Situation Foxtrot (SAO/Foxhole) [COMPLETE]

-Weapons
-- No.2 Loughcaster Rifle
-- Ahti Model 2 Pistol
-- A3 Harpa Fragmentation Grenade
-- Mammon 91-b High Explosive Grenade
-- Anti-Tank Sticky Grenade
--Blakerow 871 Carbine
--Sampo Auto-Rifle
--Cometa T2-9
--Green Ash Chemical Weapon Greande
--12.7mm Anti-Infantry Flak Gun
--The Osprey Rifle-Grenade Launcher
--Brasa Shotgun
--Fiddler SMG model 868
--Malone Ratcatcher Mk.1
--White Ash Grenade
--Clancy Cinder M3
--Cutler Foebreaker
--20 Neville Anti-Tank Rifle
--Willow's Bane Model 845 Flamethrower
--Malone Mk.2
-Utility
--Outpost Building
--Machine Gun Pillbox
--Listening Kit
--Bunker Supplies
--Garrison Supplies
--Shirts
--Bandages
--Blood Plasma
--Trauma Kit
--First Aide Kit
--Soldier Supplies ("Shirts")
--Shovel
--Hammer
--Wall
--Gate
--Gas Mask
--Gas Mask Filter
--Concrete Mixer
--Balor 99-c Entrenching Charge
--Sledgehammer
-Construction Materials
--Sandbags
--Barbed Wire
--Concrete Materials
-Building Materials
--Materials Pallets
--Ammunition Pallets
--Fuel Pallets
--Fluid Pipelines
-Uniforms
--Physician's Jacket
--Caovish Parka
--Outrider's Mantle
--Officer's Uniform
--Heavy Ammo Uniform
-Utility Vehicles
--Dunne Transport
--Dunne Fuelrunner 2d
--BMS Packmule Flatbed
--BMS Universal Assembly Vehicle ("CV")
--BMS Class 2 Auto-Crane
--Dunne Loadlugger 3c
--Drummond 100a Light Utility Vehicle
--Dunne Caravanner 2f
--Dunne Responder 3e (Ambulance)
--Drummond Loscann 55c (Amphibious)
--Kivela Power Wheel 80-1
-Artillery
--Light Artillery
---Balfour Wolfhound 40mm Field Gun
---Swallowtail 988/127-2 Field Machine Gun
---Cerami 60mm Mortar
---Balfour Falconer Field Mortar
----Rycker 4/3-F Wasp Nest
--Heavy Artillery
---Huber Lariat 120mm
-Combat Vehicles
--Tanks
---Devitt Mark III
---King Spire Mk-I Scout Tank
--APCs/Halftracks
---Niska Mk. 1 Gun Motor Carriage
---Niska Mk.2 Blinder
---Mulloy Landing APC
--Technicals
--Armored Cars
---O'Brien V.110 Armored Car
---O'Brien V.101 Freeman Armored Car
---O'Brien V.121 Highlander
---O'Brien V.113 Gravekeeper
-Ships
--BMS Grouper Motorboat
--BMS Ironship
--BMS Aquatipper
--74b-1 Ronan Gunship
--White Whale Landing Ship
-Trains
--BMS Black Bolt Locomotive Engine
--BMS Standard Gauge Boxcar
--BMS Standard Gauge Flatcar

CURRENT RESEARCH ITEMS

Weapons Tree

--Bonesaw AT/RPG
Or
--Tannerbaush Optical Rangefinder

Auto-unlocks
--Gunner's Breastplate
--Padded Boiler Suit
--Longbow Flare Projector

Vehicles Tree

--Devitt-Caine Mk.IV MMR
Or
--Niska Mk. V Command Vehicle

Auto-unlocks
--Devitt Mk. III Ironhide
--Gallagher Mk.II Highwayman

This post is (for the most part) going to serve as a master post on the state of artillery, Colonial and Warden, and will contain the bulk of the indirect fire weapons. Direct fire guns- 40mm, 68mm, 75mm, and 92.5mm- will not be included.

For discussion and comparison, the following weapons are presented.
No. 2 Loughcaster: 40m System Assist, 100m effective range, 150m ballistic limit
Balfour Wolfhound: 35m System Assist, 175m effective range, 4,500m theoretical maximum.

