Turn 122 - She’s On Fire
The Olympics continue to be highly successful this year, with Team Griffon continuing their winning ways. While the motor racing events are a given, they still turn in impressive performances which have audiences wildly enthusiastic. Superb performances at Archery, Wrestling and various swimming and diving events bring in plenty more golden hardware for the team.
Your daughter does superbly in the Volleyball event, which again draws some of the highest ratings in Olympics history. You wish you could say this was purely due to athletic prowess but you are quite realistic, a good portion of that is ‘see the princess naked!’ viewership.
You are totally not jealous.
There have been a few sightings of Black Steel light units, mostly frigates and corvettes, but still no engagements as the Black Steel are assiduously avoiding battle. Of particular worry, however, is that the sightings range all along your western and northwestern frontier, rather than remaining focused solely in the northwest. This has your naval analysts quite concerned, as they admit that it is getting far harder to predict Black Steel movements and targets.
As a consequence Home Fleet has sent out a RFP for a resurrection of the old PGL concept to provide planetary defense forces with additional firepower against Black Steel attacks. One of the advantages of the advances in technology is that it is now possible to nearly mass-produce such small ships, allowing multiples to be built in a single orbital shipyard slip. As such, the new designs would be built in groups of ten, allowing for rapid buildup of defensive forces while, conversely, limiting them to very small dropships.
Private industry has sent in three designs to meet this RFP, while BuShips has developed their own concept for the mission.
Pyramid Industries is still around, building civilian transports, and has responded with the smallest of the entries. While it only has a pair of 10cm subcapital lasers and is by a wide margin the most lightly armed and armored, the PGL-57 concept nonetheless is the least expensive while technically meeting the requirements. Prospective crews have registered objections to the lack of dedicated escape pods on the design, with the crew having to rely on the attached shuttle for emergencies.
Cerberus Industries has proposed the PGL-52A Mitchell concept. The heaviest of the four concepts, it nonetheless is fairly inexpensive. Armed with a pair of 30cm subcapital lasers in the nose, along with a suite of energy and ballistic weapons including quartets of ancient 50mm class-5 autocannons in the stern. There are concerns about potential ammunition explosions, especially as the original heat dissipation system was grossly inadequate although that has been corrected in the latest version.
Majeure Electrique’s PGL-35 concept is somewhat typical of the firm's design ethos. Armed only with a single 30cm subcapital laser in the nose with extensive conventional armament in the wings and tail. It is the only concept which features banks of long-range missiles to enhance anti-fighter capability.
The BuShips PGL-100 concept is the same mass as the PGL-35, while featuring dual 30cm subcapital lasers along with heavy energy and ballistic armament, including an octet of class 40 hyper-assault gauss rifles in the nose. Their concept is the best armored of the four, with the most offensive and defensive potential, but is also the most expensive of the four.
[] | Name | Cost | Materials | HP | A/D | Specials |
[] | PGL-57 | $439,513,200.00 | FAA, DHS | 2810 | 1610 |
- Armored 7
- AMS 800
- Capital 3/40
- Capital AMS 80
- Swift
|
[] | PGL-52A | $606,790,728.00 | FAA, DHS | 3710 | 2110 |
- Armored 11
- AMS 960
- Capital 2/100
- Capital AMS 96
- Swift
|
[] | PGL-35 | $732,024,000.00 | FAA, DHS | 4070 | 2570 |
- Armored 10
- AMS 800
- Missile 170
- Capital 2/50
- Capital AMS 80
- Swift
|
[] | PGL-100 | $762,456,000.00 | FAA, DHS | 5310 | 3410 |
- Armored 14
- AMS 800
- Capital 2/100
- Capital AMS 80
- Swift
|
QM Note - all numbers are for a group of 10
The current plan is to focus these new units on systems most at risk from the Black Steel. While they would be very unlikely to be able to stop a concerted attack, they should be able to buy enough time for heavier forces to arrive before too much damage is done. In a way they are sacrificial units, at least until you get enough of them that they might be able to stop the Black Steel with a death of a million cuts.
