Attempting to Fulfill the Plan: GDI Edition

[Taliys]

Services (+27) 4/5 Dice 75 R

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Um, why not invest one dice in the sport then? There are just enough resources, and anyway, sooner or later it will have to be done for the sake of political support.

 

[Simon_Jester]

Um, why not invest one dice in the sport then? There are just enough resources, and anyway, sooner or later it will have to be done for the sake of political support.

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Because I'm deliberately leaving both wiggle room in the budget and wiggle room in how I allocate Service dice, precisely because i don't know exactly what I'll want to do. If, as some suspect, there is a substantial Mind Shield Deployment project that we need or 'need' to activate, then pursuant to the general spirit of the "Mad Science" plan, I'd want to invest dice in it. That may alter my plans. so instead of making tough decisions about exactly what to spend the last 15 R in my budget on and the last die in Services on, when it is fairly likely that I'll be changing those plans anyway...

I'm leaving it blank.

While my draft plans are usually viable as a serious turn plan, sometimes the fact that I fully anticipate needing to make changes later does cause me to make choices I wouldn't otherwise make, or to leave things out.

 

[Taliys]

[] Plan: Plan q4 2061 Optimization is endless.

Infrastructure 6/6 95R
-[] Blue Zone Apartment Complexes (Phase 2) 28/160 1 die 10R 18%
-[] Yellow Zone Fortress Towns (Phase 6) 112/300 2 dice 40R 47%
-[] Rail Network Construction Campaigns (Phase 5) 39/325 3 dice 45R 37%
Heavy Industry 7/5 170R
-[] Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants (Phase 7) 153/300 3 dice 60R 99%
-[] Crystal Beam Industrial Laser Development 0/80 1 dice 10R 70%
-[] Isolinear Chip Foundry Anadyr 0/320 2 dice 100R 0%
-[] Security Reviews
Light & Chemical Industry 5/5 100R
-[] Chemical Fertilizer Plants (Phase 2) 94/300 2 dice 30R 17%
-[] Bergen Superconductor Foundry (Phase 1+2) 71/285 2 dice 60R 13%
-[] Civilian Drone Factories 0/380 1 dice 10R 0%
Agriculture 5/4 60R
-[] Blue Zone Aquaponics Bays (Phase 3+4) 30/280 4 dice 40R 86%
-[] Freeze Dried Food Plants 126/200 1 die 20R 56%
Tiberium 7/7 110R
-[] Yellow Zone Tiberium Harvesting (Phase 10) 174/350 2 dice 40R 67%
-[] Intensification of Green Zone Harvesting (Stage 6+7) 46/200 2 dice 30R 82%
-[] Tiberium Processing Refits (Phase 5) 6/100 (1 Die, 20 R) (61% chance)
-[] Railgun Harvester Factory (Porto) 44/70 1 dice 10R 100%
-[] Railgun Harvester Factories (Bissau) 0/70 1 dice 10R 85%
Orbital 8/6 160R
-[] Lunar Rare Metals Harvesting (Phase 1+2) 0/285 2 dice + 1 Erewhon dice 60R 10?%
-[] Lunar Heavy Metals Mines (Phase 3) 217/375 2 dice 40R 60%
-[] Lunar Regolith Harvesting (Phase 2) 50/320 3 dice 60R 32%
Services 5/5 80R
-[] Automatic Medical Assistants 101/300 2 dice 40R 26%
-[] Professional Sports Programs 0/250 1 dice 10R 0%
-[] Hallucinogen Development 0/60 1 dice 15R 88%
-[] Hardlight Interface Development 1 dice 15R 100%
Military 11/8 200R
-[] Firehawk Wingmen Drones 215/450 4 dice 80R 93%
-[] Railgun Munitions Development 0/60 1 dice 10R 87%
-[] Escort Carrier Shipyards (Nagoya) 0/240 2 dice 60R 54%
-[] Shark Class Frigate Shipyard (Melbourne) 172/300 2 dice 40R 82%
-[] Mastodon Heavy Assault Walker Development 0/30 1 dice 10R 100%
Bureaucracy 5/4
-[] Security Reviews Bureaucracy: 2 die 100%
-[] Security Reviews
-[] Security Reviews Heavy Industry: 2 die 100%


7/7 free dice
1/1 Erewhon dice



975/985R

 

[Void Stalker]

Um, why not invest one dice in the sport then? There are just enough resources, and anyway, sooner or later it will have to be done for the sake of political support.

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Sports is also a small health hit when we are stretched on health right now so we dont have a lot of flex there

 

[HousePet]

[] Draft Plan Prepare For Mad Science And Bacon

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As keen as I am to see some Free dice going into Agriculture, only 2 dice on the Carrier Yard is something I don't think we should do.
If we were to consider what is currently 'on fire', I'd put the Navy at the top of the list.

Our massive Green Zones are certainly smouldering too, so I'd prefer to see 3 dice on YZ Fortress Towns.
Moving a die off Apartment Complexes will be fine.

And as awesome as Anadyr is going to be, it isn't likely to be done this coming turn anyway. And we could really do with finding out what the deployment of Industrial Laser is asap.
Shifting a die from Anadyr to Industrial Laser Development will free up the resources needed for other changes.

Not sure about slow walking Chemical Fertilizer Plants for a token die on Civilian Drone Factories either. I'd be reserving the cheapest project for when the SCIENCE projects reappear.

-[] Escort Carrier Shipyards (Nagoya) 0/240 2 dice 60R 54%

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You've got this mixed up. 2 dice is 40R and 4%. You've actually got 3 dice on it. Which is good.

 

[Void Stalker]

975 Income + 10 Reserve
945 Used, 40 Open

[ ] Plan Carriers and Power
Infra 6/6 105R +34
-[] Yellow Zone Fortress Towns (Phase 6) 112/300 3 die 60R 95%
-[] Rail Network Construction Campaigns (Phase 5) (Updated) 39/325 3 dice 45R 37%
HI 5/5+1 free 110R +29
-[] Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants (Phase 7) 153/300 5 dice 100R 100% (30% for Phase 8)
-[] Crystal Beam Industrial Laser Development (New) 0/80 1 die 10R 70%
LCI 5/5 110R +24
-[] Reykjavik Myomer Macrospinner (Phase 5) 50/1280 2 dice 40R 0%
-[] Bergen Superconductor Foundry (Phase 1) 71/95 2 die 60R 100% (13% for phase 2)
-[] Civilian Drone Factories 0/380 1 die 10R 0%
Agri 4/4 50R +24
-[] Blue Zone Aquaponics Bays (Phase 3+4) (Updated) 30/280 3 dice 30R 99% for phase 4, 49% for phase 5
-[] Freeze Dried Food Plants 126/200 1 die 20R 66%
Tiberium 7/7 110R +39
-[] Yellow Zone Tiberium Harvesting (Phase 10) 174/350 3 dice 60R 99%
-[] Intensification of Green Zone Harvesting (Stage 6+7) 46/200 2 dice 30R 82% (100% for stage 6)
-[] Railgun Harvester Factories (Bissau) 0/70 1 die 10R 85%
-[] Railgun Harvester Factory (Porto) 44/70 1 die 10R 100%
Orbital 6/6 140R +26
-[] Lunar Rare Metals Harvesting (Phase 1) 0/150 2 dice 40R 67%
-[] Lunar Regolith Harvesting (Phase 2) 50/320 3 dice 60R 32%
-[] Lunar Heavy Metals Mines (Phase 3) 217/375 1 die +Erewhon 40R 37%
Services 4/5 75R +27
-[] Automatic Medical Assistants 101/300 3 dice 60R 83%
-[] Hallucinogen Development 0/60 1 die 15R 88%
Military 8/8+6 free 245R +26
-[] Firehawk Wingmen Drones 215/450 3 dice 60R 57%
-[] Railgun Munitions Development 0/60 1 die 10R 87%
-[] Ablat Plating Deployment (Stage 5) 54/200 2 dice 20R 70%
-[] Hallucinogen Countermeasures Development 1 die 15R 100%
-[] Escort Carrier Shipyards (Dublin) 0/240 3 dice 60R 54%
-[] Escort Carrier Shipyards (Nagoya) 0/240 2 dice 40R 4%
-[] Shark Class Frigate Shipyards (Melbourne) 172/300 2 dice 40R 82%
Bureau 4/4 +24
-??? 4 (Security Reviews if nothing really urgent pops up)
Free 7/7
1 HI, 6 Mil

Heavy push on mil to try and get our yards caught up to where we need to be while still rolling out needed projects to counter NOD. There is a lot of areas that can be changed such as dropping 1 dice on YZ harvesting (or all dice if the mil wants to stop taking territory and shift to defense). Infra is very much going to be a mil driven- finish fortress towns and rails in the areas we have taken. I have quite a bit in open R right now because there are items I will upgrade if need be LCI for example can go to more expensive projects. Also potential mind shield project. This is a surge in mil dice I do want 6 or 7 in Q1 on navy as with 7 Q4 and another 6 or 7 should see us close to or finishing all of the shipyards which means we can get the ships out in time for a Karachi push 2nd year of the next plan. Hallucinogen and Railgun dice are likely to be able to be moved elsewhere.

