Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
It may be necessary to modify the fleet chain of command with a distinction between Battle Fleet and Support Fleet, where acting command of the fleet always falls to the senior Battle Fleet officer present.



I would argue that being "by the book" to that ludicrous degree constitutes a total lack of fitness to command.
Note, he waited until the battle was well and truly over to indulge the flagpole jammed up his posterior. At that point, the Book said X, so X must happen.

And that's another decision that might need to be revisited, yes?
 

mmgaballah

Well-known member
why don't we press all those Black Steel hulks into service as SDS drone warships ? , there should be enough salvaged Black Steel warships in the moth yards to reverse engineer the tech and repairing those ships and pressing them into service would go a long way to evening the odds as the navy could really use some expendable drone ships to help their order of battle would reduce crew casualties at the very least
 

darkcloudt2

Well-known member
Yes, I find it really weird that we haven’t learned how to automate our ships so we can have less crews or work on better jammers in all the time we have been fighting the Black Steel because it’s not they are our primary foes…
 

mmgaballah

Well-known member
Yes, I find it really weird that we haven’t learned how to automate our ships so we can have less crews or work on better jammers in all the time we have been fighting the Black Steel because it’s not they are our primary foes…
I agree it is kind of weird , doubly so since we have metric tons of salvage to reverse engineer from every single battle , not to mention the other Amaris remnant nomadic fleets who we are on decent terms with would have had access to same tech or at least less developed base versions of said tech which we could have traded for
 

Kilvanya

Well-known member
I feel Black Sun has become a rather large gameplay problem, mainly in the fact that if we lose a single of these grand engagements then we start losing a world every other week or so, which means that we then can’t effectively push them back once they start. Because at this point they are effectively a tool of the QM to cull our navy repeatedly so we can’t start the naval snowball that lets us roll over anything we find, also means we can’t start flinging colonies everywhere as our navy does scouting to find worlds instead of getting gutted every couple years.
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
IIRC, the BS ships have a tendency to self destruct any/all critical components. That, and I wouldn't want any of their mainframes near our computers.
 

darkcloudt2

Well-known member
I get that they are rigged to self destruct but even with that, with the number of ships we have destroyed we should have been able to work out or have an idea of how they are automating their ships but even if we haven’t got any ideas about that then what about jamming?
 

mmgaballah

Well-known member
the BS ships have a tendency to self destruct any/all critical components.
that can't be 100% reliable , those ships are put through the hell that is a naval battle space an environment that by virtue of being war zone is one where anything that can go wrong will inevitably do so , the odds of those self destruct systems being knocked out or damaged over the course of a space battle are not zero and we have had a lot of space battles for those dice to role
 
Black Steel Information

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
OK, a few behind the scenes details on the Black Steel

First of all, the way their forces and such are calculated, and how I determine if there's an attack any given turn.

I use what I call the Threat, Magnitude and Aggression indexes for this.

Threat - A measure of how powerful the Black Steel are on the back end, IE production capacity. Threat is measured as 1+Number of Active Black Steel Outposts.

Magnitude - A measure of the current available fleet strength of the Black Steel

Aggression - How likely are the Black Steel to attack.

Each turn, I roll 1d10 per point of Threat, using successes (those who've played Exalted or World of Darkness are familiar with that mechanic). Each point of success adds 1 to Magnitude.

I then roll 1d10 per point of Magnitude to determine Aggression, with each success adding 1 point to Aggression.

Finally, I roll 1d10 per point of Aggression, any successes on this roll means an attack this turn.

If the attack is defeated, Magnitude resets to zero. If they were to succeed but take any damage at all, they lose 1 Magnitude. If they succeed but are reduced to CLG they lose 3 Magnitude, and if they succeed but are Shattered they are reset to 1 Magnitude.

Remaining Magnitude is then used to determine damage to civilian assets in the system, 1d10 per remaining points of Magnitude, each success causes a set percentage of damage.

