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Which team did you play in the last game?

Glorious Arstotzka
- 17 (16%)
Glorious Moskurg
- 13 (12.3%)
Ingloriously Didn't Play
- 76 (71.7%)

Total Members Voted: 106


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Author Topic: Intercontinental Arms Race: Finale  (Read 603104 times)

Powder Miner

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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6435 on: June 13, 2018, 08:48:38 pm »

I am thoroughly unsure that we can take the desert this turn. Not only do we not know how well the flares actually protect against the Balefires, but now that the Bull is now Expensive, they have an absolutely prime opportunity to fix the Bulls, like I believe they tried last turn before they fucked up. If those bulls get fixed, and you're making a very, very big gamble by deciding that they are not, then those cheaper Bulls are really going to smack our shit... and if we lose the desert, and that oil, then WE acre crippled, and the sabotage would ensure that the Bulls remain at Expensive price. Furthermore, the flares aren't likely to completely overturn the air game like the sabotage would, missiles or no, and if the Bulls get fixed then we risk being in the situation that we have been in before where despite having air superiority, we lose on the ground because of their superior armor.

And yet furthermore, while a normal naval advantage waffles between mattering and not mattering (it mattered in the jungle at the center, keep that in mind!) this much inland, if those Victorias become cheaper, we are looking at the possibility that they gain a MAJOR naval advantage, which is an entirely more major problem, especially if we actually want to extend our fronts like the sabotage would give us the opportunity to this turn.

...also I'm really not sure what you mean by that last bit, Quake. That stuff is already directly factored into air superiority within the turns, I'm not really sure I would qualify it as separate.

Ultimately, we're both trying to gauge the chances that the flares ensure a victory in the desert situation, but I am less optimistic. Yes, it's possible that we can win the desert as is, but it's also more than a little possible that we'll LOSE the desert as is, and this is our only design this turn and they're working on something too, with a research credit at that. I'm not willing to take that gamble because if we're wrong, we can't come back from it.
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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6436 on: June 13, 2018, 08:50:52 pm »

We don't just need nukes, we also need a delivery method. I doubt we can drop little boy from a haast or HAFB.

Rocket. Its the forenian way.
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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6437 on: June 13, 2018, 09:06:57 pm »

I think wimping out on our espionage credit is a much surer path to defeat than the chance of losing in the desert.  Even if we survive this turn because of that decision, we basically threw away a free revision for a single turn of advantage, in a situation where we still need to steal a bunch of their tech to catch up.

Also, bomber performance has definitely been separate from air superiority, as far as I know every design gets a degree of individual consideration.  The haast has been mentioned to simply be totally unsurvivable in all situations of late, even though our fighters have been more or less even in the air.  Fighters influence air superiority, then the survivability of the bombers is how that translates to the ground and sea theatres.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2018, 09:37:13 pm by QuakeIV »
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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6438 on: June 13, 2018, 09:47:45 pm »

I'm unimpressed with our new flares against whatever research credit bullshit superweapon the Yarrs are going to field this turn.  Losing the desert would be the nail in our coffin so I'm going for the short-term sabotage.  Letting them have Vlanlados is a slower death, but we should at least try to contest it while we have the sabotage going on.

Quote from: Votes
Strategy:
(4) Vlanlados: Piratejoe, Powder Miner, Lightforger, ConscriptFive
(8) Top: eS, Piratejoe, Powder Miner, Lightforger, Taricus, Madman, Quake, ConscriptFive
(3) Middle: Taricus, Madman, Quake
(1) Bottom: eS

Espionage:
(2) Steal Balefire [UFAF-ATAM-44 "Aabir"]: eS, Quake
(5) Sabotage the Kraken-C: Powder Miner, Lightforger, Taricus, Madman, ConscriptFive

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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6439 on: June 13, 2018, 09:50:40 pm »

The average roll for a research credit is 4.47 as opposed to 3.5 for a normal roll.  In general its going to be somewhat better, not some ultra mega super weapon.
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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6440 on: June 13, 2018, 09:52:52 pm »