Very much a plan to get needed projects and plan goals rolled out and setting us up for a solid final year (once again open resources are to make it easier to flex for new projects)

Edit- Swapped Erewhon over to lunar mining, increased chance of more income which lets us finish the rest of the plan well, part of this is because of the need for mil spending highlighted by the 8th regency war update

 

[HousePet]

-[] Freeze Dried Food Plants 126/200 1 die + Erewhon 40R 94%

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Certainly not going to object to this.
Being almost certain of completion, without total overkill is worthwhile.
Just one die might get it done, but it is almost as likely to not get it done. Being able to see exactly what we need for the rest of the plan asap is good.

 

[Simon_Jester]

Heavy Industry 7/5 170R
Agriculture 5/4 60R
Orbital 8/6 160R
Military 11/8 200R
Bureaucracy 5/4

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I think you're allocating more Free dice than we actually have. Even given that you're counting Erewhon as a die in Orbital (I note the Erewhon die separately)... Well, that's two in heavy Industry, one in Agriculture, one in Orbital, three in Military, and one in Bureaucracy. Total of eight; something's going to have to give.

Sports is also a small health hit when we are stretched on health right now so we dont have a lot of flex there

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That's a factor, though we should seriously consider putting a die into the project now if we have unused Services dice. That way, we can more quickly and cheaply complete the project later. Say, in 2062. When Health is hopefully less scarce and Resources, relatively, are more scarce.

As keen as I am to see some Free dice going into Agriculture, only 2 dice on the Carrier Yard is something I don't think we should do.
If we were to consider what is currently 'on fire', I'd put the Navy at the top of the list.

Our massive Green Zones are certainly smouldering too, so I'd prefer to see 3 dice on YZ Fortress Towns.
Moving a die off Apartment Complexes will be fine.

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Given the overall state of the budget (see below), I'd hesitate to put a third die on Fortress Towns when I'm not specifically planning to roll over and do another phase right after completion of the current one. Not when we have several other likely projects to tackle with Infrastructure dice in the next five turns.

Unless we're given more reason to think that building the fortresses is urgent, I think we should settle for two dice.

However, one of the reasons I put some wiggle room in the budget is that I might decide to do something else. For example, upgrading the Mastodon Development die to another shipyard die to get Nagoya done faster.

Though I will note that while escort carrier yards are important, they WILL get done soon; the only reason they're not done or nearly done already is that we decided to do the frigate yards first. The draft you're talking about still has four dice specifically for Navy yard construction and I have every intention of spending another 4-6 dice on the Navy next turn.

And as awesome as Anadyr is going to be, it isn't likely to be done this coming turn anyway. And we could really do with finding out what the deployment of Industrial Laser is asap.
Shifting a die from Anadyr to Industrial Laser Development will free up the resources needed for other changes.

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You may have forgotten the underlying rationale behind the plan I'm proposing.

I'm specifically anticipating 100 R/die portal research that will cost us at least two dice and maybe as many as four if our luck is bad. And possibly other very expensive research projects. I'm not putting three dice on Anadyr to rush Anadyr itself, I'm doing it because that way we'll be able to afford to do very expensive research projects in 2061, while also conveniently having plenty of Heavy Industry dice to spare on the laser project.

That isn't the only valid approach, but several decisions in my Plan that individually you might consider questionable are actually all part of an integrated strategy. That's also why I'm doing the oft-neglected Hallucinogen Countermeasures, because it secures tech labs, which contributes to our plan to do a bunch of ultra-science research even Nod may not know about.

Not sure about slow walking Chemical Fertilizer Plants for a token die on Civilian Drone Factories either. I'd be reserving the cheapest project for when the SCIENCE projects reappear.

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You may notice that my plan puts three dice on Anadyr. The SCIENCE projects are already here and are already eating up a lot of budget; this plan would look very different if I weren't trying to get the bulk of the Anadyr work done in 2060Q4 to clear space in the budget for 100 R/die portal research.

The thing about Chemical Fertilizer Plants is that we just literally have no need to urgently source that Food. It's not going to be important whether we get it now, or next turn. So next turn we finish the project off with 1-2 dice. Simple.

Certainly not going to object to this.
Being almost certain of completion, without total overkill is worthwhile.
Just one die might get it done, but it is almost as likely to not get it done. Being able to see exactly what we need for the rest of the plan asap is good.

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Personally, I think it's a good way to spend 20 R unnecessarily, while diverting potential dice support away from the more urgent Plan targets that actually DO need more dice to succeed, such as Orbital.

The actual chance of the freeze drying plants completing on one die is 66%. Therefore the chance of failling to complete is 34%.

It is quite simply not true to say that 66 is "almost as" much as 34, and we know we will need all the Agriculture dice we have this turn for projects that do need to complete. Why risk wasting Erewhon on this project as overkill- remember, two out of three chance that Erewhon's contribution will be completely redundant unless there's a rollover project we can't see- when we can have him do something we know will need the contribution, such as the cheaper set of aquaponics farms?

Heavy push on mil to try and get our yards caught up to where we need to be while still rolling out needed projects to counter NOD. There is a lot of areas that can be changed such as dropping 1 dice on YZ harvesting (or all dice if the mil wants to stop taking territory and shift to defense). Infra is very much going to be a mil driven- finish fortress towns and rails in the areas we have taken. I have quite a bit in open R right now because there are items I will upgrade if need be LCI for example can go to more expensive projects. Also potential mind shield project. This is a surge in mil dice I do want 6 or 7 in Q1 on navy as with 7 Q4 and another 6 or 7 should see us close to or finishing all of the shipyards which means we can get the ships out in time for a Karachi push 2nd year of the next plan. Hallucinogen and Railgun dice are likely to be able to be moved elsewhere.

Very much a plan to get needed projects and plan goals rolled out and setting us up for a solid final year (once again open resources are to make it easier to flex for new projects)

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Personally, I think we're going to need until 2064 to be confident that the new ships are properly worked up and ready to go in sufficient numbers (with replacements for predictable losses on the way) anyway.

But my main concern about your plan draft is that it's going to heavily front-load our expensive research projects. There's a reason I'm budgeting 150 R for Anadyr spending this turn, and it's because I don't want the headache of figuring out where to get the money from next year when it's competing with even more expensive and advanced projects.

 

[Void Stalker]

ersonally, I think we're going to need until 2064 to be confident that the new ships are properly worked up and ready to go in sufficient numbers (with replacements for predictable losses on the way) anyway.

But my main concern about your plan draft is that it's going to heavily front-load our expensive research projects. There's a reason I'm budgeting 150 R for Anadyr spending this turn, and it's because I don't want the headache of figuring out where to get the money from next year when it's competing with even more expensive and advanced projects.

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I dont think we have that long, they have been besieging our blue zone in the Himalayas so Karachi functions as a relief and beachhead to open a relief column up.

Also we should have zero issues with research projects- portal we can start a dice a turn in Q2, plus the increase in income from Q4 and then Q1 will more than cover it. Also I am doing the more expensive tasks in infra for example Q4 letting us just throw all dice at apartments Q1 and drop cost. Mainly I can see a fairly easy between decrease cost in some categories plus income increase to cover 3 dice in Anadyr next turn. Also this gets Crystal Lasers out so that means less progress needed for the deployment by rolling out projects that will use it first

That's a factor, though we should seriously consider putting a die into the project now if we have unused Services dice. That way, we can more quickly and cheaply complete the project later. Say, in 2062. When Health is hopefully less scarce and Resources, relatively, are more scarce.

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Maybe when the war is over and we are not doing as much temp spending on refugees and mil. And the open service die is likely rolling into whatever mind shield follow up with get (or if we get the gachas back Q4 I can drop a dice there) or I can do a bureau and service security review. Too much up in the air without the turn being out to decide, so I would rather leave it open and add something later.

Personally, I think it's a good way to spend 20 R unnecessarily, while diverting potential dice support away from the more urgent Plan targets that actually DO need more dice to succeed, such as Orbital.

The actual chance of the freeze drying plants completing on one die is 66%. Therefore the chance of failling to complete is 34%.

It is quite simply not true to say that 66 is "almost as" much as 34, and we know we will need all the Agriculture dice we have this turn for projects that do need to complete. Why risk wasting Erewhon on this project as overkill- remember, two out of three chance that Erewhon's contribution will be completely redundant unless there's a rollover project we can't see- when we can have him do something we know will need the contribution, such as the cheaper set of aquaponics farms?

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Because it passing means we both open up the new efficiency options as well as update our options so we know what our target is. Meanwhile it is not burning free dice in a section we dont need free dice and stretching things tighter to finish the plan out

Personally, I think we're going to need until 2064 to be confident that the new ships are properly worked up and ready to go in sufficient numbers (with replacements for predictable losses on the way) anyway.

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Right so this I think is a major problem because waiting that long means 3-4 years, pushing the normal siege duration to the point the BZ will be taking damge and that is without counting on new wrinkles from the NOD warlord or their masterstroke. In addition we were given a rough schedule earlier in the thread that we can have enough ships before this date so 2064 contradicts what we have been told.

