Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

[Rukatin]

We probably need the morale boost, while I agree that it's very silly.

[X] Go along with the silliness and authorize the Heraldic Registry

 

[Winter_Wind45]

[X] Go along with the silliness and authorize the Heraldic Registry

 

[Yacovo]

[X] Go along with the silliness and authorize the Heraldic Registry

I warned you guys that authorizing the Historical Heritage Bureau last turn may lead to more silly agencies being founded. That being said under $100,000 is chump change so this should do little harm. If a third one comes up I am getting my mallet.

 

[Thors_Alumni]

And I'll Help, but only if you use the mallet on the ones who deserve being hit by the mallet.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

[X] Go along with the silliness and authorize the Heraldic Registry

 

[Brogatar]

[X] This is a total waste of time

 

[AlphaOmega]

[X] Go along with the silliness and authorize the Heraldic Registry

 

[The Whispering Monk]

We'll also need to make sure that our Royal Heraldy is the first entry made in the Registry, cuz reasons.

 

[Rukatin]

Oh we should host a design contest empire wide to have people create heraldry for their home planets!

 

[ShadowArxxy]

We'll also need to make sure that our Royal Heraldy is the first entry made in the Registry, cuz reasons.

Obviously, the Royal Heraldry should be the first entry in the Registry, and the second should be the official heraldry for the Department of Periphery Studies.

 

[LordSunhawk]

Turn 115 - Spaced

Planning and preparation for the invasion of the Rouges Noir is going rather well, all things considered. The slight hiccup with the scout cruiser dropships notwithstanding, your forces are training hard in preparation, your transport echelon is sorting itself out, and the Expeditionary Fleet is drilling extensively. The Grand Fleet, meanwhile, is engaged in intensive OpFor training with the Expeditionary Fleet while Black Steel activity remains minimal.

Your daughter’s unit is shipping out to New Libertalia to stage for their role in the invasion, giving you plenty of cause to worry. In your head you know that she’s in an elite unit, with excellent chances to survive and even thrive in combat conditions, but as a mother this is still gut wrenching.

The silliness with the Heraldic Registry is still echoing through the media sphere as they get to work. You make a point to ensure that the Imperial heraldry, both for the Empire itself, the Imperial Family, and the various ministries and branches of the military, are registered first in order to prevent easily anticipated problems. A number of late-night alleged comedians are rather put out by you taking away sources of cheap laughs for them. When asked about it, you simply smile sweetly and make noncommittal noises of generic condolences.

General Romanov has finally retired from the Aerospace Force. General Alexander Perkins has taken over her position as the Aerospace Force’s CO. General Perkins is a bit young for his rank, but is a triple ace in combat against the Black Steel, prior to being medically decertified from flight duty. He took that at the run, switching to the logistics track and proving himself an excellent leader and organizer. He has the respect of both pilots, maintainers, and operations personnel within the Aerospace Force and is widely considered a superb choice for the position.

You find him to be a rather likable individual, despite the minor detail that all four of his limbs have been replaced with prosthetics since for some reason his immune system really dislikes cloned replacements. The metal plate that replaced part of his face is also an interesting touch, and would be quite horrifying if the person behind it wasn’t so cheerful about the whole thing, refusing to wallow in self-pity but rather maintaining a positive outlook on life.

Somehow surviving when his Eagle got blasted by a Black Steel naval laser is quite impressive, you think.

You get reports from the Special Branch and IGMP about a smuggling bust involving criminal elements across the Empire, the NRI, NRR and the Bourbons. The product being smuggled? Fraudulently labeled casks of booze that claimed to be from New Libertalia but were actually the cheapest, nastiest rotgut that you could imagine. The smugglers had duplicated customs tags, forged packaging, and gone to great trouble to make the crap look like absolute top of the line New Libertalia liquor. Thankfully law enforcement was able to break up the scheme before too many people went blind from the crap.

The audacity of the criminal element is sometimes rather impressive, but this group made the mistake of drawing the attention of the headmistress at St Trinians by trying to cheat her as well. Considering her ties to the Special Branch that was a fatal mistake on their part.

Now it is budget time.

