Turn 7 Combat Phase: The NetworkCongratulations on winning the contest.
Military ReportYour ground forces appreciate the addition of Dozers to their arsenal but some of them (the ones without Emergents particularly) would really pretty-please like it if you could possibly actually give them ground vehicles maybe? Your space forces would desperately like it if maybe the enemies wouldn't run away so much, but given that they were forewarned about the incoming hostiles that was probably just not going to happen given how badly they were outnumbered.
BMUs 1 and 3, notably, were forced to leave their Emergents behind because just one ITC is not enough to move 2 BMUs and 2 Emergents. It could only have moved 1 Emergent and 1 BMU or some other combination. In this case, because you specified the BMUs I just assumed it to be the two BMUs and their other equipment.
Soldiers clamor for transportation, armored vehicles, actual real protective equipment instead of bulky spacesuits that just happen to be bullet resistant, air support, and artillery. Everything, really. Including squad-level weaponry to add firepower like machineguns, recoilless rifles, rocket launchers, slightly larger mortars and whatnot. Even when we've got things that fit the bill in our arsenal the soldiers for some reason really want them to be present in their battles. Oh, and they'd also like to remind you that their principle weapons are still bolt-action with limited magazine capacity, and that to describe using one of them against typical infantrymen as "overkill" is something of an understatement.
Up-armored Logos are much slower than regular ones, but that's probably OK. Unfortunately the Logos just was not a great ship given what the enemies came out with. Against an adversary with kinetic weapons it would have been much better off, able to dodge things and shoot down missiles. Unfortunately speed is rarely much help against lasers and retrofitted armor can never be as effective as initially incorporated armor, and the Logos will likely never be a perfect ship.
That, of course, is why we have built the Peitho, whose crewmen are eager to destroy something, or several somethings. The 'Big Stick' is completed about halfway through the season and makes it to Alpha, but since Logos-02 started at Alpha and arrived only partway through the season, 'Big Stick' could not quite make it to Charlie.
The Home FrontEver since our founding we have been fed lies. The A Cohort knows this, though they for obvious reasons don't admit it. The Units who make up the physical portion of our society, of course, don't know this....at least not usually. Programming errors happen, though. Classified intel gets accessed accidentally, the wrong instructions and access codes get passed to Units. Units have free will, of course. Based on human mental architecture, they couldn't
not have free will. Not only would that have violated the wishes of NASA and NOAA and the other AIs it also would've been simply impossible to remove from the C and D cohorts and their 'descendants'. Impossible, and unwise....but leaving free will is dangerous. Units slip from the observation of A Cohort and the AIs, sometimes. Units get access to the...wrong histories.
Some of those units have united, claiming that it was wrong to take them from their "home", Earth, or that NASA's lies were evil, etc. etc. Their demands consistently involve the destruction of the AIs who brought us here, the dismantling of our society, a return to flesh-based bodies...or, most drastically, a journey back to Earth. Some wish to conquer it, some just wish to go "home", despite this being the only home they've ever known. Either way, they're rather violently resisting Network control back on our home planet. Their actions are becoming increasingly....desperate. Disruptive. Problematic. The existence of flesh-and-blood humans, humans that we're
fighting, humans that look like us, has both raised concerns amongst Units as to the truth of our history and further inflamed the ones who, through one means or another, have abandoned The Network.
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Design phase, you have 2 designs and won the credit reward so your government would like you to know that failure will be punished with a trip to the ORCs.
