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[Nirur Torir]

In this game, we follow a mercenary band on a world with slowly decaying technology.

The Terran Commonwealth was born shortly after the colonization of Luna and Mars. Twin-linked warp Gates were developed, but had to be deployed by STL generation ships, and only a few could be built around each star. No aliens were ever found, no true AIs ever developed. The only threats came from within - Being humans, this was, eventually, enough.

The people of Charon II have been cut off for a few generations, both warp gates failing within three days of each other. Instability and war are the assumed causes. No word has been revived, and the world lacked the space infrastructure or unity to build its own generation-couriers. An attempt was made by the governor, just after the fall, but insurrection and rebellions made sure it was never finished. The hulking Star's Call is still still occasionally visible as it passes in front of Charon or one of the three moons.

The world's population now stands at just under ten million, and dropping. Sometimes powers manage a peace and brief stability. The decline reverses for a few years, but wars for ever-dwindling relics of a bygone age quickly resume. Charon II simply does not have the population to fuel the infrastructure required for the Commonwealth's advanced technology. Not with its constant wars.


There is only one mercenary band. Please vote for the group decision.

1)) Charon IV has light, but breathable atmosphere. It is a:
A) Desert World - Food and water is scarce. There are good resource deposits, but they're hard to find under the shifting sands, and it's hard to keep supplied and gear maintained.
B) Jungle World - Abundant food and water, but abundant predators. Many resources are scarcer, and the jungle reclaims buildings quickly.
C) Tomb world (Maybe-boring mode) - Charon II had a minor case of nuclear war. The radiation is still dangerous, but technically survivable. Most of the populace still lives underground in ancient bunkers. Other sources of tech ruins are practically non-existent. Resources are much scarcer, overall, but ore deposits are more commonly found.

2)) Choose your leader's background.
A) Military defector - After a bloody battle, a suicide mission, you defected from a mid-strength power alongside a band of troops. They think you're dead, but will gun for you when they find out otherwise.
 Better in combat and tactics, start with more standardized equipment and more experienced troops.
B) Politician - You were a councilman. Your town was plundered by a foreign power. You rallied a band of survivors and have been living as a mercenary for the last two years.
 Better unit loyalty, diplomacy, contract negotiations, and administration. You're likely to have contacts in nearby settlements. Personal non-combatant.
C) Scientific Archivist - You worked with ancient tech, taking it apart, understanding it, fixing it, and putting it back together again. A regime change left you with a new supervisor with a much more damaging view of tech reclamation, so you fled with some friends and whatever weapons you could carry and the Kali strike-modified hover-cycle.
 Start with better personal gear and shinier tech equipment. You're better with research. Initial band is pretty green, and you likely can't maintain your gear initially.
D) Mechanic - You worked at maintaining a city's defenses and vehicles. As a precursor to invasion, you were given an offer you couldn't refuse and defected. En route to your new home, your convoy was raided and you were taken prisoner by bandits. You worked under them for a few years. You managed to maneuver yourself into leadership since times are hard.
 Start with more rabble troops, more (light) vehicles, and the ability to maintain them. Start with a small, non-productive base and weak yet angry neighbors.
E) Other?

3)) Choose your band's initial stats, 1-10. These will change, and be modified by leader background. 0 bonus points; you'll have to make sacrifices.
Numbers: 4
Quality: 4
Reputation: 4
Morale: 4
Wealth: 4
Tech: 4
 Gear style: Write-in. Do everyone have laser-rifles? Do you have a solid mix of weapons for any situation? An armor focus? Do you have rabble, with a few well-geared champions?
Vehicles: 4
 Vehicle style: Write-in. You might have a small band of mechs, or a focus on a few tanks to spearhead your battles, or a lot of cargo haulers for a mobile base, or half your people on combat cycles. Affected by tech and leader's background.
Maintenance: 4


Numbers: Affects both people and gear, but its a non-linear relationship - 2 isn't going to give twice as many suits of powered armor as 1.
Reputation: How well other people like your band. Among other things, modifies recruitment.
Morale: Also affects how well liked you are, and general health.
Wealth: Not just money. Beware, if this is too low, you'll have early problems with basic supplies, bullets, and fuel.
Maintenance: Gear condition, and how well-tooled you are for fixing it, or even fabbing more.

