darkcloudt2
Well-known member
[X] Despite claims to the contrary, you are not insane. NO.
Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
Inserted tally
KyranKandosa
Well-known member
[X] Sure, why not, what could possibly go wrong, how hard could it be?
Turn 106 - You're Out Of Your Room
Turn 106 - You’re Out Of Your Room
The sieges continue on Nouvelle Picardie, with several cities falling under your control as their defenses are broken, but in the main the defenders are still stubbornly holding on. The RRF has been reduced to a pure agitprop role at this point, as the fighting no longer allows them to engage in their preferred antics, but they are still filling the airwaves with ludicrous trolling and complete mockery, driving the Duc and his loyalists up the wall.
Their latest, however, has your face and your palm engaging in an epic yet forbidden romance. Your forces have taken the cliffs overlooking the Ducal capital and pushed the siegeline in far enough that said cliffs are out of range of Ducal artillery. The RRF has taken advantage of this to setup the largest video board they’ve been able to get their grubby little thieving hands on, which looks suspiciously like the video board reported missing several decades ago from the Olympic stadium on Griffon IV now that you think about it, on the cliffs in order to show animated story videos about the many exploits of the Duc de Nouvelle Picardie and his prize sheep.
Minor Black Steel activity continues through the spring, with the largest incursion featuring a pair of Aegis-class cruisers backing up an aggressive reconnaissance in force of the Arvum system, which was driven off by a detachment of Dido and Fubuki-class ships in a week long game of cat-and-mouse through the system.
Despite how poor the Arvum system is, it is proving to be a very strategically important location, enough so that Amaunet reports that the military is considering whether or not it might be worthwhile to convert it into a combination base and logistics depot.
You get a report from Dr Kamoto that his contacts in the NRI indicate that the cult dedicated first to your great-grandmother, then your grandmother, and now to you is Up To Something. He’s not sure what this something is, but given past instances it’s likely going to be embarrassing to you on a personal level while solidifying the support the NRI has long shown to you as their ally.
The NRR is suffering a slight bit of political turmoil due to a minor scandal involving several members of the Thing being caught with their hands in the cookie jar, but the situation appears to be under control with their judicial system proving more than up to the task of handling things equitably.
General Messerschmidt also has a bit of potentially disturbing intelligence developed from interrogating the captured pirates and interviewing their former victims. It is possible, although far from confirmed, that the pirates may have sold standard jump core technology to the Rouges Noir, giving them the theoretical capacity to expand outside of the little cluster which has long contained them and the Bourbons. This is extremely speculative, and he makes a point to note that there is absolutely no confirming evidence one way or the other beyond rumors.
If this turns out to be true you’ll be in an uncomfortable position of needing to deploy significant naval forces to that area of space in order to secure it against the Rouges Noir right at a time where you want to use those forces to go after the Black Steel.
Parliament is in session and several bills are working their way through committees and such. Most are completely routine, authorizing ongoing funding for previously approved projects and such, but there are some things that have come to your attention.
The Imperial Senate is working on the Commercial Services Act of 3036, which would finance a massive expansion of commercial space stations in all of the newly settled systems of the Empire, with the intent of boosting internal trade and commercial activity and thus improving the economy.
Since building up your own economy is one of the most important priorities of the Empire, in order to allow you to finance the constant expansion of your military forces in order to properly secure your people from attack as well as drive expansion, you can definitely see the benefits from this. The only real concern you have is the price tag.
Lisa Anne is extremely happy that you approved of her attending St Trinians. You decide that the best way to handle this is to embrace the Special Branch mindset, so you discretely speak with the current head of the Special Branch in order to make certain arrangements. She finds it as amusing as you do, commenting that if this works out Lisa Anne might someday head up Imperial Intelligence, which causes you both to snicker a bit.
So a few weeks later finds you and your daughter being driven to the school, in the sort of aggressively understated luxury vehicle that is common to certain completely honest and respectable businessmen, wearing disguises made up by the Special Branch and with perfectly legitimate fake I.D.s for yourself and your daughter, who is doing a truly admirable job of acting her own part in this.
You picked two of your most obviously dangerous bodyguards for this, both of them the sort who seem to ooze out ‘danger’ from their very pores, forming pools of ‘danger’ around themselves which spreads to inform everybody about that they are very dangerous, do not annoy. The minor detail that they are also two of the most genuinely kind people in your bodyguard unit is very well masked indeed.
They get out of the vehicle, looking amazingly dangerous like truly dangerous things of dangerous danger. They wait a few beats, long enough to establish that they are indeed the scariest things around and that it would not be a wise thing for even the most audacious student of the school to try anything in their presence, before opening the door, allowing first you then your daughter to exit.
Your disguise has you wearing the most ridiculously expensive leather and fur ensemble, with genuine deathapotamusaurus hide as the base, with furs from some of Catachan’s more fuzzy inhabitants serving as trim. A few discrete jewels that nevertheless scream OMFG I AM RICH in a way that only Old Money could pull off finish off the outfit. Your hair is disguised by an expertly done wig, you are wearing special contacts which change your eye color nicely, a few clever appliances and prosthetics change the shape of your jaw subtly while the makeup masters of the Special Branch have completely changed your skin tone.