Smallest among the list is the Cremari Mortar, a 60mm man-portable mortar. Used by both sides in the war, it offers one of the most frustratingly complex modes of operation, with projectile landing being based both on tube angle and a simple vent-cover mechanism to control muzzle velocity. This makes determining the firing procedure for it incredibly painful, as unlocking the velocity control system automatically locks out System Assist. Combined with the absolutely primitive built-in angle detection system, operating in manual is a pain to end all pains. However, it is also the weapon with the most variety in shell type. All tests to date have been done with the High Explosive shell, but Shrapnel and Flare shells have different characteristics. Operating normally, at minimum power and 25% muzzle velocity, under System Assist completely, the range is from 25m to 80m. However, System Assist is the mortar operating at 25% maximum muzzle velocity. At 50% muzzle velocity, the gun's minimum range extends to 50m, and the maximum range extends to a whopping 270m. However, the dispersion also increases, from 8m from aim point at maximum to 14m of aim point at maximum. At 75% muzzle velocity, the gun's minimum range extends to 80m- the maximum range under system assist!- and the maximum range becomes 350m. However, this comes once again at the cost of shell dispersion issue: shells now scatter up to 24m from their aim point. For a mortar bomb with a 5m effective radius generally fired at a target that is 9m by 9m, that is a problem. Maximum muzzle velocity can allow the Cremari to reach out to 675m, with a 160m minimum range, and a dispersion of 32m from aim point. No devised test data has been published by 58e Intelligence on other shell types yet, although it is confirmed that Shrapnel bombs tend to have slightly wider dispersion, and Flare bombs have a set 6-second timer before parachute deployment that limits maximum range no matter muzzle velocity setting.

Doctrinally, the Cremari is deployed in batteries usually involving a multiple of two tubes: four- and eight- tube batteries being most common, although a motion to standardize on six-tube batteries exists in the Folkvangr Brigade. Deployment to an unprotected position usually takes 2-5m, and depending on battery composition the battery will expend all on-call ammunition in approximately 20m. A protected position takes 3m per two guns to generate, leading to an average set-up time of 7-30m (due to the need to dig more connecting entrenchments and truck revetments, time increases are nonlinear), but said protected position can allow for ammunition stockpiling and be further developed into an aide station, supply point, or network into a bunker system.

Adapted from the Cremari Mortar is the next item on the list, the Caine Gun-Mortar. Firing the same 60mm mortar bombs as the Cremari, the Caine offers very few concrete improvements. The primary changes are due to its adoption on the Devitt-Caine chassis: access to a fixed elevation screw, gun level, and being properly contained in a reciprocating recoil control rig mean the gun will hold a given point of aim through a course of fire: a feature that current testing says reduces dispersion from the Cremari by approximately 10%. The other major advantage is that the gun may, in desperation, be fired as a direct-fire piece at up to 50% power (the recoil system potenially blowing out at higher power of shot at this angle of fire). When fired as a gun, only High Explosive ammunition may be used, and dispersion is notably worse than standard: testing is ongoing to determine by how much. As an advantage to being mounted in a tank chassis, there is no real setup time needed for a Devitt-Caine battery: they may simply stop trucks, and conduct a fire mission. Endurance is short, at only 12m of expected fire time, but field resupply is quick and easy.

The larger calibers of gun, however, are more dangerous beasts.

