Sterbelicht - One Sacrifice At A Time Against The Galaxy (40K)

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

  • Mercy (Diplomacy and Expansion)

    Votes: 166 76.9%

  • Ruthlessness (Kick the Duchy in the Balls)

    Votes: 51 23.6%

  • Thule (Yeeni Handholding and Piscarian Cuddling)

    Votes: 84 38.9%
  • Total voters
    216
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Weaving_Dreamer said:
I feel this is a MASSIVE oversight. We have a full chapter of Space Marines, we can spare a single company or even two for capturing the Megafreighters. Yes bringing full strength to bear is important but QM has stated we can both board and capture BOTH the ringyards and Megafreighters considering the 1000 Lamenters we have with us.
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I've made an edit to the effect of "If forces (including Lamenters) need to be detached to ensure their safe capture, they should be." I do want to reiterate that we spend 2 actions infiltrating the megafreighters. We have a ton of assets in place already and I'm going to leave the actual game-time decision of if more forces are necessary up to our people who have all of the actual information & have the direction that taking the megafreighters is top priority. This is effectively equivalent in my mind of @ing the QM and asking if those forces are necessary, then assigning them if they are.

Weaving_Dreamer said:
assigning a company or so to it would do wonder for speeding up that stuff. And so given this, you're assigning the Lamenters out of the fight so to speak? the stations consist of 2 SBG's worth of defenses so the defensive stations are fair but the rest of the enemy fleet being lowest priority?

plus this seems like it will seperate them from the rest of the SBG"s and leave them on their own and given the boarding focus, seems like a bad match up since the Dutchy are Torpedo swarm focus.
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How? The fight is going to involve the enemy fleet, the stations and the defense platforms? I'm assigning the Lamenters role in that fight, but not taking them out of it. And "lowest priority" doesn't mean "Don't board them if given a good opportunity." It means "If you have the choice, pick the stations/psytech ships/defense platforms/fleet in that order.

henkalv said:
The author has done a good job making the choice of admiral a hard one. Agree with not picking Ms Warcrimes even though she would be the most effective.

Choosing between effective enough but risking blowing up the space station shiny, and a maybe ineffective drama queen is hard.

In the end I think I will forgo the space station shiny if that is how it must be in order to have a smooth operation, and vote for:
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I think they're all good options. We're choosing the level of flair vs. by the book. I'm quite surprised by the description of Huntress as "Ms Warcrimes." To me she reads as "A lot of aggression in a small package" and that's exactly what we need here.
Edit: Oh, you meant K541. Fair enough.

I'll note that the plan emphasizes catching the enemy by surprise to emphasize the effect of our infiltration. We want to go in at full speed to catch them with their pants down so that when our sabotage kicks off it is even more effective, and we can capture ships and sow discord as fast as possible. I think Mr. Shiny Pants is much more likely to proceed slowly, cautiously and by the book, therefore wasting the advantage of surprise and not synergizing as well with the infiltration we've done.
 
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Yeah I think the Lamenters can direct appropriate forces to their priorities then move onto fleet actions or ground assault after without us micromanaging them.
 
