Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
PeaceMaker 03
Well-known member
The vote seems to good to be true.
20 years of peace sounds good, but do we trust DC if the current commander is ganked?
If we can take the DC jumpship, and gain space supremacy Defeat in detail is an option.
[x] Write in ask Sarah the AI for her tactical/strategic opinion on which is better chance to achieve :
1-DC destruction
And/ Or
2-Our beating the DC forces
3- Build up tech to build a jumpship and send ship to FedSuns for help/ warning about DC attempted opening of a new front.
20 years of peace sounds good, but do we trust DC if the current commander is ganked?
If we can take the DC jumpship, and gain space supremacy Defeat in detail is an option.
[x] Write in ask Sarah the AI for her tactical/strategic opinion on which is better chance to achieve :
1-DC destruction
And/ Or
2-Our beating the DC forces
3- Build up tech to build a jumpship and send ship to FedSuns for help/ warning about DC attempted opening of a new front.
[X] Agree - +1% Tax Rate this year, DCMS withdrawal from system, actions related to Griffin V become available
We have no way to reach the Combine JumpShips with our current or near-future resources. The only even *remotely* plausible way to do that would have been to capture their base so that the next resupply Mule returning to the JumpShip is stuffed with our naval infantry, which would have been an insanely risky gambit.
We have no reason to believe the FedSuns would "help" in any way other than conquering us themselves. Remember that while Davion tends to be perceived by BTech fans as the "good" or at least "least bad" faction, this is heavily a function of protagonist-centered morality *and* pretty much all the positive moves they make are in the future.
Sarah has very little information on the Successor States, but what she knows paints a pretty bleak picture from the point of view of a Terran Hegemony colony. She has pretty full information on how badly mangled the Hegemony was by the Amaris Civil War since that's pre-Exodus, and then some broad overview information of how the neighboring Great Houses all carved into the post-Exodus Hegemony in the early portion of the First Succession War.
Granted, our loyalty to Terra is pretty thin after multiple generations on our own out here in the Deep Periphery, but it's still at least nominally our parent state.
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Panzerkraken
Well-known member
[X] Agree - +1% Tax Rate this year, DCMS withdrawal from system, actions related to Griffin V become available
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
[X] Agree - +1% Tax Rate this year, DCMS withdrawal from system, actions related to Griffin V become available
I agree with what's already said, getting more population, a second planet that has some basic infrastructure, and time to build up is an excellent deal. Making the assumption that the Dracs will backstab us sooner is only sensible.
The thing is we have a significant tech advantage that's only going to grow as we continue to both research and and build up our forces, while the Dracs are stagnant. Even if we only get five years that's enough time to have several assault DropShips ready, which will be a deeply unpleasant surprise when their next JumpShip pops in and needs a week to recharge. If we get the full 20 years we may well have lances of Pulverizers or a local variant up and running.
I agree with what's already said, getting more population, a second planet that has some basic infrastructure, and time to build up is an excellent deal. Making the assumption that the Dracs will backstab us sooner is only sensible.
The thing is we have a significant tech advantage that's only going to grow as we continue to both research and and build up our forces, while the Dracs are stagnant. Even if we only get five years that's enough time to have several assault DropShips ready, which will be a deeply unpleasant surprise when their next JumpShip pops in and needs a week to recharge. If we get the full 20 years we may well have lances of Pulverizers or a local variant up and running.
Ridli Scott
Well-known member
First, even if the Drac is sincere when he informes his superiors about our space development (unless you want to stop it entirely) they are going to realize we have something they don't. And even if they are trashborn, the Clans do something right: calling the Successor Stated Scavenger States. Because they are, especially the Combine. If they learn about our capacities they are going to order to attack, and attack, and attack.
[X] Disagree - the war continues, immediate attack by in system DCMS forces.
[X] Disagree - the war continues, immediate attack by in system DCMS forces.