Look at your statistics and apply them to us, you will then see despite statistics, we can't roll well to save our lives. Also all of that design things when it comes to nukes relys on nukes not being rolled separately.
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QuakeIV

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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6441 on: June 13, 2018, 09:53:39 pm »

Unless the dice aren't actually fair, then the only guided acts you can take are based on statistics...
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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6442 on: June 13, 2018, 10:49:50 pm »

I think wimping out on our espionage credit is a much surer path to defeat than the chance of losing in the desert.  Even if we survive this turn because of that decision, we basically threw away a free revision for a single turn of advantage, in a situation where we still need to steal a bunch of their tech to catch up.

Also, bomber performance has definitely been separate from air superiority, as far as I know every design gets a degree of individual consideration.  The haast has been mentioned to simply be totally unsurvivable in all situations of late, even though our fighters have been more or less even in the air.  Fighters influence air superiority, then the survivability of the bombers is how that translates to the ground and sea theatres.
What do you mean? If we lose the desert this turn all of our designs that depend on oil to stay at their expense level (a lot) get dropped an expense level and we're basically guaranteed to lose the game -- I find the idea that not using the espionage credit to be more sure a loss of the game than directly losing our competitiveness to the Cannalan military on the spot, shall I say, spurious.
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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6443 on: June 13, 2018, 10:52:45 pm »

I'm arguing that we are riding on the verge of defeat, and our only chance is to steal as much of their technology as possible as fast as possible.  If we don't do that then we will stay behind on the tech curve and either lack air to air missiles effective against fighters (and any hope of new missiles to follow), aswang, or both, come turn after next.  At that point we continue to slowly lose whether we held the desert this turn or not.  The desert isn't worth an espianage credit because if we win it at the cost of quickly catching up on tech, then we lose regardless.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2018, 10:56:02 pm by QuakeIV »
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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6444 on: June 13, 2018, 11:10:47 pm »

No, there isn’t some sort of equal slow decline between these two options at all. First of all, we’ve been making advances elsewhere besides Tereshkova, so I think this view of a slow and inevitable decline isn’t actually evidenced now that our rolls are no longer absolute dogshit. Secondly, we aren’t talking about a slow decline if we lose the desert — we are talking about a fast one. I don’t recall the exact list, but we have a sufficient quantity of shit hanging in this oil that I think we’re talking about a three or four turn loss if we lose it.
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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6445 on: June 13, 2018, 11:13:55 pm »

Well, I actually wrote a script for this so I shall post that and let people make their own judgements rather than going off of your highly anecdotal claims.

e: Hangon, recent change busted it
e2: okay should be correct now
e3: I'll also note, I agree we are fucked if we lose desert.  Purely the point of contention is whether or not its worth giving up on stolen tech to gurantee we hold and push into jungle.
e4: Also, this is just to give a clear picture more than it is to prove my point.
e5: ADDITIONALLY, I'd point out we have yet to so much as budge them in the jungle for ages now, which we need to gain the ability to do soon or they will just boot us back out the next turn and then we wont have an espianage credit to bail ourselves out with.

Before:
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After:
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« Last Edit: June 13, 2018, 11:31:18 pm by QuakeIV »
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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6446 on: June 15, 2018, 10:39:50 pm »

It's been days since someone has voted, so I am going to go ahead and declare strategy votes closed. Expect an update around the monday/tuesday after next- I am going vacation so there will be a delay.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2018, 10:59:17 pm by Sensei »
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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6447 on: June 28, 2018, 05:15:34 pm »

Battle Report 26: Autumn 1944

Back from vacation! I will try to keep on pace for updates. With any luck, I might be able to conclude the game this summer.

New Equipment:

The Forenians have, unfortunately, spent their entire season preparing decent decoy flares. The UF-APS-44 "Burning Tiger" flares can readily be fitted into aircraft without protruding from the body, drop a lot more flares and spread them over a wider area, and they also burn brighter to better distract missiles away from the extremely hot jet exhaust. Also included is a chaff system, which drops ribbons of aluminum foil.