The standard Warden long gun, the Huber Lariat 120mm, is a large, intensive piece of work. Operated by two crew on the gun plus up to four support crew (gunner, loader/traverser, shell handlers) and any number of logistics personnel for the battery, they offer an incredible advantage to any commander who can operate them as regimental or brigade level fire assets- if they can pay the price to use them. With a hard minimum range of 100m, these guns must by necessity be kept far back from an active front. However, their maximum range dictates that front without movement: fires out to 2,400m under ideal circumstances, with wind causing a 15% variance at maximum range and 5% variance at Systems Assist range. Systems Assist range on the Huber Lariat is 300m, however if a gun crew is firing at targets that close it is under un-ideal circumstances. Each shell has an explosive damage radius of 4m, and a shrapnel radius of 8-12m. The dispersion formula- according to current math- is twofold. At base, the guns had a 50% normalization chance to land within a 9m dispersion circle, and 18m of total dispersion at maximum of systems assist. The first factor was reduction of normalization: -1% normalization chance per 100m past 300m. Second, at the same interval, maximum dispersion radius would increase by 1m. Therefore, at 1,000m, there was a 26m circle of maximum dispersion and a 13m circle of normalized dispersion with a 43% of a shell landing inside the normalized dispersion area versus the randomized dispersion area. At maximum range with wind, shells would have a 43m maximum dispersion circle and a 26% chance of lanidng in a 21.5m circle. Guns can, at maximum fire rate, deliver 4 rounds per minute- however, maximum sustained fire rate is generally 3 rounds per 2 minutes. Organizationally, guns are kept in 4-gun batteries, although some groups operate 3-gun or 1-gun batteries: generally for counterbattery fires only.

The primary problem with utilizing the Huber-Lariat is the intense costs involved. Deploying a standard organization battery ex nihlo into unprepared positions takes roughly 45m; mostly due to traffic concerns and the slow speed of cranes. Asides from being incredibly vulnerable to counterbattery fire- which a battery commander must expect- an unprepared position will also be unable to maintain fires. A standard truck of 15 shells will be expanded in 10m, and unless regimental or brigade trucks are allocated to the battery shell shortages will produce an unsatisfactory bombardment. A rudimentary entrenchment adds a half hour, bringing net time until battery operations to 1hr15m. However, entrenchment does not solve the key issue of shells: it only prevents the counterbattery fire from scything through gunners like wheat. To solve that, a bunker base or outpost must be established, both of which mean a Construction Vehicle needs to be dedicated to the battery. This can raise the time to set the battery to as much as 2hr30, although 1hr45-2hr is more common. However, this raises the effectiveness of the battery's domestic logistics exponentially: each truck carrying 15 crates of 5 shells (75 total) instead of merely 15 shells. More importantly, a bunker base can naturally serve as a respawn point, fighting position, and save area to emplace other logistics facilities such as a local supply dump or other tools. As a rule of thumb, a Huber-Lariat gun battery may fire so long as they have spotting teams, clear communications, supply, and a supply of personnel who are trained and in good condition.

The standard Colonial long gun, the 120-68 Koronides Field Gun, is a study in contrasts over the Huber Lariat. The Koronides is a field gun in configuration, allowing it to be towed by any standard truck. It has a maximum traverse of 10 degrees off centerline, a 100m minimum range, and a 250m Systems Assist Range. Maximum range is 2,000m, with a 10% variance for wind and a 5% at Systems Assist range. Each shell mirrors the Huber-Lariat: 4m explosive radius, 8-12m shrapnel radius. The dispersion formula, however, is the far more frightening part of the Koronides: instead of variable normalization, it is instead fixed at 40% normalization to an area that is 50% the maximum dispersion radius. In long range fire missions, this accuracy increase is expected to be telling, especially in counterbattery roles. However, according to testing, dispersion seems to be less regular: at base systems assist range, shells are expected to land in a 16.5m circle, with a 40% chance to land in an 8.25m circle. As dispersion increases 1m per 80m past Systems Assist range, dispersion at maximum range is 38.375m with a 40% chance of landing in a 19.2m circle.

The primary doctrinal issues around the Koronides are based on its lack of durability and short range. While it has relatively high accuracy, its shorter range than a Huber Lariat forces it to be either deployed very conservatively, bouncing between pre-built firing positions; or incredibly aggressively as a flying gun to execute fire missions on one truck-load of ammunition. Fortunately, being a field gun makes it very easy to utilize in smaller, sub-battery commands: it isn't unusual for them to be deployed in pairs under a senior NCO as local counterbattery guns. Doctrinally, they are deployed in two-gun pairs by the main Warden users, and in five-gun battery groups attached to the infantry regiment or as part of three-gun fire groups attached to armor and rocket artillery battalions.

Thus, we move on to Rocket Artillery. Due to ammunition scarcities, testing has not been sufficiently thorough at time of writing: as more data emerges, some information will change.

