Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
[X] Upgrade all Ferro-Carbide orbital foundries to Lamellar Ferro-Carbide
Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
VicSage
Carpenter, Cobbler, Chirugeon, Dataminer.
As much as it hurts me to say it, some technology is better left forgotten. Like GPS trackers in your car to check mileage, or aglets.
Turn 79 - For Pete's Sake
Turn 79 - For Pete’s Sake
The Naval Review has been fully completed and Thanh comes in to inform you of the results.
First of all, it has been determined that the current warship designs are attempting to do too many things at once. The Dagger and Dart especially failed to focus on any one area and wound up being substantially less effective at actual naval combat than expected. The old paradigm of treating the extreme range duel as merely a preliminary to the actual battle, rather than the main battle in and of itself, is not sustainable with warships. Dropships tend to have enough thrust and, more importantly, are limited enough in the full naval weaponry that they can mount, that focusing on shorter range weaponry, anti-fighter weaponry, and point defense systems are perfectly viable. But a Warship needs to duel other warships and needs to rely on parasites to handle things like mass point defense and anti-fighter work.
Refits have been developed and implemented for existing warships, and future designs will take into account the lessons learned from this review.
When it comes to dropships, the Majestic class comes in for particular attention. While the capital missile armament is welcome, the dropship failed to have an impact in the various battles it has been involved in commensurate with the expectations placed on it. Part of this is that, compared to heavy naval weaponry, the Majestic is easily obliterated with almost casual ease. The problem is that it is too fragile a platform to slug it out with a proper warship, yet attempting to make it capable of doing just that resulted in a platform that was less optimal against what should have been its primary target - other dropships.
In an environment where there are no enemy warships, of course, the Majestic is quite capable. But with the Black Steel threat this is unlikely to be the case. Therefore a new parasite battleship design from Majeure Electrique will replace the Majestic for future construction. Project Derfflinger is faster with a more focused armament layout than the Majestic class, while possessing a higher anti-capital missile armament. It is optimized for screening duties as well as anti-dropship work. Dubbed the Canopus class in service, the new design is ready for immediate production.
In addition a replacement for the Independence class has been ordered from Majeure Electrique. Dubbed the Saipan class, the new carriers are more focused on the Carrier and Logistics Support mission rather than doubling as missile boats as well. They have also been armed with a very heavy anti-ASF battery, thus providing warships with the screening assets needed without them having to waste tonnage on it themselves.
Finally for dropships a refit proposal has been made for the Bainbridge class parasite destroyer. The proposed Truxton refit would reduce ammunition dependence for the secondary battery, streamline the conventional battery, and in general update the design in light of combat experience.
In terms of warships again, the review has laid out a proposed roadmap for future development. Building additional Small Warship Yards is prioritized, with a strong recommendation that every year one such yard is built in each of the three current core systems. Procurement should focus on the new Cleveland class CL, with Atlanta and Brooklyn class vessels being procured to supplement the Clevelands, at least one Erebus class missile light cruiser should be procured for testing purposes, with likely low-rate production initiated in order to have the unique capabilities that an all-missile platform brings to the table.
On the same hull as the Cleveland engineers have developed the Wichita class Heavy Cruiser. The review committee recommends purchasing a small number of these vessels as well. They are considered an interim design in many ways, due to not being optimized for the perceived Heavy Cruiser role as a screening vessel for the battleline capable of independent operations, being a very tight design with minimal tonnage devoted to spare parts, extra ammunition, and miscellaneous purposes, and the belief that a better design could be built on a purpose-built hull. That being said the Wichita would still be a powerful unit with the ability to hammer enemies at extreme range.
Sufficient data has been amassed to begin the Ground and ASF reviews. Teams within the Defense Ministry have begun going over the data, testing things out in sims and exercises, and will report back when conclusions have been reached.
Parliament is in session and the Eldest evidently has been plotting behind your back. Because you are trying very hard to figure out how exactly the big cat managed to pull this one off. You run the numbers over and over again, and the results keep on staring you in the face and make you want to run off and enroll at the Department of Periphery Studies because they keep on stubbornly staying the same yet are utterly impossible.
How the hell is levying a quarter cent tax on all office supplies used by the Imperial Parliament going to raise enough funds to do what this legislation proposes… yet the numbers work. How the hell do they go through THAT many disposable coffee cups in a year? Haven’t they heard of reusable cups? Dishwashers? Using actual glass? Enough that a quarter cent tax will raise enough to privately fund a whole new light warship yard in the Griffon system on an expedited basis?
And more importantly, how the heck did he get the famously skinflint (with their own money) Chamber of Delegates to go along with it? Yet they did, and they aren’t even asking for anything in exchange! There has to be a trap somewhere, but you just can’t find it, and the Eldest is looking far too smug. Like a cat who’s found the stash of cream, swept all the breakables off the shelf and blamed the dog for the entire mess.
