Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[X] Wait for a Capital Shipyard
Winter_Wind45
Well-known member
[X] Wait for a Capital Shipyard
[X] Wait for a Capital Shipyard
Turn 125 - Young Lust
Turn 125 - Young Lust
While going over various reports you come across one that has your eyebrow raised almost to your hairline. With a population of just over three and a half million, and only being settled for less than a year, the New Portland system already has more strip clubs and ‘adult entertainment’ venues than the entire Griffon system, both per capita and absolute. You dig a bit deeper and find that a large number of the original settlers had come from New Port Royal, and they’d decided that the ‘entertainment’ culture there was too staid and boring.
So now there are every conceivable variety of ‘strip club’ establishments. From the reports, there are strip bars, strip restaurants, strip diners, strip fast food joints, strip coffee shops, strip book stores, strip convenience stores, strip grocery stores, strip law offices... The tourist trade to the system is booming far above what anybody had expected… and then your head impacts your desk a few times when you find the strip court…
You make a note that you are not bringing your grandkids there until they are older, and until you can embarrass your kids the most by doing so.
Speaking of grandkids, you are awash in them in the palace as all three of your married daughters are pregnant again. You are most certainly not ensuring that you send them back to their parents after feeding them loads of sugar and telling them that they should ‘help’ mommy and daddy with various projects. Not you, you would never do that. It’s obviously your (still) unmarried twin sons who are doing it. That’s your story and you are sticking to it like glue.
The fact that the palace walls are once again decorated with childish artwork rendered in crayons and fingerpaints is a welcome development, so much so that you bring out of storage your kids own artistic endeavors at that age to ‘inspire the creative muse’ in your grandkids, much to your kids’ mortification.
On a far more serious topic, your astronomers and analysts believe that they’ve located a highly probable location for a major Black Steel base at GX-D21, a blue supergiant that has all the characteristics typical of the sort of systems that the Black Steel prefer to place their bases in.
Admiral FIsher comes to you with a detailed operational plan, titled Operation: Bronze Gate, to strike at the system in a coordinated manner later this year. Grand Fleet, Strike Fleet and Expeditionary Fleet would all be involved in the attack, supported by the Logistics Fleet.
Strike Fleet would open the show, jumping in at a great distance, accompanied by the survey vessels and a large number of the Windjammer-class jumpships to create the illusion of a far larger force. The jumpships would go dark, while Mikasa-class dropships will do their best to masquerade as Tarantul and Asheville class raiders. As they burn into the system, they will monitor the Black Steel response, making use of the powerful sensor suites on the survey vessels to get a solid read on what the enemy is up to. They will transit observed force distributions back to the Arvum system, where the rest of the gathered force will be waiting.
Once the Black Steel force distribution is determined, the second phase of the operation will begin. Grand Fleet will target the strongest enemy defenses, while Expeditionary Fleet will target the weakest. Strike Fleet will retreat at this point, their part in the operation complete.
Ideally, the Black Steel will be caught in a vice, if they concentrate against the Grand Fleet then the Expeditionary Fleet will be able to destroy any infrastructure that the Black Steel has in the system, likewise if they concentrate against Expeditionary Fleet then the Grand Fleet would do the same.
It is, it must be said, a rather audacious plan. VIctory will deal significant damage to the Black Steel, but defeat would leave the Empire extremely vulnerable to any counter blows from the enemy. Admiral Fisher has confidence in the plan, but made a point to state that this will require the ENTIRE navy, outside of Home Fleet, to pull off. And he does not guarantee success.
While going over various reports you come across one that has your eyebrow raised almost to your hairline. With a population of just over three and a half million, and only being settled for less than a year, the New Portland system already has more strip clubs and ‘adult entertainment’ venues than the entire Griffon system, both per capita and absolute. You dig a bit deeper and find that a large number of the original settlers had come from New Port Royal, and they’d decided that the ‘entertainment’ culture there was too staid and boring.
So now there are every conceivable variety of ‘strip club’ establishments. From the reports, there are strip bars, strip restaurants, strip diners, strip fast food joints, strip coffee shops, strip book stores, strip convenience stores, strip grocery stores, strip law offices... The tourist trade to the system is booming far above what anybody had expected… and then your head impacts your desk a few times when you find the strip court…
You make a note that you are not bringing your grandkids there until they are older, and until you can embarrass your kids the most by doing so.
Speaking of grandkids, you are awash in them in the palace as all three of your married daughters are pregnant again. You are most certainly not ensuring that you send them back to their parents after feeding them loads of sugar and telling them that they should ‘help’ mommy and daddy with various projects. Not you, you would never do that. It’s obviously your (still) unmarried twin sons who are doing it. That’s your story and you are sticking to it like glue.
