provide them logistical support and maybe help out a few big system raids for ship salvage rights.

We definitely do not need a huge war right now, and the FPL controls a lot of space.

>>23516447
It would definitely be hard to keep it a secret. Especially if we had all the house-shaped bits added to it once it was already on the surface. The local contractors would certainly be talking about that job.

>>23514547
>>23514540
>>23514461
>>23514387
>>23514338


This is so stupid i cannot even...


The only reason we would consider joining fucking up the FPL is gaining some houses that are predisposed to be our ally an are able to help us.

The FPL even if it becomes a house will not b able to do so due to lack of ships. And it gets other 10- houses to dislike us.

What the flying fuck? Its like you want use to get ganged up on once the pirate campaign is gone/ Seriously people, are you this politically inept to suggest such a bad option?

>>23516335
This is getting out of hand faster than the M2 Bradley.

>>23516370
> I assume the shuttle with the decoy generator is part of the EX-K's standard complement.
It is. Are there any images of vehicles you'd like pre-loaded into the system?

>>23516381
The first thing you do is transfer some starfighters to 6th squadron. If something goes wrong you'll need the extra punch and an escort for your shuttles never hurts. After the its torpedoes. 16 SP's are loaded onto the EX-K and the others all take 4 for each launcher. A few spares are brought along for the attack bombers.

>If we could get Knight Ki from the Commander that'd be really great.
Sorry he's not available.

>At the very least we can use her in a dress uniform as 'Knight Reynard' while we go as 'Knight Reynard's Power Armored Bodyguard'
>>23516393
>She has roughly the same measurements. Nothing more.
This.

Cpl. Ella Rufaro. Granddaughter of terraformers from Weyland Colony in the Terran Alliance who were hired by the Harmen family. Her parents are likewise both employed in the Terraforming industry. She joined the infantry in January and was assigned with other troops being brought in to act as occupation forces until PDF's can be established.

>>23516721
Politically inept...hardly.

Before someone proposed this deal, the FPL was doomed. They were going to be carved up by several of the Houses in this Dwarf galaxy; maybe not immediately but eventually. Now these Houses are already fairly strong and hold a significant number of worlds in the new territories; which means that once the cease-fire ends, they will be in position to take the worlds that we fought so hard for.

What we are attempting to do is classic divide and conquer. The more legitimate, minor players in this dwarf galaxy, the better our odds of keeping the worlds we have taken as a minor House. Furthermore, to say that we’ll be making 10 enemies is hyperbolic in the extreme. Only 2 Houses were really set on invading the FPL, and sure they’ll be pissed off. Everyone else will either be in the same position as us (a minor House hoping to hold onto new worlds) and be thankful that none of the other Houses has gained a significant advantage over the rest, or they won’t care. Also, we might gain a very valuable ally in the FPL; they control a majority of the systems in this galaxy after all.

>>23516827
>This is getting out of hand faster than the M2 Bradley.

The basic idea is sensible enough. We can iron out the details later, and Sonia's Hitler-esque over-the-top suggestions can be shot down by the homeowner's association or something.

>Are there any images of vehicles you'd like pre-loaded into the system?

First, obviously, a duplicate of the shuttle itself. Then any similarly-sized ship known to be used by the FPL. Then a smattering of civilian and military designs. If it can handle non-vehicle images, a nice asteroid disguise would be grand.

Rolled 42

>>23516930
>First, obviously, a duplicate of the shuttle itself. Then any similarly-sized ship known to be used by the FPL. Then a smattering of civilian and military designs.
Done.
>If it can handle non-vehicle images, a nice asteroid disguise would be grand.
Was wondering if anyone would remember that one.

You're informed the ambassador will be a few more hours, needing time to gather necessary data and background information. Did you want to head over to the nav station and pay for some Recon armor memory imprinting for Cpl Rufaro?


I will resume the game tomorrow.

>>23517042
Sounds like a good idea. If there's time after that, we could run a quick simulated fight with her and our bodyguard.

>>23516930
>Hitler-esque

Kindly fuck off with that, would you?

>>23517102
"The enemy has made a breakthrough along a wide front. In the south, they took Tourta and are advancing towards Surakeh. They are at the nothern sector border between Frostback and Plateau."

"Sylvan’s assault will bring it under control."

"My Führer,... Sylvan… Sylvan could not mobilize enough men. He wasn’t able to carry out his assault."

>>23517249
Sylvan not being able to assault?

Please.

Even if he didn't have enough men, he'd go out in a blaze of glory!

>>23519103
Sir, the enemy ship has just launched some guy in a space suit at us.
*splash*
Please have that cleaned up once we're done grinding House Juche-Deloitte to dust.

Wiki updated with a bunch of stuff including profiles for House Jerik-Dremine, Feron and Erid; as well as an update to Sonia's personal holdings and a page on the dwarf galaxy that we are currently in. Any suggestions or things I have missed?

>>23519866
Only thing i noticed was in the House Jerik-Dremine page:

I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else that Baron Archivald is now the planetary governor of Surakeh? I thought he was still sitting in our core worlds, baby-sitting his carriers?

>>23516902

Don't forget that the ruling house may actually prefer it like this. They get additional manpower to throw around, the FPL isn't a threat to their rule anymore and the other houses continue to focus on the anti-pirate operations instead of trying to expand their territories out here.

>>23520120
Hm, I thought I saw it mentioned somewhere, but I can't seem to find it now. I'll take your word for it and strike it out.

Side note, does anyone actually know what the official name of this dwarf galaxy is?

>>23516902
>>23520228


Geopolitically that is a bad choice. We are creating effectively a large house in this dwarf that has no other interests outside it, thus creating the most likely aggressor to any inter house warfare (if i recall correctly the OP told us that some goals of our house and FPL are in conflict) while alienating those who want to take them out, and the ones who dont want to don't want to don't really care, and wont garner us anything in return.

While attacking the FPL got us two allies in our Home galaxy and splits the FPL teritorry in more than four pieces!

If you want multiple houses then attacking is the thing to do, not otherwise! Creating them into a house will bite us in the ass, since they are going to be in essence a medium house that has most to gain in initiating a inter house war and pushing everyone out of the dwarf galaxy.

>>23521022
While I do agree that it is a risky move, allying with the other Houses to rip the FPL apart also presents several significant risks. Also, I think the OP said that talks between the Dominion and FPL broke down last time due to internal interference on both sides; I don’t think our House was that involved.

If we try and convince them to become a new House, I agree that they could eventually become the largest power in this galaxy and could potentially be an aggressor. However, it is important to remember that even if they become a House, they will likely remain a democracy, with all of the factional infighting, inefficiency and public aversion to prolonged wars that that version of government brings. Furthermore, their military is very weak and they barely have any FTL capable ships, they will not be a real threat for at least 5-10 years. Additionally, if we do manage to convince them to become a House and tell them about the threat of invasion, we’ve gained a strong ally who will very likely support us in the long-term and let us retain or even grow our Holdings in this galaxy.

On the other hand, should we side with the three pro-invasion Houses, we would very likely gain them as allies, yet I doubt the FPL’s territory would be divided into four pieces. Our minor House is basically stretched to the limit at the moment with the few worlds that we already have, so we would be wise to not take any of the FPL’s planets if we did join the invasion force against them. So we are expending military might just for the chance of gaining allies. It would be more likely that the two strongest Houses take most of the territory for themselves, making them more likely to be the future aggressor that you are worried that the FPL will become.