Luthien System - March 2987
Ever since the Lyran Commonwealth's daring raid on the capital of the Draconis Combine during the First Succession War, the Combine had ensured that there were *never* less than four regiments of BattleMechs assigned to the defense of their most important world. But those defenses were *purely* on the ground; both of the WarShips defending Luthien had been destroyed in that raid, and the heavy targeting of major yards during both the First and Second Succession Wars had ensured that the Draconis Combine Admiralty was never able to replace those losses.
This was acceptable, since no other state in the Inner Sphere had any Warships left either.
-----
"We have an unauthorized emergence signature at the nadir jump point! Very large JumpShip, mass 1.5 million..."
"That is not possible! No JumpShip is more than one hundred thousand..." The supervising Chu-i turned absolutely white. "... only WarShips are of such mass."
"DropShips are seperating and boosting inbound at two gravities! The Jump...the WarShip is boosting as well, one-and-a-half gravities! Count is five, ten, twenty, twenty-five Dropships!"
There had not been a single operational WarShip in the entire Inner Sphere for well over a century, but there was no officer in the Combine who did not know what a 1.5 million ton WarShip with twenty-five DropShips was.
"IT'S A POTEMKIN!! ALERT THE TAI-SHO! ALERT THE COORDINATOR! ALERT EVERYONE!!!!!!"
And especially not exactly on the two hundredth anniversary of the LCS Nightwind's deep-penetration raid.
----
"Jane, that was not very nice at all."
The Royal Agent gave a completely unrepentant smirk. "Hey, it's not my fault that our new McEvedy class battleships just happen to be the exact same tonnage as the old Potemkin class cruisers. I just suggested that they load five less DropShips for maximum psychological effect."
(Note: This omake is absolutely and totally not canon. That said, I *have* actually designed a 1.5-million ton McEvedy class battleship for our future use . . .and it is a very nasty customer indeed, significantly outgunning the canonical McKenna class battleship on three-quarters the tonnage.)
Ever since the Lyran Commonwealth's daring raid on the capital of the Draconis Combine during the First Succession War, the Combine had ensured that there were *never* less than four regiments of BattleMechs assigned to the defense of their most important world. But those defenses were *purely* on the ground; both of the WarShips defending Luthien had been destroyed in that raid, and the heavy targeting of major yards during both the First and Second Succession Wars had ensured that the Draconis Combine Admiralty was never able to replace those losses.
This was acceptable, since no other state in the Inner Sphere had any Warships left either.
-----
"We have an unauthorized emergence signature at the nadir jump point! Very large JumpShip, mass 1.5 million..."
"That is not possible! No JumpShip is more than one hundred thousand..." The supervising Chu-i turned absolutely white. "... only WarShips are of such mass."
"DropShips are seperating and boosting inbound at two gravities! The Jump...the WarShip is boosting as well, one-and-a-half gravities! Count is five, ten, twenty, twenty-five Dropships!"
There had not been a single operational WarShip in the entire Inner Sphere for well over a century, but there was no officer in the Combine who did not know what a 1.5 million ton WarShip with twenty-five DropShips was.
"IT'S A POTEMKIN!! ALERT THE TAI-SHO! ALERT THE COORDINATOR! ALERT EVERYONE!!!!!!"
And especially not exactly on the two hundredth anniversary of the LCS Nightwind's deep-penetration raid.
----
"Jane, that was not very nice at all."
The Royal Agent gave a completely unrepentant smirk. "Hey, it's not my fault that our new McEvedy class battleships just happen to be the exact same tonnage as the old Potemkin class cruisers. I just suggested that they load five less DropShips for maximum psychological effect."
(Note: This omake is absolutely and totally not canon. That said, I *have* actually designed a 1.5-million ton McEvedy class battleship for our future use . . .and it is a very nasty customer indeed, significantly outgunning the canonical McKenna class battleship on three-quarters the tonnage.)
