Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
Assuming they didn't get obliterated by the BS out of hand or us if they were confused for a BS ship...

"We're screwed if either one comes to the sphere." -- Then they'll ramp up warship production. The Houses will spot it and think it's their competitors. So the Houses will ramp up production as well. Arms race boogaloo! Then Armageddon when Comstar tries to force the Houses to put their warship-genie back in the bottle.

Given that the GM has repeatedly stated that the Idiot Ball Supply has been removed from the Inner Sphere, I do not understand why people continue to assert that the Inner Sphere must lack WarShips. There is literally no rational reason they don't still have WarShips other than the Canon Idiot Ball.
 

Kilvanya

Well-known member
Given that the GM has repeatedly stated that the Idiot Ball Supply has been removed from the Inner Sphere, I do not understand why people continue to assert that the Inner Sphere must lack WarShips. There is literally no rational reason they don't still have WarShips other than the Canon Idiot Ball.

If the idiot ball was taken away, they would have already colonized near us, the shear resources they have mean they must still have some to have not already spread past us in the last 100 years
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
If the idiot ball was taken away, they would have already colonized near us, the shear resources they have mean they must still have some to have not already spread past us in the last 100 years

You're underestimating just how far out we are, and the absence of idiot balls doesn't mean that the Great Houses aren't occupied with perpetual-war with each other.
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
You're underestimating just how far out we are, and the absence of idiot balls doesn't mean that the Great Houses aren't occupied with perpetual-war with each other.
I won't be surprised if we run into a bunch of small stellar nations resulting from individual groups fleeing the shitstorm that is the Inner Sphere.
 

Jarow

Well-known member
My thoughts and analysis on IS technological and industrial abilities:

What we do know about the IS, as of about 130 years ago (from the original Drac operation bakkustabbu, where the ones who we fought came from):
-Dropship, jumpship, ASF, and mech production is understood well enough to send people and machines for a long shot attempt to flank the Suns
--Ours was more efficient, though likely less hardened
-Vehicle production is probably in same camp as above, but I don't remember any getting used, especially that can't be accounted for by local production
-Warships and knowledge to build them is not available for sending out years away to flank the Suns
--We can assume that means they weren't assumed to be needed, either due to ASF nukes or lack of presence in the Suns, or just not available

Things we can expect from canon (note: it's currently 3056):
-Ignoring FedCom if it happened (it probably did, but not impossible things have changed due to whatever mechanism Sunhawk is using to simulate IS - rolling or just reinterpreting the story as it goes along), the 5 successor states have been in a state of more or less total war since the SLDF collapsed
--Unless clan invasion has already happened and the IS rebuilt the Star League to counter. It was supposed to start about 6 years ago, but could easily be early or late for whatever reason
-The Clans and ComStar both know how to build everything the Star League could (with some possible exceptions like SDS that the clans might have decided they didn't like and therefore intentionally forgot)
--That guarantees 2 sources of warship production knowledge existing
-Everyone was recovering towards full Star League tech after Helm (shortly before 4th succession war)
-Wolf's Dragoons (clans) were given orders to "prepare IS for clan invasion"
-Clans invasion will happen at some point (if it hasn't already)
-No one really colonizes because those resources are needed for the military. A couple periphery powers are exceptions to this, but they probably don't do so as much as we do

Things we can make guesses at due to "lack of idiot balls" version Sunhawk is using for this quest:
-Numbers of things in the IS are bigger (maybe something like switching regiments for divisions, hard to say exactly how)
-If Wolf's Dragoons share technology instead of just being elite mercenaries, there'd be a good source of advanced tech in either Combine (if Misery doesn't happen) or FedSuns (if things went as in canon)
--ComStar would likely be forced to release tech themselves to counterbalance things
--Science (and intelligence centered around capturing tech) would be a much larger focus than in canon where Star League stuff was starting to come out by Clan invasion
-Clans are/were much more prepared for an invasion of the IS (all at once? Just straight up being larger? Having "ClanTech 2.0"?)
-Space combat is more common, expected, and understood
-While canon IS united against the clans, it's equally possible the non-invaded powers decided to invade their neighbors instead of help fight the clans

So overall, my guesses: We're probably somewhere around the size of the Taurians or any other periphery power overall, but probably have more military industry than normal for our size. I'd guess at an overall comparable number of people in our respective armed services. We're also probably more space-oriented given how much focus space combat has gotten from us. (Which also means we're likely outnumbered in ground forces) The IS has probably reached the tech level of the Star League, and likely has some amount of clantech given likely presence of pieces to reverse engineer. We're probably growing a lot faster, with a much larger push to colonize (resulting in lower population densities resulting in larger population growth), cultural pressure towards large families (see the royal family), iron wombs, and reduced military losses (those are getting worse for us now, but eternal attrition warfare on the ground is a lot worse than our previous blow-up-a-few-ships-every-once-and-a-while style), but it'll be a while before we catch up. Also, our scientists are probably better, given we've been heavily focusing on education and research, while most of their tech is probably coming from reverse engineering or recovering old information. And we're culturally the descendants of a research colony, which probably affects the cultural power of science.
 