>>23521149
I said at least four pieces. There are two or four or so other houses who are on the fence about the invasion aside from the three mentioned.

What i want is unpopulated starlane hub stars. Things we dont have to defend with more than a squadron or a flight of corvettes.

Enough for a refuelling or logistics station, and helping them with the initial strike. Once the wars is ended our stations cans stay and the territory can be treated by them like tourta basically, while we are making some money and at the same time keep them in a natural ally position (at least for the two we share a home galaxy with), while they keep one another from attacking us.

The FPL meanwhile has a massive industrial power, and only has some difficulty in acquiring the needed elements for FTL. Once they get that their military will fucking rape. Plus, as the cautionary tale of the in universe House of Terra suggests, it is most likely doomed to failure.

Considering this, the ruling house most likely does not want a repeat of that incident.

Creating FPL will make us very unpopular with multiple houses for little tangible gains as the FPL itself might very likely not be predisposed to support us at all.


As for expending our military might - We get a pass on the initiation of the first strikes with the pirates stronghold if we get involved in it, without loosing any face, and can return once we finish with them. We also leave the main fighting to the other three houses and their allies. What we need to do is only keep neutral while interdicting them through our neutrality from securing the FTL components they need all the while we try to find out their FTL ship transport patterns and try to take a large portion of them out in a surprises strike in two or so weeks after the conflict has been initiated, thus becoming big damn heroes for the Houses engaged in war, all the while we do not have to fight the STL boats nor try to engage in ground warfare

>>23521319
cont.

Now couple that with setting up a few logistics star bases in unpopulated systems and we are golden in relations with them what with ensuring they keep on their campaign, and it will be a lengthy campaign, all the while solidifying our hold on our current systems and establishing a enduring presence in those hubs that no one house wants removed, especially if they are placed between two or more houses claimed territory.

In essence we would be playing king maker with other houses, and in the process securing us allies here and at home.


Please give me a similar alternative that is not just hope for the best and try to ride it out with the FPL becoming a house option.

How are we going to negotiate anything without having both the ruling House and the FPL talking directly?

J-D can't make FPL a House, no matter how perfect negotiations go. If the Ruling House isn't behind this idea from the start, what is the point of even attempting the negotiations with FPL and risking our assets?

>>23521570
Because people like to do the crazy stupid insane some times, and some people are asleep during times of this quest..

>>23521570
Because if we have the power to secure the rest of this galaxy without any more losses to our side then we have a chance at convincing the Ruling house that this is the best course of action to take.

>>23521637

so you'll conduct negotiations when you have absolutely nothing to offer? You can't offer -anything- to this party besides "I can totally convince the ruling house".

Unless you lie, of course. And that surely won't backfire.

>>23521637
Especially given the FPL's history as a terrorist organization would likely see the occupying Houses having to deal with a lengthy insurgency; sapping the Dominion's strength. In eyes of the Ruling House, this option would be worth at least trying.

>>23520120
>I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else that Baron Archivald is now the planetary governor of Surakeh?
Thats because he isnt? Knight Commander Winifred would be one of the Barons of Surakeh but not the planetary governor as she's in the middle of a campaign.

I'll be back in a few hours.

>>23521712

We are offering the idea of them becoming a House. It would solve most of their concerns with self-governance and would guarantee peace between them and the existing Houses until the pirates are dealt with.

Convincing the Ruling House to go along with it wouldn't just be up to us, we'd have to get Feron and hopefully some more Houses behind it and representatives from the FPL to make their case.

I love how that situation sparked such an interesting discussion on politics and strategy, but isn't decision of starting/not starting a war with another faction should be made by some higher ranking officials back at the home worlds, not Commander and her Captains? I thought titles and nobles were just cosmetic and we are not really THAT feudal(as much as i would like to play in the feudal system).

>>23522693
We are the nobles on site. It is largely our decision to intervene or not, and only if the Higher nobles at home directly countermand it will we not be able to attack.

Save for that, yeah if the Commander has our support for one or the other action she can act with full authority.

That is how i get the system.
And from what i understand we are actually feudal.

>>23515309
>Vote is 12 to 1 for crazy.
Why do i doubt it's validity?

>>23523566
Because you aren't very sharp?

There were clearly more than two people in the thread, so even if it was one guy with 11 browser sessions and two other guys with one each, the winning suggestion still had a majority.

If a vote goes 21-20 or something yeah it's probably not trustworthy but if it goes X-1 or X-0 it is pretty obvious that the losing idea has very little support.

>>23523566

I follow H&D on my phone during the day. The surveys are the easiest way for me to participate.

>>23523566
you can make fake votes, but you can't remove votes of others. 12 to 1 means that even if there was fake votes, still real people voted for that option too.

>>23516827
>>She has roughly the same measurements. Nothing more.
>This.

As someone who originally suggested finding someone with exact measurements as we, I'd prefer we try to find someone from the infantry or if that fails, from anywhere in the fleet who is not terribly important and then throw her into intensive marine training regimen for a month or so. The better the PA fits people, the better they can make use of it.
Remember, Sonia was a pilot with just bare-bones CQC training and now has become a murder-machine (thanks mostly to the PA), getting someone with the skill lower than a marine shouldn't be a problem. Besides, we will only need a body double when (if) we get another PA.
If this search fails, I prefer we wait for another month and try again. After reinforcements and new recruits, there should be more people to choose from.

So can we try rolling again?

>>23516241
>Pilots MIA =
Hey, what happened to that pilot that pulled James Bond? Man, I bet she had some crazy adventures, would be great to hear them if we ever recover her.

>>23524222
To be fair she is already here and we might as well see what she is capable of.

>>23524304
>>23524222

We did expand the search to infantry. I was under the impression that a marine we'd found was an almost-there match, while Cpl Rufaro was a better match? [she is infantry, after all]

>>23524304
But the main criteria is to find someone to use our spare PA when we're not using it, so we should search for someone with exact or close measurements. Personal skill is only secondary. PA alone would more than enough compensate for any shortcomings and unlike us, she will keep constantly training (both PA usage and combat skills). Given time, she might even overcome our own skill.
I think that having bad measurements would mean that the person would never be able to fully utilize the PA. Like Ella, might never be able to go over 70% PA efficiency (random number I pulled out of my ass based on nothing)

Also, I do not think she is here, we just found her file or something.

Or we could just clone Sonia and wake it before Original dies.

>>23524414
We did?
I didn't see rolls for it

>>23524436
>Cpl. Ella Rufaro. Granddaughter of terraformers from Weyland Colony in the Terran Alliance who were hired by the Harmen family. Her parents are likewise both employed in the Terraforming industry. She joined the infantry in January and was assigned with other troops being brought in to act as occupation forces until PDF's can be established.

>joined infantry in January

I assume that bit means we expanded the search, or TSTG is just overwhelmed by the crazy of the FPL plan. I don't recall the marine having a name, though.

>>23524480

Oh I see... Well, we'll have to ask TSTG what he meant. If we didn't have to roll for it, it means that she is a perfect match which is great.