But he somehow pulled it off, and the results are sitting on your desk staring at you. You swear they are staring at you. This piece of legislation is obviously an Eldritch Abomination seeking to slip through the cracks of space, time, and sanity. You are pretty sure that if you stick your ear on the paper and listen real carefully you can hear faint calls of ‘Tekeli-li’.
So of course you agree to this, because you’d really rather not piss off eldritch horrors from beyond space and time. That’s your position and you are sticking to it.
The Naval Review has been fully completed and Thanh comes in to inform you of the results.
First of all, it has been determined that the current warship designs are attempting to do too many things at once. The Dagger and Dart especially failed to focus on any one area and wound up being substantially less effective at actual naval combat than expected. The old paradigm of treating the extreme range duel as merely a preliminary to the actual battle, rather than the main battle in and of itself, is not sustainable with warships. Dropships tend to have enough thrust and, more importantly, are limited enough in the full naval weaponry that they can mount, that focusing on shorter range weaponry, anti-fighter weaponry, and point defense systems are perfectly viable. But a Warship needs to duel other warships and needs to rely on parasites to handle things like mass point defense and anti-fighter work.
Refits have been developed and implemented for existing warships, and future designs will take into account the lessons learned from this review.
When it comes to dropships, the Majestic class comes in for particular attention. While the capital missile armament is welcome, the dropship failed to have an impact in the various battles it has been involved in commensurate with the expectations placed on it. Part of this is that, compared to heavy naval weaponry, the Majestic is easily obliterated with almost casual ease. The problem is that it is too fragile a platform to slug it out with a proper warship, yet attempting to make it capable of doing just that resulted in a platform that was less optimal against what should have been its primary target - other dropships.
In an environment where there are no enemy warships, of course, the Majestic is quite capable. But with the Black Steel threat this is unlikely to be the case. Therefore a new parasite battleship design from Majeure Electrique will replace the Majestic for future construction. Project Derfflinger is faster with a more focused armament layout than the Majestic class, while possessing a higher anti-capital missile armament. It is optimized for screening duties as well as anti-dropship work. Dubbed the Canopus class in service, the new design is ready for immediate production.
In addition a replacement for the Independence class has been ordered from Majeure Electrique. Dubbed the Saipan class, the new carriers are more focused on the Carrier and Logistics Support mission rather than doubling as missile boats as well. They have also been armed with a very heavy anti-ASF battery, thus providing warships with the screening assets needed without them having to waste tonnage on it themselves.
| Name | Cost | Materials | HP | A/D | Specials |
| Canopus class Parasite Battleship | $7,339,892 | FA/DHS | 2433 | 2263 |
|
| Saipan class Parasite Carrier | $5,807,424 | FA/DHS | 1140 | 990 |
|
| Bainbridge class ‘Truxton’ refit. | $2,399,852 | FA/DHS | 1207 | 1057 |
|
| [] | Approve upgrade |
|
| [] | Refuse |
|
In terms of warships again, the review has laid out a proposed roadmap for future development. Building additional Small Warship Yards is prioritized, with a strong recommendation that every year one such yard is built in each of the three current core systems. Procurement should focus on the new Cleveland class CL, with Atlanta and Brooklyn class vessels being procured to supplement the Clevelands, at least one Erebus class missile light cruiser should be procured for testing purposes, with likely low-rate production initiated in order to have the unique capabilities that an all-missile platform brings to the table.
On the same hull as the Cleveland engineers have developed the Wichita class Heavy Cruiser. The review committee recommends purchasing a small number of these vessels as well. They are considered an interim design in many ways, due to not being optimized for the perceived Heavy Cruiser role as a screening vessel for the battleline capable of independent operations, being a very tight design with minimal tonnage devoted to spare parts, extra ammunition, and miscellaneous purposes, and the belief that a better design could be built on a purpose-built hull. That being said the Wichita would still be a powerful unit with the ability to hammer enemies at extreme range.
| Wichita Heavy Cruiser | $19,450,520 | LFC, DHS | 3193 | 2088 |
|
Sufficient data has been amassed to begin the Ground and ASF reviews. Teams within the Defense Ministry have begun going over the data, testing things out in sims and exercises, and will report back when conclusions have been reached.
Parliament is in session and the Eldest evidently has been plotting behind your back. Because you are trying very hard to figure out how exactly the big cat managed to pull this one off. You run the numbers over and over again, and the results keep on staring you in the face and make you want to run off and enroll at the Department of Periphery Studies because they keep on stubbornly staying the same yet are utterly impossible.
How the hell is levying a quarter cent tax on all office supplies used by the Imperial Parliament going to raise enough funds to do what this legislation proposes… yet the numbers work. How the hell do they go through THAT many disposable coffee cups in a year? Haven’t they heard of reusable cups? Dishwashers? Using actual glass? Enough that a quarter cent tax will raise enough to privately fund a whole new light warship yard in the Griffon system on an expedited basis?
