Rukatin
Malfunctioning NPC at Best.
I like this plan. Join us, we won't treat you like shit and we have better healthcare.
Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
We nailed the convoy carrying out the system it was developing in by sheer blind luck many a turn ago
Jarow
Well-known member
[X] Plan: Claiming the Dragon's Hoard
-[X] Procurement [$ 15,908,365.81 ]
--[X] Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $5,172,797.00 ] (85)
---[X] 52 Bainbridge [85]
---[X] 11 Majestic [85]
---[X] 10 Independence [85]
--[X] Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $95,554.88 ] (65)(->2)
---[X] 1 Caravel* [->0]
---[X] 3 Caravel* [->1]
---[X] 5 Caravel [65]
--[X] Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $7,256,824.27 ] (70)(->3)
---[X] 4 Dagger* [->0]
---[X] 2 Miranda* [->0]
---[X] 2 Dart* [->2]
---[X] 6 Dagger* [->2]
---[X] 3 Dart [70]
---[X] 4 Dagger [70]
--[X] Purchase New Units [ $ 3,383,189.66 ] (80)
---[X] 7 Fighter Wing [auto]
---[X] 10 Carrier Wing [80]
---[X] 5 Standard Mech Regiment [80]
---[X] 4 Armored Cavalry Regiment [80]
---[X] 4 Light Horse Regiment [80]
---[X] 3 Armored Regiment [80]
---[X] 6 Mechanized Regiment [80]
---[X] 3 Rapid Reaction Regiment [80]
-[X] General [$ 973,788,187.90 ]
--[X] Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Griffon Nadir [->3]
--[X] Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Nowa Warzsawa Nadir [->3]
(Defenses for the nadir, and superior access to our Core systems)
--[X] Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Edelsteine Zenith* [->1]
--[X] Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Catachan Zenith* [->2]
--[X] Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Nowy Wroclaw Zenith* [->2]
--[X] Construct White Tower A5 Zenith [90]
--[X] Construct White Tower A5 Nadir [90]
(Prevents the Dragon from reclaiming the system)
--[X] Construct Silver Tower Nowy Slask Orbit* [90]
--[X] Major Economic Investment Griffon [70]
--[X] Major Economic Investment Nowa Warzsawa [70]
(Improving Core worlds is never a bad thing, and we have so much money still)
--[X] Rationalize Law Codes [->1]
(More manageable laws is a good thing)
--[X] Build HPG Station Calliope [->1]
--[X] Build HPG Station Griffon IV [->1]
--[X] Build HPG Station Nowa Warzsawa [->1]
(More HPG traffic for our Core and soon-to-be-Core worlds)
--[X] Build HPG Station Nowy Wroclaw* [80]
--[X] Build HPG Station Catachan* [80]
--[X] Expand Department of Mega Engineering [75]
(More DoME slots is very useful)
--[X] Expand Colonial Office (per level) [75]
(No reason to permit issues with system beauracracy)
--[X] Culture - Monuments HO [75]
(Approval=good, and I think it's nice to continue to try to have either a culture action or a sports event every turn)
--[X] Survey B3 [75]
(The closer of the two unexplored systems near the Dragon)
--[X] Construct White Tower Dragon's Eye Zenith [90]
--[X] Construct White Tower Dragon's Eye Nadir [90]
(The system where we killed all the Krakens. No reason to offer them a chance to reclaim it at any point in the future. Also likely to make the Deep!Dragon mad)
--[X] Focus Development on Peripheral World Calliope [65]
(I'm goign to take advantage of this action to boost Calliope while it's still peripheral)
--[X] Focus Development on Core World Griffon [65]
(The chamber keeps asking us to do this, might as well appease them and boost our biggest source of income)
--[X] Build Relations with Senate [60]
--[X] Build Relations with Chamber [60]
(We will one day make them like us again)
--[X] Broadcast Propaganda to Nya Kopenhamn III [~]
--[X] Broadcast Propaganda to Nya Kopenhamn IV [~]
--[X] Major Special Branch and IGMP presence on New Capricorn [15]
(Probably going to take forever to solve, but solving it is important)
--[X] Analyze political situation in the NRR [95]
--[X] Insert subtle propaganda into NRR [65]
(Without a trusted leader, we need to lean a lot harder into the "but verify" side of "trust but verify")
--[X] Encourage additional trade routes [45]
(Trade is good for us)
--[X] Upgrade All Endosteel Forges [75]
--[X] Build Orbital Factory Endosteel Griffon [110]
(We're slightly short endosteel for using the about-to-finish LAM factory to build another regular mech)
--[X] Upgrade All Ferro Fibrous Forges [75]
(Ferro-fib isn't in that bad shape, but I'm pretty sure it's the main limit on vehicle production, beyond desires to match them with certain numbers of mechs)
--[X] Construct Jumpship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [85]
(Another jumpship line can only be helpful. Especially as we're out of systems to build capital yards in)
--[X] Build LAM Factory on Calliope IV* [90]
--[X] Expand Capital Shipyard [85]
--[X] Expand All Shipyards [100]
--[X] Expand Refit and Repair Yard [100]
-[X] DoME [$ 55,000,000 ]
--[X] Begin Terraforming Process for Nowa Warszawa III* [95]
--[X] Construct Air Filters on Nowy Śląsk III* [->1]
--[X] Construct O'Neill Cylinder Cluster in Griff's Leap* [->8]
--[X] DOME - Arcology Cluster Griffon* [->6]
--[X] DOME - Asteroid Redirection Calliope* [->1]
--[X] Parliament Radiation Screened Habitat GVI* [->3]
--[X] Parliament Radiation Screened Habitat GVII* [->3]
--[X] Edelsteine Initial Terraforming and Colonization* [->8]
-[X] Research [$ 230,000,000 ]
--[X] Advanced Standard Core Theory II* [90]
--[X] Advanced Standard Core Design II* [90]
--[X] Advanced Standard Core Construction II* [90]
--[X] Advanced Compact Core Theory II* [->1]
--[X] Advanced Compact Core Design II* [->1]
--[X] Advanced Compact Core Construction II* [->1]
--[X] Construct New Labs on Calliope IV* [75]
-[X] Miscellaneous [$ ]
--[X] Peacekeeping [2,000,000][->?]
--[X] Random Rebuilding [?][->0]
--[X] Megafactory [15,000,000][->4]
--[X] Arcology [15,000,000][->0]
--[X] DOME - Plant Subarctic Forests GIV* [QM Penance][->2]
$884m leftover. This plan is probably going to make the Dragon mad, which can only help us given we blew up his pocket warships and bioweapon. Beyond that, we had no research or DoME slots free, so nothing to complicated this turn. If there's some action you'd prefer to see hanged to something else, feel free to take this plan, change that, and post your own version.
