Combat Phase of 2208The battlezone of B2 is one of the most significant advances we expect this year, but something strange happens instead.
By the time the next courier arrives, it carries grim news: Moerth has developed a combat-capable vessel. The ITC bringing the new ABR-1's managed to evade targeting, but a significant amount of its shuttles carrying the rifles planetside were shot down in mid-transit. We don't have much intelligence on the new Moerth warship thanks to the very limited capabilities of the ITC, but it would appear to be using missile-based weaponry.
Unfortunately, this means that the Unit at B2 only gained a limited amount of ABR-1's and was forced to distribute them sparingly among the more elite soldiers in the Unit.
Still, even with the limited deployment of the ABR-1, we make progress on the ground. Moerth's limited pistol advantage last year no longer holds true today. Those equipped with the ABR-1 won nearly every single engagement they fought in. Moerth troops are slaughtered as they hopelessly attempt to enter reasonable firing ranges with their pistols. A single shot can incapacitate an enemy soldier thanks to the rifle's armor piercing capabilities.
Yet the bulk of our forces still fought with pistols this year, and Moerth still holds the advantage in that area. And even with our ABR-1's, their better pistols combined with our remaining ammo shortages mean they generally have the upper-hand in close-range engagements. We make little advances in land this year. Our ABR-1 equipped soldiers can easily defend our land, but gaining land is limited with their close-range advantage and the sparse nature of the ABR-1 on B2.
The Commander of forces at B2 is requesting another shipment of ABR-1's. From what he's seen so far, it's an amazing weapon that could secure our victory at B2. He's confident he can start making advancements next year once fully-equipped with ABR-1's.
Neither side gains ground at Planet B2. [M: 1/3, A: 1/3]C3 and A3, however, are a different story.
Our forces land without opposition like that seen at B2. Fully-equipped with ABR-1's and facing an unarmored, unprepared enemy, we wipe the ground with Moerth forces. Every engagement results in new land for us, and our soldiers effortlessly defeat hostiles at every turn. The large open landscapes of C3 and A3 are perfect for our battle rifles and death for their short-ranged guns. Morale is high as we begin to push Moerth away from our homeworld.
However, some number of months into the fighting, Moerth's commanders seem to have developed new strategies. They continue purposely retreating as our forces advance, but in the night and on the move we're plagued with guerilla attacks where their pistols are most effective. More effective sentries and look-outs are quickly deployed, but it just doesn't match their apparent desperation. Overall, we're still easily able to gain significant ground but this harrasment prevents us from easily capturing the whole planet in one fell swoop and keeps the bulk of their Units intact.
The Commanders at C3 and A3 are confident in their ability to gain tentative control of the planet next year. They both request for some kind of means to fare better against this more covert-style combat or for more effective weapons in close range, but aren't insistent in these requests.
Amaok has gained ground in C3 and A3. [M: 1/3, A: 2/3]Yet Moerth seems to have devoted their attention to the normally unassuming ocean planet of C2, where our forces remain equipped with X112's and pistols. Our soldiers were in the middle of securing the planet when their soldiers arrived. With just pistols on both sides, they begin winning engagements again. The lack of armor even compounds their advantage, as their better pistols work better when not blocked by our armor. Furthermore, they outnumber us! Every single time our forces meet, their soldiers are much more vast than ours. When we occasionally win, they aren't nearly as affected by the losses as us. We're consistently forced back as our positions are overrun and Moerth soldiers use their many advantages against our forces here.
Moerth is also using unconventional strategies here. When they were first deployed, our Unit on C2 was given very basic water transport vessels to move between the islands. But Moerth is doing something else entirely - they have an
entire ITC dedicated to transporting their troops! They can skip islands and effortlessly move between them while our soldiers are forced to slowly move between islands on water. We can head out to a new island and find it crawling with Moerth soldiers that appeared since our soldiers got onto their boats! With this kind of tactical disadvantage, Moerth is able to choose nearly every engagement on their terms while we're forced onto the receiving end.
And perhaps worst of all is the fact that our Unit on C2 is cut off completely from Amaok. Without the bulk of their supply routes, the troops on C2 are forced to scavenge for food and water and to use deterioating equipment. In fact, apparently Printed Pistols combined with a lack of routine maintenance and salt water
causes the guns to explode. Our troops can't fight like this, and their morale is sagging. Soldiers are dying when we run out of medical supplies or patches for their suits. Meanwhile, Moerth has an uninterrupted line from their colony to C2, giving their forces yet another advantage here.
C2's Commander is requesting for the Armoured Spacesuits and ABR-1's to be re-assigned here at the very least. But a more significant response is required - reinforcements, new designs,
anything. Our Commander here isn't sure he keep his forces safe next year. Perhaps some kind of watercraft could help here? It would surely beat their ITC's jury-rigged role as transport here.
Moerth has gained ground in C2. [M: 2/3, A: 1/3]Production Credits!After getting tired and notably concerned by the back-and-forth bickering using every single radio channel possible at the same time, the colony ship seemed to had shut off its radio.
Some amount of hours later, they got back to both parties and after managing to get
some quiet, relayed their decision. While some colonists disagreed with those in command on the ship and would settle in the other colony, as a whole, the people of the vessel chose Moerth as their new home. They were quite charmed by the noble descriptions of life in Moerth and some bought into the material putting down Amaok.
