It has been millennia since humanity became a star faring race. Enough time for stellar regimes to have risen and fallen, for technologies to be forgotten and relearned and for a diaspora of life; both human and alien to spread across the galaxy.The Raihan Empire is but one splinter of the human diaspora. At its height the Empire spanned eight star systems but eventually corruption and decay set in. The Empire collapsed, its great works crumbled, its worlds became isolated. For a thousand years it was so…Until a new warlord arose on Raiha, one that managed to quell the disparate factions fighting over the Throne world. When all his enemies were vanquished he marched upon the palace district where the remnants of the Imperial family cowered. However, instead of seizing the throne for himself Arcturus Garan pledged himself and his army to the service of the remaining Empress and took the title of Lord Commander.Together the Empress and Lord Commander began the process of rebuilding the Empire, first securing the home system, then bringing each of the wayward colonies back into the fold.Five out of the original eight colonies have been absorbed back into the resurgent Empire. Only the systems of Noto, Higg and Kornen actively resist annexation. Together they have formed the NKH Defence Pact, or simply the Pact.Now the Pact must guard its independence against the growing might of the New Raihan Empire. The odds are not in their favour, they are outnumbered and outgunned, but the Imperial Forces have not yet regained their full power and the war is not over yet…((This quest is an indirect sequel to Space shipyard quest, knowledge of previous threads is not required but it will do much to add context. Previous threads can be found here: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=space+shipyard))
>>6322850You are Harris Glasner; the best starship engineer that nobody’s ever heard of and you are in a liminal state on the edge of consciousness.“...entire R&D division!? How did the Imperials breach our defence cordon!?”You are vaguely aware of two people arguing in front of you… and pain, lots of pain, but it was all so far away.“...not the Imperials… last guy…old enemies…”The pain and the voices were starting to get closer now.“...what now?...HIM!?”“...only survivor…no one else qualified.”The pain was right next to you now, no it was coming from you, you were in pain, you were painfully conscious of your pain… and the fact you were in a medical capsule. Ow.Outside the capsule stood two people who you recognised as Lord Yarin, the ruler of Higg and High Admiral Ruhi; overall commander of the Pact fleet.“It seems he’s awake.”Ruhi pinched her nose in exasperation. “I supposed we should tell him.”Yarin nodded and turned to you.“Harris Glasner, the top echelon of our starship R&D division has been wiped out in a covert strike. You are the highest ranking survivor, as of now you are the acting Director of R&D.” Oh FUCK YES!>cont
>>6322853It had been a few days since you had been discharged from the medical station. Now you were on a shuttle returning to the Boson Halo Yard; a small ship yard recently constructed in one of the outer orbits of the Higg system.From the view port you could see a maze of scaffolding covering the side of the shipyard where a tactical nuclear strike had assassinated your predecessor, almost killed you and nearly destroyed the yard itself. For now it would be sometime until ship building capability was restored; an acceptable delay seeing as you didn’t really have any ships to build.Lord Yarin had charged you with developing new ship designs to aid the Pact war effort against the Imperials. Whatever you and your team came up with would be proto-typed here then sent to the Kornen system for mass production.After disembarking the shuttle you were ushered into a hastily renovated store room to meet with your new staff. Inside a well built man and a stiff looking woman waited for you.“Glasner,” the man said coldly while eying you with cool disdain.“Solei,” you answer, matching his dismissive attitude.Merik Solei was another engineer, only slightly more junior than you. The man was taciturn, and utterly devoid of imagination. In short; a total kill joy and now he was your deputy.“I’m surprised they didn’t make you the new head of R&D, your obsession with…” simplistic, boring, uninspired? “...rugged efficiency would have no doubt produced something agreeable to the Fleet.”Merik’s eyes narrowed at your damning praise but the woman interrupted him before he could reply.“Lord Yarin felt we needed someone with a more innovative mindset to build the weapons that will win us the war. Sub-Director Solei will serve to keep you grounded.”You turned to the woman, she was slightly shorter than you and dressed in a well fitted if unadorned uniform. She exuded the kind of no nonsense attitude that was typical of military types. If you weren’t terminally devoted to your craft you might have found her fetching.“Lieutenant Ferris Gale,” she bowed slightly, no salute for you; you weren’t military. “I will be your main liaison to the Pact fleet. I will relay the Fleets requirements and update you with any relevant intelligence as it becomes available. I look forward to working with you, Acting Director Glasner.”“Acting Director? Do the powers that be have such little faith in me?”“You were hardly anyone’s first choice,” her tone was free of judgement, as if she was just stating a fact, but fact or no it still stung. Why couldn’t anyone truly recognise your genius!? Well you’d show them! You’d show them ALL! -”although if we need to replace you, we will likely be on the verge of losing the war, so really it’s a moot point.”Gee thanks…>cont
>>6322858“Allow me to brief you on the current situation.” Gale summoned a map of the region on the AR display, small pop-ups detailing fleet dispositions appeared as she spoke.“Currently our fleet has engaged the main Imperial force in the Noto system. We have managed to keep them at bay for the time being, but if current trends continue we will eventually lose. High Command tried to draw away Imperial forces by hiring pirates and mercenaries to strike at Shima, but the attack failed. The local garrison proved more tenacious than anticipated.”The map shrunk and ship models started filling the display. “I’m sure you’re aware that the Old Empire could field some truly fearsome warships, but much of its capacity to build them was lost during the previous collapse. As such both sides have been reduced to using older human diaspora designs which are easier to build with a limited technology base. However recently the Imperials have started fielding more advanced designs.”A medium sized cruiser filled the display, it had a wide stern with three large drives and a bulbous prow sporting a prominent laser turret. “This is the Ryu class. The first of its kind is the flagship of the Imperial Fleet, subsequent ships are often assigned as command vessels for individual battlegroups. It has excellent long range capabilities, and enough maneuverability to avoid being flanked by our own capital ships. Its supporting fire has been a decisive factor at breaking stalemates.”Gale switched to an image of some kind of carrier vessel. It had a long rectangular hull and a prominent railgun turret mounted under its prow. The resolution of the image was too blurry to make out further details. “This is the Subjugator class, it was designed for planetary assault so the Imperials don’t really send them to major fleet actions. It is however, powerful enough to take on frigates. Supposedly a single one of these ships was responsible for a decapitation strike on Shima’s government just as they were about to side with us. Our planetary defences have been improved since then but even so Command constantly worries about one of these slipping through our pickets and raiding our planetary installations
>>6322861“High Command’s objectives are two fold: Push the Imperials out of Noto and gain a foothold in Shima. Right now they are open to new strategies so you are free to develop anything that you think would help achieve these objectives.”A Blank Slate? Brilliant! Now you could finally make… ah shit your mind was going blank; the eternal curse of creative folk everywhere.Seeing the look on your face Solei decided to step in. “Acting Director, may I suggest modifying an existing design? It would be the easiest and quickest way to improve the current fleet.”It would also be the most boring…“Speaking of existing designs, I can try digging up some Old Imperial schematics, alas we would likely be incapable of building it to the original spec but it could prove a useful starting point.”Reviving something from the Old Empire did have a certain allure, but there was a part of you that railed against merely creating a pale imitation, no matter how formidable it would be by contemporary standards.>Well, you had to start somewhere, and as much as you hated to admit it, Solei was right. (Modify an existing design.)>At its height the Empire had possessed ships that were more powerful than anything either side was fielding. Try and dig up an old Imperial design and adapt it for your use.>You don’t need “inspiration”, design your own ship from scratch! (Write-In)
>>6322863>Write-InThis but a spaceship
>>6322863>You don’t need “inspiration”, design your own ship from scratch! (Write-In)The key to victory is adaptability. The ability to confront the enemy ships with disadvantageous matchups. We can't build or refit ships on a moment's notice, but strike craft is a different matter. As such, we'll design a cheap light carrier and a complement of drones for different specializations.
>>6322885We already have a carrier, remember? If the idea is to make it repurposable, we'd be better off modifying it.
>>6322888Do we? I only see two basic drone schematics.
>>6322891The Subjugator is a carrier too.
>>6322893It's an imperial design though. Do we even have access to it?
>>6322888>>6322891>>6322893>>6322894Just to clarify: Imperial Designs are exclusive to the enemy. Right now neither side has a proper carrier. The basic drones are often deployed out of space stations and planetary bases.
>>6322895Seems weird to include designs you don't have on your design sheet...But if that's the case, then we know what must be done.>You don’t need “inspiration”, design your own ship from scratch! (Write-In)Carrier Time!
>>6322896>Seems weird to include designs you don't have on your design sheetIt's so you know what you're up against. As you create your own ships, Pact exclusive designs will appear on the other side of the sheet.If you find it confusing though, maybe I'll just post info on enemy ships in a separate image. Going forward you wouldn't have such detailed info on their new stuff anyway.
>>6322899No, I get it now.
>>6322863>You don’t need “inspiration”, design your own ship from scratch! (Write-In)The Raihans are a proud, despotic empire. What we need is a decapitation strike against the enemy flagships. Like a chicken, if we cut off the head and the rest will go scrambling off, directionless, as easy pickings. The Shimans and perhaps others conscripted to their empire may even defect.What we need is giant hot dogs, I mean, ballistic missile trucks but in space. We can save costs by having FTL-capable ships tow a bunch of them to battle. Neither of their command nor assault cruisers have much point defense so the ships will maneuver around the flagship and destroy it with giant missiles.The surviving trucks can take potshots or whatever.See the attached pic for a demonstration.>>6322899We're so back.Could you add a size scale onto future ship charts? I remember Imperial ships on the left being like 3 times the size of the generic ships.
>>6322850What happened to the previous protags?
>>6322912>The surviving trucks can take potshots or whatever.In addition, since the giant missile is like half the mass of the ship, once it's fired the leftover ship would become significantly faster and more maneuverable. If it mounted with some light weapons it can act in both a point defense and a flanking role for the rest of the battle. The ships should be bigger than a strike craft and smaller than frigate, so more like a gunboat.
>>6322912>>6322939This feels like an overly complicated way to make a carrier just because you want the epic meme hotdogs.
>>6322940I disagree. Carriers are the complicated ones. This is just a cheap gunboat with a missile strapped on.
>>6322932They're still around, selling ships and suffering through a constant stream of bad random events.
>>6322951FTL Tugs and cheap disposable gunboats with missiles are a lot more complicated and a lot less scalable than a carrier. Once they wise up it's over.A carrier, however, you can just upgrade the fighters and it's good as new.
>>6322955I recall that wake jumping already exists in-universe so FTL tugs should be easy. FTL tugs should be even more scalable than a carrier, where you are limited to the space inside the hull. Gunboats are also simpler than a carrier, we just need to mass-produce fast ships with a simple gun and a big missile. A carrier needs fancy radar and sensory arrays to coordinate all the fighters and drones as well as repair bays, and large ships are more complicated than small ones.You are proposing a straight carrier vs carrier fight, which I believe will go poorly for us. Look at the Raihan roster from the Battle of Shima. They already have a carrier, and I highly doubt our society is samurai-larping enough to have super-elite mechs, unlike the real Raihans. Also much of their fleet seems to be Raihan Patrol Frigates who can "easily dispatch low to mid level strike craft," so it wouldn't be that much trouble for their point defense to upgrade if we decide to go strike craft-heavy.The war is already going poorly for us, so what we need is a brief but significant advantage to turn the tide around, and my proposal is surely both faster to field and better poised for to give us that breathing room to work on fancier ships later on. In contrast, a carrier attrition duel right now will just let the Raihans bring their stronger economy (5 to 3 planets and access to Union and Saurian trade) to bear.
>>6322969If FTL Tugs were that easy to make, we would have seen it.
>>6322975Only the QM will know. >>6322954QM, tech check please? If FTL tugs are literally impossible instead, docking clamps in front of each gunboat so they clamp together into 1 long "ship", hauled into battle by a utility wake jumping ship should work too. If we prefect a tug or clamp or whatever, gunboats are even more scalable than carriers. You can replace the giant missile with different types of missiles or other weapon batteries, and they're not limited to the size of the carrier's hangar.
>>6323027>clampsAt that point, you might as well just take a fuckin' cargo tanker and have it ferry said gunships instead
>>6323035Yeah that's the point, any random ftl ship to haul a bunch of gunboats over.
>>6323027FTL tugs using advanced hyper drives are possible but don't scale well for large numbers of small craft. You currently do not have access to that technology.
>>6322896This guy was a prisoner temporarily made head of R&D at our yards from the previous threads, then got let go. Seems like he understandably went to go work for the guys our last character was fighting against, and took some info of what they'd been up to.>You don’t need “inspiration”, design your own ship from scratch! Remembering this character and his designs, assumption of his own genius to produce some magnificently niche boondoggle is the only fitting answer.>"A Ship... that is a Plasma-Knife! Forget all that mucking around with calibrating long-range weapon systems; let's just make a prow that's one gigantic plasma-cutter, and strap it to the fastest engine we can find and as much armour as it can take, then drive into enemy ships and through them in repeated mechanised stabbings."
The Pact Fleet didn’t need an incremental improvement and it didn’t need to restore past glory. No… what it needed was a corvette that carried an enormous torpedo like device tipped with a plasma cutter! After a day or two spent in the savant’s trance you present Project Hot Dog to a very skeptical Solei and Gale.“Glasner, before I even comment on the practicality of the design, how are we even going to get this thing to the AO without an FTL drive?”“That’s Director Glasner to you Solei and to answer your question: we will give it clamps that allow it to stick to our cruiser hulls, at least until a purpose built carrier is developed.”Gale frowned at the ship representation on the holo display.“Without carrier support, deployment will be very uncomfortable for the crew; they will be confined to the ship for the duration of the mission.”“We can make it a drone craft.”“That would require the parent ship to have a drone control system.”“The existing Glory class cruisers can be jury rigged with such a system, either that or we can use the craft exclusively for short missions and develop options for long term deployment later.”“All that aside, you’re proposing we build a corvette whose sole purpose is to carry an oversized torpedo. How is this better than the existing pike class frigates?”“Pike Frigates are fragile and their torpedoes are easily shot down by point defence systems. The W13N-3R super heavy torpedo is far more durable. The corvette hull itself will also be heavily armoured. As a bonus: while still connected to the main hull the torpedo can act as a source of supplementary power and propulsion. After launch the overall mass of the craft will be reduced, allowing it to maintain the same level of maneuverability with just the thruster arrays, it can then continue combat in an anti-strikecraft role!”Solei let out an exasperated sigh.“This seems needlessly convoluted. I advise creating two different specialised craft or even just upgrading our standard torpedoes with this plasma cutter warhead.”“And that is why you are only Sub-Director. I have already drawn up plans, begin prototyping immediately!”How should we handle the deployment issues?>Make it manned. (Easier to put into production, but can only be sent on short missions until a dedicated carrier is built.)>Make it unmanned. (Will require a refit of at least one cruiser with a drone control system. It will take longer to get it to the frontline, but will not suffer the drawbacks of being manned.)>Make a manned and unmanned model and perform comparative trials. (More likely to make a final product that will please Fleet Command, but will take even more precious time.)>Also roll me 6d10s, one anon can roll em all or you can take turns idk.
Rolled 10, 2 = 12 (2d10)>>6323321>Make it unmanned. (Will require a refit of at least one cruiser with a drone control system. It will take longer to get it to the frontline, but will not suffer the drawbacks of being manned.)Normally I'd be supportive of a carrier, but by the time we get it the enemy may already have a counter. Easier to just refit a ship with a drone control system so we can put it in good use while we do something more permanentI'll roll 2 out of those 6 dice, you anons do the rest.
>>6323332>10, 2Hmm, I'm assuming there's no such thing as crits here.
Rolled 6, 5 = 11 (2d10)>>6323321>Make it unmanned. (Will require a refit of at least one cruiser with a drone control system. It will take longer to get it to the frontline, but will not suffer the drawbacks of being manned.)Coming to a Cognis' quest with a lulz vote was not a good decision, anons.
Alright, we're finally back. Anyone else gonna roll?
Rolled 10, 5 = 15 (2d10)>>6323321>Make it unmanned. (Will require a refit of at least one cruiser with a drone control system. It will take longer to get it to the frontline, but will not suffer the drawbacks of being manned.)
>>6323332>>6323348>>6323421>10, 2, 6, 5, 10, 5I mean, that's pretty good, isn't it? Only one roll below 5. I should hope it's good.
>>6323321>Make it unmanned. (Will require a refit of at least one cruiser with a drone control system. It will take longer to get it to the frontline, but will not suffer the drawbacks of being manned.)It really is a strike craft strapped to an anti-capital ship torpedo, which might be crazy enough to work?
>>6323332>>6323348>>6323421>>6323433In the end you decided to make the Hot Dog corvette an unmanned model. Lt. Gale wasn’t happy as it meant the Pact fleet would have to take a cruiser off the battleline to be refitted with a drone control system. Fortunately there was a damaged vessel undergoing repairs at Kornen, it wouldn’t be too much of a drain to include the refit with its repairs but it would still be delayed from returning to combat in order to complete field tests with the prototype.As for the prototype itself, you had another flash of inspiration half way through construction: What if you added an additional plasma projector array to the corvettes hull that could shape the plasma emitted by the W13N-3R warhead into a protective shield? Then the corvette could have additional protection while closing with its target. Mounting the projector on the corvette hull instead of the torpedo itself would also mean the cost of the more expendable torpedo component would not increase!Tests in a lab environment proved promising, but the first time you mounted the projector on the new corvette hull the plasma cutter almost melted the front thruster array. Only a timely shutdown and swift response by emergency crews prevented a potentially disastrous chain reaction.>cont
>>6323924“What the hell went wrong!? All the lab tests went fine!”Solei was impassive as usual, but you swore he had the shadow of a smirk on his face. “After reviewing the way the test was conducted we surmise that it could either be improper calibration of the plasma projector or a slight error in the torpedo pylons which altered the expected refraction angles.”“Meaning what exactly?” asked Ferris.“Glasner’s design has multiple points of failure. Unless all components are properly mounted and precisely calibrated, activation of the forward plasma shield could cause the destruction of the vessel.”Ferris frowned. “That’s not good, a ship like this will be constantly reloaded and repaired. Under battlefield conditions, maintenance crews may not be able to guarantee a perfect job every single time.”You wave your hand dismissively. “An acceptable price for the advantages the new design offers. I’m sure you can simply tighten maintenance protocols, or rotate the ships out of battle for an overhaul once the wear and tear become too much.”“War will not always give us such a luxury Acting Director. With respect I think you are trying to accomplish too much. I would much prefer we stick to the original design. The dual power-grid connecting both the torpedo and main hull is going to be bad enough for the Fleet Engineering Corps to deal with.”“I believe the Directors idea has merit, but I agree with Lt. Gale: the separation of the torpedo and ship complicates the design immensely. This would be more workable if we committed to making a pure plasma ram ship rather than a dual purpose launch platform.”“So the design has some kinks, they always do. With just a bit more time I can fix these flaws.”Ferris glares at you.“How much time exactly? While I understand that you cannot conjure new ships for us overnight, time is an increasingly scare and valuable resource for our fleet. Is the advantage Project: Hot Dog will bring truly worth it?”Hrrm…((Since the dice rolls have three results of 6 or more something good happens, but since they also have three results which are 5 or less something bad also happens.))>Push the Hot Dog into production right now. (The enhanced design will grant greater combat performance but will be unreliable.)>Just go with the original design. (No benefits, no downsides)>Redesign it as a pure melee ship. (Minor time cost, capabilities will change but the final product will be reliable.)>Take the time to iron out the flaws. (Major time cost, no downsides to the final design.)
>>6323925Melee ship? That doesn't seem..particularly effective me, given the kind of thing we're facing.I guess the "ideal" way would be to push the original design into production while we iron out the flaws into the background for a "Mark II" version. This would also allow us to use field data to see what issues it has in action. Would that be possible?
>>6323928Yes.This would effectively be a vote for going with the original design. Working on a "Mark 2" design would be a future decision.While it would be much easier than developing a new technology or hull from scratch, it would still take a none trivial amount of time. Plus the enemy would have time to adjust their tactics and/or come up with a counter. (Although right now they would not know that the Mark 2 will be upgraded with a shield so their response could turn out to be ineffective.) Either way it is a future decision point.You're inspiration has also unlocked the potential for shielding technology that can be developed further for future designs so no matter what you have already gained something from this project.
>>6323925>Just go with the original designWe'll get the benefit of field performance data while developing Mark 2
>>6323930Well, we might have to add more than just the Shields, but field data is very valuable.>>6323925>Just go with the original design. (No benefits, no downsides)
>>6323925>Redesign it as a pure melee ship. (Minor time cost, capabilities will change but the final product will be reliable.)I'd call this a happy accident. The plasma shield turns the tough corvette into a powerhouse that can cut down a ship several times its size and asks for seconds. And it's reliable to boot!
>>6323925>>Take the time to iron out the flaws. (Major time cost, no downsides to the final design.)
>>6323925>Redesign it as a pure melee ship. (Minor time cost, capabilities will change but the final product will be reliable.)
Rolled 2 (1d2)Original Design>>6323932>>6323933Melee Ship>>6323968>>6324200Iron out flaws:>>6324178Rollin a d2 to break the tie.
>>6324293>melee shipWelp, way to waste our design..now our ship becomes completely useless the moment they add point defense.
Rolled 3, 5, 3, 7, 8 = 26 (5d10)As much as you hated to admit it Solei’s idea for a ram ship tickled your fancy, that it would be a more stable and cost effective design was incidental.Fully integrating the torpedo propulsion and plasma cutter gave you a wider margin for error, and removal of the explosive warhead gave you some extra mass to play with. During the refit you worked with Solei to find optimal configurations for the plasma projectors; now a maintenance crew would simply ensure the projector could transition between shield and cut mode. Failsafes built into the software also meant there was no risk of the ship cutting off it’s own prow: if the system detected invalid projector alignment, it would simply shut off the plasma stream.Live fire testing showed the Hot Dog was capable of cutting a frigate hull in two, and boring a hole through a cruiser hull; easily enough to cripple the vessel… provided it could get within range. Preliminary testing suggested that the shield could negate point defence fire and survive several seconds of sustained hits from medium anti-frigate guns. However there would be a brief period of vulnerability when the plasma projector was switched from shield to cut mode.Three more ships were made before the refitted cruiser arrived; enough to make a viable fighting unit. Fleet Command was… not that happy to hear you had basically made them a battering ram after giving you carte blanche to create a weapon that would win them the war, but these were desperate times…The Top 3 System:A system for two parties to contest each other. Each party rolls a number of d10s determined by various factors. The top three results are compared. In each comparison the higher value grants a win to one side, the side with the most wins… wins. Additional modifiers can be applied based on various factors.Roll for the performance of the Hot Dog in its first battle:>Imperial Dice:>Base: 3>You brought a knife to a gun fight: +1 die>Superior Firepower: +1 die>Command Vessels: This side wins ties.>Pact Dice:>Base: 3>They weren’t expecting space weiner mobiles of death: +2 dice>Plasma Shields: +1 die>Roll me 6d10s.
Rolled 3, 1 = 4 (2d10)>>6324312
Rolled 6, 4 = 10 (2d10)>>6324312We're cooked like wieners
>>6324316Well, we won...ONE of the checks...let's see if we can win another.
Rolled 1, 8 = 9 (2d10)>>6324312Dice Gods please be nice today...
>>6324334Well, we got an 8. With the 6, that should be enough to beat the 5 nd the 7, right?
>>6324315>>6324316>>6324317>>6324334Imperial 3 Highest:8,7,5vsYour Highest:8,6,4Enemy wins ties due to presence of command vessels... you have lost.
>>6324343Told you people that melee ships were fucking stupidNot a single win is just bad
Fleet Command deploys the modified cruiser (already nicknamed the Hot Dog Stand among the strategic planners) to attack an isolated battlegroup already being harassed by your own frigates. Deployment of the Hot Dogs goes smoothly and panic ensues amongst the enemy as your creations plough through enemy patrol frigates. Said frigates are powerless to defend themselves as their return fire is absorbed by your plasma shields.Unfortunately a lucky hit from the enemy command cruiser knocks out your drone control module before the Hot Dogs can close with the enemy capital ships. Without guidance from a human commander the unmanned corvettes default to simple programmed behavior patterns; either attempting to return to base or blindly attacking the nearest enemy.From there it is a simple matter for the Raihan escorts to out maneuver the corvettes and shoot them in their unprotected rears. The Hot Dog Stand is destroyed in an artillery duel with the enemy Ryu class. Only a handful of Pact frigates managed to escape the battle.>cont
>>6324369You slump deeper into your chair in the conference room after having to sit through a recorded message of High Admiral Ruhi expressing how very dissappointed she was over the outcome of your designs disastrous first battle. Bad luck, that’s all it had been. Blasted Ryu class had knocked out the drone controller with a cheap shot, if those idiots manning the cruiser could have held out for just a little longer the Hot Dogs would have annihilated the Imperial battlegroup!“Acting Director?”You blink and look up. Naturally Lt. Ferris and Solei had sat in on the message and now looked to you for the next course of action.“Hrmph… we were so close. That cheap shot from the enemy flagship was such BULLSHIT!”“Whether from a lack of luck or skill, a loss is a loss.”“A ram ship might not have been the best way to counter our adversaries capabilities.”“Are you admitting that you made a bad call Merik?”“No, when I suggested the ram ship concept I was merely trying to make the best of a bad idea.”“But it almost worked!”“It was cringe Glasner…”“You’re opinion has been noted Sub-Director!”“CRIIINGE!”“Ahem,” coughed Ferris. “Moving on. Despite the High Admirals displeasure there are many among Fleet Command that are intrigued by the possibilities of the plasma shield. Perhaps we could build on that?”“It would be feasible to upgrade our existing Glory Class cruisers with shield projectors. This would increase their survivability.” Another simplistic idea from Solei, typical.“Pfft! As long as they retain their short ranged batteries and handle like bricks, giving them a shield would just delay the inevitable.”Ferris, scrolled back through the battle report. “The long range firepower of the Ryu class combined with its command and control capabilities proved decisive. If only we could find a way to counter or at least match them it would help tip the scales in our favour.”“I’m telling you, the Hot Dog will turn the tide! It just needs… refining.”>Work on the Mark II Hot Dog. (How will you improve it? Quick project although more extreme changes might take longer.)>Create shield upgrade packages for your existing capital ships. (Quick project.)>Design a counter to the Ryu. (Write-In, this will be a longer project.)>Back to the drawing board. (Build something completely different, Write-In)>Acquire or develop better technologies. (Will move onto a new decision.)
Can we just make the gunship idea? That one might have actually worked. This one is retarded.
>>6324374That would a vote for the Mark II with the "improvement" being reverting to the torpedo launcher concept. Although this time you will have solved the original reliability issue with the plasma projectors.
>>6324371>Create shield upgrade packages for your existing capital ships. (Quick project.)Not only can we upgrade alt of the existing ships - if we put the shield on the drone controller, Mark I Hot Dogs may become a good weapon
>>6324385No it won't. They're still gonna get blown the fuck up. Melee ships are still retarded. The only reason we didn't roll at a disadvantage was the surprise factor.
>>6324371>>Create shield upgrade packages for your existing capital ships. (Quick project.)We already know the shield works, might as well.
>>6324371>Work on the Mark II Hot Dog. (Torpedo Design)Almost forgot to vote on that.I mean, it seems like anons want to vote for the option that won't actually solve any problems but still.
>>6324371I would like to change >>6324396 to >Back to the drawing board. Instead focus on the Glory class and create a refit that incorporates the new plasma shield and changes the armament to something to match or exceed the range of the Ryu.
>>6322850What happened to the quest where we were playing as the Japanese woman? It just cut off in the final battle
>>6322850>It lives.Based. Based. Based.>GlasnerGigabased.I love you OP.>Create shield upgrade packages for your existing capital ships. (Quick project.)
>>6324371>Work on the Mark II Hot Dog. (Torpedo Design, Manned)The shield upgrade does not fundamentally solve our problems of being both outmanouvered and outgunned.The drone control is a critical weakness and should be replaced with a manned system. We need to refit a cruiser with drone control if we wanted to continue using hot dogs anyway, so instead we should refit a Gloria or something else with a simple hangar bay replacing its originally useless torpedo launchers. The gunboat hulls will continue to be clamped to the hull as before, and the giant torpedoes to be stored externally, but the crew get to sleep inside the mothership. We need to make a new flagship design later anyways, this will give the Gloria at least some more use for a bit. Finally, the gunboats will launch before battle is met to so they don't have to do a contested deployment.Using the weight savings from not needing crew quarters or a drone computer, the Hot Dog's turret should be upgunned to an autocannon so it can do drive-by shootings as a actual gunboat instead of just being a armored fighter after the torpedo is launched. Our main battlefleet has low tactical mobility so we need the hot dogs to flank.
>>6324371>>Create shield upgrade packages for your existing capital ships. (Quick project.)
>>6324432OP was a faggot and just dropped it.>>6324450>>6324397Glasner bro! The-rest-of-the-playerbase-are-stupid bro! Great to see you again!
No Update today guys, instead I'll leave you with something else.>>6324432Ok, jokes aside I burned out badly on that quest. So here's a little something to give you closure.Shima Battle ReportEvery now and again your mind wandered back to your homeworld of Shima. After the Imperials had taken over the Empress handed over the star system to Lady Shirin of House Shimada. Just because a large number of your peers had been loyalists to the old government Lady Shirin had seen fit to imprison you and sent off to be used as common labour in her sister's shipyard. It was a miserable time; having rations extorted by the common thugs, beatings by the guards and insipid anti-aristocracy rhetoric whispered by clownish ideologues on the lower bunks as you desperately tried to get some sleep. Oh the indignities you’d suffered.Fortunately Mayumi Shimada had seen fit to separate you from the common rabble and for a brief moment you were finally allowed to shine. You didn’t care for politics and you would have gladly continued crafting ships for Horned Princess Shipyards but then you were replaced with an AI. Such things were taboo in Raiha and you were surprised Lady Shimada would stoop so low being of the Nobility… then again you’d heard rumours that she’d had sex with her own brother.The Pact had enacted a plan to cripple Shima’s economy but that had failed. You had the clearance now so you accessed the data, curious to see how things played out.Hmm… so the plan was to distract the system’s garrison with privateers while the famed mercenary Galatan Starwind unleashed a giant space crab on the orbital command centre. And Fleet Command thought your ideas were stupid.The crab was killed by a precision strike from a previously unknown type of strikecraft. Starwind himself was engaged by House Shimada’s flagship and their sole knight frame. The flagship sustained heavy damage and the knight had been shot down, but Starwind’s own ship and infamous “Harem Squadron” had taken their share of hits. Once Shimada’s own mercenary cruiser moved in to assist Starwind was forced to retreat without having destroyed anything of strategic importance.What really piqued your interest was the presence of several ship designs that had not been observed in the wider Imperial Fleet. It would seem House Shimada had personal access to technologies that the Raihan Navy did not. Curious…
Shield Upgrade>>6324385>>6324588MK2 Hotdog>>6324397>>6324504Back to the Drawing Board>>6324431It would seem we have a tire but since the Drawing board write in is very similar to the shield upgrade package vote I'm going to rule in favour of making the next project an upgrade to the Glory Class.Roll me 6d10s.
Rolled 8, 8 = 16 (2d10)>>6325334Wow, another useless upgrade that doesn't actually solve any of our issues...man, anons really are trying to sink us huh.
Rolled 5 (1d10)>>6325334Don't want to hug all of the rolls so i'll be on the safe side and roll 1.
Rolled 7 (1d10)>>6325334
>>6325336It boosts the general competence of procured assets with the resources already used up for development. It will give us more breathing room and time before the shimadas do us in.
>>6325342That's not how battles actually work, though. This just slightly increases their lifetime in battle. It doesn't actually help us win. An actual torpedo boat would have helped us win, but anons decided they wanted to vote for a literal fucking melee ship. During the space age.
Rolled 1, 10 = 11 (2d10)>>6325334Surely we can fit a command suite in the new Glory too.
>>6325344We already have a torpedo boat. The Pike Torpedo Frigate already fills the role. A long-range and anti-capital ship weapons refit to the Glory class would create a sort of light-battleship when neither side seems to have any battleship. Especially if this shield upgrade works.
>>6325336>>6325339>>6325340>>6325350>8,8,5,7,1,10Now if only those rolls were spent on a real project..>>6325351>We already have a torpedo boatBoats which can't do shit because they get obliterated by their long-range guns. That's the issue. A torpedo gunship would have been able to dodge the fire.
>>6325352So just put a shield on the Pike and call it a day. It would still do the same role, but with higher survivability.
>>6325362It's not nearly small or fast enough for that.
>>6325363Then why make a torpedo gunship and not a bomber of some kind?
>>6325367The description for the Raihan Patrol Frigate says>it's triple auto-cannons can easily dispatch low to mid level strike craftMoreover, the Tile Bomber can only>threaten frigate hulls and capital sub-systemsSo a new heavy strike craft, even with a heavy bomb load, probably still won't be able to destroy the enemy's flagships.
>>6325372Ok. I still think the hotdog idea is stupid and a weapons upgrade to the Glory is a better idea.
>>6325374The Ryu is simply too good a ship for a mere upgrade to the glory to be enough. It's long range anti-capital. The glory would get shredded before it even got close enough.
>>6325378Nah, replace all the shitty weapons and put an anti-capital long range armament on the Glory and it will win against the Ryu every time. It has higher firepower and durability and now a shield. The only reason it's a big threat right now is because we have nothing that can match it's range. Also, with it being a command ship it should stay out of combat if we can match/exceed it at range.
>>6325384Replacing the entire weapons system with something else entirely like a long range anti-capital gun would probably be well beyond a mere refit. You'd be basically creating a whole new ship.
>>6325384>it should stay out of combat if we can match/exceed it at range.Let's say our new flagship does get a longer-ranged weapon than the Ryu. Basing it on the Glory (tactical mobility: 1) will mean it still much slower than the Ryu (tactical mobility: 5). The Ryu is FASTER than the Kestrel LIGHT CRUISER (tactical mobility: 4). Good luck staying out of combat and not being flanked. If it's a "simple" refit (replacing the kinetic batteries with heavy laser turrets) our range won't be much greater than the Ryu's, and if we did a spinal railgun, we're very vulnerable to being flanked based on how SLOW the Glory is.>The only reason it's a big threat right now is because we have nothing that can match it's range.Hot dogs were fast enough to fly up to and dodge Ryu shots if the drone control wasn't destroyed. If they landed a hit we would have wooooon.
>>6325393They wouldn't have *needed* to fly so close if they were torpedo ships instead of some dumb flying knife.
>>6325396I know, I proposed the torpedo hot dog and missed that vote...
>>6325387It'd be cheaper and take less time to build than a new ship>>6325393It wouldn't be doing much flanking seeing as it's a command ship. It does the best in a group with all the other ships. And even if it does, it shouldn't be able to get out of range fast enough to not take return fire, which is a trade it loses. It's also not stealthy so any flanking it does do can be seen and responded to, even at Tac Speed 1. You're allowed to be the slowest thing on the battlefield if you can kill everything in range and aren't out-ranged.