-[X] Procurement [$ 15,908,365.81 ]
--[X] Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $5,172,797.00 ] (85)
---[X] 52 Bainbridge [85]
---[X] 11 Majestic [85]
---[X] 10 Independence [85]
--[X] Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $95,554.88 ] (65)(->2)
---[X] 1 Caravel* [->0]
---[X] 3 Caravel* [->1]
---[X] 5 Caravel [65]
--[X] Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $7,256,824.27 ] (70)(->3)
---[X] 4 Dagger* [->0]
---[X] 2 Miranda* [->0]
---[X] 2 Dart* [->2]
---[X] 6 Dagger* [->2]
---[X] 3 Dart [70]
---[X] 4 Dagger [70]
--[X] Purchase New Units [ $ 3,383,189.66 ] (80)
---[X] 7 Fighter Wing [auto]
---[X] 10 Carrier Wing [80]
---[X] 5 Standard Mech Regiment [80]
---[X] 4 Armored Cavalry Regiment [80]
---[X] 4 Light Horse Regiment [80]
---[X] 3 Armored Regiment [80]
---[X] 6 Mechanized Regiment [80]
---[X] 3 Rapid Reaction Regiment [80]
-[X] General [$ 973,788,187.90 ]
--[X] Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Griffon Nadir [->3]
--[X] Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Nowa Warzsawa Nadir [->3]
(Defenses for the nadir, and superior access to our Core systems)
--[X] Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Edelsteine Zenith* [->1]
--[X] Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Catachan Zenith* [->2]
--[X] Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Nowy Wroclaw Zenith* [->2]
--[X] Construct White Tower A5 Zenith [90]
--[X] Construct White Tower A5 Nadir [90]
(Prevents the Dragon from reclaiming the system)
--[X] Construct Silver Tower Nowy Slask Orbit* [90]
--[X] Major Economic Investment Griffon [70]
--[X] Major Economic Investment Nowa Warzsawa [70]
(Improving Core worlds is never a bad thing, and we have so much money still)
--[X] Rationalize Law Codes [->1]
(More manageable laws is a good thing)
--[X] Build HPG Station Calliope [->1]
--[X] Build HPG Station Griffon IV [->1]
--[X] Build HPG Station Nowa Warzsawa [->1]
(More HPG traffic for our Core and soon-to-be-Core worlds)
--[X] Build HPG Station Nowy Wroclaw* [80]
--[X] Build HPG Station Catachan* [80]
--[X] Expand Department of Mega Engineering [75]
(More DoME slots is very useful)
--[X] Expand Colonial Office (per level) [75]
(No reason to permit issues with system beauracracy)
--[X] Culture - Monuments HO [75]
(Approval=good, and I think it's nice to continue to try to have either a culture action or a sports event every turn)
--[X] Survey B3 [75]
(The closer of the two unexplored systems near the Dragon)
--[X] Construct White Tower Dragon's Eye Zenith [90]
--[X] Construct White Tower Dragon's Eye Nadir [90]
(The system where we killed all the Krakens. No reason to offer them a chance to reclaim it at any point in the future. Also likely to make the Deep!Dragon mad)
--[X] Focus Development on Peripheral World Calliope [65]
(I'm goign to take advantage of this action to boost Calliope while it's still peripheral)
--[X] Focus Development on Core World Griffon [65]
(The chamber keeps asking us to do this, might as well appease them and boost our biggest source of income)
--[X] Build Relations with Senate [60]
--[X] Build Relations with Chamber [60]
(We will one day make them like us again)
--[X] Broadcast Propaganda to Nya Kopenhamn III [~]
--[X] Broadcast Propaganda to Nya Kopenhamn IV [~]
--[X] Major Special Branch and IGMP presence on New Capricorn [15]
(Probably going to take forever to solve, but solving it is important)
--[X] Analyze political situation in the NRR [95]
--[X] Insert subtle propaganda into NRR [65]
(Without a trusted leader, we need to lean a lot harder into the "but verify" side of "trust but verify")
--[X] Encourage additional trade routes [45]
(Trade is good for us)
--[X] Upgrade All Endosteel Forges [75]
--[X] Build Orbital Factory Endosteel Griffon [110]
(We're slightly short endosteel for using the about-to-finish LAM factory to build another regular mech)
--[X] Upgrade All Ferro Fibrous Forges [75]
(Ferro-fib isn't in that bad shape, but I'm pretty sure it's the main limit on vehicle production, beyond desires to match them with certain numbers of mechs)
--[X] Construct Jumpship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [85]
(Another jumpship line can only be helpful. Especially as we're out of systems to build capital yards in)
--[X] Build LAM Factory on Calliope IV* [90]
--[X] Expand Capital Shipyard [85]
--[X] Expand All Shipyards [100]
--[X] Expand Refit and Repair Yard [100]
-[X] DoME [$ 55,000,000 ]
--[X] Begin Terraforming Process for Nowa Warszawa III* [95]
--[X] Construct Air Filters on Nowy Śląsk III* [->1]
--[X] Construct O'Neill Cylinder Cluster in Griff's Leap* [->8]
--[X] DOME - Arcology Cluster Griffon* [->6]
--[X] DOME - Asteroid Redirection Calliope* [->1]
--[X] Parliament Radiation Screened Habitat GVI* [->3]
--[X] Parliament Radiation Screened Habitat GVII* [->3]
--[X] Edelsteine Initial Terraforming and Colonization* [->8]
-[X] Research [$ 230,000,000 ]
--[X] Advanced Standard Core Theory II* [90]
--[X] Advanced Standard Core Design II* [90]
--[X] Advanced Standard Core Construction II* [90]
--[X] Advanced Compact Core Theory II* [->1]
--[X] Advanced Compact Core Design II* [->1]
--[X] Advanced Compact Core Construction II* [->1]
--[X] Construct New Labs on Calliope IV* [75]
-[X] Miscellaneous [$ ]
--[X] Peacekeeping [2,000,000][->?]
--[X] Random Rebuilding [?][->0]
--[X] Megafactory [15,000,000][->4]
--[X] Arcology [15,000,000][->0]
--[X] DOME - Plant Subarctic Forests GIV* [QM Penance][->2]
$884m leftover. This plan is probably going to make the Dragon mad, which can only help us given we blew up his pocket warships and bioweapon. Beyond that, we had no research or DoME slots free, so nothing to complicated this turn. If there's some action you'd prefer to see hanged to something else, feel free to take this plan, change that, and post your own version.
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[X] Plan: Claiming the Dragon's Hoard
After we defeat the dracs I do want to send a mission to the inner sphere to get a finger on the pulse of the rest of human space. Maybe we can research HPG deep space stations so we can effectively communicate?
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
[X] Plan: Claiming the Dragon's Hoard
Jarow
Well-known member
For HPG space stations: we're currently at the point we can build them using a white tower's construction bay.
For big threats, Dragon honestly isn't really much of a threat right now. The bigger threat is the Amaris Pirates, and their less scary cousins the regular pirates.
As for IS contact, it might be nice to know what's going on, but we're not close enough for the knowledge to actually help us (or hurt us). I definitely plan our expansion focusing that direction, so one day scouting the IS will be a smart choice, but I don't think that time is right after we finally defeat the Deep!Dracs for good.
Winter_Wind45
Well-known member
[X] Plan: Claiming the Dragon's Hoard
Turn 71 - But On This Battlefield No One Wins
Turn 71 - But On This Battlefield No One Wins
----------
Calliope IV
It started as a minor thing, a trivial thing. A parking brake failed in a construction vehicle parked on a slight incline. The failure wasn’t due to improper maintenance or faulty parts, but rather because this particular vehicle was an older model that used hydraulic brakes, and a local rodent had gnawed through the brake line. The loss of hydraulic pressure resulted in the parking brake releasing. The rodent died, but that was only the first fatality of the day.
Nobody noticed the vehicle moving, it was inside the main perimeter of the construction site and the internal security systems hadn’t yet been turned on, although they were scheduled for final tests and activation the next day. Indeed, the vehicle itself had just finished installing a sensor globe for the internal security system not an hour before.
Therefore nobody saw it strike a power pole, knocking it over and causing live wires feeding construction lights to short circuit and spark. Even this wouldn’t have been an issue, but the sparking wires impacted a holding tank that was undergoing a pressure test and the sudden electrification of the tank caused a circuit to fail, resulting in the test aborting abnormally and the pressure within being vented in emergency mode… Only this resulted in a blast of high-pressure water jetting through the sparking wires and into the construction site itself.
This in turn caused a failure of a pump assembly, being used for the various pressure tests, causing it to turn on at maximum strength. Unfortunately for everybody, it didn’t overheat or go overvoltage, so the circuit breakers didn’t fail, and the shut off panel was blocked by the sparking wires. By the time the main breakers had been thrown to turn off the wires it was too late, the interior tanks, intended in the future to hold various chemicals used as solvents and reactants in the production of high precision parts for LAMs, had risen to dangerously high pressure levels.
