Yes, but they're not part of the actual Combine-in-the-Periphery, they're only doing business with them.
Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
Yes, but they're not part of the actual Combine-in-the-Periphery, they're only doing business with them.
Rather human reaction for an AI, looks like SARAH is starting to become more than just a normal SLDF AI.
SuperHeavy
Well-known member
Barring mass launches of ASF or the Dracs hiring out those Amaris loyalists no one can oppose our mass of sub-capital cannons/capital missile armed Assault Dropships. Even the latter can be dealt with by loading our missile boats with nuclear warheads or sufficient ASF loaded with the same.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
Hmmmm with the Dracs apparently only able to make light and assault Mechs we really do need to make a lot of our own mediums to counter the lights and leave our heavies and assaults to deal with their assaults
On the ground, yes, but not in space. If push comes to shove, a major offensive that takes out their yards and gives us the orbitals like we have on NW would pretty much turn their planet into a prison under siege.
Orangeduke38
Well-known member
Or we declare that we are conducting a reprisal for the Dracs mass murdering and bioweapon useage to date and nuke it until it glows.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
Or at least the Dragon's palace
From what Siriwan told is about Okusawa, the entire planet basically is the palace.
SuperHeavy
Well-known member
Their is no way in hell he has that kind of manpower and construction capacity. The numbers may have been increased over canon but if he can do that then nothing matters because our enemies ignore logic.
Siriwan said that Okusawa is "primarily" a massive fortress, i.e. its primary functionality is as her father's holdout world, not that it's a totally fortified "Planet Brian".
I feel like I'm missing some major explanation from way earlier in the thread, but... can someone explain why the elder Kurita, the head of the Draconis Combine, is out here in the Periphery? Why is he living it up on Okusawa, and creating a fake palace on an occupied planet, rather than living in the ancestral palace on Luthien? Is this a branch of the Kurita family, leading an expedition into the Periphery for <reasons>? Is this story taking place long before the Succession Wars, or long after (such that the Combine is no longer a power in the Inner Sphere?) This is a great story, and I definitely don't have a problem with casting the Kurita as the 'boss fight' for this quest, but I don't quite understand how this setting is related to canon.
Simonbob
Well-known member
Best I can tell?
He's out here to set up a fallback for the Dracs, in case the worsest happens to the main branch. And, yes, it's a branch, not the main.
We're mid 2nd/3rd Succession Wars.
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
The Drac's came out to the Deep Periphery to set up for an attack on the Davion rear called Operation Bakkstabbu or something like that. Only problem is that they are being distracted by the Hornets nest of Griffins roost which has repeatedly fought off the Drac's invasion attempts and distracted them enough that the current leader of the DCMS in the Inner Sphere doesn't even know about the operation anymore since its been over 55 years since the first detachment left Combine Space.
The Current Coordinator which might be Takashi's father right now has no idea that the Operation exists per WOG IIRC. but yes it is a branch of the Kurita house that is leading the operation against the Davion's. Only Griffin's Roost is stopping said operation just by keeping the DCMS focused on them.
Jarow
Well-known member
My summary of Bakkustabbu:
The coordinator (I'm guessing Shinjiro - Takashi's great grandfather, though could be a bit further back) came up with a brilliant idea - send a detachment of military and industrial force out deep behind Davion lines to build up then hit the Davions from behind. Naturally, something this big needs someone perfectly loyal to the coordinator to lead it - say, a family member (perhaps a son?) On the other hand, the ISF director decided it didn't need competent spies, so ISF agents were primarily sent for being useless but politically hard to get rid of. So the dracs come out to the periphery, and take over several worlds near our home. A small group lands near Griffon's Roost, and the dracs apparently choose not to take it at the time (focusing on Kilborough or Nowa Warzsawa, presumably). Later, they realize ignoring us as a mistake, and increasingly focus on us. Then, one of their leading officers (I think he was the head of their DCA detachment, but not sure) reveals his role as part of the Rasalhague independence movement by starting a major rebellion. Eventually, fighting us (and likely the Rasalhaguian rebels) pushed them too far, and an internal rebellion finishes their collapse.
The Coordinator of the deep drac group is probably using an overly inflated title, but without HPGs and on a secret mission they aren't really talking to the IS one, so they're mostly independent. Given they have children the age of our grandkids, they probably aren't the one that left the IS either.