Cannala has had a much, much better season. Using their research credit for assistance from Igor Sikorsky himself, they've completed the incredibly ambitious M1944 H-2 Synchropter Assault Gunship "Chupacabra". The Chupacabra is a helicopter (or 'ptero for short, from the Spanish helicoptero) with two synchronized intermeshing rotors like the Twinblade, but it's driven by much stronger turbines and the entire airframe and rotor control system design is much better. Objectively speaking it's very slow and turns with great inertia, but it's still the fastest and best maneuvering helicopter in the Archipelago. Even if it's sluggish, once you hear its playload you'll be impressed it flies at all: The Chupacabra carries a pilot and gunner, and it's medium-armored on the bottom and a few critical points and light armored throughout, making it resistant to autocannon fire. It has a turreted Can Perforator autocannon on the bottom of the nose operated by the gunner, a radar system (complete with a very crude ground-scanning mode), and two winglets which can carry a ton of ordnance across four hardpoints, including new 250lb missile racks which carry six MURD-ER rockets. For their revision, Cannala has carried out the Turboshaft All-Environment Refit, which focuses on making the Bull less of a disaster in hostile environments. The Bull now has its exhaust redirected upwards, and the engine is properly filtered so it doesn't fail outright due to sand. It even includes an air conditioner!

On top of all this, Cannala benefits from the ore in western Tereshkova this turn. The Bull and Victoria are now Expensive, from Very Expensive. The Santos aircraft carrier becomes cheap. For legacy equipment, the Kalmar, Seaweed, Armadillo, and Man'O'War bomber become cheap. The Warhog bomber becomes Expensive.

The Forenian Army currently has the following equipment, not including legacy equipment which can be found near the OP:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6448 on: June 28, 2018, 05:15:54 pm »

The Cannalan army currently has the following equipment, not including legacy equipment which can be found near the OP:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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Re: Intercontinental Arms Race: Autumn 1944 (Strategy Phase)
« Reply #6449 on: June 28, 2018, 05:16:19 pm »

The War This Turn:
This season, both sides have settled on the same strategy: They will attack on Tereshkova, and on Vlanlados. Both locations have resources which are too precious to ignore, and the end of the war is in sight. If Forenia pushes back into the jungles of Tereshkova again, they could deny Canala their ore and have a fighting chance. If Cannala advances on Tereshkova, then Forenia will lose the oil there, which would cripple them and almost guarantee a swift Cannalan advance towards their capitol. On the other hand, whoever controls the Uranium from Vlanlados will have an ace up their sleeve, if what the physicists say about the sheer power of atomic fission is true.

Espionage
"We are not spies." "Er, yes, mister... Albert? Albert Ashabatan?" "Just Al. Al-Ashabatan." The Cannalan customs officer nodded to the tall Moskurg. "And I am Pagubnaya Depressiyov." "Thanks for helping me pronounce that." After months at the 'Immigration Control Facility' on Burnt Rum Island, two Forenian spies have successfully made their way into Cannala under the guise of being refugees. While at the immigration facility they confirmed much of what they had suspected: First, there are far fewer Forenian refugees coming to Cannala than the propaganda radio had claimed. The two spies had gotten to know eight actual refugees, mostly members of the 'astronomers society' and they knew there was at least one other spy. Additionally, Cannalan rum is really awful.

Once in, the pair proceeded with their plan. A former Juraki engineer had told of a plan to line cargo ships with a flame retardant foam directly in the cargo bay, and most of the fleet was in port for the considerable operation now. The two spies applied for work permits at the dock facilities and to their considerable surprise, were simply granted them. Apparently there is some political conflict about the government being harsh against Jurakis and other non-ethnic-cannalans, and pressure straight from the president has forced a pro-immigrant stance. Once in, it was only a week until Al-Ashabatan had an opportunity to re-paint the labels on a tanker truck full of some chemical or other overnight. The exact details were overhead, but this was supposed to turn the foam into a trap of some sort.