----------------

For the Black Steels automation systems. They are NOT using 'traditional' CASPAR systems, they are using their own technology. Said tech involves cloning and cybernetics to effectively have brains in a jar (not literally, but the bodies are severely atrophied due to complete disuse) wired into the systems, only the ASFs are 'traditional' CASPAR and those aren't a significant issue for you. I think you all can see the severe ethical problems related to this, and how the Empire as your decisions have built it to be would recoil violently at the possibility of going down that path.
 

namar13766

Well-known member
For the Black Steels automation systems. They are NOT using 'traditional' CASPAR systems, they are using their own technology. Said tech involves cloning and cybernetics to effectively have brains in a jar (not literally, but the bodies are severely atrophied due to complete disuse) wired into the systems, only the ASFs are 'traditional' CASPAR and those aren't a significant issue for you. I think you all can see the severe ethical problems related to this, and how the Empire as your decisions have built it to be would recoil violently at the possibility of going down that path.


They sound like the Organic Drones I brainstormed for a hypothetical alliance of the Word of Blake and Society.

Here’s their description.

——

The term 'organic drone' was both intended to dehumanize the whole process to make it more palatable and those involved consider it more accurate term than the alternative and don't actually care about this humanity thing. Nine year old children are born in an iron womb analogue and subjected to from birth to a rigorous program of mental, physical, and neurochemical conditioning. Though they share genetic makeup of humans, those running the program argue that the comparison isn't accurate, as the process strips them of any sense of individuality, or any real concept of freewill or creativity. The entirety of their being is subsumed into being a control system for an interface cockpit equipped battlemech or ASF. They wouldn't even know how to begin to operate outside the confines of their cockpit.

They follow the orders of their handlers without question and to the letter, and they can't even grasp the concept that defiance is an option. They don't feel pain because of invasive brain surgery and their direct neural interface, tied to the interface cockpit, enhances their otherwise modest piloting and gunnery abilities to the point that one on one they're equal to a typical clan mechwarrior. The program has proven less successful than hoped, as the vast majority of drones are unable to take the neurological strain of the direct neural interface, or are so damaged by the conditioning that they're already braindead before they get to that point. They are recycled into the nutrient solutions used in the program used in the growing process.

Those that pass muster and enter service have a projected lifespan of only two years, far faster than a typical human with VDNI will degrade. This is all due to their age and conditioning, as their brain and neurological system is not fully developed, thus degrades faster under the immense strain. Buffered VDNI would reduce the issues but would also decrease drone performance. Lengthening the production cycle would increase the numbers and qualities of the drones, but it is already considered prohibitively long. The low numbers of useful drones turned out by the program in 10 year production cycles can't compete with unmanned inorganic platforms in sheer production volume, but each organic drone system is vastly superior to inorganically controlled counterparts.

The fact that these organic drones never last long enough for them to develop individual personalities which might kill them from fighting their programming is either a lucky bug or a well-designed feature.
 

Jarow

Well-known member
[X] Plan: Fewer contracts
-[X] Procurement [$ 282,671,419,553.83 ]
--[X] Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $10,569,842,450.00 ] (95)
---[X] 200 Shimakaze [95]
---[X] 150 Spruance [95]
---[X] 35 Lublin [95]

---[X] 90 Normandy [95]
---[X] 80 Mikasa [95]
---[X] 9 Charleston [95]

--[X] Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $23,300,067.75 ] (90)
---[X] 5 Windjammer [90]

--[X] Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $20,404,265,200.00 ] (90)
---[X] 30 Dido*
---[X] 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi*
---[X] 20 De Grasse*
---[X] 2 Hosho*

---[X] 10 Prinz Eugen*
---[X] 10 Algerie*
---[X] 10 Prinz Eugen*
---[X] 10 Algerie*

---[X] 8 Dreadnought*
---[X] 8 Dreadnought*
---[X] 8 Dreadnought*

---[X] 50 Battle [90]
---[X] 0 England [90]
---[X] 100 Lyr [90]

---[X] 30 Dido [90]
---[X] 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi [90]
---[X] 20 De Grasse [90]

---[X] 10 Prinz Eugen [90]
---[X] 10 Algerie [90]

---[X] 12 Dreadnought [90]

--[X] Purchase New Units [Minor Unit - $ 22,673,361,836.08 ] (90)
---[X] 0 Fighter Wing [auto]
---[X] 0 Strike Wing [90]
---[X] 0 Heavy Carrier Wing [90]

