If you just swapped out one for a Solarium Forge then the plan would be perfect.
The Reluctant Vassal's Guide to Living in the Frontier (with some Treason)
- Thread starter Celeshiro
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
Thank you, fixes and adjustments have been added!
Nope, you could even begin colonizing without exploring it if you really want to rush it. Just make sure you don't breath in the air too deeply.
I think I'll make it so that you get more Goodwill from missions when they're trading/allied to you, but I don't want to do a passive Goodwill income. Maintaining a relationship should be an aspect to diplomacy, especially if you want to remain friends despite disagreeing on politics.
Only you. I am keeping each House's stats tracked on a different level, but that's for world consistency and event triggering.
It probably is where the solarium would arrive, and also where the resources/supplies for the alloy is exported from. Likely something akin to a Mass Driver/Catcher system for swift and uninterrupted flow. If it gets cut off, the Solarium Forge is rendered inoperational (but not destroyed unless it is).
Nope, your people have definitely learned from the last time and have made it an extremely difficult nut to crack from the outside. However, this comes at needing a constant flow of resources from the ground, hence the necessity of the facility. The Solarium Forge can only be lost if the city it is on is lost.
- Location
- 'Straya mate.
[X] Plan Maximum Expansion (safely)
-[X] [Character] Violet d'Iris, Solar Queen
--[X] [Stewardship] Construct Post. Utilize some empty space in a city to build an independent facility. Cost varies. Each building post may only be built once per city.
---[X] Bastion
----[X] Sunrise Bank. Accounts now guaranteed under government-subsidized insurance! Open an account today, withdraw your money a galaxy away! Increases Wealth by three (3). Decreases Resources by one (1). Requires four (4) progress.
-[X] [Character] Radana, Camellia Knight
--[X] [Learning] System Expedition. Organize a research and scout team to travel afar and study a system beyond your current borders. They will conduct a full survey and report back anything of interest. Requires minimum two (2) progress, time may increase based on system size.
-----[X] Calenwyrm
-[X] [Character] Dorothea, Lycoris Knight.
--[X] [Learning] System Expedition.
-----[X] Asenmach
As always if you have any questions, critiques, or alternate plans, please share!
-[X] [Character] Violet d'Iris, Solar Queen
--[X] [Stewardship] Construct Post. Utilize some empty space in a city to build an independent facility. Cost varies. Each building post may only be built once per city.
---[X] Bastion
----[X] Sunrise Bank. Accounts now guaranteed under government-subsidized insurance! Open an account today, withdraw your money a galaxy away! Increases Wealth by three (3). Decreases Resources by one (1). Requires four (4) progress.
-[X] [Character] Radana, Camellia Knight
--[X] [Learning] System Expedition. Organize a research and scout team to travel afar and study a system beyond your current borders. They will conduct a full survey and report back anything of interest. Requires minimum two (2) progress, time may increase based on system size.
-----[X] Calenwyrm
-[X] [Character] Dorothea, Lycoris Knight.
--[X] [Learning] System Expedition.
-----[X] Asenmach
I want to get Radana onto colonising another system soon. Ideally Asenmach if we're not worried about House Tyto, but otherwise Calenwyrm for its strategic utility and closeness to Andernia. Relative priorities are of course subject to what is discovered in each system, and if we want to discuss settlement with House Tyto before we do it. I do want to build the Forge with Kat since she's the best at Stewardship and I don't really want to start researching until we've maxed out our Wealth with as many banks as we can build. That means we won't start research for at least a few cycles. Tentatively looking at around cycle 18, depending on what is unlocked by the Forge.
If anyone does vote for "BUSINESS IS BOOMING" though, then ily and we are kindred spirits. I love improving economies in games!
If anyone does vote for "BUSINESS IS BOOMING" though, then ily and we are kindred spirits. I love improving economies in games!
Last edited:
[X] Plan: Building Back Better
-[X] [Character] Violet d'Iris, Solar Queen
--[X] [Stewardship] Construct Chain.
---[X] New Helm
----[X] Solarium Forge
-[X] [Character] Radana, Camellia Knight.
--[X] [Stewardship] Develop City. Expand the outreaches of the urban jungle, developing infrastructure and encouraging greater urban incorporation to grow a settlement taller. Increase Industry by one (1). Requires two (2) progress.
---[X] New Helm
-[X] [Character] Dorothea, Lycoris Knight.
--[X] [Stewardship] Develop City. Expand the outreaches of the urban jungle, developing infrastructure and encouraging greater urban incorporation to grow a settlement taller. Increase Industry by one (1). Requires two (2) progress.
---[X] New Helm
-[X] [Character] Violet d'Iris, Solar Queen
--[X] [Stewardship] Construct Chain.
---[X] New Helm
----[X] Solarium Forge
-[X] [Character] Radana, Camellia Knight.
--[X] [Stewardship] Develop City. Expand the outreaches of the urban jungle, developing infrastructure and encouraging greater urban incorporation to grow a settlement taller. Increase Industry by one (1). Requires two (2) progress.
---[X] New Helm
-[X] [Character] Dorothea, Lycoris Knight.