Also, fun timeline fact: Each of the 4th succession war leaders are alive right now, and none of them are in charge yet.
The coordinator (I'm guessing Shinjiro - Takashi's great grandfather, though could be a bit further back) came up with a brilliant idea - send a detachment of military and industrial force out deep behind Davion lines to build up then hit the Davions from behind. Naturally, something this big needs someone perfectly loyal to the coordinator to lead it - say, a family member (perhaps a son?) On the other hand, the ISF director decided it didn't need competent spies, so ISF agents were primarily sent for being useless but politically hard to get rid of. So the dracs come out to the periphery, and take over several worlds near our home. A small group lands near Griffon's Roost, and the dracs apparently choose not to take it at the time (focusing on Kilborough or Nowa Warzsawa, presumably). Later, they realize ignoring us as a mistake, and increasingly focus on us. Then, one of their leading officers (I think he was the head of their DCA detachment, but not sure) reveals his role as part of the Rasalhague independence movement by starting a major rebellion. Eventually, fighting us (and likely the Rasalhaguian rebels) pushed them too far, and an internal rebellion finishes their collapse.
The Coordinator of the deep drac group is probably using an overly inflated title, but without HPGs and on a secret mission they aren't really talking to the IS one, so they're mostly independent. Given they have children the age of our grandkids, they probably aren't the one that left the IS either.
Also, fun timeline fact: Each of the 4th succession war leaders are alive right now, and none of them are in charge yet.
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Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
Of course with all their Jumpship yards gone and their primary production planet about to fall and no less than two splinter factions Operation Bakkustabbu is well and truly impossible
Turn 58 - Can You Hear The Quanta Calling Back?
Turn 58 - Can You Hear The Quanta Calling Back?
You receive an extremely classified report, aside from you only a handful of people have read this.
Atarashi is dead. And thank God that the crews that went down to find out what happened followed the strictest level of CBW safety, because otherwise you would have more dead worlds on your hands.
A particularly horrific bioweapon, obviously released from the now destroyed research facility. According to analysis of samples taken from the CBW suits under strict isolation conditions, this bioweapon is a mixture of an Age of War era Kuritan bioweapon called XCON-73 and a pathogen local to Atarashi that boosted the originals lethality and persistence by several orders of magnitude. Onset time is estimated to be almost a year, making it a strategic weapon of horrific magnitude.
And for all you know, the Dracs may still have samples. That is nightmare fuel, although it is very possible that destroying that Drac convoy may have destroyed any such samples. Luckily nobody had bothered with salvaging any of the Overlords.
You order the wreckage sterilized with nuclear ordnance, on the simple grounds of making damn sure.
-----
More bad news comes from one of the medical institutes working with the freed Kilborough slaves. After significant study they have found that all of the freed slaves had signs of artificial brain damage centered on the same locations in the brain, damage that seemed to render them completely docile. Even the best medical techniques available could only ameliorate further degradation, not reverse the existing damage.
It would be possible for the freed slaves to care for themselves with significant occupational therapy, but they would be an extremely vulnerable population, in that simply telling one to do something in a firm voice would yield instant obedience.
The best long term solution may be to build an O’Neill Cylinder to house the freed slaves, with on-site occupational therapy provided to them, all under strict oversight to ensure that the freed slaves aren’t taken advantage of. Expensive, but may be the best way to handle this.
The Senators from the Griffon II Orbitals have volunteered to have the Cylinder being built there dedicated to this purpose.
-----
The Imperial Parliament sends you several bills, and it seems that they are trying to be helpful, in their own way. You’re not sure if they are ‘Helping’ or ‘Halping’ sometimes, but still, it seems that ever since you got the corrupt idiots out of there they’ve at least been trying to work with instead of against you.
The first one is a result of extended debate over the situation on Nowa Warszawa. The enormous difficulty being faced in setting up any sort of civilian administration has resulted in both the Chamber of Delegates and the Imperial Senate voting to simply appoint an Imperial Governor and annex the system into the Empire as a whole. Interestingly, the proposal was actually sponsored by one of the second-generation refugees from Nowy Gdansk, and appears to be rather popular among that population.
They recognize that you do not yet fully control the planet, but the argument being made is that it is better to get in front of the challenges of long term rule than have to play catch up, and the locals are proving to be utterly incapable of governing themselves without dueling atrocities.
