Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
The Beaver is a spheroid that is more expensive (By 24,000.00 or around that) and heavier at 19900 Tons while the MegaRaptor is 9400 Tons Aerodyne.

Despite Battletech's canonical obsession with CamelCased Words, "Megaraptor" is in fact one word --it's named after the dinosaur Megaraptor namunhuaiquii, which is ironically not a raptor at all but an tyrannosaur.
 

Jarow

Well-known member
Is the cheapest option cheaper or more expensive than the design they requested?
I'm going to take a little bit of the information used to calculate things for the two designs I prefer and the megaraptor:

Megaraptor:
Type: Military Aerodyne
Mass: 9,400 tons
Technology Base: Mixed (Experimental) 
Introduced: 3145
Mass: 9,400
Battle Value: 25,157
Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-X-X
Cost: 1,005,782,400 C-bills

Fuel: 100 tons (3,000)
Safe Thrust: 5
Maximum Thrust: 8
Heat Sinks: 154 (308)
Structural Integrity: 41

Armor
    Nose: 892
    Sides: 751/751
    Aft: 608

Cargo
    Bay 1:  Fighter (12)            1 Door    
    Bay 2:  Small Craft (2)         1 Door    
    Bay 3:  Cargo (700.0 tons)      1 Door

Abusir:
Type: Military Aerodyne Mass: 9,400 tons 
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Introduced: 3145 
Mass: 9,400 
Battle Value: 8,984 
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-X-D 
Cost: 463,996,800 C-bills 
Fuel: 200 tons (6,000) 
Safe Thrust: 5 
Maximum Thrust: 8 
Heat Sinks: 152 
Structural Integrity: 12 
Armor
    Nose: 239
    Sides: 201/201
    Aft: 163 
Cargo    
        Bay 1:  Small Craft (2)         1 Door
        Bay 2:  Fighter (12)            1 Door 
        Bay 3:  Cargo (2802.0 tons)     1 Door

Beaver:
Type: Military Spheriod
Mass: 19,900 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Introduced: 3145
Mass: 19,900
Battle Value: 35,975
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-X-D
Cost: 1,274,487,200 C-bills

Fuel: 350 tons (10,500)
Safe Thrust: 7
Maximum Thrust: 11
Heat Sinks: 326
Structural Integrity: 81

Armor
    Nose: 1303
    Sides: 1100/1100
    Aft: 895

Cargo
    Bay 1:  Small Craft (2)         1 Door   
    Bay 2:  Cargo (3000.0 tons)     1 Door   
    Bay 3:  Fighter (12)            1 Door

Each relies on a slightly different design philosophy. Abusir (and equivalents) is based around being a cheap long range fighter platform. Beaver (and equivalents) is a fast combat ship capable of supporting fighters for long patrols. Megaraptor was a combat ship designed to carry fighters to help defend our system from attack. While they were originally aiming for the Megaraptor, the NRR decided they had their own requirements for which a custom design could be useful.
 

Brogatar

Well-known member
[X] Abusir
The most cost effective design, which for a nation trying to get a more effective navy for less money is probably a good choice.

[X] Flying Beaver
A more extreme version of the previous decision. Sentinel's capital battery is very disqualifying for me, especially given we just got shown we can't trust the NRR's government (only their current head of state, who's not immortal and is a contemporary of the original Deep Dragon)
 
Turn 69 - If You Havin' Trouble

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
Turn 69 - If You Havin’ Trouble

It’s here, your last year on the throne. Jeremy is whining, the sun is shining, and you are almost free.

Doesn’t mean there isn’t work to do. You get a series of reports from the AFGE. The Thunderbolt CAS platform has been troublesome from the start, and after over a decade in service the AFGE has had enough. Over the last decade there have been dozens of fatal accidents, and in recent exercises the platform had a lower than 50% availability rate due to the excessive maintenance required to keep the beasts flying. Militia units equipped with the Thunderbolt are even more scathing, with availability rates below 25% due to the incredibly high maintenance requirements and very low Mean Time Between Failures of multiple vital components.