Edit: I failed to mention, this will have components of arms race games sloppily grafted on. Scientist and Mechanic will have a small bonus to this, but Military will be better able to use it, or Politician will be better at just buying designs. Tech and Maintenance can effect starting knowledge, or you could have more things to reverse-engineer.

[MonkeyMarkMario]

1A
2C
3
Numbers: 1
Quality: 7
Reputation: 3
Morale: 6
Wealth: 4
Tech: 9
 Gear style: everyone has laser-rifles
Vehicles: 6
 Vehicle style: a small band of mechs
Maintenance: 2

[Doubloon-Seven]

1)A
2)D

3)
Numbers: 6- A large group of rabble and misfits.
Quality: 3- Untrained, mostly, and without formal education.
Reputation: 2- Scum, but at least not cannibal scum.
Morale: 5- A close knit group and a pack of cards makes for good morale, even in the desert.
Wealth: 3- Poor, but at least stable.
Tech: 3- Pretty low quality, but it's better than bolt-action.
 Gear style: Old style kinetic weapons, mainly chemical-based accelerators, though there are few coilguns for leaders..
Vehicles: 5- Vehicles lightly made and with low tech can be massed quite well.
 Vehicle style: Speedy and lightly armored trucks with desert tires and mounted machine guns.
Maintenance: 5- A trained mechanic around helps, along with the vehicles being built for the desert.

You can't be a desert worlder without Mad Max. That, and you're not going anywhere in sand with a mech or heavy tank.

Edit: Added a few flavor blurbs.

[ZBridges]

1)A
2)D

3)
Numbers: 6
Quality: 3
Reputation: 2
Morale: 5
Wealth: 3
Tech: 3
 Gear style: Old style kinetic weapons, mainly chemical-based accelerators, though there are few coilguns for leaders..
Vehicles: 5
 Vehicle style: Speedy and lightly armored trucks with desert tires and mounted machine guns.
Maintenance: 5

You can't be a desert worlder without Mad Max. That, and you're not going anywhere in sand with a mech or heavy tank.

+1

[King Zultan]

1)A
2)D

3)
Numbers: 6
Quality: 3
Reputation: 2
Morale: 5
Wealth: 3
Tech: 3
 Gear style: Old style kinetic weapons, mainly chemical-based accelerators, though there are few coilguns for leaders..
Vehicles: 5
 Vehicle style: Speedy and lightly armored trucks with desert tires and mounted machine guns.
Maintenance: 5

You can't be a desert worlder without Mad Max. That, and you're not going anywhere in sand with a mech or heavy tank.

+1

+1

[Nirur Torir]

1)A
2)D

3)
Numbers: 6- A large group of rabble and misfits.
Quality: 3- Untrained, mostly, and without formal education.
Reputation: 2- Scum, but at least not cannibal scum.
Morale: 5- A close knit group and a pack of cards makes for good morale, even in the desert.
Wealth: 3- Poor, but at least stable.
Tech: 3- Pretty low quality, but it's better than bolt-action.
 Gear style: Old style kinetic weapons, mainly chemical-based accelerators, though there are few coilguns for leaders..
Vehicles: 5- Vehicles lightly made and with low tech can be massed quite well.
 Vehicle style: Speedy and lightly armored trucks with desert tires and mounted machine guns.
Maintenance: 5- A trained mechanic around helps, along with the vehicles being built for the desert.

You can't be a desert worlder without Mad Max. That, and you're not going anywhere in sand with a mech or heavy tank.

Edit: Added a few flavor blurbs.

Good. Speed-rabble could be fun, it leaves lots of room for raiding.

