Knight Captain Katherine Drake is your fleet's Wing Commander. She has been busy commanding your more mobile assets. Trying to combat enemy raiding units and harass their few positions outside the Run.

Knight Captain Kim Yu Chung and his cloaked fast battleships can be ready for either direct attack or minelaying at a moment's notice.

Uyi Rna is the General of your Army.

Wiremu Tama is the Admiral of your Fleet.

Fadila Saqqaf is your leading diplomatic adviser.

C.F. Vanderwal is a former House Erid noble now serving with your intelligence division as part of his parole.

Chide Dlam'ard, the Governor of Rioja has been working to help defend your planet. The PDF seems to be putting up a good fight with relatively low desertion rates. Desertion is still taking place however and may increase over time.

>>48758411
For Salvage and Mystery!

>Uyi Rna is the General of your Army.
>Wiremu Tama is the Admiral of your Fleet.
Are these guys knights?

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You've transferred your flag to a Dominion Fast Battleship while searching the outer edges of the DRH 1 relay, looking for potential activity in and near zones safe from the nav hazards. A half dozen attack cruisers are with you to provide support and ECM.

So far you've met with smugglers familiar with the region from whom you acquired some sensor data.

You also encountered an enemy Frigate that had been docked with the forward hull of a scout ship your forces had assigned to the region. Their crew were using the scout's coms arrays to fake reports to your allies showing little enemy activity in the area. There is clear evidence that isn't the case.

A modified Atlas class transport was detected heading into the hazard zone. Long range scans have also detected unusual activity. These could be forces belonging to a newly forced House the Smugglers spotted.

While tempted to follow the transport in your sensors are not configured to watch for subspace instabilities that could lead to your potential doom.

You've also considered intentionally damaging subspace in the region to hinder enemy plans, or divert them to locations where you can better intercept them there would be consequences. The Navigators Guild is only holding to their salvage agreement with you for fear you'll do something far more dangerous if they refuse. If you were to actively start damaging subspace and they eventually found out it could jeopardize your business plans.

The best option seems to be to lay a trap for some of the enemy ships outside the hazard zone since you know they emerge from it somewhere.

Where did you want to lay a trap? 1, 2, 3 or 4?

You have first hand proof that ships pass through point 1, and the com signal being sent out by the Frigate you captured was directed at 3.

>>48758748
Point 3 seems worth a try.

>You've transferred your flag to a Dominion Fast Battleship
How's that ship type on the inside? I think Sonia hasn't actually been on one before.

>>48758815
Agreed

>>48758578
They are not Knights. They were both born into the House Nobility.

While a Major in the ground forces Rna was nearly Knighted, but instead impressed upon their superiors that a subordinate was responsible for a particular victory getting them Knighted instead. With political maneuvering this eventually put Uyi in a better position to become the General of an Army Group.

>>48758815
>How's that ship type on the inside?
A bit spartan in its default configuration due to the need for mass production.

While much of it borrows from the older battlecruiser it has been updated to reflect changes in doctrine over the years. Its interior can be reconfigured or customized much more easily for different roles. Crew space can be expanded if they don't need to carry supplies for long duration deployments, etc.

The bridge can be expanded aft if it needs to be used as a command ship, and crew stations for key personnel have their own teleport capsule.

>>48759055
>They are not Knights. They were both born into the House Nobility.

Thanks. Would like to get knighted once this invasion is over?

Rolled 36, 11, 57 = 104 (3d100)

The squadron sets course to point 3 at low FTL speeds to reduce detection. Sensors officers keep watch on the hazard zones for possible activity, looking for signs of any enemy ships emerging.

You're as close to the edge of the hazard zone as the transport you detected earlier was. It's as close as the navigators will risk right now without a direct order.

"So will our long range sensor go out of alignment here?" You ask.

It's not immediately clear to anyone but eventually they come to the conclusion that if there is any drift it will take a few weeks to become noticeable.

Roll 2d100 for activity scans and intercept.

Rolled 85 (1d100)

>>48759625
1

Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>48759747
2

Rolled 25, 92 = 117 (2d100)

>>48759625
For House and Dominion!
I am late to the party!

Do you want me to do the other rolls too?

>>48760079
Re-writing the post.

In under the wire. If it had been another minute I wouldn't have counted it.

Rolled 78, 57 = 135 (2d100)

>>48759625

Rolled 16, 3 = 19 (2d100)

Rolled 3, 71 = 74 (2d100)

>>48759625

>>48760123
Sorry about that. Had to assist some colleges with a retarded drunk so I was late in getting home!

> nobody rolls
> ask if I should roll again
> everybody suddenly rolls
...

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"We have a partial sensor lock on some of the strange readings in the interior. It looks like there are high powered sensor arrays in use."

"Maybe they're trying to build up a more up to date chart?" Maybourne suggests.

"Incoming ship!" warns one of your attack cruiser pilots.

The navigators soon have a parallel course plotted that will let you overtake them fast enough that they'll barely have time to notice.

Helmsmen bring the ships up to speed as the navigators prepare for the jump.

"Jumping in three."

The squadron jumps and the formation spreads out slightly. A transport flashes past you and suddenly you're almost on top of it. The other ships box it in as they try to change course.

"I think they're trying to head out of the Relay to lose us."

It doesn't work out well for them. Two of the attack cruisers match drive fields and drag it back to real space. The rest of your ships loop back around.

"They tried to jettison their cargo so they could get clear of the cruisers but our LST's were already in place by then sir."

In a few minutes teams begin to report back on the contents of the cargo containers. Sensor array components and structural materials. Nearly enough metal to build a battleship.

Better news is that they were caught quickly enough to secure their navigation data. Looping routes connect to the old nav station and point 2 just outside the hazard zone. That's not all, there are minute variations in the transports planned route, never taking them through the hazard zone in quite the same place. Often the course is shifted a few AU above or to the side of that of their previous trip.

"They may have a similar setup for other transports so that they almost never cross through the same section of space to minimize damage."

"What are they doing at point two? Do we have sensor data for it?" you ask.

Maybourne shakes her head. "No sublight sensor data of it that we could find, but I'll give you two guesses what they're up to."

>Your orders?

>>48760557
head out to point 2, sensor sweep on the way top see if we can pick up any more of the little bastards.

>>48760557
Do we know how many ships they have in there?

>>48760557
Can we use the same strategy to reactive the old nav station on the other end of the relay?

>>48760557
Time to head to point 2 and cause some damage. So they are trying to repair the Nav Station right? Or am I completely missing it?

>>48760557
>>Your orders?
We could station fast units at 2 and 3, then send in a unit through 1 to scare the enemy ships out of the hazard.

>enemy ship
Is the crew talking? Were we able to find out where they were supposed to drop off their cargo?

>>48758380
FOR HOUSE AND DOMINION: I'm late edition

>>48760626
>Do we know how many ships they have in there?

>The sensor ship you had stationed in that direction has also picked up their movement. It's a force of several hundred ships at minimum and looks to include support craft and cargo ships.
About a few.

>>48760876
>Is the crew talking?
The marines think some will once they've recovered from being hit with stun pulse grenades.

>>48760557
>>48760715
>>48760849
"So, they're going to reactivate the old Nav station." you conclude.

"T-that is one of your guess. Sir." Maybourne seems concerned.
The battleship's navigator quietly face palms.

Your operations officer clears their throat then explains.
"Reactivating the old station wouldn't do any good because new arrivals would drop out of FTL inside a nav hazard. Ships within the 5 LY outbound corridor would be starting their jumps inside a hazard zone making it grow infinitely worse."

The navigator speaks up. "With the amount of traffic this relay gets there would probably be a rift formed inside of a month at best."

"They're probably salvaging gear from the old station and shipping it to a new safe area to build a replacement."

It can't be any worse than that you suppose.
Right?

[ ] Investigate point 2 now
[ ] Wait until crews start to talk
[ ] Signal to get a cloaked ship in here ASAP
[ ] Other

[X] Signal to get a cloaked ship in here ASAP

get some scouts out there and get ready to move ourselves too.

>>48761275
Is the nasidum stealth craft we disabled operational again?

>>48761418
The cloaked Frigate should be operational by now.

>>48761530
Would a cloaked ship even make sense? If I remember correctly, their cloak doesn't work at ftl.