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Turn 28 - Ride the Tiger
Turn 28 - Ride the Tiger
The Tai-sa returns to Griffin V, stating that while he has the authority to accept the terms he will need to ratify them. A week later the Excalber that was on the planet departs for the jump point along with the Aqueduct and Mule. The jump out on one of the Tramps.
A month later the Tramp returns, carrying three Mammoth cargo haulers, which burn towards Griffin V. Upon their arrival, Sarah notes large numbers of civilians being herded off of the dropships, entire family units clustered together, and to the prefab housing that had been built.
In the weeks that follow, a mix of loading and unloading operations occur, with mountains of supplies being offloaded, and military equipment being loaded. Three of the Leopard CVs depart for the jump point and are taken out of the system. A day later a much more massive jumpship, which Sarah helpfully identifies as a Monolith arrives empty accompanied by an empty Star Lord.
Tai-sa Gustavson contacts you shortly after the arrival of the two jumpships. The message is terse, the terms had been accepted and the DCMS forces were withdrawing. Pursuant to the deal they’d entered with you no DCMS units will enter the system for the next 20 years. He then sent an addendum, the Buccaneer-class dropship had suffered ‘drive failures’ that made it ‘unsafe to operate’, and thus he was leaving the vessel behind as scrap.
Sarah confirms that it appears that the dropship in question is indeed not flight worthy, and is evidently being used to provide power to the settlement on an ad-hoc basis.
The remaining DCMS vessels then boost for the jump point and depart. Scans show no lingering units attempting any funny business.
Parliament sends you a note asking if now would be an appropriate time for a bit of a party in celebration?
[] Yes - +1% Tax this year, +1% POP gain, -.5% GDP
[] No - Killjoy
And then it’s that time of year again… not party time. Not Miller time.
Budget time.
General Swanson starts things off. “I know our budget is tight this year, but we still really need to continue to expand our forces. 20 years seems like a long time, but even after 25 years of expansion we weren’t nearly ready to deal decisively with the Dracs. Therefore, we recommend continuing the military build up. For ground forces, we recommend working on finishing off the Mechanized regiment, along with continuing full mech production. We also recommend building a factory for the new Trooper mech.”
General Reyes smoothly takes over. “For our aerospace forces, we need to assign ASF units permanently to our first production Harris, I recommend a flight of Eagles. Otherwise we should continue to bulk out our ASF forces.”
Admiral Kirk had been replaced by Admiral Luc Benjamin, the CO of Home Fleet. “Your Majesty, I would recommend laying down the second Defiant and Harris class dropships. We recommend the names USS Intrepid and USS Zeilin for the two vessels.”
General Potter then takes over. “While I endorse all the recommendations of my colleagues, I am fully aware that we are in a bit of a budget crunch at this time. Our priorities should start with the dropships and go from there.”
Bridget is extra bouncy today, even though you have it on absolute authority that she’s only had decaf. “Your Majesty with the new armistice and the DCMS leaving all those poor people on Griffin V we’ve got a golden opportunity to really do some good and do well in the process so I really think we need to take advantage of that over everything else because it’s both the right and smart thing to do to that end we’re ready to start shipping relief supplies although that would require us to use the Harris as a freighter so maybe think about allowing the private sector to build droppers for commercial use which would be a big boost to the economy on all sorts of fronts.”
Isoroku glances over at his hyper colleague, then a slight smile twitches his lips. “Two things, Your Majesty, first we’ll want to establish actual contact with the former slaves and establish that we are coming to help them, not to re-enslave them, then do the above. Also, may I humbly request that we put on the benefit concert, perhaps with the theme of raising funds for the victims of Drac aggression?”
Jake nods “Indeed, and if we are going to be working with the folks on Griffin V, I daresay that we’ll eventually wind up absorbing them. Together we’ll be stronger and more able to deal with the Dracs, after all. I’d recommend we start actually planning for the establishment of a… guess the word Imperial would work best, or perhaps Federal, I’m not sure… system to govern a larger entity than our planet alone.”
