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The Practice War [Complete]

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Shwaggy said:
Oh. That does change things a bit. So...if the Two Twenty Three can run ops while Amanda focuses, and I assume she can still move and either evade or be shielded during that since we're still in the middle of the enemy's fire...why can't she do Into The Deep while the unit withdraws? I mean, I get narratively why it's an either/or choice, but now I'm wondering why mechanically.
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Because she needs her Heartcircle to help her. A firing pass on the the carriers would require Kalilah to be involved, and even a straight disengage would need Vega to run pathing for everyone. Flying evasive around a relatively fixed point in space is easy comparatively.
 
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[X] Into the Deep: The Shiplords have brought…something with them. Elil believes it is not more ships, and you are inclined to believe him. But if not ships, what? And why would it be focused on the Unisonbound? You need answers, and there is only one way to get them. Dive into the Shiplord web, and seek the truth. A success will require a save vs Reaction Shock, but you will be rolling with a significant bonus.

I do not think we can afford not knowing what is to come.
 
[X] Into the Deep: The Shiplords have brought…something with them. Elil believes it is not more ships, and you are inclined to believe him. But if not ships, what? And why would it be focused on the Unisonbound? You need answers, and there is only one way to get them. Dive into the Shiplord web, and seek the truth. A success will require a save vs Reaction Shock, but you will be rolling with a significant bonus.

If it's zombie Potentials, then no amount of allied fleets around us will help. Not without horrifying loses.
We need to know what Word to say to this Outrageous Horror That Is Coming.
 
Captainwolf said:
@Snowfire is the list of ships in the regular fleet available somewhere?
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I've kinda punted that below the level of abstraction this time, as there are a lot of different ships in a Regular Fleet. Combat readiness percentages are just easier for me to work with, given the size of these engagements. To put it in perspective, the battlespace that Amanda and the Two Twenty Three are in has somewhere in the region of eight hundred ships or more deployed in it. Keeping track of all that just isn't worth the pain, so I went with percentages instead.

If you're wanting to ask something specific about Shiplord fleet composition, I can certainly answer that. But a full list? Way too much work.
 
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@Snowfire what are First Secret drive spool up times looking like right now? Because it seems like the most appropriate place for what the Unisionbound are pretending to be would be to swap places with the 4th fleet.

Then again, maybe that's just too much of a risk of chaos.
 
[X] Into the Deep: The Shiplords have brought…something with them. Elil believes it is not more ships, and you are inclined to believe him. But if not ships, what? And why would it be focused on the Unisonbound? You need answers, and there is only one way to get them. Dive into the Shiplord web, and seek the truth. A success will require a save vs Reaction Shock, but you will be rolling with a significant bonus.
 
Snowfire said:
Help with what?
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With information gathering. A two-pronged assault to get this particular information could possibly be a good idea.

Snowfire said:
To clarify, Into the Deep will keep the rest of the Two Twenty Three running down the mass storage on the carriers. It'll just involve Amanda focusing...elsewhere.
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Oh, that clarification makes it MUCH, MUCH more attractive.

Pending further discussion:
[x] Into the Deep
 
mastigos said:
@Snowfire what are First Secret drive spool up times looking like right now? Because it seems like the most appropriate place for what the Unisionbound are pretending to be would be to swap places with the 4th fleet.

Then again, maybe that's just too much of a risk of chaos.
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Fourth Fleet only just jumped, so swapping places with them isn't really happening. The Unisonbound certainly could retreat to their courier and jump out, but that would leave First Fleet alone against an enemy that is beginning to grind them down unless Second Fleet jumps in.

You have four FTL capable fleets. Three of them are currently engaged.

Coda said:
With information gathering. A two-pronged assault to get this particular information could possibly be a good idea.
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So you would like to have your daughter tangle with an active AI network more advanced than the one Vision had no desire to attack last time the Shiplords came calling? I also feel the need to point out here that Amanda would not be taking an electronic warfare route to the information you need. She'll be going pure conceptual.
 