The rest was a matter of sitting back and reading the newspapers to find out what happened. A week after being sprayed with the new foam, which expanded and hardened into place, the first ship returned to port with problems. The CNS Alley Trollop, one of the many Kraken-C cargo ships which had been fitted, had its entire cargo bay filled with foam. Apparently, although initial test batches of foam expanded to full size in hours, the foam used on the ships expanded very little and workers added much more to meet the intended thickness. Once at sea, the foam slowly expanded without stopping. The best part was, the Cannalans never even confirmed it was sabotage- an error on the part of an engineer was believed to be responsible. It ended up taking more than a month in wasted travel time and cleaning effort to get the ships back on duty, all the while unrefined resources piled up in ports.

The Ore from Tereshkova will not benefit Cannala this turn due to a loss of Transport Capacity. [1d6:2] Fortunately for Cannala, they had already stockpiled parts for their Chupacabras, making them Cheap for this turn.

The Battle at Sea
Technically the first "live test" of the UF-APS-44 flare system is at a parade in Forenia itself- the flares and chaff ribbons are both deployed directly over crowds, for a fantastic show of lights and confetti and only a few minor burns. But, over the sea, they're already making a big difference. When deployed in a timely fashion, the flares are extremely effective, having (pilots would estimate) around a 90% success rate. It's also advantageous that the Forenian pilots carry enough flares to activate them (ten per button press) several times for every missile the Cannalans can carry into a sortie. They're best used on fighters, where the pilot can change direction to get away from the flares, but they're effective on large aircraft as well (although optimally with the missile approaching from behind, where the flares will be). The chaff proves not to be completely useless in combat either, despite the lack of a radar-guided anti-aircraft missile in use by Cannalan forces. A cloud of chaff has some chance of detonating an ES-fuzed missile a safe distance from the aircraft. This isn't extremely consistent, and pilots debate whether the weather, humidity, temperature, or something about the aircraft deploying the chaff determines whether a missile that flies close to the chaff gets set off, but it happens often enough that pilots load chaff and press the button. With highly effective countermeasures available, avoiding missiles is mainly a concern of identifying missile threats in the first place. This is sometimes a challenge as the Balefire missiles can come from any angle, so good communication is important. Still, the Forenian pilots manage well enough. Cannalan missile kill rates drop dramatically and Forenia begins to reclaim the skies. Tereshkova is pleased.

Down below, Cannala's presence on the sea surface is less than they had hoped for this season. Ore from West Tereshkova could have allowed a greater production of Victoria Battlecruisers and Seaweed AA Cruisers, but this hasn't come to fruition thanks to Forenia's espionage. With a healthy air presence Forenia wins some sea battles, although they still lack of a good aircraft-delivered munition that can keep their planes out of range of the Seaweed's mass of proximity-fuzed AA shells while they deliver it.

The situation at sea is neutral.


The Battle for Vlanlados
Attacking: Both

Vlanlados is frozen, but home to a little life. The important area to control is the wide region of foothills below the mountains. Hills control line of sight, but the thin forest also provides some cover, and there is sparse underbrush. The Cannalans make landing first, the Forenians join shortly after, cutting somewhat around the desolate south side of the island to minimize Cannalan naval interference- even though, they would be at a serious disadvantage without their control of the air. Occasionally white hares or foxes can be seen, and the rare polar bear. Where either army makes its landing Vlanladosian beggars quickly congregate, having been displaced from their homes. Some of the savvier ones have brought their radioactive quernstones from the abandoned grist mills to barter passage overseas.