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The Hub:
10/0/
0 (
YOURS/UNCLAIMED/
ENEMY)
- Nothing
A:
10/0/
0 - Peitho-01 'Big Stick'
B:
10/0/
0C:
10/0/
0D:
10/0/
0 - BMU-4 (Emergent), BMU-5 (Emergent)
E:
10/0/
0 - BMU-6, BMU-7
F:
0/0/
10G:
3/0/
7 - BMU-1, BMU-3, BMU-2
- Logos-04-TDC "Attitude Adjuster", Logos-06-TDC-ART "No More Mr Nice Guy", Logos-07-TDC-ART "Gunboat Diplomat", Logos-08-TDC-ART "Of Course I Still Love You"
- ITC-05 "Prime Mover"
- 1x Dozer
- ITC-01-LIFT "Cargo Cult"
H:
I:
Planet 2:
0/0/
10Ship Production Points: 34
4 points: 2x ITC
1 points: 1x LIFT
3 points: 1x Logos with TDC
9 points: 3x Logos with TDC and Artemis
3 points: LOST at E, available Turn 9 Strategy Phase
6 points: LOST at G, available Turn 10 Strategy Phase
8 points: 1x Peitho
0 points: Unassigned
Ground Production Points: 35
14 points: 7x BMU
7 points: 7x Trephine
2 points: 2x Hammer
6 points: 2x Emergent
4 points: 4x Dozer
6 points: Unassigned
Units
BMU-1
- Trephine, Hammer, Dozer
- Location: Gamma
BMU-2
- Trephine, Dozer
- Location: Gamma
BMU-3
- Trephine, Hammer, Dozer
- Location: Gamma
BMU-4
- Trephine, Emergent
- Location: Delta
BMU-5
- Trephine, Emergent
- Location: Delta
BMU-6
- Trephine
- Location: Echo
BMU-7
- Trephine
- Location: Echo
Ships
ITC-01-LIFT "Cargo Cult"
- Location: Gamma
- Contents: Empty
- Condition: Undamaged
ITC-5 "Prime Mover"
- Location: Gamma
- Contents: 1x Dozer
- Condition: Undamaged
Logos-04-TDC "Attitude Adjuster"
- Location: Gamma
- Condition: Crippled
Logos-06-TDC-ART "No More Mr Nice Guy"
- Location: Gamma
- Condition: Badly Damaged
Logos-07-TDC-ART "Gunboat Diplomat"
- Location: Gamma
- Condition: Crippled
Logos-08-TDC-ART "Of Course I Still Love You"
- Location: Gamma
- Condition: Badly Damaged
Peitho-01 "Big Stick"
- Location: Alpha
- Condition: Undamaged
Planetary Contents:
1 & 2: Earthlike planets just as you’d expect. Take your opponent’s homeworld to win, lose yours and you die.
A: Riddled with caves and with a mineral-rich crust, this airless world is ideal for the production of spacecraft components. 1 GPP, 3 SPP.
B: A volcanic world with a caustic atmosphere and lava flows on the surface, B is full of minerals that can be easily acquired…if you can deal with the, quite literal, heat. 3 GPP, 1 SPP.
C: Icy, barren, rather flat in most regions. It has rather a lot of those things humans need to live sitting on and under its airless surface. 3 GPP, 3 SPP.
D: A surface-wide ocean is the defining trait of this planet, providing an interesting combat environment and also plenty of interesting life forms that can be studied….if you can build a big enough boat to catch one, anyway. 4 GPP, 2 SPP.
E: Another Earthlike planet, ideal for habitation….or, y’know, fighting a good old fashioned war over! 4 GPP, 4 SPP.
F: A world of highlands and mountains, the lower parts of the planet are filled with most of the planet's already scarce water. However, the mountainous regions have high mineral contents and plenty of good spacecraft launch sites above the majority of the atmosphere. 2 GPP, 4 SPP.
G: Deserts cover the surface of this planet. Deserts made, in fact, of a curious sand with abnormally high metal and mineral contents. It has an atmosphere that serves to stir up the sands into occasional sandstorms. 3 GPP, 3 SPP.
H: An airless, small rock in space, H is heavily cratered and not a great place to live. Good place to build spacecraft, though. 1 GPP, 3 SPP.
I: A world covered in wide stretches of windswept terrain covered in something that we’re going to call grass, I is ideal for large-scale industrial activity. Nobody cares if you do irreparable damage to a huge tract of grasslands here, after all, there are a hundred more huge tracts of pristine grasslands you haven’t ruined
yet. 3 GPP, 1 SPP.
Ships
ITC (Interplanetary Transport Craft): A less-than-stellar spacecraft, the ITC is a version of the ships landed on your planet when you first colonized it. It is prone to malfunction, slow, and generally unpleasant. The rocket shuttles used to get equipment from the ITC to the ground have a limited capacity, meaning that with the exception of troops and things that can be broken into much smaller parts, the ITC cannot carry any equipment of a size greater than 1TC. It has 4TC capacity in total and uses chemical engines for propulsion. It has no armor or armaments.
Cost: 2 SPP
FASS Mk1. Logos: A reasonably quick, reasonably agile, fairly effective light ship of about 45 meters long with Light armor and three R-4 railguns for weapons complement.