The second has to do with Calliope, specifically Calliope IV. Parliament would like to hold a referendum on that planet on annexation into the Empire, with a package of incentives and a planned timeline for them becoming fully part of the Empire.
The main concern is that this might be jumping the gun a bit. The latest report shows that you are quite popular on Calliope IV, and there is majority support for such a move, but a very large minority is strongly against being annexed, which could cause trouble. The efforts that you are making, while slower than the Parliament’s plan, are within a few years of bearing fruit, so it may be wiser to wait until later.
-----
Nowa Warszawa
The success of the latest offensive, and the news about the false Otomo, has led to an acceleration of the time table for securing the planet.
There are three competing plans on the table.
The first, Operation Black Champion, is a focused strike, aiming to take the main fortified ‘palace’ via direct orbital drop in hopes of securing Siriwan’s little brother and breaking the back of the enemy defenses in a single blow. Both Pathfinder regiments would execute an orbital drop directly on the palace, attempting to suppress enemy air defenses and allowing the main assault force to land safely.
Forces committed to this assault would be as follows.
You receive an extremely classified report, aside from you only a handful of people have read this.
Atarashi is dead. And thank God that the crews that went down to find out what happened followed the strictest level of CBW safety, because otherwise you would have more dead worlds on your hands.
A particularly horrific bioweapon, obviously released from the now destroyed research facility. According to analysis of samples taken from the CBW suits under strict isolation conditions, this bioweapon is a mixture of an Age of War era Kuritan bioweapon called XCON-73 and a pathogen local to Atarashi that boosted the originals lethality and persistence by several orders of magnitude. Onset time is estimated to be almost a year, making it a strategic weapon of horrific magnitude.
And for all you know, the Dracs may still have samples. That is nightmare fuel, although it is very possible that destroying that Drac convoy may have destroyed any such samples. Luckily nobody had bothered with salvaging any of the Overlords.
You order the wreckage sterilized with nuclear ordnance, on the simple grounds of making damn sure.
-----
More bad news comes from one of the medical institutes working with the freed Kilborough slaves. After significant study they have found that all of the freed slaves had signs of artificial brain damage centered on the same locations in the brain, damage that seemed to render them completely docile. Even the best medical techniques available could only ameliorate further degradation, not reverse the existing damage.
It would be possible for the freed slaves to care for themselves with significant occupational therapy, but they would be an extremely vulnerable population, in that simply telling one to do something in a firm voice would yield instant obedience.
The best long term solution may be to build an O’Neill Cylinder to house the freed slaves, with on-site occupational therapy provided to them, all under strict oversight to ensure that the freed slaves aren’t taken advantage of. Expensive, but may be the best way to handle this.
The Senators from the Griffon II Orbitals have volunteered to have the Cylinder being built there dedicated to this purpose.
| [] | Accept |
|
| [] | Refuse |
|
-----
The Imperial Parliament sends you several bills, and it seems that they are trying to be helpful, in their own way. You’re not sure if they are ‘Helping’ or ‘Halping’ sometimes, but still, it seems that ever since you got the corrupt idiots out of there they’ve at least been trying to work with instead of against you.
The first one is a result of extended debate over the situation on Nowa Warszawa. The enormous difficulty being faced in setting up any sort of civilian administration has resulted in both the Chamber of Delegates and the Imperial Senate voting to simply appoint an Imperial Governor and annex the system into the Empire as a whole. Interestingly, the proposal was actually sponsored by one of the second-generation refugees from Nowy Gdansk, and appears to be rather popular among that population.
They recognize that you do not yet fully control the planet, but the argument being made is that it is better to get in front of the challenges of long term rule than have to play catch up, and the locals are proving to be utterly incapable of governing themselves without dueling atrocities.
| [] | Agree to Parliament plan |
|
| [] | Veto Parliament plan |
|
The second has to do with Calliope, specifically Calliope IV. Parliament would like to hold a referendum on that planet on annexation into the Empire, with a package of incentives and a planned timeline for them becoming fully part of the Empire.