I plan to let votes happen today, then get started tomorrow.

[TopHat]

Sounds fun; I couldn't resist putting up another sheet:
1A
2A
3:

Numbers: 3 - heavy casualties and the removal of loyalists have taken quite a toll.
Quality: 6 - a cadre of (mostly) experienced soldiers.
Reputation: 2 - deserters tend to be considered poorly by the locals.
Morale: 2 - heavy losses and the desertion have hammered the unit's previously exceptional confidence.
Wealth: 3 - although lacking in liquid cash and luxuries, the unit still possess a decent amount of supplies.
Tech: 5 - although not exactly cutting-edge, the unit's equipment is some of the best their former masters could deploy in large numbers.
 Gear style: primarily equipped with good-quality ballistic weapons, although support and vehicle weapons show more variety - with some lasers, missiles and railguns making an appearance, among others.
Vehicles: 6 - the company's vehicle pool, although reduced, is still sufficient for combat.
 Vehicle style: the majority of the company's soldiers are mounted in wheeled APCs, with jeep-equivalents for some scout elements. A handful of ground-effect battletanks provide the core of the unit's heavy firepower.
Maintenance: 5 - the unit's support and logistics elements have remained largely intact.

[Nirur Torir]

Mad Max won. I've partially written up the turn, but need to spend more time thinking about mechanics.

[Nirur Torir]

(No proofreading! If it doesn't make sense or there are errors, at least you're getting it tonight instead of tomorrow.)

Option selected: Mad Max ripoff.

Spoiler: Winning vote (click to show/hide)

1)A [desert]
2)D [mechanic]

3)
Numbers: 6- A large group of rabble and misfits.
Quality: 3- Untrained, mostly, and without formal education.
Reputation: 2- Scum, but at least not cannibal scum.
Morale: 5- A close knit group and a pack of cards makes for good morale, even in the desert.
Wealth: 3- Poor, but at least stable.
Tech: 3- Pretty low quality, but it's better than bolt-action.
 Gear style: Old style kinetic weapons, mainly chemical-based accelerators, though there are few coilguns for leaders..
Vehicles: 5- Vehicles lightly made and with low tech can be massed quite well.
 Vehicle style: Speedy and lightly armored trucks with desert tires and mounted machine guns.
Maintenance: 5- A trained mechanic around helps, along with the vehicles being built for the desert.

Status brief:
You are Paul Raktoff, new boss of the Tar Vipers, which you were unwillingly drafted into because of your mechanical skills. Long live the boss.

The latest problems started a few weeks ago. A new gang - The Rough Tumblers - started making noise in your northern territory. There were some skirmishes, forcing the Vipers to draw back each time. Then they drove into Lanestown with, of all things, a plasma tank. Used, but still not something they should have - rumors point towards a major backer, probably someone your stupid bandits stole from.

Lanestown turned, of course. Nuevo Straston's people welcomed The Rough Tumblers at the gates, eager to get away from the Vipers. By then the old boss had gathered near everything with wheels and a gun, and drove out as soon as the tank's location was confirmed. He was actually pretty good in a fight, and managed to position his men to get a few rockets to its rear. It wasn't hulked, but it was out of the fight. Things started going south after that maneuver. We might have pulled through and won the battle anyway, but a lucky bullet offed the boss from atop his turret (he loved his dual-miniguns), and the Vipers retreated.

Overall, the Rough Tumblers took more damage in the fight. You don't know how long it will take them to recover full strength, or to get the tank back up (They might be able to get it functional in as soon as two weeks, if they scramble, but will almost definitely have it fully repaired in 3 months). You are Paul Raktoff, and can get everything that retreated back into fighting shape in a week, or back to their previous shape in three. Of course, you don't have the scrap for it all. To get enough you'll have to junk something, squeeze the locals harder, or raid further afield. A final option is to rush job temporary repairs. They'll hold together fine for another week or or two - or at least most of them will - but need much more extensive overhauls afterwards. This will be unpopular with the men, especially if you don't pull off a major win from it.

The Vipers are down to two major tributaries, and a scattering of smaller ones. If they continue their "support," supplies will last about a month at full rations. You expect both rebellions once word of the boss' demise spreads, and for The Rough Tumblers to try to take more. You'll need to step up patrols: internal, around the perimeter, and possibly towards the minor ones that have turned to reclaim them, which will make repairs take longer.

Morale is surprisingly good. You've been in charge of fixing their wheels for years. You did a good job at it, and managed to fix "irreparable" messes that left the other grease-wrenches giving up and calling it scrap. As a general rule, the Tar Vipers have an unhealthy attachment to their vehicles, and keeping them going won you a lot of trust.

Warning: Stats subject to change as I realize what I could have done better (and figure out what's in the supply stockpile).

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)

Military:
Anaconda command truck (light damage) - A standardized-grade heavy truck, formerly used by the boss. Has an exposed dual-minigun turret and 5 armored hatches on top, for men to pop out of and fire rockets or rifle bursts. Has 8 armored firing ports along each side, as well as harnesses and equipment netting. It is armored and has armored bulkheads inside, as well as a rear engine and hydraulically lifted secondary driving cockpit. Just for good measure, each side-gunner has rapid-extending heavy spikes. It has the fuel inefficiency of a tank.

2x Champion Cycles (light damage) - Armored standardized-grade motorcycles, each with a light machine gun mount and a few tricks like extending spikes and oil slicks. They have previously been reserved as escorts for the Anaconda, driven by the boss' favored.

17x scrap cycles (8x undamaged, 6x light damage, 1x moderate damage)
5x scrap cars (2x light damage, 2x moderate damage, 1x heavy damage)
1x scrap truck (heavy damage)
2x scrap haulers (1x light damage, 1x moderate damage)

60 real men
  6 green in 100% fighting condition
  49 blooded in 74% fighting condition
  5 trained in 83% fighting condition
24 grease wrenches
9 support staff

Current Force Assignments:
4x s.cycles, 1x s.car, 1x s. truck, 1x s. haulers, 23 men: Collections Duty/Internal Patrols
4x s.cycles, 2x s.cars, 13 men: Primary Perimeter Patrol 'Asps' (Most experienced)
5x s.cycles, 1x s.cars, 11 men: Perimeter Patrol 'Boas'
4x s.cycles, 1 s.car: Reserves/repair rotation
Anaconda, 2x Champions: Reserves
10 men: Home garrisons/reserve

Buildings:
Fort - It has two gated entrances, and towers armed with machine guns and a handful of rockets. The walls are made of scrap metal and packed dirt. The fort has no more building slots.
 Well - Provides a surplus of water.
 Garage - Stores XX units of vehicles, protecting them against the harsh desert and allowing covered refueling and rearming.
 Vehicle Machine Shop - Maintains vehicles, passively but slowly repairing all vehicles in attached garage, and vastly reducing critical malfunctions. Currently, repairs cost 60% of the resource build cost (50% while you're working in the shop).
   Under normal operations, provides major repairs/modifications to about seven vehicles or builds 2 units of vehicles every week.
   May alternatively be used as an improvised general machine shop, or for R&D.
 Storehouse - Safely stores supplies within the fort.
 Barracks - Houses, entertains, and prepares food for XX personnel.

Supplies:
(Placeholder)
Some Standard Munitions
A month of Food (after accounting for income)
A month of Fuel (after accounting for income)
Some Scrap Parts
A few Machined Parts
Some guns
A few rocket launchers
A few hand grenades
Adequate short-ranged radios
A few mid-ranged radios

2 hulked cycles - Halves scrap parts cost of creating new motorcycles.
2 hulked cars - Halves scrap parts cost of creating new cars.
1 hulked truck - Halves scrap parts cost of creating new trucks.

