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>>34365063
Hooray, H&D is back.

>>34093229
>For the next game it would be appreciated if people would come up with proposals on how you want to move through the region in your deployment. Which sectors to hit next etc, so that we can come to a decision about what targets to go after next more quickly.

>If you could indicate them on a map, even on one of the minimaps, that would better illustrate where you mean and (I hope) give people a better understanding of what they could be siding with.

We continue down this arm of the galaxy until we reach the middle. Depending on how things are going, we either take route B and head back to make an exit from the galaxy, or we follow route A and cover most of the remaining galaxy on the way out.

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With the destruction of this sector's local reserve base you may have the upper hand as it was responsible for repairing enemy fleets. Due to damage taken while destroying the base the Shallan Medium will need 2 days to finish repairs. Your Battlecruisers and half of 9th Wing will be done within a day.

>H-Colony Terraforming
There is a Tanker/Transport in orbit of this colony along with a pair of blockade runners helping to drop supplies to the surface.
The colony has a planetary shield and once had a population of 50k civilians in sealed communities. There is a carrier with a destroyed drive section parked on the surface which is under repair. It is beneath the shield.
A few corvettes and fighters patrol in orbit.
CRV-15
BT-2
T-1

>Logistics asteroid
A manufacturing base captured by the enemy seemingly without a fight as there are no signs of damage. Blockade runners make regular flights to and from the installation.
A number of defense guns have been set up on the surface in addition to Faction built missile batteries.
CRV-??
BT-2

>Station base 1
A Battlestation set up on a deep space trade lane, enemy convoys are reverting nearby on a regular basis to realign.
One of the new enemy Medium cruisers are present helping to guard reconstruction efforts. The station is only 50% repaired.
BS-5
C-8
M(edium)-1
H-1

>Moon Base
An allied moon base is under bombardment by a Neeran fleet. Friendly forces there are broadcasting propaganda messages to most of the sector. Probably not very effective given the small size of the local populace but it could be affecting enemy morale.
The base itself must be deep underground because all surface positions have been turned into craters by the main guns of the new medium. Every time the base broadcasts from a new point on the surface, within a minute ships in orbit have triangulated the position and blasted it.
You have no data on the power of the Medium's guns.
CRV- +100
BS- 9
C- 8
M- 1
H- 1

>>34365063
FOR HOUSE AND DOMINION

>>34365143
>H-Colony Terraforming
Take this out. Its an easy target

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The squadrons from 9th boxed in orange are currently undergoing repairs. If you wanted the Allied mixed squadron and the Shallan mixed squadrons could take their place on the next attack.

Keep in mind that the one Alliance squadron is not an elite force yet. Most are personnel you picked up behind enemy lines on the previous deployment.


>>34365136
Are there any objections/modifications anyone would like to make about the first section of this plan?

>>34365176
How many ships did you want to send?

>>34365290
>If you wanted the Allied mixed squadron and the Shallan mixed squadrons could take their place on the next attack.

Not the anon who suggested the attack but I think it's probably a good idea to let these guys gain some experience in a relatively easy attack.

Do we have any idea if there are still civilians present on that planet?

>>34365447
>Do we have any idea if there are still civilians present on that planet?
The level of activity observed would suggest that there are still some civilians present but because of the sealed habitats the only way to be sure would be to get someone inside or establish communications with the colony.
You could also listen in on communications and decrypt them to see if there is any mention of civilians but that could take awhile.

>>34365290
Lets send the rest on the attack. Its overkill, but we can do it.

>>34365645
>Lets send the rest on the attack.
All 4 attack wings?

Roll 8d20


Did you want the salvage teams to attempt recovery of fuel or other supplies or will you destroy the base?

Rolled 11, 10, 9, 2, 3, 2, 20, 20 = 77 (8d20)

>>34365731
Sure, try to recover some fuel.

Rolled 24 (1d100)

>>34365731
>All 4 attack wings?
I'd prefer to keep one on standby, just in case something unforseen happens.

>Roll 8d20
1

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>34365825
Wrong die, sorry.

>Roll 8d20
1

>>34365847
2

And even when rolling the proper kind of die I still have to apologize ;_;

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>34365880
2

ffs

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>34365904
>And even when rolling the proper kind of die I still have to apologize ;_;
3

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>34365923
4

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>34365950
5

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>34365968
6

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>34365988
7

Can't participate for a bit, but I'd like to ask the Shallan commodore about that Allied moon base. The enemy seems hesitant or unable to actually take the place in an assault. Does she have any info that might help answer why?

Is the moon a massive dock internally? Some kind of massive garrison?

Also, I expect the new enemy medium to be a sort of Helios/ mini-scorcher

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>34366022
8

Having to add the roll again to every post will probably take some time to get used to.

Rolled 8, 12, 8, 11, 3, 1, 15, 16 = 74 (8d20)

>>34365731

>>34365880
>>34366022
Please delete your excessive posts or this game may not make it to Tuesday.

>>34366037
You contact Mezan about the base.

After checking records the Commodore gets back you you with data regarding tunneling gear that was supposed to have been brought into the sector a few years ago.
"It's the only thing I can think of. If they dug down deep enough and moved whatever mobile manufacturing capability they had below ground they could stay down there for a very long time."
"Fuel reserves?"
"No idea. It's outside the magnetic field of the planet so there could have had some He3 present on the surface but it would be useless to them now. Really I don't know enough about what the local fleet could have moved there before they decided to hide."


You launch the attack wings once again after quickly refueling. Daska seems a little surprised that you're sending all of them but they're your orders.

It turns out that may have been for the best. The defensive emplacements on the asteroid hamper the attack forcing several squadrons to pull back out of range to avoid station guns and missile fire. Eventually the majority of the force bombards a section of the shields, opening a hole long enough that several squadrons to get into the facility.

Once the base is sufficiently damaged salvage teams head in and begin hauling out fuel tanks, missile stockpiles and anything else that isn't nailed down.

Some of the squadrons are a little beat up and will need a couple of hours of quick repairs. By the time they're finished all the attack squadrons will be back to full strength.

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>>34366502
Which target would you like to go after next? Or will you be leaving the sector?

>H-Colony Terraforming
Planetary shield
CRV-15
BT-2
T-1

>Station base 1
Battlestation
BS-5
C-8
M(edium)-1
H-1

>Moon Base
CRV- +100
BS- 9
C- 8
M- 1
H- 1

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>>34366692
>Which target would you like to go after next?

I would like to talk to the commanding officers of our squads about engaging the forces besieging the moon base.

Do they think we have enough ships to engage to enemy effectively? Any suggestions how to approach the situation?

I would definitely recommend using SP torps on the heavy and medium.

>plan.gif
Based on some of the ideas posted at the end of the last thread.

>>34366692
Try for the station base 1

>>34366751
>I would like to talk to the commanding officers of our squads about engaging the forces besieging the moon base.
Mike looks over you plan and nods. "I think this could work."
>Do they think we have enough ships to engage to enemy effectively?
"I think so." Replies Daska. "If we can keep them from massing their forces or letting those larger ships shift things in their favour we should have enough. We do outnumber them."

"The real trick will be figuring out how many SP warheads we should be using." Alex points out. "If we use too many it will hurt us in the long run. Unfortunately we don't know how tough these new mediums are. I'm reluctant to just hit it with long range fire since those cannons might make that suicidal."

There doesn't seem to be any objections to the plan, though Drake does point out that Mike's unit may not be large enough to draw away too many ships.
Then again they enemy may assume they have SP's and send more to make up for it.

>>34366971
Most of the defenders are parked or patrolling within the weapons range of the station and the reversion point for the trade lane.
Did you want to try to draw them out from the station or conduct a quick raid getting in and out quickly to minimise damage?

Will we be raiding the Moon base or the Station base?

>>34366692
I think going for Station Base 1 is a good idea.

With it's lower number of ships present I think this is the perfect time to set up a infiltration mission on the new enemy Medium cruiser in prep of doing something similar on the Medium at the H-Colony.

We should have a time-table set up so that the attack happens at a certain time or when we send a certain signal to the cloaked ship.

>>34367182
Pick at their defences and harry them to the point they either break formation to chase after us then we kite them out to the point we can turn on them and smash them. Or use that tactic as well

>>34367207
This is a second vote for going after the station base.

>With it's lower number of ships present I think this is the perfect time to set up a infiltration mission on the new enemy Medium cruiser in prep of doing something similar on the Medium at the H-Colony.(possibly meant moon base?)

>We should have a time-table set up so that the attack happens at a certain time or when we send a certain signal to the cloaked ship.
Did you plan on leading this infiltration attempt yourself, or sending Rufaro or Valeri?

>>34367271
Are you suggesting using this against the forces attacking the moon base or against the defenders around the enemy station?

>>34367182
>Will we be raiding the Moon base or the Station base?

I think the station base is most likely the safer environment for a first engagement with the new Neeran Medium Cruiser.

Setting up an infiltration mission doesn't really seem beneficial at all right now. We won't be able to control a medium cruiser at all, or even provide a proper crew for it. We'll just risk some of our most experienced soldiers for basically nothing.

>>34367485
I was thinking of sending the whole team including us.

>>34367560
In this case I would say the goal isn't to capture it at all, but to try and disable it for when our people attack.

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>>34367726
>I was thinking of sending the whole team including us.
Be prepared to face some criticism from your subordinates for shirking your responsibilities as the commanding officer of the fleet should you lead the boarding party personally.

Lets get a vote. You have 20 minutes.
[ ] Raid the defenders of the station base.
[ ] Send in an infiltration team then raid it.

>>34367726
I think the whole idea is rather silly.

It's a ship with crew numbering in the thousands, some of which can even detect stealthed power armor simply by standing close to it.

We have like... 2, maybe 3, soldiers in power armor with stealth.

We also have no idea what kind of defensive mechanism this kind of ship has. Or even what its internal layout is like.

And Sonia honestly has more important responsibilities as commander of an entire fleet, in my opinion.

>>34367852

>>34367852 here

>[X] Raid the defenders of the station base.

>>34367852
Send in an infiltration team then raid it

>>34367852
Dear god no infiltration mission what are you thinking

>>34367852
>[X] Raid the defenders of the station base.

They might give us flak but if we can pull off a successful heist on the station datacore and get those shipyards fully functional it could make this entire trip worth it. We could delegate to Daska for the one battle.

I don't think we should commit our infiltration assets for anything less than the shipyard data or stealing an intact tanker.

>>34367958
I doubt a station without any kind of shipyard would have the necessary construction data stored just so hostile agents can steal it.

>>34367977
Oh right, change "the station" to "a station" then. Anyhow the point of all this is that just disabling the medium isn't worth the risk. Even if we could drop the shields or disable all the guns we would still need to escape the ship before the rest of our fleet blows it to pieces. If we could steal it outright that would be great, but I doubt we could do that with just the 4 of us.

Looks like more people want to raid than infiltrate.

>Pick at their defences and harry them to the point they either break formation to chase after us then we kite them out to the point we can turn on them and smash them. Or use that tactic as well

How many ships/squadrons do you intend to deploy? What is your plan of attack?

[ ] Long range bombardment
[ ] Try to draw them out
[ ] Fast raid, close attack
[ ] Other

>>34368301
>[ ] Long range bombardment
This seems like a bad idea with the Medium Cruiser present. If that thing really is something like a Neeran version of a Helios a long range shooting match is probably something we want to avoid.

>[ ] Try to draw them out
This could work, any ideas how to drag them out effectively?

>[ ] Fast raid, close attack
What kind of guns does the station have?
Is the read circle a gravity well?

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>>34368839
>What kind of guns does the station have?
A mix of plasma cannon turrets and phase weaponry. Equivalent to a heavy cruiser's firepower but more spread out. It probably has point defense while hidden missile batteries can't be ruled out either.

