Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

[Rukatin]

[X] Plan: Grandpa Shark Do Do Dodododo

 

[Thors_Alumni]

[X] Plan: Grandpa Shark Do Do Dodododo

 

[Havalt300]

[X] Plan: Grandpa Shark Do Do Dodododo

 

[darkcloudt2]

[X] Plan: Grandpa Shark Do Do Dodododo

 

[kelgar04]

[X] Plan: Grandpa Shark Do Do Dodododo

AGH this was why that damned song was stuck in my head all last week in the sim!

 

[Yacovo]

[X] Plan: Grandpa Shark Do Do Dodododo

Hope we can get some more exploring next year.

 

[Winter_Wind45]

[X] Plan: Grandpa Shark Do Do Dodododo

 

[apollo92]

[X] Plan: Grandpa Shark Do Do Dodododo

 

[LordSunhawk]

Turn 91 - We All Hunt Do Do Dodododo

Spoiler: Event, Luck, and Rating Rolls

Meta Event	9
Dynasty Luck	22
	Successes
Imperial Approval	2
Approval Change	-1
Political Event	0
	Successes
Imperial Economy	4
Economic Event	-1
Research Event	-1
Griffon	Econ	6
	Health	3
	Event	4
Nowa Warszawa	Econ	2
	Health	0
	Event	1
Calliope IV	Econ	12
	Health	2
	Event	4
TTP	Econ	5
	Health	2
	Event	0
New Capricorn	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	3
Nowy Śląsk	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	1
Edelsteine	Econ	0
	Health	6
	Event	3
Nowy Wroclaw	Econ	0
	Health	2
	Event	2
Griff's Leap	Econ	2
	Health	-
	Event	3
New Phoenix	Econ	1
	Health	2
	Event	2
New Eden	Econ	0
	Health	1
	Event	1
New Castor	Econ	6
	Health	4
	Event	5
Okusawa	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	3
New Pollux	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	0
New Port Royal	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	0
Kainga	Econ	3
	Health	0
	Event	2
Chuma	Econ	0
	Health	3
	Event	4
Stahlfurt	Econ	12
	Health	2
	Event	2
Bari	Econ	0
	Health	3
	Event	5
Skala	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	0
Pieklo	Econ	0
	Health	2
	Event	3
Nya Köpenhamn	Econ	0
	Health	5
	Event	3
Bauernparadis	Econ	0
	Health	2
	Event	4
Awha	Econ	1
	Health	0
	Event	0
Kaiyo	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	4

Spoiler: Action Results

Plan: Grandpa Shark Do Do Dodododo
- Procurement [$ 1,752,184,460.11 ]
-- Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $166,899,509.00 ] (95)
--- 50 Long Beach [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 88
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Bainbridge [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 87
Result - SUCCESS

--- 7 Trenton [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 88
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 Saipan [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 89
Result - SUCCESS

--- 19 Canopus [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $6,058,017.62 ] (75)
--- 14 Windjammer [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 41
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $545,535,833.33 ] (80)
--- 10 Fubuki [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 29
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Lyr [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 63
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 England [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 44
Result - SUCCESS

--- 8 Dido [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS

--- 2 Canarias [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 1
Result - Critical SUCCESS

--- 2 Scharnhorst [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 1
Result - Critical SUCCESS

-- Purchase New Units [Minor Unit - $ 21,757,047.60 ] (90)
--- 25 Fighter Wing [auto]
--- 30 Heavy Carrier Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 7
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Interceptor Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 57
Result - SUCCESS

--- 24 Garrison Regiments [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 67
Result - SUCCESS

-- Increase Militia Rating of System [$ 11,934,052.56 ] (85)
--- 24 Militia Regiments [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 70
Result - SUCCESS

-- SLEP [$ 1,000,000,000 ] (100)
--- SLEP all Mech Units* [->8]
--- SLEP all Conventional Units* [->8]