>>48761275
[ ] Investigate point 2 now
Move in and do what we do best. Ruin things for everyone else.

>>48760557
Wouldn't make sense to have the scouts move up to point 3 and 1 respectively?

>>48761633
It depends entirely on what your intentions are. Yes a cloaked ship still shows up on FTL sensors, but your regular ships do as well, and are very much easier to detect when you return to real space.

>>48761675
You can have available scouts do so. One of those still shown on the map was the location of the now largely destroyed scout ship. There is another farther off in that direction though.

Do you want them to monitor traffic or try to disrupt operations?

>>48761330
>>48761648
1 for calling in a cloaked ship, 1 for going in right now.

>>48761813
Thanks.
>Do you want them to monitor traffic or try to disrupt operations?
Monitor traffic.

>[x] Investigate point 2 now
>[x] Signal to get a cloaked ship in here ASAP
Do we have an LST covered an aries stealth coating? Does recon armor show up on ship sensors?

>About a few.
How likely is it there is still a significant number of combat craft close to the station?

>>48761813
[ ] Signal to get a cloaked ship in here ASAP

Fortune favors the bold.

>>48761971
>>48761813

Adding

>Do you want them to monitor traffic or try to disrupt operations?
Monitor traffic

and

>[x] Signal to get a cloaked ship in here ASAP
Do we have an LST covered an aries stealth coating? Does recon armor show up on ship sensors?

Maybe we can flush them out and then have the cloaked ship follow any who escape.

>>48761915
>Do we have an LST covered an aries stealth coating?
I think you probably have at least 1 Aries Stealth LST somewhere in the fleet. Your Recon teams used it to help Foss.

>How likely is it there is still a significant number of combat craft close to the station?
There is a 100% chance that they'll have more than your current squadron of 7 ships.

You can guesstimate on your own, ask the ship's betting pool or wait a couple of hours for crews to be secured and start talking.

>42 hours remain

>>48762062

Just saying, "Fuck with subspace" is still an option if there are too many there and maybe we can trap them all to a slow doom.

>>48762062
Did the transport we captured have any modifications to its drives?

Fuck this heat! Seriously just fuck right off.

>>48761986
>Does recon armor show up on ship sensors?
It's possible to be detected. It can show up as an anomaly or micro meteor but most often there isn't enough time for a ship's scanners to identify such a small target covered in holographics.

Scout ships are ordered to move up and monitor the situation.

One of your advanced cloaked ships would be the best bet but you don't want to pull them from operations elsewhere. Instead the repaired cloaked Frigate is sent to assist you. One of the recon teams have been assigned to it so you figure you might as well have the stealthed LST sent along as well.

"What are your orders sir? Just jump in at range and look around?"

>>48762607
>Fuck this heat! Seriously just fuck right off.
Temperatures over here dropped from 21 degrees to 7 yesterday.

>"What are your orders sir? Just jump in at range and look around?"
Seems like a decent idea for now. We might want to have the stealth ship watch 1 to see if we can't sneak our recon team on one of the inbound transports.

>>48762607
This >>48762714

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The cloaked frigate jumps in a safe distance out just in case some of the sensor arrays being shipped by the transports are already operational.

The crew will send back tight beam bust transmissions towards the rest of your ships. Hopefully none of the transports will be able to pick them up.

While they don't immediately report in they'd probably like to collect some actual data first.

26 tense minutes later you get your first sensor data from the region in question. Sensor data shows a circular station obviously intended to act as part sensor array. Eight spokes extend outwards acting as frames for construction as crews expand the station.

"This does not match any of the station designs used by the Navigator's Guild or Exodus. Not even the public design studies.
It looks like they've docked a resource asteroid to the rear of the station and are using it to provide some of the needed construction materials."

"Static defenses?"

"Nothing major on the station itself. Maybe a few medium plasma cannons and a half dozen planetary shield generators. It looks like they're assembling assault corvette production lines on the back of the station. Some of the frames look like they may be able to incorporate Battleship grade lines once the station is expanded."

"How many ships?"

"Two wings of Hades class assault corvette. There are also some Attack cruisers and a dozen Athena class battleships.
There's a note from the frigate crew that they think some stealthed ships may be operating in the area but they can't be sure without giving away their position."

Not a huge fleet, but one that could buy time for enemy reinforcements to arrive if you threw a large enough fleet at it. Nasidum would notice if you sent too many ships out here.

>Your orders?

>>48763772
>medium plasma cannons and a half dozen planetary shield generators.
Uh

>>48763772
If we got another squadron of Cruisers or two up here we could easily deal with this. However two squadrons of Hades, with fixed defenses and a unknown number of stealth ships might be pushing it. But what the hell, what could possibly go wrong am I right?

>>48763772
Can they confirm this is the only aries installation in the area?

>>48763772
>>48763960
Think this will make good propaganda? Where Nasidum and Bonrah not publically against the Aries Dominion branch? And now they are working together with them in secret. I smell trouble~

>>48764039
>Think this will make good propaganda?
Probably not.

>Where Nasidum and Bonrah not publically against the Aries Dominion branch?
Because that's not the case.

>>48763895
For a large station that's not much, especially given the limitations of Dominion plasma weapons. There are no other weapons in place yet. Phase cannons, LD plasma, missile and torpedo batteries are all absent.

>>48763959
>However two squadrons of Hades
Two WINGS of assault corvettes. = 144
Two squadrons would be a mere 24.

>>48763960
They're only broadcasting IFF's on short range radio. All are reading as the new House IFF.
It looks to be the only station within at least a lightyear.

>>48763772
>Nasidum would notice if you sent too many ships out here.
I have no idea how ship size and drive flare correlate but would we be able to sneak the shallan medium with a wing of fast battleships in here?

>>48764104
Well. I say we hit it hard and fast and leave it to be looted later. I like >>48764187 plan.

>>48764187
>the shallan medium with a wing of fast battleships in here?
That's slightly more than 1/5 of all the allied battleships and battlecruisers in the Relay right now.

There is a good chance that someone will notice that many being moved but its not impossible. You could try to fake out the enemy into thinking you were preparing a strike elsewhere.

>>48764339
I guess we could switch some of those battleships for assault cruisers.

Does the dominion fast bb perform well against assault corvettes?

>>48764478
>Does the dominion fast bb perform well against assault corvettes?
It performs adequately considering it is not designed to engage such ships but rather support them with heavier firepower.
[ ] Shallan medium and as many Fast Battleships as you can wrangle (get there fast)
[ ] Shallan medium + Fast Battleships. Additional decoy operation to draw attention.
[ ] Shallan Medium + Fast Battleships + Attack Cruisers
[ ] Recon / Commando infiltration
[ ] Other

>>48764699
>It performs adequately considering it is not designed to engage such ships but rather support them with heavier firepower.
Do we have a cruiser or battleship available that's basically a multigun corvette?

>>48764699
>[ ] Shallan Medium + Fast Battleships + Attack Cruisers

> Additional decoy operation to draw attention.

>>48764699
>[ ] Shallan medium + Fast Battleships. Additional decoy operation to draw attention.

>>48764742
No, but it's a good idea.

Take what the Lance was supposed to do to regular corvettes, up gun it then reduce its size to that of a Battleship... I'm not sure you'd be able to manage it.

The new Iratar Fast Battleship (which I still haven't gotten around to drawing or putting on the wiki) might be a good platform for it. Remove most of the phase weaponry and replace it with Republic Storm cannons or lightning guns.
Flaws: Short ranged weapons, high maintenance, high production cost.
The short weapon range could be offset with torpedo launchers but that's it.
Once assault corvette crews know to avoid them they'll just stay out of range and pelt them with torpedoes or run for it.

>>48764699
>[x] Shallan Medium + Fast Battleships + Attack Cruisers

>>48764916
Redesigned deci mounting as many LD plasmas as possible in tri barrel configuration?

Those medium plasma cannon turrets foss had on his super, can we put them on monitor cruisers?

>>48765089
>Redesigned deci mounting as many LD plasmas as possible in tri barrel configuration?
That wouldn't help them shoot down assault corvettes. Instead it would make the weapon much slower to traverse.