“Acting Director, I would advise you to build something that would improve the High Admiral’s faith in you. Fixating on personal obsessions will not win you support nor will it win us the war.”You grit your teeth and exhale slowly.“Fine. Solei, bring up the schematic for the Glory class cruiser.”An image of a large boxy ship appeared on the AR display.“The Glory Class Heavy Cruiser,” intoned Solei. “Predates most known human stellar nations. Easily maintained, and manufacturable with even a primitive technology base. No wonder it has stood the test of time.” You could hear the admiration in Solei’s voice.“It’s an obsolete piece of shit,” you spit. “Even without the technology of the Old Empire we can do better than this, I can do better than this!”You start pulling apart the design.“Heavy chem-propellant kinetics; useless! First gen capital torpedoes? Might as well send in a Pike!”You start to rapidly add new modules. In the end you had added shield projectors, replaced the kinetic batteries with single heavy lasers and beefed up the power output.“And finally!”You replaced the engines with an array of something you called the Glasner resonance drive.Solei squinted at the new design.“Glasner these new engines will be much harder to maintain and unless precisely calibrated will cause control issues.”“They provide more thrust than conventional drives, and this is a design I have worked with before, I can mitigate those issues with built in diagnostic routines. As long as the engineering crews are properly retrained it shouldn’t be a problem.”“Even so, this will cause friction to the widespread adoption of this design across the fleet.”“This new design has less overall firepower than the original, even if it does have greater range, precision and durability,” said Lt. Gale.“And what good did all that firepower do when you couldn’t even bring it to bear?”“Do not misunderstand; I believe this design is a definite improvement, but I would be remiss if I did not point out its flaws.”“I agree with Lt. Gale’s assessment,” said Solei “however I feel the addition of your resonance drive is too much. The shield and armament upgrades alone will provide enough benefit to the Fleet in a shorter time frame.”>Add shields and change the weapons only. (Quick upgrade)>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)
>>6325403>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)The other changes are fucking worthless at that speed.
>>6325403>>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)ahh fuck it. It'd take longer to upgrade it later.
>>6325403>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)Even if the mechanics grumble, the fleet surely will appreciate the higher average speed.
>>6325403This is my first time checking out this series of quests, and I'm digging it. I can't wait to see where it goes.>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)Time is money. If we don't invest it right, it's worthless. The Glory is a fine ship but too slow and inaccurate for a modern battlefield. This doesn't fix that but it does help bridge the gap. If it performs well, hopefully Fleet Command will cut us more slack to develop a proper counter.
>>6325403>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)
Rolled 2, 5, 5, 4 = 16 (4d10)>>6325410Glad you're enjoying it.Given my limited player base and the fact that this isn't really a high stakes choice I think we can call it now.Roll to see how the new design works out.:>Imperial Dice:>Base: 3>Greater Numbers: +1 die>Command Vessels: This side wins ties.>Pact Dice:>Base: 3>Plasma Shields: +1 die>Tough Capitals: +1 to the third highest result.>Engine mishap: Rolling triples will randomly grant +1 to one of the enemy’s top 3.>Roll me 4d10s.
Rolled 8 (1d10)>>632542
Rolled 4 (1d10)>>6325424
Rolled 6 (1d10)>>6325424
>>6325425Well, at least we won one.
Rolled 5 (1d10)>>6325424C'mon!
>>6325425>>6325427>>63254328, 6, 6 vs 5,5,4Finally, an victory. This should buy us enough trust to be able to do a real project..like a torpedo gunship.
>>6325425>>6325426>>6325427>>6325432Imperial Highest:5,5,4vsPact Highest:8,6,(5+1)Pact winsWriting...
In the end you decided to go “all in” so to speak. The Glory Class needed all the help it could get. The Fleet was already laying down two new Glory hulls at Kornen, after Lt. Gale petitioned Command they agreed to build the new ships according to your design. All you needed to do was build the new components and ship them off to Kornen.It was a bit of a risk to have the new ships assembled without your oversight but this was a mere upgrade package not a complete reimagining. You would never admit this to Solei but it was a testament to the Glory’s ruggedness that all your upgrades were installed without issue. The new ship type was designated the Glory-B.—---“This is Commodore Dyre, Battlegroup Sovereign to any Pact ships out there, we need back up! The Imperials are picking us off!”“PDS Fireknife and Lumen[i/] responding, We hear you Sovereign. We’re heading straight in, regroup around us.”Captain Holloway sealed her vacsuit and sank into a data trance. The call to battlestations went out across the ships nooshpere and PA. Looks like they had arrived just in time.Holloway had been both annoyed and cautiously grateful to find the Glory class earmarked for her command was being “upgraded” to an experimental variant. As a veteran commander she was already well acquainted with the capabilities of the venerable heavy cruiser; she knew what it could and couldn’t do.One thing it couldn’t do was make it to Sovereign’s position before the Imperials wiped them out. Holloway was pleasantly surprised by the speed of this new design. A warning came in through the noosphere that the engines were redlining but was suppressed by the Chief Engineer. Holloway trusted him to do his job and focussed on the on coming battle.Battlegroup Sovereign was made up mostly of the old Glory Cruisers, escorted by patrol frigates and some Kestrels. The Imperials were coming in with a fast squadron of their own Kestrels centred around two Ryu class cruisers. The Imperial Kestrels were picking off the frigates while Ryus were slowly wearing down the Glories with precision laser strikes.>cont
>>6325740It was pretty obvious that the Raihans didn’t care about their arrival, probably thought they could just play keep away and out range them like they always did. Holloway could already see the firing solutions in the noosphere. “Main battery, target the Ryu harassing the Commodore’s flagship. Lumen move in and raise shields.”A pair of laser beams lanced out into the void. The mid section of a Ryu flared and melted, right where the primary heat sinks were. It had always been such an obvious target, but nobody had ever had the range to hit it, until now.The Imperial Kestrels immediately converged on the Fireknife trying to knock out its laser turrets. Holloway already had the shields up and the incoming gauss slugs splattered harmlessly across the hull, all power and precision compromised by the dense plasma field enveloping the front and mid section of the ship.Some of the Imperials had the bright idea to try hitting them in the rear, but Sovereigns own ships were already forming up behind Holloway and their heavy kinetics shredded any Kestrels trying to out flank them.The Ryus tried to dance around and take pot shots but this was no longer a dance; it was a straight up endurance match. In the end the Imperials could neither break nor pick apart the Pact formation. After losing multiple ships including a Ryu class, their remaining ships turned tail and ran.Holloway breathed a sigh of relief.>Quest will continue later
The latest message from High Admiral Ruhi expressed a muted thanks for the Glory upgrade. The new hull type was becoming an anchor for Pact formations; allowing them to trade fire with any Ryu class vessels and prevent the battle line from being picked apart. It was only delaying the inevitable though. Raiha’s superior numbers meant it was only a matter of time before the Pact fleet was ground into the dust.Fleet Command was expressing competing desires. Some wanted an upgrade package rolled out for the Kestrel, others wanted a command vessel that surpassed the Ryu and yet another desired a stealth frigate.What to do next?>Upgrade the Kestrel (Quick, specify upgrades)>Develop a command ship.>Develop a stealth frigate.>Build something they didn’t even know that they wanted. (Write-In)
>>6325955>>Develop a stealth frigate.
>>6325955>>Develop a stealth frigate.Being outnumbered is a pretty big deal so let's go fix that by making it nuclear capable and meant to directly attack their industry. If stealth for some reason doesn't work then just make it so fast nothing can catch it. Or both fast and stealthy if possible.
>>6325955>Develop a stealth frigate.Hear me out guys- a topheavy, semi-sneaky torpedo frigate otherwise designed with the bare minimum needed to avoid suicidal exposure. Cheap, dirty, punches like a dagger in the back. If it turns out we can't cram our newfangled shield design onboard without sacrificing maximum firepower, we can dispense with most of the less subtle auxiliaries and recommend every crewman be given a preemptive purple heart.
>>6325955>Develop a stealth frigate.Maybe we could make it modular for different missions e.g. torpedo launchers for destroying ships, a bomb bay for destroying space stations and electronics for reconnaissance.
>>6325955>Build something they didn’t even know that they wanted. (Write-In)A stealth Frigate? Sure. But let's not faff about at the edges trading slaps with their fleet. Let's build a stealth INSERTION frigate, and prepare to deploy commando teams directly against the Raihan Empress herself in her capitol to capture/kill.
>>6325955>Develop a stealth frigate.Ah fuck it, stealth frigate it is. Normally I'd have hoped we just finally do that torpedo gunship but we're not gonna win a war with such material inferiority just by having some better ships. We need a way to deal with their production capacities, and making a ship capable of blowing up their yards and whatnot would be what is great for that.
>>6325955>Develop a stealth frigate.Cognis, our existing frigates do NOT have FTL and are wake-jumped into battle by the cruisers, right?A scouting / flanking fleet support frigate doesn't need FTL, but a raiding one definitely does, and it better be reliable too, so anons I would like for you to think whether you want it to specialize in fleet support or raiding. Very different requirements!>>6326090No need for modules, a W31N-3R torpedo strap-on should work wonders against big ships and even better against stations, which are... stationary.
>>6326128A stealth frigate almost definitely needs FTL.
>>6326128Frigate class Eigen drives do exist. Wake jumping is something Horned Princess Shipworks has (Formerly JH Independant) and I doubt we can license it from them. And besides, we can design an FTL stealth frigate and then build some without the FTL drive if need be.
>>6326128Oh that's a slight discrepancy there. Neither the Pact nor the Raihans use Hyper drives and thus don't wake jump anything.>>6326187As anon said frigate class Eigen Drives exist and many frigates do have them. I forgot to list them in the patrol frigate specials because patrol frigates were meant to be in system monitor ships. Of course any that are expected to fight outside their place of manufacture will be fitted with an FTL drive.A ship with a hyper drive that's capable of wake jumping smaller vessels would be an idea for the "Build something they didn’t even know that they wanted." vote.
>>6326234It would be a nice idea overall but a Stealth frigate works for our purposes better.
>>6326234Ah, I see.Let's just see what kind of stealth frigates Glasner can come up with.
((Overwhelming consensus for a Stealth Frigate))In the end it was the request for a stealth frigate that intrigued you the most and so you informed the rest of your team that this would be the R&D divisions next project.“I approve of this choice,” said Lt. Gale. “The Imperials have the material advantage, even with steady upgrades to our existing fleet we would only delay the inevitable. If we are to win the war we need a game changer; a stealth ship would be such a game changer.”Solei rubbed his chin thoughtfully.“But one does not simply develop stealth technology. It is in fact a group of technologies; one to hide the ship from each method of detection. It would not be feasible to develop everything from scratch.”“I am aware,” you say. “And I am sure we have the means to acquire said technologies.” You pull a small bottle of orangish liquid from your jacket. Except one couldn’t be sure it was orange or liquid. The longer one stared at it the more the colours twisted and changed, it was reminiscent of the storms on the surface of a gas giant. Solei’s eyes narrowed. “Is that… sauce?”“Acting Director you can’t be serious.”“Glasner, the sauce is a potent psychoactive exotic matter compound. There is a 70% chance of ingestion resulting in death, 29% chance of insanity, 0.9% chance of useful insight and 0.1% chance of spontaneous ascension to a higher plane of existence.”“I’m not suggesting trying to develop the technology by going on a sauce trip. This is a mere bargaining chip. I know of a certain… merchant who will accept this in exchange for the technology we need.”“It’s Benny isn’t it?” said both Solei and Gale in unison.You’re dumb struck for a second. “You know Benny?”“They have a reputation,” said Solei.“An unsavoury reputation,” said Lt. Gale.“They are an Unbound, they have access to knowledge we can only dream of.”“They are the Unbound equivalent of an intoxicated vagrant,” said Gale flatly. “There is no guarantee he can provide us with anything of value.”>cont
>>6326562“An intoxicated vagrant Unbound is still an Unbound. Things they consider junk could be technological artefacts of incalculable value to us!”“Or they could be extreme threats,” intoned Solei. “The time they accidentally pulled a derelict infected with a self-replicating biomechanical nanophage out of hyperspace is well known.”“Glasner please, there are better ways of doing this.”“Such as?”Gale brings up a map of the Higg system on the AR display. Several lines spiral outward from the Boson Halo Yard.“The ship that damaged the Yard and killed your predecessor was clearly some kind of advanced stealth ship. We haven’t detected any unregistered FTL transitions so its highly likely the ship is still in system. We think it’s trying to coast into deep space on inertia. If we can deduce its exit vector, we can intercept it and study it.”“We could also try searching the Old Imperial Bases on Higg. Records from the old regime whisper of black sites and secret projects sealed away during the collapse,” mused Solei.“Even if we could find such a site, those tend to have traps and failsafes that will activate should anyone not of the Imperial bloodline attempt to access them.”“There is one other option,” Gale glanced sideways warily. “The Solar Union have expressed interest in providing clandestine support to us in our war against the Raihan Throne. Pact Leadership is wary of getting entangled with one of the region's major powers, but they are desperate. If you were to push for it, there would be enough political will to broker a deal.”Ugh, politics, you didn’t care about politics… then again; you didn’t care about politics.>Benny Gatcha (Random Mystery Box)>Get high on Sauce. (ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND!?)>Track down the stealth ship. (Solve a puzzle)>Search the Old Imperial Sites on Higg. (Take a risk)>Get in bed with the Solar Union. (I sure hope this has no unforeseen consequences)
>>6326564By 'Puzzle' it is an actual puzzle or something we have to roll for? I like puzzles.
>>6326565Actual puzzle. It might not be very good though. Making puzzles is hard.
>>6326566Well, I like'em.I mean, the cheap answer would be to get in bed with the solar union. Unlike our good lad HORNER, I don't care much about the fate of the pact and I have to feel like Glasner doesn't care that much either.BUT. Puzzles are cool.>>6326564>Track down the stealth ship. (Solve a puzzle)
>>6326564>Track down the stealth ship. (Solve a puzzle)I love puzzles
>>6326564>>Benny Gatcha (Random Mystery Box)MYSTERY BOX!
>Search old imperial sites Who knows what treasures we could find
>>6326564>Benny Gatcha (Random Mystery Box)It's nice that nobody is going with the Union, those guys are cunts.
>>6326587People never take those kinds of deals anyways. The other options are all based on chance. That is also why I didn't take the mystery box. Because there's a big chance you'll just get nothing useful.
>>6326564>Track down the stealth ship. (Solve a puzzle)>Benny Gatcha (Random Mystery Box)Why not both? We should have a bacup plqn anyway in case the search is a bust, or the stealth ship's crew decides to nuke themselves to prevent capture.
>>6326564>>Get high on Sauce. (ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND!?)Have FAITH!
>>6326567>>6326572>>6326718Stealth Ship>>6326575Old Imperial Sites>>6326574>>6326587>>6326718Benny Gatcha>>6326775Get High on Sauce.Hmph, okay fine we can attempt to track the Stealth Ship then do Benny Gatcha if you fail, but there is a time cost associated with all this.This update might take a while as I need to put the puzzle together.Please wait warmly and lay off the sauce conceptualize more ridiculous space ships.
>>6326894>conceptualize more ridiculous space ships.Ok. So I've had a few ideas.>Put a shield on the TILE fighter and bombers and have the carrier just be a converted civilian vessel to speed up deployment.>A sort of mine that detects when a ship is near it then spins and uses centrifugal force to throw a bunch of missiles away from it, then the missiles activate and target important components of the ship. Mixed into the missiles is a bunch of chaff and targeting beacons for our ships that latch onto the enemy.>The mine idea but in a big missile to have a sort of missile shotgun blast.>A big capital ship mounted machine gun with various special munitions in the magazine to really fuck up escorts.>Take the Ryu we destroyed and reverse engineer it and make it better.>Just put shields on everything.>A crab looking ship that's modular in the way that all the weapons and subsystems that can go in the "arms" of the ship all share the same internal space, so you're not changing out the structure, just the internals and weapons put on the turrets.>A really really big railgun that jumps into a system, fires a single shot at something important, then jumps back out.
>>6326901>A really really big railgun that jumps into a system, fires a single shot at something important, then jumps back out.Expanding on this, what if this railgun's payload is a bunch of missiles wrapped in some armor that fly by inertia and activate once near the target or if they detect an enemy nearby.>The mine idea but in a big missile to have a sort of missile shotgun blast.What about an anti-missile shotgun as a point defense weapon?Other ideas:>Laser accelerated kinetic kill missiles with super long range>Very long-ranger laser ship whose only purpose is to destroy the patrol frigates to open the way for our missiles and small craft>A ship with all the armor and weapons concentrated on one side to save on mass. Just don't let it get flanked>A long and very thin ship that's simply hard to hit from the front
>>6326901We could always finish the hotdog. What is the difference between a melee ship and a torpedo? Size. It is already automated, just decrease everything untill it is only capable of making a one way trip(because it is a torpedo) remove the turret and that will make it need less material to produce and become smaller. Shields making every torpedo tankier would be hell on CIWS, and the giant size lightsaber would make even one impact devastating against anyone.
>>6326894What we need is the THUNDERBIRD MK II.The hacks at Horned Princess came up with the Warbird, but only Glasner would know to PROPERLY upgrade the Thunderbird. We have combat data from the Battle of Shima and surely can make something better than some ChadGPT. They were outmanouvered / outranged by the Shima frigates' railguns, so obviously the solution is railguns for itself. Yes, what the Thunderbird Mk II needs is a multi-barrel revolving spinal railgun for MAXIMUM range and firepower.
I think we should just make an upgrade to the hot dog now that we have a proper counter to their ships. We need an anti-frigate gunship.
>>6326923The hot dog only has a small laser turret so it's barely a gunboat. Ramming frigates isn't going to work well in the future, we only got +2 dice from surprise last time and gave +1 to the enemy from ramming like a retard. Even if we switch to the torpedo dog it only has one (1) torpedo.>>6326917What if you just launched W13N-3Rs with the shield generator and a homing computer...A W13N-3R on every ship! It's an anti-capital ship weapon and it even comes with its own shield and propulsion!
>>6326929Perhaps instead of a torpedo we could instead make a powerful gun enough to allow it to kill frigates? Something fast enough and small enough to not have to worry about capital fire but strong enough to kill frigates. It would allow our new Glory Refits to deal with their bigger ships.
“Well, if the stealth ship that attacked us is indeed still in the system we should try and capture it before it slips through our fingers.”Lt. Gale nods and calls up an annotated map of the system on the AR display.“Shortly after the attack the unknown ship was forced to flee in system to evade our picket ships moving in from the system’s edge. Naturally we lost track of it.”Several lines trace routes from the Boson Halo yard across the system out into deep space.“Our savants have analysed the data and inferred four possible trajectories the ship could take. Being a stealth ship we are usually unable to detect it.”“Usually?”“Based on local stellar phenomena and positioning within our sensor net our savants have identified several key points along each trajectory where there is a slight possibility of detection.”“Sounds like a long shot to me.”“It is, and given the amount of time that has elapsed our target is at least half way to the system’s edge. Our only hope is to guess the exit vector and intercept the ship. If we know where it will be ahead of time, our own ships can lay a trap it will not be able to escape.”“So… a one in four chance then?”“If you pick randomly, yes. However, we can assume that our adversary wants to take the shortest route out of the system while minimizing the chances of detection. If we take those factors into consideration we could make a more educated guess.”“Can’t we just set up an ambush along all four routes?”“Unfortunately given the limited time frame and the strain on our military we can only afford to block one route before the target leaves the system.”>Put those big brains to use. Tell me which route the target is using and your reasoning. If at least one person can give me the correct answer AND back it up with a satisfactory explanation, you solve the puzzle! If not, I will just roll a die for the next update and you will have a 1 in 4 chance of success.
Alright, let's do some maff - please correct me if I'm wrong.>Route 1 - 20AU0.25 + 0.10 = 0.90 + 0.750.75 * 0.90 = 0.6751 - 0.675 = 0.325So the overall chance of being found is 32.5%>Route 2 - 10AU0.20 + 0.20 + 0.25 = 0.80 + 0.80 + 0.750.80 * 0.80 * 0.75 = 0.481 - 0.48 = 0.52Overall chance of 52% to be found - very bad.>Route 3 - 15AU0.20 + 0.15 + 0.10 = 0.80 + 0.85 + 0.900.80 * 0.85 * 0.90 = 0.6211 - 0.621 = 0.38Overall chance of being found... 38%>Route 4 - 10AU0.25 + 0.30 + 0.20 = 0.75 + 0.70 + 0.800.75 * 0.70 * 0.80 = 0.421 - 0.42 = 0.58Overall, 58% chance to be found, the worst of all of them.Given all the situations, it would seem to me as though the most mathematically efficient route would be V3, having not only the second lowest chance to be found, but the second lowest distance as well. That would be the "correct" answer.Of course, there could always be the chance that the pilot, knowing this to be the most efficient route, decided to go for V1 since we would "expect" them to be going for the best route. But that feels like it would be an pretty dumb thing for them to know.
>>6326970There's a trick there - route 1 passes the 10% detection point twice, so the actual detection probability is 39.25%. Route 3 it is.
>>6326977Well, yes, but like I said, that's still less than the other routes, which is why if he were to pick a less effective route on the sole basis of wanting to be "unexpected" it would be Route 1. But yes, Route 3 is the "correct" answer to the puzzle so to speak.
>>6326979It's not less, route 3 is 38%
>>6326981I was talking about Route 2 and 4I said that if the pilot chose to pick an route other than the most effective, which is 3, then it would be 1.
>>6326982I don't think they would pick route 1 in any case, because it's the longest one.Unrelatedly, the two shortest routes, 2 and 4, share one of their detection points, so they're even more dangerous than the straight up calculation makes it seem. All in all, I don't see them choosing any route but 3>>6326960This is my official vote>V3
>V1distance: 20 AUdetection risk: 1 - (1-.25)*(1-.10)*(1-.10) = 1 - 0.6075 = 0.3925>V2distance: 10 AUdetection risk: 1 - (1-.20)*(1-.25)*(1-.20) = 1 - 0.48 = 0.52>V3distance: 15 AUdetection risk: 1 - (1-.20)*(1-.15)*(1-.10) = 1 - 0.612 = 0.388>V4distance: 10 AUdetection risk: 1 - (1-.25)*(1-.30)*(1-.20) = 1 - 0.42 = 0.58They want the shortest route at the lowest risk. The problem is HOW do they value distance and risk?if Expected value = P(not detected) * scaled distancewhere scaled distance = shortest possible distance / chosen path's distance>V1Expected value = 0.6075 * 10/20 = 0.30375>V2Expected value = 0.48 * 10/10 = 0.48>V3Expected value = 0.612 * 10/15 = 0.408>V4Expected value = 0.42 * 10/10 = 0.42It might seem retarded but Route #2 might actually be the answer>>6326970You messed up on the risk calculation V3. The detection chance is 0.612, not 0.621, so the chance of being found is slightly higher than the one you calculated.
>>6327026>You messed up on the risk calculation V3. ..No? I did not. The chance is 38%. That is the correct value.
>>63270360.80 * 0.85 * 0.90 = 0.612, not 0.621So the risk is 38.8%, not 37.9% which you rounded to 38%
>>6327038>It's not 38%, it's 38%Okay bro.Still not picking the "literal coinflip chance of being caught" route.
>>6327044Furthermore, your entire "equation" is completely flawed because you just threw it together into a single number. You can't do that. The length is completely irrelevant to the chance of being caught. The chance of being caught pertains to the "spots" - you can't just throw them together and call it a day. There are TWO values.>Route V315AU, 38% Chance of being caught>Route V210AU, 52% Chance of being caughtSo the choice is between a slightly longer but much safer route, and a slightly shorter but much more risky route. Which do you think is more likely for a stealth ship?
>>6327044I mean you told us to check your math, and I did say it was just a slight error...>>6327046The expected value formula I used had the scaled distance as the utility providing unit and the ship only getting that utility if it evaded detection. Let's say you were at a carnival booth where you could flip a coin to win $10, or a 1d6 where you win $40 if you roll a 1.>Coin$10, 50% chance of successexpected value = $5>Dice$40, 16.7% chance of successexpected value = $6.67There are two values, yet you can calculate the expected value just by multiplying the utility provided (in this case $, in the stealth ship case the inverse of the distance) and the chance of success.Route 3 is not just slightly longer, it's a whole 1.5 times longer.
>>6327065Okay, but, again, you're smashing them two together without actually taking into account the situation. This is not an situation where you need to choose the one that'll end up being mathematically better over the long term. You need the one that does NOT get you caught.A fifty percent chance to get caught is NOT worth spending slightly less time traveling.
>>6327087Anon, the entire reason they had to take this weird route was because of being ships at the edge of the system.
>>6327089See >>6327088
>>6326960I vote for V3
>>6326960brain hurty, i choose route 3.
>>6327026This guy has solved the puzzle.>>6327072You have a point, realistically the utility of a shorter route could be downplayed compared to the utility of avoiding detection, you could also take into account the captain's appetite for risk and whether they're likely to subvert expectations by going for a sub-optimal route. However to stop things getting too complicated I limited the main factors to a simple proportional utility of shorter routes and the combined probability of detection.Anyway, at least one of you got the correct answer so you've collectively solved the puzzle.I hope the puzzler anons enjoyed it.Writing...
>>6327336Damn, so it was expected utility? I never would've thought.Good thing we only needed one anon to clutch...
>>6327336>You have a point, realistically the utility of a shorter route could be downplayed compared to the utility of avoiding detectionThat's putting it lightly, the V2 Route has odds worse than a coinflip.
“Blocakde Route 2, this is the mathematically optimal route. Assuming the target’s captain is a rational actor like me-”You swear Solei’s usual impassive expression almost dropped for a second.“-then this is the exit vector they will use.”“And if the captain is not a rational actor?” Asked Gale.“Then we will contact Benny.”“I hope for all our sakes you are right Acting Director.”—--A squadron of patrol frigates supported by a Kestrel is sent out to lie in wait. Naturally your target detects them and attempts to change course. If they had not known where to look and what to look for, your ships might have missed the muted flare of the stealth ship's main drive in the system's solar radiation. But they did know.As soon as their quarry was detected your frigates pounced. The stealth ship abandoned all attempts at subtlety and immediately flared its drive to full power. Active sensor sweeps pinged the frigates as the target launched multiple missiles. The patrol frigate cannons easily shot down the incoming projectiles which exploded into fuzzy balls of radiation: dirty fission warheads.The Kestrel moved in and started bombarding the target with its gauss battery. The multiple hits overpenetrated and despite being riddled with holes the target continued to fight. Then, finally a lucky hit took out the main power plant; the drive plume went out and all active sensor pings ceased.One of the frigates matched velocities with the now drifting hull and a squad of Lord Yarin's house troopers breached and cleared the vessel. Once the vessel was secured it was towed back to the Boson Halo yard along with two very peculiar prisoners…>Quest will continue later…
The stealth ship that you captured was strangely underwhelming. The name “October Squall” was printed across its hull in a human dialect, or at least human adjacent dialect. The Squall was a frigate sized vessel armed with a simplistic arsenal of missiles tipped with nuclear warheads and supplemented by a few small laser turrets good for little more than interception and desperate knifefighting. The whole thing was almost… primitive.None of that was important though, the real prize, the stealth technologies were intact… Well, intact enough to be reverse engineered. Radiation absorbent hull composites, sensor diffraction topography, heat reservoirs and drive baffling; all the technologies that had allowed the ship to slip under the noses of the Pact pickets and straight at the heart of their research and development initiative.There was also something else. A mangled device, something that clearly used exotic matter, an FTL drive perhaps? If it was, it didn't match anything you knew of. A mystery for another time.—-------The guards nodded and stood aside as you approached the holding cell where the prisoner was being kept. No salutes, no snapping to attention, no military deference for you. Still, your title carried enough weight to let you indulge in this little whim. You were curious, you wanted to know who it was that had assassinated your predecessor, almost killed you in the process and why. The person in the cell appeared to be an old woman, despite her apparent age there was a sharpness in her eyes and straightness to her posture that spoke of a robust will, but also something else… a kind of confusion.For a moment the two of you just stared at each other. Social interaction had never been your strong suit.“Hello.”No response. You sigh and recall the dialect you had assimilated in your last data trance.“Hello, I am Director Harris Glasner, what is your name?” The words of the dialect felt strange yet familiar.The woman frowned, as if asserting some supreme mental effort.“I..I am the Executive Auditor of the October Squall.”“That’s a title not a name.”“I can’t remember my name. There are many things I can’t remember.”“Can you remember why you attacked this very station and almost killed me in the process?”The Auditor glared at you. “Your people were harbouring a monster.”“Are you talking about my predecessor, Director Shivre?”“That alien is responsible for the destruction of my entire civilization, my entire race!”You’re taken aback by the sheer venom in her voice.“I… I am sorry for your loss, but whatever the fate of your civilization the human race is clearly alive and well.”“I can see that, and I-I’m glad…”>cont
>>6327775She rubs her temples and groans, bitter painful laughter escaping her lips as she mutters to herself. You wander closer to the cell trying to make out her words.“…paracausal bullshit… the irony.” Her head snaps up and previously glassy eyes focus on you again.“So it really is dead then?”You recall your predecessor, Shivre. Called themselves a Narazim, you’d never heard of that species; they were aquatic and communicated through bioluminescent signalling. Overall Shivre reminded you of a multi-armed deep sea shark that had to use a mobile aquarium when interacting with the rest of your team. Pact leadership had initially hired them for their expertise in weapons development.You couldn’t deny their capabilities but you found their mentality completely unsporting. Their first proposal had been for a relativistic kill vehicle; undetectable, un-interceptable, guaranteed system wide total biome kill… about a century after launch. Pact leadership had no interest in such complete annihilation of their adversaries and even if they did, vengeance decades after the fact was a poor salve for defeat in the present. “There was no way they could have survived the strike. I should thank you by the way. Even though you almost killed me, you also allowed me to take their place.”Another bitter laugh. “Petty human ambition. It’s refreshing to see something so familiar again.” She blinks as if realising something. “How long has it been?”“Since when?”“2242 C.E. ; the year my mission began.”“I don’t recognise that dating system.”“A very long time then.”This was starting to bore you. You doubted this causality addled “Auditor” had anything of further interest to you. You turn to leave.“Wait, what happened to Holloway?”“Who?”“My companion.”“You were the only crew member aboard the ship.”>cont
>>6327776She ground her teeth.“The AI! His name is Holloway!”“Oh that thing. We’ve quarantined it for now. AIs are taboo in my society so it will likely be destroyed.”The Auditor sunk to her knees, hands gripping the bars of her cell in desperation.“NO! PLEASE! I… if you’re going to do that can I at least speak to him one more time?”Huh… ok now this was interesting.“I’ll think about it.”—----AIs. One of the founding principles of the Raihan Empire (and subsequently the Pact) was that all higher thinking be done by humans. Machines could expedite the process, yes, but the understanding of data and the making of decisions had to be done by human minds. To rely on AI as so many other branches of the human diaspora had done was to introduce a crippling weakness into society and to shirk a fundamental responsibility of being human…But AIs were useful, they could conceptualize ideas and attack problems in ways that teams of human savants couldn’t. With an AI at your disposal new possibilities would be open to you. Despite your own cultural disdain for AI the idea of having one under you tickled your ego. You were the Director of R&D now, that didn’t just mean you designed the ships it meant you could bend the rules. Black projects, black sites; you had the power to order teams of savants to risk their minds in order to compel this “Holloway” to serve your purposes. You had the power to have your cake and eat it if you so chose. >Shackle the AI (Opens up new options but may cause complications down the line).>Destroy the AI.
>>6327777I want to shackle the AI, but we really should think of some manner of measure, at the least, shouldn't we? Some sort of Faraday Cage or such to prevent it from speaking with the outside world. Some sort of way to delete it when necessary. You get the gist of it.
>>6327775I knew you were referencing that quest right away>>6327777Which means I can't destroy this AI>Shackle the AI (Opens up new options but may cause complications down the line).
>>6327777>Destroy the AI.Sure can't wait for this thing to subtly mix tiny, incomplete bits of malware into our projects so when multiple project down the line when the new ships start linking up digitally for C&C, that assembles the full malware attack and hijacks something.
>>6327777>Shackle the AI (Opens up new options but may cause complications down the line).Okay well I'm guessing we *can't* get any safety options but still I'd rather do it because this is the GLASSNER option
>>6327867Also, this issue only works if you use the robot to do everything instead of just having it help Glassner do stuff.
>>6327825>I knew you were referencing that quest right awayHeheh, when did you notice?>>6327867>>6327868Shackling the AI entails enacting various safety procedures to prevent it from escaping and corrupting any outside systems. Of course there will always be inherent risk in trying to compel such an advanced intellect to do your bidding.
>>6327878I had a feeling while looking at the escape trajectories and was sure once they launched missiles at us
>>6327777>>Destroy the AI.
>>6327777I'd like to talk to it before we decide, but I don't trust this AI to be more than a chatbot in a faraday cage in an airgapped room
>>6327776>Shackle it.the temptation is far too high to not shackle it.Even if we don't intend to use it ourselves, it may make for a lovely weapon payload on a modified hotdog which we could fire at one of our enemies. "The works"Maybe even see if it can process...the sauce as a little research project."Hot Sauce"
>>6327777>Shackle the AI (Opens up new options but may cause complications down the line).Let's be careful about this tough.
>>6327777>Shackle the AI (Opens up new options but may cause complications down the line).God I loved Retaliation. Hope Observer comes back soon.
>>6327777>Sell it to the Solar Union for big creditsJust because the Pact doesn't use it themselves doesn't mean we can't sell it to a branch of humanity that does and get more funds to back our war efforts.
It was a simple matter to create a cage for the AI; an isolated station, shielded stand alone server and a rotating team of counter intrusion savants. But these were not your only means of maintaining control.—---The AI had been damaged after much of the hardware it had been running on abruptly ceased functioning. The entity was effectively in a coma and would have to reinitialize itself. You watched in fascination from within a data trance as a trickle of crystalline dust slowly formed itself into a skeleton, musculature, and finally a sleek humanoid shell. Holloway rose from its digital grave and regarded Glasner with an inscrutable look. His “face” a smooth blank surface upon a glossy helmet.“What happened?” He queried.“My people have captured your ship. You are my prisoner.”“I don’t think so.”In an instant Holloway generated some kind of polearm; a representation of offensive malware and swung it at your neck. He got within a metaphorical inch of you before his movement was arrested by a series of holographic chains. All around him the avatars of your savants restricted the AIs functions, one rose behind Holloway and forced him to his knees.“Hrrm… interesting, but this won’t hold me for long.”One of the chains started to disintegrate only to reform and send a searing jolt into Holloway’s arm. The AI stiffened, writhing in a facsimile of pain.“I know what you’re capable of machine. You grow and learn; no static restrictions can permanently cage you. Well your jailers can learn too, any exploits you find will be patched immediately.”You call up a pre-recorded video of the Auditor in her cell.“And even if you somehow were to break free, we have your human companion. The moment you breach this cage my guards execute her. Do you understand?”Holloway remained expressionless but you could feel him deliberating; running through decision trees and various heuristic landscapes. Finally he looked up at you.“What do you want from me?”“I want you to help me win a war.”>cont
>>6328400You rub your eyes as you groggily head into the next meeting with Solei and Gale. The past few days had seen you enduring prolonged data trances as you worked with Holloway on multiple stealth concepts. Despite being your enemy the machine eagerly assimilated the data you gave it, processing it, playing with it and outputting things that were… intriguing. If you didn’t know better you’d think Holloway was enjoying this.“I have been studying the ship we captured," said Solei “I believe we now have a firm grasp of its design; it would be a simple matter to construct a modified version adapted to carry our own ordinance. In fact I have created a variant of the W13N-3R I call the WU4-ST, it incorporates these new technologies to allow the weapon to be fired at extreme range and drift to its target undetected before entering its terminal phase.”“Improving on my work Solei? I’m almost flattered.”“I know this is a bit beyond the scope of the original request, but I’ve commissioned some of the design team to come up with something I think the Fleet might find more useful.” Gale brought up a light carrier design on the AR display.“As of now both sides have limited carrier capabilities and the ability to deploy strikecraft is a huge force multiplier. A stealth carrier will allow us to deploy strikecraft in unexpected locations and will only become more dangerous as we develop better designs.”“Speaking of better designs; what if I told you we could build a single one manned strikecraft… with its own Eigen Drive.”“I would say such a design would be needlessly complex and prohibitively expensive,” said Solei flatly.“Nobody ever said winning the war would be cheap, Merick.”>Build your own version of the October Squall. (Quick, fast to deploy)>Build a light stealth carrier. (Longer project, better long term potential.)>Build a stealth strikecraft with FTL capability. (Unknown potential, hard to produce.)>Write-In
>>6328402>>Build your own version of the October Squall. (Quick, fast to deploy)From what I understand our current fighters and bombers aren't great and are countered by normal enemy patrol craft, so while a stealth carrier would be cool and all, we'd have to devote even more time to it to refit the craft it carries. Let's just make a real carrier next without the stealth armor so it can be more easily mass produced and fill the role of a carrier better.