--[X] [Stewardship] Develop City. Expand the outreaches of the urban jungle, developing infrastructure and encouraging greater urban incorporation to grow a settlement taller. Increase Industry by one (1). Requires two (2) progress.
---[X] New Helm
Last edited:
- Location
- 'Straya mate.
This is a cool plan! However, this section is invalid. New Helm can have 5 buildings and currently has 5, plus the free one from being the capital. Dinadan and Gawain are the other options for if you still want to build on Andernia IV. You can see what has been built on each planet and in each city under the Informational "Capital System Andernia". Also the action to build the Forge is "construct chain" not "construct post". I hope that helps.
-[ ] [Character] Violet d'Iris, Solar Queen
--[ ] [Stewardship] Construct Chain. Meet with contractors and build a new specific industry in the system. Cost varies. Each building chain may only be built once per system.
---[ ] Gawain
----[ ] Solarium Forge. A monastery-forge that orbits around the local star, the only place in which the secret alloy of the Helmsmen may be created by skilled Prisms. It is both a place of worship and a place of industry at the same time, producing sacred solarium for use across the stars. Increases Resources and Influence by five (5). Requires five (5) progress.
--[ ] [Stewardship] Construct Chain. Meet with contractors and build a new specific industry in the system. Cost varies. Each building chain may only be built once per system.
---[ ] Gawain
----[ ] Solarium Forge. A monastery-forge that orbits around the local star, the only place in which the secret alloy of the Helmsmen may be created by skilled Prisms. It is both a place of worship and a place of industry at the same time, producing sacred solarium for use across the stars. Increases Resources and Influence by five (5). Requires five (5) progress.
Last edited:
- Location
- 'Straya mate.
New Helm is currently at ten Industry. Raising it by one will not increase it's building limit as per the below quote.
As a separate note, Celeshiro, may I please request the info in that post (including how building chains and posts work) be added to the "stellar stat breakdown" or made it's own informational? I can still find it regardless but most folks probably won't know where to look, particularly newer readers.
Last edited:
Name: Amiger Security Section
Origin: hailing from the planet Bum'Fuk'Nohwere the Amiger family has made a fortune on bringing overwhelming firepower and unusual tactics, with Mike and Stacy Amiger retiring is it up to the new generation to find fortune and fame amongst the stars. sanity not with-standing
Backstory: the Amiger Security Section is made up of five regiments, each with their own brand of crazy. all of whom is of-cause up hire, for money, tech, or goods.
Name: "Tim's Templar's"
Backstory: led by the youngest of the Amigers the "Templar's" specialize in take and hold actions. take as in charge head long into fire, and hold as in spraying plasma in every direction, somehow this works. note: special care should be taken as they are known to take souvenirs from both enemy's and allies alike
Equipment: due to their leader's phobia of darkness, the "Templar's" use the MK48 "Star-Caster" revolving plasma rifle and the MK19 "light-trebuchet" revolving plasma artillery gun
Unit Type: 2 infantry, 1 artillery with 1 Mechanized attached
Name: "Amy's Angels"
Backstory: led by the second youngest, this all-female unit, certainly lives up to their name, by their unique and creative use of counter measures making any attempt at targeting with mk1 eyeballs a challenge and rendering electronic targeting useless. note: special care should be given to educate one's own forces as to the importance of protection.
Equipment: due to their leader's need for loudness, their mk15 seraphim are equipped with the mk7 boom-blaster and the mk23 shirker guided bomb
Unit Type: 2 squadrons of bombers
Name: "Brian's bastards"
Backstory: led by the third youngest, the all-male "bastards" are best used for breakthroughs and assaulting fortification positions, though they do have a tendency to outrun their employees logistics, hence why they have their own. note: special care should be taken to make sure one's own forces are not in the "bastards" line of advance.
Equipment: due to their leader's need for speed the "bastards" main-battle tank is equipped with prototype speed boosters. their logistical vehicles like wise are equipped with speed-loaders making rearming a quick matter.
Unit Type: 3 Armored, 1 Mechanized serving as logistics.
Name: "heather's hellions"
Backstory: led by fourth youngest, the "hellions" use various medications to further their ability in the cockpit, as such they excel at dog-fighting. note: special care should be taken as to educate one's own troops as to dangers of drug usage.
Equipment: standard mk62 air/space superiority fighter, the only modifications is auto-injectors in the cockpit
Unit Type: two wings of fighters
Name: "Cochran's Conquest"
Backstory: captained by the oldest Amiger, the drop-fortress "Conquest" and its disciplined crew can be counted to make a beach head anywhere. note: please make sure that there are no areas of importance, in or around the targeted landing zone.
Equipment: the "conquest" is a feather-fall class drop-fortress, equipped with mk10 auto-lasers, mk7 phalanx flak cannons, mk3 aegis defense shield, and mk26 28-pounder rail cannons. it's coronal form makes it unsuited for ship to ship combat
Unit Type: 1 naval special
Origin: hailing from the planet Bum'Fuk'Nohwere the Amiger family has made a fortune on bringing overwhelming firepower and unusual tactics, with Mike and Stacy Amiger retiring is it up to the new generation to find fortune and fame amongst the stars. sanity not with-standing
Backstory: the Amiger Security Section is made up of five regiments, each with their own brand of crazy. all of whom is of-cause up hire, for money, tech, or goods.