Amaunet kicks things off from where she’s lounging behind the podium with a general overview of the military needs. “Well, Padrone, in a few years we’ll kick off the first full up invasion and conquest since we defeated the Dracs decades back. This will be the largest military operation in our history, and I am happy to report that we are on track and will be ready to go on time.” She gives a feline grin, showing a few too many teeth. “Or I’ll know why. Our strategic material production has finally gotten to the point where it is needful to expand vehicle and mech production capacity for maximum efficiency. General Bradley will explain that better. Aerospace procurement will begin again, General Perkins will give you the full details, and, of course, the Navy continues to grow. Admiral Fisher will growl and be grumpy for you.”

Said admiral gives his superior a dirty look as the rest of the room chuckles at his expense.

General Bradley takes the podium then. “Your Majesty, we had a choice between expanding our Mech and our Conventional production capacity this year. The decision was made to expand conventional capacity in anticipation of potentially needing to build a large number of infantry units to occupy the Rouges Noir worlds.” She checks her notes. “Next year we will expand mech production, but we wanted to get all of our ducks in a row first.”

She brings up a chart showing the Army’s budget requests.

• Imperial Griffon Army
  • Production
    • Conventional Factories (5 each)
      • Neuhessen
      • Iskra
      • Shin Tōkyō
      • Stenen Tuin
      • New Libertalia
  • Procurement
    • Conventional
      • 10 Light Combat Team Divisions
      • 2 Light Armored Divisions
    • Garrison
      • 23 Garrison Divisions
      • 23 Militia Divisions

General Perkins looks rather fierce with all of the exposed metal, he doesn’t really care for aesthetic coverings of his prosthetics after all. He does clank a bit as he walks to the podium. “Your Majesty, your Aerospace Force is ready to begin production once more. Our production levels are good, we could use a few more training wings, and would like to use the relative lull in action to shore up our support elements in preparation for the upcoming invasion.”

His voice is crisp and professional. “For the record, Your Majesty, our testing has shown that the Goshawk is our best atmospheric platform for ground support missions. In the design stage, particular attention was paid to ensuring that this particular bird would be fully optimized for atmospheric flight, giving it an advantage in ground support roles.”

• Imperial Griffon Aerospace Force
  • Procurement
    • 5 Training Wings
    • 60 Light Attack Wings
    • 60 Patrol Wings

He sits down as Admiral Fisher stumps up to the podium, looking a bit thunderous. “I don’t like how quiet the Black Steel is, that always means that they’re building up their forces in order to hit us even harder. Therefore we need to double down on our own build up in order to hopefully hold off their next strike. The Navy is looking forward to the conclusion of the Rouges Noir operation so that we can begin offensive action against the Black Steel in hopes of hitting their production capacity. Just being on the defensive is becoming too costly.” He glares around the room at that as he brings up the budget request chart.

• Imperial Griffon Navy
  • Production
    • Orbital Shipyards
      • Expand All Orbital Shipyards
    • Refit & Repair Yards
      • Expand all Refit & Repair Yards
    • Escort Yards
      • Neubayern
      • Neuhessen
      • Nouvelle Bourgogne
      • Nuova Lombardia
      • Nuova Puglia
      • Nuovo Abruzzo
      • Nyū Shikoku
      • Stenen Tuin
      • New Libertalia
      • Nuova Tripoli
      • Awha
      • Catachan
      • Feurstern
      • Neuthüringen
      • Nowe Mazowsze
      • Nox
      • Platzregensburg
      • Iskra
      • New Algiers
      • New Clew Bay
      • Nubifragio
      • Bellaterra
      • Bohren
      • Landprettig
      • Porto Milano
    • Small Warship Yards
      • Pieklo
      • New Phoenix
      • Okusawa
      • New Castor
      • New Port Royal
      • Nowy Wrocław
      • Bari
      • Nowy Slask
      • Chuma
      • Glorreich
    • Large Warship Yards
      • Griffon
      • Calliope
      • New Pollux
      • Nowy Warszawa
  • Procurement
    • Standard Dropships
      • 200 Shimakaze-class Parasite Destroyers
      • 200 Spruance-class Parasite Destroyers
      • 12 Lublin-class Transports
    • Large Dropships
      • 90 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
      • 90 Normandy-class Transports
      • 33 Charleston-class Transports
      • 10 Omaha-class Parasite Scout Cruisers
    • Jumpships
      • 9 Windjammer-class Jumpships
    • Escorts
      • 70 Battle-class Destroyers
      • 100 Lyr-class Corvettes
    • Small Warships
      • 40 Dido-class Light Cruisers
      • 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi-class Light Cruisers
      • 20 De Grasse-class Light Cruisers
      • 2 Hosho-class Light Carriers
    • Medium Warships
      • 20 Prinz Eugen-class Heavy Cruisers
    • Large Warships
      • 10 Dreadnought-class Battleships
      • 2 Saratoga-class Fleet Carriers
  • Fortress Command
    • Black Tower
      • Skala
      • Pieklo
      • Bauernparadis
      • Kaiyo
      • Grand View