>Those medium plasma cannon turrets foss had on his super, can we put them on monitor cruisers?
Maybe as a spinal mount. They're intended for the big turrets on super heavy cruisers.

It looks like we're going to be calling in a fairly balanced fleet group.

Er, wait the Shallan medium was supposed to be undergoing engine maintenance. Oh well, guess they'll just have to rush the repairs. Also I just remembered the longer ranged medium plasma cannons had been mounted on it so that's going to help.

>>48765708
Poorly repaired ftl drives sound like bad news on this kind of mission.

>>48765826
You can rush by taking men away from other repairs. Fast doesn't necessarily mean bad, sometimes it means expensive.

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>>48765826
Its the sublight engines.

You learn as much as possible from the cloaked ship's data bursts while waiting for your reinforcements.

Construction crews seem to be in a hurry but unloading the transports takes long enough that they can send out single ships. They're harder to detect that way. Its clear they've noticed one of their transports have gone missing along with that other Frigate. A few drone starfighters have deployed from the station to help cover the approaches but not enough to pose a credible threat.

Finally your reinforcements arrive. A Shallan Medium, a squadron of new Fast Battleships armed with LD plasma cannons, and seventy two attack cruisers. The latter are a mixed bag. Half are EC-K's and Dusk II while the remainder are made of of many different classes. They all seem like they're refit, upgraded and ready to go so its not too worrying.

"We have the edge in big ships but those Athena class will take a pounding." you warn the captains and pilots.

How do you plan to do this?
The shields on the station are likely to be weakest at the rear where they cover the asteroid. The plasma cannons on the station aren't a serious threat at range but there are only so many directions you can approach from.
Your attack cruisers are better suited to dealing damage in a single pass rather than brawling with the corvettes.

>>48766433
Can we bring the siege decis and have them and the medium tear down the station's shields from outside the enemy's engagement range?

>>48766433
Alpha strike naturally! Have the Attack cruiser make a pass at high speed to try and draw the corvettes out and then hammer THOSE from range. Then we can bombard the station at leisure while the attack cruisers attack from weak points in its coverage.

>>48766658
You can but you'll suffer an additional delay.

>>48766714
>>48766433

Forgot about other ships. Still, ships first asteroid second. Hopefully we can cause enough damage that they flee instead.

Make this two small battles instead of one medium one.

>>48766717
I don't really think we'll need them.

>>48766433
Does the recon team think they can disable some of those siege generators?

>>48766904
> siege generators
Shield generators, of course.

>>48766904
>>48767114
They could probably disable two of the shields or two of the guns if given enough time before you launch the attack.
An hour would be ideal, but two would be better to get the timing right to avoid patrols.

[ ] We don't have time, attack!
[ ] Give them an hour
[ ] Give them two hours

>>48767152
> give them two hours

> Use this time to bring in Deci's

>>48767152
>[ ] Give them an hour

Rolled 2 (1d100)

I have to work tomorrow and won't be able to resume until probably 7PM EST. There will also be some interruptions on following days, but I was hoping to get a bit done this thread so things could move on and get on with the big battle in the following one.

Your attack cruiser squadrons will attempt an alpha strike of the corvette squadrons, then try to pull back for subsequent runs. Bigger ships will back them up, suppressing the station and battleships.

Recon team will probably be spending some time disabling shields. Still waiting for more votes on that.
Please link >>48767152
if voting on the Recon teams.

Let's get a roll of 9d20 for your attack.

Rolled 16, 7, 11, 5, 11, 17, 15, 12, 19 = 113 (9d20)

>>48767494
REALLY LATE SORRY

DO WE HAVE ENOUGH MATERIAL FOR A STEALTH AM TORPEDO STIRKE?

>>48767152
[x] Give them an hour

>>48767494

Rolled 7, 12, 8, 5, 16, 12, 8, 10, 2 = 80 (9d20)

>>48767494
For House And Dominion

Rolled 3, 20, 2, 7, 6, 9, 17, 14, 17 = 95 (9d20)

>>48767494
Holy shit I hope a low roll is good there.

> It's for the recon teams, isn't it.

>>48767532
>>48767623
>>48767654

16, 20, 11, 7, 17, 17, 14, 19

'salright I guess.

Rolled 6, 14, 3, 3, 12, 10, 13, 13, 20 = 94 (9d20)

>>48767494
>>48767152

>Give them two hours

Page 9 bump.

>>48767152
>[x] Give them two hours
Let's do this properly.

>>48767676
Seems pretty decent to me.

And roll 2d100 for the Recon team.

Rolled 82 (1d100)

>>48772084
>2d100
1

Can anybody recommend a good 4chan app for android? I've been using clover but since they moved to fdroid it hasn't been too working well for me.

Rolled 52 (1d100)

>>48772125
2

Rolled 44, 92 = 136 (2d100)

>>48772084

Rolled 72, 93 = 165 (2d100)

>>48772084

>>48765708
>That wouldn't help them shoot down assault corvettes. Instead it would make the weapon much slower to traverse.

Why not mount the linked weapons from attack corvettes in high speed turrets? The should be easy to acquire these days, and are good enough against corvettes and frigates.

>>48773118
Really the best solution would be a squadron of battleships shooting broadsides in co-ordinate fire patterns. Like AA.

See the problem is the the Multi-gun corvette is essentially a brute force solution to fighters, and so scaling it up to work against corvettes in turn makes the resources required grow geometrically and once you ad shields into the mix it becomes rather unfeasible.

Note that we've pretty much already done this for fighters with our mass driver point defense systems.

Nice rolls lads. At least we can count on a good old JD recon team.

I wonder if we can consider deliberately expanding a rift a war-crime, and thus be allowed to commit war-crimes of our own?

>>48776709
That is NOT how war crimes work. They work by adhering scrupulously to technical definitions and not pushing those too often.

Remember when we had a bounty because we killed all those civilians on a Warlord super?

I'd like to have a better justification for pissing off the navigation guild.

>>48779209
>I'd like to have a better justification for pissing off the navigation guild.

Especially when the guild is currently very annoyed with the other side.

>>48779347
Yeah, something like "Well, it was that or get killed and as much as we wish they hadn't militarized an at-risk zone, the necessities of war and all"

But we can't just say we would *rather* have done that then fight them. We have to make it look like they didn't give us a choice.

Like when Hamas does rocket attacks on Israel from schools and shit. Then you can commit the war crime of blowing up the school, and nobody is happy exactly about it but you don't get embargoed. Unless all of a sudden you're blowing up schools all of the time.

>>48773118
Really light pulse cannon turrets would be among the better options since they can track targets much more quickly. Their range is still a bit on the short side but all pulse weapons suffer from those range limitations so its not as big of an issue. I'll have to figure out how many you could put on a battleship.

>>48780253
So fast battleships designed to accelerate linearly with pulse cannon broadsides that break up corvette squadrons and dump a captor of firepower before disengaging?

>>48780343
You could probably take Sonia's heavy cruiser, remove the spinal weapons and torpedoes, shrink it down to battleship size and put whatever weapon is required in the turrets.

>>48780253
Can we twin-link light siege cannons?

>>48780343
I'm now picturing an old dominion battleship design upgraded with afterburners and more broadside guns than a man of war.

>>48780394
>Can we twin-link light siege cannons?
You could create a multi-linked phased siege weapon, though I'm not sure your House would be able to build it. I think Helios have built experimental ones to test the concept before but rarely deployed them operationally. They're more expensive, harder to maintain and may or may not have slightly shorter range than their other siege weapons.

>>48780539
>I'm now picturing an old dominion battleship design upgraded with afterburners and more broadside guns than a man of war.

We can probably get the hulls really cheap at this point.

>You could create a multi-linked phased siege weapon

I was more thinking of taping two together, and using whatever dominion space magic makes attack corvette guns work on them.

>>48780539
Ayup that's the idea. Designed to do one job well, operating in groups and just putting out a shit ton of firepower.

Maybe have them be able to drop a few mines right after they pass through to discourage pursuit.

They'd be vulnerable to long range weaponry due to shit maneuverability but that's what micro jumps are for.

>>48780582
>We can probably get the hulls really cheap at this point.
Most are museum or training ships.


You've given the recon team extra time to get the job done and when you jump into the system it doesn't take long for signs of their handiwork to show themselves.