Name: "Tim's Templar's"
Backstory: led by the youngest of the Amigers the "Templar's" specialize in take and hold actions. take as in charge head long into fire, and hold as in spraying plasma in every direction, somehow this works. note: special care should be taken as they are known to take souvenirs from both enemy's and allies alike
Equipment: due to their leader's phobia of darkness, the "Templar's" use the MK48 "Star-Caster" revolving plasma rifle and the MK19 "light-trebuchet" revolving plasma artillery gun
Unit Type: 2 infantry, 1 artillery with 1 Mechanized attached
Name: "Amy's Angels"
Backstory: led by the second youngest, this all-female unit, certainly lives up to their name, by their unique and creative use of counter measures making any attempt at targeting with mk1 eyeballs a challenge and rendering electronic targeting useless. note: special care should be given to educate one's own forces as to the importance of protection.
Equipment: due to their leader's need for loudness, their mk15 seraphim are equipped with the mk7 boom-blaster and the mk23 shirker guided bomb
Unit Type: 2 squadrons of bombers
Name: "Brian's bastards"
Backstory: led by the third youngest, the all-male "bastards" are best used for breakthroughs and assaulting fortification positions, though they do have a tendency to outrun their employees logistics, hence why they have their own. note: special care should be taken to make sure one's own forces are not in the "bastards" line of advance.
Equipment: due to their leader's need for speed the "bastards" main-battle tank is equipped with prototype speed boosters. their logistical vehicles like wise are equipped with speed-loaders making rearming a quick matter.
Unit Type: 3 Armored, 1 Mechanized serving as logistics.
Name: "heather's hellions"
Backstory: led by fourth youngest, the "hellions" use various medications to further their ability in the cockpit, as such they excel at dog-fighting. note: special care should be taken as to educate one's own troops as to dangers of drug usage.
Equipment: standard mk62 air/space superiority fighter, the only modifications is auto-injectors in the cockpit
Unit Type: two wings of fighters
Name: "Cochran's Conquest"
Backstory: captained by the oldest Amiger, the drop-fortress "Conquest" and its disciplined crew can be counted to make a beach head anywhere. note: please make sure that there are no areas of importance, in or around the targeted landing zone.
Equipment: the "conquest" is a feather-fall class drop-fortress, equipped with mk10 auto-lasers, mk7 phalanx flak cannons, mk3 aegis defense shield, and mk26 28-pounder rail cannons. it's coronal form makes it unsuited for ship to ship combat
Unit Type: 1 naval special
I mean, I'm pretty sure humanity absolutely would tack that on just to mess with people's heads. But my, what a collection of different merc units. Wonder if competition for contracts between the siblings is fierce.
Don't think true plasma weapons would be fair for infantry/artillery, so maybe these are hybrid rounds? Something that is definitely just as flashy but not the full heat of the stars treatment.
These ladies must be very popular for being tapped to act as SEAD aircraft. Can't fault them there.
Speedy tanks huh? That's going to be the nightmare of several infantry commanders.
Well, dogfighting in the air can be quite an adrenaline kick. Might as well ride that high all the way.
It'd actually be a ground special if it cannot fight in naval engagements. Honestly, I can't get the image of anything other than Union dropship out off my head about this, and those can be nasty in their own right.
[X] Plan: 3X (Explore, Expand, Exploit)
-[X] [Character] Violet d'Iris, Solar Queen
--[X] [Stewardship] Construct Chain.
---[X] Gawain
----[X] Solarium Forge.
-[X] [Character] Radana, Camellia Knight
--[X] [Learning] System Expedition.
-----[X] Calenwyrm
-[X] [Character] Dorothea, Lycoris Knight.
--[X] [Stewardship] Construct Post.
---[X] Gawain
----[X] Sunrise Bank.
This plan may be stretching us out, but the bank is for the sol agenda, we should get the solarium forge up and running, and we should see our new surroundings.
-[X] [Character] Violet d'Iris, Solar Queen
--[X] [Stewardship] Construct Chain.
---[X] Gawain
----[X] Solarium Forge.
-[X] [Character] Radana, Camellia Knight
--[X] [Learning] System Expedition.
-----[X] Calenwyrm
-[X] [Character] Dorothea, Lycoris Knight.
--[X] [Stewardship] Construct Post.
---[X] Gawain
----[X] Sunrise Bank.
This plan may be stretching us out, but the bank is for the sol agenda, we should get the solarium forge up and running, and we should see our new surroundings.
To be fair not every plasma you can make will be that hot.
eh i kinda was thinking to myself "whats the worst thing, you want on a night op" so it was either plasma or lasers, and i find lasers to be over used. so plasma it was.
- Location
- 'Straya mate.