Regarding the Dominion , which would be more appropriate for it, in feel?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhDNHZDj8bg
Fear the Tribes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eAIQR01ZLw
Or Glory To the State


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5-b9TioIto
I would like Amarr Victor, but we are not nearly monolithic enough to pull it off.
Although our ships kind of seem more Amarr aesthetically, from the profiles we have seen.

>>23524414
>>23524436
I didn't bother with rolls for it because there are so many people in the infantry it would be hard not to find someone who didn't match your body type. Sorry if I made it seem that Rufaro wouldn't fit the armor as well as you.

>>23524222
She's a better match for your height and build than the previous Marine candidate but will need more training. Also her facial features are different from yours making passing her off as you outside the amor difficult.

The EX-K drops out of FTL near the Nav station and you take a shuttle over with the Corporal for the procedure. Both of you talk a bit on the trip over but due to the gap in rank it's a bit difficult, with the other Woman trying to remain at attention even with your request that she be at ease.
Other than both being from middle class families the two of you really have very little in common. She wants the war to be over as quickly as possible so she can resign and go back to school.

The medical center is under heavy guard but you're cleared easily enough. Memory imprinting was designed to upload memories into a clone in addition to all of the other things that are copied. This process can be used to give memories to regular people as well but for some they dont take as well. Usually imprints will fade over time unless the person practices the skills they picked up. Ideally you have 2 weeks to get everything down before it starts to become more difficult.
Pilots undergo 2 rounds of imprinting while infantry might get one. Infantry being promoted into the Marines usually go for an additional round of imprinting for numerous secondary skills, as the ability to survive a firefight is normally the reason for their promotion in the first place.

Civilians can request use of limited imprinting on medical grounds. Sometimes this is used to break addictions in combination with counselling.

Did you want to pay for the relevant memories for Recon armor or have them copied over from your brain?

>>23524726
>She's a better match for your height and build than the previous Marine candidate but will need more training.

Keep them both, have them train with each other.

>>23524726
>Did you want to pay for the relevant memories for Recon armor

This, stay out of our head.

>>23524726
>Did you want to pay for the relevant memories for Recon armor or have them copied over from your brain?

eh.... which one would be better? Can we do both?

Actually, having people copy or even access our memories would not be a good idea. remember, we were wearing recon armor when we stole that SP torpedo production data.

>>23524726
>Did you want to pay for the relevant memories for Recon armor

And can we also get her other skills too? Ones that not usually available for new marines (she got promoted to a marine, right?) ?

>>23524726

Pay. We don't want anything accidentally being transferred over like memories of what we -did- in that armor.

And tell the Cpl that she'd best learn to relax around us, or she'll get stuck at attention with the amount of time we'll be seeing each other.

File: 1362510373468.gif-(498 KB, 208x289, londo mollari there are m(...).gif)

498 KB GIF

>>23524665
>Dominion.
>Not being purple as fuck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73fE6H2FUTM

>>23524857
Oh wow, forgot how much I missed that show.
>Dominion.
>Not being purple as fuck.
Pretty much this. Most Dominion ships are painted purple or with purple markings. Your ships ending up with a gold colouring as a result of the anti-torpedo armor is more of a fluke.


>>23524759
>Keep them both, have them train with each other.
Everyone okay with this?

>>23524803
>And can we also get her other skills too? Ones that not usually available for new marines (she got promoted to a marine, right?) ?

You make sure that the memories being imprinted include more special forces training that she's had a chance to take. It will still take a few days to get through using most of it in practices but that's fine.

"Corporal, if you keep standing at attention around me as much as you do I'm sure you'll injure your back before the end of the war."

"Yes sir! I'll... try to work on that sir."

You shake your head and step outside while the procedure is underway. A doctor steps out and walks over to you a half hour later.
"It's finished, I don't see any of the usual signs of rejection. She'll be awake in another hour. Please remember it's important that she not use a sleep induction headset for the next week or so as it could cause confusion or even hallucination."

"Good to know. I hadn't even encountered those headsets back when I was in training."

The Doctor nods. "They're kept away from training bases in most areas for precisely that reason. Are there training sessions you would care to have imprinted while you're here?"

[ ] Sure, I have the data right here (X-Ray laser)
[ ] No, I need to make use of the sleep headset.
[ ] Other

>>23525311
I'd prefer just to keep the corporal
[X] X ray laser

>>23525311

while I really, really want to get at least some level of intrusion skills, I don't think we'll have time to make use of any implantation or the possible training the captain/crew of that medium could provide us with.

... and I kind of see us needing that sleep headset

>>23525311
>[X] No, I need to make use of the sleep headset

>>23525311
>[x] No, I need to make use of the sleep headset.
This is probably the better choice. I'm also in favor of keeping both around.

>>23525357
If we get skill implant, then I support you idea of getting intrusion skills, maybe better stealth and recon skills too.

I'm sure we can stand not using headset for a week. I mean, what could go wrong?

File: 1362517102234.gif-(17 KB, 1230x672, SR-North-DG2-XL-2.gif)

17 KB GIF

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TWKH2WW

Returing to base you see Mike and a few of his wingmen doing practice burns a few million Km away from the planet. Given the danger posed by exhaust from the afterburners if they were too close to the planet while the shields were down its just as well.

"Some day we're going to find a way past the Terran's bag of tricks and make genuine antimatter weapons." You tell Kavos while bringing the ship in to dock.

"We can make antimatter weapons now, phase cannon are far more energy efficient. It would take power requirements equal to four cannon to produce antimatter stream equivalent to one. Afterburners are better use."

"Well once we figure out how to store it up before hand without the Terrans popping our ships like balloons we'll be getting somewhere." You hit the com and contact Mike, telling them to get ready for departue. His ships micro jump to the edge of the gravity well then approach the station for refueling.

Twenty minutes after docking you're informed that the Ambassador has come aboard. After being escorted to the bridge you're introduced.
"Knigth Reynard? I am Ambassador Chide Dlam'ard." An older Dro'all the ambassador has still managed to keep excess weight off without looking frail. "I understand you'll be responsible for my safety on this mission? While this may be a fools errand I do intend to make the best of the attempt even if its only to gauge their political stability. I do hope you won't conduct an orbital bombardment while I'm on the surface, it tends to cause poor results."

There are 3 main corridors into the largest region of FPL space. Hundreds of others exist, simply requiring one maneuver to avoid stars, but can be more time consuming due to nebula and more dense areas of star formation.

>>23526518
Greet the ambassador and assure that we typically don't bombard places that aren't shooting at us and that we've got a fair bit riding on this plan working out.

I like corridor 1 because it has us approaching from the direction of the Houses that don't want to start shit with the FPL.

>>23526622
Oh no wait I was looking at the map and not the survey.

>>23526518
Don't worry, these aren't the ships for that job

>>23521866
Yeah, I've edited it already. No clue where I got that idea from.

Does this dwarf galaxy have a specific name by the way?

>>23526518
>http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TWKH2WW
>E) Castle with armor, shields & defensive emplacements (450k)

We can do this when we are like filthy rich

Trying to keep it below an hour and twenty minutes between posts.

>Does this dwarf galaxy have a specific name by the way?
Official designation is DRH 3 - DG 2
The Terran lead mapping expedition to first explore it named it Nán Fāng Zhū Què or "Vermillion Bird of the South" after a constellation visible on old Earth.
In the Dominion it was referred to as the Shield of Varless for several centuries.