Your daughter is wearing her own disguise, in the same theme of Very Old Money Out To Play and is behaving exactly as she’d been coached to, as if this is a dreadful imposition on her, being out and around the hoi polloi who are oh so far beneath her.
You had deliberately not bothered letting the Headmistress know anybody was coming, so you simply sweep past the quite startled secretary, utterly ignoring the young woman’s indignant squawks as you pass and head straight into the office, surprising the Headmistress in the midst of conducting some no doubt perfectly respectable and legitimate business with a rather flashily dressed man who appears to ooze sleazy slime.
You rather blithely inform them that their ‘petty’ business can wait, in the snootiest tone you’ve ever managed, the tiny voice changer rendering your normal speaking voice into a rather smokier register. You take brutal advantage of the briefings you’d gotten from the Special Branch and proceed to steamroll right over the two, leaving Flash Harry and the Headmistress looking utterly gobsmacked and completely off kilter as you do so, then turn around and, over your shoulder, inform them that your daughter will be attending their school, and hopefully they will prove more competent than first appearances have shown.
You never bother giving them a name, or any contact information of any kind, and simply sweep out of there with the grace and inevitability of a battleship at all ahead flank. Back in the car, and it’s only after you are well away from the school that everybody in the vehicle drops the facade and starts laughing uproariously. The surveillance bug that your bodyguards slipped into the office is broadcasting the Headmistress’s reaction quite nicely, and you laugh as they panic realizing that they don’t know who the hell you are.
The sieges continue on Nouvelle Picardie, with several cities falling under your control as their defenses are broken, but in the main the defenders are still stubbornly holding on. The RRF has been reduced to a pure agitprop role at this point, as the fighting no longer allows them to engage in their preferred antics, but they are still filling the airwaves with ludicrous trolling and complete mockery, driving the Duc and his loyalists up the wall.
Their latest, however, has your face and your palm engaging in an epic yet forbidden romance. Your forces have taken the cliffs overlooking the Ducal capital and pushed the siegeline in far enough that said cliffs are out of range of Ducal artillery. The RRF has taken advantage of this to setup the largest video board they’ve been able to get their grubby little thieving hands on, which looks suspiciously like the video board reported missing several decades ago from the Olympic stadium on Griffon IV now that you think about it, on the cliffs in order to show animated story videos about the many exploits of the Duc de Nouvelle Picardie and his prize sheep.
Minor Black Steel activity continues through the spring, with the largest incursion featuring a pair of Aegis-class cruisers backing up an aggressive reconnaissance in force of the Arvum system, which was driven off by a detachment of Dido and Fubuki-class ships in a week long game of cat-and-mouse through the system.
Despite how poor the Arvum system is, it is proving to be a very strategically important location, enough so that Amaunet reports that the military is considering whether or not it might be worthwhile to convert it into a combination base and logistics depot.
You get a report from Dr Kamoto that his contacts in the NRI indicate that the cult dedicated first to your great-grandmother, then your grandmother, and now to you is Up To Something. He’s not sure what this something is, but given past instances it’s likely going to be embarrassing to you on a personal level while solidifying the support the NRI has long shown to you as their ally.
The NRR is suffering a slight bit of political turmoil due to a minor scandal involving several members of the Thing being caught with their hands in the cookie jar, but the situation appears to be under control with their judicial system proving more than up to the task of handling things equitably.
General Messerschmidt also has a bit of potentially disturbing intelligence developed from interrogating the captured pirates and interviewing their former victims. It is possible, although far from confirmed, that the pirates may have sold standard jump core technology to the Rouges Noir, giving them the theoretical capacity to expand outside of the little cluster which has long contained them and the Bourbons. This is extremely speculative, and he makes a point to note that there is absolutely no confirming evidence one way or the other beyond rumors.
If this turns out to be true you’ll be in an uncomfortable position of needing to deploy significant naval forces to that area of space in order to secure it against the Rouges Noir right at a time where you want to use those forces to go after the Black Steel.
Parliament is in session and several bills are working their way through committees and such. Most are completely routine, authorizing ongoing funding for previously approved projects and such, but there are some things that have come to your attention.
The Imperial Senate is working on the Commercial Services Act of 3036, which would finance a massive expansion of commercial space stations in all of the newly settled systems of the Empire, with the intent of boosting internal trade and commercial activity and thus improving the economy.
Since building up your own economy is one of the most important priorities of the Empire, in order to allow you to finance the constant expansion of your military forces in order to properly secure your people from attack as well as drive expansion, you can definitely see the benefits from this. The only real concern you have is the price tag.
| [] | Action | Argument | Effects |
| [] | Sign the Commercial Services Act of 3036 | Commerce is the lifeblood of empire, and our economic growth has served us well across the board. The commercial space stations throughout the Empire have proven to be engines of economic activity and strong drivers of economic growth, both internally and via external trade. Extending these benefits throughout the Empire would, ultimately, be an enormous boon to all of us. |
|
| [] | Veto the Commercial Services Act of 3036 | The private sector has shown that they will find a way, with or without our assistance. While they may well appreciate us financing the construction of orbital platforms from which they can do business, at this point in the Empire’s existence surely private enterprises can finance their own such infrastructure without requiring us to hold their hands. |
|
Lisa Anne is extremely happy that you approved of her attending St Trinians. You decide that the best way to handle this is to embrace the Special Branch mindset, so you discretely speak with the current head of the Special Branch in order to make certain arrangements. She finds it as amusing as you do, commenting that if this works out Lisa Anne might someday head up Imperial Intelligence, which causes you both to snicker a bit.