Name: The Mecha-Idols
Origin: Originally from Nakatomi III, a highly urbanized world under the thumb of huge corporations, with the greatest of all being "House" Sunfall.
Backstory: Nakatomi III is a planet of bright lights, and many dark alleyways. Glittering advertisements hang over dingy bars, vibrant nightclubs, and backroom "meatshops" - cybernetic augmentation bays. Several cycles ago, the capital metropolis of Sundown City, ruled by Sunfall Inc. and it's many partnered corps, was rocked by the latest of the great corpo-wars.
Sunfall was set upon by a host of smaller corporations, including many "alley-corps", essentially streetgangs. The war was eventually resolved in Sunfall's favour due to the most bizarre of circumstances, when one of Sunfall's many subsidiaries - an experimental cybernetics company called "Gloss Augments" - acquired one of the neutral alley-corps - "The Undersingers" - an all-female group of thugs who had made a name for themselves due to their fast-paced, glitzy style and musical performances. From this fusion arose the Mecha-Idols, a heavily augmented, incredibly bloodthirsty, and blindingly pink PMC/pop-supergroup. Their livestreamed concerts and battles soon rose to the forefront of popular culture on Nakatomi III - winning Sunfall many new allies and allowing them to drive off their attackers. They are lead by the world-famous "Mecha-Chan" and her mysterious Manager, whose original identities are both unknown. At the war's conclusion, she requested that she and her girls be allowed to tour off-world in order to keep their bloodlust sated and their audience glued to their screens. You will be hard-pressed to find a more bizarre or vicious group of mercenaries in the entire galaxy.
Equipment: "Superstar" pattern war-forms - fast, durable, and larger than life. The Mecha-Idols are all heavily augmented but will transform/equip themselves into the Superstar war-forms before going into battle. Each of the Mecha-Idols has their own devoted following and unique look.
"Concert" pattern audio systems. The means by which the Mecha-Idols record their music and their battles. Hearing their enemy constantly singing about how death will come for them has a seriously demoralizing effect on enemy units. Survivors consistently report feeling like they were having a fever-dream, until their friends started exploding into bloody mist.
"Studio" pattern weapons systems. Each Mecha-Idol is a work of art custom-built to reflect their specific character, and their sensibilities. Yet all of them possess a suite of heavy-calibre weaponry that allows them to paint their enemies across the walls from considerable distances.
Unit Type: Special, Ground
Origin: Originally from Nakatomi III, a highly urbanized world under the thumb of huge corporations, with the greatest of all being "House" Sunfall.
Backstory: Nakatomi III is a planet of bright lights, and many dark alleyways. Glittering advertisements hang over dingy bars, vibrant nightclubs, and backroom "meatshops" - cybernetic augmentation bays. Several cycles ago, the capital metropolis of Sundown City, ruled by Sunfall Inc. and it's many partnered corps, was rocked by the latest of the great corpo-wars.
Sunfall was set upon by a host of smaller corporations, including many "alley-corps", essentially streetgangs. The war was eventually resolved in Sunfall's favour due to the most bizarre of circumstances, when one of Sunfall's many subsidiaries - an experimental cybernetics company called "Gloss Augments" - acquired one of the neutral alley-corps - "The Undersingers" - an all-female group of thugs who had made a name for themselves due to their fast-paced, glitzy style and musical performances. From this fusion arose the Mecha-Idols, a heavily augmented, incredibly bloodthirsty, and blindingly pink PMC/pop-supergroup. Their livestreamed concerts and battles soon rose to the forefront of popular culture on Nakatomi III - winning Sunfall many new allies and allowing them to drive off their attackers. They are lead by the world-famous "Mecha-Chan" and her mysterious Manager, whose original identities are both unknown. At the war's conclusion, she requested that she and her girls be allowed to tour off-world in order to keep their bloodlust sated and their audience glued to their screens. You will be hard-pressed to find a more bizarre or vicious group of mercenaries in the entire galaxy.
Equipment: "Superstar" pattern war-forms - fast, durable, and larger than life. The Mecha-Idols are all heavily augmented but will transform/equip themselves into the Superstar war-forms before going into battle. Each of the Mecha-Idols has their own devoted following and unique look.
"Concert" pattern audio systems. The means by which the Mecha-Idols record their music and their battles. Hearing their enemy constantly singing about how death will come for them has a seriously demoralizing effect on enemy units. Survivors consistently report feeling like they were having a fever-dream, until their friends started exploding into bloody mist.
"Studio" pattern weapons systems. Each Mecha-Idol is a work of art custom-built to reflect their specific character, and their sensibilities. Yet all of them possess a suite of heavy-calibre weaponry that allows them to paint their enemies across the walls from considerable distances.
Unit Type: Special, Ground
Last edited:
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan: 3X (Explore, Expand, Exploit)
Jeez, found an idol group that finally would get the attention of good ol' Adam Smasher. Lots of special merc units, but that's to be expected I suppose.
- Location
- 'Straya mate.
I will be making more "normal" groups but this one was just a complete brain-worm I'm afraid.
The Council (1)
Bang.
The gavel was struck and the voice of Violet d'Iris called out. "The Council is now in order. Go on, make your observations and desires known to us."