---[X] 9 Regimental Combat Team Division [90]

---[X] 21 Garrison Division [90]
---[X] 21 Militia Division [90]

--[X] Fortress Command [$ 229,000,650,000.00 ] (90)
---[X] Build Jump Point Defenses
---[X] Construct Silver Tower
---[X] Construct Oasis II
---[X] Construct Black Tower
----[X] Griff's Leap [90]
----[X] New Phoenix [90]
----[X] New Eden [90]
----[X] Okusawa [90]
----[X] New Castor [90]

-[X] General [$ 2,198,250,000,000.00 ]
--[X] Focus Development on Core World New Castor [85]
--[X] Focus Development on Peripheral World Grand View [85]
--[X] Massive Core Investment Glorreich [80]
--[X] Massive Peripheral Investment Nubifragio [80]
--[X] Economic Investment Nox [90]
--[X] Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nuova Puglia [90]
--[X] Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Bohren [90]
--[X] Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Landprettig [90]
--[X] Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
--[X] Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Arvum [90]

--[X] Expand Civil Service [80]
--[X] Build Orbital Shipyard Griffon [105]
--[X] Build Orbital Shipyard Calliope [105]
--[X] Build Orbital Shipyard Nowa Warzsawa [105]
--[X] Build Orbital Shipyard Glorreich [105]
--[X] Build Orbital Shipyard New Port Royal [105]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nuova Triploi [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Awha [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Catachan [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Feurstem [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nowe Mazowsze [90]

--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Platzregensburg [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Neuthüringen [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nyū Shikoku [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Landprettig [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Neuhessen [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Neubayern [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nuova Puglia [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard New Algiers [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard New Clew Bay [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Bellaterra [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Bohren [90]

--[X] Construct Escort Yard Iskra [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nubifragio [90]
--[X] Construct Escort Yard Nox [90]
--[X] Upgrade Refit & Repair Yard [105]
--[X] Expand Orbital Shipyards [105]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard Calliope [->1]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [->1]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard Griffon [->1]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard New Pollux [->1]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard New Capricorn* [90]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard Edelsteine* [90]

--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard Nya Kopenhamn* [90]
--[X] Construct Large Warship Yard Kainga* [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard New Phoenix [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Okusawa [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard New Port Royal [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Nowy Wroclaw [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard New Castor [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Pieklo [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Bari [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Nowy Slask [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Chuma [90]
--[X] Construct Small Warship Yard Glorreich [90]

-[X] DoME [$ 812,000,000,000.00 ]
--[X] Expand Shin Tōkyō Arcologies* [90]
--[X] Terraforming Feurstem* [85]
--[X] Terraforming Grand View* [85]
--[X] Terraforming Pinball* [85]
--[X] Terraforming Porto Milano* [85]
--[X] Construct Major Army Base - New Libertalia* [85]
--[X] Construct Major Fleet Base - New Libertalia* [->2]
--[X] Terraforming Nubifragio* [->1]
--[X] Terraforming Arvum* [->1]
--[X] Terraforming Pustina* [->2]
--[X] Terraforming Steingarten* [->2]
--[X] Nouveau Paris Cleanup* [->3]

--[X] Planetary Optimization (Peripheral) - Steingarten [->1]

-[X] Research [$ 1,850,350,000,000.00 ]
--[X] Specialist Battle Armor* [->1]
--[X] Variant Autocannon Ammunition* [->1]
--[X] Omnifighter* [55]
--[X] Improved Pilot Exosuits Level 1* [->2]
--[X] Advanced Terraforming Techniques Lvl 2* [->1]
--[X] Advanced Arrow IV Artillery* [60]
--[X] Intentionally Empty [n/a]
(Bigger warships are important)
--[X] Improved Germanium Refining Lvl 4* [->1]
--[X] Commercial R&D [-]
--[X] Industrial R&D [-]

-[X] Miscellaneous [$ 134,370,000,000.00 ]
--[X] Production Contract [->2][134,700,000,000]
(Apparently this is supposed to not take an action, butI've previously been told differently so I'll just accept current status)

5b leftover.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top