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Snowfire said:
I've kinda punted that below the level of abstraction this time, as there are a lot of different ships in a Regular Fleet. Combat readiness percentages are just easier for me to work with, given the size of these engagements. To put it in perspective, the battlespace that Amanda and the Two Twenty Three are in has somewhere in the region of eight hundred ships or more deployed in it. Keeping track of all that just isn't worth the pain, so I went with percentages instead.

If you're wanting to ask something specific about Shiplord fleet composition, I can certainly answer that. But a full list? Way too much work.
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Okay, I was just hoping to be able to guess what the upcoming Shiplord surprise could be based off of what was missing from the fight :p
 
Snowfire said:
So you would like to have your daughter tangle with an active AI network more advanced than the one Vision had no desire to attack last time the Shiplords came calling? I also feel the need to point out here that Amanda would not be taking an electronic warfare route to the information you need. She'll be going pure conceptual.
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Well, on the one hand, I was expecting a mother/daughter synergy bonus, but on the other hand that's a good point regarding this being more advanced than the last one we went up against. I did know that Amanda wouldn't be taking an electronic warfare route; that's why I said it would be two-pronged. But yeah, idea withdrawn, it's not looking as interesting as it seemed in my head when I asked -- even without your answer my own reasoning was moving away from that direction.

Captainwolf said:
Okay, I was just hoping to be able to guess what the upcoming Shiplord surprise could be based off of what was missing from the fight :p
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This was already explained in the update: there are no surprises in fleet composition; the surprise is something INSIDE the known vessels.
 
[X] From the Field: You are alone amidst the Shiplord fleet, with no safe place to find harbour. If there is an unknown threat coming, it is simple sanity to seek allies. Return to First Fleet, and only then seek the truth. This will allow the carriers to recover and rebuild a drone shell. Also carries the risk of alerting the Shiplords to your ability to see further into things than those not gifted with Practice should.
-[X] Upon Wings of Fire: Of course, you could attempt to hide that awareness by engaging the carriers on your way. Assault the heavy carriers that you have been keeping at bay, aiming to remove as many of them from the battle as possible in a single firing pass. Will reduce the effectiveness of any reformed drone shell, and the chance that the Shiplords will recognise your actions as reactive.
 
Using percentages is a good idea, but if you feel like writing it up, knowing what ship classes we (Arcadia) helped cook up for Lina would be very nice.
 
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[X] Into the Deep: The Shiplords have brought…something with them. Elil believes it is not more ships, and you are inclined to believe him. But if not ships, what? And why would it be focused on the Unisonbound? You need answers, and there is only one way to get them. Dive into the Shiplord web, and seek the truth. A success will require a save vs Reaction Shock, but you will be rolling with a significant bonus.
 
My biggest worry in this scenario is that the Shiplords will authorise the use of their own exotic assets. For us it's Speaking. But if what they're preparing is not their fleets? What else but exotics can they bring to the fore?

[X] From the Field: You are alone amidst the Shiplord fleet, with no safe place to find harbour. If there is an unknown threat coming, it is simple sanity to seek allies. Return to First Fleet, and only then seek the truth. This will allow the carriers to recover and rebuild a drone shell. Also carries the risk of alerting the Shiplords to your ability to see further into things than those not gifted with Practice should.
-[X] Upon Wings of Fire: Of course, you could attempt to hide that awareness by engaging the carriers on your way. Assault the heavy carriers that you have been keeping at bay, aiming to remove as many of them from the battle as possible in a single firing pass. Will reduce the effectiveness of any reformed drone shell, and the chance that the Shiplords will recognise your actions as reactive.

My second biggest worry is that picking Into the Deep will allow the Shiplords to tighten the noose, so to speak. And the end result will at most be - as if we'd picked Unbowed We Stand, except we also know the specific nature of the threat. And sometimes, the best way to not fall to a trap isn't to know it's coming but to be elsewhere when it closes.
Snowfire said:
As of this time, 53% of the Regular Fleet has engaged FSN forces. One FTL capable FSN fleet remains in reserve.
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So does that mean they have just shy of half their initially gathered forces elsewhere, ready to jump in and engage?
And is that 53% referring to the "full combat readiness" of their already engaged assets, or to "current combat readiness"?
 