Dr Palmer is still in the hospital, but she’s able to join you via teleconference. “Your Majesty, I know we have a lot of very expensive research going on. Recreating the most advanced achievements of the Star League is hard but we’re hopeful we’ll manage it. I strongly urge you to stay the course with the current projects, we’ll finish them soon enough, God Willing.”
Harry is actually smiling, which is rare for him. “We caught one lucky break in all of this.” he says, his smile becoming almost as predatory as a grifftiger’s. “The good tai-sa let slip a potentially critical piece of intel. Did you know that neither the ISF nor the O5P have any agents who speak Polish? And every native of Nowa Warszawa is completely fluent in Polish? We can easily sort through the folks on Griffin V and ferret out any stay-behinds.”
Jane is busy dealing with some legal issues involving the hovercraft league, but sends a message that her office is considering the challenges involved in shifting to an Imperial footing and will have recommendations ‘soon’, but that they shouldn’t cost much if anything.
The Tai-sa returns to Griffin V, stating that while he has the authority to accept the terms he will need to ratify them. A week later the Excalber that was on the planet departs for the jump point along with the Aqueduct and Mule. The jump out on one of the Tramps.
A month later the Tramp returns, carrying three Mammoth cargo haulers, which burn towards Griffin V. Upon their arrival, Sarah notes large numbers of civilians being herded off of the dropships, entire family units clustered together, and to the prefab housing that had been built.
In the weeks that follow, a mix of loading and unloading operations occur, with mountains of supplies being offloaded, and military equipment being loaded. Three of the Leopard CVs depart for the jump point and are taken out of the system. A day later a much more massive jumpship, which Sarah helpfully identifies as a Monolith arrives empty accompanied by an empty Star Lord.
Tai-sa Gustavson contacts you shortly after the arrival of the two jumpships. The message is terse, the terms had been accepted and the DCMS forces were withdrawing. Pursuant to the deal they’d entered with you no DCMS units will enter the system for the next 20 years. He then sent an addendum, the Buccaneer-class dropship had suffered ‘drive failures’ that made it ‘unsafe to operate’, and thus he was leaving the vessel behind as scrap.
Sarah confirms that it appears that the dropship in question is indeed not flight worthy, and is evidently being used to provide power to the settlement on an ad-hoc basis.
The remaining DCMS vessels then boost for the jump point and depart. Scans show no lingering units attempting any funny business.
Parliament sends you a note asking if now would be an appropriate time for a bit of a party in celebration?
[] Yes - +1% Tax this year, +1% POP gain, -.5% GDP
[] No - Killjoy
And then it’s that time of year again… not party time. Not Miller time.
Budget time.
General Swanson starts things off. “I know our budget is tight this year, but we still really need to continue to expand our forces. 20 years seems like a long time, but even after 25 years of expansion we weren’t nearly ready to deal decisively with the Dracs. Therefore, we recommend continuing the military build up. For ground forces, we recommend working on finishing off the Mechanized regiment, along with continuing full mech production. We also recommend building a factory for the new Trooper mech.”
General Reyes smoothly takes over. “For our aerospace forces, we need to assign ASF units permanently to our first production Harris, I recommend a flight of Eagles. Otherwise we should continue to bulk out our ASF forces.”
Admiral Kirk had been replaced by Admiral Luc Benjamin, the CO of Home Fleet. “Your Majesty, I would recommend laying down the second Defiant and Harris class dropships. We recommend the names USS Intrepid and USS Zeilin for the two vessels.”
General Potter then takes over. “While I endorse all the recommendations of my colleagues, I am fully aware that we are in a bit of a budget crunch at this time. Our priorities should start with the dropships and go from there.”
Bridget is extra bouncy today, even though you have it on absolute authority that she’s only had decaf. “Your Majesty with the new armistice and the DCMS leaving all those poor people on Griffin V we’ve got a golden opportunity to really do some good and do well in the process so I really think we need to take advantage of that over everything else because it’s both the right and smart thing to do to that end we’re ready to start shipping relief supplies although that would require us to use the Harris as a freighter so maybe think about allowing the private sector to build droppers for commercial use which would be a big boost to the economy on all sorts of fronts.”