Elizabeth Lee takes over at this point, smiling as the grumpy admiral stumps back to his seat. “The Interior Ministry is ready to assist with anything needed as usual, Your Majesty.” She grins a little at the rather rote phrase that she’s said at nearly every budget meeting. “After all, that’s what you pay us the big bucks for.”

She checks her notes. “To start with, we have a number of idle DoME teams that we should point in the general direction of doing their jobs rather than getting up to mischief. We have the following recommendations for where they can be best employed.”

• DoME
  • Planetary Optimization
    • Nouvelle Bourgogne
  • Terraforming
    • Pinball
    • Olej
    • Nubifragio
    • Porto Milano
    • New Clew Bay

“While the economy is doing quite well, it can always do better.” Elizabeth continues. “Our analysts have been busy determining the best allocation of our resources to serve the people of the Empire.”

• Economic Focus, Investment, and Infrastructure
  • Economic Focus
    • Core
      • New Pollux
    • Periphery
      • Raj
  • Major Investment
    • Core
      • Chuma
    • Periphery
      • Newbayern
  • Investment
    • Nox
  • Infrastructure & Industrial Zones
    • Arvum
    • Nouvelle Bourgogne
    • Bohren
    • Landprettig
    • Nuova Puglia

Agostina San Severino then takes the podium. “Your Majesty, the Foreign Ministry is in overall solid shape with no major concerns. Our Cultural Affairs Division, however, is requesting permission to put on an Empire-wide benefit concert in an effort to keep up morale. With the Olympics coming up next year, this should be a good time for this.”

Tiberius is off overseeing the final details of the latest Civil Service expansion, now that it is nearly completed.

Grace is looking slightly frazzled. “Your Majesty, I’ve got seven R&D teams all bombarding me with project proposals. I believe our budget is healthy enough to support them. First, however, let me give you an overview of what we have available that is new, then give my own recommendations for where to go.”

• Research & Development
  • New Projects
    • Advanced 3cm Extended Range Lasers
      • The smallest iteration of the technologies involved in the 8cm extended range laser. Researching this should make it easier to solve the issues inherent in the 5cm version
    • Advanced 5cm Extended Range Lasers
      • As with the 3cm version, however the energy throughput levels make this project much more challenging
    • Micro Pulse Lasers
      • Proposals have been made for 1cm pulse lasers building upon small arms technology
    • Anti-Swarm ASF Doctrine
      • A large body of data has been acquired on the performance and behaviors of the Black Steels swarm ASF drones. While the Aerospace Force is working to mitigate the advantages those automated weapons provide, focused R&D should also be used to mitigate some of the advantages the enemy enjoys because of it
  • Recommendations
    • Advanced Compact Core Construction VII
    • Advanced Compact Core Design VII
    • Advanced Compact Core Theory VII
    • Advanced Damage Control (Parasite)
    • Advanced Damage Control (WarShip)
    • Anti-Swarm ASF Doctrine
    • One of the following
      • Advanced ER 3cm Lasers
      • Micro Pulse Lasers

General Messerschmidt is still overseeing several intelligence operations and has sent you a memo stating that there are no new budget requests, as his ministry has sufficient resources for what they need to do.