"That we must attend to and already prepare our martial forces for the next conflict on the horizon!" Violet wearing her Guardian suit declared with a slam of a fist to her chest. "Our forces had been adequately prepared for the civil war, but only because we were there! We must now reevaluate and optimize our battlegroup organizations, along with the strategems."
"So brash and violent and antiquated, thinking only for ourselves." Violet in elegant robes sipped from a cup of tea. "We are no longer alone, there are others we must especially consider. Sending out feelers and allying with them should be our priority, especially if we are interested in expansion."
"But what do we have to bargain with? Obviously excepting solarium, we have little to immediately interest them now." Violet wearing a set of glasses pushed at them. "Our economy needs to be much better. We have received a financial boon, and we need to make use of it now to build our standing."
"Yes, we need all those credits for the the true endgame: SCIENCE!" Violet dressed in a Prism attire whooped loudly and held up a datapad. "We need to keep advancing, especially to get those awesome Brilliance Units! Our special units should be the linchpin of our stuff! Why, let's ground solarium up into a fine dust and then snort it-!"
"Restrain yourself. Intrusive thoughts have no place in the Council," Their leader, Violet wearing a cowled hood barked. She linked her fingers together in a ponderous pose to study her fellow Violets. "Remember above all else, we must conduct ourselves with grace and mundanity so befitting of a simple individual. Not the grand puppetmaster we are!"
The Council of Violets chorused in agreement, plotting their next chess move in the shadows...
"Oh no you don't. One cake a week at most!"
The gavel was struck and the voice of Violet d'Iris called out. "The Council is now in order. Go on, make your observations and desires known to us."
"That we must attend to and already prepare our martial forces for the next conflict on the horizon!" Violet wearing her Guardian suit declared with a slam of a fist to her chest. "Our forces had been adequately prepared for the civil war, but only because we were there! We must now reevaluate and optimize our battlegroup organizations, along with the strategems."
"So brash and violent and antiquated, thinking only for ourselves." Violet in elegant robes sipped from a cup of tea. "We are no longer alone, there are others we must especially consider. Sending out feelers and allying with them should be our priority, especially if we are interested in expansion."
"But what do we have to bargain with? Obviously excepting solarium, we have little to immediately interest them now." Violet wearing a set of glasses pushed at them. "Our economy needs to be much better. We have received a financial boon, and we need to make use of it now to build our standing."
"Yes, we need all those credits for the the true endgame: SCIENCE!" Violet dressed in a Prism attire whooped loudly and held up a datapad. "We need to keep advancing, especially to get those awesome Brilliance Units! Our special units should be the linchpin of our stuff! Why, let's ground solarium up into a fine dust and then snort it-!"
"Restrain yourself. Intrusive thoughts have no place in the Council," Their leader, Violet wearing a cowled hood barked. She linked her fingers together in a ponderous pose to study her fellow Violets. "Remember above all else, we must conduct ourselves with grace and mundanity so befitting of a simple individual. Not the grand puppetmaster we are!"
The Council of Violets chorused in agreement, plotting their next chess move in the shadows...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"There we go, the cooking schedule for the next week. Let's go ahead and tweak those menus-"
"Oh no you don't. One cake a week at most!"
Last edited:
Vote closed
Trent01
A Fountain of Quest Ideas
Name: DRI
Origin: The Diversified Resources Industry (DRI, Inc) are one of the known and notorious corporate institutions of the United Empire. Living in perpetual displacement as nomadic arkships, mining colonies, and habitat stations built and torn down regularly, they exploit the grand wealth of asteroids and barren worlds to make profits upon the planets of the Houses in industrial goods, spaceships, and spaceborn personnel for hire. Widely considered to have some form of self-inflicted memetics, ingraining from the lowest intern to the highest CEO a fanatically cheerful loyalty to their wonderful and profitable corporation! House Iris knows them as one of the few megacorps that was willing to stop poking at Solarium and actively economically engage in other fields, though that still made them plenty of a headache in other respects.
Name: DRI-Automated Security Technology
Backstory: Most mercenaries live for thrills, glory, and high-payout hazardous operations that can make or break a merc in a single battle. Ergo, there is a underutilized market niche in the garrison, logistics, and "boring" work. Ever one to fulfill all possible markets, DRI leverages drone robotics from a bought-out competitor company to provide the General Resource Utility Networked Trooper (G.R.U.N.T.), a robotic infantryman that unlike most drone units can fulfill many of the unsung roles of humble infantrymen that aren't trigger-pulling (though they do that too!). These include: scrubbing latrines, KP duty, hauling supply crates when you don't have exo-lifters, standing sentry duty, saluting in parade formation, being meat(or metal) shields against heavier targets. In short: cheap infantry even more expendable than your own House troops, with morale benefits for all your poor bloody infantry who now have someone they can subcontract work to.
While a DRI maintenance and command section is provided to be a human interface and final safety override, the vast majority of the regiment is made of robot infantry. As a plus, because of their lack of human upkeep (life support, barracks, leave time, welfare benefits), GRUNT regiment's standard strength levels surpass a overstrength human regiment in number of trigger-pulling infantry it can deploy.
