Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
I don't think we should go straight from "they just won't stop coming" to "KILL 'EM ALL!", at least if we have the option to not just ignore them in general.

Blockade means ZERO surface to orbit traffic.

When you’re at the point of having to rig dire penguin style defenses using FUSION TORCHES to keep fanatical mass wave attacks off, there’s simply nothing sane enough to possibly save. The Rouges have literally already pushed us to Full Amaris out of actual tactical need.
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
When you’re at the point of having to rig dire penguin style defenses using FUSION TORCHES to keep fanatical mass wave attacks off, there’s simply nothing sane enough to possibly save. The Rouges have literally already pushed us to Full Amaris out of actual tactical need.
I disagree that we've reached that point yet. We have evidence that they have at least a small dissident population. That means you can bet your butt-cheek of choice that there are more who've been behaving b/c they don't want to be culled.

We've likely eroded a decent chunk of their obedient and willing. Pull off planet...potentially with the release of nukes, or ortillery to shield the withdrawal of our forces.

Once we're gone...seal 'em up...let the pressure cook and see what happens. We can always release the Solar Geni later.

My point is...if we do it now, it's not something we can correct later. It also labels us as 'the Empire that believes in sterilization of worlds to solve our problems'. Deserved or not...it's there.
 

AlphaOmega

Well-known member
Once we're gone...seal 'em up...let the pressure cook and see what happens
From we saw the obedient are in the vast majority with how many people mindlessly threw themselves at us and more are still coming with no indication the Rouges Noir leadership is in any way worried about any unrest so if opposition exists outside of those prisoner camps it is likely insignificant. Assuming the Rouges simply didn’t kill them all when it became really inefficient to keep them in said camps like they did on RN3 when our forces pushed them back enough.
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
I disagree that we've reached that point yet. We have evidence that they have at least a small dissident population.

Given how extreme their ideological conformity is, "dissidents" are virtually guaranteed to be only slightly less bugfuck insane but still far too fanatically Communist to have any realistic hope of rehabilitation. Frankly, the level of utter insanity in this system practically calls for classing these people as a cognitohazard.

And We have a moral obligation to Our own armed forces not to waste their lives so frivolously.
 

Yacovo

Occasionally spouting nonsense
And We have a moral obligation to Our own armed forces not to waste their lives so frivolously.
Keep in mind that this is said to be a world with good resources. I’d rather not completely ruin it with nukes and bombardment if it can be a good colony afterwards. Especially if the populace is already reduced to pirate planet strength by the Bioweapons.
 

AlphaOmega

Well-known member
Keep in mind that this is said to be a world with good resources. I’d rather not completely ruin it with nukes and bombardment if it can be a good colony afterwards. Especially if the populace is already reduced to pirate planet strength by the Bioweapons.
BT nukes are fusion ones and need to be made dirty on purpose so as long as we don’t use dirty nukes we should be fine. Though I guess we should as @LordSunhawk just to be sure. I wouldn’t want to advocate for an option under false assumptions.
 
Turn 117 - Last Child

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
Turn 117 - Last Child

<Combat Report - Operation:Good News>

The landing force dropped hard and fast, eschewing subtlety in favor of pure, raw firepower. A hole was blasted into the anti-orbital defenses and, even before the shockwaves from the strike had dissipated the landing force was hitting atmosphere and screaming in hot.

Almost too hot, several Normandy-class transports actually landed so hard that they took damage to their drives and landing gear. But all landed safely and a mix of battle armored infantry and mechs stormed out, fanning out to storm their objective and establish a defensive perimeter.

Wolf Spiders like the one your daughter pilots unleashed PPC hell upon the Rouges Noir, annihilating identified strongpoints in crackling fury. Pulse lasers savaged enemy infantry, which were present in relatively heavy strength considering what was expected.

It becomes clear very quickly that the Rouges Noir did not expect this attack. The identified detention facilities fall before the guards can do much more than gape in shock as battle armored infantry storm their barracks and guard posts.

Your daughter’s lance was one of the first units inside the facility, and part of the initial report was written by her.

And you are utterly enraged by what you read.

The facilities were used to ‘process individuals’ into service to the collective. It was also used to ‘groom suitable agents for external duties’.

The first makes you throw up in your mouth. Rape, torture both physical and mental, and drugs were used to completely break foreign prisoners, once they were broken they were ‘rebuilt’ as ‘proper members of the collective’ using similar things as threats to ensure compliance. In some cases, male prisoners were forced to rape female prisoners by the guards, and the resulting children are then taken and trained from birth to be infiltration agents of the Rouges Noir, since they would strongly differ from the general phenotype of the Rouges Noir.

This is something that has started to be remarked on, the remarkable similarity in phenotype among all representatives of the Rouges Noir so far encountered. They are all tall, ebon skinned, with exceptionally similar builds and proportions, but with more asiatic facial features and a tendency towards straight black hair. There seems to be remarkably little variation on this theme. Even eye color is completely consistent, black eyes. There are many theories floating around, ranging from rampant inbreeding to cloning, but no definite answers as of yet.

There has been discussion about sharing DNA samples and such with the Kilburroughans to allow for faster analysis. After their work on the bio weapon antidote and immunization they are in quite good odor with your scientific community for biomedical research.

