The War This Turn:This season, Cannala is attacking on Tereshkova, where they will push into the eastern desert. If they win here, they will simultaneously secure the ore from West Tereshkova and deny the Forenians their oil from East Tereshkova, which could be a mortal blow. In a surprise move they are also attacking on Titan. Forenian forces stand poised to reclaim ground on Tereshkova if the attacking Cannalans are defeated, and they are attacking the Cannalan defensive positions in the Forenian jungle, where the Cannalans have elected not to push the attack into mountain terrain.
The Battle at SeaGeneral Cortez pounds his fist on his radar screen. "Damn that witch! She's done it again!" Cannala's entire compliment of air intelligence planes in the immediate area, including two Charlotte bombers and eight Spearhead-C's, has been shot down. The last available Charlotte is visible on from the con tower of
El Presidente's Pride, the ship which Cortez had personally chosen as his flagship, a burning dot with a trail of smoke descending on the horizon. The rest of the spearheads are tangled up with Forenian fighters. Up until recently, Cortez had been leading a very successful hunt of Forenian transports on the air and sea alike, with the help of his Santos-class aircraft carriers, but since the new Forenian jets started appearing, their compliments are almost empty. Without airborne radar for scouts, the Forenians are likely to get away. Out of ideas, Cortez took a swig of rum from his flask and picked up the un-encrypted radio used for communication with civilian vessels: "I know you're out there, devil woman! Why don't you come fight me face to face, instead of picking off my scouts while your cowardly fleet runs away?"
Above the high seas, General Tershkova pilots The Glory of Arstotzka, her unique custom VV-Frightening jet with radar. Her AM radio, mostly unused since the Cannalans began to encrypt their important communications, crackles to life and Cortez's challenge sounds over her speakers. After listening, she decides to dismiss her wing: "Mission's complete, go home girls. I'll be sticking around for a minute. I've got one missile left and I want to send a message." After a minute, Cortez observed here red jet approaching through binoculars. He had already given the order to load
El Presidente's Pride's 12-inch guns with air-burst shells, an unconventional choice, but he had them specially requisitioned for just such an opportunity. Now was the time to taunt her some more. "Come a little closer! What are you going to do with a small gun like that?" To his surprise, she broke her silence and replied over the radio. "It's not the size that counts, it's how you use it. You should know that." Cortez turned to his crew. "Train the guns on her wing. They're out of range, but that's where she'll be turning after she passes us." As Tereshkova's jet grew close, the variety of autocannons and smaller defensive guns fired ineffectually. For the short moment she was in range, she unloaded her cannons and fired her last Piracy Warning missile. The cannon rounds fell about the deck and con tower, shattering windows and sending fragments into the con room itself. The missile locked onto a smoke stack and hit it, causing a dramatic explosion but mostly cosmetic damage. She did an immelman turn and retreated. "Se- -ou ne-t tim-", her voice crackled over the damaged radio in the con room. Cortez, clutching a wound, spoke into the intercom. Crewmen scrambled about, putting out fires. "Wait! Don't fire yet! Wait some more... now!" The six enormous guns all fire. There is a tense pause, the shells travel through the air for seconds. Of the six shots, three can be observed to detonate in the air. Two of the twitchy electrostatic fuzes seem to have gone off prematurely, but one detonates near its target. Tereshkova keeps flying, but leaving a trail of smoke. Not even sure if his radio is still working, Cortez shouts into the receiver "I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME! I'LL GET YOU!" He then slumps down, exhausted, while medics come to tend to his wounds. "What a woman."
The situation at sea is neutral.The Battle for the Tereshkova DesertAttacking: Both
Wide open dunes stretch into the distance, punctuated by sparse trees and shrubs. It is the rainy season, which is to say there are occasional storms breaking up the usually cloudless and boiling hot days, and water can be found in rare ponds. The desert here is mostly featureless, lacking the occasional rocky outcroppings and caves which characterize the Moskurg desert. Wide, flat spaces are broken up only by the rolling dunes, whose soft sand hinders movement and whose slow movement hinders the construction of large installations. Forenia has fields of oil pumps here, which are absolutely precious to them. At the same time, if Cannala succeeds, they will also control the ore from the jungle. A victory for Cannala this season could determine the outcome of the war.
