Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[TricMagic]

Maybe the new Ravenmind? Used as datanodes on the lunar landscape for an early warning system. Just a box with the needed sensory radio, and acts as a network for anything out on the Lunar Surface. Has the Solar Panels and Magmagel, and the box is shielded from micro meteors with the Nanoseal Concrete. Might also work to disguise it. So we have Radar Networks.

You could also do away with the Expensive Talons for Cheap Claws based off of the Firestorm's. Set them up in groups, and let the laserlight cut holes in everything.

[Madman198237]

We don't really need the Ravenminds, since the Aratamites don't do tunneling and so we should have warning when they try to storm the surface accesses...as well as a warning when they try to hunt us down, we've got some pretty darn good coverage up there.

[flabort]

I am too tired to write a revision right now, but I will soon. In the meantime, I like crater, but not everything has to be instant roads; we need more permanent structural materials. We can definitely use Lunacrete so we don't have to import instant roads, but there should be something about a more permanent material in there. You should also mention adding access codes to the Zephyr airlocks to make sure that the military sections remain off limits.

[TricMagic]

I had meant something different.

We use a Civilian Ravenmind, named Flock, and place them down across the Lunar surface. Their abilities allow us to see incoming Spacecraft, and act as a network for our spacecraft. They'll always have access to each other, and the base, if needed.

This technically is also military, as of course we'll use them to coordinate on the ground, connect to the air forces, and they can send back tactical data to Oracle. Though I'm about to write an updated revision for FANG

The RIP-AT
Ravenmind Interceptor Portable Autonomous Turret

The RIP-AT uses a Ravenmind Unit, a GOFAST Generator, STABIL-ICE Cooling, Cycling Magmagel, Combat Plating, and the same type of Optical CLAW the Firestorm uses...

That really is it. It's all placed into a singular package, covered with Combat Plating, and used. For the more in depth, see below.

Triple Drill Mounting: The only part that is even a bit complicated, these flat drill heads are small, but fairly strong. The User uses the RIP-AT's handles to hold it in place, and activate the drills. They bury into the rock or earth, and the thing won't be moving short of heavy kinetic impact, or someone telling it to retract to be picked up and moved.

Combat Plating Used.  The Plates are placed simularly to Bear Armor, covering the entirety of it, and can be shifted aside to expose the back opening for refilling or connecting a Datalink.

Ravenmind: The same as used in the Firestorm, it's does the exact same thing, gathering information, controlling the single CLAW's fire, and acting to communicate with it's fellows to coordinate. In Groups, RIP-ATs can lay down a withering Aerial Screen, and the Ravenminds can track them down together. Ravenminds also act as local Datanodes, allowing information to be transmitted across the battlefield. Grizzlys are meant to carry RIP-ATs for deployment, but it also doesn't take much to link the two together, resulting in a similar protection against the Blackwell Technique as the Ursine Vision, but far more useful. And the data gathered can also be sent to the Local Oracle Node as well. Remember to have your IFF signal ready so you don't get shot by them, fliers. The same goes for ground units.
Side Note on Ravenmind:

the "Ravenmind" Combat Assistive Computer, which can give likely enemy flight patterns, analyze and target all enemies, assist in flight and maneuvers, communicate with other Ravenminds and ORACLE-A over radio, and give every possible piece of pertinent information to the pilot via the 4-color canopy HUD (where most information is conveyed rather than through physical instruments).

4 Color Hud is not needed, as the Ravenmind used is self contained in the RIP-AT. Can still gather/confer a vector model of the area around it, along with it's other abilities, for it's main Anti-Missile/AA Duty. Or any other duty it's put to, like preventing movement through an area, or acting as anti-infantry, as well as forming a basic Radio Network. Still not likely to hit SEEM assisted Aircraft, unless they're close enough, in which case, they'll go down like anything else as they get ripped apart by the laser..

The Firestorm's CLAW: The same CLAW as pioneered in the Firestorm. A single one sits atop, and has an amazing half-sphere of fire. Placed on the ground, they can fire ahead and around, decimating ground troops when RIP-ATs are deployed in number. They can also act as aerial screens this way, giving us amazing anti-air against missiles and flying craft. Mostly missiles, as they have straight trajectories that are very easy for a single RIP-AT to break. Placed on walls or hills, things get more interesting, as that means more trajectories to fire in than when placed on the ground. In the mountains, they can easily be placed to prevent movement by unarmored troops in passages, and missiles can only rarely get near enough before they are shot down. Make sure you have your IFF on when moving through RIP-AT controlled Areas.