- General [$ 75,269,408,149.20 ]
-- Colonize Bohren [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 66
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish System Government - Bohren [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 3
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish Justice System - Bohren [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 52
Result - SUCCESS

-- Focus Development on Core World Nowa Warzsawa [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 43
Result - SUCCESS

-- Focus Development on Peripheral World Griff's Leap* [auto]
-- Rebuild Awha Orbital Defenses [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 89
Result - SUCCESS

-- Major Economic Investment New Pollux [75]
Target - 75
Roll – 96, Jarow reroll – 98, ShadowArxxy reroll – 92, ShadowArxxy reroll – 89, General reroll - 44
Result - SUCCESS

-- Economic Investment Griff's Leap [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 32
Result - SUCCESS

-- Major Cultural Venues [65]
Target - 65
Roll - 40
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Civil Service [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 29
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Jump Point Defenses in Bohren [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 7
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Jump Point Defenses in Pinball [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Jump Point Defenses in Olej [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 51
Result - SUCCESS

-- (ECP) Upgrade Commercial Space Stations [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 27
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build New Commercial Space Station [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 23
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build New Commercial Space Station [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 22
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build New Commercial Space Station [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 49
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build New Commercial Space Station [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 70
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Kainga [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Griff's Leap [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nya Kopenhamn [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 10
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Skala [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 11
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Pieklo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 31
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Bari [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 70
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nowy Wroclaw [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Phoenix [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 58
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Orbital Shipyards [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 98
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build New Material Factory (90)
--- Build New DHS Factory Nya Kopenhamn [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 26
Result - SUCCESS

--- Build New Endosteel Factory Griff's Leap [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 35
Result - SUCCESS

--- Build New Ferro Fibrous Factory Skala [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 23
Result - SUCCESS

--- Build New Ferro Alumnium Factory Griff's Leap [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 74
Result - SUCCESS

--- Build New Naval Armor Factory New Phoenix [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard New Pollux [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 18
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard New Port Royal [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 21
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard New Capricorn [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 23
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard Okusawa [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 45
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Medium Warship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 38
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Medium Warship Yard Calliope [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 9
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Medium Warship Yard Griffon [85]
Target - 80
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS

-- Upgrade Refit & Repair Yard [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

- DoME [$ 50,000,000,000.00 ]
-- Build Naval Shipyard Complex - Dragon's Eye* [auto]
-- Construct Major Army Base - New Phoenix* [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 47
Result - SUCCESS

- Research [$ 28,550,000,000.00 ]
-- Improved Communication Lvl 7 [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 68
Result - SUCCESS

-- Power Generation Lvl 7 [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 52
Result - SUCCESS

-- Industrial Mechs Lvl 8* [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 85
Result - SUCCESS

-- Improved Anti-Aging Treatments Lvl 1* [65]
Target - 65
Roll - 59
Result - SUCCESS


- Culture [$ 100,000,000 ]
-- German Cultural Festival [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 42
Result - SUCCESS

- Miscellaneous [$ 100,000,000 ]
-- People Purchase [100,000,000]

-----

You had initially been rather annoyed by the situation regarding the exercise adjustments never being made until you discovered why they were never made. The exercise umpires had requested that the RRF file their proposed adjustments, based on the quite reasonable stance that the RRF would know their own capabilities best. The RRF’s legendary allergy to paperwork had resulted in them never bothering to file any such proposal, resulting in the adjustments being left in a pending status as they waited for the paperwork.

Your annoyance grows when you discover that the sheer volume of missing paperwork from the entire RRF is such that the amount of completed paperwork filed by them is less than what you had to file as a second lieutenant mechwarrior straight out of the Academy. For nine entire regiments worth of forces in almost 90 years.

So you summon your Aunt and General Bradley back in and render your decision. You are quite willing to fully back maintaining and expanding the RRF on a singular condition. General Bradley is already swelling a bit in indignation, while your Aunt is looking triumphant. You then drop the bomb. Provided that every single piece of missing paperwork for the last ninety some years is properly filled out and filed by the RRF and that going forward there are no further paperwork deficiencies in the unit.