The fact that the palace walls are once again decorated with childish artwork rendered in crayons and fingerpaints is a welcome development, so much so that you bring out of storage your kids own artistic endeavors at that age to ‘inspire the creative muse’ in your grandkids, much to your kids’ mortification.
On a far more serious topic, your astronomers and analysts believe that they’ve located a highly probable location for a major Black Steel base at GX-D21, a blue supergiant that has all the characteristics typical of the sort of systems that the Black Steel prefer to place their bases in.
Admiral FIsher comes to you with a detailed operational plan, titled Operation: Bronze Gate, to strike at the system in a coordinated manner later this year. Grand Fleet, Strike Fleet and Expeditionary Fleet would all be involved in the attack, supported by the Logistics Fleet.
Strike Fleet would open the show, jumping in at a great distance, accompanied by the survey vessels and a large number of the Windjammer-class jumpships to create the illusion of a far larger force. The jumpships would go dark, while Mikasa-class dropships will do their best to masquerade as Tarantul and Asheville class raiders. As they burn into the system, they will monitor the Black Steel response, making use of the powerful sensor suites on the survey vessels to get a solid read on what the enemy is up to. They will transit observed force distributions back to the Arvum system, where the rest of the gathered force will be waiting.
Once the Black Steel force distribution is determined, the second phase of the operation will begin. Grand Fleet will target the strongest enemy defenses, while Expeditionary Fleet will target the weakest. Strike Fleet will retreat at this point, their part in the operation complete.
Ideally, the Black Steel will be caught in a vice, if they concentrate against the Grand Fleet then the Expeditionary Fleet will be able to destroy any infrastructure that the Black Steel has in the system, likewise if they concentrate against Expeditionary Fleet then the Grand Fleet would do the same.
It is, it must be said, a rather audacious plan. VIctory will deal significant damage to the Black Steel, but defeat would leave the Empire extremely vulnerable to any counter blows from the enemy. Admiral Fisher has confidence in the plan, but made a point to state that this will require the ENTIRE navy, outside of Home Fleet, to pull off. And he does not guarantee success.
| [] | Action | Result |
| [] | Approve Operation: Bronze Gate |
|
| [] | Disapprove Operation: Bronze Gate |
|
Orangeduke38
Well-known member
[x] Approve Operation: Bronze Gate
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[x] Approve Operation: Bronze Gate
Yacovo
Occasionally spouting nonsense
So they are leaving the blackjack and hookers planet to make their own planet, with EVEN MORE blackjack and hookers? Well at least that planet will probably get a bonus to population growth.
[x] Approve Operation: Bronze Gate
FINALLY!
darkcloudt2
Well-known member
[x] Approve Operation: Bronze Gate
Hopefully this goes well and we can keep attacking.
Hopefully this goes well and we can keep attacking.
Winter_Wind45
Well-known member
[x] Approve Operation: Bronze Gate
Joyousmadman
Well-known member
[x] Approve Operation: Bronze Gate
it is important to seize the initiative. that being said something about this makes me uneasy.
it is important to seize the initiative. that being said something about this makes me uneasy.
[x] Approve Operation: Bronze Gate
once more unto the breech.
once more unto the breech.
Turn 125 - F.I.N.E.
Turn 125 - F.I.N.E.
Combat Report - Operation: Bronze Gate
Phase One
Survey Report -
Initial survey results showed the presence of a very large complex of shipyards and deep space storage facilities clearly associated with the Black Steel. The complex was at least twice as large as that seen in the Stahlkampfauge system. Extremely heavy Black Steel forces were noted, with the largest concentration towards the zenith jump point.
Initial scans showed the likely presence of extensive asteroid belts deep within the grav well, however such deposits are utterly useless to you due to the multi-month transit time from the nearest safe location for a KF jump. The Black Steel are taking full advantage of those deposits, however, as they evidently do not care about such things.
Initial Engagement -
Approximately 12 hours following initial insertion, Strike Fleet radically adjusted course as the Zenith Black Steel force was observed moving outside the KF Limit in an obvious precursor to an intercept jump. Two hours later the Black Steel forces indeed jumped to the location of Strike Fleet, but failed in their attempt to ‘KF bomb’ your forces. Instead a running extreme range duel commenced.
Due to this, operational plans were revised. The revised plan required Strike Fleet to turn on the Black Steel forces, accepting battle at a horrific disadvantage, in order to hopefully bait a trap. Expeditionary Fleet jumped in as originally planned, engaging the Black Steel’s nadir forces, while the Grand Fleet jumped to the assistance of Strike Fleet several minutes later.
