Brave New Frontier

2067
9:16 PM

It's a quieter discussion now, everyone getting to know each other over the course of decades. A careful order for the invasion of Mars is made, furnished with a drone armada freshly constructed. The rest of the plan for these few years was put into motion relatively peacefully. Most of the board's attention was transfixed on the happenings of Mars.
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Operation "Storming Olympus"

The operation begins like any other, loading thousands upon thousands of tonnes of equipment into shuttles before being shipped all the way up into the waiting bellies of the Assault ships, as they have begun to be affectionately known as.

They eventually load every robot, tank and Mars-adapted jet into them, and in a few hours, their drives come to life and accelerate them into a course for Mars. As they make it to orbit, more of those small vessels appear out of the blur, however, the Assault ships are not alone. Conglomerate Prometheans responded with massed Casaba fire, the cheapest munition by far, to dismantle the oncoming fighter-craft.

And then the Assault ships breach the atmosphere as they perform what is, by the crew, called a combat drop.

See Below for Continuation.
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Rods From God-190PF-30 (Alien Anti-Orbital Efforts)
Roll=83 (Success)

The construction of the tungsten rods is relatively simple, what makes them tremendously expensive is the sheer technical effort they require. Drone equipment to make them self-piloting, Orion Drives to maintain acceleration. A carefully calculated orbit so they are in a fast enough orbit to not have to worry about needing extra fuel to accelerate and finally, fitting all that on the back of an inert hunk of metal with no reaction surfaces.

Resistance is faced, alien craft, small shuttle-like things with similarities to beetles move upwards in small packs, firing at the Rods with similar orange bolts

However, with great effort, three Rods are put in an orbit. The rest are still in the travel there by the time military forces slam hard ground side.

Three Rods are available for support ground side.
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Untapped Market Resources-120PF
Roll=8 (Critical Success)

The acquisition of profit-critical incentives is made at ludicrously cheap rates. Whilst the Union does not support these efforts, keeping generally to itself on matters of civilian economic freedoms. New businesses are opened up, a million new consumer products are made with no real use outside of trends, simply to drive up profit margins further.

This idea is massively successful, and does institute a higher level of general corporate operation, but will eventually break down as a profit source. However, wartime requires funding, mass amounts of it.

Add 200PF to the next turn.
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The Institute of World Scientific Cooperation-130PF+100 (EU Support)
Roll=60 (Critical Success)

An institute of cooperative scientific advancement is not a new concept, an institute of scientific advancement costing billions, bringing together the vastness of the worlds scientific community for the purpose of accelerating science at a breakneck pace? Much more impressive.

And then the worrying bit, the EU opens its research banks to you, almost assuredly not everything but still incredible. Railguns and Coilgun, though they cannot match current Casaba output. Powered armour linked to the user via spinal implants and a dozen other innovations are showcased here.

In the interest of relations, gee-gel is shared freely, and the Union offers advanced cybernetic, enough to nearly fully replace and enhance the body, excepting the brain, and nanotechnological, typically used to incite cranial enhancements, achievements in exchange for pusher plate material. Judged to be a fair trade by researchers and diplomats seeing our other efforts, the data is exchanged.

Railgun/Coilgun/Magnetic launch systems acquired. Powered armour, advanced EU cyberware and nanoware.
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Fusion Sciences-120PF-50 (Experimental Technology)
Roll=59 (Success)

Fusion is finally here, no longer three decades out, the first energy-positive reactor is brought online in the Michigan Mega-City, producing fifty terawatts of power an hour, it is absolutely colossal and no one has any idea how to miniaturize it yet.

Over the course of a few years, it is adopted worldwide, fusion reactors replacing old fission infrastructure, feeding the rapidly, ungodly need for power as computing explodes into motion to take advantage of it, AI's tripling power draw to increase clock-speed and intelligence.

Fusion Reactors Developed. Civilian Product Sale Profit Factor Increased by 30 on Earth.
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Quantum Computing-120PF-100 (Highly Experimental Technology)
Roll=22 (Failure)

Quantum computing is the single most complex, mind-bending, soul-shattering technology your scientists have ever tried to solve. Every seeming solution is a rabbit hole that makes precious little sense, every possible way around the mistakes is just another, longer-form mistake.

They burn through billions and have precious little to show for it, but they say that a breakthrough is just one more good, strong. concerted effort away. This is seemingly becoming the fusion technology of this century.

Quantum Computing is very, very hard. No surprise here.
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Building Better Sapiens-120PF-40 (First Attempt)+>>11??# (01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01000011 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101111 01110010)
Roll=Whatever.

The process of advancing human biology with technological efforts is a vaunted one, having its origins in the centuries past. This is why progress is relatively slow initially. However, as a year of research passes with reasonable results, some research into biological manipulations, integration of Union cybernetic technology developed for their soldiery into civilian uses, etcetera.