One shield generator on the station explodes while the other sends out a disruption pulse before it also explodes. The other shields generators attempt to correct for the recent loss and the pulse but instead overcompensate. Two transports on approach smash into the shield, crumpling their bow sections. Four assault corvettes are instantly crippled.

Your Battleships and Medium open fire, downing two of the Athena class ships in the opening barrage. The others immediately double up their forward shields and begin to maneuver.

The attack cruisers wipe out five assault corvette squadrons in the first pass, but are only able to damage the sixth. All of the remainder return fire and one of the attack squadrons has taken damage by the time they've completed their pass and have looped back out to range.

"This is fourth squadron, we've taken damage and are pulling back to support the heavier ships."

[ ] Keep them at range from now on
[ ] Swap out damaged with your remaining attack cruisers

>>48781178
>[x] Keep them at range from now on
I doubt we'll manage such an effective run again. At least not until we've done some additional damage.

>>48781178
>[ ] Keep them at range from now on

>>48781178
[ ] Swap out damaged with your remaining attack cruisers

I'm a fan of keeping the pressure on. But order these guys to make high speed flanking attacks to try and draw the enemy ships further from the station/keep them from rushing our main force.

Skirmishing like, not committing, using their greater maneuverability.

>>48781688
For some reason I see attack cruisers as a sort of cavalry.

"Keep the damaged squadron at range. We can't risk them getting in close with the assault corvettes."

The remaining attack squadrons swing around for another pass, this time staying farther away from the station to keep any sudden charge from the corvettes reaching them.

One more battleship falls to the guns of the Shallan Medium and the others rapidly pull back behind the station. The previously damaged assault corvette squadron are likewise destroyed by your attack cruisers in the next pass, but deft maneuvering by two squadrons of what are probably elites reduce damage to the remainder.

"The station is restablishing its shields with the surviving generators. Remaining ships are falling back to cover."

"Sir! Priority signal from Count Nirium."

Wondering what the Count is calling you about right now you delegate to the other commanders then take the call at your station.

"We're currently engaging the station. Any chance this can this wait?"

The Count shakes his head. "Viscount, it is imperative that you not destroy the station at this time."

"What? Why, what's happening?"

"Houses Xygen and Kharbos have each sent small taskforces towards the relay despite the lack of sensor coverage at our end. Xygen launched first and Kharbos sent a high speed force in pursuit. We need the long range sensor data provided by that station for the Karbos fleet to arrive here safely."

>Questions?

>>48782168
Have there been any agreements with Kharbos we should be aware of?

>>48782255
Uh, they're coming to back us up yo.

> We need the long range sensor data provided by that station for the Karbos fleet to arrive here safely."


They're our allies.

All they're doing is making our job harder trying to be heroes. At least we already have a team on the station.

> One more battleship falls to the guns of the Shallan Medium and the others rapidly pull back behind the station. The previously damaged assault corvette squadron are likewise destroyed by your attack cruisers in the next pass, but deft maneuvering by two squadrons of what are probably elites reduce damage to the remainder.

> "The station is restablishing its shields with the surviving generators. Remaining ships are falling back to cover."

This is what I was hoping to prevent by pressing with the attack cruisers, but oh well.

I say it's time for diplomacy. Call up the station, tell them that due to the damage around this area we're willing to let them withdraw if they leave the station intact, and that we're willing to hand it over to the Nav guild & the FA to be repaired and to prevent further damage to subspace in the area.

But if they force our hand, they'll be held accountable for damage, not just to us but to the Navigators guild. After all, They ARE a noble house, yes? So there are lines that shouldn't be crossed, especially when dealing with third parties like the Nav guild.

Put their legitimacy as a noble house on the line too. If they want to use it as an excuse to be involved in the civil war, that means they have to play by noble house rules as well.

>>48782448
>>48782168

Forgot to link to your post.

>>48782255
They have a loose alliance with the Ruling House against Xygen and Nasidum who are threaten the holdings of their minor Houses.

Most of their other resources were previously committed to fighting Che'len, or protecting against invasion of their home territory. Including a potential RH back stab.

>>48782448
>But if they force our hand, they'll be held accountable for damage, not just to us but to the Navigators guild.
This immediately sprung to mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ9B7owHxMQ
Sorry.

>>48782541
>They have a loose alliance with the Ruling House against Xygen and Nasidum who are threaten the holdings of their minor Houses.

I see. I was worried there might have been some backroom deals that might prove troublesome once that fleet arrives.

How large are the inbound fleets? Are Nasidum and Ber'helum planning to send reinforcements as well?

>>48782575
>Nasidum
I meant the other N-House, the ruling one.

>>48782670
Nirium?

>>48782575
>backroom deals that might prove troublesome once that fleet arrives.
Could still happen.

>How large are the inbound fleets?
Not that large but they're both battleship heavy, fitted with long range FTL. The Karbos force are fielding a new upgrade of the Long range battleship, carrying additional corvettes rigged to act as pocket carriers.

>Are Nasidum and Ber'helum planning to send reinforcements as well?
>the ruling one.
The Major Houses won't risk it without a properly functioning nav station to provide data. Karbos saw it as high risk/reward, one that could also improve their relations.

>>48782724
Yeah. Having Nirium and Ber'helum on one team, and Nasidum and Bonrah on another can get confusing.

>>48782448
>All they're doing is making our job harder trying to be heroes.
Is is also an accurate assessment.
>Mussolini told Badoglio, "I only need a few thousand dead so that I can sit at the peace conference as a man who has fought".


As time passes there is an increasing chance that Nasidum will dispatch a response fleet to relieve the station. Any additional friendly reinforcements to your area will trigger that happening sooner.

[ ] Call up the station, offer to let them withdraw if they leave the station intact.
[ ] Send new orders to the Recon team (what?)
[ ] Call for reinforcements anyways
[ ] Try to batter down the station shields
[ ] Use stealth LST to put more teams aboard
[ ] Other

>>48782992
>[ ] Call up the station, offer to let them withdraw if they leave the station intact.
Offer them safe passage to Terran space. If they're with Aries, they might be looking for a way to get back to the original company.

>>48782992
>[X] Send new orders to the Recon team (what?)
Have them attempt to create a diversion to allow >[X] Use stealth LST to put more teams aboard
Or

>>48782992
Do

> [ ] Call up the station, offer to let them withdraw if they leave the station intact.

And play it off as us being concerned about rep with the Nav guild which has already taken hits from their side due to actions in the run, ans that they can only claim so many technicalities before the Nav guild gets sick of their shit. Also long term damage to subspace.

While doing

[ ] Try to batter down the station shields

I mean we can shoot and talk at the same time. No reason to stop. Also keeps them from trying to stall.

And prepare

[ ] Use stealth LST to put more teams aboard

To go as soon as we think negotiations aren't gonna work or that they're going to damage the station and its data.

Maybe we can offer some sort of personal guarantee based on our history, with a nod towards the fact that while we've never broken our word we've also been shown to play the same "technically not a war crime" game so they shouldn't think that we're offering terms because we're out of options, just that it seems to be the best option all around.

I mean, yeah they could force us to risk losing the station, but our goal is to deny its use to them and that is happening regardless. Honestly the cost to us if we do destroy it (and all of them with it) isn't even really related to the civil war or the fighting in the run, but our responsibility to the Dominion as a whole and our agreements with external powers.

So they can fight and die just to piss us off, but they WILL lose the station and their ships, and most likely be held responsible for the majority of the political fallout.

Or they can save what forces they have here, as well as whatever data they collected, and even some lives. Not to mention preventing worsening relations with the Nav guild and even worse being seen as possibly not willing to hold up agreements made between the Dominion as a whole and the other powers which could invalidate their claims to be a Dominion House and not an external group.

>>48782992
>[x] Send new orders to the Recon team (what?)
Take control of the bridge.

[x] Assist the recon team.

>>48782992
> [X] Call up the station, offer to let them withdraw if they leave the station intact.

> [X] Send new orders to the Recon team (what?)

Doesn't hurt to talk. Worst they can do is say no and then we're back to fighting.

Tell the recon team that their new objectives are to either try and get that data if possible l/if it's easier to avoid security on the station.

Alternatively find and secure a point for insertion by the stealth LST. Obviously this would mean we're sending it.