Even this wouldn’t have been a problem, except one of the tanks had a lower pressure cap than the others, and when this one failed it cut a fuel line, sparking a fire in the volatile chemicals storage area. Since many of the construction processes used these chemicals the tanks, which were isolated from the pressure test circuit, were full. Unfortunately the toxic fumes from the fuel line were jetting straight at the primary control room.
Even then disaster could have been averted. The person on duty, one Kenneth Maxwell, was seated at the primary control console, noted the problem, and started the checklist to resolve it. Unfortunately, his chair had been slated for replacement due to a seized bearing in the rotation assembly. Indeed, the technician with the replacement chair was in the room waiting for Kenneth to transfer control to the auxiliary control console when the disaster happened, and when Kenneth attempted to turn the chair to the right in order to access the shut down and depressurization controls it seized, forcing him to have to turn awkwardly in an attempt to read the display. His fingers were less than an inch from the shut off button when he lost consciousness to the toxic fumes and collapsed.
The fire suppression system was installed, but it had just completed a test and certification cycle and all of the inspection ports were open as fire marshals checked off the last items on their checklists. As a result, the fire suppression system was un-pressurized at this moment. 5 minutes later it would have been pressurized and the disaster would have been stopped in its tracks.
The flames overheated the chemical tanks, which reached design pressure and began to vent as designed, unfortunately the flames then ignited the chemicals, turning what had already been a nasty fire into a full up chemical fire. Heat spiked rapidly, above the pressure relief systems capacity to handle, and chemical tanks started to explode.
To their credit, the fire marshals were frantically closing the inspection ports in an attempt to allow the fire suppression system to pressurize, when the chemical release occurred all 25 of them were overcome and died.
Not enough of the ports had been closed, pressure could not be established in the primary system and the secondary system was completely opened up for the next phase of the inspection which now would never happen.
The sheer violence of the flames now started affecting structural support members. Again, a day later and all of the conduits and such would have been sealed up. But today they were open, and the chemical flames shot through them, igniting insulation and wiring.
It took days to put out the flames, days in which the internal structural supports heated well past design tolerances and began to fail. The entire construction site was a total loss, the freshly installed tooling utterly destroyed. Over a hundred workers and twice that many firefighters were lost in the conflagration.
The new LAM factory was a total ruin, all of the work of the previous two years lost. Because of a neosquirrel. Damn squirrels.
-----
You read the various reports on the disaster. One hand in loving communion with your face the entire time. It was a perfect storm, absolutely nothing criminal or even the result of negligence, a viciously perfect storm proving that no matter how carefully you disaster proofed things the demon Murphy would always have the final say.
In other, almost as infuriating, news the situation on New Capricorn has been resolved. And you are so tempted to emulate your great-grandfather rather than your mother in this matter.
It was a bit of a lucky break, a freshly arrived Special Branch Inspector had played an off the wall hunch and it paid off. The company accused of all the potential corruption was actually completely innocent, the only thing they were guilty of was the CEO being on the bad side of a local media company that was ruthlessly hungry for ratings, already hated the system government for simply refusing to have any suitably juicy scandals to drive ratings, and so decided that if the scandal won’t come to the scandal journalist, the scandal journalist would invent the scandal.
Every single report and story that implicated grand corruption and malfeasance? Faked by the journalists in question simply to drive ratings. The paperwork that seemed to indicate foul play, yet which could never be corroborated? Faked by the media company. The sensational reports about corruption and smuggling? You guessed it, all fake. The only thing accurate about any of the situation was that yes, a small-time smuggler based out of New Capricorn had indeed attempted to expand into Griff’s Reach in order to make money smuggling contraband into the prison there. But that was completely isolated.
In the end, a dozen journalists, three times that many media executives and ‘consultants’, and the entire leadership of one of the broadcast news outfits in the New Capricorn system are in custody, facing charges ranging from filing fraudulent police reports to perjury, obstruction of justice, misprision of justice, and forgery. Civil claims are already being filed by the affected companies. There is plenty of circumstantial evidence that other media companies were fully aware that the entire thing was crap, but as none of them quite crossed the line into illegal activity, with all of their ‘reporting’ being explicitly worded in such a way as to shove all responsibility for the content thereof to the media company that is actually in trouble.
And to think that you had given an interview to one of the Griffon media conglomerates that had ‘reported’ on the ‘scandal’... you really wish you could summon the smirking bastard in and punch him in his smug face.
Regardless, it’s finished, and the local economy in New Capricorn recovers quite nicely now that the cloud of suspicion is gone. You can’t wait for all the lawsuits to be finished, because you really hope to see more media types having to eat financial losses over this.
In much happier news you catch a bit of a break, the R&D work on the next generation Jumpships is completed in time for the order for 5 Caravel class jumpships to be switched for the new Brig class, with 6 collars and enhanced survivability. There are enough components in common with the Caravel that the cost for the new ships is a bit of a wash for this particular production run.
With your recent growth you need a large number of small combat vessels, 52 Bainbridge class parasite destroyers will do the trick, giving you the ability to base small squadrons at each of your jump points. The rest of your building program is going extremely well.
New units are now in service, boosting your aerospace and ground forces. The Ground Forces planners notify you that they are considering something a bit different for the 2nd Rapid Reaction Division, specifically incorporating Raider Regiments into the brigades. The loss of the new LAM plant might slow that down some, unfortunately, but it seems to be a worthwhile enough plan that you order 1 Rapid Reaction Regiment from each of the existing Brigades to be transferred to the new Brigades, so that both Divisions will have 3 regiments of Raiders each.
Four new White Towers are built, fortifying the jump points of GX-A5 and the Red Giant nicknamed the Dragon’s Eye. A Silver Tower is now in the Nowy Slask orbital, providing additional security to the planet.
A pair of massive infrastructure investment initiatives are accomplished, bringing the basic infrastructure of the Griffon and Nowa Warszawa system fully up to date to the latest standards. They generally were, and the programs were really more of a make-work sort of pork-barrel spending, but it did stimulate the economy nicely, so there is that.
The terraforming work on Nowa Warszawa III has been completed, incidentally, and colonists are starting to move to the planet. Thankfully the work that is needed to bring the planet fully up to spec, so to speak, can be accomplished by non-DoME teams building upon the foundation left behind by the mad lads of the department.
It’s a bit touch-and-go, and more than one applicant winds up being instead sent to prestigious tenure track positions in the Department of Periphery Studies, but you are able to find enough crazy-good engineers and mad but not crazy scientists to staff a new DoME team, which will be helpful going forward. In addition the new labs are finished on Calliope IV, to the delight of scientists and researchers throughout the Empire.
New HPG stations on Nowy Wroclaw and Catachan are completed, tying more of the empire together. The Colonial Office has also been expanded, increasing the efficiency of the administration of new colonies. With GX-A5 now controlled there might be some more growth in the near future.
A large monument is built, commemorating the dead and missing from the decades of pirate raiding on Calliope IV. It is a solemn occasion, one which you take the time to attend. The monument itself is beautiful, if a bit aggressive for your taste, featuring a sword impaling a shattered set of manacles, with the names of known victims of the pirates engraved around the base. The base itself has an eternal flame encircling the sword and manacles, flickering and throwing shadows about.
GX-B3 is a massive blue supergiant that has long ago engulfed and consumed any planets in the system. The massive star is so energetic that recharging in this system takes half the normal time.
Economic development teams work with the local authorities in the Calliope and Griffon systems, systematically boosting the economy via targeted investments and outreach programs. Perhaps it is due to this that Jake has far less trouble than normal dealing with the various politicians on Griffon, boosting your support in Parliament by small but noticeable amounts. The Senate once more thinks you walk on water, and a good third of the Chamber of Delegates are willing to allow that you may not be a complete ultra-militaristic boneheaded disaster as Emperor.
You really would like to stomp on those smug bastards.
The political situation in the NRR is highly unstable. The current PM has only a bare majority support, and even then it is more because several of the smaller parties who support him hate the opposition parties more than they hate him. Since the death of Gustavson there have been two general elections to the Thing, neither changing all that much. The small number of representatives from Gotland are supporting the current government, but according to everything your ambassador has been able to determine they are doing so not out of any true loyalty but rather out of a sense of obligation.
