Local space is quite the shit show, but then again the inner sphere isn't much better so maybe it's just battletech humans.
Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
Turn 56 - From Far Away
Turn 56 - From Far Away
In early January you have a meeting with Admiral Benjamin and Jeremy. They are bringing to you a proposal for the next raid on the Dracs. And this one is a doozy, with multiple objectives.
To start with, it will require all of your current lift capacity, except for the 1 Tramp supporting efforts in Calliope and the two Monoliths running supplies to the NRI. So, 4 Monoliths and 2 Tramps, for a total of 42 collars. Moreover, there would be multiple jumps involved in the attack.
Every single major dropship combatant would be committed to this attack, all of the Royal Sovereigns, all of the new Majestics, all of the new Shannons, even HMS Renown would be involved. Plus it would involve a landing on Nowa Warszawa itself.
The total TO&E for the operation is as follows
The downside is that your daughter and two of your grandchildren will be at risk in this operation, and you can tell that Jeremy is fully aware that he is proposing a plan that puts two of his kids at direct risk, not to mention his little sister who will be in overall command of the operations naval side.
The volcanic eruption which has been bubbling away outside of Griffsport has entered a new, far more active phase as the geochemistry of the lava shifts, indicating that the mantle currents have brought different materials into the hot spot. The eruption is now characterized by highly energetic streamers of lava shooting into the sky, interspersed with the more typical oozing flow. The nearest observation points are briefly closed out of an abundance of caution, but geologists quickly are able to quantify the new behavior and report that the existing volcano defenses are more than adequate. You bring in teams of scientists from other institutions to verify these findings, and they all concur that while visually spectacular there is actually no actual elevated risk, and the existing defenses are quite capable of handling even a several magnitude greater surge in activity without blinking an eye.
This does result in a surge of tourism to view the volcano, which sees some nice economic effects in Griffsport.
Of course, this also inspires the Department of Periphery Studies to renew their protests for Volcano Privacy Rights. You draw the line at allowing them to build another diet soda volcano outside the Palace, however. You remember the last time they tried that. Instead you quietly encourage schools in the area to have students make small mentos volcanoes, which they then deliver to the Department of Periphery Studies to make the protestors happy to have volcanoes to play with.
You do get welcome news from Calliope, the defense forces posted there have managed to capture another Drac supply convoy en route to Tarentum, this time loaded with Drac mechs, almost all Stingers. Nine entire Mule loads full. Completely useless, from your point of view, being small, relatively slow, lightly armored and lightly armed bug mechs, but it is over a regiment’s worth of machines, complete with spare parts.
Of the three Tramps involved, unfortunately two were constructive losses, the jump cores being slagged by self-destruct systems triggered by fanatical ISF agents. The third was captured intact, the mostly civilian crew managing to overpower the ISF agents and their officers before the self-destruct could be triggered.
You took no losses in the engagement, HMS Warrior being essentially unopposed. She is now responsible for 3 jumpship captures on her own, a rather impressive result for a comparatively obsolete vessel.
Unfortunately you do receive word from the NRI that terrorist attacks in support of the revolt on Tarentum have begun to occur on Ravenna and Nova Roma itself. Pirate activity has also picked up, making it impossible for the NRI to send any forces to aid in your operations, indeed your analysts believe it is only a matter of time before they start begging for the deployment of ground forces to aid them in putting down the rebels.
In early January you have a meeting with Admiral Benjamin and Jeremy. They are bringing to you a proposal for the next raid on the Dracs. And this one is a doozy, with multiple objectives.
To start with, it will require all of your current lift capacity, except for the 1 Tramp supporting efforts in Calliope and the two Monoliths running supplies to the NRI. So, 4 Monoliths and 2 Tramps, for a total of 42 collars. Moreover, there would be multiple jumps involved in the attack.
Every single major dropship combatant would be committed to this attack, all of the Royal Sovereigns, all of the new Majestics, all of the new Shannons, even HMS Renown would be involved. Plus it would involve a landing on Nowa Warszawa itself.
The total TO&E for the operation is as follows
- Wave One
- Dropships
- Renown Class (1)
- HMS Renown
- Royal Sovereign Class (10)
- HMS Royal Sovereign
- HMS Empress of Nowy Gdansk
- HMS Ramillies
- HMS Resolution
- HMS Repulse
- HMS Revenge
- HMS Centurion
- HMS Barfleur
- HMS Bellerophon
- HMS Penelope
- Majestic (7)
- HMS Majestic
- HMS Prince George
- HMS Victorious
- HMS Prince Jeremy
- HMS Jupiter
- HMS Mars
- HMS Caesar
- Shannon Class (9)
- HMS Shannon
- HMS Northampton
- HMS Imperieuse
- HMS Orlando
- HMS Australia
- HMS Undaunted
- HMS Narcissus
- HMS Galatea
- HMS Aurora
- Roadrunner Class (5)
- HMS Manley
- HMS Colhoun
- HMS Gregory
- HMS Little
- HMS Stringham
- Lightning Class (10)
- HMS Lightning
- HMS Tempest
- HMS Grom
- HMS Błyskawica
- HMS Sturm
- HMS Vihar
- HMS Stuhi
- HMS Tufan
- HMS Bura
- HMS Jara
- Renown Class (1)
- ASF Formations
- 10 Standard Carrier Wings
- Ground Forces
- 1st Rapid Reaction Force
- 1st SpecOps Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored
- 1st SpecOps Regiment, 1st Brigade, 2nd Armored
- Dropships
- Wave Two
- Empty
- Phase One
- Jump to Zenith point
- Engage any forces present and scan the inner system to ascertain enemy force disposition.
- Wait for Jumpships to complete a safe charge cycle and jump out
- Strike orbital shipyard complex
- Precise target to be chosen based on scan data
- If possible target is to be destroyed en passant
- Roadrunner class vessels are to act as if they are combat logistics ships during this period.
- Raid Nowa Warszawa
- Strike force is to proceed to Nowa Warszawa orbit and drop Roadrunner class vessels.
- 1st RRF and the 2 SpecOps Regiments are to be dropped off, with the Roadrunners returning to orbit
- 1st RRF and both SpecOps Regiments are to remain mobile, evade enemy units, and strike targets of opportunity for 24 hours
- 1st RRF will regroup for pickup by the Roadrunners at this time
- If contact has been made with the Home Army, both SpecOps Regiments will remain on planet to engage in harassment operations in coordination with the local resistance. Otherwise on scene command will decide whether or not to withdraw them.
- Orbital Forces are to secure the L5 region and sanitize planetary orbit of any hostile infrastructure.
- Jump to Zenith point
- Phase Two
- Second Wave will jump in at the L5 pirate point to pick up Strike Force
The downside is that your daughter and two of your grandchildren will be at risk in this operation, and you can tell that Jeremy is fully aware that he is proposing a plan that puts two of his kids at direct risk, not to mention his little sister who will be in overall command of the operations naval side.
| [] | Approve Operation Golden Devil |
| [] | Deny Operation Golden Devil |
The volcanic eruption which has been bubbling away outside of Griffsport has entered a new, far more active phase as the geochemistry of the lava shifts, indicating that the mantle currents have brought different materials into the hot spot. The eruption is now characterized by highly energetic streamers of lava shooting into the sky, interspersed with the more typical oozing flow. The nearest observation points are briefly closed out of an abundance of caution, but geologists quickly are able to quantify the new behavior and report that the existing volcano defenses are more than adequate. You bring in teams of scientists from other institutions to verify these findings, and they all concur that while visually spectacular there is actually no actual elevated risk, and the existing defenses are quite capable of handling even a several magnitude greater surge in activity without blinking an eye.
This does result in a surge of tourism to view the volcano, which sees some nice economic effects in Griffsport.
Of course, this also inspires the Department of Periphery Studies to renew their protests for Volcano Privacy Rights. You draw the line at allowing them to build another diet soda volcano outside the Palace, however. You remember the last time they tried that. Instead you quietly encourage schools in the area to have students make small mentos volcanoes, which they then deliver to the Department of Periphery Studies to make the protestors happy to have volcanoes to play with.
You do get welcome news from Calliope, the defense forces posted there have managed to capture another Drac supply convoy en route to Tarentum, this time loaded with Drac mechs, almost all Stingers. Nine entire Mule loads full. Completely useless, from your point of view, being small, relatively slow, lightly armored and lightly armed bug mechs, but it is over a regiment’s worth of machines, complete with spare parts.
Of the three Tramps involved, unfortunately two were constructive losses, the jump cores being slagged by self-destruct systems triggered by fanatical ISF agents. The third was captured intact, the mostly civilian crew managing to overpower the ISF agents and their officers before the self-destruct could be triggered.
You took no losses in the engagement, HMS Warrior being essentially unopposed. She is now responsible for 3 jumpship captures on her own, a rather impressive result for a comparatively obsolete vessel.
Unfortunately you do receive word from the NRI that terrorist attacks in support of the revolt on Tarentum have begun to occur on Ravenna and Nova Roma itself. Pirate activity has also picked up, making it impossible for the NRI to send any forces to aid in your operations, indeed your analysts believe it is only a matter of time before they start begging for the deployment of ground forces to aid them in putting down the rebels.
SuperHeavy
Well-known member
I say we hold off on the direct assault until we have a more filled out ground force. The Combine has centuries of ground force experience and training refinements, on top of being willing to trade ASF pilots for dropships. This branch of the Kurtian family seems more deranged than usual and that probably has transferred over to the officers. In my ideal world we would have a refitted warship and abundance of ASF on call. Few things will equalize a ground engagement like being able to blot lances from the sky like a vengeful god.
Jarow
Well-known member
Worth pointing out the goal of ground assault is to not engage enemy forces, and instead try to avoid them while hitting any poorly defended factories and making contact with local resistance forces. Will say I'm definitely worried about this, but it is hard to expect them to be ready for what this will let us hit them with (assuming no warships pop up)
Guess I'm going to go with
[X] Approve Operation Golden Devil
Guess I'm going to go with
[X] Approve Operation Golden Devil
Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
How have we not heard of this other nearby evil empire before? I'd think the Romans or the Freefolk would've told us.
Sucks that all of our grandkids are choosing to go military.
Whoa talk about putting all of our eggs in one basket! Really not too sure about this. It would be reassuring if the NRI did help out a little on this, even if they just help split the Drac's attention.
On the other hand, it's been... what? 50+ years or so since Nowa Warszawa was conquered? That's coming up on three generations since it was conquered. Resistance movements usually don't last longer than 3 generations, as by that point all of the oldtimers who remember what life was like before the occupation are dead/retired and too old to fight, and are outnumbered by a bunch of youngins who aren't very motivated to risk their lives for some old coots who rave about some goold old days they never saw. So if we want to aid the resistance and help reestablish the planet's independence free of Drac influence, we kinda do have to get on with it.
Again, sucks that our grandkids went military, but... well, they knew what they signed up for.
[X] Approve Operation Golden Devil
How big are our mechs/planetary invasion forces? We're taking out shipyards and enemy spaceships but we will still need to come back to deploy ground forces to actually evict the Dracs. How far away are we from having enough numbers to do this?
We can give the captured Stinger mechs away, but I think we (Griffon) and the Draconis Combine are the only guys with mechwarriors. Hm... maybe we could invite Calliope to send some guys over to the Aerie to be trained as mechwarriors, and send them back with the Stingers?
If the Romans are going to need help soon, then I think we might want to delay the raid and go help get them straightened out before we commit to the big operation. Well, the planetary invasion of Nowa Warszawa, that is. I think we might be able to pull off the space raid without losing a significant portion of our force, so we can do that and then go help the Romans, and then come back for the planetary invasion.
Also, helping the Romans with their ground battles can give our ground forces much needed experience before we do the real deal on Nowa Warszawa. Yeah, fighting puny Roman rebels isn't the same thing as the Dracs, but we need all the experience we can get.
Operation Golden Devil is just the space raid, not the planetary invasion. So far we seem to be doing well in space warfare. The real problem is the ground invasion, which we can do later once we are more prepared, since historically we suck at ground warfare. We can take out the Drac's shipyards now, which helps get the Dracs off of our back and buys us time to build up our ground forces and help sorta out the Romans.
Another thing too, is that if we can get agents on the ground, they will be able to link up with the resistance and provide us valuable intel. Where Drac assets are, landing zones, places to avoid, names of key enemy officers and leaders, etc.
Sucks that all of our grandkids are choosing to go military.
Whoa talk about putting all of our eggs in one basket! Really not too sure about this. It would be reassuring if the NRI did help out a little on this, even if they just help split the Drac's attention.
On the other hand, it's been... what? 50+ years or so since Nowa Warszawa was conquered? That's coming up on three generations since it was conquered. Resistance movements usually don't last longer than 3 generations, as by that point all of the oldtimers who remember what life was like before the occupation are dead/retired and too old to fight, and are outnumbered by a bunch of youngins who aren't very motivated to risk their lives for some old coots who rave about some goold old days they never saw. So if we want to aid the resistance and help reestablish the planet's independence free of Drac influence, we kinda do have to get on with it.