So a few weeks later finds you and your daughter being driven to the school, in the sort of aggressively understated luxury vehicle that is common to certain completely honest and respectable businessmen, wearing disguises made up by the Special Branch and with perfectly legitimate fake I.D.s for yourself and your daughter, who is doing a truly admirable job of acting her own part in this.
You picked two of your most obviously dangerous bodyguards for this, both of them the sort who seem to ooze out ‘danger’ from their very pores, forming pools of ‘danger’ around themselves which spreads to inform everybody about that they are very dangerous, do not annoy. The minor detail that they are also two of the most genuinely kind people in your bodyguard unit is very well masked indeed.
They get out of the vehicle, looking amazingly dangerous like truly dangerous things of dangerous danger. They wait a few beats, long enough to establish that they are indeed the scariest things around and that it would not be a wise thing for even the most audacious student of the school to try anything in their presence, before opening the door, allowing first you then your daughter to exit.
Your disguise has you wearing the most ridiculously expensive leather and fur ensemble, with genuine deathapotamusaurus hide as the base, with furs from some of Catachan’s more fuzzy inhabitants serving as trim. A few discrete jewels that nevertheless scream OMFG I AM RICH in a way that only Old Money could pull off finish off the outfit. Your hair is disguised by an expertly done wig, you are wearing special contacts which change your eye color nicely, a few clever appliances and prosthetics change the shape of your jaw subtly while the makeup masters of the Special Branch have completely changed your skin tone.
Your daughter is wearing her own disguise, in the same theme of Very Old Money Out To Play and is behaving exactly as she’d been coached to, as if this is a dreadful imposition on her, being out and around the hoi polloi who are oh so far beneath her.
You had deliberately not bothered letting the Headmistress know anybody was coming, so you simply sweep past the quite startled secretary, utterly ignoring the young woman’s indignant squawks as you pass and head straight into the office, surprising the Headmistress in the midst of conducting some no doubt perfectly respectable and legitimate business with a rather flashily dressed man who appears to ooze sleazy slime.
You rather blithely inform them that their ‘petty’ business can wait, in the snootiest tone you’ve ever managed, the tiny voice changer rendering your normal speaking voice into a rather smokier register. You take brutal advantage of the briefings you’d gotten from the Special Branch and proceed to steamroll right over the two, leaving Flash Harry and the Headmistress looking utterly gobsmacked and completely off kilter as you do so, then turn around and, over your shoulder, inform them that your daughter will be attending their school, and hopefully they will prove more competent than first appearances have shown.
You never bother giving them a name, or any contact information of any kind, and simply sweep out of there with the grace and inevitability of a battleship at all ahead flank. Back in the car, and it’s only after you are well away from the school that everybody in the vehicle drops the facade and starts laughing uproariously. The surveillance bug that your bodyguards slipped into the office is broadcasting the Headmistress’s reaction quite nicely, and you laugh as they panic realizing that they don’t know who the hell you are.
Winter_Wind45
Well-known member
[X] Sign the Commercial Services Act of 3036
[X] Sign the Commercial Services Act of 3036
That is an absolutely magnificent run of "trolling the trolls, trollishly".
That is an absolutely magnificent run of "trolling the trolls, trollishly".
KyranKandosa
Well-known member
[X] Sign the Commercial Services Act of 3036
I'm sure that the school staff will come to appreciate this prank. And then respond in kind.
I'm sure that the school staff will come to appreciate this prank. And then respond in kind.
Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
[X] Sign the Commercial Services Act of 3036
Joyousmadman
Well-known member
[X] Sign the Commercial Services Act of 3036
mmgaballah
Well-known member
I have an idea for the Rouges Noir issue , we carry out first succession war style deep raids with the goal of devastating their industrial abilities and infrastructure , this is temp fix to them getting modern jump core tech as they can't build new ships if the relevant industry and infrastructure is in ruins which will buy us time to focus on the Black Steel problem before coming to deal with them once and for all
[X] Sign the Commercial Services Act of 3036 IF AND ONLY IF WE ARE ABLE TO FULLY FUND THE IGMP EXPANSION FIRST
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[X] Sign the Commercial Services Act of 3036
Turn 106 - When You Said Goodbye
Turn 106 - When You Said Goodbye
In several of the smaller cities that are under siege in Nouvelle Picardie food riots have begun, with Ducal forces being forced to split their attention between manning the defenses and putting down rioting civilians who’ve been on increasingly short rations as the fighting grinds on. The sheer brutality displayed by the Ducal forces turns your stomach, and you have reports that in several instances your own forces, upon seeing this, had pressed all out assaults on Ducal lines, smashing through in several cases. Casualties are heavier than they had been during the more methodical phase of the operation but you suppose you really can’t blame your soldiers.