The general impression of the Empire in the NRR is rather positive, even before your propaganda campaign kicks off, and only improves a bit thanks to the subtle advertising and influence peddling. There are a few vehemently anti-Griffon parties, but they are extremely fringe groups with only one or two seats in the Thing between them.
Your trade attaches in the NRI are able to establish a new trade route, dealing in high-end consumer electronics from Griffon in exchange for basic gear suitable for corporate security forces from the NRI.
The new Endosteel foundry is completed in the Griffon system, and the systematic upgrades of the Endosteel forge design is rolled out across the Empire to great success. Unfortunately the work on upgrading Ferro-Fibrous forges is delayed thanks to issues involving upgrading the base extruders.
The planned new jumpship yard in Nowa Warszawa is delayed following several inspection failures on the life support and power systems. The issues are being resolved, but will push back the yard becoming operational until next year.
Otherwise shipyard expansion is going quite well, with new capital slips being built at each of the capital yards, and the regular shipyards also growing significantly. A new Jumpship slip is now available in the New Capricorn system.
| Meta Event | 4 | |
| Dynasty Luck | 5 | |
| Successes | ||
| Imperial Approval | 8 | |
| Approval Change | 1 | |
| Political Event | 1 | |
| Successes | ||
| Imperial Economy | 6 | |
| Economic Event | -2 | |
| Research Event | 1 | |
| Griffon | Econ | 0 |
| Health | 0 | |
| Event | 0 | |
| Nowa Warszawa | Econ | 5 |
| Health | 0 | |
| Event | 2 | |
| Calliope IV | Econ | 8c |
| Health | 4 | |
| Event | 4 | |
| TTP | Econ | 4c |
| Health | 2 | |
| Event | 0 | |
| New Capricorn | Econ | 2 |
| Health | 1 | |
| Event | 1 | |
| Nowy Śląsk | Econ | 1 |
| Health | 6 | |
| Event | 0 | |
| Edelsteine | Econ | 1 |
| Health | ||
| Event | 0 | |
| Nowy Wroclaw | Econ | 4c |
| Health | 4c | |
| Event | 0 | |
| Griff's Leap | Econ | 3 |
| Health | ||
| Event | 3 |
- Procurement [$ 15,908,365.81 ]
-- Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $5,172,797.00 ] (85)
--- 52 Bainbridge [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS
--- 11 Majestic [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS
--- 10 Independence [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 6
Result - SUCCESS
-- Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $95,554.88 ] (65)(->2)
--- 5 Caravel [65]
Target - 65
Roll – 78, KnowledgeisPower reroll - 1
Result – Critical SUCCESS
-- Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $7,256,824.27 ] (70)(->3)
--- 3 Dart [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 2
Result - SUCCESS
--- 4 Dagger [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS
-- Purchase New Units [ $ 3,383,189.66 ] (80)
--- 7 Fighter Wing [auto]
--- 10 Carrier Wing [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 91, HereticNep reroll - 12
Result - SUCCESS
--- 5 Standard Mech Regiment [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 98, HereticNep reroll - 43
Result - SUCCESS
--- 4 Armored Cavalry Regiment [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS
--- 4 Light Horse Regiment [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 55
Result - SUCCESS
--- 3 Armored Regiment [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 30
Result - SUCCESS
--- 6 Mechanized Regiment [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 34
Result - SUCCESS
--- 3 Rapid Reaction Regiment [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 79
Result - SUCCESS
- General [$ 973,788,187.90 ]
-- Construct White Tower A5 Zenith [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 27
Result - SUCCESS
-- Construct White Tower A5 Nadir [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 85
Result - SUCCESS
-- Construct Silver Tower Nowy Slask Orbit* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 78
Result - SUCCESS
-- Major Economic Investment Griffon [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS
-- Major Economic Investment Nowa Warzsawa [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 5
Result - SUCCESS
-- Build HPG Station Nowy Wroclaw* [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS
-- Build HPG Station Catachan* [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 51
Result - SUCCESS
-- Expand Department of Mega Engineering [75]
Target - 75
Roll – 97, HereticNep reroll - 68
Result - SUCCESS
-- Expand Colonial Office (per level) [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS
-- Culture - Monuments HO [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS
-- Survey B3 [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 63
Result - SUCCESS
-- Construct White Tower Dragon's Eye Zenith [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 83
Result - SUCCESS
-- Construct White Tower Dragon's Eye Nadir [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 84
Result - SUCCESS
-- Focus Development on Peripheral World Calliope [65]
Target - 65
Roll – 97, Jarow reroll – 89, Jarow reroll – 96, Jarow reroll – 79, Jarow reroll - 61
Result - SUCCESS
-- Focus Development on Core World Griffon [65]
Target - 65
Roll - 44
Result - SUCCESS
-- Build Relations with Senate [60]
Target - 60
Roll - 9
Result - SUCCESS
-- Build Relations with Chamber [60]
Target - 60
Roll - 28
Result - SUCCESS
-- Broadcast Propaganda to Nya Kopenhamn III [~]
-- Broadcast Propaganda to Nya Kopenhamn IV [~]
-- Major Special Branch and IGMP presence on New Capricorn [15]
Target - 15
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS
-- Analyze political situation in the NRR [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS
-- Insert subtle propaganda into NRR [65]
Target - 65
Roll - 62
Result - SUCCESS
-- Encourage additional trade routes [45]
Target - 45
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS
-- Upgrade All Endosteel Forges [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS
-- Build Orbital Factory Endosteel Griffon [110]
Target - 110
Roll - 89
Result - SUCCESS
-- Upgrade All Ferro Fibrous Forges [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 77
Result – Bare FAILURE (auto success next turn)
-- Construct Jumpship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 92
Result – Bare FAILURE (auto success next turn)
-- Build LAM Factory on Calliope IV* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 100
Result – Critical Failure (project aborts, must be restarted)
-- Expand Capital Shipyard [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS
-- Expand All Shipyards [100]
Target - 100
Roll - 81
Result - SUCCESS
-- Expand Refit and Repair Yard [100]
Target - 100
Roll - 73
Result - SUCCESS
- DoME [$ 55,000,000 ]
-- Begin Terraforming Process for Nowa Warszawa III* [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS
- Research [$ 230,000,000 ]
-- Advanced Standard Core Theory II* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS
-- Advanced Standard Core Design II* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 87
Result - SUCCESS
-- Advanced Standard Core Construction II* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 15
Result - SUCCESS
-- Construct New Labs on Calliope IV* [75]
Target - 75
Roll – 99, Jarow reroll - 21
Result - SUCCESS
-- Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $5,172,797.00 ] (85)
--- 52 Bainbridge [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS
--- 11 Majestic [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS
--- 10 Independence [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 6
Result - SUCCESS
-- Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $95,554.88 ] (65)(->2)
--- 5 Caravel [65]
Target - 65
Roll – 78, KnowledgeisPower reroll - 1
Result – Critical SUCCESS
-- Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $7,256,824.27 ] (70)(->3)
--- 3 Dart [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 2
Result - SUCCESS
--- 4 Dagger [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS
-- Purchase New Units [ $ 3,383,189.66 ] (80)
--- 7 Fighter Wing [auto]
--- 10 Carrier Wing [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 91, HereticNep reroll - 12
Result - SUCCESS
--- 5 Standard Mech Regiment [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 98, HereticNep reroll - 43
Result - SUCCESS
--- 4 Armored Cavalry Regiment [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS
--- 4 Light Horse Regiment [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 55
Result - SUCCESS
--- 3 Armored Regiment [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 30
Result - SUCCESS
--- 6 Mechanized Regiment [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 34
Result - SUCCESS
--- 3 Rapid Reaction Regiment [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 79
Result - SUCCESS
- General [$ 973,788,187.90 ]
-- Construct White Tower A5 Zenith [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 27
Result - SUCCESS
-- Construct White Tower A5 Nadir [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 85
Result - SUCCESS
-- Construct Silver Tower Nowy Slask Orbit* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 78
Result - SUCCESS
-- Major Economic Investment Griffon [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS
-- Major Economic Investment Nowa Warzsawa [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 5
Result - SUCCESS
-- Build HPG Station Nowy Wroclaw* [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS
-- Build HPG Station Catachan* [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 51
Result - SUCCESS
-- Expand Department of Mega Engineering [75]
Target - 75
Roll – 97, HereticNep reroll - 68
Result - SUCCESS
-- Expand Colonial Office (per level) [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS
-- Culture - Monuments HO [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS
-- Survey B3 [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 63
Result - SUCCESS
-- Construct White Tower Dragon's Eye Zenith [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 83
Result - SUCCESS
-- Construct White Tower Dragon's Eye Nadir [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 84
Result - SUCCESS
-- Focus Development on Peripheral World Calliope [65]
Target - 65
Roll – 97, Jarow reroll – 89, Jarow reroll – 96, Jarow reroll – 79, Jarow reroll - 61
Result - SUCCESS
-- Focus Development on Core World Griffon [65]
Target - 65
Roll - 44
Result - SUCCESS
-- Build Relations with Senate [60]
Target - 60
Roll - 9
Result - SUCCESS
-- Build Relations with Chamber [60]
Target - 60
Roll - 28
Result - SUCCESS
-- Broadcast Propaganda to Nya Kopenhamn III [~]
-- Broadcast Propaganda to Nya Kopenhamn IV [~]
-- Major Special Branch and IGMP presence on New Capricorn [15]
Target - 15
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS
-- Analyze political situation in the NRR [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS
-- Insert subtle propaganda into NRR [65]
Target - 65
Roll - 62
Result - SUCCESS
-- Encourage additional trade routes [45]
Target - 45
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS
-- Upgrade All Endosteel Forges [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS
-- Build Orbital Factory Endosteel Griffon [110]
Target - 110
Roll - 89
Result - SUCCESS
-- Upgrade All Ferro Fibrous Forges [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 77
Result – Bare FAILURE (auto success next turn)
-- Construct Jumpship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 92
Result – Bare FAILURE (auto success next turn)
-- Build LAM Factory on Calliope IV* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 100
Result – Critical Failure (project aborts, must be restarted)
-- Expand Capital Shipyard [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS
-- Expand All Shipyards [100]
Target - 100
Roll - 81
Result - SUCCESS
-- Expand Refit and Repair Yard [100]
Target - 100
Roll - 73
Result - SUCCESS
- DoME [$ 55,000,000 ]
-- Begin Terraforming Process for Nowa Warszawa III* [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS
- Research [$ 230,000,000 ]
-- Advanced Standard Core Theory II* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS
-- Advanced Standard Core Design II* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 87
Result - SUCCESS
-- Advanced Standard Core Construction II* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 15
Result - SUCCESS
-- Construct New Labs on Calliope IV* [75]
Target - 75
Roll – 99, Jarow reroll - 21
Result - SUCCESS
----------
Calliope IV
It started as a minor thing, a trivial thing. A parking brake failed in a construction vehicle parked on a slight incline. The failure wasn’t due to improper maintenance or faulty parts, but rather because this particular vehicle was an older model that used hydraulic brakes, and a local rodent had gnawed through the brake line. The loss of hydraulic pressure resulted in the parking brake releasing. The rodent died, but that was only the first fatality of the day.
Nobody noticed the vehicle moving, it was inside the main perimeter of the construction site and the internal security systems hadn’t yet been turned on, although they were scheduled for final tests and activation the next day. Indeed, the vehicle itself had just finished installing a sensor globe for the internal security system not an hour before.
Therefore nobody saw it strike a power pole, knocking it over and causing live wires feeding construction lights to short circuit and spark. Even this wouldn’t have been an issue, but the sparking wires impacted a holding tank that was undergoing a pressure test and the sudden electrification of the tank caused a circuit to fail, resulting in the test aborting abnormally and the pressure within being vented in emergency mode… Only this resulted in a blast of high-pressure water jetting through the sparking wires and into the construction site itself.
This in turn caused a failure of a pump assembly, being used for the various pressure tests, causing it to turn on at maximum strength. Unfortunately for everybody, it didn’t overheat or go overvoltage, so the circuit breakers didn’t fail, and the shut off panel was blocked by the sparking wires. By the time the main breakers had been thrown to turn off the wires it was too late, the interior tanks, intended in the future to hold various chemicals used as solvents and reactants in the production of high precision parts for LAMs, had risen to dangerously high pressure levels.
Even this wouldn’t have been a problem, except one of the tanks had a lower pressure cap than the others, and when this one failed it cut a fuel line, sparking a fire in the volatile chemicals storage area. Since many of the construction processes used these chemicals the tanks, which were isolated from the pressure test circuit, were full. Unfortunately the toxic fumes from the fuel line were jetting straight at the primary control room.
Even then disaster could have been averted. The person on duty, one Kenneth Maxwell, was seated at the primary control console, noted the problem, and started the checklist to resolve it. Unfortunately, his chair had been slated for replacement due to a seized bearing in the rotation assembly. Indeed, the technician with the replacement chair was in the room waiting for Kenneth to transfer control to the auxiliary control console when the disaster happened, and when Kenneth attempted to turn the chair to the right in order to access the shut down and depressurization controls it seized, forcing him to have to turn awkwardly in an attempt to read the display. His fingers were less than an inch from the shut off button when he lost consciousness to the toxic fumes and collapsed.
The fire suppression system was installed, but it had just completed a test and certification cycle and all of the inspection ports were open as fire marshals checked off the last items on their checklists. As a result, the fire suppression system was un-pressurized at this moment. 5 minutes later it would have been pressurized and the disaster would have been stopped in its tracks.
The flames overheated the chemical tanks, which reached design pressure and began to vent as designed, unfortunately the flames then ignited the chemicals, turning what had already been a nasty fire into a full up chemical fire. Heat spiked rapidly, above the pressure relief systems capacity to handle, and chemical tanks started to explode.
To their credit, the fire marshals were frantically closing the inspection ports in an attempt to allow the fire suppression system to pressurize, when the chemical release occurred all 25 of them were overcome and died.
Not enough of the ports had been closed, pressure could not be established in the primary system and the secondary system was completely opened up for the next phase of the inspection which now would never happen.
The sheer violence of the flames now started affecting structural support members. Again, a day later and all of the conduits and such would have been sealed up. But today they were open, and the chemical flames shot through them, igniting insulation and wiring.
It took days to put out the flames, days in which the internal structural supports heated well past design tolerances and began to fail. The entire construction site was a total loss, the freshly installed tooling utterly destroyed. Over a hundred workers and twice that many firefighters were lost in the conflagration.
The new LAM factory was a total ruin, all of the work of the previous two years lost. Because of a neosquirrel. Damn squirrels.
-----
You read the various reports on the disaster. One hand in loving communion with your face the entire time. It was a perfect storm, absolutely nothing criminal or even the result of negligence, a viciously perfect storm proving that no matter how carefully you disaster proofed things the demon Murphy would always have the final say.
In other, almost as infuriating, news the situation on New Capricorn has been resolved. And you are so tempted to emulate your great-grandfather rather than your mother in this matter.
It was a bit of a lucky break, a freshly arrived Special Branch Inspector had played an off the wall hunch and it paid off. The company accused of all the potential corruption was actually completely innocent, the only thing they were guilty of was the CEO being on the bad side of a local media company that was ruthlessly hungry for ratings, already hated the system government for simply refusing to have any suitably juicy scandals to drive ratings, and so decided that if the scandal won’t come to the scandal journalist, the scandal journalist would invent the scandal.
