Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
[X] Agree - Happy Heir, deliriously happy public, some in the nobility might get their noses bent out of joint.

The twins also finish their first year, not quite as successfully as their big brother perhaps, but they are very pleased… since they are in the championship hunt for the Professional Hovercraft Racing League Nollak Cup, the lower of the 2 tiers of racing at the professional level.

Willis smirks and asks you if you're ever going to stop pretending you're not following the races with glee. You retort that you're merely concerned for the safety of your darling boys. Really!

Thanh is still pouting that you won’t let her test out of her senior year of high school, but you are adamant on that point. You do concede to purchasing a brand new Eagle trainer for the Royal hangar, and allowing her to be checked out in it by the chief test pilot of the manufacturer, but that is as far as you are willing to bend.

It's not like Willis celebrated getting his piloting license reactivated by taking you up in the very first two-seat Eagle trainer built and flying it all the way down to bingo fuel. Really.

Sarah is back into the swing of things, but appears to have discovered a passion for history and cultural studies thanks to her long discussions with Sarah. You have to be firm a time or two on the two of them for your daughter to go to bed on time, or at least at a time prior to a half hour before dawn. If you hadn’t intervened, they’d be talking all night and Sarah would fall asleep in class.

"Sarah, set Parameter <Curfew> for User <Little Sarah>."

"Parameter does not exist."

"Michelle, do you think that means the Star League didn't program military combat AIs with the idea that minor children would interact with them, or is Sarah being stubborn because she likes the kid?"

"Parameter does not exist."

The latest supply shipment included a lance of Battlemechs, identified by Sarah as FS9-H Firestarters. Looking at their specs, you are pretty sure you know precisely why they are there.

You then dictate a Royal Decree that any Drac officers and any lesser ranks identified by Sarah surveillance as having willingly participated in war crimes would be interrogated as harshly as needed to break them, then executed by hanging.

An unofficial addendum that all Firestarter MechWarriors ipso facto fall under the Royal Decree is widely circulated, and the Queen makes no clarifications otherwise.
 

Decim

Chronic on/off lurker
[X] Agree - Happy Heir, deliriously happy public, some in the nobility might get their noses bent out of joint.
 

Tel Janin Aman

Well-known member
Comrade
Really hope we can save those people soon, maybe sneaking people to the planet and start building up a special forces. If we can establish some kind base there we can funnel slaves off the planet which would force the dracs to bring more each time, hopefully straining their logistics.
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
Really hope we can save those people soon, maybe sneaking people to the planet and start building up a special forces. If we can establish some kind base there we can funnel slaves off the planet which would force the dracs to bring more each time, hopefully straining their logistics.

As far as I am aware, stealthy space transport technology simply does not exist in the BTech verse. You might be able to put Null Sig on a DropShip, but there's no way that will hide a re-entry heat signature.
 

Culsu

Agent of the Central Plasma
Founder
Yeah, stealthy insertion probably isn't going to work, especially considering the aerospace assets the Dracs have at their disposal. Which, by the way is something we ought to look into: just why the heck are the Kuritans diverting so many forces to the middle of bumfuck nowhere in the middle of the 3rd Succession War when everything is becoming scarce?
 

Chaeronea

Well-known member
If we've got detailed enough imagery to see the mistreatment of the slaves can we get an estimate on how many of them there are and what the Dracs have them doing?
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
Yeah, stealthy insertion probably isn't going to work, especially considering the aerospace assets the Dracs have at their disposal. Which, by the way is something we ought to look into: just why the heck are the Kuritans diverting so many forces to the middle of bumfuck nowhere in the middle of the 3rd Succession War when everything is becoming scarce?

We found out the basics of their operation when we successfully interrogated several captured operatives. Hugai Kurita secretly dispatched a large detachment of the Amphigean Assault Group to set up a hidden front against House Davion, with the goal of building up a large attack force and then hitting Davion from a completely unexpected direction.
 

Jarow

Well-known member
So, a few unfortunate facts that popped up in discord:
1. Whenever we choose to unleash the dropships and break the DCMS air group, we need to be able to go after the Griffin V base immediately after or sacrifice all the slaves (there's no way they'll be kept alive consuming limited resources better spent supplying loyal soldiers of the Dragon)
2. We can almost certainly easily take the base with a force of 3 Harris dropships, and probably with 2 and a carrier (this is actually a good fact, but left in anyways)
3. It will take at least 5 turns to be ready to do either
 
ShadowArxxy Canon Omake - Strategic Summary

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
Omake: Strategic Summary

"Based on combining Sarah's data with our historical records and previous intelligence, we've come up with an updated strategic analysis for your perusal.