You’d never seen your aunt gobsmacked before, you are quite glad that the Palace security system records everything that happens in your office, because you are saving that image for future blackmail purposes at family gatherings.

You’d barely managed to get that pair out of your office when Admiral Fisher shows up, with Rear Admiral Sims in tow.

“Doubt this will shut the idiots up for long, but shockingly I do agree that there is a place for capital missiles in naval combat. That place is not on a warship where it introduces an unacceptable vulnerability. That place is onboard dedicated parasites that can remain back with the parasite carriers away from the actual fighting and volley missiles in. Sims?”

Sims passes over a folder with the specifications. “Your Majesty, there would be two distinct but related classes using nearly identical hulls. The Aetna-class Parasite Missile Cruiser is primarily armed with 40 Killer Whale launchers in the nose, while the Meteor-class Parasite Missile Cruiser is armed with 21 of the new Kraken-T missiles in the nose, with associated fire control systems. Our long term intention is to procure 1 Meteor for every 2 Aetna, grouping them with the Saipan-class Parasite Carriers as four ship parasite groups.”

Name	Cost	Materials	HP	A/D	Specials
Aetna-class Parasite Cruiser	$5,988,024	DHS, FAA	1894	1764	Armored 8 Missile 100 AMS 100 Capital AMS 70 Capital Missile 200 Capital 2/106 4/307
Meteor-class Parasite Cruiser	$10,366,384	DHS, FAA	2247	2117	Armored 8 Missile 100 AMS 100 Capital AMS 70 Capital Missile 210 Capital 2/106 4/484

Admiral Fisher then says. “We’ll be halting procurement of Saipans for a while, we’ve got enough of them for our current and projected needs for about 4 years barring losses and building up the rest of their projected squadrons is important. By then production rates should be high enough to support balanced unit formations.”

After your jackass of a CNO had been escorted out of your office you indulge yourself in a few hours of time with your baby, which always cheered you up immensely. You totally get why great-grandma had so many kids now.

A few days later finds you wandering the streets of a traditional Oktoberfest, a stein of incredibly good beer in one hand, a proper German pretzel in the other. The party had long since spilled out of the planned grounds into the city beyond, and the authorities were scrambling to keep up with the crowds. You’d heard reports that the German cultural festival, landing in the same month as Oktoberfest, had been extremely well received as an Empire wide excuse for a good party.

Then it’s back to work. The shipyards were able to use the last of the stockpiled materials from the canceled Kongo-class ships to hasten progress on the new Canarias and Scharnhorst-class vessels laid down this year, which is extremely welcome news considering the naval situation. The rest of the new construction is proceeding as planned.

The new Exeter-class heavy cruisers had been completed and were now based out of the New Pollux Naval Station in order to serve as a central reserve for the galactic northern frontier. The first of the new Fubuki-class destroyers were with them.

A lone Black Steel Vincent is destroyed by the new Orej system defenses when it jumps in under their guns. A reaction force is sent but there is no sign of further Black Steel activity.

The new advances to Industrial Mech design and production have trickled down to the shipyards, improving their ability to precisely manufacture the massive assemblies that go into warships.

The initial reaction to the improvements to anti-aging treatments are generally very positive indeed, with the new treatments greeted with great enthusiasm.

The New Phoenix Military Reservation has been completed, giving the Army a large arctic training area as well as improving their forward logistics to the galactic northwest. Considering the recent Black Steel activities, this is a welcome development indeed.

The naval shipyard complex in the Dragon’s Eye has come online, giving you an additional medium warship slip.

More naval construction facilities come online across the Empire, ranging from dropships all the way up to your largest warships. Likewise new refit and repair slips are available, strengthening the logistics footprint for your fleet and allowing you to more swiftly repair battle damage. Additional orbital strategic materials factories come online, boosting production by a welcome amount.