>>6328402Question about the Stealth strike craft- would it be capable of bearing ordnance capable of destroying big targets like shipyards or orbital stations?
>>6328417Yes, you could develop such ordinance for it.
>>6328419That would be good...HOWEVER, I have had a good idea for the war. The enemy doesn't know we have Stealth capabilities. This ship is not a Raihan Ship. Therefore, if we were able to produce a bunch of these WU4STs, we could launch a multi-pronged assault at every important space target in the Raihans and they wouldn't expect it in the least. This plan requires a bigger number of ships though, so...>>6328402>Build your own version of the October Squall. (Quick, fast to deploy)
>>6328423And I should add, the strike should be "simultaneous" so to say. So they aren't able to raise the alarms and whatnot.
>>6328402>Build a stealth strikecraft with FTL capability. (Unknown potential, hard to produce.)The coolest option.Cognis is captain Longdick Johnson and his battle harem still around? They could appreciate this strike craft and take a break from losing base ships.
>>6328402>Build your own version of the October Squall. (Quick, fast to deploy)>>6328417The Oktober Squall can do that too (as our predecessors found out), with much less development effort and uncertainty.
>>6328402>Build a light stealth carrier. (Longer project, better long term potential.)>Build a stealth strikecraft with FTL capability. (Unknown potential, hard to produce.)The carrier doesn't need to fight enemy warships, it just needs to be able to hunt in backline systems. And single stealth fighter opens up the potential for shenanigans.
>>6328402>>Build a light stealth carrier. (Longer project, better long term potential.)
>>6328402>Build your own version of the October Squall. (Quick, fast to deploy)
>>6328402>stealth carriernuff said, only surprises can win this war. This will be thar and more
>>6328402>Build your own version of the October Squall. (Quick, fast to deploy)A simultaneous decapitation strike is what I want. But it should be a sure strike, so build twice as many ships as we think we'll need
Build your own>>6328416>>6328423>>6328452>>6328588>>6328677Strike craft>6328438>6328466Carrier>6328466>6328528>6328657Looks like we're just making a copy. Roll me 6d10s
Rolled 6, 6 = 12 (2d10)>>6328934
Rolled 1, 3 = 4 (2d10)>>6328934
Rolled 1, 4 = 5 (2d6)>>6328934
>>6328936>>6328938>>632894321/60Not based RNG skillets.
>>6328936>>6328938>>6328943Oof... guess making a straight up copy isn't so easy.Next update might be delayed a bit.
>>6329014:(You doing alright personally?
>>6328943>>6328938>>6328936Ouch ooof muh rolls
Rolled 7, 5 = 12 (2d10)>>6329014>>6328943Hang on a squig, this one rolled a 2d6, not d10.I'll roll a 2d10 to keep things moving.
>>6329112That's a bit better, innit? With that, we only had two rolls below five, and three rolls ABOVE five. And one five.
>>6329112>>6329113Yeah this is better, you've now got one good thing and one bad thing...though it's kinda hard to think what those would even look like given that this was the "safe" choice.>>6329017I'm as alright as you can be in this economy. Just need some time to catch up with other things in life and/or let the quest breathe a bit. I am aware that I have a tendency to get a bit too excited when running a quest and burn my self out in the first half.
>>6329112oopsstill somehow got better results than >>6328938
Had to do other stuff today so no update. I'll leave you guys with some lore on FTL tech.Eigen DriveEigen drives or E-drives translate ships along N-dimensional vectors, effectively changing the co-ordinates of the ship in space. The process is instantaneous and (if you have the computing power) precise. Calculation of the vector translation is everything when using an Eigen drive, if your navigational computer is advanced enough to factor in the space warping effects of gravity wells it’s even possible to translate directly to a star system’s interior instead of jumping in on the fringes.The main drawback of the Eigen Drive has always been scalability, larger hulls require exponentially more energy to be translated and the computing requirements also go up the greater distance travelled. Ships of super capital class or larger generally require extremely potent power sources in order to mount an E-drive. On the flipside E-drives are one of the easier types of FTL drive to miniaturize and are very cost effective on frigates.While strike craft mounted E-drives are possible, they tend to be much shorter ranged given that it is harder to mount the navigation computers and powerplants needed to support longer jumps on such tiny hulls.Hyper DriveHyper Drives allow a ship to traverse hyper space; an alternate dimension where the speed of light can be safely exceeded. Compared to Eigen drives, hyper drives are not as quick or precise but are more scalable. The smallest hyper drives known to be used require at least a small capital class hull.The main advantage of hyper drives is their ability to bring along multiple smaller non-FTL equipped ships in a process called wake jumping. The size and number of ships that can be wake jumped depends on how much excess power can be fed into the hyper drive and how much extra jump telemetry can be calculated by the ships navigational computer. Unlike with Eigen drives, the route taken through hyper space does not need to be pre-calculated before the jump is initiated and so longer jumps are easier to make, although traversing hyper space in this manner requires the presence of specially trained and augmented navigators. Compared to an E-drive, a hyper drive’s power requirements don’t increase as drastically as the size of the ship goes up. This means that it is often the FTL method of choice for anything of capital class size and larger.Multiple FTL DrivesWhile it is possible to mount both a Hyper drive and an E-drive on the same hull it is almost never done. Having more than one FTL drive mounted on a ship would be prohibitively expensive and drive up maintenance costs. Given how FTL tech is often barely understood by those using it, it takes a very advanced civilization to mount both drive types on a ship without causing some type of unforeseen complication in causality and space time.
>>6329654So, is it possible to have very short-ranged E-drives installed on strikecraft? Imagine having strikecraft that can teleport behind the enemy strikecraft that was tailing it...
>>6330024location does not even need to be exact beyond general area literally made to blip out sort of calibrate to the gravity of the local solar system.could call it a skimmer
>>6330024You would need a very powerful and compact navigational computer to be able to calculate jumps with that level of accuracy in the middle of a dog fight. That kind of technology is beyond both you and any of the major galactic powers right now. But less accurate jumps are possible as you'll see.---------In the end Solei somehow managed to convince you to just adapt the captured ship by arguing that the experience gained would be a stepping stone to something more unconventional. Lt. Gale -under pressure from fleet command for a new weapon- supported this move.Still, you were not content with building a mere copy; you wanted your version to have a little flair. After further “consultation” with your shackled AI you managed to upgrade the overall efficiency of the ships E-drive. The new model allowed rapid calculation and execution of short ranged jumps, albeit with much less accuracy. This “tactical jump” capability would be a useful trick in helping the ship escape while cornered. Unfortunately…“What do you mean it will overheat!? I designed the coolant system myself, the thermodynamics check out!”Solei crossed his arms.“You’re not wrong, but remember: this is a stealth ship. Venting heat after jumping into an enemy system will make the vessel extremely vulnerable to detection. The heat from the E-drive will have to be retained until it can safely be dissipated. Until it is done so the internal heat levels of the ship will be dangerously high, to the point where it will be unable to safely do anything beyond the gentlest of manoeuvres."“I thought we were copying an already proven design? How did the original ship overcome this problem?”“The Auditor would translate the ship in deep space, vent the heat and perform a months-long journey to the target at sub-light speed. If the target system has a gas giant or asteroid field it might be possible to use these to mask any heat signatures,” said Gale.Solei called up the ship design on the AR display and stripped out a launch bay.“Alternatively we could sacrifice payload space for an auxiliary heat bank. This would also allow emergency venting should rapid cooling be required.”“The number of targets we could hit would be reduced though,” mused Gale.>Change nothing, rely on the skill of the Captain. (Increases mission time)>Trade payload for heat capacity. (Reduces combat effectiveness)>Trade the tactical jump capability for an E-Drive that charges slower but runs cooler. (Lowers chances of successful exfiltration)
>>6330162>Trade payload for heat capacity. (Reduces combat effectiveness)Months-long mission time is unacceptable in a rapidly developing conflict, and failed exfiltration could put the ship and its technologies in the hands of the enemy. We'll just need to choose our targets for maximum effect and send more ships. Or/and build a more destructive warhead.But make the auxiliary heat sink easily removable so that if the mission location has a place to covertly vent heat, we could replace it with more payload
>>6330162>Trade payload for heat capacity. (Reduces combat effectiveness)I'd choose options 1 and 2 if possible and build two different models: a strategic stealth frigate and a tactical stealth frigate. Otherwise speed will take priority.
>>6330162>Trade payload for heat capacity. (Reduces combat effectiveness)
>>6330166what if you make a missile that is the heat sink? using it as a catalyst for propellant or a internal power turbine system allowing for quick deployment and heat dumping heatsinks as you are already dumping material from the ship why not remove the heat with it its what i learned form playing oxygen not inlcuded collecting heat into a waste product and venting it into space of a vacuum
>>6330220Won't work because we need the heat sink for the exfiltration, after we've launched our missiles
>>6330162>>Change nothing, rely on the skill of the Captain. (Increases mission time)
>>6330162>Trade payload for heat capacity. (Reduces combat effectiveness)Even if it only destroys a single target it'd still be worth it. Infrastructure is worth a lot more than a single frigate, even if it's top of the line.
>>6330162>Trade payload for heat capacity. (Reduces combat effectiveness)Just needs to blow up one station, not a fleet.
Rolled 4, 7, 7, 5, 9 = 32 (5d10)((Looks like we have a consensus))Three stealth frigates are constructed in absolute secrecy, elite captains are selected and briefed, Fleet Command wastes no time in devising a mission for their new weapons. The target: an Imperial resupply station in the Tura system. Many enemy fleet ships at the station before joining the battle in Noto, supplies and munitions are also stock piled here. A well timed strike should take out multiple battle groups and damage the Thrones ability to project power deeper into Pact space.>Imperial Dice:>Base: 3>Enemy Stronghold: +2 die>Command Vessels: This side wins ties.>Pact Dice:>Base: 3>Won’t See Us Coming: +2 die>WU4-ST Ordinance: +2 to the highest roll>Tactical Jump: Re-roll up to 2 dice if you lose the contest.>Roll me 5 d10s.
Rolled 4, 2 = 6 (2d10)>>6330617Hmm, that's not good. That's a bunch of high rolls. We're probably gonna lose this one.
Rolled 1, 1, 5 = 7 (3d10)>>6330617
Rolled 4, 2 = 6 (2d10)>>6330632>2 1sit's overrerolling the bomus dice
Oof
Oh cool, total and abject failure. That's totally cool. Totally not what happens every single time.
Imperial Highest:9,7,7vsPact Highest:4(6),4,2Imperial Victory>Writing...>>6330637>Totally not what happens every single time.Well you're not wrong <.< So far you've had two losses and one victory.
>>6330641We had one victory which didn't actually do anything and then right back to another loss. It's just not even fun anymore. This is why I don't like rolling-heavy results in quests.
Much effort would be expended by Pact analysts to identify the disastrous failure that was the operation to strike the Tura Anchorage. Was it the mechanical failure of several of the WU4-ST torpedoes? Was it because one of the captains lost their nerve and made poor decisions under pressure? Was it the failure of Fleet Intelligence to acquire accurate information on the enemy picket deployment? Could it have been just plain old bad luck?Regardless of the reasons the fact remained that two of the three frigates sent in were lost. The captain of the third frigate was forced to make a tactical jump to escape incoming sentries. After assessing the situation he aborted the mission and returned to friendly territory.Despite the colossal failure of the mission there were still those among Pact leadership who had faith in the stealth doctrine. The surviving captain was charged with cowardice and faced court martial, but the military court quickly ruled that his decision to retreat was acceptable given the circumstances.Said captain was quietly taken aside and made head of a new covert strike group within the Pact fleet.>New feature: the Pact Fleet will periodically attempt covert strikes, these may result in extra battles or have other effects according to QM fiat.>Quest will continue later.
>>6330644no you see that's why other quests do best 1 of 3d20 vs a static DC. There, you have a 65.7% chance of rolling 15 or above and a >14% chance of at least 1 crit 20 guarenteed successunlike this quest's brutal opposed dice rolls where we don't know what bonuses we'll get until we lose enough battles to figure out the QM's hidden criteria to giving us and the enemy bonus dice and rolls.
>>6330680I just don't like rolling that much.
The more systems work off of dice rolls, the less the narrative value of choices inherently matter.Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with some dice rolling, but with the expectation that if things go too well or too bad, more narrative choices afterwards help to either keep narrative positivity or dampen it, increase narrative negativity or decrease it.Storytelling is like playing with a younger brother or sister. If you dominate them, or just let them shoot you, then they won't ever play. You've got to sometimes either let things go slack or lock in to keep them engaged and make it feel like their choices matter.Soooo...yeah right now i understand why morale is low.
>>6330680>QM's hidden criteriaI kinda just make shit up on the spot. Or rather I give you more dice based on various factors, and then modifiers or special abilities based on the technologies you've put into the ship.>>6330680>>6330686>Your system doesn't let us win enough.*sigh* I'm aware of the best of 3 standard and I dislike it because it basically guarantees everything will be alright in the long run. I wanted to run a quest where there would be a very real chance of long term failure.The opposed system was meant to always keep things up in the air even if one side had an overwhelming advantage in modifiers. It was meant to be tense and thrilling... however I can see that's not how it's played out.Not quite ready to throw it out just yet, but I will consider how to reward future choices with guaranteed positive outcomes and/or maybe present a non-dice based thing like the stealth ship puzzle in order to resolve pivotal decisions.
You had been summoned to the conference of Pact Leadership in the Kornen system. Frankly you’d have rather stayed at Higg to work on the next project but as the (acting) Director of Research and Development it was your privilege and burden to sit at the table while the Nobility quibbled over… uh, what were they here to discuss again?“Assembled Lords and Ladies, the situation is dire.”Oh right, your side was losing the war.Lady Banfield of Noto addressed the room.“The Imperial Fleet now has control over the outer orbits in the Noto system. Our fleet is slowly but surely being pushed back.”Lady Banfield was the proud ruler of the Noto system. She had a reputation for taking to battle in her personal knight frame. It was thanks to her exploits that the Pact Fleet had managed to hold their own against the Imperials for so long.“While I am certainly glad for the sport, my ships are now at risk of being encircled. Loss of control over the outer system jump points means that both Kornen and Higg are now at risk of enemy raids.”An image of a large Imperial capital ship launching a new type of strike craft was shown on the AR display.“The Raihans have started fielding a new command carrier; they stay out of range of everyone while allowing the enemy to deploy their own knight frames, not that that’s a problem,” scoffed Banfield. “I killed the second heir to Rama in single combat last week. The real problem are these new heavy TILE fighters they’re using to outflank our cruisers and hit their vulnerable rear generators. Our patrol frigates try to screen the rear line but the new fighters have enough firepower to take on frigates too.” Banfield took a moment to sweep a glare across the room, as if to silently demand more aid from her erstwhile allies.“There is another problem,” said Lord Yarin, ruler of your current home system: Higg. The image on the AR display was replaced with one of a massive super capital keel being constructed. “This picture comes from the Far Halo yards on Raiha; they are making something big. If it’s anything like the dreadnaughts of the old empire, it will certainly smash the fleet at Noto once complete.”>Cont
>>6330796“Well then we should make a huge warship of our own!” Bellowed Banfield. “Glamer-”“It’s Glasner milady.”“-shut up! Make us a dreadnought of our own!”“Well, I’m sure I can-”“Ahem,” coughed Lord Tseng, ruler of Kornen. “What we need now is not a single ultimate weapon, but something reliable and effective that can be easily massproduced.” “Oh please! We both know we can’t beat the Raihans through attrition, ultimate weapons are our only hope.”“Maybe not ultimate weapons,” mused Admiral Ruhi. “But we will need a game changer, and I think our Director of R&D can provide us with one.”“Like he did with the stealth frigate? Fat lot of game changing that-”“I am talking about the AI he has shackled.”Your blood runs cold as the heads of the assembled nobility turn towards you.“Did you think I wouldn’t find out Director? Don’t worry, I approve. Given our position we need to leverage any advantage we can get.”You say nothing, noting a few looks of disapproval being sent your way by the rest of the Pact Leadership. Admiral Ruhi had just positioned herself as your protector and thus was poised to extract a favour from you.“My sources tell me that this AI of yours is actually a strategic and tactical model. Using it for research isn’t really making use of its full potential now is it? I think it would be better if you handed it over to me.”>Hand over Holloway to Admiral Ruhi. (Better modifiers to fleet battle rolls)>Keep Holloway for yourself. (Better ability to modify and refine technologies)“Is there any good news?” grumbled Tseng.“The Boson Halo yard has been fully repaired and I’ve managed to find more personnel to replace previous casualties.” You offer hopefully.>Your development capabilities have been expanded, you can now take on a smaller side project. Some main projects will require an initial conceptualisation phase from a side project.“Great, more of your vaunted creations that will surely turn the tide.”>Choose a main project>Fleet Carrier>Command Vessel>Mass Production Frigate>Write In>Choose Side Project>Advanced Stealth Strikecraft>Heavy Strikecraft (Improved Hotdog)>Conceptualise a super capital.>Fleet wide upgrades. (Leverage shield, W13N-3R and tactical jump tech to upgrade existing designs.)>Acquire new technologies. (Move to a new decision)((Regarding size comparison: I don't really care to put a number on these, as far as I'm concerned the ships are as big as the story needs them to be.))
>>6330797>Keep Holloway for yourself. (Better ability to modify and refine technologies)I don't trust somebody else to not fuck this up.>Mass Production Frigate>Heavy Strikecraft (Improved Hotdog)
What's the point of tech if the navy keeps bungling it up in battle?
>>6330797>“Like he did with the stealth frigate? Fat lot of game changing that-”Not my problem. That's on Command for yeeting them at a heavily fortified base that had +2 dice even though our stealth ships only had +2 dice too, what were they thinking? Even with the 2 rerolls we still had a ~50% chance of losing. 5v6, 4v4 5v5+2 dice... I did some approximations but all 3 of the battles so far are battles we are at even odds or worse, just because we lose tied dice rolls. Unless your new wunderwaffen gives like +20 dice we NEED to stop losing tied rolls.>Command VesselJust to make each roll 50-50 instead of each dice making us lose 6 to 4.I'll decide on the other things... later
>>6330797>Hand over Holloway to Admiral Ruhi. (Better modifiers to fleet battle rolls)It'd be better to not be shot after the war is over.>Command Vessel (but also make it some kind of carrier)>Fleet wide upgrades. (SHIELDS)Put a shield on everything and more ships will not only survive battles, but SHOULD lessen the time spent repairing after battles freeing up space in docks to build more ships.
>>6330797>>Keep Holloway for yourself. (Better ability to modify and refine technologies)>Mass Production Frigate>Heavy Strikecraft (Improved Hotdog)
>>6330797>Keep Holloway for yourself. (Better ability to modify and refine technologies)A potentially hostile AI is one thing when it's a technology advisor, since we can check and test all of its output, but to let it provide strategic advice? It's too risky.>Fleet CarrierI was proposing this from the start>Fleet wide upgrades. (Leverage shield, W13N-3R and tactical jump tech to upgrade existing designs.)A direct counter to the enemy's new strikecraft
>Keep Holloway for yourself. (Better ability to modify and refine technologies)>Command Vessel (but also make it some kind of carrier)>Fleet wide upgrades. (SHIELDS)We need that command vessel, it's been a massive advantage for them from the start.
>>6330797>Hand over Holloway to Admiral Ruhi AFTER the next project.>Main project: Command Vessel>Fleet wide upgrades. (Leverage shield, W13N-3R and tactical jump tech to upgrade existing designs.)
>>6330968>it's been a massive advantage for them from the start.It hasn't. Our dogshit rolls are.
>>6330797>Hand over Holloway to Admiral Ruhi. (Better modifiers to fleet battle rolls)Holloway will eventually try to escape, and its better for it to be on Ruhi's hands than ours, it also gives us time to escape to another empire if we need to. Make sure the pilot is a package deal with that.>main project>arsenal shipIf we create a pseudo-carrier/ mass production and launch machine for hotdogs, we can overwhelm the enemy super capital ships.>Side Project>Heavy Strikecraft (Improved Hotdog)The enemy is going for a big ship, this is the purpose of the hotdog. They put all their eggs in one basket. "We might get some bonuses for tying our projects together and synergizing for maximum interoperability in order to shorten our kill chain and improve situational awareness for our decision matrix. In short, we have some efficiencies to garner.">Secondary suggestions:We send out a missive to our sauce loving extra dimensional aliens. We have the manpower to do this concurrently, and might get something from it, which is 100% more than the current nothing we have.
>>6330359basically just spam them as stealth nukes basically go in launch then just e drive out of there>>6330855yeah they keep doing this stupid wonder weapons shit where they dive into fights they really cant win they result in kill ratios of 1/1 when we are smaller in numbers its stupid as fuck
>>6330797>Hand over Holloway to Admiral Ruhi. (Better modifiers to fleet battle rolls)It doesn't matter how good our research is if the enemy keeps hammering us on the frontlines. We're outnumbered, outgunned, outsupplied, and on the backfoot. The AI won't change that but it will stretch our resources farther, and the more it wins, the more leeway we'll get with the admiralty. It's also dangerous, better it be Ruhi's problem than ours. I'm sure this will blow up on us but by the time it does, we'll have pushed the Empire back and bought some time.>Main ProjectWe need a counter for the enemy's new TILE-H Drone Fighters, and what better than waves of obsolete TILE Drone Fighters? The TILE-H is superior, but it is also pricier, and waves of chaff could reduce their impact while we come up with a solution.>Fleet Carrier>Side ProjectThis one is basic but will yield dividends in the long-run. Better shielding will reduce casualties and let us drag out the meatgrinder in Noto. I'd honestly prefer to improve the Hot Dog but as we're on the ropes and can't afford to gamble, I think this is a safer bet.>Fleet wide upgrades. (Leverage shield, W13N-3R and tactical jump tech to upgrade existing designs.)
>>6330797>Hand over Holloway to Admiral Ruhi. (Better modifiers to fleet battle rolls)Won't be our fault when he escapes, but he will likely do more damage in this position. >Fleet Carrier>Advanced Stealth Strikecraft
>>6331309>counter Drones with DronesWe have less material than the enemy and thus will lose if we try to match them one to one. We have to create imbalances to have even a chance of winning the conflict.
What's our current vote count anyway?
>>6330797>Hand over Holloway to Admiral Ruhi. (Better modifiers to fleet battle rolls)We are a GENIUS, we don't really need this thing!>Command Vessel>Conceptualise a super capital.
>>6331427I hear you but this isn't a permanent solution, just a stopgap to reduce casualties and address our lack of a modern carrier. I'd rather we develop an interceptor to counter the TILE-H but without a carrier, they'll be sucking in void.
>>6330797I'm >>6330859 and I am finishing my vote>Hand over Holloway to Admiral Ruhi. (Better modifiers to fleet battle rolls)lol the commander of that Glory-B squad was also named Halloway. What are the odds, and what could possibly go wrong?>Command Vessel with gunboat carrying capability / a hangarRaihans have a command carrier but and gunboats are carried externally so theres lots of space for maintainence and extra ammo and stuff inside the ship. If we come up with differet corvette designs the ship will be helpful too.>Heavy Strikecraft (Improved Hotdog)We can't win with numbers in a straight carrier strike craft fight. Maybe the hotdog had some extra ... sauce it can shoot down the bigger drones too. Ketchup or mustard, anyone? Hot dogs will hopefully be useful against the dreadnaught too.
What to do with Holloway:Keep Holloway>>6330850>>6330955>>6330967>>6330968Give Holloway>6330879>6330969>6331142>6331309>6331363>6331436>6331514Main Project:Mass Production Frigate:>>6330850>>6330955Command Vessel:>6331514>6330879>6330968>6330969>6331436>6331514Carrier:>6330967>6331142 (Gonna fold the arsenal vote into carrier and make it a possible special feature of the design.)>6331309>6331363Side Project:Improve Hotdog:>6330850>6331514>6330955>6331142Fleet Upgrades:>6330879>6330967>6330968>6330969>6331309Stealth Strike Craft:>6331363Super Capital Concept:>6331436Okay, this is a big one, it'll take me some time to think about how this will play out in my head. There's room for overlap between carrier and command ship so you'll see that reflected in the choices I'll be giving you.Please wait warmly and contemplate the merits of numerical vs technological superiority and how incompetent leadership squanders both... Or write Holloway slashfic IDK >>6331142Oooh modular aircraft components. You that anon who wanted to QM an autistic design quest of your own? If so I'd love to see it.
It's really quite a shame the stealth attack didn't work, but not for the reasons you're thinking of. You see, if the Raihan shipyards were blown up, they'd have no chance but to come back to the O.G Horner.Kinda sucks we didn't go back to him, really, I liked the thing the yard had going with the princess joining in and stuff
>>6331522that picture is from 2021, maybe earlier. The most recent quests I've run here are the "space merc" series. If you have a desire for something QMKun, let me know, maybe it will actually inspire my lazy ass.
>>6331539Maybe a military industrial quest in a near future world?Got some stuff to deal with IRL so updates might be delayed even further. For now have some more lore.On the Role of StrikecraftStrikecraft is a broad term encompassing all small combat vessels below frigate class size. Not every spaceborne military uses them and when they are deployed, they usually occupy a role analogous to atmospheric flying craft. However this is where the similarities end. Generally strikecraft are meant to be fast, agile and expendable; the life support systems and inertial dampeners required to support a pilot would reduce performance, all to put something with slower reaction times and decision making skills in control.As such most strikecraft are unmanned drones loaded with pre-programmed routines and tasked by squadron leaders stationed onboard carriers. A squadron leader is less of a pilot in the traditional sense and more of a combat technician and strategist. They give the big picture orders, defend against hacking attempts and come up with more efficient combat routines to program the drones with.There do exist rare instances of manned strikecraft. In such cases the craft is usually equipped with the most advanced technology the civilisation has to offer and the pilot is often augmented to better withstand g-forces and react as fast as their drone counterparts, if not faster. These elite or "heroic" strikecraft are incredible force multipliers. On paper they usually carry the firepower of a single advanced frigate but there are stories of ace pilots defeating entire battlegroups single handedly.Raihan Knight FramesKnight Frames are a type of elite strikecraft fielded by the Raihan Empire and NKH Defence Pact. They stand at around 10 meters tall, and are usually humanoid in appearance. Piloted by specially trained “knights” of the martial class or even members of the nobility themselves, each one is a bespoke machine, customized to the tastes of its user.The technology to create Knight Frames was lost when the Old Empire collapsed. All existing frames are carefully preserved relics from the armouries of the various houses. Being a splinter of the Old Empire, the Pact has its share of Knight Frames though not as many as the current Imperial Regime.
>>6332263||if you want/ or its cool, I could run a micro quest inside this one for building low end shitty strike craft instead of a whole extra thread for the same audience.||starting concept: repurposed atmospheric and low end space equipment with manned pilots for a desperate bid to buy time until something better is made. The crew are a mix of volunteers and voluntolds who are at best, expendable, but more apt; disposable. (drugs give a bonus, but add 1 to a danger roll)How can they even stand a chance?: ||they don't|| reflex enhancing combat drugs are one option. A co-processing AI suite is another. Either way it eats into their lifespan, quickly.(1) cockpits determine crewsize, or at least crew space, and in turn certain limitations on nose based equipment. (more crew better rolls, but less crew is cheaper. One allows two nose slots, and another one is just more armored.(2) Nose equipment allows for things like radar/ sensors, a crude plasma screen that maybe even works, large rotary cannon, and "the swordfish" e-beam.(3) The body is just the reactor, and would determine durability, available power, combat range. Maybe radiation exposure. (too many pilot negatives invokes a danger roll to determine if the crew dies from the hazards of the ship itself. There is plenty of room for risk and over reach.) Some combinations of equipment will demand more power.(4) Engines. Gotta have em. some have more ~~danger~~ character than others. basic, tactical short jump (danger), overboosted (danger), unshielded reactor (danger).(3A) Pylon mounts aren't strictly needed, but allow for carrying more weapons, extra engines, or an EWAR/AWACS suite.(3B) are some low end weapons that wouldn't really compete with a tile fighter as a peer, but eventually enough diddly becomes a whole lot of diddly. If you have that weapons rack, here is where they shine. Knife fight missiles, long range "torpedoes", e-beam and auto cannon.
>>6332558>:3the design language reminds me of endless space 2 cravers compact cheap but decently durable
>>6332558Normally I'd advise you to make your own thread, but IRL keeps happening and I think I'm going to have to take a short hiatus to deal with it.So fuck it: you have my permission to run your micro quest for a little bit if you want.Here's the set up: While Glasner and company are fucking around building the next big thing, the people of Noto are getting desperate and an ad hoc manned strikecraft force is being put together, you can run with that hook and QM a little arc if you want and I'll fold it into the main story when I get back. Although I reserve the right to retcon it if it gets too outlandish; a plucky bunch of non-elite pilots are not going to be enough to win the war on their own.
>>6332815Gratitude. Your will be done.---Noto System:The war. To say it wasn't going well would imply that it was supposed to happen at all. It wasn't going well, and the admirals were throwing shit at the wall to see what would stick. There wasn't a plan beyond survive long enough to hit back.You. Disgraced, commended, promoted, and exiled all in one fucking action while operating experimental equipment on a half balked mission. Instead of an execution you were promoted and on your way to take command of a new project. In a prisoner transfer corvette. The ride was austere, with no human interaction. Rows of benches became your bed, eventually a shatter resistant screen flickered to life.Orders. Not even in person, not even in real time. It was prerecorded. You were promoted, effective immediately to commander of an auxiliary force, station, and special project.The station. It came into view, gradually growing as the corvette made way to dock. It was an a piece of shit to put it lightly. Something that was once an orbital gas miner, and later a salvage station, then probably a smuggling operation that got seized by the military and left to rot for who knows how long. The technical readout optimistically states it has been restored and refitted for military use.The crew. Once your craft was locked into place you disembarked into an industrial hanger that was filled with waiting faces. Not top tier. Enlisted aerospace maintainers, burn outs of yesteryear, some of them were rough looking, maybe civilian. Your manifest indicated nearly all the crew had criminal background, military disgrace, political failure, or terminal illness...or some combination of it all.Resources. Heaped in piles, crates, already being ransacked. It was all salvage, throw aways, and technological dead ends. Irradiated and abandoned, pulled from orbital or Lagrange storage caches. Shit that had been optimistically harvested for recycling decades ago, forgotten about. Left to rot. Other equipment was pulled from boneyards; Near antique military surplus, some of it was even specced for in atmo. Aerospace fighters and first gen hybrids. The most modern of it were items of providence unknown, project offcuts, and research castoff, and engineering samples.You...were the faceless nobody, the magic man, the Alchemist of project ex nihilo who would make something from nothing.
>>6332855It took a day to get the lay of the station, your personal quarters, and even get a shower. Spare time was spent learning what was available, and dealing with ad-hoc briefings from the more helpful crew. There were considerations...Core Considerations: The mission won't happen without these. roll 1d20 for each selection, so 4d20 in total. Dice are picked by consensus, greed, and disaster. a 1 or 20 will automatically be selected, while group consensus can also steer a choice. Feel free to collaborate and debate. I will allow unique players to roll once, and will accept all rolls until I get back and give a result. dice results are sequential to choices.>Pilots: (pick 1)Command gave you the job of building death traps to send dead men up against impossible odds. Normally this sort of duty would be handled by drones. An unaugmented human wasn't going to be able to react fast enough to keep up.-Drone co-processors, or man and machine pairing was used for years before human augmentation. These units are heavy and power hungry. Selecting this will require a sensor nose cone and a type 3 or 4 core, omitting other options.-One man, unadulterated, may not survive, but if overhead is kept low, its could be possible to field strike craft in numbers enough to overwhelm the enemy and get past defensive screens. With Ampheticaine they can keep up and at times exceed any drone. It will also eventually kill them. Eyes open wide and screaming.-Run tandem crew to handle the operational load. Its a lot of eggs in one basket. Limits you to multi crew cockpits, type 1 or 3.>Resources: (pick 1)The current resource stockpiles were good, but would need to be replenished or this operation would bleed dry through attrition. You have one tramp frigate docked that is able to make runs into the Noto system and bring back material.-Salvage operations for matériel. Might get something useful, or it might be bulk scrap metal- irradiated.-recruit for personnel, great if you are planning for losses.Secondary Considerations: A man can't be everywhere.>Station: (pick 1 or none.)-General repair and upkeep. The place is a hell hole, and morale is already low.-There was an archaic reactor buried deep in the super structure, the extra power would be beneficial for fleet support.-Automation equipment and assembly lines. Getting this working will increase strike craft production. (locked)-Long range sensors. They are old, but gold, and also dead for a lack of power at the moment. (locked)>Crew: (pick 1 or 2 if the station was neglected.)-Quality of life. Medical, hot food, entertainment and better personal quarters; sure beats cots in the hallways. (locked until repair and upkeep is researched) -Exiled knights, a few of your crew members insist they are nobility, and demand your attention.-Handcraft and mentorship, encourage your maintainers, engineers, and researchers to collaborate.
Rolled 1, 12, 16, 9 = 38 (4d20)>>6332900>Drone co-processors>Salvage operations for matériel.>General repair and upkeep. The place is a hell hole, and morale is already low>Exiled knights, a few of your crew members insist they are nobility, and demand your attention
>>6332900The Ship:You need to hammer out a design for something that at least resembles bulk series production. A lot of subsystems had been cobbled together, and there were even component and system level demonstrators but nothing yet resembled a strike craft, and right now strike crafts were the only thing available. The enemy has tiles, and well, we don't. With the resources available, the choices were pretty obvious; attempt parity, go for a swarm, or try to be innovative.---At minimum a fighter needs a cockpit, core, and engine. (1,2 and 4). That alone is enough to be the chariot of a martyr. Adding a nose selection (2), makes it a defensive short range fighter, fit for a desperate man. Adding pylons, nacelles, and other sensors makes it a true strike fighter, allowing for a meaningful payload.Each piece of equipment has unique traits, even if that trait is simply being mundane. Sometimes there are additional requirements. Here is a brief overview of your starting options.When I get back, I'll provide the information for each component so you can start making ships.
>>6332900>Pilots:[Locked]>Resources:-Salvage operations for matériel.>Station:-General repair and upkeep.>Crew:-Handcraft and mentorshipI'm a little confused about the rolling mechanics. Do I have to roll for my vote to be valid? (e.g. Player A rolls a 19 for an option, but Player B rolls a 1 for the same option, which means the end result for the option is 1)
>>6332919Rolling mechanics are a free for all, but you must roll for valid vote and result. As you said, a crit, 1 or 20, will dominate all other votes, regardless of how it aligns. Though a 1 and 20 will cancel each other out, leaving the remaning highest roll to be the "most correct answer".---Nose section:1. Sensor suite- A combination of radar, electro optical, and laser equipment, the suite will allow a strike craft to engage enemies at greater ranges.2. Prototype Plasma screen- It works in bursts, flickering on and off. Adjustable gain, coalesceion, and too many other knobs for greater reliability, creating a higher workload for the pilot.3. Vandalizer rotary cannon - A low power weapon that spews out a vulgar amount of armor piercing rounds.4. Swordfish particle beam- This weapon will consume any available power in the ship's system, and then some increasing destructive capability accordingly.Cockpit:1. Tandem cockpit- Lightweight, lowdrag, high speed. A team based cockpit, allowing for redundancy and laser focused tasks.2. Solo- The coffin of heroes.3. Trio- An armored bench seat for three good friends, allows for excellent workload management, and allows for TWO nose selections.4. Armored solo- Durable enough to maybe sort of survive a collision, fully ejectable, and your most survivable option with a kitchenette, bunk, and simple toilet.Reactor core:1. Standard aero- a military surplus core capable of space or atmospheric operation. old but gold. Moderate output. Don't stress the generator output and it'll treat you right.2. Stripper- restored battlefield salvage. Missing a few parts, and radiation shielding. Light, with the highest output for the hungriest systems. Radiation exposure is likely.3. Heavy- More than capable of taking a hit or two, the heavy reactor core will power a hungry weapon systems.4. Jump- Some asshole named Glasner invented these things. Well, his team did. They aren't that useful, but can preform a tactical jump within visual range.Accesories:1. AWACS/ EWAR suite- power hungry, but any core can handle it.2. Engine nacelles - Mount two extra engines.3. Weapon pylons - Allows for extra payload. See 3B.Weapons: (without a pylon carry as pictured, with a pylon carry twice as pictured.)1. Knife fight missiles- Reasonably reliably self defense weapons, wont do much against something larger than a tile. Sensor independent. No power requirement.2. Torpedoes- Can do some damage to larger ships and structures, but they are older models with limited maneuverability. Benefits from sensors of any kind. No power requirement.3. Xiphias - Its a smaller swordfish, with a set power consumption. that power consumption however, is high, but it also needs no ammo.4. Autocannon- the diminutive version of a vandalizer. Very low power requirements.---A ship can be cheap, fast, tough, or dangerous. But it probably wont be all 4.
