>>29678589
FOR HOUSE AND DOMINION

Lasty year you accepted an invitation to join the Factions Alliance military and were made a Major in command of an autonomous strike unit. That unit was made up of the 3 squadrons you decided to take with you into Shallan space, not wanting to risk destruction of the entire Wing. Your few weeks fighting there taught you many things and cost plenty of ships including your command ship at the time.

With the war still raging and the Neeran Isolationists now hiding in the Republic unable to assist for fear of capture, the Alliance is going to need all the help it can get. You fully expect to be thrown into training scenarios and simulations within the day, pitting your people against the most recent sim data from the front. Maybe they'll even have some prototypes available?

Yes, any minute now you'll be back to legally shooting, stealing and commandeering things.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy_Aje0hnac&t=0m05s

Your communicator goes off.
"Knight Captain Sonia Reynard, please report to the Baron's command ship by 1100 hours for command briefing. It's expected to last the rest of the day."

Damn it.

Making sure you're dressed appropriately you show up to the briefing on time and with the limited available data on the state of the Wing so far. Most though not all of the ship have arrived at the station. A few are still in transit from the next closest Nav Relay and should be here within a day or two.

As you're shown to the staff room you notice that a few others are already here. One of the older Admirals you saw from the salvage sell off along with Captains Saputo and Kim are busy looking through their notes and Daska is just sitting down. You note that she's been promoted.

"Reynard, how are things?" Asks Sylvan as he enters behind you.

>What say?
>Roll 1d20 for perception, average of 3

Rolled 11

>>29679030
>>What say?
"Eh, keeping busy. How are you?"

>You note that she's been promoted.
Nothing too close to our rank, I hope?

>>Roll 1d20 for perception, average of 3
Rolling.

Rolled 20

>>29679030
"Interesting. I sorta surprised myself with the amount of salavage my company recovered though."

Rolled 12

>>29679030
"Quite well, thank you. I've been keeping busy over our short break, but what about yourself? Surely you've some stories to tell?"

>>29679064
>Nothing too close to our rank, I hope?
we recommended her for a wing for some reason.

>>29679084
She was getting ready to transfer out of our wing anyway because she thought we were impeding her career advancement (we were). Out of guilt (and the fact she was probably going to get promoted out from under us anyway) we put in a good word for her. Besides, she's earned it.

>>29679265
Not to mention apparently we taunted her when we got drunk.

We did kind of owe it to her. We should probably congratulate her on the promotion and shake her hand.

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"Eh, keeping busy. How are you?"

"Quite well, thank you. I sorta surprised myself with the amount of salavage my company recovered though. What were the odds we'd stuble upon a few Medium cruisers?"
"Oh? How much of the haul were you contracted for?"
"None, it was unclaimed in neutral space." You reply.
Sylvan seems to zone out, likely trying to imagine how much money that salvage could be worth.
"So I've been keeping busy over our short break, but what about yourself? Surely you've some stories to tell?"
"Nothing that would compare to that. I did win a few duels and took some custom starfighters away from people that couldnt pay. Then there was my duel against that test pilot Windsor stationed over on Gesaur. He kind of kicked my ass. Apparently some reporter made a big deal of it but I think she was payed off."

After congratulating Daska on her promotion you take your seat.
Glancing down the table you notice that Saputo looks... different. On closer inspection no one thing would indicate he looks any older than the last time you saw him. He just seems sort of grey, almost as though something were casting a faint shadow over him.

The Baron enters a minute later followed by an aid and the remaining Admirals.

"Greetings, today we'll be discussing the deployment of the House Mobile assets in the upcoming rotation. Neeran forces continue to advance on nearly all fronts save for those in or near the Shallan core territories. The Shallan government has insisted that Veckron weapon weapons be deployed to protect their most important systems. Because of this the younger outlying colonies are now being left with less defensive options.

Our heavier assets will be deployed near the nav relay or as part of the larger battlegroups protecting the Shallan home galaxy. Attack wings will likely be on semi-autonomous duties or fast support for larger ship groups. However that will ultimately be up to wing or squadron commanders."

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"Due to his Wing's work on the front last time Captain Saputo has been requested to assist Kavarian Super Heavy squadrons. You may even get to see their siege cannon formation at work."
"With any luck. We need that firepower." Replies the older Knight.

The Baron resumes.
"Because the 1st Attack Wing will be operating with a battlegroup using largely Iratar built equipment there will be some shuffling of the cruisers used by the 1st, 3rd and 5th Wings. Any ship using Kavarian style sublight engines will be transfered to the 1st. Any of the Aries or DHI experimentals will be moved to the 3rd and 5th as the Kavarians have little experience with that modification."

All those K-Type Attack Cruisers you salvaged and sold to the House, you'll never get to use them!
At least the Baron cant take away the Battlecruisers you own right? Right?

"Escort carriers are being redistributed due to unit expansion with the creation of the 5th Wing. The Battleship and Battlecruiser squadrons will also each be getting one for support. There is talk of adding one to each of our carrier groups as they can deploy their smaller fighter compliment more quickly. Be aware that this could cut into the number of available attack cruisers available in the future as we'll be using the Tarketta produced U hulls for those carriers.

"Sir, is anyone else looking at escort carrier usage?" Asks Kim.

"Yes, a number of Houses and mercenary units have been using them, and the Kavarians are supposed to be creating a dedicated version of their assault transport specifically for that role. The Alliance is looking at attaching dedicated ECM ships, escort carriers, or possibly both to individual squadrons when on small unit deployments."
>What say?

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>>29679618
>Glancing down the table you notice that Saputo looks... different. On closer inspection no one thing would indicate he looks any older than the last time you saw him. He just seems sort of grey, almost as though something were casting a faint shadow over him.

Oh my, could he have become clone Saputo?
Or maybe Krath Saputo?
Neeran infiltrator Saputo, perhaps?

We must... test him.

>>29679756
sounds like an interesting idea. That's a lot of specialty ships though.

>>29679800
probably a side-effect of the injection.

>>29679756

"Have the Neeran begun deploying more fighters or have any friendly forces come up with fighter deployment methods to deal with the plasma balls we've seen fired?"

>>29679618
>>29679800
>Saputo
More likely he had to use his long-life anti-rad injector for some deep ass spec-ops shit.

>Starfighters
What won the race team vote in the end by the way?

>>29679756
Can't think of anything to say at the moment.

>>29679756
How any SP torpedoes are we being allotted?

>>29679756
That woman is killing our buzz. And side effects from the injection! Or possible complication due to it being injected alongside poison by that sly Terran doctor?

>>29679940
This, is it even worth it to use Fighters now what with how many we lose each time they start chugging those plasma balls around? Asking about Daska aswell seems proper. Which wing she will command and all that.

>>29680004
This is interesting aswell, will they give us any or will we be getting them from the Alliance? Cause I take it they do not know about those 600 or so SP's that we are chugging up there to be sold?

>>29679800
image saved to sharkmania folder.

>>29679942
>More likely he had to use his long-life anti-rad injector for some deep ass spec-ops shit.
He used one aboard the Vieona and was out of action through much of the Warlord's boarding action as a result.

>What won the race team vote in the end by the way?
The vast majority voted not to waste money on it.

>>29679827
"It sounds like an interesting idea sir. That's a lot of specialty ships though, can we spare the shipyard capacity?"

"Not yet." Replies Winifred. "Which is why most large units will be deployed near allies that already have access to both. Small unit assignments will be handled case by case."

"Have the Neeran begun deploying more fighters or have any friendly forces come up with fighter deployment methods to deal with the plasma balls we've seen fired?"

"Not more of them, but their deployment is becoming more efficient. So far our starfighters have won fights largely through superior missile technology so they can move on to torpedo larger targets. Their fighters are now operating more closely with Corvettes which provide cover until they can reach dogfighting range. Their own missiles remain less effective than ours but only slightly.
Current deployment methods for dealing with plasma balls consist of spreading out the fighters as much as possible, which means an end of close range support. Recovery will also take longer as a result so use fighters wisely. Raids consisting of starfighter only units have met with some success without starships to get in the way, but are still rare."

>SP torps
"You'll be equipped with what was owed to the House by the Alliance. Other than that you won't find out until you reach the front."

>>29680240
>can we spare the shipyard capacity?
>Not yet

"I may be able to assist with that problem, Sir. If you're willing to hear it."

>>29680300
are we?

>>29680300
We should probably speak to her about that in private.

>>29680315
We have a half broken shipyard.
Let them use it in exchange for helping with repairs.

>>29680300
>>29680315

This sounds like something to mention to the Baron in private, not in front of everyone.

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"While we're on the topic of ECM ship availability."
The Baron's aid calls up the technical specs on the EX-K before she continues.
"With the ship upgrade options now available we've been looking at the modifications Captain Reynard made to her command ship. It would make for a good electronic warfare platform, but the output from the sublight drives on that class will render more powerful sensors useless. Still, it should help cut through Neeran cloaking fields."

"If you don't mind my asking what about my squadrons?" Enquires Saputo. "Our EW ships are being transferred to the Third and Fifth."

"The new Battleship class the Kavarians are deploying have ECCM and they're currently retrofitting a number of their older attack cruisers which will be loaned to your wing."

"Thank you."

Next the Baron brings up displays showing the new CCD Fast Battleship. As they copied sections of the Warlord ships you captured they signed an agreement at the time for several of the new ships to be given to the House.

Kim and Sylvan are both informed their units will be provided with a limited number of them. Only one each when they reach the Pandora cluster, but they'll get more later.
"Evaluate their effectiveness and determine if it's worth buying more of them later. For now our captured shipyard can produce the Warlord design in limited numbers but many are being sold to help fund our other military expenditures."

>>29680300
>>29680315
>>29680329
>>29680340
>>29680345
So, did you guys want to talk to her about that after the briefing?

The next few hours are spent discussing logistics and manpower availability. On top of that is the need for defensive fleets in South Reach and the Smugglers Run while at the same time maintaining the home fleets at levels suitable to repel an invasion from another House. Apparently even a state of total war doesn't stop people from trying to take neighboring systems if they think they can claim their House can generate greater wartime production. While historically few Houses could get away with things like that the Ruling House is currently too weak to enforce such breach of protocol. They would have to call in mercenaries or groups like the Errant Knights to take care of it.

"...and this transfer should take care of parts supply." Concludes one of the Admirals.

"We'll still be vulnerable to supply line disruption." states Sylvan.
"I'm going to have to agree." adds Kim. "We need to get a hardpoint up and establish forward production in Shallan space. The locals can work in the war factories once they're in place. Some other Houses are doing the same thing."

Captain Saputo disagrees. "The Neeran have proven adept at destroying infrastructure. Once we put it there we'll need to pull transports away from other duties at a moment's notice to help relocate station modules if that world comes under attack. We should stick with the existing supply lines until the Forbearance is operational."

Admiral Graham agrees. "We're not the only ones with this problem. The Kavarians and the Warlords are supposed to be providing Mega class ships to the Alliance which will be refit as mobile manufacturing and supply ships. We just have to wait."

[ ] Support production in Shallan Space
[ ] Support delayed mobile production resources
[ ] Other

>>29681211
>[x] Support delayed mobile production resources
If anything set up is going to get blasted there's little point.

