Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

[Rukatin]

[X] Plan: Riot Survival

 

[Jarow]

Solid plan, but that 45 and 55 roll in the research section scares me given its at the end of our rolls.

Definitely would not be surprised if they fail at least once, but both were started in previous turns and need researching eventually. Clan SRMs aren't really that important to us, but might help us with clan LRMs, which are. And small/medium clan pulse lasers do have some uses too.

 

[ShadowArxxy]

Definitely would not be surprised if they fail at least once, but both were started in previous turns and need researching eventually. Clan SRMs aren't really that important to us, but might help us with clan LRMs, which are. And small/medium clan pulse lasers do have some uses too.

Clan SRMs pack *really* nice punch for their size/tonnage, even if they are short range. We'll need a special to make pulse lasers mechanically worthwhile, but given how fluff makes a big deal of them, I'm pretty confident Sunhawk will *give* us that special.

 

[Havalt300]

[X] Plan: Riot Survival

 

[LordSunhawk]

Turn 96 - Welcome To The Renaissance, Where Everything Is New

Spoiler: Event, Luck, and Rating Rolls

Meta Event	17
Dynasty Luck	26
	Successes
Imperial Approval	1
Approval Change	-1
Political Event	-3
	Successes
Imperial Economy	1
Economic Event	-1
Research Event	0
Griffon	Econ	6
	Health	2
	Event	2
Nowa Warszawa	Econ	6
	Health	0
	Event	0
Calliope IV	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1
TTP	Econ	0
	Health	0
	Event	2
New Capricorn	Econ	3
	Health	3
	Event	3
Nowy Śląsk	Econ	1
	Health	0
	Event	2
Edelsteine	Econ	14
	Health	5
	Event	4
Nowy Wrocław	Econ	3
	Health	0
	Event	0
Griff's Leap	Econ	0
	Health	N/A
	Event	0
New Phoenix	Econ	5
	Health
	Event	0
New Eden	Econ	3
	Health	0
	Event	5
New Castor	Econ	1
	Health	6
	Event	1
Okusawa	Econ	2
	Health	3
	Event	3
New Pollux	Econ	2
	Health	3
	Event	3
New Port Royal	Econ	3
	Health	5
	Event	2
Kainga	Econ	12
	Health	0
	Event	3
Chuma	Econ	0
	Health	3
	Event	1
Stahlfurt	Econ	12
	Health	N/A
	Event	0
Bari	Econ	0
	Health	0
	Event	3
Skala	Econ	2
	Health	0
	Event	2
Pieklo	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	0
Nya Köpenhamn	Econ	3
	Health	3
	Event	1
Bauernparadis	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	5
Awha	Econ	0
	Health	3
	Event	5
Kaiyo	Econ	2
	Health	3
	Event	1
Bohren	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	3
Grand View	Econ	2
	Health	0
	Event	5
Iskra	Econ	5
	Health	2
	Event	4
Raj	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	2
Feurstem	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	3
Pinball	Econ	3
	Health	0
	Event	3
Catachan	Econ	1
	Health	0
	Event	3

Spoiler: Action Results

Plan: Riot Survival
- Procurement [$ 1,980,384,816.87 ]
-- Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $230,020,805.00 ] (95)
--- 100 Bainbridge [95]
Target – 95
Roll - 42
Result - SUCCESS

--- 35 Long Beach [95]
Target – 95
Roll - 21
Result - SUCCESS

--- 46 Aetna [95]
Target – 95
Roll - 57
Result - SUCCESS

--- 23 Meteor [95]
Target – 95
Roll - 85
Result - SUCCESS

--- 2 Canopus [95]
Target – 95
Roll - 65
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $6,524,018.97 ] (85)
--- 7 Windjammer [85]
Target – 85
Roll – 96, Jarow reroll – 100, ShadowArxxy reroll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $700,826,742.00 ] (85)
--- 20 Fubuki [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 27
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 Lyr [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 80
Result - SUCCESS

--- 26 Dido [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Prinz Eugen [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS

-- Purchase New Units [Minor Unit - $ 28,095,685.20 ] (90)
--- 30 Heavy Fighter Wing [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 Heavy Carrier Wing [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 31
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 Medium Fighter Wing [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 34
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 Garrison Regiments [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 35
Result - SUCCESS

-- Increase Militia Rating of System [$ 14,917,565.70 ] (95)
--- 30 Militia Regiments [95]
Target – 95
Roll - 20
Result - SUCCESS