Every single report and story that implicated grand corruption and malfeasance? Faked by the journalists in question simply to drive ratings. The paperwork that seemed to indicate foul play, yet which could never be corroborated? Faked by the media company. The sensational reports about corruption and smuggling? You guessed it, all fake. The only thing accurate about any of the situation was that yes, a small-time smuggler based out of New Capricorn had indeed attempted to expand into Griff’s Reach in order to make money smuggling contraband into the prison there. But that was completely isolated.
In the end, a dozen journalists, three times that many media executives and ‘consultants’, and the entire leadership of one of the broadcast news outfits in the New Capricorn system are in custody, facing charges ranging from filing fraudulent police reports to perjury, obstruction of justice, misprision of justice, and forgery. Civil claims are already being filed by the affected companies. There is plenty of circumstantial evidence that other media companies were fully aware that the entire thing was crap, but as none of them quite crossed the line into illegal activity, with all of their ‘reporting’ being explicitly worded in such a way as to shove all responsibility for the content thereof to the media company that is actually in trouble.
And to think that you had given an interview to one of the Griffon media conglomerates that had ‘reported’ on the ‘scandal’... you really wish you could summon the smirking bastard in and punch him in his smug face.
Regardless, it’s finished, and the local economy in New Capricorn recovers quite nicely now that the cloud of suspicion is gone. You can’t wait for all the lawsuits to be finished, because you really hope to see more media types having to eat financial losses over this.
In much happier news you catch a bit of a break, the R&D work on the next generation Jumpships is completed in time for the order for 5 Caravel class jumpships to be switched for the new Brig class, with 6 collars and enhanced survivability. There are enough components in common with the Caravel that the cost for the new ships is a bit of a wash for this particular production run.
With your recent growth you need a large number of small combat vessels, 52 Bainbridge class parasite destroyers will do the trick, giving you the ability to base small squadrons at each of your jump points. The rest of your building program is going extremely well.
New units are now in service, boosting your aerospace and ground forces. The Ground Forces planners notify you that they are considering something a bit different for the 2nd Rapid Reaction Division, specifically incorporating Raider Regiments into the brigades. The loss of the new LAM plant might slow that down some, unfortunately, but it seems to be a worthwhile enough plan that you order 1 Rapid Reaction Regiment from each of the existing Brigades to be transferred to the new Brigades, so that both Divisions will have 3 regiments of Raiders each.
Four new White Towers are built, fortifying the jump points of GX-A5 and the Red Giant nicknamed the Dragon’s Eye. A Silver Tower is now in the Nowy Slask orbital, providing additional security to the planet.
A pair of massive infrastructure investment initiatives are accomplished, bringing the basic infrastructure of the Griffon and Nowa Warszawa system fully up to date to the latest standards. They generally were, and the programs were really more of a make-work sort of pork-barrel spending, but it did stimulate the economy nicely, so there is that.
The terraforming work on Nowa Warszawa III has been completed, incidentally, and colonists are starting to move to the planet. Thankfully the work that is needed to bring the planet fully up to spec, so to speak, can be accomplished by non-DoME teams building upon the foundation left behind by the mad lads of the department.
It’s a bit touch-and-go, and more than one applicant winds up being instead sent to prestigious tenure track positions in the Department of Periphery Studies, but you are able to find enough crazy-good engineers and mad but not crazy scientists to staff a new DoME team, which will be helpful going forward. In addition the new labs are finished on Calliope IV, to the delight of scientists and researchers throughout the Empire.
New HPG stations on Nowy Wroclaw and Catachan are completed, tying more of the empire together. The Colonial Office has also been expanded, increasing the efficiency of the administration of new colonies. With GX-A5 now controlled there might be some more growth in the near future.
A large monument is built, commemorating the dead and missing from the decades of pirate raiding on Calliope IV. It is a solemn occasion, one which you take the time to attend. The monument itself is beautiful, if a bit aggressive for your taste, featuring a sword impaling a shattered set of manacles, with the names of known victims of the pirates engraved around the base. The base itself has an eternal flame encircling the sword and manacles, flickering and throwing shadows about.
GX-B3 is a massive blue supergiant that has long ago engulfed and consumed any planets in the system. The massive star is so energetic that recharging in this system takes half the normal time.
Economic development teams work with the local authorities in the Calliope and Griffon systems, systematically boosting the economy via targeted investments and outreach programs. Perhaps it is due to this that Jake has far less trouble than normal dealing with the various politicians on Griffon, boosting your support in Parliament by small but noticeable amounts. The Senate once more thinks you walk on water, and a good third of the Chamber of Delegates are willing to allow that you may not be a complete ultra-militaristic boneheaded disaster as Emperor.
You really would like to stomp on those smug bastards.
The political situation in the NRR is highly unstable. The current PM has only a bare majority support, and even then it is more because several of the smaller parties who support him hate the opposition parties more than they hate him. Since the death of Gustavson there have been two general elections to the Thing, neither changing all that much. The small number of representatives from Gotland are supporting the current government, but according to everything your ambassador has been able to determine they are doing so not out of any true loyalty but rather out of a sense of obligation.
The general impression of the Empire in the NRR is rather positive, even before your propaganda campaign kicks off, and only improves a bit thanks to the subtle advertising and influence peddling. There are a few vehemently anti-Griffon parties, but they are extremely fringe groups with only one or two seats in the Thing between them.
Your trade attaches in the NRI are able to establish a new trade route, dealing in high-end consumer electronics from Griffon in exchange for basic gear suitable for corporate security forces from the NRI.
The new Endosteel foundry is completed in the Griffon system, and the systematic upgrades of the Endosteel forge design is rolled out across the Empire to great success. Unfortunately the work on upgrading Ferro-Fibrous forges is delayed thanks to issues involving upgrading the base extruders.
The planned new jumpship yard in Nowa Warszawa is delayed following several inspection failures on the life support and power systems. The issues are being resolved, but will push back the yard becoming operational until next year.
Otherwise shipyard expansion is going quite well, with new capital slips being built at each of the capital yards, and the regular shipyards also growing significantly. A new Jumpship slip is now available in the New Capricorn system.
I like the names for jumpship classes. Are the jumpships we are building each turn for military and government use only? Or is there civilian jumpship production going on?
Jarow
Well-known member
Pretty much that. We opened up jumpship manufacture and usage to civilians several turns ago. I wouldn't be surprised if at least some of our jumpship fleet is occassionally used to carry around civilian dropships, but the navy we build is all primarily focused on doing the things we choose to do.
Turn 72 - Destiny's Called Us
Turn 72 - Destiny’s Called Us
January starts on a sour note. Harry Owens is in the hospital, in an artificially induced coma. The stubborn old man had ignored the coughing and shortness of breath which it turned out were caused by advanced lung cancer, which he’d never bothered to be tested for because he was too busy. So now he was in an artificial coma while cloned lungs were grown for him. He’ll live, but the medical professionals strongly advise that he retire, effective immediately, otherwise he’ll likely kill himself by overwork.
Luckily he was planning on retiring anyways, so you do have a list of candidates to replace him.
Kornelia Maslanka is a SIGINT analyst and the current head of signals intelligence. She has over fifty years of experience in the Intelligence bureau, having started out as a junior analyst way back in the early days. She has a reputation for being technically brilliant but difficult to work with due to her extreme perfectionist streak and relatively poor people skills.
Aaron Sellers is the current head of COINTEL and is an extremely smooth and refined man. Wearing bespoke suits that are always perfect for the occasion, he is the son of one of the wealthiest men in the Empire. He served ten years in the military, rising from Second Lieutenant to Major before transferring to Intelligence, however he was always in staff positions and thus has no combat experience to speak of.
Brigadier General Neils Messerschmidt has heard all of the jokes, thank you very much, and is not a pilot. Rather, he is the current head of Military Intelligence and was your staff intelligence officer in the days leading up to the Battle of Castor. He actually was with the command vehicle crew that fought off a Drac headhunter attack on the HQ and lost an arm and eye in the fighting. You’ve worked with him before and he has your respect for his competence and ability to think outside the box.