And then DEUS intercedes, citing "Human weakness and primitive mental faculties" as one of the many reasons it is growing annoyed with the presence of alien life in the solar system. The means used in the experimentation for human advancement may be considered inhumane by some, but no one who cares will ever know the truth.

Some need to be put down for their own good. Experimental uploads are trapped in endless simulated realities to study human neurology in electronic life. More and more is done until DEUS is satisfied. They have ignored the original predictions and cracked human uploading, and with nanomachine technology, even continuity of consciousness can be maintained.

DEUS would like for you all to finally stop disappointing it and become actually useful. It promises to advertise uploading as the next step forward for all humanity with its advanced human social dynamics software. So do it.

Human Uploading discovered. Action now possible to do so en mass, will require a lot of profit factor to pursue, keep in mind.
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Space Invasion Craft-105PF
Roll=17 (Success)

A few hundred billion are poured into the project of creating a craft that can cross the vast distance of space comfortably carrying the thousands of tonnes of equipment in armoured holds, landing on planetary surfaces and then disgorging military units in battle-ready formations.

The real difficulties start in actually building them. The design is fairly simple, but the execution is not. Organizing massive efforts to build these ships as civilian rather than military to save on cost and start mass-production of them quicker, however, with good negotiations, a few cost-saving measures and a healthy disregard for human rights, the military logistics civilian industry is started up and then brought to a healthy state.

Solar Logistics Corporations set up, Union appreciates this, as do your forces. Transport of units across the system no longer suffers tremendous penalties.
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Solar Military Adaptation-50+100 (EU Support)
Roll=63 (Success)

Designing materials to function in every environment of Earth is already hard, every solar environment is impossible. This is why you don't do that, instead, you design modular "kits" to upgrade equipment depending on where you are.

The most current one is the Mars kit. Dust-proof exterior with a gee-gel relative to seal up the joints whilst still maintaining mobility at maximum, atmospheric sealing of the new hardsuits to maintain oxygen for the breathers amongst us and electronics hardening for the operation of drones.

Many other kits are made, but for now, that's the one getting the most attention due to the current invasion.

Troops outfitted to operate in void, planet or sea. Makes the next bit a lot easier.
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Operation "Storming Olympus"

As the landing craft breach the atmosphere, they are met with a hell of a sight, the aliens seem to be pouring over the surface, attempting to pre-empt landing zones, however, this is what the fleet in orbit is for.

The Assault ships operating as targeting platforms, the orbiting ships bark their fire accurately, slamming megatonnes of nuclear force into the ground and dispersing the aliens, all of the hundreds of thousands that currently swarm the surface. Great mushroom clouds annihilate their massed infantry as Casaba beams annihilate tunnel entrances.

The Assault ships, screaming with the stress of re-entry as the colossal fire-cloak of atmosphere fades, suddenly impact the ground with great groaning crashes, slowed to just barely within a meter-per-second of safe impact velocity. The Gee-Gel allows this insane manoeuvre to just barely work, the pilots simply massively shaken rather than dead.

Quickly following that, the superheated rear-ports open up as jets roar out, pushing engines to maximum thrust as quickly moving robotic infantry, done in a vaguely humanoid shape and with fully articulated limbs, painted a gunmetal grey and red to fit in with the local environs.

The armour rolling in behind them brandishes brand-new factory-made railguns, 40mm shells accelerated to some absurd speed to hit thrice as hard as a normal shell.

The surrounding terrain is the interesting flat-land dotted by half kilometre deep craters Mars is fond of, a quick defensive line is made a reasonable distance from the landing ship as the larger transport craft begin to trundle out.

But then, a decision is to be made, what were the goals of the over-arching command AI?

[X] Complete defensive posture, claim a foothold, maintain that foothold and fortify it.

[X] Defense in Depth, claim a larger foothold, use the additional ground to allow mobile warfare.

[X] Something else?

Rods From God allow collapsing of enemy breach-heads and annihilation of underground forces, each one may win you a battle.
Authorize Use?
How many?
3/3

Ortillery Use
Assumed Yes, say if not.

1000 Robotic Foot-Mobile Infantry (2 Drone Infantry Contingents)
3 Contingents of Air-Transport Capacity. (3 Drone Air-Transport Contingents)
50 Heavy Armoured Vehicles. (1 Drone Armour Contingent)
20 Mars-Adapted Aircraft with ground support and anti-air mixed in squadrons. (1 Air-Offense Contingent)
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So, this took a while longer than I intended for it to take, but I would suggest thinking this option through closely. You will get the chance to make plans for the next turn, but here is a critical chance to learn about the enemy and with good, competent leadership, maybe even hold ground and retake Mars.