- General [$ 85,171,708,188.00 ]
-- Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Olej Zenith* [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 34
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Pinball Zenith* [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 67
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Kainga Nadir* [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 54
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Bari Nadir* [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 86
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Oasis II Heavy Recharge Station Nya Kopenhamn Nadir* [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Black Tower Griffon [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Black Tower Calliope [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 36
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Black Tower New Capricorn [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 51
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Black Tower Nowy Slask [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Black Tower Nowa Warzsawa [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 71
Result - SUCCESS

-- Colonize Nox [75]
Target – 75
Roll - 57
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish Legal System - Nox [75]
Target – 75
Roll - 65
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish System Government - Nox [75]
Target – 75
Roll - 11
Result - SUCCESS

-- Public Relations Campaign [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 69
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Conventional Military Factory (95)
--- 1 Nowy Wroclaw [95]
Target – 95
Roll - 52
Result - SUCCESS

--- 5 New Phoenix [95]
Target – 95
Roll - 40
Result - SUCCESS

--- 5 New Pollux [95]
Target – 95
Roll - 45
Result - SUCCESS

--- 5 New Castor [95]
Target – 95
Roll - 42
Result - SUCCESS

--- 5 Edelsteine [95]
Target – 95
Roll - 72
Result - SUCCESS

-- Focus Development on Core World Calliope [80]
Target – 80
Roll – 100, General reroll - 80
Result – SUCCESS

-- Focus Development on Peripheral World Chuma [80]
Target – 80
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS

-- Massive Peripheral Investment Kaiyo [75]
Target – 75
Roll - 68
Result – SUCCESS

-- Massive Core Investment New Port Royal [75]
Target – 75
Roll - 71
Result - SUCCESS

-- Economic Investment Okusawa [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 81
Result – SUCCESS

-- Upgrade All DHS Factories [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 38
Result - SUCCESS

-- Upgrade All Endosteel Forges [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 66
Result - SUCCESS

-- Upgrade All Ferro Fibrous Forges [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 65
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Orbital Shipyard Pinball [105]
Target – 105
Roll - 43
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Orbital Shipyard Catachan [105]
Target – 105
Roll - 5
Result – Critical SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Chuma [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 20
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Griff's Leap [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 18
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Castor [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 85
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nowy Slask [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nowy Wroclaw [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 21
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Pieklo [90]
Target – 90
Roll - 43
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Orbital Shipyards [105]
Target – 105
Roll - 69
Result - SUCCESS

-- Upgrade Refit & Repair Yard [105]
Target – 105
Roll - 55
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard New Port Royal [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 81
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard Edelsteine [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 74
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard Nya Kopenhamn [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 16
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard Kainga [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 43
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard New Pollux [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard New Phoenix [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 34
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard Okusawa [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 54
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Medium Warship Yard New Capricorn [85]
Target – 85
Roll – 97, General Reroll - 77
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Medium Warship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 67
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Medium Warship Yard Calliope [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 59
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Medium Warship Yard Griffon [85]
Target – 85
Roll - 34
Result - SUCCESS

- DoME [$ 25,000,000,000.00 ]
-- Colonize Olej* [75]
Target – 75
Roll - 65
Result – SUCCESS

- Research [$ 215,030,000,000.00 ]
-- Terraforming Equipment Lvl 6* [95]
Target – 95
Roll - 66
Result - SUCCESS

-- Advanced Short Range Missiles* [45]
Target – 45
Roll - 30
Result - SUCCESS

-- Advanced Pulse Lasers* [55]
Target – 55
Roll - 42
Result - SUCCESS

- Miscellaneous [$ 175,100,100,000 ]
-- People Purchase [100,000,000]
-- Olympics [100,000]
-- Artisan Buyback [175,000,000,000.00]

-----

The motorsports section of this Olympiad goes more or less as expected, with dominant performances in all four disciplines by Team Griffon. Of somewhat more interest is that the NRI takes silver in all four, even challenging Team Griffon at some points although they fell short. The racing was quite exciting, and your eldest daughter enjoyed watching it with you.

The marathons close out the games, with the Griffon men turning in a solid gold medal performance. Unfortunately the Griffon women failed to medal, falling just short of the podium.

The situation on Skala is still unpleasant but stable now, the Imperial Guard didn’t have to actually resort to all that much force, although their infantry units did assist the Special Branch and IGMP in rounding up the leadership of the rioters and anarchists. The violence has halted, but the economy of the system is a wreck.