And more importantly, how the heck did he get the famously skinflint (with their own money) Chamber of Delegates to go along with it? Yet they did, and they aren’t even asking for anything in exchange! There has to be a trap somewhere, but you just can’t find it, and the Eldest is looking far too smug. Like a cat who’s found the stash of cream, swept all the breakables off the shelf and blamed the dog for the entire mess.
But he somehow pulled it off, and the results are sitting on your desk staring at you. You swear they are staring at you. This piece of legislation is obviously an Eldritch Abomination seeking to slip through the cracks of space, time, and sanity. You are pretty sure that if you stick your ear on the paper and listen real carefully you can hear faint calls of ‘Tekeli-li’.
So of course you agree to this, because you’d really rather not piss off eldritch horrors from beyond space and time. That’s your position and you are sticking to it.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
[X] Approve Upgrade
Trashman.exe
Well-known member
[X] Approve Upgrade
[X] Approve Upgrade
Since Baron Moonturkey decided not to actually share the lovely details I worked out for the new classes. . .
The Derfflinger is a parasite battlecruiser rather than a parasite battleship; lightly armored, but packing 5/8 acceleration and a main battery of thirty-six heavy subcapital cannons -- two ten-cannon batteries concentrated in the nose, and an eight-gun battery in each front side. This is backed up by four capital missile launchers (two AR-10s and two dedicated Killer Whale launchers) and a defensive battery of twenty heavy sub-capital lasers, two hundred HAG/40s, one hundred LRM-20s, and one hundred Clan AMS.
The Saipan is an evolved ASF carrier which still carries "only" a single wing of 36 fighters, but has the Heaviest Flak Ever with forty-eight heavy sub-capital lasers, and one hundred twenty each of HAG/40s and Clan AMS.
The Oviraptor (Refit), which the navy insists on giving a boring historical name instead of a MAGNIFICENT DINOSAUR NAME, basically trades out all the Piranha launchers on the old version for heavy sub-capital lasers, throws in two more for good measure, and streamlines the previous mix of Gauss Rifles, Enhanced PPCs, and Large Pulse Lasers for HAG/40s.
Since Baron Moonturkey decided not to actually share the lovely details I worked out for the new classes. . .
The Derfflinger is a parasite battlecruiser rather than a parasite battleship; lightly armored, but packing 5/8 acceleration and a main battery of thirty-six heavy subcapital cannons -- two ten-cannon batteries concentrated in the nose, and an eight-gun battery in each front side. This is backed up by four capital missile launchers (two AR-10s and two dedicated Killer Whale launchers) and a defensive battery of twenty heavy sub-capital lasers, two hundred HAG/40s, one hundred LRM-20s, and one hundred Clan AMS.
The Saipan is an evolved ASF carrier which still carries "only" a single wing of 36 fighters, but has the Heaviest Flak Ever with forty-eight heavy sub-capital lasers, and one hundred twenty each of HAG/40s and Clan AMS.
The Oviraptor (Refit), which the navy insists on giving a boring historical name instead of a MAGNIFICENT DINOSAUR NAME, basically trades out all the Piranha launchers on the old version for heavy sub-capital lasers, throws in two more for good measure, and streamlines the previous mix of Gauss Rifles, Enhanced PPCs, and Large Pulse Lasers for HAG/40s.
darkcloudt2
Well-known member
[X] Approve Upgrade
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[X] Approve Upgrade
Turn 79 - See What I Mean
Turn 79 - See What I Mean
Your eldest granddaughter is now in the Aerie and, interestingly, is taking a dual track of Command and Logistics training rather than an actual combat path. She’s taking a few mech classes, but not the sort that would lead to a Mechwarrior commission. When you ask her about it she points out that someday, hopefully not soon, she’ll be taking over from you and that therefore it would behoove her to focus on those skills that would be broadly applicable to running the Empire rather than pursuing personal glory as a mechwarrior.
You’re totally unashamed to say that you are very proud of her.
You do, however, wind up tossing her, your wife, your daughter in law, and your sister through the Tyler Lee Memorial Defenestration Window when they organize an ambush interview with an NRI news program run by ‘your’ cult. The young journalist they’d sent had been painfully earnest and honest, and none of the questions were in and of themselves embarrassing or problematic. Indeed, it was a very thoughtful interview on a variety of relevant topics related to future expansion plans, the state of the economy, trade relations with the NRI, and such. You have had far more annoying interviews with local media than this. But still, the principle remains, the guilty must be punished by defenestration. You have been informed that the budget line item for trick glass for the window was growing rather large.