>Is the read circle a gravity well?
Weapons range. Fairly important I label that.

>>34368945
How large and predictable are those convoys?

Would it be possible to jump in while one is realigning and to use the transports as cover?

>>34369157
>How large and predictable are those convoys?
Currently convoys are fairly small and pass through fairly often. Generally a single tanker or 4 transports along with a small escort. Supers and Heavies do pass through on occasion as well but much more rarely.

With the captured sensor array in the previous sector operational you're able to monitor convoys passing through and, as long it was headed in this direction, you could predict their arrival to within half a minute.
>Would it be possible to jump in while one is realigning and to use the transports as cover?
Yes.

Be aware the Heavy and Medium can simply move and they'll be able to shoot you from a different angle.

>>34369250
Okay, thanks.

How about this:
The 6 squads with the best combination of mobility and protection jump in with a convoy to draw the attention of the station and its guard.

Once the enemy turns to engage, the rest of our forces jumps in close to the station and takes out the the targets of opportunity with concentrated fire and SP torps.

Depending on our success during that phase, we decide what to do next. We can either run, take out some more targets, or deal with this garrison properly.

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>>34369417
Sort of like this?

How many SP Torpedoes do you want to use per target?

Station
Heavy Cruiser
Medium Cruiser

>>34369669
>Sort of like this?
Looks good. We might want to jump in the heavier stuff like the Shallan Medium on the side away from the Neeran Medium, though.

How well does that class of Shallan Medium fare against Neeran heavies?

>How many SP Torpedoes do you want to use per target?
>Station
Only use them to disable weapon emplacements, or maybe shields if a ship can land an extremely good hit.

>Heavy Cruiser
Our crews should know how to deal with one of these effectively by now.

>Medium Cruiser
2/3rds of the number of torpedoes as on the heavy.

>>34369828
this works

>>34369828
>We might want to jump in the heavier stuff like the Shallan Medium on the side away from the Neeran Medium, though.
Timeskip until repairs are completed?

>How well does that class of Shallan Medium fare against Neeran heavies?
Well it took some minor damage the last time you fought a Heavy because you tried to kill it without the use of SP Torpedoes. Even a handful might have helped.

>Only use them to disable weapon emplacements, or maybe shields if a ship can land an extremely good hit.
>The rest

You talk to your people about SP Torp usage. The leading squadrons will be doing the shooting on reversion and will try to keep the numbers low.

Any objections/ additions?
Did you want the Battlecruisers to wait in reserve?

>>34370093
>Timeskip until repairs are completed?
Sure. Although if the commanders of our carriers have any suggestions how they could be of help in this battle I'd be glad to hear them.

>Did you want the Battlecruisers to wait in reserve?
Yes? I don't really know, tbh.

>>34369669
>>34369417
If there are no more additions Roll 9d20

If you want the Shallan Medium and the Battlecruisers to jump in on the other flank roll 11d20

Rolled 10, 17 = 27 (2d20)

>>34370334
>Roll 11d20

I guess I'll have to roll in pairs if I don't want to kill the thread early...

1,2

Rolled 15, 19 = 34 (2d20)

>>34370368
3,4

Rolled 1, 12, 20, 12, 16, 12, 18, 17, 12 = 120 (9d20)

>>34370334

Rolled 5, 2 = 7 (2d20)

>>34370391
5,6

Rolled 9, 9 = 18 (2d20)

>>34370418
7,8

Rolled 18, 16 = 34 (2d20)

>>34370442
9,10

>>34370474
>Error: You cannot delete a post this old
Wut?

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>34370516
11

Rolled 51, 70 = 121 (2d100)

"Sir, signal coming through from the sensor array."
"They cant trace that back to us can they?"
"We're bouncing it off of multiple com relays. It's possible but unlikely sir. ETA of next convoy, ten minutes."

Several other convoys have jumped through but your data wasn't as exact. There are empty, or mostly empty, transport ships making the return run but they're much less common. By now the station defenders must know that the local garrison has been destroyed. a few ships have jumped in and out from the direction of the moon base siege.

"Lets keep the actual attack quick. The carriers, Command squad, Battlecruisers and the Medium will wait in reserve. We'll jump in if anything goes wrong."

Alex jumps in leading 6 mixed squadrons, opening fire as soon as they revert. They're a bit early as the convoy hasn't jumped in yet. All squadrons begin launching missiles to give the station and escorts a hard time targeting them.
The convoy arrives in the middle of a firestorm, the larger tanker losing forward shields from a stray beam fired by the Medium. It looks like their arrival was just in time as some of the squadrons were beginning to take damage.

"Defenders are moving out from the station. They're also launching starfighters."
"Shallan fighters?"
"Only a few so far, but I'm also reading heavy fighters."

"All squadrons jumping in." Reports Daska as her units head in.

The opening SP strikes cripple a number of plasma cannon turrets on the station and seem to damage key areas of the Medium, damaging half its engines and weapons. Despite this it turns and opens up on the new arrivals. Thankfully your pilots are able to predict where the heavier bow guns are aiming and evade their fire.

Half the corvette force and the Heavy all change direction as well, but with fire coming at them from two directions the fight is all but over in the first minute despite attempts to pull back and form up behind the station.

"Looks like the flank attack is shredding them."

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"A Heavy Cruiser and four carriers just jumped in on the flank of our main force. They're launching corvettes."

Do you want to jump in your reserves, ask your squadrons to expend more SP Torps to take them down or retreat?

>>34371305

[x] SP torps on the flanking Heavy
[x] Reserves jump in to flank the enemy flank

We've got munitions reserves. Less so for pilots, crews and ships.

>>34371371
I'm okay with that. Although we might want to hold back the carriers in case there are more enemies en route and we'll need something to cover our retreat.

>>34371371
I am perfectly okay with this.

"Carriers, stand by and prepare to jump. If additional enemy forces appear you're to mico in and help cover our retreat. Shallan group, Command squad, we're going in now. Try to come out near the enemy reinforcements. We'll try to hit them while they're distracted with our main force."

"New jump plotted." Linda gives you a thumbs up.
"Hit it."

As your reserve force leaps in system Arron begins to warn you that some of the convoy escorts have jumped out along their route. Some other ships from the station may have done the same.

Some of the newly arrived enemy corvettes have linked up in a wall formation, overlapping shields in the direction of your main force. Fire from your Battlecruisers tear into a third of them in the opening salvo before you shift fire back to the Heavy cruiser. A dozen SP Torps focused on the drive sections destroy several shield generators and like the other times you've fought these things everyone goes for the engines trying to knock out its propulsion and main power sources.

Carriers begin jumping out, fleeing without their corvettes or fighters, the station raises a cloaking field over the entire area momentarily blinding everyone sensors before ECCM can cut through it. There are a few collisions and cases of friendly fire but nothing serious.

The other Heavy breaks from cover to hammer your group with fire causing you to wonder briefly if this is turning into some kind of Mexican standoff.

At which point Drake's unit is finally able to hit the first heavy with a solid SP barrage, dropping shields long enough for her wing to destroy the vessel's weapons.

"The enemy are crippled badly enough that they won't be able to pursue. Perhaps we should withdraw before more reinforcements get here?" Suggests Arthur over the command channel.

[ ] Fighting retreat
[ ] Finish off the remainder

>>34371895
Huzzah for House and Dominion!

I like seeing the Neeran panic for once. Anyways, without destroying that station this raid will have kind of been a waste. Let's finish that then we can haul ass out of here. Never mind the enemy forces that are retreating.

>>34371895

[x] Fighting retreat

Finish off the Heavy during the retreat if possible.

Can we tell if that Heavy & Carrier came from the Colony or the base?

>>34371895
>[X] Fighting retreat

We've done more than enough damage. If we want to liberate that moon base, forcing the enemy to commit forces to this location can only benefit us.

>>34371895
>[ X] Fighting retreat

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>>34372052
>Can we tell if that Heavy & Carrier came from the Colony or the base?
Probably from the moon base since there were no heavy cruisers near the colony.

>>34372052
>>34372087
>>34372137
"Fighting retreat. Begin pulling our people back. Tractor anyone who needs help jumping out. Try and deal as much damage as you can while we get ready to jump."

A few ships have been beat up and do need a lift out of the system. Those of you with plasma cannons empty most of your fuel cells into the station or the crippled heavy cruisers while pulling out of weapons range.

"Damaged ships are beginning jump out."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3_1gwzbV84

"Incoming FTL contact."
"How many?"
"One. It didn't show up on the other sensor array."

A Neeran Super Carrier jumps in at the reversion point.

Right, there was one parked on this side of the sensor array in that previous sector.

"Everyone jump."
The Super Carrier opens up as the first wave of corvettes launch.

The moment the Devourer's nose is in line Linda throws the throttle forward.

"Did everyone make it?"
"I think so."
Once you're sure everyone has escaped the fleet heads back to the Heavy Carrier for repairs. The Silent Hunter is called in and begins recon of the area.

It will take a day or two for everyone to undergo repairs. A few Vengeance types were hit by fire from the enemy Medium and lost a wing pylon here and there. Those repairs will take a bit longer.

Do you plan to remain nearby this sector? You do have a few squadrons of undamaged ships in addition to your command squad if you wanted to raid the other two systems.

>>34372911
>Do you plan to remain nearby this sector?

I would suggest we hit another sector or two, and then get back here to evacuate the moon base once the enemy thinks we have moved on.

I don't see a realistic chance to break the siege now that the super heavy carrier is operating in this area.

>>34372911
The Moon Base should be hit in order to save our allies and to shut up their propaganda machine right in it's tracks. After that i think we should move on.

>>34372911
Can we get intel on the surrounding sectors? I want to throw a raid at a small target in another sector while our ships are repairing to make them think we've moved on.

>>34372911

I think we should probably move a few sectors away after drawing the attention of a SH.

Anyone for crossing into the tiny arm toward the core and investigating the 3 sectors with possible allies/abandoned facilities after we ensure nothing is following us?


I'd also like to request a quick run down of how the Neeran advance actually hit and went through this galaxy. It would hopefully give us an idea of where they may have more infrastructure set up or captured intact as opposed to things that may still be under construction.

It may even help us locate allied stragglers that may have gone to ground to avoid detection. Like, say... hiding in something at the edge of the FTL hazard due to encirclement? iirc, we've meant to pick up probes multiple times, maybe we could try to detect some stragglers or Neeran activity by shooting a probe or two through parts of the hazard zone? Or even a sleeper ship?

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Rolled 4 (1d4)

>>34373310
>Can we get intel on the surrounding sectors?

Sector 3
>Tanker group
>FLEET 1
>FLEET 2
>H-Colony Terraforming
>Yard/ Shipyard 1
>Yard/ Shipyard 2
>Rare
>Jammer
>Sensor array / Com relay
>Logistics asteroid
>Logistics Planet
>Station base 1
>Station base 2
> Planetary Base

Sector 4
>FLEET
>Mining Operation
> Yard/ Shipyard
> Sensor array / Com relay
> Logistics asteroid 1
> Logistics asteroid 2
> Logistics Planet
>Station base 1
>Station base 2

Sector 5
>FLEET
>H-Colony Terraforming
>Jammer
>Logistics Station
>Logistics asteroid
>Station base 1
>Station base 2
>Asteroid Base

After spending some additional time checking out some of the nearby sectors Alex makes a proposal.
"Let's split up. Each wing can raid a sector at the same or nearly the same time as others are. We remain in contact with the fleet and if we spot anything larger worth taking out, a target or a convoy, we combine forces again."
"Wolfpack tactics? There is certainly enough convoy traffic."
"Yeah... we can do more damage that way." Says Mike, then sarcastically adding; "Or take more damage. One or the other."

>>34374220
sure, sounds good to me

>>34374220
I would feel more comfortable with two wings per sector.