[]ActionArgumentEffect
[]Authorize cooperation with KilburroughThey’ve shown themselves to be reliable and while it would be nice to do this ourselves this will allow us to get this done faster, perhaps fast enough to actually matter.
  • Complete event “Rouges Noir Phenotype” on Turn 119
[]We’ll do it ourselvesWe can do this ourselves, we don’t need the assistance of those creepy folks.
  • Complete event “Rouges Noir Phenotype” on Turn 121
  • +1 Research Event counter

Within the compound that has been liberated is another discovery, extremely advanced somatic and hypnotic conditioning devices built using technology far beyond the norm for the Rouges Noir, gear that appears to be several hundred years old and of likely Star League manufacture. The most ominous part of it is found when soldiers examine the gear closely, discovering markings that have been identified as that of Star League Intelligence Command. There are only a few devices recovered, but based on serial numbers it is to be expected that many more exist. In addition, there are parts in the devices which have obviously been of local manufacture as replacements or repairs, showing that the Rouges Noir had the ability to produce this equipment.

What also enrages you is that the prisoners, while mostly of Bourbon origin, include several dozen Griffon citizens who’d been captured by pirates and evidently sold to the Rouges Noir years earlier. Most were effectively mind-broken husks of human beings at this point, after years of abuse. Some had broken completely and served their captors.

From your daughter’s letters, what she saw there has only firmed up her resolve, as far as she’s concerned, the Rouges Noir have forfeited any claim to being human by the sheer inhumanity of their actions.

-----

The fighting elsewhere in the Rouges Noir continues to rage. You authorize the use of fusion devices on RN 4, on the logic that the enemy would use such against your troops anyways and the after effects will be less than the release of more bio weapons. This is conducted in a manner similar to the means used to secure LZs for landing, naval force strikes at the anti-orbital defense batteries, then fires volleys of fusion-head capital missiles to destroy the unprotected area. It will be slow going, since the anti-orbital defenses here are still quite strong.

Elsewhere, on RN 1 fighting continues to rage, the population here is extremely large and evidently there is a substantial munitions industry on the planet supporting the attacks. Elsewhere the fighting is less intense, with longer gaps between waves of attackers and with fewer and fewer combat vehicles involved. In addition, more of the attackers in RN 2 and 3 are armed with improvised weapons, yet they still seem inclined to swarm and attack rather than give up. The sheer tenacity is rather impressive, in a twisted sort of way.

What is also impressive, in the same twisted sort of way, is the evident sincerity of it all. The Rouges Noir truly believe what they preach and live it at all levels, there is no evidence of any class distinctions, no evidence of any difference between leadership and follower, no sign of any hypocrisy on their part. They may be monstrous, but they are sincerely so. In many ways it almost makes it worse.

That very sincerity makes them a threat that must be destroyed, because they will not, cannot, stop their attempts to impose their ideology on everybody around them, because to them it is a moral imperative to do so. Individuality anywhere is a threat to the collective, and must be extinguished. Coexistence is impossible.

-----

There isn’t much going on with Parliament this year, just routine business that you handle routinely, since it’s so routine as to be routine. You do have to make some decisions about the future of the former Rouges Noir worlds once you’ve defeated them.

You can either claim them for yourself, resettling them and incorporating them into the Empire, leave them fallow and abandoned, or let the Bourbon’s have them. Three of the worlds are marginal at best, with only RN1 capable of sustaining a large population without significant terraforming. RN4 is the only system of any economic value at all, but you have plenty of much wealthier systems that won’t require massive reconstruction.

[]ActionResult
[]Turn them over to the Bourbons
  • Improves relations with the Bourbons
[]Leave them fallow
  • The Bourbons will eventually claim them
[]Take them for the Empire
  • Griffon Will Grow Larger
 

Yacovo

Occasionally spouting nonsense
[X]Authorize cooperation with Kilburrough
[X]Turn them over to the Bourbons

Anyone want to guess why everyone in RN looks the same? Cloning is too boring for me.

My theory is that they “weaponized” their genes using Star League tech to force the “proper” Collective phenotype on whatever they breed with. They probably found a Control phenotype for genetic experiments and thought it was the Superior phenotype due to being the most stable.

They likely have vast “production” facilities to “manufacture” more drones in assembly lines and ensure collective ideology. After all, what is love but another form of individualism between two drones and flesh is cheap in the Battletech universe.
 
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The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
[X] Authorize cooperation with Kilburrough
[X] Turn them over to the Bourbons


The idea with taking the planets for ourselves means that we rather effectively encircle the Bourbons.

Though, now that I think about it...Giving these planets to the Bourbons gives them something to naturally expand into...a rival's lands they've been fighting for a LONG time. Gives the Bourbouns something to focus on besides making trouble for us. And we still encapsulate their space.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of the Bourbons dealing with the expense of recovering these planets instead of us.
 

Thors_Alumni

Well-known member
I really really want to claim those planets for Griffin's roost but OTOH the Bourbons have been fighting them for a long time and kind of sort of have better claim to them. Well that and there isn't anything stopping Griffin's roost from surrounding those worlds with their territory later on too so.

[X]Authorize cooperation with Kilburrough
[X]Turn them over to the Bourbons

The bourbons are both going to love us and hate us for this you all know this right?
 

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