Third option is to try and take over the command centre or damage more shields.

Whatever they think is the most reasonable or likely to get done, they're the eyes on the ground there.

>>48783564
>but they WILL lose the station and their ships, and most likely be held responsible for the majority of the political fallout.
Or at least that's the argument you'll be making.

So the votes are kind of skewed towards doing all the things.

>Call up the station, offer to let them withdraw if they leave the station intact.
>Send new orders to the Recon team (Go for the head / create an opening for the landing team)
>Use stealth LST to put more teams aboard

Optional bombardment while talking with them.

This sound ok?

>>48784088
Sure

Still want to board the station ourself. It's been a while since Sonia's actually killed anyone.

>>48784058
>try and get that data if possible
While a good idea the high resolution long range scans produced by such a station would require the storage capacity of a starship. Recon team won't be able to move that much data quickly enough.

So a better quest for them is do you want them to attack the station's command center, or attempt to create a diversion for the Stealth LST to land more special forces.

[ ] Decapitation
[ ] Diversion

>>48784481
>[ ] Diversion

>Call up the station, offer to let them withdraw if they leave the station intact.
>Send new orders to the Recon team (Go for the head / create an opening for the landing team)
>Use stealth LST to put more teams aboard

WITH bombardment. If they ask we can temporarily stop during negotiations, but every time they try to stall we start to fire again to show that we mean business. And that while we would like to have the station intact, that's definitely an option not a requirement.

Bluffing, pretty much, about its value.

>>48784481
What does the recon team think is the more viable plan?

>>48784613
They're more likely to take casualties trying to take the control center. They still feel they could do it. If done quickly enough they could briefly cripple some of the station systems.

Creating a diversion would be much easier to do but there are limits to how well it can cover for the LST's approach.

>>48784600
>>48784683
Changing to taking the control center, contingent on how the negotiations go.

Our job as a commander is not to save the lives of our men, but to spend them. To spend the thriftily, to spend them for the highest prices we can, but ultimately to spend.

Casualties suck, but we can't risk those House Kharbon ships and all those other men.

Our teams are trained and equipped as best we can, which is pretty fucking good I believe, and if they think they can do this then I trust them enough to ask them to risk their lives. I pray for their safety.

>>48784683
> [X] Decapitation

Seems less risky than trying to get an LST there while they're all huddled up and getting bombarded.

You signal the Recon team to stand by to attack the station control center.

Contacting the station you go all out in an attempt to get them to surrender, citing potential war crimes and the very likely reality that continued resistance will result in their needless deaths.

You're not sure they'll go for it. Not without sabotaging the station first that is. They'd also need to extract their ships from the hazard zone but that's another problem.

After a few more minutes of bombardment the station crew signals that they'll agree to your terms.

A noble you don't recognise but who seems vaguely familiar opens a channel.
"We will evacuate our forces and leave you the station in undamaged condition. In return we are to be allowed safe passage to Rioja. No damage to us, no damage to the station.
It will take us four hours to evacuate all personnel. Do you agree to these terms?"

>What say?

>>48785606
Why would they want to go to Rioja?

>>48785810
The Rioja system is the entrance to the Run.
House Nasidum currently controls both entrances to the Run and the orbital space around Rioja. Even if they don't have full control of the planet's surface.

Will try to post briefly in the morning then will resume close to 6PM EST.

>>48785606
[x] No

If we let them leave now they could try fucking up subspace as they exit the nav hazard. They're to power down all their ships and remain nearby whilst we secure the Station. Once our business with the station is complete, we both leave the Nav Hazard at the same time. Once we reach normal space, they're free to go whatever way they wish with no immediate pursuit.

>>48786202
>>48785606

They're leaving the opposite direction of us, Anon. However, you do have a valid concern.

It's too risky to have everyone power down and leave at once though, especially since we're going to have to leave at least an observation force here to ensure they don't just come back.

Maybe we can both leave one scout ship at set distances from the station, and a small caretaker force on the station (like 2 or three people is enough really.) to watch over it until we can get the Nav guild to come in and take over, shouldn't be long.

And for leaving, we can have ships leave in groups that are just too small to do so, to prevent further damage by "accident" from either side.

>>48786606
I just don't want them near Rioja at all. Send them to Terran space to get impounded or whatever, but I bet these guys would "disappear" from the conflict and several years down the line and reappear inside the hazards close to Rioja.

>>48785990
Hope to see you in the morning!

I hope you come in to the thread tomorrow and see this and it helps motivate you!

BUT Dude. Duuuuude. In between this and the last thread I decided it's been a while, could be fun to read the archives.

2011. Like holy fuck, that's 5 years. Easily the longest running quest on /tg/. I came in around Loran II Ballroom Boogaloo (with special prize PTSD) . . . . I think. I know I was there when we started to pick up our Shark motif for sure.

Anyways, I always talk your quest up in other threads. It's been not only of amazing length, but quality as well. From internal consistency, to balancing how hard the science and fiction consistency is (especially when working in players ideas and designs. even though he was kind of a sperg, I still miss Starshadow). The dice mechanics are . . . . well, I'm not a huge fan of D20 or how the "best of three" tends to skew the odds, but since we're rolling opposing the enemy it's more fair I guess. And I do like that you use d100s for things like salvage or non-individual actions like "insertion team success" or "Effects of Hearts and Minds campaign on recruiting/production/loyalty" etc. (Well, I guess d20s are for discrete events not actions now that we're organizing battles and maneuvers.)

I like how your ship combats apply actual tactics, and how you work out how they affect the enemies plans like what forces can reasonably engage from that position, or how they will react to us focusing on a particular battle group.

I am amazed at how much detail you not only put into the different ships, but the classes, and how you integrate that into their capabilities AND strategies and that you're consistent about it. House and Spreadsheets? Well, it works, and it works amazingly.

>>48787668
I mean, it would be nice to have them taken out of the equation. But overall they aren't a big force (although those elites are just arrrgghhh I hate them) and the entire basis behind this is "No ball in the house" where we act like responsible adults and stop getting the nav station in a fragile area of space involved because we have obligations that have to be considered separate from the civil war.

I believe Terry Pratchett said it in "Thud!" "We might argue over where the boat is going, but only a madman would try to drill a hole in the bottom."

So in order to NOT do that to the USS Dominion that we're fighting over, we're not fighting and having a winner/loser. They aren't surrendering to us, and we aren't seizing their ships.

It's a cease-fire and a recognition of neutral territory that we negotiated for.

Because we want the Nav data so that OUR reinforcements get here safe, but they don't know that and they don't need to know that otherwise they might think that one more tiny hole in the boat isn't so bad and they can try to hold out for reinforcements or even destroy the station.

We're coming out ahead, and with much less risk than this battle group is worth.

>>48787749

The thing I am as amazed by, if not more, is the consistent quality of the player base. I have actually thought about it several times when discussing quests on /tg/ and my personal opinion is that it's not exactly that you do anything with the intent on controlling the players, like you don't have rules for posting or refuse write ins (Shark Sonia, Crazy Sonia the SP torpedo saleswoman FFS.) and you definitely don't railroad, and I guess you do a lot of rolls off screen but it's never been suspicious in a "he's fudging them" way so if you have been doing that it's acceptably rare or subtle enough. Erm.

But yeah, it's not that you're keeping out shit posting or waifu wars or cancer memes etc.

But that you've actually created a universe, with challenges and npcs and all the dressings of society and the culture of the dominion, and the space combat from both a first person role playing, and detached strategic representation in both the CAD pictures and descriptions, all of the things in your quest are simply so well portrayed and so immersive that quite frankly?

People are more interested in exploring it than they are with hitting relationship flags or trying to "waifu" NPCs, or even just shitposting at each other. That's kind of crazy, actually, how shitposting just dies out or turns into collaboration on ideas in a way that seems abnormal in how natural it occurs.

The less wordy version is your quest quality and exellence is not just how enjoyable, not just how vast, not just how consistent, and not just how long it's been.

But that there's just nothing more fun than actually playing. From winning a fistfight, or a sim flight against someone, to learning to dance or getting sick recon skills, building up to our current state as an industrial tycoon, Baron of Rioja, admiral of the Smugglers Run Alliance and JD representative has felt earned and rewarding. At no point has it felt like we were simply going through the motions.

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>>48788083

I suppose partly the large amount of detail, the sheer backlog in the archive, those can be intimidating to new or casual players. A quest that runs for 3-4 days straight sometimes with 10-20 unique ips doesn't have the numbers of some other quests. Casual players or players who just want quick rolls and maybe more narrative structuring with smaller or briefer story arcs. Or who want more individual combat, or a more traditional skill system with stats and powers or skills and hp and all that stuff, just a different style.

Not having those kinds of players probably helps in a way. I feel like most people that post (I'm sure some lurk) have been here a while and internalized the atmosphere of the Quest, but I could be wrong and 13 (sup madman) of them are new.

But damn. Even your namefags, usually a sign of cancerous entitlement or real life friends of the QM or just general faggots,they're even decent here. Half the time I don't even notice that it's a namefag posting. I don't know why they do it, and I think it's silly at best and vain and gay at worst, but they're somehow not terrible here.

So yeah. Your quest is awesome,to the point it's made the player base awesome. I've always enjoyed it. Whether you needed it or not,I wanted you to hear that I have and still enjoy it and am thankful and appreciative of your work and skills you've put into it.

I hope you've enjoyed it too, and still do, and that we can continue having fun together as strangers online. To all the other anon playing, I've enjoyed playing with you. It's been consistently fun in a, wholesome is the only word that really captures it I feel, in a wholesome way that I haven't had with any other quest and rarely with RL games. I don't know you. I don't need to. This being as great as I has been is more than enough, and it never would have been this good without you or with people other than you.

Anyways here's a faggot sucking you off. Last another 5 years and I'll do it again.

>>48785606
We'd have to come up with a way to prevent them from screwing with the ftl in the region as they leave but I'm okay with the idea of sending them to the run.

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>>48787749
Not nearly awake enough to read this atm so for now I'll just say thanks.

>>48786202
The station isn't inside the nav hazard, just near it, and those leaving the newly constructed station have no reason to enter it.
This would be their projected course.

>>48787668
>Send them to Terran space to get impounded or whatever
They'll be inclined to link up with their nearest friendly forces in the relay.

They claim they can evacuate the station in four hours. You've demanded they hand over the station, not all of their forces that are elsewhere. As far as they're concerned you'll have to negotiate with forces currently in the nav hazard separately.

Anyways try to come up with some points to haggle over.

I'll try to post on my break. See you then.

>>48790814
>Anyways try to come up with some points to haggle over.
+The plasma cannons on the station.
If we turn over control to the guild, the station won't need large guns. We could allow the enemy to take these with them in exhcange for something else.

+Passage from the nav hazard to Terran territory for civilian ships.
Any transports found here in the future and not resisting will be allowed safe passage to Terran space. There cargo stays.

+Cargo on the civilian ships
We could require them to drop it here.

+Troops on the station
Request a limited number of our troops to enter the station to prevent sabotage.

>See large tankers and mining ships in No Man's Sky
>"Wow, I hope there is salvage and huge space battles"
>There aren't
>You can't do anything
>It's a fucking tech demo


>>48790724
Who are we actually talking to? Are these people from House Harkonnen?

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>>48792378
>Who are we actually talking to? Are these people from House Harkonnen?
Very reluctantly they do identify themselves as members of House Aries. They're quick to point out that their status as a House of the Dominion has been recognised by three major Houses and 57 minor Houses.

It's clear they're well aware J-D has designated the Aries corporation as a Terrorist organization.

Page 10 bump also no quarter with Aries.

Maybe I'm just paranoid but it seems like these guys have a good handle on sensor technology to be able to build something this deep in a Nav Hazard and then be able to have it work outside them.

Letting them get to the entrance of the Run seems like it would be a terrible idea considering the multiple high-power arrays we set up. They might be able to rig them up with some kind of function against us.

>>48792572
Yeah no. I do not agree with negotiating with the so-called "House Aries". They are terrorists and assholes the lot of them and has caused enough problems as is.

>They blow up the station
>Ruling House is pissed
>Kharbos is pissed

I don't feel like arguing any more.

>>48792378
>no salvage
Dropped

>>48795277
>>48797306
You can use that as an excuse to break off negotiations (if you really need one) and instead demand their unconditional surrender.

Whatever your feelings you're legally obligated to treat any of their captured troops as Prisoners of War since they've identified themselves as as a House currently under Nasidum's banner.

[ ] Continue attempted negotiations
[ ] Break off negotiations and signal the recon team
[ ] Continue negotiations as a distraction, signal recon team

>>48797478
You can theoretically salvage crashed ships. But they're just ships randomly sitting around on planets where you have to repeat the drive repairs from the start of the game.

You're not missing out on anything, there's no game in there.

>[x] Continue attempted negotiations
How much do we outmatch these guys? Can we keep them jammed indefinitely? Do we have any negotiators on our ship?

>>48797478
This vote is still open but until I get more responses I'm going to keep working on the negotiations.

>>48797579
>How much do we outmatch these guys?
Just enough that they could still make things difficult for you.

>Can we keep them jammed indefinitely?
No. You probably have a matter of hours before Nasidum sends a relief force to investigate.

>Do we have any negotiators on our ship?
Not experienced ones. You're crewed for a combat operation.

Let's try to break this down into wants and needs.

Them
>Primary (Need)
Escape back to their lines

>Secondary (Want)
-Without being fired upon
-with as much of their ships and cargo possible
-enough time to perform a proper evacuation


You
>Primary (Need)
-Sensor data (As accurate as possible)

>Secondary (Want)
-The station
-Undamaged station sensor arrays
-no damage to the hazard zone
-Salvage war materiel

What else?

>>48797478
>[x] Break off negotiations and signal the recon team

>>48797848
>What else?
If we solve this diplomatically, we could use their ships as a vector to insert a recon team.

>>48797848
>wants and needs.
>What else?
That seems like a pretty comprehensive list to me. Maybe allowing them to perform S&R on their destroyed craft could be another secondary point?

1 Continue attempted negotiations
2 Break off negotiations and signal the recon team

Post the numbers 1 or 2 as your vote.
If there is no conclusive winner by 7:30 I'm calling it based on what Sonia has done in previous situations.

>>48799020
1

>>48799020
2

You're tempted to agree to some of their terms just to get them out of there. Maybe just cut back on the amount of time given to evacuate so they'll be forced to focus on personnel instead of equipment.

Another part of you is convinced they're just stalling and that's not something you'll put up with when it comes to a bunch of terrorists.

Breaking off communication you order all ships to advance at full speed and send the signal for the Recon team to attack the station command center.

"We'll take advantage of the disruption they cause and do as much damage to the remaining station fleet as we can. Attack cruisers perform your run, then try to draw the assault corvettes out to points where the battleships can bit them with massed fire.
Get our big ships in near the station ASAP to launch LSTs and shuttles to board them."

"Won't that put us at risk having to deal with the assault corvettes at close range."

"If the Battleships close in fast enough we can use parts of the station for cover and overlap our shields." You explain.

Really, it's a bit dangerous but could get things done quickly.

Roll 2d100 for the Recon team!

>>48799551
>Another part of you is convinced they're just stalling and that's not something you'll put up with when it comes to a bunch of terrorists.

Last time we turned the terrorists into a royal house :^)

Rolled 14, 29 = 43 (2d100)

>>48799551

>>48799739
You turned terrorists that were more of a problem for someone else into a House.
Nasidum has turned terrorists who were more of a problem for you into a House.

Can we get a couple more rolls please?

Followed by a roll of 9d20

Rolled 47, 92 = 139 (2d100)

>>48799551

Rolled 21, 48 = 69 (2d100)

>>48799551

>>48799805
>>48800378
>>48799040
>>48799075
Okay so maybe 2 people here.

Any point in continuing or should I pick up next game with a timeskip to the big fleet battle?

Rolled 14, 13, 17, 3, 16, 4, 4, 18, 15 = 104 (9d20)

>>48800121

Rolled 8, 1, 18, 11, 15, 3, 1, 8, 19 = 84 (9d20)

>>48800121
dice

>>48800418
Why don't you take a break for an hour or two and see if anyone turns up in that time? I'm happy with whatever you choose, senpai.