Isoroku glances over at his hyper colleague, then a slight smile twitches his lips. “Two things, Your Majesty, first we’ll want to establish actual contact with the former slaves and establish that we are coming to help them, not to re-enslave them, then do the above. Also, may I humbly request that we put on the benefit concert, perhaps with the theme of raising funds for the victims of Drac aggression?”
Jake nods “Indeed, and if we are going to be working with the folks on Griffin V, I daresay that we’ll eventually wind up absorbing them. Together we’ll be stronger and more able to deal with the Dracs, after all. I’d recommend we start actually planning for the establishment of a… guess the word Imperial would work best, or perhaps Federal, I’m not sure… system to govern a larger entity than our planet alone.”
Dr Palmer is still in the hospital, but she’s able to join you via teleconference. “Your Majesty, I know we have a lot of very expensive research going on. Recreating the most advanced achievements of the Star League is hard but we’re hopeful we’ll manage it. I strongly urge you to stay the course with the current projects, we’ll finish them soon enough, God Willing.”
Harry is actually smiling, which is rare for him. “We caught one lucky break in all of this.” he says, his smile becoming almost as predatory as a grifftiger’s. “The good tai-sa let slip a potentially critical piece of intel. Did you know that neither the ISF nor the O5P have any agents who speak Polish? And every native of Nowa Warszawa is completely fluent in Polish? We can easily sort through the folks on Griffin V and ferret out any stay-behinds.”
Jane is busy dealing with some legal issues involving the hovercraft league, but sends a message that her office is considering the challenges involved in shifting to an Imperial footing and will have recommendations ‘soon’, but that they shouldn’t cost much if anything.
[X] Yes - +1% Tax this year, +1% POP gain, -.5% GDP
[X] Plan: Expansionist Budget Crunch v2
[X] Plan: Expansionist Budget Crunch v2
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Priority should definitely be infrastructure. It's possible that the DCMS will backstab us in the next year or two, but it's much more likely that the inevitable backstab will be delayed until after Gustavson is no longer in a leadership role in our neighborhood. Now is the time for long-term investing -- we need more dropships, fewer ASFs; we need more factories, but fewer mechs. Simulators aren't quite as good as real experience in a mech cockpit, but they're order-of-magnitudes cheaper, and would allow us to sort through the population to find the best pilots for whichever mechs we're able to bring to the field. Plus, combined forces works much better against mechs, even if it's less glamorous.
Basically, prioritize the first three Xs (Explore, Expand, Exploit) and leave Exterminate for later.
I'm not sure exactly what our expenses should look like -- I'm not familiar enough with writing a budget plan --but hopefully we can all agree to the overarching direction.
Basically, prioritize the first three Xs (Explore, Expand, Exploit) and leave Exterminate for later.
I'm not sure exactly what our expenses should look like -- I'm not familiar enough with writing a budget plan --but hopefully we can all agree to the overarching direction.
Right now, ground forces are pretty much zero priority. We shouldn't neglect it entirely, but right now money is tight and that's the logical area to cut until we are on better financial ground. We don't, honestly, need them for anything right now, and even if the DCMS comes back sooner than the 20 year armistice, that battle will be entirely DropShips and ASFs.
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[X] Yes - +1% Tax this year, +1% POP gain, -.5% GDP
Depends if they are majority, poles and are all fluent speakers then they may have figured out who the infiltrator and deal with them.
As for collaborators they will possibly be strung up before we get there.
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PeaceMaker 03
Well-known member
No one else commented on the “gift” above.
1-Need to have our tech/science people see what we can learn from it.
2-See if it can be fixed up, almost seems like gift from the DC.
3- If it can be repaired, need to ensure it is not a Trojan horse of some type.