The majority seems to want to go for the memory imprinting later when we're not in danger of active combat. This is by a slim margin.
Likewise it seems we'll be taking the longer route.

>Small but sturdy 2-3 story building + shelter. Camouflaged.
Is winning by a wide margin.

>>23527250
We do have over 7 mil in cash, so it's not like we're extremely poor or anything.

@TSTG, how much do we get on like a monthly basis from our investments, landed holdings and Knight-Cpt salary?

>>23527390
that was 7 mil in assets, not in cash

>>23527483
Assets that can be converted into cash should the need arise; and its not like we're going to making these large-scale purchases on a regular basis, at least not at this stage of the campaign.

>>23527390
As a Knight Captain you make +60k a year before the various bonuses for the capture of hostile starships. House Posat now largely has their affairs in order and since the Coup the jump in demand for armor has caused your profits to go through the roof.
You're making more than a million a month from armor.
Your investments into cruiser construction are not making a great deal of money yet as they're still in their infancy. As production techniques are refined and output ramps up you'll make more.
Most of the other companies you have investments in are doing well both because they're needed for the war and because the economy had no place to go but up.

>>23527483
Most of your assets are invested as you seem to keep spending your spare cash.

>>23526720
>>23526622
>or and assure that we typically don't bombard places that aren't shooting at us
"Its the places that are shooting at you that worry me."

>>23526720
"That's a relief."

You inform the ambassador and the other ships of your planned route into FPL space. The back route might take longer but you have fast ships and its less likely to annoy the other Houses until after you've attempted diplomatic contact. The ambassador departs the bridge intending to rest and prepare arguments that could be useful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yusvyQ_UC2o

Getting past the mercenaries proves to be little trouble and you begin the process of finding a way through the natural navigation hazards. Hours of boredom are interspersed with seconds of uncertainty or in a few cases terror. The smugglers must have better maps of the routes through than what you captured. On several occasions the unit is dragged out of FTL by gravitational anomalies or forced to back track.

"The charts must be out of date. We don't have information on how old they are so stellar drift is being a problem." Linda tells you half a day in.

Despite having faster ships it still takes almost as long as the charts indicated to get through.

File: 1362522277161.gif-(95 KB, 604x400, lyranalliance-1.gif)

95 KB GIF

>>23527538
Is there a pressing need for a castle that would cost us almost 8% of our entire cumulative wealth?

If not then we can build something out of our total income/ profits and not liquidate our financial engines like idiotic consumers.

We are a space feudal noble, who knows that money means power.

>>23527871
Don't forget the cost of manning and maintaining that.

>>23527871
A 'pressing' need for one, no. But given that we are making more than a million a month from our investments in armour alone, I think we're in a very good place financially and can completely afford to make a very strong base back on the Homeworld for future operations.

>>23527963
No we are not. That thing is turning almost 30% of its value in net profit.

If anything its time to run a serious market analysis and see if its going to sustain itself, and if so then buy a larger share in it, or turn the profits to another segment that might experience a similar boom.

Buying a castle now is not needed, not when we are on a possible financial rise that will propel us very high in wealth and thus influence in our and other Houses.

>>23527963
>for future operations

What sort of operations are you anticipating that require a castle?

>>23527809
Can we use some (or all) of our industrial ground in cruiser building factories?

>>23528118
No, that would require weeks or months of retooling and construction of an actual shipyard to assemble them if they were being built on the ground.
Half of the factories are dedicated to chemicals production which can be easily used for either munitions or civilian products. The rest produce equipment, tools, power sources and other hand held objects like small arms, that sort of thing.

It doesn't take long to locate a system with FPL ships stationed nearby. So far from the previous recon reports it seems that they operate their spinal mount warships in formations of 40. This system while largely unsuitable for habitation is home to six such formation blocks.
"Must be something of value nearby." You state.

"Perhaps they have established an underground colony?" speculates Kavos. "Their ships are small enough to construct underground."

You call the ambassador up and to the bridge and hail the fleet, making sure to keep a safe distance. Just because they cant micro jump to your position doesn't mean they don't have a response fleet elsewhere.

"Dominion vessels, you are in violation of Free Planets space, withdraw at once or you will be fired upon."

It takes a few minutes both for you and the ambassador to explain your purpose for being here is to establish diplomatic relations. You get the feeling they don't really believe you but after an hour of waiting and course changes to make it difficult for a fleet to jump you, you're contacted with nav data.

"A representative of our leadership has agreed to meet with you to discuss the possibility of relations. I warn you that any attempt to attack our capital will result result in your immediate destruction. You will not receive a second warning."

You have your ships change course and plot jumps to the FPL's capital using the provided nav data.
"Make sure they're not having us jump into a black hole please." You request of Linda. Then turn to face Kavos and the ambassador. "Do either of you think they have weapons capable of scoring a one hit kill on us?"

Kavos shrugs. "A heavy mass driver battery like on that lunar base we captured could kill half our ships if they managed to hit us."
The Ambassador meanwhile figures they're bluffing.

>Any precautions you want to take when approaching their capital? Maintaining a minimum safe distance?

Rolled 12

>>23528798
Proper Dispersal pattern to keep out of that guns aim. And being on a fast shuttle vector to receive the ambassador and bug out if we have too.

>>23528798
Wider than usual spread, don't get within likely range of big guns until we've talked to someone that sounds trustworthy

>>23528798
Bring us in nice and at a non-menacing speed, give those weapons some berth.

I'd like to tag the ambassador, as well as giving him(?) an obvious comm device because...We won't be going with the ambassador, right?

>>23529057
Right. We're not a diplomat, we're a soldier, so we'll stay in space with our men. If he needs to talk to us, well he can use that comm device.

>>23529057
I would say we stay in space, but maybe we should ask the ambassador if he wants us there with him.

You and 6th squadron drop out of FTL beyond the edge of the planet's gravity well and form up ina very loose formation.
"All ships reduce speed, we're going to approach nice and slow. No reason for them to get jumpy."

The Free Planet's League capital is ringed with older model Terran mass driver platforms which have each been upgraded with extra spinal mount phase cannons. If the kilometer long drivers should happen to fail they'll still be able to light up most targets. In addition there are eight blocks of their regular warships in orbit, each backed up by a few larger versions.
"Those must be command ships." Says Kavos.

Arron reports that they're eight hundred meters long and armed primarily with a single spinal mount heavy phase cannon. A few smaller turrets may be either light pulse cannons pulled from newer Scarab Light attack ships or old Mars fusion cannons.
"Lets stay well away from those."

Coms contacts the surface and requests instructions for the ambassador. A minute later a data stream reaches the ship from a ground station.
"Huh." The crewman shrugs. "They've sent us a location for a shuttle to land and a route for approaching through the orbital defenses."

"Time to take my leave Captain Reynard." Announces Dlam'ard before departing the bridge.

>I'm glad it says how many characters over the text limit you are now.

>>23529488

>>23529057
>I'd like to tag the ambassador, as well as giving him(?) an obvious comm device
There are a few ways to do this assuming you dont want him to know he's been tagged. First is to covertly tag him with an active transmitter. You can set it to give off a locator continuously or in bursts every X minutes. Or a radioactive isotope that should be mostly harmless but your sensors can ping.
>because...We won't be going with the ambassador, right?
That's entirely up to you guys.

