>>47390229
FOR HOUSE AND DOMINION

>>47390229
For House and Dominion!

Gods I hope we are ready for this.

Third for getting all RxS ships out of drh 1.

Knight Captain Katherine Drake is your fleet's Wing Commander. Having returned from raiding actions she is now overseeing hurried last minute training of the squadrons under your command.

Uyi Rna the General of your Army is now busy overseeing the readiness of the army and PDF forces of your various worlds. You now have roughly a million ground troops at your disposal.

Wiremu Tama is the admiral of your Fleet. He's been working to strengthen inter-unit cooperation between manned and unmanned starfighter squadrons.

Fadila Saqqaf is your leading diplomatic adviser. She has remained busy trying to help shore up relations with minor allied Houses in the region that are beginning to panic in response to the recent battle.

C.F. Vanderwal is a former House Erid noble now serving with your intelligence division as part of his parole. After uncovering a number of conspirators in the capital working against you he's been transferred to Rioja, both so you can keep an eye on him and to make use of his experience.

Chide Dlam'ard, the Governor of Rioja has started preparing Rioja for a potential siege. If an attack reaches the Smuggler's Run the enemy may be reluctant to directly engage the world's now powerful orbital defenses. Blockading it until more of their heavy warships are available is certainly possible and may even be expected after the RH blockade of Bonrah worlds.

>>47390229
I must have missed it last thread, but BH got a grav well through? Thought it was just Forbearance and escort

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Before the recent battle and the beginnings of a new blockade Helios brought additional ships and other forces into the region.

Included among them is an envoy that wishes to officially discuss the situation with the Knights Errant. Helios is prepared to donate a squadron of new Chevalier class ships towards the formation of a chapter in the region.

Refugees and survivors of the Knights Errant of Helscion Ten have been living on Rioja or working on the Moon base for roughly a year now. They've made some efforts towards a similar goal but so far you've largely ignored it or given noncommital responses.

There are a few locations that Helios has in mind if you were to support such an endeavour. An abandoned base in the Smuggler's Run within a nebula would seem ideal. The the future Helios may be able to pressure RH supporters into selling a nearby colony to them.

A base in the former Bonrah territories near your new shipyard and sensor array would let them help anti-piracy efforts there and give access to the nearby nav station.

Helios could instead look to one of their own allied Houses in the region to provide a suitable location. The local chapter would then be outside your sphere of influence, though you could still make money through trading with them and maintain your good relations.

Alternatively you could continue to ignore the situation or refuse to offer additional assistance.

[ ] Former PMC Base, Smuggler's Run
[ ] Base near Shipyard, former Bonrah territory
[ ] Other location, Helios territory (Errants leave sphere of influence)
[ ] Refuse / ignore. (Errants permanently leave sphere of influence)

>>47390711
>[ ] Base near Shipyard, former Bonrah territory
Would work out best for us yeah?

>>47390666
Forbearance managed to get through. Enemy forced then began to siege allied bases near the nav station in the Centri cluster.
6 days later there was a major battle.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/47300412/#p47353120

>>47390711
>[ ] Base near Shipyard, former Bonrah territory

>>47390711
Give em both
[ ] Former PMC Base, Smuggler's Run
[ ] Base near Shipyard, former Bonrah territory

>>47390737
Oh right, the one where Mike almost died.

>>47390711
>They've made some efforts towards a similar goal but so far you've largely ignored it or given noncommital responses.
Did that ever come up again after we told them they should stick to house territory so they'd not piss of bonrah?

>[X] Base near Shipyard, former Bonrah territory
Are there any interesting locations on the borders of the hazard zones? I'm not sure if the navigators have kept the charts up to date.

>>47390747
>Give em both
Helios is only prepared to fund the equipment and startup of one base and the Knights lack the necessary personnel for 2 at the moment.

>>47390777
>Did that ever come up again after we told them they should stick to house territory so they'd not piss of bonrah?
Everyone ignored it last thread.

>>47390870
>Everyone ignored it last thread.
I totally managed to miss it as the time skip was a tad distracting when reading that part the next day. I'd guess I'm not the only one.

>>47390711
>[x] Base near Shipyard, former Bonrah territory

You've agreed to letting the Knights Errant set up at base in the new territories in former Bonrah space. It should be close enough to let them cover the nearby trade lane. At the moment only a small number of people leave Rioja to help with base setup.
Helios provides most of the ships and equipment necessary to get things started and they should be able to begin patrols soon.

When Forbearance reaches the Relay the Super is immediately brought in to the yard for repairs. What little damage it took in the escape has been patched but it was already in need of a minor refit from the extended campaign. The work should be done in 3-4 days. Plenty of time if Nasidum is waiting another 2 for reinforcements, plus the long jump.

Ber'helum's failure to get more ships through during the more recent battle may have longer lasting consequences. Their ambassador informs you that they were hoping to bring in heavy weapons to temporarily upgrade the SRL Merc's recently repaired Super. That is no longer possible.

To make up for this they are prepared to compensate you and J-D for a quick fix solution.

They'd like you to loan the pair of Iratar heavy fusion cannons you have in reserve. They'll also pay for a set of range boosted Dominion medium plasma cannons which will be fitted to turrets their engineers are fabricating.

1) Do you approve the loan of the weapons to upgrade Foss' Super?
2) Are there any restrictions you would want place on their use?

>>47391833
>1) Do you approve the loan of the weapons to upgrade Foss' Super?
Yes.
>2) Are there any restrictions you would want place on their use?
Given how many upgrades Foss is receiving, I'd like very much for him to solidify ties with the Dominion. Perhaps a standing contract to work & remain in the relay as an anti-pirate force for a minimum of ten years?

>>47391833
>That is no longer possible.
Has our house considered to start building cloaked transports?

>1) Do you approve the loan of the weapons to upgrade Foss' Super?
Can't see too much trouble coming from this. Check with Fadila to make sure.

>2) Are there any restrictions you would want place on their use?
If Ber'helum, RH, and Helios decide to start beating each other up, he can either keep the super in neutral territory, or have the guns removed and then join whoever he wants.

>>47391833
>Iratar heavy fusion cannons
Could we use them to boost the Accelerator array?

Is there any last minute tweaks that can be done?

>>47391833
>1
Yes
>2
They can be used for the duration of invasion and then it can be renegotiated.

I am disappointed in Ber'Helum dropping the ball on this on. Still we may be able to use this. Nasidum and Bonrah could invade and then the Ruling House, Ber'Helum and Helios(?) could strike from the Centri Cluster. Destroying their supply line from that direction and then jump them from behind.

Also sorry ahead of time but expect delays this week as I can't get a new fridge or get mine repaired due to the long weekend. Going to have to step out to grab a few things.

>>47392114
>Could we use them to boost the Accelerator array?
That's not the best use for them as they're too powerful to work together normally. They'd have to be turned down so that they only ejected plasma into the array's containment bottle.

>Is there any last minute tweaks that can be done?
Not to the array. Everything that can be done, has been done.

>>47392210
How does the range of the accelerator compare to the siege cannons on the asteroid fortress?

Where are all the RH asteroid fortresses? The wiki page says they're using mobile ones as well.

>>47392210
>That's not the best use for them as they're too powerful to work together normally.
That's a shame. If the accelerator doesn't get destroyed in this battle I hope we can use it in future to put the hurt on a Neeran command ship.

Good luck with your refrigeration problems!

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Your command staff wants to discuss planning with you, especially Admiral Tama.

"When the enemy fleet arrives around the Nav station the first thing they'll want to do is secure their logistics train. That means either moving to capture local bases or setting up their own.

The Csontos system is the closest to the station which is why Nasidum took it last time.
Ruling House logistics bases along the main trade lane are also a priority target. Our newly built bases may seem farther back but they're quite close if a fleet follows the main lane."

Rna points to the former Bonrah territories on the map. "There's still the remaining Bonrah colony worlds that haven't surrendered. They'll have some logistics capacity and can provide more ships to their fleet."

It's quite a trek off the trade lanes but, as you proved, a powerful enough force could still make good time.

"We need to start thinking of how best to engage their forces and where to deploy both the gravity well generator and the siege array."

Heading out for real this time.

>>47392605
>"We need to start thinking of how best to engage their forces and where to deploy both the gravity well generator and the siege array."

I would expect them to use at least one of the heavy carriers along with its escort to stir up trouble in the former bonrah territory. Unless the ruling house has smuggled one or two v-torps into the relay, I feel like we'll have to focus on engaing the part of the invasion fleet that's not supported by the fortress.

Do we know who will command the invasion fleet? Do the major houses have any information on them?