>>29681211
>[ ] Support delayed mobile production resources

>>29681211
>[ ] Support delayed mobile production resources

Unless we have some super secret weapon that can effectively prevent the Neeran fleet from just blasting stuff with their super plasma gun, creating additional factories as far away from the front as possible will probably be the better idea. It worked well enough for the Soviets.

You add your voice to those supporting mobile production once available.
Winifred informs those who still support additional production in Shallan space that they can use some of their personal funds to pay for more factories there.
"I'm sure the Shallans would be appreciative. The House however lacks the resources to contribute. We're pouring as much as we can into modernising the fleet and rebuilding the Forbearance."

Moving on the Baron brings up the available troop levels.
"While we still have a minor training and recruitment bottleneck we've managed to catch up sufficiently that additional crews are available for starship repair. With additional damage control personnel you should be able to more quickly conduct field repairs. However, members of the Admiralty have their objections based on intelligence reports of what other Houses and the Neeran are doing."

An intel officer that seems familiar but who you can't quite place is shown in. Without introduction he begins.
"We've completed preliminary analysis of the various Neeran corvettes and warships we've captured examples of. Most of this data you will have heard before. Their normal sublight capable corvettes have a very small crew, usually a pilot an engineer and gunner, though they can operate with two or even one. FTL versions add a navigator and have both reduced maneuvering and armor.
Other Houses are beginning to reduce the crew compliments on their corvettes before dangerous missions. Usually there are no damage control teams beyond those in engineering and the weapons arrays. They're now fielding attack corvettes with a crew of 30-40 instead of the usual 80. Interestingly because of this reduction it's possible to equip enough emergency teleporters for the entire ship's compliment."

>>29682006
"There are downsides to having so few crew aboard." Points out Winifred. "Besides the lack of means to repel boarders, if your ships were crippled it would be far more difficult to effect repairs. This would mean a higher incidence of having to scuttle ships to avoid capture."

The Intel officer agrees that this is also true. "The House wants all starship captains to be aware of this regardless. We cannot weather losses like the larger Houses for an extended period."

>What say?

>>29681463
soviets ha resources to throw at the enemy far exceeding the opposition and where getting influx of shit through the aid from the Americans
>>29681211


[ ] Support production in Shallan Space
[ ] Support delayed mobile production resources

Could we go for both? The Forearance is going to come online anyway, but if we rely only on that it is going to make it a target. Especialy if we manage to push them back, some house is going to have the brilliant idea to leak its position to the Neeran so we don't get too strong.

I say we use multiple smaller productions in Shallan - or close to Shallan space that are preferably hidden as civilian factories or illegal rug labs or something like that.

This means they are less of a target, and if those places are conquered can be use for the resistance or blown up before capture.

It also makes our Forbearance not such a big target, especially if we can somehow hide its output by mixing its traffic with that of local production an mislabel it as more other such outposts.

>>29682060
"An unorthodox tactic, but if it's working out for the larger houses I don't see a problem. I'll make sure to not fall into the same habit, though."

>>29682006
"With the Neeran using that few corvettes, wouldn't it mean a lot of automated systems? And by extension, vulnerability to hacking attacks?"

>>29682291
*that few corvette personnel

>>29682060

"I recall Vengeance Type ships being able to operate with small crews as well. Have there been any rumblings from the Terrans of openly producing more of their ships suitable for wars of attrition like the Polaris class?"

>>29681211
>talk to her about that after the briefing
Yes, also it may be worth mentioning to her that we have the coordinates of the former Republic carrier as well, and it's production modules may be intact.

>>29682092
>Could we go for both?
You could, though it would mean parting with some of your cash to assist the others who want to go for it.
Sonia's personal cash reserves: 30,143,610 S

>I say we use multiple smaller productions in Shallan - or close to Shallan space
You guys could set them up in the Shallan territories in or near their Homeworlds, near the nav relay, in the Terran occupied relay near Shallan Space, or in the Pandora cluster.

>>29682190
"An unorthodox tactic, but if it's working out for the larger houses I don't see a problem. I'll make sure to not fall into the same habit, though."
You make a note to reduce some of your ships to skeleton crew status before a major fight.


>>29682291
"With the Neeran using that few that few corvette personnel, wouldn't it mean a lot of automated systems? And by extension, vulnerability to hacking attacks?"

"If you could get aboard one of their corvettes yes you could hack it rather easily. In theory. The Alliance is still working to update the current hacking modules to better deal with Neeran systems."

>>29682327
>I recall Vengeance Type ships being able to operate with small crews as well.
They generally operate with a crew similar or a little bit less than most attack cruisers but are designed to be redundant enough that if something breaks there's several backups. The ship has 8 engines because it was expected to use ones that were less powerful or more prone to breaking. Plus DC teams can rip them out and reposition them later.
Think Mig-15's that got shot to pieces but kept flying.

"Have there been any rumblings from the Terrans of openly producing more of their ships suitable for wars of attrition like the Polaris class?"
"The Polaris class ships are bordering on obsolescence like many of ours." Says Adm. Ghram. "The Terrans have already activated their Black Fleet but are sending most of the battleships to Shallan space, while the remainder stay back home."

>>29683014
The Intel officer speaks next. "We have reports out of Newport Fleet Systems that they're working on several new corvette design modifications. One of them is supposed to reduce crew requirements on their Assault Corvettes down to 20 or 30. Even our newest ones out of Gesaur require 55 for it's regular compliment."

"Sounds like they're working on it then." says Sylvan.

"As are the Rovinar. They've released info that their newest light attack ship now only requires a handful of crew. Mind you, so does the Scarab Mk II. They also started a redesign of the straight combat versions of the Silent Hunter."

>>29683014
How about remote hacking? Like trying to hack them from an ECM ship as they battle?

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>>29683199
Maybe if they plugged all of their systems into the communications array. What would cause them to do that I have no idea.

>>29683375
I don't know why I didn't think they'd have systems isolated.

>>29683181

>Scarab Mk II

What does the combat data on the Scarab Mk II look like vs Neeran?

Or even the House Veritas ships and Republic? Are their mass-fire tactics being disrupted, or?

>>29683014
>You guys could set them up in the Shallan territories in or near their Homeworlds, near the nav relay, in the Terran occupied relay near Shallan Space, or in the Pandora cluster.
Didn't we already help DHI set up a shipyard in the Pandora Cluster? Could we help them expand that?

>>29683181
>redesign of the straight combat versions of the Silent Hunter
Any info on what they're going to be packing?

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>>29684105
On their own not so good. They're plenty maneuverable and their light pulse cannons can pack a punch but they cant take hits well. The emergency thruster mounting points also need to be redesigned to better suit its size and flight pattern.
>Or even the House Veritas ships and Republic? Are their mass-fire tactics being disrupted, or?
House Veritas ships have not yet reached the front. The Republic formations have done well, though there are ways to break the formations of which they're well aware. The crews are generally well trained enough in mass unit warfare that they can handle the disruptions, but there are always losses. Centurions are not armored well enough to take hits with their shields down, especially against Neeran weapons.
They've been trying to counter this by deploying more Battleships to shore up formation sections with their tougher shields. There have only been a few incidents where their groups were ambushed by Scorcher super heavies and destroyed.

>>29684184
You might be better off finding another site or company. DHI cant build everything and with a local population of next to nothing at the site they won't want to compete for jobs. And before you ask, no the station and system are not set up to handle a wave of refugees if you wanted your transport to drop some there. Give them some time for the shipyard to reach full production in a few more months then they might be more amenable to the idea.

>>29684202
Roughly the same just faster and tougher. Combat ones have 2 more turrets than the cloaked ones do.

Silent Hunter [Weapons: 6x E-beam/Light E-beam, 1x SP torpedo launcher, 0-2 phase cannon turret]

>>29684994
Where will we be assigned?

"Next is an item that has come up as a result of the Warlords. The South Reach League mercenaries are obligated to carry Alliance observers aboard their ships. There was some objections over those from the PCCG's mercenary guild not having to do the same and the resultant arguments nearly spiraled out of control. As a result we now have to carry observers aboard our ships when deploying against the Neeran either in Shallan space or as part of an Alliance group. The Wing and squadron commanders will each be stuck with one. Those of us in command of Carriers and Medium cruisers may have more. That is yet to be decided."

Winifred looks less than pleased about this.

"We will all have plenty of time to dwell on that on the flight to the Pandora cluster. Along with time to figure out what can be done to keep them out of the way of our crews."

She presses a button on the briefing table and a moment later an aid enters carrying several parcels. You momentarily consider that they could be bombs but the thought passes and a second later the clothing boxes are being distributed. Opening up yours you find a sturdy looking duty uniform that matches the red of your Knight's dress uniform, though with a slightly different cut.

"Alliance officer uniforms." States Winifred.

Checking yours most of the markings are in gold, though some on the epaulette and end of the sleeve are in silver. Captain Saputo and Daska have similar markings, while most of the others in the room have gold.

You soon find out you've been promoted to the Alliance strike division rank of Commander as has Saputo. Daska is now a Major and as you at last find out the new CO of the 5th Attack Wing.

Shoulder patches have the Alliance insignia and Faction symbol. There are a trio of solid grey battle ribbons on the left chest, with no markings to indicate what they're for. The right chest has a "Strike" unit marker and a special forces marker.

holy fuck what order do you read this on suptg

>>29685564
There are only a few ones out of place. Start with the first thread that started on December 2011 and go down from there. For the most part everything is in order with a few exceptions.

Reading a small info packet included it seems the uniforms are made of nanoweave meaning most low velocity projectiles shouldnt penetrate them, but won't do much else to stop it from injuring you. Maybe you'll have to send them the specs for your armored jumpsuit and see about getting it vacuum rated while you're at it.

The Baron gets your attention.
"Reynard. As Captain, or rather Commander Saputo will be deployed with the Kavarians you will be in overall command of both the 3rd and 5th Wings. You can choose to have them deployed on their own initiative or working together in larger battles."

The look she gives you delivers an unspoken "Don't screw this up."

"Once we reach the front it's unlikely we'll see much of each other's units. We have more than two weeks to conduct training exercises here before deployment to make sure everyone is prepared and that no one has gotten rusty."

>>29685201
"Any idea where we'll be assigned sir?" you ask.

"None yet. Strike units will likely have their choice of either missions alongside the larger fleets or autonomous attack."

>>29685564
Suptg's shuffled the order of them in the archive like a deck of cards. I wish we could sort by date and use the tags.

For House and Dominion: Space Combat in the 41st Century I - XXV
Smugglers Run Campaign 1 - 12
Wing Commander 1 - 35
Neeran War 1 - 10
Home Front 1 - 10

Then there's the occasional ballroom edition thrown in.

>>29685219
Wait, did everyone just end up as a member of the Faction Alliance, all of us volunteer to join them, or are they just standardizing uniforms across everyone?

>Alliance observers
What the hell are we being stuck with observers over and how uppity can they get before we're allowed to stun them?

>>29685640
Also here is a run down on the arcs:

Starts out with just Space Combat in the 41st.

Then it changes over to Smuggler's Run.

Then Wing Commander

Then Neeran War

Then Homefront

And with this thread we are back to the Neeran War again.

>>29685219
>new threads
Awesome
>>29685656
>Double wing command
Awesome

>>29685564
Also expect to be catching up for a while, I started reading in November I think and only now caught up.