Equipment: Primitive-AI low-spec robotic infantry, insufferably optimistic and polite behavior programming, light kinetic small arms, overstrength battalions.
Unit Type: Infantry (4 overstrength battalions of cannon fodder infantry)
Name: DRI-Automated Security Technology, Heavy Metal Solutions
Backstory: After achieving much initial success in achieving high customer satisfaction with their GRUNT units thanks to their capacity for force-preservation of higher-value units, DRI-AST was commissioned by various organizations and militaries to provide a heavier-weight option in the same role of cost-effective, obedient, and numerous automated security contractors to provide the same force-preservation options for heavier military weight categories. Not one to underutilize a market, DRI-AST happily bought out some underperforming armorworks, re-engineered them for their task-intelligence cortex and automation methodology, and created a series of last-gen armored vehicles that had new value as crewless armor support for their clients at low cost and maintenance.
DRI Heavy Metal is primarily built around Ontos light tanks, flatpack tanks meant for ease of deployment by dropship and armed with light cannons and machineguns, and heavier Warhound tanks equipped with heavy cannon and thick armor but not easy to field-deploy. In both cases, the tanks have limited autonomy and are meant to operate in coordination with friendly units to spot and prioritize targets for their limited AI. A case of the adage of "if you have a bad tank and the enemy has no tank, it is a good tank", DRI Heavy Metal is about providing infantry armor support to free up client's valuable mainline armored vehicles, or be more expendable metalshields in open battles. All at a affordable price for most clients in need of mercenary armor support without risking DRI or client employees.
Equipment: Last-gen low-spec light and heavy tanks refitted with primitive AI automation, target designators for client infantry to direct friendly bot-tanks with.
Unit Type: Armor (4 battalions of cannon fodder tanks)
Origin: The Diversified Resources Industry (DRI, Inc) are one of the known and notorious corporate institutions of the United Empire. Living in perpetual displacement as nomadic arkships, mining colonies, and habitat stations built and torn down regularly, they exploit the grand wealth of asteroids and barren worlds to make profits upon the planets of the Houses in industrial goods, spaceships, and spaceborn personnel for hire. Widely considered to have some form of self-inflicted memetics, ingraining from the lowest intern to the highest CEO a fanatically cheerful loyalty to their wonderful and profitable corporation! House Iris knows them as one of the few megacorps that was willing to stop poking at Solarium and actively economically engage in other fields, though that still made them plenty of a headache in other respects.
Name: DRI-Automated Security Technology
Backstory: Most mercenaries live for thrills, glory, and high-payout hazardous operations that can make or break a merc in a single battle. Ergo, there is a underutilized market niche in the garrison, logistics, and "boring" work. Ever one to fulfill all possible markets, DRI leverages drone robotics from a bought-out competitor company to provide the General Resource Utility Networked Trooper (G.R.U.N.T.), a robotic infantryman that unlike most drone units can fulfill many of the unsung roles of humble infantrymen that aren't trigger-pulling (though they do that too!). These include: scrubbing latrines, KP duty, hauling supply crates when you don't have exo-lifters, standing sentry duty, saluting in parade formation, being meat(or metal) shields against heavier targets. In short: cheap infantry even more expendable than your own House troops, with morale benefits for all your poor bloody infantry who now have someone they can subcontract work to.
While a DRI maintenance and command section is provided to be a human interface and final safety override, the vast majority of the regiment is made of robot infantry. As a plus, because of their lack of human upkeep (life support, barracks, leave time, welfare benefits), GRUNT regiment's standard strength levels surpass a overstrength human regiment in number of trigger-pulling infantry it can deploy.
Equipment: Primitive-AI low-spec robotic infantry, insufferably optimistic and polite behavior programming, light kinetic small arms, overstrength battalions.
Unit Type: Infantry (4 overstrength battalions of cannon fodder infantry)
Name: DRI-Automated Security Technology, Heavy Metal Solutions
Backstory: After achieving much initial success in achieving high customer satisfaction with their GRUNT units thanks to their capacity for force-preservation of higher-value units, DRI-AST was commissioned by various organizations and militaries to provide a heavier-weight option in the same role of cost-effective, obedient, and numerous automated security contractors to provide the same force-preservation options for heavier military weight categories. Not one to underutilize a market, DRI-AST happily bought out some underperforming armorworks, re-engineered them for their task-intelligence cortex and automation methodology, and created a series of last-gen armored vehicles that had new value as crewless armor support for their clients at low cost and maintenance.
DRI Heavy Metal is primarily built around Ontos light tanks, flatpack tanks meant for ease of deployment by dropship and armed with light cannons and machineguns, and heavier Warhound tanks equipped with heavy cannon and thick armor but not easy to field-deploy. In both cases, the tanks have limited autonomy and are meant to operate in coordination with friendly units to spot and prioritize targets for their limited AI. A case of the adage of "if you have a bad tank and the enemy has no tank, it is a good tank", DRI Heavy Metal is about providing infantry armor support to free up client's valuable mainline armored vehicles, or be more expendable metalshields in open battles. All at a affordable price for most clients in need of mercenary armor support without risking DRI or client employees.