>>47392605
>We need to start thinking of how best to engage their forces and where to deploy both the gravity well generator and the siege array.

If we can move the gen+array as a single unit, we should try to pick-off any isolated supers or heavies.

Ideally I wanted to drop them out of hyperspace into a minefield but I don't think that's going to be happening.

>>47392605
I don't see them flying through our territory to get to the former Bonrah holdings. Too much could go wrong for them. I do see however Bonrah forces hiding starting to cause problems on a MUCH larger scale once they enter the Relay. To either capitalize on our forces faceing the main fleet or to distract naval elements from joining battle against the main fleet.

At lest for the early stages of the invasion:

Siege Array should be kept hidden until we really want to commit to a battle. If that is at the beginning or not remains to be seen.

I would say we deploy the Gravity well along the trade lane and use it to intercept any hostile ship going down it. With any luck we can ambush their vanguard with Heavy Cruisers and slag them while the main enemy fleet goes for Csontos. If they go for the colony we can then move in the Gravity Well there along with the Array and try to put them between a rock and a hard place.

Back and reading.

>Get told to stop by parents place on way back
>Here's some food!
>Okay that's not so bad...
>"And since you're here you can look after your nephew for an hour."
>FFS

>>47394408
>look after your nephew for an hour.
Get him in on the H&D action.

>>47394749
On the plus side I learned how to play world of warships.

>>47392854
>Unless the ruling house has smuggled one or two v-torps into the relay
This seems unlikely with the currently existing subspace damage to the region.

>Do we know who will command the invasion fleet?
Three people.
Tandi Nasidum
Haern Xygen
Rile Bonrah

With leaders of the major enemy Houses having declared themselves Arch or Grand Dukes, the leadership of this attack force is supposed to be comprised of a triumvirate of slightly lesser nobles. They've declared themselves "The Three Dukes" and are believed to have been working together for months now to prevent inter-house rivalry from becoming an issue while their fleets are on the attack.

After the last battle the rank and file of your allied Houses are calling them the Dukes of Hazard.


>>47393196
You still have everything needed to deploy a minefield.

>>47393227
>deploy the Gravity well along the trade lane and use it to intercept any hostile ship going down it.
Did you want to coordinate this with spies or cloaked ships closer to the nav station? If you're dragging tons of civilian traffic out of FTL ahead of time it may give away your position.

>>47395306
>They've declared themselves "The Three Dukes" and are believed to have been working together for months now to prevent inter-house rivalry from becoming an issue

That actually seems like a decent idea. Do we have an idea what strategies and tactics they prefer?

>>47392605
Has the RH fortified any of the planets in their territory?

>>47395306
What happened to the person who snuck us the message warning us of the invasion? It was Avun right? Did she drop out?

>>47395452
>Has the RH fortified any of the planets in their territory?
Most colonies to a degree. They're hoping to delay capture as long as possible to tie up enemy forces. The closest logistics base has been prepped for demolition but will remain operational for the time being.
The bases you've built should be able to withstand an assault by heavy cruisers which should be adequate. Their logistics capacity should more than make up for the loss of forward bases.

Mostly they're trying to stay decentralized.

>>47395570
You haven't had any subsequent contact but intel believes the Knight Commander is in charge of a heavy carrier in the enemy fleet.

The larger escorts for the Sulos contingent include, 4 (Iratar)Alliance Medium Escort class ships of which two are carrier types, 2 Sledge and 1 Shukhant.
They're well stocked with assault corvettes.


With Forbearance in the shop and Ber'helum unwilling to waste more time, the Sam Bellamy is brought into orbit of Rioja's moon to have its guns fit. The forward most dorsal and ventral turrets are each fit with a single Iratar heavy using the older turrets that had been built for the EX-Mega modification.
The odd looking aft turrets are equipped with the range boosted medium cannons arranged in a 3 barrel Gatling configuration.

They have no idea how it will perform in combat.

>>47396134
I'd really like to get the mobile reynard solutions assets out of the relay before that fleet arrives.

>>47396384
You could send the civilian ships out through Terran space. They could make for the Pandora cluster where RSS has operations.

You'll probably need to keep the Kilo in the area for continued fortress construction support.

> 1) Send the Francis Alfonso and most RSS forces out of Relay? Y/N ?

With the upgrade completed Foss brings up an interesting point. His boss isn't technically a signatory to the full Factions Treaty. Despite the beating the Bellamy took in Bonrah space there are still a few bombardment arrays that the Forbearance yard engineers didn't rip off.

They could swing by the occupied territories on a shakedown tour and do some damage to the Bonrah fortress worlds.

2)
[ ] "Do it, I'll arrange for people to look the other way."
[ ] "Thanks but no, you'll get in serious trouble."
[ ] Other

>>47396515
1)
Y
2)
Is it possible to turn their power down enough to not break the treaty by using them?

>>47396587
>Is it possible to turn their power down enough to not break the treaty by using them?
They can punch temporary holes in the atmosphere without firing the beams, but generally no they cant turn down the power much. At best they could fire mass drivers instead to take advantage of it.
But then you'd need to fire a ton of mass drivers to counter lower level shields from the starships.

>>47396902
Okay, going with
>[x] "Thanks but no, you'll get in serious trouble."
in that case.

>>47396515
1) Yes
2) [X] "Other"

As much as I am tempted to do so if we chose to do something like this it would be after having the option put on the table for the War Council. I'm reluctant to do it, but it would mean we wouldn't have to worry about a potential gathering point for the enemy forces.

>>47396515
>1)
Yes. God I hope the Terrans don't impound it.


>2)
[x] "Thanks but no, you'll get in serious trouble."

>>47397275
>God I hope the Terrans don't impound it.
As long as they're not carrying war material they should be okay. They could even take a contract carrying supplies for the Terrans closer to the front.

>>47397228
Working up the list of names for said War Council.
Not looking forward to this but it has to be done.

The Bonrah fleet has linked up with the Nasidum invasion force. Intel is monitoring enemy preparation for launch.

Fadila contacts you.
"I've been talking to Mister Vanderwal..."

You get the impression from the tone of her voice that she doesn't especially care for the old spy.

"He believes representatives of both Ber'helum and the Ruling House are on their way to see you regarding a certain promotion as a result of the Count Jerik's recent elevation in rank."

"Oh really?" you reply.
About frigging time as far as you're concerned.

"I my last conversation with Count Jerik he did express his interest in promoting you personally but realised that may not be possible even before the attempt to intercept the Forbearance. I'm certain that if you were to contact him and informed him of this latest development he may feel inclined to skip the formalities.

On the other hand we could use this to our advantage."

"Elaborate please."

"Allowing one or the other representative of the major Houses to deliver your promotion would understandably increase our relations with them. Having one of them wait could also be seen as a sign of displeasure."

You're certainly annoyed with Ber'helum right now. That would be a way of showing it.

"You could show them both up by informing them of your promotion by the Count. Or you could force both to approach you at the same time. That could be awkward but would show you hold both in equal regard."

>What say?

>>47392210
TSTG confirmed Maple

Also could we set up lone sensor ships between DRH1 and Centri. Their job is to make sure no force detaches undetected to go around the nav hazard and enter the run through those 2 gaps in the south

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>>47397874
>Also could we set up lone sensor ships between DRH1 and Centri. Their job is to make sure no force detaches undetected to go around the nav hazard and enter the run through those 2 gaps in the south
If you positioned about 5 of them at the bright green dots they would probably do the job.
You do have sensor arrays that cover those approaches from within the Run. A large fleet would have a difficult time passing through those regions. It would be the equivalent of sending a column through a one lane mountain pass.

Beyond the safe return line it's dangerous to return to real space. You can still make jumps that arc around it like Drake's unit did when recalled but there is a danger to it.

>>47397769
Have the count promote us, were still planning to stick around with he house after all. At this point BH should already know were firmly in their camp anyways.

Shit happened, they still got a grav well to us, we shouldn't be displeased at all

>>47397769
"Have them both approach at the same time. Over they years I've been helped immensely by both sides, and I doubt I'd be at this level if it weren't for their efforts. Although the issue with Ber'helum is an annoyance, I don't feel it's worth causing a diplomatic incident over, and I'm certain they're already kicking themselves over it too.

I imagine they have a lot to wager in the run.

They're also not yet the Ruling House, although they would clearly like to be. Agitating the actual Ruling House at this time is a foolhardy endeavour, we need to focus on putting an end to the civil war before we turn our swords upon each other again."

See you in the morning.

>>47398849
See ya then.

Page 9 bump.