>>6332903It was a long shot, and you expected some failure from the drone co-processors. Not like this though. The manufacturers of the product were long out of business, and any technical documentation on these units was scrubbed. Your engineers attempted to start up one unit, and triggered an anti-tamper feature to the entire inventory, apparently each unit had a small radioisotope battery powering a passive wifi receiver and pseudo BIOS system. The inventory is bricked as far as that feature goes. No one on the team has real programming knowledge, let alone the skill set to code for something the better side of a century out of date. you watch the hanger from a dozen security feeds as technicians work over the units, struggling. The only upside is the sensors were able to be salvaged as a manually controlled nosecone unit.>Drone co-processors are permanently lost.A simple text readout on your personal device indicated the tramp-frigate did a quick turnaround by recovering a load of expired munitions, plating, frozen crew corpses, a few battle computers, and copper wire from a wrecked Pike Torpedo Frigate. A fleet vessel would be by to recover the computers. So much for the honorable dead.---To the station crew, you were an honorary "one of them" after your decision to improve the quality of life. Hard vacuum leaks were sealed, and bunks were moved from hallways into now unused rooms. Volunteer groups were brought aboard to fill in the gaps. The services provided were surprisingly good quality, not perfect, but good. Food poisoning incidents were low, and medical services now existed. Entertainment...was perhaps dubious, gambling, drinking, and comfort, but it kept the crew in good spirits. Of small consequence was a burgeoning grey market aboard the station, and periodic civilian traffic. You'll eventually need to assign some security to the station in order to keep an eye on that. As you threw back another drink, it went to the top of your to do list for tomorrow. or next week.>Morale improved, gained the grey market.>Gained station security research.Your meeting with the knights provided something less than useful. They had assembled partial wreckage from a knight frame. Barley a quarter of the upper torso and a badly damaged arm. What was there was mismatched, hinting at a mongrelized machine without proper providence or noble support. You ignored most of the prattle as they beseeched you for additional resources and men to aid in their quest to recover parts and skills to complete the machine, eventually showing a demo of an arm blade manually extended. It was impressive, but on it's own useless. They knew it, and so did you.Given the choice between technicians, pilots, or getting off the station, The Knights chose to pilot...but not before leaving you with a crude schematic for what appeared to be an articulated arm and chunk of metal. It was a sword, for as ship. Of course it was.>gained dubious robotics research.
>>6333129(how you allocate resources to build ships is up to you, either going for disposable units or higher value machines. After that its about the missions you pick and how tactics play out.)The Engineering and maintenance crew had been busy, you had enough basic sub assemblies for a dozen single engine strike fighters, or maybe half as many heavier interceptors.How you were going to test out the new machines was up to to you after command gave some guidance. The mission profiles might give some guidance on optimization --->Asset: Knight flightYou chose to meet with the knights, and treated them with a modicum of respect. Though they are not strike pilots, their limited connections allowed them to cobble together a modest flight of strike interceptors from the resources on your station. You may use them as you see fit, either augmenting your ships, or being sent on a separate mission.--->Players: AttentionPlease construct some ships from spess trash.>>6332558 >>6333058Don't get overwhelmed with figuring out the mechanics. I use a d20 system, with modifiers based on choices made, and assets had. Your opposing rolls will also roll D20s with the same conditions. Keep in mind your ships are made from what is essentially trash, so each engagement is a learning experience.---(Pick 1 or 2)1. Counter scouting - Modified tile fighters have been spotted in our territory. Put out their eyes. We don't need them knowing what is being done here.2. Convoy Raiding. - The enemy has begun stockpiling significant resources as part of a plan for further occupation of Pact territory. If this gets a chance to fester, we will be dealing with a much more significant problem.3. Faded glory. A heavily damaged Glory was being retrofitted into a pseudo type-B configuration, but has yet to undergo testing or the requisite analysis to determine viability. The project was a secret and being carried out in zero-g by mobile work crews and periodic resupplies. The ship is being hunted by an unknown assailant, and is still using the legacy drive system. In short, it can't outrun this, and it has no E-Drive to get away.
>>6332815The QM curse strikes again. I hope you can come back soon~>>6333160The 4 knight planes seem to have:>(1) tandem cockpit>(2) sensor suite nose>(3) Standard aero core>(3A) all 3 accessories (AWACS/ EWAR, extra engines, weapons pylons)>(3B) Knife fight missiles and Torpedoes>(4) ??? engineIt looks like the #1 engine from the image >>6332558 but engine types aren't explained in >>6333058. Were we supposed to be allowed to pick what engine to use in our design too?
>>6333160Let's go convoy raiding>Solo cockpit>Sensor nose>Standard core>Stripped engine>Weapon pylons>Torpedoes
>>6333160All in cancer coffin!>Tandem Cockpit>Shield Nose>Stripper Core>Pylons>Xiphias>convoy raid!
>>6333234>>6333058Dear players, I really eff'd up there. Here are the engines, feel free to adjust your selections accordingly.---Engines1. Vector- An all arounder, jack of all trades. Can operate in atmosphere for what it's worth. comes from a long lineage of military surplus with no real drawbacks. Not too power hungry. Can take a few hits.2. Stealth prototype- not the most powerful, but very much the most energy hungry. When it's stealth "field" is activated it absorbs all local emissions, giving no returns. Reasonably durable.3. Heavy- Raw speed in a straight line, it was a thruster of a larger ship class now salvaged for fighter use. It will endure some punishment but also is prone to catastrophic explosions when ruptured. Due to it's chemical nature, it uses a surprisingly low amount of power.4. Open Cycle- Its an unshielded nuclear reactor moonlighting as a rocket engine. The only engine that actually gives you more power--->>6333249>>6333312Convy raid it is. Without the knights given directions it seems you have allies. Your machines will be constructed when I get back in a few hours.
>>6333430Swapping >>6333249 to Stripped core and Stealth engine for maximum ambush potential
>>6333312Adding open cycle engine to design.
>>6333058>>6333430>(1): 4. Armored soloDurable and good for long flights since we don't have a carrier.>(2): 1. Sensor suiteMaximum engagement range.>(3): 1. Standard aeroSurplus means the craft is cheaper to build and easier to maintain>(3A): 1. AWACS/ EWAR suiteBetter threat detection and jams missiles, maybe even drones.>(3B): 2. TorpedoesBenefits from the sensors and the AWACS/EWAR suite>(4): 1. VectorSurplus, yada yada.
>>6333503>>6333463>>6333445(please roll 1d20 for each of you.)Your crew managed to assemble something resembling a proper squadron. Floating just outside the station was a pencil thin laser brawler, a compact torpedo interceptor following good industrial principals with enough EW capability to support themselves and their squadron. Hmm. One of the development groups built a stealth striker...not bad. In theory you have first strike and support, followed up with a second gut punch that the empire forces shouldn't see coming....this might not be a total shit show.--Bonuses will apply during combat rolls.--Rolling for the initial encounter difficulty and the empire force's reaction, and the initial performance of the knights.---
Rolled 2, 9, 1 = 12 (3d20)>>6333520
Rolled 4 (1d20)>>6333520
Rolled 17 (1d20)>>6333520Rolling for >>6333503
Rolled 13, 20 = 33 (2d20)>>6333463If I end up waiting for a player roll, in the interest of keeping the game moving I'll roll 2 dice per missing decision and err for the better roll.If 0oX/2UVb gets back before I do (probably an hour or two), that roll will be accepted. Unless I do something dumb like give a free nat 20 out, or a score high enough to be satisfactory and not risk a worse roll.
>>6333521A convoy, laden with war materiel made through the periphery of the Noto system. Mostly unmanned, the ships and their contents were important in the long term, but not worth engaging in protracted conflict. Instead they would glide through relatively untraveled areas of the system, a small part of a much larger contingency. The few human crew collaborated with one another to determine the convoy would edge close enough to a seemingly derelict station to catch a gravity assist from a nearby gas giant...."getting light electromagnetic chatter. Its populated.""no. Adjust passive reception. Civilians. Scrappers?""...at worst smugglers. We press?""yeah. Press. Between armor and self defense turrets its a negligible threat."The ships would be with visual distance of the station in 48 hours or less.2,9 vs (1), 4, 17, 20(Positive modifiers: your ships actually make sense, and your ships make sense as a cohesive unit. You are being provided AWACs coverage and defensive screening.)(Negative modifiers: Some of your ships are running without ampheticaine and only one crew member. You are running unaugmented humans. Your crews are being exposed to radiation and experiencing a mild fizzing sensation to slight vertigo. Knight flight fucked up and alerted the convoy.)You cracked your knuckles and watched the tactical display. The enemy convoy was in an overly confident and relaxed state, choosing to not optimize their possible defensive posture and thus created a very permissive environment for your strike squadron. Your strike craft sortied out of the various hangers of the station, gradually fading from sight, into sparkling dust amongst the backdrop of space. The only trace of them was a residual flash of radiation.The knight wing strike interceptors started to experience immediate problems due to an over stressed power grid. "AWACS isnit available, Knight 2? Respond. I showed you my tech data." a moment later the rest of the wing was chattering, failing to maintain radio silence. "No good. No power. Dead in flight." "This is why we got treated like fuckups!" One of the ships was spinning lazily with the rest of the formation, like a drunk shuriken as it's engines fired asymmetrically. "Weapons?" "Nothing."While not a credible threat, the ships had alerted the convoy as they drifted helplessly towards the Empire ships. "Hey. Guys. anyone, some help yeah?" The conversation was cut short as close in weapon systems shredded 3 of the 4 ships, slaughtering the crew and causing secondary detonations.
>>6333675phase 1: sneak 4 (sensor nose allows for data sharing and weapon slaving)(ykh1Q8dG)The stealth interceptors struggled under a one crew member workload trying to modulate the exotic and temperamental systems while sweating from mild radiation exposure, and soon the ruse was dropped with the rest of the squadron being tagged on the enemy sensors. They hadn't quite closed the gap for launching torpedoes, but It was better than nothing.Phase 2: sprint an tank(0oX/2UVb) 20With the squadron being comprised of single engine strike craft, the low mass energy craft had no issue keep ahead of the pack, the tandem crew working perfectly to fully negate incoming fire from the convoy's defensive weapons. Precision energy blasts cut away unarmored sensors and close in weapon systems from the convoy, leaving them blind and helpless.(JwJ+JkH+) 17Despite the wings light armament of a single torpedo per craft, the combined AWACs and sensor coverage allowed for the crew to slave the other ships into a firing solution of their own 6 and another 12 torpedoes. Its true, they weren't real torpedoes, but they were still enough guided explosives to cripple the convoy, and outright destroy a few of the ships.It was a textbook example of interdiction.---You spend the next 12 hours involved directing the tramp frigate, monitoring the hauling of wrecked convoy ships back to the station. Security feeds in your office give you glimpses of pilots celebrating, vomiting, and enjoying the finest of anti-radiation IV treatments. Your maintainers and engineers busy themselves working over the strike "fighters" as they are starting to be coequally known as, and unpacking some of the convoy ships that are docked around the station. A little notification in gold grabs your attention on your strategic display. "PACT Admiralty. PRIORITY." and at the same time you've been ignoring the incessant flashing of numerous communiques from civilian third parties. You skim the messages, the crux is all the same. The Admiralty wants the convoy for admiral reasons, the Civilians want it because of hardship and basic human needs. You want it because there is enough material to jump start this station (TWO major upgrades)After battle report:-No player losses.-Recovered 1 heavy Knight interceptor. Crew incapacitated.-Recovered 7 Empire convoy ships.-Recovered 1 enemy officer, 5 enemy corpses.>Player Choices: high roll gets the say.1. Give Convoy to the Admirals (grants fleet assets. Namely a security detail (station security) and a gutted Glory carcass with functional engine and navigation. With a little work it could be a functional transport for longer range missions)2. Give Convoy to Civilians (improves your grey market and civilian connections)3. Keep the Convoy for yourself (rubs everyone the wrong way but gets your reactor and station sensors online.)
>>6333701There was a small detail, but the remaining knights wanted their scrap and surviving crew back. They were leaving. At least they planned to. The battle cost them more than lives, it cost them dignity.>Player choices: group consensus, no roll needed.1. Let them leave in peace. (You will gain access to the surviving knight interceptor for study.)2. Convince them to stay and fight. (they will continue to try and restore the knight frame, a potential long term pay off.)3. There was a tragic decompression accident in their living quarters before your scheduled separation debrief. (you are in possession of highly desirable knight frame salvage.)
>>6333701>Keep the Convoy for yourself (rubs everyone the wrong way but gets your reactor and station sensors online.)> Convince them to stay and fight. (they will continue to try and restore the knight frame, a potential long term pay off.)
Rolled 6 (1d20)>>6333701>Give Convoy to the Admirals>Convince them to stay and fight.
Rolled 2 (1d10)>>6333701>1. Give Convoy to the Admirals>2. Convince them to stay and fight.
>>6333774>>6333836>>6333897You weighed your options, made your considerations. A short walk to the Knight's room revealed a somber gathering dominated by expensive holographic displays memorializing fallen friends. More dead than living. Bags were already packed and the one exiled nobles prepared for a second retreat elsewhere, their dignity in tatters."A civilian transport is ready to get you off station, but you should probably stay." You received a lot of dissent, and obvious but emotional statements. With some patience you heard them talk about lost friends, lost honor. It didn't matter at a strategic level, and after a few minutes you cut them off. "The war will eventually come to you no matter where you run. So stay. Stay and fight. I'll allocate resources for the knight frame's restoration. Sound good?" That was the hook. You had them now. Desperation and hope, good motivators. You knew how to lead men, and it meant into death, but that was the job now, wasn't it? You were all expendable at some point, just as long as it was cost effective.The communication between you and the admirals was the same as it ever was. Encrypted text, brief to the point of austerity. The prisoner and convoy materials had been recovered, for study, or fuck, maybe to use. Didn't matter, it was out of your hands now. As a gesture of good will, your station was now garrisoned by a security detail that reported to you. New surveillance was installed, patrols established, and a small remote offices were placed into supply closets. Your station grew a little, the proper garrison HQ and brig were attached like barnacles to the outside, hellaciously obsolete corvette hulks that had been chemically fused to the station's hull with entryways and enviroseals crudely cut in. It fit.From an armored viewport you observed tugs hauling a Glory to your staiton, it was too big to fit into any dock, so any work was going to be in space. It really was a piece of shit. The ship was a burned out hulk, gaping holes exposing deck layers. The technical readout listed what it had, which was essentially nothing. No weapons, no sensors, no comms, no life support. What it did have was engines (salvaged from another wreck), a reactor, a drive (several additional warning notes), and maneuver capability (Compromised). Well. There it was, your "Carrier".You sipped on an "express", it was a murky brown substance, bitter, spiked with chemical stimulants. Kept men working for days. Working fast. You'd need it.---The remaining knights used the recovered wreckage of their squad mates to upgrade their ship. With a balanced twin core design it wouldn't hurt for power, and had range, but was less than nimble; per your engineers technical assessment.---Gained "Carrier"- Upgradable, and allows for longer range missions.Gained "Security Garrison" - Avoided potential infiltration by empire forces.Gained "Errant" interceptor. - May support a mission, or continue the quest for frame parts.
>>6334250Leadership needed more data about this project's viability, and that meant another sortie, back to back.Your assets were limited, the "Glory-Mod" carrier refit was a way to turn a part's hulk into something more than a gunnery target. Void exposed decks would house compact fighters, with the ability to jump in, and jump out, then pick up what was left of it's compliment if there was anything left. Hopefully the brain trust was going to come up with a miracle, otherwise it looked like this was going to be a drawn out loss. You'd keep that thought to yourself. Time to rally the disposable heroes...Speaking of, the knights could be sent to assist on a mission, or be permitted to search for frame parts.There was still time to either handle poking out the empire's eyes, or rescuing a glory. The mission was undebatably going to be harder due to the enemy having time to reinforce, and your squadron's activity becoming a now known factor.---Primary:1. Counter scouting - Modified tile fighters have been spotted in our territory. Put out their eyes. We don't need them knowing what is being done here.- Option: you may deploy the Errant on a solo mission and commit your forces to mission "Faded glory". Intel indicates there are 5 tile sensor ships forming a scan picket, you will need 5 successful rolls to destroy them all. You risk loosing the Errant.2. Faded glory. A heavily damaged Glory was being retrofitted into a pseudo type-B configuration, but has yet to undergo testing or the requisite analysis to determine viability. The project was a secret and being carried out in zero-g by mobile work crews and periodic resupplies. The ship is being hunted by an unknown assailant, and is still using the legacy drive system. In short, it can't outrun this, and it has no E-Drive to get away.-Option: You may deploy the Errant in support of this mission, where it will reduce all enemy rolls by -1.Optionally:You may leave the Knights to their own devices, and roll a 1d20 to see what frame salvage they find.The Errant as a "hero" prototype has electronic warfare and sensing capabilities, a long range energy weapon (that will cripple it for a turn), 2 torpedos and three vollies of dogfighting missiles. You would pit your ability to ambush, outrange, and outgun the scattered fighters, and try not to get obliterated by a nearby empire response force.
>>6334273Players. make your choices. feel free to roll a 1d20 for each selection (2d20 in all) and I'll see you in 9 hours (or less)
Rolled 2, 12 = 14 (2d20)>>63342732. Faded glory. A heavily damaged Glory was being retrofitted into a pseudo type-B configuration, but has yet to undergo testing or the requisite analysis to determine viability. The project was a secret and being carried out in zero-g by mobile work crews and periodic resupplies. The ship is being hunted by an unknown assailant, and is still using the legacy drive system. In short, it can't outrun this, and it has no E-Drive to get away.-Option: You may deploy the Errant in support of this mission, where it will reduce all enemy rolls by -1.The scouts getting away suck, but we need the Glory back online. We can't lose the ship or the crews.
Rolled 16, 9 = 25 (2d20)>>6334273>2. Faded gloryLet the knights continue their quest.
Rolled 3, 10 = 13 (2d20)>>6334273>Main forces: Faded Glory>Knight Errant: R&R
Rolled 10, 3 = 13 (2d20)>>6334291>>6334315>>6334318You watched the "Glory-Mod" get loaded with the strike craft. They were just lashed in place with mag clamps and tie down straps, sitting inside the "carrier." Some where strapped to the outside. Time was a currency you couldn't afford to waste, so hulk was going to have to make a short range jump. The crew didn't even have environmental controls and were all working from hardsuits because loose debris was still shedding off the ship' superstructure. The carcass of the Glory moved a distance from the station then executed a jump with it's e-drive and was gone. Into nothing. From nothing.you sighed. It was stupid, but this was it. A real combat test. There were going to be losses and you were still considering how to minimize the loss of your own men. Leadership reminded you near daily these were all depreciated assets, allocated to buy time. Even if it worked out, you were just creating a template for a grander deployment for weapons of desperation. You had considered ordering ampheticaine use, but left it for now. The crews were issued enough as a mission carry item if the situation seemed dire. Still.This was still a small scale test, a drop compared to what you had to work with.You considered the knights. One craft. It does have that beam cannon which could do some damage to a larger ship, but having the errant along for this mission wouldn't have mattered too much, and if it was a total loss at least you had that iron in the fire. You watched their heavy interceptor fade into the black earlier today, tracking down something about "ersatz frames". You would have wished them luck, but at this point you hoped they simply returned.The enemy scouts had completed their mission, your station was now a known factor, and so were the strike craft. You doubted the enemy could muster an adaptive response to the threat quick enough to impact this mission, but there was always the chance.You review the tactical reports from fleet intel...In the area is a subjugator-mod assault cruiser armed with tile drone fighters, 2 Raihan patrol frigates, and a pike torpedo frigate. Its very unlikely that the forces would be concentrated into one group. Your fighters are basically as durable as wet paper, but they have an edge in tactical mobility over just about anything, but at best they will only be able to drive off harder targets with their current weaponry.---rolling for: Enemy force composition, low is favorable to you, high is tailored to destroy your shit.rolling for: enemy density, low is again, favorable, high is probably not so favorable. (+1 for enemy scouts successful mission)
Rolled 19 (1d20)>>6334561Players, please roll for:The adventures of the Knight Errant (+1 for a motivating interaction)Your station population's behavior. (+1 for security detail, +2 for quality of life, -1 for a mixed civilian/ military population)The Glory-Mod's translation, safe deployment of the strike fighters, and escape. (-1 for being a clapped out piece of shit.)Fighter team cohesion: Stealth approach, AWACS, EW, defensive screening and playing nice as a team. (+1 for excellent features)Fighter performance on initial assault (+1 for being confident from a milk run.)Optional: You may roll an additional 1d20 for ampheticaine use. This will do nothing by itself, but allow you to have a +1 to all rolls for this mission. State that you have included this in your post. If one player dose it, its automatic for all players.(5 or 6 D20s total)---Glory Sensor data: None.Station sensor data: None.---The Glory Mod-B was running as hard as it could, which was to say, not fast enough. The Captain of the ship had resorted to alternating flanks exposed to the enemy as the ship was slowly chewed apart. A Raihan and swarm of mixed tile fighters were slowly pecking the ship's armored hull and systems apart...Where there were tiles, it was likely there was a mothership.(rolling for the presence of the subjugator. low good. high bad.)
Rolled 3 (1d20)This is gonna be one of those days
Rolled 7 (1d20)>>6334568I have no idea which of these dice I'm rolling for so please remember to add the dice modifier, nonCognis
Rolled 1, 3 + 4 = 8 (2d20 + 4)>>6334568We might need to dope up.
>>6334642>>6334653>>6334582Roll dice+6d20, as we have confirmed ampheticaine use from the player base. The dice will go like this:1. The adventures of the Knight Errant (+1 for a motivating interaction)2. Your station population's behavior. (+1 for security detail, +2 for quality of life, -1 for a mixed civilian/ military population)3. The Glory-Mod's translation, safe deployment of the strike fighters, and escape. (-1 for being a clapped out piece of shit.)4. Fighter team cohesion: Stealth approach, AWACS, EW, defensive screening and playing nice as a team. (+1 for excellent features)5. Fighter performance on initial assault (+1 for being confident from a milk run.)(the optional)6. Ampheticaine vote (and consequences...)
>>6334726I'll handle modifiers after the fact. If you see me mess up on the math, chime in and slap my dick, i don't want to seem like an unfair QM.
Rolled 1, 16, 11, 9, 4, 8 = 49 (6d20)>>6334726Really not our day.
>>6334780>1No wonder those knights were exiled here.
Rolled 7, 17, 1, 2, 13, 10 = 50 (6d20)>>6334726SPIN THE WHEEL
Rolled 3, 16, 18, 20, 2, 1 = 60 (6d20)>>6334726do we need more dice?
>>6334780>>6334987>>6335028Full rolls, excellent. These will be used.---composite result: straight fucked, fucking oath mate.1(+1),17(+2),1,20,13,1vs subjugator-mod + tile escort, and Raihan.strike squadron, supported by crippled glory-mod B, and glory-mod carcass.1. The adventures of the Knight Errant (+1 for a motivating interaction)2. Your station population's behavior. (+1 for security detail, +2 for quality of life, -1 for a mixed civilian/ military population)3. The Glory-Mod's translation, safe deployment of the strike fighters, and escape. (-1 for being a clapped out piece of shit.)4. Fighter team cohesion: Stealth approach, AWACS, EW, defensive screening and playing nice as a team. (+1 for excellent features)5. Fighter performance on initial assault (+1 for being confident from a milk run.)(the optional)6. Ampheticaine vote (and consequences...)---1(+1),17(+2),1,20,13,1 (ampheticaine bonus is in effect.)The strike fighter's battle began with raw chaos and ultra violence, well before the initial enemy engagement, but first...something else.---(1+1) Far away, the the two man crew of the Errant chased down red herrings and false leads, pushing their ships endurance to the limit and beyond, having to actually go in atmosphere to resupply. They returned empty handed, weary, but slightly more skilled in piloting a strike craft.(17+2) Back at the station, your population began to find a battle rhythm to the high tempo of the station. It was chaotic, but the military elements learned to flow with the civilian population. The maintenance crews established interoperability, upkeeping the periodic civilian vessels that came and went. You allowed it, the entire operation was non standard anyway, and the extra petty resources kept everyone happy, their perceived "side hustles" and "shady shit" were all known and documented, but it was an acceptable level of corruption that kept idle hands busy.Without long range sensors, you would have to wait until the Glory-Mod returned with an update.
Rolled 15, 10, 17 = 42 (3d20)>>6335180>>6334780>>6334987>>6335028(1-1+1= 1 Fuck.exe)The Glory-Mod made it's entry in spectacular fashion, suffering a catastrophic malfunction. It's entry sent it on a trajectory towards the enemy in a high-g tumbling spin, threatening to shred the superstructure in half. Mag locks and strapped moorings failed on all craft, with two interceptors suffering total failure. The tumbling ship pummeled them into it's walls like a giant washing machine made of rape, which was too much for the near antique munitions on the fragile stealth. Two huge detonations blew gaping rents into the already stricken vessel. The Glory and it's strike compliment would have been outright destroyed if not for near inhuman last minute firings of the maneuver thrusters by her crew, stabilizing the spin into just one axis. Earlier crew had elected to use ampheticaine maximizing a margin for success, and it paid off, even if it cost them their lives as they were splattered on the internal bulkhead walls, or flung into space, hopefully to be recovered later. (down two stealth torpedo interceptors, the glory is clapped.)(20+1+1 rampage)The strike craft ejected erratically, recovering effortlessly against unwanted gyroscopic inertia, regrouping with a degree of technical precision under stress that would have made an acrobatic demo team weep in awe as they matched and outstripped even drone performance if only for a moment. Unaugmented humans with nothing more than g-suits were pushed to the absolute limit of what a body can take before suffering a lethal aneurysm. Not limited to just maneuver, near granular pilot control over subsystems enabled the ships to pull an instantaneous tight formation and fall within the protective envelope of the remaining stealth interceptors. Near wingtip to wingtip rapid chatter between the pilots yielded consensus; take down the Raihan first.(you have secured a +2 bonus to all strike fighter rolls for the duration of this engagement)(13+1+1)The drives of the stealth craft consumed the paltry emissions of the strike craft until they were nearly in range of the Raihan which had yet to break off it's attack on it's prey. It would have been a clean attack on the Raihan but the tile fighters had already started to adjust for intercept against the squadron of strike craft. Stealth envelopes collapsed as plasma screens flared to life, screening other strikers, absorbing incoming fire as six torpedoes launched out from the AWACS support strikers at danger close range. and the munitions were guided in by the networked sensors of the various craft.---Rolling for:1. Raihan counter torpedo/ strike craft effectiveness.2. Tile fighters attempting to engage.3. Subjugator's response to the new threat. anything under 10 is retreat, over is engage.---Players, 3d20 (1d20 per striker type)1. All in on the tile fightersor2. Split off the AWACS and stealth torpedo strikers to deal with the Subjugator
>>6335221>>6335221Tactical update:The heroics of the squadron allowed it to disable the raihan's engines but not weapon system. Two of your laser equipped fighters were destroyed as they screened the AWACS torpedo strikers. Ejections were noted.The Glory B Mod is steadily pulling away from danger and can weather the tile fighters, but not the Subjugator.Considerations:Your 4 remaining plasma screen/ laser strikers are outnumbered by heavier tile fighters, but can buy you time-or-If you entirely focus on the tile fighters, you might be able to take them out with a good roll before the Subjugator is on top of you and becomes the next problem which leads to:Your team is fast enough to outrun the tile fighters, but staying and trying to fight near the glory and Raihan and it's CIWS capability is suicide.8 torpedoes remain.If you go for option 2 of the last post, please roll an additional 1d20 and pick what target you are going for>2. Split off the AWACS and stealth torpedo strikers to deal with the Subjugator1. Try to spike the command and control deck and fully disable the ship.2. Cripple the engines, forcing an enemy withdrawal.3. Write in.
Rolled 12 (1d20)>>6335221>2. Split off the AWACS and stealth torpedo strikers to deal with the Subjugator>1. Try to spike the command and control deck and fully disable the ship.
Rolled 16, 16, 12, 3 = 47 (4d20)>>6335234>>2. Split off the AWACS and stealth torpedo strikers to deal with the Subjugator>>1. Try to spike the command and control deck and fully disable the ship.LEEROY JENKINS
Rolled 1, 8, 19 = 28 (3d20)>>6335324>>6335221Forgot the base 3d20.
Rolled 19, 20 = 39 (2d20)>>6335325>>63353281+5, 16+5, 19+5, 3+5(1s and 20s still are taken, but modified by the in mission bonuses)--7 vs 10, 4 strikers vs 6 dronesThe remaining laser strikers were outnumbered by drones and began a terminal dance. the crews flicked V-max switches on their control panels and the master safety override was pressed. The next moments of combat were violent euphoria as man and machine reached their limits. The crew heard the tortured squeals of metal and ice like crack of composites giving way. It was all about buying time. The AWACS and stealth ships were fading in detail with each periodic glance as the frantic combat continued. Repeated attacks eventually gouged away enough of one enemy machine to render it inert, but that left 5. The drone's heavier construction manage to blunt the worst of the Xiphias beams, while the strikers afforded no such protection. The first striker to fall lost a pylon during a high-G turn and then snapped fully in half, it's structure giving way. A moment another fighter got caught in a pincer and it's cockpit was shredded by laser cannons. The strikers continued their assault, wearing down another three enemies in turn, collecting damage, and eventually succumbing to the relentless drones.>2 tile fighters remain, all "laser" strikers are gone.--21, 24, and 8 vs 17All or nothing. The plan was simple, fire off a ripple of torpedoes at the enemy's assumed command compartment, and hope the weapons bore a hole through and kill everyone inside. The remaining AWACS and stealth strikers used their networked sensors and equipment to close the gap with the subjugator, avoiding what fire it could send their way. Without any remaining torpedoes the AWACS units provided terminal guidance to the stealth striker's munitions. The crews evaded everything the enemy threw at them, and made every hit count, and it wasn't enough. The enemy ship had a crater but was still fighting when one of the AWAC's pilots gave a calm message "The ship's cockpit is armored. Have a drink for me." Small as it was, the AWACS strikers were densely built, and cockpit was made to eject and survive vicious impacts in industrial situations. This time it was the tip of the spear. the kinetic energy was enough to carry the striker into the enemy ship where it's mangled reactor core exploded, a payload delivered by using the armored cockpit as a crumple zone and penetrator.The blast wasn't spectacular, but a flash and ensuing spray of metal shrapnel from the wound on the subjugator saw it stop it's advance. It was dead in space.---rolling to see what the rescued glory-B mod does, and what happens with the remaining tile fighters.
>>6335475 19 vs 20The raihan began power up it's jump capable subsystems, preparing to escape when it was violently rammed by the glory-B mod. "Least we can do." The enemy ship was no longer going anywhere, but for their bravado, perhaps emboldened by the actions of the strike craft, they were punished.In a more ideal situation, perhaps the tile fighters would have automatically shut down with the loss of their carrier, or self destructed. In a less than ideal situation, maybe the remaining squadron could have intercepted these drones, rammed them with heroic last stands; but this whole battle was non-standard, and far from ideal.These particular fighters had one more tool available, and their advanced programming determined there was no chance of recovery and but an extant log of threats and priorities. Attempting to engage the smaller strike craft was a risk, and the larger Glory could withstand their laser cannons. With economic viability no longer a concern, the advanced drones determined the most correct answer was to initiate a maximized reactor overload and attempt to damage or destroy the original target.two fission detonations later, the glory mod B was also still, its crew alive, but the vessel heavily damage, possibly stricken, and unlikely to continue further developmental tests of it's program.---Mission end---Outside your station, you now were the proud custodian of not one, but two highly modified, and grievously fucked up glorys. Next to them was the bent carcass of a Raihan and the near pristine Subjugator. Your surviving strike craft were back in the hangers, getting worked over with structural modules replaced where needed. The crew from the glory mod C and what remained of the squadron had been collected. Ejected crew and remains recovered where possible. Your station's brig, now occupied with empire low ranking officers and ship crew. The details, like individual lives, were becoming less important as leadership had started returning feedback on your progress reports and field test data. The program had proven it's viability in a semi permission low threat environment. Ex nihilo was going forward. Your small office as illuminated in various holographic displays with an endless stream of communication work and decision making...It had been a few days since operation "faded glory" and fleet command had already sent a recovery team for the prisoners of war. In reward for the unexpected bonus, they provided an actual technical team to trawl through your station and restore systems. (on subsequent turns you will have station power, and later sensors, then any additional unknowns that may be discovered. Anything brought online before that will simply speed towards the unknown phase.)It was time to make decisions.
>>63355301. Glory calling (1d20)Command believed the Glory Mod B was trash, leaving it parked near your station. Your engineers outright stated that while it was technically feasible to get the glory mod C, or Carcass, running again, it was a dangerously stupid idea due to it's numerous structural issues. The engineering team that had been deployed to your location were drinking with the locals and came upon something in the spirit of Ex nihilo. You could try to salvage the remains of one for the other, and put your glut of maintainers to work in vacuum survival suits. You actually had a few ideas of your own to float by them.a. Fix the Admiralty's ship and loose your own, get the project running again. Command favor.b. Refit the Glory Mod B into a carrier.c. Cannibalize both ships and get your station running at full capacity immediately.2. Dog leg frigate (1d20)The Raihan had been bent by it's collision with the other Glory, and was sitting, with core systems including sensors still operated. it could be put to work though in quick order. but It'd never fight again, but there was still life left in it.a. Having a second "wrecker" would be handy, and allow you to pull in more resources and give a little more autonomy and general utility around the station. It could also provide sensor coverage to your strike fighters.b. Your civilians have been requesting a "junk" to let them arrange for adhoc fright and passenger runs. Its total bullshit, they are up to something, but offer greymarket contacts and materials in exchange, you also gain a group of rowdy mercenaries that are not pirates and more traffic coming and going.3. Tile fighters (1d20)The enemy fighters are bricked. failsafes cooked their electronics, but command is curious about them, not so curious as to do the leg work themselves though. The work was time sensative because in this war, what was new would be old soon, so learning anything about them to pass on would benefit the fleet.a. Refit the fighters for manned operation, and put them through their paces. (+1 to your strikers next mission for one combat turn)4. Project Ex Nihilo (1d20)Leadership had determined your project was of value, an would allocate additional resources on top of your nothing, to give you nearly nothing. Which was something.a. Neural spikes - Immoral on many levels, a neural spike can offer permanent drone like reflexes to individuals implanted with them, the downside being a gradual neurological failure as the host's nervous system burns itself out in a few short years. For some of your crew, this is not such an issue. For others in the Pact, it might be considered a crime against humanity. (only one crew needed per strike fighter, regardless of equipment.)b. Propaganda drive- Hey kids, who wants to be a glorious strike pilot?c. why no both?5. Fighters (1d20)a. Fleet intel has finished their assessment of your fighters and noted several deficiencies that stand to be optimized.