Until then, Grand Fleet is transferring all of their
Shimakaze and
Spruance class Parasite Destroyers to Home Fleet, on the grounds that for fleet actions the
Mikasa-class Parasite Battleship was the only fully useful combatant, and that losses among the lighter ships were simply unacceptable.
It is now budget time.
Amaunet is looking smug. Her putting her paw down on the piloting suit front had obviously somewhat surprised her underlings, who were used to her being quite placid about things. They should have remembered that she’s a grifftiger and extremely patient indeed.
“Padrone, this year we’re in slightly better shape than last, due to the low Black Steel activity allowing us to start to recover. This is not something that we can expect to last, and we need to focus on accelerating our construction rates. Your great-aunt recommended that I read some documents she prepared on great feats of military mass production, and the phrase ‘the ships start coming and they don’t stop coming’ comes to mind.” There are slight chuckles around the table. “General Bradley?”
The fiery general takes the podium. “Again, the Army is content to remain in a holding pattern, SLEP work is going well and we have some slack in infantry divisions to cover new colonies for a few years yet before we’ll need to expand. We’ll also soon be reaching diminishing returns on garrison and militia strength in many of our systems, so in a few years we’ll be reducing those procurement requests as well.”
It’s nice to have a service chief who isn’t obsessed with the endless growth of her bailiwick. For all her prickliness, General Bradley is a treasure.
- Imperial Griffon Army
- Procurement
- 28 Garrison Divisions
- 28 Militia Divisions
General Perkins is up next. “Unlike the Army, we need to continue to grow our production capacity in order to fully support the fleet, as well as provide ASF cover to our planets. Therefore we’ll be needing additional production lines to support our growth.”
- Imperial Griffon Aerospace Force
- Production
- New ASF Factories
- Glorreich
- Shin Tōkyō
- Kurortas
- Raj
- Pustina
- Procurement
- 100 CAP Wing
- 25 Carrier Wing
- 5 Garrison Wing
Admiral Fisher then takes over, looking far older than you know him to be, with deep lines engraved on his face and a fierce expression on his face. “I know it’s tempting to skimp on escort yards, they’re little ships, they don’t hit hard, blah blah blah, they are critical to our success. Building up Home Fleet is vitally important, no matter how annoying I find them. Our capital ships need escorts, and the
Battle-class has proven itself in battle. Not that we don’t want more larger ships as well, but please remember the small boys are just as important to a fleet as the big iron. Without both we’d have lost several of the latest engagements with the Black Steel.” He glares around the room.
- Imperial Griffon Navy
- Production
- Orbital Shipyards
- New Orbital Shipyards
- Nueva Chiapas
- New Kansas
- Nowego Lublina
- Expand All Orbital Shipyards
- Refit & Repair Yards
- New Refit & Repair Yard
- Expand all Refit & Repair Yards
- Escort Yards
- Neubayern
- Neuhessen
- Nouvelle Bourgogne
- Nuova Lombardia
- Nuova Puglia
- Nuovo Abruzzo
- Nyū Shikoku
- Stenen Tuin
- New Libertalia
- Nuova Tripoli
- Catachan
- Feurstern
- Neuthüringen
- Nowe Mazowsze
- Nox
- Platzregensburg
- Iskra
- New Algiers
- New Clew Bay
- Nubifragio
- Bellaterra
- Bohren
- Landprettig
- Porto Milano
- Shin Tōkyō
- Hot Mess
- New Narnia
- The Hub
- Baddorando
- Sturmland
- Small Warship Yards
- New Castor
- New Port Royal
- Nowy Wroclaw
- Nowy Slask
- Chuma
- Awha
- Kaiyo
- Medium Warship Yards
- Griffon
- Calliope
- Okusawa
- Pieklo
- Bari
- Large Warship Yards
- Nya Kopenhamn
- Kainga
- Edelsteine
- New Capricorn
- Procurement
- Dropships
- 200 Shimakaze-class Parasite Destroyers
- 200 Spruance-class Parasite Destroyers
- Note, this will be the last procurement request for these classes.
- 50 Wright-class Dockable ASF Platforms
- 106 Colt-class Defense Blisters
- Large Dropships
- 30 Saipan-class Parasite Carriers
- 232 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
- Jumpships
- 7 Windjammer-class Jumpships
- Escorts
- 140 Battle-class Destroyers
- 10 Skjold-class Missile Corvettes
- 10 Constellation-class Corvettes
- 50 Tarantul-class Missile Raiders
- 50 Asheville-class Raiders
- Small Warships
- 40 Belfast-class Light Cruisers
- 35 De Grasse-class Light Cruisers
- 4 Hosho-class Light Carriers
- Medium Warships
- 20 Prinz Eugen II-class Heavy Cruisers
- 10 Algerie-class Heavy Cruisers
- Large Warships
- 10 Kaiserin-class Battleships
- 6 Saratoga-class Fleet Carriers
- Fortress Command
- Jump Point Defenses
- Nueva Chiapas
- New Kansas
- Nowego Lublina
- Waypoint 4
- Waypoint 5
- Oasis II
- Nueva Chiapas
- New Kansas
- Nowego Lublina
- Waypoint 4
- Waypoint 5
- Black Tower
- Nueva Chiapas
- New Kansas
- Nowego Lublina
- Waypoint 4
- Waypoint 5
The Admiral sits down and, after a glance at Amaunet who gives her a small nod, Elizabeth Lee clears her throat. “Your Majesty, there are three systems in the five that we surveyed that are viable in terms of colonization, and I strongly recommend that we do so. It will give us additional critical strategic depth in that region.” She brings up a chart for you to look at.
- Colonization, System Government Establishment, & Justice System Establishment
- Nueva Chiapas
- New Kansas
- Nowego Lublina
“In addition, we have a number of idle DoME teams, and you know as well as I do that they are too valuable to be left idle. We recommend the following projects for them.”
- Department of Mega-Engineering Teams
- Expand Shin Tōkyō Arcologies
- Terraforming
“Finally, in terms of economic and infrastructure investments we have the following recommendations.”
- Economic Focus, Major Investment & Infrastructure/Industrial Zones
- Economic Focus
- Major Investment
- Investment
- Infrastructure & Industrial Zone
- Hot Mess
- Baddorando
- New Narnia
- Nouvelle Bourgogne
- Nuova Puglia
Dr Severino is off at the Olympics this year and has no recommendations for you. Tiberius, meanwhile, is accompanying her but has sent in a recommendation for the further expansion of the Civil Service.
Grace is up next. “I know we couldn’t do this due to budget constraints last year, but we should have enough this year to manage both Improved Automation and Improved Education. If we have to prioritize, I recommend Automation first, as our benefits regime will still protect our workers from the effects of industrial automation.”
General Messerschmidt is present as well, but when he looks up he is grinning in a very disturbing manner. “Well, Your Majesty, I am pleased to announce that your youngest daughter has quite the cult following in both the NRR and NRI. According to my agents, videos and pictures of her are… highly popular in both.” He smirks at your expression. “Oddly enough, she is equally popular in Bourbon space.” Your palm and your face make a loving embrace. “We’ve already been fielding appearance requests for her, according to Tiberius, but so far we’ve been… not responding.” Your head impacts the table at that point, drawing chuckles around the room.
Martina takes the opportunity to thwack General Messershmidt as she starts her report. “In addition to the justice system work needed on the new colonies, Your Majesty, we recommend getting a head start on rationalizing the legal codes. Strictly speaking we don’t need to start until next year, but I would prefer to get it done early just in case.”