>>35368274
FOR HOUSE AND DOMINION

Take the shot.

>>35368274

Is it a buck or a doe?

If buck, take shot.

If doe, let it go. (so we have more bucks to shoot at in the future!)

>>35368274
>Do you take the shot or let it go?

Let it go. We already shoot enough stuff.

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You take the shot and soon the buck is down. It doesn't take long for you and Petras to get to it and get it ready to haul back to the lodge.
"You're a good enough shot that should try shooting with iron sights some time." The older man tells you.
When you get back you can see that his preferred rifle doesn't even have a mounting point for a modern scope, and certainly doesn't have a HUD link.

It takes some work but you learn how to clean a deer. It should help if you're ever stranded in the wilderness somewhere. The venison should still be put through a food processor to be sure it isn't diseased in some way which Amello initially balks at but agrees it would be safer, especially if your sister and her friends or other family members visit.

"The government still wants to maintain this deer cull up for another month if the levels don't drop. There aren't any predators to keep their numbers in check."

"Maybe I should pick one up the next time I'm on the front lines or South Reach." You joke.
The fines for transporting such an animal here would start in the tens of thousands you'd bet.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=59UWF2t5CjQ
When not aboard ship you've been attempting to keep in shape by taking hikes or jogs around your land. Jogging isn't exactly ideal through the more mountainous areas, but at the lower altitudes near the edges of the property it's quite a bit better. The air isn't noticeably thinner on your property but it should be enough to help a bit with lung capacity.

This is all letting you build up a better picture of where everything is and letting you take time to enjoy the sights.

Bekka and her friends are also spending time out on your land occasionally. Your sister wants an aerocar (or a small assault shuttle) so that they can visit more often. Your mother is of the opinion that they can use the taxi on scheduled days so as not to cause problems for your security. Mom is all too aware that the Lodge has been heavily upgraded with defensive measures.

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Even with everything going on you still manage to find time to visit your old school. It's been on your mind for a few months. The high schools are apparently booked for guest speakers at the moment but your primary school is more than happy to have someone visit.
They're probably less worried about kidnapping attempts as a result of your visit than those geared towards the older children.

Your prepared speech needs to be edited with the help of one of the teachers to make it a bit more age appropriate. They don't want to have parents complaining later about some of your stories, such as that one time aboard the Forbearance.

The children seem to be fairly enthusiastic about everything you tell them from your adventures in the Smugglers Run and visiting far off worlds to a few things about the current war.

Finally the kids are allowed to ask some questions. Letting some of the younger ones ask things may have been a mistake but you'll still try your best.

"What's your favourite colour?"
"Have you ever killed somebody?" This one must not have been paying attention.
"Did you died? Did it hurt?"
"Were you drafted or did you enlist? And were you living at the time?"
"Joey I think you mean "where" were you living at the time." points out the teacher.

"What did you think of officers or fellow soldiers when you were serving with them?"

One of the eight grade girls asks you the following; "What is your opinion on implementation of democratic reforms in the foreign territories our House currently occupies?"

>What say?

>>35369181
>Case by case. Both regarding which democratic reforms and which territory.

>In general, local culture (and as part of that government) should be preserved, but integrated. Often, parts that don't fit have to be changed.

>>35368274
FOR HOUSE AND DOMINION!

>>35369181

>"Were you drafted or did you enlist? And were you living at the time?"
"I enlisted before the whole thing started to get hot, for the chance to pilot a Starcraft. Not the most patriotic or though out reason, but it got me flying some nice fast ships."

>"What did you think of officers or fellow soldiers when you were serving with them?"
For the most part, the people I served with were nice folks, some others were sometimes hard to deal but you learn to get along someway.

>>35369181
>What say?

"I must admit I haven't been able to catch up with most internal J-D topics of interest since my return from the front lines.

However, I understand these territories fought hard and persistently against the occupation by Warlord forces. They did this at the cost of many lives, those killed by the occupying forces in retaliation included uninvolved and innocent civilians more often than not.

Unsurprisingly, they want to see the things they died and fought so hard for to come to fruition in some way.

I am sure it's in our best interest if the people living in the occupied territories want to be part of J-D in the long run. It is likely a good idea to show them they can find the future they fought for as part of our House.

The process to integrate them successfully into House J-D will probably require concessions from both sides, so I'm not generally opposed to reforms to accommondate the new territories.

Unfortunately, until I actually read what these reforms entail, this is really all I can say about the matter."

>>35369181
>these questions

>colour
Blue, no! Yelloooooowww

>killed somebody
"This does happen in combat."

>Did you died/hurt?
"Being shot, stabbed or otherwise wounded is not a pleasant experience."

>enlist/draft?
I believe we enlisted before the draft? And we lived, well... here?

>fellow officers
"I've served with too many officers and fellow soldiers to keep count, but I've nothing but respect for the men, women and dro'all I've served with in the name of J-D. Terrans can be a bit annoying, though."

>eight grade girl's question

"Are you with the school newspaper?"

If so, good job.

"I'm afraid my time at the front has left me a touch out of date on the current situation in any such territories you may be referring to. For now, I'm afraid that I can not give any educated opinion on the matter."

If this kid is in the school newspaper, could we get her involved in any press conference we hold and possibly give her a chance to go to Surekah to interview some of those council members or even the Governor?

>colour
Blue-Green, like the ocean.

We still have those weird nanite-grey eyes because of the implants right?

"Being shot, stabbed or otherwise wounded is not a pleasant experience."

>were you drafted
"I enlisted before the whole thing started to get hot, for the chance to pilot a Starcraft. Not the most patriotic or though out reason, but it got me flying some nice fast ships."
A couple of the teachers trade looks but they're not frowning or responding negatively.
"As for where I lived it was well... here. This area. The same area you live in."

>Fellow officers
"For the most part, the people I served with were nice folks, some others were sometimes hard to deal but you learn to get along someway.
I've served with too many officers and fellow soldiers to keep count, but I've nothing but respect for the men, women and dro'all I've served with in the name of J-D. Terrans can be a bit annoying, though."

"Are you with the school newspaper?" you reply after being asked about reforms in the new territories.
"Yes."
"Good job. My opinion is that they should be handled case by case. Both regarding which democratic reforms and which territory.
In general, local culture (and as part of that government) should be preserved, but integrated. Often, parts that don't fit have to be changed."

"What about reforms in similar territories held by other Houses?" the same girl asks.
"Julie, one question per student."

The other questions after that are simple ones by comparison. One of the kids asking if you could fire your pistol results in cheers of agreement from the others, then boos as they are told by the teachers that you can't as it would damage the gymnasium.

>If this kid is in the school newspaper, could we get her involved in any press conference we hold
It's certainly possible, though it would have to be done so as not to conflict with school hours.

>>35369779
>If this kid is in the school newspaper, could we get her involved in any press conference we hold
It's certainly possible, though it would have to be done so as not to conflict with school hours.
Do so?

>and possibly give her a chance to go to Surekah to interview some of those council members or even the Governor?
That would be 3 weeks there and another 3 back on most transports. It would take up most of a kid's mid-year vacation. You could give her contact info for the Surakeh landowners. It doubtful the Governor would agree to an interview.

>Give her the info? Y/N?

>>35369799

Offer to ask the people in question if we can turn over their contact info, or to give them her information.

You -never- give out someone else's contact info to a random journalist without asking them. Same for telemarketers and people that want investments. Many people may consider that unprofessional or rude.

>>35369799
Nah, do you really think people would agree to get interviewed by an elementary schooler?

>Offer to ask the people in question if we can turn over their contact info, or to give them her information.
Lady Ainsley agrees to contacting the girl but her info is not to be given to anyone else. The others are wary of dealing with anyone in the Centri cluster they haven't met.

After getting out of the school you're contacted by Baron Winifred who wan't to meet at a remote location outside the capital city.

Arriving there you find that it's part of a farm, one of many that surround the outer walls and fortifications, helping to feed the metropolis. In the basement of one of the out buildings a mobile medical suite has been set up.

"This is the most secure location I could find in the homeworlds besides my own holdings."Winifred informs you. "I hope you don't mind I brought a guest, there are few people who should have access to what you know."

Duncan stands up after adjusting a few components on the equipment. "It should be ready to go."

The two of you trade greetings then you get set up for the scan. It doesn't last long but it makes your head feel as though every cell in it is buzzing and might fly apart.

"Scan complete. So, who get's a copy?"

[ ] Sonia (On Devourer or in the bunker)
[ ] Sonia's parents
[ ] Winifred
[ ] Duncan
[ ] Other

>>35370088
>[X] Sonia (On Devourer or in the bunker)
>[X] Winifred

"Once again you're holding my life in your hands."

>>35370045
I concur. Why would we go so far out of our way for a semi-random girl?

>>35369799
I say, give her an invitation to our press conference. Don't do anything more.

>>35370088
[x] Sonia (On Devourer or in the bunker)
[ ] Winifred
[ ] Duncan
Either Winifred or Duncan. Don't matter which. I would also like a diagnostic of our brain. We were subject to weird brain-related technology when helping that Ship AI fight, or being knocked unconscious by the Archive in the Worldship.

>>35369779
>One of the kids asking if you could fire your pistol results
They've gotta have an outside area, right?
I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if we showed them.

>>35370088
>[x] Sonia
Can we have a copy that gets sent to Winifred in the event of our death as well?

>>35370088
[ ] Sonia (On Devourer or in the bunker)
[ ] Sonia's parents
[ ] Winifred
These three. Cause Our parents deserve a copy and are smart enough to keep it safe.

>>35370088
I disagree with giving Winifred a copy. Should she turn on us or we on her that will come back to bite us in the ass. I would rather have a hard copy in Sonia's secret safe of secrets and one in a hidden bank deposit that is to be open in case of Sonia's death.

But yeah, anyone but us running around with a copy of our brain makes me incredibly uneasy about the future.

Also
FOUR HOUSE AND DOMINION!

Okay, so no contact info for the kid but invite to press conference?

>>35370268
>They've gotta have an outside area, right?
Yes but the surrounding area is classed as residential which could be problematic. You'd essentially need to contact everyone within a block of the school to warn them and avoid police calls.
Gunfire on school grounds is rarely a good thing.

Seeing mixed support for giving Winifred a copy. Do I really have to survey this one?

>>35370304
>Can we have a copy that gets sent to Winifred in the event of our death as well?
Yes, possible.
>>35370327
>I would rather have a hard copy in Sonia's secret safe of secrets and one in a hidden bank deposit that is to be open in case of Sonia's death.
So your parents would know about this one or it would just be mailed to them?

This does bring up the issue of your Will. How long (or soon) after you're declared MIA can your family have you declared dead? Should you go MIA what happens to the company?

>>35370475
>This does bring up the issue of your Will. How long (or soon) after you're declared MIA can your family have you declared dead? Should you go MIA what happens to the company?

That really depends on a variety of factors. Are POWs allowed to send mail home?

>>35370475
Let's set it at one year.

If we return after that period, do we get our holdings back?

>>35370798
Forgot to type the rest, but the company should go to the next oldest sibling.

>>35370823
Make it so, however, that mom and Dad hold it until Bekka becomes a legal adult before getting it.

>>35369664
>We still have those weird nanite-grey eyes because of the implants right?
Steel grey, and yes you do.

"Duncan, what have you been up to?"

"Plenty of projects that I'm not allowed to talk about. You know how it is. I think they'd probably even want to kill YOU if I told you about them all."
"Really?"
"I mean they probably wouldn't but they would want to. I have been working on another update for your ocular implants. Other people in the House should be able to make use of them now with no chance of someone breaking in." He quietly adds "I hope."

>>35370575
>That really depends on a variety of factors. Are POWs allowed to send mail home?
So far no.

>>35370798
>If we return after that period, do we get our holdings back?
You can, though it won't be instantly unless people want you back ASAP because of major mismanagement of the land and company.

>>35370897
>mom and Dad hold it until Bekka becomes a legal adult before getting it.
If there are no disagreements with this?

>>35370475
>Do I really have to survey this one?
Well it seems I am the only one that is outright against giving Winifred a copy but that's just cause I am a bit paranoid against all nobles.

>This does bring up the issue of your Will.
Well it should only be allowed if we are 100% confirmed to be KIA. Else shit would be awkward with two Sonia running around the place and I don't think Winifred would be able to handle the headache that would bring. But yeah around a year or two sounds good.

In case of MIA the companys passes on to dad since he has some experience with that kind of stuff. Don't even know what mom does. If he is dead it should pass to mom and if mom is dead it should pass to Bekka under the supervision of someone until she is of proper age to control it. Like say when she hits 18. Day to day operations fall to Nikolov and London but that is really no change from how things already are.

>If there are no disagreements with this?
I can agree on that if my own similar idea does not get approval.

>>35370972
>Duncan
"Just stay safe."

>So far no.
Then let people only use it if Sonia's confirmed KIA. It's not like the company will break down without her.

>If there are no disagreements with this?
None here.

>>35370475

>Give winifred a copy

Could we give her a copy that is locked until either our father, mother or bekka unlocks it?

>declared dead

Is 7 years still the standard for that?

>company if we go MIA

I'd say that in the event Sonia goes MIA, her role in the company is to default to her father. As is, the company can and mostly does run itself, with only major choices falling onto Sonia when it comes up. In the event our Father is also dead, defaults to our Mother. Her too? Someone we trust until Bekka or our brother comes of age and wants to take on the responsibility? Possibly with RSS founding officers getting a collective veto against anything that would harm the company?

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For the moment you take two copies of your scan data. One that you'll hide for your own use, another that will be mailed to either your parents or Winifred in the event of your death. You'll make sure to update your Will when you get out of here.

The scan data is wiped from the medical equipment then over written multiple times before the memory core is ejected. Duncan kicks it over towards a far wall then shoots it with his pistol.
"Try doing data recovery from that."

"Are we quite done here?" Asks the Baron.

"Almost." you reply.

Duncan finishes uploading the new implant data and your eye HUD reboots.
"Should be good as... used. I was going to say new but then I remembered what happened when you installed these things."

"I know you're not supposed to talk about it but are you working with the Alliance at all on some of your special projects?" You ask before leaving.

"Well, no. I don't work with the Alliance, that I can tell you. See you around Knight Captain."

"Just stay safe." you tell him. Winifred bid you goodbye as well then departs aboard a custom aerocar modified with weapons and armor. Damn, you didn't even know they made those.

On the flight back Duncan's comment about people thinking of having you killed off reminds you of a particular location up north you haven't visited in some time. That phone booth might have some jobs available.
On the other hand your landing berth for that Errant cruiser will be available in another day or two. Maybe you should double check the war bond drive will be ready.

[ ] Investigate phone booth
[ ] Onward to war bond drive

>>35371447
Feels like we should have people doing assassinations and espionage for us and not the other way around. Besides I don't want to potentially dirty our image without any sort of gain for us expect money at this time.