> alliance observers
Are there any big no-nos they are looking for, anything we may be unaware of that we should not be doing, or is it mostly about observing the factions alliance treaty?

>>29685656
>>29685785
With this are we not now in direct command of the large Marjory of our houses Strike Assets?

>>29685847
Our general looting behavior of anything that might be useful to house?

Like the time we orchestrate to have Ki steal a vecktron weapon?

Or our constant scheming to milk our deployments for all its worth, like the time we got all the designs from the space wizard just for ourselves?

You know being our general Sonia Self is basically it.

We are going to have to find a way to outmaneuver these alliance observers that does not involve airlock punts, or brig tossing.

>>29685903
Nope. There's still the 2nd Strike, as well as a fourth strike unit out there somewhere.

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>>29685681
>Wait, did everyone just end up as a member of the Faction Alliance, all of us volunteer to join them, or are they just standardizing uniforms across everyone?
Mostly the second one.

The House is loaning large sections of the Expeditionary forces to the Alliance. (As a result the House gets a good boost to prestige.)
They're only loaning units to the Alliance as long as their own people command them, the easiest way to do this is to have a CO volunteer to join the Alliance in some manner.
You and a few others have signed up on your own initiative or as the result of invitations. For some of the others like the Baron this remains temp work and she's only obligated to work for the Alliance for the 1 rotation she's agreed to. She can renegotiate again later if she's able to go on another campaign, yet isn't tied down if it's necessary to look after things in South Reach.

>>29685847
>Are there any big no-nos they are looking for, anything we may be unaware of that we should not be doing, or is it mostly about observing the factions alliance treaty?
They were put on the Warlords ships to ensure they didn't just go around pirating ships and saying they were actually working for the Neeran. That and to confirm their kills in the field.

SRL: What gives? There's some people running around in the Pandora Cluster capturing ships and stations while claiming they belonged to Neeran sympathizers and slavers. We should do that!
Alliance: Maybe that's not such a good idea.
SRL: We get observers for being former pirates. They're playing pirate, that's our gig!
Alliance: Fine everyone gets observers. Now quit bitching.
Everyone: FFFFFFFFFFFF

Just try not to shoot other Faction ships without a really good reason and you might be okay.

>>29685903
You're in command of 1/3 of the House Attack Wings that make up the expeditionary forces. The ones with the Attack Cruisers.

>All those K-Type Attack Cruisers you salvaged and sold to the House, you'll never get to use them!
Boo! So what happened to all of the other non K-types? We sent them off for EX-K conversion right?

>>29679800
thedoorbellonsonia'shouse.jpg

>>29686223
I thought we signed up on a limited basis as well.

>>29686223
Oh, the next time you do a side quest can it be something like "For house and Dominion, little sister edition."

>>29686503
That was supposed to be the X-mas week thread but I didn't have time to finish planning and assemble suitable notes. Also I forgot some of the enemies you were supposed to fight before I could write them down.

Last week's (which will be concluded eventually) was partially screwed up by a lack of sleep and inexperience with that type of encounter. Still I hope it wasn't terrible.

>>29686311
>So what happened to all of the other non K-types? We sent them off for EX-K conversion right?
DHI is working on those that can be converted, 7 of them in total. They've considered converting the much heavier I and J types by using additional engines but they're just not ideal for that. At the moment they're in talks with Iratar to see about a possible trade or paying for technical expertise to make them useable.

>>29686395
I will review the details to be sure. Probably a good idea anyways.

>>29686640
>it wasn't terrible.
It wasn't, don't worry. I was rather enjoying it.

>>29686640
I thought the Attack cruiser yard was separate from DHI

>>29686640
we might want to leave the meeting.

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>>29686754
The original EX-K conversion was begun at a military slipway shortly after the start of the Smuggler's Run campaign and your first ship graveyard find. It took awhile to complete. They eventually moved (most of the) production into that one planetoid where the attack cruisers are now built. Since they're mostly built out of scrap and those locals were working with scrap anyways it made sense. DHI just has to throw some engines and reactors into the mass produced ones.


>>29686395
>I thought we signed up on a limited basis as well.
When you signed up you agreed to an initially limited deployment as you and your unit had been in combat for 10 months off and on.
There were no objections to the 6 months out of the year thing the rest of the time. Still, there are always rear line positions if you wanted off the front for a bit.

>>29687254
Engage training montage? But wait, with 5th Wing being formed Daska is requesting the transfer of some ships and experienced personnel from 3rd Wing to help build up the unit. She is currently requesting Alex as one of the squadron leaders.

Who can you bare to part with?

>Both Wings now have access to the Attack Corvette II, which is a smaller standard corvette that's been upgraded with a twin linked phase cannon and newer systems taken from the Scarab upgrade program. Their slightly smaller size combined with the same equipment found on the attack corvette should help them out in a fight. Both Wings have access to 30 of them to bulk up their numbers.

>>29687762
>Part with Alex
Fine with me.

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Did a little work on the Shark Gun. For lack of a better term this is an "antitank mass rifle", as it can launch kinetic rods using repulsors and also fire caseless 20mm splinter shells through the same rifled barrel.

I think mass driver rounds were supposed to be 6x22mm? For simplicity I rounded that up to a 1/4" wide and and 1" long. These are rifle sized mass driver slugs, heavy mass driver slugs are 3/8" by 2". The rifle can fire either type with different rates of fire and effective ranges.

20x150mm splinter rounds are less like bullets and more like cannon shells. This gun is one step above "anti materiel" and two steps above a regular "snipe rifle". It's designed to engage vehicles and Neeran at extreme ranges. Our custom shells come in all types except plain Ball rounds and since they have a much more internal space the HE and Incendiary rounds are much more effective.

>>29687985
Oh my goodness.
>>29687762
Before training we need to speak to Winifred about the shipyard don't we?

How about we give her Alex and Rasi too?

>>29687762
Is that transfer a permanent one? Not sure about giving up Alex if that's the case but it's his choice really. Some of the people who went with us to Shallan space the first time would be the best for getting 5th up to speed.

>>29687762
Can't we part with what's his face instead? The guy with terrible luck who everyone hates?

>>29688429
Probably a good idea. Also, bump Drake up to commander of 2nd squadron.

>>29688429
>Give our underling who clashes with us over promotions the least liked Sqn.Leader.
Great plan.

I'm sure that won't cause any friction.

We're in charge of her now, so if she does poorly it'll reflect badly on us.

Supporting >>29688466's Drake idea.

>>29688513
I don't think he's a squad leader actually.

>>29688635
Still, I don't want it to be seen as throwing her under the bus now she's been promoted.

>>29688666
Oh, by everyone I meant players. He's our most unpopular subordinate by far.

>>29687985
Seems like a great idea for a rifle, but I'm concerned about the mixed chemical/repulsor based propulsion.
What the hell did I call them, MAA weapons. Mixed Accelerator Assisted I think, I'm not 100% on the name. And it seemed like a great idea at the time. When Mass Effect came out I read up on quite a bit of the codex entries, especially on the weapons. It then started to occur to me that if you get something going fast enough you really don't need it to be that big and propellant adds a lot of stuff to be carrying around.
When I designed the repulsor based mass drivers I took advantage of this by giving them an absurdly large magazine that runs along the top of the weapon, sort of like a P90 mag except vertically aligned. If I've just calculated this right with those 6mm slugs it's magazine is approximately 350-400 rounds. With chemically propelled bullets it might be 60 in that same space.

It's just something to keep in mind if you want to go with a mixed weapon, there are positives but there are negatives as well.
Overall, looking good.

>>29688287
>Is that transfer a permanent one?
Yes it would be.

>>29688147
>Before training we need to speak to Winifred about the shipyard don't we?
Yes, of course.

>>29688429
>The guy with terrible luck
Arthur? He mostly got over that. Around or before your command ship got blown up.
>who everyone hates?
People just didn't like being near him when things went wrong. Like those in his squadron. On paper he should be a good squadron commander.
>>29688635
Arthur is a Knight Lt in command of 3rd squadron, unless you guys are thinking of someone else.

How did you guys want to tell her?
>What say?

>>29688713
I think it was Brain Edah actually. The guy there was a spat about promoting to knight.

>>29688708
Oh, sorry Anon.

>>29688713
We'll ask Alex about it.We don't really want to break the trio but is she asks for him we wont stand in the way.

But still, we need a Daska replacement and she wants to poach our wing, at least if it was not from the training trio it would not be that bad, still, if Alex wants it its a done deal.


We don't like that she is gone and we cant go on life threatening boarding actions without feeling like we let down the wing.

She does know that deep inside we dislike having lost her, and we wont be healed of that until we get a replacement.

>>29688713
Can we transfer out someone senior to him instead? I want to give Alex (and Mike) more experience in multi squadron command.

>>29688792
>>29688906
>>29688708
Admittedly Edah was placed in a bad situation, having the worst rated squadron command skills back in the Smugglers Run (and thus didn't get a squadron.) Then immediately afterward in Lat'tham space Verilis got knocked out of the fight leaving Edah in charge of the squadron.
It was an opportunity for the inexperienced pilot to step up and see if skill growth would happen. And unfortunately it didn't. Still a decent pilot though, and didn't have much more bad luck up until Shallan space when her ship got shot to pieces alongside yours.

>>29689128
Knight Lt Verilis Rah'ne and Knight Lt Arthur Moton were the senior Knights in the unit followed by Daska then Alex.

>>29689238
>Rah'ne and Moton

Does either of them /want/ to work under Daska?

>>29689295
Probably not the one she dueled with. In some ways she's even more aggressive about promotions than we are.

>>29689346
Yes, that's a good point.
>>29688713
"Daska, I appreciate your need for experienced leaders, but in this case I will have to deny your transfer request for Alex. I'd like him and a few others to garner some more experience before transferring to a fresh wing."

oh gosh i hope this smooths things over with her

What do people think about administratively splitting our Wing's attack squadrons into two three squadron subgroups (which, considering that wings have 3-6 squadrons, is really a wing.)
This will allow us to:
1. Develop our subordinates abilities to command a wing and do its paper work in a safer environment with us available as a backstop.
2. Reduces our workload, allowing more time to focus on commanding both wings.
3. Provides a boost to the careers of those we select, since they will become obvious choices for newly formed wings, assuming they do well.

>>29689649
So we'd have two 1st Squadrons two 2nd, etc?

Rah'ne does not but is professional enough to not let personal feelings get in the way. Arthur remarkably doesn't care, he's already lost a duel to her for command of the unit.


"Alex!" You shout when spotting your old wingman.
"Hey, how are you?" He shouts back then crosses the promenade area towards you. "Alexander Palaiologos reporting for duty!"

"Did you just get in?"
"Yeah, there was some last minute things to take care of on Dreminth. Insurance to deal with mostly, and there were some problems with my ship. One of the main struts will need to come out, they only just found the problem with it two days before I left."

"Daska has been given her own command, 5th Attack Wing."
"Wow. So she's no longer gunning for your job?"
"Give it a week. She wants people from 3rd to transfer over to help run things. She wants you as one of her squadron leaders."
"Are you asking me to go?
"No I'd like you to stay, I'm asking if you're interested."

Alex thinks about it. "I can't deny my interest in it, Daska and I co developed most of the squadron level training simulations the wing uses before I got my own unit. We get along well enough. What about Mike?"