The RIP-AT has a connection port for Datalinks to send and receive data and program updates, as well as charging. The RIP-AT can be powered this way as well, and linked to a Solaris System. though it does expose a weak point when you do that.

Overall, the RIP-AT is simple. It a bunch of packaging,  the usual suspects in powering our stuff, and Combat Plating. Doesn't have recoil since it uses lasers, can be placed or mounted just about anywhere, and is comparatively small, being able to fit in a Starknight hold with a Haunter. Though it still usually requires multiple Bears or a single Grizzly to hike around without a vehicle. It's Ravenmind doubles as a Radio Network over the battlefield, transmitting 3d Vector images to Oracle Nodes. And it's Anti-Air ability is unparalleled, more than able to take down missiles. Due to using only a CLAW, it's expected to be either Cheap, or Expensive depending on Oil cost. It can also just be mounted on ships without any modifications at all, giving them easy anti-air capabilities, once again mostly against Missiles. They're not expected to hit SEEM piloted aircraft unless they're really too close to a RIP-AT in the first place.

RIP-AT: (1) TricMagic

Spoiler: old ablative text (click to show/hide)

Ablative Armor: Armor fused to the RIP-AT's package with Rubber. While the Ablative Armor is meant to scrap in the first place, which dilutes damage, with electricity it simply causes the attack to spark along the entirety of the armor, reducing it's strength as it is grounded. Can be refilled by opening a seam in the armor/casing, which is normally covered by loose scales. Painted a non-reflective color, in camouflage for the area it is meant to operate in.

[NUKE9.13]

So, there was some talk of potentially getting an RC using our revision. Which Chief confirmed is a possibility, if we demonstrate an project equally cooperative as ANGEL:

dgr11897 Today at 1:22 AM
If we unveil a lunar colony as a sort of quasi collaboration between us and aratam, would that tie the research token?
[...]
dgr11897 Today at 1:23 AM
Since it shows that we are willing to work with aratam on some matters, like this
[...]
Chiefwaffles Today at 1:23 AM
If you get them to agree with that knowing that you'd get a research token too (and your team being okay with potential opsec breach), then sure?


dgr11897 Today at 1:43 AM
Now, what do people think of using ANGEL to transport the massive amounts of material needed for a full on lunar colonization effort. Besides establishing a lunar colony, possibly inspiring more solid hope in people, it will also send a bit of a political and subtler message, that we are willing to collaborate with aratam for the greater good of humanity and scientific progress.
[...]
dgr11897 Today at 1:44 AM
A message which could stand to inspire more hope than any measly space elevator ever could. That hope exists for peace,
10ebbor10 Today at 1:44 AM
We already lost the contest though
Chiefwaffles Today at 1:45 AM
You can get your own research credit if you do the aforementioned explicit cooperation thing, but that's a special circumstance.

Of course, Aratam is unlikely to agree to this. But on the off chance, I wrote up such a project:

Pacifist Extraterrestrial Arcology & Cultural Exchange:
War. Huh. What is it good for? Well, the rapid advance of technology, the defence of one's rights, and the suppression of hateful ideologies. But other than that, absolutely nothing.
The war with Aratam may show no signs of stopping, but with the world teetering on the brink of disaster, we cannot let this conflict blind us- we have the opportunity to save mankind, and it is our moral obligation to do what we can to make that happen. Even if it means cooperating with our greatest foe. We have the tech, and they have cheap and easy access to space- if we combine the two, we can create a permanent settlement on the Moon in no time.
But wait, the sceptics say, surely such a settlement would inevitably be drawn into the ongoing conflict, potentially dooming the colony? The risk exists, which is why the PEACE colony will exist on a demilitarised zone of the Moon. A large swathe of lunar territory in the north-pole region will be designated such, under an agreement signed by both Mereth and Aratam (and hopefully all the other major powers of the world). This agreement will prohibit any military activity in the zone, prohibit the use of the zone to transport military equipment or directly facilitate military action elsewhere, and guarantee safe passage of purely civilian transports between the zone and the ANGEL station. Importing/exporting non-military equipment and resources will be permitted, even if such resources are ultimately going to contribute to the war effort- so long as they cannot be used immediately. Eg, importing food is allowed, even if said food will feed soldiers. Exporting metals is allowed, even if said metals could be used to make weapons. However, importing or exporting guns is not allowed, as these have direct military applications. The zone will be open to (peaceful) construction/colonisation by anyone (after some basic background checks and such). A neutral administrative body will govern the zone, funded by both Mereth and Aratam, but controlled by neither.