The answer to overly-mobile Colonial artillery, the Rycker 4/3-F Wasp Nest is a horrifying creation made explicitly for providing blanket fire support to an area by dint of throwing twelve 4C Fire Rockets at it. While the incendiary payload might be more likely to cause infernos than some are comfortable with, the Wasp Nest is the only field carriage artillery the Wardens have, making it precious by default. With a minimum range of 200m, the system demands a sophisticated fire direction center- especially with Systems Assist range at 225m. Maximum range is 1,575m, although dispersion at that point makes it unlikely to hit more than a postal code. Dispersion is a sticky subject with the Wasp Nest: it is suspected that fire rate may impact it beyond the 20% point of aim drift from wind. Currently, tests reveal that all 12x rockets will land in a 24m circle of dispersion at Systems Assist range, increasing by 2m per 100m of additional range. There is no normalization on rockets, or other accuracy increasing effects: where they land, they land. Each rocket launched deals three potential kinds of damage: kinetic (the rocket impact) is garunteed, but has no splash radius. Incendiary damage is at a 40% chance to occur, creating a 3m circle of napalm that lasts for 30m, and deals Incendiary structures and may cause fires. Unfortunately, testing on the Fire Damage system is still ongoing. Shrapnel damage is at a 65% chance to occur, with the rocket landing and the bursting charge detonating to create a 5m shrapnel area, dealing heavy anti-infantry damage. It is entirely possible and likely some rockets will land doing all three types of damage. However, the Wasp Nest is otherwise a painful weapon to use: each rocket tube must be charged individually, and rockets must be transported via an Ammunition Pallet. While a towing truck might be trusted to hold one round of reloads, the five second per person per tube reload time means that field loading is unadvised. Groups with the Wasp Nest are adivised to ride out, fire, and RTB to rearm. Therefore, doctrine around them as is presently being developed suggests a six-launcher battery, operating out of a secured area. Currently the only group to make doctrinal use of them is the 62e Infantry, but this is expected to change soon as more units become used to the strengths and weaknesses of each weapons system.

While Colonial artillery is not blessed with a low-tier weapons system with great range, it is blessed with high maneuverability. The R-17 Retiarius Skirmisher rocket truck is an example of excellence in engineering, enough to make Wardens quite envious. Firing 3C High Explosive rockets, it excels at hammering positions and leaving quickly without asking questions or receiving answers. With a 200m minimum range, 275m Systems Assist Range, and 1,925m maximum range, what the Retiarius looses in range it makes up in density of fire. Much like the Wasp Nest, there's a 20% total point of aim drift from wind, and fire rate may relate to dispersion. Unlike the Wasp Nest, however, dispersion is not so cruel: System Assist range retains the 24m circle of dispersion despite being 50m further out, and dispersion increases by 1m per 125m past System Assist range. Type 3C rockets do different damage, however: aside from Kinetic from the impact, there's a 70% chance of dealing High Explosive (read: anti-structure) damage that can tear through bunkers, as well as 15% chance of incidiary effects on the impact point at 50% chance to generate a 5.5m shrapnel area. Many other problems, however, are shared: long load times per rocket (3.5s/rail here), no ammunition storage capability, and in exchange for being self-propelled, the cost comes in a lengthy 10s time period needed to drop spades for firing. There is no doctrine surrounding these vehicles known to the Wardens as of yet: only a bare handful of examples have been captured to date.

Largest in scale on this list is the honorable Balfour Falconer 250mm field mortar. A two-man field gun with all that entails, it is a simple breath of fresh air compared to rocket artillery. With a minimum range of 6m, a Systems Assist range of 25m, and a maximum range of 200m, this is not a safe weapon to use. Dispersion is 6m laterally at maximum range and 4m vertically at maximum range, and dispersion at closer targets is frankly irrelevant as this is strictly a bunker-breaker that must, by necessity, get into range of the bunker it is attacking to make the assault. In all other respects, it behaves much like a Balfour Wolfhound, and crews have no difficulty cross-training between the two. The weapon is popular in infantry regiments as a way to blow through stubborn defensive lines- as long as friendly machine guns and other artillery can suppress a bunker's defenses.