You have one serious headache, briefly you thought it was the Egg Redux, but it turns out to be a proper hybrid electric/pedal powered trike. You were all set to get angry when one showed up at the Palace, but the footprint of the vehicle is within the regular range for most recumbent trikes, thus not hogging the bike lanes if ridden there but it is also completely road legal in nearly every jurisdiction meeting the exact same crash and safety standards as any other motor vehicle, it is actually even lighter than the Egg, thanks to the materials and engineering. It costs about three times as much as the Egg did, which you discover with some research puts it directly in line with other vehicles in its class.
The headache comes from the manufacturer sending enough of the kid-sized ones for all of your younger grandkids and great nieces/nephews to have one of their own, and all of them are constantly pestering you to go out riding with them. You have work to do, an Empire to run, and… you can’t resist the big pleading eyes and quivering lips, damnit. You are tempted to summon the CEO of that company to the Palace in order to toss them out of the Window!
Granted, they are very fun to ride. But you’ve got work to do!
You check and this particular vehicle is made by a small start up on New Pollux, evidently they’d hoped that by sending the Imperial Family samples that they’d get some marketing advantage as you are seen riding around in them. Typical, and indeed they’d been quite up front about it in the letter accompanying the gift, so you don’t mind at all. From what you can tell sales have picked up for the vehicles, with them shipping multiple crates of the things to the Griffon system on the regular trade runs to New Pollux.
There is an emergency in the NRR, terrorists associated with the old Opposition have detonated a massive fuel-air bomb in an apparent assassination attempt against the President. She survived the attack, albeit with severe injuries. Several thousand supporters who’d been listening to her speak at the anniversary of her being sworn in were less fortunate. Luckily small bombs that had been placed in order to delay emergency services from responding failed to detonate, indications are that the terrorists who were supposed to set them off had been killed in the larger than expected initial detonation.
The NRR has implemented martial law in the capital and have locked the place down, the NRR military is conducting search and destroy sweeps targeting the terrorists, rather indiscriminately rounding up everybody who’d ever supported those parties in the past, searching their residences and places of business, while imprisoning them in overcrowded jails. Several pitched battles have broken out. Your ambassador reports that the general public mood at this point is ‘rope, opposition, lamp post, some assembly required’ with very high levels of support for the government crackdown.
To be fair to the government, they are showing at least some sense of due process, those former opposition supporters who are cleared of involvement are released almost as fast as they were rounded up, but that is a mixed mercy as their neighbors seem to be far less interested in such legal minutiae as guilt or innocence. And again to be fair to the NRR government, they are providing police protection to those people and a number of arrests for vigilantism and lynching have been made and are being vigorously prosecuted.
One thing that the NRR has introduced that has your own police forces, and especially the Special Branch and Imperial Griffon Mounted Police, drooling is a clever new riot control device. Take a paintball gun, and load the paintballs with a mix of paint and pepper irritants. Shoot the troublemakers. They are really hating life and are very easy to identify later on. General Messerschmidt has already ordered some for intelligence work as well, which rather worries you because you are almost certain that he will introduce them to you when he thinks it will be funny.
And now it is time for the budget meetings, the part of your work that you’d sometimes rather miss.
General Stewart is up first. “Your Majesty, our production capacity could still use more improvements, especially for heavy and assault mechs, regular mechs, and ASFs. On top of the understandable push to increase our warship production. Paradoxically, we are recommending that we not increase our dropship production this year for reasons that Admiral Griffith will get into later.”
She sits down and your old friend General Jenkins takes her place. “OK, boss, we want all the things and we want them yesterday, and can I have a pony?” he pauses as snickers break out and you glare at him. “No pony? Awww, c’mon boss!” he is grinning far too much and you are almost certain that if you went back to your rooms you’ll find that the little shit had smuggled a pony into your bedroom or something equally ‘amusing’. “Fine, be that way. We want little mechs, we want big mechs, and we want to build two more Corps HQ units so we can handle more simultaneous operations or even engage in that terrifying military ritual known as…” he drops his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “realistic military exercises against OPFORs.”
“More specifically, we’ve got a few Pathfinder units that need filling out. We want another Brigade Combat Team, we want Training Regiments because the schools are getting whiny at us again and then they threaten us with erasers and homework. We want some more Garrison mechs to keep what is ours ours in the most stompy way possible, and two more Assault Regiments to head up the two new Corps HQs. We’ll need 3 Armored Regiments, 4 Mechanized Regiments, 6 Air Cavalry Regiments, 6 Artillery Regiments to bring the boom, and just to keep the Academies off of my back please buy them some Mechanized Training Regiments.” He tosses up a graphic for you to look at.
General Romanov is up next. “Your Majesty, we have neither carriers nor stations completing this year that we need aerospace units for. That being said, however, we have been working with the Navy and they inform me that they intend to request a large number of carriers, enough that if we were to wait until next year to procure birds to fill their bays we’d be unable to do the same for the stations completing next year.”