General Messerschmidt reports that his counterintelligence people in the system are working a number of cases in conjunction with the Special Branch, but that they don’t yet have anything definitive enough to report or prosecute. He has informed you that he has a bad feeling about things, as do his people, that this wasn’t an organic movement.

You have a meeting with General Jenkins, General Bradley, General Messerschmidt and your Justice Minister Martina Kalinowski. The meeting is concerning special forces and a proposal to move them out from under the Imperial Griffon Army into the Intelligence Ministry with Justice oversight.

“Your Majesty, our SpecOps teams are very useful.” General Bradley informs you. “However they do not generally operate within the framework of the rest of our ground forces. With extremely limited exceptions, for the last twenty years they have pretty much operated as the Army’s contribution to Intelligence, more than anything else. The extremely classified nature of their equipment complicates our regular logistics chains, requiring parallel supply efforts in order to prevent the classified equipment from winding up in the wrong places, said logistics chain is also operated by Intelligence, rather than the Army.”

General Jenkins steps in. “What we are proposing is to formalize what is de facto already going on, and shift SpecOps formally to the Intelligence Ministry. This would have the benefit of clarifying chains of command, simplifying logistics, and ensuring that SpecOps has more focused oversight that is fully cognizant of the constraints under which special operations are handled rather than being ‘Big Army’ and unaccustomed to the same.”

“We’re willing and able to handle this, Your Majesty.” General Messerschmidt says from where he’s seated. “SpecOps already liaises with the Special Branch in certain circumstances.” He nods towards the Justice Minister. “And if you approve they will be under joint oversight by Intelligence and Justice in a manner similar to the Special Branch.”

Martina chuckles. “Indeed, although hopefully they’ll be a little less… enthusiastically creative, than the Special Branch can be. To be fair they are quite careful about not crossing any legal or ethical lines, but the amount of tap dancing on those lines sometimes…”

[]	Action	Effect
[]	Approve	SpecOps is removed from the military during the current reorganization SpecOps comes under the Intelligence budget Net budget impact is $0.00 Increases impact of the Special Branch
[]	Disapprove	No change

You spend a day touring HMS Prinz Eugen, the lead ship of the Prinz Eugen-class Heavy Cruiser, with Admiral Fisher and Admiral Sims. The ship is quite impressive, with a heavy all around armament, extremely solid active and passive defenses, and a well laid out and efficient design overall. For all of his prickliness and general jackassery, Admiral Fisher is an exceptionally competent naval architect, and it shows in this ship which is quite obviously his pride and joy.

And you have ten of these monsters now in service, which Admiral Sims informs you in simulation matches up favorably with Black Steel capital units. You dread the test of battle, because only there will you know for sure if these ships are as capable in reality as they appear, but your naval command is quite confident.

The Navy does do one thing that you approve of, having all of the new warships commissioned in the Griffon system in a manner that allows you to at the very least make an appearance at each ceremony without requiring excess travel. Since these ships will be on the front lines against the Black Steel you feel that this is the least you can do.

Overall procurement goes quite well, apart from some confusion over new jumpship production that required several days to hammer out. In the end all new units are laid down on time and are expected to complete on schedule.

The recharge network has gained significant density with the completion of multiple Oasis II stations. The new Black Tower stations in the core also provide enhanced recharge capability on top of everything else, especially their enhanced command and control facilities. You spend several days on board the Griffon Black Tower and are exceptionally impressed. It took longer than you’d hoped, but the final product is superb.

The colonization of the Nox and Olej systems is complete.

You spend many hours working with Tiberius and his staff putting together the PR campaign, culminating in a series of recorded speeches and round table discussions with carefully selected participants. The overall effort is quite slick and does help with your public image, battered as it has been by the mess on Skala.

The new production lines for advanced military vehicles have been completed, boosting your ability to sustain and expand your ground forces in the future. Likewise numerous upgrades have been completed increasing the output of your strategic materials orbital facilities.

Economic development and investment proceeds smoothly, with all five major projects reporting results in line with projections. Of particular note, the investment in New Port Royal had the unexpected effect of stimulating the growth of several relatively manpower intensive projects throughout the system, leading to a small local population boom as workers from outside the system flock there for employment.

Through what can only be described as serendipitous confusion, chaos, and crossed wires, somehow the budget for 2 new orbital shipyard complexes in the Pinball and Catachan systems results in 6 new complexes, with additional ones in the Iskra, Raj, Bohren and Feurstem systems being constructed as well, at no additional cost to the treasury. Your brain hurts trying to figure this one out, and it is highly unlikely that such a thing will be replicated anytime soon, but you’ll take the win when you can get one.