It would increase the number of targets our forces can engage successfully and enable them to use more varied tactics and strategies.

>>34374220
We've seen the effect of our current, Shark pack?, tactic. I am interrested to see what kind of damage four individual wings could do. I agree to this idea.

>>34374220
Sounds like a interesting idea and I would support this action.

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There are now construction vehicles making flights from the Super over to the
battle station you partially destroyed. They're rebuilding it, probably more powerful than it was before.

Intelligence gathering in the two sectors you've now raided show that enemy forces in the region are on full alert. Reinforcements have been brought in to secure any colonies or sites you've destroyed the defenses around. Its hard to say how long the enemy will maintain this state as it will mean drawing away ships that would otherwise be headed for the front.

Convoys passing through that region of space are now more heavily guarded, usually 2-3 heavy cruiser grade tankers or transports or a dozen smaller ones in a single convoy. The number of escorts have increased along with them. Forming up the convoys is slowing down transit of goods through the trade lane.
Successfully raiding convoys would draw more resources away from the front to help protect them.

Active trade lanes and convoy routes are revealed as you recon sectors. Not all sectors are linked by trade lanes. The Neeran have set theirs up to move supplies to the lower tip of this galaxy, because of this they don't always reliably match up with the old Shallan lanes.

>>34365136
Do you want to keep following the route this anon proposed to progress towards the core?

What sectors do you want to assign your various Wings to raid or recon? Or will you assign some of your units to locating and harassing convoys?

3rd Wing - Drake
7th Wing - Alex
5th Wing - (Arthur) Daska
9th Wing - Verilis
Dragoons - Mike

>>34375233
I want Dragoons to hit any Jammers and Coms along Sector 3, 4, 6 and the sector just below 6. This so we can better take advantage of the enemy trade routes going through those areas.

Daska and Drake can go to Sector 4 and hopefully hit that Yard but generally draw enemy's to that location thinking we've moved there instead. Alex and Verilis can meanwhile act on their own in Sector 5.

Our forces then converge on Sector 6 where we proceed to ambush convoys with a large amount of regular Tankers in it to mess with their fuel supplies.

By then we should have roused enough forces here to jump onward to the next area with a broken colony in it.

>>34375590
Sounds good to me.

>>34375590

Sounds, good, if a bit predictable for Mike's unit. We should avoid doing this too much in the long run.

Should we issue the Shallans a volley of SP torps and send them out with someone? Or maybe have them and the mixed unit do something besides sit in reserve?

Heck, we might even want to split the command squadron into flights and assign one to each wing?

>>34376219
samefag.

Forgot to ask...

Is that 60 million bounty on an intact Neeran cloak still good? Because I think we also have an intact Carrier, with it. Isn't that something like 100 million for the entire ship?

>Massive Bonuses for everyone!

>>34376273
Did you get an intact Neeran cloak? I honestly cant remember, too many other things on the go. I sort of remember something to that effect.
But yes, bounties for captured ships are still valid and continue to entice mercenaries into venturing to the front lines. And greedy dutiful nobles wanting to help protect the Shallans from the encroaching Neeran menace.

Sorry guys, taking a bit.
>Sector 3, 4, 6 and the sector just below 6.
That would be... sector 12.

Roll 6d100 for Mike's mad dash to disable jammers and sensor arrays! And to try and quickly map the trade route leading to sector 12.

Rolled 84, 65, 67, 76, 71, 40 = 403 (6d100)

>>34376482

Rolled 15, 6, 54, 38, 34, 94 = 241 (6d100)

>>34376482

Rolled 83, 25, 47, 7, 62, 66 = 290 (6d100)

>>34376482
>cloak

I believe one of the carriers we looted before it was completely constructed was said to have one, but our Krath buddy doesn't really know how to work it.

If only the battleship/cruisers we stole had plasma cannons under installation.

Now, Mike... go!

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It seems Mike is able to keep his unit rolling along fast enough that enemy response fleets cant catch up. The fact that his blitz just destroyed the only way of tracking in in those sectors probably didnt make it any easier for them.
The downside of using a small fast force is that while the objectives were certainly completed with the targets destroyed or severely crippled, there are plenty of survivors left behind at several of them which will help protect other sites from your other wings and squadrons.

After tracing the trade route to sector 12 his squadron keeps going, apparently not wanting to turn back right away with a number of potentially pissed off fleets that might be after them. They're able to trace the route to another sector on the edge of the spiral arm.
Listed as Sector 11, this area seems to have a much higher level of FTL traffic. Mike's team are now back at the Carrier for R&R.


Roll 4d100 for the raids on Sectors 4 and 5 to see how the others are doing. These will operate on an average of 3.

Rolled 39, 8, 94, 27 = 168 (4d100)

>>34377103

Rolled 19, 37, 48, 74 = 178 (4d100)

>>34377103

Rolled 68, 89, 94, 26 = 277 (4d100)

>>34377103
>>34377141
>>34377229

Not looking good...

In the alotted time your wings had to conduct raids they were able to conduct mostly light raids on 7 of the 9 systems in Sector 4 and, light to heavy raids on every system in Sector 5.

Daska is a little annoyed she wasn't able to hit each site in her target sector, but they were delayed due to an enemy response force in the region until Mike came through and killed the local sensor array.
Drake thought it was fine.

Alex and Verilis are fairly exstatic. They were able to cause enough distractions elsewhere to draw off ships and destroy a few logistics bases. On top of that they investigated the destroyed colony and the fleet there. From their scans it's much the same as the enemy super heavy shipyard encountered in the decoy battle.
All of their starfighters and most of Verilis' unit strafed the construction vehicles, hopefully delaying the completion of the ships. Even if its only by a few weeks that could make a difference later.

One of the corvettes helped escort some civilian transports back to the fleet. Most are light transport sized.
Unless stated otherwise the civilians will be checked by medics then moved to the larger transports.

>>34378076

Looks like we'll have to conduct at least a few future raids at destroyed colony sites as a full group.

>civilian transports

Any military on them? Or perhaps intel the crews may have about area or partisan movements?

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>Our forces then converge on Sector 6 where we proceed to ambush convoys with a large amount of regular Tankers in it to mess with their fuel supplies.
Well you're in luck. There are two locations in the sector where Tankers are undergoing refueling operations. Convoys of tankers both empty and full make regular trips via the local trade lane in and out of the region.

Sector 6
>Colony
Home to 70 million in the last census you wouldn't have the capacity to evacuate everyone even if there wasn't a Super sitting in orbit. The Super Carrier seems to be helping set up orbital and ground based infrastructure.
BS 12
C 8
H 3
SH 1

>Tanker group 1
This is a fairly standard operation. Low gravity so Tankers are sitting in a low orbit while smaller ships help them scoop gas.
BS 7
C 6
T 3

>Tanker group 2
A Shallan Refinery is in orbit of this gas giant. While its gravity is not ideal it has much higher helium concentrations. A Heavy cruiser is protecting the station.
BS 10
C 8
T 4
H 1

>H-Colony Terraforming
Fairly average, minimal garrison. Ground side production sites have been set up by previous transport visits and are expanding the planetary shields and the atmospheric processors.
CRV(FTL) 12
BS 3 (2 Battlecruisers)

>Mining Operation 1
This is a planetary mining operation. Ground side sites use launch repulsors to fire cargo containers into orbit for collection.
BS 6
CX 6

>Mining Operation 2
BS 10
C 5
CX 8
HM 1 (Heavy Miner)

>Rare
HLV's make regular trips to the surface ferrying up materials to the waiting transports.
CRV(FTL) 4
BS 5
C 3
CX 4

>Station base
This station seems to dispatch patrol ships that help escort convoys. It's busier than it was when Mike first passed through.
CRV(FTL) 40
BS 15-20 (Varies) +10 Battlecruisers
C 9

>Asteroid Base
Most of the ships at this base seem to be parked inside. Its difficult to get a good reading on how many are present. This may be part of the sector garrison or a reserve force.
BS 4-??
C 2-??

>>34378853
I kind of want to hit the Rare materials world as well as the fuel stations. It's probably a bottleneck for supplies, just as much as the fuel lines are. Also, it seems fairly lightly defended so we could probably roll right over it.

Rolled 33 (1d100)

>>34378853
>Planetary Base
Located in the next system over from the terraforming colony the two stars are technically a distant binary with an orbital distance of 12,000 AU. This planet could potentially be a terraforming prospect but it currently lacks a magnetic field. For the moment the Neeran seem to have set up a base here and may be making preparations to build a shipyard on the surface.
CRV 96
CRV(FTL) 6
BS 10
C 8

>>34378477
>Any military on them?
No, the crews are all civilians hired in the Pandora cluster to man the evacuation ships being built there.
>Or perhaps intel the crews may have about area or partisan movements?
They've been in hiding after evacuating from the nearby colony, though it does seem to have been long after the enemy captured the sector.
Lets see if the refugees know anything useful.

>>34379281
Not too much extra info. It seems that some of the evacuation ships didn't launch right away because their complex was cut off by weapons fire in the planetary assault. A raid by merc ships a month ago caused enough of a distraction for them to launch and escape.

>>34379267
Do you want to hit the Rare first or at the same time as the refueling operations?

Who would you like to go after which targets?

3rd Wing - Drake
7th Wing - Alex
5th Wing - (Arthur) Daska
9th Wing - Verilis
Dragoons - Mike
Command Squad
EBON
Shallans + Allied squadron

>>34379631
Both
3rd+7th+Mike on Tanker 1
5th+9th on Rare

>>34379281
>though it does seem to have been long after the enemy captured the sector.

Well that raises alarm bells. We may need to stasis those crews and do full shutdowns on those ships to ensure none of them are a Neeran attempt at infiltration for now.


As for sites, I'm liking the look of that Rare element world. Both for the distance between it and other sites and the fact that it is a very strategic asset.

... is the world within Treaty protection, or should we just have a certain Shallan be left behind to deal with any ground-side problems?

Same info request on that planetary Mining Op.

Destroying the planetary infrastructure on just those two sites would be a fairly strategic blow if we pulled it off back-to-back and were gone before they even knew they were hit.

And those Tanker sites are likely going to get response forces dropped on our heads when we go for them.

>>34379702
This leaves our Command squad, and Shallans+ allies doing jack.

So I suppose would it be possible to have some of them hit tanker 2 first to draw the reaction to there firstÉ

>>34379970
Well I had no idea where to place them so I left it up to other people.

>>34379737
>We may need to stasis those crews and do full shutdowns on those ships to ensure none of them are a Neeran attempt at infiltration for now.
Some engineers are sent over to check for abnormalities in the ships just to be safe.

>is the world within Treaty protection,
All Rare element worlds tend to have some atmosphere present so they're always borderline but this is on the lower end of the spectrum. You're clear to fire away.
>Same info request on that planetary Mining Op
This one is closer to the cut off line than the previous but should still be okay.

>>34379702
>>34379970
So a couple more votes for going after the tanker sites.

>>34380066
Maybe we could replace Mike w/ the command squad and have him do some high-speed recon on that asteroid base. Alternatively , have him and the shallan + allies attack the H-Colony Terraforming since it's pretty weakly defended. 6 CRV and 3 BS? Pfft.

>>34380131
>>34379970 I was also the one who wanted to hit the Rare world. That's a definite no matter what else we do, it's too tempting a target to pass up.

Ooooh, lets bring along extra people to loot it. We'll probably have extra time since we'll be hitting the tankers.

>>34380160
That sounds good. The only reason I put mike in the tanker group was just incase of escapees.

>>34380211
Eh, I'd rather blitz in this case. We've already had escapees, might as well switch to just hitting targets too fast for them to respond. We knocked out their sensor grid, so we can pop in, smash, and then re-group to do it again. Silent Hunter OP for scanning which sites they've reinforced.