[X] Onward to war bond drive

>>35371447
[ x] Onward to war bond drive
What we need is political and public clout, not blood on our hands that could be used against us.
Only go to check to see if there are missions against us or our family and company.

>>35371447
[X] Onward to war bond drive

>>35371583
I don't think it works like that. Wasn't it basically a double-blind random deal?

You're there ground side in a shuttle when the bulky shark shaped cruiser descends from orbit. Should the worst happen you'll be relatively well protected. The same can't be said for some of the workers in the surrounding docks but there's very little chance of anything going wrong. The worst that could happen is a thruster accident.

Landing using repulsors the ship touches down. The landing pad is strong enough to support a fully loaded Y-type transport which is considerably larger so weight doesn't factor in. It isn't until the engines are shut down that everyone else breathes a collective sigh of relief. Landing a warship not technically rated for atmospheric flight can always be a bit tricky but some repulsor upgrades and systems modernisation were more than enough.

A day later the area is opened to the public and the media are called in along with hundreds of civilians wanting to see what all the fuss is about. Several of your Knights and other acquaintances are present and make sure to say a few words to tour groups to get them to buy war bonds.

You would prefer to call them "Victory Bonds" instead of war bonds but of well.

Struggling to come up with something to say you eventually settle on a few simple lines.

"Jerik-Dremine itself must be a unified and stronger House to survive the turbulent times. I've done my part buying war bonds to support J-D and even my own company, RSS, continues to steadily supply salvage to the House that can be used to fight the war.
Invest in your nation, invest in the might of the Dominion and it's continued expanse!"

After getting down from the podium you ask Alex what he thought.
"I've heard worse. It could be a bit longer though."

"You're welcome to give it a try." you tell him.

"I think I'll wait for the next group to arrive. You go ahead and see how everything else is going."

Looking around attendance levels seem to be stable. It may not be a huge boost to the war bond tour but every little bit helps.

Some of the media who came to help cover the bond drive attempt to change the topic to your success in fighting the enemy and your fleet's performance in the war thus far.

Do you have any comments you want to make?

One reporter asks about the microorganism that was picked up by your salvage ships while working for House Veritas and the danger it posed to the orbital Infrastructure of Surakeh. Specifically should your company be fined for the potential danger to the House it resulted in and should you stop helping House Veritas.

Redirect them to the RSS PR people? (That's what you hired them for.)

>>35372657
>Do you have any comments you want to make?

"I am glad the House has been able to provide my fleet with excellent personnel in every capacity and materiel our military could have only dreamed of a few years ago."

>microorganism

"I'm unfortunately not familiar with the laws regulating incidents like the one we experienced. Please do not hesitate to contact RSS PR if you would like to receive a detailed answer."

>>35372657
Simply state that all appropriate action have been talking and refer the man to our PR depart for any further questions

>>35372657
>One reporter asks about the microorganism
Redirect, we're here to gain good press for the war effort and not to talk about our private company.

>Do you have any comments you want to make?
Ofcourse, this is good press attention.

"When I took our boys and girls to the front I had one goal in mind. To keep them alive. It saddens me that not all of those that went to the front made it back home. However they knew as we all do one simple truth that keeps us going when times are hard. We fight so that you don't have to. So you do not have to live with the tyranny of the Neerans. We fight for all of you of the House. My successes in this is due me fighting with the best. There are few forces that can match the skill, valor and courage of my soldiers and it is an honor each time to face an enemy with them."

I'm thinking we appeal to peoples patriotism to the House, the skill of our forces and the fact we did not do this alone.

>>35372987
>"When I took our boys and girls to the front
That sounds really weird coming from somebody in their early twenties.

>>35372657
>comments
"It wasn't easy, but anyone can claw their way up."

>Microorganism
Ignore this

You start off with fairly short statements about fighting at the front then work yourself up to larger responses.
"It wasn't easy, but anyone can claw their way up."

"I am glad the House has been able to provide my fleet with excellent personnel in every capacity and materiel our military could have only dreamed of a few years ago."

"When I go to the front with those under my command I have one goal in mind. To keep them alive. It saddens me that not all of those that went to the front made it back home. However they knew as we all do one simple truth that keeps us going when times are hard. We fight so that you don't have to. So you do not have to live with the tyranny of the Neeran. We fight for all of you of the House. My successes in this is due to fighting alongside the best. There are few forces that can match the skill, valor and courage of our soldiers and it is an honor each time to face an enemy with them."

These seem to satisfy most of the reporters present.

>Microorganism
As much as you'd like to simply ignore this it needs to be directed to the proper place or it will keep being brought up.
"I'm unfortunately not familiar with the laws regulating incidents like the one we experienced. Please do not hesitate to contact RSS PR if you would like to receive a detailed answer."

>>35372657
>should RSS be fined for the potential danger

"As far as I am aware, potential danger is not currently something considered a fineable offense. I'm not quite certain that many companies could survive a change to that."

The ship will remain parked on the surface for the next week at minimum, hopefully providing plenty of time for war bonds to be sold and tours of the interior to take place. Given the vessel's status as a museum ship, much of the old equipment was left or repaired to much older standards. There have been requests from a few people willing to pay to spend a night or two aboard or to sign on as crew for a few months. Security will have to take a look to see if that's doable or not.

You meet up with Linda to see how she's doing later in the day as she goes to talk to some of the lawyers you've helped her hire.

"I didn't even know I was a Noble now." she explains at the meeting.

"Well have you been to any of the social events?" Asks the older woman in the expensive looking business suit. "High class dinners, exclusive events, anything that only status as a noble would provide you access to?"

"No, just the one bar where I ended up buying the land and it was pay your way in."

"Then that's probably a good thing. The low profile you've kept, relatively speaking, will certainly help. I think we have a solid case and there shouldn't be any problems."

Linda breathes a sigh of relief.

"That said, you should still be ready with additional financing should there be any complications."

You promise to help her take care of it, but if things get crazy you're going to put a top to it one way or another.
After that you and Linda hang out for the rest of the night to help get her mind off of the situation.

The next day you look into the Triad Situation. Groups like the triads continue their attempts to infiltrate Dominion space. The Homeworlds seem largely invulnerable, or your House does. Key areas where they might gain entrance are increasingly fortified by local gangs attempting to hang on.
Surakeh is less secure but between the PDF, militia, mercenaries and other military forces the House has there it's nearly as difficult.

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When it became public that a few militia commanders were taking bribes from heavily suspected members of off world gangs or criminal syndicates, they turned themselves in rather than face execution by their own troops.

Tourta is the most vulnerable. It has been confirmed that the Triads have set up a number of front companies on the planet at 3 of the major ports. Each is being watched by smugglers, other gangs and people working for the information brokers. It's quiet at the moment and there is little that could be used as justification to raid them.

Information brokers believe that an off world gang, probably not related to the triads, have begun recruiting among the Shallan refugees you're providing Housing for. Worse is that supplies of cigar bush are starting to be traded in the area.
Thankfully this is a less potent form that House botanists have been working on breeding with plans to distribute to rival Houses via the black market.

Do you want to offer the services of RTS to the planetary governor? You could also offer to help finance mercenaries as an option to keep your hands clean of the affair.
Or would you prefer stay out of it?

>>35374156
>There is little that could be used as justification to raid them.

Nonsense! I don't want any Triads close to our assets.

>Do you want to offer the services of RTS
Yes, yes I do. We could also try to recruit the Shallans into RTS, the PDF and the expedition fleet. I mean honest work has to be better than gang work and if they join the military they get the chance to fight back the Neerans.

>>35374156
Honestly, there are always going to be gangs no matter how hard law enforcement works, I'd just prefer the gangs to be local rather than interplanetary, they're weaker and divided that way.

Let's talk to the governor about focusing law enforcement efforts on off-world, rather than local gangs, a cause we're willing to hire mercenaries for.

>>35374156
>have begun recruiting among the Shallan refugees you're providing Housing for

What are we doing to keep the refugees busy?

Do we have schools etc for them? Can we ask the Shallan government for somebody who could check if there are ways to improve their situation?

>Worse is that supplies of cigar bush are starting to be traded in the area.
How bad is that stuff? Like tobacco?

>>35374156

Clearly, we need to find a way for the shallan refugees to help the war effort vs the Neeran.

We didn't set up any kind of governing system, police or fire departments for them, did we?

Sorry slight family emergency.

>>35374242
>Nonsense! I don't want any Triads close to our assets.

>>35374260
>Let's talk to the governor about focusing law enforcement efforts on off-world, rather than local gangs,
Unfortunately with them causing so little trouble at the moment it's a hard sell.
>a cause we're willing to hire mercenaries for.
Or perhaps not that hard of a sell.

>>35374301
>What are we doing to keep the refugees busy?
>Do we have schools etc for them?
Yes, but you know how kids can be. Also RSS and Reynard logistics can't employ everyone. There are more than a million and a half refugees on your land on Tourta.
Jobs are being made available whenever possible but there aren't enough and not everyone wants to join the military as an alternative.

On that note the Aries factory on Tourta is rumored to be refusing to take job applications from refugees or anyone else. It's fully operational and it's possible they brought in a good number of trusted employees from other operations but they may not have hired anyone local other than the crews that first built the factory.

>Can we ask the Shallan government for somebody who could check if there are ways to improve their situation?
They're of the opinion that the local government or the people who sponsored their relocation there should be able to find someone. They're somewhat preoccupied with their government barely hanging on the way it is.

>How bad is that stuff? Like tobacco?
Oh it's still lots worse than tobacco.

>>35374605
>We didn't set up any kind of governing system, police or fire departments for them, did we?
There are emergency services which refugees have been trained and continue to train in manning. The refugees have their own elders council. There is also a city council made up of representatives of the refugee housing and the previously existing smaller city along the coast.
Understandably there continues to be friction between them.

>>35375037
>On that note the Aries factory on Tourta is rumored to be refusing to take job applications from refugees or anyone else.
Well, we need to sort this situation out ASAP.

On a similar note, is there anymore land we could buy nearby to where the refugees live? Or any big infrastructure projects we can help fun? The construction industry is great for soaking up workers, at least for a time, while other parts of the local economy develop...

>>35375037
Random question, but do we have preorders and such for The HAG project from those that saw its testing? I wonder if it would make sense to establish a second line on Tourta to handle expected demand and supply jobs

>>35375122
>is there anymore land we could buy nearby to where the refugees live?
None available for sale. There is a housing industry boom in all of the major cities on the planet using conventional construction practices. Some refugees and locals are getting jobs that way.
>Or any big infrastructure projects we can help fun? The construction industry is great for soaking up workers, at least for a time, while other parts of the local economy develop...
You're invested in the housing production on Surakeh which is shipping completed buildings to Tourta providing plenty of work to the local populace there. Something people are very happy about. There is city planning going on for replacing infrastructure damaged a few years ago in the quarantine with some built for higher capacity.

At the moment the landowners on Surakeh still want to keep the influx of refugees to a minimum as they're still trying to deal with immigrants from the House homeworlds who actually have money.

>>35374242
>>35374260
So, raids on the triads strongholds with Mercenaries and teams of RTS volunteers? These would be backed up by small PDF teams to keep an eye on everyone.

How much of a split of Mercs/RTS forces would you like?

40/60
50/50
60/40
70/30

Keeping in mind that while some of your teams are quite experienced the majority are not.

>>35375385
>So, raids on the triads strongholds
No. Not that anybody will care, but.. yeah.

>>35375385
Can we just provide some money and be a silent partner in this one?

>>35375385
100% Merc, I don't really want this to be connected to us...

>>35375513
>No
Why not?

>>35375333
Pre-orders? Kinda doubtful, but it's been at the front lines ever since we left for home, it should spark interest at least. It's a tough sell because we still don't know much about it's basic abilities. I wanted Sonia to take it for a test drive back in the Maelstrom galaxy but that suggestion was kind of laughed off.

>>35375385
Hmm, not everyone wants to be a soldier and not everyone wants to be a factory worker either. What other kind of jobs would satisfy the remainder?

It might be worth looking into funding a university, primarily for the refugees but anyone else in the area too. If there are no jobs for them here they could at least learn a trade and get hired offworld. That would also support the war effort indirectly.

>Triads
I don't think we should raid them unless we can make it look like a gang turf war. Otherwise it makes it too obvious that Sonia has a vendetta. They're already being watched from all angles. Maybe we could put some contingency in place so that the moment they do anything untoward the governor moves to purge them off the planet.

>>35375513
>No. Not that anybody will care

>>35375626
>Can we just provide some money and be a silent partner in this one?
Certainly.

>>35375682
>100% Merc,
That's 2.

>>35375734
>wanted Sonia to take it for a test drive back in the Maelstrom galaxy
But you were largely raiding space based targets by that point with only a few exceptions.

>and not everyone wants to be a factory worker either.
There are jobs, just not necessarily for a sudden influx of a couple million. It takes time to find places for everyone. They're working on it.

>>35375734
>(not) unless we can make it look like a gang turf war.
>Maybe we could put some contingency in place so that the moment they do anything untoward the governor moves to purge them off the planet.

2 for, 2 against, one of those with conditions. Anyone else?

>>35375734
the problem seems to be that we don't have factory jobs. Ares apparently used locals to build the facility and then imported the actual factory workers, meaning jobs produced are zilch.

TSTG, how long was that contract with Ares for? I'm tempted to not renew their lease or otherwise ensure that facility produces local jobs.

>>35375871
Might actually be better to wait for a while since they have not actually done anything, yet. However once we have something on them we should come down hard on them wit the hammer.

>>35375990
>TSTG, how long was that contract with Ares for?
I'll have to re-check but it would have been 10 years minimum. Ultimately there's no telling just how many jobs that one factory would have created. Aries tends to keep quiet about who and how many they employ so that it's harder to bribe employees for internal secrets.

>>35376081
>Might actually be better to wait for a while since they have not actually done anything, yet. However once we have something on them we should come down hard on them wit the hammer.
Would this be okay with more people? Have a group of mercenaries (or cash for them) on speed dial ready for the governor to drop them?

>>35375871
So do we have preorders for the HAG? Or projected sales figures?

>>35376211
I'd be fine being a silent partner in providing the Gov with merc speed dial cash.


>Ares

When it comes time to renew the lease, we can request a ballpark figure as part of the negotiations.

>>35375333
>Random question, but do we have preorders and such for The HAG project from those that saw its testing? I wonder if it would make sense to establish a second line on Tourta to handle expected demand and supply jobs
>>35376365
>So do we have preorders for the HAG? Or projected sales figures?
I'm assuming this is both you? I was hoping to deal with the much more pressing/stalling concern first so that we could continue.

You have purchase requests for 7 of them. 3 from the House not counting the prototype, 2 from a Shallan General who has personal funds (or who stole them from a world that was being evacuated), and 2 from Alliance R&D. Most want to evaluate it under combat conditions.

