The War This Turn:
This season, both sides are pushing the north and middle lanes. This means there will be fighting in the Tereshkova jungle, and the Cannalans will be attempting a landing on the Forenian jungle- but if they fail, they stand to be overwhelmed and cede ground on Saint Oros to the Forenians. After Cannala lost their previous foothold on Forenia, it seems like the war could go either way and there's no obvious end in sight. However, Forenia stands to gain complete control of Tereshkova and the ore there if their advance continues.
The Battle at Sea
Captain Dmitri Saltykov rested his hand against the cold walls of Forenia's first Boot class submarine, the UFS Fuck Cannala Guy (officially, the UFS Artyom Onegin, though the words Fuck Cannala are written on the hull much larger than the actual name). In front of him was a tiny desk cramped with maps, all them with pins and notes scrawled in the margins. "What's our range?" His lieutenant on the periscope answered, "Ten kilometers, and still moving towards us." "Sit tight then." Even the extended-range Orca torpedoes equipped by the Boot submarine required getting quite close, their origins in the Dolphin aerial torpedo meant they were quite small as torpedoes go. What's more, the Boot submarine is slow, slow enough that it can't keep up with a maneuvering Cannalan fleet. Attacking necessitated finding the enemy distracted or waiting in their path. After a few minutes of tense idleness, Captain Saltykov took the periscope. "They're in range. Bring us to full speed." The tense silence was replaced with the hum of electric motors driving the screws. Some time passed as the submarine accelerated. "Fire all torpedoes, and steer starboard!" The torpedoes made streaks in the water, fanning out towards the Victoria battlecruiser leading the Cannalan fleet and a Santos aircraft carrier near it. The UFS Fuck Cannala Guy moved perpendicular, waiting to see the torpedoes hit while getting further away. Saltykov announced to his crew, "They're not even moving! I bet if they don't see anything on their radar they think they're safe." When the torpedoes were about halfway there someone must have noticed, because the targeted ships began to veer away. "They're evading. I think we're still on course for a hit." A few seconds later, he announced in a panic, "They're seen us!" Chupacabras were lifting off of the Santos carrier. "Dive! Dive!" Already traveling at speed, the Boot's elevator and bow planes steered it deep underwater as the ballast tanks filled. The submarine cruised some meters down, blind underwater, until the sound of cannons hitting the water around it could be heard. "Deeper! Take us to sixty meters!" It grew colder on the submarine, until the crew's breath was visible and condensation appeared on the walls. But, they were safe. Captain Saltykov pored over his undersea charts, making his best guess as a safe course at this depth. "Steer us to heading one-two-zero, and prepare to surface in... six hours. I'm getting some sleep." Saltykov, to his frustration, realized he would not be able to confirm a kill
Forenia's Boot submarines, despite being basically obsolete compared to American or German ones currently in service, have come as a real shock to the Cannalans, who have hardly got any weapons which are effective against them except mines. Submarines operate best hunting on their own, patrolling known shipping channels and making attacks of opportunity, their lack of speed and short-range torpedoes mean they don't operate well with a fleet. They get to periscope/snorkel depth once intelligence or radar reports there are Cannalan ships in the area, which hides them from radar, and dive deep after firing a salvo of torpedoes. Once the Cannalans started to wise up, air patrols and sometimes men on deck have proven capable of spotting submarines at periscope depth. What happens next is a matter of reaction time. If the submarine captain isn't quick to realize they've been spotted and dive (and fast diving requires being in motion already) then the sub can be destroyed quite quickly by a well-aimed cannon volley. The Chupacabra's bombs and cannons are also effective. A submarine at periscope depth, especially moving, is easily spotted from above, so a Cannalan fleet can defend themselves by patrolling with 'pteros. Nonetheless, the submarine still often gets through to do serious damage and slip away, and the low cost of Boot subs means Forenia can afford the losses, often trading cheap subs for expensive cruisers and carriers.
General Cortez, as usual, criticizes the Forenians for using 'cowardly' tactics at sea- "Forenians always did belong underwater," he is quoted as saying "so at least they know their place. But we need something now to drive them from their holes."
High in the sky, the Cannalans have made a bid for air superiority with the Lancer, a cheap small jet fighter which incorporates the Javelin's advanced design principles with a powerful afterburning engine. The first thing to understand about the Lancer is it's cheap, being similar in numbers to Forenia's Lightning Streak. That said, it reaches speeds that make it capable of fighting a dreaded VVF. It has an absurdly forward-thinking canard compound delta, with horizontal stabilizers and control surfaces in front of the wings. This sort of design is very difficult to accomplish, but some stroke of genius (or luck) has resulted in a viable plane. It benefits in having a very low drag and being extremely maneuverable, making it capable of out-turning any plane and competing with the insane hydrazine-supplemented VV-Frightening fighter for speed. However, this design comes with some downsides as well. It's very unstable, it needs constant correction and it's prone to very twitchy movements. Additionally, at certain angles of attack, it can cause an abrupt stall which is extremely difficult to recover from. This makes it a very capable plane but one which is dangerous and difficult for inexperienced pilots. It's also lightly armed and not durable at all, and has limited fuel and ammo- all byproducts of the small size which gives it its speed and low cost. As an added benefit, its adjustable leading-edge flaps give it good low speed performance, combined with the canards it handles short runways well and makes a good carrier-fighter.