Pro-Ducal media sources are spinning this as war crimes by your side, playing the victim and generally spouting the Ducs talking points verbatim. But increasingly there is a sense of surreality to it all, as the siege lines tighten more and more. The broadcasts from the Ducal bunker are becoming increasingly unhinged, with the Duc now openly claiming to be the rightful King of the New Bourbons and that his ‘ever victorious’ forces would soon put every single ‘traitor and scoundrel’ to death. Considering that he spent several hours of his ranting describing in intricate detail exactly what he wants to do to you and your family…
You send orders for the RRF to double down on their psyops campaign. They have now deployed a new weapon in their arsenal of mockery and insult, a CGI rendition of the Duc and his most ardent propagandists doing Caramelldansen with subtitles drawn from the Ducal rants and propaganda as the background burns and the floor turns into lava. The best part is that they’ve managed to use the extensive voice samples to synthesize the Ducal voice singing the damnable song.
Admiral von Falkenrick deployed the Grand Fleet to Arvum on a hunch that something was about to happen, based on the behavior of the Black Steel, and sure enough a large assault force jumps in just hours later. Your analysts and admirals are getting much better at predicting Black Steel attacks.
The ensuing battle is hard fought, ranging from the jump points all the way to the orbital defenses, but the Black Steel attack is stopped cold in the end. Losses are extensive, unfortunately, but slightly less so than before. Admiral von Falkenrick reports that it is his belief that this was a spoiling attack, citing the use of primarily lighter ‘new build’ units around a core of the Black Steel’s latest vessels, with no ‘antique’ ships to be seen. He believes that this is proof that you are close enough to one of their major bases for them to decide to pull it back and that this attack is meant to ensure against any interference with the movement.
In terms of total tonnage it was a relatively one-sided battle, although the casualties did hurt. Admiral von Falkenrick has sent in a request to the Admiralty to evaluate the effectiveness of the Long Beach-design due to a suspected design fault, as many were lost to damage that shouldn’t have been fatal according to the Admiral. Admiral Fisher has promised a full review of the old design, stating that he suspects it was due to the large magazines of subcapital missiles used by those ships.
The Department of Periphery Studies continues their obsession with being tramps, and are now organizing trips to several heritage railways in order to sneak onto box cars and do what they fondly believe to be ‘tramp things’. The hardworking staff of the Department has ensured that said railways are fully compensated for their cooperation in this latest madness, and people seem to be taking it in their usual good humor.
Then it’s budget time! You still quite enjoy sinking your teeth into the budgets, so you have a bit of a spring to your step as you head into the primary briefing.
Amaunet is up first, lounging behind the podium and looking quite relaxed. “Padrone, it is good that you have arrived.” she says, and if you are any judge of grifftiger expressions you are pretty sure she’s smirking slightly. “We will be continuing to focus mainly on the backend of things, specifically increasing our strategic materials output as much as possible. We will also be continuing to expand shipyards, logistics factories, and ASF production capacity. General Bradley will also have a preliminary report on the post-Nouvelle Picardie revisions to the Army. General?”
General Bradley takes the stage at this point. “Your Majesty, we continue to desperately need to increase Ferro Fibrous and Endo Steel production levels if we want to make full use of our industrial capacity. We also recommend continuing to boost our logistics footprint as much as possible.”
She looks over her notes. “Many of our Battlemech units have performed below expectations in the Nouvelle Picardie campaign, likewise our battle armor has shown varied deficiencies related to their ammunition dependence, our combat vehicles have likewise shown numerous faults again centered around logistical impact and the overly aggressive deployment of the Hyper-Assault Gauss system on platforms unable to support a sufficient ammunition load for the weapon. We have begun evaluating testbeds to determine the best way forward from here and are working with industry on the problem.”
“Now, I know you’ve seen this chart before, but it is a good visualization of where we are in regards to strategic materials. The situation is improving, but hardly anything that could be called ‘good’. With the new, more compact endo-steel the strain on ferro-fibrous supplies will be growing even stronger due to many of the proposed mech designs now making use of that armor composition.”
“In terms of procurement and budget this year, Your Majesty, we request the following.” the General concludes, bringing up the graphic on the screen.
Amaunet chuffs softly as General Bradley sits down. “I’ve been putting a bug in Grace’s ear about looking for ways to increase production rates of various materials, Padrone, so this doesn’t become a constant thorn in our side, but no promises.”
General Romanov is absent, attending a conference with her opposite numbers from the NRR and NRI. Her deputy however is present.
“Your Majesty, we continue to see the need for increased production of fighters at this time. In addition, we have been reviewing the performance of the Sunderland in patrol duties and our analysts have determined that while it is extremely effective, even at 100 tons it is struggling with the long range endurance requirements. We will be soon sending out requests for proposal to industry for a larger, small craft scale patrol bomber to supplement the Sunderland.”