To give a more detailed explanation of the air situation, Forenia's new fighters have been effective in taking back the skies, but with some caveats. While the VV-Frightening's superior speed makes it capable of handily defeating Cannala's bombers and fighters, or even outrunning Hellfire missiles when it's running on full afterburners, Cannala still has an advantage in radar intelligence. Standard VV-Frightenings are Very Expensive, which means they simply can't be equipped with Forenia's [Complex] radar. The Q models with radar are Very Expensive, and not as fast, so they're used rarely. The Q model without radar isn't much used either, while its performance is better than the Lightning Streak its potentially dangerous engine failures have caused fatalities on landing procedures, so the risk isn't seen as worthwhile. This means that Forenia is now consistently winning fights in the air and protecting its bombers and transports, but it isn't hunting down Cannalan aircraft very effectively- if Cannalan aircraft are outside of the range of a Forenian radar source such as a ship or ground installation, they have an intelligence advantage and can choose to engage or avoid combat on their own terms. Frightening pilots are frequently fighting against superior numbers of Cannalan combatants, and suffer from problems such as running out of ammo before a fight is over, or being unable to protect multiple places at once, but Forenia does still have their Lightning Streak fighters in the air to shore up numbers.
Cannala has two new weapons which are very effective in the desert. The first is their Hornet ATGM. Good use of this can allow Cannalan infantry to fight Forenian Salamander APCs from long distances, as well as allow infantry or Raiders to be a serious threat to Forenia's Bjorn heavy tanks. Keeping the missiles on target against highly mobile units such as Salamanders can be a challenge, since at long range the missile has a considerable travel time and a Salamander could even maneuver behind the crest of a dune if they're in a convenient position. When hitting though, the missile has a good kill rate- it's dependent on exact hit location and angle and some luck with slat armor in particular, but it usually disables something and sometimes causes dramatic explosions. Forenians have quickly learned to make a priority target of radar spotters as well, although the system provides a good amount of flexibility to the Cannalans in that the spotter could be where the missile is firing from or somewhere else. Especially effective is the tactic of firing the missile over a sand dune from a safe position, where a spotter can guide it to a Forenian vehicle or even a group of infantry. Cannala's other new weapon is their Raider-based artillery carrier, the Firebrand, which provides a highly mobile platform for 6" artillery at a good fire rate. Both of these weapons combine to give Cannala a noticeable indirect fire advantage.
The cheapened Aswang II Night Vision, on the other hand, is of fairly little use here, engagement ranges are typically quite long and without cover, it's easy to illuminate an encampment with spotlights at night preventing ambushes. It does find limited use, though, in moving soldiers around under cover of darkness. Vehicles can be navigated with night vision alone, albeit it only slowly and with great care. Supplies are moved this way as well as vehicles preparing for attack in the morning. Many Cannalans grow to despise these "no lights" rides, as they aren't allowed to smoke- a single lighter flame could be visible for a mile around.
Because of the open spaces here, the bulk of area control is determined by the placement of armored vehicles. Unfortunately for Cannala, their M4A1 Bull tanks which make up the backbone of their armored forces suffer significant issues here. They cope very poorly with the extreme heat, with crews suffering from heat exhaustion regularly as well as overheating-related engine failures occurring if the engine is run at full power fairly quickly. Furthermore the engine sucks in so much sand that the filters frequently clog and the engine often requires extensive cleaning, leading to considerable down time. The fact that it's possible for an occasional "Piracy Warning" missile to lock on and hit the extremely hot exhaust doesn't help matters. Forenia suffers minor problems too, their Salamanders, having wheels rather than tracks, lose a noticeable amount of speed crawling up dunes, and Bjorn's also somewhat uncomfortable crew quarters are a source of reduced performance. By far though, the turbine-powered Bull suffers the worst. Despite the Cannalan army's great armament, with Daybreaker cannons and Hornet missiles being highly effective, there is a shortage of vehicles with great armor as well. The Raiders which make up the bulk of functional armored forces are fairly vulnerable.
Air combat is essentially not much different compared to last time that the forces fought over Titan. There are wide open spaces, and Forenia's venerable Haasts brave AA fire from autocannons while trying not to fly high enough that electrostatic-fuzed air burst rounds are easily used. Cannala makes extensive use of "Firecracker" AA guns, while Forenia makes extensive use of "Firecracker" cluster bombs, which are highly effective against raider-type vehicles. Forenia's close air support is effective, but their ability to deliver large amounts of bombs from their larger aircraft is reduced greatly wherever Cannala's AA guns, now loaded with potent proximity rounds, are deployed in numbers. Forenia's jet aircraft serve to prevent Cannala from making many air attacks on Forenian ground positions.
So far, Cannala's excellent mobile artillery gives them a decisive indirect fire ability, while Forenia keeps up their traditional air advantage. Cannala has a bit of a glass cannon army with regards to armored vehicles, seeing very poor performance from their Bull which has the best defenses, and while they have great offensive weapons it's less than ideal to rely on offense as a defense. Cannala also has brilliant power projection from their infantry with the Hornet missiles, so what about fights between infantry?