General Tereshkova herself is on record as being jealous of the maneuverability of the new Cannalan Lancers, although she has taken every effort to have her comments stricken from newspapers and the exact words she used are disputed as a result.
Against Lightning Streaks, it's no contest. The Lancer has Cannalan pilots going much faster and making much quicker turns, as long as they don't waste their ammo a Cannalan pilot can often win a dogfight or energy fight without strategizing much. Against VV-Frightenings is much more challenging. The low supply of ammunition (especially with the difficult task of aiming the twitchy aircraft) and not-great performance of missiles against countermeasures mean that the Lancer comes up a little short in armament, and the VVF still has higher maximum speed and altitude. On the other hand, the superior numbers of the Lancer gives a real challenge to the VVF pilots.
In a reversal of fortunes, the Forenians have lost their seemingly unshakeable air advantage, maintaining parity only by their superior piloting skills. Cannala is in a similar situation, normally having what it takes for naval superiority, but suffering surprise losses from submarines at every turn.
The situation at sea is neutral.
The Battle for the Tereshkova Jungle
Attacking: Both
The landward battles of Tereshkova have little to benefit from Forenia's submarine, but Cannala's air-oriented strategy pays great dividends here. The Forenians are shaken by the Lancer scourge, suffering more air losses than before, which hampers their air transport and bombing capabilities which are important to their advantage over the jungle here. The Iceberg bombers are still a difficult target for the Cannalans, traveling fast and defended by their rear guns, but they begin to suffer more losses, often to Javelins firing missile after missile after the Forenian fighter escorts are distracted or destroyed.
Now that Forenia no longer has such aggressive air superiority, Cannala is able to capitalize on it with their Portador transport 'pteros. Based on the Chupacabra, the Portador is an intermeshing rotor helicopter which simply has the radar, armor, and ordnance hardpoints thrown out and room made for six passengers and their equipment, including two more Can perforator door guns and their ammo. It retains the front gun turret, excellent for covering troops who deploy into dangerous situations. Putting aside the lack of armor, it very much fills the role of a flying Raider APC. However, the Chupacabra had rotors at a fairly extreme angle. This gave it better side-to-side maneuverability and turning than its unbelievably sluggish predecessor, the Twinblade, but it has created a hazard to passengers. Sitting on level ground, the ends of the rotor blades come about shoulder height some distance in front of the door. The danger to passengers embarking and disembarking carelessly is obvious. Engineers initially dismissed this, one might think that the obviousness of it would in fact be enough to prevent injuries as soldiers can simply move to the front or back of the 'ptero, but soldiers are prone to making mistakes in the heat of combat. Despite insistence from the engineers that it makes "no god damn sense", tales keep coming back of soldiers with caved-in helmets and sometimes fatal concussions, damaged rotor blades grounding 'pteros, and even decapitations (though never with photographic proof or a body to back the story up). There's also a danger that if the door gunner tries to aim at a target above the helicopter or close to level on the inside of a turn, a Can Perforator round can strike a rotor, which will result in a crash- there are just a couple confirmed reports of this happening, though it's hard to tell exactly how many times it's happened for sure. Some passengers have avoided danger from the rotor blades by jumping out while the pilot hovers a few feet off the ground, but there's nowhere for ropes to tie off in the passenger cabin to allow dropping from higher six feet or so.
Despite the problematic nature of the Portador, the ability to deliver small amount of soldiers to anywhere a helicopter can land is a boon. Armed with their SSRA assault rifles and MURD-ER or sometimes Hornet rockets, they're capable of fighting off Forenians until reinforcements arrive. If there was any question left, the discounted Vengeful Charlotte bombers allow Cannala to leverage the contested air situation to the fullest. Combined with a decrease in Forenia's air superiority, Cannala is able to gain ground. The dunes of the Eastern Tereshkova desert stretch out before them.
Cannala advances. [Cannala 4/4, Forenia 0/4] Cannala will gain the ore here if they can hold it for another turn. Cannala has initiative, the if both sides attack the battle will take place in the desert.
The Battle for West Forenia
Attacking: Both
Cannala attempts to retake the ground they lost on Forenia itself, while Forenia stands poised to push them all the way back to Saint Oros if they fail. This is a jungle battle, much like West Tereshkova, except with Cannala making a sea landing. Forenia has formidable shore defenses, but now lacks a decisive advantage in air attack, though the Iceberg can still manage anti-ship missile deployments in contested airspace. Between their submarines, mines, missiles and shore guns the Cannalans arrive on shore with many of their number missing. However, a wide deployment of temporarily cheap Venegeful Charlotte bombers allows Cannala to use their Foul Play anti radiation missiles to suppress Forenia's Noose anti-air missiles and Garlic AA vehicles with radar. Cannalan 'ptero ace Salsi "Matafores" Emils records a number of kills against Forenian Salamanders on the ground, as well as mobility kills against Bjorns with rockets, though he was taken out for action for a month after injuries sustained when a Garlic fired on his Chupacabra, injuring him and killing his gunner.