Phase Two
Although significantly outnumbered, Grand Fleet was concentrated, while the Black Steel forces were spread out from their attempt to pursue and englobe Strike Fleet. Strike Fleet had already suffered severe losses, including the flagship along with Admiral Somer. Admiral de Palo took brutal advantage of her superior formation and command & control capabilities to focus down the heaviest Black Steel units present as quickly as possible before the enemy could reorient their forces to effectively engage her fleet.
The engagement was absolutely brutal at this point. The Kaiserin-class showed just how capable of a warship it was by pummeling significantly larger Black Steel battleships into wreckage. The new Belfast-class Light Cruisers also performed exceptionally, taking, proportionally, the fewest losses of all engaged ship types. ASF formations were shattered, and the parasite warships likewise took brutal casualties. In contrast to previous battles, the Black Steel aerospace and dropship assets were fully dealt with by your parasites and your own ASF formations, however, despite the heavy losses. This is a very welcome improvement over past performance. The new Colt-class defensive blisters proved their worth as well, although unfortunately many were attached to units which were destroyed in the fighting and thus were lost as well.
Casualties were very heavy, but by the end of the engagement the combined Grand and Strike Fleets stood bloodied, battered, and limping, but ultimately they were still standing and the Black Steel were not making this a victory. A bloody victory. A broken victory. A battered and bruised victory. But nonetheless a victory.
HMS Agincourt, the Dreadnought-class Flagship of Admiral de Palo, continues to live a charmed life. While she took severe damage, she survived the most brutal portions of the battle with very few crew casualties. While she was injured, Admiral de Palo herself also survived.
One truly unfortunate victim of the engagement was the loss of all five of your Miranda-class survey vessels. Until they are replaced you will not be able to efficiently survey for new colony worlds and such.
Phase Three
While the main battle is taking place, the Expeditionary Fleet clashes with the remaining defensive formations of the Black Steel. The fighting is just as brutal as the main engagement, but while the Expeditionary does take losses, they are not quite as severe as those of the combined Strike and Grand fleets.
Several hours after the engagement ends, Black Steel reinforcements arrive, immediately going in pursuit of the Expeditionary Fleet as they rampage through the Black Steel infrastructure in the system. Due to this, your forces aren’t able to do a truly thorough job, as the reinforcements are such that if the Expeditionary Fleet were to be caught they’d be annihilated, and the survivors of the main engagement are far too badly battered to change that equation.
Therefore, the main force jumps out to safety for repairs, while the Expeditionary Fleet does what damage they can while keeping ahead of the vengeful Black Steel reinforcements. Unfortunately a large number of ASFs are lost in this effort to deal as much damage as possible.
Conclusion & Analysis
Despite the heavy losses, the operation has been judged a success. While the Black Steel wasn’t annihilated, and there is still a functional Black Steel base in what has been dubbed the Shwartzstahlfriedhof system, or the ‘Black Steel Graveyard’, it is a pale shadow of what it once was. The overall exchange ratio was grossly in your favor as well, and while losses were heavy they weren’t truly crippling. Thoroughly unpleasant, yes, and heavier than you had hoped, but not nearly as bad as the worst case estimates had been. This engagement can be notched up as a victory.
-----
It is a victory, a costly one, but you’re willing to take it. You likely at least slowed down the Black Steel juggernaut for a while, which is a definite win considering your own growth curve.
It helps, a little. But a little is more than enough.
Combat Report - Operation: Bronze Gate
Phase One
Survey Report -
Initial survey results showed the presence of a very large complex of shipyards and deep space storage facilities clearly associated with the Black Steel. The complex was at least twice as large as that seen in the Stahlkampfauge system. Extremely heavy Black Steel forces were noted, with the largest concentration towards the zenith jump point.
Initial scans showed the likely presence of extensive asteroid belts deep within the grav well, however such deposits are utterly useless to you due to the multi-month transit time from the nearest safe location for a KF jump. The Black Steel are taking full advantage of those deposits, however, as they evidently do not care about such things.
Initial Engagement -
Approximately 12 hours following initial insertion, Strike Fleet radically adjusted course as the Zenith Black Steel force was observed moving outside the KF Limit in an obvious precursor to an intercept jump. Two hours later the Black Steel forces indeed jumped to the location of Strike Fleet, but failed in their attempt to ‘KF bomb’ your forces. Instead a running extreme range duel commenced.
Due to this, operational plans were revised. The revised plan required Strike Fleet to turn on the Black Steel forces, accepting battle at a horrific disadvantage, in order to hopefully bait a trap. Expeditionary Fleet jumped in as originally planned, engaging the Black Steel’s nadir forces, while the Grand Fleet jumped to the assistance of Strike Fleet several minutes later.