We can even hit T1 & R, then regroup and smash the station base after they increase patrols to protect the convoys (drawing away ships) and then go after the second tanker group. After that, if we have time/materiel we can mop up the mining operations and maybe steal that heavy miner.

>>34380160
>6 CRV and 3 BS? Pfft.
These are probably not intended to hold off any concerted attack on the planet, but rather to assist in basic garrison duties and suppress the local population.

>>34380160
>>34380421
So Tanker group 1 and the Rare at the same time then?

3rd+7th+CMD on Tanker 1
5th+9th on Rare ?

Or would you like the Shallans to deal with the terraforming colony at the same time?

Either way the attack on the Tanker 1 seems to be fairly popular. Unless there are changes/objections to that aspect of the plan Roll 5d20.

Rolled 9, 8, 3, 12, 5 = 37 (5d20)

>>34380768
Might as well have them hit the colony as well we probably are gonna leave this area soon anyway.

Rolled 3, 1, 5, 20, 18 = 47 (5d20)

>>34380768
3/7/CMD on 1.

5&9 on R

Shallans take on Terraforming, might as well send Mike with them.

Rolled 14, 15, 6, 20, 6 = 61 (5d20)

>>34380768

When your ships revert at the edge of the gravity well you begin to realise its a good thing you assigned your command squad instead of Mike's people to help out the other wings. Neeran ships deploy their corvettes even as you reach effective weapons range. Moments later the enemy fleet is forming up into tight defensive formations that prove difficult to crack.

Arron draws you attention to one of the larger contacts.
"One of the tankers are deorbiting. They're dropping down into the atmosphere."

"Can we catch them?"
"Not easily unless these corvettes suddenly die off. It'll be like that time you had the attack wings cut through the atmosphere of that ice giant... actually it'll be exactly the same."

The other two seem to think this approach too suicidal and attempt to gain altitude while trading longer ranged fire.

While you're doing rather well the ships in Alex's unit better suited to long range fire cant take as many hits and begin to run into trouble when the enemy realises this.
"Enemy is focusing fire on 7th Wing's mixed units."

Your command squadron moves to assist, blocking some of the fire while Alex pulls back, launching missiles for added cover.

"Where the hell are 7th's corvette squadrons?"

Drake pushes forward to try and pin the upper portions of the enemy formation before they can break orbit. With that underway and with an increasing amount of missile and plasma ball fire making spotting difficult, the corvette squadrons from 7th use the distraction to swing out around Drake's unit and in behind the Neeran Wall formations.

Twin linked phase cannon fire cuts through the weak or non-existent shields on that side downing multiple ships in the first pass. The Assault corvettes then take full advantage of the confusion hitting everything they can with pulse cannon fire. Soon the entire formation is shattered and the rest of your force is able to press the assault, destroying half of the corvettes and battleships before they begin to flee.

Soon your ships are able to reach the two remaining Tankers and cripple their drives with massed fire, dropping them back down into the atmosphere.

"Arron, any chance we can find that third Tanker?"
"Maybe, if you're willing to send ships in after it. It'll take all day though."

While considering that you contact your wing leaders. "Alex, Drake, who ordered that over the top/flank attack?"

"That would be Félix Ekwueme, one of the newer pilots." Responds Alex. "He managed to get assigned to one of the assault corvette squadrons and has been bucking for promotion most of the tour."

>What say?

Many of Alex's ships have taken damage. Do you want to spend time hunting for the third tanker or return to the fleet?

See you briefly in the morning. I'll resume after 7PM EST tomorrow and will be running all day Tuesday and an undetermined amount of time Wednesday as I'm having some dental surgery and I don't know how messed up on drugs I'll be.

>>34382536
Let the tanker go, 2/3 is decent. As for Mr. Ekwueme, Congratulate him on his flanking. Then, if he was responsible for Alex's units not being covered, rip a strip off him for risking the battle and his comrades lives for his glory attack, promotions don't come on the backs of the dead.

If he wasn't responsible, put in a commendation and invite him to dinner as a reward. Not a private dinner, a command dinner. It'll be more valuable for an ambitious pilot and a tangible reward.

If the losses were our fault, hang head in shame and start on writing letters to the family members.

bump

>>34382536
I agree with the middle part of >>34382696 but I don't think we should do anything drastic just yet.

Getting a feel for who he is before we do anything since he is responsible for breaking their formation.

>>34382536
What kind of surgery? I had my wisdom teeth puled once, came down with a double dry socket infection. Even with the drugs I was trippin balls on fever dreams for a couple of days, that wasn't very fun.

>>34382536
>Do you want to spend time hunting for the third tanker or return to the fleet?

Nah, we've caused enough trouble here and those guys in the last tanker deserve at least a chance to make it out of here alive for pulling off that maneuver.

>>34382696
Sounds good to me.

>>34386699
Crowns. One is shattered so I'm not sure how much work will be required.

>>34382696
>As for Mr. Ekwueme, Congratulate him on his flanking.
>If he wasn't responsible, put in a commendation and invite him to dinner as a reward. Not a private dinner, a command dinner. It'll be more valuable for an ambitious pilot and a tangible reward.
You make sure to do so.
As for the Command dinner do you want to hold one with the various officers/Knights the next time the fleet is down for repairs? Or just something once you're back in friendly territory?

>If the losses were our fault, hang head in shame and start on writing letters to the family members.
It wasn't really anyone's fault. The enemy just determined that Alex's ships were a threat in a long range engagement and would be easier to known down than your Battlecruisers so they focused fire.
Félix launched the flank attack after Alex had mostly pulled his first 3 squadrons back to cover.

The fleet recovers damaged and crippled vehicles and jumps out. Some of 7th Wing will take an extended period to get fixed up. Did you want to swapped out one of their mixed squadrons for an attack corvette squadron, or just rotate that allied mixed squadron in?

Roll 4d20 for 5th and 9th's attack on the Rare.

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>34388459
>Did you want to swapped out one of their mixed squadrons for an attack corvette squadron, or just rotate that allied mixed squadron in?

Let's give our allied mixed squadron a chance to shine.

>Roll 4d20 for 5th and 9th's attack on the Rare.
1

Rolled 17, 1, 18, 19 = 55 (4d20)

>>34388459
I would say we should hold it the next time we are down for repair. Something that is a mix of work but still R&R would be nice for our officers/knights.

I would say rotate the allied mixed squadron in.

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>34388494
2

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>34388505
3

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>34388517
4

>>34388459
>As for the Command dinner do you want to hold one with the various officers/Knights the next time the fleet is down for repairs? Or just something once you're back in friendly territory?

I think the dinner would probably be a nice distraction from the stress of fighting behind enemy lines. So let's try to have one next time we're waiting for stuff to get repaired.

Rolled 13, 15, 14, 3 = 45 (4d20)

>>34388459

Rolled 11, 8, 4, 5 = 28 (4d20)

>>34388459

>>34388530
Where would we hold it? We have mess halls and the like, but a fleet this big must have a fancy dinner room somewhere.

>>34390277
I assumed that our Command Ship would have either a private, or at the very least Officers dining room. You don't eat with the enlisted men, it's simply not done.

TSTG, would it be possible to upgrade the armor of our bodyguards with facial recognition systems?

It would help them deal with low budget assassins and other troublemakers by notifying them that the person in front of them might have no business being aboard the Devourer.

>>34391842
Bump

>>34390277
>>34390676
>I assumed that our Command Ship would have either a private, or at the very least Officers dining room.
Yes it does.
>You don't eat with the enlisted men, it's simply not done.
Not that it hasn't stopped Sonia from doing so before.

>>34391842
Sure. Additional security measures will be added.

See you guys in a few hours.

>>34393230
Well, yes, we've done it. But we don't give a fuck.

>>34388530
Distraction? We are surrounded by loot! And unwary targets and kills!

Plus lets not tempt faith with this before we get back home. We now have the psycho gameface on.

By the way, we have for a long time not gotten the chance to go psycho Sonia on a Boarding action.

What we need to do is bait some response fleet into pursuing us and then coordinate with a relief force to ambush them.

Then we can ram and board to capture a Superheavy. Preferably a Command Ship

Seriously boarding a superheavy again! And now a Command one! And capturing it. And carying beacons for our ships to SP torp compartments to disable them.

A link to a AI we can thrust like Vera to Analise some schematics on command superheavies and with Psycho!Sonia inside to direct targeted SP torp strikes to cut off power to engines, drives, etc, and preventing them from doing the suicide.

Perhaps we could net ourselves intel on a Neeran Admiral or High level Logistics Clerk to gleam at their traffic and deployment plans for further raiding. Probably a potential forced extraction mission with our raider fleet engaging a unwiging supply node , blowing docks and bays and shit and a certain psycho and handpicked teams stunning someone, raiding databanks and carting them off in the commotion aforementioned enemy brass or high level logistics clerk...

Raiding is nice and fun but there is this war we should try to win and we have essentially the Rank of a Brevet General. We should be planning some ops. And considering our reputation we should be hatching some non standard ones from time to time.

>>34395857
I like the way you think. Also, we have this shiny armour and guns just doing nothing .. . .

But we do have obligations. Ops only happen if we can justify the value. As for boarding a SH, or a Command ship, I think we'd need to have a serious plan & equipment for that. Think of it as fighting a moderate army at that level. It's not something you solo.

>>34388459
>Shattered Crown

Shit bro. I hope you're somewhere that has nationalized health services for dental work. That sort of thing runs 1-2k in NA.

With twice as many ships as the local enemy forces Daska has an overwhelming level of superiority over the ships guarding the Rare element operation.

Using that to full advantage, several flight jump in close to the FTL scouts to prevent them from getting off a message while the main force concentrates on surrounding the orbital forces and transports. The Carriers and half the battlecruisers are taken out by an alpha strike allowing the squadrons to work over the remaining corvette forces.

Rather than simply destroying the transports Daska has a corvette land on the aft hull of each one and convinces the crews that they'll be let go provided they jump their ships several light years out of the system. If they try anything funny the corvettes will destroy their drives while in deep space.
When the crews of two ships refuse she destroys every part of their vessels except the cargo bays, then calls in the repair barge to jump out the remains of one. The wreck with less cargo aboard is orbital dropped on a surface installation.

The crews of the remaining ships cooperate and once in deep space the transports are boarded and their cargo offloaded.
All captured crew are moved to one ship and released while Marines with an intrusion expert hack the systems of the other and jump it to a remote location. Once there the transport is abandoned and a beacon is left nearby. Daska reasons that if the enemy hasn't tracked it down in a few weeks it should be safe to use later.

The amount of drive components recovered in the raid is staggering. If used for spare parts your fleet could stay in the field for several years barring severe losses. Daska informs you of her intention to sell or trade most of them to buy additional SP torpedoes on the black market or directly from the Terrans if necessary.

Do you wish to make any comments on Daska's report?

>>34399279
Excellent work.

>>34399279

Did anyone bombard the planet to ensure everything was wiped out, or did the orbital drop do the trick?

Letting the HLV crews go is a double-edged sword. It may cause future crews to surrender more readily, impact enemy morale negatively, or it could potentially result in the deaths of the ones we released and be one less ship we recovered for the fight against the Neeran. The fallout could very well be worth investigating through future PoWs or Intel.

All in all, a damned fine piece of work.

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>>34399279
Addendum:
Surface targets that didn't have a starship or ten dropped on them were hit from orbit with mass driver fire.

Commodore Mezan reports that the Shallan contingent were able to sweep away the enemy ships guarding the terraforming operation. There were requests that they help evacuate the colony, but worried that a Neeran response force might soon arrive they only remained long enough to take aboard a thousand civilians, mostly children.