The AFGE has already selected a replacement scheme for the Thunderbolt, a new series of VTOLs, the AH-5 Lightning Attack VTOL and the SH-5 Thunder Scout VTOL. Both are faster than the Thunderbolt and better protected. They lack the sheer punch of the old warhorse, but are far more flexible platforms. The only real downsides are their cost, being more expensive than the Thunderbolt and their slightly reduced offensive punch.

There is an alternative, however. Valkyrie VTOL Innovations LLC, a small design firm based out of Nowa Warszawa has proposed a ‘super heavy’ VTOL making use of proprietary technology to extract almost identical raw performance out of the far heavier platform allowing for the most heavily armored and capable combined Attack/Transport VTOL ever proposed. The 60 ton craft has identical armament to the AH-5 Lightning and identical sensor capacity to the SH-5 Thunder while having sufficient standard armor everywhere but the rotor assembly to tank multiple Enhanced PPC hits without issue.

There are two downsides. One, while super-heavy VTOLs have been in use as heavy lift platforms in civilian markets there has never been a military use for the technology, and two the proposed design is almost three times more expensive on a per unit basis than conventional VTOLs. On the other hand, this would provide a small boost to the Nowa Warszawa economy, which is nothing to laugh at.
[]Procure the AH-5 Lightning and SH-5 Thunder
[]Procure the CAH-1 Valkyrie
QM Note - stats for all three platforms are available in the unit record sheets spreadsheet.

The economy on Calliope IV continues to expand rapidly, with many analysts now suggesting that within three years at most the system would be considered a ‘Core’ rather than Peripheral world. Knock on investments from the exploding automobile industry are having synergistic effects on the overall economy, leading to growth of basic infrastructure and challenges for the system government in regards to ensuring that social services, environmental regulations, and other factors tied to growth are properly managed. Teams from the Interior, Justice and Political ministries are working with the system government and so far they have managed to keep on top of things, dealing with problems as they arise.

However not all is rosy. The crime rate on New Capricorn has gone up alarmingly, and system authorities are struggling to deal with a significant organized crime issue. The murder rate is currently the highest in the Empire, along with dealing in truly dangerous drugs, involuntary prostitution, human trafficking, extortion and various property crimes.

It is not due to poverty, despite initial concerns, as Calliope IV and the TTP currently have far lower average incomes in relation to their populations. Indications are that organized crime has simply chosen to focus their operations on New Capricorn for some unknown reason. The number of arrests for official corruption in the system is well above the Imperial average.

Several experts, however, point out that while the TTP and Calliope IV are notably poorer than New Capricorn, both were incorporated into the Empire rather than settled by the Empire. Calliope IV had economically regressed to a steam-age existence, and the TTP is purely a tourist economy and was exceptionally poor, but proud, before becoming a protectorate. New Capricorn, in contrast, was the first extra-Griffon colony purely settled by the Empire, and is therefore a far better example of a true ‘frontier’ world, thus potentially explaining the crime rates.

For the moment, New Capricorn’s system government is not requesting Imperial intervention yet. Yes, the crime rate is high, in relative terms, but the absolute level is still far below other, more populated, systems. They are rolling out several anti-crime initiatives and the local branch of the Imperial Grifftiger Mounted Police is handling corruption charges quite handily.

You’ll… well, normally you’d say you’d keep an eye on things, but instead you simply write a memo to remind Jeremy to keep an eye on things. Retirement yay!

Speaking of the TTP, a new luxury resort has opened on Kuroisora which has proven very popular indeed. Featuring glorious underwater vistas as well as access to some of the best surfing in the entire Empire, the resort is mostly underwater, perched on an underwater mountain and surrounded by the most incredible coral reefs. As a result the tourist trade in the TTP has undergone a bit of an unexpected boom.

This surge in tourism coincides with the first dedicated class of luxury liner dropships to come into service in the Empire, quite aptly commissioned by the same luxury travel company that you established to run your luxury airships on Griffin’s Roost itself. The Griffonic class of liners is the final word in luxury, with the smallest passenger cabins about the same size as an average 2 bedroom apartment in the Empire. Indeed, even the lifeboats are luxuriously appointed, with twice the standard life support capacity. This has further boosted the tourist trade, with the TTP and Calliope reaping the most benefits.