Phase Two
Although significantly outnumbered, Grand Fleet was concentrated, while the Black Steel forces were spread out from their attempt to pursue and englobe Strike Fleet. Strike Fleet had already suffered severe losses, including the flagship along with Admiral Somer. Admiral de Palo took brutal advantage of her superior formation and command & control capabilities to focus down the heaviest Black Steel units present as quickly as possible before the enemy could reorient their forces to effectively engage her fleet.
The engagement was absolutely brutal at this point. The Kaiserin-class showed just how capable of a warship it was by pummeling significantly larger Black Steel battleships into wreckage. The new Belfast-class Light Cruisers also performed exceptionally, taking, proportionally, the fewest losses of all engaged ship types. ASF formations were shattered, and the parasite warships likewise took brutal casualties. In contrast to previous battles, the Black Steel aerospace and dropship assets were fully dealt with by your parasites and your own ASF formations, however, despite the heavy losses. This is a very welcome improvement over past performance. The new Colt-class defensive blisters proved their worth as well, although unfortunately many were attached to units which were destroyed in the fighting and thus were lost as well.
Casualties were very heavy, but by the end of the engagement the combined Grand and Strike Fleets stood bloodied, battered, and limping, but ultimately they were still standing and the Black Steel were not making this a victory. A bloody victory. A broken victory. A battered and bruised victory. But nonetheless a victory.
HMS Agincourt, the Dreadnought-class Flagship of Admiral de Palo, continues to live a charmed life. While she took severe damage, she survived the most brutal portions of the battle with very few crew casualties. While she was injured, Admiral de Palo herself also survived.
One truly unfortunate victim of the engagement was the loss of all five of your Miranda-class survey vessels. Until they are replaced you will not be able to efficiently survey for new colony worlds and such.
Phase Three
While the main battle is taking place, the Expeditionary Fleet clashes with the remaining defensive formations of the Black Steel. The fighting is just as brutal as the main engagement, but while the Expeditionary does take losses, they are not quite as severe as those of the combined Strike and Grand fleets.
Several hours after the engagement ends, Black Steel reinforcements arrive, immediately going in pursuit of the Expeditionary Fleet as they rampage through the Black Steel infrastructure in the system. Due to this, your forces aren’t able to do a truly thorough job, as the reinforcements are such that if the Expeditionary Fleet were to be caught they’d be annihilated, and the survivors of the main engagement are far too badly battered to change that equation.
Therefore, the main force jumps out to safety for repairs, while the Expeditionary Fleet does what damage they can while keeping ahead of the vengeful Black Steel reinforcements. Unfortunately a large number of ASFs are lost in this effort to deal as much damage as possible.
Conclusion & Analysis
Despite the heavy losses, the operation has been judged a success. While the Black Steel wasn’t annihilated, and there is still a functional Black Steel base in what has been dubbed the Shwartzstahlfriedhof system, or the ‘Black Steel Graveyard’, it is a pale shadow of what it once was. The overall exchange ratio was grossly in your favor as well, and while losses were heavy they weren’t truly crippling. Thoroughly unpleasant, yes, and heavier than you had hoped, but not nearly as bad as the worst case estimates had been. This engagement can be notched up as a victory.
- Battle of Shwartzstahlfriedhof / Operation: Bronze Gate
- Casualties
- Warships
- Large Warships
- 23 Dreadnought-class Battleships
- 5 Kaiserin-class Battleships
- 13 Jean Bart-class Battlecruisers
- Medium Warships
- 70 Prinz Eugen-class Heavy Cruisers
- NOTE - all 1st generation ships
- 10 Algerie-class Heavy Cruisers
- 70 Prinz Eugen-class Heavy Cruisers
- Light Warships
- 40 De Grasse-class Light Cruisers
- 60 Dido-class Light Cruisers
- 10 Belfast-class Light Cruisers
- 50 Guiseppe Garibaldi-class Light Cruisers
- 5 Miranda-class Explorers
- Escorts
- 250 Battle-class Destroyers
- 300 Lyr-class Corvettes
- Large Warships
- Dropships
- Large Dropships
- 384 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
- Standard Dropships
- 327 Spruance-class Parasite Destroyers
- 564 Shimakaze-class Parasite Destroyers
- 63 Colt-class Defense Blisters
- 91 Wright-class Dockable ASF Platforms
- Large Dropships
- ASFs
- 250 Carrier Wings
- 217 CAP Wings
- Warships
- Casualties
-----
It is a victory, a costly one, but you’re willing to take it. You likely at least slowed down the Black Steel juggernaut for a while, which is a definite win considering your own growth curve.
It helps, a little. But a little is more than enough.