Did you want to send some ships back there to evacuate the remaining civilians before the sector garrison figures out something is wrong?
Doing so will fill your stasis equipped evacuation ships to capacity unless you want to put refugees aboard the same ship as your POW's.

>>34399896
The best defense is a good offense. strike another target with enough jamming to make it look like we are trying to stop them from getting word out, but failing. While the garison reacts to an actual imminent attack the Shallans can evac the colonists.
Also, whoever designed Neeran anti-raiding doctrine should be shot.

>>34399896
No. We are heading deeper into enemy territory, if there are civilians there they hold a higher priority since it would be more difficult to rescue them in the future.

>>34399896
I am for filling up our evac ships to their full capacity. The Shallans will like us more for it and there is no insurance that we will run into an opportunity to fill them all up at once again.

I wonder how many SP vollys Daska can buy with all that loot she has gained from the transports. We should probably try to do this again given the chance.

>>34399896

I have a feeling Mezan knows the answer to the question of going back for more civilians.

Risking the fleet and filling up our evac capacity here just isn't a wise choice.

Which PoW choice did we end up doing from that station? Just taking Factions species? We could thaw them in another sector and use them as bait/decoys if a juicy target needs some ships drawn away.

I also recall Mezan asking about using one of the Neeran carriers and some of the captured corvettes for a resistance force. Does she actually have a plan for what a single carrier and non-ftl corvettes to pull that off, or was it just her being a defiant Shallan?

>>34400204
>Which PoW choice did we end up doing from that station?
Majority voted to "Put them in stasis aboard evacuation transport" so one of the transports is now more than half full of potential enemies.

>I also recall Mezan asking about using one of the Neeran carriers and some of the captured corvettes for a resistance force. Does she actually have a plan for what a single carrier and non-ftl corvettes to pull that off, or was it just her being a defiant Shallan?
You ask about this to be sure.
"I'm mostly thinking of the military people we've recovered in this galaxy so far. Many of them are more than willing to stay behind and do the whole 'resistance until the end' thing. If they can do some raiding themselves with a Carrier and steal updated IFF codes they could actually do quite a bit of damage after we leave. I haven't seen anything that would act as a good base of operations for them though."

2 against evacuation, 1 for and 1 for if a suitable distraction can be made.

Do you want to hit any other targets in this sector before moving on?

>>34399896
Yes, I think we should evac them before we leave the sector.

Getting as many civilians as possible is one of our goals and if we get to the point where we can't hold anymore Mezan said he would provide an escort for them back to allied space and would then proceed to join up with us afterwords.

>>34400438
I would like to raid the Planetary Base. A quick raid would be fine, as long as the shipyard construction is delayed.

>>34400438

That is a bit underwhelming. If we'd captured armed battleships or could manage to salvage some plasma cannons from destroyed ones and install them... that resistance force would probably have a much better chance.

And to be clear, I was suggesting using the PoWs as bait in another area. Daska letting the guys from the Rare world go means this place is going to be on alert shortly, and that puts any evac at risk. also >>34400030 there has it dead on.


Let's get out of the neighborhood and go turn somewhere else into Detroit. We can always come back and blow up that Rare world again.

More for evacuating the civilians, more against. Some votes for another raid.

You currently have the following forces available. The Allied squadron is temporarily attached to 3rd Wing due to repairs.

3rd Wing - Drake + Allied squadron
5th Wing - (Arthur) Daska
9th Wing - Verilis
Dragoons - Mike
Command Squad (75% due to repairs)
EBON
Shallans

Do you wish to launch one last raid while departing the sector or hit any of the convoys? If there are additional supporters for the evacuation plan it is advised that you vote for one of the raid options.

[ ] Departing raid
[ ] Convoy raid
[ ] Get out now

>>34400944

[x] Get out now

Onward to more Rare element worlds!

>>34400944
[X] Departing raid

>>34400944
>[x] Departing raid

M1 looks like a might good raid to me.

>>34401125
>>34401262
Departing raid. Sites suggested so far:

>Mining Operation 1
This is a planetary mining operation. Ground side sites use launch repulsors to fire cargo containers into orbit for collection.
BS 6
CX 6

>Planetary Base
Located in the next system over from the terraforming colony the two stars are technically a distant binary with an orbital distance of 12,000 AU. This planet could potentially be a terraforming prospect but it currently lacks a magnetic field. For the moment the Neeran seem to have set up a base here and may be making preparations to build a shipyard on the surface.
CRV 96
CRV(FTL) 6
BS 10
C 8

Which do you wish to hit and in what strength?

>>34401822
>Mining Operation 1
Mike
>Planetary Base
The rest of the wings

>>34401822

I'd prefer to just hit the Mining Op, personally.

Drake + Shallans to get our allies some combat experience.

Verilis will lead 2 squadrons to try and capture/disable one or two of the CX, with the rest of his wing acting as a reserve for Drake's force.

Capturing a CX or two will net us some goods to help with the fleet's repairs and possibly an asset to use.

Or we could just blast it all and snatch whatever ore containers are left.

>>34401957
>Mining Operation 1
>Mike
Mike says he'll try to cause some damage without using any SP Torps.

>>Planetary Base
>The rest of the wings
3rd, 5th and 9th get ready to attack the base, making sure that their approach lanes won't be too crowded.
Daska promises to spend as little time in system as possible. At the first sign of trouble they'll leave the sector.

Roll 7d20

Rolled 15, 12, 15, 11, 16, 4, 10 = 83 (7d20)

>>34402341
Rolling thunder

>>34402341
Do you want to combine plans, sending the Shallan unit + mike to hit the mining base and sending some of your Battlecruisers with LST's to take care of the Transports?

Jarato Eldal is ready for deployment and can help move the ships if your boarding teams cant hijack the control systems of the transports.

>>34402481
I am perfectly fine with combining said plans.

Rolled 10, 8, 11, 7, 1, 9, 19 = 65 (7d20)

>>34402397
No problem with doing both plans.

Rolled 14, 6, 13, 19, 17, 19, 2 = 90 (7d20)

>>34402481

sounds good. I'd like to assign the Shallans an SP torp volley from the reserve just in case, though.

Your main force hits the base just as hard as usual, trying to destroy as many Battleships and carriers in the opening phase as possible to cut down on the number of potential corvettes they have to face. Enenmy strength is effectively cut in half and after the first minute or two it's more a question of how many enemy ships will be able to escape the system. One scout manages to get to FTL headed for the main colony.

After that the wings begin a countdown as a response force might arrive within ten minutes depending on how much of their fleet is on alert.

Daska uses a few of her spare SP Torpedoes to take out planetary shield generators then the fleet bombards the ground based forces until their time is up.

Meanwhile at the mining operation the 6 battleships present don't stand much of a chance against a Shallan Medium cruiser and escort helping out.
Mezan's troops storm two of the transports while some of your Battlecruisers bring in Marines to board the rest.
3 of them are quickly secured and prepared to jump out of the system. Two others are proving to be more problematic while the crew of the final ship activates their self destruct and abandons ship. Your teams are not going to take the chance that they can disarm it, instead choosing to get the hell out.

Do you want the unit to tow the two unsecured ships out of the system to a place where they'll have more time to deal with the crew? Or would you rather cripple or destroy them?

>>34403227

Withdraw from the unsecured ships and destroy them. If we picked up 3, we're ahead of the game.

>>34403227
Destroy the ships. We already claimed some for R&D, wasting manpower and time on the other two is not really worth it.

>>34403227
Destroy the ships and proceed to get out of here.

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>>34403327
>>34403345
>>34403649
"Don't bother wasting time on them. Take the ones you've secured and destroy the rest."

The troops pull back to the ships and disable the transports that were causing trouble, dropping them towards the surface. All other mining operations and their launch repulsors are given a quick bombardment before the fleet pulls out.

The transports are parked in deep space in another location much like the last captured ship. Meanwhile the Mining Barge is put to use hauling ore from the transport back to the fleet. Captain Oralth moves the fleet farther along the decided route, keeping a close watch for deep space patrols. Thanks the sensor array you should have advance warning if you've been tracked back to the Carrier.

The Silent Hunter reports that Sector 6 is now on alert and that reinforcements are entering the area via the trade route. They're getting ready to sweep the outlying systems for your raiding group.

What sectors do you want to investigate next? Will you send out single Wings like before to perform some raids? Target trade routes instead? Or maybe keep your head down while the Neeran search?

>>34403897
I would say investigate 16, 17, and 18 since they are relatively close due to the proposed route through space. Taking out any sensors there are so we don't have to worry about them.

I would say send out single Wings like before and if we discover a trade route we should leave that for when we group up.

>>34403897
Same plan as before. Get mike to destroy any sensors or jammers near the route. Then each wings hits their own independent targets.

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>>34403897
Damn. The logistically friendly targets to hit would be the ones along our path, but it also paints a big damned arrow for the Neeran to throw forces at and ahead of.

Maybe skip the 'next' group of systems and scout the destroyed colony and 3 sectors 'north' of it?

Or do something where we do spread out wolfpack raiding/scouting so that our actual path isn't a predictable path. Just spitballing with the ones marked in green.

>>34399279
Goddamnit, I hope Daska appreciates that we gave her the sweet loot job. I know we're pretty blunt with her, but does she know that we actually like her and appreciate her skills? We are just the worst at interpersonal shit.

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The Smugglers are reporting that they're not finding many of their allies in the occupied sectors. Too much heat at present as they put it. They'll probably only be found in the areas where abandoned outposts are known to exist.
With that job out of the way for the time being they'd like to help scout some of the sectors and deployment of com and sensor buoys. It's fairly safe and they can keep an eye out for weak targets they can go after on their own.

Do you approve of this?

>>34404239
>>34404303
>>34404316

>Maybe skip the 'next' group of systems and scout the destroyed colony and 3 sectors 'north' of it?

Possible combination of the plans: Hit sectors 23-25 then pull back and go after 16-18 ?

>>34400544
Seconding the planetary base. We've been playing it pretty safe, which is good for raiding, but just because they have a lot of ships in one place doesn't mean we have to stay and fight to the bitter end. We CAN accept mission kills.

>>34404719
I Approve of the plan to hit those sectors in that order and I approve of the Smugglers plan.

Who knows! Makes this working with them will improve our relationship if word gets out....maybe...

>>34404719
No problems here.

>>34403897
>Not stealing as much as we possibly can
>Letting Daska go for the loot on the Rare world

>Has Sonia finally stolen enough?

>Waiting for plan to cut off, board, and steal SH ship.

Anyways, I'm all for hitting sectors 23-25 and then pulling back. Or even leaving it for later, I mean, we have to leave this system eventually right?

>>34404779
Can we get the smugglers to focus on opportunities for great loot? We can offer them a cut if they find anything sufficiently juicy, as motivation.

>>34404757
Are e still gunning for Winifried's old position>

>>34404779
>>34404797
>>34404820
Seems people are on board for sectors 23-25 first. Roll 4d100 for scanning the sectors.


>Letting Daska go for the loot on the Rare world
To be fair you blew a couple of similar opportunities in the previous dwarf galaxy.
>Has Sonia finally stolen enough?
Somehow I doubt this.

>>34404835
>Can we get the smugglers to focus on opportunities for great loot? We can offer them a cut if they find anything sufficiently juicy, as motivation.
The Smugglers are a little taken aback by your request but only briefly and quickly agree to your proposal. They're a little surprised since they'd heard from some people before departure that you turned down heading behind the lines with available South Reach fleet groups, going for a Republic one instead.

"Not that we're complaining but if you wanted to steal shit why didn't you recruit them?"

>What say?

>>34405126
"Would you rather have a few dinky ships going into an unsupported raid behind enemy lines, or a heavy carrier and escorts?"

Rolled 49, 6, 4, 6 = 65 (4d100)

>>34405126

Rolled 71, 22, 37, 51 = 181 (4d100)

>>34405126
>Roll 4d100 for scanning the sectors.