You’ve also gotten a memo from Martina, she’s personally prosecuting the booze smugglers case, since she likes to keep her hand in on such things. The legal environment for the Empire is doing quite well, with sufficient law enforcement resources available.

 

[Artifex]

Nice workup this round.

A question however, one of the best damage avoidance approaches for spaceships is evidently entering fights in vacuum and suited up in EVA suits. Since there is no air to transmit shockwaves / fires & fires get snuffed out pretty quickly in vacuum.

Is there any research option for that or ... ? I recall in one of the rounds in the past we've had some enterprising Navy captains experiment with that but it never took off?

 

[Jarow]

[X] Plan: Warships and Lasers
-[X] Procurement [$ 292,657,688,915.53 ]
--[X] Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $8,757,393,266.00 ] (95)
---[X] 200 Shimakaze [95]
---[X] 200 Spruance [95]
---[X] 12 Lublin [95]

---[X] 90 Normandy [95]
---[X] 90 Mikasa [95]
---[X] 33 Charleston [95]
---[X] 10 Omaha [95]

--[X] Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $41,940,121.95 ] (90)
---[X] 9 Windjammer [90]

--[X] Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $25,126,801,700.00 ] (90)
---[X] 40 Dido*
---[X] 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi*
---[X] 20 De Grasse*
---[X] 1 Hosho*

---[X] 10 Prinz Eugen*
---[X] 10 Algerie*
---[X] 20 Prinz Eugen*

---[X] 8 Dreadnought*
---[X] 12 Dreadnought*
---[X] 10 Dreadnought*
---[X] 2 Saratoga*

---[X] 80 Battle [90]
---[X] 0 England [90]
---[X] 100 Lyr [90]

---[X] 40 Dido [90]
---[X] 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi [90]
---[X] 20 De Grasse [90]
---[X] 2 Hosho [90]

---[X] 20 Prinz Eugen [90]
---[X] 0 Algerie [90]

---[X] 10 Dreadnought [90]
---[X] 2 Saratoga [90]

--[X] Purchase New Units [Minor Unit - $ 29,730,903,827.58 ] (90)
---[X] 0 Fighter Wing [auto]
---[X] 60 Patrol Wing [90]
---[X] 60 Light Attack Wing [90]
---[X] 5 Training Wing [90]

---[X] 10 Light Combat Team Division [90]
---[X] 2 Light Armored Division [90]

---[X] 23 Garrison Division [90]
---[X] 23 Militia Division [90]

--[X] Fortress Command [$ 229,000,650,000.00 ] (90)
---[X] Build Jump Point Defenses
---[X] Construct Silver Tower
---[X] Construct Oasis II
---[X] Construct Black Tower
----[X] Skala [90]
----[X] Pieklo [90]
----[X] Bauernpardis [90]
----[X] Kaiyo [90]
----[X] Grand View [90]

-[X] General [$ 2,214,900,000,000.00 ]
--[X] Focus Development on Core World New Pollux [85]
--[X] Focus Development on Peripheral World Raj [85]
--[X] Massive Core Investment Chuma [80]
--[X] Massive Peripheral Investment Nyu Neubayern [80]
--[X] Economic Investment Noxo [90]
--[X] Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nuova Puglia [90]
--[X] Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Bohren [90]
--[X] Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Landprettig [90]
--[X] Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
--[X] Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Arvum [90]
(We need to keep our economy growing to support our warfleets and research division)

--[X] Expand Civil Service* [auto]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nuovo Abruzzo [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Stenen Tuin [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard New Libertalia [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Neuthuringen [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Porto Milano [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nuova Triploi [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Awha [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Catachan [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Feurstem [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nowe Mazowsze [90]

--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Platzregensburg [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Neubayern [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nyū Shikoku [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Landprettig [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Neuhessen [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nuova Lombardia [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nuova Puglia [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard New Algiers [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard New Clew Bay [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Bellaterra [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Bohren [90]