Designs:
Scrap Motorcycles, Scrap Cars, Scrap Trucks - Come in armored and your special fuel-efficient varieties. Given your genius and a few years to pin down the designs, they're nearly as effective as factory-made civilian-grade vehicles. They're cheap, using only a few specialized parts. They don't take many resources to repair, but are a bit slow at it. They are non-standardized, hurting unit cohesion and making tactics more difficult. Some of the men mount weapons on the hardpoints, others prefer to use their guns themselves. Men/cargo carried varies, but in general cycles carry 1-2 men, cars carry 3-6, and trucks carry 6-20.
 Costs 4(6)/12(15)/20(25) scrap parts (for armored variants), 1/2/3 machined parts, and 1/2/3 build-time units.

Standardized Motorcycles, Cars, Standardized Trucks - Comes in scrap-armored and regular varieties. You and your crew can build or repair them, but they're expensive and, with your current facilities, aren't much better than your scrap vehicles. Built to more exacting standards, they're easier to use: The men acclimate better, command is easier, and repairs go faster. The weapon hardpoints are better, allowing heavier guns, absorbing recoil better, and generally incentivizing their use. Production speed reduced by current facilities.
 costs 2(4)/5(/6(11) scrap parts, 3/7/15 machined parts, and 3/6/10 build-time units.

Scientific Expertise:
Advanced scrap cars.
Basic standardized cars.
Basic gunpowder weaponry.
Rudimentary explosives.

You have enough scrap to begin repairs, but not enough for full repairs.

Of course, you don't have the scrap for it all. To get enough you'll have to junk something, squeeze the locals harder, or raid further afield. A final option is to rush job temporary repairs. They'll hold together fine for another week or or two - or at least most of them will - but need much more extensive overhauls afterwards. This will be unpopular with the men, especially if you don't pull off a major win from it.

Do you change your force assignments? One squad can't be everywhere for patrols, but diluting them into many risks defeat-in-detail. Note that, due to fuel supply problems, if you send unsupported cycles into enemy territory, only the more lightly armored efficient variants will be available.

You could institute rationing, but it will lower efficiency and morale.

The rumors are that you are outgunned and losing. Pressing youth from your territory into your service is possible, but currently risky.

Something else?

[Doubloon-Seven]

First off, scrap the three worst damaged scrap cycles expedite repairs. Send in some of the reserve cycles to the patrol groups that lost vehicles. Try to root parts out of the hulked vehicles.

For patrols, reassign the scrap truck to the Boas. Take the reserve soldiers that got their cycles scrapped, have them shore up empty spots in the other patrols. Assign the Champions to internal patrols.

We should probably wait at least a week and a half to attack.

[King Zultan]

First off, scrap the three worst damaged scrap cycles expedite repairs. Send in some of the reserve cycles to the patrol groups that lost vehicles. Try to root parts out of the hulked vehicles.

For patrols, reassign the scrap truck to the Boas. Take the reserve soldiers that got their cycles scrapped, have them shore up empty spots in the other patrols. Assign the Champions to internal patrols.

We should probably wait at least a week and a half to attack.

+1

[Nirur Torir]

You shouldn't try to repair stuff that's out of the base on assignment. That's what the repair rotation is for.

[Doubloon-Seven]

...ah. Then transfer the worst damaged vehicles of each group--besides the very worst scrap cycles, which are to be scrapped--into repair, and try to keep word of the boss's death shut away so that the towns don't try anything yet. Cycle the vehicles through after the worst damaged ones are repaired, prioritizing vehicles with more damage.

[Nirur Torir]

You don't really need to micro the procedural stuff. You have an established base, so you may assume it's already pretty functional, unless you add new buildings or really want to optimize for something in particular. EG, keeping more guys at home and having them help fix their own vehicles. Your machine shop is already pretty well used, but some repairs can be done without that if you want to be manpower inefficient to rush repairs.

Rumors of the boss' death have already spread.

Edit: I keep failing to mention, 1 turn = 1 week.

[Nirur Torir]

I will shoot down all your ideas and then bump this thing.