Amaunet just twitches her tail, looking wise.
Admiral Fisher looks profoundly irritated as he takes the stage. “We’re completely freezing procurement of the Long Beach, if I thought for a moment that scrapping them wouldn’t cause a minor mutiny I’d do it in a heartbeat. The review isn’t complete, but the early indications are that it is indeed the damn magazines making them light up like fireworks rather than fighting ships. They may be critical for countering the big teleoperated missiles that the Dracs developed, but we’re not seeing anybody else using the damn things and they’re deathtraps otherwise. I’ve got my design teams working on a better solution that won’t kill more of our crews than the enemy does. Otherwise, we need to continue to grow production, we’ll be getting a few new Potemkins this year, which is excellent for shifting around large numbers of dropships but little else. In a few years we’ll start seeing true big iron coming online.”
Amaunet clears her throat. “Padrone, I strongly recommend the Escort yard construction, primarily because the small boys have been doing yeoman’s work opposing the Black Steel and we barely have enough of them to properly screen anything due to the heavy losses they take.”
Elizabeth Lee takes over at that point, although Amaunet remains lounging where she was. “Your Majesty, needless to say, the Ministry of the Interior is fully prepared to assist with any construction required by the military. We also have a number of our own recommendations as well.”
“To start with, our analysts have determined where we can best direct Imperial funding and investment in the most efficacious manner to benefit the Empire as a whole. In general we are focusing on those systems which are falling behind the others in the hopes of building up a broad base of economic support that is resistant to economic shocks and downturns.”
“Next,” she continues as she checks her notes. “DoME has seven teams free, and we have had several requests for their services above and beyond terraforming activities. Not that we are neglecting that, the Bāṛi is economically ready to be reclassified as a Core world, but due to the inability of the planet to support its population without external assistance we still need to complete more terraforming work, as an example.”
She smiles slightly. “So we’ll begin with the terraforming and optimization projects, of which there are four.”
Dr. Kamoto is up next, looking quite inscrutable at his first meeting as head of the Foreign Ministry. “Your Majesty, the diplomatic corps has been busy reassuring our allies of our commitment to the alliance, as well as preparing for the next Olympiad.”
You blink at that, there’s been so much else going on that you haven’t had the time to pay attention to the Pan-Griffon Games, which have been running for the past several months. Dr Kamoto smiles slightly at your expression. “The games are scheduled to be hosted on New Port Royal next time, so we are already preparing the ground for things. Other than that, the Foreign Ministry has no significant budget requests at this time.”
You nod and turn your attention to Tiberius, who’s wearing the most god awful eye-searing tie-dye toga you’d ever imagined, courtesy of his youngest kids and your youngest kids who conspired to create that abomination against good taste and ocular health. “Boss, the Political Office has got two asks for you this year, first that we expand the Civil Service some more, and second that we continue boosting the Parks & Recreation budget. The Imperial park system has been garnering some excellent reviews and are heavily used by the citizenry, plus the management contracts for individual parks have become hotly contested by local small businesses.”
Grace is up next. “We’re still trying to figure out methods to boost strategic material production that won’t break the bank, Your Majesty, but until then we do have several research proposals.”
She brings up a chart for you to review.
General Messerschmidt is up next. “Your Majesty, interrogations of captured pirates continue, and I would like to request permission to dangle the possibility of not being spaced for their crimes as a means to incentivize greater cooperation. As it stands, we are developing highly concerning intelligence related to Rouges Noir involvement with the pirate leadership. We may very well soon have a three front war on our hands.” He looks grim as he speaks.
Finally Martina takes the podium, looking rather stressed out. “Your Majesty, I know this will not be welcome, after we had to spend a great deal of funds to expand the IGMP last year, but we need to continue to grow it, they have barely any margin available to cover all of their responsibilities throughout the Empire right now, and any growth will see them overstretched again. In addition we would like to request greater funding to the Special Branch.”
In several of the smaller cities that are under siege in Nouvelle Picardie food riots have begun, with Ducal forces being forced to split their attention between manning the defenses and putting down rioting civilians who’ve been on increasingly short rations as the fighting grinds on. The sheer brutality displayed by the Ducal forces turns your stomach, and you have reports that in several instances your own forces, upon seeing this, had pressed all out assaults on Ducal lines, smashing through in several cases. Casualties are heavier than they had been during the more methodical phase of the operation but you suppose you really can’t blame your soldiers.
Pro-Ducal media sources are spinning this as war crimes by your side, playing the victim and generally spouting the Ducs talking points verbatim. But increasingly there is a sense of surreality to it all, as the siege lines tighten more and more. The broadcasts from the Ducal bunker are becoming increasingly unhinged, with the Duc now openly claiming to be the rightful King of the New Bourbons and that his ‘ever victorious’ forces would soon put every single ‘traitor and scoundrel’ to death. Considering that he spent several hours of his ranting describing in intricate detail exactly what he wants to do to you and your family…
You send orders for the RRF to double down on their psyops campaign. They have now deployed a new weapon in their arsenal of mockery and insult, a CGI rendition of the Duc and his most ardent propagandists doing Caramelldansen with subtitles drawn from the Ducal rants and propaganda as the background burns and the floor turns into lava. The best part is that they’ve managed to use the extensive voice samples to synthesize the Ducal voice singing the damnable song.