The actual engineering work here simply involves combining HOPE technology, developing equipment to convert lunar regolith into construction materials, and doing some architectural work planning the shape and size of various structures that will form the core of the PEACE colony. The majority of the settlement will be below ground, hopefully taking advantage of naturally occurring caverns, and should be situated near substantial ice reserves (hence the requirement that the zone be in a polar region, as this is where ice will most commonly be found). Life support is the highest priority, followed by the beginnings of construction industry (to make expansion easier), then laboratory spaces that can be rented out to various organisations from elsewhere in the world (giving the colony a source of revenue). Much of the work should be contracted out, and the PEACE adminstration should have the power to expand the colony independently as they see fit.
Obviously, the greatest challenge will be getting Aratam to agree to the project.

So if people are okay with it, we could ask Aratam if they'd be okay with cooperating with us on this.

[Madman198237]

I am too tired to write a revision right now, but I will soon. In the meantime, I like crater, but not everything has to be instant roads; we need more permanent structural materials. We can definitely use Lunacrete so we don't have to import instant roads, but there should be something about a more permanent material in there. You should also mention adding access codes to the Zephyr airlocks to make sure that the military sections remain off limits.

Both good ideas, and implemented. The previous lunar Operation was Easy, this is aiming for Normal, and those are insanely simple and also very valuable revisions to make use of.


Ninja edit since I forgot:
I like the idea, NUKE, but I feel that we may be able to leverage ANGEL transport, HOPE, and our preexisting Operation experience to not use any engineering time on this project. It's basically just what HOPE was made to do, and it'd feel pretty stupid to then need to re-engineer the project we just did.

[NUKE9.13]

I like the idea, NUKE, but I feel that we may be able to leverage ANGEL transport, HOPE, and our preexisting Operation experience to not use any engineering time on this project. It's basically just what HOPE was made to do, and it'd feel pretty stupid to then need to re-engineer the project we just did.

I'm not sure we could get away with that, but I suppose it's worth asking. We could well say that we're offloading any actual engineering work to civilian contractors, since it is explicitly not a military or classified project, and we've already done all the hard work.

[TricMagic]

Ugh. Discord in Discord.

Their weather Manipulation uses these bands of electromagnetic energy in the atmosphere, the likely N-Dimension representation of our magnetic fields.

Now, what happens when you apply those bands to make a magnetic railgun? They've likely reduced the energy cap needed to escape, as well as allowing launching via that mechanism, and their electro-oil. This is also the reason for the tether, it's to act as a conduit for the earth's magnetic field, which pushes things into orbit like an elevator.

[Madman198237]

Now for something completely different.

ME-I-64 'Immortals' (Bear Option)
We already deployed a few Grizzlies with damaged soldiers inside them. People missing too many limbs to ever fight again, it seemed. Well, now we have deployed more. Immortal has become their name, their rallying cry, their fate. Bring one down and they will come back again, and again, and again.

Few and far between, Immortals are cripples from military service, trained to use an extended CAT interface to run cybernetic enhancements to their limbs. Based on SERF-2, Bear Armor, and Grizzly/CAT interfaces, these cybernetic soldiers carry much more COMBAT plating than a Bear Trooper while being more compact than a Grizzly. Missing limbs are replaced with steel and COMBAT armor, limbs still present are reinforced with implanted steel and surrounded in a Bear-like armored power limb matching the power of the cybernetic limbs. Their helmets have no visors or periscopes, instead using advanced cameras shielded with ballistics glass based on the Bear Suits' present equipment, to provide them with good vision without vulnerability to Blackwell trickery.

Heavily reinforced protection isolates their head and vital organs from outside damage, especially Tesla rifles, so that even as their metal bodies are destroyed the soldier within survives and can be rescued by his comrades.

Some have thrusters based on the direction-control rockets of our spacecraft, Drop Bear equipment, and HAUNTER thrusters, integrated directly into CAT so that the soldiers don't need to hold a specific position to survive the jumps they can make.

Carrying CLAWs and moving faster than any other soldiers on the battlefield, these elite troops are intended to serve as shock troops. They can break Aratamite lines with lightning-fast advances and retreats, carrying enough armor and weaponry to break through enemy lines, and certain in the inevitability of their survival to continue the assault even when others would break and run.

I think that given the steadily reduced difficulty of things this may be a viable revision.