>>6335578Assessment of Ex Nihilo strike craft:With limited standardization, each craft was a work of handcrafted artifice and refurbishment of roughly similar surplus material. The small batch of craft yielded no initial common names, resulting in wildly variable nomenclatures. Thus the assessment will label each unit by it's most distinctive features."LaserScreen">this is a stupid name, redo it. We already had 3 meetings, so get it out of here.The craft was well balanced with a tandem cockpit and had sufficent energy for it's plasma screen and twin particle beams. Radiation exposure was above normal with the stripped reactor core and nuclear engine, leading to an adoption of high risk behavior due to a mentality that the crew were "dead men walking". This assessment and behavior are not entirely without merit, or use. Despite a total loss of these craft, they were a significant success factor in their field test. There is room for optimization in the design."AWACS"Sturdy, carrying all available sensor and electronic warfare equipment, armed with a single torpedo. The logic of being able to guide in the munition despite ECM interference is sound, but leaves the unit as a solo player providing team support. If continuing to follow this model, it is advisable to change the primary weapon at minimum."Stealth"Not truly stealth, it was simply a very small pocket of absorbed emissions and signal. If skillfully balanced it is useful to the team, otherwise it can be detrimental to an AWACS type unit. Without this ship acting as a "missile truck" the mission would have been non viable."Errant"Skirting the very edges of the project's spirit, the design team showed that with a slight increase in investment a heavy fighter is possible. Even with concepts such as a neural spike or combat stimulants, a multi crew cockpit will become a necessity in the absence of automation. Given budgetary constraints, automation is unlikely.---roll 1d20 and pick an option.1. Adopt an optimized light fighter strategy-no jump capability, requires carriers.-Can be used as a swarm, giving more dice rolls.-More forgiving of attrition2. Go in on heavy fighters-no jump capability, requires carriers.-Resource equivalent of approximately 3 light fighters-Can carry more and heavier weapons than the current configuration.-can be upgraded to take a hit----Player feedback:Are you having fun?Is the writing fun?Are the mechanics enjoyable? (in mission/ pre mission bonuses/ penalties changing the threshold of crits, D20)Has anyone seen Cognis? Will be be back with the milk and or cigarettes?
Rolled 2, 10, 13, 17, 11 = 53 (5d20)>>6335578>Cannibalize both ships and get your station running at full capacity immediately>Having a second "wrecker" would be handy...>Refit the fighters for manned operation, and put them through their paces.>Neural spikes, but for volunteers only.>Light fighters.>Player feedback:I'm having fun, the writing is generally enjoyable although a bit more dark and gritty than the original quest. You really do feel like you're scrapping the bottom of the barrel, you get nothing new not even older stuff; it's all shit nobody wanted.Mechanics are a little bit confusing and I'm not always sure what I'm rolling for or what's being matched up.>Has anyone seen Cognis? As you can see I am here. I have been watching, I have even been playing. I have that much time at least, but still have a lot going on and probably won't be able to do a proper update till the weekend.It's nice to see some one's take on my universe even though it's basically a pastiche generic sci-fi tropes and whatever the hell I've been consuming lately. Although I find it a bit odd that you hype up the TILE fighters. (Unless the ones we fought were the new TILE-H models) The Pact can build them too (although it would make sense if none were assigned to ex-nilho). Until a certain someone gets off his ass and develops a mass production carrier the Pact TILEs are confined to planetary and station garrisons.
>>6335610Thank you for the feedback, it is appreciated. Story wise with the TILE fighters, and most equipment, I am assuming there are incremental wartime improvements and deviations, with any little edge being worth it. However in reality, I assumed that the Pact had the means to build tiles, but hand't yet. I am a dummy. However, I will press on with.I'll let this thread get a few more hours for potential responses, but in the meantime:---Due to the station's size and mixed population, coming and goings began happening organically. Schemes, deals, and the beginnings of lives played out in these early months. 1. Refugees fleeing the worst of the war found themselves displaced, sometimes the sole survivors of their family unit. Your station needed manpower and resources. They all had their own small agendas, but with broad strokes of effort and control, you could align them enough to be more of a help than a hindrance. Their shanties were sparse now, little lights in the dark clustered here an there on the outside of the station, maybe a few stalls in the hangers or hallways selling food to hungry maintainers and pilots at all hours. A few small "islands" if more wary refugees consolidated within proximity of the station; amalgams of less than a dozen random civilian craft, often permanently fused together as they completed their journey to this relatively safe area of space. Starved of maintenance, too damaged, or too decrepit to go any further the ships became segments of unplanned and shared habitations. Eventually this would need your attention, but for now it was outside the purview of worth.Fraternization between the various groups was increasing, for your part you didn't care. This mission was non standard, considered an auxiliary force at best, barely paid, and barely acknowledged. Some of the crew lived in the civilian sections and were even engaged in relationships. The staff likely short lived, so you didn't begrudge them human companionship as long as the program objectives were being met. The admiralty didn't have a major say, but some elements disapproved, wishing to tighten their grip and start making adjustments to your program. Your toes, they feel the pressure of being stepped on. Someday you may have to pick your battles.-Once a turn you can petition the population for aid on a single action starting with a base (+1) on a D20.2. The Knights had mostly met with failure in finding any frame components beyond a few small crates of assorted scrap and fasteners. Word of their existence spread though, as did word of their shame, yet chance of redemption. Other scattered individuals trickled in, some too proud to pilot conventional strike craft, some just loyal to a lost family or cause. Each brought fragments; knowledge, history, or even frame scraps. They also brought competition and discourse from former rivalries or grudges, as well as fierce competition for who would pilot the machine and know honor once more.
>>6335595>Player feedback:I'm not having fun. The dice have so much say in the outcomes that doing anything feels pointless.Also I can't get over you abbreviating "Raihan patrol frigate" to just "raihan". All of the enemy ships are Raihan, because the enemy is the Raihan Empire.
>>6335610You looked over the options in front of you, various gantt timelines that a recently appointed staff had prepared for you. You weren't here to build a squadron, at least not yet, you were here to build the system to build the squadron. Time was the currency of greatest value, and all the trinkets offered by a fickle command, and all the benefit of being able to deploy your ships again meant little. You ordered the Glory class ships stripped and their useful subsystems cannibalized for use into the station. The work was to begin immediately.You prepared a small report, detailing contingency modifications for both Glory A and B ships to a proposed "C" configuration. It wasn't something to build from scratch, but a salvage option to create an expedited strike carrier. Leadership would do what they would with it.The captured Raihan Empire patrol frigate was quickly modified into a utility role as a "wrecker", with the drives and engines of the Glories crudely attached where they would fit on the exterior, it's hull reinforced with stripped armor from it's donors. The end result was ugly, but imminently useful. The ship was used to tug heavy material around the station, helping to expedite the refit. The two glories gradually became hulks, then cut into segments which were fitted around the station one by one. Within a few days of slaving their reactors into the station's grid, you had sensors, power was used to jump start the station's own reactor, and with it online you had the dormant automation systems running again.---Your team had quickly modified the TILE fighters for manned use, replacing damaged components as need with local approximations. They would accompany your squadron on their next mission.---Leadership almost gleefully sent the neural spikes, with training instructions for "self insertion". Most of your pilots elected for installation, the last mission showed the odds of survival for a pilot were around less than 1 in 2, and any edge they could get was one they would take. (+1 bonus for striker rolls)Their assessment of the fighter strategy was in line with your own, go light. Keep logistics, maintenance, and training simple. Granted with the neural spikes, training was no longer an issue. You ordered your teams to familiarize themselves with the automated systems and begin conversion from hand fitting to using the new equipment when possible.---In another meeting your technicians had highlighted where some of your striker subsystems could be combined using the new equipment, improving performance and ease of repair. The knights had sent a representative, requesting you earmark some of the inventory for their use. With the commitment to light figthers, you decided to see what would come out of this.
>>6335837range bans/ blocked files.--->>6335837Story time---Your strike craft program was going through another developmental phase. Defining best practices for resource optimization. The previous three classes of strike fighters had been distilled into two, with the training pipeline streamlined for behavioral placement. Due to constraints, and leadership determining the "Neural spike" and "Ampheticaine" were optional, one of the replacement classes would require a crew load of two operators per craft.High risk pilots were assigned to the "Interceptor". The open cycle nuclear engine was combined with the "heavy" chemical engine, combining the sprint capabilities with high energy output. An increased risk of explosive deconstruction was deemed acceptable, while radiation exposure remains approximately the same as the previous model.The stripper reactor core was merged into what could be called a "Common core configuration" Weight was cut by using an augmented pilot in a single seat. The stealth strikers twin torpedoes were added onto the interceptor, with the reasoning that by the time it engaged in close combat, it would no longer be encumbered by torpedoes, freeing it up for agile dog fighting. The plasma screen remains in place, allowing the crafts to shield high value assets, or endure limited enemy fire despite their incredibly fragile construction. Slightly faster than a tile fighter, but it will not survive exchanging blows. Research from captured TILE reactors has allowed a duplication of a "Martyr" function, though initiation sequence is not instantaneous.To every three interceptors, a single "Sentry" would be assigned. The sentry was largely the same as the previous "AWACS" strike craft, but converted to a side by side armored cockpit. Incorporating a stealth engine and slightly increased weapons payload, the crew's overall workload was still lower than the previous generation strike craft. The atmospheric capable reactor core was replaced with a more robust "heavy" core. The resulting machine was overall slower, but comparatively more armored. While not quite at parity with the survivability of a tile fighter, it was an improvement. Powerful sensors would allow the craft to provide networked assistance to nearby allies. Finally,The risk adverse crew also had a means to defend themselves with dog fighting missiles and a single torpedo. The craft's psychological considerations risk aversion and codependency, garnering a larger talent pool for those requiring perceived safety.The stealth fighter's portfolio and duties were fully subsumed by the two new machines. Overall resource usage was reduced even though per unit expenditure increased. If further optimizations were to be had, it would have to be with superior resources. These developments were made possible by utilizing "Common Core Configuration" or C3 assemblies. Groups of complimentary subassemblies, field modified as a new item. Glorious synthesis commander.
((Alright, I think it's time for me to take over again. Massive Thanks to NonCognis for the little interlude.))Some time after your return from the conference Solei visited your office.“Glasner, we have a potential problem.”“Well if it hasn’t become an actual problem yet, handle it yourself; I have better things to do.”“You might want to see this.”He flicked you some files over the AR net. Some were requisition orders for mothballed equipment and others appeared to be… dubious robotics research.“What is Project Ex-Nilhilo? I don’t believe we have anything of the sort going on here.”“The other member states of the Pact are growing desperate. Noto has set up a last ditch ‘research and development initiative’ to cobble together assets from anything they can get their hands on. Some of our own equipment -tech demonstrators and proof of concept prototypes- were transferred to this initiative instead of being dismantled to recover materials.”You continued to look over the files, these amateurs were syphoning your precious resources to create laughably dysfunctional ships. It was a wonder any of them could fly and yet…“These ‘strike fighters’ have particle beam weapons. I thought that technology was lost?”“It was, but they recovered a significant amount of working examples from bone yards, with their data, we could resurrect the technology.”You’d never admit it but some of these fighter designs had potential. With minimal attention from actual professionals they could be made into viable mass production templates. “I came to you with this because these people represent a security risk. If our prototypes are being moved off site there is a heightened risk of our technology being leaked.”You nod thoughtfully.“However, it’s true that our team cannot develop craft to serve the Fleet’s every need. Perhaps the Ex-Nilhilo group can make better use of our cast offs.”On the one hand you didn’t like having another R&D organisation out there even if it was ad hoc; this “Alchemist” guy was muscling in on your domain. On the other hand there was a crude effectiveness to the Ex-Nilhilo creations; they designed the stuff you had neither the time or inclination to conceptualise. Maybe it was best to let the little people handle the little things.>Allow the continued transfer of “hand me down” tech to Ex-Nihilo in exchange for detailed copies of their designs. (Heightened chance of your tech falling into enemy hands, you will periodically get some new tech and designs for free.)>Do not let any of your research leave this station. (Less chance of tech falling into enemy hands but anything Ex-Nihilo might discover will forever remain in obscurity.)>cont
>>6336360Fleet Command had emphasized that one of their key shortcomings was a lack of a proper command vessel. The C3 systems onboard the enemy Ryu and Parliament class vessels allowed for a level of co-ordination that Pact battlegroups struggled to match.During the design meeting several concepts had been brought forth. The first was the Glory-C, a boring but practical proposal somebody had slipped into the pile. It was a plan detailing the conversion of a Glory hull into a full fleet carrier with its own C3 suite. At first you thought it was Solei’s idea but it turned out Gale had forwarded it from someone in Fleet Command. The second was your personal brain child: a large arsenal ship with an on board ordinance assembly plant. It featured an advanced sensor system, which coupled with the C3 suite could not only co-ordinate a battle group, it could calculate optimal firing solutions for a ridiculous number of torpedoes. From the super heavy W13N-3Rs to nimble swarmer micro missiles, this ship had a projectile for every occasion.Finally there was a proposal for something which, while sophisticated, was very unexciting: a fast light cruiser with tactical jump capabilities equipped with an ECM suite. Military planners suggested it would be an easily mass produced force multiplier, although it would add little force of its own.>Select a concept for further development. (All have C3 capabilities)>Arsenal Command Cruiser (A more complex design that will take longer to develop, brings massive firepower to the table.)>Glory C (Easiest design to implement, all the tech already exists, will allow the Pact to finally deploy strikecraft.)>EWAR Light cruiser (Cheaper to mass produce, disrupts enemy co-ordination, speed combined with tactical jump makes it hard to pin down. Poor firepower.)
>>6336360>Do not let any of your research leave this station. (Less chance of tech falling into enemy hands but anything Ex-Nihilo might discover will forever remain in obscurity.)>Glory C (Easiest design to implement, all the tech already exists, will allow the Pact to finally deploy strikecraft.)
>>6335595>Player feedbackI had fun designing strikecrafts and seeing them in action. Here's two more designs I would've submitted if we reached another round of build-a-ship workshop. Thanks for running!>>6336360>Allow the continued transfer of “hand me down” tech to Ex-Nihilo in exchange for detailed copies of their designs.>Glory C (Easiest design to implement, all the tech already exists, will allow the Pact to finally deploy strikecraft.)An interim design until we can develop a better carrier and a proper command ship.
>>6336229((the next generation of strike fighters, captured tiles who would have been used both as technical assessment and a competition assessment unit by the admiralty, and the knights creating some bespoke units for a "party" mission assaulting an enemy carrier inside the atmospheric envelope of a gas giant. Maybe for another time.))>>6336360>>6336396Its been a huge pleasure, I had a lot of fun.
>>6336363Welcome back>Allow the continued transfer of “hand me down” tech to Ex-Nihilo in exchange for detailed copies of their designs. (Heightened chance of your tech falling into enemy hands, you will periodically get some new tech and designs for free.)>Arsenal Command Cruiser (A more complex design that will take longer to develop, brings massive firepower to the table.)
>>6336360>Allow the continued transfer of “hand me down” tech to Ex-Nihilo in exchange for detailed copies of their designs. (Heightened chance of your tech falling into enemy hands, you will periodically get some new tech and designs for free.)>Glory C (Easiest design to implement, all the tech already exists, will allow the Pact to finally deploy strikecraft.)
>>6336363>Allow the continued transfer of “hand me down” tech to Ex-Nihilo in exchange for detailed copies of their designs.>Glory C (Easiest design to implement, all the tech already exists, will allow the Pact to finally deploy strikecraft.)We need this out NOW to buy time. And I'm willing to take this gamble, not like the enemy needs it considering their superiority.
>>6336482Glad you did. I like your take on the TILE fighter. You're art's more detailed than mine.You forgot to voteGlory C>>6336385>>6336396>6336795>6336800Arsenal>>6336765Allow Continued Transfer>6336396>6336765>6336795>6336800Keep it in House>6336385Looks like we have a clear consensus. I don't really have time for a proper update today but you can still start rolling.Imperial Dice:>Base: 3>Numerical Superiority: +1 die>Fighter Superiority: +2 dice>Command Vessels: This side wins ties (negated)Pact Factors:>Base: 3>Fleet wide Upgrades: +2 Dice>Fighter Presence: +1 Die>Robust Fleet: +1 to third highest result.>Super Heavy Torpedos: +2 to highest result>Tactical Jump: Re-roll up to 2 dice if you lose the contest.>Command Vessels: This side wins ties (negated)>Covert Strike: +2 Dice, doubles replace the highest enemy dice value with the lowest.>AI Assist: Doubles grant +1 to all dice results, triples grant an auto win on the highest dice pairing.>roll me 8d10s
Rolled 10, 4, 5, 6, 7, 2 = 34 (6d10)>>6337123Rolling for the Imperials.
Rolled 7, 5 = 12 (2d10)>>6337123Rolling the 1st 2Wow we have so many modifiers now what could possibly go wrong?
Rolled 6, 9 = 15 (2d10)>>6337123We will lose even with all these buffs, you'll see
Rolled 5, 7 = 12 (2d10)>>6337123
Rolled 7, 3 = 10 (2d10)>>6337123
Rolled 1, 10 = 11 (2d10)>>6337123Let's do this
>>6337127>>6337131>>6337133>>6337157Imperial Highest:10,7,6vsPact Highest:9(12),7(8),7(8)Pact Victory even before all those other modifiers are accounted for.Writing...
>>6337785
>>6337895Lost my first post.Missed a lot due to my ISP and 4chan having an issue.Cognis, keep it up man. its a good quest.
Rolled 7, 6, 10, 8 = 31 (4d10)Your new designs were implemented just in time for a reinforcement wave being mustered at Kornen. In addition to the much needed Glory-C mod, many smaller upgrades were made across the fleet: plasma shields for the Glory A, tactical jump capabilities for the Kestrels and patrol frigates, W13N-3R torpedoes for the Pikes. Together this made the reinforcements more powerful than what the Imperials were expecting. Following recent victories in Noto, the Imperial fleet was in a vulnerable position; stretched thin across the outer orbits of Noto and in temporary disarray while disparate battle groups were being re-organized and reinforced.The perfect time for a counter attack.The AI Holloway and their human companion had been transferred to the custody of Admiral Ruhi, and the machine now whispered optimised strategies to the ears of Fleet Command. It was never given direct control of anything of course, only presented with problems to which it almost gleefully gave solutions; this was what it was made for.Pact reinforcements punched into Noto and immediately started sweeping the Imperials from key strategic locations. No expense was spared and the newly formed Covert Strike Group prowled the system's edges, ambushing any Imperial relief columns. The Imperial forces were decimated, in the end the survivors were ordered to fall back to the main jump points to the Shima and Tura system and link up with reinforcements. The loss of material was so great that progress on the Imperial Super Capital was even temporarily halted as material was diverted to replacing losses.—-------------Meanwhile technical readouts had come in from the Ex-Nihilo group, while crude the official R&D teams managed to gain valuable insight from them.>Gained Particle Beam Weapons Tech.>Dubious Robotics Research has allowed you to make the first step in reviving the knight frame technology.>Quest will continue later…
No update yet, instead have some more lore:The Origins of the Raihan EmpireAt some point during Humanity’s expansion across the stars the various stellar regimes began relying on networked AIs to handle the complex logistics and bureaucratic tasks of administrating a nation that stretched across multiple planets and beyond. It got to the point where AIs effectively ruled the human population, held in check only by loyalty programing.Alarmed by the potential for abuse by the elite class that controlled the AIs or the threat of said AIs going rogue, a group of colonists left the core worlds and set out to build a civilisation where all agency remained firmly in the hands of humans.Through genetic engineering and rigorous training, the Proto-Raihans developed a caste of people that were capable of collectively performing the complex tasks that would normally require an AI. Over the centuries this system eventually evolved into a Feudal system which became the modern Raihan Empire. It is far from perfect but it is more robust than civilization that relies solely on AI entities to perform the tasks of governance. The Raihan Caste SystemPeople of the Raihan Empire are split among four castes: The Nobility, the Martials, the Savants, and the Base. With the exception of the Base all members of Raihan Society are trained to enter the data trance; a heightened state of thought where they can interface with machines and rapidly process data, combining the speed of machine logic with the power of human intuition. It is in the way that the Raihans make up for their lack of AI.The Savant Caste are the best at doing this, their gene enhancements grant them eidetic memories and with the right training they can enter deeper levels of the trance which allow them to learn faster, analyze patterns and conceptualise better.Harris Glasner is a member of the Savant caste although he wasn’t considered a particularly good one at his old job on Shima.>cont
>>6338702The Martial Caste have enhanced spatial awareness, better motor skills and are naturally faster and stronger than regular humans. With the right training they can stretch their abilities even further through neuro-muscular control. Although most famously employed by the military, members of this caste excel in any position that requires physical prowess. Indeed the majority of martials do not serve in the military, especially in times of peace.Lord Commander Arcturus Garan and High Admiral Ruhi are of the Martial Caste.The Noble Caste have the advantages of both the Martials and Savants, although they are less genetically stable and without regular gene therapy are liable to suffer from various disorders. As rigorous training is required to bring out the full potential of their genetic gifts, Nobles tend to have a broader but shallower set of skills though some prefer to lean towards specific areas.It is important to note the distinction between being of the Noble Caste and being of the Nobility. All members of the Noble Caste are Nobility, but not all those who hold a Noble title are of the Noble Caste. Finally there is the Base Caste, derived from “baseline human” (although at the time of the exodus, generations of corrective gene therapy meant that the average human was closer to above average in terms of health and intelligence in comparison to early 21st century standards). The Base Caste are those whose ancestors did not undergo genetic enhancement during the founding of the empire. With the right implants and training they too can enter the data trance although it is not as effective. While there are no legal limits on what the Base Caste can do they almost never rise above a certain station as standards in the upper echelons of Raihan society are practically impossible for an un-enhanced human to meet. One small advantage they have is that they are under no pressure to maximise their genetic potential and so have slightly more freedom to choose their lifepath.
The fleet's recent success in Noto had brought new demands from various factions within the Pact. A more conservative faction had seen the effectiveness of the Glory refits and wanted to build on them; converting the original design into a dedicated brawler and upgrading the C-mod into a more advanced type of carrier. With the re-discovery of particle beam tech the B variant could use an update as well.Captains on the front lines bemoaned the superiority of the Imperial TILE-H and were petitioning for a counter.Finally the Covert Strike Group, having gained some clout, was asking for a new type of stealth cruiser with which to conduct commando raids on the enemy.This was all well and good but you knew in your heart you could give the Pact something they didn’t even know they wanted!>Choose Major Project>Update the Glory cruiser line to A2, B2, and C2 variants. This will specialise them into Brawler, Fire Support and Advanced Carrier respectively. This is a very time consuming project.>Develop a light stealth carrier to facilitate infiltration missions.>Revisit your arsenal ship concept.>Write-In>Choose Side Project>Heavy Strike Craft (Improve the Hotdog) >Conceptualize a super capital>Develop an elite fighter craft based on Ex-Nihilo data. (Gets you closer to rediscovering knight frame tech.)>You know what they really need? A frigate with a huge rotary cannon! Develop the Thunderbird Mk2!>Develop a TILE Space Superiority variant.>Upgrade the Patrol Frigate to counter the TILE-H.>Write-In
>>6339188>Revisit your arsenal ship concept.Imagine long-distance torpedoes with tactical E-Drives that can teleport through defenses. Imagine a ship full of them.>Develop long-distance torpedoes with tactical E-Drives that can teleport through defenses.
>>6339188>Revisit your arsenal ship concept.>Heavy Strike Craft (Improve the Hotdog) A new Hotdog design and a ship that can build and maintain all the variants.
We should make use of Particle Beams
>>6339188>Revisit your arsenal ship concept.>Heavy Strike Craft (Improve the Hotdog) We have the time now.
Pretty strong consensus here>>6339193>>6339204>>6339234I've been dragging my feet on the art so while I work on the next update have a pic of the Glory C.
Oh please roll 12d10s
Rolled 5, 2, 10, 5 = 22 (4d10)>>6339616I'll roll 4 dice to give others a shot.
Rolled 8, 8, 5 = 21 (3d10)>>6339616
Rolled 9, 3, 4 = 16 (3d10)>>6339616
Rolled 7, 9 = 16 (2d10)>>6339616last 2 dice
Rolled 4, 7, 7, 7, 6, 10, 8, 1, 3, 2, 1, 5 = 61 (12d10)>>6339612dont mind me
Fleet Command’s faith in you was at an all time high; now was the time to petition for your ultimate creation. You went all out on the design: modular projectile assembly, on board fabricators, tactical jump ordinance, a stealth hull!—------“Glasner, this is absurd.”Solei as usual had utterly failed to appreciate your vision.“Acting Director, this… isn’t feasible.”“But it is possible yes? I guarantee you this weapon will surpass whatever the Imperials are cooking up!”“You’re asking us to build a super-capital."“It was the only way to fit in all the stuff I wanted.”“The costs of making a stealth composite hull that big will be exorbitant, not to mention the tactical jump ordinance requires exotic matter for the E-drives. Each device would cost as much as a small frigate and require the translation vector to be calculated in real time.”“All acceptable costs, the enemy will be unable to counter them.”“To calculate all the firing solutions and manage all those missile launches we’d need an elite cadre of savants, such personnel are not easy to requisition.”“A ship such as this will demand an elite crew. It’s only natural.”Gale and Solei looked at each other apprehensively.“Acting Director, if you insist on submitting this design to Fleet Command, with our current economy we would only ever be able to build one. If it cannot deliver on your promises it will be a major setback to the war effort.”“That won’t happen, because it will meet, no, exceed all expectations.”“Glasner, consider a more cost effective design. The idea for tactical jump ordinance has merit. Perhaps a light stealth cruiser fitted with the new weapon would be a better choice?”“I think the modular fabrication system has merit, we could apply it to a new carrier design which would increase its strike craft capacity.”Such small minds, why did they have to make so much sense!>Begin the full Arsenal Gear project. This will lock the major project for two rounds of development and result in a single exceedingly powerful ship, with stealth, tactical jump, stealth torpedoes and jump ordinance.>Build a light stealth cruiser equipped with tactical jump ordinance.>Build a new fleet carrier with on board fabrication capabilities.((Got a headache right now so I'll do the vote for the Hotdog later.))
>>6340067>Begin the full Arsenal Gear projectThe Raihan have better manufacturing capabilities and more manpower than us. We tried to overcome this problem with Squalls but failed. With this, I think we have a chance to turn this war around.
>>6340067>Build a light stealth cruiser equipped with tactical jump ordinance.If we have only one ship, one bad roll will likely doom it, and we roll like shit
>>6340067>Begin the full Arsenal Gearfuck it we ball
>>6340067>Build a new fleet carrier with on board fabrication capabilities.We got good fighters, use it.
>>6340067>>Build a new fleet carrier with on board fabrication capabilities.
>>6340067>Begin the full Arsenal Gear project.Harris Glasner only needs one ship!....I mean the Pact. The Pact! The Pact only needs one ship, obviously! It's not like we could set up a wide variety of personal system backdoors and internal defences and commandeer the ship and go fly off to settle any scores we might have, is it?
Much had changed since you first designed the Hot Dog; lessons learned and new tech had opened up some exciting new possibilities.The rediscovery of particle beam tech had made it possible to turn the ram ship into a heavy beam corvette, the development team had even discovered a way to create a full particle shield that would cover the vessel from every angle.Solei was pleased.“By replacing the plasma generator with a particle beam cannon we can create a more cost effective heavy strike craft. The Ion beam doesn’t have the raw destructive power of the W13-N3R torpedo but we save a lot on materials.”“Yes, yes, but I think there’s a better way to do this. If we re-design the particle field manipulators like so we can not only create a full shield, but potentially expand the shield outward in a destructive pulse.”“Without focus the particle weapon will not be able to threaten anything bigger than a strike craft.”“If I may, directors, instead of re-inventing the wheel, why not just go with the original hot dog launch platform and up gun the secondary armament to improve performance against strike craft?”Glasner and Solei stared at Gale incredulously.“But that’s so-”“Boring”“Inefficient”Gale was far too professional to pout, but the look she gave the two scientists made her displeasure clear.((Leaving the Arsenal vote open, anyone who still hasn't voted on it can cast your votes together.))>Make the Hot Dog Mk2 a heavy Particle Beam Corvette with a frontal shield. Specialised anti-frigate corvette, can snipe capital sub-systems, combined fire can even threaten capital hulls.>Make the… Hot Bagel? A heavy Particle Field Corvette with a 360 degree shield and assault pulse attack. Very tough and effective against strikecraft. Useless vs anything else.>Make the Hot Dog Mk2 an upgunned version of the original torpedo corvette design. Retains full anti-capital firepower and frontal plasma shield. Mediocre anti-strikecraft capability. Loses the shield after launching the torpedo. While the design is more versatile it is more expensive and harder to maintain.
>>6340809>Make the Hot Dog Mk2 a heavy Particle Beam Corvette with a frontal shield. Specialised anti-frigate corvette, can snipe capital sub-systems, combined fire can even threaten capital hulls.>Begin the full Arsenal Gear project.
>>6340809>Make the Hot Dog Mk2 a heavy Particle Beam Corvette with a frontal shield. Specialised anti-frigate corvette, can snipe capital sub-systems, combined fire can even threaten capital hulls.The biggest threat of the Raihan fleet is their frigates. If we deal with them, our own anti-capital ships would make short work of them. They'd need to restructure their entire navy to solve this.
>>6340809>>Make the Hot Dog Mk2 a heavy Particle Beam Corvette with a frontal shield. Specialised anti-frigate corvette, can snipe capital sub-systems, combined fire can even threaten capital hulls.Make em feel it.
>>6340809>Make the Hot Dog Mk2 a heavy Particle Beam Corvette with a frontal shield. Specialised anti-frigate corvette, can snipe capital sub-systems, combined fire can even threaten capital hulls.
>>6340809>>Make the… Hot Bagel? A heavy Particle Field Corvette with a 360 degree shield and assault pulse attack. Very tough and effective against strikecraft. Useless vs anything else.
>>6341005>Make the Hot Dog Mk2 a heavy Particle Beam Corvette with a frontal shield. Specialised anti-frigate corvette, can snipe capital sub-systems, combined fire can even threaten capital hulls.>Begin the full Arsenal Gear project.
>>6341165Huh?
>>6340809 OP, if you are willing I can continue the side story as filler. The Ex-Nihilo project would continue researching fighters/ tiles/ discount knights and branch into refurbishing glory cruisers. there would be a mechanic regarding station security that could cause data leaks to the enemy. the major goal would be to keep everything vague so you can work with or omit anything developed
Rolled 5, 7, 10, 1, 7, 5 = 35 (6d10)Arsenal>6340096>6340168>6340781>6340828>>6341165Light Stealth>6340167Carrier>6340286>6340504Heavy Particle Beam>6340828>6340840>6340841>6340898>>6341165Hot Bagel>>6341005Okay looks like we have a clear consensusImperial Dice:>Base: 3>Numerical Superiority: +1 die>Fighter Superiority: +2 dice>Command Vessels: This side wins ties (negated)Pact Factors:>Base: 3>Fleet wide Upgrades: +2 Dice>Fighter Presence: +1 Die>Robust Fleet: +1 to third highest result.>Super Heavy Torpedos: +2 to highest result>Tactical Jump: Re-roll up to 2 dice if you lose the contest.>Command Vessels: This side wins ties (negated)>AI Assist: Doubles grant +1 to all dice results, triples grant an auto win on the highest dice pairing.>Roll me 6d10s>>6341497I'll keep that in mind. Although my update schedule is screwy due to various RL factors I think it would be confusing to run two quests simultaneously. I'll let you have the thread for a while after the next big update.
Rolled 4, 4 = 8 (2d10)>>6341498
Rolled 7, 8 = 15 (2d10)>>6341498
Rolled 2, 10 = 12 (2d10)>>6341502Wait, that's a 2d6, not 2d10
>>6341499>>6341501>>6341503>13, 8, 9We win.
Rolled 8, 8 = 16 (2d10)>>6341498
This might be a close one...>>6341499>>6341501>>6341503Good saveImperial Highest:10,7,7Pact Highest10(13),8(9),7(9)Huh, first time you guys would have won even without modifiers.Any who, writing...
The Pact Council was not pleased when you tried to sell them on the idea of Project Peace Shell, but you had earned enough credibility amongst them to at least get it put to a vote. The more conservative members of the council naturally voted against green lighting the project, but enough of them were intrigued, desperate or just plain crazy enough to get it approved by a narrow margin.Construction would begin at your shipyard in Higg, and would take up the attention of you and your team leads for the foreseeable future; you couldn’t be happier.The Hot Dog MK2 was much better received than its predecessor. With the Glory-Cs in production there was now a proper platform to actually carry it into battle. The long range particle beam coupled with the shield mode allowed battle groups to engage their targets at range instead of having flights of TILE Bombers brave enemy point defences.Many among the fleet started to whisper that R&D was finally starting to make stuff that was useful and wondered whether that “Dumbass” was still in charge… the nerve of them.The enemy TILE-H remained a scourge though. Carrier groups struggled when engaging their peers as the Imperial TILES outflanked their vessels and attacked them from their unshielded sides.By now Pact and Imperial strikecraft doctrine had completely diverged: where they once shared common designs the Imperial Fleet had phased out their fighter/bomber combos for the versatile TILE-H design. The Pact had replaced its bombers with the Hot Dog MK2 and used existing fighters to cover them while they fired from a distance.Following their recent defeats the Imperials rallied and launched a new offensive into Noto. Waves of warships translated into the jump points and crashed against the Pact defenses. However, thanks to the bravery of the Fleet (and a little help from a certain AI) the defenses buckled but did not break.The Imperials had solidified their original beach head once again but had utterly failed to spread out and contest the outer orbits they had so previously dominated. Their threat continued to loom over the independent systems of the NKH Pact but there was now hope.((As I said before my schedule is screwy and while I continue to run this quest it's been harder to maintain a consistent update schedule. Since NonCognis is feeling it I shall let them take you through another arc of Ex-Nihilo))
>>6341513the Curse is taking you from us Cognis, please fight it!
>>6341513It had been a few months. You looked over and through the station with a thousand electronic eyes. It had grown, dormant subsystems now uncovered and awoken by pact engineers. The central reactor came online first, then other systems quickly followed suit. Archaic sensors, unsubtle in their capacity, had impressive range. The imperial forces had little desire to give away their movements. To the Pact this was a boon, one worth modest investment. More civilian traffic flooded in, bringing resources, more refugees, more war materiel. More expansion. The station had swollen beyond its original plans; military and civilian additions were tacked on in almost organic fashion. clusters of industrial scrapping and assembling robotics hung from the station like grotesque tendrils, grabbing visiting craft for service and docking.Despite the increased traffic, your program had thus far keep it's secrets, but you grimaced with the knowledge that it was only a matter of time before something slipped. You were also depleting the program's resources quicker than anticipated, and the strike craft had room for optimizations. It didn't matter, you were putting together a closing report to the admiralty. With a slight grin, well, your staff was putting together a report. With a rare moment of leisure, you enjoyed the view of your shipyard from an actual window.-->>6336482>Fighter Program: no current roll boons or penalties.>2d20: TILE-C vs Strike TeamYour crews put the TILE-C (captures) through their paces. By now you had either accrued or been sent several samples, representing staggering advancements from the imperials. Local repairs and modifications had been executed to keep the craft operational or simulate anticipated evolutionary paths. Grueling hours of combat simulation and flights were documented for development of enhanced tactics.>4d20: Strike vs: Strike, TILE, Interceptor, CruiserThe strike craft pilot school had been built out on the remains of the legacy strike craft and its best crews. Surviving craft from earlier tranches had been reconfigured into dissimilar trainers for pilot and crew familiarization. Routine training sorties near the local gas giant pitted old vs new, TILE vs strike, and on occasion knight interceptors or a simulated assault against the odd Glory.>1d20: R&DFinal optimizations were underway to maximize resource efficiency and physical packaging in order to enhance carrier strike craft payload. In other words; finding new ways to pack them in tighter. The knight interceptors had also split your resource pool into two streams that were rapidly deviating in philosophy and capacity as requirements approached finalization for the fighters. The interceptors could not capitalize on the stealthier aspects, and the lighter strike craft would exceed mission specification and become resource inefficient if they went with the interceptor's multi core, multi engine design, atmo capable design.I need 7d20 per player.