Krumping it

>>47397769
Get the Count to perform a long range promotion. Much as I am displeased with Ber'Helum I do not think we should actively seek to be mean to them. I am sure they will send fleets to assist us given time.

bump

>>47403114
>>47398349
Did you guys want to combine these with this?
>>47398665

Earl promotes Sonia, then make the announcement to both?

>>47404669
It seems like a decent way to minimize the fallout from this without annoying the people involved too much. So unless Fadila has a problem with that solution, I'd be okay with it.

>>47391833
>Helios provides most of the ships and equipment necessary to get things started and they should be able to begin patrols soon.
Maybe offer to them to get their torpedoes from us?

>>47404669
>Earl promotes Sonia, then make the announcement to both?
Agreed. Perhaps point out that now is not the time for political games seeing as we're about to be invaded by a much stronger force.

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>Where are all the RH asteroid fortresses? The wiki page says they're using mobile ones as well.

Due to the logistics intensive nature of moving them most of the Dominion mobile asteroid forts are positioned in key areas in or near RH territory. The closest one has been moved to Gesuar to protect the shipyards there.

Mobile forts built using asteroids may have better protection and be cheaper to produce, but they mass more and are harder to move than the new Nasidum forts.

>>47404669
>Earl promotes Sonia, then make the announcement to both?
Yes.
>Did you guys want to combine these with this?
They basically sound the same so yeah.

I just realised that with everything else going on I never mentioned the Yacht racers that passed through the region. It would have been after the assassination attempt and attack on the station but before your invasion of Bonrah space.
You're able to contact the Count with little difficulty. A short wait is necessary by which time his people have already prepared everything on their end.

"I Count Gernot Sigurd Jerik name you Viscount of Rioja and the Smuggler's Run! With this title I charge you with the defense of our House territory and vital trade links in the region. Use the wealth and power of your position wisely.

The people of House Jerik-Dremine wish you luck in the coming battles. Our thoughts are with you."

When the respective ambassadors of the Ruling House and Ber'helum are both led in you greet them warmly, partially as a distraction while the tailors are quietly escorted out a side door. They're both taken aback by the recent update to your uniform, neither expecting you to have been promoted before their arrival.

After explaining that the Count wished to promote your personally the ambassadors seem slightly embarrassed at having made the trip.

Thanking them for the visit you point out how you've been helped immensely over the years by both sides.
"We need to focus on putting an end to the civil war before we turn our swords upon each other again."

>>47406222
>the ambassadors seem slightly embarrassed at having made the trip.

Can they stay for dinner?

>>47406262
>Can they stay for dinner?
Only if it is Shark Fin Soup

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>>47406295
Sharks are friends not food.

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>>47406262
>>47406295
They're invited to dinner and neither feel themselves in a position to decline.

>>47406366
I was half expecting this.

>>47406421
>I was half expecting this.

I've never seen that one. Finally, a webm on my computer that isn't racist or po... nevermind. It's pretty lewd.

>>47406366
There's a saying in my country "Dire times can make man eat even his friend."

You and the Barons of the Smuggler's Run are called to a War Council in orbit of the former Posat capital. On the way in you see the smaller defense platforms each acting as temporary docking locations for many more gunsats. There must be thousands of them.

You've briefly met Count Al'mari Nirium. Baron Usela is there as well.

Earl Tarse-enic is representing Ber'helum along with leaders for their 6 local vassals.

Ambassador Vara Fauh'teth and one of their admirals are representing Helios, along with two other Barons and a few Knights from the region.

The Run Alliance are all grouped together.

More spread out are the various Houses not fully aligned towards any of the majors. Darrow and others that are more closely allied with the Run Alliance are situated closer to you.

Lastly are the independent mercenary groups chief among them being the SRL contingent under Bernard Foss.

You think you briefly spot Ambassador Issel from House Kharbos lurking in the shadows but can't be certain.

Count Nirium begins without much preamble.
"This meeting is to discuss pre-invasion planning and determine actions that can be undertaken to strengthen our position before Nasidum sends their fleet into the region. While we resisted the previous invasion with the help of the Run Alliance, Ber'helum and Mercenaries, we've since determined that fleet was merely intended as a diversion.
It pinned forces in this region, preventing both easy reinforcement and transit between South Reach and the Centri cluster."

The first topic is mobile forces and logistics. All Houses have been building up strength to some extent. Most were not aware that an enemy invasion would be happening now, but knew that eventually others would try to invade.

>Cont.

Many have built up small stockpiles of reserve ships in secure areas. Right now if everything was mobilised there would be more ships available than the relay's logistics can easily support. There are good things and bad things about this. The good is that the you can weather some losses, and that the enemy will be hard pressed in their own attempts to secure supplies.

The bad news is of course that with every base you lose your side will have that much more trouble staying fully operational.

Count Nirium is of the opinion that the most ships possible should be fielded to counter the numbers that the enemy will bring with them.

Earl Tarse-enic supports the opposite approach, maintaining the fleets at levels that can be easily supported. "This would allow our units more freedom of movement."
It's hard to tell if he's taking this position just to be contrary to the Ruling House, but he may have a point.

>What say?

>>47407144
"If we are maintaining the fleet at the highest possible numbers or the more easily supported number will come down to how we will attempt to fight the invasion itself.

Do we aim to win by attrition. Grinding the invaders down upon our own fleets or do we attempt to cripple them quickly at the beginning? Throwing all our forces at them the moment they begin their attack?

Personally I feel like we should not exceed our supply limit unless things become truly dire. A ship with no fuel, no repairs and no food with a crew on it is worse than no ship at all."

>>47407144
"I think maintaining mobility advantage until we've been able to assess the hostile fleet's strength and the strategy by which they hope to take the relay. The asteroid fortress will give them a big advantage in a head-on confrontation, so I'd prefer to engage them with a plan that goes beyond that."

>>47407389
I mostly agree with this. However I think a partial mobilization of reserves should occur. Not the full reserves, but enough (so maybe half or some arbitrary sum) to provide some initial bite against the invaders, with the morbid understanding that initial casualties will make supply lines not overstretched.

>>47407144
"The enemy is bringing a fleet large in heavy vessels. I believe it would serve us well to mobilise a portion of the reserves we have available, keeping the rest ready for deployment in the event this becomes a grind of attrition."

>>47407389
>will come down to how we will attempt to fight the invasion itself.

Really you can make either strategy work with the two logistics options, it can just make it a bit more interesting.

>Personally I feel like we should not exceed our supply limit unless things become truly dire.
Noted.

>>47407487
>maintaining mobility advantage until we've been able to assess the hostile fleet's strength and the strategy

>>47407530
>I mostly agree with this.
>partial mobilization of reserves

You voice your support for a more mobile doctrine. You also question if it might be possible to temporarily mobilise more reserves early on but after enemy strength has been determined.

"That could work." states Baron Usela. "Prep the reserves for a single action, then rotate them back to be resupplied as time allows."

Count Nirium sees that there is more support for this plan and accedes to the wishes of the others for now. A few are less enthusiastic but are silenced for now.

Baron Branimir Kelly mentions that there are some lesser used bases in the Run that could be reactivated to help resupply the reserves.

This triggers a heated and unexpected debate. A few nobles and leaders of minor Houses are concerned their reserve ships will sit behind the protection of the Run's defenses while their own worlds are left to fend for themselves.
"You already did it when Nasidum attacked last time."

Others allied with you come to your defense, reminding them that the Houses of the Run did send considerable forces to help fight off the Pirate raids.

Things momentarily degenerate into a shouting match and the Count is forced to call for a quick recess as the majors try to get their minor allies under control.

Once everything has calmed down to a degree and the war council resumes you inform those present that Bernard Foss has an idea.

The pirate Admiral has come prepared and puts forward his idea to bombard the remaining Bonrah colonies now, even if only to a limited extent, to reduce what help they could provide to the enemy in the future.

General consensus is that such an attack on the two more industrialised colonies would be out of the question.
"The Ruling House is maintaining the blockades at the moment and we would have a legal obligation to either step in and try to prevent it, or try to arrest you after the fact. I'm sorry but we can't support it."

Well so much for that.

Before things can move on Beisi Aurlum, the current head of the newly formed House Ex'uad speaks up.

"One of the Ber'helum colonies that are undergoing terraforming is currently in a more questionable level of habitability. It falls within our territory so it can be treated as a rebellious planet. Put together these conditions should make a limited bombardment legally permissible."

There's plenty of grumbling about this. Ex'uad is a minor House, with nearly the entirety of their population currently living in a single city. Even if that city is a fleet base and shipyard built into the side of a plateau.