Like on Tereshkova, Cannala uses the Lancers to create openings for their Vengeful Charlottes, Chupacabras, and Portadors which all take advantage of the opportunity to not get shot down by almost uncontested VVF fighters, which had happened in previous seasons.
Cannala pushes into the jungle on Forenia. [Cannala 2/2, Forenia 0/2] Cannala has the initiative: If they attack, the battle will take place in the Forenian Mountains.
Events outside the War:
The Outside World:
The headlines are absolutely dominated with the end of the war in Europe. In a short time, the invasion of Berlin began, Benito Mussolini was executed by Italian partisans, Adolf Hitler committed suicide, his successor Goebbels committed suicide, and Germany ultimately surrendered with the signature of a field marshal. Heinrich Himmler later committed suicide in a British army camp after being captured. The remaining fascist puppet states dissolve. In the United States, President Franklin Roosevelt dies, vice president Truman succeeds him on April 12th. Although it had been kept secret, his health had been declining for some time. In the Pacific, the allies invade Okinawa, leaving them poised to invade the Japanese mainland, and completely liberate the Philippines. The Japanese battleship Yamato was sunk by American torpedo bombers, hardly making use of her enormous 46cm guns, the enormous battleship which had been the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy was never once decisive in a battle, clearly demonstrating the end of the era of battleships. The United Nations Charter is signed by the United States, United Kingdom, France, Soviet Russia, and Republic of China.
John von Neumann publishes his first report on the EDVAC vaccuum-tube computer, encoding what will become known as Von Neumann Architecture, in which a computer has a processing unit, control unit, memory, mass storage, and inputs and outputs. Reverend W. V. Awdry publishes a childrens' book called The Three Engines, about speaking train engines, which would go on to be The Railway Series including Thomas the Tank Engine. The concept quickly sees unauthorized imitators in Forenia, where the populace is quite fond of their (armored) trains.
Local Events:
In Forenia, the news of Germany's fall has been a shock to some citizens. Even though there were signs that Germany was losing the war and the Forenian Parliament went so far as to abandon them in favor of the communists, many citizens who had grown comfortable with the German alliance still held out hope that the war would turn the other way and, for that matter, that the whole holocaust thing wasn't true. As a matter of fact it didn't, and it did, respectively. NFPP membership has nearly collapsed, the few holdouts insisting that the situation wasn't as bad as it seemed somehow, or that the news reports coming in were Russian propaganda. Still, every single single news source reporting that the leaders of Germany had either committed suicide or gone into hiding, and the fact that the other states which collaborated with Nazi Germany have all met their end, has convinced most of the public that breaking the alliance with Germany was the right decision. Now the pressing matter is whether the alliance with Russia, too, is an alliance of convenience, or an alliance of ideology. Many Arstotzkan citizens are in favor of nationalizing industries, business, and even houses and tenements in the name of communism. The Forenian Communist Party's numbers have grown and their opinions have grown bolder. They criticize anyone who dresses in fine clothes, wearing only military uniforms or workers' jumpsuits to formal events and parliament meetings, although they still have their penchant for sunglasses. An unsanctioned riot damaged an Al-Turbinwat factory, the rioters held signs with slogans about how Al-T was hoarding profits at Forenia's expense, and the attitude was further bolstered by the reports from the front lines of Cannalan planes out-performing the only Forenian ones which were available at a low price. This pro-communist movement has begun to create a hardened capitalist opposition as well, with the FSDAO saying "Don't nationalize our guns!" and rhetoric is growing popular among Moskurg citizens which says that the communists are Arstotzkan loyalists who would see Moskurg culture erased. As usual, parliament is struggling to see to a decision, and parliamentary turnover rates due to injury are higher than ever. You should vote on whether to begin nationalizing businesses.
In Cannala, the news of victory in Europe is accompanied with parades in the streets, despite the ongoing war with Forenia, and Japan for that matter. Besides the details of the fall of Germany, the newspapers include for the first time photographs from the concentration camps liberated by the Americans. However, what's especially popular is the stories of things like Quisling's overthrow in Norway- the last of the Nazi-supported states are following, and everyone predicts this will include Forenia. At the same time, military intelligence shows no signs that Forenia's supplies are waning. It's not proven for certain yet, but military intelligence believes Forenia is receiving supplies from elsewhere. For the time being the Red Mask scare seems to have quieted down, although the situation is unresolved. The Juraki public seems to be looking forward to a future in which the dictatorial government of Japan is defeated, and there can be peace with their motherland again. As Cannalan forces hold Western Tereshkova, there are also talks of attempting to sow sugarcane fields there if the land can be held.
Turn 31, Commence!
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17 (16%)
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Topic: Intercontinental Arms Race: Finale (Read 604337 times)