 

[Simon_Jester]

I dont think we have that long, they have been besieging our blue zone in the Himalayas so Karachi functions as a relief and beachhead to open a relief column up.

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Even stipulating that you are correct (and that things like Suborbital Shuttles don't extend the timer there), I don't think that giving up a 50% chance of finishing one escort carrier yard one quarter earlier is going to make a decisive difference there. If BZ-18's situation becomes so urgent that we feel forced to push 'GO' on Karachi in 2063, the odds are that a few more or less escort carriers being ready three months earlier at some point in late 2062 or early 2063 won't have that much of an impact.

If we're launching Karachi when the Navy feels ready, they probably won't feel ready until 2064 anyway because they'll want 2063 to get the first wave of escort carriers worked up and integrated into the convoy system, and also for additional frigates to roll out of the yards and thicken overall naval defenses.

I would be amenable to a version of the plan in which, for example, Railgun Munitions or Mastodon Development was folded into a shipyard die, mind you!

Also we should have zero issues with research projects- portal we can start a dice a turn in Q2, plus the increase in income from Q4 and then Q1 will more than cover it. Also I am doing the more expensive tasks in infra for example Q4 letting us just throw all dice at apartments Q1 and drop cost. Mainly I can see a fairly easy between decrease cost in some categories plus income increase to cover 3 dice in Anadyr next turn. Also this gets Crystal Lasers out so that means less progress needed for the deployment by rolling out projects that will use it first

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It is very likely that if we don't put three dice into Anadyr this turn, we may well have to put at least one into Anadyr in 2061Q2. Four dice is the realistic minimum to finish the project without extreme luck, and five is likely. As to the rest, we are likely to be under pressure to spend Infrastructure dice on shuttles, Chicago, railroads, and arcologies throughout 2061. I don't want to plan around being able to do a very cheap Infrastructure quarter at some future time.

As to "crystal lasers out of the way," I get the idea, but we have a lot else on the table. One of the purposes of the "MAD SCIENCE" plans I've been doing lately is to free up Free dice to do things that aren't Heavy Industry. This is so that we can properly capitalize sooner on the advantages we gain from having gained freedom of action in the category from renegotiation.

Maybe when the war is over and we are not doing as much temp spending on refugees and mil. And the open service die is likely rolling into whatever mind shield follow up with get (or if we get the gachas back Q4 I can drop a dice there) or I can do a bureau and service security review. Too much up in the air without the turn being out to decide, so I would rather leave it open and add something later.

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Doing a Services review right now is a pointless waste of dice; we just did one like a year ago. But to be clear, I myself am not putting sports into the current draft, I'm just considering it for some time in 2061, if we happen to have a Services die fallow and 10 R to play with.

Because it passing means we both open up the new efficiency options as well as update our options so we know what our target is. Meanwhile it is not burning free dice in a section we dont need free dice and stretching things tighter to finish the plan out

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Spending Free dice on the freeze drying plants very much is burning them in an area we are likely not to need them. Spending a die that has a 2/3 chance of being totally wasted on overkill, when that same die could make definite progress towards a Plan goal by simply doing something else, is not a good idea.

Like, we could just put the Erewhon die on the aquaponics bays or the storehouses themselves, and that would be better.

On the general subject, if future efficiency options are like the freeze drying plants themselves, we don't have to rush to completion of them. We should still be making the +Food projects we were planning to do to hit the target anyway, after all. There is not so much of a hurry that it's worth spending a second die on a project that costs more than almost anything else in its category just to boost the chance of completion from 66% to 94%.

I can get the argument for doing something like that with the wingman drones or the stabilizer constellation. This isn't like that; it's just one more industrial project in a big chain of projects.

Right so this I think is a major problem because waiting that long means 3-4 years, pushing the normal siege duration to the point the BZ will be taking damge and that is without counting on new wrinkles from the NOD warlord or their masterstroke. In addition we were given a rough schedule earlier in the thread that we can have enough ships before this date so 2064 contradicts what we have been told.

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"2064" is a broad prediction of mine based on the idea that the Navy will realistically need at least a year to get the light carriers of the first wave properly worked up and into position to enable the formation of offensive fleet carrier battlegroups, and also that they'll want more than just the first wave of frigates before they feel good about the naval situation. Personally, I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll be ready to go in 2063Q4 to 2064Q2... But the point is, I don't want us to feel psychologically committed to haste until and unless we see in-character evidence that haste is necessary. Prep time isn't something that unilaterally favors Indian Nod here.

 

[Void Stalker]

"2064" is a broad prediction of mine based on the idea that the Navy will realistically need at least a year to get the light carriers of the first wave properly worked up and into position to enable the formation of offensive fleet carrier battlegroups, and also that they'll want more than just the first wave of frigates before they feel good about the naval situation. Personally, I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll be ready to go in 2063Q4 to 2064Q2... But the point is, I don't want us to feel psychologically committed to haste until and unless we see in-character evidence that haste is necessary. Prep time isn't something that unilaterally favors Indian Nod here.

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Once again we were given a time line of ships rolling out earlier in the thread. As long as we are not idle we will have enough ships for the 2nd year of next plan. The point is though by pushing shipyards and other measures up front we have the option to green light operations sooner instead of being forced to wait.

It is very likely that if we don't put three dice into Anadyr this turn, we may well have to put at least one into Anadyr in 2061Q2. Four dice is the realistic minimum to finish the project without extreme luck, and five is likely. As to the rest, we are likely to be under pressure to spend Infrastructure dice on shuttles, Chicago, railroads, and arcologies throughout 2061. I don't want to plan around being able to do a very cheap Infrastructure quarter at some future time.

As to "crystal lasers out of the way," I get the idea, but we have a lot else on the table. One of the purposes of the "MAD SCIENCE" plans I've been doing lately is to free up Free dice to do things that aren't Heavy Industry. This is so that we can properly capitalize sooner on the advantages we gain from having gained freedom of action in the category from renegotiation.

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Fitting an Anadyr dice Q2 is even less issue with more income pouring in. And crystal lasers- every time we roll out an industry project that would use them we increase the progress cost for deployment. Delaying it just means we are adding more dice on the back end so this continuous delay is a poor idea.

 

[Oledoms]

[]Meme Plan Leviathan Swarm 2060

Infrastructure6/6 Dice) 90 R

[ ] Yellow Zone Fortress Towns 110 (Phase 6)
[] 2D 112/300 40R

Blue Zone Apartment
[] 4D 50 R

Heavy Industry ( 7/5 Dice) + 2D 130 R

-[] Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants (Phase 6) (153/300)
[] 6 Die 120 R

[ ] Crystal Beam Industrial Laser Development
(Progress 0/80: 10 resources per die)

Light and Chemical Industry 110R

[]Bergen Superconductor Foundry (Phase 1+2) (71/285) [+1 Capital Goods, +3 Energy]
--[]3 Dice (90) Resources

[ ] Civilian Drone Factories
(Progress 0/380: 10 resources per die) (+2 Logistics, +1 Health, +4 Consumer Goods) (-2 Energy)
-- [] 2 Dice (20) Resources

* Agriculture (4/4 Dice) + 1 Free Die 70 R

[ ] Blue Zone Aquaponics Bays (Phase 3)
[] 3 Dice 30 Resources (- Labor - Logistics)

[ ] Freeze Dried Food Plants
(Progress 126/200: 20 resources per die) (+5 Food, increases efficiency of stockpile actions, -1 Energy)
[] 1 + 1 Dice 40 Resources





Tiberium (7/7 Dice) 95 R

-[] Railgun Harvester Factory
--[]Bissau (0/70) (+5 resources, -2 Energy)
---[] 1 Dice (10 Resources)
--[]Porto (44/70) (+5 Resources, -2 Energy)
---[] 1 Dice (10 Resources)

Yellow Zone Tiberium Harvesting (Phase 10) 174/350
--[] 2 Dice (30 Resources)

[ ] Intensification of Green Zone Harvesting (Stage 6)
--[] 2 Dice (30 Resources)

Orbital (6/6) 120 R


[ ] Lunar Heavy Metals Mines (Phase 2) (Progress 145/385: 20 resources per die) (+20 resources per turn)

Services (4/5) 75R
[] Automatic Medical Assistants

- [] 3 Dice (60 Resources)

[ ] Hallucinogen Development

- [] 1 Dice (15 Resources)


Military (8/8) + 5 Free Dice

[ ] Wingman Drone Deployment
Capital Goods)
- [ ] Firehawk Wingmen (Progress 0/450: 20 resources per die) (-1 Labor, -6 Energy, -2 Capital Goods)
- [] 3 Dice (80 Resources)

[] Shark Class Frigate Shipyard (Melbourne) = 172/300
- [] 2 Dice ( 40 Resources)

-[ ] Seattle (Progress 0/300: 20 resources per die) (-6 Energy, -2 Capital Goods)
- [] 4 Dice ( 80 Resources)

-[ ] New York (Progress 0/240: 20 resources per die) (-5 Energy, -2 Capital Goods) 3 Dice (60 Resources)

[ ] Railgun Munitions Development
[] 1 Dice 10 R

Bureaucracy (3/4)

[ ] Security Reviews

Bureaucracy Review
[] 2 Dice

This is a slight Meme Plan to not only complete a large number of required shipyards but to also prepare for Anadyr. If the Total is correct there will be additional savings that will allow us to save for Anadyr in 2061

I Will also create a Q1 2061 Plan Later

 

[Simon_Jester]

Fitting an Anadyr dice Q2 is even less issue with more income pouring in.

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We are predictably going to need to do a minimum of one 100 R die on portal research in Q1, one in Q2, and very probably one in Q3. Combine that with any other super-expensive research options that become available, and the need to invest a lot of Service dice in the gachas, and finding funding for Anadyr becomes burdensome.

I'd rather have the bulk of the spending out of the way ASAP.

And crystal lasers- every time we roll out an industry project that would use them we increase the progress cost for deployment. Delaying it just means we are adding more dice on the back end so this continuous delay is a poor idea.

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Compared to the costs of introducing them all over our entire industrial base, the costs of introducing them specifically in the handful of projects we're actually working on aren't going to be that significant.

 

[HousePet]

Unless we're given more reason to think that building the fortresses is urgent, I think we should settle for two dice.

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That the War isn't actually over with yet and we are behind with building defensive lines?

You may have forgotten the underlying rationale behind the plan I'm proposing.

I'm specifically anticipating 100 R/die portal research that will cost us at least two dice and maybe as many as four if our luck is bad. And possibly other very expensive research projects. I'm not putting three dice on Anadyr to rush Anadyr itself, I'm doing it because that way we'll be able to afford to do very expensive research projects in 2061, while also conveniently having plenty of Heavy Industry dice to spare on the laser project.

Click to shrink...

In which case, putting 2 dice on Anadyr this turn and 2 dice on Anadyr next turn is still within the rationale.
Cos unless you rush Anadyr with 4 dice now, it will still be blocking the budget in Q1 2061.

The SCIENCE projects are already here and are already eating up a lot of budget;

Click to shrink...

I'm referring to the generally expensive Nod/Scrin Research Initiative projects. The Nod version last appeared 4 years ago, and while we did take around a year to complete it, we also have lots of Nod salvage to sift through (and one Bogatyr).
I'd be surprised if we didn't have the Nod tech piñata appearing again in the next year. The Scrin one appeared 3.5 years ago. Might be early next Plan for that one.

 

[Simon_Jester]

That the War isn't actually over with yet and we are behind with building defensive lines?

Click to shrink...

The thing is, we've been giving Nod's field armies quite a kicking lately. I'm not sure we're likely to see immediate pressure from counterattacks that necessitates rush-building more fortress towns.

The strain on the Ground Forces will drop off a lot just from them ceasing to advance; remember that GDI's troops are amply capable of digging in and setting up gunlines and field fortifications on their own. Indeed, they'd have to do that anyway, because otherwise the active construction of the fortress towns would be a huge target for Nod raiders.

In which case, putting 2 dice on Anadyr this turn and 2 dice on Anadyr next turn is still within the rationale.
Cos unless you rush Anadyr with 4 dice now, it will still be blocking the budget in Q1 2061.

Click to shrink...

The way I figure it, if we throw three dice at it now, we might get it then and there, we avoid any risk of wasting a die on it, and we can avoid spending more than one die per turn on it afterwards.

Two and two means we're committed to 100 R expenditure on Anadyr in 2061Q1, which is a lot more restrictive than being committed to 50 R.

I'm referring to the generally expensive Nod/Scrin Research Initiative projects. The Nod version last appeared 4 years ago, and while we did take around a year to complete it, we also have lots of Nod salvage to sift through (and one Bogatyr).
I'd be surprised if we didn't have the Nod tech piñata appearing again in the next year. The Scrin one appeared 3.5 years ago. Might be early next Plan for that one.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I'm thinking about those too. My entire point is that I want to get the bulk of the Anadyr spending out of the way now so it's not competing with the upcoming Nod/Scrin tech pinata, or with any of the stuff we know we got out of the last Scrin tech pinata but haven't seen a concrete project emerge from yet, such as ion storm power condensers.

 

[bigking321]

3 dice on Anadyr makes sense.

Small chance of getting lucky and being done with it. And if not then 1 more dice hopefully.

We need to to the expensive project goals now while we can afford it.

 

[HousePet]

The Fortress Towns aren't just for supporting military operations though, they also support Tib mining and likely work to manage refugee flow (by giving them more GDI places to drop in to).
We might not have a single critical reason for making fairly sure we get the next round done this turn, but we do have a few very good reasons for doing it.

Two and two means we're committed to 100 R expenditure on Anadyr in 2061Q1, which is a lot more restrictive than being committed to 50 R.

Click to shrink...

Not quite though, as the 50R that would be diverted to other projects this turn means that we are 50R ahead on those other areas the turn afterwards.
Being further ahead with Navy/Food projects now means more wiggle room in those areas later too. The restrictiveness is basically the same, just in different places.

 

[Simon_Jester]

The Fortress Towns aren't just for supporting military operations though, they also support Tib mining and likely work to manage refugee flow (by giving them more GDI places to drop in to).

Click to shrink...

Yes, but none of that means that we absolutely must get them done in 2060Q4, as opposed to it being "kind of nice." Given that I'm trying to avoid overkill in the short turn, "kind of nice" means I can tolerate a three month completion delay if the dice go badly for us.

Not quite though, as the 50R that would be diverted to other projects this turn means that we are 50R ahead on those other areas the turn afterwards.

Click to shrink...

It's not that simple. A lot of expensive projects we're going to want to spend on won't exist in 2060Q4, so we cannot make progress on them, or they'll be too expensive to even consider alongside more than one die per turn of Anadyr spending.

The big areas where we have tight, punishing Plan commitments to race towards are Orbital, Stored Food, and military construction.

Orbital is dice-restricted more so than Resource-restricted. Military, likewise. We will have the budget to active about as many Free dice as we care to spend in those categories, and we're not going to fall behind because we didn't devote a big enough Resource budget to them. Agriculture costs 10 R/die, so much the same applies.

The danger is that we'll run out of dice in those areas if we waste dice, not that we'll end up "50 R behind" because we spent dice on Anadyr.

...

My orbital spending is still 20 R/die on every die- no budget cuts. My military spending didn't undergo significant budget cuts for Anadyr; the most recent iteration of the draft plan cuts dice so that there are Free dice for Agriculture in hopes of finishing Ranching Domes before the end of the Plan, but that's not the same thing at all.

I'm just not seeing how this would be particularly relevant given that all our areas of 'nervousness' are about dice expenditure, not resource budgeting.

Being further ahead with Navy/Food projects now means more wiggle room in those areas later too. The restrictiveness is basically the same, just in different places.

Click to shrink...

Except that we don't end up restricted in our Stored Food or shipyard projects for lack of resources. We're already feeding those what they need; the main restriction is on how many dice we feed them.

My three-Anadyr-dice plans haven't been sacrificing on those fronts for Anadyr. For some other things, yes, but if you don't want to do that, it's perfectly possible to do ten dice on 20 R/die military projects (such as Firehawk drones and shipyards) and still have plenty of Resources to spend on three Anadyr dice. The only really big area of sacrifice is that you can't splurge a lot of dice on planned cities, fortress towns, expensive Tiberium projects, or Bergen.

 

[HousePet]

Except that we don't end up restricted in our Stored Food or shipyard projects for lack of resources. We're already feeding those what they need; the main restriction is on how many dice we feed them.

Click to shrink...

But my original point was that you could use the resources temporarily made available this turn to put an extra dice on a shipyard and a food project, so it was about dice.

 

[Simon_Jester]

But my original point was that you could use the resources temporarily made available this turn to put an extra dice on a shipyard and a food project, so it was about dice.

Click to shrink...

Putting extra dice on a useful food project wouldn't be an option.

There are three actions key to hitting the Stored Food target: Freeze Dried Food Plants, Blue Zone Aquaponics Bays, and Strategic Food Stockpile Construction.

The freeze-drying plants would probably not benefit from having more than one die committed to them in 2060Q4, because a second die would have a 2/3 chance of being totally wasted- a useless and costly diversion of effort that could more profitably be assigned to building more food production or food storehouses. Even if the extra die was not wasted, it would simply result in the freeze-drying plants being completed one turn sooner. That would be nice, but it is unlikely to impact whether or not we reach our target, since the mechanical benefits are the same either way and since the freeze-drying bonus is retroactively applied to existing storehouses (that's where its +Food bonus comes from!).

Both of the other two projects, the ones that would actually benefit from more dice, are 10 R/die projects. Those dice are cheap to activate; the main limiting factor is how many dice we commit.

Now, in my plan drafts, all our other Free dice (apart from security reviews necessary to the internal logic of that plan draft) are being committed to other things. Things that cost at least 10 R/die already. So to transfer Free dice to Agriculture and use them towards the Stored Food target would save Resources from the budget, not cost Resources. Some other department's budget would drop by 15-20 R, and Agriculture's budget would go up by 10 R.

