Turn 108 - Eleven Hours In The Tin Pan
The tempo of minor Black Steel attacks in the galactic northwest are increasing, in some cases with multiple probing raids on multiple systems simultaneously. There have been a few losses among commercial shipping, but no military vessels have been destroyed, although plenty have been damaged.
The worst of these raids saw a trio of Black Steel Congress-class frigates jump in at a outer system pirate point and ravage some mining stations in the Bohren system before fighting a running battle to a different pirate point that saw several of your Bainbridge class vessels crippled and forced to withdraw. The three Black Steel frigates were eventually destroyed before they reached the jump point by elements of the Grand Fleet that were on patrol in the system.
You are able to watch the Black Pumpernickels perform a number of excellent musicals, showcasing just how skilled they are as thespians. It definitely livens up your family vacation as you spend a few weeks away from Griffsport. The family hooligans, also known as the family raptors, evidently decide that they really like the theater, and display that liking by ‘helping’. The Black Pumpernickels deal with it like troupers, managing to actually incorporate some raptor shenanigans into their performances which you appreciate greatly.
The Olympics continue to go rather well for Team Griffon, and you are cheering them on from afar as they continue to rack up victories, although not at the tempo of a few Olympiads ago. Next to the motorsports, the most popular events in the public eye continue to be the Naked Volleyball matches, to your amusement.
Reports from General Messerschmidt’s interrogators reveal increasing proof of Rouges Noir involvement in sponsoring and supporting pirate activity in the galactic northeast, although there continues to be no firm proof of whether or not the pirates ‘paid’ for such support with longer-ranged jumpship technology. There are some contradictions, with the ‘friendlier’ pirates from New Libertalia indicating that even the lunatics and psychos ‘weren’t that stupid’, which is a less than reassuring statement considering just how stupid some of them have proven to be.
There’s a minor issue that is more amusing than anything else on Griffon proper. Some real men of genius decided that it would be a genius idea to start a new business ranching dire penguins, without bothering to do any research on dire penguins. Deciding that the minor detail that what they wanted to do was completely illegal was simply the result of other people not being real men of genius like they were, they decided that they, being real men of genius, knew better than everybody else and took a boat down to the Antarctic to collect some dire penguins for their ranch And, wanting to show the world that they were real men of genius, they decided to stream their operation over the planetary network, thus these real men of genius proved that, to the dire penguins, real men of genius were delicious and tasted good screaming. Luckily for the real men of genius, the Coast Guard was chasing them and managed to rescue them before they were actually killed.
The real men of genius claimed that they were doing this for entertainment purposes, but they still broke the law, and now the real men of genius are jailed pending trial for multiple felonies, as well as being the laughing stock of the planet.
Once you got back from your vacation it was budget time.
Amaunet starts things off from where she’s lounging on the dias. “Padrone, this year we hope to get our first true capital ships into service, which will be a great step forward in our efforts against the Black Steel. We’ve also been increasing our strategic material output, and hopefully by the end of the current contracts we’ll be in a more solid position. The review is going well, General Bradley will have a general report on this. General?”
General Bradley takes the podium. “Your Majesty, the review is ongoing. One of the major points that has been shown in our testing and review process is that all units, ideally, should have a solid mix of long and short range direct firepower, and that we’ve been over-emphasizing long range missiles. The newer designs are significantly more balanced, blending hard-hitting weapons with fast-firing anti-infantry weapons to create highly useful synergies. We are continuing to work out the bugs on the proposed new equipment.”
She checks her notes. “I know you’ve had time in some of our new Mech prototypes, Your Majesty, we also have new tanks in the prototype phase, as well as a new 30 ton LAV prototype that is faster than the original Snakehead design, increasing overall mobility for our Infantry units. We also have new 80 ton wheeled prototypes under evaluation, including an urban assault variant to complement the lighter 30 tonner we’ve been using for that role.”
“In terms of strategic materials, we continue to see improvement, and expect that to continue with the long-term contracts we have in place. That being said, our requests for this year, Your Majesty.”
General Romanov takes over at this point. “Your Majesty, the Aerospace Force is in a strong position overall, however we do have a number of holes that we need to fill. As a consequence, we’ve worked with the Navy to reduce the build number of Wright platforms this year to enable us to fill out our Naval Patrol Wings rather than focusing on the Fleet Defense role. Our current production levels are at the most efficient point for our current training pipeline, any higher and we will need to invest in additional academies for ASF pilots as well as more training equipment.”