The rest of the yard building proceeds on time and on budget, expanding your production capability quite nicely.

Reports from Grace indicates that all R&D work is going extremely well, with the final fruits of the new Terraforming equipment research already in the hands of DoME, while the military is salivating over the new 5cm and 8cm pulse lasers as well as the advanced SRM missiles.

 

[AlphaOmega]

[X] Approve
I’m changing my vote. It may not give bonuses but handing combat units off to an agency that runs undercover ops doesn’t make sense.

[X] Disapprove

 

[Yacovo]

[X] Disapprove

Those two 100s were a bit scary, but we got everything done and then some. Also holy giant litter boxes Edelsteine! I forgot a 14 could even be rolled.

 

[kelgar04]

[X] Approve

 

[LordSunhawk]

[X] Approve

Those two 100s were a bit scary, but we got everything done and then some. Also holy giant litter boxes Edelsteine! I forgot a 14 could even be rolled.

that's what a critical success on an econ roll looks like for a core world, the number of successes is doubled

 

[The Whispering Monk]

OK, so I'm against giving the intel community direct control of combat arms units...even by another name.

1. It isn't necessary.
2. As for logistics...no, it doesn't improve that so much as move the requirement to another location.
3. Special Branch does NOT need the firepower. If they want it, they're gonna have to ask for it EVERY TIME and then justify it to their Empress/Emperor.
4. The military NEEDS assets like the Special Forces to do deep ops. It's been shown through history. Removing this pulls a key weapon from our Ground Commanders' aresenals.

[X] Disapprove

 

[kelgar04]

Fair

[X] Disapprove

 

[Thors_Alumni]

OK, so I'm against giving the intel community direct control of combat arms units...even by another name.

1. It isn't necessary.
2. As for logistics...no, it doesn't improve that so much as move the requirement to another location.
3. Special Branch does NOT need the firepower. If they want it, they're gonna have to ask for it EVERY TIME and then justify it to their Empress/Emperor.
4. The military NEEDS assets like the Special Forces to do deep ops. It's been shown through history. Removing this pulls a key weapon from our Ground Commanders' aresenals.

I am an Amateur military historian and I agree completely about Spec ops being needed.

[X] Disapprove

 

[ShadowArxxy]

Martina chuckles. “Indeed, although hopefully they’ll be a little less… enthusiastically creative, than the Special Branch can be. To be fair they are quite careful about not crossing any legal or ethical lines, but the amount of tap dancing on those lines sometimes…”

The ghosts of two founding members of Special Branch pose behind Martina wearing angel outfits and innocent, beatific grins. Somehow you're certain that they are filling the afterlife with absolute shenanigans.

[X] Approve

The benefits are straightforward and logical, and I don't agree with the quibbling that, "Intelligence shouldn't have military-grade firepower!"

 

[foolswriter]

[X] Approve

 

[The Whispering Monk]

So...what happens when the Ground Forces need to deploy forces to seize an airfield or make a deep strike with the help of ground recon?

Do they have to make a request and await response from the Intel Branch and hope approval is given in time?

Just feels like we're creating more problems with this move...especially if the ONLY concern causing us to make this move is someone's gripe over having to count the SF equipment.

Edit: As for the Command issue...don't we already have an SF Command w/in the Ground Forces structure?

 

[Artifex]

Humm, I wonder though, wouldn't the SpecOps forces if they were moved to Intelligence and Justice be re-seconded back to the Armed Forces if need be?

Or are these SpecOps more akin to the SAS / KSK / SEALs of contemporary militaries?

 

[ShadowArxxy]

So...what happens when the Ground Forces need to deploy forces to seize an airfield or make a deep strike with the help of ground recon?

In realistic terms, that's a Rangers or Airborne mission, not a Delta Force or Green Berets mission. And that corner case is exactly why the modern-day Rangers *exist* as an intermediate between regular military forces and special ops.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

Which is why...if you pull these forces from the regular military structure...I give it a year or two before the Military just recreates some..."Light Irregulars" for special missions.

If the Intel Community wants a militarily capable force, it needs to tell us WHY...not just take one cuz.

 

[LordSunhawk]

For the mission you are talking about, the army has the Pathfinder Divisions or the RRF which are most similar to Rangers or Airborne.

SpecOps are infiltrators, saboteurs and the like. They're based off of the DEST suits you captured back in the day.

 

[Rukatin]

[X] Approve