Select the Ambassador's escort!

Available vehicles and equipment
1x LST
1x Shuttle with holo decoys
3-7x Assault Shuttles
24x starfighters (12x Interceptors,12x attack bombers)
1x Jump Jet Armor
1x Recon Armor (You, your body double is not combat ready yet)
40x Heavy Strike Team
300x Marines

>>23527963
That armor thing wont stay that profitable for ever.
Also, huge castle that we wont use for at least next 2.5 years (I think that is how long left for this conscription to end) is just vanity spending.

>>23529500
The ambassador should take the decoy shuttle. His escort will be 8 interceptors, the LST and the HST.

>>23529500
Send him down with a token escort protocol demands. Even if we sent everything to escort him, I doubt he would even make it off the planet if the FPL doesn't want him to.

So I'd suggest:
1x Assault shuttle
2x Interceptor
12x Marine

Rolled 2

>>23529525
And we are most likely going to stay in the military longer, as in a feudal system it gives us the power, position and authority to make our fortunes that we managed to do thus far.

We must aim for at least Knight Commander and then Baron Title.

>Sustainability of armor production.
Your finance people have warned that a dozen other Houses may begin production of their own versions before the end of the year. How many of them begin large scale manufacture will depend on how things here against the pirates progress and future relations with the Terrans. Obviously if things with the Terrans turn sour demand will remain high.

One of the mid level Houses is trying to buy stockpiles of superior armor from the Kavarians. They may try to reverse engineer it themselves and create a product that can outstrip what your company has available.


You guys continue to decide what escort should be brought along in addition to what tracking method (if any) you want to use. I'll be back shortly.

>>23529500
All of it as escort

>>23529856
If that's the case I think we should honestly begin setting aside around 45% of the armour profits for pure company R&D. If we can also get ahold of the Kavarian armour and reverse engineer it before them it'd be a big leg up.

Does the armour company have a name?

>>23529664
I would go for this, but add 2 more interceptors and have us go down with him with our Recon armor.
This was our idea so we might as well see it through.

>>23529991
Might as well, if we're lucky the goodwill from those rebels whose planet we kept from getting nuked by their insane governor might help us here.

>>23529972
I think starting our own R&D company at this stage would be a bit beyond our means, but I agree that we should reinvest these profits somewhere. Maybe we should wait to see how these negotiations go with the FPL first, because either we can help to equip their new military, or build munitions for the invasion force.

>>23530056
I don't think we'd need to necessarily start our own R&D company just yet, more form a division for the armour manufactory that handles all research related. We could also alternatively contract out work to a house-affiliated research corporation.

>>23529500
I'd like to inform the ambassador of any tagging,
>a radioactive isotope that should be mostly harmless
nah, lets go with an active transmitter that bursts every 30 min, starting when he lands,
and if we've got a comm device that allows for a 'visual presence' that too.

As for ships, I'd favor a light escort along with the shuttle with holo decoys, something like:
1x Shuttle with holo decoys
2x Assault Shuttles
3x Interceptors

>>23530179
Ahh right. Those are both pretty good ideas, but we probably want to keep any R&D close to our chest. I think funding a research department for our armour company would be the way to move forward.

>>23530292
I'd personally prefer to set up a small R&D division inside the company, but it depends on price I'd suppose.

Can we get rough costs for contracting out armour development vs setting up an in-house department?

>>23529972
>If we can also get ahold of the Kavarian armour and reverse engineer it before them it'd be a big leg up.
Some people in 1st Wing already did back in the Smugglers Run, but even the small alliance of Houses that were the first to outfit their fleets with the current stuff dont have the same financial pull as a mid sized House. They could research it faster.

>Does the armour company have a name?
I'll have to check the archives. House Posat still owns the company.

>>23530424
In House is dramatically less expensive.

I'm seeing support for either a Shuttle with fighter escort or the LST and a ton of everything.
Also seeing a couple in favour of going down to the surface ourselves, majority is mostly the other way.

I hate to do so many surveys but here we go again.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XTXHHVQ

We've gotta show them we have some trust for them.

One shuttle, small team (one squad of our best marines in our nicest looking armor, Ecord in his Jump Armor, and us in our Recon Armor with all the formal decorative bits), small fighter escort of four or so of our most experienced pilots, no tracker.

We should carry only our ceremonial sword and sidearm. The fact that our ceremonial sword is an HF blade and our sidearm is an experimental plasma pistol doesn't have to be made obvious to anyone.

>>23530582
Small force, if they want to kill him on planet it's not a lot we can do about it with our current forces anyway. Might as well not seem overly aggressive.

Tracer, continuous lets us know if they are up to foul play. Be open about it, "hey we put a tracer on the guy so we will know if you decide to assassinate our diplomat". They is unless they have explicitly stated that it's unacceptable.

Stay on the ship we are not a diplomat and it would make us very exposed if we are planet side.

You decide a smaller team is best for this operation. If something goes wrong you'll need everything available to help get them back out again. As much as you'd like to join the Ambassador to help convince the locals about your sincerity, your duty is to keep the ships in orbit safe.

When it comes to the idea of putting a locator on the House representative you're torn. A device emitting a burst transmission every half hour would be handy but the locals might detect it and freak out. The same could be said about injecting him with an easily traceable isotope. Uncertain you tell the ambassador about your plan.

"Well I appreciate the sentiment but honestly if they plan to kill me there's not a whole lot you could do about it. Fortunately I'm getting too old for this nonsense anyways so its less of a concern for the House should something happen." He frowns. "That does not mean I would enjoy being shot at from orbit. Once is enough for a lifetime."

You offer him a micro tracker injector to take with him just in case. "You can always leave it in the shuttle."

"True."

"Shuttle away. I'll be able to pick up the ambassadors transmitter if conditions stay the same." Says Arron.

"We didn't put it in him." You tell the others.

"Oh..."
"I'm sure we can quickly triangulate a distress signal sir." Says the temp crewman on coms. You seriously need to get someone on that station on a regular basis.

Watching the shuttles and their escort, the group of signals approach the planet a safe distance from an orbital cargo transfer station then begin their descent. The planetary shields lower in that section to allow them to into the atmosphere then raise again.

You turn your attention to other matters. Having the ability to wreck some shit if things go wrong are high on that list. "Arron, have you seen any of the FTL transports their fleet are using since we've arrived?"

"I saw one that looks to be under repair." Your secondary screen pops up with an image of a modular station modified with more construction arms and a dock large enough for a battlecruiser. Molly's are big transports and need a dock of that size to get serious work done. The one currently docked looks to have suffered internal explosions from multiple torpedo hits.

"Shuttle is coming in to land."

You keep looking at the shipyard while Arron monitors the shuttle.

"Hang on I've lost them."
Kavos stands up and walks over to sensors. "How."

"I don't know they just up and disappeared!" Arron exclaims. "There's low level jamming within one hundred kilometers of where I last had them."

"Sir we're being hailed by the FPL government contact." Says coms. "They want to know why our shuttle veered off from the designated landing site."

>What do?

>>23531610
Inform them that our communications with the shuttle are being jammed and we do not know what the situation is. Inform them explicitly that the shuttle carries no offensive weaponry, unless we sent an armed diplomatic shuttle in which case mentally berate ourselves for doing so.