"I think he's too undisciplined for her to want him."
"Yeah figures."
Alex is uncertain. He likes both options for different reasons.

>>29689510
Say this Y/N?

>>29689649
Anyone else interested in in this?

>>29689815
They'd probably retain their original designations to avoid confusion.
>>29689819
Side note, how many squadrons is Daska's new wing? Because It tickles me if it only has three.

>>29689819
>Anyone else interested in in this?
I've got no problem with it. The structure also makes expansion easier.

>>29689911
>Side note, how many squadrons is Daska's new wing? Because It tickles me if it only has three.
6 squadrons. You're both getting 30 corvettes tossed at you. Which ever of the two units has the least cruisers once DHI has finished their work will have their cruiser numbers bumped up.

>>29689819
>Alex's response
"What if I loaned you to Daska's wing instead? We both went with the expeditionary force to keep the flight together... seems like something an old-timer should be telling us is bad luck to split up now, doesn't it?"

>Say this
Yes, offer to loan Alex for a bit instead

>dividing wing into sub-wings
I don't mind, but maybe we should run this by our commanding officer or the Baron. It might be helpful for preparing the two senior knights of the wing for their own wing if the House plans to continue expansion.

>>29690027
True.
>>29689819
Have Alex be one of our Group commanders.

>>29689819
I acutally quite like this idea >>29689649


And I would rather not say that and let Alex transfer over. While he will be in a different wing it doesn't mean the team isn't together. It just means we are all split up. Alex with 5th, Mike with 3rd, and us having command of both.

It also just means we will have to organizing having drinks with them both.

Which reminds me didn't we snag that staff weapon and Alex was wondering where it went? Can someone say "Present for his promotion"?

Because really we are just giving him a chance to show he can help put a wing together with Daska.

>>29690027
You just mix it with an attack wing to create three new mixed wings, each with a ready commander and an overall CO.

>>29689819
Have Alex be one of the Subwing guys. Send over arthur or Rah'ne
>>29690165
We won't be his direct CO anymore.

>>29690165
One of the main points of the Sub wing idea is to help Alex's career. Its counterproductive if we don't have him be one.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8FSGL9C

First survey of the day.

What did you want to say to the Baron? Tell her the location of the Heavy Carrier? That you're repairing an Anchorage class mobile yard that's been cut in two? What?

>>29691231
Let's start with the fact that we've located an Anchorage and begun putting it back into a whole ship. See if she starts drinking or simply wonders what we want from her now

>>29691231
We should find out if she has any recommendations for a buyer. We'd offer the house first dibs, but they probably can't afford it.

>>29691231
"Dearest Baron O Mine, your humble servant brings a favourable business deal! A solution to your ills!"

"My salvage team picked up an Anchorage class only a few weeks ago. It's going to need extensive repairs, not to mention manufacturing sections..."

Gauge reaction to see if we should continue or not.
>Heavy Carrier
Probably best to keep quiet on that for now. Depends on whether the house decides to just seize the shipyard from under us.

>>29691231
>Sidequest question

So Emmett wasn't the traitor, just announcing the engines were on overdrive?

>>29691231
I think starting out with "Speaking of manufacturing my people just so "happen" to have stumbled across Anchorage class mobile yard. I was going to put it on the back burner as a long term mission to rebuild it, but I thought I would mention it to you since that subject was brought up"

The key is to smile throughout the entire thing.

>>29692159
This.

>>29692159
No see, we need to frown like we have a problem. If we smile or deadpan the delivery it will just tip her off.

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>>29691982
>So Emmett wasn't the traitor, just announcing the engines were on overdrive?
Maybe, maybe not.

>>29691505
>>29691626
>>29691630
"Dearest Baron O Mine, your humble servant brings a favourable business deal! A solution to your ills!"

"You know I do seriously question your sanity some days Reynard. Continue."

"Earlier in the briefing we were speaking of manufacturing ships, and my people just so "happen" to have stumbled across an Anchorage class mobile yard. I was going to put it on the back burner as a long term mission to rebuild it as it's going to need extensive repairs, not to mention manufacturing sections... but I thought I would mention it since the subject was brought up."

Winifred seems to consider her reply for a moment then looks over towards you, not looking very happy. "I was wondering when you would tell me about that. No the House can't afford to buy it, and if you're wise you won't bring it anywhere near Surakeh. If the Governor didn't try to appropriate it the Admiralty would. There is nothing I would be able to do about it. Your company would be compensated in war bonds I'm sure but that's it."

"Oh. I was prepared to offer the house first dibs, but suspected they probably couldn't afford it. You wouldn't happen to know of any other potential buyers?"

"Exodus would undoubtedly like their yard back and are one of the few organisations that would be able to afford it. Any number of groups would benefit from acquiring it. I suspect they'll wait until you've repaired it sufficiently for FTL, until then it's just another scrap heap."

>>29692652
Do you think Sonia stands infront of a mirror and practices emotions for things like this?

>>29692798
Noted.

>>29692159
this
also I think that when we meet the baron we should bring headache meds form now on

>>29692798
So, hide the shipyard.

Baron Winifred saves our ass yet again.

>>29692798
Damn, she knew we were coming.

As expected of a Baron.

>>29692895
Well, hiding it was the first impulse we had.

Now we are just going to keep it. Probably run it ourselves if we have another year of business running and recruiting from all our endeavors.

>>29693037
Winifred has a secret shark sense. She can feel our predatory grin.

>>29692798
"By the way, is Knight Captain Saputo okay, Sir? He looked a little off-colour earlier."

>>29692798
"You know, there is the option to just, well keep it. Somewhere far away... Its not like we could not use it in say, a decade or so when we want to get into prospecting on unexplored worlds."

I am trying so hard to think Diamonds but do not want to say it since it may not be secure...


Considering Terran Paranoia, and Royal and House paranoia, us having a secret mobile manufacturing yard that could churn out SP torps, cloaked ships, or Vecktron weapons might be a good idea, security wise.

>>29693252
Nah, they'll appropriate it the instant its in Their space. Much better to sell it.

>>29693342
No.

>>29693342
Lets not.

>>29692798
So Winifred already knew about the Mobile yard. A very interesting piece of information isn't it? Makes me wonder if she knows about the Heavy Carrier.

>>29692819
If Sonia's dad still had his business I can see us being something of a sales person. I like to think it came from that side of the family and was expanded when we built our Torpedo salesman persona.

>>29693342
>Vecktron weapons

No...No no...NO...

SP torps "maybe", but all the NO on the Vecktron front.

Speaking of Cloak....I wonder if it would be possible to develop a cloak for it to use when it's stationary.

>>29692798
"Are you spying on my company personally or does the entire House's nobility get a bulk discount, Baron?"

>Admiralty and Governor would attempt to seize it.

Well, time to call in some of that favor we got returning Rovinar vessels.

"Hello, Rovinar? Yes, this is Reynard. No, please stop crying, its just a little favor this time! I just want to set up a company so I can run a very large vessel with one of your IFFs, so my House can't seize it. It's just an Anchorage class mobile yard. Please stop screaming in horror."

>>29693682
no.
End the damned meeting before someone says something stupid.

>>29693342
That's probably not the best use for it.

I imagine we'll use it to start making some of the things from Wizard Tech packs.

did we get a definitive number on all the designs Svidur gave us by the way? The engineer we had look at them recognised two or three things but I think it said there was more.

>>29693460
>Makes me wonder if she knows about the Heavy Carrier.

You haven't had a half dozen or more ships making multiple flights out to it's location while buying up parts and repair equipment. That has been the case with the Anchorage.

You've decided to keep Alex in 3rd Wing for the moment. Did you want to approve Arthur and Edah being transferred?

3rd wing is going to be split up into 2 groups so that you can give Alex and 1 other some more time in a command position of a larger unit. It should be interesting to see how it works out.

When you give Alex this news you also decide a gift is in order since you are technically promoting him.
"I think you were looking for this after the raid on the black market hub." You tell him, producing the telescoping spear and HF blade attachment.
"It works well, though I haven't had a chance to really use it."

"Oh wow. I might actually stand a chance against Mike in the simulations now. Thank you."

>>29693682
>>29693342
There's some dissent over these.

Start giving some thought to training scenarios for the Wing(s) as this will impact the preparedness of your units when they reach the front.

I'll post for a bit in the morning before work then I won't be back until after 7pm EST. I may post on foolz from work on my break but cant make any promises on that.

>>29694048
> Foolz posting.

will keep an eye open for any and post them here for you.

>>29694048
>Start giving some thought to training scenarios for the Wing(s) as this will impact the preparedness of your units when they reach the front.
1. The sorts of things units like ours have encountered based on reports. (At the Squadron, Subwing, Wing and Strike Force level.)
2. Some old fashioned Blitzkrieg scenarios. You know, the ones where we hit relatively lightly defended targets in rapid succession with overwhelming force. We got great numbers doing that again and again to the Pirates, lets see if we can adapt that to the Neeran

>You've decided to keep Alex in 3rd Wing for the moment. Did you want to approve Arthur and Edah being transferred?
Sure

>>29685656
>Reynard. As Captain, or rather Commander Saputo will be deployed with the Kavarians you will be in overall command of both the 3rd and 5th Wings.
Winifred pushed for this to happen didn't she? Building us up militarily as thanks for the economic help we've been providing her..

>>29694048
>approve Arthur and Edah being transferred
yes
>>29694324
sounds good but lets also do a few defence sims just in case

>>29694048
》training
-Hit and Run on retreating battleships
-Logistics base raid in heavily defended system
-Search and Destroy in thick asteroid belt
-Hit and Run on something meaty

>>29694048
This >>29694799 as well as some fleet scale support missions. If we get caught up in another big ship brawl we'll need some experience working with the heavies as well. Another should be an Evasion and Ambush scenario where our wings play rearguard for a retreating Battleship/Carrier group. This will work on improving our Wing autonomy and Wing scale tactics against mixed unit enemies.

>>29686640
>Last week's (which will be concluded eventually) was partially screwed up by a lack of sleep and inexperience with that type of encounter. Still I hope it wasn't terrible.

The lack of rolls to influence the situation made me think it was just some kind of holo training the slavage company's manager puts people in while they're asleep.
The bonus to employee security has to come from somewhere.

>>29694048
Will we be getting more pilots for the wing so we can finally flesh out our squads to the max? I mean it has been some months now since we last expanded the squad and I really would like to introduce some of those new corvets without removing cruisers.

>>29694799
>>29696989
Seal of approval.

Perhaps some defensive action where Neerans attack a fleet base or the like? Also some where WE are the ones that get ambushed.

>>29694048
>Did you want to approve Arthur and Edah being transferred?

Ask them, and give them the option to transfer back if they want to. It may not be the way this is usually done, but if anybody has a problem with that they can deal with Sonia and her sharks.

>>29694799
Oh, another one.

Start the two wings in a small battle and have them head back to a large base for smmo and repairs.

then have one faction at tbe base turn on everyone, just like Lat'tham.

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You'll have to make your own decision on what to do about the Anchorage once it's closer to being finished.

"By the way, is Knight Captain Saputo okay, Sir? He looked a little off-colour earlier."

"I don't know. Several members of our... special boarding team seem to be suffering from ill effects, though they remain minor. He claims to be fine and unless his performance is effected I'm inclined to believe him."


While you don't want to part with Alex, you decide that Arthur and Edah can both go in his stead. Both transfer with their cruisers bringing 5th Wing's numbers up. Before long it looks like all of the EX-K conversions DHI is working on will end up in 5th Wing. No surprise really, you have 29 cruisers in 3rd, while 5th will only have 15 by the time the new ships are done.
Most of the Firestorm Frigates you sold to the House will also end up in 5th.

Did you want to transfer any other ships?

>>29701759
transfer three then even things out so that 1-5th squadron each have 4 cruisers.

>>29701955
This.

Also, "You don't think he's been replaced by a Krath, do you, sir?"

>>29702171
Lets not say that. The others showed the same signs remember.

>>29702191
What if they've all been Krath'd

>>29702224
no. Lets try to dial down the paranoia.

>>29702241
I know, don't worry. It was just a little joke.

Maybe we should think about reinforcing 3rd Squadron too. Looks a little light.

>>29679618
>Then there was my duel against that test pilot Windsor stationed over on Gesaur. He kind of kicked my ass. Apparently some reporter made a big deal of it but I think she was payed off."

Ooooh, that asshat from our first unit. We should definitely read that article.

>Arthur remarkably doesn't care, he's already lost a duel to her for command of the unit.

Is something like that binding for Sonia, or any commanding officer for that matter, or could we still keep a knight we think isn't a good fit for the position from gaining it?

>>29704296
Anyone other than our subwing commanders controlling the wing in our absence would be iffy.

>>29702332
Agreed. It has half the cruiser complement of any other squadron.

>>29688713
So back to gun talk.

> It then started to occur to me that if you get something going fast enough you really don't need it to be that big and propellant adds a lot of stuff to be carrying around.
But a mass driver also consumes large amounts of power per shot. Which begs the question of where they get it from, do mass drivers mount a battery pack of some sort? It's not as much of an issue in power armour, but there is also the possibility of running into that blanket energy drain the Neeran have. Anyhow you raise a good point there. In situations where power drain is not an issue, we could use the caseless splinter shells with the propellant blocks removed. The repulsors should have enough kick to launch them, even through a rifled barrel, and they don't need to spend extra power forcing a vacuum. That would greatly increase the magazine capacity.

While the mass driver rounds are great for general AP use, the splinter shells have a much bigger payload and gives the rifle more utility. So it's worth having the capability to use both, the downside is the increased weight since you are essentially taking parts out of a mass driver and adding them onto an antitank rifle.

>sort of like a P90 mag except vertically aligned.
I was thinking along those lines too. The top of the rifle has a massive scope mounted on it but there is still room under it. So we could put a double stack (horizontal) magazine for the heavy slugs on the top, that would contain something like 200 rounds. And then on the sides we could put extended magazines for the little slugs which can be replaced with standard magazines if they run out.

Splinter rounds would be loaded in more traditional magazines that attach in front of the trigger. The one with propellant can fit 12 rounds in a triple stack. Splinter rounds for repulsor use are much smaller and I calculated that you can fit 26 in the same space.

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>>29706746
>P90 mag but vertical and caseless

So kraut space magic then?

>>29706913
Well thanks to magical repulsor space hax the firing chamber doesn't even have any moving parts in it. (well technically it does but the mass driver part doesn't use them. The slugs are loaded by tiny tractor beams and you don't need a bolt or ejector. Heck the magazine doesn't even need a spring, just a follower with a ratchet on it that scoots after the last slug and stops them from rattling back and forth.

So if a regular mass driver can hold 400 little slugs at once our longer gun could probably fit 600 or more. Maybe even 800 assuming the repulsors extend all the way back into the stock. Since we can put one on each side that would give it a total capacity of 1000-1600 ish, which is a LOT. It's not as ridiculous as the whole Mass Effect grains of sand thing but it's a lot of sustained fire, and easily reloadable to boot.

Given how big this thing is it could probably serve as a mass driver LMG of sorts, rapid firing the little slugs and using single shots with the bigger ones. If you retract the barrel the total length is about 4 feet, which is similar to a Garand or other WW2 rifle. So you could definitely use it on the move, and for close quarters we have our sword and stuff.

>>29708082
>mass driver LMG
Now there's an interesting idea.
Removable repulsor barrel to convert it into a sniper? Might be cool.

>>29708643
Well technically it's already a sniper, being that the rifle is about a third larger than a regular mass driver, even before you extend the barrel. Since it's rate of fire isn't dependant on mechanical limitations you are only limited by the power you have available. The more power you put into a shot, the slower your rate of fire. So at full power we can fire a heavy slug/splinter shell, or a small slug really really fast. If we back off from full power somewhat we gain the ability to rapid fire the small slugs at around the same force as a smaller rifle.

The rate of fire would be nowhere near a conventional gun as most WW2 machineguns fired at 600-1200rpm for instance. Our gun firing small slugs at full auto would probably manage about 120-300rpm depending on on the length of the barrel, or 2-5 rounds per second. Not quite as fast as an assault rifle, but that's still really dangerous considering the power of each hit. So essentially with the barrel retracted we can use it like a space BAR. With the barrel extended and the bipod down it would make a passable LMG.

>>29710288
Also heat dissipation

>>29710705
Oh yeah, I forgot to draw those in. Extending the barrel gives you more external surface area for radiators. I think we could also use radiators to dump heat into the side magazines because those would soak it up nicely, and it doesn't matter if we fire warm bullets.

Also it just occurred to me that the barrel of a mass driver is probably it's primary heatsink too. When you fire a round the repulsors push all the air out so that the slug can accelerate in a vacuum. But between shots the air would rush back in and carry off heat. The repulsors could also force air through the barrel to cool it and drag air over the external radiators. So your cooling power would increase with surface area and barrel length.

Things would get a little more complicated when fighting in vacuum though, because only the radiators would work.

Apparently I can view threads from work on foolz but cant ghost post from there. That or I have a shitty browser. Testing...
Okay, must be my browser I cant post from here either. I'll have to fix that at some point.

In other news; sorry I'm late getting back, Car trouble. I'll need to stop for a bit later to go jump start the thing.

>Is something like that binding for Sonia, or any commanding officer for that matter or could we still keep a knight we think isn't a good fit for the position from gaining it?

It doesnt have to be, especially if they sought your permission beforehand for such a duel and you refused. Still, both parties would generally know full well of the consequences before beginning.
As the superior officer you could order someone who lost to resume command of a unit but this would not be seen positively. In rare cases your decision to do so could be reviewed by your superiors, or worse draw the attention of political rivals.

Depending on a number of things Daska might have ended up dueling Verilis for command of 5th Wing but that turned out to be unnecessary.

Does anyone know of a good uniform design program or site? MS paint can only get me so far. Even a good base template would be enough.

>>29712035
>Car trouble.
I hope everything' okay!

>Uniform design program
That's...quite an oddly specific request. All the ones I can find are for casual clothes sadly.

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>>29712141
>All the ones I can find are for casual clothes sadly.
It would still be a good starting point. I remember there was a program or website that got posted to /tg/ one time that could be used for designing the look of RPG characters. Hero something or other. Anyone remember it?

>>29706913
>So kraut space magic then?
Yes, exactly like that weapon. Sort of. The normal mass driver rifles look similar though less bulky overall.
A version with mixed caseless ammo/mass driver would have less capacity than the straight mass driver and be larger.
(There must be a way to simplify that mechanism somehow.)

>>29704296
>We should definitely read that article.

>>29702332
>Maybe we should think about reinforcing 3rd Squadron too. Looks a little light.
>>29705065
>Agreed. It has half the cruiser complement of any other squadron.
Two of your experienced pilots just transferred out of that squadron along with their cruisers so there was bound to be a gap.

>>29706746
>But a mass driver also consumes large amounts of power per shot. Which begs the question of where they get it from, do mass drivers mount a battery pack of some sort?
Yes, the pistol grip and/or the stock houses a power cell normally used by a pulse pistol.

>>29708082
>>29708643
>>29710288
>>29711049

So, you guys would like to send this weapon proposal to the Alliance or try to make a deal with one of the existing manufacturers? The larger mixed weapon would be better suited for use by Power Cell troops, or snipers.

>>29712701
If you can't find the cloth thing you could always ask the people over at the QTG as they might know.

>>29712701
http://www.heromachine.com/heromachine-3-lab/
This it?

>>29712701
Let's get a prototype for personal use before trying to sell it to everyone

>>29712701
Also I wouldn't mind sending it to the alliance to see if they would be interested in the design. Since it's made to work with Power cell (Or maybe even power armor) they would get the most use out of it.

>>29712701
>weapon proposal
Yes.

Maybe we can even test out the initial version if it takes off.

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>>29712812
>Let's get a prototype for personal use before trying to sell it to everyone
Nobles in the Dominion routinely buy or have custom weapons commissioned by private weapon smiths. These can be anything from custom HF blades to pistols and rifles. Mr Nxesi was bordering on becoming one of these individuals but has moved on to R&D instead.

Did you want to have someone build the prototype via private contract, or ask a company to do so?
You'll have to worry about the same problems as with your ammo R&D in terms of security of the development data.

>>29713135
>Mr Nxesi
Does he want to revisit his old work then? Can he make us something like that?

>>29713135
>r Nxesi was bordering on becoming one of these individuals but has moved on to R&D instead.

Can we try to contact him for this? He seemed like somebody who would work on a proposal in his spare time if it is interesting enough.

>>29713135
>Nxesi
Oh yeah, did he take up that faction alliance offer by the way? Or did he stick with us?

>>29713177
>>29713233
>>29713264
>"Research and Development. More Houses are working on Power Cell Armor so that it stands up to Neeran better. I'm an expert and Jerik-Dremine wants to send as many people as they can."
He did take the offer. I believe I mentioned it in passing at one point as you'd run off to South Reach to start up your company. It's likely in the thread that wasn't archived.

In addition to Power Cell Armor he is also working part time on Power Armor projects, meaning he does not have much available time.

>>29713400
True, in that case find someone who specializes in custom orders.

>>29713453
if we do, we should get them to do 2 commissions, first is the rifle itself, second is a fucktonne of ammo for it, and we pay generously for both

>>29713400
>He did take the offer
Damn shame.

We'll just have to...poach him when we get our R&D asteroid rolling.

>>29712701
I'd say we prototype through a custom order and refine our design a bit before we try to sell it to others.

It's definitely meant for troops with power cell armour or better. Or dedicated snipers camping several kilometres away from a target who have less worry of return fire. And like I said, it's really not meant for fighting *people*, we have other MUCH lighter weapons that are just as effective for that.

I'll do some more work on it and try to nail down the design of the various parts a bit more. The breech mechanism is going to be tricky because caseless ammo doesn't seal itself in the chamber the way a brass case would.

>>29713475
I can agree with that.

>>29712803
I think it is. I'm going to try it out.

>>29713453
>>29713475
>>29713517
>>29713584
>>29713591
Did you want to commission one from within the House (longer wait), or from another House? (Slightly higher chance of the data being leaked.)

>>29713584
>I'll do some more work on it and try to nail down the design of the various parts a bit more. The breech mechanism is going to be tricky because caseless ammo doesn't seal itself in the chamber the way a brass case would.
Good luck. What you've already done seems interesting.