At some time next year, the ship will land in a designated area on Moerth and its occupants will be integrated into the colony's society. An agreement is
eventually tentatively decided upon to allow the small amounts of disagreeing colonists to find transit to Amaok.
Moerth gets 2 Production Credit(s)! (Production Credit: Create a new Production Line for 1 year. Can be saved.)
Interplanetary Transport Craft: A primitive “shuttle” capable of carrying a unit and basic equipment to another planet. It’s quite large, and built completely in space. Docked to it are SSTO rocket shuttles designed with just enough fuel to carry things to/from planetside and return. However, the lack of large empty spaces in the shuttle and craft as well as limited fuel in the rocket shuttles means it can’t carry “heavy” things. The ITC relies on efficient chemical engines for thrust and powers essential systems via solar panels. While it can still carry units, the ITC cannot carry any item with a minimum weight above 1 CU.
Cargo: 4 CU
Expense: 3x
Resources: Metal, Exotics
Printed Pistol: A basic pistol that’s created via advanced 3d-printing techniques, making it very cheap. Unfortunately, its benefits stop there. It’s uncomfortable to use, inaccurate, works at short ranges, and fires very weak rounds. Fortunately, these rounds are still enough to puncture the basic suits and unarmored clothing used by soldiers on the field. Very light. Unreliable.
Weight: 1 CU = 10x
Expense: Unlimited
ABR-1: A simple yet effective semi-automatic battle rifle completely designed in Amaok, using custom-designed ammunition. Works best at a moderate-long distance, but still works well at long and moderate distances. Grows less effective at closer and more long-ranged engagements. Very effective at punching through light Kevlar, but ammo shortages require use of the ABR-1 to be limited in close-range engagements.
Weight: 1 CU = 4x
Expense: 4x
Resources: Metal
X112 Space Suit: A bulky space suit originally designed for the vacuum of space. It’s relatively flexible compared to spacesuits used by earlier space agencies such as NASA, but greatly restricts agility. Its complete lack of armor doesn’t help either. Luckily it’s cheap to produce.
Weight: 1 CU = 3x
Expense: Unlimited
Armoured Space Suit: A version of the X112 with very light Kevlar covering vital parts of the body. Notably increases overall injury survival rate, but wearers will still be heavily wounded by projectiles and the like.
Weight: 1 CU = 3x
Expense: 1x
Resources: Metal
Kevlar Armor & Uniform: Very basic thin-layered and light-weight partial Kevlar armor. Not even a helmet is included. This armor was originally used for security personnel sent with the colonies. It cannot be used in conjunction with regular armor. The facilities for producing Kevlar are still very limited in the colonies, making this armor a luxury.
Weight: 1 CU = 5x
Expense: 1x
Resources: Metal
Radio: Communications are done via basic radio systems. However, the size required means units would have to lug expensive radio systems to planets with them in order to communicate with Central Command back at their homeworld.
Weight: 2 CU = 1x
Expense: 2x
Resources: Metal
Fusion Engine: A huge 1-mile in radius Tokamak-based Fusion Reactor. Produces power comparable to a much smaller conventional power plant. Requires very long and energy-consuming warmup time. Once activated, will start to meltdown, produces extreme magnetic effects in 10-mile radius while stunning people in radius.
PlanetsA1 - 1 Metal Unclaimed
A2 - 1 Exotic A: 1/3
A3 - 1 Metal A: 2/3, M: 1/3
B1 - Nothing Unclaimed
B2 - Nothing A: 1/3, M: 1/3
C1 - 1 Metal Unclaimed
C2 - 1 Exotic A: 1/3, M: 2/3
C3 - 1 Metal A: 2/3, M: 1/3
Production Line 1: Interplanetary Transport Craft (3/3)
Production Line 2: Printed Pistol (Unlimited)
Production Line 3: X112 Space Suit (Unlimited)
Production Line 4: Kevlar Armor & Uniform (0/1)
Production Line 5: Radio (2/2)
Production Line 6: Armoured Space Suit (0/1)
Production Line 7: ABR-1 (1/4)
Production Line 8:
Production Line 9:
Production Line 10:
Items covered in [brackets] aren't fully deployed, and the Unit must be sent the design again successfully to fully deploy the item. Partially deployed items still cost an expense level, and attempting to fully deploy it does not cost any expense levels.
Unit 1:
Equipped: X112 Space Suit, ABR-1, Printed Pistol
Location: A3
Unit 2:
Equipped: X112 Space Suit, ABR-1, Printed Pistol
Location: C3
Unit 3:
Equipped: Armoured Space Suit, Printed Pistol
Location: A2
Unit 4:
Equipped: X112 Space Suit, Printed Pistol
Location: C2
Unit 5:
Equipped: Kevlar Armor & Uniform, [ABR-1] Printed Pistol
Location: B2
Interplanetary Transport Craft 1: Unassigned
Interplanetary Transport Craft 2: Unassigned
Interplanetary Transport Craft 3: Unassigned
Author
Topic: Planetary Arms Race - Amaok, Strategy Phase 2212 (Read 35081 times)