At the first contact, Forenian soldiers who thought they had control over the skies are surprised by an attack from above. Cannala's Chupacabra helicopters have flown close to the hills and trees, evading radar detection. Sergeant Alexi Preshkov recalls the event. "We saw a helicopter like the old Twinblades, which the enemy had mostly stopped using, so our two Sorraia gunners opened up on it. The bullets bounced right off, nothing! I was shocked, I didn't think anything with that much armor could fly. But we didn't have time to think about it because it flew over us firing its cannon and blew up half the squad. It overshot us a bit and took a while to come around, so I shot at it with my Horsekiller and so did Gregori. We got several shots off and none of them stopped it, they didn't even penetrate the beast's belly. It really was a flying tank! By this time our supporting Salamander got into position and hit it with a good string of shots from the velociraptor. That tore up some of the armor on the side but it didn't seem to really slow it down, and by now it had turned around fired several rockets in quick succession, it was almost like watching a Sarukh hit. Our Salamander got disabled and the crew had to make a run for it, then somebody shot an RPG at the helicopter. It missed but it must have been vulnerable to RPG's because the pilot turned tail at that point. But we didn't really have the range to make another shot anyway. We retreated with our wounded, and at debriefing, they didn't even believe us. I still hardly believed it but if they had listened to us they could have saved lives, I know the same thing happened to a bunch of other squads." Cannalan Captain Ernesto 'Sluggish Gonzalez' Hidalgo was a pilot of a Chupacabra on the other side of the conflict in a similar battle, or maybe even the same one. He recounts: "We got in there all BAM BAM BAM and they shot at us but it was all plink! and I bet they were like aw shit, somebody shot up our radar but we turned around all KABLOOM, used those fancy rockets to blow up a tank, man I wish I coulda seen the looks on their faces from up there, but then they started shooting rockets at us so I was like nyeeeeeoum, outta there, man I'm so glad 'ptero pilots are back in business again, it felt great." "Yes, pretty much," adds his gunner, Lieutenant Marco Herrerro.

The Chupacabra 'pteros were not, in fact, invincible, but they had a significant effect on the field. In combat with ground units, its firepower lets it do significant damage, and its armor buys the crew time to retreat if too much firepower gets pointed in their direction. A run can take out a lot of infantry and maybe kill or damage a couple armored vehicles before retreating or awaiting the advance of friendly ground units. It can even serve as a launch platform for Hornet missiles, though gunners lament that they can't fit a target painter in their seat. A Chupacabra can typically be felled by sustained autocannon fire, as hits on the light armored portions will eventually work their way to something important like the fuel tanks or maybe cockpit from behind, and hits to the cockpit glass, turbine intakes/exhaust, rotor apparatus or occasionally rotor blades themselves can kill the crew, cause engine failures, or cause a loss of control. Still, for a helicopter, that's pretty good. Flying low and slow, they can sometimes be fatally hit by an RPG, but the Forenian RPGs are seriously lacking in speed and range for this purpose. The remarkably slow flight occasionally renders them vulnerable to Bjorn cannons, but only occasionally. The general effect is that when Chupacabras get into contact with Forenian ground forces, they're not unstoppable but they're extremely bad news for the Forenians.

But, how often do Chupacabras get to fight against ground forces alone? The Forenians have fighter superiority this season again, after suffering horribly since the introduction of the Balefire missile. Now the Vengeful Charlotte bombers are often intercepted by Forenian VVF's, and Super Spearhead fighters no longer control their airspace so well as to prevent Forenia from dropping bombs, soldiers, and salamanders. The humble, hardy Haast again flies on the front lines, at low altitude, so it is the aircraft which most commonly encounters Chupacabras. Chupacabras are capable of flying close enough to the ground that they are difficult to detect on radar, so most fights begin with visual contact. Though these fights are somewhat common, it's apparent that neither aircraft was really made for the purpose. The Haast's fully four velociraptor cannons are adequate to make short work of a Chupacabra despite its armor (it's best protected from below), but if the Haast pilot misses and over-flies, or flies within range of a Chupacabra without noticing, the Chupacabra gunner has a lot of time to take awkward shots with his ground-oriented turret before the Haast can turn back around, and will often get a kill despite the clumsiness of the weapon. Haast pilots quickly learn however that the better tactic is to stay above the 'ptero, which is slow to climb and can't aim upwards. From there they can make short strafing runs or even try to drop cluster bombs (the altitude-activated Firecrackers often split below the airborne target, though). Winning the fight is largely a matter of controlling the terms of engagement, which favors defenders. In terms of actually providing close air support though, the Chupacabra is arguably more effective than the Haast. The ability of a 'ptero to stay on site is excellent for supporting ground units, and it can land in the open field waiting to take off when needed instead of launching a sortie from a runway. Chupacabras also fight VVF's sometimes, which puts them at a significant disadvantage. If they get high enough, they could be vulnerable to a Piracy Warning missile, which will often hit the slow-moving Chupacabra, and the Chupa's gunner usually cannot hit a jet moving at high speed and approaching from above. The VVF's 30mm cannons are highly effective as well. In theory VVF's would be put in a very poor position if they tried to slow down and engage a 'ptero in a turning fight, but that's a job for Haasts. As long as they stay low though, helicopter pilots can usually avoid contact with fast jets.