Fadila quickly texts you that the House is heavily aligned towards J-D due to your liberation efforts. You could offer to support them with your available HAGs to make the bombardment go more smoothly and minimise collateral.
Opposing the bombardment may hurt relations slightly but could also reign in the new House.

[ ] Offer HAG Support
[ ] Oppose the bombardment

>>47408683
>>47408683
>[X] Offer HAG Support
Seems reasonable. Time to get back to our toeing the line roots [flight of the Valkyries intensifies]

>>47408683
Why haven't we already landed regular troops on that colony? I would assume they have weaker shields and supporting infrastructure than a world with a population in the billions.

>>47408683
>[ ] Offer HAG Support

>>47408768
The shields are strong enough that it would require a serious bombardment.
Without dedicated weapons like the bombardment arrays on the Sam Bellamy an orbital bombardment would cause serious collateral damage. There are ships parked on the surface like on the other two planets so it was considered too dangerous for your House to land troops.

>>47408969
I see, thank you. Going with
>[x] Oppose the bombardment

>>47408683
>[x] Offer HAG Support

You offer the support of the HAG's from your fleet. They should help reduce collateral damage the colony suffers from the bombardment.

The Mercs and House Ex'uad send word to their respective forces to get the operation underway while the planning meeting continues uninterrupted.

Roll 6d20 for HAG assistance.

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>47409695
>Roll 6d20 for HAG assistance.
1

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>47409712
2

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>47409734
3

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>47409755
4

Rolled 5, 2, 16, 6, 11, 14 = 54 (6d20)

>>47409695
Heeere we go.

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>47409776
5

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>47409797
6

Rolled 17, 6, 6, 9, 15, 12 = 65 (6d20)

>>47409695
At least we can say we did it to reduce civilian casualties.

>17, 15, 16, 20, 15, 14
Not bad.

>>47408683
Are our forces in DRH 3 strong enough to prevent Bonrah from sending reinforcements from DRH 2?

>>47407081
>You think you briefly spot Ambassador Issel from House Kharbos lurking in the shadows but can't be certain.
Would it be sensible to speak to them about DRH 2?

>DRH 2
Speaking of DRH 2, a few thoughts I had:
-The captured Warlord super. If we manage to recapture it who gets it? Do we return it to Foss with some kind of agreement?

-The territory. I'm assuming that JD doesn't want to own anymore turf, stretched thin as they are. Sell it to Helios/BH/RH for money and resources?

>>47410171
>Do we return it to Foss
Foss seems like the logical choice. Guy has been an incredible help, and it would net us some additional influence in the SRL. So we can push Bervari as a replacement warlords for that one idiot.

>The territory
Personally, I'd love to get more of the major houses involved in the other relays. It gives minor houses more options to pick their allies, and forces big houses to play smart because there's always more than 1 group to kick your shit in if you screw up.

Would any of the major houses be interested in that bit of real estate next to the nav station leading from drh1 to drh 2 ?

>>47410289
>Foss seems like the logical choice.
If we return it to Foss I'd very much like to have them accompany us to the Neeran front when we eventually lead a DRH 1 fleet.

You get reports and watch feeds of the attack between the sessions of the meetings as they drag on.

The Mercenaries jump into orbit and begin bombarding the planetary shields with with new and upgraded weapons. As the defenses begin to fail they switch to heavy phase cannons and arrays to open or widen gaps.

Once they've opened a hole in the planetary shield the bombardment arrays open fire on the starships on the ground. They've deployed their own shields, overlapping them with the other ships as protection as the planetary generators recharge.

The bombardment arrays are able to cut through the atmosphere to deal direct damage to the shields rather than having to deal with a rising column of super heated air scattering the beams. Things are still heating up enough that it's incredibly dangerous for anyone to be above ground, fortunately the shields are protecting them. For now.

Some of the fire eventually batters down the shields of parked starships before landing hits on them.

By now HAGs are descending below the outer layer of shields and begin picking apart targets with their mass drivers. All of these crews are veterans of the assault on Magdalena and have been training in the months since to put those lessons to the best use.

To anyone else it just looks like they're spraying mass driver shots in every direction, but nearly every shot is a hit on target. Ground bases and ships take enough shield damage for the HAG's to finish them off, disabling shields, missile silos and turrets.

Once the ships and facilities around the main population center have been disabled or destroyed it doesn't take long for the other cities to capitulate.

That doesn't stop the remaining Bonrah starships from trying to make a run for it. House Ex'uad and J-D ships are able to intercept many while the new Knights Errant unit tracks down a few others.

>>47391833
>Their ambassador informs you that they were hoping to bring in heavy weapons to temporarily upgrade the SRL Merc's recently repaired Super.

Would Ber'helum be willing to deploy the Shallan Medium prototype we've built? It should be finished by now, and I'd hate to have it sit around doing nothing.

Medium cruisers deployed by Foss manage to prevent an Eminence from escaping. The ranking officer from the new House manages to convince the ship's captain to surrender to them rather than the Pirates.

Collateral damage is much less than it could have been but things are still a bit of a mess. Several hundred civilians were killed in the attack, though it easily could have been in the tens of thousands.

There is immediately a salvage dispute that requires arbitration. Rights to the Eminence that surrendered are being contested by Foss as it was his ships prevented it from jumping out.

House Ex'uad are still desperate for larger ships as too much of their GDP is spent on terraforming to purchase any.

How do you plan to handle this?

>>47411187
How much of a claim would the mercs have realistically? 75%?

>>47411327
Approximately. But at the same time they surrendered to the other House so that complicates things.

>>47411187
Grant the new House the Eminence class and then give Foss an underhand deal to buy a brand new Shallan Medium for below production price? Alternatively we can get him priority access and a discount on A Shukhant?

New House will like us for getting them a ship over some former pirates. Foss will like us for getting him access to a brand new high tech ship.

>>47411388
Would having Ex'uad pay 25% of the value, and J-D giving Foss 4-6 of the upgraded Vengeance class ACs we're building to cover the rest make sense? I feel strengthening Ex'uad is in our best interest, and if we can afford giving free stuff to our allies, it's now.

>Several hundred civilians were killed in the attack
How did that happen?

Sonia Reynard, for supporting the Ruling House during the civil war we are willing to grant you a boon. Within very wide limits, we're willing to grant you anything you ask of us.
Hmmmm..... I choose.... the next House you're creating has to be named Ho'use :3

>>47411394
>and then give Foss an underhand deal to buy a brand new Shallan Medium for below production price?
>priority access and a discount on A Shukhant?
These may annoy some people within the Dominion and possibly the Shallans.
Certainly possible.

>>47411516
>Ex'uad pay 25% of the value, and J-D giving Foss 4-6 of the upgraded Vengeance class
Could work.

>How did that happen?
Very easily when you consider the range and penetration capability of the HAG's mass drivers.
>nearly every shot is a hit on target
>nearly

Some were also from the Bombardment arrays. The occasional shot penetrated ships shields instead of knocking them down. In those cases there was still atmosphere present to amplify the damage of the beam impact against nearby soft targets.

>>47411894
>Very easily when you consider the range and penetration capability of the HAG's mass drivers.
Could Sonia's bunker on Petras survive a direct hit? If it cannot, then we should upgrade it.

>>47411894
What is a used Eminence I worth? 100 to 120 million?

>>47412159
If the shield was up yes, otherwise probably not.

>If it cannot, then we should upgrade it.
In that case you need to go deeper. Which will make it much harder to keep it secret.

>>47412327
140-ish probably just due to tonnage. I'll have to go back to adding the costs of ships more. The newer model would cost much more just due to newer tech.

>>47411894
>>Ex'uad pay 25% of the value, and J-D giving Foss 4-6 of the upgraded Vengeance class
Would be better as we don't hand over heavy ships and make friends with both yeah?

>>47412555
>140-ish probably just due to tonnage.
I hadn't expected the price to be that high but the Eminence seems like a fast, generalist design, so I can definitely see it being in high demand by smaller houses.

Does Winifred still have hers? We could buy her an upgraded one once the civil war is over.

Did Winifred get a promotion to Viscount as well?

>>47412772
>Does Winifred still have hers?
Yes.
>Did Winifred get a promotion to Viscount as well?
Her system is not located on a major trade lane. So no.

[ ] Pay Ex'uad 25% of value, give Foss several upgraded Vengeance class
[ ] Give Foss a discount on a Medium Cruiser sale
[ ] Allow Foss to buy restricted equipment (Armor, weapons, ships)

>>47412961
>[ ] Pay Ex'uad 25% of value, give Foss several upgraded Vengeance class
Ex'uad is going to pay 25% of the cruiser's value, right?