Rolling.

>"Not that we're complaining but if you wanted to steal shit why didn't you recruit them?"

"As much as I love the opportunity to salvage things, keeping my crews and their their ships operational takes precedence.

A republic heavy carrier is pretty useful when it comes to the latter."

>>34405104
Hell no, we're aiming higher than that. What with the war effort and all that, it seems like people are forgetting the Neeran artifacts we have, and Baldurs apprentice etc.

I feel like the next time we're on leave we should, instead of going home where our Corporate Empire is in good hands and can be run at a distance, we should go directly to our Exodus "Allies" and start poking that bear. I know we're going to have to wait for the eventual time-skip to really see progress on the artifacts, but I would like to get as much of an edge on that as we can.

Rolled 91, 96, 48, 81 = 316 (4d100)

>>34405126
I like this line >>34405259

Rolled 29, 85, 12, 22 = 148 (4d100)

>>34405126
Rawling

>Letting Daska go for the loot on the Rare world
>To be fair you blew a couple of similar opportunities in the previous dwarf galaxy.

That doesn't excuse blowing more chances. Also, for

>What Say

I don't want to just loot, I want to have the firepower to keep my loot. Also, to get better loot. Seriously, I want to go home with a SH to make up for last time.

Your Recon teams have made some discoveries while out scanning down those sectors.

The first is a friendly ship operating behind the lines. A Kavarian Battlecruiser that's undergone a number of field modifications to keep it operational. The crew is a mix of survivors from other vessels that were destroyed. They've been stealing and scavenging from battle sites for equipment and trading with Smugglers.
Modified worker arms have been grafted onto the aft wing areas and positioned so that they can reach most areas of the hull to conduct repairs. Half the arms are damaged as they lack protection themselves once the shields fail.

The second is a crippled republic battlecruiser. A converted Heron bow section its engines have been destroyed and the crew are gone. Captain Oralth would like it added to his escort once repaired and can spare crew to operate it.

See you guys in the morning.

>>34405865
>They've been stealing and scavenging from battle sites for equipment and trading with Smugglers.

I already like these guys.
We should forward job offers from RSS to those who decide to end their career with the military once we have returned to allied lines.

> Captain Oralth would like it added to his escort once repaired and can spare crew to operate it.

Sure, sounds good to me.

>>34405865
>Kavarian BC
Get these guys debriefed and some R&R. They've likely got some good intel and sites to check up on.

>Republic BC
Sounds good. See if we can pull anything useful off the logs/core.

>>34407802

>RSS job offer
Please, no recruiting of stragglers from behind enemy lines. It could potentially anger allies, get us PTSDed crazies, or even Neeran infiltrators.

>>34410074
How would it anger allies that we offer their war veterans a job? Governments are notoriously bad at giving a shit about that. As for Neeran infiltrators, we're not a significant economic part of the war effort. There would be no point, especially when it would be far easier to smuggle them in through refugees or prisoners. As for PTSD, well, TBH I think you have to be a little crazy to work for us. It's not post-traumatic if the trauma is ongoing.

Personally, I think it would be a good environment for them that's structured and familiar and even provide a good transition period for them between war and peace living. Not to mention the reputation boost and connections we could make if it becomes known that our company is a good place for retired soldiers.

I think it's an excellent idea, not only on the practical but also the political front.

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>>34410074
>They've likely got some good intel and sites to check up on.
Most actual sites they've hit are likely more heavily defended now. There is a smuggler base in sector 32 but they try not to go near it often lest they be tracked.
The colony in sector 30 was glassed but the planet was not destroyed.

What they do have is data on the trade routes connecting most of those sectors.

Sector 22
>Colony
>Tanker group
>FLEET
>Jammer
>Logistics Station
>Logistics Station
>Logistics Planet
> Station base

Sector 23
>Colony
>Tanker group
>Tanker group
>FLEET
>Mining Operation
> Jammer
>Logistics asteroid
>Station base
>Station base
>Asteroid Base

Sector 24
>Colony
>FLEET 1
> FLEET 2
>H-Colony Terraforming 1
>H-Colony Terraforming 2
> Mining Operation
>Mining Operation
> Yard/ Shipyard 1
>Yard/ Shipyard 2
>Jammer
>Sensor array / Com relay
>Logistics asteroid 1
>Logistics asteroid 2
>Station base
> Asteroid Base

Sector 25
>Colony
>Tanker group
>Mining Operation 1
>Mining Operation 2
>Rare
>Logistics asteroid
>Station base

Of the sectors where your people conducted Recon only sector 25 has a Rare.

Mike has 4 targets to take out. Roll 4d100

What Wings do you want to assign to raid each Sector? Will you be sending backup with them?

Rolled 35, 42, 51, 92 = 220 (4d100)

>>34413053
>Mike has 4 targets to take out. Roll 4d100
Rolling.

>What Wings do you want to assign to raid each Sector? Will you be sending backup with them?

The Wing most suited to hit and fade tactics gets sector 24.

The slowest Wing when it comes to FTL speed gets sector 22. I think they should also be supported by our Shallan forces.

Sector 22 and 23 seem pretty similar, the harder hitting remaining wing should probably be assigned to sector 22.

>>34413163
>The slowest Wing when it comes to FTL speed gets sector 22
Your Wings and especially the mixed squadrons all generally have the same FTL speeds because they travel at the speed of the slowest ship in the unit. Within the confines of a galaxy it's not really an issue since most jump speeds are measured in the single digits rather than beyond J18.

>The Wing most suited to hit and fade tactics gets sector 24.
Its the same with the hit and fade options, your wings are all roughly comparable. It comes down to commanders more than anything. Drake is getting quite good at it but Daska has an edge over her in terms of experience since the former hasn't commanded a full wing as long.
Which did you want to assign to that sector?

>Sector 22 and 23 seem pretty similar, the harder hitting remaining wing should probably be assigned to sector 22.
That would be Alex who has the longer ranged guns.

Sector 22 - Alex
Sector 23 - Verilis
Sector 24 - Drake /or/ Daska ?
Sector 25

Rolled 41, 78, 54, 78 = 251 (4d100)

>>34413053
they see me rollan...

>>34413636
>Sector 24 - Drake /or/ Daska ?

In that case I would prefer to send Daska. With two fleets and many promising targets, it will need a lot of experience to do damage while avoiding losses.

Mike's team has some trouble with the first Jammer, taking some damage from the forces defending it but manage to complete their run and move on.

The others go more easily though the third is only slightly better. There isn't much time at any of the jamming sites to stop and check for allies that might be in the area. The follow up attack by the rest of the fleet will have to check for them.

>>34413811
Daska is assigned to Sector 24, with Drake taking 25.

Roll 4d100 to see mow many systems each group can quickly raid.

Rolled 39, 36, 73, 76 = 224 (4d100)

>>34414196

Rolled 86, 89, 37, 64 = 276 (4d100)

>>34414196
>Roll 4d100 to see mow many systems each group can quickly raid.

Rolling~

Rolled 28, 43, 37, 79 = 187 (4d100)

>>34413053

Rolled 21, 76, 92, 44 = 233 (4d100)

>>34414196

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Alex is able to raid 6 systems causing heavy damage to a number of them. On the last target he's able to destroy a logistics base and loot some station modules before the local garrison can get a fleet to their position.

Verilis hits 8 systems, making sure to do as much damage as possible to a pair of tanker groups using starfighter raids and some of their SP Torpedo reserves.

Daska performs limited raids against an impressive 15 systems but lacks the time to commit to any one site and perform looting.

Drake hits 5 sites, crippling the tankers, logistics base and doing what she can to perform a repeat of the last attack on a rare element site. Of 4 transports present she makes off with 2 of them.

By the time everyone returns to base the sensor arrays on the Millennial Host are detecting elevated levels of communication between the region you just hit and other sector along the trade lane. What little you can decrypt indicates that additional reserves are probably being called up.
Sectors 16-18 may also be on alert but you won't know for certain until they've been scanned down.

Jarato Eldal says he wouldn't be surprised if the Neeran are putting a taskforce together specifically to hunt down your fleet.

Your orders?

>>34415116
>Your orders?
We should get out of here, in my opinion. I'd like to proceed to the sectors that may contain abandoned outposts close to the FTL hazard in the middle of the galaxy.

>>34415116
I agree with >>34415183 that it might be best to switch the route to go toward the possible abandoned outposts.

Might want to scan down Sectors 16-18 just to make sure we don't run into a sensor while trying to get there.

>>34415116
Well, we did want to attract enemies that would otherwise go to the front. Let's skip a couple of systems until we are somewhat sure that they don't know where we are.

Rolled 96, 60, 3, 43, 99, 72, 11, 6, 33, 62, 34, 14, 3 = 536 (13d100)

>>34415654
>Roll 3d100
Rolling.

The more direct path, please.

Rolled 4, 78, 3 = 85 (3d100)

>>34415654

>>34415183
As long as we don't fight there (much) that seems like a plan.

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>Rolled = 19

>>34415183
Did you want to proceed along the existing route to get there (A), or take a more direct path? (B)
Or something else entirely?

>>34415605
>Might want to scan down Sectors 16-18 just to make sure we don't run into a sensor while trying to get there.

Roll 3d100

Rolled 95, 61, 54 = 210 (3d100)

>>34415725

Rolled 22, 22, 76 = 120 (3d100)

>>34415725
I would say the more direct route.

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The fleet changes course, getting out of the area. The recon reports soon prove that this is a good idea. The next sector you were planning to go after are indeed on alert. You've unable to get reliable force strengths due to the activation of cloaking fields near many of the targets. You would need to go in close with an ECM ship.

Sector 16 (12)
>Colony 1
>Colony 2
>Yard/ Shipyard
>Rare 1
>Rare 2
>Jammer 1
>Jammer 2
>Logistics asteroid
>Station base
>Asteroid Base
>Planetary Base 1
>Planetary Base 2

+++
Sector 17 (12)
>Colony
>Mining Operation
>Rare 1
>Rare 2
>Logistics Station
>Logistics asteroid
>Station base 1
>Station base 2
>Station base 3
>Asteroid Base 1
>Asteroid Base 2
>Planetary Base

Sector 18 (14)
>Tanker group
>H-Colony Terraforming
>Yard/ Shipyard 1
Medium cruiser yard. 8 slipways being expanded to 20.
>Yard/ Shipyard 2
>Jammer
>Sensor array / Com relay
>Logistics asteroid 1
>Logistics asteroid 2
>Station base
>Asteroid Base 1
>Asteroid Base 2
>Planetary Base 1
>Planetary Base 2
>Planetary Base 3

Based on some of the targets available it's too bad you weren't able to hit them earlier. Oh well, they cant remain at full alert forever.

Did you want to raid any of the areas in the core or just proceed straight to the Outpost sectors and begin scanning?

>>34416372
>Did you want to raid any of the areas in the core or just proceed straight to the Outpost sectors and begin scanning?

Let's lay low for a while and stick to scanning.

>>34416382
fair enough

>>34416372
Proceed straight to the Outpost and stick to scanning I would say.

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If seems that the first of the outpost sectors are not as abandoned as you would have expected, or perhaps hoped.
Sector 42

>Tanker 1
>Tanker 2
>Tanker 3
Three tanker groups appear to be supporting a mapping effort of the region. Each is group consists of two battlecruisers and 16 FTL corvettes. Your navigators think they're trying to determine the fastest FTL lanes that pass through the core of the galaxy.