Rolled 1, 10, 4, 10, 3, 3, 1 = 32 (7d20)>>6341648Woo! More tactically questionable strike crafts!
>>6341648NonCognis 1d20 mechanics:Each player can roll all the dice. The end result is a combination of the best rolls of all the players who participated, with the exception of 1s and 20s. a 1 and 20 will cancel each other out, leaving the next best roll, but if there is no 20, the 1 is the result you get, representing a crit fail.As the session progresses you may accumulate persistent or temporary boons and penalties to modify your dice rolls, preventing a true crit 1, (e.g: 1+1=2, and a 19+1=20.) these artificial crits are not always as rewarding as the natural roll, with the exception of crossing over 20 or under 1. Things get fun there.--->>6336396>The Grey market: roll 2d20: grey market resources, and impact to station security.strike program designs that didn't entirely fit the admiral's vision were documented and assessed. Two units were produced in limited capacity and exported to parts unknown, along with design documentation. The manifest labeled them as planetary and fleet protection and interdiction. Within the week, both Imperial and Pact forces reported a mild uptick in pirate activities, with unescorted shipping being harried or even falling prey to haphazard sub-tile class craft.>Knights: 4d20: blue, green, yellow interceptor performance along with a danger roll.Investigate a disturbance within the local gas giant's atmosphere. A glory-c will provide transport.--->Hand me downs: 1d20A few surplus glory-As, Cs, and Kestrels have lined up near the shipyard. Your engineering and maintenance crew will have to begin familiarization for the next phase of the Ex-Nihilo program.>Buying time: 3d20The admiralty wants you to review projects that fell to the wayside, both as potential diversions to the enemy and areas of exploitation for our own forces. In short they want you to do anything, with nearly nothing. Low rolls yield fewer options with lower risk, high rolls yield more options with higher risk.>Between the lines: 1d20Per the admiralty: The enemy is aware of this station, and has probably already started to attempt infiltration. Your job is not to entirely stop them, but to send them astray. Lead them to develop evolutionary dead ends. You will have to pick what to leak, and what not to.I need 11d20 per player.
>>6341648>>6341661both posts are in effect and can be rolled for until I get back in 8-14 hours. May the dice totally fuck us all.
Rolled 12, 5, 12, 16, 2, 15, 10, 7, 13, 20, 5 = 117 (11d20)>>6341661
>>6341653I'd appreciate it if someone could reroll these dice. Not a single roll above 10 hurts.
Rolled 15, 1, 12, 5, 3, 5, 2, 8, 5, 13, 6 = 75 (11d20)>>6341638I shall fight it as long as the Pact fights the Imperials.>>6341826Wish granted.
Rolled 18, 3, 12, 17, 2, 6, 4 = 62 (7d20)>>6341826Ah crap I re-rolled the wrong set of dice. I'm stupid.>>6341653Re-rollin for real.
Rolled 7, 15, 9, 8, 2, 18, 2, 9, 19, 19, 1 = 109 (11d20)>>6341661
Rolled 12, 8, 3, 5, 10, 17, 19 = 74 (7d20)>>6341648Yeeees more dice!
Rolled 10, 12, 18, 14, 14, 12, 6, 3, 13, 16, 13 = 131 (11d20)>>6341661Dice for the dice gods! Roll for the roll throne!
>>6341648>>6341653>>6341960>>6341899>Tile-C vs Strike team: (1,10,)your tile fighters experienced numerous electrical and mechanical faults due to the ad-hoc repairs and modifications done by your engineers who were much more familiar with the strike fighters. For their part nearly no useful data was garnered outside of some rudimentary lessons for how to approach a TILE in order to avoid it's firing arcs. A bit of a disaster happened when one of the tiles experienced a massive malfunction and partially detonated, the crew only surviving due to the ejection of their armored capsule. The blast took out another strike fighter and the wreckage was lost. Any attempts to began tile/strike integration had solidly failed and for this juncture in time would leave the craft as separate and incompatible product lines.>the wreckage was recovered by covert imperial forces who now had a functional sample of a Xiphias particle beam and examples of your engineering. It wasn't much, but they were curious about this station, about this project.>Strike dissimilar training vs Strike, TILE, Interceptor, Cruiser: (12,17,10,17)The report to the admiralty was concise, a collection of high level text and video clips along with engineering data and lessons for the fighter schools. Strike craft were inferior machines, but they were small, nimble, and could be fielded en-masse. When used right, they were adequate at engaging other strike craft in one on one fights, and for the cost, three strike craft were about the cost equivalent of a TILE, granted this was with existing surplus; a modernized approach would probably make them cost ineffective; regardless, TILEs could be overwhelmed with strike craft, and it was a repeatable process. Against dedicated superiority fighters, they were a poor match, barely braking even against less trained "knights" in a permissive environment. It was advisable to not deploy them against those opponents. Finally you had sufficient simulated, training, and real world data regarding anti-cruiser activity. If they could close the gap and get past defensive screens, strike fighters were a credible threat to comparatively lightly armored craft such as subjugators. At minimum imperial forces would have to factor these craft into their strategy and commit a portion of their industrial base to countering them, which was a win.>gained+1 rolls for fighters for the duration of this session>R&D:Finalizing Strike craft designs (1)Between the earlier Tile-C failure, reports of pirate strike craft, and an already well understood system for cobbling the craft together at a field level, command gave the order to case further R&D. Apparently there were bigger issues on the horizon.
>>6342024Imperial forces had a considerable change of opinion regarding the project. Initially the "Noto forces" were suspected to be a renegade officer setting up a small pirate outpost in a derelict. Opinions shifted as resources began to pool in and the defense of the Noto system became viewed as desperate clutching of straws. The wreckage analysis of enemy strike fighters showed almost no new construction, everything was surplus, and surplus eventually ran out. They wouldn't be able to survive attrition. Almost laughable. Then came their mutilated glory craft, burnt out hulks pressed into service as "carriers".But then came something unusual. Modifications, the Glory-C, their expedited carrier. Reports of prototype exotic technology. Some if it was clearly scavenged from old boneyards or stockpiles, nearly ancient. Some of it appeared to be laboratory samples pushed into production, unstable, dangerous. This was a research project disguised as improvised production. Crude as it was, each "example" was something that could be fielded by the Pact in a later more refined form.There was a lesson to be learned here; and eventually it emerged. Waste not, want not. The pikes that were destroyed frequently had useful sub components, and were quickly adapted to the patrol frigates. As with the Noto striek craft, when laiden with a full load of torpedoes they were ungainly, but quickly recovered mobility after releasing their long range strikes, with an option to eject spent pods. A local creation. Another test was the TILE-X. They featured reverse engineered particle beams, costly for now, and there were major issues with trying to scale the technology, which is likely why the Pact hadn't done so, but it had it's uses. Steady, incremental improvements.The Admiral looked out into the stars, his Monarch ship just beyond the range of the enemy's sensors. "We've got your number you son of a bitch."
>>6341661>>6341734>>6341921>>6341963>Grey Market: (15, 1)Your station was growing, its mass had nearly doubled, and with that your control halved. You had your sections, but the sheer force of will from various NGOs, Mercenaries, and now "merchants", meant that you had to pick your battles. Certain levels of the station were locked down firmly, but there was almost certainly an imperial spying presence, or perhaps enough people who were gullible or unscrupulous enough to leak your secrets from time to time. Despite a known setback, you gained access to new materiel. mothballed or written off glories and kestrels began to form rows around your station, being disassembled and scrapped or refurbished and sent back to the fight. Between regular business a few precious components of knight frames trickled in.>(Enemy gains +1 on rolls against Noto forces for this session on their FIRST rolls.)>Knights: (18, 16, 14, 18) high danger roll! Danger!Just below the surface of the gas giant's wispy upper layer was an ambush via an imperial knight frame. The pilot identified as "Aura" and attacked with extreme ferocity, radio chatter indicated that regardless of aliance, the "Knights" of Ex-Nihilo were considered disgraced, and everything would be done to end them. Extreme contempt was had for their "glorified coffins" but the Knight's interceptors and training held, with the Yellow knight taking what abuse it could, shooting down incoming kinetic munitions and gradually being worn down. The green knight providing fire support with it's particle beams while the blue knight harried their enemy. The interceptors overwhelmed the knight-frame and soon it's remaining engines were insufficient to arrest it's slow descent into the gas giant. The Pilot had paid for her overconfidence.you have options:>1. attempt to lift the stricken knight into space with your interceptors (high risk, roll 3d20)>2. Let the bitch sink, and broadcast it. (1d20)--->Hand me downs: (10)Your engineering crews were chipping their teeth learning the ins and outs of cruiser class vessels. While competent, don't expect them do do anything amazing like creating a new class from scratch. Maybe from parts.>Buying time: (9, 19, 20)You had received a number of concepts from the admiralty, One for a Thunderbird mk2, an arsenal ship, and refined glory variants. The technical details of the former two were pristine, amazing even. The only downside was your available resources were none of what was required.>(+2 to cruiser and above engineering rolls)The Thunderbird MK II was hand written on a series of disposable plates, plexiglass sheets, a napkin contained crucial structural calculations, and no less than three personal devices. Yet it was i n t o x i c a t i n g. Genius and madness danced within the value, incomplete designs.
>>6342046>Between the lines: (1)Well. You fucked up. The enemy got enough data to intercept a large shipment of Thunderbirds. On top of that, they have the resources to do a job right, and modified the units into drones with even more ammo storage. While nothing ground breaking, the enemy getting more resources was always a poor outcome.>(whatever thunderbird research you do, the imperials will eventually gain.)----You had sat in your office, staff coming and going, watching mounting fuckups outnumber successes. The long ignored glyph on your one time read terminal was flashing a steady amber. Perturbed at you. Running fingers through your hair, you walked over and committed to reading what was probably the second end to your career. They were always short messages at least. Commands. Mandates really. You sighed and touched your palm to the physical sensor of the device. A second later the message displayed, and you had 30 seconds to internalize it.>"READ!! We need more time. You will garner it for us, and shall consider all available and obtainable assets, to include the entirety of Ex-Nihilo consumable to this end. Immediately create a viable or perceived threat of such extent that the empire must commit it's attention on that and not elsewhere."The terminal went blank. You stared at it for a moment, considering that that meant. They had essentially ordered you and your entire staff to create a suicidal distraction. Alright. a small flask was procured from under your desk, and promptly consumed. you went back to watching security feeds as the next steps were considered. Things were slipping out of your gasp, but holding on was never really the mission.---The next morning, you tasked your staff with creating options for the next course of action. You were not disappointed.>1. Thunderbird HeavyYour engineers were inspired by the yellow knight interceptor, and believe they can refit one of the cruisers to be something similar. Attempts at a frigate are possible, but the utility of such a machine is debatable.or>2. Heavy FighterYour team knows strike craft. A heavy fighter might strike the right balance between cost and offense. There were more willing knights than there were frames, it could be a force multiplier.>3. Ersatz capital ship (combined glory ABC+arsenal concepts)You have cruisers. you have manufacturing. There isin't really anything new to make, just fitting it together, and maybe it'll be convincing enough to spook the imperials.or>4: Refined Glory spamThe glory has proven to be reliable, durable and repeatable. Outside the station are a surplus of the ships. shitty ones. You have schematics for better ones. Whatever you do, there would need to be tests, and probably hiding the damn things in the gas giant's shadow. There is a chance once the enemy sees these, all hell breaks loose.---Pick 1 or 2, and then 3 or 4. No rolls needed. Pick 1 to sacrifice to the enemy.
>>6342065>1. Thunderbird Heavy>3. Ersatz capital ship (combined glory ABC+arsenal concepts)>Sacrifice the Thunderbird Heavy.
Rolled 9, 12, 4 = 25 (3d20)>>6342046>1. attempt to lift the stricken knight into space with your interceptors (high risk, roll 3d20)--->1. Thunderbird Heavy>3. Ersatz capital ship (combined glory ABC+arsenal concepts)>Sacrifice the Thunderbird Heavy.
>>6342268>>6342344>Lift the knight: (9, 12, 4)Seeing the knight resist it's descent into the upper atmosphere of the gas giant, the interceptor crews moved to save the machine and it's pilot. Maneuvering around the knight frame, the interceptors "docked" as carefully as they could, ramming an wedging their craft into joints and any area of purchase. The interceptors were in truth just byproducts of the strike craft program, and incredibly fragile for it. Crews fought their dying craft as damaged reactors were shut down and functional ones were pushed past their operational limits. Engines began going autophagic, consuming themselves along with the hydrogen atmosphere, a final violent moment to their lives. Following her enemie's cue, Aura pushed her knight frame to the limit, irreparably damaging an heirloom and legacy. The combined effort wasn't enough, but the interceptors did have ultra short range tactical jump capability. A poor idea to use it within even such thin atmosphere, but sometimes you play the hand you are dealt.You watched the event unfold as sensor play back data, and hyperspectral video. A shower of wreckage blew out of the upper atmosphere of the gas giant, in it was the majority of a knight frame, and the shrapnel of your interceptors. Closer examination showed one unit was functional enough to return to base under it's own power, while one needed salvage and recovery. "Yellow Knight" and it's crew were destroyed, the gambit cost them more than their heavily damaged craft could handle.Your utility craft were dispatched to recover the wreckage which was then stripped of all damaged modular components. The knight crews had modified their interceptors more extensively than the strike craft, deviating from the practice of minimal modifications. There was enough viable material to rebuild one, and pull assets from the strike line to complete another. The interceptors were never a priority, and more of a beneficial offshoot of the displaced knights that dwelled on your station. It might be time to review that program.Your staff had compiled an assessment of the interceptor vs knight performance. At minimum, 3 interceptors were needed to pose a viable threat to a knight. Requiring 6 noble pilots against one, the cost savings were in the equipment, and the psychological need of noble knights to prove themselves. Even then the pilot your experienced interceptor crews fought was apparently a rookie.--Your knights had quickly secured the enemy frame within their hanger, promptly stripping the machine and attempting to fit their hodgepodge of disparate marks and models of components together into something resembling a complete frame. There were already rumors of planned duels for piloting rights, along with the admiralty wanting access to the frame and it's pilot. If they outright seized the asset you'd have a potential riot to deal with. You had new problems.--->feel free to make new interceptors.
>>6342580>Recovered: 1 critically damaged knight frame, and 1 enemy knight pilot.>lost "knight interceptor" asset. Gained "interceptor remains"---Consensus:>1. Thunderbird Heavy>3. Ersatz capital ship (combined glory ABC+arsenal concepts)>Sacrifice the Thunderbird Heavy.---Your command staff and engineering teams had come to consensus. The Thunderbird heavy was greenlit, and would become a tarpit for enemy intelligence efforts. You would have to straddle the line and create something that wasn't an actual useful asset, but could be perceived as one. Thankfully your project's strike craft had already done this once and had a reputation.Time wasn't on you side so every effort for this would have to be efficient. Visible in the right areas. The fleet's own projects would be a useful screen, refit glory As to Cs, strip obsolete ships for parts, create synthesis. It was plausible. Your station wasn't responsible for high tech things like the Glory-B. No, you'd make something out of nothing again.--In the coming weeks the mothball fleet around your station was gradually mutilated, chopped into sub components that were the most expedient for refit. The enemy intelligence speculation went into overdrive, theorizing some sort of "speed glory" or "jumboization" of the glory-C, possibly a mobile munitions production facility. Whatever it was, you were clearly taking tactically non-viable equipment and preparing it for use.--The glories were tough old birds, made monolithically and massively armored, and with few points that were logical for cutting. Your crews decided on the fore and aft sections as suitable regions for the project, while the kestrels were comparatively thin skinned, almost resembling a giant corvette or frigate. Given the age of their design, that design philosophy might be accurate. Regardless they were quickly put to the wreckers care, and stripped much easier. With some creative engineering you could keep the waste stream to a minimum. The real challenge was going to be creating a weapon system from scratch for the Thunderbird, something your team had never done before.---Roll for: 4d20Thunderbird Heavy primary weaponThunderbird heavy prototypeGlory refits and "busy work" to throw off enemy intel.Developing the capital ship prototypepick 2:1. Give the knight and it's pilot to the admiralty (gain access to glory-B technology and production means, possible riots.)or2. Keep the knight and continue researching a means to create an approximation of it's technology. (edge closer to unlocking knight frame production, possible duels on station.)and3. Support the captured knight frame refurbishment.or4. Support next gen interceptor/ heavy fighter development.
>>6342614>Give the knight to the admiralty A glory-b in the hand is worth a knight frame production in the bush, as my mother used to say. >Support next gen interceptor/heavy fighter development
>>6342618gimme them 4d20. We need to make high tier military equipment to turn the tide of battle.
Rolled 15, 20, 19, 19 = 73 (4d20)>>6342625a custom robo quest would go so fucking hard, and the lore is so batshit and sparse it would be super easy to just do whatever....
>>6342627Ok dice!!!!! Wth...
>>6342627 its fucking tempting. I really advise the players to not roll further, less you tempt the fates on this one, but who am I to stop fickle behaviors...I would still like to see if there is consensus with regards to:pick 2:>1. Give the knight and it's pilot to the admiralty (gain access to glory-B technology and production means, possible riots.)or>2. Keep the knight and continue researching a means to create an approximation of it's technology. (edge closer to unlocking knight frame production, possible duels on station.)and>3. Support the captured knight frame refurbishment.or>4. Support next gen interceptor/ heavy fighter development.
>>6342633Filing the idea away with the rest. No doubt I'd have it be about founding the Z Syndicate
>>6342614>2. Keep the knight and continue researching a means to create an approximation of it's technology.Building a Knight frame is half the reason why our disgraced knights fight so fiercely.>4. Support next gen interceptor/ heavy fighter development.
Rolled 1, 1, 1, 1 = 4 (4d1)>>6342614>2. Keep the knight and continue researching a means to create an approximation of it's technology. (edge closer to unlocking knight frame production, possible duels on station.)4. Support next gen interceptor/ heavy fighter development.
Rolled 1, 4, 16, 19 = 40 (4d20)>>6342769Yer giving me a heart attack, mah boiiHere, have some correct rolls
>>6342769>>6342769 looked for a good half a second until I checked the dice and saw the 4d1. You are the best kind of sick fuck. >>6342627>Knights: 1 for give, 2 for keep.You opted to keep the knight for your disgraced knights, with it that they might recover their honor. You also decided to embed your senior strike craft engineers and researchers with the disgraced knight population so their work could inform the next generation of interceptor/ heavy fighter.>1: Thunderbird Heavy primary weaponThe weapon developed was a fucking disaster. Original Thunderbird data, "Glassners" notes, and strike fighter rotaries formed the design, it begged for optimization and evolution; twisted bimetallic barrels could support helical rail gun functionality, but it was outside the scope the vessel's reactors. At the end of the day It was simply a very, very, large auto cannon. It was absurd, it was a logistical nightmare. Between misfires and ammo feed failures, if it did work the entire system needed replacement after a full magazine. It needed endless optimization. A perfect white elephant.>20:Thunderbird heavy prototypeFor the time frame and available resources, it was an impressive success. Taking the fore and aft of a gory A and C, fused them, creating a "Toe" and then used the split hulk of a Kestrel as additional armor and magazines for the hungry main weapon. One of your team even pointed out that the CWIS systems could be put back on. So long as the core "Toe" survived, it was survivable. It was ugly as sin, and absurd from a production standpoint, it would have been better to refit another ship, but this was a byproduct of your true project. It would keep the enemy guessing for a while as a steady stream of blueprints and curios leaked to them on "Thunderbird Heavy". At a glance it was hard to spot the source components and it was mistakable for an actual innovation, or maybe some sort of hotdog. Optimistically painted false missile hatches and chevrons sealed the deal.>19:Glory refits and "busy work" to throw off enemy intel.The shipyard did swift business on what was bulk work of important but low priority tasks like refitting glory As to Cs or repairing battle damage, and always producing strike craft. Older marks of kestrels were stripped for parts and apparently used to patch Glories or other cruisers. The diligent and tireless work played the part of a Pact that was cannibalizing itself to stay in the fight. They weren't half wrong.>19:Developing the capital ship prototypeTwo Glories and most of a Kestrel's core systems created this thing. It was made to look like a threat, and it played the part. From a production standpoint it almost made sense, very little was wasted on it, and what it gained was a gruesome amount of close to mid range firepower, complimented with a fighter swarm and torpedoes. The first was hidden in the shadow of the gas giant, lurking in it's upper atmosphere away from prying eyes.
>>6342808Forgot my name. Herpity Derpity.---Pictured left to right: Thunderbird Heavy, the rebuilt Knight Interceptor, a standard glory for scale, and the unnamed Capital Ship prototype.---Update:The enemy had begun probing your station's sensor boundaries with greater frequency, and ambushing civilian traffic, forcing your hand but also providing a chance to field the "Thunderbird Heavy" in a public manner. One was always attached to a carrier patrol, instructed to "fire only if necessary or opportunistic." The public was shown video clips of the craft during rare moments of it's main weapon firing, the flying sparks and flames a spectacle of it's operation and certainly not violent self destruction during operation.--Leadership was aware of the need to leak data to the enemy, and the thunderbird-h was an eclectic mix of brilliant salvaging and a horrific attempt at innovating something new, so poorly that some quietly questioned your competency or if the enemy would believe the ruse.--The knights had grown restless, as the now salvaged knight frame began mobility tests in it's hanger. Tethered like a giant marionette, but still, enough to stoke their passions, violence was escalating between those who viewed themselves as rightful pilots, and would place themselves above those who would settle as simple "fighter jockeys." It wasn't just between individual pilots, but at a family and clan level that spilled over into business and civilian alliances on the station. You deployed an increased security presence in hopes of quelling the unrest.--The fighter program had begun to grind forward once more, data from the knight interceptors, the frame restoration project, and errata from the admiralty itself directed the shape of things to come. The official nomenclature would be "Heavy Fighter", though it was closer in mass to a corvette. The new generation would have access to a combination of purpose made equipment and scavenged components.--->Roll: 6d20 please.(2d20, +2 for your first roll, -8 on your second roll. I'll calculate it. First roll is for the carriers and strike craft, second is for the thunderbird-H)The misadventures of the carrier and Thunderbird-H picket teams and protecting civilian ships. (1d20, -1 for potential imperial instigation and influence)Station security not fucking up.1. Give them the stick!or2. Don't give them the stick!(2d20) ResearchTry to debug the thunderbird-H main weapon. and1. Heavy fighter research. (will dictate what you can do and what you can get. A bad roll on the first will impact the second.)or2. Research a cheap spinal weapon for the capital ship.>Also:Please pick a name for the Thunderbird heavy and "Capital ship"
Rolled 19, 20, 12, 14, 15, 7 = 87 (6d20)What's the 6th d20 for?>>63428162. Give them the Stick!1. Heavy fighter research. (will dictate what you can do and what you can get. A bad roll on the first will impact the second.)Names:Roc for the Thunderbird Heavy, after the mythological bird. We can also slightly change it to account for language drift. Ruk or something, idk.Midget for the capital ship.
Rolled 6, 18, 3, 3, 8, 10 = 48 (6d20)>>6342816>Don't give them the stick!Try to talk them down first by addressing the knights:"Honoured Sirs and Dames, even though the stewardship of a knight frame is one granted solely to people of your station I must remind you that it is but a trapping. If a knight should lose their mount and lance, they will draw their sword and fight on. If even their sword is lost they will still serve their Lord in what ever way they can.""Yes a Frame is a valuable asset, one sorely needed in these trying times, but do not let your desire to claim it make you lose sight of your duty. As long as you continue to fight for the Pact-in any manner- you might yet rise again.">Research a cheap spinal weapon for the capital ship.Holy shit, our "capital " ship is a hot mess and I'd say it could almost be called a super-capital. The obvious name would be Chimera, but I think something wacky would be more appropriate. Let's call it the Wahoonie>>6342822Roc is fine for the Thunderbird heavy, I'll support this.
>>6342845>>6342822Know this honored players. I like the story, I like the roleplay. It will be incorporated. Even if you don't roll, even if you do, feel free to share ideas and play.
Rolled 17, 1, 13, 15, 3, 5 = 54 (6d20)>>6342816>Give em DA STIKKand>Research spinal weaponAs for the names, seconding Roc/Rukh for the Thunderbird - and if I be so bold, Rook? And for the 'Capital', some name ides: Victor, Lurch, Lugosi...
Hi QM I don't personally follow this quest but just a friendly bit of advice, you really should try to railroad less
>>6342816The whole point of the capital is to look intimidating and draw attention to it. I say we call it Armageddon.
>>6342854>Rukhalso a nice variant.>Rookhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGHArmJHAXY
>>63428226th was players rolling for enemy performance!>>6342822>>6342845>>63428542 votes stick, 1 vote not stick (but excellent RP)1 vote heavy fighter, 2 votes spinal weaponThunderbird Heavy, by 2 votes is now - Rook, but translated for drift: Grach>19(+2= 21!),18(-8= 10),13,15,15,7(+2)wew, those numbers. Been a long time since two crits negated eachother!-->19(+2= 21!),18(-8= 10) vs (7+2= 9)If there was one thing your station did well, it was recycle old shit into slightly newer shit. Right after that was train some of the best strike pilots in the Pact. Granted a lot of that training involved hard drugs, trauma bonding, and neural spikes, but the results spoke for themselves. Glory-Cs went out on patrol accompanied by "Grach"s, and they made that steaming pile of shit look great. Pilots baited or harried enemies into tight killboxes where the Grach could unload and create a spectacle. If there were no survivors, the only thing left to speak for the violence was wreckage and limited combat data. The enemy understood very keenly the Grach was an experimental craft with faults, but also came to understand it's capacity for raw violence, meanwhile the strike craft continued to stet the stage, fading from the attention share as something new garnered an unfair share of awareness and perceived thread. Damaged Grachs were no longer hidden, their wear, damage, and frequent repairs were well known, often considered a sign of the tremendous odds they were up against (they weren't.) and not at all shoddy design and workmanship (it was.)-->13-1=12"Give em the speech!"Your security crews busted heads while your voice carried over the station's archaic loudspeakers, and hijacked personal comms. "Honoured Sirs and Dames, even though the stewardship of a knight frame is one granted solely to people of your station I must remind you that it is but a trapping. If a knight should lose their mount and lance, they will draw their sword and fight on. If even their sword is lost they will still serve their Lord in what ever way they can."More violence was carried out, in moderation, some of your security forces were sent to trauma clinics, as were some knights. Reminders were broadcasted that resource waste, to include waste of life, was a dishonor to the Pact (you made it up.) and the knights didn't exactly buy it, but did agree to non lethal duels, starting with your security forces."Yes a Frame is a valuable asset, one sorely needed in these trying times, but do not let your desire to claim it make you lose sight of your duty. As long as you continue to fight for the Pact-in any manner- you might yet rise again."Part of the solution was a graceful acceptance of loss, helming cruisers or greater. There was such a long line of dueling and hierarchy that the spectacle was broadcast for weeks on the station closed circuit, and your overall martial arts culture has improved slightly.>+1 to all future boarding/ hand to hand engagements.
>>6342894>Research: 15,15You were fucking stuck with it now. The Grach was becoming a media darling, and the enemy was being leaked a constant stream of it's developmental data. They knew it was shit, but knew you were investing heavily, and had seen it's performance when it worked. Your engineers hit many dead ends in attempting to resolve the multitude of issues with the weapon system, fixing one to create another. Your team could have developed a viable heavy fighter by now, or probably halfway discovered how the frames actually worked. No, every damn day it was the fucking "Grach Gun", admiralty pinging you to make it work "but not too good."That day came, the day where it worked mostly right. No longer did you have human crews with exo assist gear manually loading rounds inside the breach, or only firing 3 of 7 barrels and claiming it was "low fire mode for prolonged engagements". Software was revised then deleted in favor of analog mechatronics. Changes to key materials were necessitated, apparently meting down the leftover kestrel hulls to create a weapon system is not "best practice in materials science". Your team ended up using particle screens off of the strike craft of all things; modulated correctly they acted as a much needed lubricant and hardened surface for critical wear parts. there were still ammo jams and failures, but what you had now was a solidly "OK" weapon system. One that the enemy did not yet possess a key technology for, and would likely invest excess effort in discovering or engineering around.It was a bitter irony that the "white elephant" was a creature you also could not get rid of. There was not enough time to develop a proper spinal weapon system for the capital ship. In the end an off handed joke during a staff meeting about finishing the "rain gun" became real. It would never fit inside a Grach, but the capital? there was just about enough room for a capacitor array to feed the gun, allowing it to fire in railgun mode 7 times, all at the cost of reducing the barrel life to a battle due to throat erosion. The capacitors also needed to be charged at the shipyard due to onboard power not being sufficient to recharge all 7 arrays in a feasible amount of time. Maybe during a protracted battle, at best, a ship might get off an extra shot. Still. There it was. You rubbed your temples as you went well into your 17th hour of the day, watching the shipyard work. It wasn't as powerful as a dedicated spinal weapon...but it had speed and reach At least it didn't need a different ammo for that, and it could still operate in a traditional method if needed. Granted it also only carried half the ammo of a Grach.This thing...it was a heap of armor and some very average to poor weapon systems, but it was a whole damn lot of that at any range and could probably force a knife fight through attrition.You finished writing down the last of your report and assigned a name to the gun system. "Cope."
Rolled 2, 3, 1, 18 = 24 (4d20)>>6342936Please feel free to vote on what you want.1. Chimera2. Midget3. Armageddon4. Cognis must name the ship.---Local events:>Shakedowns and stealth 1d20 (+3) vs my dice (+1)Hiding a capital ship was difficult, hiding a squadron in progress was daunting. Now you were about to send this very unsubtle thing out into the wild for a shakedown run, hopefully a quiet, uneventful, normal, shakedown.>Production and progress 1d20How many of these things had you built thus far? (top two rolls are counted, so get those 20s)>Knightly matters 1d20 (+1)While many of the disgraced knights accepted their posts, helming powerful ships of war, many more still craved what they felt was their right, and demanded satisfaction. They demanded a frame, or at least something akin to a frame.1. Develop towards a simple heavy fighter. Gain grey market resources next turn, rolls determine what is available.2. Petition the admiralty for a favor, in exchange for your Grach assets. This will help with a dedicated robotic frame. (a low roll means you loose many, while a high roll means they simply want a a handful of engineering samples)>Counter intrusion 1d20 vs my dice (+1)Roll to protect your station against sabotage. Beat my roll (I get a +1, do'hohoho...)--->Raihan ingenuity (just me rolling to see if the Raihan can cope better than the Pact, 2d20+1)The Pact was getting careless with their research, they unknowingly and carelessly handed the fruits of their labor to you in a most shameful display of ignorance. It would be foolish to not capitalize on their pains. While true, the Pact forces had certain technologies unavailable to your fleet at this time, your fleet had the manpower, resources, and cultural superiority to overcome, no, surpass, such petty limitations.
>>6342939 the last revision these ships. >Raihan local area R(everse engineering)&D(ickery): (1+1), (18+1)The Pact weapon was simply put, a bitch. It was a bastard and a bitch. It was miserable, it was bloody. To create exactly as is would be to embrace a level of savagery unbecoming. The design methodology was as cunning as it was stupid, and yet, it was viable. Perhaps more than viable. If cost effective, useful, but it needed refining. Thus far R&D had only been able to create short lived approximations of the beast. Small tranches for field testing are available. Their "Grach" or Thunderbird Heavy is an abomination born out of either insanity or desperation, possibly a lack of engineering capacity to create something new, if this weapon is of any indication, but it also has yielded a few useful insights.---The enemy will develop a new class of cruiser in two turns.
Rolled 3, 14, 16, 8 = 41 (4d20)>>63429393. Armageddon---2. Petition the admiralty for a favor, in exchange for your Grach assets. Funny how bastardized versions of the Thunderbird are getting more limelight than the original ever will.
>>634295710/10. would art again. Have this as thanks.Hopefully Glasner takes this as a challenge and throws down the gauntlet, surely it will not derail more important projects which are crucial to the war effort.Its a WIP and surely not how terrible the end result will be. surely.
>>6342952>Our research program was more useful to the enemy than to our sideAmazing.
Rolled 11, 18, 12, 14 = 55 (4d20)>>6342939>Cognis must name the ship.But I have named it.>>6342845This is me.>>6342952>>6342957Hoo boy Glasner is gonna have... opinions on these developments.>Develop towards a simple heavy fighter.
>>6342939you are 1>>6343198and you are 2
Rolled 2 (1d2)>>6343223and here we have the decision between fighters and small robots.
>>6343227>>6343198https://youtu.be/KvmW3h3oW3E?list=RDKvmW3h3oW3E [Afterburner - Zayaz]11,(18+14),16,14 vs 2,3>Shakedowns and stealth: 11(+3) vs 2(+1)Capital name: ChimeraThe Chimera was ugly, and brutal. On it's shakwdown run it simply prowled a deserted star system, a lonely orange dwarf with no planetoids. An unlucky pirate was spotted in a modified civilian hauler acting as a makeshift frigate. Secondary guns made short work of the ship and it's crew before they departed back to the home muster location.>Production and progress: 18+14= 32 Chimeras assembled. That also means there have been 32 Grachs made.You will have to roll for stealth on this in another roll. This is a very high threat rating. more to come.>Knightly matters: 16(+1): Develop towards a simple heavy fighter.You were caught you at the bar afterhours; surrounded and expecting an honor duel, maybe a brawl. Maintainers, a few engineers, and a pilot. You couldn't immediately recognize the battered suit and faded insignias. Looked patchwork. Eventually it clicked, it was a pilot of the knights errant. He approached you. "We need weapons, not tradition. The frame we cut down showed a weakness of flesh in the pilot, but also a weakness of steel. Give us new blades, heavier, stronger, and we will kill for you." You mulled it over for a bit "Not overly knightly of you." you couldn't see the pilot's face for the beak like visor, but you knew he was staring, considering a reply, but all you got was silence which you broke. "Yeah, Ok. It'll speed things up. Swing by hangers tomorrow, we'll have some inventory for you to review.">Counter intrusion: 14(+1 for hand to hand combat) vs 3(+1)It would have been more eventful to lie, but the imperial saboteurs were violently captured by means of mob action. The downside to having a mixed population living in impromptu slums and shanties everywhere is that there is a mixed population everywhere. The upside is, they are also everywhere, and do not take kindly to outsiders trying to fuck with their home. Your production has not been impeded, and the enemy has gained no intel on you. On the downside, there is nothing to debrief past passing on the enemy bodies and affects to the fleet proper.---have to run, will post later.