All of this air support ultimately serves the ground units. Compared to previous fighting on titan, the presence of more intervening hills and trees helps mitigate the range disadvantage of the Bull's cannons compared to the Forenian Bjorn and also allows supporting infantry to make better use of their Hornet missiles. Along with the minor improvements to the bull's exhaust, Cannala succeeds in an armor-oriented push heavily supported by their 'pteros, against which Forenia lacks a good ground-based defense. Forenia's own air support still makes it a close fight, but Cannala secures the uranium here.

Cannala invades Vlanlados. [Cannala 1/1, Forenia 0/1]

The Battle for the Tereshkova Desert
Attacking: Both

Cortez looked out over the bridge to an island with miles of dry, rolling sands and precious oil. "Ah, Tereshkova. She is beautiful, and soon, she will be mine." Perhaps he noticed a look from his lieutenant, because he felt compelled to add, "The island." Chupacabras flew from the Santos carriers behind him, and the con tower was filled with the sound of nearby rotor blades. It was time for the assault on the Forenian oil fields, which could determine the outcome of the war. The Forenian air defenses are already closing in, it's going to be a fighting landing. Exposed over the open water, 'pteros weave and bob and try to get a bearing on approaching Forenian jets (which often necessitates strafing backwards just to point the nose up). Spearheads join the fray and it turns to chaos. Watching the mess unfold, Cortez knew that Tereshkova herself was probably in the fray somewhere, so he picked up his radio handset. "You know, Tereshkova, maybe you'd have more fun flying a 'ptero!" After a moment of silence, the woman's voice returned on the radio. "Why don't get in one if you think you can show me they're better? By the way, I've shot down three."

The fighting over Tereshkova (the island) is intense. Bull tanks now operate freely, cleaning the air filters is a daily chore but they work. In fact with the air conditioners, Bull crew duty is one of the most sought-after positions by the men on the ground. Now that the Cannalans at least have some tanks, they can put up a fight against the (still superior) Bjorn tanks. The deciding factor will ultimately be the Chupacabras, as the two factions are fairly well matched on the ground when all the smaller factors are taken into consideration. It turns out the Chupacabras are disadvantaged by the lack of intervening terrain here compared to Vlanlados; miles of relatively flat dunes make them easier to spot both visually and on radar. Open warfare doesn't benefit the helcopters in fighting against planes. Rather than being able to force a low-altitude conflict near obstacles, they are easily engaged from above at greater range. Worse, the downward-facing gun is a significant liability considering the Chupacabra climbs quite slowly compared to any aircraft. While there are still a number of helicopter-to-airplane kills, the advantage lies with the fixed wing aircraft. Despite this Cannala names their first Helicopter Ace, Salsi Puedes Emils- given the nickname "Matafores", who claims that a more maneuverable helicopter could be highly effective.

Nonetheless, Forenia has the considerable air support advantage, and manages to push into the jungles yet again, denying Cannala their ore, again.