"Why not just take the usual shortcuts outside the denser areas of the galaxy?" you ask.
"Because these can't be observed by cloaked ships sitting outside the rim of the galaxy trying to map enemy movements. It will also make it easier to establish trade if some of the planets could be terraformed."
"There shouldn't be any colony prospects. It's the mashed up core of a spinning death blossom galaxy. The name Maelstrom seems like it fits."
"Uh, about that."
>H-Colony Terraforming
"Apparently a network of planetary shield generators was set up to reduce the levels of background radiation enough to make terraforming possible."
Kavos summaries what records you have available. "Generators have been in place forty years and still surface is nearly barren. Colony habitats are all located underground. Population 24k. There should be room to house 200k if normal colony expansion plans were followed."

>Mining Operation (Abandoned)
You could probably set up the mining barge in this system as it has a combination of heavy belts and high radiation output from its star which could make detection more difficult. Really it would make a good location to base the Fleet out of as well.
>Yard/ Shipyard
An enemy Carrier and 2 battleships are investigating this abandoned shallan shipyard. It's similar to other incomplete yards you've encountered except it also has a partially built Medium cruiser slipway. The station core was destroyed at some point.
>Rare
The beginnings of a mining operation on this world are present but it's clear any equipment was evacuated early in the war.

>Logistics asteroid
Your scouts are contacted by a half dozen Rovinar ships that seem to have reactivated this logistics base. They're using it to keep supplied while they conduct intel operations behind the lines. With the enemy mapping ships beginning to close in they had begun making plans to evacuate but if you could destroy them it would mean they could remain in the field much longer.
4x Silent Hunter
2x Rovinar Light Cruiser

>Station Base
A modular base disguised to look as though it's been destroyed by evacuating forces. A Shallan battlecruiser and two Jitō class Frigates are hidden within the remains of a cargo bay. A damaged reactor outside the station hull is emitting enough radiation to cover the output of a few holographic emitters hiding the bay's contents.
1x Station Core (light damage)
6x Station Modules

>Planetary Base (Abandoned)
There isn't much left of this one, it looks like it was nuked. It's possible there might be small arms and other salvageable equipment.

>Smuggler Moon
>Smuggler Planetary base
Two smuggler bases are in the region according to the other allies you've come into contact with. Either of them are willing to trade provided that you're not followed.

>20 Graveyard
Scout teams have located a substantial graveyard! There is little to no Neeran debris left. All the drive plates, cores and warheads have been looted. A few com and IFF systems also appear to have been salvaged by Neeran crews.

3x Corvette
2x Frigate (Silent Hunter, Norune FRG)
6xLight cruiser (2x Knight Class, CCD Bulk Cruiser, Centurion, Transcendant, Polaris)
Aries Attack cruiser
Shallan Battlecruiser
Dominion Legacy Battleship
Dominion carrier
Fuel Tanker (Empty)
Shallan Medium cruiser (Weapons and engines destroyed, 82% hull intact)

Your orders?

>>34417467
>Your orders?

Happy_Sonia_has_a_blast.gif
Let's hope Sonia read that list in her office instead of somewhere public.

Anyway, coordinate with Captain Oralth and Commodore Mezan to make a list of ships we want to salvage and can get operational again.

Were the ships covered by holographic left behind for a reason other than not having enough time or crew to evacuate them?

I would basically suggest we grab stuff, salvage ships, contact smugglers to see what they have for trade, then destroy the mapping ships on the way out.

Or just take the Rovinar ships with us to buff our recon capabilities.

>>34417657
I basically agree with this and either we take out the tankers as soon as possible or we wait a day or so to keep an eye on them since it might bring "other" elements that are searching for us to said system.

I personally think this might be a good system to act as a home base or at least it's a start.

I'm sure the Rovinar will have some juicy information for us.

Doing some brainstorming for a Reynard-brand attack cruiser. This is for down the road as we have some production capacity but no RnD for this sort of thing on staff. The ship is shaped kind of like a manta ray with a broad wing shape. The hull is very flat which keeps the frontal profile low and gives a good field of fire for the weapons.

Primary weapons:
2x Twin linked spinal phase cannons one per side
4x Pulse cannon turrets 2 per side
2x Phase cannon turrets Dorsal/Ventral

This design is designed to maximize phase weapon performance through use of shared arrays. The key innovation at work here is something we realized way earlier in the quest, phase weapons can be connected together by arrays and the weapons do not have to be the same type. All of the phase weapons on this cruiser are connected together by an array that wraps around most of the hull. The array is designed to boost and redirect the available power. It can juice up any 6 of the phase weapons to heavy damage levels but while it does this the remaining 4 are unable to fire.

The main guns are 2 twin-linked phase cannons (possible recycled from corvettes?), these are used to engage targets at long range and in frontal attacks. At closer ranges power is shifted over to 4 pulse cannon turrets when the main guns have no target. The turrets have a much wider field of fire and can focus on targets in all directions. Rounding out the arsenal is a pair of phase turrets mounted on the top and bottom. The ship can focus at least 6 guns in all directions except for straight up and down. Pilots would need to keep it edge-on to maximize firepower on target and minimize profile in return.

Think it would work? I haven't drawn anything yet, still working out the concept.

>>34417467
What exactly are the Rovinar here to do? If they are just mapping out enemy territory they might have an easier job of it if they use us as a resupply base instead of a fixed location. Either way we can definitely deal with the forces in this area for them and or draw them away so they can keep working.

Having that many silent hunters would be real handy for an infiltration op too.

>>34417985
That's definitely an interesting idea and it would definitely ease things up for the logistics corps as that ship wouldn't have to worry about ammo.

However, I think it lacks (SP) torps. What would you think about adding a few internal one-shot torpedo tubes to the design? That way we could add some punch without taking away too much internal space that would usually taken up by the torpedo magazine and loading apparatus.

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>>34417985
You could probably mod an EX-K to do this if you threw away its torpedo launchers. Be aware that light pulse cannon turrets can't be linked to an array.

>>34417657
>Were the ships covered by holographic left behind for a reason other than not having enough time or crew to evacuate them?
To be clear the station base only looks abandoned.
They were trapped behind enemy lines and their crews have been working to repair the ships. The three ships are operational but their FTL performance and power systems would not be enough to let them jump them back to friendly territory. They had hoped to salvage drive components from the graveyard but others got there first.

>coordinate with Captain Oralth and Commodore Mezan to make a list of ships we want to salvage and can get operational again.

Mezan obviously wants the medium (and a promotion to Admiral) but it's a bit bulky. It could probably be salvaged if one of the Herons were used to help out. The problem would be getting it repaired. Millennial Host can not conduct serious repairs on a Medium cruiser. It's going to need a yard for that or be parked in deep space while your smaller repair ships work on it.
The station and all of the smaller ships can be easily salvaged, though the legacy ship is too out of date to be of use for anything but a troop carrier.

There is enough room aboard the evacuation transports to get all of the civilians from the colony out of the sector. On the other hand it probably hasn't been discovered yet which means you could probably dump refugees there instead if you needed to.

>>34417786
>I'm sure the Rovinar will have some juicy information for us.
Map updated. New trade lane info added!

>>34418213
Mapping trade lanes, shipyards, force strength. Things that you're working to screw up for them.
They hope that at some point they'll be able to deploy sensor arrays to better monitor each lane in as close to real time as possible.

>>34417985
Sounds interesting but maybe put a removable torpedo rack or two on it like this guy suggested>>34418245

>>34418245
Not the same anon buy, one could have multiple SP torp launchers mounted as teeth in a very long smile in the front of the manta. Each Tube could have a very close by store of say five torps in a rack above, below and one loaded. Sure it would be a bit vulnerable and in the front but it should not interfere with the arrays in any way, and coupled with the array design it would have a massive burst alpha strike - depending on how hard can we squeeze the torpedo tubes we might put in a manta design quite a few of them.

Of course considering the array design, the smiling teeth of torpedo tubes, engines, shields, powerplants, etc, it will make one cramped ship who has only one purpose in a fight, going face to face with someone and bringing massive bursts of pain and destruction.

We might also consider ways to integrate our more extensive PD network. Considering it is projectile base, while the design makes covering the front and aft of the ship rather hard it makes covering the dorsal and ventral sides of the ship with PD very easy and multiple ships could develop enveloping fields of PD.
More than that, if they are using projectiles with a bit of electronics, and some reaction mass a simple artillery shell could guide itself off bore a bit, enough perhaps to cover the aft and fore of the ships with dorsal and ventral pd fire at long range. - kind of hard to do it at close range even with pd missiles.

I really think we should hit the tankers first. The less time they have to map or react to our presence the better. Sure it cuts down on our time, but it will fuck up their mapping progress and ensure any major traffic through the core of the galaxy is delayed thus any surprises and shenanigans are too.

I do suspect however that we ought to hit the tankers in a coordinated strike at the same time, preferably with SP torps heavy usage. Make them just disappear. It would be nice to get a tanker or too, since tankers are always nice to steal, but simply blowing them up is just as well.

And then if we manage to kill them all without anyone escaping we can converge on the yard again in a coordinated fashion and try to do a repeat.

If we can manage it there too there should be no survivors, and we could retire to salvage shit from the yard and them move to the graveyard with perhaps some tripwire option at the yard or tanker location to see what comes to investigate so we can jump investigator ships too.

We have been raiding pretty consistently so they might expect our pattern of burn and run, thus we could jump their first responders and check up crews, but just in case they do not and are responding to our presence in force we could also at the same time have pre ordered jump coordinates and evacuation timetables for everyone in case shit hits the fan, via a rotating corvette chain of spotters at the troubled spots.

>>34418245
>>34418476
>>34418630
You could buy external torpedo racks from the Republic. They mount them on Centurions occasionally since they lack torpedo launchers.

The Smugglers and Mercs offer to loot the destroyed planetary base. Anything from there can be sold or traded to the local smuggler bases since they'll probably have long term storage to let them decontaminate irradiated gear.

>>34417786
>either we take out the tankers as soon as possible or we wait a day or so to keep an eye on them since it might bring "other" elements that are searching for us to said system.

Which it it be? Take down the tankers and their recon groups now or will you wait? If so how long?

What are your plans for the crippled Medium Cruiser?

>>34418798
Let the Mercs and Smugglers loot the place quickly and lets repair the Medium in deep space using our repair ships

>>34417985
i'd really rather design something like the combat barges we saw before, they seemed to be the apex of our combat sytle

>>34418913
Dosen't one of the Mercs we work with have one maybe he knows where we could buy the schematics or the base of one.

>>34418798
How long can the Rovinar hold their base before the mapping ships get too close?

Anyway, before we attack those tankers I'd like to do the following:
-Salvage everything and help those guys stuck in the station base.
-Evacuate colonists.

>Medium
We should probably focus on replacing the engines first, so it could travel with the MH between repairs. Would it be possible to conduct the repairs in the system with the abandoned mining operation?

>>34418245
>>34418630
>>34418476
The basic idea behind this ship is to have a solid trooper design that has good firepower at all ranges and works even better in large formations. Basically a bigger and more survivable attack corvette. So to that end it needs to be easy to repair and easy to supply, you can't afford to have these clogging up the dock if you have a ton of them.

Doubling down on phase weapons makes supply a lot simpler, but it definitely needs to have some amount of warhead capability. Only it might not necessarily need to have hard-wired launchers as those eat up a lot of space. I've been toying with a couple ideas to that end. External racks is definitely an option because your capacity is multiplied by the number of ships you deploy. And we mostly use torpedoes in mass salvos anyway.

Does anyone have the stats for the newer dominion assault corvettes? They haven't been added to the wiki yet.

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>>34418798
Let's take out the local enemy forces as quickly as we can, we don't want them messing up for our Rovinar friends nor for ourselves. Then we split up with one group salvaging the graveyard and the other getting those colonist onto our evacuation ships.

Drag the Medium to that place where we could mine relatively undetected?