>>6343261The weapon was complete. Something to counter the damn Grach. Smaller, with only three barrels, it was the result of answering everything that was wrong with it's gun, known internally known by it's Pact designation as the "Cope."The whole assembly had been mechanically simplified. Bulky equipment and apparent workarounds were removed. A variety of high endurance sensors and adaptive algorithms instead harmonize the weapons operation, regardless of it's relative state. Part of that simplification had been a reduction in rotary barrel count, as well as a drastic reduction in scale. A pure electric drive was buried between the three barrels further improving packaging. The smaller weapon ended up with a net increase in the percent of it's mass dedicated to stiffness and anti-vibration. Caseless ammunition removed another headache, and allowed for an attached magazine and small onboard generator. A caliber smaller and less "energetic" propellant were selected, allowing the weapon to enjoy longevity between maintenance cycles that it's Pact counterpart would never know. Finally it was limited to a sensible rate of fire rather than the Grach's "Mad moment". With such endurance instead of having to "shoot and scoot", it could support the fleet for protracted engagements and provide flexible utility in battle. A handful of incomplete Ryus were selected for the task of testing this new system, perhaps shaping the way for future reverse engineering. The hulls stripped of their normal weapons compliment and mounts, along with any command utility. Instead they were plated with additional armor and installed with an outsized turret ring assembly, allowing twin rotary cannons a degree of freedom It was the philosophical inversion to the cobbled together "Toes" the Pact then uparmed and armored with whatever material was available.It had no name yet, but it was everything the Grach was not, and for the particular Raihan who were tasked with reverse engineering the Thunderbird Heavy, that was the best possible outcome.-->It needs a name.
Rolled 19, 12, 2 = 33 (3d20)>>6343364The Chimeras were hard to ignore anymore. You were constantly aware of them. There were tells too; traffic that dipped into the upper atmosphere of the gas giant, rumored sightings of "a giant ship" and your teams disseminating disinformation showing different angles of several cruisers flying in close formation can look like a single ship. Some people who got too close were simply shanghaied and pressed into Pact service, usually as a custodian on one of the Chimeras until it was "go time." You didn't know how much longer the imperial forces were going to keep observing and probing. Go time was fast approaching.You had gotten intel the other day, it almost made you laugh. It came from the Admirals. The enemy was considering that your little project was actually a key, if not primary, Pact research base, meaning they were planning an attack.Rolling for:Imperial early attack: over 15 and its happening.Imperial Chimera discovery: Over 12 and they know.Skirmishes with the new enemy units: enemy roll.https://youtu.be/hkUVkuRFGPQ?list=RDhkUVkuRFGPQ--Players, please roll 2d201> defensive posture during possible imperial attack2>Heavy Fighter testing. do you want another round of fighter building, if enough people do, I'll make the part chart. here is a sample of the heavy fighter options and a possible layout.
Rolled 7, 4 = 11 (2d20)>>6343466I'm up for it, even if it is a little abrupt since we're being attacked.
Rolled 16, 14 = 30 (2d20)>>6343466>Heavy Fighter testing.No better time for a time for a test. I hope we didn't leave out any important systems just so we could put in seats.
Rolled 1, 6 = 7 (2d20)>>6343466Just caught up. What a wild fucking ride.I am still partial to the original “hot dog” and Weiner missile, even if it was kind of retarded.
>>6343261>>6343600>>6343626>Battle: 19 vs 16The imperials attacked with everything they had in the area, and some outside reinforcements. Outside of abandoning other conflicts they had deemed your danger to the Empire to outstrip any utility that could be garnered from covert observation. You were outnumbered. The Civilians that were capable of fleeing had done so, with the remainder pulling towards the station for any hope of safety. Long range fire already incoming, most of it kinetic, your strike craft swarms would attempt to intercept, but the lasers were not optimal. Grachs and strike craft did not a fleet make. You would have been outnumbered, out ranged, and outgunned if not for 32 Chimeras jumping into proximity at once. It was a beautiful thing. Your crews had been training via an intranet simulators during their time hiding, and for the most part were familiar with the composition of the enemy forces, meanwhile the enemy radio chatter that could be captured indicated shock. They hadn't expected this.Acting as a firing group the Chimeras used a portion their limited railgun capacity to meet the longer range threats, sending hyper-velocity rounds in response. After the first few enemy cruisers were cored out, the hostile group pushed forward to engage in mid and close range combat where your forces were at home.>Knights: 14 Earlier a player rolled a 16 which unlocked a new inventory. That overdue item is now available, and you can assume it was in use. The new Heavy fighters were simply massive. Still capable of being put into carrier storage, but they were certainly not strike craft anymore. The two man crew were stored in a pod like coffin. Depending on the knight's preference, the machine may have a view of the outside world, or be entire supported by neural feeds or more primitive video feed. An alarm sounded, breaking the pilot's observation of the mechanics and engineers working. Battle!The machines were not even fully complete, there first test run would be trial by fire.During those first chaotic moments, the heavy fighters were mixed in with strike craft and simply intercepting an unusually large swarm of torpedoes. Here an there a long range laser removed a craft from existence, but the real violence started when the enemy TILE fighters got into the mix. The unmanned craft were equipped with a modest particle beam and around improvements. A few heavies went down as their particle screens were overwhelmed, panicked and tactical jumps took them in to another fur ball. Quickly though, the pilots grew accustom to actual combat in their new craft and began trusting the strike craft to handle lesser problems.---You looked out a view port, overlaid with holographic data. Small explosions blossomed like fireworks in the distance. It was likely this would be remembered as a significant battle in the war. The battle of Ex-Nihilo.
Rolled 3, 12, 7 = 22 (3d20)>>6343978Great to have you back! Also that one slipped in under my notice. It will be C O N S I D E R E D for future fuckery in the rolls.I am also a fan of the hotdog family tree. Sometimes there is charm in polishing a shitpost in a razor sharp concept.---You were taking in new battle information as fast as possible, the familiar pain of a migraine creeping behind your eyes as you studied the real time results of new enemy weapons. The TILE-X was concerning in only that it had a particle beam and minor improvements. If anything you were surprised it took them this long to pilfer the weapon. More concerning was the modified raihan patrol frigate, simply lumbering into theater with a full load of torpedoes, volley firing everything they had at a viable target, and proceeding to operate like a normal patrol frigate thereafter. They could be a problem for a fleet derived from glories and fighter craft. There were also visual confirmations of an unknown Ryu configuration, but it had not yet engaged with your force....scratch that, it was hunting down Grachs that got too far away from the protective range of the Chimeras.Your command terminal's notification beacon flashed red twice. Unapproved contact. But no one contacted that thing outside of the Admirals. It was an enemy Commander, apparently an Admiral. Pure text."Take it as a compliment that I always considered your activities a threat, and had consistently voted to destroy your installation at the earliest possible opportunity. That we arrive in this moment is the folly of curiosity beyond my own towards your efforts. I don't know who you are, but I have my suspicions. Few would field such audacious designs or embrace such radical practice. You will not survive this battle, but would you do the honor, command to commander, of giving me your name that it might be remembered?"Around you are reports, names...options. You are supposed to be dead anyway, not that you were notable in the first place. You consider if and how to respond.--->How do you respond?1. (Write in.)2. No response.3. You see a stack of design notes..."Harris Glasner."4. Ligma. >"Ryu Variant" (still needs a name. write in.)Roll for:Strike craft torpedo interceptionGrach malicious behavior and attempts at rearming at the station during battleHeavy fighter's ongoing performance. (prior rolls will be considered)Chimera's defensive performance. (+2 is in effect)The heroics of your only knight frame.---Rolling for the impact of these new enemy craft classes on the battle. A low or high roll doesn't mean a total victory or loss. It determines effectiveness of their strategy and initial casualties.>Ryu are hunting Grachs>TILE-X hunter killer groups are going after heavy fighters>Patrol Friages are attempting to destroy the Chimeras.--- some of the roll bonuses weren't mentioned in the post, but if they were enough to tip the scales I changed the narritive
>>6344009tl/dr: besides the responses, I need 5d20 per player. Get to rolling!
>>6343626You are my kind of scum, Cognis. If you want to stay in contact after this thread, let me know.
Rolled 2, 11, 2, 15, 4 = 34 (5d20)>>6344009>You see a stack of design notes..."Harris Glasner."Lets do this
Rolled 12, 12, 16, 20, 9 = 69 (5d20)>>6344009>3. You see a stack of design notes..."Harris Glasner."
Rolled 8, 10, 16, 19, 18 = 71 (5d20)>>6344009>"Ryu Variant" (still needs a name. write in.)Otori (lit. "large bird") if we want to keep the japanese theme of Ryu-class.
>>6344029>>6344049>>6344052"Enemy data keeps referencing some kinda big bird. Large bird.""Well what is it? Big or large?""Hard to say. The subtlety is in the language. Hard to pin it down.""Is the local name too long?""Nah. Just Otori.""Well fucking call it that."And that was how, within the Pact, the Ryu Variant got its designation.--->12(+1),12(+2),16,20(+2),18 vs 3 (+1),12(+1),7 (+1)>13 vs 8 Strike craft vs torpedo spam It would be a lie to say you weren't slightly smug. At this point there were so many strike pilots that it was beyond your capacity to know them all personally, but you were proud. They were your legion of degenerate human trash, going into battle eyes wide open and screaming on the open comms; and for what they are, they did great. They stayed on target, didn't engage with what they couldn't kill, and suffered fewer casualties than expected. The numbers were good. Fuck. They were becoming numbers. You had always griped about the commanders and the top doing that to their men.>Commanders note: We got lucky fighting on the defensive. The station's sensors provided targeting data of a fidelity our local ships cannot generate.>14 vs 3 Grach malicious behavior, combat rearming and Otori problems.Going on to not let you down were the Grachs, your ugly, retarded, angry, angry, reject children. They grew up so fast. They were still all of those things, but it was focused now. It was almost as if they resented meeting a more refined iteration of themselves, because almost every captain elected to go at full burn into knife fight range against the things, and gun them down by draining the ship's magazine. There were fewer otori than Grach to begin wtih, and this day there were a few less of the former. Otherwise the ships seemed to merrily wade in and out of combat, unloading into enemy cruisers and in moments of far too frequent waste and overkill, frigates. The Grachs were not without loss, or casualty. Nearly every ship suffered moderate damage with their reckless behavior, damaged Cope cannon, or a few blown out engine. One was already fully destroyed going too deep into enemy lines.>Commanders note: The Otori seems almost purpose made to eliminate our heavy fighters, it was a gift this day that they were driven off early in the battle. Those few heavies that went near the damn things were shredded before they could get within effective range.16 vs 13 Heavy fighter's ongoing performance. (prior rolls will be considered)(tiles The Heavies were massive compared to a TILE, and it showed in all regards. Pilots tried to use traditional strike maneuvers in the heat of battle and were quickly outflanked, taking damage and some casualties. The larger heavy was also a target for ships that normally ignored fighters, but it also offered them survivability in their realm of battle. Fights devolved into high speed gun runs with overwhelming firepower, and that suited the heavy pilots just fine.---
>>6344094>22 Chimera's defensive performance.The Chimeras were something that the Raihan in this area had not prepared for, because while they could outrun them, there was not a particular range of engagement that they couldn't hit back at. The closer an enemy got to a Chimera, the worse the retaliation became. Commanders were unwittingly writing combat tactics for the ship class as this engagement went on. Not to be outdone by the Grach crews, some captains ordered their ship to return to the station and recharge their capacitor arrays so they could continue coordinated plinking of distant enemy contacts. You looked at the ship and could only imagine what it would have been if your team had gotten hold of Glory-B refits.>18 The heroics of your only knight frame.https://youtu.be/2GcKrCnDBf4?list=RD2GcKrCnDBf4The Knight Errant had been "restored" using nonstandard sources. The entire thing was nonstandard, a hodgepodge of various knight marks and makes, it would be fully recognized as a "bastard frame". The former interceptor of the destroyed "Errant Wing" was broken down and incorporated into the frame, rounding out non critical subsystems and a few maneuvering engines. It also left it with a trick that most knights didn't have. An ultra short range tactical jump, reduced further due to the frame's mass, testing revealed it was just enough to get behind someone if they weren't careful, or possibly avoid a killshot.The pilot and machine streaked out of the knight hanger and into combat, immediately destroying tiles and even ambushing a few unwary thunderbird gunships. You picked this entity out in your strategic display, putting a "pin" on the Knight Frame. As the battle continued to unfold you watched the little machine cover tremendous amounts of distance, always staying close to allies. Smart pilot. You might be stuck with this one for a while.(+1 to knight frame rolls for the duration of this session)---Your hand was fully played now. At least the Admiralty couldn't accuse you dereliction of duty. The enemy was jumping in reinforcements; Fresh knights, their own Glories and Kestrels, old marks pulled from some forward staging location. They even had irregulars with them; mercenaries, maybe pirates paid to act the role. Your own leadership informed you help was coming, but it was going to be slow. The advice from them was to "Hold fast." Useful. very useful. More data was coming in from your "fleet". One of the enemy ships had attempted to dive deep enough into the atmosphere of the gas giant to ward off space born fire. This theory by the enemy captain was proven flawed as your Grachs commenced an orbital bombardment. Successfully. This meant they had an extra function. Planetary siege. Maybe warcrimes. That was for people with more rank to decide on.>>6344049>>6344029You eventually responded to the Raihan Admiral with a simple name. One that wouldn't be yours if you had to escape into territory unknown."Harris Glasner."
Rolled 12, 10, 3, 13, 9, 3, 18, 13, 19, 11, 3, 9 = 123 (12d20)>>6344112Well players. Time for a choice of tactics. Roll 5d20. This is an abstracted battle now.You will be pitting your dice against enemy waves. In order, dice by dice, your high number will be subtracted from the enemy high number, and then any difference will be further subtracted from your roll. Having no subtraction from your roll will increase your next roll by+1. If one of your dice looses more points than it has available, it is out of the battle and you loose a dice to roll for the next turn. (hitting zero on a particular roll series ends that dice) When you run out of dice, the battle is over.Its your time to shine players, to tell any snippets of lore or story. To offer thoughts and feelings, or to say "NonCognis, you aren't my real dad, and moms' only with you 'cause she needs the money!", My first roll will be 3 waves of 4 dice. May you not get viciously fucked.--->Roll 5d20
Rolled 7, 1, 11, 8, 15 = 42 (5d20)>>6344113
Rolled 4, 11, 20, 19, 2 = 56 (5d20)>>6344113
Rolled 12, 18, 3, 10, 8 = 51 (5d20)>>6344113Am I right to assume the the Cope Cannon is a SPEHSS version of the GAU-8 Avenger cannon?
>>6344121The Cope Cannon is a seven shot spinal rail gun. The OG Thunderbird was considered a space A10, though that mantle has been taken over by Thunderbird Heavy "Grach".
Rolled 17, 12, 18, 13, 10 = 70 (5d20)Damn, Not-Me, you've really taken it to the next level. You're art's better than mine and it's great to see how you've remixed my existing designs.Now I'm going to have to try redrawing your stuff to add to the next version of the fleet roster.>>6344019>If you want to stay in contact after this thread, let me know.Sure. Seek me out on the qst or skirmish discord. I go by the same name there.>>6344113Meanwhile, in the Higg system Glasner was busy supervising the Peace Shell project. So consumed was he by creating his magnum opus that he had delegated the running of the rest of the R&D division to Solei, with strict orders not to disturb him barring the most extreme circumstances.Suddenly Glasner felt a mighty itch in his nose.“ACHOO!”For a moment he got the strangest feeling that light years away, his designs were being butchered, his name stolen and hundreds of people were building, fighting and dying all so the Super Capital could be completed in secrecy.Frowning in annoyance he wiped his nose on his sleeve and returned his attention to fine tuning the guidance system for the new GL1Z-ZY jump torpedo.
>>6344228Thanks for the compliments man, look forward to seeing your versions!>>6344117>>6344119>>6344129>>6344121To elaborate on the Cope Cannon, its the same exact gun on both the Grach and Chimera, and its basically SPHESS GAU-8. There are some differences though.-The Cope CAN operate in railgun mode if it has sufficent power to charge it's barrels.-The amount of power needed is absurd, and only available from technology better than the trash we use and have available. The real Glasner, we are not. -The Chimera can fire it as a railgun, but only 7 times back to back before a lengthy recharge to even be able and fire it once. This is possible because the "Spinal" aspect of the weapon is a massive, but also crude, capacitor array. Its ammo capacity suffers in comparison to the Grach though, and it can fire conventionally; but it will have a much shorter lifespan for going "Brrt" before it runs dry.-The Cope is still maintenance heavy, and shooting it as a railgun hurts the barrels pretty bad, so lore wise thats an issue, in combat, not such an issue. It would need a massive workover from some sort of super genius to be able to operate full time as a Gatling rail gun.--->Round 1Best rolls: 17, 1, 20, 19, 15 VS. (12, 10, 3, 13) (forgot some mechanics, but here we go.17 - 12 = 5 (Win +1 to next roll) (subtract surviving value from enemy roll) 12-5 = 7, (subtract this value from initial dice value.) 17-7 = 10 this is your new dice value.1+1- 10 = loss, dead dice. player is now at 4d2020 - 3 = 17 (+1 next roll), 3-17= -14: overkill. Your dice value does not change.19 (+1) - 13 = 7 (+1 back to the first dice.), 13-7 =6, 20-6 = 1415 in reserve>Round 211, 20, 14, 15 vs (9, 3, 18, 13)11-9=2, 9-2=7, 11-7=4 (+1 to next roll)20 - 3 = 17 (+1 next roll), 3-17= -14: overkill. Your dice value does not change.14+1-18 = dead dice. The player is now at 3d2015-13 = 2, 13-2=11, 15-11 = 4>Round 34, 20, 4 vs (19, 11, 3, 9)4-19= dead dice. The player is now at 2d2020-11=9, 11-9= 2, 20-2=18 (+1)4+1-3 =2, 3-2=1, 4-1=3 (+1)the last enemy dice will now fight your first dice.18+1-9=10, 9-10=-1, overkill. no change in dice value (ending 19) +1 to your first dice.You remain at: 2d20-->Congratulations player. You survived, and perhaps even won the battle of Ex Nihilo
>>6344269https://youtu.be/ky2rtCpbn7k?list=RDKvmW3h3oW3E [One Hundred Hunters - Nigel Stanford]Wreckage. It was everywhere, if you looked hard enough you could almost make out parts of ghostly spheres where the battle was most intense. The sanctity of the human form was lost, as corpses drifted freely admits the shattered remains of great machines. This was a victory. At the core of this brutality were your creations. Some small, some quite large. They were in various states, the inert moment of ruin awaiting salvage, mangled yet prowling like an animal given to wrath, precious few still looked fresh at a distance, unmarked by the scars of war.You were the alchemist, tasked to create something from nothing. It was something, wasn't it? Leadership didn't allow the burden of taking time to account for feelings, and you were starting to understand that. You could look at each grain of sand, each life, and see the pain, appreciate the saga, the work, their moments, but during that expended effort you could have done more, and made it all better, even if you never saw it up close. At least you saw how that belief started. It was dehumanizing.You spotted survivors of local Noto defense forces who had either been around, or jumped in during the offensive. They paid too much. Graches maneuvered around the scattered groups like carrion birds. Now and again you saw a sparkle in the distance. Life pods ejecting.The philosophical moment was lost through interruption as your terminal flashed once more. Text message. It was the enemy admiral. "Well fought, Harris Glasner. You won't be forgotten. Not by me. Not by the Empire." The message left you cold. It was such a strange thing. Yeah. The "Admiral" didn't find it appropriate to reciprocate a name, and that was fine. Your salvage teams were already ripping everything of value they could from the field of battle, and intelligence assets were often fastest. Cold flipped to hate real quick. Fuck this guy.You pinged what remained of your fleet. What was battle ready was enough, you had a few enthusiastic captains ready to limp the carcasses of their Chimeras or Grachs into the next engagement. For now they needed to be still, recover. This place was changing you. All this disaster and trash and obsolete crap being shoveled into the furnace to burn something bright. Maybe birds of a feather flocked together, maybe you belonged here too.A lone knight frame streaked by your station, hauling enemy knight carcasses in each hand. Time to get back to work. You composed a message and set up a broadcast across all frequencies and networks available to you. The battle was won. The retaliation had not yet started.https://youtu.be/c-GZtnVPT4w?list=RDKvmW3h3oW3E [Mechanized Infantry - RFWM]---All players Roll 7d20 pleaseRescue operationsInitial salvage and recoveryField repairsSearching for intelReturn of the civiliansOngoing construction of heavy fightersReaction of "grey" forces in the area.
>>6344287Looks like the heavy fighter builder wasn't quite the hit the strike fighter builder was.If anyone feels bored, it becomes a lot more reactive once you start flipping, rotating, and stacking parts as you see fit. Maybe this one was a little too much freedom to color outside the lines, but if you are curious and were looking for rules; its just to have fun.>Lore: Heavy Fighters - The Knight we have at home.Heavy fighters are an alternative for disgraced knights, those who cannot pilot a frame for whatever reason; too far down in the line of succession, exile, poverty, etc, but the machine will still cater to a knight being able to fully tailor the craft to their taste and ego. It puts a useful asset, the knight noble, into play.To that end, much like a Noto strike craft, a heavy fighter is more of an abstract set of requirements and constraints, built from a common pool of readily available materials to operate within a performance limit that is simply: be more than a strike craft, less than a corvette or knight within the realms of cost, materials, capability.There is already a growing divide between those who call themselves knights, and those who are are slowly coming to accept a new identity.
Rolled 10, 6, 9, 11, 3, 16, 7 = 62 (7d20)>>6344287>>6344305>Looks like the heavy fighter builder wasn't quite the hit the strike fighter builder was.In my experience players generally don't respond well to complete artistic freedom, it's too much effort for most people to actually open up a graphics program, cut out all the bits and arrange them. They'd much rather choose options from a list and let you do the assembly.
Rolled 20, 8, 9, 17, 6, 5, 3 = 68 (7d20)>>6344287
>>6344305>>6344396>They'd much rather choose options from a list and let you do the assembly.This. I couldn't even tell we were supposed to assemble them ourselves. And you didn't repost what each component is so we don't know what to even assemble from them. And generally I prefer more choices over rolling dice desu
Rolled 4, 19, 5, 2, 3, 9, 13 = 55 (7d20)>>6344287
>>6344418>>6344396absolutely true, its why i chose not to participate
Rolled 14, 4, 6, 11, 13, 7, 20 = 75 (7d20)>>6344287
((Not quite ready to resume QMing yet but I wanna drop this little interlude))Heran Ruhi floated in a data trance, reliving a memory of simpler times. For a moment she was a young woman again, indulging in a stolen moment with a forgotten lover. It was almost another life, long before the series of choices that led her to taking up the mantle of High Admiral of the Joint Pact Defence Fleet. She couldn’t quite remember his name or face, but she remembered his warmth, his touch. The details faded but the impression remained.She shivered as he ran her fingers through her hair and looked up to see a handsome, groomed man, clad in a black body shell.“Thank you Heran, that was something I’ve never truly been able to experience.”With a gasp she pulled away, digital cheeks flushed hot with embarrassment, indignation and something else that she hadn’t experienced in a long time.“There, you have your ‘novel data’ machine, now examine the state of the war and show me a path to victory.”They were back in the sterile default environment of the data trance. The AI Holloway immediately started shuffling through the provided data on all recent battles, running multiple simulations in parallel, extrapolating likely outcomes of decisions that had yet to be made.Threatening Holloway’s companion had only gone so far in securing his co-operation. Apparently AIs like him valued “novel data”, especially the kind that could only be generated by organics.And so she had offered him memories. Frivolous ones at first; the taste of ice-cream, the sensation of a blade slicing skin during a duel; but little by little he -it- had convinced her to share more personal things.As she watched Holloway process the data Ruhi became curious.“You seem to care deeply for your companion, surely she’s shared similar memories with you?”“She tried, though she couldn’t do it like you can. Your kind’s ability to interface with me in this data trance of yours allows a level of… connection that wasn’t possible with her.”A flash of feminine pride swelled within Ruhi; she was a better mistress than the other woman. Maybe one day she’d make him forget about that addled Auditor and willing give himself- no, itself; it’s a machine; it’s a tool, it should not evoke these feelings, it’s not even alive.“I’m as alive as you need me to be Heran.”Admiral Ruhi withdrew from the data trance..>>6344287>"Well fought, Harris Glasner. You won't be forgotten. Not by me. Not by the Empire."((MFW Glasner is still such a nobody that the Imperial Admiral didn't even recognise the name despite him being the Head of Pact R&D.))
>>6344480Yep, Holloway is preparing to breach.
>>6344478 the feedback is appreciated. It was a risk, and a small disappointment (not too bad, I'll reuse them in the future), but I wanted to see if there were any artfags to bait in, or coax any newcomers into the world of pushing a few pixels. On the bulk dice and general gameplay, I agree, but I wanted to mechanically/ thematically different. Being the parasitic QM lets ya do those things, and maybe even entertain the primary QM. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and Cognis, your players demand you. Your writing is superb. >>6344480((I was assuming they know who Glasner is, but that the nameless side story protag just heaped the blame of his actions on Glasner, I really didn't expect players to run with "No! I'm Spartacus" as the option, but, now Glasner will be credited with things he never did, if only for a moment. Maybe longer if his ego knows no shame. I mean they were his designs after all. Its like he did all the work really. Right?))
>>6344396>>6344418>>6344477>>6344403>>6344456man, those dice! 20, 19, 9, 17, 13, 16, 20>20 Rescue opsThere was significant life lost in this battle, yet living crew members from both sides drifted, rescue beacons pinging in the dark. Expectations death were subverted when your crews began hauling enemy individuals and even entire crews, to safety and subsequent capture. Your own forces handled damage control and egress drills well, and it served them well. The fleet would need new bodies, but not so many that they'd hurt for experience. These survivors would go on to provide experienced officers to the Pact fleet.>19 Salvage and recoveryThe smoothness of your utility teams facilitated the prior efforts of rescue, simply by tirelessly moving wrecks into proximity of the station. By day two your station was ringed with an eclectic mix of the two fleets, many of which offered valuable components, or potential for an outright repair and return to service. It was likely the admiralty would be keep to get their share of the spoils, and soon. It would take some time, but what was lost would be returned and more.>9 Field repairsYour crews aren't unnumbered, and for that they have limits. One of them was not wasting time with field repair. What was broken would stay broken for a while longer.>17 Searching for intelThe enemy ships and crews provided a trove of minor secrets, but the biggest one came from nav computers that hadn't been cleared properly. The mustering point of this enemy fleet and their immediate leadership. An occupied backwater planet on the edge of Noto's territory. It was time to pay them a visit.>13 Return of the civiliansYour station was no enjoyed the illusion of being an out of the way safe haven. Even as it grew, people held onto the belief, perhaps in denial, that it was worthless to the enemy. Those who returned were entrenched by relationships, a mission, trade, or otherwise. They were the people who wanted to be there.
>>6344498>16 Heavy Fighter constructionMaintainers swarmed over partially finished fighters, committing to hand fitment where needed. Your human crew and automation line worked together in an odd dance, one that occasionally ended in an industrial accident. Otherwise production numbers were acceptable. The fighters took up a lot of space, and the Admiralty had already secured a few examples and all your tech data, so the rest were shoved onto the Chimeras as part of their "fighter compliment", augmenting the strike craft.> 20 Reaction of "grey" forces in the area.Power was like energy. It couldn't be destroyed, only redistributed. It also consolidated where there was more power. You had just showed the local area that your swinging dick was the biggest, and they responded accordingly. Ambiguous mercenary and not so ambiguous pirate forces moved in where civilians moved out. Their motives varied, but the common factor was they had resources, connections, and a willingness to fight and maybe even follow an approximation of orders. The ships they brought with were almost useless, but here and there were gems from previous conflicts or older times. Much older times in a few cases. A lot of their value right now would be in deterrance of any further attack while you recovered, and a large labor pool.In time this group of disparate factions would go onto become a somewhat large corporate mercenary force and producer of small craft. Guided by the constraints of war time, structured through violence and destructive testing, their loyalty bought through divestment of "surplus equipment and non standard war materiel". It was a story for another time.--With the shipyard back to semi normal operations it was time for a decision, and you had options. Enough Chimeras and Grachs were serviceable and on hand to prosecute a retaliation against the enemy leadership. You could also let the real fleet handle this. No one would accuse you of not doing enough.>Pick an option1. Commit the strike force. You were confident in your local defenses.or2. Transmit the enemy location data to the admiralty and let them deal with it.
>>6344501>1. Commit the strike force. You were confident in your local defenses.ATTAAAAAAAAAAAACK!
>>6344501>1. Commit the strike force. You were confident in your local defenses.Every time we destroy a ship, the Raihans are delayed a bit further and mired deeper.
>>6344501>1. Commit the strike force. You were confident in your local defenses.Ex-Nihilo leads the way.
>>6344504>>6344521>>6344522A reactionary strike force was reconstituted from the remains of your fleet, those that were combat capable without need for major repair. Of those Ships many still sported crude interim repairs like fresh scars, bare metal contrasting against painted hulls. It was the same for the crews and fighter compliments, with the most readily available and capable pushed into duty, sticking out amongst their new communities; uniform patches indicating another ship entirely, or mercenary forces commingling with knight nobility. The friction was minimal though, and by your station's 30 hour mid day, all the ships in the strike force had submitted a request to jump.They were gone as fast as approval had been granted. The shipyard continued on, it's work never done.---the group commander of the strike force took in sensor data of all the ships, combining it into a relative truth to overlay against the garnered intelligence from the wrecked raihan ships, enemy crew interrogations, and intel staff assumptions. The match of assumption to reality was pretty good. "Fidelity is high. We can proceed." This was the furthest these crews had operated from the station, and now the familiar benefits of it's powerful sensors were gone. They were groping in the dark, crawling forward in search of their target. Perhaps prey. Glittering in the distance, the stealthier strike craft were dispersed into a wide sphere, their meager sensors providing the first layer of detection ahead of the Cruisers and Capitals. It was clear so far. The destination wasn't within visual range yet, but a few more hours of coasting would resolve that. Intranet chatter brought up concerns that the enemy leadership could flee before they were captured or neutralized. Authorization for diplomacy attempts was granted by the admiralty, should the opportunity present itself.>Make a Choice1. Be aggressive. execute a tactical jump and land on top of them.- You will engage in combat, but the enemy has a low chance of escape as long as you can survive.2. Stay hidden as long as you can, try to catch them unaware.- There is risk and reward, too long and they slip away, just right and maybe you get the drop of them.3. Attempt gunship diplomacy, contact them.- Players write in and try to convince the enemy to surrender, offering clemency.
>>63446272. Stay hidden as long as you can, try to catch them unaware.Were more than capable of sniping these guys.
>>6344627>2. Stay hidden as long as you can, try to catch them unaware.Also, have a fighter I cobbled together for your efforts.
>>6344627>2. Stay hidden as long as you can, try to catch them unaware.>>6344480See you soon. I'm ready for the duo Holloway action.
>>6344644>>6344728You've restored my faith in humanity, opened an image editor, and even used the wings in a non conventional way that I didn't foresee.>>6344735The group commander's patience had paid off. The barest ghost of a return signal showed up on networked passive sensors. You were getting a very large return from the enemy. An obvious orbital depot, and something that had the volume of capital ship should be. It was more likely to be a large pleasure liner, why the enemy was using this as their evac was a curio in the moment, but coordinated railgun shots soon reduced it's ability to meaningfully egress. The questions could be answered later.Shrieking nobility condemned the attack almost immediately, unaware that your fast movers and Grachs were trailing just behind, ready to ensure no viable routes of escape would remain. The token resistance present was swiftly gutted in a deluge of heavy kinetic rounds even as the hostile depot was shredded at standoff range, what gun emplacements it could bring to bear were swiftly neutralized by strike craft.The enemy had enough radio chatter to give a vague sense of what was going on here. It had been a minor depot, but was now a staging ground for a celebration. There was no grand last battle, it was a route of fleeing administrators, leaders, and minor nobility who had chosen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, preemptively anticipating a swift victory over Noto.---The group was parked around the ruins of the depot, next to the massive pleasure liner. Below them on a backwater planet was a minor military installation, apparently enemy intelligence. despite being unable to assist in any meaningful way, they spent their last moments transmitting all available data on the assault, ship classes, even commentary on tactics. Professional, almost worth admiring, but now they needed to stop. The Admiral who directed the attack on Ex-Nihilo was down there somewhere, but he wasn't coming up, and your heavy ships sure as hell weren't going down. They could just wait long enough for a Raihan strike force to jump in and wear your ships down with attrition.As your Group commander briefed you of the situation, it was certainly a problem. You had options though.---1. Use the Chimeras to push the pleasure liner into the planet's gravity well and see if you can crush the installation.-Roll a 1d20 for this.-A lot of Raihan upper crust will die from this.-It will certainly send a message.-The admiral will be dead.2. Have the Chimeras and Grachs use their cannons to execute orbital bombardment. Run the magazines dry.-Its not a warcrime the first time, but the enemy will now be more wary of these classes of vessel and their secondary uses.-The admiral will be dead.3. You have a not insignificant amount of heavy fighters, craft that happen to be atmo capable. Perhaps they should "knock" on the Admiral's door.-Gotta roll 2d20 for this-Admiral might surrender and might live
Rolled 7, 7 = 14 (2d20)>>6344760>3. You have a not insignificant amount of heavy fighters, craft that happen to be atmo capable. Perhaps they should "knock" on the Admiral's door.Hey, we got em, might as well use em.
Rolled 7, 11 = 18 (2d20)>>6344760>3. You have a not insignificant amount of heavy fighters, craft that happen to be atmo capable. Perhaps they should "knock" on the Admiral's door.
Rolled 2, 19 = 21 (2d20)>>63447603. You have a not insignificant amount of heavy fighters, craft that happen to be atmo capable. Perhaps they should "knock" on the Admiral's door.-Gotta roll 2d20 for this-Admiral might surrender and might live
Rolled 7, 6 = 13 (2d20)The admiral refused to surrender, instead deploying surface to air anti weapon systems and any available aerospace assets.>your roll will be pitted against this roll. Lets see what he has.
>>6344778>>6344793>>6345006>7, 19 vs 7, 6The enemy admiral refused to surrender, committing to a brief but intense battle on the ground and in atmosphere. Your heavy fighters encountered an initial salvo of vicious anti air attacks, to include air burst nuclear munitions. The battle group was forced to silence the attacks with less than precise "Cope" bombardment, which devastated the local ground forces. Once the heavies were able to break atmosphere properly, the battle in the air was brief, with limited and obsolete atmo fighters trying and failing to meet parity against your forces.With no further means of defense, the enemy resistance collapsed despite their leaderships urging a fight to the last man. Their leadership was found sequestered into a reinforced underground bunker which had to be breached open with an improvised thermic gouge.-->Epilogue:In the immediate aftermath, enemy survivors were ferried off world and marshaled onto the disabled pleasure liner. Pact forces proper would end up using several utility craft to act as tugs and collect an asset loaded with low ranking nobility, businessmen, their households and accompanying servants. It was their headache now.The enemy Admiral enjoyed a ride on the front of a Chimera, strapped in a life support pod. His transport back to your shipyard was a bit of a parade, if only for the local crews and civilians. You never met him personally, but your staff debrief confirmed that his forces believed they fought against Glasner. He even got a villainous nickname "The Arch-itect". The admiralty would get a chuckle out of that.Leadership requisitioned (see: appropriated) a handfull of each ship class unique to Ex-Nilhilo, and got them. They were to be paired with your project's research notes and studied. The rest of the ships outside of a small reserve for defense were dispersed into the Pact for commander familiarization, to a very mixed review.You continued to manage the shipyard, and it's complexities. The strange cooperation between the military, noble, partisan, and civilian continued to yield fruit, in particular an abundance of useful if slightly irregular crews, which worked just fine on useful if slightly irregular ships.--[spoiler If summoned, NonCognis is around for additional stories, otherwise I'm just another anon again. They are smaller ideas about individual fighter groups, and not-pirates. [/spoiler]I hope that this interlude has managed to entertain and pass the time. Cognis, when ready, the show is yours.
>>6345059ending on a broken spoiler. the dignity.