Vote closed
  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by HeroCooky on Jul 17, 2024 at 10:34 AM, finished with 25 posts and 17 votes.
    • [X] PLAN: Luminary Assault
      -[X] Admiral Huntress Of The Black Awning
      --[X] Hire an actor-diplomat (with military experience) who is ridiculously photogenic to serve as the "Demand Surrenders" Admiral, with a fake rank and a bunch of nonsense rank markings, medals, and etc. For those silly Xenophobes.
      --[X] The Void Battle of Voxx Primus The priority for the battle of Voxx Primus is to rapidly pacify the system.
      ---[X] Main Battle Fleet. The Primary battlefleet shall consist of all 5 system Battle Groups available to us as well as the Lamenters. The hope is to catch the enemy by surprise as much as possible. and enable a rapid and complete destruction of all van Zandt void forces and complete control of the Voxx Primus system to facilitate invasion operations and allow the entire fleet to proceed further into van Zandt space as quickly as possible with minimal void forces left behind.
      ----[X] Flyssa-class Destroyers The Operation is provided with 15 choirs, each aboard their own Leo-class Vanguard Heavy Cruiser, primarily to blunt the assumed destructive psytech capabilities of the Flyssa-class ships. Use these resources as you see fit.
      ----[X] Megafreighters The megafreighters 'Trusty Delivery,' 'On-Time Hallowed Foods,' and 'Bulk Discounts Need Not Apply' have been heavily infiltrated and should not require additional forces to capture, but their safe capture is of the highest priority. If forces (including Lamenters) need to be detached to ensure their safe capture, they should be.
      ---[X] Lamenter Boarding Operations The Lamenters should focus on rapid, aggressive boarding actions, especially of the ringyards (whose shield generators will be deactivated to facilitate boarding), with secondary priority assigned to the Flyssa-class & the Hallowed Cog of Creation and tertiary to the defensive stations, with the rest of the enemy fleet being lowest priority.
      ---[X] Invasion Fleet The invasion fleet is to follow closely behind the main battle fleet, with the goal of beginning the ground invasion as quickly as possible without undue risk to our ground forces. We are prepared for the upcoming conflict, they are not.
      ----[X] Independent Operations Task Force If possible, the Chamleons may begin ground landings during the void battle, landing units to catch the defenders by surprise and allow early gains.
      ----[X] Task Fleet Alpha The primary trooplift capability of the Federation, Task Fleet Alpha is to occupy the orbitals as soon as they are pacified and begin ground operations. To ensure speedy arrival, they will be assigned Rustbuckets which will return to federation space once the mission is underway. Three Taurus's will split off to proceed to Voxx Secundus if that operation continues, and one more needs to return to Federation space to pick up the last System Army Groups that we don't have trooplift capacity for, but the rest should remain over Voxx Primus to provide orbital fire support unless threatened.
      --[X] The Void Battle of Voxx Secundus
      ---[X] IF more than two SBGs worth of void combatants are still combat-ready & unneeded to contest Voxx Primus space against remaining Van Zandt units, then proceed with the invasion of Voxx Secundus. If significant forces will be freed up by waiting for clean-up & minor repairs, then the admiral on the scene can make the call with the knowledge that the capture of Voxx Secundus is vital to our strategic objectives.
      ---[X] The Lamenters should accompany the fleet into Voxx Secundus to assist in boarding and capturing the infastructure necessary for loading the megafreighters.
      ---[X] This battle should focus on not destroying the infrastructure necessary for loading the megafreighters, and facilitating invasion of the three agriworlds to capture them with their food production capabilities as intact as possible.
      --[X] The Void Battle of Echish
      ---[X] IF more than two SBGs worth of void combatants are still combat-ready & unneeded to contest Voxx Primus and Voxx Secundus Space, the invasion of Echish space should proceed, though this can be overridden by the Admiral depending on their assesment of the Flyssa-class destroyers, especially since the fleet will no longer have spare Choirs aboard the Leos.
      ---[X] The goal of the Echish battle is to destroy void infrastructure and control territory to gain a strategic advantage against van Zandt, not to invade the planet until the invasion of Voxx Primus or Secundus has swung decisively in our favor. It is intended that Echish be abandoned in the face of major counterattack if it would be more advantageous to fight that force in Voxx Secundus.
      ---[X] The Lamenters should accompany the fleet into Echish, after which they are free to return to Voxx Primus to assist in the ground invasion.
      ---[X] If we were unable to capture a Flyssa-class ship in Voxx Primus, this engagement presents a second chance, and depending on lessons learned it is still considered a high priority to capture one of those ships intact, and they are high-priority targets for the Lamenters.
      --[X] Preparation for Counterattack
      ---[X] Once the void battle is complete, immediate preparations should be made for heavy counterattack by van Zandt forces. This includes preparation of defensive lines & ambush points in Voxx Secundus and Echish, mining of mandeville points and prioritizing moving damaged ships at least as far back as Voxx Primus and repairing/resupplying ships to bring them back to combat readiness.
      [X] Plan: Presenting a Perfectly Proficient and Polished Premier
      -[X] Admiral Elabaster Jakobinius Otruna