She brings up a display showing a new unit. “For the new Saipan class ships, we have developed a new Wing type, balancing offensive and defensive capabilities. Each Heavy Carrier Wing would consist of one Fighter Squadron of Eagle IVs, one Attack Squadron of Griffon IIIs, and one Missile Squadron of Raptor II and Merlins.”
Your sister is up next. “OK, Your Majesty. As General Romanov indicated, we plan to produce a large number of the new Saipans this year. Our current dropship production levels are actually exceeding our needs, until we expand much more at least some of our dropship production is going to be dedicated simply to keeping the existing slips in operation and adding defenses to various systems rather than fulfilling actual needs. It’s a good problem to have, I grant, but it’s still a problem. So we are requesting a pause on orbital shipyard expansion. Light Warship and Escort yards? We still need as many of those as we can afford. We would also like to build a new Refit & Repair Yard in the New Pollux system to support further survey and colonization work in that direction.”
She then fires up the display. “Our engineers and the design teams at the Imperial Griffon Aerospace Werk have developed a palletized automated cargo handling system that is highly suitable for our logistics needs. The new Saipans are built with this in mind, although unfortunately refitting the system into the Independence class is prohibitively expensive. One consequence of our increased tempo of warship operations in patrols and such has been discovering that our estimates of logistics requirements were actually rather low, and as we expand and range further and further they will only increase exponentially. Therefore Lee Aerospace and the IGAW have collaborated with Majeure Electrique on a highly specialized logistics ship optimized for fleet support. The Supply class, in combination with the Saipan for ‘last mile’ deliveries, should be a rather neat solution to the logistics problems. As part of the Supply class we’ve contracted with a commercial yard to build a specialized cargo transport dropship for the Supply class vessels. Five of these vessels, which are effectively nothing but detachable cargo pods with over 80% of their mass devoted to cargo, will be included with each Supply purchased. This means that each Supply will be carrying almost half a million tons of supplies when fully loaded.”
Bridget comes up next and she looks… reduced. Tired, drained, and a bit pale. “Your Majesty, this will be my last budget meeting.” she says a bit grimly. “I’ve just gotten a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and will be entering treatment next week. The doctor’s are highly optimistic, so I’m not concerned about that, but I think it’s time for me to step aside and let somebody else take the reins over at the Interior Ministry. That being said, we’re ready to support any building programs you might desire, and recommend doing some economic investment and focus on various Peripheral and Core worlds. Edelsteine and New Pollux would benefit the most in the periphery, while Nowa Warszawa would benefit nicely in the core.”
There’s silence for a bit, Bridget has been a fixture of the budget meetings ever since Tyler retired, her stepping down is a major change. Plus she’s been a friend to the family for a long time.
Isoroku is also looking a bit grim. “I will also be stepping down, Your Majesty. Griffin's Roost University has asked me to take over as President and my wife has convinced me to take the post.” His lips twitch a bit. “Evidently she is tired of me running off to the Olympics whenever they’re held in another nation, amusing that. I will have a list of candidates to replace me on your desk by the end of the year. The Foreign Ministry doesn’t have any specific budgetary requests this year.”
Lien smiles a bit. “I’m not going anywhere yet, Your Majesty.” she says, causing a brief chuckle to go around the table. “The expansion of the Civil Service was quite successful and useful last year, continued expansion within reason would be equally useful, although the expenses will increase rapidly. Increasing the Parks & Recreation budget has also given some lovely dividends, but again costs will increase the more we expand so it is a balancing act. We have no completely new initiatives for you this year, Your Majesty.”
Dr Bryant is up next. “Your Majesty, we have five R&D teams available for work. We would urge that three of them continue work on improving Standard Core KF drive vessels to their peak potential, while the remaining two should focus on improving our terraforming and large scale project capacities, in order to give DoME more things to do, and improving industrial mechs in order to make it easier for us to do those sorts of large scale projects.”
General Messerschmidt has an expression on his face that you’ve come to dread. “Your Majesty, I think we should let Martina go next, skip me to the end.”
Martina smoothly takes over. “Your Majesty, thank you for the increased funding last year for the Imperial level law enforcement departments. We are already seeing benefits in terms of quicker response times to system requests for imperial assets in these areas. We have no pressing needs at this time. General?”
General Messershmidt smoothly takes over once more. “Well, Your Majesty, I bring good news from the NRI!” his smile is almost blinding. You make a mental note to drag him over to the Window yourself. “An NRI wide festival to Your Sacred Name has been announced to great acclaim, with pageants, festivals, parades, and processions being organized across the NRI in Your Divine Honor. Our agents are reporting that Your great temple on Nova Jupitereum is now complete and has been suitably sanctified. And, your loyal worshippers have sent this via the intelligence attache at the embassy.” He opens a case, revealing a remarkably detailed small marble statue of you, obviously based on one of the ‘grumpy’ photos taken by your dear sister.