>>47412961
>[ ] Pay Ex'uad 25% of value, give Foss several upgraded Vengeance class

>>47412961
>Her system is not located on a major trade lane. So no.
>That feel when we now outrank Winifred
I don't know if I should laugh hysterically or be sad that Winifred is probably drinking herself to death.

>[ ] Pay Ex'uad 25% of value, give Foss several upgraded Vengeance class
We want Dusk ll and our own brand of Cruisers instead of those old ships.

>>47412961
>>47412987
Yes.
I'm going full derp today it seems.

>>47413020
>That feel when we now outrank Winifred
And yet if you visited South Reach she'd still be in the one in overall command.

>>47412961
>[x] Pay Ex'uad 25% of value, give Foss several upgraded Vengeance class

>>47413020
>>47413099
Winifred will always remain senpai.

>We want Dusk ll and our own brand of Cruisers instead of those old ships.
The Vengeance is easy to manufacture, maintain, repair, and upgrade. It definitely still has its place.

>>47413099
>That feel when we now outrank Winifred
>And yet if you visited South Reach she'd still be in the one in overall command.
We should totally send a smug picture to Winifred of our uniform, with the caption I AM BOSS

>>47413194
No bully the Wini-chan

>>47412961
Ok, I'm more than a little late here, but is it too late to suggest that Ex'uad buy out Foss via sale of land? Or is that utterly unrealistic given that he's a marginally reformed pirate?

>>47413451
I think land sale is usually limited to people belonging to the same house. Although I would expect there are exceptions for people belonging to the RH, big 7, and maybe really important official positions in the Dominion hierachy.

>>47413450
Agreed. We can show her our new uniform when we visit Sonia's sister.

>>47412961
What's the next position for Winifred? Vice Earl, or something like that?

>>47413194
Nope. Tempting as hell, but she's got enough on the hands with the freaking war to deal with a former subordinate poking fun at her.

Hey guys. We just upgraded our dress uniform, is there any chance we can upgrade our work clothes (power armor)?

>>47413451
>via sale of land?
Had to re-read that.

Land might work, but it has a couple of problems associated with it. Firstly they'd want a stipulation that the land be later sold to someone in the Dominion once it matured due to the whole pirate thing.
Secondly if the situation in the relay becomes dire and Foss decides to leg it they can't take it with them.

>>47413575
>What's the next position for Winifred?
There isn't much additional upwards mobility for her at the moment. Most of the powerful rulers in the House will be around Baron level. Unless she suddenly expands her territory in South Reach to an unusual extent she'll probably remain a Baron.
There is the other way of getting a promotion by replacing the boss, but that wouldn't really help her much because then she'd be stuck having to look after the territories in South Reach and those in the Homeworlds.

>>47413729
>Secondly if the situation in the relay becomes dire and Foss decides to leg it they can't take it with them.
Speaking of that, would it be possible to negotiate a deal with the FA that any of our forces that retreat to terran space can join the FA for the standard tour of duty?

>There is the other way of getting a promotion by replacing the boss
Is that actually desirable? Winifred is effectively leading the south reach territories, and Sonia has DRH 1. Doesn't being count just add more headaches and less effective power to the position of top baron in the respective region?

>>47413729
>re: land sale
So, we could then by the land off of Foss for whatever we're already planning to offer him? I just feel like I want to get more than just goodwill out of this deal.

>>47413840
>Is that actually desirable?
No. That's what I was sort of implying with the rest of that sentence.

>>47413869
Yes you could I guess.

>>47413896
Is the heavy cruiser yard close to the homeworlds building anything at the moment? Or is it currently used to repair allied ships?

>>47414049
If you mean the one in former Erid space, in orbit of the world Alex is Baron of, yes it's being used for repairs of captured Zeus class ships.
Several Houses are trying to determine weaknesses to exploit and possible upgrades to counter them when captured models are rebuilt.

Intel update: the Nasidum fleet has launched. Due to coms interferance and the loss of regional bases scout ships were unable to immediately report this. The Fleet's ETA is 6 days.

The gravity well generator and escort has arrived including Mike's unit. He's not happy to find out that after losing half the ships in his squadron four of the pilots and crews are believed to be dead.

One of his pilots that had been newly added to the unit, one Idi Gordon, found themselves aboard an enemy teleport receiver ship. Due to the Dragoon's non-standard uniform he was able to fool crews into thinking he was a mercenary from the Terran Glasgow colony via the use of a nigh unintelligible accent.
Eventually he was able to steal an assault corvette and fled to Gesuar.

News of this cheers up Mike a bit.

>>47414678
Sides equal gone from that pilot. Also holy fuck they have receivers now!?

>>47414678
>If you mean the one in former Erid space, i
Yeah, that one. Thanks for the update.

>The Fleet's ETA is 6 days.
Were they able to find out what we have incoming?

>Gesuar
Was the planet renamed?

>>47414678
>The gravity well generator and escort has arrived including Mike's unit.

Meet with Mike and Alex. See what ships Mike would prefer to have as replacements for those lost by his unit. We can probably make room for a few hours of chatting about random stuff.

>>47414678
1 - Get our intel to look into Idi Gordon. I'm sure he's not a Nasidum agent, but for some reason I'm feeling paranoid.

2 - We're putting a bounty out for captured teleport receiver tech. Sounds stupidly useful.

>>47414678
>enemy teleport receiver ship.
[!!!]

Let's get warcriming again.

>>47414822
>2 - We're putting a bounty out for captured teleport receiver tech. Sounds stupidly useful.

I wouldn't be surprised if this was FA shareware like those planetary shield platforms.

>>47414825
No.

>>47414825
Could we stick a few combat drone inside a teleporter?

>>47412961
>[X] Pay Ex'uad 25% of value, give Foss several upgraded Vengeance class

>>47414825
Round 2 - AM Torp covered in human blood and bits.

TSTG will never let us know what happened with the first one.

>>47414718
>Also holy fuck they have receivers now!?
The Ruling House and Ber'helum have them as well. Helios was still attempting to acquire them when your people were helping them out. They probably have them now as well.

>>47414741
>Was the planet renamed?
No, I just spelled it wrong yet again. God dammit. Picking that name was the worst decision.

>The spelling of this planet's name is kind of awkward.
>Maybe i should go with a different one?
>Nah, I'm sure it'll never be a problem.

>>47414810
>Alex
Alex and Lorraine returned to the homeworlds with the ships too damaged to survive a long jump.

You tell Mike to get his people to Rioja ASAP and that drinks are on you.

>See what ships Mike would prefer to have as replacements for those lost by his unit.
"The new Dusk class are really good but if your entire unit is made of them it becomes a bigger target. I'd really like to add more of my Firestorm Custom but I don't think there's time to convert them.
I'd settle for Firestorm II's or Assault Corvettes making up most of the unit, whatever is easiest to throw afterburners on."

>>47414825
>>47414920
This is just as likely to result in your payload ending up aboard a Ruling House or Ber'helum receiver ship, or on an allied planet. It would also reduce the number of pilots you could recover from battle simply by taking up space.

>>47414822
>Get our intel to look into Idi Gordon.
"Actually he really is from Terran Space." Mike explains. "Parents are exiles or some such."

"So he's a Terran spy?" you ask.

"I don't know. I'm not qualified to answer that, I stopped asking for promotions once I got my own squadron remember?"

"A Terran spy... " you send a message to Vanderwal to look into him as time allows.

>>47415237
>The new Dusk class are really good but if your entire unit is made of them it becomes a bigger target.

We were planning to field 2(?) pure AC wings, does he think we should rather use them to form more mixed units?

>"A Terran spy... "
Awww, Chen has somebody looking out for us. How romantic.

>>47415237
>Vanderwal
That reminds me.

We should surprise him by having our office doors suddenly lock when he visits us, then shouting "You think I don't know about the Erid insurgency you're building up?" just to fuck with him.

>>47415448
Let's not.

No, we're trying to mold our "Psycho Soñia" image to be more "crazy like a fox" and less "crazy like a deranged lunatic that is unfit for command and should be locked up in the looney bin for the good of the House." Which is where such pranks, combined with our previously well earned reputation AND those ongoing psyche evals (that are supposed to be confidential, but when has that ever been a barrier) would have us headed.

>>47415968
>You're trying to surprise Vanderwal
>Roll a d20
>Rolled 1 (1d20)
>He has a heart attack and dies
>Well done. Here come the test results: You are a horrible person.
>And adopted
>Your parents found you and your sister abandoned in cryostasis on a derelict terran science ship

>>47415344
>We were planning to field 2(?) pure AC wings,
You've got 3.5 attack cruiser wings.
>does he think we should rather use them to form more mixed units?
"That's normally how we've done it. But you can bring a lot more firepower to a fight with a wing of just attack cruisers. Expensive though.
Hey, how are you paying for them all? People back home joke that Rioja has no money of its own. I know your company brings in tons of money but that's more than even you have."

Oh, you've got war loans from the Major House allies. If necessary you could probably pay them off yourself over 4 or 6 years. Not really what you want to do but it's there if you need it.

Just realising the time and that I've failed to make any real progress in moving things along today. Game may start up around noon tomorrow because the technician is supposed to be here in the AM.

The Run Alliance, Ruling House, Berhelum and all allied Houses save for Helios have approximately 209 wings worth of attack craft and battleships for a total of 15,048 ships. This is the maximum which includes defense units and reserves that can only be fielded briefly.

Helios allies have an additional 35 wings plus others so about 2,600 ships.

Nasidum and Xygen are believed to have committed 20,000 ships but intel has had trouble determining the accuracy of these numbers due to recent losses and salvage efforts. As many as 8000 may have been crippled or destroyed in the last major battle and Bonrah brought reinforcements to replace them. Numbers may actually be as high as 25,000 but this seems unlikely.

Have you given any thought to how you would prefer to engage the incoming enemy fleets? The partial mobilization will give you a strong force for an early battle once you've scouted them out.

How will you respond to moves against the Csontos system, or elements heading along the trade lane?

You've also looked at the possibility of enemy units trying to find other ways into the Run.

>>47416042
If I would have to attack the relay with these forces, I'd split them into a large fleet formed around the fortress, and several smaller detachments consisting roughly of a heavy carrier, 2 medium cruisers, several battleships or battlecruisers, and 6 corvette wings.

The main fleet would engage the colony closest to the nav station or a well protected base, while the smaller ones try to slip behind friendly lines to cause as much trouble as possible.

One thing that would interest me is the effective range of the siege array and terran light siege arrays compared to iratars large fusion cannons.

>>47416042
If we can setup any sort of ambushes we should do so. Mines and waiting ships etc.

Really need to take out a few prime targets with the Grav Well generator and our giant death machine.
Deploy the Dooms Day Device!

>>47398251
Was busy most of the day but yes, please put in those sensor ships. It dosnt matter if they have to come in single column if we detect it to late or are not prepared due to moving are reserves away from a quiet front.

ALSO put it long range sensors watching DRH2 and if we could have a civilian false flag ship sitting on the Terran side of the relay recording everything attempting to enter DRH1.

Since South Reach is relatively secure I doubt BH will move alot of forced from DRH2 to attack us, but we can't ignore the possibility of them abandoning DRH2 and striking us from both sides, since we sorta cut off any way to resupply them there other then the long out of the way trips.

>>47416042
>you've got war loans from the Major House allies.
I like our strategy to be honest. We're going to spend all our money on warships and military, then we're going to go pilfer the houses we're fighting against eventually. It's sort of one part piracy one part Bernie.

>Have you given any thought to how you would prefer to engage the incoming enemy fleets?

I'm working on a better plan than this post, but I'd really, really like to split groups into what they do best.

I don't think we can afford to say "Okay, now we all raid," since at this scale it's not going to work. I'm of the opinion that we need to start thinking in a more strategic sense for this battle - it's going to be conflict on a scale we've never managed before and set over an extended period of time. Getting used to delegating tasks and not micromanaging fleets would be a good start, maybe.

Ideally I'd like to split the enemy forces into pieces. All together they're one big wrecking ball, but if we can section pieces of them off and knock out the bigger ships we'll be in a much better position.

I think for our first engagement we should try to use the Accelerator to alpha strike as many of their medium units as possible. Shake the mass out of their fleet with the Antimatter torpedos by using them at max yield to take out entire groups of corvettes and smaller ships.

Set priority targets to take out over the course of the entire conflict. Strategically or tactically important vessels.

From there we should have raiding parties that harass any operations that they launch, if they send a wing of attack corvettes to secure an objective, we send two. If our squads hold down a heavier target, then we bring in our bigger guns, kill it, and moonwalk out.

Solo infiltration mission to kill the three dukes

They absolutely would not expect it.

>>47418601
Solo infiltration marry the three dukes.

They absolutely would not expect it.

>>47416042
What I think we should do is the following. We make Csontos into a trap by first letting their navy lay siege to it. We then jump in behind their fleet with a massive one of our own carrying our Superweapon and the gravity well. After inflicting loses to their larger ships we then withdraw within the hour and hopefully before enemy forces can amass to overwhelm us.

Forces that goes down the trade lane should be intercepted at all cost to avoid them spreading chaos further into the Relay.

>>47418601
Also this is not as bad an idea as it may sound. Close to the Nav station is the first Logistic base belonging to the RH. It's a priority target for the enemy. What we could do is fight to keep it in our hands and then withdraw. Meanwhile we got a few teams of Recon forces from the Houses waiting on the station that will attempt to infiltrate the enemies Super Heavies and the Fortress. To either assassinate their commanders and sabotage the ships systems. Like we did with the Zeus. Ofcourse it will be VERY dangerous. Especially if it comes to space battle since it will be hard to identify if a team is on a ship or not. Perhaps if they had the knowledge of how to program the Emergency Escape system to take them to a friendly world it could be possible?

>>47420947
Starfighter pilots get cloned all the time, right?

I still don't know why we haven't made a cloned assassination team under the cover of having them be fighter pilots.

>>47420947
I'll back the Csontos plan.

Is there any way to set up anti-matter mines?

>>47421244
Problem with cloning tech is that it's HIGHLY regulated. Access to the tech is restricted to the top Houses only. But yeah, we could probably ask the RH if they had something like that here. I wonder if they can clone a full body in only 6 days and have it combat ready by then?

>>47421385
Well, I mean, Special Forces can't be any less deadly than Star Fighters right?

>>47420947
>We make Csontos into a trap by first letting their navy lay siege to it.
What if they ignore the planets and go after our supply bases first. Or what if they simply ignore that planet.

Does the gravity well generator have longer range than the guns on the fortress?

>Also this is not as bad an idea as it may sound.
It probably is.

infiltrate and deploy nanite payback

Thread still here? Thread is still here. Awesome.

>>47416911
>put it long range sensors watching DRH2
Done.
>and if we could have a civilian false flag ship sitting on the Terran side of the relay recording everything attempting to enter DRH1.
Intel from one of the other Houses has done this. It looks like Bonrah ships that fled there were ultimately impounded.

Houses in South Reach including yours have posted a unit near the nav station leading to DRH 2 in the hopes of preventing Bonrah from sending ships out of their relay to attack you.
There are not enough to launch a proper invasion but it would make them think twice about sending ships away.

>>47422687
>Does the gravity well generator have longer range than the guns on the fortress?
It would be very close. They'd be near the edge of their respective ranges.
The big array should have longer range.

>>47424500
Can we ask the Helios guy what his House is planning to do? Preferably in a private and secure location.

>>47418601
>>47420947
Getting people aboard their command ship(s) will be difficult.
With your known preference for recon teams staying undetected will be harder than average.

You could ask Eldal. He's been doing work with the Krath Embassy, though you don't know the details.

Then there's the new guy from RTS Intel, Estavan Risto, a Krath from Watcher space. There was certainly opportunity through the time skip for him to transfer to the Run.

>>47421244
>cloned assassination team
At that point the cost of the equipment is more of the serious issue. You'd want to send them on a mission where they could reasonably be expected to succeed or escape.
It's like the difference between SPARTAN II's vs III's.

I suppose your House does produce the Commando series light power cell armor. They can be upgraded to Recon levels when fitted with camo as you've seen, but due to shortages relocating them to this mission may deprive your main units of their much needed equipment.

You could request the Ruling House try to send in such a team but keep in mind they may consider it too difficult to risk.

[ ] Krath operative(s)
[ ] Risk J-D Recon teams
[ ] Ruling House clone Recon team
[ ] Hold Special ops in reserve for other missions

>>47425162
>[ ] Krath operative(s)
>[ ] Ruling House clone Recon team
If we pitch in with Kraths then the surely the Ruling House can pitch in with some teams of their own. Perhaps Ber'helum will feel left out then and pitch some as well.

>>47425162
>[x] Hold Special ops in reserve for other missions

>It's like the difference between SPARTAN II's vs III's.
I have no idea what that means. Does Sonia's armor need an upgrade? Could we upgrade it with the coating from aries stealth craft?

>>47425162
>You could ask Eldal. He's been doing work with the Krath Embassy, though you don't know the details.

How did the thing with the Terran triads turn out?

>>47425162
>[x] Hold Special ops in reserve for other missions
HOWEVER:

>[x] Ruling House infiltration team
Purely for information gathering & scouting purposes. Imagine if we threw a recon team in and they had those powerful new scanners everywhere?

>>47425245
Most Krath operatives will tend to want to take things at their own pace so as not to give themselves away.
Your missions with Eldal against the Neeran are not generally how the operate in Faction Space.

>>47425336
In the "HALO is a pretty cool guy" setting SPARTAN II's are created by taking adolescent human children who have genetic markers associated with superior physical and mental capability and then massively augmenting them. They're then given top of the line power armor.
Downside is there is a limited recruitment pool and recruits may die during the augmentation process.

SPARTAN III's are cheaper mass produced versions with less augmentation sent on suicide missions where none of them are expected to survive. Missions too dangerous to risk the very limited number of SPARTAN II's.

>>47425625
House intel has made considerable progress penetrating the local network. Most operations in House space and the Run have been identified or linked in some manner.

Roll 6d100 for linked offshore accounts.

Rolled 76, 86, 41, 16, 11, 84 = 314 (6d100)

>>47425734
bless these rolls

Rolled 100 (1d100)

>>47425734
>Roll 6d100 for linked offshore accounts.
1

Rolled 100, 2, 88, 84, 30, 9 = 313 (6d100)

>>47425734

Rolled 40 (1d100)

>>47425764 (You)
2

>>47425734
Okay. I'm not really a fan of throwing people away. Even clones.

Forgot to roll.

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>47425860
3

Looks like you're finding plenty of accounts in Terran space and elsewhere that are connected to people of a questionable nature on Rioja.
With the many connections, some informal, some official, moving now could take down a very powerful network in your region. It would also allow the Terrans to freeze assets in their own space. Assets that could then be handed over to the war department.

Do you want to move on them now or wait until the fight for the relay is over in the hopes that intel will recover more?

[ ] Move now
[ ] Wait to find more

And with that I need to run for work, I'll be back around 9PM EST. Sorry for it being kind of a crappy game this week with everything going on.

Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>47425876
4

Rolled 96 (1d100)

>>47425899
5

Rolled 67 (1d100)

>>47425907
6

>Do you want to move on them now or wait until the fight for the relay is over in the hopes that intel will recover more?
I think we should ask somebody with more experience in that area.

100 (special result for dubs?), 86, 88, 84, 96, 84
Jesus, Vanderwal really put the power back into our intel rolls.

>>47425891
[x] Move now

>Sorry for it being kind of a crappy game this week with everything going on.
It's fine, it's still really enjoyable, just less posting.

>>47425891
>[ ] Move now
Less problems for us to deal with in the future.

>>47425891
>[ ] Move now

>>47425960
>Jesus, Vanderwal really put the power back into our intel rolls.
He's the gift that keeps on giving. The other stuff Sonia got out of the Erid conquest is nice but I feel nothing really compares to this guy.

I think a one-time ruse we could pull to split up their fleet is claiming to have infiltrated them and planted nanite-bombs aboard their ships.

It would be hilarious to see them panic.

>>47425891
After rereading part of the thread where Vanderwal shows up, I'd like to ask if technology has progressed far enough to upgrade Sonia's arm and eyes with additional stuff.

>It would also allow the Terrans to freeze assets in their own space. Assets that could then be handed over to the war department.
Neat.

>>47425960
>100 (special result for dubs?
Our own babby AI?

>>47428783
>Our own babby AI?
If only.

It would be perfect for managing Rioja whilst we're off fighting.

>>47354504
>Foss has hired on a group of Norune Mercenaries that were in the region looking for work, adding their Medium cruiser and carrier group to his fleet's numbers.

If these guys are derping around the unvierse in a Norune medium, would it be possible to throw on a few of the upgrades we had installed on the one we salvaged? If I remember correctly, that ship lacks in anti torpedo defences, and that should be a quick upgrade that can add a lot of surviveability in the coming battles.

>>47428783
>>47429501
I would have settled for one of the new Command thingies that the Alliance cooked up and we got to try.

>>47429902
>one of the new Command thingies
I have to admit, it would be really tempting to bribe someone to get it to us.

Watching the enemy's frustration as our ships all perfectly dodge around their shots would be choice.

Kidnap Vista and bribing her with rare plants and gardening tools to help us when?

Are there any 'AI Lives Matter' type movements we can discreetly fund?

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>>47430611
At some point within the next century, if Shallan scenarios are correct.

>>47431157
I feel like that is in "SP torpedo production" territory for getting Terran hit squads set on us. Probably not a smart thing to do during a civil war.

Your personal guard get their first large scale deployment, helping intel raid businesses and buildings belonging to the rich and powerful that are on the payroll of organized crime. The Governor also sends out troops considered to be loyal enough to trust.

Drones and Marines with jetpacks help to cut off escape routes while minimising the number of shuttles that might tip off the more paranoid. Some are equipped with EMP grenade launchers and mines to take down escaping vehicles. All are needed once the rats try to abandon the sinking ship.

Infiltrated agents set off stun pulse grenades in some places before buildings are stormed to take down the leadership.

Instances of serious armed resistance are minimal. Most hostiles encountered may be carrying powerful small arms like Shallan Fusion Guns or mass drivers, but have little in the way of body armor in order to blend in. There are less than twenty casualties in the entire operation.

Considerable financial assets are captured along with records and equipment that would be valuable to the war effort.
Sharing data with the Terrans they're able to lock down the assets of everyone you've arrested and in turn promise to share the wealth once convicted.

Based on results the Governor and House intel believe that had they been able to wait longer to conduct the raids more black market connections might have been uncovered. Of course there would have been a growing risk of agents being captured and giving the entire thing away.
The added disruption of the invasion also might have jeopardized things.

Here I thought I'd posted this bit before I left.

>>47418526
>Getting used to delegating tasks and not micromanaging fleets would be a good start, maybe.
Very probably.

>I think for our first engagement we should try to use the Accelerator to alpha strike as many of their medium units as possible.
Just remember it is much slower than medium cruisers and takes time to deploy after dropping out of FTL.

>if they send a wing of attack corvettes to secure an objective, we send two. If our squads hold down a heavier target, then we bring in our bigger guns, kill it, and moonwalk out.
With their superior numbers you won't be able to cover everything.

>>47425960
>special result for dubs?
Right. Some of the hardware picked up are Aries pinch fusion rifles. They're a development of the Fusion blaster, but with a more tightly focused beam giving them better accuracy.

Kind of wiped out atm so I'm going to resume tomorrow. Things should be a bit more normal.

>>47425960
Well I'm not posting slower than Goa'uld quest did so still moving things along.

>>47433049
>Aries pinch fusion rifles
Cool!

Did we ever get anywhere with the 'structured plasma' idea? It was the one to make starship plasma shots last longer/do more damage based on the shape of the projectile.

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If we are required to split our forces, would a general setup like this be acceptable?

I tried to keep Drake's side focused on faster and lighter assets, Kim's on heavier units, and Sonia's fleet is mostly built around Forbearance.

Page 9 bump.

I wish Daska were here.

>>47433555
We need more defenses for Forbearance. With that setup, it has no heavy support from anything but our command Medium.

>>47435628
I just realized right now that were still technically her superior with us now a viscount.

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>>47433419
>Did we ever get anywhere with the 'structured plasma' idea?
The pinch fusion rifle was a result of that idea. Can't say for sure if it'll really show up more.

>>47439133
>I just realized right now that were still technically her superior
Again you mean.

>>47433555
>>47438311
>We need more defenses for Forbearance.
Well this should help.

>>47439240
Well of course. When we have the time we should try to talk to her again. Her barony is in South Reach right?

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>>47433555
There are only 2 Plasma Frigate wings at the moment. There is another attack cruiser wing that could take its place.

We have some reserves in addition to those assigned to planetary defense.

Did you want the defense units to keep guarding their respective planets, or set up more as a reaction force within the Run to respond to threats and potential block other entrances?

>>47439986
>There are only 2 Plasma Frigate wings at the moment.
Must have pasted that wing one time too often, sorry. Which unit are the Decis?

>We have some reserves in addition to those assigned to planetary defense.
I'd like to suggest:
ACRS wing reserves -> Sonia
M AB mercs reserves -> Sonia
2 M squads Drake -> Reserves
1 M squad Kim -> Reserves

>Did you want the defense units to keep guarding their respective planets, or set up more as a reaction force within the Run to respond to threats and potential block other entrances?
Have the respective fleets stay at their bases for now and use the reserves as a reaction force.