      --[X] The Void Battle of Voxx Primus The priority for the battle of Voxx Primus is to rapidly pacify the system.
      ---[X] Main Battle Fleet. The Primary battlefleet shall consist of all 5 system Battle Groups available to us as well as the Lamenters. The hope is to catch the enemy by surprise as much as possible. and enable a rapid and complete destruction of all van Zandt void forces and complete control of the Voxx Primus system to facilitate invasion operations and allow the entire fleet to proceed further into van Zandt space as quickly as possible with minimal void forces left behind.
      ----[X] Flyssa-class Destroyers The Operation is provided with 15 choirs, each aboard their own Leo-class Vanguard Heavy Cruiser, primarily to blunt the assumed destructive psytech capabilities of the Flyssa-class ships. Use these resources as you see fit.
      ----[X] Megafreighters The megafreighters 'Trusty Delivery,' 'On-Time Hallowed Foods,' and 'Bulk Discounts Need Not Apply' have been heavily infiltrated and should not require additional forces to capture, but their safe capture is of the highest priority. If forces need to be detached to ensure their safe capture, they should be.
      ---[X] Lamenter Boarding Operations The Lamenters should focus on rapid, aggressive boarding actions, especially of the ringyards (whose shield generators will be deactivated to facilitate boarding), with secondary priority assigned to the Flyssa-class & the Hallowed Cog of Creation and tertiary to the defensive stations, with the rest of the enemy fleet being lowest priority.
      ---[X] Invasion Fleet The invasion fleet is to follow closely behind the main battle fleet, with the goal of beginning the ground invasion as quickly as possible without undue risk to our ground forces. We are prepared for the upcoming conflict, they are not.
      ----[X] Independent Operations Task Force If possible, the Chamleons may begin ground landings during the void battle, landing units to catch the defenders by surprise and allow early gains.
      ----[X] Task Fleet Alpha The primary trooplift capability of the Federation, Task Fleet Alpha is to occupy the orbitals as soon as they are pacified and begin ground operations. To ensure speedy arrival, they will be assigned Rustbuckets which will return to federation space once the mission is underway. Three Taurus's will split off to proceed to Voxx Secundus if that operation continues, and one more needs to return to Federation space to pick up the last System Army Groups that we don't have trooplift capacity for, but the rest should remain over Voxx Primus to provide orbital fire support unless threatened.
      --[X] The Void Battle of Voxx Secundus
      ---[X] IF more than two SBGs worth of void combatants are still combat-ready & unneeded to contest Voxx Primus space against remaining Van Zandt units, then proceed with the invasion of Voxx Secundus. If significant forces will be freed up by waiting for clean-up & minor repairs, then the admiral on the scene can make the call with the knowledge that the capture of Voxx Secundus is vital to our strategic objectives.
      ---[X] The Lamenters should accompany the fleet into Voxx Secundus to assist in boarding and capturing the infastructure necessary for loading the megafreighters.
      ---[X] This battle should focus on not destroying the infrastructure necessary for loading the megafreighters, and facilitating invasion of the three agriworlds to capture them with their food production capabilities as intact as possible.
      --[X] The Void Battle of Echish
      ---[X] IF more than two SBGs worth of void combatants are still combat-ready & unneeded to contest Voxx Primus and Voxx Secundus Space, the invasion of Echish space should proceed, though this can be overridden by the Admiral depending on their assesment of the Flyssa-class destroyers, especially since the fleet will no longer have spare Choirs aboard the Leos.
      ---[X] The goal of the Echish battle is to destroy void infrastructure and control territory to gain a strategic advantage against van Zandt, not to invade the planet until the invasion of Voxx Primus or Secundus has swung decisively in our favor. It is intended that Echish be abandoned in the face of major counterattack if it would be more advantageous to fight that force in Voxx Secundus.
      ---[X] The Lamenters should accompany the fleet into Echish, after which they are free to return to Voxx Primus to assist in the ground invasion.
      ---[X] If we were unable to capture a Flyssa-class ship in Voxx Primus, this engagement presents a second chance, and depending on lessons learned it is still considered a high priority to capture one of those ships intact, and they are high-priority targets for the Lamenters.
      --[X] Preparation for Counterattack
      ---[X] Once the void battle is complete, immediate preparations should be made for heavy counterattack by van Zandt forces. This includes preparation of defensive lines & ambush points in Voxx Secundus and Echish, mining of mandeville points and prioritizing moving damaged ships at least as far back as Voxx Primus and repairing/resupplying ships to bring them back to combat readiness.
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  • Voting
    • 863.M42 - A Simple Command
  • Threadmarks
    • Reality thunders, the twin-gods of time and space are sundered in their eternal sovereignty over the materium they rule, and wounds festering with emotions running rampant open within the outer edge of Voxx Primuse, a thousand sensor specialists suddenly seeing shock after shock on their systems, just as millions more are roused from their cots and beds, "all hands on deck!" repeating endlessly as ship, station, and ground become hives of activity.