Thus, sacrificing the third Anadyr die could not put us meaningfully closer to hitting the Stored Food target by freeing up Resources. Nor do I consider it likely that Resource bottlenecks will prevent us from hitting the target in future turns. If anything, work on the Stored Food target is likely to be the place we send Free dice to save Resources by allowing us to cheaply activate Free dice on something useful towards our goals!

...

Now, you DO have a valid argument that we could manage one more die on shipyards by using a little more Resources in military. This is because I do allocate some dice to 10 and 15 R/die Military projects in my plan draft. These are Railgun Munitions, Mastodon Development, and Hallucinogen Countermeasures. Any of these dice could be "promoted" to a 20 R/die shipyard project in theory.

The catch is, I'm doing each of those for a reason.

Railgun Munitions is a high-priority Ground Force target that is a mandatory Plan goal and is likely to be quite beneficial to keeping the Ground Forces effective at holding the line without further interruptions as we transition into a period of probable medium-weight Nod counterattacks and eventually back to low-intensity warfare. We'll have to do it within the next 4-5 quarters anyway, too.

Mastodon Development is a Talons commitment and we should probably get it done with at least some time to spare, because it's going to chain into a deployment project which will also be a requirement, and depending on how the dice play out, those deployments could take at least two quarters.

Hallucinogen Countermeasures is literally the only thing in any of my recent Plan drafts that isn't a quasi-mandatory project, and it's there because the "Prepare for Mad Science" lineage of plan drafts is very intentionally trying to do everything in our power to secure our top-secret research labs from penetration by, say, Remembrancers or Nod commandos. Nod commandos like to use hallucinogen grenades, so this is one thing we can do that may directly impact the ability of Nod elites to infiltrate our top-secret labs in an attempt to steal our portal tech.

 

[Ithillid]

The Regency War Part 8: On Stormy Seas

The Regency War Part 8: On Stormy Seas

Bintang

Some ask: Why?

Because this is happiness. Let me explain. When it became clear that the Malacca Strait would be crusted green, they bled dry all manner of capital from the nearly-choked Indochina. When it became clear that righteous men and women of all kinds would take up arms against injustice, the forces of reaction did the only thing they could.

Little wonder that our kin one and all, those left behind, are equal brethrens in this struggle.

But I digress. When all these transpired, I came from nothing, the middle-child who stumbled into command of a trawling ship when the lapdogs of the GDI took and took. Within the confines of this ship, after I lost all, I made a declaration. A selfish simple wish to be happy.

In the fulfilment of this wish, I found that happiness that I wished relates to being secure. It relates to steadiness in a life where one's basic needs are cared for. But I also found that in the search of happiness, what makes me happy is the thrill of mastering fate. That thrill, I first found when I delivered rice bags to the needy when discovery meant death. That thrill, that feeling of defying the world, is one I kept through the years, and this is why I stand here, in the frontlines. Because this thrill too, is my happiness.

And here and now, though you all might not share with me the thrill, you all here share the desire for happiness. If not for yourself, then for others you fight for.

So let us sublimate it all. Into this momentous act.
—

Bintang's strategic position had been an odd mix of secure and precarious ever since the Third Tiberium War. While her island fastnesses were far from centers of GDI strength, and her walls of steel could raid and pillage as she wished, she was also isolated, surrounded by Red Zones and far from other warlords and the broader Brotherhood. ​

«Where is Mita? Sortie is soon.»

But this has changed much, over the decades. Just as the GDI changed, so has the Brotherhood, often in halting, jerky steps. And for one such as Bintang, the most talented of naval commanders by virtue of ever-honed veterancy, the halting motion is that of a squall. Sudden, and coming from a discrepancy of pressure.​

«It's 1530, Kieran. Come now.»

Natuna Isles was one thing, a baring of fangs that ended in an inconclusive yet agreed upon acceptance on both sides that then, GDI's latest in naval upgrades were adequate and could outpace the pre-existing material condition. But GDI is a behemoth pulled in so many ways by popular will more than technocratic tendencies. The naval deficiency, Bintang had surmised, was a weakness that could be exploited. Only just. The plans for the Regency War were ever fluid, even then – but in striking first, Bintang's star of infamy faded from perception as other Warlords tried to match her starting bet with more and more bombastic acts of warring. And as the star faded, so did the desire of outpacing Bintang's naval edge.​

«Oh right. Prayer time though – at this hour?»

And when the Regency War started in earnest, Bintang had more than a few arrows in her quiver. Like a squall, she descended with that self-same alacrity, stunning all GDI observers at the break of noon when the thousands of thousands of buoys and sensors chained together in the atolls of South China Sea blinked in unison. This joined gesture was thought to be a mass malfunction at first. Surely, the two clusters of signatures balling their way to Kyushu were just blinkered sensors, no?​

«Hou je kop, Kappa 2 and 3. Kappa 4's religiosity is not an acceptable topic.»

To the mortification of all said observers, the sensors blinked further. Three signatures. No, fou- six. Six massed signatures of varying sizes arraying themselves on ingress coordinates of not only Kyushu, but also the Korean Peninsula. 'No,' was the disbelief of the sensor officers, who flashed the priority message to Philadelphia II and it is a message that rebounds back down to GDI worldwide.​

«Kappa 4 is Ready. Let's go.»

Bintang has come. And she is here to take GDI's measure for good in East Asia.
– The Last Admiral (2089), an anonymously written biography on Talitha Bintang​

---

Rear Admiral Ranjeet Savitr had been reclining in his stateroom – a pointless luxury on a modern ship, especially with how everything he needed could be fit into something about the size of a desktop workstation. Space and steel were cheap, especially on a GDI battleship. His hands had cupped a steaming mug of ersatz coffee – sweet, malty and dark – a combination of roasted barley and chicory root, with an extra hit from a chemically-produced caffeine powder. While standard was always available, this was (like most simulated coffees) a special blend, made by the ship's chef.

When the news came, Savitr nearly choked on his coffee as the screen in the stateroom displayed the recorded movements of the Brotherhood fleets. Eyes blinking as if to clear away a mirage the Rear Admiral acted quickly.

It has been said a captain can never show his fear, but an Admiral cannot even show concern. So Savitr rose, brushed down his uniform, collected his mug, and began a resolute march down two decks to the combat information centre, to where he would meet his foe yet again. He knew deep within his fast-beating heart that a rencounter was always in the wings. Moreover, he knew that he would not be a match to Bintang. He survived Natuna Isles, and for that he gained an extra star and a new ship. The last new, rather. Fuji was the last testament of the old GDI that fancied a global hegemony, before realizing thereafter that the authority had left them, relegating it into the role of a glorified picket ship.

Glorified. That was the word Savitr thought even as his face betrayed no emotions to his subordinates. The Peter Principle was not quite in action, but it was close. He and the Fuji are more alike than unlike here, cast as they were into a depth where either may not survive. But by the gods, both will try their best. On their end are the two Battle Groups Raj Kaul and Talay Khan. The former he commanded, and the latter was lead by his once-savior, Rear Admiral Saiga Ito. At their side were the combined forces of seven Governors, a pair of carriers, and a pair of battleships. Augmenting them were the ground support of the 9th Reserve Division, who counted among them the rotated veteran forces of the 17th Field Artillery Brigade; and Yokohama Air Command, which counted among them the ace Lourens "Kappa 1" Rini and the distinguished 98th Fighter Group "Blue Talons."

Against most aggressors, this was a formidable force. But Bintang spared no expenses. Here, the Warlord went to war with all her might. Here, forty-seven ship signatures are arrayed against the entirety of the Home Islands and the Korean Peninsula, spread across six different battle fleets. Here, defeating each and every single one of the battle fleets piecemeal was entirely possible.

Were it not for the fact that the Pirate Queen's personal armada was boldly striding forth, barreling straight for Tsushima Strait and from there, gods knows what. But with 15 ships of varying sizes including the Rajanaga, no one wanted to find out. Even if it was a feint, such considerations are not worth the risk of letting an opposing wartime fleet make their charts that way. This was not unlike what Stahl had committed, but different scales allow for different tactics. The Battle Groups would make their way to meet Bintang, while smaller flotillas backed with ion cannon bombardments could shift the tempo of the battle.

This was the plan, and with this confidence in mind, the two Battle Groups sail to meet their destiny.

---

The Battle for Tsushima Strait – named such for the denial objective of the GDI forces – started off in an inauspicious manner for the Initiative and the strategy that R.Adms. Savitr and Saiga committed to. It hinged on the crucial assumption that none of Bintang's attendant fleets were able to match the overbearing firepower of the Ion Cannons. It was a hinge that ultimately failed, as the first two arrows nocked on Bintang's quiver were the countering of GDI's orbital supremacy.

Through means unknown to the Initiative, Bintang had levied a considerable favour from the Inner Circle, those august stewards of Kane's return. The Pylon. An unassuming name for a piece of technology derived from the last Threshold Tower, it allowed for near-perfect transferral of energy between wireless pylons. Such a technology was supposedly always on offer for Warlords who wished for it. But between short use-life, prohibitive creation cost, and most importantly, lack of need, it was never taken.