It bore saying that you were an amatuer at war. You, frankly, did not know things. Sure, there was plenty of intellectual horsepower rolling around under your helmet, but translating the raw power of thought to the orders necessary to make things happen was not something you were good at. In front of your regiment, keeping the guns firing? Sure, you were hot shit. Manning the trenches for a desperate offense/defense? No problem. Ordering and directing subordinates to engage in a limited offensive action?

GOLDEN GENERAL HAMHANDLES HUNTSFORT: COLONIAL GARRISON UNPETURBED

Well, the newspaper headlines spoke for themselves. The goblins were fighting smarter than usual: using concealment and narrow scrapes to hide hordes of Typhon anti-tank cannons, they'd effectively engaged Tymur with pinpoint enfilade fire, and prevented him from moving up into the area around Huntsfort. Your mortars and 40mm guns weren't much help: neither had the ability to suppress a frontline to the degree needed to silence the Typhons in their shallow scrapes, and you couldn't risk a forward deployment of your 120mm guns since they were both incredibly valuable and incredibly logistics-sensitive.

The particular humeur malheureux that struck you more and more often these days revealed something dark: you were starting to see how Hooker had delayed and delayed on the topic of pushing in this hex. Just one more fortification, one more experiment, one more training operation. One more little delay to get added to the pile.

Some were even worthwhile- like backing up Kirito's raiding expedition with a small, temporary outpost manned by Kazoo's men that allowed him to demo a switching station on the Colonial rail network and make off with most of that train's goodies. It was mostly crates of shirts, but the few cases of Fuscinas and Lamentums he captured were well worth the price of admission- as well as the two cases of Ignifists. Production model Ignifists at that. When he saw them, it was enough to make Tymur hide in your bedroom- and for good reason. Man-portable single-use anti-tank rockets working on crude hollow charges were the definition of a threat to armor. Any and every enemy infantryman could now hold a competent anti-tank weapon, and worse, they actively were- infantry skirmish after-action reports out of the Band of the Red Hand that had been re-distributed by Argo revealed that there were generally three or four per squad, and they were very active in using them.

Raiding and fortifying and learning new things: good growing weather for the House of Gold.

Still, with adopting a whopping twenty-five new warm bodies, you now had resources. You had tallent. You had the manpower to fill out some gaps in your lineup, and more importantly you wanted to get your hands on some of the new Wasp Nest rocket launchers. It wasn't a sensible emotion: you were already in massive developmental debt with the introduction of the 120mm guns. That being said, the Wasps Nest offered three things you really, desperately wanted.

Item one: long range bunker denial. Your launchers loaded incendiary rockets, which while each individual rocket had anemic fire chance the odds of half a salvo of fifteen doing some major damage was actually pretty good. More importantly, according to more of Argo's Reports, the Navy had figured out that once you set a bunker on fire it automatically shut down the AI. Now, they'd done it with flamethrowers, but the principle was the same.

Item two: high area suppression fires. Huntsforth, with its little pissant infantry dig-ins, had stymied the 64e to the bane. With a propper rocket battery, you could just delete grid squares- or, more realistically, beat a path into the enemy's zone of control and let the tanks do the rest.

Item three: mobile high power fires. While the 40mm guns were amazingly good general-purpose siege guns and tank-killers, what they weren't was good at infantry duties. Trench lines and unroofed fighting positions were their eternal bane, since that was an overwatch job that neccssitated pulling in close: close enough for sharpshooters or machine gunners to decrew the guns. With the rocket launchers, though, their very nature meant they were wheel out, fire, retreat platforms. Much, much safer than your guns that needed to stay on station.

So yeah, you had valid reasons. It was not "ooh new shiny thing" no matter how much Asuna and Silica and Klasse teased you about it. You had a reasonable, measured problem to solve; and weapons to solve it with. More importantly, you had the means to get your hands on the tools to solve the problem. Colonial long-arms had some distinct advantages over Warden guns in a few respects: controllability and ease of full auto was one of them. Even with only eighteen-round detachable magazines and a three-round burst fire, the Fuscina was highly regarded among some units. It was a common weapon of distinction in some units, until it inevitably got lost.