    And then, like pockmarks on the dying embers of an age, the grasping fingers of Warp Predators tear and scrabble at the edges of the rips within the Veil, their howls and snapping maws heard and seen by those Psykers capable of perceiving their malicious noise just as the Psyker-Lord of Primus begins to rouse his cadre of followers and acolytes for the fights ahead that shall come, as foreseen by the Tarot.

    But the predators are beaten back, their mad scramble for reality ended...and replaced with the thunderous flares of engines burning against the void of reality, blazing stars born one after another, then by the twos, then dozens, until nearly three hundred engines bellow stardust and primal fury of stars contained, their shapes of the feared enemy that had never materialized from beyond Primus, with pinpricks of lights glinting like echoing embers across their formations.

    And aboard the 'Paths We Year' High Admiral Huntress Of The Black Awning lays coiled, her eyes calmly looking at the readouts of the mightiest fleet assembled and encountered in the history of the Glimmering Federation flying under her command and guide. Engines bellow against lethargic hulls; sensors trample all that stands between them and the foe; weapons eagerly dream and dread the moment when they shall start the symphony of war, and over eight thousand strike craft idly slumber in their holds, ready to wake at her command.

    She closed her eyes and took a breath; emotions suppressed for weeks now surging through her body that, if she had been capable of doing so, would have made her shiver at what was to come.

    Instead, Huntress opened her eyes and gave a simple command:


    "Open Communications-"
    (6-Hour Moratorium)
    [] "-to the Fleet. I will deliver a speech for war, a speech to glorious death, and a speech to liberation!"
    (You will approach silently. Damages enemy morale. This will have unintended consequences.)

    [] "-to the enemy Fleet. They shall know their doom's name and their age's end!"
    (You will openly declare who you are and why you have brought war to their shores. Improves Morale. This will have unintended consequences.
    Warning: x0.25 Voting Weight Attached.)



    Glimmering Federation​

    Federation Navy:
    4x Proof of Our New Path Battlecolony

    16x Leo-Class Vanguard Cruiser

    40x Libra-Quartus Light Carrier
    28x Scorpio-Class Light Cruiser
    2x Endeavour Light Cruiser

    24x Crux-Secundus Class Heavy Frigate
    9x Words of the Writ-Class Frigate
    4x Sagitarrius-Secundus Lance Frigate
    2x Falchion-class Frigate

    19x Lupus-Secundus Torpedo Destroyer
    2x Viper-Class Missile Destroyer
    2x Cobra Destroyers

    18x Aries-Secundus Class Corvette

    9x Taurus-S Troopship (45/45 SAG Capacity)
    13x Chamleon-Class Infiltration Carrier (13/13 SAG Capacity)


    Lamenters:
    1x Eternal Promise-Class Temple Ship (4/8 Companies)
    2x Thunderous Wings-Class Heavy Cruiser (2/8 Companies)
    4x Bloody Sunrise-Class Light Cruiser (1/8 Companies)
    4x Bloody Sunset-Class Light Cruiser (1/8 Companies)
    6x Lantern Bearer Mk.2-Class Commandeering Ship (1/6 Companies)
    2x Risen Dirge-Class Boarding Ship (1/2 Companies)
    5x Loyalty's Bloom-Class Scout Destroyer
    6x Resurgence Mk.2-Class Torpedo Hunter (0/3 Companies)


    Totals: 222


    Van Zandt Free Duchy​

    Van Zandt Navy:
    9x Dauntless Mk1 Light Cruiser
    8x Lancer Light Cruiser (1x Prow Lance, 1x Lance Battery, 1x Lance Turret)
    19x Shatterpoint Heavy Frigates (3x Macro-Cannon Turrets)
    22x Falchion Frigates
    11x Sword Frigates
    42x Cobra Destroyers
    4x Flyssa Destroyers


    Voxx Primus SDF:
    2x Ultra-Heavy Monitors (Heavy Cruiser Equivalent)
    11x Heavy Monitors (Light Cruiser Equivalent)
    38x Medium Monitors (Frigate Equivalent)
    52x Light Monitors (Destroyer Equivalent)
    Numerous Void Defense Stations.

    Totals: 218
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Goodness, if they didn't spec their ships for maximum speed, our Leos are going to do murderous things to them. Three rapid fire heavy macrocannon turrets is a scary, scary thing when mounted onto a ship with higher acceleration than any stock Imperial Heavy Cruiser.
     
    Alectai said:
    Goodness, if they didn't spec their ships for maximum speed, our Leos are going to do murderous things to them. Three rapid fire heavy macrocannon turrets is a scary, scary thing when mounted onto a ship with higher acceleration than any stock Imperial Heavy Cruiser.
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    Eh, the enemy only has 2 Heavy Cruiser's in their fleet, everything else is lighter.

    We might be able to catch some of the Light Cruisers, but that'd be about it.µ

    Depends on what their captain does of course. They're likely to to try and stop us from landing on Vox Primus, so they might be forced to engage regardless of speed differential.
     
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    Unintended Consequences happen either way, the question is which one we're willing to gamble with.