Equipment: Last-gen low-spec light and heavy tanks refitted with primitive AI automation, target designators for client infantry to direct friendly bot-tanks with.
Unit Type: Armor (4 battalions of cannon fodder tanks)
Last edited:
Can't go wrong with a Terminator-lite army. Or do you reckon they're closer to B2 drioids, quips included?
Drone tanks are certainly a fun concept, let's just hope their pathfinding AI is better than what we have today.
Trent01
A Fountain of Quest Ideas
Firmly on the B1/B2 side of the spectrum crossed with Gears of War Deebees in mannerisms in public.
Though DRI only needs to slip a AI-core upgrade into the chassis to drastically boost their performance on the same hardware, but thats a premium customer package item.
Pathfinding would be good. Combat prioritization and decisionmaking is much harder, especially when tank cannon shells be pricey.
Think of it like the weapon call-ins in a FPS game. The heavy vehicle lets a infantryman decide who deserves a HE shell with the laser designator they can pick up out of a external box on the tank when it rolls up to help their squad.
Last edited:
Cycle 13.1
[X] Plan: 3X (Explore, Expand, Exploit)
-[X] [Character] Violet d'Iris, Solar Queen
--[X] [Stewardship] Construct Chain.
---[X] Gawain
----[X] Solarium Forge
-[X] [Character] Radana, Camellia Knight
--[X] [Learning] System Expedition.
-----[X] Calenwyrm
-[X] [Character] Dorothea, Lycoris Knight.
--[X] [Stewardship] Construct Post.
---[X] Gawain
----[X] Sunrise Bank.
-[X] [Character] Violet d'Iris, Solar Queen
--[X] [Stewardship] Construct Chain.
---[X] Gawain
----[X] Solarium Forge
-[X] [Character] Radana, Camellia Knight
--[X] [Learning] System Expedition.
-----[X] Calenwyrm
-[X] [Character] Dorothea, Lycoris Knight.
--[X] [Stewardship] Construct Post.
---[X] Gawain
----[X] Sunrise Bank.
(Construct Post (Sunrise Bank-Gawain): 38 +7 (Dorothea) +7 (Wealth) = 52)
Progress: 2/4. In Progress.
Dorothea's expression twisted into an unpleasant grimace while she studied the suspect's financial portfolio. "...there are inconsistencies," She declared, shaking her head. "I'm declaring this a case of fraud. My apologies, but I will be invoking the right of investigation now."
"Really? Damn." The attending Prism groaned and gestured for her to continue unabated. "We did try to make sure that people wouldn't commit fraud, especially when it's none other than House Sol giving us such aid. But when we're talking about financial accounts for an entire people, a few are undoubtedly going to get lost in the masses."
The Lycoris Knight nodded in agreement, her equipment already downloading copy of the suspect information for follow-up. "Indeed, but that is why we're here: to address and prosecute them wherever found." Now her bothered look morphed into one of extreme satisfaction, like her faith had just been confirmed yet again. "To those who think themselves clever hiding in the shadows especially, there is no escape. House Iris is the light and knows where to look." My Lady's hunch was correct! She truly is the right one for us all!
The Prism's eyebrows arched. "I see."
"Perhaps you do. Perhaps you don't. But that doesn't matter." She concluded the download and clapped her hands once together. "Service in Her Majesty's name is all, especially in the name of justice. Thank you for your time, my branch will take care of it from here."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Construct Chain (Solarium Forge-Gawain): 67 +10 (Violet) +7 (Wealth) = 84)
Progress: 3/5. In Progress.
As it would turn out, building a space station around a star was quite tricky. That was around a regular star that emitted ordinary solar radiation as well. For the star of the Andernia system, with its anomalous bipolar emissions of both hot and cold?
It was definitely proving to be a challenge for the Prisms tasked to designing and launching the thing. While they had been cleared for and read into excerpts from the solarium codex on how the first solarium forge had been built in Helm, there was obvious modifications that needed to be made for both safety and security. After all, the very same first solarium forge had been destroyed due to the work of foreign agents and it was a tragedy already back then- having it happen was borderline comedy in refusal to learn.
The second forge that had been built (and should still be operational if Helm was truly safe) boasted far greater defenses that the assigned Prisms immediately featured in. In fact, thanks to the star;'s unique polarity, they could even expand on the concept just a bit more. Their final design was a station that would anchor itself over the energy-emitting half when in active production, then it could fully disengage and raise shields to 'sink' into the energy-absorbing half to both hide and shield itself from external attacks. It could even receive shipments sent from a mass driver while in this 'frozen' mode, granting the ability to withstand prolonged siege until the mass driver in Gawain was lost.
A truly exciting and grand endeavor, but it came with a catch: they would require specialized materials capable of retaining heat while withstanding frozen temperatures. It was unfortunately the sort of thing that usually was almost always in high demand, and supply production could barely keep up. The designers were glumly resigned to having to sit on a waiting list for their chance at it...only for a very unexpected twist of fate to occur.