Naturally you sold every crate of Fuscis that Kirito had yoinked to get a pair of rocket launchers and four pallets of ammunition. Your current plan- with much cribbing off of how Kazoo was doing it- was to organize them into a pair of demi-batteries of three units, combining to create a full battery of six units. This made two assurances: the first being that the battery could conduct two fire missions by having a pre-defined split in it, and the second being that you could use a significantly smaller footprint for your loading areas back at HQ.

Now, making the sensible assumption that you'd want a gunner, co-gunner, and security/driver per Wasp Nest launcher, that was six sets of launchers times three people: eighteen persons. Add in a four-person battery direction center and officer, and you got twenty-two persons, which was perfect since that left you three people to shuffle into the zombie office of administration. Until you got more rocket launchers, you could just fold the officer compliment over there too, getting you more admin power until later.

Truely, you were an administrative genius. Now, you just had to be an interpersonal one too: you had to scrounge around and see how much of a dead letter the War Bureau was, before moving on.

Turns out? The answer was "very dead" with a side of mouldering. The 1 Infantry had folded entirely at some point, probably when Hooker left, and their colors had been formally withdrawn from the register around eight weeks ago. 11 Infantry had actually split into two units: one half retaining the 11e colors, the other half now serving as the 189 Motor Rifle Guards. They'd apparently earned the distinction in Axehead, under Hooker, and the 11e was in turmoil over it. 32e Research had folded entirely, with most of the surviving members coming out east to serve with Loup- the colors of the regiment weren't taken with, on grounds that they were stored in a bunker base that had been allowed to decay into nothing.

34 Motor Rifles and 45 Motor Rifles were still going reasonably strong, thanks to being your direct neighbors. Still, with Tepes sidelined back down to Colonel, there wasn't a lot they could, well, do. Most of the support that he'd been banking on had come through Hooker, and Hooker'd left to go play with his new toys. Sure, 52e and 46e Sustainment were alive and kicking, but they weren't really organized anymore. The organization and the fire in their eyes had died out over this last year. Even 99e Engineering had gone to greener pastures: Cauthon had hired them on to stiffen his buckets of spit with some buckshot by way of their forts.

It was like looking at a discarded toy chest: Hooker'd set up his little tin soldiers, and left when they weren't fun to play with any more. You didn't mind too terribly much, though- they could be yours now. Once you'd wiped the blood and the tears off, at least.

It was the middle of the week when you finally took the time to visit Tepes and the 163e. For all that his position had depreciated like the housing market bubble, he was still gamely holding on to his section of the lines and using the Motor Rifles' mobile firepower to advance and engage targets out in the contested areas. Still, though, they were fragile little regiments: the 45e hadn't really built up anything near what you considered an acceptable bunker base, and their vehicle park was incredibly barren: there were only a single pair of Niska Blinders there, and the things were in shoddy shape. Everything else was just trucks, trucks, trucks.

Inside the bunker base itself, a faint air of malaise suffused the area. Meeting Tepes in the mess, it wasn't hard to see why. Their food situation was poor, a pot of pease porridge making the mainstay of the on-tap food. Versus your kitchen with coffee, rich soup, and hearty sandwiches or other fixings, it was an unhappy affair. Still, Tepes wasn't trying to snub you as he broke bread and poured tea- he just couldn't afford to be a good host.

"I'm going to be honest, Orr," he said as he poured two cups. "You're a sight for sore eyes out here."

"Has it been bad?" you asked, taking a piece of the loaf of bread and digging around in a belt pouch for one of the tins of sardines you'd started keeping as habitual field rations. They weren't tasty by any means, but it was better than trusting your taxi-driver sergeants to keep something other than half a sandwich in the back.

"We can't get replacement vehicles. The War Bureau- for all we were the first big multi-regiment organization- didn't have any depth of supply."

That explained far, far too much. "You couldn't cash in on sledgehammers unlocking?"

"Our previous deployment was on the bleeding edge of Viper's Pit. Not enough action for us to re-tool into a cavalry unit again."

"I'd expect they'd put Hussars or Uhlans there."

"Straight infantry regiments have a ton of bonuses we needed. Bonus dig speed in combat is a lifesaver when most of your troops are green, and we needed the extra systems assist when everyone was carrying Loughcasters."