The main concern is that this might be jumping the gun a bit. The latest report shows that you are quite popular on Calliope IV, and there is majority support for such a move, but a very large minority is strongly against being annexed, which could cause trouble. The efforts that you are making, while slower than the Parliament’s plan, are within a few years of bearing fruit, so it may be wiser to wait until later.
| [] | Hold the referendum |
|
| [] | Wait until the time is ripe |
|
-----
Nowa Warszawa
The success of the latest offensive, and the news about the false Otomo, has led to an acceleration of the time table for securing the planet.
There are three competing plans on the table.
The first, Operation Black Champion, is a focused strike, aiming to take the main fortified ‘palace’ via direct orbital drop in hopes of securing Siriwan’s little brother and breaking the back of the enemy defenses in a single blow. Both Pathfinder regiments would execute an orbital drop directly on the palace, attempting to suppress enemy air defenses and allowing the main assault force to land safely.
Forces committed to this assault would be as follows.
- Initial Drop
- Pathfinder regiments will make orbital drops, special operations regiments would make use of stealth to strike on the ground
- 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division
- 1st Pathfinder Regiment
- 1st Special Operations Regiment
- 1st Brigade, 2nd Armored Division
- 1st Pathfinder Regiment
- 1st Special Operations Regiment
- 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division
- Pathfinder regiments will make orbital drops, special operations regiments would make use of stealth to strike on the ground
- Main Assault
- Once the fortifications air defenses are suppressed, these forces will be landed via Newport dropship.
- 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division
- 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division
- 5th Brigade, 1st Armored Division
- 5th Brigade, 2nd Armored Division
- Once the fortifications air defenses are suppressed, these forces will be landed via Newport dropship.
- Enemy Force Evaluation
- 1 ‘Otomo’ Regiment of converted Stinger light mechs piloted by non-Mechwarriors
- 2 training regiments of light mechs, a mix of Wasp and Stinger
- 1 regiment of AFV
- 4 infantry regiments
- Fortress turrets (29% destroyed)
| [] | Approve Operation Black Champion |
| [] | Approve Operation Tarzan |
| [] | Approve Operation Harlequin |
| [] | Hold in place for now |
Jarow
Well-known member
Usual O'Neill effects, for comparison:
+50% GDP
+1 POP Rating
+1 Infrastructure
+1 Factory Rating
Given Griffon II GDP is near negligible, I'd say it's not a bad choice, and better than building an entire new one somewhere else.
Officially annexing Nowa Warzsawa may be premature, but doing so does seem the best choice here.
Calliope is complicated, not sure here. Earlier means we can start messing with it sooner, but we do have significant efforts already underway, and it's not like we lack things to do right now.
As for potentially going right for the palace: assuming our intel is right, the pathfinder + spec ops group is probably close to being able to contest it on their own. Skill and better machines reasonably evens out the two vs 3 mech regiments (probably still our disadvantage there, but closer), and the spec ops probably aren't too incomparable to the twice their numbers in regular infantry. The AFVs and turrets definitely puts the initial fight in favor of dracs, but once the rest arrives it should be doable. Winning there would probably make victory everywhere else a lot easier, assuming that doesn't just cause surrender. Though, the other options are still reasonable choices. Not really sure here yet.
Holding off voting for now, give other people a chance to share their thoughts, but those are my current thoughts.
+50% GDP
+1 POP Rating
+1 Infrastructure
+1 Factory Rating
Given Griffon II GDP is near negligible, I'd say it's not a bad choice, and better than building an entire new one somewhere else.
Officially annexing Nowa Warzsawa may be premature, but doing so does seem the best choice here.
Calliope is complicated, not sure here. Earlier means we can start messing with it sooner, but we do have significant efforts already underway, and it's not like we lack things to do right now.
As for potentially going right for the palace: assuming our intel is right, the pathfinder + spec ops group is probably close to being able to contest it on their own. Skill and better machines reasonably evens out the two vs 3 mech regiments (probably still our disadvantage there, but closer), and the spec ops probably aren't too incomparable to the twice their numbers in regular infantry. The AFVs and turrets definitely puts the initial fight in favor of dracs, but once the rest arrives it should be doable. Winning there would probably make victory everywhere else a lot easier, assuming that doesn't just cause surrender. Though, the other options are still reasonable choices. Not really sure here yet.
Holding off voting for now, give other people a chance to share their thoughts, but those are my current thoughts.
SuperHeavy
Well-known member
Considering that all the slaves are sterilized males can we later reclaim the station for regular habitation when the population ages out?