Rolled 21, 45 = 66 (2d100)

>>48799551

Rolled 8, 19, 4, 8, 13, 15, 8, 3, 13 = 91 (9d20)

>>48800418

14, 19, 18, 11, 16, 15, 8, 18, 19

Pretty mediocre

Weapons fire hammers almost uselessly against the station shields for the first few seconds as the fleet closes in. The only change among the enemy is that one of the corvette squadrons duck behind the station, the remainder trying to focus fire on your Battleships.

Then the shields turn off.

A combined plasma cannon volley from your heavier ships kills one Athena then a second when the weapons cycle. The other two bring their engines to full, swinging behind the station then linking up with a few transports. The group accelerates for a run up to FTL flying into the Nav hazard.

You can't get a shot at them and you have your hands full with the remaining assault corvettes.

The plasma cannons on the station are only offline for a few seconds before you start getting target lock warnings from them.

"Cover the Medium and take out those guns."

The battleships manage to soak off most of the cannon fire while their phase cannons slice the unshielded weapons from their mounts. Once they're out of the way the Ber'helum helmsman brings the big ship in as close to the station as possible before launching LSTs and shuttles.

Both of the attack cruisers from your group carrying troops deploys theirs then joins the rest of the battle.

Attack squadrons commanders have broken up their teams by flights and are performing quick strafing passes before looking out wide, often around the station arms where the corvettes can't get a clear shot at them. Assault corvettes that give chase are led into firing lanes where the Battleships can hit them with LD plasma cannon fire.

It's working but not as well as you'd hoped.

"What's wrong?"
"The Fast BS's are operating too much Neeran Battleships. Their pilots are used to evading their longer ranged fire. It was a good idea, they're just prepared for it."

>Cont.

"Fuck. Helm, give me the controls! Weapons, Phase cannon arrays to ten degree forward arc."

On a Terran ship this wouldn't work, but with so many Knights in the Dominion being experienced pilots it would make sense to have a few extra options on the command chair. Holographic controls reconfigure from fleet command to wing commander settings.

Hauling back on the controls you bring the ship's nose around and fire a burst that shreds the shields of a corvette and takes out its port side engine pylon. Against an older corvette that would have destroyed it entirely.

"Reynard to all Battleships, I've given you a handicap. You have LD's and I don't. Get your kill count above mine or I'm kicking your ass."

>Roll 1d20 for Battleship Re-roll!

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>48801734
>>Roll 1d20 for Battleship Re-roll!
Dice!

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>48801734
I BELIEVE IN REYNARD

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>48801734

The commanders of the other battleships switch to similar tactics, helmsmen manually targeting their plasma weapons.

Within a few minutes the battle is shifting swiftly in your favour, though the battleships are still taking as much as half of the enemy fire. Armor damage is slowly starting to accumulate.

Troops are aboard the station fighting their way towards the command deck to relieve the Recon team. They're facing stuff resistance from troops in Aries own model of power cell armor armed with their newest weapons.
Fortunately the recon team is using damage control systems to help the Marines reach their objectives.

The corvettes that had previously taken cover in the station docking bays blast their way clear then switch on afterburners. Instead of joining the battle or flee into the nav hazard with the larger ships they jump out, headed around the hazard towards the guild station.

At this point the remaining assault corvettes crews seem split on what they should do. A few signal their surrender while most try to run for it in pursuit of the afterburner team. A few deliberately ram the nearest attack cruisers, probably counting on their emergency teleporters to save them.

A few of the transports that were in poor positions to jump out surrender in short order, but others try to make a run for it.

It isn't long after the last ships have jumped that teams signal that they've reached the control center. One of your Recon people is dead, three others wounded to some degree though only one of those have been placed in stasis.

Half your ships have taken damage. Do you want to send a unit in pursuit of the fleeing ships?
Y/N?

>>48802887
>One of your Recon people is dead
Can we fix that by throwing enough money at the hospital?

>Do you want to send a unit in pursuit of the fleeing ships?
Can the station's sensors detect what's going on in the nav hazard?

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>>48802887
Voting still open for this.

>>48803130
>Can we fix that by throwing enough money at the hospital?
Maybe. It's not recommended.

>Can the station's sensors detect what's going on in the nav hazard?
No, they're physically oriented to point out into the space between galaxies.


The Captain of the Medium cruiser contacts you.
"Viscount, Nasidum is going to find out we've taken this station sooner or later and when they do they'll try to retake it or disable it. I recomend we not wait longer than we have to."

That wouldn't take much at this point. Some stray fire manage to hit a few of the sensor arrays during the fighting. Maybe as much at 30% of the sensors are offline.

The station can operate both as a sensor and communication system. It will take a little while but you could probably use the station to transmit the necessary nav data directly to the incoming Kharbos fleet.
Keeping the station online and transmitting to the fleet as long as possible will give them the most accurate data and provide the best chance to arrive safely.

You could also simply take the current data and leave the station now, having it transmitted by other means.

Taking the current data and bugging out is the safest option for your people but gives the Kharbos fleet the smallest bonus.

Using the station to transmit what data you can ASAP is more dangerous for your people as enemy reinforcements may arrive but you'll probably be able to get away. It gives a good bonus to the Kharbos fleet.

Staying on site and keeping up an active transmission will make the Kharbos fleet's arrival a near certainty but your fleet could be put in serious danger.

[ ] Take data & Bug out
[ ] Station to transmit current data
[ ] Stay on site and transmit with station

>>48802887
>Y/N?
N. We need these ships soon enough.

>>48803328
>[x] Station to transmit current data
And don't forget to take the production lines. And everything else that's useful.

>Maybe. It's not recommended.
Put the corpse in stasis regardless. Maybe we'll come up with a way in the future.

>>48803328
>[ ] Take data & Bug out

>>48802887
N

>>48803459
>Put the corpse in stasis regardless.
That is SOP. There is always a chance that personnel could be revived later if injuries are not too extreme.

Guess we're going to stop here for tonight while we wait for more votes. Should I load up a survey?

Planning to continue tomorrow morning through most of the afternoon if there is support for it.

>>48803328
>[x] Station to transmit current data

We're collecting the Aries power cell corpses and their weapons right? I know we are, just making sure, hahaha.

>>48803826
>That is SOP. There is always a chance that personnel could be revived later if injuries are not too extreme.
That makes sense. Bag the Aries guys as well, if we have enough stasis units.

Did we manage to capture anybody interesting from aries?

>Guess we're going to stop here for tonight while we wait for more votes. Should I load up a survey?
I guess it can't hurt?

>>48803328
>Take data and bug out.

>>48802887
>N

Here's that survey just in case. It is linked on the wiki and twitter.

surveymonkey com /r/ 5K3CNDY

>>48804798
Thanks friend.

>>48803328
>[ ] Stay on site and transmit with station

Because I also wanted to

> Send cloaked frigate to pursue fleeing ships.

Although want I want form that is for it to let us know WHEN we have to leave.

Wouldn't it be nice, if Kharbos could get here fast enough that they could surprise them?

Assuming they are massively overwhelming in force, which our frigate will determine.

I would really like to make sure we put the brakes on anything House Aries.

>>48806320
I'd prefer to cut their brakes entirely. Assholes.

Rolled 22, 76, 56, 15, 20, 89, 17, 24 = 319 (8d100)

>Station to transmit current data

You don't want to stay around here longer than you have to, but the station itself has the best chance of getting this data to the incoming fleet if you send it now.

A Navigator and team of specialists head over to help with the control center. Meanwhile marines continue their efforts to pacify the station before the remaining Aries troops aboard can do more damage.

Roll 4d100

Rolled 36, 47, 92, 21 = 196 (4d100)

>>48808812

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>48808812
>Roll 4d100
1

>A Navigator and team of specialists head over
Would giving control of the station to the navigators prevent the enemy from recapturing the station?

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>48808836
2

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>48808841
3

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>48808851
4

>>48808836
>Would giving control of the station to the navigators prevent the enemy from recapturing the station?
At this point probably not. Later possibly.


Most of the station is quickly suppressed, except in one area where the Aries troops put up a tremendous fight, breaking through to one of the generators and overloading it before they withdraw.
The explosion when the generator goes off disables or destroys another 5% of the station's sensor arrays.