John Bettelheim runs the Sparrow School and has a solid reputation for his ethics and commitment to following the spirit and letter of the law in regard to his operations. It is mostly thanks to him that there have been no hints of scandal from the school, mostly due to how ethically he runs it. He has a good rep among HUMINT assets and has long been a voice advocating recruiting more such assets in the future, as opposed to SIGINT, ELINT, and SCANINT.
Kristina Bauer is the current head of the Reconnaissance Imaging department of the Intelligence bureau. She previously served as the captain of your lone Sentinel class scout parasite, and is an acknowledged expert in photo-analysis as well as signals intelligence collection. She has also spent time with the Special Branch designing some of their surveillance gear and providing training in the use of the same.
The Calliope system government has taken the massive influx of new revenues thanks to the current economic boom and managed to hit gold again, this year they opened up a number of orbiting stations around Calliope III to tourist traffic, each mated to an installation on the surface to allow tourists to view the local wildlife in safety. This has resulted in an enormous tourist boom in the system, turbocharging the economy even more. The excess funds are being reinvested into education, healthcare, and caring for the poor in the system.
The have asked DoME to study terraforming Calliope II and V to expand living space and further increase their economic growth. While neither planet is currently habitable, Calliope II due to a Venusian atmosphere and V due to being a barren ball of rock with far too thin of an atmosphere, it is hoped that domed cities might be viable on both planets.
Some Delegates from the Griffon system have been heard to grumble about how much is being spent on Calliope, although they are among the most recalcitrant of your critics in the Chamber.
While the economy in the TTP is humming along, there has been a noticeable exodus of population from the two planets as poorer residents seek employment elsewhere, mostly on Calliope IV. The TTP government isn’t complaining, the reduction in population is actually easing the strain on their social welfare safety net on top of reducing crowding in the few cities that they possess. Indeed, the TTP leadership is actively encouraging this outflow, subsidizing the costs to those involved.
Siriwan has sent you a note that in the future the TTP is planning on continuing this policy. The main selling point of their worlds is that they are pristine and beautiful, and the current population numbers make it far harder to maintain that. They aren’t forcing people out, but those who wish to seek their fortunes elsewhere are being given assistance in doing so.
You get reports from your own people that the full extent of this encouragement and assistance is pretty passive, companies that recruit workers to leave for employment elsewhere are granted local tax breaks, and the system government has earmarked a portion of their revenue to providing grants to those who do decide to leave to make it as painless as possible.
Ultimately Siriwan intends to reduce the population enough to subsist in a series of arcology clusters supporting the resorts that are the bread and butter of the TTP’s economy. That this will make the TTP far less of an issue if a future leader grows ambitious is unspoken, but you’ve worked with Siriwan enough to realize that she is indeed that farsighted.
Your warship group encountered a number of Drac jumpships and transports in GX-B3 when they were passing through supporting an exercise being undertaken by the new Mirandas. A short engagement later and you have captured a Tramp, the other Tramp having panic jumped away. The jumpship is loaded with three Mammoth dropships, each stuffed to the limits of life support capacity with apparent ‘recruits’, the oldest of which are barely even teenagers, from the primitive world you’ve been hearing of. Your Marines had to violently subdue the ISF agents who were escorting the ‘recruits’ after the bastards started trying to massacre them rather than allow them to fall into your hands. You have some prisoners from the crews, but none of the ISF agents were taken alive.
You also have reports from further interviews with Tekken. The Dragon is now requiring all of his mechwarriors to conduct monthly ‘loyalty ceremonies’ in which each Mechwarrior is required to kill a civilian ‘criminal’, most of the time these ‘criminals’ are prisoners taken from the primitive world. Only the ISF knows the navigation coordinates for it, any jumpships used are controlled by the ISF during the transit, all cameras and transparencies are covered, and the crews are threatened with the death of their entire family if they so much as attempt to determine where they are after each jump. He suspects that the Dragon is only waiting for a larger supply of victims before forcing the DCA to undergo the same ‘loyalty ceremonies’ with all of their pilots and dropship crews.
He also reveals that the Dragon has confiscated all of the Slayer heavy dogfighters from the DCA for conversion into dedicated kamikazes, although he is unfamiliar with the specifics of the conversion.
You check with the boarding parties, and all of the transparencies on the captured jumpship and dropships were indeed covered over with tamper proof seals and all external cameras were disabled.
You aren’t as big a fan of the Olympics as your mother is, but they are being held in Nowa Warszawa and you are expected to attend, so attend you do. Thanks to the HPG links you are well able to conduct business anyways out of the luxury suites that are provided for you, so it’s not a complete waste of your time, and your kids and grandkids love it. Of course, your wife drags you out to actually watch the sporting events too, which you put up with.
In the Men’s Athletics competition Team Griffon looks like they had spent the night drinking and were competing with raging hangovers. They looked awful, especially in comparison to the team from the NRI who dominated the competition. Even the Rasalhaguians utterly dominated the Griffon men. In Women’s Athletics the ladies somewhat redeemed the performance of the men, with the NRI taking silver and the Rasalhaguians bronze.
In the decathlon events both the men’s and women’s teams from Team Griffon managed to take gold, although in both cases the Romans were right behind them.
It was then off to the Gymnastics center where you confidently anticipated watching the Romans utterly dominate everybody at their favored sport. And sure enough, the Men’s competition was like watching an exhibition match between the All-Stars versus a bunch of scrubs who barely knew what the word ‘gymnastics’ meant.
Then came the Women’s competition. It was like a switch had been flipped, Team Griffon owned the various events, with the Griffon women out-scoring the Romans in every single discipline. It was rather amazing, actually, and you actually found yourself on your feet screaming with everybody else as the final exercises came to a close and Team Griffon had earned the Gold Medal.
By the time the team event came the arena was crowded, as people sensed history in the making. Team Griffon and Team NRI were neck and neck into the final discipline, and it took a perfect performance on the floor exercise and a tiny, almost imperceptible bobble, to decide the match. Team Griffon eked out a gold medal against the gymnastics powerhouse. The Rasalhaguians barely bothered to compete, being quickly eliminated from any serious contention.
At the Aquatics Center the Rasalhaguians and Romans managed to split gold medals, with Team Griffon putting on credible performances good enough for silver medals in both events.
January starts on a sour note. Harry Owens is in the hospital, in an artificially induced coma. The stubborn old man had ignored the coughing and shortness of breath which it turned out were caused by advanced lung cancer, which he’d never bothered to be tested for because he was too busy. So now he was in an artificial coma while cloned lungs were grown for him. He’ll live, but the medical professionals strongly advise that he retire, effective immediately, otherwise he’ll likely kill himself by overwork.
Luckily he was planning on retiring anyways, so you do have a list of candidates to replace him.
Kornelia Maslanka is a SIGINT analyst and the current head of signals intelligence. She has over fifty years of experience in the Intelligence bureau, having started out as a junior analyst way back in the early days. She has a reputation for being technically brilliant but difficult to work with due to her extreme perfectionist streak and relatively poor people skills.
Aaron Sellers is the current head of COINTEL and is an extremely smooth and refined man. Wearing bespoke suits that are always perfect for the occasion, he is the son of one of the wealthiest men in the Empire. He served ten years in the military, rising from Second Lieutenant to Major before transferring to Intelligence, however he was always in staff positions and thus has no combat experience to speak of.
Brigadier General Neils Messerschmidt has heard all of the jokes, thank you very much, and is not a pilot. Rather, he is the current head of Military Intelligence and was your staff intelligence officer in the days leading up to the Battle of Castor. He actually was with the command vehicle crew that fought off a Drac headhunter attack on the HQ and lost an arm and eye in the fighting. You’ve worked with him before and he has your respect for his competence and ability to think outside the box.