Make no other obvious moves and do not deviate from our current flight pattern.

>>23531702
Pretty much what I would have suggested. ü1

File: 1362537859088.gif-(6 KB, 961x459, course correction.gif)

6 KB GIF

>>23531702
"Inform them we've lost contact with our shuttle due to localised jamming and we don't know what they're doing. Find out if they can clear it and if they have anyone one the ground or in geosync that saw where they diverted to."

>Inform them explicitly that the shuttle carries no offensive weaponry, unless we sent an armed diplomatic shuttle in which case mentally berate ourselves for doing so.
The shuttle had some guns, the escort fighters had guns and the Marines on board the shuttle had guns. Unarmed shuttles are not something most warships carry.

"Sir they're claiming the shuttle and escort diverted from the given course before the jamming started." Says coms a few seconds after relaying your message.

You set the controls to autopilot following Mike's lead. "Recheck the data they sent us." Says Kavos as both of you look over the crewman's shoulders.

An image pops up showing the indicated descent corridor and the landing pad directly below. A fraction of a second later the image changes showing a line directing away to the west.
"What was that? Go back."

The second image, the data your shuttles follows veers off into the area the jamming is now coming from. Going back it seems the people ground side originally sent something else.
"It flashed by so fast I thought it was just a routine course update sir."

"Someone intercepted the transmission and replaced it with their own." Concludes Kavos.

"The orbital data they're sending us from their stations now shows no shuttles or fighters in the area." Adds Arron. "Now what?

>>23532234
Oh my, that's not good. Request a secure channel to whoever is in charage of the FPL forces and inform them of this?

>>23532234

Someone is doing something VERY stupid and it is going to get their shit wrecked.

Are we in torpedo range of that shipyard or any other juicy targets for SP torps?

"Am I speaking to the person in charge or what? My people being diverted and concealed with jamming is not a good start to talks intended to avoid needless violence."

>>23532234
Inform the FPL command that someone spoofed their broadcast and provide whatever proof we can.

Offer our cooperation in the process of locating our shuttle and the people responsible for doing so.

"Get me a secure line to someone, anyone down there. I'll take it in next door."

You step out of the bridge and into your nearby office, smoothing out some wrinkles in your uniform before turning on the display.
A Kavarian appears on screen wearing a uniform that combines elements of Republic and Dominion markings.
"This is Major Kadryin with the Free Planets League Defense Force, I've been informed you wanted to speak over a secure channel. I hope you can explain why I shouldn't consider this a blatant attempt to land an infiltration team."

"Am I speaking to the person in charge or what? My people being diverted and concealed with jamming is not a good start to talks intended to avoid needless violence."

"We assumed one of your starfighters activated a jamming device in the area once they were clear of the descent corridor. The sensors employed by our defense net picked up holographic emitters on the shuttle you sent. It would be more than capable of hiding from our orbital scans with the jamming in place. You must have known that."

"Okay hold on. Yes I admit there were emitters on that shuttle. Not the brightest move on ou- my part. But your transmission with data for what course the shuttles was to follow was altered. We received two different sets of information. I can have my coms officer send them to you now or any other proof you feel is necessary. I want to find that shuttle as much as you, and the people responsible for diverting it."

The Major glares at you.
"I want the command codes for that shuttle and for one of my people to come aboard your ship to investigate what transmissions you actually received."

>>23532912
Why the fuck did we send the camo shuttle?I don't think any of the options I could choose from in the survey said anything about sending that shuttle.

>>23532912
Deliver command codes for that shuttle and agree to one and only one of his people coming aboard.

>>23532912
>one of his people
>space terrorists
>lone space terrorist
>suicide bomber

NOPE

"You'll excuse my refusal to allow a group known to employ suicide tactics onto my ship."

>>23532912
>command codes
What can one do with these?

>>23532912
and I want that jamming off, the second course analyzed, and my shuttle found. We are both taking a big risk here and someone either wants to stall or stir things up. I suggest we work act quickly, send someone up if you will but we need to find out where my people are headed.

(exact decision is pending on how command codes work)

>>23533095
>known to employ suicide tactics

Do we know that?

Also we can always scan whoever they send.

>>23533050
Sorry, everyone seemed to be for sending that particular shuttle down in most of the discussions. I just figured that would make it the default.
Even though not one person said how they planned to use the projectors on it.

>>23533103
Turn off the shuttle computers remotely and/or allow it to be hijacked. Most ships and shuttles cant be remotely hijacked.

>>23533174
> They began as a terrorist organisation about 60-80 years ago in this area and attempted to drive the forces of numerous Houses off of the habitable worlds any way they could.

I believe in an earlier thread it was mentioned they used suicide tactics and often bombarded planets from orbit, ignoring the treaty the Factions follow that prevents such things.

Rolled 32, 5, 6, 35 = 78

>>23533212
Would our marines/pilots know to destroy their ships rather than allow them to be captured, and would they follow through with these standing orders if they do exist?

>>23533212
disable the command codes we give on ships we have, if that's how it works.
Give them a Low priority command code that can hijack the shuttle, if you meant either/or and if command codes come in the multipe, tiered variety.

>>23533337
Ignore the rolls.

>>23533212
Okay. If I read something especially stupid from now on, I'll call it out.
I specially asked for an assault shuttle because the holo shuttle would have no use.

Anyway, is there only one command code that allows complete control, or are the many different ones to disable a variety of functions, like only disabling the camo or engines.

>>23532912
Agree to what he wants. Especially if we can remote scan the shuttle. We are here for diplomacy, lets be diplomatic.

Rolled 18

Survey for suicide bomber friendly FPL analyst!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N97DD8S

>and I want that jamming off, the second course analyzed, and my shuttle found.
"My people are searching for the jamming device now. There may be several of them but it will take time. There are holographic projections in the area meaning my people have to move in at ground level."
>We are both taking a big risk here-
"Of that we are in agreement."
>and someone either wants to stall or stir things up. I suggest we work act quickly, send someone up if you will but we need to find out where my people are headed.
>>23533356
>>23533361
Only one code for the shuttle. Unfortunately its an older model and the Kavarians were known to build them... differently back then.
Rolling.

>>23533596
>Yes, but only after being scanned in the hanger, escort by Power Cell troops

Accompanied by two expert technicans, and only after an extensive medical examination as well. He doesn't get to wear anything her brought aboard either.

>>23533596

we should also consider that whatever delivers the bastard may be a bomb

>>23533669
Say it with me, diplomacy.

>>23533638
Seconded.

While waiting for the shuttle with the tech analyist to approach you have all of your ships fighters and shuttles hastily change their command codes in the event the FPL would be able to determine your own from whats on the missing craft.

"The codes are changed." reports Kavos after ten minutes. "Or the important ones are."

You transmit the command codes for the shuttle and wait. Arron's scans already show FPL shuttles and fighter patrols covering the area but still manages to detect the missing one rocket upwards to 10km altitude. FPL shuttles close in and grapple it with their tractor beams, towing it off in the direction of the original planned landing site.

Next up is the analyst who's shuttle stops just outside the landing bays at your insistence and is forced to jump across. He's grabbed by a pair of your marines who scan him for explosives then bring him inside.
"Give him a basic set of clothes, he can have his pressure suit back when we're done."