Turn 126 - Water Song

LordSunhawk

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Turn 126 - Water Song

You are en-route to Calliope for the 3056 Olympics when you receive word that the Black Steel has counterattacked in the Baddorando system. The local detachment from Home Fleet moved to engage as planned, and succeeded in blunting the attack enough so that the Black Steel retreated when the Expeditionary Fleet arrived. They did so, however, at grievous cost, with the entire local detachment being destroyed. The planetary defense craft were able to prevent damage to the orbiting shipyards, thankfully, and rescued survivors from the corvettes and raiders which were lost.

Only ten Battle-class destroyers from the Expeditionary Fleet were written off due to damage in the brief skirmishing that preceded the Black Steel’s retreat. However, one of the fleet’s Jean Bart-class Battlecruisers disappeared, appearing to have misjumped in some manner as it never arrived in the Baddorando system. An anomaly investigation is under way to attempt to determine what happened

The data you review shows that the Black Steel did suffer fairly heavy casualties in their raid, but withdrew in good order. In terms of total tonnage, losses were about equal. Since the Black Steel retreated before getting in range of the planet, the Artemis-class SDBs were never tested. Overall, it appears that the Home Fleet defensive doctrine is working, at least enough to prevent defeat in this case.

When you arrive at Calliope you get some more bad news, the economic situation on Grand View is far below expectations following a local investment bubble bursting. Tourist revenues are way down and, unfortunately, the local economy was heavily dependent on that trade rather than manufacturing or standard commerce. Large numbers of unemployed citizens are taking advantage of the various relocation subsidies to move to other systems in pursuit of employment and the local economy has taken a substantial hit to GDP growth this year.

On the other hand you also get some excellent economic news, the Awha system is experiencing an unexpected economic boom due to growth in the local export trade, as markets in the NRR or evidently purchasing large amounts of goods straight from Awha. Apparently nordic-themed snowmobiles are a thing, and a profitable one if the numbers are to be believed. You personally don’t see the appeal of the styling, but then again you also aren’t the target market so that makes sense.

The opening ceremonies for the Olympics are extremely impressive, both for the sheer artistry as well as the scale of the event. The entertainment for the ceremony is clearly based on a somewhat fanciful and artistic depiction of the history of the Calliope system, and the various dinosaurs of Calliope III are prominently featured. You are a bit puzzled at first, as while the various herbivores and raptors are prominently featured there is no sign of any of the Rexes.

Until the very end, when a pair of rexes enter the stadium with the Olympic torch held in a special harness. The two massive beasts take separate paths, passing off the torch as they pass each other. Then the larger of the two halts in the very center of the stadium before roaring a deafening challenge. Signs light up, encouraging spectators to roar back, but the initial response is quite tepid. The rex waits a moment, taps one claw on the ground, manages to look very disappointed, then roars again, even louder. This time the crowd gets into it, roaring back, although the rex still shakes his head before gathering himself and letting loose an ear-shattering roar that probably registers on the seismic scale. The crowd roars back, now fully into the moment. This goes back and forth for several minutes as the massive predator revs up the crowd to a fever pitch before, with one final roar, sprinting towards the massive staircase now rising towards the empty cauldron for the flame. At the top the rex turns again, letting out one final roar and getting one final thunderous response, before triggering the harness to send the flame into the cauldron, lighting up the night.

You are not too proud to admit that you got fully into the moment, along with the grandkids who are with you. At the very least you’ll never forget this particular moment. Future Olympics are going to have to work hard to even match this.

You are still rather pumped up when you get a memo from Admiral Fisher. The Admiralty would like your approval for plans for a rapid follow-up strike against the Black Steel in the Shwartzstahlfriedhof system. The oplan, dubbed Operation: Silent Cormorant, is for a series of raids, no serious invasions of the system, with the intent of disrupting and attriting the Black Steel. As such only the Expeditionary and Strike Fleets will be involved, while the Grand Fleet continues to build up strength for the eventual full bore punch at the system.

[]Action
[]Approve Operation: Silent Cormorant
[]Deny Operation: Silent Cormorant
 

mmgaballah

Well-known member
So overall, my guesses: We're probably somewhere around the size of the Taurians or any other periphery power overall
Pretty sure the Taurians are both a lot smaller than us ,less developed and less advanced, I would say we are at about the size the Capllens and have surpassed the Terren hegemony in terms of industrial ability and education with all the development that implies
 

Yacovo

Occasionally spouting nonsense
[X] Approve Operation: Silent Cormorant

They will just keep growing if we don’t keep hitting them. They are also our biggest/only real threat at the moment, so it is basically a zero-sum game between us at this point.
 

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