What should your focus for the rest of the Quest be?


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Mandatory is also a focus on reliable/resilient health care.

On "I'd rather we focus inwards than focus on outward expansion":
Snip
Eh not really, it just helps with future expansion.

Alright let me rephrase it a bit, what I meant was if given the choice between constant expansion healthcare bonus and the bonus that solves a future problem in our society, I'd choose the future problem. One is only useful when constantly expanding, the other is very inline with our factions goals. So I'll choose that one.

Don't worry, I'm the last person to say we need to reduce military spending. It's warhammer, we can't afford to do anything else.
 
Once the Big Leo is mass produced...

Seriously though, I'm unreasonably proud of its design for just being Numbers Go Up. Heavy Cruisers are a major milestone in the setting, the point where ships stop being generic expendables and become Characters in their own right.
 
I do notice that our ships seem to only use rotary macros rather than regular batteries. I wonder if it'll become one of our known secondary building quirks asides from fighter spam once we gain more noteriety on the galactic stage?
 
I do notice that our ships seem to only use rotary macros rather than regular batteries. I wonder if it'll become one of our known secondary building quirks asides from fighter spam once we gain more noteriety on the galactic stage?

Rotary Macrocannons scale better with Autoloaders, which we have the ability to make, even if it's penalized. We give up some hit to hit burst damage to get functionally an extra two or three weapons worth out of those slots, and since it's only usually one weight class down, the trade-off is usually good. Which is why they're more expensive than the standard macroweapons. It's worth spending 2 AP on the Autoloaders if we're getting functionally two more guns worth of firepower out of it, after all. 2 more Heavy Macrocannons would cost us 6 DP to buy conventionally. Getting the equivalent for 2 is a steal in light of that.

There's also vanishingly few enemies that "Sheer weight of firepower" can't be an adequate solution, and they're all "Fleet Lost, presumed lost in the Warp" level threats anyway. Certainly, if you're fighting the likes of--say--Eldar, you want to hose down the general region of space they may be occupying with fire until something starts taking hits, but it's also a decent solution against other speed based factions.

I do hope to start pivoting to proper anti-capital weapons in time, but our doctrine is one that favors building our ships fast, agile, and capable of lots of saturation fire over high burst damage outside of our strike craft. We have Torpedoes, and as you can see, I slip them in when possible (The Super Crux in particular should pull a lot of Funnis in the days to come), but most of the best high burst weapons are penalized by our Doctrine, so we work around it as best as we can.
 
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Eh not really, it just helps with future expansion.
Narratively it absolutely is about having a fallback for better reliability.

Alright let me rephrase it a bit, what I meant was if given the choice between constant expansion healthcare bonus and the bonus that solves a future problem in our society, I'd choose the future problem. One is only useful when constantly expanding, the other is very inline with our factions goals. So I'll choose that one.
And if it saves us a ton of AP and allows us to get another milestone of med infra before the future problem arrives?

Mandatory deals with a soon problem (when the two planets we are actively fighting for atm are won) and more near problems (more Neon planets).


Don't worry, I'm the last person to say we need to reduce military spending. It's warhammer, we can't afford to do anything else.
1) Expansion is a form of military spending.
It also makes other military spending more effective.
And its a moral imperative after victories (the alternative would be to exterminatus planets after conquering the system (or destroying their void infra whenever they rebuild and hope that they just starve) and lol to the idea that we chose that)
2) If we don't pick Mandatory, we are going to have to cut back on military spending to Rush the next milestone before the war wrecks our med infra score.

Once the Big Leo is mass produced...

Seriously though, I'm unreasonably proud of its design for just being Numbers Go Up. Heavy Cruisers are a major milestone in the setting, the point where ships stop being generic expendables and become Characters in their own right.
Mass produce?
We make one Heavy Cruiser per 2 AP.
And the way to increases that would be expansion.
Expansion which will be slower+more AP expensive without mandatory med ed.
 
Narratively it absolutely is about having a fallback for better reliability.


And if it saves us a ton of AP and allows us to get another milestone of med infra before the future problem arrives?

Mandatory deals with a soon problem (when the two planets we are actively fighting for atm are won) and more near problems (more Neon planets).



1) Expansion is a form of military spending.
It also makes other military spending more effective.
And its a moral imperative after victories (the alternative would be to exterminatus planets after conquering the system (or destroying their void infra whenever they rebuild and hope that they just starve) and lol to the idea that we chose that)
2) If we don't pick Mandatory, we are going to have to cut back on military spending to Rush the next milestone before the war wrecks our med infra score.


Mass produce?
We make one Heavy Cruiser per 2 AP.
And the way to increases that would be expansion.
Expansion which will be slower+more AP expensive without mandatory med ed.
Narratively sure.

How can you be sure that problem in the future also won't be an ap dump?