Surveyors in the Edelsteine system have made a discovery missed earlier. In a deep sandpit a few pieces of wreckage from a crashed vessel have been found. There is absolutely no telling what class of vessel it was, beyond it was most likely a warship judging by the amounts of germanium shards found. The largest semi-intact piece appears to be part of a capital missile loading mechanism that is significantly different from anything you currently have in service. The engineers who have looked at it and are cleared for SARAH report that it could, emphasis on could, be part of an AR-10 launcher assembly, but they have no way to be sure due to how little of the component was recognizable as anything beyond bits of alloy and composite.

More bits and pieces are found spread over a ten thousand square kilometer area, indicating that whatever it was had broken up in orbit and reentered in fragments. Even with everything you recovered you still have no real idea what type of warship it was. This does lead to the redeployment of both Enterprise-A class vessels to survey the system in even more exhaustive detail.

The new export dropships have been approved, and the NRR has taken delivery of the plans. Likewise the Common Transport Dropship has been finalized, with the Trenton class now available for production.
 

Val the Moofia Boss

Well-known member
An entire warship somehow deorbited and crashed? I struggle to think how that could have happened. Maybe direct hits to the warship could have knocked off bits and pieces at such high velocity that they deorbited and fell to the planet below, but the entire mass of a warship being shoved down a planet would only really be possible if the warship deliberately deorbited to crash into the planet. Maybe because their self destruct was broken and they would rather have destroyed the ship rather than allow it to be captured? Also, you'd think Gunji would have told us if she had known of any notable fights the Dracs had with other factions... unless this battle took many, many decades ago, long before the Dracs arrived, in which case both combatants involved might be long gone.
 
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Orangeduke38

Well-known member
Or an old warship had jump problems and pulled into orbit of the only planet that was habitable in the system and the crew bailed out. They moved to the planet and were killed by the environment or pirates sometime in the last 500 years. We have lots of proof that the Terran Hegemony was involved in the area as we found that cruiser class cruiser. The ship could have deorbited over time or the crew rigged a program so that anyone who tried to take the ship without the proper codes would cause it to crash into the planet.
 

Artifex

Well-known member
[X]Procure the CAH-1 Valkyrie

Even if more expensive per unit than the other two, it seems to me to be a better idea than splitting the role of the Thunderbolt into two different models.
 

Jarow

Well-known member
[X]Procure the CAH-1 Valkyrie

Part of Griffon tradition is buying the most effective machines we can get, completely ignoring costs. Switching from one design to a more capable design feels more aligned to that then splitting it into two designs.
 

Ziggydoo

Active member
[X]Procure the CAH-1 Valkyrie

Part of Griffon tradition is buying the most effective machines we can get, completely ignoring costs. Switching from one design to a more capable design feels more aligned to that then splitting it into two designs.
I agree, but I have to add that's the habit of our current PCC, The Queen. With Jeremy soon to take the throne, that's our opportunity to change things up regarding things like that.

[X]Procure the CAH-1 Valkyrie
 
Turn 69 - You Got Problems

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
Turn 69 - You Got Problems

The Department of Periphery Studies has set a new record, at least for your reign, of keeping the distinguished tenured staff on one single obsession for over a year. Yes, they are still obsessed with the Inner Sphere being made up of sentient animals playing baseball obsessively. They are currently annoying the AFGE’s Department of Military Procurement with endless designs for baseball playing mechs, fitted with giant springs on the feet so they can bounce around. They are also really getting under the skin of the Sports Medicine people demanding more and more information on baseball and making suggestions for ‘improvements’.

You decide to go with the more sophisticated and risky CAH-1 Valkyrie for the replacement of the CAS units with Air Cavalry units. This results in a significant surge in the Nowa Warszawa economy as Valkyrie VTOL Innovations is required to rapidly expand to meet the sudden demand. Thankfully the DURF is able to handle financing the replacement of the Thunderbolts with the new units, meaning no upfront costs, but unit maintenance expenses will go up substantially. Ironically this isn’t solely due to the new equipment, but rather due to the jump infantry squads that will be using the new equipment on top of the new gear. Anti-mech trained jump infantry are well paid specialists, after all, and in your opinion completely insane.

The new Calliope Military Academy proves invaluable in assisting with this roll out, they have a large jump infantry training facility already, and candidates are cycled through it fast enough to meet the needs of the replacement program.

An extensive analysis of the wreckage found in Edelsteine brings about several conclusions. The warship that crashed had broken up while still in space, but had reentered at a slightly lower velocity than if it had been in a stable orbit before breaking up. The wreckage had likely reentered sideways, as opposed to nose or tail first. There is evidence that the magazines were partially filled, as there is residue from capital missile propellant found on a few bits of debris, and detonated during reentry. A recovered armor plate showed definitive signs of severe battle damage consistent with heavy naval PPC fire.

The estimated age of the wreck is over 300 years, based on deposition rates of sand over debris and the degradation of some of the chemical traces.

The economy on Griffon itself is growing somewhat slowly, even though the system still is growing. There is some concern about structural issues with the economy as other worlds are experiencing far more vibrant growth and have been for several years. The system administration is confident that in the long term growth will resume, that the current malaise is mostly due to several economic bubbles deflating rather than anything truly systemic. Your own analysis seems to agree on the key points. Besides, next year this will all be Jeremy’s responsibility.

You love that thought.

He doesn’t, he’s been reduced to groveling over it, in the most over the top and histrionic fashion. Your grandkids love it.

The elections in New Rasalhague take place, with the previous administration retaining power, albeit with a slightly reduced majority now that their former coalition partner led by the former Foreign Minister has been removed from government. The prime minister has contacted you to assure you that New Rasalhague will continue to honor all treaties, and a new ambassador has been appointed.

Your agents in New Rasalhague report that the economy has shown a very slight surplus over the year before, and that the Gotland economy actually managed to break even for the first time in over a decade. There is still a great deal of political unrest, however, with daily protest marches in major cities concerning a plethora of issues. The protesters tend to be from both sides, and so far nothing beyond spirited shouting has occurred when clashing protests run into each other.

Your agents also report that New Rasalhague researchers have gotten their hands on several examples of your double heat sinks. The agent in question managed to get the serial number off of one of the samples and it is from a mech that was wrecked in the fighting in the NRI. A check of your records shows that said mech, a Soldatin had been destroyed in the fighting on Tarentum during the initial relief operations and had been stripped by scavengers before recovery troops could get to it.

A different agent forwards a report showing that the samples appear to have been given to the Rasalhaguians from NRI commercial partners in exchange for reduced tariff rates.

There’s really not much you can do about that. It’s annoying, after all this time keeping double heat sinks out of Rasalhaguian and Roman hands that they’ve gotten access to them anyways thanks to battlefield scavengers. Your agents report that research is going very slowly regardless.

You get another surprise when an HPG transmission comes in from Kilburrough announcing that the Kilburroughans have terminated all business relationships with the Dracs due to non-payment and violation of terms of service. They are requesting an exchange of ambassadors with you on the premise that even rivals can be civilized about things.
[]Exchange ambassadors, diplomacy is possible with your opponents
[]We have no interest in diplomatic relations of any sort

The Imperial Senate is again trying to be helpful, the Chamber of Delegates is just trying, very trying. They aren’t bitterly opposing you, at least, and there is the possibility of getting things done, but they are demanding concessions in order to pass anything you want, and putting forward proposals that you don’t really like.

To start with, on the positive side. The Imperial Senate has renewed their efforts to reform your social safety net and address the problems of systemic poverty. They have also reintroduced legislation related to streamlining the civil service bureaucracy.

This year they are again proposing the graduated phase out of benefits with increasing income and increasing benefits based on the beneficiaries taking positive steps to a stable future. Take classes to build and enhance skills? Benefits go up. Spend time volunteering in the community to help others? Benefits go up. Get and stay married? Benefits go up. The entire reformed system is designed around incentives rather than penalties, with the biggest ‘stick’ being that you don’t get the increased benefits, rather than any reduction in basic benefits. The system is even designed to be highly adaptable to local conditions, with local governments being able to adjust the benefits with a ‘menu’ of options to tailor them for their own specific needs. There are robust audit requirements for the bureaucracies who disburse the aid, but none on the recipients. The aid agencies are permitted to set qualifications and audit them themselves, but such audits must be paid for by the agency, not the Imperial purse nor the recipients.