Admiral von Falkenrick deployed the Grand Fleet to Arvum on a hunch that something was about to happen, based on the behavior of the Black Steel, and sure enough a large assault force jumps in just hours later. Your analysts and admirals are getting much better at predicting Black Steel attacks.
The ensuing battle is hard fought, ranging from the jump points all the way to the orbital defenses, but the Black Steel attack is stopped cold in the end. Losses are extensive, unfortunately, but slightly less so than before. Admiral von Falkenrick reports that it is his belief that this was a spoiling attack, citing the use of primarily lighter ‘new build’ units around a core of the Black Steel’s latest vessels, with no ‘antique’ ships to be seen. He believes that this is proof that you are close enough to one of their major bases for them to decide to pull it back and that this attack is meant to ensure against any interference with the movement.
- Third Naval Battle of Arvum
- Friendly Casualties
- Heavy Cruisers
- 15 Prinz Eugen-class Heavy Cruisers
- 1 Wichita-class Heavy Cruiser
- Battlecruisers
- 1 Scharnhorst-class Battlecruiser
- Light Cruisers
- 20 Dido-class Light Cruisers
- Destroyers
- 65 Fubuki-class Destroyers
- Corvettes
- 50 Lyr-class Corvettes
- 35 NRI Pilum-class Corvettes
- Parasites
- 68 Canopus-class Parasite Battleships
- 20 Meteor-class Parasite Missile Battleships
- 40 Aetna-class Parasite Missile Battleships
- 50 Saipan-class Parasite Carriers
- 165 Long Beach-class Parasite Missile Destroyers
- 100 Bainbridge-class Parasite Destroyers
- Heavy Cruisers
- Enemy Casualties (estimates)
- Capital Units
- 10 Brawler-type 2 million ton battleships
- 5 Sniper-type 2 million ton battleships
- Screen units
- 45 Shield-type 1.25 million ton heavy cruisers
- 50 Sword-type 1 million ton cruisers
- 100 Screen-type 500k ton destroyers
- Non-warship losses
- Approximately a thousand drone parasite dropships similar to the CASPAR drones of the SLDF
- Approximately 500 wings of drone ASFs of the Voidseeker and BlackWasp type
- Capital Units
- Friendly Casualties
In terms of total tonnage it was a relatively one-sided battle, although the casualties did hurt. Admiral von Falkenrick has sent in a request to the Admiralty to evaluate the effectiveness of the Long Beach-design due to a suspected design fault, as many were lost to damage that shouldn’t have been fatal according to the Admiral. Admiral Fisher has promised a full review of the old design, stating that he suspects it was due to the large magazines of subcapital missiles used by those ships.
The Department of Periphery Studies continues their obsession with being tramps, and are now organizing trips to several heritage railways in order to sneak onto box cars and do what they fondly believe to be ‘tramp things’. The hardworking staff of the Department has ensured that said railways are fully compensated for their cooperation in this latest madness, and people seem to be taking it in their usual good humor.
Then it’s budget time! You still quite enjoy sinking your teeth into the budgets, so you have a bit of a spring to your step as you head into the primary briefing.
Amaunet is up first, lounging behind the podium and looking quite relaxed. “Padrone, it is good that you have arrived.” she says, and if you are any judge of grifftiger expressions you are pretty sure she’s smirking slightly. “We will be continuing to focus mainly on the backend of things, specifically increasing our strategic materials output as much as possible. We will also be continuing to expand shipyards, logistics factories, and ASF production capacity. General Bradley will also have a preliminary report on the post-Nouvelle Picardie revisions to the Army. General?”
General Bradley takes the stage at this point. “Your Majesty, we continue to desperately need to increase Ferro Fibrous and Endo Steel production levels if we want to make full use of our industrial capacity. We also recommend continuing to boost our logistics footprint as much as possible.”
She looks over her notes. “Many of our Battlemech units have performed below expectations in the Nouvelle Picardie campaign, likewise our battle armor has shown varied deficiencies related to their ammunition dependence, our combat vehicles have likewise shown numerous faults again centered around logistical impact and the overly aggressive deployment of the Hyper-Assault Gauss system on platforms unable to support a sufficient ammunition load for the weapon. We have begun evaluating testbeds to determine the best way forward from here and are working with industry on the problem.”
“Now, I know you’ve seen this chart before, but it is a good visualization of where we are in regards to strategic materials. The situation is improving, but hardly anything that could be called ‘good’. With the new, more compact endo-steel the strain on ferro-fibrous supplies will be growing even stronger due to many of the proposed mech designs now making use of that armor composition.”
“In terms of procurement and budget this year, Your Majesty, we request the following.” the General concludes, bringing up the graphic on the screen.