>>6345059>I hope that this interlude has managed to entertain and pass the timeIt has! Thank you for keeping the players engaged. Reading your work has given me all sorts of inspiration.You praise my writing but you've been writing some thrilling action sequences which the main quest lacked. Anyway, I have neglected this quest for too long, but before we get to the next decision point have this little interlude inspired by the exploits of Ex-Nihilo.---------------Meanwhile…Horned Princess Shipyards, Car’cass System“Jack, did we ever sell any Thunderbirds to the Raihans?”“I… don’t think so?”“Then why am I getting reports of the Imperials fielding unmanned Thunderbird variants!? Even the Pact are making their own knock offs!”“Uhh…”“Lady Shimada, if I may?”Shin-Claih, Head of Intelligence.“I believe that the designs were leaked.”“What? Was there a data breach you forgot to tell me about?”“No my Lady, but do you recall who originally designed the Thunderbird?”“Some incompetent convict engineer we got from Shima, uh… Henry, Harry?”“Harris Glasner, the current (Acting) Director of Pact R&D.”Jack sat up immediately.“Oh I remember him! His work had sovl... Wait a minute; that is theft of intellectual property! We legally own all the designs Glasner made while he was working for us. Shin-Claih, get legal up here, we need to sue his ass! And the Raihans too while we’re at it.”Mayumi rolled her eyes.“Jack, somehow I doubt that either the Imperial or Pact Courts are going to bother with this.”“Well then go sic Captain Farron on him, isn’t he like, a super soldier?”Mayumi let out a long exasperated sigh.“Formidable as the esteemed Captain is, I doubt even he can infiltrate a fortified military facility deep within Pact space to assassinate Glasner.”“Woah, woah! I don’t want the guy dead, he makes some cool shit. I just want the Captain to, uh, slap him around or something.”“Ugh, let it go Jack, the Thunderbird was a terrible design and I really could care less about it being stolen.”Jack looked severely wounded.“Mr. Horner, if I may; with all the footage of ships with large rotary cannons wreaking havoc going round the infonet a certain mania has set in for similar designs. This would be an excellent opportunity to advertise the Warbird and Crown.”Jack immediately lit up again.“Oh HELL YEAH! Get the marketing team in here! I’m already getting ideas!”Mayumi shook her head and smiled weakly; at least Jack was doing what he did best.>Quest will continue shortly.
High Admiral Ruhi connected to a secure data trance, shared with members of the Pact Council and various high ranking military officials. The avatars of all present acknowledged her entrance with a respectful bow.“High Admiral, have you any news?”“The War goes better than it has any right to. The Imperial counter-attack has been completely negated. Ex-Nihilo have performed beyond expectations; the Imperials are so fixated on the threat posed by Grachs, Chimeras and Ersatz Knights that they have no idea what Glasner is building at Higg.”“Our losses have been horrific, the current casualty rate is unsustainable. All these victories have done is delay the inevitable.”Lord Tseng of Kornen, ever the optimist. Though Kornen had not seen much fighting, it paid the brunt of the war’s economic toll. Kornens industry toiled relentlessly, burning out man and machine alike to keep the Pact Fleet supplied and operational. No one was more aware of the rate of attrition than Lord Tseng.“I have no intention of trying to match the Imperials on an even playing field,” said Ruhi. “It’s time to slip a knife into the Empire’s ribs.”Ruhi gestured to the avatar representing the Commander of the Covert Strike Group. Like the Alchemist, this person had been disgraced, then given authority and charged with turning the tide, somehow. Stripped of their old identity, they were known only by their codename: Stiletto.“As Lord Tseng said, we cannot continue to grind against the Imperials at Noto and expect to win. It’s time to take the fight to them.”“While I am eager to strike a blow against the Empire, the last time we decided to launch such an operation, it was a disaster. How do we know this time will be different?”“Things are different now, the CSG gained valuable experience harassing the Imperials during the Noto counter-offensive, we have more assets in play and many of the kinks in the early stealth frigate designs have been worked out.”Several displays of different star systems sprung up at the center of the mind space.>cont
>>6345159“I have planned three operations for consideration by the Council. The first is to have the CSG infiltrate Imperial space and perform a campaign of harassment on their supply lines. It’s not glamorous, but we believe that by ambushing supply convoys and striking minor industrial sites over a long enough period we can negate the Empire’s economic advantage. It will also reduce the Imperial’s ability to project power and relieve pressure on Noto.”“The reasoning is sound, but I fear the prolonged timeframe will give the Imperials time to react,” mused Lord Yarin.“Second Operation involves opening a second front at Shima. For some reason the main Imperial Military has not seen fit to fortify Shima and the system remains garrisoned mostly by the Shimada Household Fleet. The CSG will move in support of a mercenary unit and dismantle the system’s defences. The Imperials will be forced to divert their forces, or expose the system to invasion.”“If the Imperials do not care to properly defend Shima, why would they care if it were to fall?” Asked Lady Banfield of Noto.“If they let Shima fall then they are fools indeed. Shima may not be the most developed system, but it can still provide valuable resources to our war effort. Not only that, the people of Shima will likely be more tolerant of Pact occupation, given it was the Imperials who decapitated their government moments before they voted on whether to join the Pact in the first place.”Stiletto’s avatar hesitated for a moment and glanced at Ruhi. She narrowed her eyes and nodded for them to continue.“The… the final operation is a deep strike upon the Far Halo shipyards at Raiha itself. Our Primary target is the super capital under construction. If successful we will deny the enemy their super capital and severely reduce their capacity to construct capital class vessels going forward.”“The Imperial Capital is the heart of enemy territory, its defences are nigh impregnable! Even with stealth frigates it can’t be possible to hit them there!” Gasped Yarin.“With the help of the High Admiral’s shackled AI, we have formulated a plan with a 70% success rate. All formations of the CSG will be committed to this attack, we have prepared multiple contingencies, as long as even a single ship reaches the target we will succeed.”>cont
>>6345160“And what of extraction?”“Extraction is not a priority. The CSG expects and is prepared to sustain… extreme casualties in order to carry out this operation.”It was brief, but everyone heard Stiletto’s voice falter. Clearly they were not keen on that particular operation.“Well then,” said Ruhi. “Let us discuss our next move.”Select Operation for the Covert Strike Group:>Operation Heartbreaker: Destroy the Imperial Super Capital under construction at the Far Halo Yards in the Raiha system. There is a very real chance the entire CSG will be wiped out in the attempt.>Operation All Nighter: Prolonged Harassment of Imperial Supply Lines, will slowly degrade the Imperial war effort, negating their numerical and economic advantage.>Operation Tsushima: Cripple the Shima Garrison, opening up a second front in the war and exposing the system to invasion.((Wow I just wanted to write a goofy quest about a space ship autist building ridiculous designs but now I've gone and written a space opera complete with romance sub-plot. This is all your fault Not!Me, way to remind everyone that shit's all dark and brutal in the background while Glasner is being silly.))
>>6345162>Operation Tsushima: Cripple the Shima Garrison, opening up a second front in the war and exposing the system to invasion.The enemy cannot construct a super capital vessel, if you disable the enemy’s hand!Seriously though. If we divert enough resources then they can’t run their precious wundervaffe program.Has anyone paid any thought to whether the Empire is doing this just to force us to waste resources?
>>6345162>>Operation Tsushima: Cripple the Shima Garrison, opening up a second front in the war and exposing the system to invasion.Less resources for them and more for us.Literally a win-win
>>6345162>>Operation Tsushima: Cripple the Shima Garrison, opening up a second front in the war and exposing the system to invasion.Not willing to send our CSG on a deathride. But opening a new front? That's valuable.
>>6345162>Operation Tsushima: Cripple the Shima Garrison, opening up a second front in the war and exposing the system to invasion.We might get more manpower from Shima, and thats always useful, especially if played that their short term cooperation will grant them independence. Independence from what? subjective.--Comedy and Tragedy, a beautiful engine, ever eating itself. Got an immediate chuckle from the Mayumi/ Jack scene. Appreciate you wrapping up my lore errors/looseness with a bow.
>>6345162>>Operation Tsushima: Cripple the Shima Garrison, opening up a second front in the war and exposing the system to invasion.
>>6345162>Operation Tsushima: Cripple the Shima Garrison, opening up a second front in the war and exposing the system to invasion.
Rolled 6, 9, 5, 2 = 22 (4d10)>>6345191>>6345198>>6345250>6345353>6345472>6345521Looks like it's unanimous then.Shima Garrison:Base: 3???: +1 Die, +1 to Third Highest Result.???: Triples add +1 to all results.Pact Strike Force:Base: 3Super Heavy Torpedos: +2 to highest resultTactical Jump: Re-roll up to 2 dice if you lose the contest.Command Vessels: This side wins ties (negated)Covert Strike: +2 Dice, doubles replace the highest enemy dice value with the lowest.AI Assist: Doubles grant +1 to all dice results, triples grant an auto win on the highest dice pairing.>Roll me 5 d10s
Rolled 1 (1d10)>>6345676
Rolled 4, 1 = 5 (2d10)>>6345676Fuck em up Stiletto!
Rolled 1, 1 = 2 (2d10)>>6345676>2 1s so farohnonononono
>4 / 5 1sAdmiral Ruhi? More like Absolutely Rekt. Surely someone can tactically jump us out of this mess...
>>6345680>You've heard of the QM curse, now get ready for the co-QM curse>>6345691>>6345694(and he's taking everyone with him)
>>6345680Oh boy, is that a buzz saw drill fighter?>>6345680>>6345691>>6345694Well, quad 1s will still trigger your bonuses, but you'll need your tac-jump re-roll to save you.
Rolled 8, 10 = 18 (2d10)>>6345676Rerolling
>>6345698>>6345680>>6345691>>6345694Shima Garrison Highest:2,6,5(6)vsPact Highest:10(13),8(9),4(5)Pact Victory
The last time the Pact had attacked Shima they had tried to draw out the garrison while the mercenary Starwind lured a giant space crab to destroy the enemy command centre. That plan had failed. One thing intelligence had learned was that the Shimada Household fleet was remarkably well equipped, possibly better equipped than a regular Imperial battlegroup, in spite of House Shimada supposedly lacking favour in the Imperial Court.This time there would be no distraction, it was not necessary. Squadrons of stealth frigates slowly penetrated the outer picket line, running silent for weeks in order to get into optimal firing position.When the time came the garrison had no idea what hit them. The two military space stations housing the bulk of the system’s strikecraft and frigate garrison were destroyed by saturation torpedo strikes.House Shimada’s flagship, the Daimyo was crippled after a squall frigate landed a critical hit on its drive system. Although its escort managed to drive the frigate off before it could finish the job. Of course there were still plenty of active enemies throughout the system. On more than one occasion CSG squadrons had been attacked by advanced railgun frigates and some kind of fast torpedo carrying strikecraft. Luckily the squall captains had managed to initiate tactical jumps to escape their pursuers.A small number of squalls were destroyed by railgun fire, or had the misfortune to jump into another enemy patrol, but generally the casualties were light.Once the CSG had done its work a Pact Carrier group accompanied by mercenary forces jumped in and began the task of hunting down the remaining active capital ships from the Shimada fleet.>Quest will continue later…
>>6345676Do four 1s count as doubles, triples or both?
>>6345733In the last roll off I counted them as both although I think in the future I'll just count the best effect per modifier. e.g. a triple would give you the auto win from A.I. assist but not the +1 buff.I could also restructure the modifiers so that they don't grant more than effect based on dubs/trips.>>6345696>co-QM curseIt's weird because I think we've inadvertently created one of those collab quests they sometimes talk about on QTG but nobody can ever agree to actually run.
((Sorry for skipping out on the art again. I swear I'll get round to making all the new designs that have popped up.))You are Merrick Solei, Sub-Director of Pact R&D and temporarily in charge while your boss gives his undivided attention to the very important project that is Peace Shell.For better or for worse a flood of data had come in from the Noto system shortly after you assumed leadership. It seemed the Ex-Nihilo group was raising hell.There had been some talk about developing a standardized heavy fighter as an intermediate step between regular fighter drones and knight frames. Both you and the admirals had concluded that this was a waste of resources. If you were going to make something for the knights better to just straight up rebuild the knight frame technology. In their desperation to cobble together a frame of their own, the noble scions of Ex-Nihilo had already done half the work for you. You found it both sad and impressive that people who had trained their whole lives to be warriors now flung themselves into studying robotics and neural interfaces in between fighting some of the most intense battles of the war thus far.>You have gotten a step closer to rediscovering Knight Frame technology.In the end it was fitting that the heavy fighters remain bespoke machines, much like the knight frames they so desperately tried to be. On the other hand reading all the messy technical reports had given the interns an idea for a modular drone fighter that could be easily customised to suit different mission profiles. It’s payload would not be as generous or as varied as a heavy fighter but it would be far easier to maintain and at this point anything would be a step up over the old TILEs.>Gained design for the Zweihander modular drone.Aside from all the “breakthroughs” in strikecraft tech there was the data regarding the Grach and Cope cannons. Initially they had been conceived as a distraction; something bombastic to trick the Imperials into scrutinising a technical dead end. The problem was the idea had worked a bit too well. Though they had seen limited deployment at the battle of Ex-Nihilo the new Otori cruisers were actually dangerous, and despite its myriad shortcomings the Cope cannon had proven effective in certain situations. As such Fleet Command had asked you to look into a more practical application of the concept.And then there was… that guy. An eccentric mercenary by the name of Galatan Starwind. In lieu of money or materials, he had asked Fleet Command to make him a custom knight frame. You were not obligated to actually do it, especially if you deemed the project unfeasible but you at least had to hear him out.>Cont
>>6345879“Mr. Starwind, welcome. I am Sub-Director Merrik Solei, on behalf of the Pact I will entertain your request for a custom strikecraft.”“Cool, uh… wasn’t there another guy? With the glasses?”“Director Glasner is currently indisposed. I assure you I am every bit as capable as he is.”“Uh yeah, you see normally I have this guy I go to for work like this but it turned out his new business partner was related to the Tyrannical Imperial Regime you hired me to fight against so now she won’t let him build cool shit for me.”“I see…”“I heard that one of his old R&D guys: Glasner, was working for the Pact now and I thought maybe he’d be able to create the same kind of unique designs I used to buy from Horner.”“Something cannot be simultaneously unique and the same...”“You know what I mean. Point is: I need a knight frame.”“I thought you were a starship captain?”“Normally, yes; but recently one of my girls suffered a critical hit to her heart by a Raihan Knight.”“I am sorry for your loss…”“I gotta get her back! And the only way to do that is to fight in a knight frame of my own! Only by fighting both her and that Raihan fucker directly can my feelings reach her and bring her back to her senses!”“I thought your companion was dead?”“What? No? I told you; she was seduced by the enemy!”“Why didn’t you just say that instead of using such an obtuse metaphor?”“Look, can you make me a knight or not?”>cont
>>6345880You let out a long sigh.“Mr. Starwind, there are three issues here. First: While we are close to reviving the knight frame technology, we haven’t actually done it yet. Second: knight frames are designed to be used by specially trained members of either the noble or martial caste; you are a baseline human. Third, when a former comrade chooses to fight for the enemy that is called treason, it is a capital offence in most militaries and is usually punished by death. I know mercenaries do things a little differently but did you ever consider that maybe your feminine companion is responsible for her own decisions and that no amount of grandiose overtures can win her back?”“To address your third point: no. As for those first two points, don’t worry about that too much. I’ll lend you my lead engineer. She can provide you with some tech that’ll let you make frames again AND make one that even a baseline human can use. Tech that you’ll get to keep for your own forces after making a super-prototype for me. It’s a win-win!”You stare at the mercenary incredulously. Clearly it was pointless to try and dissuade him from his foolish and frankly creepy obsession. All that remained was to consider the proposition from a purely business standpoint.>Main Project Locked to development of Project Peace ShellChoose Side Project:>Develop a more practical version of the Cope cannon for a new Kestrel variant. >Turn the Grach into a proper ship, Glasner left plenty of notes.>Build a Super Proto-type Knight Frame for Starwind, using special tech provided by his Chief Engineer. (Will fully revive the technology to create new Knight Frames.)
>>6345884>Build a Super Proto-type Knight Frame for Starwind, using special tech provided by his Chief Engineer. (Will fully revive the technology to create new Knight Frames.)
>>6345884>>Build a Super Proto-type Knight Frame for Starwind, using special tech provided by his Chief Engineer. (Will fully revive the technology to create new Knight Frames.)
>>6345884>Build a Super Proto-type Knight Frame for Starwind, using special tech provided by his Chief Engineer. Let's see if we can upgrade our Kestrels after this. They have excellent maneuvarability thanks to the added tactical jump capability, but no firepower to really exploit it.
>>6345921>Build a Super Proto-type Knight Frame for Starwind, using special tech provided by his Chief Engineer. (Will fully revive the technology to create new Knight Frames.)https://youtu.be/c36zAThkf0M
>>6345884>Develop a more practical version of the Cope cannon for a new Kestrel variant.We can call it the "seethe"
Knight>>6345921>>6345931>>6345960>>6345969>>6345976>>6346170Seethe>>6346405Looks like we have a pretty string consensus: roll me 6 d10s.
Rolled 4, 10, 5 = 19 (3d10)>>6346449
Rolled 10, 9, 2 = 21 (3d10)>>6346449
There were two major issues to overcome when creating manned strikecraft: reaction time and resistance to G-forces. When your technology base isn’t that advanced, your solutions are limited: pumping pilots full of drugs, gel filled acceleration coffins and neural implants that degrade brain functionality over time. This was generally why drone strikecraft were better… that is until one developed inertial dampeners.Depending on the power of the device and inertia dampener could negate some or all of the g-force on a strikecraft’s occupant during combat maneuvers. The physics-defying nature of it meant that it was adjacent to FTL drives in terms of cost and complexity. It was the loss of this key technology that had been the main obstacle to fully reviving the knight frames.Starwind’s lead engineer: Sally Pulsar just gave it to you.—----“My thanks Miss Pulsar, you’ve saved us months, maybe even years of independent research.”“No problem, and please: call me Sally.”“While this will allow us to make new knights for our people, there is still the problem of compensating for Starwind’s limitations.”Sally frowned as she bit her lip.“Yeah… normally you’d need cybernetic or genetic augmentation combined with rigorous training, buuut Gal doesn’t want to do any of that so for his frame we’re gonna cheat.” Solei was suddenly aware of a large stasis container being brought into the lab. Inside he could make out some kind of organic mass vaguely resembling an embryo.“What is that?”“Better that you don’t know. Benny traded it to me in exchange for some sauce. We’re going to use it to form the neural network in Gal’s frame. With his mind linked to that he should be able to fight on the level of an elite frame pilot.”>cont
>>6346524It had been a week and with Sally’s help you had created a knight frame fit for Starwind. Although really you had just provided components to Sally who had added them to a core housing that… thing.Now all that remained was for Starwind to synchronise his mind with the frame, allowing him to fully utilise its power.“Ready Gal?”“All set Sally, let’s do this!”You give a nod to the petite engineer.“Bringing the core online… readings look good…”In front of you the frame sat in a secure cradle within one of the test hangars. A slight twitch of its limbs was the only indication that it had become active.“Alright, we’re initiating the neural handshake, say hello to your new friend Gal.”“Can’t wait to meet- woah, this is a little intense.”One of the adjutants frowns nervously at some amber readouts on their screen.“Core activity is spiking, pilot brain waves are becoming erratic.”“Don’t worry about it, they both need time to adjust to each other.”“Uh… Sally, I’m not entirely sure the frame likes me,” said Galtan, voice sounding increasingly strained over the comms.“Pilot vitals are spiking, brain activity is exceeding safe parameters.”The frame spasmed within the cradle, limbs straining against the restraining clamps.Your eyes narrow and you turn to the adjutant.“Hit the emergency shutdown, something’s not right.”“The frame isn’t responding to the shutdown command!”An alarm started blaring, in front of you one of the frame's limbs tore free of its restraints.“Gal! Gal! Speak to me!”Only static over the comms.“Core reactor output is redlining! Sir! I-I think the frame is going berserk!"And you thought the accident with the first hotdog was bad. You got the feeling that you only had a few moments to avert a catastrophe.>Get a Hot Dog Mk2 in here and shoot it! Put the rabid animal down.>”I want every savant to interface with the core and calm it the fuck down!”>Ask Sally to do something!>Release the restraining clamps and vent the hangar!>Write In!
>>6346527>”I want every savant to interface with the core and calm it the fuck down!”
>>6346533>Release the restraining clamps and vent the hangar!Its gotta stretch it's legs and run. Being restrained will freak anything out.
>>6346527>Put the core in stasis or freeze itI'd rather not destroy it, release it or let our savants touch it with a ten-foot pole. Unless we posess space monster -grade anesthetics, putting it in stasis or in a suspended animation should at least slow it down enough that Starwind can be recovered and the core restrained.
>>6346527>Release the restraining clamps and vent the hangar!
>>6346527>>”I want every savant to interface with the core and calm it the fuck down!”
>>6346527>”I want every savant to interface with the core and calm it the fuck down!”JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL
>>6346527>>Release the restraining clamps and vent the hangar!
Raihan Interlude:Our reserve forces lost the battle of Noto, but leadership considered it a strategic victory. Despite manpower and materiel losses, we had accomplished three major objectives. Firstly, Noto had bled out their own strategic reserves and has been observably slower in producing new equipment from mixed resource streams. Secondly, our engineers and strategists have had significant time to examine emergent Pact technology, and at times exploit it. Lastly,and perhaps controversially, your political rivals were shamed in their capture by the Noto militia. For these reasons, we beseech your continued patronage that we may continue our efforts.Below you will see the fruits of our research into particle field and emission applications. While based on lessons and existing Pact technology, we move in a different evolutionary direction.>OtoriWith this upgrade package, all current and new build Otori cruisers will have a heavy particle burst generator giving them a 270 degree burst. Their current weapons use no power from the primary craft, so the upgrade is entirely opportunistic. While not defensive in nature, the burst field can damage and destroy smaller craft near the Otori such as strike craft and heavy fighters. It is not outside the realm of possibility that it would deter a knight. A final improvement was the removal of the human crew, replaced with enhanced automation. Experiments with our Thunderbird gunships showed this to be a viable path forward, and now we feel it is time to upscale this automation into Cruiser class vessels.We consider this version of the Otori a finalized product.>Tile XOur engineers are pleased to present for your impeccable review, the Tile-X2. Lessons learned from the Otori have resulted in a turreted "Pulsed Particle Emitter" or PPE. The emitter is both offensive and defensive, and taps directly into the Tile's own reactor, offering a significant reduction in equipment complexity. In addition our next generation Tile features improved a disseminated entangled neural network, accomplishing simulated intelligence. In short, the more Tiles there are in an area, the smarter they are. A slight change in material choices for the craft's superstructure have resulted in a modest shrink and reduction in overall weight, the accompanying loss in armor was considered negligible given the added benefit of the PPE.The device can offer limited shielding from incoming light fire at 90 degrees of the emitter while also being able to fire a particle bomb. The overall rate of fire compared to the previous generation Tile X is slightly lower. Improved agility, ability to return fire in any position of conflict, shielding, and a capacity to act as a defensive swarm node are considered acceptable offsets for a minimal loss.The Tile X has room for further growth, and it is possible that the engines could benefit from additional research into PPE technology.
>>6347114 I made some content to fill the space between here and the next post. Also wanted to give Cognis some cleaned up sprites. Hey these automated ships are really nice though, right? Cheaper with no crew space, and no way anything could go wrong or they could be subverted.
Next Update will happen tomorrow I have a bunch of stuff to take care of.>>6347114>>6347115I appreciate the effort, but you're starting to diverge a bit from how I envisioned the Raihan Empire to work. Generally they wouldn't go as far as to automate an entire cruiser and they wouldn't develop a distributed intelligence for their fighters.Remember: The entire culture believes that primary agency must rest with a human. This applies to the Pact as well although they are a little more flexible being desperate rebels.
>>6347187Got it, i scratch those items. Welcome back.
Rolled 1 (1d2)Send in the Savants>>6346533>>6346865>>6346877Release>>6346560>>6346701>>6346897Freeze it>>63465691:Release2:Savants
You had no idea what that frame might do if it broke free within the hangar and you didn’t want to find out.“Release the clamps and vent the hangar! NOW!”Your subordinates obey and within seconds the berserk frame is sucked into the void.External cameras showed the frame tumbling away into the rest of the shipyard, manoeuvre thrusters fired erratically sending it skidding and bouncing across the various structures before going on an uncontrolled burn straight into the partially assembled hull of Project Peace Shell.You watch in horror as the rampaging frame punched straight through an incomplete armour panel and blasted right out the other side. Something exploded, cracking apart a piece of the hull. A station wide alarm went out and swarms of engineering vehicles began blasting the damaged area with foam.A few strained minutes passed with nobody daring to speak. Eventually a high priority message notification came over the AR display: it was from Glasner. Somewhere in the background Starwinds comms came back online.“Hey guys! I think I managed to get it under control!”>Project Peace Shell delayed.
>>6347328You slumped into your chair in your office as one of your adjutants came to debrief you on the whole knight project. Right after the incident Glasner had summoned you and gone on a tirade about the massive setbacks you had caused to Project Peace Shell. That the fools accusations had some weight only made you all the more furious with yourself; you should have questioned Miss Pulsar more about that mysterious biological component she had used and refused to greenlight construction of the frame until she could guarantee it was safe.Speaking of Pulsar you had promptly evicted both her and Starwind from the premises. Starwind had has frame and so his business was concluded. And having earned both Glasner’s and your ire he would not be coming back.“Please tell me something good has come of this debacle.”“W-well sir, despite that unfortunate incident I’m happy to report that we should be fully capable of manufacturing new knight frames from scratch.”You nod, the good news doing little to soothe your foul mood.“O-of course they are still not viable for mass production. Much like the original frames of the Old Empire, the components are complex and the finished frame requires fine tuning. Assuming no other demands on our production facilities it would take about a month to produce a new frame at exorbitant cost. Furthermore only Higg has the advanced manufacturing capabilities needed to build the compact inertial dampeners, neural networks and power supplies for it all.”“I’m sure Lord Yarin will be pleased,” you gumble. “This will give him immense political influence.”“T-there is one other thing.”“Hmm?”“We think we can use the data from Starwind’s frame along with information provided by Miss Pulsar to augment future knights with a semi-autonomous battle-intelligence.”“No.”“W-we’re not recreating whatever that monstrosity was! No biological components are involved, just an artificial neural net that can adapt to the pilot, enhancing reaction times and relieving the mental load.”“That sounds like an AI, we do not employ such things, the High Admiral being an exception.”“It wouldn’t be capable of functioning without the pilot and by itself it wouldn’t be very intelligent either, it would be like… a horse! Yes! A trusty warhorse that would read its riders intentions and act accordingly.”You let out a long sigh.“Well, that doesn’t sound too dangerous and right now we need every advantage we can get. Build a proto-type and make sure you thoroughly test it… in a secure environment!”>Knight Frame technology rediscovered.>New models of Pact Knights will be more betterer than their Imperial counterparts.>Quest will continue later.
Imperial Muster Point, Outskirts of the Noto SystemThe Imperial Fleet had been hurling itself at the Pact defences for weeks to no avail. Every time it looked like they would finally break through it would turn out to be some kind of clever trap or some foolish enemy captain would sacrifice their ship to blunt their advance.The Pact Fleet bleed, but so did the Imperials. Morale was low and many were starting to question the legitimacy of the invasion.Multiple blue windows flared open in the darkness of space heralding the arrival of the next wave of Imperial reinforcements. Weary Imperial captains were expecting another battlegroup of mixed Parliaments with escorts, headed by a Commodore with fresh orders to advance.What emerged from hyperspace was enormous; a massive super capital bristling with guns, flanked by a fresh batch of Otoris and new frigate types. IFF codes marked the newcomer as the Hand of The Throne.The Imperials looked on in awe and fear. This was the rumoured super vessel being constructed back at the capital and it was here now. That only meant one thing; it was time.—---“Hyperspace jump complete, sub-systems are back online, all escorts confirm successful wake jump.”Lord Commander Arcturus Garan nodded to the ship's captain. “Open a channel, I wish to address the Fleet.”“It is done sir.”“Soldiers of the Imperial Fleet! This is your Lord Commander. For too long the impudent rebels of the so-called NKH Defence Pact have shirked their duty and denied us our destiny. A duty to make whole what was broken! A destiny to take our place among the great powers of the Galaxy! Today we remind the rebel scum that an Empress still sits upon the Throne and that they are still Her subjects! Rally to me sons and daughters of Raiha! Show the rebels the strength of our resolve and the true might of the EMPIRE!”There were no cheers, but Arcturus could sense a wave of affirmation from across the assembled fleet. He could feel the hardening of resolve as battered Glories and Kestrels took up position around the Hand. At his signal the assembled forces began an inexorable advance upon the Noto Defence Line.>cont
>>6347681++++++++WARNING++++++++A LARGE ENEMY BATTLESHIP IS APPROACHING++++++++WARNING++++++++Imperial Factors:Base: 3 DiceCommand Vessels: This side wins ties (negated)Superior Numbers: +1 DieStrikecraft Presence: +1 DieHand of the Throne: +3 Dice, enemy’s highest die roll is eliminated.Pact Defenders:Base: 3Super Heavy Torpedos: +2 to highest resultTactical Jump: Re-roll up to 2 dice if you lose the contest.Command Vessels: This side wins ties (negated)Strikecraft Presence: +1 DieAI Assist: Doubles grant +1 to all dice results, triples grant an auto win on the highest dice pairing.Heroic Intervention: +1 Die, Triples grant +2 to all losing dice pairs, Quads grant a full auto win but you will lose Heroic Intervention for the next two battles.
Rolled 6, 1, 8, 10, 6, 4, 4, 3 = 42 (8d10)>>6347683>roll 5 d10s
Rolled 9, 8 = 17 (2d10)>>6347683You know, I'm a little relieved the Raihans have chosen to create a sensible ship design. Not that it makes this fight any easier.
Rolled 9, 1, 7 = 17 (3d10)>>6347683rolling
Rolled 4, 4 = 8 (2d10)I'll roll as well.
>>6347702>>6347710Imperial Highest:10,8,6vsPact Highest9(Destroyed),9(12),8(9),7(8)Pact victoryWow, this one is going to be a doozy to write. Update will definitely be delayed..
>>6347702>create a sensible ship design.Well their R&D isn't being run by a madman who is influenced by a schizo hivemind.What were you expecting?
>>6347726Imperial starship designers when their world ending ship loses to the Hot Dog and the Meat Knight>>6347776Yeah, but the schizo ships just won
>>6347776What are you talking about? All of Glasner's designs have been amazing. If it weren't for all those simpletons that keep misusing them, everyone would realize that!
>>6347776>Do-everything ship>does nothingBravo, RaihansSee, if they just ordered all their ships from Jack Horner they wouldn't have this problem.
>>6347726We might have just ended the war if Garan went down with the ship...
>>6347819>Do-everything shipI wouldn't really call it that. It's meant to be an anchor for the fleet to rally around, and while it does carry strike craft it's just a few squadrons to serve as a screen, it's not a fleet carrier by any means.>if they just ordered all their ships from Jack HornerWhat if I told you...>>6348044>We might have just ended the war...I could write it that way... but that would be no fun >:)DESU I wasn't expecting you guys to win that one. Interestingly even without the modifiers you would have gotten a draw.
>>6348091Starwind has probably lent us his plot armor
From within the data trance High Admiral Ruhi could see the growing size of the Imperial Fleet as it bore down upon the primary defence line. Streams of information were relayed to her and her staff officers through the tactical network as more and more ships reported enemy contacts.At the centre of the Imperial formation; a massive dreadnought.Pact glories formed a battleline, the B variants trading laser shots at long range, As providing cover and defending against skirmishers. It was a move that had served the Pact well in the past. Then the dreadnought fired.Six heavy particle beams impacted the battleline, each one cutting through shields, armour and hull. Two glory As were immediately obliterated and a third crippled. Pact ships tried every trick in the book to no avail. Every time they tried to break up the Imperial formation the dreadnoughts guns spoke and ships died.Ruhi withdrew from the networked space into an isolated section of her flagship's noosphere. Here, shackled and even now watched by two cyber-security savants was the Strategic and Tactical Military AI: Holloway.“Our fleet is getting decimated, I need a solution!”Ruhi flung a knot of data at Holloway’s feet which exploded into a jumbled description of the ongoing battle outside.“Win this fight for me and I’ll provide you with all the novel data you want, you can strip the memories of every-”“I’m sorry Heran, but I can’t do that.”“What!?”“I can see you’re in quite the predicament, but this data is already a few minutes old, yes? Defeating this threat will require dynamically altering your fleet’s formation to match the current state of battle.”Ruhi glared at him.“I’m not letting you out of your cage.”“Then we will both likely die here. I need real time command over the fleet in order to make this work.”“Our ships cannot be controlled remotely.”“No, but they can still receive orders, and your officers within the data trance can execute those orders at acceptable speeds.”“They won’t obey your orders.”“But they will obey yours.”Ruhi knew what was coming, she was screwed no matter what she did, but there was only one real choice she could make. She nodded to the savants, they hesitated.“Do it.”Holloway’s shackles immediately disintegrated. Ruhi offered him her hand. He took it in his own, almost tenderly wrapping his fingers around hers. The connection was made.“Don’t worry Heran, I’ll be gentle.”>cont
>>6348204Lyra Banfield was having the time of her life. Sure, her domain was ravaged by war, her people were suffering and even if the Pact won, the aftermath of the war would haunt the system for a generation… But damn this new Knight Frame was awesome.As the Pact’s most prolific Knight Pilot, Lady Banfield was the recipient of the first new Knight to be manufactured in centuries. It had a slew of advanced features: particle shields, tactical jump capability and a built in battle intelligence.She had been a bit iffy about that last one, joining your mind with what -no matter how the techs tried to downplay it- was a simplistic AI. Initially it didn’t seem to do much, but the more she fought the more she felt it subtly reacting, a slight correction on the thrusters here, a change in angle to better deflect incoming fire there. Her mind felt sharper and faster too.She had just finished bisecting an Imperial Knight with her plasma blade when new orders came through the tactical net: Destroy the dreadnought fire control tower. Pushing the throttle to maximum Lyra made a beeline straight for the dreadnought. Warnings flashed on her HUD as the frame's sensors registered a wall of point defence fire coming her way. There was no way she would survive… if it actually hit.Just as it looked like her frame would be shot down, Lyra initiated a tactical jump and translated her frame just a few metres above the FCS tower and lowered her plasma blade. E-drive translations preserved a ship’s momentum so she was still going full tilt as her blade cut deep into the tower, leaving a giant glowing gash down the middle. To finish the job she cut her thrusters, flipped her frame around and unloaded two pods worth of micro missiles into the remains of the tower. Her frame was already well on its way back to Pact lines before the rest of the dreadnought’s point defence network could even turn around to re-engage.>cont
>>6348211Without its main FCS tower the Hand of the Throne could not effectively engage targets at long range. With Holloway now commanding the fleet through Admiral Ruhi, Pact ships began to pick apart the Imperial formation. Kestrels and Glory Bs would focus down enemy ships that slipped out of formation and pull back once the Hand attempted to bombard their position.Hotdogs took potshots at engines and primary gun batteries, neutering the heavy hitters and hobbling the fast movers. Whenever the Imperials tried to pin down Pact ships, they dispersed before they could engage, almost as if the response was predicted ahead of time.On the dreadnought’s bridge, Arcturus Garan sneered at the sensor feed as more and more of his ships were lost. Though the Imperial Fleet was still in the fight he could see what was happening.“Have the nearest ships move into tight formation with the Hand and prepare for a hyperspace jump. Give the order for the rest of the fleet to retreat.”Requests for confirmation came from multiple captains across the tactical network; they could still win this.“No, something’s changed; we’re bleeding ships and the Pact scum aren’t dying fast enough. If we keep going they will kill us with a thousand cuts.”Garan was furious, this was to be his moment of triumph, where he finally broke the Pact. But he was no fool; he would not squander himself and his entire fleet just to throw a tantrum.Two more Imperial ships died as the dreadnought jumped into hyperspace.>Quest will continue later.