"The Draconis Combine expeditionary force we've been at war with for the last thirty-odd years is a detachment of the elite Amphigean Light Assault Group, dispatched to this part of the Periphery on direct orders from Coordinator Hugai Kurita. Their objective is to occupy one or more habitable planets here in the Deep Periphery, set up large scale military production, and then launch a major invasion of the Federated Suns. They have already invaded and occupied an inhabited planet in one of our neighboring star systems, and we are next on their menu.

"Given that we've seen them deploy forces of regimental level, the detachment is at least brigade strength, probably division strength. They have at least five JumpShips and a considerable stockpile of DropShips, with observed examples of Behemoth, Mammoth, Overlord, Excalibur, and Aqueduct models, all of which are relatively rare and extremely valuable in the modern day Inner Sphere. Even more importantly, this force has confirmed production capability for Leopard CV class DropShips and Saber class AeroSpace Fighters, probable production capability for Jenner class BattleMechs and Leopard or Union class DropShips, and possible production capability for Overlord and/or Excalibur class DropShips, as these remain the standard battalion and regiment level combat transports. We have no direct evidence for those last, but they would inherently require transports of that magnitude for their planned offensive.

"Thus far, all of the Combine's efforts to land forces on our planet have been repulsed, with the largest and most recent attempt being intercepted and destroyed before it could even make planetfall. They have lost a total of seven DropShips plus a combined arms regiment, a Battlemech battalion, two vehicle battalions, and several smaller units. Their most recent move has been to relocate their forward operating base from Griffin IV to Griffin V, and to expand it into a permanent garrison with a labor force of several thousand slaves."
 
Lightwhispers - Canon Omake - The Test Of Character

Lightwhispers

Well-known member
[X] Agree - Happy Heir, deliriously happy public, some in the nobility might get their noses bent out of joint.

...But first, the Test Of Character! (ahem. where's my purple pen?)

Presenting... The Lady and The Tiger

To set the scene: the Brave Young Lady Alita, standing next to her True Love, Prince Jeremy, is standing before her Dread Monarch, to ask permission to Wed. The Fearsome Queen, although her physical stature is tiny compared to the Sleepy-Eyed Tiger beside her, is by far the more Terrifying of the Two. Alita visibly gathers her Courage, and begins to speak:

"I love Jeremy, and he loves me, and we'd liketogetmarriedplease!" Perhaps not the most Dignified of requests, especially with the Increase of Speed of her speech at the end, but only the Deaf would be unable to tell it Truly was a Heartfelt Request. And while, as a Woman, her sympathies were pulled upon, as a Mother and a Queen, she must Continue with her Duty.

"There is one thing that must happen first," the Dread Queen declaimed. "Close your eyes."

Having but one idea of what was to come, Alita complied quickly, Sealing Fast her eyelids.

The Queen gestured to her Feline Companion, who yawned, exposing a Terrible Maw, and then padded forward. Sniffing at the Young Lady's hair, Sekhmet paced around the Girl. Opening her mouth a second time, the Titanic Tiger leaned forward...

And bestowed the Lick of Approval. And a Tiny (for a Grifftiger) Nudge.

"Eeew, Sekhmet! Now we're both covered in slobber!" The Queen and her Conspirator grinned at each other.

(I have no idea why this came out in Excessively Purple Prose, but it did. I'm not sorry.)
 
Turn 27 - Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
Turn 27 - Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear

You got to see Jeremy a few times, especially over the Christmas break, and your son is looking wonderful. The engagement between him and Alita had been announced during the Christmas festivities and it seemed to add an extra zing to all the festivities.

You did have it on good authority that a few old codgers in the Lords were grumbling about a commoner princess-consort, but considering that those same old chaps grumbled about everything ranging from the weather (they were against it) to the latest fashions in music (they were SO against it) and dress (good GOD were they against it)... you didn’t worry too much. You’d be more concerned if they supported it, to be honest.

Early in the year one of the Tramps returns, this time releasing a pair of Leopard-CVs and the Union-CV. You grit your teeth at the evidence that the Dragon isn’t giving up, and evidently has production capacity for at least aerodyne carriers and likely the fighters that they carry.

Some of your researchers at the Aerie have had a bit of an Eureka moment. In a fit of creativity a research team at the weapons lab had tinkered with an 8cm laser side by side with one of the extended-range models taken from spare parts in the 331st bunker. Having them both disassembled side by side led the research team to realize that the main differences between the two were the size of the power inputs and the internal layout of the system, both of which were rather easily duplicated. As such, the schematics for the ER Large Laser have now been licensed to weapons manufacturers and are available for use.

Of course, this fit of creativity was helped by your son having… accessed the labs after hours. He was in a bit of trouble for it, since technically it was out of bounds, so was on punishment detail to curb excessive youthful enthusiasm. The commandant has privately confessed that even if he hadn’t been your son he’d get off with nothing more than a few extra route marches and pack drill time, since the results had been so good. Since he was your son, he’s also getting to fill out all the associated paperwork and Reply By Endorsement. Good training, in other words.

Considering some of the shenanigans you got up to as a ROTC cadet… you really have no standing to complain. Doesn’t mean you don’t, but you limit it to your loving husband.

He, of course, being A- a Lee, B- a fighter pilot, and C- a complete and total scoundrel, immediately sends a note to your son no doubt undoing all the hard work the academy was doing to instill some discipline here congratulating him on pulling this off and reminding him that he was entitled to a cut of the royalties.

Men.

A few days later there’s a sudden attack from the Dracs. It’s the same force they’d sent the last time, with the reinforcements evidently remaining on Griffin V.

The fight itself was… inconclusive. The Dracs spent a lot of time maneuvering in rather than closing quickly, seemingly testing your defenses and reaction times, and withdraw after a brief engagement that leaves a lot of scorch marks but no actual damage to either side. The attack force lurks for over a week, tauntingly just outside of your ASFs response range, before boosting back to Griffin V.

Obviously whoever the new commander is over there isn’t a fool.

This is born out, in some ways, by surveillance. The level of brutality towards the slaves and the enlisted drops massively very shortly after the Union-CV lands, and you see signs of improvements to enlisted and slave housing over the next several weeks.

Over the next month Sarah reports on a number of officers evidently being forced to commit seppuku, the two brothels that had been set up are shut down by whoever is now in command, with the women and girls who’d been ‘working’ there released into the general population. The quality of clothing and protective gear worn by the slaves while they labor in the fields has also gone up significantly.

Another Jumpship arrives, carrying a pair of Mules and an Excalibur which proceeds to Griffin V, but little else changes beyond the obvious beefing up of the ground security contingent with a full combine arms regiment. More prefabricated buildings go up and more apparent slaves are dropped off. Oddly, compared to previous practice, most of the new buildings are going up in the areas housing the slaves, evidently whoever is in command isn’t quite as devoted to the cult of Atrocity-Chan as their predecessor.

A point that is proven a few days later, when your communications equipment picks up a broadcast from Griffin V.

Evidently the Kuritan commander is wanting to engage in the lost art of diplomacy.

What is your initial stance?

[] Cold and reserved - give nothing away, channel ba to the max
[] Furious - the Dragon deserves nothing but your scorn, show them the back of your hand
[] Polite - It costs you nothing to be polite. Courtesy is the mark of civilization, and unlike the Dragon, you, at least, are civilized.
[] Write-in
 

Thors_Alumni

Well-known member
[X] Polite - It costs you nothing to be polite. Courtesy is the mark of civilization, and unlike the Dragon, you, at least, are civilized.
 

kelgar04

Well-known member
[X] Polite - It costs you nothing to be polite. Courtesy is the mark of civilization, and unlike the Dragon, you, at least, are civilized.
 

Jarow

Well-known member
[] Furious - the Dragon deserves nothing but your scorn, show them the back of your hand

While it probably best gives our feelings, not good for any form of diplomacy. We're not at "able to unleash our dropships and push them out" yet

[] Polite - It costs you nothing to be polite. Courtesy is the mark of civilization, and unlike the Dragon, you, at least, are civilized.

This one is probably best diplomatically, but I don't think we're at a spot it feels comfortable

[X] Cold and reserved - give nothing away, channel ba to the max

I like this one, as a reasonable middle ground
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top