Admiral Fisher then stumps up to the podium, glaring at all around. “Yes, I agreed to reducing the request for more of the dockable platforms, we have enough for our carriers and current needs, but in a few years we will need to resume production. We need more Bainbridges, so it was an easy ask. After this year I intend to restrict the Long Beach-class to patrolling interior systems; they are too vulnerable to catastrophic damage. I also intend to find a replacement for the Lancer in the Flak role.”
Amaunet simply nods to you as the Admiral retakes his seat, indicating her silent approval of the recommendations. Elizabeth Lee takes the podium next, pausing to give Amaunet a bit of a scritch to the big cat's amusement.
“OK, Your Majesty, first things first, we should establish proper colonies on those four pirate systems we just took over, it will help our strategy of enveloping the Rouges Noir, help our economy in the long term, and is, frankly, the right thing to do for the victims of the pirates who are living in those systems. While the ‘pirates’ of New Clew Bay and New Libertalia seem to be decent folks who haven’t done anything we’d consider unforgivable or even truly piratical, the fact remains that we need to establish the rule of law in those systems and stabilize that part of the flank.” She begins, as a display comes up behind her showing what would be needed.
“Economically we are fairly sound, although the Bāṛi system’s woes are giving our analysts fits as they attempt to model the full repercussions of the sheer level of fraud that was going on there. Thus it would be supremely unwise to invest too heavily into that system at the moment, rather rely on our social safety net and existing programs to cushion things until the rot is fully excised. We do have a number of recommendations for foci and investment, however.”
“DoME has several teams available for work this year, Your Majesty. We recommend the following.”
She takes her seat. Dr Kamato then rises to give his report and recommendations. “Your Majesty, with the Olympics ongoing there is little in the way of cultural programming that we would recommend at this time. However, in the interest of laying the groundwork for operations against the Rouges Noir, I strongly recommend hosting a summit for all of the local polities to ensure that we are speaking from the same hymnal, so to speak, when dealing with those fanatics.”
Tiberius is grinning, which has you rolling your eyes and considering whether or not it may be wise to invest in having squirt guns hidden in this room. “Boss, thanks for expanding the Parks & Recreation budget last year, but guess what! We had so much fun with that that we want to do it again!”
Yup, you need a squirt gun.
“More seriously, we’re ready to assist with establishing proper governments in the new colonial systems, so just give the word and it will be done.”
Grace is looking a bit harried, as the R&D teams are extremely busy right now. “Your Majesty, I’ve got one team free, and the military boys and girls have been bugging me to recommend starting work on a more advanced 8cm extended range laser taking advantage of the advances we’ve made in pulse technology.”
General Messerschmidt is overseeing questioning pirates, but he’s sent you a memo reminding you that in any operation against the Rouges Noir you’ll find yourself dealing with large numbers of radicalized and fanatical prisoners, thus it would be wise to begin construction of proper holding facilities and training guards for the task. Martina is with him and concurs with the memo, adding in that by preparing beforehand we can make sure that everything is done to the highest ethical and legal standards, since we’ll have the time to do it right.
The tempo of minor Black Steel attacks in the galactic northwest are increasing, in some cases with multiple probing raids on multiple systems simultaneously. There have been a few losses among commercial shipping, but no military vessels have been destroyed, although plenty have been damaged.
The worst of these raids saw a trio of Black Steel Congress-class frigates jump in at a outer system pirate point and ravage some mining stations in the Bohren system before fighting a running battle to a different pirate point that saw several of your Bainbridge class vessels crippled and forced to withdraw. The three Black Steel frigates were eventually destroyed before they reached the jump point by elements of the Grand Fleet that were on patrol in the system.
You are able to watch the Black Pumpernickels perform a number of excellent musicals, showcasing just how skilled they are as thespians. It definitely livens up your family vacation as you spend a few weeks away from Griffsport. The family hooligans, also known as the family raptors, evidently decide that they really like the theater, and display that liking by ‘helping’. The Black Pumpernickels deal with it like troupers, managing to actually incorporate some raptor shenanigans into their performances which you appreciate greatly.
The Olympics continue to go rather well for Team Griffon, and you are cheering them on from afar as they continue to rack up victories, although not at the tempo of a few Olympiads ago. Next to the motorsports, the most popular events in the public eye continue to be the Naked Volleyball matches, to your amusement.
Reports from General Messerschmidt’s interrogators reveal increasing proof of Rouges Noir involvement in sponsoring and supporting pirate activity in the galactic northeast, although there continues to be no firm proof of whether or not the pirates ‘paid’ for such support with longer-ranged jumpship technology. There are some contradictions, with the ‘friendlier’ pirates from New Libertalia indicating that even the lunatics and psychos ‘weren’t that stupid’, which is a less than reassuring statement considering just how stupid some of them have proven to be.