"Remaining enemy troops are contained sir."

Crews bring the remainder of the sensor array and com systems online and focus them out into deep space, trying to locate the incoming ships to communicate with them.

"Two fleets detected headed more or less in our direction. We've locked on to the faster moving trailing one."

Roll 2d100 best of 2

Rolled 37, 37 = 74 (2d100)

>>48809204

Rolled 78, 21 = 99 (2d100)

>>48809204

Rolled 10 (1d100)

>>48809204
>Roll 2d100 best of 2
1

Rolled 1 (1d100)

>78
Not too bad.
>37
Oh dear.

You want this next roll to be high.

>1
This is gonna hurt.

It took an hour and forty minutes for the crew get the sensor arrays online and pointed the right way. You were hoping that would be it and that you'd be able to leave after transmitting. Instead the navigator insists that you have to wait to see that they actually got the data properly.

"It looks like they've got the sensor data. The fleet is adjusting its course to avoid instabilities in the region."

Thank goodness.

"Er, sir we're seeing some deviation in part of the fleet's flight path. They may be interpreting the data differently."

"Is there anything we can do about it?"

"Trying sir. They were already coming in at a bad angle."

"Just fix it, don't explain."

You wait a minute to hear back from the officers with no signs that they're making progress.

"Is it working?"

"...they're gone."

"Wait, gone? What do you mean they're gone? The whole fleet?"

"The second half of the fleet that adjusted their course wrong have vanished. There are subspace occlusions in the region they vanished in. It could have hidden a quantum singularity."

There's not much you an say in response to that so you focus on the survivors.
"The others, they're fine?"

"Yes sir. They'll arrive in 25 hours. There is still the House Xygen fleet out there. Did you want us to do anything about them?"

You may not have a lot of time left.

[ ] Leave them, let's get out of here
[ ] Intentionally send them bad nav data
[ ] Try to get them to surrender in return for guiding them in
[ ] other

>>48809645
>[ ] Try to get them to surrender in return for guiding them in
God I hope Kharbos isn't gonna blame us for what happened here. Is there any way we can find out on what happened to them later?

>>48809645
[ ] Intentionally send them bad nav data
>"...they're gone."
Fuuuuuuuuun. Like we needed more things to get fucked up right now.

>>48809788
>God I hope Kharbos isn't gonna blame us for what happened here.
There will probably be an investigation but I wouldn't worry about it. They made a long jump without the proper support.

>Is there any way we can find out on what happened to them later?
Once things have calmed down the guild may be able to send unmanned FTL probes to investigate. If anyone is alive there may be some options with emergency teleporters.

>>48809788
>>48809838
Tie breaker anyone?

>>48810066
>>48809788
Screw it I'll change my vote.
>[ ] Intentionally send them bad nav data

>>48810066
>>48809645
>[ ] Try to get them to surrender in return for guiding them in

>>48809645
Well they are the enemy and enemies gets axed. This only makes it easier for us

[ ] Intentionally send them bad nav data

"Marines get set up to disable the station before we get out of here. Damage that can be repaired in a few days, not a few months."

"Copy that. We'll get demolitions in place."

Switching back to the navigator you tell them to send out bad data to the Xygen fleet.
"If possible get them to run into anomalies like the one the Kharbos fleet did."

"Yes sir."

Roll 2d100, worst of 3

Rolled 16, 67 = 83 (2d100)

>>48810536

Rolled 12, 87 = 99 (2d100)

>>48810536

Rolled 81, 37 = 118 (2d100)

>>48810536

You're not sure they'll go for it but when the new data is sent the House Xygen ships change course.

"I think they're buying it."

As they draw closer to one of the dangerous anomalies some of their ships try to make a hasty course correction, though this only makes things worse for some of them.

More than half their fleet vanishes from sensors.

"Holy shit it actually worked." you mutter, still watching the screens.

More of the contacts wink out until the fleet is reduced to a quarter of its full strength.

"I don't think we'll be able to get any more sir. They're sending out faster ships ahead of them to scout the way. They'll probably lose a few of those too but it will keep the rest of their fleet alive."

You signal the marines to blow their demolitions as soon as possible and get out of there.

Scouts have detected what may be a cloaked ship headed around the nav hazard towards you and there may be more ships not far behind.

"Enemy contact in the direction of the nav hazard. It's a stealth ship of some kind."

What readings you can get on it make it look like a bit like a stealthed J-type transport but a bit bigger. The reason you were able to pick it up was that the forward hull had slid open revealing two oversized torpedo launch racks.

It fires a pair of AM torpedoes, both projectiles slowly picking up speed. It must not have proper repulsors set up to give them a boost like most torpedo launchers.

The nearest attack cruiser moves in to shoot down the warheads with point defense giving you a few moments until the next pair arrive.

[ ] Attempt to capture or disable new ship
[ ] Just get out of here

>>48811210
>[ ] Just get out of here

>>48811210
[ ] Attempt to capture or disable new ship
Dibs. Also get fucked Xygen. This is what you get for messing with us.

>>48811210
>[ ] Attempt to capture or disable new ship
Would rather not have that thing around.

>>48811210
[ ] Attempt to capture or disable new ship

"Least damaged attack cruisers, attempt to capture or disable that ship. Everyone else help cover the evacuation."

As soon as its LST's are aboard the Shalln Medium's engines light up as they make preparations to jump. Shuttles are still going to and from the Battleships as they transfer the remaining marines and specialists aboard.

Though they're forced to go out wide to avoid the explosions from the torpedoes the attack cruisers are able to quickly close in on the ship.

Roll 1d100 for capture. Best of 3

Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>48811658
>Roll 1d100 for capture. Best of 3

Rolled 5 (1d100)

>>48811658

Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>48811658

>>48811672
>>48811683
>>48811698

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

>>48811658
Hey. I'm out. Between the amazing rolls last thread being useless, and the rolls this thread being crap, I'm just too frustrated.

I mean, that's how she goes, but damn.

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>48811658

>>48811746
I hate to say it but yeah, I'm not having fun either.

I'll go do something else as well.

>>48811843
>>48811746
Could be worse. Somehow.

>>48811746
>>48811843
That makes three of us. Kind of a shitty thread.

The attack cruisers close in and open fire catching the new ship in a cross fire and battering down its shields. Some phase cannon fire gets through causing minor damage just before it launches its last pair of torpedoes.

Or single torpedo as the warhead's twin fails to emerge from the starboard tube.

You catch part of a wide band transmission from what is probably the ship's captain as he orders the crew to abandon ship. The attack cruisers are quick to pull back out of range before the warhead can detonate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTpKKOzhAS8

The explosion consumes most of the ship, though part of the starboard engine housing is thrown clear. One of the attack cruisers grab it for later analysis then runs for it.

"Confirmed enemy fleet movement passing Csontos and picking up speed."

The last of the marines get clear then detonate their charges, crippling the station power relays and shutting down the array until they can be replaced.

In a few more minutes you're safely away and headed the opposite direction around the nav hazard. It isn't long before you pass by the Nav station facing Terran space and stop in for repairs to the battleships. The Shallan Medium also gets some more work done on her sublight drives.

Analysis of the wreckage has identified the ship that attacked you as a Hermes class Torpedo Cruiser. It's probably the cheapest starship you've ever seen Aries produce. Based on scans it has minimal onboard systems, a central hull that's mostly empty except for two launch tubes carrying 8-10 AM warheads and two outboard sublight drives each mounting a small FTL system.

"It's little more than a hollow hulled standard corvette with a stealth coating." Is Mayboure's assessment.

Next game will be on Monday August 22.

Was there anything you guys wanted looked into or any questions?

>>48812409
I can't think of anything at the moment. JusJust focusing on the thought that bad rolls are just a way of giving us challenges to overcome.

>>48812409
>Was there anything you guys wanted looked into or any questions?
Are any other houses planning to support Helios/BH's endeavor to create a non-political house/knight organisation that represents the official 'face' of the whole dominion?

>>48812409
Nothing that I can think of right this moment.

>>48812254
>stealth coating.
That's actually more helpful than I first realised.

When we did that stealth AM torp on their fleet when it arrived in the relay we were running out of stealth coating, and now we have some more.

>>48812409
Did the crew of that ship manage to teleport out?