In the wide open desert, infantry from both sides are ferried around on APCs, and usually sent forward over the crest of dunes or around flanks where APCs would present themselves as a big target. At desert engagement ranges, the two factions' assault rifles, Forenia's AS-AR34 and Cannala's SSRA, aren't ideal. Instead, full sized rifle cartridges are usually preferred: Cannala has their M1928J Battle Rifle, a mag-fed semi-auto rifle in .25 Caliber, and the La Sierra GPMG. Forenia uses their M2 Osprey bolt-action rifles with 10-round magazines (the AS-F14A is relatively unreliable in the sand) and M3 Sorraia GPMG. Both sides also have easily portable mortars. The performance of these rifles and machine guns is mostly comparable, the Cannalans get some marks for having a better semi-auto rifle. However, the sniper scopes used by Forenia are superior (those they are Expensive on both sides) and the ridiculous, anachronistic, unlikely, hot, heavy Tiger Armor rears its hammer-forged head again as a valuable if uncomfortable piece of equipment for machine gunners, who ideally don't walk for more than a few hundred yards after dismounting from vehicles (including motorcycle sidecars). Once in place, armored gunners are quite difficult to kill until autocannons can be brought around or a good mortar/hornet strike can be performed. These moderate advantages for snipers and machine gunners respectively give the Forenians some edge in taking out Hornet spotters and such.
Despite an amazing guided missile, a lack of good heavy tanks and a small infantry disadvantage causes the Cannalan assault on these critical Forenian positions to founder. The counter-attacking Forenians reclaim a section of jungle, preventing their resources from being totally crippled for at least another six months.
Forenia gains ground! [Cannala 3/4, Forenia 1/4] The front lines have moved into the jungle.
The Battle for the Forenian JungleAttacking: Forenia
Unexpected by Forenia's strategic command, the Cannalans have dug in their defenses in the jungle rather than attacking the mountains. This is less than ideal, the original plan was to catch the Cannalans on unfamiliar terrain, much like what happened in the Tereshkova desert. Nonetheless, the assault initially goes better than planned: Salamander F flamethrowers carve a path of irreparable environmental damage through Forenia's occupied home soil, and a newly reclaimed air advantage allows them to push the attack. Even Cannala's new Hornet missiles aren't turning the tide, with their improved utility over the existing MURD-ER RPG's being limited as the heavy undergrowth interferes with radar line of sight. However, Cannala's highly mobile Firebrand artillery catches Forenian forces off guard. With a considerably greater range, firepower, accuracy, and even mobility (with its amphibious capability taken into account) than the Sarukh, Forenia's relatively mobile rocket artillery trailers which had been a boon for jungle combat in the past, Cannala hammers Forenian positions quite effectively.
On the upside for Forenia, no combat in the mountains means the Forenian Mountain Rally Grand Prix can continue unabated. Active combat zones are not always a deterrent for Forenian racing leagues, but in this particular case several critical bridges would probably be demolished to stop the Cannalan advance. It's a successful racing season with only two fatalities.
Stalemate! Cannala still controls the jungle. [Cannala 2/2, Forenia 0/2] Like before, he next combat in this lane will take place in the
Mountains, if Cannala presses the attack. If for some reason Forenia attacks and Cannala doesn't, the fighting will take place in the jungle.
The Battle for TitanAttacking: Cannala
"Is that your guy?" After three months stalemate, both sides had become complacent. "I'm not sure. Loco Lopez usually puts his flag down." Two soldiers crouched in an empty, frozen place along the Forenian front line. The first passed his binoculars to the second, who looked through to see a Cannalan Raider approaching in the distance. "I hope he's here. We're almost out of rum." "Yeah. Two crates of Five Star for one crate rum is good money. I'm surprised you can sell that swill back home. There's so much water in it that it freezes here, you can't even drink it." "Well yeah, that's why they want our vodka so much... there's two raiders now. Something's wrong." A moment later, the foremost raider began firing its Can Shredder at the pair of Forenian soldiers.
Despite its intense cold, fighting in Titan is similar in principle to fighting on the deserts of Eastern Tereshkova. There are vast open spaces, and mobility is only hindered by the challenging weather. Cannala's new Hornet missiles and mobile artillery are both well at home here. However, the Bull tank functions just fine- it has proven itself here in the past, in fact. While Forenia's Bjorn tanks are excellent as well, Cannala's improved anti-tank munitions mean that it's not enough to win the battle for Forenia altogether. Furthermore, winter weather sometimes grounds planes on both sides, a complication which causes Forenia to suffer more than Cannala.