>>34417985
And here I had hopes that my own awesome design using the K-types form would be popular. I was thinking along the lines of combing the long range and firepower of the Transcendant Light Cruiser by giving the Cruiser a Spinal mounted Light Plasma cannon. Because as we've seen, Plasma is the future of warfare. And then combining that with four forward mounted torpedo launchers we can dish out a good amount of damage before the enemy even gets close. And should they get close enough then 4 Heavy Phase guns, two on the roof and two below, should be able to make so mean damage to most things.

Ofcourse the problem with munition comes up then but it's really a matter between attrition vs firepower. But hey, I got the next best thing to a fetish over the idea of putting a plasma cannon on a Cruiser so I might just be talking out of my pants.

>>34417467
>A few com and IFF systems also appear to have been salvaged by Neeran crews.

Uh. Shit. They know how much we like to salvage, and they might lay a honeypot for us if they're trying to hunt us down specifically. Fuuuuuck, like we didn't have enough issues with the Shallans already,

>>34418798
Might as well take them out as quickly as possible.

If someone else shows up to investigate we will just have to bop them on the head as well.

>>34418454
>The three ships are operational but their FTL performance and power systems would not be enough to let them jump them back to friendly territory. They had hoped to salvage drive components from the graveyard but others got there first.

Didn't we get a bunch from that Rare world earlier?

> The amount of drive components recovered in the raid is staggering. If used for spare parts your fleet could stay in the field for several years barring severe losses.

>>34418999
>newer dominion assault corvette stats
They tend to vary depending on the commander as the energy weapons can be switched out. Every type carries a single torpedo launcher.

The most produced type mounts 6 light pulse cannon turrets with 360 degree coverage.

The second type has 2 spinal mount heavy pulse cannons. Some of this type have additional light phase cannon turrets.

The least common and most expensive type make use of Terran heavy pulse cannon arrays which have a slightly wider field of fire compared to normal heavy pulse cannons. They're also more expensive to maintain as Terran manufacturers hold a monopoly on production at the moment. (The Terran Gamma class assault corvettes and some newer Scorpions are equipped exclusively with these weapons.)

>>34418850
>Let the Mercs and Smugglers loot the place quickly and lets repair the Medium in deep space using our repair ships.
1 for that.

>>34418994
>How long can the Rovinar hold their base before the mapping ships get too close?
About a week, maybe less.

>Salvage everything and help those guys stuck in the station base.
This will be ongoing unless there are any objections.

>Medium
>Would it be possible to conduct the repairs in the system with the abandoned mining operation?
Yes, until or unless the Neeran recon ships get there in a week.

1 for wait
2 for attack Tankers now

Anyone else?

>>34418798
Take out the tankers in a co-ordinated hit, we should be able to use overwhelming force on each to ensure no survivors.

At the same time, maybe dispatch the slowest group to the station base with some drive-plates ganked from the Rare earlier to help with repairs.

Let the mercs/smugglers loot. Have the crippled medium set up shop in the logistic asteroid. Since we're popping the mapping ships, we should have some time there.

We can do all the things!

>>34419587
2

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>>34419584
>Didn't we get a bunch from that Rare world earlier?
Yes. Your can repair them, they just weren't able to fully fix their own ships until you showed up.

>>34419116
To fit all of that on an EX-K hull it would first need to be bulked up a bit. Sort of like this awesome.


Looks like the majority wants to take down the Tankers and their support now rather than later.

As most of the FTL Corvettes are out scanning at any given time how do you want to divide up your forces to hunt them down while also dealing with the tankers?

All of your attack wings have been repaired, with some corvettes swapped out from the reserve while more serious damage is fixed up. The Rovinar can assist you and there are still your Mercs and the Shallans.

>>34419587
I am perfectly fine with letting the Mercs and Smugglers have their fun with looting.

>>34420070
Could we hit them in rotations, Mikes dragoons popping in to chase down the corvettes while another group takes out the tankers, so say we roll in heavy on the first group & Mike chases down the corvettes while we all take down the tankers/BS, then once the corvettes are popped Mike goes on with 3/4 attack wings to the next while one stay behind to clean up, then repeat with Mike & two attack wings go on to the third while one hangs back to clean up, etc?

I'm unsure of how the corvettes are spread out here. Alternatively, we could co-ordinate with the Silent Hunters to find out when they're grouping together so we can hit them with overwhelming numbers & prevent them from warning each other, or co-ordinating the simultaneous attack.

>>34420070
Maybe have our new Rovinar friends scout out the yellow areas where they are scanning until we have the area around a Tanker.

Clear out any ships we find and once that is done Destroy the Tanker. Rinse and repeat.

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>>34420211
>>34420384
So try and take down the scout ships from a particular group with Mike and the Rovinar unit. Meanwhile a much larger force moves on the tanker itself.

Once one scan group and its corvettes are taken out move on to the next. rinse/repeat until all 3 have been taken down.

Close enough?

>>34420857
Sounds good. The goal is to move fast enough that their scouts just vanish, while they're far enough out to not indicate where we are - that way when they come looking for them, they don't find us right away.

>>34420857
Sounds good to me.

>>34420938
The Rovinar are fine with the plan, they'll split up into groups of 2. Mike plans to deploy flights of 3 ships.

Roll 7d100 to hunt down the scout ships.

How many Wings or squadrons do you want to hit each tanker with?

Rolled 96, 87, 1, 6, 23, 66, 52 = 331 (7d100)

>>34421198
Might as well go with 2 wings a tanker. hit 'em hard. 3rd & 7th, 5th& Sahllans/Allies, Command & 9th.

EBON can escort the damaged medium to wherever it's repairing.

Rolled 79, 61, 69, 93, 75, 55, 23 = 455 (7d100)

>>34421198
I would say go with two wings since we are going after a Tanker.

This looks good to me.>>34421306

Rolled 70, 31, 83, 65, 53, 3, 96 = 401 (7d100)

>>34421198
Oh, that nat 1

Rolled 12 (1d100)

Most of the scouts are chased down with relative ease. A few figure out they're being shadowed and make a break for the tankers. Not all the same tanker, which is the more troublesome aspect.

Luckly there are enough friendlies in the area to call for support and cut off the scout.

The scouts are systematically taken out and when there are less than a handfull left the attack wings jump in on the tanker they've spent the last few hours triangulating. With two wings the tanker and escort don't stand a chance.

The second team reports that they've moving into position. Your own group is likewise getting ready, trying to stay outside the likely detection range of the third ship.

Roll 6d100 to clear the next batch of scouts.

Rolled 43, 47, 27, 38, 44, 62 = 261 (6d100)

>>34422066
Dun dun DUHN!

Rolled 64, 100, 95, 69, 31, 35 = 394 (6d100)

>>34422066
>Roll 6d100 to clear the next batch of scouts.

Rolled 11, 54, 39, 56, 25, 37 = 222 (6d100)

>>34422066

Rolled 79, 20, 51, 37, 97, 27 = 311 (6d100)

>>34422066
Wolling

This time things become a bit more interesting as more scouts make a break for it, one of them fleeing into operations area of the thirf scanning fleet. Mike splits his flights, sending single cruisers out to increase the chances of intercept, eventually catching the runaways.

Unfortunately he's now running the risk of detection by the third enemy group. More than brief communication between the ships could inrease detection chances.

Do you want to have your group attack the third Tanker now before its scouts can be tackled?

>>34422488
What's the point of attacking the Tanker if we don't get the scouts? I say wait until we can be sure of getting them all, otherwise this whole plan was a waste.

>>34422488
Could we hit the tanker without alerting the scouts?

Rolled 2 (1d100)

>>34422747
Possibly. Its hard to be sure.

>>34422801
Please let that be the enemy rolls!

>>34422536
Might as well go with this. I mean, it doesn't hurt to hit the tanker, but the scouts are really what we're after here.

Mike's unit is able to extricate themselves and get back to their operations area without being picked up by scouts from the 3rd Tanker.

5th wing and the Shallans are able to make their attack and destroy the second Tanker.

The Rovinar move in ahead of Mike's unit this time to get better fixes on the Scouts.

Drake contacts you and asks if you'd like her Wing to assist with your target figuring that with enough friendly firepower it might be easier to capture the ship instead of just destroying it. You never did really get around to testing that multi-hack on a Tanker to see if that would secure it. Eldal is also available to assist the Marines if you decided to go that route.

Roll 6d100 to clear the last batch of scouts.

>>34422801
Sorry, haven't we taken out all the scouts we've run into so far? Or is the possibility that they already communicated what was going on somehow?

Does it matter if they know that we're coming, if we can still catch them?

Rolled 100, 39, 72, 86, 98, 48 = 443 (6d100)

>>34422992
Rolling, and hell yeah, lets test the multi-hack out while we're here. I mean, we've taken out most of the scouts, I don't see a reaction force being able to catch us even if they get away.

Rolled 81, 12, 66, 13, 7, 67 = 246 (6d100)

>>34422992
Alright, I'm all for trying to capture this Tanker then. With all the ships we are bringing it should not be that hard to keep it in place so we can board it.

Rolled 56, 72, 96, 36, 14, 100 = 374 (6d100)

>>34422992
I am perfectly fine with Drake joining us and really this is the best chance we have at trying to Capture a Tanker.

>>34422992
MFW the dice come through for us. ONWARDS TO LOOTING!

>>34422994
Mike chased scouts that fled from Tanker group 2 into the group 3 area, nearly getting detected by group 3's scouts in the process. This could have alerted the third Tanker's entire force before you were prepared to jump them. They could have then escaped the region or called in reinforcements.
Thankfully Mike was not detected.

>Does it matter if they know that we're coming, if we can still catch them?
If you're not close enough to jam their communications or intercept them after they jump, then yes it can matter.

Once again some of the scouts almost manage to escape but this time the hunter teams are more prepared for it. Rovinar ships help to intercept any that evade Mike's unit.

"The Dragoons report all targets eliminated sir."

With that you give the order to jump in on the last tanker. Their shields and weapons are at full power when you arrive, obviously they were starting to figure out something was up but it's too late for them to do anything about it now.

"Watch your fire, don't cause so much damage that we won't be able to jump it out of the system."

Roll 4d20 for disabling and boarding action.

Rolled 19, 4, 16, 14 = 53 (4d20)

>>34423360

Rolled 16, 12, 5, 18 = 51 (4d20)

>>34423360
Man, what are they going to do against a Krath and like five people with power armor.

Rolled 12, 10, 5, 20 = 47 (4d20)

>>34423360
They won't know what hit them.

Rolled 14, 16, 15, 20 = 65 (4d20)

>>34423360

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Rolled 3, 1 = 4 (2d6)

Like the professionals they are, your people hammer the shields down on the tanker then do as little damage as possible to disable weapons and communications. The bow section takes a few more hits than you would like but really it doesn't count as much more than scuffing the paint with the tough armor the hulls are made out of.

The bow section is secured within minutes. Teams boarding the much larger and more populated aft sections begin toi have trouble when they get near the bridge but your heavy weapon teams are used to this sort of work. They break in with minimal casualties and take down any Neeran and resisting crew in short order.

"Check their com systems once you have a chance to look over the bridge. See if there's a log of how often they have t remain in contact."

"They're supposed to transmit progress reports every few hours."
"To where?"
Eldal then arrives and looks through the records.
"There is a deep space com relay they left behind seeveral hundred lightyears from here. It supposedly transmits back to Sector 40."

According to Rovinar intel reports there is a sensor array and listening post in Sector 40.

"Can we still hack the systems on the Tanker?" you ask.

"I believe it's possible." Replies the Krath officer. "But you'll need to get the hacking modules to sync up the different locations, which may not be quite so easy."


Roll 5d20. 3 or more of the numbers must fall be within a range of 3 or it won't work. After a certain number of attempts the system will lock up and you'll have to wait an hour to try it again.

Rolled 13, 4, 11, 5, 18 = 51 (5d20)

>>34424025