You gaped. "We've had Blakerows unlocked for the better part of a year!"

"Which, when your instructing unit is the 11th, doesn't matter because it's worse at melee and they have a rifleman fetish. We were the junior unit," Tepes grumbled, "and we needed their training facilities and expertise. I thought I could handle the poison pill."

"Damnation."

"Quite."

Taking a sip of your tea, you looked at Tepes carefully. "You know I've been formalizing my nominal brigade."

"Absolutely. It's all some people want to talk about."

"I've got armor and artillery, but recent field operations have revealed the uncomfortable fact I need more infantry. Given your proximity and the fact we've worked together before, I'm tendering you an offer."

"What are the rights, responsibilities, and resources then?" Tepes asked pointedly. "Hooker screwed me, personally, over- and I'm not letting you go double or nothing."

Taking your thoughts in order while you offered some of the sardines over, you got to thinking out loud. "This is the first time I've heard it asked for in those exact terms, you understand, so forgive me some mistakes."

"You can be reasonably assured I won't take offense unless it is meant."

"Alright," you muttered. "So, first off: you have command rights over all your guys. I won't try to hijack a platoon or any vehicles you operate in the middle of an operation unless it's a critical issue like a line breech or something causing a massive logistics fuckup. Second, you have your own supply rights. If its in your trucks, my people will respect that for the most part."

"For the most part?"

"Odds are, they'd just steal the entire damn truck, dump it out at your bunker base, and keep the wheels. I lose a lot of trucks," you explained, "and at this point, after the first two days in an operation if it has wheels it might get purloined. Specifically wheels, nobody likes the half-track trucks."

"Will we get reimbursed?"

"I'll try, but that'd have to go through my logistics department with Major Theresa. Off that tangent, though, your final right is independent basing. I'm not going to force you to build specific bunker types: your land, your problem."

"And if we ask for plans, or construction assistance?" Tepes pointedly asked.

"I'll try and fob my architect off on you and Theresa keeps the B-mats coming in, but it'll be your shovels and hammers doing the work. That dovetails into responsibilities, though: you need to keep your base in good condition, as well as your troops. We can't scroop everything for you, so making your own rations and basic fighting supplies is on you. Your other responsibility is to accurately estimate the supplies you need for when we go on offensives: hourly shirt, shell, bullet, and medical supply consumption, as well as making sure everyone understands where and how you're going to be deployed in relation to our other efforts."

Tepes blinked. "You put a lot of planning into things."

"And that's why I didn't get mauled to shit until after I'd completed all my objectives, thank you very much," you said with a sniff. "Proper planning prevents piss poor performance."

"Can't argue with that."

"Resources, then," you continued carefully. "For one thing, we do work with R-mat items, and provide them. I won't guarantee you'll be the top of the requisitions pile, but frankly speaking your vehicle park-"

"-is fucking pathetic, I know," Tepes grumbled. "We don't have time to fix that with how frequent the damn rocket attacks are, and the Blinders are the only things we can reliably kill their launchers with."

"I was going to say 'easily replaced with Zairman's castoffs' but that's true too," you said lightly. "What's your target force composition?"

"Three companies of four elements in Mulloys, with each element backed up by two Niskas with whatever the vehicle commander wants. Company command should probably have mortars, and I'll keep a platoon of Blinders with headquarters and the reserves."

"Ambitious," you muttered. You weren't sure as to the operational cost of Mulloys, but six Niskas and another two Blinders didn't sound outrageous. "I'll talk to my people about it: expect to have to make shit work for a while, though."

"That's what I've been doing. Changing this brigade should fix that."

Shrugging, you took another sip of tea. "I'm good, Tepes, but I'm not gonna snap my fingers and promise you the moon in a teacup. It'll take two weeks or so, but you'll see some measurable improvements."

That earned a snort. "So what else am I getting?"

"A fucking armor regiment as backup, and the possibility of me linking you into my fire net. If I'm willing to spread my guns out a little more, disperse the battery some, then I think I can cover the entire field out in front of your base from mine."

"No shit?"

You snorted. "Walk with me."