    But yeah, on paper, this is a large mismatch in our favor. The numbers are on their side, but the tonnage is decisively on ours. Even a worst case scenario where the Flyssa-class Destroyers can just do tactical warp-jumps to just teleport into our back lines and murder all of our Andromedas and then teleport away to do it again against all of our long range ships while our interceptor screen is utterly impotent to stop them, that shouldn't be enough to change the outcome of the battle, since retreat into friendly space is a lot easier than retreat into hostile space, and if they try that shit against our Libras, they're going to run face-first into their CVP, and I refuse to believe something with that kind of mobility will also be able to burst something two size categories heavier than it before its CVP can mobilize to eradicate it.

    EDIT: They have to engage us, what I'm worried about is the other side having enough scoot to kite our Leos indefinitely without conceding advantage to our frontline or exposing themselves to Libra strike wings. If Heavy Cruisers were completely incapable of being relevant in a battle because anything lighter than them could trivially kite them, I don't think anyone would ever build them, and our Leos are faster than any known Imperial Heavy Cruiser in the book.
     
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    Well damn this is going to cause doctrinal changes to our navy and army I can feel it already given the sheer size and scale of the fight about to take place.

    Besides that I am leaning towards not contacting them given this early into the fight they'll probably not be wiling to surrender peacefully.
     
    ConfusedCanuck said:
    Well damn this is going to cause doctrinal changes to our navy and army I can feel it already given the sheer size and scale of the fight about to take place.

    Besides that I am leaning towards not contacting them given this early into the fight they'll probably not be wiling to surrender peacefully.
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    I mean, it's not the people currently in charge we'd be talking to... consider this.

    Actually, fuck.

    @HeroCooky , how many people involved in the revolt even KNOW about us?
     
    10ebbor10 said:
    Yeah, I initially missed that, but the Leo seems like it's faster than any of the enemy light cruisers we identified?
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    Hard to say, I don't think we've ever gotten a sheet for even Imperial standard Light Cruisers, let alone their Heavy Cruisers.

    That being said, you don't need to be as fast as the other guy except in a stern chase, if they're ever shooting at you, they're not accelerating away from you, which means you're closing the distance on them, and that distance can't be made up for later without spending a very long time running away, and our ships have better turning speed than theirs do thanks to Superior Gravimetric, so any delta-V they lose shooting at us isn't going to even start being made up for until quite a bit later.

    Meanwhile, our Leos can concentrate their entire armament forward as an intentional design goal, as long as they can get "Close enough", they can wreak a grim harvest. They're not quite as well suited to win a broadside duel as Imperial ships are, but they have a much easier time getting past your battle line and swiveling to attack your aft sector, where almost nothing has the ability to shoot back.
     
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    The Laurent said:
    I mean, it's not the people currently in charge we'd be talking to... consider this.

    Actually, fuck.
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    Ah yeah I assume that our agents are waiting for some sort of signal to strike but if we never said what that signal is then we might have a problem.

    Or if the followers recruited on world even know that the incoming fleet are their ally's that they've been waiting for.
     
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    ConfusedCanuck said:
    Ah yeah I assume that our agents are waiting for some sort of signal to strike but if we never said what that signal is then we might have a problem.

    Or if the followers recruited on world even know that the incoming fleet are their ally's that they've been waiting for.
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    I'm sure the people in charge probably know by this point, but I have to wonder... because we can't actually have let it spread before the Revolt began too far, because of how vital OpSec is.
     
    [] "-to the enemy Fleet. They shall know their doom's name and their age's end!"
    (You will openly declare who you are and why you have brought war to their shores. Improves Morale. This will have unintended consequences.
    Warning: x0.25 Voting Weight Attached.)

    I don't want them fighting a total war. They'll learn soon enough regardless.

    Picio said:
    I say we declare ourselves so they don't think we are some omnicidal xenos or something.
    Better chance of surrenders that way.
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    Yeah, I definitely support this. This is why we have the actor on board. I want the imperials to have a niggling doubt that they won't all die and might actually do ok if they surrender. I have the feeling if we just continue as the mysterious Xenos then they'll fight like it's total war, while they'll be more ok with surrendering if we show a human face.

    Hell, we could have the Lamenters send a message too.

    The Laurent said:
    I mean, it's not the people currently in charge we'd be talking to... consider this.
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    Every captain will get it, along with all of the leaders of the void stations. And probably a lot of people on the surface. We might even get some of the nobles thinking about joining us if things go badly for them at the start.

    HeroCooky said:
    Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be trying to figure out how to break down the MONUMENTAL SPACE BATTLE that is about to occur.
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    Have fun! I hope it goes well.
     
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