--[X] Construct Escort Yard Iskra [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nubifragio [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nox [90]
(We need more warships)
--[X] Construct Conventional Military Factory (95)
---[X] Neuhessen [95]
---[X] Iskra [95]
---[X] Shin Tōkyō [95]
---[X] Stenen Tuin [95]
---[X] New Libertalia [95]
(Probably going to be needed to support occupation forces)
--[X] Upgrade Refit & Repair Yard [105]
--[X] Expand Orbital Shipyards [105]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard Calliope [->1]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [->1]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard Griffon [->1]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard New Pollux [->1]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard New Capricorn* [90]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard Edelsteine* [90]

--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard Nya Kopenhamn* [90]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard Kainga* [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard New Phoenix [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Okusawa [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard New Port Royal [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Nowy Wroclaw [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard New Castor [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Pieklo [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Bari [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Nowy Slask [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Chuma [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Glorreich [90]
(We need warships. Many warships)

-[X] DoME [$ 632,000,000,000.00 ]
--[X] Expand Shin Tōkyō Arcologies* [90]
--[X] Terraforming Grand View* [->1]
--[X] Terraforming Feurstem* [->1]
--[X] Terraforming Pustina* [->1]
--[X] Terraforming Shin Tokyo* [->1]
--[X] Terraforming Pinball [->2]
--[X] Terraforming Olej [->2]
--[X] Terraforming Nubifragio [->2]
--[X] Terraforming Porto Milano [->2]
--[X] Terraforming New Clew Bay [->2]
(Nice planets make us more money)
--[X] Construct Major Fleet Base - New Libertalia* [80]
--[X] Nouveau Paris Cleanup* [->1]

--[X] Planetary Optimization (Peripheral) - Nouvelle Bourgogne [->1]

-[X] Research [$ 10,750,000,000,000.00 ]
--[X] Advanced ER 3cm Lasers [->4]
(Not as useful as 5cm, but gets us a dc bonus and makes me feel less like I'm overbudgeting research)
--[X] Anti-Swarm ASF Doctrine [->2]
(Making sure ASFs can't interfere as well with big space battles sounds like a smart idea to me)
--[X] Improved Pilot Exosuits Level 1* [55]
--[X] Advanced Damage Control (Parasite) [->4]
--[X] Advanced Damage Control (WarShip) [->4]
(Reduces our per battle losses, which are pretty punishing)
--[X] Advanced Compact Core Construction VII [->4]
--[X] Advanced Compact Core Design VII [->4]
--[X] Advanced Compact Core Theory VII [->4]
(Unlocks big boats, good for fighting real opponents)
--[X] Commercial R&D [-]
--[X] Industrial R&D [-]

-[X] Culture [$ 1,250,000,000 ]
--[X] Culture - Charity Concert [75]

-[X] Miscellaneous [$ 134,700,000,000 ]
--[X] Production Contract [->0][134,700,000,000]

$1.8t leftover.

A question however, one of the best damage avoidance approaches for spaceships is evidently entering fights in vacuum and suited up in EVA suits. Since there is no air to transmit shockwaves / fires & fires get snuffed out pretty quickly in vacuum.

Is there any research option for that or ... ? I recall in one of the rounds in the past we've had some enterprising Navy captains experiment with that but it never took off?

Given the oxygen would be needed again after the fight, it's possible it was studied and found too inefficient or caused other problems. We're currently researching pilot exosuits though; given they can easily return to their carrier for more oxygen they're probably doing that in their ASFs.

 

[Winter_Wind45]

[X] Plan: Warships and Lasers

 

[darkcloudt2]

[X] Plan: Warships and Lasers

 

[Yacovo]

[X] Plan: Warships and Lasers

Plans for the Plan Fish!

That 55 research at the end has me a bit nervous, but as long as there isn’t 5 100s like last time we should be fine. Also I love how a warship yard is a priceless treasure worth fighting wars for in the Inner Sphere and we’re here pumping out dozens a turn.

 

[Thors_Alumni]

[X] Plan: Warships and Lasers

 

[Rukatin]

[X] Plan: Warships and Lasers

 

[Artifex]

[X] Plan: Warships and Lasers

 

[Havalt300]

[X] Plan: Warships and Lasers