>>29713747
It's not really that urgent, so I think we can handle this within the house. Unless Sonia remembers meeting anybody who could take care of this discretely and efficiently.

>>29713747
I would say from within the house.

>>29713747
>within the House
[x] Keep it in-House.

Will it be with us within the two week training period? I doubt we'll have much time when we're on the frontline.

>>29712701
>>>29704296 (You)
>>We should definitely read that article.

Guess the article isn't available online?

>>29713747
Oh yeah, something I forgot to ask earlier is how large conventional non-splinter 20mm rounds are. When I did some research the 20mm wiki page says the shells are generally 3-5 inches long and the cases are 4-6 inches long. The ones I designed for the new rifle are 20x150mm, which without the propellant are roughly .75"x6". Does that sound about right?

I'm guessing everyone would design weapons to use a few standard sizes. So our custom splinter and mass driver rounds would match those dimensions and only differ in material and design.

>>29713819
>Will it be with us within the two week training period? I doubt we'll have much time when we're on the frontline.
You'll be lucky if it's finished with 2 weeks of the start of the project. Since most of the people within the House who do work like this are back on the homeworlds, it'll take some time to be shipped to you.

>>29714094
Sorry, will get to it.

Back in awhile, going to try and fix my car.

>>29714187
No worries, it just looked like you wanted to type an answer but somehow skipped it by accident.

For House and Dominion: Strategic Wing administration, ammunition design, weapon development, and corporate simulator.

Everything I have ever wanted in a Quest.

Also, page 9 bump.

>>29717084
Don't forget the salvage, and the sharks!

That fast typing dad: Good news, the battery is still good!
That slow typing guy: Haha!
That fast typing dad: The starter's broke.
That slow typing guy: Well... shit.
Game start tomorrow morning will be delayed.

>reading article
Local test pilot defeats decorated war hero.

As the growing Gesaur shipyards continue to produce increasingly cutting edge starships for the Dominion, the system is drawing in more skilled pilots. Every day there are testing trials being performed and competition for the latest prototypes is fierce.

One of the lead test pilots here, Jarik Windsor, has proven time and again that only a few can keep up with him. But competing against the other test pilots isn't always enough. Over the past few months several Knights and other celebrities have tried their hand in mock duels against him, all with predictable results.
Latest in the lineup is Knight Captain Danial Sylvan, who fought on Gesaur and was even the subject of a docudrama some months ago. Rather than duel on the ground or in space both men engaged in an atmospheric dogfight using newer Iratar multirole fighters as this was deemed to provide a fair fight. Within minutes the war hero Sylvan was defeated, proving that up and coming talent may render the older Knight obsolete before long if the war continues to drag on.

Mr Windor had this to say about his victory.
"You need skill, dedication and the wisdom to use them well in order to be successful in duels or in war. I'm not sure which my opponent was lacking today but it's clear he needed some time off the front lines."

>>29717262

>Sometime in the future

"Reynard, long time no see. I challenge you to a duel!"
"I accept, and choose the type: Wingmen still alive. I believe I win."

That damned jinx annoys me, and I can always dream of getting a chance to snub him...

>>29717262
>The political spin on that article

That's gotta smart for Sylvan.

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https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J669NW5

>>29701759
Did you want to transfer any other ships?
>>29701955
>transfer three then even things out so that 1-5th squadron each have 4 cruisers.
>>29702171
>This.

No other objections to the transfer?

Sonia's EX-K has been placed in 2nd squadron to act as their ECM ship. Each squadron in 3rd Wing now has ECM support.
The Blackbird has been upgraded with spare afterburners. They're the mass produced ones which means their power generation cant run at the same output as the original prototypes. The better quality drives are being reserved for ships that do actual fighting like the attack cruisers.

>>29714187
What would be the likely time frame? It shouldn't matter too much unless it has to chase after us for a few weeks.

>>29719956
Looks nice and smooth from here.

>>29719956
bump

bump

>>29719956
Are named pilots always better than unnamed ones? Especially 4th squad is pretty low on ships without redshirts.

>>29724904
Named pilots are usually your aces or squadron commanders, I do need to add more. Your Wing is chock full of aces atm with a few exceptions. Those in corvettes currently are less experienced. The pilots you did have in those have been transferred to 5th or the reserve wings and you've been given "rookies." Keep in mind your rookies have all been training for an extended period.

>Will we be getting more pilots for the wing so we can finally flesh out our squads to the max?
The real question here is what to do about Mike's squadron. Afterburner equipped ships are not overly common, and adding slower ships to Mike's unit would result in him having to constantly split his forces.
You could break Mike's squadron off into a special response group that is neither in 3rd or 5th Wings. A replacement squadron for 3rd Wing would be stuck with just corvettes for a couple of weeks unless you wanted to pull more cruisers and Frigates from the other squadrons.

>I really would like to introduce some of those new corvets without removing cruisers.
Most of the House Assault Corvettes are reserved for the 2nd and 4th Attack Wings as they've been fighting in Shallan space and are the first real dedicated units to use them. (Within the House.)
As DHI production in the Pandora cluster is yet to reach full output there are few available. The House won't be getting any more from the Gesaur shipyards until pretty much every other House has some. And with hundreds of Houses that will take a very long time.

Did you guys want to create a new Squadron and split off Mike's unit for a special response group?

>Winifred pushed for this to happen didn't she? Building us up militarily as thanks for the economic help we've been providing her.
Possible, or this is a test.

>>29726421
I don't suppose we could just stock up on Afterburners and then fit them on new Cruisers for his squad as we salvage them? Sure they are not exactly cheap but with a full squad of those speed freaks things would be nice. Giving a whole new meaning to "Hit hard, hit fast, hit often".

But yeah, keep his squad where it is until we can get it up to full strength with AB Cruisers.

As for Winifred... Paranoia sense is tingling. Don't do this to me or I'll start imagining plots around every corner.

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Rolled 15, 11, 1 = 27

Let's see how well Arron does in training you decide. There are plenty of other pilots waiting in line for a ship that didn't get kicked out of the accademy. He has been making use of the simulators for the past year off and on but he's still been doing his regular duties on top of that.
"Arron, hit the simulators with the rest of the pilots."
"Yes sir!"


Your units begin training at squadron, subwing, wing and fleet levels, switching things up to keep them on their toes. Most of the battles are hit and run attacks, be it on retreating ships, installations or larger groups of enemy ships.
After a few days of this you hit 3rd and 5th with an extended Blitz operation like Operation Typhoon was. Multiple hit and fades, sleep deprivation, lack of resupply. Even against more lightly defended targets all of it adds up. When crews lose their ships in the simulation you add them in again after awhile in reserve corvettes, or start up new sims running in parallel.
The "Ghost group" slowly swells in size after the first day as losses mount. Some might have figured they'd be finished their training for the day after getting killed in the main group but they're not so lucky.

roll 6d20

Rolled 8, 10, 8, 7, 11, 7 = 51

>>29728375

Rolled 14, 16, 15, 2, 4, 2 = 53

>>29728375
R_lee_emery_trainging.jpg

Rolled 13, 18, 13, 13, 14, 10 = 81

>>29728375
ROLLATHON

>>29728375
14, 18, 15, 13, 14, 10

Rolled 4, 14, 14, 14, 15, 14 = 75

>>29728689
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x6KApzgtjU

>>29728689
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x6KApzgtjU

Verilis Rah'ne leads her half of 3rd Wing at an above average level as you'd more or less expected, while Alex seems to be bordering on being some kind of tactical genious.

Daska's squadrons all do well considering they're newly formed and most only have a couple of days training on Frigates and Cruisers. They could certainly be doing better but it's a good start.

The starfighter squadrons from 3rd wing also do quite a bit better than their counterparts from 5th who are merely average. That wouldnt be so bad if they were facing just enemy starfighters but evading of thousand meter wide -or larger- balls of plasma is not something you can afford to screw up.

In the debriefings everyone lays out plans to help deal with the shortcomings before deployment.

While training on hit and fade tactics will contuinue you begin to move the units on to preparations for other types of fighting.
"If we get caught up in another big ship brawl we'll need some experience working with the heavies as well."

"With ships that big being nearby we may want to make sure everyone has brushed up on the trajectory analysis program." suggests Alex. "My squadron was making extensive use of it to help with evading return fire when sniping. It could help with avoiding friendly fire when around larger ships."

>Add additional training time for TAP usage?

You also get help from the others in designing Evasion and Ambush scenarios where your wings play rearguard for a retreating Battleship/Carrier group or for Super heavy cruisers trying to fight their way clear of a battle.

>>29729596
Sure additional TAP time is a good idea

>>29729596
Definitely add time. That thing is invaluable and can keep our ships operating in the field for longer.

If there's anyone who can't get to grips with it, send them for extra intensive TAP training.

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>>29729596
Lastly, you plan a special surprise even your squadron and Sub-Wing commanders don't even know about. When Ecord arrives from the Homeworlds from his spec ops training assignment you begin to lay out a scenario where the Wing's ships will be boarded when docking for resupply. A supposedly friendly base will turn out to be working for the Neeran like in the Lat'tham coup.
This may cause some PTSD among a few of your pilots but it will be worth it if they're prepared for anything.

Roll 4d20 for surprise counter boarding training

Rolled 14, 5, 18, 19 = 56

>>29729743
Lat'tham Mk2: NEERAN BOOGALOO

Rolled 19, 11, 13, 9 = 52

>>29729743

Rolled 19, 2, 5, 17 = 43

>>29729743

Rolled 6, 19, 1, 9 = 35

>>29729743
What could possibly go wrong? Also TAP training should be standard for the entire wing! Train them until they see it in their sleep

>>29729764
>>29729769
>>29729778
19, 11, 18, 19

Well, there's at least 2 teams prepared.

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>Sure additional TAP time is a good idea
>That thing is invaluable and can keep our ships operating in the field for longer.
>If there's anyone who can't get to grips with it, send them for extra intensive TAP training.
>Train them until they see it in their sleep
>What could possibly go wrong?

4th, 5th and 6th squadrons from 3rd Wing are taken the most off guard by the surprise boarding action. Which isn't to say they did horrible, just merely average. In Mike's defense he was on the ground not in space during the Lat'tham Coup. As for Alex it appears you found his weakness when it comes to sub-wing command.

"Ecord, I'd like you devote more time to making sure Alex's people are better prepared against future incidents like this."
"I'll take care of it."

The skill with which the others repelled the assaults was impressive to say the least. 5th Wing was far more prepared overall this time.

Next up is making sure the TAP program is not just available to everyone but installed aboard all ships. The Great Devourer already has a similar though distinct system installed designed for it's custom systems. Your other battlecruisers will have to borrow the program used by the other ships.

Speaking of which, the House has crewed your Battlecruisers and begun stocking conventional torpedoes for their launchers. The cargo bays are also being loaded with some of your SP torpedo stores. You're not giving them to the House and might only be selling a few of them in the Pandora cluster for some quick funds if needed.
The last of the armor and equipment has been shipped in to upgrade the Excalibur, and the Gungnir type has also been upgraded with aft torpedo launchers.

Do you have plans to name either ship? (Was that in the ship name survey the other anon did?)

What sort of training do you plan to put your command squad through? Keep in mind that the battlecruisers can not keep up with the attack cruisers at sublight. Micro jumps are your friend.

>>29730374
Combined wing tactics!
Basically, having them learn to work with the attack cruisers.

So mainly things like rapid jump plotting, speedy withdrawals, and maximizing alpha strike.

>>29730374
1. Supporting fleet actions that the wings might be attached to
2. Bailing out troubled squadrons.
3. Being the anvil. Remember that trick we used to lure out the defenders to capture that station? Imagine that, now with battlecruisers ambushing reaction forces.

>>29730517
Yeah, these.

The command squad can be our battering ram.

>>29730374
By the way, are we getting any of those Gunboat LSTs? Seems like the sort of thing they'd dump on Sonja.

>>29730374
>loaded with some of our SP torp stores

Wait, did we ever declare those torps? putting them on House-crewed ships...

Why do I sense problems?

>>29730557
More like the coup de grâce. Cruisers charge in and take the initial attention and when the enemy is focused on them in comes the BCs and just crush anything not paying attention to them.

Then again with BC supperior armor and shields they should work well with taking some of the first fire while the afterburner squad gets close and mess up their lines.

Anyways, dodging 101 should be important to learn well as I see that being a limitation for the BCs. And hitting enemys with our big guns without hitting our own ships zipping by close.

>>29730651
We did not to my knowledge. To my knowledge we where taking most of them up to be sold in the Pandora cluster or so.

>>29730502
>>29730517
>anvil
>>29730557
>battering ram.
>>29730701
>More like the coup de grâce.

So a mix of heavy damage dealing or the occasional party tank.

>Anyways, dodging 101 should be important to learn well as I see that being a limitation for the BCs.
Indeed. You don't fly Battlecruisers, you drive them. Without the shield upgrades the Gungnir would have been cored by Plasma cannon fire back in the Smugglers Run and still almost was.

>>29730638
>By the way, are we getting any of those Gunboat LSTs? Seems like the sort of thing they'd dump on Sonja.
Your Wing already has a few missile boats you've salvaged along with LST's. Any extras would be given to 5th Wing. Patrol boats are not ideal for front line combat and will be kept back around Surakeh or Tourta.

>>29730651
>Wait, did we ever declare those torps? putting them on House-crewed ships...
>Why do I sense problems?
Not if you're firing them at the enemy and the House doesn't have to pay for them.

>>29730701
>To my knowledge we where taking most of them up to be sold in the Pandora cluster or so.
According to the vote most of them will be kept for use by the company or your personal starships. Only some will be sold in the Pandora cluster.

>>29728375
You know, with Arron's average level piloting skills he might be better at the helm of a Battlecruiser than an attack cruiser, as much as he might prefer the latter.

I need to go pick up my car. Roll 4d20 for training your Battlecruiser crews on attack and defense. Average of 3.

>>29730701
I'd personally rather keep our private BattleCruisers in reserve. I doubt they're crewed by veteran forces, and I imagine we'll have to retire Great Devourer from the front for teething problems and damage at various points.

If we get into a fight and all three of our battlecruisers are forced to quit the field for repairs (or worse) we're either removed from the field or pulling a reserve ship that will at best be a cruiser.

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Rolled 17, 6, 20, 19 = 62

>>29731231
>Your Wing already has a few missile boats you've salvaged along with LST's. Any extras would be given to 5th Wing. Patrol boats are not ideal for front line combat and will be kept back around Surakeh or Tourta.
I was actually referring to the close air support modification to the LST that we came up with. Pic related.
I figure if they perform well enough there might be a market for a purpose built version we can go into ourself.

Rolled 1, 16, 14, 17 = 48

>>29731231

Rolled 17, 12, 1, 8 = 38

>>29731231

>>29731231
>I need to go pick up my car.
Good luck!

>>29731338
>>29731363
>>29731397


Average of 3:
11.67, 11.34, 11.67, 14.67

Not that bad.

>>29730638
>By the way, are we getting any of those Gunboat LSTs? Seems like the sort of thing they'd dump on Sonja.
>>29731338
>I was actually referring to the close air support modification to the LST that we came up with. Pic related.

>You send the idea along to R&D. Maybe they could modify LST's or landing corvettes for this.

Landing corvettes are smaller than blocky standard corvettes to make them more aerodynamic. They're also more rare. Most LST's are too small to carry more extensive weapon arrays in addition to troops and vehicles, their primary reason for existing. They do already have a decent armament of particle beams and missile launchers.
It's going to take some time for R&D to develop the add-ons and modifications necessary to increase the firepower of existing LST's, or build some with reduced troop capacity.

Give it a few months in game.

>>29731338
>>29731363
>>29731397
The crews of your battlecruisers are capable, and while on the defensive the Excalibur can certainly do well, but neither crew are anything incredible. The important thing is that they're not a bunch of useless rookies, which you wouldn't have time for.

What did you guys want to do with Arron?
While a majority of people did want to use him as a pilot, there was plenty of comments about wanting to make sure he didn't want to take the place of a more competent pilot. At the moment, you have plenty of those.

On an unrelated note it seems the Alliance observers have arrived. If you want you can select which Faction the observer on your ship is from, they just can't be from your Faction.

Terran
Rovinar
Republic
Kavarian
PCCG
Shallan
South Reach League
Norune
Krath

>>29732973
[x] Terran

A fork of Versa would be cool.

>>29732973
[x] Rovinar, no doubt about it.

I don't really like the Terrans. More so since they will most likely come to blows with us for the stolen tech sometime in the future. Besides who wouldent want martial lizards with natural mohawks on their ship to boost moral?

Besides, everyone else is a sneaky bastard. Especially those Norune.... And the Krath... And the pirates-who-are-no-longer-pirates. Kraths freak me out, they might impersonate us!

>>29732973
Shallan.
The fact that we directly or indirectly spent 100 million on constructing housing for refugees will make them amiable.

>>29732973
[x] Kavarian

IRATAR STRONK

>>29732973
[x] Rovinar

We seem to get along better with them than with most of our own faction.

>>29732973
Shallan!

Did we ever request SP variable yield kinetic strike packages?

>>29732973

>Arron
Sit down and have a chat with him, in private, rank not an issue.

What does he want to do? If he wants to stay with the House and be a pilot, we might have to wait until we can wrangle up another ship crew for him. If he wants to join the Alliance, I believe we could try and put in a good word for him and possibly provide a ship if they have some crew to spare for it.

Of course, he is welcome to run escort missions for our company any time he is free and willing to do so.

>Alliance Observers
Any chance we can request someone we've worked with before?

If not, I'd say Krath, Rovinar or Shallan.

>>29732973
>Rovinar

>>29733154
This is >>29733154 here.

Changing my vote to [x] Krath

>>29732973
>On an unrelated note it seems the Alliance observers have arrived. If you want you can select which Faction the observer on your ship is from, they just can't be from your Faction.

It's probably best to run a survey for this.

Kavarian or Shallan would be the obvious choices. Krath might be cool though.

Will this observer have any notable skills of their own?

Faction choice votes always seem to bring in a lot of people.

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>>29733622
For orbital bombardment? Yes I believe so.

>>29733833
I figured as much.

I've been attempting to work out a tech tree since forever. I know a few of you have found the unfinished R&D page I put on the wiki but left unlinked to anything else.

Some people from Alliance R&D are here and want to know what sort of technology the various crews and ship captains feel would help them when fighting out on the front lines. This list is incomplete and there isn't room to list everything on it at this time. There are subcategories of most sections (especially the weapons) or parts of each tech are being worked on. If you have suggestions for things feel free to say so.

Which areas would you like more development towards? This is unrelated to your House R&D projects.

>Cont.

1) [+] Weapons

1.1 - Laser / Light weapons
1.2 - Particle Beam
1.3 - Phased beams
1.4 - Plasma
1.5 - Ballistic (Overlap with small arms)
1.6 - Missile & Torp* (Includes all SP tech)

2) [+] Engines / Propulsion

2.1 - Drive output
2.2 - Repulsor thrust acceleration
2.3 - Afterburners
2.4 - Emergency Thrusters
2.5 - High Maneuver Drives [Requires reverse engineerd Neeran corvette, almost complete]


3) [+] Systems & General Tech

- Shields
- Intertial compensators (increased maneuver & acceleration)
- Repulsor / Tractor
- ECM & Jamming
- ECCM & Sensors
- Teleporters (Level 2-3 for Reciever platforms?)
- Stasis tech
- Rapid Construction Systems
- Mining & Materials processing

4) [+] Hull & Structure

4.1 - Armor
4.2 - Structural strength/weight
4.3 - Modular Hull Structure (Cross Faction compatability)
4.4 - External Modules (Jamming, ECCM, Weapons, support systems)
4.5 - LST's, Light Attack Craft, Light transports
4.6 - Corvette & Frigate Development
4.7 - Cruiser & Battleship Development
4.8 - Medium & Heavy Cruiser Development
4.9 - Super Heavy Cruiser Development
=4.9.1 - Carrier/Mobile Repair Dock [Current high priority]
=4.9.2 - Foundry Ship
=4.9.3 - Mobile Gun Platform
=4.9.4 - Defense platform
=4.9.5 - Large scale weapon mounts / Siege weapons

5) [+] Planetary Defense

5 - Planetary shields
5 - Orbital platforms (Lvl 3 for shield platforms?)
5 - Modular Forward Base[MFB]
5 - SP Drop Pods

6) [+] Vehicles & Small craft

6 - Starfighter: Inteceptor, bomber, ground, multirole
6 - Heavy Walkers & Super heavy tanks
6 - Tanks
6 - IFV's

7) [+] Small arms & Infantry Tech

7.1 - Power Armor (JJ-Replsor upgrades)
7.2 - Power Cell Armor
7.3 - Body Armor
7.4 - Small Arms

>>29734622
>1.6 - Missile & Torp* (Includes all SP tech)

Let's REFINE the hell out of SP torpedoes so the Neeran shields don't stop them any longer.

>- Rapid Construction Systems
We just need more of everything to throw at the Neeran at this point. Now the Dominion's fully mobilising, I don't see manpower being too much of an issue, but being able to pump out new warships and update older houses will be a critical turning point.

>>29734622
>- ECCM & Sensors
We really need something that can deal with Neeran stealth fields.

>>29734622
>1) Weapons
Phased beams seem to be the best all-round for ship-to-ship vs. the smaller Neeran vessels, whereas plasma is the way to go against things that can't dodge it.

>2) Engines
Emergency thrusters are pretty good and Afterburners have their uses but I'd mostly support the High Maneuver Drives

>3) Systema
Shields all day and twice on Sundays

>4) Hull
Dunno really

>5) Planetary defense
Orbital platforms provide the most utility

>6) Vehicles
Fighters are cool but IFVs are also important

>7) Infantry
Small arms and power cell armor. Power armor doesn't exist in great enough numbers and power cell armor is almost as good for short engagements. Infantry weapons actually capable of reliably harming the foe would also be nice.

Overall most important might be SP torpedoes that work against Neeran followed by planetary defense platforms.

It's a tall order but I wonder if we could figure out some kind of supercavitating projectile that can punch through the Neeran gel shield?

>>29734622
1.3 phased beams
2.5
Shields
Dunno about hull
Orbital Platforms (also, whoever suggested SP Drop pods should be shot. You use SP strike packages to target shield generators then use normal pods.)
6) Fighters
7) Small arms and power cell

>>29734552

I have a question for the alliance R&D people.

Has anyone tried launching some of those Kavarian SP-sensor things (used by allies against that one Warlord Super Heavy) into Neeran super-heavy 'jelly' shields to try and get readings on just what is letting them stop SP torps?

Have 'our' Neeran been forthcoming with any tech to help us, or are they still being useless and only causing trouble?

>>29734784
>Let's REFINE the hell out of SP torpedoes so the Neeran shields don't stop them any longer.
>>29734962
>Overall most important might be SP torpedoes that work against Neeran
>>29735177
>It's a tall order but I wonder if we could figure out some kind of supercavitating projectile that can punch through the Neeran gel shield?
A mix of SP and Ballistics tech then maybe? Until one of their shields are captured the best way to test these weapons would be to just make a bunch of different types and throw them at enemy supercaps to see which ones penetrate farther.

>All the other votes
Obviously I'll be putting up a survey of some kind for these.The horror.
The less tech you're asking them to concentrate on the more weight is going to be behind each one.

>>29735237
>(also, whoever suggested SP Drop pods should be shot. You use SP strike packages to target shield generators then use normal pods.)
The Terrans already have SP drop pods because it's not always feasible to shoot the shield generator. They just don't have many of them and they're limited in what they can carry.

>>29735270
>Has anyone tried launching some of those Kavarian SP-sensor things (used by allies against that one Warlord Super Heavy) into Neeran super-heavy 'jelly' shields to try and get readings on just what is letting them stop SP torps?
Yes. They readings they got were inconclusive. It initially registers similar to an energy shield then after that the readings start to give contradictory data before overloading or other system failures.

>Have 'our' Neeran been forthcoming with any tech to help us, or are they still being useless and only causing trouble?
They're providing what intel and long range tracking they can to keep tabs on general fleet movements. They've also provided cloaking fields for reverse engineering. Volunteers are working with some special forces groups but they are few in number.

Their city ships are being kept out of Shallan space.

>>29734622
Neeran Shield Theory:

Quantumn Shielding! It causes virtual particles to spontaneously blink into existences in front of oncoming ordnance, thus causing massive slowdown.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NHJTNXY

>>29735619
How do you plan to test this hypothesis?


>>29733714
>>Arron
>Sit down and have a chat with him, in private, rank not an issue.
>What does he want to do? If he wants to stay with the House and be a pilot, we might have to wait until we can wrangle up another ship crew for him. If he wants to join the Alliance, I believe we could try and put in a good word for him and possibly provide a ship if they have some crew to spare for it.
>Of course, he is welcome to run escort missions for our company any time he is free and willing to do so.

Arron it seems would like to be a pilot for the House. He went through pilot training five years before you did and didn't have much access to simulators again until last year. His skills as a sensor systems operator outmatch those at the controls of a starship.
Until he can prove he's worth giving a ship he's prepared to keep on training. Part of you suspects he may never make it up to the level of your elite units and competition to get in is increasing not decreasing. Still it never hurts to keep another spare pilot around.

>>29736292
Maybe he'd be pretty well suited to piloting an ECM/ECCM boat rather than a dedicated combatant?

>>29736292

Well, he is a good sensor systems operator and a decent pilot. Would that skill combination qualify him to be an ECM bird pilot or translate to such a thing? I recall our blackbird pilot was promoted from an ECM starfighter background?

>>29736292
Side note: You mentioned that Super Heavy Cruisers are being destroyed faster than they are being built (mostly because almost no one is building them). Am I correct in assuming that Heavy Cruisers are increasing pretty quickly because everyone has yards for those and the treaty limitations on the numbers just got slagged?

>>29736292
>How do you plan to test this hypothesis?
Honestly?
I have no clue. I just came up with an idea that sounds semi-plausible.
Unless there's specially tuned quantum sensors that can detect that sort of thing.

Here's another one. Kinetic Absorption shields. Adapted from the energy assimilation tech, it bleeds of incoming KE of projectiles passing through the shield. Now that, I can think of a test for. We know that the lower the energy the less the energy assimilator takes off, so send things through slow and fast, and see how much energy is removed on each.

>>29736367
>>29736394
He might also do well as a member of the light cruiser or carrier squadrons.

>>29732973
[X] Krath

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>>29736367
>>29736394
>>29736448
The only dedicated ECM ships you have atm are the the EX-K upgrades and the 1 Blackbird. Daska's Wing may have an opening for a pilot with better sensor & Electronic warfare skills.

I also remember a suggestion for a version of the Hunter/Errant class ship that was a dedicated EW platform. You have a damaged one as part of your shark starship collection that could be customised for that. Mind you this will endanger your collection!

>might also do well as a member of the light cruiser or carrier squadrons.
Possible, though they wouldn't give him a Light Cruiser, maybe a combat Frigate.

>>29736413
Yes and no.
The Terrans, Rovinar and Dominion are the only real factions that use Heavy Cruisers, and the Dominion has the most of them since the other Factions made use of more captured super heavies. Mind you the Terrans and Republic also use Heavy Carriers so this largely negates this advantage.
Construction has started on five new shipyards to produce Ascendancy class Heavy Cruisers. House Helios has received orders to convert a full dozen of them to mount their siege cannons, possibly with modifications.

Construction of Heavy cruisers is slow though. The Kavarians designed their super heavy cruisers to be constructed and assembled incredibly quickly but were of low quality. Heavy cruisers are normally top of the line ships and take time to build but are very tough. The Dominion may have only launched a dozen since the start of the Invasion.

The Terrans have produced 4 Heavy carriers under license and 2 Punisher class Heavy Cruisers.
The Rovinar have produced 6 Heavy cruisers, each of which is armed with a siege cannon.
The Republic has launched 8 Heavy Carriers and refurbished an equal number of super heavy cruisers with plasma cannons. They've built 250 Medium cruisers though.
Production is accelerating but it's taking time.

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Did a rough draft. I fixed the scale so that it's more accurate now. 16 pixels per inch. Gotta figure out where to put the magazines, radiators, ejection port and stuff like that.

This thing is going to have a GIGANTIC ammo capacity. We could easily fit a triple stack for the heavy slugs, which would fit hundreds of rounds. On each side of the gun there is a magazine for the small slugs. It's designed so that the attachment point is the same as a normal magazine, and these ones are simply longer. So if you happened to run out you could replace it with a smaller one and keep shooting.

How many shots can a normal mass driver get out of a power cell? There will be a pulse pistol cell in the grip and several in the stock (rifle sized maybe). But with so much ammo I'm guessing we would need to have a much bigger battery or some kind of cable to attach it to power armour.

>>29737056
What did the Shallans use? They weren't around during the war that led to the capture of all those Super Heavies. Do they just use medium cruisers?

>>29737167
for some reason i imagine the engineers sending up a potential design up to Sonia, and receiving a reply of "good but needs more sharks!".

>>29737167
As I understand it, the standard rounds are fed via magazines ala the G11 method, just with an extra one at the rear.

It would probably be best to move the mass driver rounds to the rear, making it a bullpup, you could considerably shorten it by doing that, and with repulsors and SCIENCE, you wouldnt need a lot of room for the receiver and action to move, so you could have it at the back of the stock, while the standard rounds feed into it from above

>>29737167
On the black widow folding down to half length, isn't the magazine in the pistol grip since it's just shaving bits of metal off a block of titanium or whatever? Magazines for the repulsor rifles would not fold.


>On each side of the gun there is a magazine for the small slugs. It's designed so that the attachment point is the same as a normal magazine, and these ones are simply longer. So if you happened to run out you could replace it with a smaller one and keep shooting.
You have 3 ammo sizes in the same gun barrel? That might work in a straight repulsor based weapon, but if you're using mixed chemical/repulsor acceleration you need a chamber the bullet's not going to just bounce around it when the explosives go off.

>How many shots can a normal mass driver get out of a power cell?
More than a magazine holds so a couple hundred.

>>29737264
Yes, their Medium cruisers borrow some elements from Republic ones but are a bit heavier. They pack more armor and engines along with 2-4 plasma cannons depending on the size is installed. There are also 8 spinal mount heavy phase cannons. One of these ships can kill two Faction battlecruisers with the same alpha strike. The Shallans spared no expense when they designed it and they are much sought after.

Most of their fleet relies on Battlecruisers which packs a spinal mount Republic plasma cannon or a Fusion cannon. (These were developed out of their original system defense light cruisers that carried a large disposable nuke pumped fusion cannon. Those are classed as Legacy ships since they were built with early tech developed from what Mercenaries gave them.)

>>29737633
>On the black widow folding down to half length, isn't the magazine in the pistol grip since it's just shaving bits of metal off a block of titanium or whatever? Magazines for the repulsor rifles would not fold.
it technically has no magazine, but a material reserve in the rear of the stock that it shaves material off of for its ammunition, such a reserve and the way its used could last thousands of shots, the only concern is heat and wear on moving parts/barrel life

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>>29737733
Close enough I suppose.

I am still concerned about mixed ammo sizes on the same weapon. That could just be my inner /k/. You could have a system in the rifle that changed the shape of the interior when switching between sizes but that just seems like something waiting to go wrong.


Rovinar and then Shallan are in the lead for the Alliance observers. Some minimal support for Krath, Kavarian and Terran.

Tech people are voting for seems to be:
Torpedoes
High Maneuver Drives
Power Cell Armor
Phased beams
Rapid Construction Systems

That's for the Alliance side, meanwhile you still have some tech options to take care of with the House and it's Allies.

At the moment you have 6 points to spend on Faction R&D. You can put a maximum of 2 points on any tech. You can also try to influence allies or other people you know to increase the number of points assigned.

>>29737633
They never really specify where the mass effect guns keep the mass block but it's probably at the base of the barrel.

After giving it some though I think it would be wiser to drop the chemical portion of the rifle. Repulsor weapons don't need a breech, bolt, ejector or rifling. So if you add all of these to a mass driver you gain the ability to fire chemical rounds at the cost of increased weight. But the whole point of being able to do that is to bypass energy drain, and if you know you will be facing that it wouldn't be a good idea to bring a mass driver at all. You would be better off just taking a regular antitank rifle and use the weight saved to bring more ammo.

So instead of having a really heavy antitank rifle which is also a mass driver. We have a mass driver with a heavier barrel that can also launch 20mm splinter shells. This greatly simplifies the design, so I'll work in the changes.

>>29738216
>>29738229
You could still have chemical propellant for the largest size rounds

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>>29738216
MEIN SUBMISSION

>>29738216
will their be a survey or do you want us to vote here

>>29738303
smart, its larger rounds that we want the extra kick for

>>29738216
DHI PCCG Shipyard +2
House Posat Armour Systems +2
Faction Politics +2

>>29738216
>I am still concerned about mixed ammo sizes on the same weapon.
Could always go the way of the S.P.I.W project or the OICW program, with a smaller small calibre (relatively) normal gun, attached to the big mass driver

>>29738216
> 1 to DHI Advanced Drives
> 1 to SP Torp Production Lv2
> 2 to Posat Ablative/Reactive Armor
> 1 to ACRV Maneuver Mod
> 1 to DHI PCCG Shipyard