In the time all that takes your shuttle has been brought down to ground level an opened up. The crew and marines are all missing, as is the ambassador. Playback of internal sensor recordings show an energy stun grenade flying into the crew compartment shortly after the ambassador and escort disembark.

"Your people did leave the shuttle at the alternate location, and it's still possible this was all planned since the shuttles crew weren't killed but." Major Kadryin stops and isolates a sound from the recordings. The shriek of particle beam cannons firing followed by explosions echo from outside. "None of your craft had particle beams and my teams have just found the wreckage from your starfighters. What results has my technician found?"

"He just finished going through security checks and will be on the bridge in a few more minutes." You tell the Major, wishing your people would now hurry things along but knowing that would be impossible right now.

>>23534467
>and my teams have just found the wreckage from your starfighters

This has probably been mentioned elsewhere, but do our fighters have ejector seats? If they do, is it possible the pilots bailed out?

A pair of marines and pair of technicians escort the orange haired human analyst onto the bridge.
"Quit hassling me, I'm just doing my job. How many times do I need to tell you I did not drink any chemicals that could react with contents of the human body to form an explosive." He stops and turns to face the bridge crew.
"Uh hi. What am I here to check?"

Your coms officer gets out of the way the the technician gets to work, while under intense scrutiny. "No reason for me to get nervous right? Only fifty people waiting shoot me if I so much as glance at any of the women in uniform. And for the record that damage control team was-"

"You're here to work, not talk." Says Kavos interrupting him.

A few minutes later he comes to the same conclusion as your own people. That the transmission was intercepted, likely at or near the source.

After telling the Major this he updates you on the ground side situation. "The transmission logs were erased from the high bandwidth antenna you were contacted through. My teams have also located two of your pilots, one is dead the other wounded."

"I want that pilot back on my ship." You tell him.

"In due time. I have an investigation to complete and you have one of my people still on your ship who is now needed down here."

"The jamming just went down." Reports Arron.
You check the time. Its been forty minutes since the shuttle went missing. If the Ambassador implanted that tracker in himself it should ping again in twenty minutes.

>Your plan of action?

>>23534935
Request permission to personally oversee investigation.

>>23534935
Thank the technician for doing his job well and not making any trouble. It costs us nothing to be polite.

Offer our assistance in mounting a groundside search. Also, notify the Major that the Ambassador might have a tracker inside him. There is very little we can do from up here except scan the area, so unless we're allowed to send people or ships down, that is what we'll do.

>>23534935
Fuck.
>>Your plan of action?
Send the medical details of the wounded pilot to the FPL's doctors/medics.

Kavos usually has great ideas how to deal with situations like this, so ask her for advice.

Our power armours should be able to help in any kind of hostage of scouting situation. Request to join their ground teams.

>>23534980

lets not add to the number of people we've just given to a bunch of idiot terrorists.

>>23534935
Get that technician dirt-side

"So what group of idiots is behind this and how often do they commit acts of stupidity against diplomats?"

File: 1362547690225.jpg-(531 KB, 1600x900, 1350163585109.jpg)

531 KB JPG

>Thank the technician for doing his job well and not making any trouble. It costs us nothing to be polite.
He grumbles about being forced to change in a hallway where a damage control team ended up seeing him naked.

>>23535165
>"So what group of idiots is behind this and how often do they commit acts of stupidity against diplomats?"
"I don't know yet it could be any of one hundred local cells or a dozen from off world, and those are just from this general area. We've had large groups of refugees arriving from other territories ever since your Houses started taking them from the Warlords. I need time to analyse this attack."

>>23535096
>Also, notify the Major that the Ambassador might have a tracker inside him.
"That could prove useful."


>R:233 / I:13
Okay I'll pause here, you guys can discuss the merits of going down to the surface or not. I'll be resuming at 3pm tomorrow provided the thread is still here.

File: 1362548997109.jpg-(31 KB, 470x306, kung-fu-hustle-470-75.jpg)

31 KB JPG

>>23535566

TSTG, anon making list of people here.

For Dramatis Personae, should we put out-of-date bits like the Training Squadron as their own pages/links to avoid clutter and confusion? With the survivors being scattered to different assignments and promoted, it may help the page look cleaner.

and looking through a certain archive... did we run into the main character from Kung Fu Hustle as a merc in the smuggler's run?
> "Hey! Hey you! You cant be here this is a restricted area. If you don't leave now we'll get very mad."

>>23535956
>For Dramatis Personae, should we put out-of-date bits like the Training Squadron as their own pages/links to avoid clutter and confusion? With the survivors being scattered to different assignments and promoted, it may help the page look cleaner.
Yeah probably a good idea, still we should keep the KIA section on that page if possible.


>Kung Fu Hustle cameo
Not intentionally. I remember hearing that line elsewhere.

>>23536113
so keep a master KIA list? simple enough.

>>23535566
>He grumbles about being forced to change in a hallway where a damage control team ended up seeing him naked.
Does he want to leave his number, just in case any of them were particularly impressed by what they saw?

I wasn't here during the survey, i can't belive you people send our only camo shuttle to a very dengerous mission, which really never required camo to be used in the first place.

>any of one hundred local cells
new terrorists doing terrorism against old terrorists? that's cool.

>>23535566
while i am tempted to see this mystery unfolding personally, i think we better stay in space. the situation is very uncertain and we should not risk to leave diplomatic mission without the commander(we could be captured or jammed down there or something).

bump

Bump again

>>23539541
>I wasn't here during the survey, i can't belive you people send our only camo shuttle to a very dengerous mission, which really never required camo to be used in the first place.

That wasn't part of the survey. We had the choice between a small escort, a medium one, and sending everthing.

TSTG, if we had sent everything what would have happened then?

>>23539541
>any of one hundred local cells
>new terrorists doing terrorism against old terrorists?

"What? No, or not in any attempt to bring down the new government. They're all the local cells left over from when we took control of the planet. We never disbanded them and they form the planetary militia. That doesnt mean they wont go ahead and do their own thing when it comes to people they deem a threat. Parts of the more extremist cells will on occasion and its a headache for police. We've granted assylum to numerous groups from the other planets as they've fallen either to you or the Pirates. Even we consider them a seccurity risk but there's too many to track them all."


>>23545057
I've written up a response to that and will post it at the end of the thread so as to cut down on spoilers.

>>23545374
Anyway, we'll continue cooperating with local authorities

You have the medical personnel send down the records for the pilots to assist in treatment.

>>23537029
"Funny. Oh, wait you're actually being serious? ...I-I guess I'll think about it? I need to get out of there."
Your Marines seeing to the launch bay as quickly as possible while your own techs check over the console to make sure it wont explode.

>>23535097
>Kavos usually has great ideas how to deal with situations like this, so ask her for advice.
"This is beyond any situation I have experience with. There haven't been any demands for ransom so it doesnt seem to be a normal kidnapping or hostage taking."

>>23535096
>Offer our assistance in mounting a groundside search.
>>23535097
>Our power armours should be able to help in any kind of hostage of scouting situation.


So the options I'm looking at here include.
[ ] Give the Major the information needed to track the ambassadors locator / or / relaying the signal as you get it
[ ] Offer to make some of your special forces available to assist locals on the ground
[ ] Going down to the surface yourself (or not)
[ ] Requesting the return of the shuttle

Anything else?