Faraway-R said:
So does that mean they have just shy of half their initially gathered forces elsewhere, ready to jump in and engage?
And is that 53% referring to the "full combat readiness" of their already engaged assets, or to "current combat readiness"?
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It does indeed. Just under half of the strength of the Regular Fleet has yet to engage. They'll be a little light on capitals and the heavier drone carries, but there's quite a bit waiting to come in. Lina is hoping it'll either be brought in on your out-system groups, preferably First Fleet, or sent in-system where Second Fleet can pen them in whilst the system defence Fleets engage.
 
Faraway-R said:
My biggest worry in this scenario is that the Shiplords will authorise the use of their own exotic assets. For us it's Speaking. But if what they're preparing is not their fleets? What else but exotics can they bring to the fore?
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You know what we haven't seen yet? Essence Disruption. I mean, it could be getting hidden in the 223 rolls, which we haven't seen so far because they've all been "do you crit" checks, but I thought it would matter more against a Regular Fleet, given how telling it was against the Tribute Fleet. We know that the Shiplords have some knowledge of Speaking, and were incensed when we manage to do it without killing ourselves; this makes me think they have some sort of sacrificial form of Speaking that they use to "bless" Tribute Fleets with, and that they may be carrying, for lack of a better term, Shiplord Priests along with the Regulars.

I expect we're about to see the Shiplords' sacrificial form of Speaking used against us. And I'm not entirely sure what to do about that.
 
I still don't understand why the first move wasn't a dramatic display of Practice followed by a broadcast of their sacred poem with "go fuck yourselves" added. Get them to throw everything at one point.

Amateurs play the game. Winners play their opponent.
 
TheEyes said:
You know what we haven't seen yet? Essence Disruption
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My thoughts actually went in similar but different direction. Disruption yes. But not of Essence. Of the First Secret. FTL interdiction.

Lailoken said:
I still don't understand why the first move wasn't a dramatic display of Practice followed by a broadcast of their sacred poem with "go fuck yourselves" added. Get them to throw everything at one point.

Amateurs play the game. Winners play their opponent.
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Because we're still hoping to delay the point when the Shiplords as a whole decide to zerg rush us in a fury.

That said, it'd be kind of funny if @Snowfire had it turn out that the captured Shiplord being so infuriated at Speaking was just the captured Shiplord being infuriated. A personal issue, not a belief of their entire society.
 
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Lailoken said:
I still don't understand why the first move wasn't a dramatic display of Practice followed by a broadcast of their sacred poem with "go fuck yourselves" added. Get them to throw everything at one point.

Amateurs play the game. Winners play their opponent.
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Because the logical response might be to disengage and return with a couple dozen War Fleets. Early.

You don't dice with the fates of an entire species.
 
Lailoken said:
I still don't understand why the first move wasn't a dramatic display of Practice followed by a broadcast of their sacred poem with "go fuck yourselves" added. Get them to throw everything at one point.

Amateurs play the game. Winners play their opponent.
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Playing the Shiplords is... not easy, or safe. To put it mildly.

There are very good reasons fro why generals don't spend all of their cards right at the beginning of battle, most of the time.

Also, consider these words: "All warfare is based on deception".
 
Okay, I'm going to put faith in Amanda and the 223. I think if they know what they're facing, they'll be better able to handle it than if they're in a safer physical position against an unknown threat.

[X] Into the Deep: The Shiplords have brought…something with them. Elil believes it is not more ships, and you are inclined to believe him. But if not ships, what? And why would it be focused on the Unisonbound? You need answers, and there is only one way to get them. Dive into the Shiplord web, and seek the truth. A success will require a save vs Reaction Shock, but you will be rolling with a significant bonus.
 
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