There’s a minor issue that is more amusing than anything else on Griffon proper. Some real men of genius decided that it would be a genius idea to start a new business ranching dire penguins, without bothering to do any research on dire penguins. Deciding that the minor detail that what they wanted to do was completely illegal was simply the result of other people not being real men of genius like they were, they decided that they, being real men of genius, knew better than everybody else and took a boat down to the Antarctic to collect some dire penguins for their ranch And, wanting to show the world that they were real men of genius, they decided to stream their operation over the planetary network, thus these real men of genius proved that, to the dire penguins, real men of genius were delicious and tasted good screaming. Luckily for the real men of genius, the Coast Guard was chasing them and managed to rescue them before they were actually killed.
The real men of genius claimed that they were doing this for entertainment purposes, but they still broke the law, and now the real men of genius are jailed pending trial for multiple felonies, as well as being the laughing stock of the planet.
Once you got back from your vacation it was budget time.
Amaunet starts things off from where she’s lounging on the dias. “Padrone, this year we hope to get our first true capital ships into service, which will be a great step forward in our efforts against the Black Steel. We’ve also been increasing our strategic material output, and hopefully by the end of the current contracts we’ll be in a more solid position. The review is going well, General Bradley will have a general report on this. General?”
General Bradley takes the podium. “Your Majesty, the review is ongoing. One of the major points that has been shown in our testing and review process is that all units, ideally, should have a solid mix of long and short range direct firepower, and that we’ve been over-emphasizing long range missiles. The newer designs are significantly more balanced, blending hard-hitting weapons with fast-firing anti-infantry weapons to create highly useful synergies. We are continuing to work out the bugs on the proposed new equipment.”
She checks her notes. “I know you’ve had time in some of our new Mech prototypes, Your Majesty, we also have new tanks in the prototype phase, as well as a new 30 ton LAV prototype that is faster than the original Snakehead design, increasing overall mobility for our Infantry units. We also have new 80 ton wheeled prototypes under evaluation, including an urban assault variant to complement the lighter 30 tonner we’ve been using for that role.”
“In terms of strategic materials, we continue to see improvement, and expect that to continue with the long-term contracts we have in place. That being said, our requests for this year, Your Majesty.”
- Imperial Griffon Army
- Production
- Logistics Factories (5 each)
- Shin Tōkyō
- Porto Milano
- Nuova Fortezza
- Nowe Mazowsze
- Neuthüringen
- Logistics Factories (5 each)
- Procurement
- Conventional
- 4 Infantry Divisions
- 3 Armored Divisions
- Garrison
- 15 Garrison Divisions
- 15 Militia Divisions
- Conventional
- Production
General Romanov takes over at this point. “Your Majesty, the Aerospace Force is in a strong position overall, however we do have a number of holes that we need to fill. As a consequence, we’ve worked with the Navy to reduce the build number of Wright platforms this year to enable us to fill out our Naval Patrol Wings rather than focusing on the Fleet Defense role. Our current production levels are at the most efficient point for our current training pipeline, any higher and we will need to invest in additional academies for ASF pilots as well as more training equipment.”
- Imperial Aerospace Force
- Procurement
- 30 Heavy Carrier Wing
- 90 Naval Patrol Wing
- Procurement
Admiral Fisher then stumps up to the podium, glaring at all around. “Yes, I agreed to reducing the request for more of the dockable platforms, we have enough for our carriers and current needs, but in a few years we will need to resume production. We need more Bainbridges, so it was an easy ask. After this year I intend to restrict the Long Beach-class to patrolling interior systems; they are too vulnerable to catastrophic damage. I also intend to find a replacement for the Lancer in the Flak role.”