- Imperial Griffon Army
- Production
- Strategic Materials
- New Orbital Factories (5 each)
- Double Heat Sinks
- Ferro Fibrous Armor
- Endo-Steel
- Expand Orbital Factories
- Double Heat Sinks
- Ferro Fibrous Armor
- Endo-Steel
- New Orbital Factories (5 each)
- Logistics Factories
- New Logistics Factories (5 each)
- Shin Tōkyō
- Porto Milano
- Nuova Fortezza
- Nowe Mazowsze
- Neuthüringen
- New Logistics Factories (5 each)
- Strategic Materials
- Procurement
- Conventional
- 5 Infantry Divisions
- Garrison
- 14 Garrison Divisions
- 14 Militia Divisions
- Conventional
- Production
Amaunet chuffs softly as General Bradley sits down. “I’ve been putting a bug in Grace’s ear about looking for ways to increase production rates of various materials, Padrone, so this doesn’t become a constant thorn in our side, but no promises.”
General Romanov is absent, attending a conference with her opposite numbers from the NRR and NRI. Her deputy however is present.
“Your Majesty, we continue to see the need for increased production of fighters at this time. In addition, we have been reviewing the performance of the Sunderland in patrol duties and our analysts have determined that while it is extremely effective, even at 100 tons it is struggling with the long range endurance requirements. We will be soon sending out requests for proposal to industry for a larger, small craft scale patrol bomber to supplement the Sunderland.”
- Imperial Griffon Aerospace Force
- Production
- New ASF Factories
- Awha
- Bāṛi
- Bellaterra
- Glorreich
- Landprettig
- Novolar
- Platzregensburg
- Pryyemnyy
- Pustina
- Shin Tōkyō
- New ASF Factories
- Procurement
- 90 Fleet Defense Wings
- 10 Heavy Carrier Wings
- 10 Strike Wings
- Production
Amaunet just twitches her tail, looking wise.
Admiral Fisher looks profoundly irritated as he takes the stage. “We’re completely freezing procurement of the Long Beach, if I thought for a moment that scrapping them wouldn’t cause a minor mutiny I’d do it in a heartbeat. The review isn’t complete, but the early indications are that it is indeed the damn magazines making them light up like fireworks rather than fighting ships. They may be critical for countering the big teleoperated missiles that the Dracs developed, but we’re not seeing anybody else using the damn things and they’re deathtraps otherwise. I’ve got my design teams working on a better solution that won’t kill more of our crews than the enemy does. Otherwise, we need to continue to grow production, we’ll be getting a few new Potemkins this year, which is excellent for shifting around large numbers of dropships but little else. In a few years we’ll start seeing true big iron coming online.”
- Imperial Griffon Navy
- Production
- Orbital Shipyards
- Construct new Orbital Shipyards
- Porto Milano
- Nuova Fortezza
- Nowe Mazowsze
- Neuthüringen
- Upgrade Existing Orbital Shipyards
- Construct new Orbital Shipyards
- Refit & Repair Yards
- New Refit & Repair Yard
- Arvum
- Upgrade all existing Refit & Repair Yards
- New Refit & Repair Yard
- Escort Yards
- Kurortas
- Olej
- Pinball
- Pustina
- Raj
- Steingarten
- Glorreich
- Grand View
- Novolar
- Pryyemnyy
- Landprettig
- Bellaterra
- Nubifragio
- Platzregensburg
- Shin Tōkyō
- Porto Milano
- Nuova Fortezza
- Nowe Mazowsze
- Neuthüringen
- Small Warship Yards
- Nya Kopenhamn
- Kainga
- Edelsteine
- New Capricorn
- Pieklo
- New Phoenix
- Large Warship Yard
- Griffon
- Calliope
- New Pollux
- Nowy Warszawa
- Orbital Shipyards
- Procurement
- Standard Dropships
- 165 Bainbridge-class Destroyers
- 90 Wright-class Dockable ASF Platforms
- 50 Trenton-class Transports
- Large Dropships
- 20 Meteor-class Parasite Missile Battleships
- 40 Aetna-class Parasite Missile Battleships
- 30 Saipan-class Parasite Carriers
- 19 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
- Jumpships
- 9 Windjammer-jumpships
- Escorts
- 30 Fubuki-class Destroyers
- 30 England-class Frigates
- 40 Lyr-class Corvettes
- Light Warships
- 30 Dido-class Light Cruisers
- 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi-class Light Cruisers
- 4 Hosho-class Carriers
- Medium Warships
- 20 Prinz Eugen-class Heavy Cruisers
- Large Warships
- 2 Dreadnought-class Battleships
- 2 Jean Bart-class Battlecruisers
- Standard Dropships
- Fortress Command
- Black Tower
- Chuma
- Skala
- Pieklo
- Steingarten
- Pustina
- Kurortas
- Black Tower
- Production
Amaunet clears her throat. “Padrone, I strongly recommend the Escort yard construction, primarily because the small boys have been doing yeoman’s work opposing the Black Steel and we barely have enough of them to properly screen anything due to the heavy losses they take.”
Elizabeth Lee takes over at that point, although Amaunet remains lounging where she was. “Your Majesty, needless to say, the Ministry of the Interior is fully prepared to assist with any construction required by the military. We also have a number of our own recommendations as well.”
“To start with, our analysts have determined where we can best direct Imperial funding and investment in the most efficacious manner to benefit the Empire as a whole. In general we are focusing on those systems which are falling behind the others in the hopes of building up a broad base of economic support that is resistant to economic shocks and downturns.”
- Economic Focus, Investment & Zoning
- Economic Focus
- Core
- Nowy Wrocław
- Periphery
- Glorreich
- Core
- Major Investment
- Core
- Pieklo
- Periphery
- Olej
- Core
- Investment
- Okusawa
- Infrastructure & Industrial Zones
- Bohren
- Kurortas
- Landprettig
- Skala
- Arvum
- Economic Focus
“Next,” she continues as she checks her notes. “DoME has seven teams free, and we have had several requests for their services above and beyond terraforming activities. Not that we are neglecting that, the Bāṛi is economically ready to be reclassified as a Core world, but due to the inability of the planet to support its population without external assistance we still need to complete more terraforming work, as an example.”
She smiles slightly. “So we’ll begin with the terraforming and optimization projects, of which there are four.”
- DoME Terraforming & Planetary Optimization
- Optimization
- Periphery - Pustina
- Terraforming
- Bāṛi
- Iskra
- Chuma
- Optimization
- General DoME Projects
- Expand Shin Tōkyō Arcologies
- Establish Major Army Base - Arvum
- Establish Major Fleet Base - Arvum
Dr. Kamoto is up next, looking quite inscrutable at his first meeting as head of the Foreign Ministry. “Your Majesty, the diplomatic corps has been busy reassuring our allies of our commitment to the alliance, as well as preparing for the next Olympiad.”
You blink at that, there’s been so much else going on that you haven’t had the time to pay attention to the Pan-Griffon Games, which have been running for the past several months. Dr Kamoto smiles slightly at your expression. “The games are scheduled to be hosted on New Port Royal next time, so we are already preparing the ground for things. Other than that, the Foreign Ministry has no significant budget requests at this time.”
You nod and turn your attention to Tiberius, who’s wearing the most god awful eye-searing tie-dye toga you’d ever imagined, courtesy of his youngest kids and your youngest kids who conspired to create that abomination against good taste and ocular health. “Boss, the Political Office has got two asks for you this year, first that we expand the Civil Service some more, and second that we continue boosting the Parks & Recreation budget. The Imperial park system has been garnering some excellent reviews and are heavily used by the citizenry, plus the management contracts for individual parks have become hotly contested by local small businesses.”
Grace is up next. “We’re still trying to figure out methods to boost strategic material production that won’t break the bank, Your Majesty, but until then we do have several research proposals.”
She brings up a chart for you to review.
- Research Recommendations
- Non-Military
- Improved Automation lvl 9
- We are ready to improve automation technology across the Empire, with all attendant economic benefits. Above all else, it will increase our long-term efficiency in terms of our upkeep expenses
- Improved Education lvl 9
- Further improving our educational system is crucial to avoid societal issues related to improving automation technology. Our greatest advantage as an Empire has long been our excellent educational and research infrastructure, so despite the expense it is heavily recommended that we continue this tradition
- Improved Automation lvl 9
- Military
- Improved Orbital Drop Cocoons
- Due to the extreme risks involved, units that are not themselves equipped with jump jets are as a matter of military doctrine not used in the orbital insertion role. Improving the drop cocoons with more reliable and better integrated landing thrusters as well as built-in ECM systems may allow for more intensive orbital drops on target with more than simply LAM units.
- Improved Escape Pods & Lifeboats
- The current generation of escape pods & lifeboats are substantially better than their Star League era ancestors, however there are proposals allowing for even more efficient use of volume and mass in order to allow the same number of pods/lifeboats to handle more people in an extreme emergency
- Full Head Ejection System
- We have long noted the very high probability of injuries and death from Mechwarrior ejection systems. Fundamentally, this is due to the extreme circumstances surrounding such ejections, as well as the obviously low initial altitude involved. Ejecting the entire cockpit assembly, rather than simply the seat and Mechwarrior, would eliminate the most common sources of such injuries.
- Improved Orbital Drop Cocoons
- Non-Military
General Messerschmidt is up next. “Your Majesty, interrogations of captured pirates continue, and I would like to request permission to dangle the possibility of not being spaced for their crimes as a means to incentivize greater cooperation. As it stands, we are developing highly concerning intelligence related to Rouges Noir involvement with the pirate leadership. We may very well soon have a three front war on our hands.” He looks grim as he speaks.
| [] | Action | Result |
| [] | Permit the offer of life imprisonment rather than death to captured pirates who cooperate |
|
| [] | They’re pirates, they’ll lie if they think it’ll help them dodge the rope just as much as they’ll lie to avoid torture. No deal. |
|
Finally Martina takes the podium, looking rather stressed out. “Your Majesty, I know this will not be welcome, after we had to spend a great deal of funds to expand the IGMP last year, but we need to continue to grow it, they have barely any margin available to cover all of their responsibilities throughout the Empire right now, and any growth will see them overstretched again. In addition we would like to request greater funding to the Special Branch.”