ME-I-64 'Immortals' (Grizzly Option)
We already deployed a few Grizzlies with damaged soldiers inside them. People missing too many limbs to ever fight again, it seemed. Well, now we have deployed more. Immortal is their name, their rallying cry, their fate. Bring one down and they will come back again, and again, and again.

Few and far between, Immortals are those who are missing limbs or who are otherwise crippled from military service, trained to use an extended CAT interface to control an improved, much smaller Grizzly. Reengineered limbs with substantially more power propel the Immortals at an incredibly fast speed, reduced-sized cockpits to accommodate the immobile nature of the pilots and their missing limbs using advanced cameras shielded with ballistics glass based on the Bear Suits' present vision slit protection, and an integrated Ravenmind provide the Immortals with unparalleled speed, protection from Blackwell Symbols, excellent aiming ability, and perfect awareness of enemy threats. Holographic displays surround the pilot's head giving them all the information needed to control the battlefield, while the Ravenmind's immense computing power keeps all Immortals linked to their own battle network while also aiding the Immortal in keeping his Grizzly oriented correctly.

For weapons, double CLAW mounts can be integrated into the hands, or a modified TALON can be used as a rifle, admittedly one wired to the Grizzly's own generator through connectors in the arm. ICE throwers, autocannons, Grizzly-sized grenades, and every other possible weapon we've made can all be used by Immortals.

The Immortal is crouched within the Grizzly, with only enough space around them for the many holographic displays needed to control a Grizzly. This allows the Immortal's Grizzly to be shorter and much thinner while retaining a similar amount of torso protection. Heavily reinforced protection isolates their cockpit from outside damage, especially Tesla rifles, so that even as their metal bodies are destroyed the soldier within survives and can be rescued by his comrades.

Carrying heavy weapons, using Ravenmind coordination, and moving faster than any other soldiers on the battlefield, these elite troops are intended to serve as shock troops. They can break Aratamite lines with lightning-fast advances and retreats, carrying enough armor and weaponry to break through enemy lines, and certain in the inevitability of their survival to continue the assault even when others would break and run.

[flabort]

PORTCULLIS (Psychic Obtrusion Reducing Task Complexity, Upgrading Long-range Limited Interruption Solutions)
With access to the lunar surface, even if only for brief periods of time, and HOPE allowing for a permanent setup, we have brought GATES to the moon. Why? For the isolation it offers, far from the chaos of many other minds influencing the N-Dimension. A permanent habitation, dug into the lunar surface, sealed with Nanoseal concrete which was later replaced by airtight steel and COMBAT plating and a Zepher Airlock, and filled with every HOPE module we have, the PORTCULLIS project is a plan to improve GATEs and negate their weaknesses.

With a lot fewer minds to affect the outcome, an N/R-Lock is quicker and easier to achieve, and the new *Ravenmind Combat Assistive Computer* developed for the Firestorm has the bandwidth to hook up to a GATE where before a large amount of datacables had to be connected to a distant ORACLE-A node, and has the predictive power on it's own to almost keep up with a SEEM, making it perfect to establish even faster locks, an advancement that will be easy to replicate back on earth, although the speed improvements are not as significant as they are on the moon. The Ravenmind can also detect SEEM or GUARDIAN intrusion faster than a volunteer, withdrawing the volunteer's consciousness and shutting out the enemy agents before they can do any damage to our assets.

Further, having quicker access time to the N-Dimension on the moon means more time to spend experimenting with new sensors. Some volunteers were lost to insanity when some of the sensor designs we tried showed them too much of the N-dimension, but with some computational filtering and contextualizing to reinterpret this data before passing it along to the volunteer, we have a safe way of viewing N-space for volunteers entering it via HAUNTER. We even have a visual feed now that can be displayed on holographic projectors to monitor the HAUNTER and the surrounding N-space area, that only causes minor headaches and the occasional narcolepsy attack in those looking at it. This allows a volunteer to retrace their steps and return to the GATE, meaning that a HAUNTER deployed is no longer necessarily lost. Emergency exits of N-Space to shut out enemy agents attempting to hijack the connection still cause a severing of the CAT and data cables, and a loss of the HAUNTER, but not before the volunteer is woken up. These sensory improvements have again been imported back to earth for immediate deployment.

The GATE has also had improvements in it's magmagel capacitors and it's required supporting equipment. It is now small enough to be transported in entirety on a ALWV, in a space of about two modules, and an active GATE can be transported while maintaining a N/R-Lock. Giving the support crew the ability to immediately flee with the GATE if an issue arises prevents enemy forces from being able to capture or destroy a GATE, assuming ALWVs or similar vehicles get deployed on a Terran battlefield, or the war comes to the moon.