The quartet of new commercial stations come online simultaneously with the across the board investment in improving all commercial stations, giving your economy a well-deserved boost across the board which should have solid benefits to future revenues.

The civil service has once again been expanded, giving you greater flexibility for the future.

Across the Empire new cultural facilities, ranging from elegant opera houses to massive sporting facilities, are built in a blizzard of new construction and investment. While many worlds see minimal benefit, others see minor yet welcome boosts to their economies while others see the highest economic growth they’d seen in entire generations.

The Awha system defenses have been rebuilt even as reconstruction efforts begin on the planet. Salvage operations continue on the wreckage left behind by the battle but as has become usual with the Black Steel there is little but inert debris left behind.

The infrastructure upgrades on New Pollux run into a possibly nearly unique series of obstacles as it becomes necessary to schedule work around military exercises and activities rather than purely on the basis of maximum efficiency. Luckily civil and military authorities in the system are able to work together smoothly enough that the project still is completed on time and more or less on budget.

In general development and investment across the Empire is highly successful, seeing expected returns across the board. Griff’s Leap in particular is experiencing a bit of an economic boom from the investments and focus, helping to jumpstart what had become a very moribund economy.

Finally the most boring planet in the most boring system in the entire army, so bland and boring that the very name means boring in German, is colonized. Oddly it seems that a very high percentage of the initial colonists are what your grandfather would characterize as ‘useless hippie artistes’ rather than the sort of boring, practical people you’d expect to flock to such a boring place.

 

[AlphaOmega]

by the new Orej system defenses when it

Olej

 

[Yacovo]

Sweet god-Jeremy, New Pollux ate 4 rerolls, I am glad nothing else failed. Nothing is ever easy or smooth when Pollux Man is involved.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

Pollux-man gotta represent!

 

[LordSunhawk]

Turn 92 - Languid Waves of Desperation

Last year Tamara was teething, and was in a horrid mood because of it at times. This year? She’s crawling around and has said her first word! You pretty much melted when she first called you Mama. But there’s a darkside to this… she’s learned the word ‘No’. Which she uses all the time, often with the cutest happy grin on her face. You, of course, are certain that no matter what your mother says you never went through such a phase. You were always a perfect angel.

All evidence to the contrary is obviously fabricated.

But your beloved daughter is going through the terrible twos, and doing so with a vengeance. God help you, because your mother is no help at all. Thankfully your husband has been a solid pillar of support.

And you are pregnant again!

According to the ultrasound you’ll be having another little girl, and you couldn’t be happier.

Some fool showed the distinguished and eminent tenured professors of the prestigious Department of Periphery Studies the ancient television show ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. The female professors are all convinced they are either slayers or witches, the males are split between Watcher and Vampire camps, and it’s only the fact that the staff is very careful to ensure that all weapons, including ‘improvised’ stakes are foam rubber, has kept them there from any tragic accidents.

Elizabeth, Grace, and Admiral Fisher all buttonhole you into a meeting in late January. You take some mild revenge on the Admiral by allowing Tamara to climb all over him, which he takes with surprising grace and gentleness. You remember that his file indicates that he has granddaughters Tamara’s age, so perhaps there’s that.

Elizabeth takes the lead. “Your Majesty, ever since we started warship construction we’ve been regularly engaging in efficiency and time-motion studies in an effort to improve production rates. This has already had an effect on jumpship and escort construction, but thanks to the new materials, communications, and power generation research out of our R&D teams we are now in a position to widen the net, so to speak.” She looks over to Grace, who brings up the display.

“Fundamentally it is a matter of the physical distribution of the yards being rather linear in a way, Your Majesty.” Grace begins. “It is cost effective, but our experience with dropship production indicates that there are ways to add more parallel steps to the construction process without losing quality. Simulations show that we can save as much as 12 months in fabrication and construction time for our largest projects, scaling down to 4 to 6 months on our smallest. As a consequence, including training and working up periods, we could cut almost an entire year from the construction of any given warship.”