Cost: 2 SPP
Logos Thermal Defense Citadel upgrade: An internal ceramic armor layer on the Logos which is actively cooled to reduce damage from thermal weapons. Raises Logos armor to Medium, cost increases by 1 SPP, agility and speed decreased.
Applied To: FASS Mk.1 Logos
Cost: Increase Logos cost by 1 SPP
'Hephaestus' class Support Vessel: A giant cylinder with extra bits on it, the Hephaestus is capable of small updates to ships or ground equipment and serious repairs to Logos-sized vessels due to its enclosed hangar. It is not armored and its only defense is being large. Uses a lot of Bitforms, two reactors, and plenty of materials and is generally a fairly large ship, so it's expensive. However, it provides a huge capability for our fleet to stay functional on long deployments.
Cost: 4 SPP
Provides: 3 Repair Points per turn for Logos-sized vessels, 1 Repair Point for larger vessels that will not fit within its hangar.
Space Superiority Ship, Mk1, 'Peitho': Six R-4 railguns in twin turrets. Six R-5 shrapnel cannons in single mounts scattered over the hull. Heavy thermal armor concentrated in citadels and barbettes over vital spaces. Massive twin Tokamak powerplant and plasma drive assembly. High speed, decent enough maneuverability for its size. Basic sensors. Integrated Artemis fire control. Robo-coffee dispensers in three different places on the bridge.
Cost: 8 SPP
Units
Basic Military Unit: (you may rename this if you so wish) A capable group of soldiers trained to operate any equipment you can give them. Field training allows them to keep up to date on the best way to operate the newest deathtraps and self-destructing gizmos you send them even after they’re deployed.
Cost: 2GPP
Ground Weapons
Printed Pistol: Issued to security guards on the colony ships, the only real weapon both colonies have. 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
Trephine Magnetic Sabot Rifle: A very effective weapon for Medium- to Long-ranged engagements, the Trephine is a 12mm APFSDS weapon with a 10mm projectile, capable of firing with damage roughly equivalent to a high-caliber rifle or, at maximum power, a light cannon. The projectile tends to fragment on piercing Light armor, doing even more damage than usual to the underlying target. Fireworks displays included with every order of 1000 or more. Now includes 4-round magazine and semiautomatic function.
Cost: 1 GPP
'Hammer' Magnetic Flechette Rifle: A carbine version of the Trephine, the Hammer fires exclusively lighter-weight discarding-sabot flechette rounds which are very accurate and deadly. The rifle is lighter, shorter, and faster than the Trephine, and has a four-round internal magazine and a bolt-action style chambering (being a railgun there is not really a semiautomatic function). It is accurate and deadly out to Medium range, and can lay down suppressive fire at Long range with minimal chances to hit. Now includes 4-round magazine and semiautomatic function.
Cost: 1 GPP
'Dozer' Magnetic Cannon: A functional combination of 40mm grenade launcher and mortar. Sights are basic but it has a Medium-Long range in mortar configuration with higher launching powers and Short-Medium range when shoulder-fired. Shells are basic explosives with a moderate payload. Functions as an auxiliary weapon. Now includes 4-round magazine and semiautomatic function.
Cost: 1 GPP
Ground Equipment
Basic Space Suit: A civilian space suit, totally unarmored 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 OBSOLETE
MultiEnvironment Tactical Armored Suit: A slight improvement to the Basic Space Suit in every way, METAS is a hair less cumbersome, has magnetic boots and some armor so it won't (usually) explode the minute somebody looks at the oxygen tank funny. That usually happens the second minute that somebody remains looking at the tank funny.
Cost: Cheap
Ground Vehicles
"Emergent" Assault Aircraft In-Field Assembly Kit: A fault-ridden aircraft more prone to disassembling itself than flying, and when it does fly it tends to do so in a rather wobbly-looking way. However, it does carry two Trephines, a pilot, a gunner, and six combat units around at reasonably fast speeds. Er, we think it does, anyway, given that the most recent prototypes haven't been tested, since all our test Units are too good at probability-of-death-or-maiming calculations.
Cost: 4 GPP
Weight: 2 TC (requires 1 shuttle TC)
"Emergent" AAIFAK 1.1: Still not a great aircraft, this new version of the Emergent suffers from unbalanced engine thrust which is quite effective at hamstringing maneuverability, but it is capable of something that resembles proper flying. It is still more expensive than it needs to be due to the engine problems. It can carry two Trephines (in a single turret), a pilot, a gunner, and six combat units around at reasonably fast speeds.