John Bettelheim runs the Sparrow School and has a solid reputation for his ethics and commitment to following the spirit and letter of the law in regard to his operations. It is mostly thanks to him that there have been no hints of scandal from the school, mostly due to how ethically he runs it. He has a good rep among HUMINT assets and has long been a voice advocating recruiting more such assets in the future, as opposed to SIGINT, ELINT, and SCANINT.
Kristina Bauer is the current head of the Reconnaissance Imaging department of the Intelligence bureau. She previously served as the captain of your lone Sentinel class scout parasite, and is an acknowledged expert in photo-analysis as well as signals intelligence collection. She has also spent time with the Special Branch designing some of their surveillance gear and providing training in the use of the same.
| [] | Kornelia Maslanka |
| [] | Aaron Sellars |
| [] | Neils Messerschmidt |
| [] | John Bettelheim |
| [] | Kristina Bauer |
The Calliope system government has taken the massive influx of new revenues thanks to the current economic boom and managed to hit gold again, this year they opened up a number of orbiting stations around Calliope III to tourist traffic, each mated to an installation on the surface to allow tourists to view the local wildlife in safety. This has resulted in an enormous tourist boom in the system, turbocharging the economy even more. The excess funds are being reinvested into education, healthcare, and caring for the poor in the system.
The have asked DoME to study terraforming Calliope II and V to expand living space and further increase their economic growth. While neither planet is currently habitable, Calliope II due to a Venusian atmosphere and V due to being a barren ball of rock with far too thin of an atmosphere, it is hoped that domed cities might be viable on both planets.
Some Delegates from the Griffon system have been heard to grumble about how much is being spent on Calliope, although they are among the most recalcitrant of your critics in the Chamber.
| [] | Have DoME study the issue |
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| [] | This is not a priority |
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While the economy in the TTP is humming along, there has been a noticeable exodus of population from the two planets as poorer residents seek employment elsewhere, mostly on Calliope IV. The TTP government isn’t complaining, the reduction in population is actually easing the strain on their social welfare safety net on top of reducing crowding in the few cities that they possess. Indeed, the TTP leadership is actively encouraging this outflow, subsidizing the costs to those involved.
Siriwan has sent you a note that in the future the TTP is planning on continuing this policy. The main selling point of their worlds is that they are pristine and beautiful, and the current population numbers make it far harder to maintain that. They aren’t forcing people out, but those who wish to seek their fortunes elsewhere are being given assistance in doing so.
You get reports from your own people that the full extent of this encouragement and assistance is pretty passive, companies that recruit workers to leave for employment elsewhere are granted local tax breaks, and the system government has earmarked a portion of their revenue to providing grants to those who do decide to leave to make it as painless as possible.
Ultimately Siriwan intends to reduce the population enough to subsist in a series of arcology clusters supporting the resorts that are the bread and butter of the TTP’s economy. That this will make the TTP far less of an issue if a future leader grows ambitious is unspoken, but you’ve worked with Siriwan enough to realize that she is indeed that farsighted.
Your warship group encountered a number of Drac jumpships and transports in GX-B3 when they were passing through supporting an exercise being undertaken by the new Mirandas. A short engagement later and you have captured a Tramp, the other Tramp having panic jumped away. The jumpship is loaded with three Mammoth dropships, each stuffed to the limits of life support capacity with apparent ‘recruits’, the oldest of which are barely even teenagers, from the primitive world you’ve been hearing of. Your Marines had to violently subdue the ISF agents who were escorting the ‘recruits’ after the bastards started trying to massacre them rather than allow them to fall into your hands. You have some prisoners from the crews, but none of the ISF agents were taken alive.
You also have reports from further interviews with Tekken. The Dragon is now requiring all of his mechwarriors to conduct monthly ‘loyalty ceremonies’ in which each Mechwarrior is required to kill a civilian ‘criminal’, most of the time these ‘criminals’ are prisoners taken from the primitive world. Only the ISF knows the navigation coordinates for it, any jumpships used are controlled by the ISF during the transit, all cameras and transparencies are covered, and the crews are threatened with the death of their entire family if they so much as attempt to determine where they are after each jump. He suspects that the Dragon is only waiting for a larger supply of victims before forcing the DCA to undergo the same ‘loyalty ceremonies’ with all of their pilots and dropship crews.
He also reveals that the Dragon has confiscated all of the Slayer heavy dogfighters from the DCA for conversion into dedicated kamikazes, although he is unfamiliar with the specifics of the conversion.
You check with the boarding parties, and all of the transparencies on the captured jumpship and dropships were indeed covered over with tamper proof seals and all external cameras were disabled.
You aren’t as big a fan of the Olympics as your mother is, but they are being held in Nowa Warszawa and you are expected to attend, so attend you do. Thanks to the HPG links you are well able to conduct business anyways out of the luxury suites that are provided for you, so it’s not a complete waste of your time, and your kids and grandkids love it. Of course, your wife drags you out to actually watch the sporting events too, which you put up with.
In the Men’s Athletics competition Team Griffon looks like they had spent the night drinking and were competing with raging hangovers. They looked awful, especially in comparison to the team from the NRI who dominated the competition. Even the Rasalhaguians utterly dominated the Griffon men. In Women’s Athletics the ladies somewhat redeemed the performance of the men, with the NRI taking silver and the Rasalhaguians bronze.
In the decathlon events both the men’s and women’s teams from Team Griffon managed to take gold, although in both cases the Romans were right behind them.
It was then off to the Gymnastics center where you confidently anticipated watching the Romans utterly dominate everybody at their favored sport. And sure enough, the Men’s competition was like watching an exhibition match between the All-Stars versus a bunch of scrubs who barely knew what the word ‘gymnastics’ meant.
Then came the Women’s competition. It was like a switch had been flipped, Team Griffon owned the various events, with the Griffon women out-scoring the Romans in every single discipline. It was rather amazing, actually, and you actually found yourself on your feet screaming with everybody else as the final exercises came to a close and Team Griffon had earned the Gold Medal.
By the time the team event came the arena was crowded, as people sensed history in the making. Team Griffon and Team NRI were neck and neck into the final discipline, and it took a perfect performance on the floor exercise and a tiny, almost imperceptible bobble, to decide the match. Team Griffon eked out a gold medal against the gymnastics powerhouse. The Rasalhaguians barely bothered to compete, being quickly eliminated from any serious contention.
At the Aquatics Center the Rasalhaguians and Romans managed to split gold medals, with Team Griffon putting on credible performances good enough for silver medals in both events.
Orangeduke38
Well-known member
Has the defector let us know how many jumpships the Dracs have left and if they are getting support from Kilburrough?
Jarow
Well-known member
The number of jumpships might actually be useful information, good idea. As for Kilborough, I don't believe they were lying to us when they declared independence from the Dracs, and that the reason was ToS violations. Given pretty much any support would come in the form of the slaves the aforementioned ToS covers, and we're stronger than pretty much every local faction but the Amaris people combined (ignoring Kilboroughs unbreakable defense), I very much doubt Kilborough is going to try to use the Dracs as proxies against us.
Well, that's a bit insulting, deigning to like us 1% better for refusing to explore terraforming options.
Going to have to reject that, and vote for
[X] Have DoME study the issue
As for new intel advisor... not sure, will let other people weigh in first. Leaning towards either
[] Aaron Sellars
or
[] Kristina Bauer
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[X] Kristina Bauer
[X] Have DoME study the issue
Even if the Drac's had blocked any electronic attempt to track the primitive planet. we still have other clues. Since the likely destination for the Drac's was the Dragons homeworld. its very likely that if we look at any systems on the opposite side from the homeworld we might be able to track down the primitive planet's location by process of elimination.
[X] Have DoME study the issue
Even if the Drac's had blocked any electronic attempt to track the primitive planet. we still have other clues. Since the likely destination for the Drac's was the Dragons homeworld. its very likely that if we look at any systems on the opposite side from the homeworld we might be able to track down the primitive planet's location by process of elimination.
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