Admiral Fisher looks up from where he is bouncing Tamara on his knee. “I’ve looked over the numbers and they are sound, although I’m sure we’ll still hear plenty of whining, crying, and complaining fit to drive a saint to drink. But there’s bad with the good.” He smirks at that. “And your brave advisors delegated me to break it to you. It’ll be expensive as all get out to pull it off properly. We would need to roll out additional equipment, adjust supply lines, redistribute component warehouses, and hire more workers if we want to do it properly and that takes cold, hard money. Thankfully, according to the Treasury, we have plenty of cold hard money available, so if you want cold hard steel to fight the Black Steel with, rather than money sitting in accounts doing nothing useful, we should spend it on this.”

[]	Action	Arguments	Results
[]	Build ‘em faster!	Money in the bank just sits there, we should spend it on worthy projects, and this is about as worthy as it gets. Right now we are waiting four years to get a new Heavy Cruiser, 3 years for a new Light Cruiser, and 2 years for a new Destroyer. When we take losses like we did at Awha we need to be able to replace them, waiting 4 years to replace the CAs? Unacceptable.	Costs $168,000,000,000.00 Gives +1 to Shipyard Efficiency Reduces construction time by 1 turn across the board for any ship procurement over 1 turn in duration Increases upkeep by $500,000,000.00 per level of Shipyard Efficiency +1 Approval +1 Approval Change -1 Politics -1 Imperial Economy
[]	God Money I’d Do Anything For You	We shouldn’t waste any more money than we absolutely have to on the military. They’re so incompetent that they can’t manage to defeat a bunch of insane cyborgs without massive losses, why should we throw good money after bad? If you want to waste money like this, why not just set it on fire and be done with it, it’s not like our Navy can do anything right anyways.	-1 Approval -1 Approval Change +1 Politics +1 Imperial Economy

QM NOTE - Current available funds after all ongoing actions is ~300 billion. This expense will reduce available funds to roughly around the total budget for Turn 90

A lone Black Steel Bonaventure corvette jumps into the New Eden system well away from the jump point. By the time the local garrison is able to respond it has jumped out again. A sweep of the vector between the planet and the Black Steel vessel shows nothing, and reaction forces have been dispatched to the New Eden system. There’s been no further activity, however, but there are concerns that the use of an ancient corvette design best known for its use as a recon platform may be an indicator of future attack plans.

The Olympics this year are being held in New Rasalhague. Leila has been sent as your representative, but you are avidly following the games on HD.

And so far they are a disaster. In just the first week of competition it becomes clear that Team Griffon is half a step behind, barely eking out medals, let alone golds. They manage to take gold in only one event, although that is a welcome Women’s Gymnastics gold, wrestled away from the NRI on the Balance Beam by a prodigy from New Capricorn. You only take a total of 7 medals, most bronze, in 11 events so far. It is by far the worst showing by Team Griffon in the history of the Olympics, and commentators are growing… upset with the situation.

 

[Trashman.exe]

[X] Build ‘em faster

 

[Knowledgeispower]

[X] Build ‘em faster

 

[ShadowArxxy]

Turn 92 - Languid Waves of Desperation

Last year Tamara was teething, and was in a horrid mood because of it at times. This year? She’s crawling around and has said her first word! You pretty much melted when she first called you Mama. But there’s a darkside to this… she’s learned the word ‘No’. Which she uses all the time, often with the cutest happy grin on her face. You, of course, are certain that no matter what your mother says you never went through such a phase. You were always a perfect angel.

All evidence to the contrary is obviously fabricated.

And here we see that some of Jackie's quirks have become family traditions. . .

[X] Build 'em faster!

 

[Rukatin]

[X] Build 'em faster!

 

[AlphaOmega]

[X] Build 'em faster!

 

[darkcloudt2]

[X] Build 'em faster!

A smaller budget for always saving a turn on warship construction sounds great to me.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

[X] Build 'em faster!