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[NUKE9.13]

See, everything turned out fine. The rolls we got prove that we were right to gamble.

(That's another joke)

Anyway, obviously we need to revise that cost down a notch. Some people were talking about a cautious advance infantry tactic, which would also be a good thing.

[10ebbor10]

To be honest, I'm terribly disappointed.

The Prototype bonus is frankly useless, and the finished bonus is not much better.

Total spend so far : 24 COWS
Finishing Cost : 36 COWS
60 COWS
Finishing gives +2 Ore/Turn

Return on Investment : 30 Turns
Additional units : ROI : 20 Turns

For comparison, our single revision making Itshana cheaper saved us 5 ore already.

It would take 8 turns before this entire design saves that much ore, and that is ignoring the cost of all the other resources.

[Tack]

1. This absolutely will need to be revised down. We're basically unable to make a profit at this rate, and it'll be so slow as to be crippling if we do.
But what are revisions for, if not 1's.

2. We're outnumbered. My advice would be either a "elastic defense" tactic for retreating or a "peek-a-boo" tactic for inflicting higher casualties in the event of a standoff.

Example- having a PLACE team stay put completely behind cover and out of visibility- wait for enemy squad to probe & bait there: blow through everyone's cover and sterilise the hallway.
Move to different hallway.

The prohibitive costs associated with the Khipha geological school means that inclusion will have to be more selective, and what's more selective than a generous admittance fee?
By asking for certain... subsidies from families choosing the "safe" path of geological deskwork over the glorious career of military service, the costs associated with running the school should be vastly reduced.
After all, these are options taken by those who some would call 'cowards'. It would surely take a significant commitment for this potential rumour to be squashed.

A team of specialists developed in concert with our geologists, with a slightly more... aggressive bent, this group is dedicated to the exploration and understanding of newly broken ground in the Wrethian expansion. With the same knowledge of geology and intraspire hablays, they are the first line of attack against the multiple hazards found within new spires. With enough time (and pidgeons), they should be able to identify and even aid research into hazard-neutralising factors.
Their role as an aggressive exploration squad of course necessitates some combat ability, however the difference between scientists and armed scientists could prove negligible when conditions prove particularly  adverse.

Edit: Revision pops. Thoughts?

[milo christiansen]

The Boom and Zoom tactic show promise, but some obvious issues presented themselves.

Currently as soon as the dive is finished, the ships pour on power to zoom back up for another pass, but this strains the crystals, and is very wasteful. Rather than always doing diving passes, ships should "zoom" past, and make a new pass in the oposite direction. This will allows for slower direction changes, and more passes in less time.

Aditionally, instead of climbing to max altitude right away, ships should procced at a good cruising height, and only dive or climb as needed when the enemy is spotted. If the enemy is above the first pass should be from below, if below the first pass should be from above.

[10ebbor10]

Anyway, to let us hold and ablate the enemy a bit more.

It is not merely sufficient to fortify the flanks. Fortifications and troops need to be placed in such way that they channel the movement of the enemy into what is designated as the killzone, an area where defensive fire is concentrated, allowing us to eliminate the enemy rapidly and effectively without losses.

This tactic is designed to synergize with the enormous power of the Place cannon, and with BLOCK fortifications. A textbook position would use BLOCK fortifications to protect an aetheric cannon, allowing it to take out multiple enemy squads. Positions should be chosen for defensibility, proper firing lines, availability of aether, and lack of flanking routes.

[milo christiansen]

The last thing we need i another "hold and hope they kill themselves" tactic.

[Tack]

We don't have a first "hold and hope they kill themselves" tactic for there to be another derived from.

[10ebbor10]

We have 2 options.

1) Design a fortification Tactic
2) Design a hit the enemy while we retreat tactic.

The latter, I think, is not going to be as usefull, given that we carry a lot of stuff that is hard to move. An aetheric cannon can not be moved for minutes after it was fired, so on any dynamic retreat it would need to be left behind.

Hence, why I want a fortification tactic. The PLACE should be enormously effective if it can hit it's enemies properly.

[milo christiansen]

3. Slowly advance while hiding behind our PLACEs and BLOCKs.

[10ebbor10]

No can do.

The GM has stated that it takes a good minute to set up PLACE. So, we won't have PLACE available when we need it if we advance. Even so, advancing with PLACE on the frontline is asking for it to be overrun and destroyed. Advancing with PLACE in the back is asking for it to immolate our own forces.

Besides, how quickly do you think people can set up fortifications. They're not designed to be portable, having our forces carry them along will only result in them not being able to use theirs crossbows when attacked.

We know the enemy has numeric superiority. We know they have a very effective defensive tactic. We know they upgraded it.
We know that BLOCK is cumbersome and makes it harder to move. We know we can not fire PLACE  on the move.

All that combines to making it a very bad idea to attack.

[Jilladilla]

They're only making simple probing strikes to try and bait us out, they aren't staying for long enough to get shot by a PLACE.

Still, I say go for Cautious Advance, or go for something along the lines of 'If we aren't under attack, build more fortifications a little bit in front of our line, very slowly creep our way forward'

Really, two flavors of the same thing, keep hunkering behind our fortifications while we keep slowly pushing them back; there will come a time where they can't run any longer and have to deal with our BLOCKs and PLACEs.
Yes, the PLACE won't be able to be set up in time to adequately deal with a hit and run. But that's what they're doing right now isn't it? Our BLOCKs shield us from those. If they make a concentrated push, the fortifications should allow us to hold them off for long enough to get the PLACE in position to force them to either rout or be obliterated.

[10ebbor10]

They're only making simple probing strikes to try and bait us out, they aren't staying for long enough to get shot by a PLACE.

Which is why we need a tactic that ensures we set up our defenses in such a way that their probing strike blunders into a PLACE firing zone.

Currently, we're plopping down our fortifications with no eye towards tactics. Solving that would greatly reinforce our positions. Next turn, we can bring in more soldiers, and then we can attack.

On the other hand, we can try to do a slow advance with numerically inferior forces, get outflanked, and get everyone killed.

[Tack]

I can support this- IF we reinforce.

[andrea]

even when we reinforce we will probably need a cautious advance tactic of some sort. Their baiting ha sthe potential to be very costly.

[10ebbor10]

Their baiting will be enormously costly. It was 1 in 4 last time, it will be more this time because they upgraded the tactic.

Hence why I don't want to do a conventional assault.

Grappling Gear: Cost: 1 ore to give to every member of a squad. Standard issue ropes and hooks for boarding vessels or climbing the outside of spires. Cumbersome if you're not going to use it.

Let us attack the enemy from behind.

Existing forces set up a killing field, reinforcements crush them into it.