I was explaining my point on inwards but I'll be even more specific. Yes all military things need military spending, including expansion, who knew. My point on inwards however was that despite pretty much always being at war, we might not always be expanding at such a rapid pace. We might go decades(Turns) before we manage to expand into enemy territory, due to battles and war.

What I would perfer is something that is constantly affecting us, is inline with our previous choices and ideology, and can help prevent future incidents in our medical industry when it comes to xenos. I don't think we will be able to win all our battles perfectly for us to expand at such a rapid pace for the mandatory option to be worth it.
 
How can you be sure that problem in the future also won't be an ap dump?
The idea is to use the AP saved from not taking the "solve future issues" yet to reach the next milestone before the problem arises, and then pick the option that solves said future issue.

I was explaining my point on inwards but I'll be even more specific. Yes all military things need military spending, including expansion, who knew. My point on inwards however was that despite pretty much always being at war, we might not always be expanding at such a rapid pace. We might go decades(Turns) before we manage to expand into enemy territory, due to battles and war.
And soon we'll get into a big expansion Phase, which will be AP hell. (Or we choose to not take the Neon systems, which includes not expanding our ships per AP and not reducing Neons ship production, for whatever reason)

What I would perfer is something that is constantly affecting us, is inline with our previous choices and ideology, and can help prevent future incidents in our medical industry when it comes to xenos. I don't think we will be able to win all our battles perfectly for us to expand at such a rapid pace for the mandatory option to be worth it.
Sounds like you are assigning much more value to
a milestone than 5 AP.

Mechanically neither option is about preventing future incidents in medical industry (except for "med dipped because of expansion" kind of incident, but i think that is not what you mean).
Narratively mandatory is about preventing incident while equalized is about increasing quality.

But we have made our arguments and I think we'd just turn in circles here.
 
I do hope to start pivoting to proper anti-capital weapons in time, but our doctrine is one that favors building our ships fast, agile, and capable of lots of saturation fire over high burst damage outside of our strike craft. We have Torpedoes, and as you can see, I slip them in when possible (The Super Crux in particular should pull a lot of Funnis in the days to come), but most of the best high burst weapons are penalized by our Doctrine, so we work around it as best as we can.
We probably won't see us pivoting to Anti-capital weapons till either we somehow adjust/add to our current doctrine to allow such weapons to be added without additional cost. Or just flat out change to a whole new doctrine that allows us to wield anti-capital weaponry.
 
The Cursus Honorum, Part 1: What Child Is This? - [Canon]
The Cursus Honorum, Part 1: What Child Is This?

Preamble


To be a Thule is to be someone who knows at least some of what they're good at from your very birth, but to have an entire lifetime to try to learn it. Despite societal prejudices, there are many other roles that they can enter and by definition we do all kinds of things.

It has become traditional for such works of sociology to include personal background, so if it was not already clear, I am a Thule. I was a pilot on mobile forces until an accident involving both the new Libra-T model and those new fighter Strikecraft put me out of commission. To be brief, at least some people thought that surely they could cut corners with safety procedures for such an important ship in such a critical moment of warfare and preparation. They could not. They also thought that the WUSSIES were surely toothless. They were not. With the compensation for my injuries, which were extensive enough that returning to the front would have left me at about the place of aging out (see below) I decided to take the path of the academic, which has brought me here to begin to uncover and clarify some matters regarding the life-span of the "ideal" Thule.


A Thulite Childhood

From the start, the very method by which early childhood has been spent has changed. Records show that early on it was looser, later on it was stricter, and it's now reached a happy medium for Thules. Growing up in creches, the first games a child plays are not actually necessarily Strikecraft related, but are supposed to help develop the innate balance, speed, and high-level motor skills that are necessary to develop Strikecraft skills. Some very young children over six do things even more explicitly themed around Strikecrafts, but others simply get involved in sports with the expectation that these skills will transfer over. Indeed, one of the most "sacred" of games is that of Volley Ball, said to improve one's instincts as a pilot a hundred-fold if mastered, though so far as can be told this is itself entirely a myth.

Either way, obsession with Strikecraft, the stars, or thrill-seeking is encouraged even for toddlers, but it is once one starts schooling that the emphasis grows more obvious. The educational system emphasizes math, and indeed a great deal of word problems are devoted to mechanical and astrogeographical concerns. It is only somewhat a joke that Thules learn their shapes by finding them in their Strikcrafts.

To understand this, one has to understand that this is a self-reinforcing system. By this point Thules have existed for centuries, and so most of the teachers are Thules. Most of the people a Thule is around as a child is a Thule, which isn't helped by the continued existence of prejudice. Despite the wide variety of personality traits, one often says that all Thules look and act the same. When it comes time for dating, Thules that are not attracted to women often find troubles therein… but that is far from important.

Let us consider, then, the Ideal Thule Child. Thule-2743, let us say, though increasingly the naming scheme of Thules has diverged based in part on origin system for decanting. Some systems now create a three-tier system of system name, batch number, and then a final number. It all depends on the situation and it has been made more complicated by the tendency for married Thules, whether among their Sister-Siblings, or people outside of it of all manner of genders.

But let us have this Thule-2743 be "normal" since the purpose is to chart the Ideal Path. That is to say, she is a she rather than the comparatively small number of Thules who turn out to be brothers, a process sometimes understood and sometimes not among the Federation as a whole. She does not take an interest in mechanics or sports (one of the second leading non-piloting related professions among Thules) and she does not come from a non-Thule marriage, for though even Thules that marry outsiders (and often the plural is quite accurate, polyamory being another matter of much discussion) often prefer to decant clones, there isd a very real difference between the Creche-life among Sister-Siblings and being an only child who simply happens to be genetically identical to one of your parents.

Indeed, Thule-2743 is developmentally "ideal", she takes to one of the half-dozen secret Thule languages that all children learn and then half-forget by adulthood, languages that connect closely to the way that identical siblings often can invent their own phrases and code-languages. She is outgoing and competitive, but she is also a team player. Surprising many, the wrong kind of competitiveness can get you flagged as a problem, though it won't kill your chances to go through the Pilot Academy. They want people who want to win more than anything else, but understand that piloting is a team sport even when you're alone in a cockpit. They never send out just one fighter, after all.

It is why one of the most common paths entirely outside of the military even indirectly for a Thule is sports, after all.

She sings the songs, she reads the books, that valorize both piloting and serving as a strikecraft mechanic, and probably even reads those books that try to teach other lessons and pays them little enough mind. All the media emphasizes the glories of war, or makes it clear that the horrors are for a purpose.

She is devout, without being a complete fanatic.

She is personable, without being soft.

A child grows up knowing that there is a whole galaxy out there, that she could touch and encompass the very stars themselves if only she had wings strong enough to bear her onward.

In such an environment, this ideal child, Thule-2743, passes through her academic challenges at a breeze. Ideally she has hobbies and likes and dreams beyond just being a pilot, because generally mental stability has only become more prized in the last century, working alongside the medical revolution therein.

But none of these childish hobbies get in the way of her aptitudes, and at twelve she takes one last test before going off to the academy, where she'll spend five years of her life making sure that it is clear what she is and what she isn't. At twelve, her fate is decided, and for a Thule that is the age where you enter the transition towards adulthood, not thirteen. A "sweet sixteen" does not exist, and instead all the children of the creche going on to the academy are given a party.

The test itself is meant to be challenging but fair, with five sets of five increasingly hard questions meant to provide humility even for the 5-10% of those taking it that get 100% on the test, as it is all information that anyone seeking to join needs to know, rather than some test of the absolute maximum one might need to join the Pilot Academy. Cheating has not been unheard of, but is generally dealt with in a rather… rough and ready way, as generally Thules are at least partially a law onto themselves, for reasons that will be explored later.

There are a thousand party superstitions, depending on location, but some of the most notable are that each of the kids is to party (and some say kiss) underneath a reproduction of the Draft-Volunteer Notice for those whose DNA created the Thules, as well as getting five very small presents each, each of which is traditional. A guide to the school, a first-aid kit, a bugout bag, an unofficial guide to the school slipped cheekily into their belongings when they are (intentionally) not looking, and one bar of chocolate. This can differ from place to place, but the celebration of those who have not been pre-disqualified is great, especially since almost everyone is accepted thanks to cultural pressure…

The pressure that those who are truly not fitted at all in an obvious way are expected to know that… but the years to follow, after this party, will be some of the most formative for Thules on the Path of Honor, as some have called it.

Five years of struggle and education and self-actualization await for our Thule 2743, even as others go on through different life paths…

This is just the first part, will continue when I'm more inspired, but hope it's at least fun.
 
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484.M42 - Brilliant Luminescence Piercing
Staring up at the sky, Ilanu could only wonder.

Wonder why the galaxy seemed to be an endless place of bloodshed, wonder why there seemed to be no end to the cruelties of the Imperium and all her children, and wonder if there could ever be peace.

Shielding his eyes, Ilanu watched as one of the Anti-Orbital Lasers recently liberated erupted into the sky, its brilliant luminescence piercing down upon Diablo Major, the fractal shields of a city standing in the way of his SAG counterparts invisible behind the scything beams of power and light joining their sibling. They had been firing them for weeks now and would likely fire them for weeks more. The lasers had to re-orient themselves, again and again, to shoot back at those anti-orbital lasers the Neonite-Loyalists held on Diablo Major, who did their best to slag the ones held by the rebels.