>>23545374
"So you have countless individual groups running around on your planet doing whatever the hell they please whenever they feel like it?"

... we just sent 13 people plus pilots on a suicide mission, didn't we?

>>23545830
Rely the signal as we get it, offer our special forces to assist, offer to go down to the surface personally.

We can worry about getting our shuttle back later.

>>23545374
>will post it at the end of the thread so as to cut down on spoilers
THE SUSPENSE

>>23545830
>[X] Give the Major the information needed to track the ambassadors locator / or / relaying the signal as you get it
>[X] Offer to make some of your special forces available to assist locals on the ground
do not go personally

>>23545848
samefag

[x] Give the Major the information needed to track the ambassadors locator AND relaying the signal as you get it
[x] Offer to manpower if it is needed [don't specify]
[x] request return of shuttle
[x] DO NOT go down personally

File: 1362605393523.jpg-(276 KB, 1295x691, 1354546222400.jpg)

276 KB JPG

>>23545848
>"So you have countless individual groups running around on your planet doing whatever the hell they please whenever they feel like it?"

"Oh please, you have people in positions of power trying to kill each other off with assassins or throwing fleets with people they want dead aboard them at enemy forces. Dont act like you have the moral high ground."

You think about asking more about the militia but decide to hold off. If the militia are the people with the weapons on the planet and if they happen to be making the rules they're really not that different from the nobility in the Dominion. You're not sure if that's a promising sign or a bad one.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6KXLDBT

system crash please stand by.

Vote supports relaying the data, offering some of your special forces and not going down to the surface yourself.

>>23545830
>[X] Give the Major the information needed to track the ambassadors locator / or / relaying the signal as you get it
>[X] Offer to make some of your special forces available to assist locals on the ground
>[ ] Going down to the surface yourself (or not)
>[ ] Requesting the return of the shuttle
>[x] DO NOT go down personally

File: 1362612884366.jpg-(53 KB, 450x291, Maglev-terminal.jpg)

53 KB JPG

Rolled 17

You offer to make some of your heavy strike team available available to the Major. If they end up with a hostage situation their ability to take a few hits will really come in handy. Likewise their stun grenades. You were a little bothered by the attackers having used stun grenades similar to yours and had the stockpiles looked into. None of them have gone missing from your ships. Its possible the Terrans may have lost some or they just ended up on the black market as a result of the raids last year.

Major Kadryin agrees to allow a dozen of your people to assist but they'll be heavily guarded. You're fine with that. Your people know how to take care of themselves and have enough firepower to bust out in a worst case scenario.

Your next shuttle still hasn't reached the surface yet when the locator beacon goes off. Coms retransmits the data to the FPL-DF. The shuttle crew requests to change course to make best speed towards the target zone but the Major refuses.
"Land and you will be transported aboard our own vehicles. Our government and military are not prepared to have another of your shuttles go missing. Once you've reached the ground neither of your shuttles will be permitted to depart until this mess is straightened out."

You tell your people to go along with the plan as it has the best chance of getting the Ambassador back alive. Meanwhile local starfighters, shuttles and gunships that had been searching turn north towards the signal.

"Looks like a parking garage attached to a mall." Says Arron adding, "It isn't very busy."

You call up the data on your own screens and see numerous rapid transit connections at the far end of the building. The signal cuts out after just under a minute as scheduled.

Kavos looks over at Arron's screen. "This isn't good. Those trams have connection points to half the continent and that's not even counting the local transit points and cargo movers."

Roll 1d100 to see how effective the locals are in security efforts.

Rolled 7

>>23548227
Rolling for Space TSA

>>23548277
Well they're at least twice as good as the real TSA

Rolled 7

>>23548227
Security

Rolled 34

>>23548227
surely they are competent no?

>>23548308
>>23548277
Wow.

Rolled 77

>>23548227

>>23548317
obviously no

whelp, there goes our ambassador

>>23548431
Let's hope that 17 he rolled was for the abductors' competence.

>>23548325
We didn't really need that ambassador...right guys

>>23548497
That would make sense, like 7-17 is a general level of FPL competence, for both law enforcement and the shady elements.

>>23548642

Great way to fuck up, losing an ambassador, 12 marines, and 2 star fighters on a diplomatic mission.

>>23548642
Well, they, whoever they might be, doesn't really need him too, so this whole story is mystery of druids levels of weird.

Rolled 18

>>23548497
You should hope not, that was a 17/20.

Your remaining shuttle crew, realising there's no time to spare, brings the Republic built craft in at a speed that's far from safe. Landing gear has only just hit the ground when your strike team jumps out, moving towards the waiting shuttles.

"Ground team to Knight Captain Reynard. Be advised we're being split up and carried aboard three transatmospheric shuttles. I think we would have been a bit crowded otherwise."
All three shuttles lift off and head north towards the mall, accelerating to supersonic speeds. You're torn between requesting a progress report from those on the ground and knowing that would only interrupt them.

Gunships are already landing on the roof of the parking garage and nearby but it doesn't look like they're covering the interior routes to the tram station. Worried, you try to get hold of the Major but are informed by an adjutant that he's busy trying to get a request through for a full lock down. Arron soon reports that civilians are evacuating from parts of the mall security hasn't closed off yet, possibly concerned about the chance of being caught between forces when the fighting starts.

"What about the trams?" You ask.

"They're trying to evacuate civilians already in the station. Someone called in a bomb threat."

"Wonderful! What can go wrong now?" you ask.

>>23548771
>You should hope not, that was a 17/20.

And it's an 18/20 this time... I was suspecting d100s on your end as well.

>And I forgot to delete the dice. Please ignore that wonderful roll. Oh hell, fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1rAOdzVP5Y

The shuttles with your team and their escort reduce to subsonic velocity and drop down headed for the parking garage.
"Sir, we're almost on station," reports the ranking Marine, "But the chatter is that the parking is empty."
Coms relays data about the tram terminal and the three shuttles land on the roof. Watching the orbital feed you see the Marines, despite the weak protest of their escort, punch through the skylights and rope down to the interior.

Fighters patrolling the area break off to follow a few trams leaving the area and stay with them until transport shuttles and gunships can drop people at their next stop. Local security forces by now have the tram station surrounded and are heading inside.

A weak transmission gets through to you. "There are underground cargo trams that have access through the lower levels of the hub. Attempting pursuit."
A crack sounds over the channel and dust kicks up over an area above ground. Its two or three minutes before you hear from your team again.

"We almost caught them sir, but they cut the last car loose and triggered explosives inside to collapse the tunnel. We didnt get a good look at the but one of the locals did. They're talking to their CO now."

"Are your people hurt?" you ask.
"No sir, just a bit singed."

Major Kadryin contacts you as his men spread out from the station, some of the shuttles heading north towards a cargo depot.

"The response team I assigned to guard your heavies saw one of the abductors before they blew up that tunnel. They were Hune. I'm searching our database now but we might not have anything on them."

"Did any of them have recognisable equipment?"
"Yes. At least one of them had that new Power Cell armor the Warlords deployed a few years ago, which is unusual since its so expensive."
>What say?

>>23549343
Inform them of our personal Hune fanclub.

>>23549343
Son
of
a
BITCH

"You are harboring a group of Hune that will kill your people without a thought to further themselves, and laugh as they bring down your League around them."