But an active GDI created this need. The paradigm of 'heavy steel' is an inevitability in naval combat, and massed fleet engagement is required. So combining this hard-bought technology with stolen schematics for GDI's peaker plants, Bintang had created her Tenaga-class Power Ships and did the unthinkable: created mobile and sustainable Ion Diffuser Shields.

And when it became apparent to GDI that the flagships of Bintang's attendant fleets – all five of the modified Naga-class battlecruisers – repelled GDI's ionic aggression, both Rear Admirals were already committed to the most significant naval engagement since Leyte Gulf. Not the largest in terms of hulls or displacement, but this would be the first of the last of humanity's wars on the seas.
– The Last Admiral (2089), an anonymously written biography on Talitha Bintang​

---

"Sir, Orbital Command is standing by and ready to fire," barked one of the junior officers.

"Tell them to fire when ready, Lieutenant. And signal the fleet, we sail immediately."

Thousands of kilometers away, a bolt of brilliant blue lashed down from the skies, and a cluster of contacts vanished in the arcing plasma. But minutes later, as the Initiative's virtual eyes blinked away the stars, the group – all six ships – was still there, making good speed towards Kyushu. As other blasts rained down upon the contacts with similarly unimpressive results, Savitr turned to the rest of his command staff. "Gentlemen, it appears that the lady intends to make us earn our salt the hard way."

Savitr had watched the impending encounter with trepidation but not fear. Not yet. The news of the failed Ion Cannon bombardments was lamentable, but it was partially expected. One of the greater unknowns since the battle of Natuna Isles had been how expensive shipborne Ion Cannon defenses were. He does not yet know why the hostile fleets survived the repeated hammerings, only that it was to be shuffled into the mental folder labelled 'NOD Bullshit' and left for InOps to sort out later. On their own, the threat of each individual fleet was marginal,each only having among themselves six or seven hulls. The littoral forces with land-based support could handle those – at a ruinous cost of steel and souls, but it was doable.

Now though, he is in the engagement range for the Raj Kaul Battle Group. The carriers Einar and Huang Zong had already made their sorties, their Firehawk compliments making repeated strikes against the separated fleet groups. But like porcupines, the Queen's Armada amply equipped themselves against such attacks. Laser-based point defenses were the new norm against any launched missile warheads, and Bintang's newly created battlecruisers equipped themselves with multi-laser AA 'sweepers'. None of the Firehawks were destroyed, but none among the Armada suffered more than minor damages either.

But regardless, the inconclusive engagement tells more of what Bintang has to offer. The Rajanaga is a given, and the two battlecruisers seem to be miniature facsimiles of the infamous flagship. In the case of the attendant fleets, they are the flagships. The ones in the Armada may come with their own Ion Diffusers, or perhaps they're loaded with something else. Their cruisers – four in total – on the other hand seem to be primarily armed with missiles and represent a potent answer to the Governors. Brotherhood Vertical Launch Arrays are always an odd-ball, considering the multiple variants of payloads the Brotherhood have at their disposal, especially for naval warfare. With the Brotherhood tending to favor lighter missiles launched in massed salvoes, they are prone to seeding their barrages with vast numbers of penetration aids and specialist munitions, most notably low yield tactical nuclear warheads.

And then there are the destroyers. Savitr is familiar with them, though the Berberoka-class seems to have been refined after the lessons of Natuna Isles, where all eight were sunk. Visually there are eight of them, but two seemed suspiciously lightly armed, in the sense of being more defensively oriented than their fellows. But looks can be deceiving, especially for the Brotherhood.

"Savitr, your orders?" Saiga's almost casual tone puts him out of his musings. Though the fellow Rear Admiral is five years his senior, he deferred judgement to Savitr. The pressure is immense, but the duty is paradoxically relieving. If he falls down with the ship, then it will be after all is given.

So he exhales. And makes his command.

---

Kym Hasek of the 11th Strike Squadron stood before her Aurora, watching as the last of six RATO pods was carefully attached to her aircraft. They had a mission, a payload, and (finally) a time to serve their primary purpose. To deliver pain very, very precisely. She would be number one on this attack mission. With her were nine of her companions, organized into two five-bomber flights. With the Auroras being finicky beasts under the best of circumstances, having two of their number out due to mechanical problems would not be the worst downcheck rating the squadron had gotten since they received the new machines.

As the flight line readied up, Kym's helmet intercom crackled "Engine 1, Online. Engine 2, Online. Scramjet, Online. Sensors, Online. Weapons, Online. All Systems Nominal."

The engines trembled, vibrating the aircraft as they choked on the thick atmosphere. The first pair of RATO units kicked in, two rocket engines working up enough airspeed to get that first critical few hundred meters – get enough airflow that the engines would start properly. As Kym was pushed back into her seat a second, nose-mounted pair fired, forcing the aircraft towards an eighty-degree climb. The final pair was held as an emergency backup in case she needed more speed, but for now – safely in the air – it was time to climb. Settling her aircraft into a shallower angle, she began a long looping turn, every meter up adding several meters to the spiral as the rumble of the engine became ever smoother. Below her, two squadrons of Apollos made their own ascent, before settling in for a cruise at a lower altitude.

Making her way south, even with her engines eating up kilometers per second, Kym had time to go over the mission briefing one more time. "Remember, stay high, stay fast, drop everything, and then shuttle out to Australia on your reserves. Bintang is likely to attempt strikes on airfields, and you are unlikely to have time to return and rearm before she is in range. So get out, save the airframes, and land there. Australia Command is expecting you."

Below, Brotherhood naval fighters – mostly Barghests – climbed to meet her. At first, they seemed no threat – just like the Mantises, the SAM sites, and everything else the Brotherhood had thrown in her direction above Russia, above China, above the Arctic ocean and above these very waters. The Barghests were similar enough to standard models, their xenotech engines pushing as fast as they could go. Admittedly slower than a Firehawk, but not by that much, and with their ability to maintain that speed at any angle. But also below her was a squadron of Apollos. With the wingmen drones reserved for more northerly squadrons, rather than her escorts on this attack run, they were a simple dozen aircraft keeping pace with Kym's squadron at a calm cruising speed, holding fuel in reserve for the long flight ahead of them.

As the Barghests began to rise, the maneuvering flaps on the Apollos extended as one after another they began to roll into dives, missile bays sliding open. QAAMs raced among the Barghests – most missing, but some few making hits and damaging or destroying their targets. But even with the damages, the Barghests kept climbing, reaching for an altitude where they could launch on the Auroras and have any chance of hitting them. As they reached this apex, still kilometers below the bombers, they salvoed off dozens of missiles, each climbing on a streak of flames and a trail of smoke. With closing velocities at such high speeds, Kym had no chance to maneuver – with the launch less than ten kilometers away, it was in effect at point blank range. It would have been ten seconds to impact if the missiles were only standing still, and in reality it was just under three seconds before the two groups intercepted each other. The two crossed in a storm of countermeasures as chaff and flare pods blazed out to disrupt the incoming missiles' guidance. Fortunately for Kym, the missiles did not find her aircraft, and the rest of her squadron was behind her, able to get through with no more than scratch damage. The Barghests turned to dive, breaking away from the Apollos even as yet more of the attackers fell from the skies, claimed in the fractional seconds that Apollo autocannon played across their space.

Arriving at the target area – the wind whining as it played over a fracture created by fragmentation from one of the missiles – the battlegroup was far below her aircraft. As Kym's finger slipped onto the release trigger, the kickers for the four glide munitions snapped them out into the airstream, lifting bodies wiggling as they found their equilibrium point. By the time they reached their target they would be moving at around 1300 meters per second, and each of the four glide bombs (assuming they were inert devices) would impact with some 1,267,500,000 Joules, or an impact marginally less energetic than the explosive payload of a 20th century TLAM-C. These were far from inert. Rather, each carried several hundred kilograms of high explosives, wrapped in an armor piercing case. On impact, the fuse was set for about a quarter second – in which time the device would penetrate deep into the core of the ship, and detonate. In a SinkEx against an old and retiring Arleigh Burke, one of the two munitions used in the exercise overpenetrated and detonated beneath the hull of the target. Therefore, following the four bombs dropped by Kym were thirty-six more, released by the other members of her squadron as they began the sweeping dog leg that would take them out over the Australian Red Zone before landing.

Kilometers below the squadron, a pair of Nagas, a tender, and a flotilla of destroyers were the intended target. As the bombs streaked down from the heavens, a blaze of incoming fire rushed the other way. One womped into shrapnel from a plasma blast. Others fell prey to lasers as they flashed time and time again. Countermissiles roared up from the destroyers, conic shapes barely steady as they rose on columns of flame and smoke. More of the incoming bombs fell prey to these weapons, but it was not enough. A destroyer nearly split in two as a bomb slashed into the roof of its forward turret before shattering the forecastle as the explosive detonated. A Naga had four splash nearly perfectly around her, buckling in the hull panels and tearing loose one of the screws as the ship began to limp. Other ships bucked and twisted as detonations ripped them apart. Kym however was already over the horizon, deep in the dark blue.