Moving on to the Terraforming business while this is busy going nowhere.

>>35376560
Okay, carry on

"Lord Harmen will see you now." Announces the secretary.

You're in dress uniform, but wearing campaign ribbons instead of the full medals as that might be a bit excessive. You don't usually see Knights running around with a dozen medals jangling off them if they can help it.

"Knight Captain Reynard, we meet at last." The Planetary Governor steps away from a window and shakes hands without before directing you to a chair. He sits down behind a large sturdy looking desk which, though tidy, has very little available space on it due to papers, pens displays and other gear currently locked down flat.

A bit more of his bright red hair has turned while compared to when you saw him at your first ball attempting to stop a duel. His voice seems to dip into the whiny range occasionally which could be a bit annoying but with the amount of money this guy has, you doubt many are going to point this out.
"I'm surprised this is the first time we've actually had the opportunity to talk. My son seems to think very highly of you, especially aft that Lat'tham fiasco. There were several balls held last year while your group was home, I was surprised you weren't present for any of them. I wasn't the only one. Sometimes appearances have to be made for people to know you're interested in climbing the ladder.
Enough about that though, you have a business proposal. Given your success rate it should be entertaining."

You didn't have an actual sales pitch ready when you walked in, more of a list of very well thought out notes in point form and some information you picked up via your RSS business contacts in House Veritas.

Firstly you thank him for receiving you, that's important.

Next you make the observation that the House holdings are spread out too far, with South Reach potentially being in danger should things come to war with the other Houses. This is why you've come to the conclusion that the House needs more territory in the region.

>>35369799
>Nobody wants to dance with the head of a house at a ball, where such things are explicitly supposed to happen and we can have a private-in-public convo.

>Everyone wants to give an eighth grader who asks uncomfortable questions VIP access.

Jesus. What part of "Feudalism" doesn't /tg/ understand?

"I can hardly fault that logic but the problem has always been that other Houses are unlikely to ever part with more systems, especially after the negotiations Baron Winifred conducted to secure the current ones. Losing that moon base was quite a sacrifice to get us Surakeh but may have been worth it."

"There is one House that may part with some. I've procured data on worlds within House Veritas space suitable for Terraforming, particularly those at the edges of their territory. I believe there is a demand for the process your family has the capability to provide, and that Jerik-Dremine may even be able to gain worlds along with profits."

"House Veritas... this is a dangerous game you're playing at Knight Captain." the Governor replies warily.

"It could be. At the same time it could also be incredibly profitable for the House and might even allow us to increase our territory without any fighting. At the moment there should be practically no competition, after all Veritas doesn't trust anyone, and on top of that very few people trust them."

"And for good reason, they're known to harbour former terrorists. This could put a target on our backs."

You admit that possibility but as they say money talks. "They've proven that they'll follow financial contracts to the letter. They cant afford to do any different."
And if everything works out and you exploit them to gain a world or two other Houses might attempt to do the same, potentially improving their relations.
It could even stabilise the region if it doesn't make it worse, though this last bit is left unsaid.

You're prepared to support the effort financially and materially. RSS and Reynard logistics can provide transportation for equipment if he's worried about risking their own craft. It could even use the Anchorage as a base to land terraforming gear for an entire planet.

"I'd like to see some of the data you've collected. I'll have to talk to my board of directors." Replies Harmen looking thoughtful.

>>35377792
I'd have been all for dancing with that friendly Viscount. The head of the House of some knight that just challenged us to a duel over J-D insulting his House's honor? That pings as a bad idea.

And feudalism does include uplifting someone with a good mind or other favorable qualities, if they prove capable. That girl may have potential that could benefit the House or even Sonia directly.

>>35375871
Just wanted to throw my two cents in and say 100% Merc.

It could be a few days before you hear back from the Harmen family about their support for the deal. You're sure they'll go for it, but it's a question of how much support there will be internally. That could affect how the rest of the House sees your attempts to organise it.

Next up you need to establish a deal with House Pentaris for some of their House Kharbos ship designs. Although you may be primarily interested in their Attack Frigate upgrade and options to expand it with corvettes, you'll need to kick off an initial trade of ships to see if it can be sustained. Also so your House can conduct their own field tests of the craft.

The ships the other House wants the most are newer assault corvettes such as those DHI is producing, both in the Pandora Cluster and at your yard above Surakeh.

Are you willing to risk some of your personal funds by taking some of the ships your yard has built in order to trade them?
You could buy them off the company using your personal funds, get them for free by taking a hit to your profit margins, or you could ask the House to provide some to help establish a deal.

[ ] Buy using personal cash
[ ] Take hit to profit margin
[ ] Get House to pay for them

Stopping here for the night. Not currently sure when time I'm going to be resuming tomorrow as there's a thing going on with work. No later than 7PM EST, best case would be 3pm. Worst case is earlier than 3 PM because I would probably not have a job anymore.

Will hopefully be able to pick up before noon on thursday.

>>35378656
>[X] Buy using personal cash

Don't mix business with private stuff when we can avoid it.

Also, it can't hurt to at least ask the house for help.

>>35378656
[X] Take hit to profit margin
Not like we're making much money off the yards anyways as is. Salvage still the main money maker until our yard crews get a bit more experience.

>>35378656
[x] Other:

See if we can't get the House to go 50/50 with us, or at least fund a quarter of the deal and consider something like a tax break on another %

Split the difference between personal cash and profit margin hit. We can always put more personal cash into the company to compensate later.

>Veritas could paint a target on our backs

We should try to schedule a talk with that Baron in South Reach from the other House that we dueled. Bring it up as a private matter and simply let him know that the Terraforming plan drains Veritas of funds and hopefully some territory. In the end, it will either mean more worlds for Veritas to defend in the inevitable war by a coalition of Houses that hate them and thus more spoils for the aggressors. Or they'll screw themselves by allowing an act of aggression upon another House to occur, violating the decree of the Ruling House that no one attack another House, and then the Ruling House and everyone that hates Veritas gets to make an example of them. They might even get to wipe out the locals as part of that.

Which reminds me. The contract with Veritas damned well better make sure that any attack by Veritas forces or mercs in their space counts as an act of war or incurs horrible, horrible penalties/debts.

Don't let them take your stapler!

>>35377938
Eh, I'm not going to derp about the ball too much. I think it could have gone okay, that's what balls were pretty much designed to do.

But favourable qualities mean USEFUL qualities. Not the twelve year old daughter of no-one in particular who's asking questions that are a political minefield and are guaranteed to piss people off no matter HOW we answer.

Anyways, >>35378656
I'll support Veritas if we can wring good concessions out of them, but we better get a good goddamn pay-out for how high the risk is. This could crush our career even if we don't get outright assassinated.

Oh, and can we keep up on our dueling practice now that we're getting all political?

>>35378656
[x] Buy using personal cash
[x] Take hit to profit margin
Mix these two. Taking a bit of money from the house so that they can say they have been fully involved might also be a good idea. This is a project for the house, not for us personally, after all.

>>35379355
>This could crush our career even if we don't get outright assassinated.
We too good at what we do for our House to get rid of us, even if we fail. We can kiss the chance of a promotion anytime soon goodbye though, and other Houses might start actively gunning for us...

I think it's worth the risk though.

>>35378656
[ ] Buy using personal cash

>>35379355
>>35380375

I don't think a scheme to increase the House's territory without bloodshed will get us killed.

It could be a bit risky as far as relations with the anti-Veritas coalition go, but we can probably quietly spin it to them as 'Hey, more habitable planets for you to potentially gain when you war Veritas anyway, and less money in their accounts.'

We may need to make a very strong point that this is NOT a formal alliance with Veritas, or anything near it though. We're offering a service and expecting to gain by providing it.

There is also an argument that terraforming a bunch of worlds will actually weaken Veritas in the coming decade(s?), as they'll be sinking huge sums of money into the Terraforming, colonization and infrastructure. Even with all the fancy tech floating around there is a limit to how much they can get done when it comes to building up an entire planet, not to mention the wait for it to be habitable.

bump

So now we have a rough idea on the FTL interdiction tech, and we know it uses singularities. Can we set up a feasibility study for the use of singularities for other applications?

Eg in cloaking systems as a place to dump excess heat, or as an efficient mass to energy power plant.

bump

>>35378656
>spoiler
Hoping for a late-ish start in that case, TSTG.

>>35378656
[x] Buy using personal cash
[X] Get House to pay for them

Here is hoping for a late game.

bedtime bump

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Back, though it looks like I won't be starting as early as I thought tomorrow. Might be a bit after 3PM.

>>35383548
>Eg in cloaking systems as a place to dump excess heat,
This runs the risk of giving away your position via gravity distortion but is still an interesting idea.

>or as an efficient mass to energy power plant.
Something that always bothered me about Romulan ships in TNG/DS9 is that if their singularity reactor cant be shut down once started wouldn't there be black holes scattered through every system they did battle in and lost ships?

Doing some quick reading on Black Hole Power Plants.
>The efficient way to extract energy from a black hole is to extract its rotational energy. 20% of a (rotating) black hole's mass-energy is in the form of rotational energy. This energy is not stored inside the black hole, rather it is stored in the swirl of space outside the black hole (In the Ergosphere). We can extract this energy by threading magnetic filed lines through the black hole. The swirl of space swirls the magnetic fields, and this swirl creates current (I'm not sure of the exact treatment of this, classically it would be some form of electromagnetic induction, but this isn't classical physics.). The current flows along the field lines, and can be picked up.
-some guy on physics stackexchange

There's also some things about collecting power via hawking radiation but they seem much less certain.
If anyone has more plausible ideas on BHPP's feel free to suggest them.


Looks like the most popular options atm are to Buy with personal cash, or that plus getting the House to pay for part of it.

Compromise:
Do you want to ask the House to pay for 25% or 40%?

>>35389366
25%

>>35389366
>plausible ideas on BHPP
I've read some ideas on 'knotting' a Singularity in twisted space (something I guess we could manage with FTL drive tech) and manipulating the event horizon to produce magnetic fields which can be easily used to create a potential difference.

>>35389366

>>35379185
samefag here.

out of curiosity, how much $$$ are we talking in this initial transaction?

I'd be fine not asking the House for support (and fully owning the ships) if it isn't some huge amount we're talking. Are we looking at around a squadron or so of mixed ship designs or so?

And more importantly, did you protect your stapler?

>Something that always bothered me about Romulan ships in TNG/DS9 is that if their singularity reactor cant be shut down once started wouldn't there be black holes scattered through every system they did battle in and lost ships?

I would guess you could argue it's some kind of sustained micro-singularity that simply evaporates as soon as it runs out of matter in the immediate vicinity.

>Do you want to ask the House to pay for 25% or 40%?

Knowing how much this will likely cost would help a lot to make that decision.

>And more importantly, did you protect your stapler?
My job is fine for the moment.

>>35389509
>I'd be fine not asking the House for support (and fully owning the ships) if it isn't some huge amount we're talking.
>>35389558
>Knowing how much this will likely cost would help a lot to make that decision.

About 20 million.

>>35389623

We should be able to eat 20 million.

And then use the ships to earn favors and such...

I assume that some of the pilots from our wings would jump at a chance to act as evaluation pilots for some extra prestige and weight to their skillset.

And the House would be mighty pleased to not have to buy the ships for the evaluations.

>>35389623
Asking for 25% from the House should be okay in that case.

It would be less about getting money from them and more about involving them in the process without making it too obvious.

>>35389756
I agree

>>35375385
>So, raids on the triads strongholds with Mercenaries and teams of RTS volunteers? These would be backed up by small PDF teams to keep an eye on everyone.

Sorry if this is a bit late but couldn't we just ask Mike for input on this? He's way more experienced in this than Sonia is.

>I assume that some of the pilots from our wings would jump at a chance to act as evaluation pilots for some extra prestige and weight to their skillset.

You visit House Pentaris space escorting a Moli carrying a set of Mk 3 assault corvettes. A few pilots have agreed to come along for the first chance to see what the other House has to offer and to man the corvettes should you be attacked. Independent Pirates still exist in the Centri cluster, mostly ones that never bothered to associate with the Warlords but still used the confusion of the larger raids to their advantage.

The group is able to arrive without incident and soon you're signing the paperwork to hand over your cargo for some of the other craft in dock at the station.

"On behalf of House Jerik-Dremine I hope that this can mark the beginning of peaceful relations between our Houses."

"We can only hope." Replies your counterpart, another Captain Knight by the name of Beuss who is in charge of the shipyards.
"Our House hasn't been fortunate enough to secure assault corvette production rights due to our lack of support for the initial mobilisation. I've heard the newest ones are temperamental. What is your opinion on them so far?"

>What say?

>>35390459
>What is your opinion on them so far?
"they handle more like fighters than traditional corvette honestly"

>>35390459
"It's probably the best corvette class ship out there at the moment in the hands of an experienced pilot.

I'd be significantly less enthusiastic if I had to put rookies in them. Thinking back of how I performed in my first corvette when I started out, I'm not sure if I would have been able to handle one of the Mk. 3s at all."

>>35390459
"The assault corvettes have done very well in initial employments. The MK II version is increadibly reliable and highly effective. The Mk III version is even more manuverable, which admittedly has caused some issues. Inexperienced pilots find it hard to utilize its incredible maneuverability to its full effect, and that maneuverability causes strain on the hulls, which leads to increased maintenance requirements."

>>35390459

"They do require an experienced hand to pilot them, but their maneuverability is incredible. I've had various prototypes and earlier models under my command over the course of my career, and they're certainly capable of carrying their weight and more against Neeran ships. We're hitting the same issue with them as the Terrans, though. They're almost too good for their own good. [explain the micro-fractures issue] I expect that our capture of Neeran equipment will yield a solution to that teething problem, if the engineers don't solve it first."

>>35390459
"Good ships all around, however they need more experienced pilots to fly them as they are a bit more powerful than the regular Corvettes. Thing handles more like a Starfighter than a Corvette. What few tweaks it may need will be updated in the Mark 4 in which I hope we can update it with some new high tech armor."

Hopeing we get that armor tech from the Alliance in time for the MK 4

"They handle more like fighters than traditional corvettes honestly. It's probably the best corvette class ship out there at the moment in the hands of an experienced pilot.

They do require an experienced hand to pilot them. I'd be significantly less enthusiastic if I had to put rookies in them. Thinking back of how I performed in my first corvette when I started out, I'm not sure if I would have been able to handle one of the Mk. 3s at all."

"I'll make a note to be sure crews get additional training time if we do decide to outfit an entire unit with them."

"I've had various prototypes and earlier models under my command over the course of my career, and they're certainly capable of carrying their weight and more against Neeran ships. We're hitting the same issue with them as the Terrans, though. They're almost too good for their own good. Inexperienced pilots find it hard to utilize its incredible maneuverability to its full effect, and that maneuverability causes strain on the hulls, which leads to increased maintenance requirements."

"That's distressing news." The other Knight smirks. "Or perhaps stressing news."

After laughing it off you try to reassure the other Knight. "What few tweaks it may need will be updated in the Mark 4 in which I hope we can update with some new high tech armor."

Beuss turns and looks up some data. "I did hear a few of the richer Houses were talking about upgrading some ships with woven trit armor layers. The problem is that they're incredibly difficult to repair in the field. Even more so if it's used a Kavarian hardening process to make it tougher."

You're shown some displays of the ships you'll be taking back. "The attack corvettes are nothing special, just the Mark II upgrade of the old standard corvettes. Even your House has them. This is the latest upgrade of the Scarab. Karbos decided to do some additional work on it after Gesaur. It can mount additional thruster, missile packs and armor, all of which can be ejected."

>>35391221
>Kharbos updating the Scarab
I bet they even throw in the slave chips for the crew so they'll ram your enemies if the battle turns against you.

"If we modified the external equipment packs enough we could probably come up with something that might match the performance profile of these assault corvettes. It might make for a good training craft since you know simulators are never quite the same."

It would also be far less expensive if a trainee got themselves killed and their craft destroyed.

You decide to push for more info in case their past hasn't been fully abandoned. "I'm a little surprised they'd continue working on it given the negative public response to using prisoners to man the ships."

Beuss shrugs. "I don't know what other Houses do with them. They are easy for small ground or space based manufacturing centers to build, which means any House with them still has a few cards left if they lose their orbital platforms to an attack by a rival.

Now, the new attack frigate is supposed to act as the core of a composite vehicle by docking with two attack corvettes."

You tell the other knight you remember seeing the design and weren't too impressed with it's visual lack of structural support when you first saw it.

"I wasn't either. The supports have been upgraded with additional structural reinforcement at the connection points. They can be ejected once the corvettes get clear or by an emergency override.
The Frigate itself is very tough now thanks to the upgrades. It's still fast and maneuverable too. We had to trim down the torpedo launchers to just 2, but added additional pop-up missile racks to make up for it. It's still able to carry dorsal and ventral phase cannon turrets for 360 coverage."

Weapons
2x spinal mount heavy pulse cannon
2x Torpedo launchers
2x phase cannon turrets
4x missile racks

The firepower is good for a Frigate though you're sure a few minor tweaks could make it better, especially since it's a bit longer than the average Frigate.

"Once it docks with a pair of Attack corvettes they're able to overlap shields and have two sets of twin link phase cannons."

"I haven't used them up at the front myself but I have seen combat data. The extra corvette weapons really cut through shields well. You do have to careful about your fields of fire if you want the main guns on both the corvettes to hit. It can take some practice."

Do you want to ask the other Knight if she might be interested in investing in a project of yours?
I believe someone was talking about swapping out the torpedo launchers on an EX-K for twin linked phase cannons, right? Or was that idea abandoned?

>>35392026
>I believe someone was talking about swapping out the torpedo launchers on an EX-K for twin linked phase cannons, right? Or was that idea abandoned?
I think it was abandoned.

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>>35392053
Oh, okay. My bad.

Was there anything else you wanted to ask about or do while you're in House Pentaris space?

>>35392166
Not really, no

>>35392166
Can't think of anything right now.

>>35392026
>Do you want to ask the other Knight if she might be interested in investing in a project of yours?

I'm sorry for asking this but which of our projects are public enough to offer to her?

There's just so much going on and I think the wiki article is outdated.

>>35392166
>Was there anything else you wanted to ask about or do while you're in House Pentaris space?

Do they have newly acquired space with faction wars era nav hazards? Might as well offer RSS services while we're here.

Otherwise, is there anything worth seeing in House Pentaris space? Might as well take the day tour while we're here.

>>35392310
>Otherwise, is there anything worth seeing in House Pentaris space?
Agreed. Let's do something interesting, along with something to build inter-House relations (that isn't a ball)

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>>35392310
>which of our projects are public enough to offer to her?
I meant more new ones.

>There's just so much going on and I think the wiki article is outdated.
>I'm certain I've forgotten something. Oh, calculating salvage sales for RSS. Arg.
Also apparently updating the wiki was the other thing missing from the list. RSS is horribly out of date.
Pic is mostly up to date, not counting the warships you own and current number of personnel working for RTS.

>>35392310
>Do they have newly acquired space with faction wars era nav hazards? Might as well offer RSS services while we're here.
Not new, but they do have some. It could be worth looking over. The areas were looted heavily in the war and after however so there might not be anything left.
You still offer to have RSS look at it in return for a cut of the salvage found.
Knight Beuss is wary about agreeing to split on salvage without know what might be found. Salvage operations with other Houses are rarely as profitable for RSS as the South Reach sites have been.

A couple of corvettes can be dispatched from South Reach but will take time to reach the Centri Cluster. RSS isn't very well set up for salvage work in the homeworlds at the moment. You could conduct scans using the Bittenfeld or your Excalibur. The crew of your escort Battlecruiser are reluctant to go poking around nav hazards on their own.

[ ] Investigate yourself (Bittenfeld)
[ ] Investigate yourself (Excalibur)
[ ] Have RSS send Corvettes
[ ] Wait until RSS can establish a presence in the homeworlds
[ ] On second thought never mind

>>35392919
>[ ] On second thought never mind

>>35392026
This still seems like a really crazy design. Does it use 3 pilots?

>>35392919
>Pic is mostly up to date,
What is the exact nature of our investment on Frostback, I must have missed that?

Also, what is the situation with our arms company? Can we manufacture rifles / splinter ammo yet?

>>35392919
>pic
I think we also have stock in a Hune Republic company somewhere.

>I meant more new ones.
Let's simply ask if she knows of any interesting projects looking for investors.

>[X] Have RSS send Corvettes

>>35392919
>[x] Wait until RSS can establish a presence in the homeworlds

>>35392919
>[X] Have RSS send Corvettes
No rush, but it's be good for them to map out.

>>35392989
thought up something when you brought up pilots,
what if instead of piloted craft the frigate carried sever scarabs without warp drives that were ether over sized drones or remote controlled from the frigate. without warp drives they could have oversize shield and weapon options. additionaly if they were drones they could be used as a rear guard by the frigate to cover its retreat or the retreat of allies without worrying about loss of pilots

>>35392919
[X] Have RSS send Corvettes

Who knows, maybe we'll be lucky.

>>35392919

[x] Have RSS send Corvettes
[x] Give option to be paid in cash instead of salvage?
[x] Have 'cant be claimed by RSS as cut' list

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>>35392310
>Otherwise, is there anything worth seeing in House Pentaris space? Might as well take the day tour while we're here.
Their homeworld is famous for a number of waterfalls which are something of a tourist attraction.

>>35393093
>What is the exact nature of our investment on Frostback, I must have missed that?
That's a reminder to me to check previous threads for the exact info.
I believe we established a mining site and atmospheric processor there.

>>35393114
>I think we also have stock in a Hune Republic company somewhere.
Yes you do.

>>35392989
>This still seems like a really crazy design. Does it use 3 pilots?
Ideally yes so that the corvettes can be ejected should the main body/Frigate be destroyed. The crews can decide if it's better to approach a target using tougher shields and more firepower, or if it's better to split up to remain more mobile and provide more targets.
This may be a better approach for larger Houses with more manpower available. Less experienced/valuable pilots could be assigned to the corvettes.

There was an older version of the Knight class light cruiser where the forward section was a combat frigate that could detach should the drive section be destroyed. House Kharbos was also the one to develop it at the time though it fell out of use in the early Faction wars.

>>35393187
While the thought of using drones may worry some it could certainly prove useful.
Your House has a stockpile of slightly older Scarabs and some that were salvaged at Gesaur. Did you want to keep such a project in House or work on it with House Pentaris?

>>35393667
I just want to move on...

>>35393667
>Did you want to keep such a project in House or work on it with House Pentaris?

i'd like to keep it in the house.

i think it depends how hard it would be to retrofit the frigate and whether or not the linked firing controls and shields overlap features would be possible.

it also raises the question about how effective / economical this set up is if the Scarabs need to be replaced often due to losses.

overall though the work doesn't seem overly complex and seems like something that might give the house a small advantage in a battle or two

I wonder if the tandem ship idea will catch on. Assault corvettes have to be independent to get the most out of their agility. But "line" corvettes that swarm up and focus fire on targets could benefit from this. If you link two corvettes together they don't get any slower and could actually get more agile on certain axis because of differential thrust. Overlapping shields effectively doubles them and divides the stress over two emitters. You could also design the corvettes with the most vulnerable parts on the "bottom" where they are most protected.

Might be worth a try with attack cruisers too. In situations where quick turns are not required like head-on hit and run attacks or short ranged brawls, stacking shields would increase survivability.

>>35393923
(samefaging)
but if we could use this project to build more good will between the houses then i'd have to change my vote to that

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>>35393667
>Their homeworld is famous for a number of waterfalls which are something of a tourist attraction.
Neat.

>Did you want to keep such a project in House or work on it with House Pentaris?

Cooperating with House Pentaris could prove useful, and will probably help J-D to establish relations with a medium size House. I'm for it.

>>35393966
>tandem ship idea
i'm not sure how the long range scanners work but would tandem ships appear as one or two ships?
(the logical extension would be how many ship could we link together in order to hide the actual number coming to attack a target)

>Hopeing we get that armor tech from the Alliance in time for the MK 4
By the way, did you mean The new stuff Posat and others have been working on developing? Or what's currently on the big AEC class?

Looks like added to survey. You make sure to get the contact information for Knight Beuss telling her that you have some ideas for the corvette linking setup but want to conduct some tests of your own first.

You take the rest of the day to sight see then return to the ships and head for home. The flight is once again uneventful, no random encounters to be had. While convoy traffic is continuing to increase a growing number of civilian transports are getting used to taking flights on their own.

Getting back to the Dreminth you hand over the ships to the House military for testing. Within a day there's a lineup of pilots checking out the test data in simulator facilities on bases and trying to book time to pilot the seemingly strange craft.
It looks like House Kharbos attempted to emulate the thrust reverser systems on the early Assault Corvettes but instead accidentally created a poor man's version of the newer high maneuver drives. It can't match the new corvettes due to its mass but it can get closer than most Frigate designs.
Docking the additional corvettes of course kills this maneuverability advantage.

After a few more days spending time on your land Mr London contacts you.
"I think we have enough information for you to move on House Posat, or at least enough to demand an explanation."

"What's their situation?"
"They're in a death spiral. Their House is being dragged down by existing debt. They were able to get extensions on loans while the Warlords were a problem but now everyone wants their money back to help fund the war."

"So I should just tell them to sell war bonds or default on their loans is what you're saying?" you reply.

>>35393966
you may actually lose some speed and maneuverability due to the structural stuff you'd need to keep the ships securely together and the systems needed to link their controls to one pilot. If either of those malfunctioned you could potentially have two ships destroying your formation or even knocking out ships.

Not to mention that anything installed on the merger point is effectively dead weight, or separated ships will have a thruster/shielding/armor deficiency.


We have on multiple occasions had our attack cruisers or battlecruisers fly a tight formation to overlap shields, iirc. physically linking them just seems like a hassle.

>>35394657
London isn't even sure those are options at this point. The interest they're supposed to pay may be more than their House's entire GDP.
To make matters worse, your spies spotted officers of the Royal Guard visiting the armor company and they did not seem to be at all happy.

"Wait, Royal Guard? As in from the Ruling House?!" you ask incredulously.

"Yes. I would recommend you move quickly. Parts of House Posat may be annexed before long if they're figured out how badly things are going."

>What say? / Your orders?


Available ships:

Bittenfeld
Excalibur Battlecruiser
Gungnir Type Battlecruiser

>>35394759
"Well shit."
>Excalibur Battlecruiser
Fastest ship.

>>35394657
Acutally I was thinking the Light Weight armor tech we would get from the Alliance along with Fusion tech and the improved building tech. From when we handed in those Neeran yards to them that is.

>>35394657
>They're in a death spiral
Time to move in for the kill. We have to secure as much as we can from Posat. Does the rest of the House have any loans to them? If so we might want to give them a heads up so both us and the House can ravage this corpse as much as possible.

Excalibur did have the fastest FTL right?

>>35394759
>What say? / Your orders?

"Do we know on what they spend all that money?"

Otherwise, I'm probably as stumped as Sonia. Can we call dibs on Kaartinel IV?

Otherwise, I would suggest contacting Winifred and Alex. They have probably a better idea than Sonia does when it comes to using this to her and the Houses advantage. We can probably also rely on those two to keep quiet for a bit.

>>35394759

I'm thinking we need to contact the Knights Errant and the Royal House, and get some damned good lawyers fast. London must know some.

See if we can't leverage our shares in the Posat company, Armor supplying to the Errants, and past actions for the Dominion to conduct a takeover of the armor production facilities and such. Keep the armor flowing and possibly back up to the standards that it should be.

>>35394657
>death spiral
this makes me kinda sad, we basically bent over backwards to help them and they go under regardless. in any case we need to get our house involved in this, covertly though we wouldn't want to alert any other house that may want to take advantage.

>>35394759
>armor company
i want to poach their armor tech / experts if possible

>>35395120
We may have been able to save them by forcing them to quit the field instead of keeping up an advance, but this could also be a case of "can't do shit about this, fate burner". and I like that idea.

Regardless, Baron Winifred needs to be informed of this immediately and quietly. If Posat does collapse, J-D may be able to gain in the Smuggler's Run.

You begin transferring gear to your Excalibur while placing calls. You'll need troops to back you up if things go badly when you get there.

>>35394889
>Time to move in for the kill. We have to secure as much as we can from Posat. Does the rest of the House have any loans to them? If so we might want to give them a heads up so both us and the House can ravage this corpse as much as possible.

>>35394953
>Can we call dibs on Kaartinel IV?
I think they may have traded or sold it to one of your allies. They do still have planets in the Run but not many.
>I would suggest contacting Winifred and Alex.

>>35394955
>I'm thinking we need to contact the Knights Errant and the Royal House, and get some damned good lawyers fast. London must know some.
>See if we can't leverage our shares in the Posat company, Armor supplying to the Errants, and past actions for the Dominion to conduct a takeover of the armor production facilities and such. Keep the armor flowing and possibly back up to the standards that it should be.

>>35395120
>in any case we need to get our House involved in this
>>35395204
>i want to poach their armor tech / experts if possible

Winifred is the first person you call. Apparently she's in the middle of getting ready to depart the Homeworlds though it seems her command ship only just began a lengthy refit a few days ago.
"I hesitate to answer your calls when they're not during regular business hours Captain. I'm always worried about what calamity you're about to report."

You relay the contents of your investigation which causes her to sigh in annoyance. "This does not particularly surprise me. I was under the impression the Ruling House intended to bail them out. House Posat did offer to buy out our investments in their companies and assets after the war started. The other Barons thought it would be for the best so that we wouldn't lose money due to their weak economy. The Earl felt the same way with a few minor exceptions here and there."

>>35394661
That reminds me of a documentary I saw once. When fish swim in a school or birds fly in huge swarms they never crash into each other. They way they do this is that each individual tracks the distance between them and the closest neighbours that they can see. If a shark suddenly appears and dives through the school of fish the information that there is danger propagates through the school at the "speed of fish".

I think we could do something similar with our starships. Have some sort of program that allows ships to fly in a specific formation. It would make ships maintain a specific distance from each other but pilots could override it at any time. It's not hackable because the ships aren't communicating with each other, just tracking position and proximity. Ships that get close enough would automatically stack shields.

>>35395561
Sounds like the system that yells "COLLISION WARNING!", but doesn't actually do any maneuver for fear of battle causing a false positive or enemy ships noticing that your ships are doing a certain maneuver in response to stuff. Predictability is a death sentence.

Repulsors and tractors are likely helpful for avoiding this under normal circumstance.

And frankly, I don't want a wingman that can't fly in formation without autopilot. That is the idiot that will get someone else killed.

"What exceptions?"
"Manufacturing concerns mostly. If they're about to be annexed the Ruling House may simply take them and pay us for the few shares we have in them if they're feeling generous."

"And if they're not?"
"Then we'll simply lose our claim on those resources. I need to inform the Earl so that he can prepare ships and troops. My own resources are scattered at the moment.
I'll see if you can use the long range Battleship you recovered along with... oh to hell with it."

"Sir?"

"Captain I'm giving you command of two squadrons of attack cruisers. EX-K's and Clarents, in addition to anything else I have with high FTL speeds. You're authorised to take any and all action you feel appropriate to protect House resources. You have two hours to select your crews and get them into orbit. I should have ground troops available before then. The Earl will contact you on route."

You only have 2 squadrons of attack ships. Your Wing commanders don't have to be leading a full squadron but you might want to split them up a bit at that point. Who do you want to call in?
(Try to keep it to 4-8 if possible.)

*Alex
^Mike
*Daska
*Katherine Drake
*Verilis
*Arthur
Siri Thal
Nytoria Jde
Vaughn
Lorraine Day
Hafnar
Singh (Clarent pilot)
Kemp Turner
Samuul Kuritz
Javier Adega
^Rasi
^Amjad
Kal
Ichiro
Cristina Pozzi
Hafza Kader

*= Wing commander
^= Afterburner specialist

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>>35393966
>"line" corvettes that swarm up and focus fire on targets could benefit from this.
>>35394661
>you may actually lose some speed and maneuverability due to the structural stuff you'd need to keep the ships securely together and the systems needed to link their controls to one pilot.
This is a good point.

Giving the older corvettes the Linked/ACV option would have similar side effects. They're going to have some problems with the increased mass of the two ships together.

>>35394210
>would tandem ships appear as one or two ships?
If they're attached they would appear as a single ship.

>>35394889
>Light Weight armor tech we would get from the Alliance along with Fusion tech and the improved building tech. From when we handed in those Neeran yards to them that is.
That could take some time. It's doubtful it would be finished in time for the Mk4.

>>35396198
I LIKE where this is going.
I want Alex and Daska. Singh already has Clarent experience so her as well.

Also our Men at Arms, our bodydouble and bodyguard. Four more people with power armor should help if we are going to be negotiating face to face with someone.

Oh boy this has me excited!

>>35396198
Alex, Drake, Singh.

>>35396198

>Christina Pozzi

Our long lost pilot wasn't snatched up by intel!? Take the Pozzi. Ensure she doesn't evade left... or was it right?

anything presented X/Y is 'whichever can get here 10 minutes ago'
Daska/Verilis, Singh (into clarent), Mike, Rasi, Amjad

Get Drake to Bittenfeld and one of the battlecruiser pilots into our RSS Gungir.

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>>35396711
>Get Drake to Bittenfeld
Bittenfeld's FTL maxes out at around 24 which can only barely be sustained for a long jump. It won't be able to keep up with the faster ships. Same with the Gungnir type. Neither can hold a candle to the Excalibur or EX-K in terms of FTL speed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4zJDZaM4ak

"Valeri, be ready to suit up and help recall as many of our people as you can."
"Yes sir!"

You contact Alex first of all. You hope he'll have the experience necessary to help with negotiations once you arrive.

Singh already has Clarent experience and seems to be a good choice. You're split between Daska and Katherine Drake. Hell, why not both? If you need to you can split up the force into three 8 ship squadrons with you in charge of the heavier craft.

Christina Pozzi is a bit surprised when you contact her. "Get into orbit, you still have 50 million in salvage to catch up on compared to everyone else from the old unit. You need all the help you can get."

The other Excalibur from your Command squad joins you in high orbit, along with the Long Range BS. The last of your gear is transferred over before the shuttles from the surface begin to arrive. More than a few LST's are detected leaving the capital and headed your way.
"Are those ours?"
The stand in coms officer hails to see what unit of your Wings the people aboard are from.
"Sir, it seems that we weren't able to recall enough of the marines in time. The Earl has sent 1500 troops from his personal guard to assist in addition to 4 squads with Power cell armor."

Once the other shuttles reach the main station is isn't long before the remaining attack ship launch and form up.

"Everyone ready?" you ask once the small fleet clears the gravity well and begins to accelerate.
"I'm ready but could someone tell me what's going on?" Replies Drake.

You promise to give everyone a secure briefing once you've arrived at or near your destination.
"Navigators set course for the NAV DRH 1 Relay!"

6 days a high FTL may be a serious improvement over a ten day trip but it can still be a long one. By holding a close formation you're able to communicate with the other ships.without much fear of coms being intercepted. Even if a cloaked ship was able to keep pace with you the drive flare would be hard to miss. You doubt that Krath flare scattering technique would be of much help to them here.

Like everyone else Drake is brough up to speed. A few are concerned that this sortie could be seen as breaking the truce between Houses with the War on. Daska is the first to dispell this idea.
"Another House has something of ours and doesn't intend to return it or pay for it. We have the justification to go and take it back."

"That could still lead to a war between our Houses couldn't it?" points out Drake.

"It's a war they would lose." answers Alex. "If this intelligence is good they don't have the financial reserves to fight our House."

"We should still worry about local fleet assets. They may be able to gain local superiority which would be bad for us if it takes to long to get reinforcements to the Run."

You can access any of the House supply or repair bases in the Run as needed or even retreat there if necessary. You'll see how things go when you arrive.

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>>35397791
>>35397207
Awww yiss

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House Posat moved their capital to the planet Tabernas in the DRH 1 relay some time ago having lost other more established worlds.

The planet's only small moon is in a relatively low orbit, not far outside of geostationary which is known to complicate things for platforms and com sats that are in geostat orbit when it swings past. It has minimal industry and acts primarily as a long range sensor, com and military fleet base. Some of the House fleet based out of it when fighting in the Run and some of your troops are familiar with the interior layout.
Rufaro's infantry unit were docked here for a few days before being shipped on. She could infiltrate if you needed her to.

There are 3 locations House J-D has money invested in industry. The armor company is the largest. Posat had it moved to the surface of the planet years ago to gain protection of the planetary shields.
Two other industry sites are owned partially or completely by the Earl or other important people in your House.

The PDF was last reported to have a strength of 250,000 and 280 starfighters with ground based fast launch systems. Most other House military forces are located elsewhere in the Run or aboard ships in their fleet.

There are currently 2 squadrons or standard corvettes in low orbit above the capital. There should be 2 light cruiser squadrons docked in the moon base along with an additional 6 squadrons of standard corvettes. You'd certainly be out numbered in a straight up fight but probably not out matched..

Do you plan to head to the capital, or the armor company and demand to know what's going on? Would you prefer to land troops at various sites first as insurance? Something else?

>Your orders?

See you guys tomorrow hopefully not too long after 3PM EST

>>35398692
Well, I guess our course of action depends on who is there when we get there, along with what we what to do exactly?

Is the aim to physically take the factories and all associated products/data, and move it back to our Homeworld? Or are we here simply to raid their treasury for a 'reasonable' consolidation fee, before the Ruling House gets here?

>>35398692

"This is Knight Captain Sonia Reynard of House Jerik-Dremine. I require an immediate audience with [Leader of House Posat] and [at least one of the guys that saved Posat from bankruptcy last time] to discuss an urgent matter."

Hail the armor company and instruct them to have someone present as well, separately. They have some explaining to do.

Unless there is some indisputable, non-hostile manner to deploy ground forces to the areas we wish to secure without Posat's ok, we should avoid doing so. This is still, technically, their sovereign territory as far as we know.

And someone better have a constant line of communications with something in J-D space. If we get jammed I want someone outside and friendly knowing about it in minutes.

>>35398692
Do we have an estimate on what % J-D and us have on House Possat? We technically would only be allowed to 'retrieve' house resources but if own quite a large amount collectively, I would like to take tech and factories mostly rather than cash.

>>35395981
This isn't a remedial system designed to make formation flying easy. It's a tool for making ships fly in tandem without physically linking them together. I'm talking like Blue Angel tier flying where everything is only inches apart (relatively speaking). Tandem ships have defensive benefits because you can stack shields and distribute damage. The downside is the weight and cost of the structural reinforcements and clamps required to physically connect the two ships. If we go high tech it should be possible to eliminate the weight and space penalty while retaining the defensive benefits.

Lets say you have two attack corvettes. One flies overtop the other until they are stacked vertically. When activating the system the ships communicate with tightbeam lasers, which are effectively unjammable at this distance and very low latency. This slaves steering and firing control to the master ship which is one of the two. The pilot of this ship doesn't feel any difference in his controls but every move and shot he takes is mirrored by the other ship. The second pilot effectively becomes a co-pilot in that his controls mirror what the other ship is doing, at any time he could regain control just by applying force to them. Now in theory you would then have two corvettes with overlapped shields and no loss of speed.

There is a slight agility penalty if the ships were to turn together on certain axis. For instance if you stacked 10 attack corvettes vertically, having another ship a couple meters above and below wouldn't make them turn to the left any slower. However if you have two in a stack and one ship wants to move directly upwards or rapidly change pitch it can't do so directly because it would be blasting it's thrusters directly at the ship below it. To make up for this the ships would use their repulsors to push against each other when required. Repulsor based thrusters would also help here because the top ship could "fall" upwards and not eject thruster mass.

>>35398692
I think what >>35399487 suggested should work well.

Talking to them should help us to understand what's going on exactly and if would be possible to avert or at least slow down the collapse of their entire house. I would guess whatever is going to happen to House Posat if we don't do anything could cause trouble to everybody doing business with them.

If it's not possible to stop this, maybe we can secure a bigger slice of the loot if we offer important people a way out of this with minimal losses by claiming their personal property as colleteral for breaking breaking the contract Sonia made with them.

We might also want to consider contacting allied/friendly/important Houses about this situation once we're done with our negotiations.

>>35401926
I like this, supported.

>>35400990

There are still a few problems.

First, can't you only overlap shields in one direction/arc? Even if you can overlap them in more than one, you should still have weaker 'pole' regions where one ship blocks the emitters of the other.

Second, this effectively reduces one key aspect of Dominion corvette strategy. Numbers.

from a practical standpoint, you're halving the number of targets you provide to the enemy and the number of targets you're engaging while you deploy this system. Or worse, dividing by a larger number. (like 10!) You're also likely to draw more attention with a formation larger than a pairs, which in turn is a larger target. At least for the shared shield bubble.

As for brawling, this would be suicidal imo. Our ships need every bit of maneuverability they have in a brawl to bring their frontal arc against enemy ships. Without a doubt, the loss of both maneuverability options and another ship to get into your attacker's vulnerable spots is a bad idea in a brawl. If you're flying tandem, the enemy can more easily avoid both of your ships' firepower.

Unfortunately, in the end I see this system being used as a remedial 'head on' attack formation or wall formation deal. And a pilot should damn well be able to fly those formations.

Third, every ship you add to this formation further cripples an entire axis of maneuverability for the whole. On ships that live and die by their maneuverability and ability to entirely avoid the majority of enemy fire, this is bad.

>>35401926
I like this guy, do what he says.

Guarantee their safety and I'm sure we'll have offers coming in from disaffected nobles and landlocked industrial figures.

>>35401926
Good plan, I'll back it.

>We might also want to consider contacting allied/friendly/important Houses about this situation once we're done with our negotiations.
Such as?

>>35403682
That said, outside of (direct) combat the stratagem could be used to mask our numbers, making a force seem half as large (or even smaller) than they actually are. The possible tactical benefits are obvious.

>>35404794
Not the same guy, but off the top of my head...

Ruling House. Especially if we're going to drop a lawsuit or otherwise be forced to collapse Posat's economy, the Ruling House may want to ensure everything transitions as smoothly as possible.

Any J-D allies that helped us in the Smuggler's Run and/or have territory near Posat. If Posat collapses, they'll probably want a heads up.

Knights Errant of the Order of Fine Mustaches. RSS supplies them with Posat armor, they may want to pick up some knights if Posat collapses, and they'd likely have some pull with the Ruling House that could help see things like the armor production company or the actual patents/production rights for the anti-torp armor passed to RSS or J-D in general. We could argue that we're a damned fine choice due to our stability and that we were a major partner in procuring the basis of the production.

>>35404899

You might be able to look like a smaller number of large ships, but I imagine at those ranges an ECM ship or two would be more effective and still allow you to maintain spacing to effectively react to anyone bouncing your formation with a microjump.

Or, if you're that far away... just have your pilots fly the damned ships? If you're not in direct combat a tight formation shouldn't need this system.

bump

>>35393667
>ejected

I don't care what kind of tactical flexibility you gain.

Mass penalty from using connectors instead of directly welding frames to internal structure, plus (apparent) inability to synch their maneuvering thrusters with parent ship, plus the fact that add-ons must keep pretty much all of their equipment (which would be even more dead weight for the most battles)?

nope.gif

Potential solutions:
1)Use something lighter and more expendable : Scarabs I and II, Atack-II's without FTL (potentially, Neeran corvette could be interesting idea).

2)Cut the fat. Weld ships to each other instead of whatever they use now;
Strip all unnecessary equipment;
Either synch corvette engines to frigate's or remove them altogether.

bump

>>35399221
>Is the aim to physically take the factories and all associated products/data, and move it back to our Homeworld? Or are we here simply to raid their treasury for a 'reasonable' consolidation fee, before the Ruling House gets here?
That is up to you guys, though moving the factories might prove difficult and would mean shutting them down.

>Do we have an estimate on what % J-D and us have on House Possat? We technically would only be allowed to 'retrieve' house resources but if own quite a large amount collectively, I would like to take tech and factories mostly rather than cash.
You own at least 10% of the hardened armor factory but because of their dicking around you don't know if that number is higher or how much money they may still owe you. Demand for the armor has always resulted in a high rate of return letting you make millions off it just back while you were in the Run.

The House owns 35% and 28% of two industrial districts. While it's not a majority they're not going to ignore their possible loss.

>>35399487
You jump into orbit and hail the capital requesting an immediate audience with the leader of the House along with some of their financial advisers your bank worked with a few years ago in the Run.
You're soon informed that those responsible for making sure things were corrected and that you were paid properly at the time have since retired, taking their pensions and leaving for worlds of other Houses. They'll still do their best to be sure the appropriate parties are present for your meeting.

Next you hail the House armor company who will also have a representative present in the capital at the same time.

It's going to be several hours before they can see you.

How big do you wish your landing party to be? You have LST's, shuttles and even your personal starfighter aboard.
How will you and your bodyguard(s) be equipped?

>>35410158
>How big do you wish your landing party to be?
Sonia + Alex + Daska + Rufaro + Fusaro + men at arms?

>How will you and your bodyguard(s) be equipped?
Bodyguards in armour, Sonia in Dress uniform with armour underneath.

I doubt they'll get the idea to do anything serious. The soldiers are mainly there to stop them from simply arresting our guys.

>>35410158
I want our four people with Power armor in them to act as our bodyguard. That is Men at Arms, bodyguard and bodydouble.

Also our Recon armor had that holographic thingy that made it look like we where in uniform right? Cause this is the precise moment we should use it at. If not we can go with Duty uniform and armored jumpsuit. Old trusty and HF blade ofcoures comes with us.

Alex and Daska can come with us to so as to add more political power behind us and Drake will be in charge up above.

We take a LST down there pact with Power Cell guys as well so if shit does hit the fan we have a back up waiting by the ship.

>>35410158

Sonia, Valeri & Rufario (Recon, uncloaked unless SHTF), Alex or some officers that may hold a legal degree/knowledge. Did we bring any lawyers or get stuck with a formal 'eyes/ears of the Earl' guy? Bring them as well.

LST with a squad or two of marines to loiter around it while we meet.

Sonia in her usual, ballroom mode with the plasma pistol (no bottle in it).

Valeri & Rufario sporting HF blades and pistols, as if they are there simply for looks. (They'll likely be disarmed and asked to wait outside anyway)

We want to project a level of 'nothing stupid', but not be dicks about it.

Daska has command in the event something happens in orbit.

Did we by any chance bring any new RSS rifles? If so, I'd like to bring one in a case (no splinter ammo) as a gift to the ruler of Posat. If not, bring one or two in the LST in cases, and we'll see if they'd like to try the weapon after our meeting. For both our Houses, it would be much better for us to shoot together at something to relieve the stress this meeting will generate, rather than at eachother.

>>35410537
>>35410657
Yeah, these are good.

I agree with our bodyguards in power armour, idk about us though. We should wear something, but that's a bit much. Maybe just a flak jacket or the equivalent under our dress uniform.

Our LST should also be escorted by a sortie of fighters.

>>35403682
>Second, this effectively reduces one key aspect of Dominion corvette strategy. Numbers.
It does. The plan seems more targeted towards groups with excessive numbers of corvettes but little to no access to attack cruisers. Every House has corvette and frigate yards.
This does not make it the best plan by any means.

>As many Marines as we can fit in a LST.
>Power Cell guys as well so if shit does hit the fan we have a back up waiting by the ship.
You can fit a few hundred if you don't take any ground vehicles. Would you like them to load up a couple small ground vehicles and reduce the number of marines to say, 60 power cell troops? Or less?

>along with our mobile stealth field.
You want to pull one from one of the suits? (Rufaro could use yours in that case) Or will you wear your Recon Armor and use it's holographic projector to appear as though you're in dress uniform?
>Also our Recon armor had that holographic thingy that made it look like we where in uniform right? Cause this is the precise moment we should use it at.
Yes that. Objections anyone?

>>35410537
>Sonia + Alex + Daska + Rufaro + Fusaro + men at arms?
>Bodyguards in armour, Sonia in Dress uniform with armour underneath.
Alex and Daska also grab some armor for underneath their uniforms.

>>35410861
>Did we bring any lawyers or get stuck with a formal 'eyes/ears of the Earl' guy? Bring them as well.
There's an officer from the Earl's personal guard who can act in the regard.

>>35410870
>Maybe just a flak jacket or the equivalent under our dress uniform.
Okay that's a couple votes against Sonia in Recon/Disguise.

"I hope this isn't a mistake." Says Daska after transferring over. "We're three of the highest ranking Wing commanders in our fleet."

"You don't trust Drake?" you ask.

"I do, I simply wish I wasn't risking being stuck on the surface if anything goes wrong."

>>35411042
>"I do, I simply wish I wasn't risking being stuck on the surface if anything goes wrong."

"If you prefer to, you ccould probably attend via vid-link."

>>35411042

Daska is completely right. Why the hell would we put Sonia AND Daska at risk along with Alex?

This isn't Star Trek, you don't send the ranking fleet command officers out of their ships and potentially into a damned trap.

>>35411042
>Yes that. Objections anyone?

I object on every level.

The suggested escort and presence of 3 highly ranked officers feels like it violates the spirit of the course of action proposed and taken in these posts.
>>35399487
>>35401926

If we were going to land a damned invasion force, why did we bother hailing them at all?

>>35411277
Because they are high ranking in the military and the nobility thus their words have weight. Seeing as this is as of yet a diplomatic mission to gain back house assets and not a combat operation it would make sense to put the people that can talk in the talking room. Drake is also a good wing commander and has been around as long as we have. So if she can't handle two squadrons of ships on her own then why did we give her a wing?

>>35411476
Hardly an invasion force when you consider the enemy forces consist of a quarter of a million men and four times our numbers in ships. Besides we are not really into taking chances again after Lat'thamar.

>>35411042
But yeah if Daska feels like she could do better in command of the fleet than she can choose to stay up there.

>>35411129
"If you prefer to, you could probably attend via vid-link."
You offer, while other thoughts along those lines occurs to you.
>>35411277
>>35411571

"There wouldn't be much point to my using coms from orbit if you're visiting in person. That would just be weird. If I am staying up here be sure to take an officer from the Earl's guard that is Dro'all or it will look like you're speciesist."

>>35411476
>I object on every level.
Specifically to Sonia in Recon armor?

Or do you mean every level of defense for the landing party as well?
>invasion force
I seem to recall certain historical figures maintaining bodyguards numbering from the hundreds into the thousands despite the total size of their armies numbering considerably less than your own.
But whatever, if you want Shuttles are another option, just be aware that LST's are the smallest ships that can mount shield generators.

Current landing force: LST + 60 Marines aboard should an emergency happen

Sonia, Alex, 1-2 officers from the Earl's guard with legal experience, 2 bodyguard in medium power armor, 2 bodyguard in Recon.

Last minute changes?

>>35411829
>Specifically to Sonia in Recon armor?

Yes.

The rest of it just seems excessive, but I can hope they're not going to be pissed that we're walking in looking like we expect a fight.

>historical figure bodyguards

This is true, but they also didn't have anyone in power armor.

And wasn't one of our medium power armor guys left guarding Devourer where ever we left it?

>>35411042
>Not using our power armor

But didn't we get the holographic upgrade just for situations just like this? So we could go to situations like this while heavily armored for "Just in case".

>>35411829
Personally I expect that we'll be checked for weapons before meeting anyone of consequence, so the holographic option would only be a nicety, not real concealment and could be taken as subterfuge in a worst case scenario.
So I agree with
>>35412049
in objecting to the armour

>>35411829
I'm in favor of the armor. Let's get on with it

>medium power armor guys guarding Devourer
Good point. Looks like you only have 1 available. Thankfully, Alex has you covered for an additional bodyguard.

You decide to go down to the surface wearing your dress uniform with the addition of the various upgrades picked up after the bounty hunters tried to smoke you out. It should shrug off or reduce the damage of most small arms fire, though HF blades will make short work of it as you've seen.

Your LST sets down on a landing pad attached to the Palace complex for House Posat where you're greeted by both the captain of the guard and an ambassabor. They're a little concerned about the weapon loadout of your bodyguards, requesting that the Fusion guns be left behind. Likewise they would prefer it if you kept your plasma pistol unloaded but would not dare to take it from you.
Your people assure you they're fine with phase weapons and not to worry about it.

Heading onward into the palace you're led past well maintained landscaped gardens scattered between several courtyards. Despite the arid conditions this planet is known for the air doesn't feel dry. Perhaps the area is climate controlled.

"We've run into a problem." Reports Rufaro over your earpiece. "Active scanners are built into the door frames of the more secure areas. If we pass through them we'll become visible for a few seconds."

Valeri speaks up next. "It would be best if we tried to find another way in or positioned ourselves at points where we can blast a path to your location with breaching charges if anything goes wrong."

Looks like it's a good thing you didn't wear Recon armoras well. Your disguise would have been revealed in no time. The nobles of most Houses must have similar protection. You were certainly in no position to test that at the Lat'tham ball.

Arriving in the main hall you see that Earl Baern Usela is in the middle of talking to the armor company representative who must have gotten here early.

>What say?

>>35412910
>>What say?
Wait until they finish talking.
"Gentlemen, a pleasure to meet you. Please allow me to introduce us. These are Knight Lieutenant(?) Alexander Palaiologos, (rest of our entourage), and I am Sonia Reynard."

>>35412910

Do the usual Dominion niceties.

"My sincerest apologies for the unannounced visit, but information has come to my attention that causes both myself and my House great concern."

And then we have to figure out what Posat's situation is, vs the information we have on their situation.

And then we see if we can't try and apply some salvage mindset to the situation.

Out of curiosity... if a debtor were to be conquered, would the conqueror be responsible for that debt under Dominion law? Or would it be full right of conquest style 'Conquest trumps claims of debt owed' and 'if I give the debt holder pennies per dollar they should shut up and be glad I give them anything'?

Once the conversation is finished you're introduced.
"Knight Captain's Sonia Reynard and Alexander Palaiologos. Officers Sel Iremi and Gerhard Teagan."

"A pleasure to meet you and my sincerest apologies for the unannounced visit, but information has come to my attention that causes both myself and my House great concern."

On the flight here you were informed that your spies would be safely out of the system by the time the fleet arrived. There's no danger of them being arrested as a result of revealing their investigation.

Do you want this reveal to be phrased more as an accusation? Informing them that something terrible might be happening without their knowledge? Cold hard facts?

Tact can be essential.

>Out of curiosity... if a debtor were to be conquered, would the conqueror be responsible for that debt under Dominion law? Or would it be full right of conquest style 'Conquest trumps claims of debt owed' and 'if I give the debt holder pennies per dollar they should shut up and be glad I give them anything'?
That is always a bit of a debate and is situationally dependent. If it were a merger then yes they would still owe their debt. If the resultant House is powerful enough they could try to default on it which would piss off those owed funds, but they might not have the strength to do anything about it.

A conqueror is just as likely to ignore it, though they may take some steps to provide compensation in some form to shore up relations. Usually material resources and things that are not essential but can still be claimed to have some value. So yes to that in a way.

>>35413701
Lay out the cold hard facts. They are in contract violation, and not for the first time. House Jerik-Dremnith is not pleased.

>>35413701

Unless we have evidence that a particular noble is responsible for wrongdoing, I think we should go with
>Informing them that something terrible might be happening without their knowledge

Though I wouldn't mind being slightly accusatory toward the armor company as a distinct entity as far as fudging their books goes, due to this possibly being a second instance of it.

The reports that the Royal Guard have visited and didn't seem happy are worrying, as well. Are there any members of the Royal House still here?

>>35413701
>Tact can be essential.

We hate to be the bearer of bad news but a recent analysis of their economic data indicates their economy might be in danger of being crushed under the burden of their accumulated debt.

J-D understands this will probably come as a surprise to them, especially when considering the increasing demand for their goods like SP torp resistant armor. It was just through a fortunate coincidence that one of our analysts found out about this.

Or let Alex handle this.

>>35413701
How about surrendering on term? Say someone declared war, fights for 12 hours, then a house surrendered on terms that basically amounted to "everyone get demoted one step and some of your assets 've seized

>>35413701
>Informing them that something terrible might be happening without their knowledge?
Highlight the point that you have saved them once and are here to make sure they still exist.

>>35414481
We aren't though.

>>35414336
That would be up to the Houses involved to negotiate with those owed money. Or to not. It's really up to the whim of the winner and if/how many people they wanted to annoy.

You hate to be the bearer of bad news but you've found evidence that the House Posat Armor company is in contract violation, and not for the first time. House Jerik-Dremnine is uncertain if the rest of House Posat is aware of the severity of the problem but they are ultimately not pleased.

Some of the data your spies have collected is offered up for inspection.

You ask Alex to take over.
"Because of these issues our House is looking for reassurances that our investments in the infrastructure of your House were not misplaced. Likewise we would seek suitable compensation for any funds that were diverted or waylaid."

Earl Usela speaks up. "This is very distressing news. We will certainly begin an investigation at once. We should have a response to these reports in a few weeks."

"Are there any members of the Royal Guard still here?" you ask.
This elicits a response causing a few to trade glances.

"Reports that the Royal Guard have visited recently and didn't seem happy are worrying, as well. As much if not more so than the current burden of debt House Posat faces."

You need to figure out what Posat's actual situation is. Was your information good?

"What is it you want precisely Captain Reynard?" Asks the Earl. "As you say, we do have a problem with our debt currently and if there were any "indiscretions" we would likely not be able to repay you in funds for an extended period. Are you prepared to wait?"

>What say?

>>35415312
They are stalling for time here. They probably would be annexed within that time frame. Would the Ruling house let us take one of the factories if we had a contract with Possat saying if they fall under we can take some assets under control?

>>35415312

"Jerik-Dremine will be glad to wait for your House to conduct a proper investigation, but I am afraid that I will need to deploy at least a token security detail to our various interests and possibly observers or access to the armor production facility."

>>35415312
"No, I am not prepared to wait. What I want is compensation for your inability to uphold your part of the contracts. If you lack funds to pay us we can settle for something else. Technology, ships, full ownership of the objects that the contracts touch, territory even. Also in order to reassure House Jerik-Dreminth that our investments here are not lost due to bankruptcy or mistreated again we would like some sort of contract. A contract that would ensure us that in the event of a contract violation, bankruptcy, or similar things then ownership of said objects falls to Jerik-Dreminth. Yet we are both hoping it does not come to that. Simply put Jerik-Dreminth want to ensure that we will retain our investment should things come down the more unpleasant road"

I was thinking along the road of them being weaker than us and thus we get to make demands for once. Maybe I overdid it?

>>35415312
"Your [appropriate honorific goes here], the primary goal of my visit is to make sure the investment of my house are safe. Now, and in the future.

If our analysts are correct, it doesn't really matter if there will be any "indiscretions" or not. If their findings should prove true the debt your House has accumulated will most likely force the Ruling House to step in and do... 'something'.

The reason why I'm talking to you is to either find some miraculous way to avert this from happening, or to limit the unpleasant effects this will have on people in House Posat and House J-D if that should prove impossible."

>>35415312

Go "hostile" take over on them.

"I have been order to secure by any means possible the assets and investments House Jerik-Dremine has in this world. I will *appreciate* your cooperation with transfer of possession and control of the following items as means compensation for all standing debts House Posat has to House Jerik-Dremine and its personnel. That is unless you can provide evidence you have the means to avoid bankruptcy within the next 24 hours I will be force to act within the range of my orders."

>>35415649
Seconding this. He can try and stall for as long as he wants, be we're putting a solid garrison on our assets.

>>35415369
>Would the Ruling house let us take one of the factories if we had a contract with Possat saying if they fall under we can take some assets under control?
Once annexed by the Ruling House they would then be the owner. If such a contract was honored it might allow you to be compensated by them for the previously known percentages of the companies you owned. If the investigation is incomplete before the annexation they're under no obligation to finish it and see if they really need to pay you more.

"Your excellency, the primary goal of my visit is to make sure the investments of my house are safe. Now, and in the future.

Jerik-Dremine will be glad to wait for your House to conduct a proper investigation, but I am afraid that I will need to deploy at least a token security detail to our various interests and possibly observers or access to the armor production facility."

Alex seconds this. "These are the minimum that would be required to satisfy those within our House. Jerik-Dreminth wants to ensure that we will retain our investments should things proceed down the more unpleasant road."

The Earl looks to one of the officers among his guard and motions them over. Before the guard can arrive you add.

"If the investigation is completed swiftly and as you said you lack funds to pay us, we are prepared to settle for something else. Technology, ships, increased or full ownership of facilities we already own shares in, territory even."

After speaking to the captain the Earl turns back to you.
"We will have to consider your proposals as we begin our investigation. You're free to adjourn to our guest suites for a few hours. They should be comfortable enough while providing adequate room for your entire party. The guards will show you the way."

On the way to the guest quarters you receive an encoded burst transmission from your bodyguards. The LST is reporting that the planetary shields have gone up. No one is getting on or off the planet for the time being.

>>35416525
well I guess we should turn around and grab the seure the earl as fast as possible.

>>35416525
I remember that we had some SP Kenetic Strike pakages that we never ended up using. Did we think to bring them along?

>>35416725
Really? When did we first get those, can't remember.

Wasn't that plan from a really long time ago when we were trying to disable Neeran plasma turrets with SP kinetic strikes? IIRC we were trying to disable them in such a way that we could assemble a complete one later for research. This was really early in the war before we started capturing lots of stuff.

In any case SP bombardment just means taking the warhead out of an SP torpedo. I'd assume we brought some.

>>35416725
I think it was an SP drop pod.

>>35416525
Well, load our plasma pistol just in-case.

>>35416666
You can request to see the Earl again or pass on another message if you have anything else you'd like to add.

>>35416725
>I remember that we had some SP Kenetic Strike pakages that we never ended up using. Did we think to bring them along?
You had some basic kinetic bombardment missiles, not a lot but a few. There were suggestions to pull the warheads from SP Torps and replace them with additional kinetic penetrators for use on Neeran occupied worlds but the plan was eventually dismissed as a waste of torpedoes.
You could contact one of your ships and have them modify some warheads in a couple of hours.

>>35416824
It came up again in the last tour, first galaxy you raided behind enemy lines.
>>35416824
>In any case SP bombardment just means taking the warhead out of an SP torpedo. I'd assume we brought some.
Indeed. You have a good number of them aboard your personal Battlecruiser. More than 150 believe thanks to pulling them from the Devourer. Likewise Daska never goes anywhere without a few of them spare. Your other Knights have probably done the same.

>>35416849
Everyone refused to go near those things.

Do you wish to modify some of the warheads and if so how long do you prepared to wait before ordering your people to take action? So far you haven't been told you cant leave.

>>35416942
Well, we were more or less asked to wait a few hours and I doubt they're secretly planning to murder us.

6 hours?

>>35416993
Agree.

>>35416942
Does our units IFF include its emperor's elite citation? If not and its not considered presumptuous or something, can we have our IFF transmit that? That might give them pause.

>>35416525

Didn't we loot a few SP drop pods from a destroyed Terran ship on the front? They probably aren't on these ships, though.

Ask the guard escorting us about themself and if they know of any good local food specialties that a visitor to Posat is a fool not to sample.

>>35417187
>Ask the guard escorting us about themself
"I was PDF most of my career until one of the pirate raids wiped out half our Marines resulting in offers of promotions for those willing to transfer. I was lucky. After your people retook most of the Run we were shipped back to guard the supply bases."
>and if they know of any good local food specialties that a visitor to Posat is a fool not to sample.
"Uh, not off the top of my head sir. Nearly everything here has been imported from elsewhere over the past 15 years. We're close to the nav relay so you can order in anything you can't find here."

>>35417047
>Does our units IFF include its emperor's elite citation? If not and its not considered presumptuous or something, can we have our IFF transmit that? That might give them pause.
Actually there is a special optional setting included in Dominion IFF packages intended for use in starship duels. It's not used often but when it is people generally want to go all out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcDHuTBt81I
It lists awards, ranks and kills. This system is to be turned off in large scale combat operations to prevent people from getting distracted.

You have the fleet modify a small number of Torpedoes just in case you need an exit and decide to wait 6 hours. Until then everyone takes a break, washes up a bit or checks local broadcasts. According to the news the PDF is conducting a systems test of the planetary shields.

In 4 hours you're called back to see the Earl.

"We've discussed your proposals and have no way of making direct financial restitution or guaranteeing the rights to infrastructure your House currently owns shares in should the Ruling House decide to step in.

Alex gives you a look that you get clearly enough: This shit is unacceptable.

"Captain Reynard, we're looking to determine the value of earnings from armor production that have not been sent your way. The exact figures are still being tallied. While it is still within our power to do so what resources would you prefer to be compensated in? At minimum as a notable investor in the company we feel that some efforts should be made.

This is considered preferable to reactionary measures by your orbital forces."

Alex warns you that the only way to prevent industry you own shares in from being annexed by the Ruling House is to garrison it permanently or gain a controlling interest.

What are you interested in?

Armor Company shares* (garrison requires 51% ownership for this site.)
House Industry (35%) more shares or permission to garrison
House Industry (28%) more shares or permission to garrison
Ask for Land
Push for an entire planet in the Run (This may be excessive, the House will certainly need to include additional payment.)
Other

>>35418324
How can we make this beneficial deal for both sides?

Do they know what the ruling house is planning to do with them?

How much money would they need to actually reduce their debt to a level where they're not in danger of having the ruling house take over?

>>35418324
Does house Posat still have Salvage rights to portions of the Run? Our company might be able to make a killing off of those if they're actions are sufficiently valuable.

>>35418456
>How much money would they need to actually reduce their debt to a level where they're not in danger of having the ruling house take over?
More money than we could possibly spare or could be worth it. Their interest alone exceeds their entire GDP. I don't think there has ever been a country with that high a debt to asset ratio in history.

>>35418521
>More money than we could possibly spare or could be worth it.

I guess that would depend on how much of a GDP House Posat has actually left.

>>35418324
>Push for an entire planet in the Run (This may be excessive, the House will certainly need to include additional payment.)


This this oh god this. Gaining a planet for the House will earn us SOOO much prestige. Not to mention it's a giant fuck you to Posat, which is no more than they deserve after trying to pull even more shit now.

>Armor Company shares* (garrison requires 51% ownership for this site.)
That's the torpedo armor right? Gaining that should also be a good asset to the House and should keep that money out of Posat pockets.

These two are my main interests.

>>35418324
51% shares in the armor company.

A planet in the run.

>>35418577
Well, considering they need to pay more every year than their entire economy produces, either they (and their creditors) are COMPLETE morons, or their GDP is a tiny fraction of what it once was. Either way, why would we want to help them at this point?

>>35418324
>Armor Company shares* (garrison requires 51% ownership for this site.)
>House Industry (35%) more shares or permission to garrison
>House Industry (28%) more shares or permission to garrison

These are what we came for. So let's make sure we get those. Although if they're interested in selling a planet, I'd list.

>>35418701
In my opinion we should take a look at their problem for the simple reason that collapsing economies are usually really bad for everybody who has anything to do with them.

This might of course be different in the Dominion. I'm also interested to see the price tag for their house.

>>35418324
I want the technological secrets that come from the armor company, so we can develop it slightly further and maybe integrate it with our shipyards as a home-tech advantage.

>>35418789
They're economy is in shit shape because they lost most of their territory, the actual pieces they have left aren't that bad.

>>35418865
Well, would we be able to "conquer" them but give favorable positions to the nobles elsewhere, and somehow get away with it without owing their debts as well? Maybe whip up some clones to execute? Quite honestly, they're in a shit position and I don't see how they plan to get out of this regardless of our involvement. Better to keep your head and standard of living, even if it means losing your influence and position.

>>35418935
That's what the Royal House is doing.

>>35418965
Yeah. So, could we do it first, and offer a better deal?

>>35418456
Don't ask this

>>35418980
Do you want to piss off the royal house?
Hint, the answer is NO

>>35418980
Yeah no, lets not get in the shit books of the Ruling House. We need to take smart risks, like asking for a planet as payment, not dumb ones like this.

Our career is already on the line with this House Veritas deal.

>>35418989
Haha, no. We're not bailing them out. We're protecting our interests. We can maybe ask privately if there are any deals the Earl might want to make personally, though, to sweeten the pot.

His house is going under no matter what. He should look to surviving past that, and a debtor doesn't have many friends. J-D is in a position to be his friend, but friends help each other.

I feel like we don't use and abuse the whole "Feudalism and Nobility cutting backroom deals" aspect of the dominion often enough.

>>35419108
I suppose pulling it off and then buying off the Ruling House would be too much for us to handle. I dream big, what can I say?

>>35418456
"Before I answer that I have another question. How much money would you need to actually reduce the debt to a level where your House is not in danger of having the Ruling House take over?"

"Your House would bankrupt itself for a generation attempting to pay it. We should have been refused loans before it reached this stage but we were once much more powerful and were expected to recoup our losses in the Smuggler's Run."
>>35418989
>Don't ask this
Well I left out answering part of it.

>>35418485
>Does house Posat still have Salvage rights to portions of the Run? Our company might be able to make a killing off of those if they're actions are sufficiently valuable.
They've largely been sold off to Jerik-Dremine or its allies. There may be rights to areas currently listed as nav hazards but the repercussions of screwing up one of your crazy dangerous jumps would be so much worse. This would be an extreme long term investment if you waited until the guild gave you the all clear.
Your own House also has rights to areas like this.

>>35418521
>I don't think there has ever been a country with that high a debt to asset ratio in history.
Planetary development and defense can be very expensive.
I wish I'd taken screen shots of that one game of sword of the stars. It was amazingly bad.

>>35418597
>>35418683
2 people would like to go big.

>>35418719
Securing House investments

>>35418935
>Well, would we be able to "conquer" them but give favorable positions to the nobles elsewhere, and somehow get away with it without owing their debts as well?

The easiest way would be to start shooting, and keep shooting until you had control of the system, then any witnesses that said you shot first would be dead and you can claim it as conquest through self defense. This would make you as many enemies as it would allies.

>>35418324

Would it be possible to combine our current holdings in the 2 House Industries of 35% & 28%?
It may not be a 1:1 exchange, but we should be able to take a controlling interest in one of the sites/areas/industries. With a controlling share, the single holding is more secure than split holdings.

Was that ~10% in the Armor Company just Sonia's holdings or the entire J-D holding in the company? Do we have any potential legal ground to demand share compensation at the lowest traded value of the stock over the period we've been getting cheated or even get stock at a discount?

... Could we potentially set something up where we specifically gain the armor production rights/patent? In exchange, they don't pay to produce it as long as the Posat Earl remains in power and their House isn't seized, and we sign an agreement that we won't grant anyone else production rights so long as the previous portion is also in effect. There would be a few clauses like "Earl and Company can be petitioned to allow J-D/RSS agreed upon production levels every X years/months" and "in event of inter-dominion war this is also rendered null".

Secretly, we could also have an agreement that would allow a list of Posat nobles/knights to access a similar or favorable deal for a decade or two, in the event Posat is dissolved by the Royal House and they try to found a new company to produce the armor again.

And ask if RSS could attempt to assist them in scouring sections of their space for salvage in an attempt to generate things for them to sell?


OH GOD NO to
>Push for an entire planet

We'd need to get the entire House behind such a thing, or at least some people that make Sonia look poor.

>>35419264
>spoiler
Did you ever manage to make SotS 2 work?

>The easiest way would be to start shooting, and keep shooting until you had control of the system, then any witnesses that said you shot first would be dead and you can claim it as conquest through self defense. This would make you as many enemies as it would allies.

Let's not do that.

>2 people would like to go big.
We should call home before even thinking about that.

>>35419264
I second that we need to contact our house on this arrangement. But if we don't have the time go for the 51%.

>>35419386
I like this guy's ideas.

Going big is an option, but we would need the entire house behind us for that. Leave that as an option for later if they default again.

>>35419386
>Would it be possible to combine our current holdings in the 2 House Industries of 35% & 28%?
Possible. Not all of the nobles involved who are owners may appreciate a shift in the particular industry types they have shares in. Especially if they have their holdings across multiple planets set up to compliment each other.

>Was that ~10% in the Armor Company just Sonia's holdings or the entire J-D holding in the company?
Just Sonia's. The House sold their shares back to Posat when it looked like their sales fell.

>Could we potentially set something up where we specifically gain the armor production rights/patent? In exchange, they don't pay to produce it as long as the Posat Earl remains in power and their House isn't seized.
This would ultimately complicate things for everyone involved but I suppose it is an option.

>There would be a few clauses like "Earl and Company can be petitioned to allow J-D/RSS agreed upon production levels every X years/months" and "in event of inter-dominion war this is also rendered null".
>Secretly, we could also have an agreement that would allow a list of Posat nobles/knights to access a similar or favorable deal for a decade or two, in the event Posat is dissolved by the Royal House and they try to found a new company to produce the armor again.

Is anyone else at all interested in this?

>>35419417
>Push for an entire planet
>We should call home before even thinking about that.
What would you like to include in a message to the House about grabbing a planet?


