It is the start of SY100.It is to great fanfare that the brave pioneers selected to go on the D Mission board the shuttles that will take them to the ITC refurbished for said mission. Crowds gather around the launch sites; most everyone else is glued to their tv screens, watching from afar.
Two days later, preparations in orbit are complete, and the ITC "Quillus II" makes her ponderous way out of Quillus's influence, into the grasp of Aljadid.
Then things calm down. Without any way of reliably contacting the ship, all people on Quillus can do is wait for her triumphant return. Speculation as to what wonders they will bring back is the order of the day in the coming weeks and months.
...
Eventually, the Quillus II returns. However, it is not a happy homecoming.
We still don't know exactly what happened. The survivors were loathe to give details. Here's what we know:
The accursed Ertexites sent their
own expedition to Planet D, and the two ran into each other on the surface. After some heated words, the meeting descended into violence. Pistols were drawn. Who shot first? We don't know. Probably the Ertexites, it sounds like the sort of thing they would do. Maybe it doesn't matter, though. What matters is, 90% of the expedition never made it back home.
We demanded that Ertex apologise, and send those responsible for the attack to Quillus so that a fair sentence may be imposed. They had the gall to demand that
we apologise, and send the surviving members of our expedition to Ertex to face """justice""". Talks broke down after that.
Naturally, this means war. Ertex has no idea what they have awakened. Our superior military will overrun their primitive militia with ease, and we shall put an end to their absurd regime once and for all.
But just to ensure victory, it'd probably be a good idea to keep up weapons development.
It is now the Design Phase of SY100. After the Revision Phase of SY100 will be the first Tactics Phase, and following that, the first Battle Report (which will be in the core thread)
Ships
ITC (Interplanetary Transport Craft): The ships that carried colonists to your homeworld, now repurposed as military transports. They use rocket shuttles to ferry things to and from the surface. These shuttles have a limited capacity, meaning that with the exception of troops, the ITC cannot carry any equipment of a size greater than 1TC. It has 4TC. It uses chemical engines for propulsion. It has no armour or armaments. It is Very Slow, and quite large.
Cost: 2SPP
QS-CA-99 'Odin': A heavily armoured medium-sized spaceship. Her hull is all slope, the front being a point, from which slopes lead up to the widest point, then slopes lead down at the same angle, before being cut off, leaving a large flat area in the back, where the main thrusters are. Aforementioned main thrusters are three Apollos. She has five smaller thrusters mounted pointing in other directions, providing excellent manoeuvrability. Her powerplant is a Stardust reactor. She is armed with four Mjolnir turrets providing excellent coverage, and a single spinal-mount extra-long Mjolnir. Her armour consists of a layer of Heavy titanium with faraday insulation, with a layer of Light ceramics mounted a full three meters away from the main hull. Despite her bulk, she moves at a Moderate pace.
Cost: 3SPP
Equipment
Printed Pistol: Issued to security guards before the war, the only real weapon both colonies started with. They are 3D-printed out of plastic, a process which is not entirely reliable, meaning the gun has a tendency to break after prolonged use... or any use, really.
Cost: Cheap
X100 Space Suit: A civilian space suit, totally unarmoured and cumbersome to walk in. At least it works well enough, and has a self-sealing lining meaning a single shot isn't an immediate death sentence... most of the time. Necessary for deployment to worlds without breathable atmospheres.
Cost: Cheap
Interplanetary Radio: Essentially just a very big radio set, capable of reliable communication between planets. Too big to fit on an ITC. Currently only useful for taunting Ertex.
Cost: 2GPP
Weight: 2TC
QS-IRW-99 'Hayk': The Hayk is a micromissile-firing rifle. It is magazine fed, has a reasonable rate of fire, and is accurate at a surprising distance- theoretically out to Long range, although few are capable of such superhuman feats. There is an ammo variant which explodes on contact, though it is less accurate and in shorter supply.
Cost: Cheap
Infrastructure
Colony Defence Grid: The reason you can't instantly invade the enemy homeworld. A series of surface-to-orbit missile launchers, the only real concession to self defence the planners of the colony made. How they work is a mystery, and no one wants to risk taking them apart to find out.
QS-CPP-96 'Stardust': A fusion reactor, copies of which can be found across Quillus, powering industry. Utilises powerful niobium-tin superconductors, cooled by liquid helium, to contain plasma in a Tokamak-style. Grants 2GPP and 1SPP. A smaller version designed for use in spaceships also exists.
Loose Parts
QS-MAC-97 'Mjolnir': A coilgun (and definitely not a railgun) capable of firing 150mm slugs at considerable speeds. Requires a substantial power supply. Ground installations cost 1GPP for four. Ship mountings cost 1SPP for eight.
QS-MHD-98 'Apollo': A magneto-plasma-dynamic thruster of exceptional efficiency. Uses hydrogen plasma by default; heavier elements can be injected into the mix for a boost in thrust.
Misc Tech
QS-PMP-96 'Auto-Forge': A 3D-printer that prints using metal. Not astonishingly accurate, but QC weeds out any pieces that aren't of acceptable standards.
Ship Production Points: 16+1
17 points: Unassigned.
Ground Production Points: 16+2
18 points: Unassigned
Units: 5
All unassigned.
Author
Topic: Quillus Design Bureau - Battle for Aljadid - Strategy SY108 (Read 41902 times)