---

The records were clear on what R.Adm Savitr ordered and by all means it was a clean plan. The carriers and their wings would continue interdiction, until friendly air elements could arrive on scene for a massed push. The Battleships Fuji and Hallasan would take on the Rajanaga and her two attendant Nagas while the Governors ensured that none got in the way. Like all good Admirals, he trusted in his captains' ability to execute them cleanly. ​

«Yokohama, ETA is 30 seconds. Orders.»

And for the encounter, it was the Fuji that fired first. Solid railgun munitions fired from medium range travelled straight towards the Queen Admiral's flagship. First blood went to GDI, as the rounds battered the Rajanaga and her attendants. But before the battle could begin in earnest, Bintang broadcasted in all channels, boosted to reach GDI media arms on what GDI analysts derisively called 'an accord.' That for all the levelling of Ion cannon bombardments, GDI had forced her hands and that she would escalate to meet the weapon usage in the only way the Brotherhood could. 'For this battle only,' she relayed, 'the bet is raised.' So here, through the veil of decorum, the Ulars began their nuclear-laced bombardment of GDI ships.​

«Kappa 1, objectives remain the same. Once Blue Talons enter the combat airspace, command will be transferred to Talay Khan.»

Though as a general rule GDI's equipment is shielded against EMP blasts, Bintang's low-yield nuclear missiles were never designed to hit GDI's naval vessels. They were meant to blind the sensors, trusting in the volume of fire of the multi-missile barrage to damage GDI ships, and to ensure that the suddenly barreling Armada could force the engagement range to a much closer one via distraction. Almost immediately, the cruiser Raskolnikov drew the short straw. While the detonation blinding its sensors began to dissipate, the EWAR pods in Bintang's barrage activated, scattering hundreds of false signatures amid the incoming fire. As Rasolnikov switched its point defense batteries to manual control, it opened fire, visually acquiring and punching out dozens of incoming missiles as it slewed wildy back and forth in an attempt to cut down on the number of incoming munitions that could hit it. In its location among one of the vanguards of the combined Battle Groups, it admirably shot down most of the missles headed its way. But as one of the first hulls to have their sensors blinded, it eventually suffered a direct hit to the bow. ​

«Copy. EMP levels?»

The blast, though no larger than the Davy Crockett of old, gutted the entire front of the ship, disintegrating the railgun turrets and swallowing the CIC whole. Raskolnikov, the survivor of Natuna Isles, was only the first of GDI's ships to die. It was the sobering event that dispelled all illusions: This battle would be a bloodbath to all.​

«Minimal. Radiation is non-concern.»

Immediately, Raskolnikov's brethren sought their vengeance and the air was filled with all manner of projectiles. This would not be a battle where a numerically superior Brotherhood fights against the materially superior Initiative. This would be one where two doctrinally different groups fight against one another. And for the GDI Governors, that doctrine is a doctrine of unavoidable slug shots that gouge and rend and tear apart their counterpart Ulars. Even with damage control capability that matched GDI vessels, there were no answers to be given for Naresuan, whose magazine stacks exploded in a chain reaction that split the superstructure in half. A karmic end, in the eyes of some, for the ship that had launched the fissile-ladden payload that destroyed Raskolnikov.​

«Compliance. Talay Khan, we are vectoring in, ETA 10 seconds. Orders?»

Of course, the greater battle was a conflagration in terms not seen in this decade. Entire chapters could be written on the proliferation of the Gana, where Bintang outfitted secondary turrets on the Rajanaga to fire Gana pods, dispatching the cephalopodic menaces at the duelling battleships. Boardersdeformed railgun barrels, and in the case such is not enough, jammed themselves into the turrets. They do not die easily even under literal fire, limbs severing automatically and acting as flaming whips that fly back at their Zone Trooper aggressors. The]Berberokas themselves – aside from their own considerable missile batteries – fired torpedo pods carrying Afanc-class Gana that swam inside hull breaches made by more conventional torpedoes, catching unfortunate seamen in painful death rolls. Entire treatises could and have been written of the controlled scramble of GDI vessels to avoid the torpedoes, about the heroics of Talay Khan's Firehawks, who twisted and turned and died and delivered payloads between laser sweeper fire, taking down two Berberokas and damaging three more.​

«A sound for sore ears. Blue Talons, support the remaining craft in the airspace. Push the Brotherhood armada back!»

But all eyes were on the dueling flagships, even as the Governor Salavat slipped beneath the waves after taking down the Berberoka Birsa Munda and the Ular Bayinnaung. It was a mid-range duel where railguns were deadlier but plasma more crippling. Each and every salvo from the combined plasma batteries of the Rajanaga and the attendant Naga-class Pyinsarupa and Navagunjara that struck the decks of the Initiative battleships irrevocably damaged the railgun turrets and point defenses in equal measure, even if the superstructures were left relatively intact. For fifteen minutes, the clash continued with no clear winner, even as all five vessels smoked and scorched with mounting damage visible. Neither side was so lucky – or unlucky, depending on point of view – as to suffer a catastrophe to equal their escorts' rapid demise. They were far too big, and too well armored, and (in the Brotherhood's case, with their choice of weaponry) paradoxically undamaging in the capital ship exchanges.
«Very well. Kappa Squadron, prepare AShMs»
But the equilibrium was always unstable. And at the 18 minute mark since the sinking of Raskolnikov, Pyinsarupa's main rudders were struck dead-on by Hallasan's three remaining unslagged railguns. More than that, GDI's cavalry were in the wings. The Blue Talons had entered the area of operations, and seemed ready to tip the scales. But unbeknownst to the GDI at the time, Bintang was ready to launch the second of her nocked arrows.​

\\ Lock-on Warning! Lock-on Warning! //
«Where did that come from?!»
«Below! All flights, evasive maneuvers now!»

Erupting from the waves were dozens of fighters: a new Barghest variant. Sleek extended teardrops with a central bulge for the cockpit ), water running off the split tail as they began to maneuver. Having been silent and hidden, running on their gravitic drives and tended to by submarines, they were finally ready to make their attack properly. From each, missiles reached up towards the Firehawks and Apollos above them, scattering GDI fighters amidst flurries of countermeasures and jammers. While few of the missiles found their marks, the Initiative fighter groups carried few air-to-air missiles of their own, most burdened down by AShMs. While these new Barghests – later given the designation "Kelpies" – were relatively few in number, with the Initiative having well over a three to one advantage in airframes, the advantage in terms of air to air firepower leaned severely in the Kelpies' favor, with only half as many missiles being launched in return, mostly from the Apollos as they emptied their internal bays.

For most of the history of guided missiles, the standard fuse has been a proximity device, derived from the VT fuses of the Second World War in many cases, with the warhead detonating up to several meters away from the aircraft, and producing kills from fragmentation. Here, the Kelpies drove straight through the missiles, heedless of the blasts that raged around them, their skin becoming pockmarked as fragments splashed against hulls. The squadrons closed, seeking the range for their plasma cannons to make hits. Diving against them were Apollo squadrons, autocannons blazing forth streaks of green as copper compounds in the base of every tenth round, a holdover from the days where the only way to target was with reflection and optics, flared and combusted. The rounds, mostly explosive and incendiaries, spattered against the hulls, with only the occasional armor piercing rounds punching through into the interiors.


Undeterred by the fire flailing around and on them, the Kelpies stuck to their formation, and as the Apollos began to climb out of their attack runs they made a salvo of parting shots, their own streaks of green plasma racing to meet the Initiative formation. While at this range (and with the rapidly changing kinematic situation) few of the shots made impact, a handful of Apollos began to spiral towards the sea – their airframes twisted by the blasts, many ablaze from secondary fires. But their real target – Firehawks by the dozen, nearly all loaded down with naval strike packages, missiles and bombs hanging heavy from their munitions pylons – was still ahead. With their missiles expended, the Kelpies were among the Firehawks like hawks against sparrows, burning through their targets with brutal efficiency. Attack groups punched down aircraft after aircraft. Rather than try to complete their strike, the Firehawks dumped their munitions, and those squadrons that had stratoboosters hit them to quickly climb out of the battle space and return to their home bases. Those who had not elected to mount boosters – in many cases to make space for more and heavier munitions – fell in large numbers as the Kelpies had free reign.

Antiaircraft missiles from the fleet, from ships that had survived the first clash, began to reach the dogfight soon afterwards. The much larger missiles, carrying over twice the payload of any air to air missile currently in use, were confounded by the Kelpies' superior maneuverability, with many failing to manage acceptable intercepts before running out of energy or losing their targets. Of the dozens of missiles poured into the battle space, only six managed to make contact – two of them producing glancing hits no more effective than any other missile had managed, three achieving some level of damage from a close ranged blast, and one actually downing a Kelpie, its proximity fuse failing and the secondary impact fuse touching off in contact with its target's hull.

---

Out west, while Bintang's surface fleet had been raging with all the fire and fury they could muster, dozens of black shapes slipped through the water. Quiet enough that they were effectively empty holes in a silent sea, they made five knots as they took their time. So long as the fleet was distracted, the damnable V-35s grounded or out of the way, they were safe here beneath the waves.