Cannala gains ground. [Cannala 3/4, Forenia 1/4]Events outside the War:
The Outside World:Wladyslaw Sikorski, prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile, dies in an aircraft crash near Gibraltar, the exact circumstances are debated. Soviet Russia defeats Germany in a large tank battle at the Battle of Kursk, it is a costly victory but the Soviet forces considerably outnumber those of Germany. Allied forces invade the island of Sicily successfully, an assault relying heavily on amphibious armored vehicles called "Ducks". In Italy, Benito Mussolini is arrested after the remainder of the government there turns against him. Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria dies under mysterious circumstances, many suspected he was poisoned while in Germany, after his history of Forenia-style protection of Jewish people in his country from deportation. He is succeeded by his 6-year old son Simeon II. Germany dissolves the uncooperative Danish government, officially occupying Denmark. Allied forces advance into Italy itself, holding the southern portion of the country. In September, Mussolini is rescued from Italian imprisonment by a German paratrooper raid, and made the leader of the Italian Social Republic, a fascist government formed in Northern Italy.
Local Events:As German naval presence is weakened, ships delivering Forenia with their supply of ore are now coming from Switzerland under the Swiss flag. As long as their neutrality is respected, Forenia will continue to receive valuable resources to stave off the Cannalan pirates. However, many in Parliament have begun to question the integrity of our alliance with the Germans. "They haven't been able to keep the Cannalans off our own soil," says Piotyr Mikhailov, a Labor Union minister, "My logging company can't work, my land is occupied by an enemy army as we speak. I'm a refugee in my own home country." Nationalist NFPP minister Semyon Lagunov says, "We need the Germans support to keep Forenia Great. We've benefitted so much from their support so far, we should send more of our weapons to help the Germans defeat the Bolshevists and the Anglo-alliance. We could be of great influence at our critical time, and though Hitler's requests have been controversial, I don't see why we shouldn't repay them for their valuable material aid." The Ministry of Riots claims to be spread thin keeping the damage from rioting, discontent citizens under control, especially refugees from the western jungles now living in the capitol.
This turn, you may choose to supply the Axis with another piece of equipment (or not).In Cannala, the House of Brothers has been greatly enjoying their newfound power. After a variety of minor laws, several corporate tax changes which seemingly benefit businesses owned by Brothers over those owned by El Presidente (nearly every major business in Cannala has a board member on the House of Brothers) and laws forbidding the mass-printing of Juraki-language documents and signs have passed. Brother Diego Garcia, owner of the Crown Rum Company and El Presidente's opposition in the last election, has emerged as a leader in the House and secured favorable laws over the definition of "Rum" for labeling purposes. The Brothers are so giddy that the vast majority of laws (mostly small things affecting a single Brother's business or district) have been passed. One of the only major motions to fail was Brother Rachel Garcia's motion to change the name to the House of Brothers and Sisters (she will also be required to maintain the somewhat-inaccurate title of "Brother"). Now sufficient support has been accrued in the House for a constitutional amendment: The 12th Amendment to the Cannalan Constitution, if ratified by a three-fourths majority of Brothers, will require all federal orders written by El Presidente to be ratified by the House of Brothers. Some say this will greatly increase the accountability of the Government to its people, while others (including many citizens, who probably forgot to participate in the traditionally-unimportant election of Brothers and are now regretting that fact) claim that the power of El Presidente to act directly and immediately is crucial to the ability of the Cannalan Government to act in a decisive and effective manner, and that removing it would cause the whole government to be drowned in bureaucracy.
El Presidente Charpez has convened a secret emergency meeting of his Engineers. "I hate to say it, but you're some of the only people I trust to advise me on matters of government, because you're not in the government. It seems like it's every man for himself in there now! Listen. The Secret Police are loyal to me still, and we have a time-honored tradition of... causing accidents to happen to troublesome Brothers. I thought it would make a good leader, to not lean on this ability the way my predecessor has, but I fear the Brothers could now destabilize this country in a critical time of war. Just recently they passed some bone-headed law about sharing military intelligence with foreign entities which has delayed us from being able to share our weapons with the Allies this season. Just removing that bastard Diego Garcia should keep the rest of them in line, I think... but does that make me a bad person?"
This turn, you must advise El Presidente on whether to "disappear" his political enemies.Turn 24, Commence!You may now begin voting for your design phase!
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Topic: Intercontinental Arms Race: Finale (Read 603753 times)