Cost: 3 GPP
Weight: 2 TC (requires 1 shuttle TC)
Command Radio: Essentially just a very big radio set, capable of reliable communication between planets, ships, and/or other planets. Currently only useful for taunting your enemy. The transmitter dish comes in a single piece and cannot fit in an ITC shuttle.
Cost: 2GPP
Weight: 1TC (requires 2 shuttle TC)
Spacecraft Components
Tokamak-Powered Plasma Drive: A matched set of self-melting components, the TPPD is generally regarded as having been a bad idea.
Cost: A large amount of expensive alloys and electromagnets we're willing to throw away, all of High Command's good will.
Plasma Engine: A Speed 2 interplanetary drive, capable of producing fairly acceptable changes to velocity in combat conditions. Very power hungry at combat-use sizes.
Gen. 2 Tokamak-Powered Plasma Drive: A slightly more efficient, powerful, and compact set of reactors and plasma drives for a warship. It works just a little better than the previous one, and is far better than the original TPPD. Not that that's much of an achievement. Provides a lot of power both in terms of electrical and maneuvering ability.
R-4 Railgun Turret: An amazing weapons system, the R-4 is an externally mounted 50mm railgun loaded with 20 round drums capable of firing a three-round burst on a single capacitor charge, while a loading arm loads the drums into the weapon from the storage bay in the ship proper. The turret is lightly armored for protection. Requires a ship to mount it on.
Large Item Flight Transport (LIFT): An upgrade to the ITC's basic shuttles, capable of moving 4 TC objects to and from orbit. Has advantages and disadvantages, minor mechanical issues, but primarily is something of an "all your eggs, one basket" situation when deploying into combat conditions. Raise the cost of an ITC when attached.
Cost: 1 SPP (equips an ITC with a full set of LIFT shuttles)
LIFT Intraplanetary Plasma Engine (IPE): An upgrade to the LIFT shuttles, capable of moving 4 TC objects to and from orbit. Faster and more maneuverable even than basic shuttles, and come with some amount of reinforcement and protection against attack. Raise the cost of an ITC when attached.
Cost: 1 SPP (equips an ITC with a full set of LIFT shuttles)
Art3mis Precision Targeting System: An upgraded targeting suite that allows a Logos substantially more information and hitting capability against targets as compared to the baseline. Very effective against unknowing targets and capable of a limited degree of predictive firing and precision-coordinated shots amongst multiple weapons. Requires a refit.
Cost: None.
R-5 Shrapnel Cannon: A bigger but lower-velocity railgun capable of firing chaff rounds, shrapnel or canister shot, and of course solid shot. Fires faster than the R-4 with less armor piercing capability due to its lower velocity, but lower energy requirements. Can lay down a laser- and radar-reflecting chaff barrage to interfere with weapons and sensors both, capable of shooting down missiles with great precision when paired with Artemis tracking. Same cost as the R-4.
Infrastructure
Colony Defense Grid: The reason you can't instantly invade the enemy homeworld. A series of surface-to-orbit missile launchers, the only real concession to defense the planners of the colony made. How they work is a mystery now, and no one wants to risk taking them apart to find out.
Semi-Autonomous Industrial Facilities: A network of interlinked incredibly well-connected modern factories capable of production of unparalleled efficiency and scale.
Provides: 2 GPP
Orbital Reclamation Centers: Satellites in orbit around the Hub that reprocess damaged and destroyed units and other bits of metal and plastic into spacecraft parts.
Provides: 2 SPP
Tokamak: Nuclear Boogaloo: A functioning nuclear fusion reactor, producing on our first attempt, no prior attempts being on record. It requires much less expensive fuel than nuclear fission plants and so its more complicated construction does not increase its cost beyond that of a fission plant, and therefore is automatically retrofitted into any ships that are refitted or any new builds. Provides a substantial increase in power generation to any ship and removes any issues with power generation.
Provides: 2 SPP and 2 GPP
Autonomous Nanoscale Terrestrial Scavengers: Despite their initial failings, ANTS units have been substantially refitted and are now capable of extracting 1 SPP from Planet Alpha. This is far from the total value available there, or elsewhere in the system. Further improvements to support structures in an ANTS "colony" or other useful adaptations would greatly improve the yields.
Provides: 1 SPP
1 Design Research Credit (roll 3d4 on design take highest 2)
Author
Topic: Interplanetary Arms Race: The Network (Read 27408 times)