- Imperial Griffon Navy
- Production
- Construct Germanium Processing Facility
- New Clew Bay
- Construct Orbital Shipyard
- New Algiers
- New Clew Bay
- Nuova Tripoli
- New Libertalia
- Upgrade All Orbital Shipyards
- Construct Refit & Repair Yard
- New Libertalia
- Upgrade All Refit & Repair Yards
- Construct New Escort Yards
- Kurortas
- Olej
- Pinball
- Pustina
- Raj
- Steingarten
- Glorreich
- Grand View
- Novolar
- Pryyemnyy
- Landprettig
- Bellaterra
- Nubifragio
- Platzregensburg
- Shin Tōkyō
- Porto Milano
- Nuova Fortezza
- Nowe Mazowsze
- Neuthüringen
- New Algiers
- New Clew Bay
- Nuova Tripoli
- New Libertalia
- Construct Small Warship Yards
- Pieklo
- New Phoenix
- New Capricorn
- New Castor
- New Port Royal
- Nowy Wrocław
- Construct Large Warship Yards
- Nya Kopenhamn
- Kainga
- Edelsteine
- New Capricorn
- Construct Germanium Processing Facility
- Procurement
- Standard Dropships
- 300 Bainbridge-class Parasite Destroyers
- 29 Trenton-class Transports
- Large Dropships
- 20 Meteor-class Parasite Missile Battleships
- 40 Aetna-class Parasite Missile Battleships
- 30 Saipan-class Parasite Carriers
- 61 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
- Jumpships
- 4 Windjammer-class Jumpships
- Escorts
- 30 Fubuki-class Destroyers
- 30 England-class Frigates
- 30 Lyr-class Corvettes
- Small Warships
- 30 Dido-class Light Cruisers
- 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi-class Light Cruisers
- 8 Hosho-class Carriers
- Medium Warships
- 20 Prinz Eugen-class Heavy Cruisers
- Large Warships
- 4 Dreadnought-class Battleships
- 4 Jean Bart-class Battlecruisers
- Standard Dropships
- Fortress Command
- Jump Point Defenses
- New Algiers
- New Clew Bay
- Nuova Tripoli
- New Libertalia
- Oasis II
- New Algiers
- New Clew Bay
- Nuova Tripoli
- New Libertalia
- Black Tower
- New Algiers
- New Clew Bay
- Nuova Tripoli
- New Libertalia
- Steingarten
- Jump Point Defenses
- Production
Amaunet simply nods to you as the Admiral retakes his seat, indicating her silent approval of the recommendations. Elizabeth Lee takes the podium next, pausing to give Amaunet a bit of a scritch to the big cat's amusement.
“OK, Your Majesty, first things first, we should establish proper colonies on those four pirate systems we just took over, it will help our strategy of enveloping the Rouges Noir, help our economy in the long term, and is, frankly, the right thing to do for the victims of the pirates who are living in those systems. While the ‘pirates’ of New Clew Bay and New Libertalia seem to be decent folks who haven’t done anything we’d consider unforgivable or even truly piratical, the fact remains that we need to establish the rule of law in those systems and stabilize that part of the flank.” She begins, as a display comes up behind her showing what would be needed.
- Colonization, Establishment of System Government, and Establishment of Legal Systems
- New Algiers
- New Clew Bay
- Nuova Tripoli
- New Libertalia
“Economically we are fairly sound, although the Bāṛi system’s woes are giving our analysts fits as they attempt to model the full repercussions of the sheer level of fraud that was going on there. Thus it would be supremely unwise to invest too heavily into that system at the moment, rather rely on our social safety net and existing programs to cushion things until the rot is fully excised. We do have a number of recommendations for foci and investment, however.”
- Economic Focus & Investment
- Focus
- Core
- Nowa Warszawa
- Periphery
- Raj
- Core
- Major Investment
- Core
- Nowy Wrocław
- Periphery
- Griff’s Leap
- Core
- Investment
- Pieklo
- Infrastructure & Industrial Zones
- Bohren
- Kurortas
- Landprettig
- Skala
- Arvum
- Focus
“DoME has several teams available for work this year, Your Majesty. We recommend the following.”
- DoME
- Expand Shin Tōkyō Arcologies
- Terraforming
- Pustina
- Bohren
- Shin Tōkyō
She takes her seat. Dr Kamato then rises to give his report and recommendations. “Your Majesty, with the Olympics ongoing there is little in the way of cultural programming that we would recommend at this time. However, in the interest of laying the groundwork for operations against the Rouges Noir, I strongly recommend hosting a summit for all of the local polities to ensure that we are speaking from the same hymnal, so to speak, when dealing with those fanatics.”
Tiberius is grinning, which has you rolling your eyes and considering whether or not it may be wise to invest in having squirt guns hidden in this room. “Boss, thanks for expanding the Parks & Recreation budget last year, but guess what! We had so much fun with that that we want to do it again!”
Yup, you need a squirt gun.
“More seriously, we’re ready to assist with establishing proper governments in the new colonial systems, so just give the word and it will be done.”
Grace is looking a bit harried, as the R&D teams are extremely busy right now. “Your Majesty, I’ve got one team free, and the military boys and girls have been bugging me to recommend starting work on a more advanced 8cm extended range laser taking advantage of the advances we’ve made in pulse technology.”
General Messerschmidt is overseeing questioning pirates, but he’s sent you a memo reminding you that in any operation against the Rouges Noir you’ll find yourself dealing with large numbers of radicalized and fanatical prisoners, thus it would be wise to begin construction of proper holding facilities and training guards for the task. Martina is with him and concurs with the memo, adding in that by preparing beforehand we can make sure that everything is done to the highest ethical and legal standards, since we’ll have the time to do it right.