The research facility for the PORTCULLIS project is small, small enough to fit within the space excavated by MARIA. As the need for research space grows, unused or fully excavated and tapped out tunnels can be re-purposed, and made airtight with HOPE installations, while new tunnels are mined to continue exploiting the lunar resources.

[Madman198237]

ME-ODS-64 'Kinetic Impactor Large Launcher System for Accurate Termination (KILLSAT)
The KILLSAT is what happens when you stick a Ravenmind and a bundle of tungsten sticks into space, then throw them like a bunch of darts at things that have annoyed you on the surface.

The KILLSAT itself is a simple construction, a pair of folding solar panel wings bolted to a Ravenmind and its communications array, capable of talking to every other KILLSAT on the same side of the planet as itself and capable of communicating with Merethan command stations on the surface. The Ravenmind is optimized for accurate target acquisition and firing based on data from ground-side Ravenminds, triangulation with other KILLSATs, or directives from the ORACLE command center. KILLSAT shots can only be fired with redundant confirmation orders---the general command staff, the KILLSAT operations director, and the ground commander nearest the intended impact zone.

Each KILLSAT is launched with two tungsten projectiles with a conical point, cylindrical middle, and bulging tail. This shape keeps the projectile aligned during its descent through the atmosphere, while the bulge's extra size and shielding keep the (relatively) delicate electronics and GOFAST fuel inside safe from reentry heating. The whole projectile is covered in the Starknight's ablative coating, with tungsten fins at the back controlled by the heavily-shielded Birdbrain, reprogrammed and optimized for getting the target from A to B, where A is the launching spacecraft and B is a point on the surface of the Earth that we want to stop existing. The Birdbrain is in constant communication with its KILLSAT control station so the Ravenmind can accurately guide the projectile through the atmosphere, powered by a few Magmagel batteries for the roughly fifteen-minute drop through the atmosphere. Also in the tail is a gimballed GOFAST rocket motor capable of providing the projectile with a deorbit boost and also controlling its path until the air thickens enough for the fins to be useful.

One of the two projectiles detach from the satellite when a shoot order is received, deorbit, fall through the atmosphere under fin control, and then slam into the ground at incredibly high speed, exploding on impact and causing an immense amount of fairly localized and non-nuclear destruction. Accuracy is high due to the Ravenmind's and Birdbrain's capabilities as well as humanity's collective experience at the ancient art of throwing sharpened sticks at your enemies.

The system can also be used for attacking targets in space, but the limited delta-V and limited control in space means that other systems will probably be better for the task, unless the target is blind and/or immobile. Starknights can be used to rearm satellites that have launched their complement of kinetic impactors, allowing the system to be reused without the expense of completely disposable satellites.

Anybody want to throw chunks of metal at our enemies? We might be able to hit the Meteor with one of these....or just throw many of them in a saturation barrage to ensure a kill. A single hit will be enough, it's just a matter of getting the shots close enough to hit it.

[TricMagic]

Design: Master Spark

Though peerless testing, and many dead Hellborers, seriously, what is up with those things, we have succefully created something that can draw from the Power of the N-dimension. The Master Spark is made up of a metal alloy that combines Magmatite, TRUE IRON from Hellborers, and something that came from the N-Dimension, called N-CARBON.

Yes, it's a bit silly. We had to lose a lot of Haunters, but we are now able to kill Hellborers. This is mostly cause the only thing that can kill a Hellborer is another, until now. They actually exist in both R-Space and N-Space, so you have to strike one in both dimensions. And N-CARBON can't actually be taken out of N-Space. So we had to actually develop a CARDINAL to help manage the linking between N-Space and R-Space, which allowed for far longer GATE activation times.

Well, N-CARBON is the opposite of TRUE IRON. N-CARBON exists in N-Space, while TRUE IRON exists in R-Space. Integrated into our GATEs, it makes their range far longer, which is helpful when we need to kill more Hellborers. The two are opposites which are linked to each other. Enough about that though.

The MASTER SPARK is made with Magmatite. It gets purified, chemically fused to TRUE IRON & N-CARBON in a GATE Horizon, and a super-capacitor/conductor crystal installed, which happens to be made of TRUE IRON/N-CARBON. It's a pair of hexagonal rings made of TRUE IRON and N-CARBON, and has some truly unique effects.