Your eldest granddaughter is now in the Aerie and, interestingly, is taking a dual track of Command and Logistics training rather than an actual combat path. She’s taking a few mech classes, but not the sort that would lead to a Mechwarrior commission. When you ask her about it she points out that someday, hopefully not soon, she’ll be taking over from you and that therefore it would behoove her to focus on those skills that would be broadly applicable to running the Empire rather than pursuing personal glory as a mechwarrior.
You’re totally unashamed to say that you are very proud of her.
You do, however, wind up tossing her, your wife, your daughter in law, and your sister through the Tyler Lee Memorial Defenestration Window when they organize an ambush interview with an NRI news program run by ‘your’ cult. The young journalist they’d sent had been painfully earnest and honest, and none of the questions were in and of themselves embarrassing or problematic. Indeed, it was a very thoughtful interview on a variety of relevant topics related to future expansion plans, the state of the economy, trade relations with the NRI, and such. You have had far more annoying interviews with local media than this. But still, the principle remains, the guilty must be punished by defenestration. You have been informed that the budget line item for trick glass for the window was growing rather large.
You have one serious headache, briefly you thought it was the Egg Redux, but it turns out to be a proper hybrid electric/pedal powered trike. You were all set to get angry when one showed up at the Palace, but the footprint of the vehicle is within the regular range for most recumbent trikes, thus not hogging the bike lanes if ridden there but it is also completely road legal in nearly every jurisdiction meeting the exact same crash and safety standards as any other motor vehicle, it is actually even lighter than the Egg, thanks to the materials and engineering. It costs about three times as much as the Egg did, which you discover with some research puts it directly in line with other vehicles in its class.
The headache comes from the manufacturer sending enough of the kid-sized ones for all of your younger grandkids and great nieces/nephews to have one of their own, and all of them are constantly pestering you to go out riding with them. You have work to do, an Empire to run, and… you can’t resist the big pleading eyes and quivering lips, damnit. You are tempted to summon the CEO of that company to the Palace in order to toss them out of the Window!
Granted, they are very fun to ride. But you’ve got work to do!
You check and this particular vehicle is made by a small start up on New Pollux, evidently they’d hoped that by sending the Imperial Family samples that they’d get some marketing advantage as you are seen riding around in them. Typical, and indeed they’d been quite up front about it in the letter accompanying the gift, so you don’t mind at all. From what you can tell sales have picked up for the vehicles, with them shipping multiple crates of the things to the Griffon system on the regular trade runs to New Pollux.
There is an emergency in the NRR, terrorists associated with the old Opposition have detonated a massive fuel-air bomb in an apparent assassination attempt against the President. She survived the attack, albeit with severe injuries. Several thousand supporters who’d been listening to her speak at the anniversary of her being sworn in were less fortunate. Luckily small bombs that had been placed in order to delay emergency services from responding failed to detonate, indications are that the terrorists who were supposed to set them off had been killed in the larger than expected initial detonation.
The NRR has implemented martial law in the capital and have locked the place down, the NRR military is conducting search and destroy sweeps targeting the terrorists, rather indiscriminately rounding up everybody who’d ever supported those parties in the past, searching their residences and places of business, while imprisoning them in overcrowded jails. Several pitched battles have broken out. Your ambassador reports that the general public mood at this point is ‘rope, opposition, lamp post, some assembly required’ with very high levels of support for the government crackdown.
To be fair to the government, they are showing at least some sense of due process, those former opposition supporters who are cleared of involvement are released almost as fast as they were rounded up, but that is a mixed mercy as their neighbors seem to be far less interested in such legal minutiae as guilt or innocence. And again to be fair to the NRR government, they are providing police protection to those people and a number of arrests for vigilantism and lynching have been made and are being vigorously prosecuted.
One thing that the NRR has introduced that has your own police forces, and especially the Special Branch and Imperial Griffon Mounted Police, drooling is a clever new riot control device. Take a paintball gun, and load the paintballs with a mix of paint and pepper irritants. Shoot the troublemakers. They are really hating life and are very easy to identify later on. General Messerschmidt has already ordered some for intelligence work as well, which rather worries you because you are almost certain that he will introduce them to you when he thinks it will be funny.
And now it is time for the budget meetings, the part of your work that you’d sometimes rather miss.
General Stewart is up first. “Your Majesty, our production capacity could still use more improvements, especially for heavy and assault mechs, regular mechs, and ASFs. On top of the understandable push to increase our warship production. Paradoxically, we are recommending that we not increase our dropship production this year for reasons that Admiral Griffith will get into later.”
She sits down and your old friend General Jenkins takes her place. “OK, boss, we want all the things and we want them yesterday, and can I have a pony?” he pauses as snickers break out and you glare at him. “No pony? Awww, c’mon boss!” he is grinning far too much and you are almost certain that if you went back to your rooms you’ll find that the little shit had smuggled a pony into your bedroom or something equally ‘amusing’. “Fine, be that way. We want little mechs, we want big mechs, and we want to build two more Corps HQ units so we can handle more simultaneous operations or even engage in that terrifying military ritual known as…” he drops his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “realistic military exercises against OPFORs.”
“More specifically, we’ve got a few Pathfinder units that need filling out. We want another Brigade Combat Team, we want Training Regiments because the schools are getting whiny at us again and then they threaten us with erasers and homework. We want some more Garrison mechs to keep what is ours ours in the most stompy way possible, and two more Assault Regiments to head up the two new Corps HQs. We’ll need 3 Armored Regiments, 4 Mechanized Regiments, 6 Air Cavalry Regiments, 6 Artillery Regiments to bring the boom, and just to keep the Academies off of my back please buy them some Mechanized Training Regiments.” He tosses up a graphic for you to look at.
- IGA Procurement
- New production facilities
- 4 Battlemech Factory Complexes
- New Pollux
- 1 Megafactory Complex on Calliope IV
- Expand Military Industrial Infrastructure
- New Pollux
- 4 Battlemech Factory Complexes
- Procurement
- Regular Mech (11 factories)
- 4 Pathfinder Regiments
- Complete 2 Pathfinder Brigades and thus 1 Pathfinder Division
- 3 Armored Cavalry Regiments
- For the new Brigade Combat Team
- 4 Training Regiments
- 4 Pathfinder Regiments
- Heavy/Assault Mech (8 factories)
- 3 Standard Mech Regiments
- For the new Brigade Combat Team
- 3 Garrison Mech Regiments
- 2 Assault Regiments
- For the new Corps HQs
- 3 Standard Mech Regiments
- Conventional Vehicles
- 3 Armored Regiments
- For the new Brigade Combat Team
- 4 Mechanized Regiments
- For the new Corps HQs
- 6 Air Cavalry Regiments
- For the new Corps HQs
- 6 Artillery Regiments
- For the new Corps HQs
- 5 Mechanized Training Regiments
- 3 Armored Regiments
- Regular Mech (11 factories)
- New production facilities
General Romanov is up next. “Your Majesty, we have neither carriers nor stations completing this year that we need aerospace units for. That being said, however, we have been working with the Navy and they inform me that they intend to request a large number of carriers, enough that if we were to wait until next year to procure birds to fill their bays we’d be unable to do the same for the stations completing next year.”
She brings up a display showing a new unit. “For the new Saipan class ships, we have developed a new Wing type, balancing offensive and defensive capabilities. Each Heavy Carrier Wing would consist of one Fighter Squadron of Eagle IVs, one Attack Squadron of Griffon IIIs, and one Missile Squadron of Raptor II and Merlins.”
- IGAF Procurement
- New Production Facilities
- Expand Ferro Aluminum and Double Heat Sink production
- 1 new ASF factory
- New Pollux
- Procurement
- 30 Heavy Carrier Wing
- New Production Facilities
Your sister is up next. “OK, Your Majesty. As General Romanov indicated, we plan to produce a large number of the new Saipans this year. Our current dropship production levels are actually exceeding our needs, until we expand much more at least some of our dropship production is going to be dedicated simply to keeping the existing slips in operation and adding defenses to various systems rather than fulfilling actual needs. It’s a good problem to have, I grant, but it’s still a problem. So we are requesting a pause on orbital shipyard expansion. Light Warship and Escort yards? We still need as many of those as we can afford. We would also like to build a new Refit & Repair Yard in the New Pollux system to support further survey and colonization work in that direction.”
She then fires up the display. “Our engineers and the design teams at the Imperial Griffon Aerospace Werk have developed a palletized automated cargo handling system that is highly suitable for our logistics needs. The new Saipans are built with this in mind, although unfortunately refitting the system into the Independence class is prohibitively expensive. One consequence of our increased tempo of warship operations in patrols and such has been discovering that our estimates of logistics requirements were actually rather low, and as we expand and range further and further they will only increase exponentially. Therefore Lee Aerospace and the IGAW have collaborated with Majeure Electrique on a highly specialized logistics ship optimized for fleet support. The Supply class, in combination with the Saipan for ‘last mile’ deliveries, should be a rather neat solution to the logistics problems. As part of the Supply class we’ve contracted with a commercial yard to build a specialized cargo transport dropship for the Supply class vessels. Five of these vessels, which are effectively nothing but detachable cargo pods with over 80% of their mass devoted to cargo, will be included with each Supply purchased. This means that each Supply will be carrying almost half a million tons of supplies when fully loaded.”