The Chamber of Delegates is willing to pass the legislation if you push them on it, but wants to add riders to the bills. The rider would mandate that the Imperial government ‘invest’ in the economy of the Griffon system as well as focus development on the same, to the exclusion of other worlds.
[]Pass the Poverty Reduction Act of 2999
  • Increases Benefits Level by 1
  • Increases base GDP growth
    • 1% on Core Worlds
    • 5% on Peripheral Worlds
  • Offsets 1 degree of failure on Imperial Economy rating rolls
  • Requires actions in this turns plan
    • Economic Investment - Griffon
    • Focus Development on Core World - Griffon
  • +10 support Chamber of Delegates
  • +1 Politics
  • +1 Approval Change
[]Don’t pass the Poverty Reduction Act of 2999
  • -1 Politics


The Imperial Senate is also wanting to revise the militia system in the Empire. Currently all militia units are raised, trained, equipped and paid for by the Imperial government, despite early plans to have system governments be responsible for such. Issues with TO&E’s, recruitment issues, and general political apathy on the system governments side has prevented that from occurring.

The new plan would place the responsibility for initial recruitment and equipping on the Imperial government, but all upkeep costs would be borne by the local systems. The system governments are somewhat wary of this as they are worried that the AFGE might try to hive off the heavy garrison units as ‘militia’, but language in the bill specifically excludes those formations from the scheme. The units in question would be the ‘Colonial Infantry’, ‘Colonial Mechanized’ and ‘Colonial Cavalry’ units as well as those ‘Air Cavalry’ and ‘Militia Mech’ units explicitly assigned to the militia.

The Delegates are again willing to support this legislation and allow it to pass, but again are demanding that their own concerns be met. Specifically they want the Department of Mega Engineering to initiate a project to build an Arcology Cluster in the Griffon system.
[]Pass the Militia Reform Act of 2999
  • Removes 20 Air Cavalry and all Colonial Infantry, Colonial Mechanized, Colonial Cavalry and Militia Mech units from the upkeep tracker, reducing Military Upkeep
  • In the future, Militia Units will be procured as a single action, adding +1 to the Militia Level of the system
  • Each Militia Level represents one Militia Division present in the system
    • In the event of invasion Militia Units will automatically join the Garrison in defense
    • In the event of negative event rolls for a system the Militia Rating is subtracted from the severity of the event
      • System Event rolls were previously referred to as Rating Change
  • Starting this turn, the Arcology Cluster action must be taken
  • +10 support - Chamber of Delegates
  • +1 Politics
  • +1 Approval Change
[]Don’t pass the Militia Reform Act of 2999
  • -1 Politics

Then comes what you really don’t like. The Chamber of Delegates has put forward a reform proposal for the Imperial Constitution, creating the office of the Ministry of Parliament who would have a seat at the table for all advisor meetings and would chair said meetings. For now they aren’t insisting on giving this pseudo-Prime Minister any voting authority over the Crown, but it is a definite power grab, at least in terms of appearance.

The legislation is not very popular, in that the effects of rejecting it won’t be all that crippling, but they would still be annoying and make your son’s life a little bit harder when he takes charge. Honestly, whichever way you go here will make his life just a bit harder, the question is if you are willing to let the camel get its nose into the tent.
[]Pass the Ministry of Parliament Imperial Constitutional Amendment
  • Would add a Parliament appointed advisor to all advisor meetings, said advisor would chair the meeting
  • You would not have control over this advisor
  • -1 Crown Influence
  • +10 support - Chamber of Delegates
  • +1 Chamber of Delegates Influence
  • +1 Senate Influence
[]Do not pass the Ministry of Parliament Imperial Constitutional Amendment
  • Rejects the Amendment
  • -1 Imperial Approval
  • -10 support - Chamber of Delegates
 

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