First, it allows one to pass through a GATE without any survival equipment. The users presence in N-Space is locked, which also stabilizes the GATE. Even if a Gate closes, the N-Space will remain locked. Second, they allow staggering amounts of energy to flow from the unlocked N-Dimension to the user. Enough to tank just about anything. This can also be used to fire a Laser of prodigious size, and allow survival just about anywhere, even if logic says they shouldn't survive it. Their only true weakness is to a combination of attacks on both the Astral Plane, and the Physical Plane.

Here's the Thing, they exist on both Planes, so the number of people who can handle that much strain is small. Very small. Those people are absolute monsters on the battlefield though, and we've only scratched the surface of what such an advancement can do. There's even some people who are saying it's an entirely new way of applying the mind to energy found in N-Space or R-Space naturally. Magic, of all things, through scientific process.


Not particularly interested. We can already disable the thing's turret from the ground. This is me saying being able to completely take out their missle fire with something cheap enough will be nice, since our ships will get it too, which means no more aircraft on their carrier being super-effective against us. So we can spend a design on an Expensive or Cheap Aircraft Carrier to ruin their day at sea next turn. They also serve as data nodes/collectors for Oracle,
Two acronym projects if Master Spark does go through somehow. FAIRY: Full Ascension Into RealitY, and YOKAI: Your Own Kinship Animal Inside. First is effective immortality, as well as being completely hidden from their SEEMs and Guardians due to having their N-Self somewhere else entirely. Second is just straight Magic Augmentation to all our troops, including a flight spell, and the ability to fire lasers with your mind alone.. So Fallacy gets to be a Cat-person. With Lasers.

I still blame TOUHOU.

[Madman198237]

Chief wants us to vote (what an impatient GM, right?). There's a quite a few redundant proposals (and I think all of them are my fault, sorry ) so I'm not going to stick them all in the votebox. Add what you want to vote for.

Personally, I feel like it's about time we get our own massively overkill option. They've got the Meteor, let's pelt it with sticks. From space.

ME-ODS-64 'KILLSAT': (1) Madman

[TricMagic]

Chief wants us to vote (what an impatient GM, right?). There's a quite a few redundant proposals (and I think all of them are my fault, sorry ) so I'm not going to stick them all in the votebox. Add what you want to vote for.

Personally, I feel like it's about time we get our own massively overkill option. They've got the Meteor, let's pelt it with sticks. From space.

RIP-AT: (1) TricMagic
ME-ODS-64 'KILLSAT': (1) Madman

I am a bit annoyed. Mostly cause of stuff.. And Overkill isn't practical, especially since we have no sat experiance. Or other types needed to properly aim the thing. Or true radio for it to work in any sort of useful time frame. I also note it says nothing about what orbit it's in. LEO, BEO, or GEO... Put simply, it's an expensive weapon that is a revision of nothing. We don't have sats, or mass launch weapons. So where does the tech needed to be successful come from?

Well regardless, the KILLSAT is a design proposal, not a revision proposal. As we have no sats to base it off of. At least the Yig I wrote has a base.


As for the RIP-AT. It's a bunch of stuff we have, pretty basic, acts as a datanode, and gives cheap laser screens against missiles. Something that will render their Red Skies obsolete. With our advances in the air, this basically sets them to their Meteor as their only bombardment support. And we know how that went last season.

Should also be noted, this thing can be used anywhere, from ships to the moon. Specifically ships, as all of our ships get access to them. So when we hit the sea, we already have a defense against their Missiles which prove so troublesome for the ships we do deploy.

[Madman198237]

1. We have experience launching things to space. That's good enough for satellites.

2. We have the computer systems capable of and necessary to aim the projectiles: Ravenmind and Birdbrain.

3. We absolutely have radios and radio tech.

4. If you want we can call it a revision of the Ravenmind. It's a bunch of presently-existing techs bolted together (probably quite literally) to make a thing. If you want to argue that we're not revising it "from" anything, well, what the heck were we revising to make MARIA last turn?

Yes, laser turrets might be a good idea. I'd prefer a heavier version since CLAWs are not going to be quite as useful at anti-air, and scattering TALONs across the battlefield might just provide us a way to shoot down their new, massive aircraft, as well as being a powerful antiarmor device.

I also believe that, while useful, we have enough lasers, we need something that provides a certain something that little weapons just don't have. Namely, the ability to actually knock a Meteor out of the sky. *That* is the sort of strike that turns the tide on a flank, I believe.

You can't hide in trenches if those trenches might be hit from orbit. You can't deploy heavy warships, at sea or in the sky, if they can be hit suddenly by a projectile that can't be intercepted.