He had already spent four years on this planet, fighting and fighting through city after city, only his Angel Walker keeping him alive throughout the ordeal, her hull adorned by the dozens of marks and silhouettes demarking their kills. Armored Cars, APCs, and even a single airframe adorned her hull, and he was proud of every one of them. Even if he was less proud of the unknown number of infantry he had mulched with his autocannon, the faces and gory puddles of meat blending together after the first months of heavy fighting had transitioned into large-scale skirmishes fought over days. High Command could pull them together and pierce into enemy territory, but that would mean the rebels would die in the inevitable counter-attacks as the back-line units dealt with their spearhead and pierced through themselves.

Ilanu had marched his Angel through a village that had suffered one such attack to hunt down the attacking unit. He had seen what they had done to the villagers. He had thought it a carpet.

It had been skins.

"Yo, spider-head!" Sergeant Tarrn shouted, banging a fist against his green-white Angel, holding aloft a tiny brown parcel. "Got some goodies from back home, with much love from HC!"

"Anything good?" he asked, catching the parcel as Tarrn threw it up. Ilanu ripped into the tiny thing before he could even open his mouth.

"Some more chocolate and a bit of booze, but nothing great. Oh, and we got news from the void-heads!" He said, laughing as Ilanu made a face at the sight of the chocolate bars. Bastard knew he disliked the taste, but at least he would trade some 'sticks and drink for the rations. "The Neonites are panicking; they tried to attack both the fleet and Barbarun!"

"Damn, what are the casualties? Are we still holding Barbarun?"

"Yeah, but we lost 2 Aries, and the Defense Station that was there. The only reason we still hold that system is due to the new toys the Navy got, though. Otherwise, it would have been overrun, and the Neonites would be licking their wounds over our people in chains."

"Shit. At least we still hold it, huh?"

"Yeah, but the real kicker is that TFA did a fighting retreat back here, losing a Crux and two Words, but they got the fecking Nova Cannon! So we won't be left behind!" Sergeant Tarrn made a sardonic gesture of joy, snorting as Ilanu did the same right back. "Though the Proofs got banged up real harsh; they are currently repairing themselves. But, as far as I know, the Neon Fleets are basically done for in the next push."

"You think our void-heads will commit with the cannon out of commission? Or wait for some time to repair themselves?"

"I think they'll:"
(6-Hour Moratorium)
[] "Commit To The Push."
-[] (Add Reserve Ship/s to TFA)

Attack the fleet in Brigach. K-531 is confident that casualties will be minimal. This will open the way to Neons Hearthland, but not pressure them to retreat from Valhidem.

[] "Commit To The Push."
-[] "And Ram It Home!"
--[] "With Task Fleet Beta Too!"
---[] (Add Reserve Ship/s to TFA/TFB)

Attack the fleet in Brigach and Gathin. K-531 is confident that casualties will be acceptable. This will open the way to Neons Hearthland, but put massive pressure on them to retreat from Valhidem.

[] "Lick Their Wounds."
Stay put and repair your ships as best as possible.

-Task Fleet Alpha (17/20 Ship Capacity)
(2x Andromeda-Class Command Ship, 3x Proof of Our New Path Battlecolony (Medium Damage), 1x Libra-Tertium Light Carrier, 2x Libra-Secundus Light Carrier (Light Damage), 3x Crux-Class Missile Frigates (Light-Harsh Damage), 6x Aries-Secundus Class Corvette (Light-Medium Damage), 6x Words of the Writ-Class Frigate (Light-Medium Damage))

-Task Fleet Beta (10/10)
(1x Andromeda-Class Command Ship, 5x Aries-Secundus Class Corvette (Light-Medium Damage), 5x Crux-Secundus (S) Class Heavy Frigate (Light Damage))

-Reserves
(1x Dauntless Mk.1, 2x Falchion-class Frigate, 2x Cobra, 3x Cobra Widowmakers, 3x Viper-Class Missile Destroyer, 4x Taurus-Class Troopship (0/2 SAG Capacity))

AN: Also, we are no longer at 1-to-10 in the Maps. Please unleash the power of the Thread to rectify this obvious mistake. Thank you. :V
 
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Huh, Super Cruxes did some Work here, didn't they @HeroCooky ?

Did we manage to loot the Nova Cannon at least? Or is that on the table? Or did they scuttle it?

And yeah, any major issues with the Super Crux or is it Working As Intended as a terrifying front line bruiser?'

EDIT: Also. We have officially achieved close to naval parity with the Principality of Neon.

We're not quite ready to occupy the whole place though, so I think it's best to stick with the standard push, we don't want to take more losses than we already have.
 
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I say we call up fleet Beta and push we have the Neon's on the rope and an opportunity to put them on the back foot here by opening up their heartlands and forcing them to withdraw there fleets to protect said heartlands. Leaving the ships we've captured as an emergency reserve in case something unexpected happens.
 
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