Again, sucks that our grandkids went military, but... well, they knew what they signed up for.
[X] Approve Operation Golden Devil
How big are our mechs/planetary invasion forces? We're taking out shipyards and enemy spaceships but we will still need to come back to deploy ground forces to actually evict the Dracs. How far away are we from having enough numbers to do this?
We can give the captured Stinger mechs away, but I think we (Griffon) and the Draconis Combine are the only guys with mechwarriors. Hm... maybe we could invite Calliope to send some guys over to the Aerie to be trained as mechwarriors, and send them back with the Stingers?
If the Romans are going to need help soon, then I think we might want to delay the raid and go help get them straightened out before we commit to the big operation. Well, the planetary invasion of Nowa Warszawa, that is. I think we might be able to pull off the space raid without losing a significant portion of our force, so we can do that and then go help the Romans, and then come back for the planetary invasion.
Also, helping the Romans with their ground battles can give our ground forces much needed experience before we do the real deal on Nowa Warszawa. Yeah, fighting puny Roman rebels isn't the same thing as the Dracs, but we need all the experience we can get.
Operation Golden Devil is just the space raid, not the planetary invasion. So far we seem to be doing well in space warfare. The real problem is the ground invasion, which we can do later once we are more prepared, since historically we suck at ground warfare. We can take out the Drac's shipyards now, which helps get the Dracs off of our back and buys us time to build up our ground forces and help sorta out the Romans.
Another thing too, is that if we can get agents on the ground, they will be able to link up with the resistance and provide us valuable intel. Where Drac assets are, landing zones, places to avoid, names of key enemy officers and leaders, etc.
Jarow
Well-known member
As far as ground forces go, pretty sure we have yet to rebuild the forces we lost when the Dracs successfully attacked us. Said attack was a mutual wipe, but the overkill was more in their favor than ours. Assuming that was no more than half their forces, it'll be a while before we reach the point we can make a full ground attack. We're probably ramping up production faster than they are, so we'll probably pull ahead eventually, but it's going to take a while.
Worth pointing out, if Dracs are shipping mechs off to an "independence" group, they're probably not feeling too big a crunch on mech numbers (though, they might be on mechwarriors)
Worth pointing out, in BT and this quest's canon Rasalhague has been resisting for... longer than the star league and succession wars combined? NRR is based around Rasalhaguian resistance members, which is numerous enough that an extremely secret mission off into the Deep periphery was heavily compromised enough to steal at least one planet.
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Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[X] Approve Operation Golden Devil
Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
It seems like it's not so much that the Dracs have super high mech production and can casually give some away, but more like they're giving away old models they aren't using anymore (Stingers). They kicked our ass with a hundred Jenners.
SuperHeavy
Well-known member
Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
The RRF are doing a hit and run for 24 hours. Not much time for Drac armies across the planet to converge on them. Also it's only one regiment so even if it is totally wiped out, and it's not a huge deal. Only the spec ops agents are staying on the planet long term.
Simonbob
Well-known member
[X] Approve Operation Golden Devil
We're locked in an existential war, with some seriously bad folk. Anything that stops the fight being on our land is work trying.
Risk? Yes. But we can't just turtle, or they'll come as they want to, and we'll get squished. No. No, we need to hit them, hard, until they aren't a major threat.
We're locked in an existential war, with some seriously bad folk. Anything that stops the fight being on our land is work trying.
Risk? Yes. But we can't just turtle, or they'll come as they want to, and we'll get squished. No. No, we need to hit them, hard, until they aren't a major threat.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
[X] Approve Operation Golden Devil
Winter_Wind45
Well-known member
[X] Approve Operation Golden Devil
PsihoKekec
Swashbuckling Accountant
[X] Approve Operation Golden Devil
[X] Approve Operation Golden Devil
I do think this will work. The Dracs have every reason to believe that our first big attack on them was an all-hands operation. Moreover, the fact that they did inflict casualties and our follow-up was a raid that sidestepped their defenses would suggest to them that we're going to a lower-risk, smaller-scale strategy as opposed to massively escalating.
I do think this will work. The Dracs have every reason to believe that our first big attack on them was an all-hands operation. Moreover, the fact that they did inflict casualties and our follow-up was a raid that sidestepped their defenses would suggest to them that we're going to a lower-risk, smaller-scale strategy as opposed to massively escalating.