>>35419884
>But if we don't have the time go for the 51%.
Of the armor company? The other industry? All of it?

>>35420064
>What would you like to include in a message to the House about grabbing a planet?
How much there is support to get the planet, what planets are of interest to us, and are we capable of holding it financially?

>>35420218
Yeah, what this anon said.

Also, if we nab a planet for the House...we have a fair claim (along with the Earl and all of the other Nobles whose investments in Posat we'r converting) to rulership of said planet, correct?

>You're authorised to take any and all action you feel appropriate to protect House resources.

I think we have all the permissions we need to negotiate on behalf of the house.

>>35420470
Yeah but that's not carte blanche to spend the house's money. Our share isn't worth an entire planet.

>>35420470
>>35420336
We do have permission however we aren't shielded from the consequences. The problem with taking over the entire planet is that its not only us that has invested into House Possat. We may actually make more enemies if we approach this with heavy hand.

>>35420470

We have all the permissions we need to protect House resources, not a blank check.

>>35420064

Can we get some info on if any of the non-JD holdings in the 2 House Industries are available for sale (or if any of the debt holders are looking to get out of those holdings? Would debt holdings technically count toward a majority ownership/board/coalition?)

It might be an interesting and cheaper alternative to a direct buy or the cost of garrisoning forces to enforce our claims, and I imagine a number of Posat nobles are quietly stashing away assets and nest eggs that can't be seized and liquidated by the Royal House if Posat collapses.


The Armor Company stuff I guess comes down to 'how much do they say we're owed', 'how much do we say we're owed', and 'how big a chunk of shares would it be' unless Posat is looking at getting rid of stuff they can't afford to run/garrison and RSS could use. (Stations, ships, etc)

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You request some time to make some calls, both to your fleet in orbit and to your Homeworld to be certain you're not being disrespectful of their wishes. Winifred you find out should be on the way with additional ships.

House Industry (35%) - This one has owners largely comprised of nobles from Loran II. It includes production for wartime material & logistics.

House Industry (28%) - Dreminth Nobles own most of the House shares of this zone which is set up for civilian concerns.
Abandoning one for the other will ultimately screw with somebody's financial portfolio.


>How much there is support to get the planet, what planets are of interest to us, and are we capable of holding it financially?
There are only 2 Posat can offer at the moment. Their capital is out of the question.

1) There is an inhabited planet Posat controlls along the main route of the Run.
>One of the planets in the system is habitable, but barely so with signs its undergone repeated attempts at terraforming. Sections of mountain ranges poke above the thin atmosphere in places.
This place will need the help of your House's terraforming experts, though it seems they've already been hard at work, with contracts for the next 2-3 years. This world would cost more to terraform and to buy due to current infrastructure.

2) A formerly abandoned colony House allies chipped in to establish planetary shields to protect the atmosphere and then used it as a dumping ground for refugees.
>Sensor scans have found an abandoned colony world. Its atmosphere is being stripped by solar wind which will leave it uninhabitable in 1000 years.
After Crayton attempted to flee the Run with her refugee convoy and failed the survivors were sent here. The few spaceports are heavily policed and crime is rampant among the slums and burned out hulks of ships deposited on the surface to act as shelters. A definite fixer-upper.

I'm falling asleep at the keyboard. See you guys in the morning.

>>35420991
>How much there is support to get the planet,
More planets are always good. Your House want's to expand since its still trying to make up for the holdings lost around the homeworlds years ago.

Just some people may think less of getting a planet when it means they personally lose out on owned industry.

>>35420957
>Can we get some info on if any of the non-JD holdings in the 2 House Industries are available for sale
Going to say yes, just to keep it rolling, or Posat are willing to sell to help settle the score.

>and I imagine a number of Posat nobles are quietly stashing away assets and nest eggs that can't be seized and liquidated by the Royal House if Posat collapses.
People have been taking their pensions and running.

>>35420957
>'how much do they say we're owed', 'how much do we say we're owed', and 'how big a chunk of shares would it be' unless Posat is looking at getting rid of stuff they can't afford to run/garrison and RSS could use. (Stations, ships, etc)
Stocks split before the start of the war. You could push for 51 with the missing profits, higher if you used more of your own.

Good night, see you in a few hours.

>>35420991
>There are only 2 Posat can offer at the moment. Their capital is out of the question.
Wait, what?
Does this imply that Posat only has three planets?
Personally I think we should push for majority positions in the companies, the planets they can offer seem like shitholes and the financial burden of maintaining or improving them would likely affect our house's ability to pursue the war.

bump

bump

>>35403682
It really comes down to how shield stacking works. We've had our ships overlap shields in combat before and there was that one time with the neeran LSTs that overlapped shields on the ground. What happens when multiple shields overlap? And how far away from a typical combat ship is the shield boundary?

If two corvettes could overlap shields without being "blue angel" close then the remote tandem link wouldn't have much of a downside. The two corvettes would have just enough room to turn in any direction without getting into each others way and shield protection would be pooled together. It would be far more technically complex than the Karbos tandem frigate but also more efficient too. Instead of strapping two corvettes to a frigate you would have one frigate with two corvettes as weightless gunpods. The corvettes would be capped by the frigate's speed, but would be more than agile enough to avoid crashing into it as they follow along. At any time the corvette pilots could split off without having to mess with docking clamps. There could also be uses for the system not directly related to combat. "towing" a ship with an incapacitated pilot, or a ship with a damaged bridge. Signature masking in combination with ECM, hiding the number of corvettes or making the enemy think the corvettes are bigger ships.

Drones are a possibility here, the farther away they operate from friendly ships the more you run into jamming and AI issues affecting performance. This system is the shortest possible leash you could give them without a physical link. We could double our corvette swarms by pairing each corvette with a drone that follows their every move. It doesn't need a pilot because it's slaved directly to the master ship and will happily blast away and soak up any incoming fire.

>>35421107
Consolidating seems to be the best idea to me.

I propose we sell house industry shares, dip into RSS funds and buy out Posat armor factories (and their R&D labs), plus the land they are on.

According to last R&D selection, their ablative armor is nearly ready - it wouldn't help them due to their financial situation, but J-D could benefit greatly from it.

If owners of the shares start complaining, point out that having their assets seized by Ruling House will hurt their bottom line even more.

bump

>>35420064
>Is anyone else at all interested in this?
They caused us a lot less trouble than they could have. If there is a way we can do them a favor without putting us at a disadvantage I'm all for it.

>>35420991
>Planets

Planet 2 seems like something that should be relatively cheap. In its current state it seems like it's mostly a drain on Posat's resources without bringing much to the table in terms of income.

I would like to send the details on that planet to Mike. He should be able to say if the situation is salvageable without spending a fortune or if we should stay away from it.

>>35425419
Planet 2 seems like a money sink if anything. Not to mention in the long run we'd need to solve the dissipation of atmosphere.

>>35426670
I think they already stopped that by installing planetary shields.

>>35425419
I think planet 1 is what we should be looking to get, if we go for a planet. If we pick one industry over the other, one group or the other is going to feel offended. If we pick the planet, and give the nobles who invested in the industries shares in the planet commensurate to their investment in industry, we may be able to please everyone.

Except for House Posat, but fuck them.

>>35427005
Why the hate for Posat? They fucked up but they've always played us straight when it came to the armor company. Not to ention their Earl is dealing with us, when he could have outright refused us.

>>35421644
>Does this imply that Posat only has three planets?
No. There are others but you'd never be able to afford them.

Your own cash reserves and those of RSS are not unlimited but you do still have quite a bit.

Survey is made up. Are these options good or are there any more to add before posting link? It's a multiple answer one.

Armor Company (Up to 51%)
Armor Company (Greater than 51%)
Armor Company (51% or higher) using personal and/or RSS funds
House Industry (35%) Increase to 51%
House Industry (28%) Increase to 51%
Trade House industry from one site to get majority of the other
Increase House industry using personal and/or RSS funds
Ask for Land
Planet 1
Planet 2
Ownership of the production rights to their armor tech
Salvage rights to Nav Hazard zones in the Run

>>35427381
I don't necessarily hate them, I just have very little respect and absolutely no loyalty towards them. The Earl is dealing with us because right now they're desperate and we've got a fleet sitting in orbit ready to do some repossessing if they piss us off badly enough (as I assume they see the situation). Also I'm fairly certain they're trying to hold us hostage.

>>35427887
>Survey
Looks good to me.

TSTG, what does usually happen to a House when the Ruling House takes over because there are severe financial problems?

SURVEY! <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5BRRJLZ


>>35427980
>what does usually happen to a House when the Ruling House takes over because there are severe financial problems?

It doesn't happen that often. Usually another House will have swooped in before them or the one in debt will take drastic measures. Odds are they will try to pay off some of the debt but not all of it. Likewise your House would have been compensated a bit for the annexed industry.

>>35427887
Can we find out how badly the Armor Company is actually leveraged in debt?

I really want to gain a controlling interest in it to secure a valuable resource (anti-torp armor), but at the same time I'd really hate to find out it comes with 4 billion in debt for a 40 million actual worth.

Currently up to 7 votes.

>>35428206
>Can we find out how badly the Armor Company is actually leveraged in debt?
The company despite the embezzlement is in good shape. Most of the debt it owes is to you.

>We personally go after anything related to the Armor Company. We secure both House Industry and we try to go after that second planet. It "is" a definite fixer upper and they no doubt would be putting more money into it than they are getting out of it at the moment. I'm sure we can work something out with our house.

Well that's 1 person's argument.


This is the video I was looking for last night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR_G_Wv_qN4

>>35429011

If we take the majority holding on the armor company, could we pick up some or all of the Posat security on it as RTS 'employees' and mix in some of our own/House as a token force?

Posat doesn't have to continue paying them (or could pay them progressively less as RTS takes over up to a certain %), they remain Posat guys but if their House collapses they've essentially got an RTS safety net for themselves and families, and RTS will gain some trained/experienced folks.
Out of curiosity, what sort of support is Posat even capable of providing for the Neeran war, with every House supposedly forced to fight in it?

>>35429011
Could Sonia use private funds to help get a planet and arrange with our house that she gets to own a lot of land on the planet for that?

If that's the case, we could use this as an opportunity to 'buy' a lot of land while also getting our house another planet. This would be beneficial to Jerrik-Dremine because they wouldn't have to pay (much) extra for the planet and know that there is a good investor for it already, and it would be good for Sonia, because she is running out on space on her other holdings.

>>35429667
Considering several ice asteroids cost us tens of millions, I'd guess even a crappy planet is still beyond Sonia's financial limits.

>>35429704
I was not suggesting her to buy the whole planet. I was suggesting for her to buy lots of land on the planet (for tens of million or perhaps even hundreds of million Seri) so that the house doesn't have to pay as much as it otherwise would.

The house would still have to pay for the planet, I assume. But given the current situation, I hope the planet will be cheap relative to what a planet is normally worth.

>>35429457
Not their security, those are largely made up of House PDF troops. You can certainly make the job offers available but it's doubtful you'd be able to get anyone before things with the Ruling House are resolved.

>>35429667
You could certainly get the world transferred/bought by the House and pay in to get some of the land, but you can't buy a whole planet yourself.

>>35420991
>How much there is support to get the planet, what planets are of interest to us, and are we capable of holding it financially?
So is our house interested in the planets or not?

>>35429915
Interested yes, but much less so if it will endanger the House industry.

Trying to get a bit of everything and still investing in getting more land for yourself will not just deplete you personal cash reserves but hurt those of RSS as well.
Do you want London to dip into the emergency fund?

>>35430035
>Interested yes, but much less so if it will endanger the House industry
Bene, so they would prefer the industry then over a planet? How much of a personal+house commitment would we need to make to get the armor company and both industries at 51%?

Also, similar question with the planet? Going red basically? With the emergency funds?

>>35430035
Now that's just crazy talk. Choosing all the options and getting land for Sonia is not something I can support and I'm not sure where that comes from.

>Interested yes, but much less so if it will endanger the House industry.
I'm still confused. So they would like a planet (knowing approximately what they would have to pay for it), but only if they get the other stuff as well? But the industry stuff is already everything that is owed to the house. Therefore, if the house gets the industry stuff, house Posat doesn't owe house Jerrik-Dremine anything anymore and has absolutely no reason to give up a planet.

For me this is tantamount to saying "So you are talking about how we are recompensed for our losses. I want to be recompensed by getting the industries we have shares in. Also a planet would be nice. But strictly as an extra, you know?"

Apologies if I completely misunderstood that.

>>35430195
>Therefore, if the house gets the industry stuff, house Posat doesn't owe house Jerrik-Dremine anything anymore and has absolutely no reason to give up a planet.

If their repeated financial 'creativity' were to become public knowledge, House Posat would owe Sonia quite a substantial amount of fees as a result of the contract she made with them after the first time they got creative with their bookings for the armor company.

So I'm just interpreting this as an attempt to handle this quietly.

>>35430035
No. I'm against touching these company assets unless it's a real emergency. I'd rather miss out on an oppurtunity than doing that.

>>35430320
Yeah sure, but a planet seems a bit much just for them to want us to be quiet. Even if the house has to pay extra for it.

>>35430035
Just to be clear. The emergency reserves would only be needed if Sonia were to go for "a bit of everything" (whatever that means) as well as buying land? Is there anyone who is voting for that?

>The planet
How much extra would the house have to pay for the planets? One or two billion? 10 billion? How much are planets like that worth?

>>35430454
>Yeah sure, but a planet seems a bit much just for them to want us to be quiet. Even if the house has to pay extra for it.

I would guess they're willing to get rid of these planets because both of them will most likely be money sinks for decades to come.

If they sell them off now, it might make the Ruling House a bit less displeased once they take over and check the books.

>"Look, we really tried to consolidate right to the end."

>>35430195
>But the industry stuff is already everything that is owed to the house.
But by extension you are also part of that House.

>"So you are talking about how we are recompensed for our losses. I want to be recompensed by getting the industries we have shares in. Also a planet would be nice. But strictly as an extra, you know?"
Now you've got it.

Simply getting the industry to 51% will still leave you with some leftovers for what Posat owes you. Not much but it's a starting point to move on buying a world.
...really I suppose you would/could get some land out of it either way.


>>35430454
>How much extra would the house have to pay for the planets? One or two billion? 10 billion? How much are planets like that worth?
A lot less if their development costs are still more than what anyone is getting out of it.
The House could probably get the less developed one for less than a billion.
Lower if the cost of land is pushed down as a result of pressing this button:
>If their repeated financial 'creativity' were to become public knowledge, House Posat would owe Sonia quite a substantial amount of fees as a result of the contract she made with them after the first time they got creative with their bookings for the armor company.

Hopefully I haven't just contradicted myself a dozen times.

14 votes. Writing.