By some coincidence, a mining station over an arctic planet somewhere nearby had suddenly been exposed by a severe scandal that revealed dangerous working conditions, many of them even breaking both galactic and local law. Naturally, it was immediately shut down and the workers subsequently left when paychecks stopped coming their way. The owners were now making an effort to swiftly dump it and head somewhere else in an attempt to escape legal woes, all but taking the first one who could offer them at least something for the now-abandoned station.
The Helmsmen were almost all too happy to buy, dismantle, and ship it to Gawain to rebuild for their solarium forge. The Prisms almost couldn't believe their luck and didn't waste time questioning how the scandal had been revealed, just throwing themselves back into work. To them, it was just proof that the universe though their work for House Iris was just.
You watched them eagerly get to it before casually sending the anonymous tip-off starmail about the fleeing mine owner's flight path to the appointed investigators. You might as well collect on a little side bounty to finish that story up.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Design Ship (Corona-class): 32 +15 (Kat) +7 (Wealth) = 54)
Progress 5/6. In Progress.
Kat gritted her teeth and raised her forge hammer, a sacred relic to forge solarium with. It also happened to be a functional warhammer, one that could even crack Guardian suits if properly brought to bear. She swung it now with all the force she could muster at the glass pane, a fierce howl escaping her lips.
Immediately there was a loud clank and layers of protective shutters crashed down, protecting the cockpit glass from the attack. Her hammer soundly smacked and bounced off the iron shutters, leaving behind a small impact point featuring dented and bent armor from the attack. Once Kat regained her balance, she absently lowered the hammer and called for the shutters to rise back up.
They did, slowly, and got to about halfway before being jammed from the twisted metal. Were it a battle, it would mean that whoever was in the bridge of a ship could see perhaps half out of the reinforced glass, which naturally was not ideal for a battle. The Hyacinth Prism swore bitterly and growled. "Only so much we can make do without just removing the windows, which'll just piss off the glory-hounds." She spat and hefted her hammer. "Redo the entire fucking thing! I know it's redundant when we've got an internal bridge, but it's the principal of the damn matter now! We're learning from goddamn HMS Callerya, like it or not!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(System Expedition (Calenwyrm): 5 +16 (Radana) +7 (Wealth) = 28)
Progress 2/?(6). In Progress.
Radana was admittedly slightly a bit nervous at her first FTL jump since the...incident. The proprietary direct teleportation technology used by House Sol to travel to and from Mars was, astonishingly enough, less nerve-racking than one of mankind's most trusted tools for space travel. But she calmed herself with a collected exhale and relaxed just in time for the engines to finish spinning up.
A familiar tugging sensation she hadn't felt for a long time and then...there they were. A quick peek outside the window confirmed she was no longer in Andernia and she undid the safety clasp to stretch a little. It would still be a little bit to travel close enough for the expedition teams to be away, but Radana was going to be staying on the ship the whole time.
The Camellia Knight hummed and began to walk over to the kitchen unit to prepare a pot of tea. She might as well make herself comfortable on this relaxed vacation of sorts.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The System Expedition will have a Wealth modifier on the first turn as a 'launch pad' bonus, but afterwards, as it's not in Andernia, the bonus won't stick around. But Radana's got the best Diplomacy, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.- Oh, looks like all your characters are already occupied for Cycle 14 then. Interesting, we might just skip the planning phase then to get straight into results.
Sometimes our plans will cause all of our irons to still be in the fire as the next turn starts. That's just how the dice roll.
- Location
- 'Straya mate.
It's a shame Kat is still stuck on designing the cruiser. She had slightly less than 50% odds of finishing it this turn but it wasn't going to be. Of note, exploration was listed as a learning action. Not a diplomacy one. So Radana's bonus should be a good chunk smaller both for this roll and going forwards. This is notable mainly because, afaik, it will actually reduce her progress this cycle to only one.
If we send another character in a few cycles will she "re-up" the Wealth bonus on the roll with new supplies? That would probably be very worth doing if so.
EDIT: In hindsight, I don't think we should have "filled" Gawain without building a stronger defensive building there. A Fleet Port or Star Fortress might have suited well to defend the Solarium Forge. The Star Fortress might be best for the Capital though given that it is, well, a Fortress.
If we send another character in a few cycles will she "re-up" the Wealth bonus on the roll with new supplies? That would probably be very worth doing if so.
EDIT: In hindsight, I don't think we should have "filled" Gawain without building a stronger defensive building there. A Fleet Port or Star Fortress might have suited well to defend the Solarium Forge. The Star Fortress might be best for the Capital though given that it is, well, a Fortress.
Do all military installations give a city better defenses? Is it just bases that do so? The planets Military value maybe?
What do we need to do unlock Witchfire storage or production? We have the design but no option for a factory or a base that I can see - besides the Fleet Port and Star Fortress of course.
What do we need to do unlock Witchfire storage or production? We have the design but no option for a factory or a base that I can see - besides the Fleet Port and Star Fortress of course.
Last edited: