Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

Lightwhispers

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

Even if a new commander, he still holds responsibility for the actions of the previous commanders, until and unless he can show he was not responsible for them.
 

CurtisLemay

Wargamer, Amateur Historian, Writer
Nuke Mod
Moderator
Staff Member
Founder
[X] Cold and reserved - give nothing away, channel ba to the max
 

edofthesquid

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

The attack force lurks for over a week, tauntingly just outside of your ASFs response range, before boosting back to Griffin V.

Wait, what kind of non-combat endurance do ASFs have? Or were the CVs lingering with them? If the latter, might be worth hitting them whenever we get pocket warship dropships...
 

Decim

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

I'm going to be contrarian here. Cold and reserved may be the most incharacter choice by dint of emotions, but it's not the best for Griffin's Roost. And if there's anything that can be said about Jackie, it's that she's always done her best to do right by her people, even if it means doing something unpalatable.
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
[X] Write-in: Formality

To understand the enemy is to triumph over the enemy, and the first understanding of Eastern culture is that there is absolutely no contradiction between being polite and showing your scorn. Through formal ceremony, one can communicate civilized politeness and cold fury at the exact same time.

And while Jackie Griffith is not ethnically Asian, she's been quite firmly adopted. She does have the context for this ground.

Even if a new commander, he still holds responsibility for the actions of the previous commanders, until and unless he can show he was not responsible for them.

The fact that he has outright executed the worst offenders in addition to halting the abuses buys him a degree of credibility in actually exercising responsibility in this matter.
 

Culsu

Agent of the Central Plasma
Founder
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
While it would be a shame to see these people die, at the end of the day our operational demands and abilities override these humanitarian concerns. Getting the Kuritans crushed locally should have our absolutely priority. Saving the slaves ought to be a bonus to be taken if it's possible for us without endangering our success. If not: tough for them, but our responsibility is for the people of Griffins Roost first.

[X] Cold and reserved - give nothing away, channel ba to the max
We are way past the point where being diplomatically polite would be appropriate. We have been repeatedly attacked by the Dragon, scores of our loyal subjects have been killed, property damage in the billions has been caused, our nation has been sabotaged and infiltrated, and even we personally have been the victim of Kuritan aggression (with Jaqueline's parents being killed in the first attack). Hear the enemy commander out, sure. But don't kowtow to them just for the sake of being polite.
 

Jarow

Well-known member
While it would be a shame to see these people die, at the end of the day our operational demands and abilities override these humanitarian concerns. Getting the Kuritans crushed locally should have our absolutely priority. Saving the slaves ought to be a bonus to be taken if it's possible for us without endangering our success. If not: tough for them, but our responsibility is for the people of Griffins Roost first.
On the plus side, as long as we upgrade the Harris factory at least once in the next few turns, than the real constraint will be on the number of Defiants. It just means that when we go on the attack, we need to go on the attack.

Of course, being engaged in diplomacy changes a lot, hard to know the exact right plans until we know what they want, and what each side is willing to give (I remain optimistic that they might offer something we want in exchange for something we're willing to give)
 
Turn 27 - And it shows them, pearly-white

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
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Turn 27 - And it shows them, pearly-white

You decide that if you are going to channel ba for this conversation you are going to go full bore. Even if it is audio only, the setting influences the reactions.

Therefore, you take the call from the tea room that you had had added to the palace. In fact, you decide to go the whole hog, wear traditional dress, and sip tea while conducting the discussion.

You are glad of that when it turns out to be a video call, not a mere audio call, and the setting becomes a subtle statement in and of itself.

Your interlocutor is not quite what you expected, however. For somebody who looked like they had just come back from a Viking raid was not who you expected to hear from as a representative of the Dragon. He was also wearing formal dress, in his case a rather dramatic formal kimono with his paired swords racked to the side, framed by a large picture window showing the dramatic landscape of Griffin V behind him. And also with tea.

You stare at each other, the interval mostly explained by the long comm delay between the two planets, but also a show of cold formality. You carefully keep your expression schooled into utter cold reserve, keeping your face blank of any emotion.

After a few moments the DCMS officer, a tai-sa if you are reading the rank insignia correctly, breaks the silence. “Greetings from the Dragon. I am Tai-Sa Anton Gustavson.” he says formally. “It is my honor to serve the Dragon as commander of those forces assigned to the pacification of this system.” his eyes glitter a bit.

You incline your head slightly, but up, not down, channeling ba at her most imperious. You pause a beat, and keep your voice cold and impersonal, and your expression utterly blank. “And I have the honor of standing against the Dragon.” you say shortly, pausing again then deciding to troll very slightly. “General Jacqueline Griffith, and it is my honor to lead the defense of the free people of Griffin’s Roost against the rapacity of the Dragon.”

You otherwise keep your expression perfectly cold, serene, and utterly implacable throughout the transmission delay between the two planets.

You can tell when your response reaches him, his ‘inscrutable samurai face’ isn’t nearly as good as yours, and he visibly twitches. “We could spend the next several hours of this transmission window exchanging insults, or in productive conversation.” he finally says after a few moments in which he visibly composes himself. “I have been ordered to neutralize the threat you pose to the Dragon’s claws. I can either do so by crushing you on the field of battle, annihilating your ability to wage war, or convince you to stand aside and refrain from threatening the Dragon in our quest to reunite humanity under the wise guidance of House Kurita.”

He goes silent then, obviously thinking that his statement should be intimidating.

It isn’t.

You have a nearly perfect ‘inscrutable poker face’, ba and Sergeant-Major Ngo had drilled it into you. You very deliberately let silence linger, enough that he knows you aren’t reacting to his words despite them having reached you, then you allow a tiny break in your expression. A cold, hungry, smile.

“I see.” is your only response. No sense responding to his threats, ignoring them and effectively dismissing them as trivial and beneath notice would be far more effective than raging or snarking at him. “You seek an impossible dream.”

You again go silent, letting the transmission delay do its work, and once again he twitches, his eyebrows beetling down as he looks angry. “Do not think to mock the Dragon. You will be removed as a threat. One way. Or another.”

You deliberately take a sip of tea, not changing expression in any way. With a tiny, nigh imperceptible flick of one finger you signal Sekhmet, who pads into the camera's view and settles behind you, giving the Kuritan commander a cold, feline glare.

“You will try, Tai-Sa. We obviously disagree on whether or not you will succeed. Now, unless you have something productive to offer rather than empty posturing, I do believe this conversation is over.” you reach over and rest one hand on Sekhmet’s massive paw as the grifftiger extends her claws.

You wait out the transmission delay again, keeping the same icy cold expression on your face.

Tai-Sa Gustavson simply glares at you, then reaches forward and flicks off the camera, cutting off the signal.

Well, that was productive.

A few days later there’s another Periphery Studies protest in Griffsport. This time a couple dozen protestors march up and down in front of an apparently randomly picked convenience store chanting about if they concentrate real hard we can defeat the Dracs with weakness, followed by rousing choruses of ‘No Lettuce No Peas’ for some inane reason. It takes a few hours but the ‘research assistants’ in the nice white coats are able to get the tenured faculty back on their bus and back to campus with no further fuss.

Mt Griffsport continues erupting spectacularly, the lava flow has been fully contained and is channeled to the ocean, where it puts on a beautiful pyrotechnic display of lava meeting sea water. The entire area is restricted for safety reasons, but the videos are amazing and incredibly popular on holovision channels. The scientists tell you that it is quite likely that this eruption will continue for some time.

The House of Commons has proposed some new legislation that, while popular amongst their own membership is rather less so amongst the Lords. Specifically a set of tax incentives for farmers to grow food crops rather than luxury crops. Right now farmland is at a bit of a premium, the new territories on Castor and Pollux have helped, but right now most food on the planet comes from high density farms outside Griffsport, combined with intensive aquaculture and fishing.

What the Commons would like to do is incentivize farmers and ranchers to grow crops and herds that are intended for the table for common citizens, rather than exotica that appeal to the wealthy but are too expensive for common folks to make a staple of. The objection in the Lords seems to mostly be an issue of ‘elite’ vrs ‘common’ interest. They like their fancy dishes and exotic ‘healthy’ foods and disdain the ‘common’ staples, and incentivizing such ‘worthless’ foods seems to offend them. Several of them sniff that the commoners need to embrace a pure vegan diet in order to ‘be healthier’ and ‘be more conscious’.

[] Side with the Commons - Increases population limit by 2, reduces Health by 1, reduces Economy by 1, increases Approval Change by 1, +10 Support Commons, -20 Support Lords
[] Side with the Lords - Increase Health by 1, increase Economy by 1, Approval Change -1, -20 Support Commons, +10 Support Lords
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
[X] Side with the Commons - Increases population limit by 2, reduces Health by 1, reduces Economy by 1, increases Approval Change by 1, +10 Support Commons, -20 Support Lords
-[X] Make a public speech which politely refrains from directly criticizing the rich, but makes the point that we are in a time of war. The fact that we are not engaging in food rationing and wartime economic restrictions is a tribute to the hard work of our people, but we can only afford so much luxury. We soberly remind our people that "business as usual" died in fire twenty-seven years ago.
 

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