Forenia advances. [Cannala 3/4, Forenia 1/4]

Events outside the War:

The Outside World:

Allied reconnaissance aircraft take partial photos of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Germany, which is some of the first hard evidence the allies have of this. Later that month two escapees compile a report, which leads to knowledge of the gassing of Jewish people and other prisoners to be widely published and known among the public in Allied nations. Even now there are some who refuse to believe the scale of atrocities which are being committed. The Japanese begin Operation Ichi-Go, and move deeper into China in an attempt to displace airfields used by the Americans. Mohandas Ghandi is released from British imprisonment in India, in light of his poor health. The Germany Army continues to be pushed back, being driven from Sebastopol in the East and Monte Cassino in Italy, followed by Rome. Two US Navy K-class blimps cross the Atlantic, the first non-rigid airships to do so, proving that lighter-than-air craft aren't completely dead. Then, the big one: D-Day. The Allied sea-landing on Normandy, the largest invasion ever conceived, is carried out. Cannalan forces which had intended to be present supporting the attack arrived several days late, but the invasion was a success nonetheless, giving the Allies a strong foothold in France and begging the liberation of Europe. At the same time, Germany begins their V-1 flying bomb attacks on London, and a V-2 rocket is reported as the first man-made object to enter outer space (the prevailing theory in Germany is that the AS-1935XX moon rocket did not in fact exist, and the supposed rocket orbiting the moon was in fact some natural satellite).

Local Events:
In Forenia, word of the holocaust has reached the papers. Currently the Parliament is ablaze with debate (and literal fire which has led the ministers to convene in a potato field outside the city) over whether the allegations of mass exterminations are true. There is no question among the public, or at least the vast majority of the public, that this act by Germany is horrible and wrong if it is true. The question is whether the claims should be acknowledged, or derided as Allied propaganda. Acknowledging them will immediately strain Forenian relations with Germany and could even put the materiel support lent at risk. The Forenian Communist Party has briefly emerged from an underground irrigation channel near the field to suggest seeking report from Russia, who may be willing to support Forenia as a communist nation. The Nation Forenian People's Party is adamant that the great Fatherland would do no such crime. The Moderate Party, of course, suggests that the details of this should be better investigated once the war has concluded. As engineers, you may want to weigh in on a public stance for Forenia to take.

In Cannala, engineer TheFantasticFox has run for the House of Brothers, under the TORCH ("Those for Organized and Reliable House of Brothers"). [1d6:6] With the financial support and endorsement of El Presidente, he is elected for the House of Brothers and his TORCH party quickly sweeps up several weak seats, gutting the Fishermen's Advocacy Party and taking a few seats from Diego Garcia's old party.  Some people deride TORCH for being "Presidente's pet", an extent of El Presidente's power and an attempt to get control of the HoB. Whether he can deliver on his promises of better rum and a less corrupt government remains to be seen, promises of Tereshkova-grown sugarcane have already been scrapped in light of the Forenian advance there. The Cannalan Morality Party is also rising to power on the right wing, a popular expression of people's anti-immigration and anti-Juraki concerns.

A Weapon to Surpass All Others:

Cannala has gained access to the Uranium in Vlanlados. They will be able to begin research immediately as long as they are able to dedicate at least one TC to transporting the Uranium into Cannala itself for refinement. The Americans have sent experts to oversee a parallel Cannalan nuclear project to their Manhattan project and are willing to share some notes as the project goes. If TC cannot be spared, it will be possible to build a refining facility in Vlanlados itself and transport the much lighter refined uranium for free, but this risks the capture of some progress on the nuclear project if Vlanlados falls to Forenia. Preparing a nuclear bomb will work as follows: A nuclear bomb requires 7 'points' of progress. Spending a design on nuclear bomb progress will yield a number of points equal to the die roll, and spending a revision on nuclear bomb progress will yield a number of points equal to half the die roll. The default mode of delivery will be a large bomb which can be dropped from an aircraft, any alternative mode of delivery will need to be designed separately. Any bomb created will be a National Effort price, but the exact effectiveness will be revealed once one is complete.

Research Credit: Elite Soldiers
Your design team has decided to ask the best of the best soldiers for their wisdom on how to create weapons they can use to the best effect. Write about your nation's best elite fighting force, what they do, and how they're trained or what makes them special. These could be Cannalan night-raiders, elite Forenian pilots, marines, or whatever else strikes your fancy. Limit one submission per person, 600 words per submission. The single best submission will earn a research credit for their team.

Turn 27, Commence!

You may now begin voting for your design phase!
« Last Edit: June 28, 2018, 08:39:58 pm by Sensei »
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