Eight hundred kilometers from the Home Islands of Japan the submarines rose to launch depths, before speaking. Savitr's fleet was hundreds of kilometers out of position to do anything, and so GDI's military and civilian operations across Japan lay defenseless before the barrage. A cruise missile, even a supersonic one, has a noticeable period of vulnerability even to a basic autocannon. Back in the Second World War, by June and July of 1944, just under twenty percent of all V1 attacks were being shot down by proximity-fused, radar-directed anti-aircraft guns across southeastern Britain. While a modern missile would be faster, harder to spot, and flying far lower, the same basic principle applies, with anti-aircraft emplacements and missile launchers creating curtains of fire to reduce the effectiveness of the attack. A ballistic missile, for a comparison, flies much higher, and by the time it arrives at the target it is well north of Mach 3, and depending on the model and course, can reach velocities north of Mach 5, and presents a very small target to the defenders below.

Early warning radar installations across the Japanese Home Islands registered launch after launch, and over the next minutes, helpless to do anything against the incoming fires, they could do nothing but sound the shelter alarms. As the rain reached its apex, it shattered into dozens of new contacts, raining down across the Tokyo prefecture. Most targeted military complexes, raining down on the naval bases, military barracks, munitions factories and the like. But while most such sites are sprawling complexes, some are scattered through residential neighborhoods, and dozens of missiles fell outside of actual targets – wayward munitions hit apartment blocks, shopping districts, and two fell on an enclosed park.

---

Savitr coughed at the smoke filling the CIC from blasted fuse boxes. Surges had blown out many of the lights. Tactical plots flickered and fuzzed. But the Fuji had survived. The same was much less true for the rest of the fleet. Multiple Governors had been sunk, and the other battleship had been blasted into scrap metal. The Fleet could, at best speed, make seven knots, hulls bleeding into the water. Around the group, hydrofoils – held back from the main engagement – swarmed, providing what aid they could to keep the ships afloat and functional. Others swept the waters, looking for survivors.

Bintang's fleet had been equally savaged, falling back, harried by GDI strike groups. The Rajanaga had been mauled when it sailed into the depths of the Initiative fleet, and had barely escaped destruction at their hands. It was a victory, but one that had required her to show many of her cards.

Sailing towards Tokyo harbor, the first thing the fleet saw was smoke still rising towards the heavens. While fire teams and damage control groups had brought most of the fires caused by secondary explosions under control, multiple tank farms had been devastated, burning months' worth of fuel production in hours. A dense haze still covered the area, smog the likes of which had not been seen for years. Coming into dock, the crew offloaded had to wear respirator masks to safely traverse the kilometers to their quarters as construction and repair crews swarmed over their ships. Many would take months to repair, if they could be repaired at all.


Australia

"Bless the Maker and His water.

Bless the coming and going of Him.

May His passage cleanse the world.

May He keep the world for His people. "
-Prayer of the Australian Brotherhood.
​

Despite the shipment of massive quantities of war materiel, the defense of Northern Australia has collapsed. While the southern offensive did have to take a significant breather after running out of steam in the previous months offensive, the other Initiative forces in the region were still fresh and able to pour on in from other positions, and with the drastic shortening of the lines concentrated Initiative assets were able to continue the offensive.

Partially this was a matter of training. While the local Brotherhood knew well the value of Stealth Tanks, Scorpions, and old-style Vertigo bombers and could use them well, newer assets like the Centurion were just that – new. And while they are certainly familiar with certain parts of the system, a Centurion as a whole is a very different beast to the Purifiers and Avatars that the Australians had used for decades. This in turn led to a number of catastrophic mistakes, where the Centurion – a substantially lighter and less capable walker – was expected to fight in the positions and roles of previous mechs, rather than as a main battle asset.

While a short overall thrust – less than a day's drive at top speed – GDI took well over two months to secure the territory. In a series of short pushes driving the enemy back carefully, GDI units rarely pushed forward more than ten or fifteen kilometers a day, instead focusing on maintaining the cordon and preventing breakthroughs as the increasingly desperate Australian Brotherhood launched counterattack after counterattack.

The port of Townsville became increasingly busy throughout the last quarter of the invasion, as an endless stream of ships attempted to pull men and materiel out of the region, often signalling that they were in the process of civil evacuation to avoid strike by GDI forces – especially the Aurora bombers that increasingly prowled the Coral, Arafura, Bismarck and Solomon seas, hunting for the naval forces that had so embarrassed GDI before.

The final real battles occurred just south of Townsville, where the Brotherhood of Nod chose to make a stand. With their mechanized forces depleted after a long winter campaign, many expended wastefully in poorly-done attempts to conduct fighting retreats. In the region, there are few real natural defenses for the Brotherhood to take advantage of, and while the Brotherhood had been able to bleed and stall GDI with a long campaign of hit and run tactics, and trading space for time, at Townsville they found they had no choice. To the north, the warm waters of the ocean; to the west, Tiberium; and to the east and south, GDI. Here, the Brotherhood had run out of space, especially because they had no other choice but to keep the port open and evacuate as many as they could.

When GDI arrived, the fighting quickly bogged down into tense urban combat. The Brotherhood had largely been reduced to using armored fighting vehicles in fixed positions and infantry units as the mobile assets. The remaining mechs were the only force that they had as a proper mobile reserve. By mid September, GDI had encircled the city, and had brought not just anti-shipping missiles but tube artillery within range of the port facilities, closing up operations with a last pair of cargo submarines leaving on the 17th. With the encirclement now complete, GDI demanded a surrender on the 18th, which was refused by the Brotherhood commander, and the bombardment began by the early afternoon. Barrages reduced much of the defenses south of the town to bouncing rubble, with over five hundred tubes firing for hours on end. At dawn of the next day, the offensive launched off, with two brigades attacking along the southern side of Lake Ross, and another three along the northern side, hammering into the Brotherhood's defensive positions. While lasers and conventional rounds lanced out from the entrenchments, the lasers spattered and skittered across the ablat, and for every round that went out from the Brotherhood, GDI responded with five; and the defenses rapidly crumbled. By the end of the day, GDI had taken up new positions on the outskirts of the city, and over much of the next week, Initiative forces dug the Brotherhood out of the town block by block and often room by room. By the end of the day on the 24th, the Brotherhood had either surrendered, died, or were on Magnetic Island, across an 8.5 kilometer strait. The position there was a fortress, dug deeply into the island, and while not self sustaining, nearly impossible to dig out without reducing the island completely. Operations instead slowed to a crawl. While beam cannons and dug in Spectres continue to lash out from deeply dug in positions, they were responded to by nearly ten times their weight in Initiative fires. Even so, the Brotherhood still holds the island, and there are currently no plans to try to dig them out. Rather, it will be a long slow siege until they break from the mental strain of constant low level shelling, or run out of food and supplies.

The effective end of Brotherhood resistance anywhere close to the Australian Blue Zone is a grand opportunity for the Initiative. While regions like Greenland have usually been free of the Brotherhood in any military capacity, they are also poorly populated, with the need to build massive housing and services complexes for even simpler facilities, let alone a project like the Nuuk Heavy Robotics foundry. Australia however is both far more pleasant to live in, and has the advantage of having a sizable home grown industrial, academic, and technological base. In the near future, rather than being a toehold on a continent mostly controlled by the Brotherhood, the Australian blue zone is likely to become a heavy industrial power house, including large shipbuilding, and in the north of Australia, space launch complexes. However, there are still practical challenges, not least of which is distance. While ships and aircraft are certainly fast, it is still quite the journey, across boundless tracts of open waves at best, and Brotherhood infested depths at worst.

 

[Blazblade]

OK so while Bintang was able to maul our fleet, she also had her forces mauled as well and now know a number of her new toys. Seems like we'll have to come up with new stuff ourselves to better counter her for next time.

Guess we can call that a narrow victory for NOD.

Also we should look to the missile strike on Tokyo as being key for developing additional defenses if possible or getting SADNs up.

Plus we've secured much of Australia save for that one island. So that's a plus.

 

[yeastmobile]

While regions like Greenland have usually been free of the Brotherhood in any military capacity, they are also poorly populated, with the need to build massive housing and services complexes for even simpler facilities, let alone a project like the Nuuk Heavy Robotics foundry.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: New Zealand

New Zealand: "Are we a joke to you?"

 

[Crazycryodude]

Kilometers below the squadron, a pair of Nagas, a tender, and a flotilla of destroyers were the intended target. As the bombs streaked down from the heavens, a blaze of incoming fire rushed the other way. One womped into shrapnel from a plasma blast. Others fell prey to lasers as they flashed time and time again. Countermissiles roared up from the destroyers, conic shapes barely steady as they rose on columns of flame and smoke. More of the incoming bombs fell prey to these weapons, but it was not enough. A destroyer nearly split in two as a bomb slashed into the roof of its forward turret before shattering the forecastle as the explosive detonated. A Naga had four splash nearly perfectly around her, buckling in the hull panels and tearing loose one of the screws as the ship began to limp. Other ships bucked and twisted as detonations ripped them apart. Kym however was already over the horizon, deep in the dark blue.

Click to shrink...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjmnq44H6Wo

 

[ConfusedCanuck]

So Bintang gave our Navy a bloody nose but from the looks of it we've more or less secured Australia for ourselves which is a major win for us.