>>47440366
>Which unit are the Decis?
They're less than a squadron so they're not shown. Attached to Forbearance escort. They'll be listed the next time I post it.

>2 M squads Drake -> Reserves
Drake informs you that Rah'ne and Boosalis are both protesting the transfer of some of their veterans so close to a major battle.

>1 M squad Kim -> Reserves
Lyas Cinayk isn't really thrilled with it either, as the 4th squadron in their unit had been built entirely with ships they'd salvaged in DRH 2.

[ ] Tell them they're needed elsewhere
[ ] Allow them to keep the squadrons
[ ] Allow Rah'ne and Boosalis to keep the squadrons, Cinayk is over strength.

>>47440525
>[other]
They can keep their squads, 4 ACRS squads and AB mercs move to Sonia's fleet.

4 ACRS squads and the mixed units should be more than enough to reinforce the run at the moment.

>>47440525
[X] Allow Rah'ne and Boosalis, Cinyak over strength.

With House Ex'uad having secured their second world Foss and his mercenary fleet heads for the region near the nav station.

You've delegated responsibility for sections of your own fleet to Drake and Kim. Your group including Forbearance is standing by to escort the array to where it is needed. Ber'helum and Helios have sent their gravity well and modified siege weapon to support you. For now the group is still be kept away from the more heavily traveled areas.

>>47421305
>Is there any way to set up anti-matter mines?
Yes. Kim has a squadron of fast battleships that can be quickly converted into AM Minelayers. You bought the necessary equipment from Helios and Kim has been practicing.

Most simulations have been done with dummy warheads while the power systems are rigged to drain as much as the launchers would. Live tests have been done to make sure the minelayers work but they've never put down a full sized live minefield.

It takes about 14 minutes to deploy a field large enough to guarantee ships being pulled out of FTL by the grav well will encounter them.

>>47441097
>14 minutes to deploy a field large enough to guarantee ships being pulled out of FTL by the grav well will encounter them.

I think our main strategy should essentially boil down to "bleed them at every possible step of the way."

No rest or reprieve for them.

The good news is that all of Kims ships that can act as AM minelayers are able to cloak. They have to become visible when laying mines because of the power requirements, but they can get into position quietly.

A few old Vengeance type minelayers are available to deploy the conventional mines. They're not as powerful but they can put down more of them faster. Other ships can also help including a few Marauders.

The other Barons in the Run Alliance want to know if you would prefer it if they deployed their heavy cruiser with the Forbearance, or as part of another heavy formation.

>>47439986
I am fine with this setup and keeping the planetary defenses as is.

Attach all reserve units to Drakes unit for her to play around with.

No further need for any modifications besides that. Let battle be joined.

>>47441363
Forbearance should be fine in it's own formation as long as there are other formations along with it to give it aid should enemy forces focus on it. Seeing as such is the case then there is no real need for their Heavy to help escort it. Besides we do not want to bunch up all our larger ships into one big group or risk the wrath of the Avalanche class fortress.

>>47441363
I think it will be easier to react to our enemies' strategy if we organize our assets into smaller units. It's easier to pull the various smaller fleets together, than to split a big one up.

>>47441402
>>47441582
Try to disperse the fleets somewhat.

The Houses of the region send out their fleets in preparation for the arrival of the enemy force. Some are more dispersed in order to engage with raiding units. Others are based around the larger heavy and super heavy cruisers assembled.

Confirming that the current plan is to wait until the enemy main fleets have arrived and wait to see what targets they begin moving towards. Right?

>>47442052
>Confirming that the current plan is to wait until the enemy main fleets have arrived and wait to see what targets they begin moving towards. Right?

Unless any of our commanders have a problem with that and a better idea.

>>47442052
>Confirming that the current plan is to wait until the enemy main fleets have arrived and wait to see what targets they begin moving towards. Right?

I think we should allow Drake's fleet to conduct strikes on arriving ships, if the enemy doesn't jump in with their entire fleet in one area.

>>47442185
>I think we should allow Drake's fleet to conduct strikes on arriving ships
I'll support this.

Need to give our commanders so more autonomy.

Reserves have been manned and are ready for battle. Most are parked near your stations along the main lane.

Intel from agents at the nav station report that an early wave is coming in ahead of the main fleet's arrival by several hours. Those that are supposed to drop to real space within range of the station itself fail to show up on sensors.

Count Al'mari Nirium quickly comes to the conclusion that that first arrivals are cloaked ships.

"This will complicate matters. They'll try to scout out the positions of our fleets and possibly shadow us once we move against them."

>Your orders / Suggestions?

>>47442449
Kim is the expert when it comes to cloaked ships, what does he suggest?

We could try to use our AB squads to hunt them down, I guess.

>>47442449
>>Your orders / Suggestions?
Ask Kaz what people did when they had to counter Rovinar scouts.

>>47442052
Agreed.

>>47442449
Can we bring up a powerful sensor to the area to reveal them? Alternatively sending out hunter kill teams of ECM ships with escorts and our own stealthed ships.

Don't suppose we could hide some of our fleets from sight?

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>>47442469
>Kim is the expert when it comes to cloaked ships, what does he suggest?
"That's a tough one. I can suggest ways to set up an outer perimeter to prevent them from making surprise attack runs on our more important ships, but keeping them from watching us from a distance is harder."

>We could try to use our AB squads to hunt them down, I guess.
"We're game for it." is Mike's reply.

>>47442551
>Ask Kaz what people did when they had to counter Rovinar scouts.
"We never had the long range sensor resolution to detect them as reliably as we do now.
The Terrans on the other hand worked up a few things since they could narrow down the general region they were operating in. I don't know how well they work. There was talk about things like tachyon and continuous subspace beams used in an overlapping network, but according to Arron we would only have the range to make it a few AU wide."

"Why didn't we use that against the captured Rovinar ship on our mission years ago?"
"It must not work against the newest generation of cloak, but most Houses won't have it."

>>47442653
>Can we bring up a powerful sensor to the area to reveal them?
Even your most powerful sensor arrays will only detect cloaked ships when they're moving at FTL. If they keep their speed low enough even that will be hard to pick out from background readings.

I have to head out for work! See you guys!

>>47442945
Thanks for the thread!

>>47442945
Ah well! Thanks for the thread! Hopefully we will get to kick some ass next thread.

Are there any ancient dominion traditions that are carried out before battle to grant victory in combat?

Going to have to focus on destroying ships over salvaging for once. Makes me a little sad.

>>47447351
Just think of the 20 000 or so ships we are about to make into salvage.

>>47445744
You know that's a good question, I'll have to think about it.

Many older traditions from previous dynasties were thrown out when House Kharbos came to power. It wasn't exactly the equivalent of the cultural revolution or anything but anything associated with the previous dynasty's Ruling House at the time was purged unless it had value to the Dominion as a whole.

>>47442945
Maybourne contacts several and with their help calculates you could set up a detection grid with sufficient density to pinpoint cloaked ships with about 2 wings worth of attack cruisers. Your new wings were built with some of the latest technology and systems aboard so they should be more than adequate. Any Electronic warfare gear they have aboard would help as well.

They wouldn't be able to break formation easily which means Mike would still need to go after the ship once detected.

It should take 2 hours to make the modifications necessary which won't give you much time until the enemy main fleet begins to arrive.

Do you want units like this to focus on going after as many cloaked ships as possible before the fleets arrive?
Or should they simply try to ensure that they're not shading your main fleets?

Fuck. One of my relatives just died. I had planned to continue tonight and tomorrow but things are going to be pretty crazy here shortly. Probably going to mess with next game between that and others things I have going on.

Your H&D apocalypse has been delayed but not canceled. See you next time!

>>47447562
Don't worry mate. Sorry for your loss.

>>47447562
And I missed the occasional word.

>Maybourne contacts several [people] and with their help [...]

>Or should they simply try to ensure that they're not shadowing your main fleets?

>>47447562
Jesus man. Who care about the game, go deal with this. We can wait patiently for the promised apocalypse and will be all the more gleeful for it when we get to massacre those filthy Bonrah and Nasidum forces.

>>47447562
>One of my relatives just died
Attend to your family, friend.

Take care of yourself, and thanks for running.

>>47447562
I'm sorry for your loss TSTG.

I never know what to say in these circumstances, but as someone who accidentally wandered in around Thread 4 (might have been 3) I just want to say thank you for all these years of stories and fun. It has all been appreciated.

Take care of yourself and your family and don't worry about the apocalypse. Best wishes to you and yours.

Is thread archived?