- IGN Procurement
- New Production Facilities
- 3 Small Warship Yards
- Griffon, Nowa Warszawa, Calliope
- Refit & Repair Yard
- New Pollux
- Expand Lamellar Ferro-Carbide production
- 3 Small Warship Yards
- Procurement
- Regular Dropships (71 slips)
- 40 Bainbridge class
- 15 Queen class
- 16 Trenton class
- Large Dropships (30 slips)
- 30 Saipan class
- Escort/Jumpship Yards (27 slips
- 10 Supply
- 7 Galleon
- 10 Samuel B Roberts
- Small Warship (2 yards)
- 1 Wichita CA
- 1 Erebus CLG
- Regular Dropships (71 slips)
- New Production Facilities
Bridget comes up next and she looks… reduced. Tired, drained, and a bit pale. “Your Majesty, this will be my last budget meeting.” she says a bit grimly. “I’ve just gotten a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and will be entering treatment next week. The doctor’s are highly optimistic, so I’m not concerned about that, but I think it’s time for me to step aside and let somebody else take the reins over at the Interior Ministry. That being said, we’re ready to support any building programs you might desire, and recommend doing some economic investment and focus on various Peripheral and Core worlds. Edelsteine and New Pollux would benefit the most in the periphery, while Nowa Warszawa would benefit nicely in the core.”
There’s silence for a bit, Bridget has been a fixture of the budget meetings ever since Tyler retired, her stepping down is a major change. Plus she’s been a friend to the family for a long time.
Isoroku is also looking a bit grim. “I will also be stepping down, Your Majesty. Griffin's Roost University has asked me to take over as President and my wife has convinced me to take the post.” His lips twitch a bit. “Evidently she is tired of me running off to the Olympics whenever they’re held in another nation, amusing that. I will have a list of candidates to replace me on your desk by the end of the year. The Foreign Ministry doesn’t have any specific budgetary requests this year.”
Lien smiles a bit. “I’m not going anywhere yet, Your Majesty.” she says, causing a brief chuckle to go around the table. “The expansion of the Civil Service was quite successful and useful last year, continued expansion within reason would be equally useful, although the expenses will increase rapidly. Increasing the Parks & Recreation budget has also given some lovely dividends, but again costs will increase the more we expand so it is a balancing act. We have no completely new initiatives for you this year, Your Majesty.”
Dr Bryant is up next. “Your Majesty, we have five R&D teams available for work. We would urge that three of them continue work on improving Standard Core KF drive vessels to their peak potential, while the remaining two should focus on improving our terraforming and large scale project capacities, in order to give DoME more things to do, and improving industrial mechs in order to make it easier for us to do those sorts of large scale projects.”
General Messerschmidt has an expression on his face that you’ve come to dread. “Your Majesty, I think we should let Martina go next, skip me to the end.”
Martina smoothly takes over. “Your Majesty, thank you for the increased funding last year for the Imperial level law enforcement departments. We are already seeing benefits in terms of quicker response times to system requests for imperial assets in these areas. We have no pressing needs at this time. General?”
General Messershmidt smoothly takes over once more. “Well, Your Majesty, I bring good news from the NRI!” his smile is almost blinding. You make a mental note to drag him over to the Window yourself. “An NRI wide festival to Your Sacred Name has been announced to great acclaim, with pageants, festivals, parades, and processions being organized across the NRI in Your Divine Honor. Our agents are reporting that Your great temple on Nova Jupitereum is now complete and has been suitably sanctified. And, your loyal worshippers have sent this via the intelligence attache at the embassy.” He opens a case, revealing a remarkably detailed small marble statue of you, obviously based on one of the ‘grumpy’ photos taken by your dear sister.
This is at least partly because you, even more than your dear mother, maintain the absurd pretense that you don't use it very often. This means the Palace staff aren't allowed to buy replacement trick glass panels in bulk quantities.
I will point out that engineering an enclosed recumbent moped that passes vehicle-grade crash standards is a pretty incredible feat of future-tech engineering and materials science. While enclosed recumbents do exist in the modern day, those enclosed shells are *purely* for aerodynamic streamlining and weather protection.
By modern bike/moped standards, the "Not-Egg Redux" is pretty much a Holy Grail level achievement.
Speaking as a former EMT, secondary devices are the fucking worst. They do actually train us to look for those as part of our scene safety assessment, but we only have the most rudimentary basics in explosives recognition training so this is of frankly limited utility. (Although you can pick up some very interesting expanded training modules as options for your required professional continuing education).
Wait, why is this a new invention? These have been a real-life thing for years at this point, both for law enforcement and as a civilian self-defense option.
Everyone is going out the window. EVERYONE!
Why? The paranoid maniacs will turn on us the moment we *don't* declare war on the Davions.
No they will declare war on us the moment they find out where our founders where from.