It took a few minutes to get out to the front line of Tepes' fortifications, and you could just barely make out one of the hills with a burnt-out watchtower you'd spent two months silently skirmishing with the Collies over. It was the stupidest fucking thing, but that was Your Hill, and a watchtower there meant you could see the closest revettes they used to rocket you with. Pulling out your radio, you clicked it twice.

"General Orr to Bastion Revachol, come in Revachol."

"Bastion Revachol reads you two by four, General."

"Calling for fires, send to battery."

"Say again, calling for fires ma'am?"

"Calling for fires, patch to battery," you repeated, sighing. Shitty signal- someone must have gotten through to cut the lines around the road.

"Patching to battery," Revachol sounded off, before you got a new scratchy voice on the line.

"Battery, coming in two by four. How copy, General?"

"Copy. Requesting fire mission, priority five."

Priority for fire missions was one of the few things you'd been hammering into everyone's head. Priority one was "kill it now" and reserved for enemy artillery. Everything else was lower than that- priority five being so low that there was a non-zero chance someone would affix a grenade launcher and do it themselves.

"Priority five fire mission ready."

"One gun, range maximum, azumith two-six-eight, two rounds, and correction, over," you called out.

"Two rounds at maximum by two-six-eight, aye?"

"Afirm."

"Firing."

Moments later, that stupid little hill exploded in fire, as two gouts of earth careened up into the sky from it. Grinning, you looked over at Tepes, who just gulped. That hill was west of the due-south line of his position: you had range to shell anything coming up at him.

"Spotter to battery, correct azimuth to two-four-five, over."

"Copy that, azimuth to two-four-five, confirm?"

"Confirm, azimuth two-four-five."

"Shot out."

Moments later, another pair of dirt splashes went off about twenty meters away from your trench. Once the dirt stopped falling on you, you took off your hat to brush some of it off. You hadn't really thought too much about what you were doing, trusting the Systems Assist to help, and your position as the Colonel of an artillery regiment did the rest.

"I believe we can cover you," you said lightly.

"Quite!" Tepes snapped. "I'll sign your papers, damnit!"

"Come by Weathering Halls soon, then," you said with a smile. "Adieu."

You might not be as endeared to him as you used to, but Tepes wouldn't be a bad addition. Of course, now all you needed to do was to talk to Argo.

Shit.

///

It took time to travel, even with trains and staff cars at your beck and call. When it was finally time to call on Argo, you just wanted a nap- but dealing with the Rat took your full and undivided attention. Entering her shining palace of concrete, her underage aides quickly dragged you to an office buried in the center of the fort.

"General Orr, welcome, welcome!" Argo said, standing up to smile at you warmly. "How are you doing? Was the trip good?"

"The trip was fine," you said, trying to figure out what was making her so cheery. "Finally talked another regiment into the brigade."

"Not using the techniques you've been saving for Colonel Zairman, I hope?"

"Excuse me?" you asked, blinking.

"Why, I was just addressing the baseless rumors you'd been seen at the Golden Ghost's fortification in your hex while Col. Zairman has been present."

Those rumors were neither baseless (since you went frequently to discuss tactics) and incriminating in the extreme (since you had a small hideaway bunker you could and did use for the sorts of things that made the papers) so you had to handle this carefully.

"For one, that's Bastion Dunwall and part of my bunker base," you explained. "For two, an armored regiment is a major logistical burden. We frequently need to discuss supply planning and operational costs."

"Ah, I see, I see. So, what do you want to discuss today?"

"Something that requires the utmost discretion," you said carefully. "That cannot be committed to radio or any mass communication. Ideally, it'll never be written down."

"Ohoho? This must be a pretty big fish then. As big as Kirito's little find up by the lake?"

"Bigger."

Argo smirked. "My time isn't free, General. I'd have to ask someone to confirm that."

"Ask Kirito then, he's already in on the secret."

Picking up her desk's telephone, Argo smirked. "Patch me through to Kirito."

A minute of assorted silence, incredulous Japanese, stuttering, and clamming up followed. Finally, Argo set the phone down.

"Ki-bou says you're legit. Come with me."

Leaving the shiny office, you blinked as you started moving out of the nice, clean, concreted bits of base. Soon enough you were standing in a small generator room, with only one door and a few benches in it.

"Welcome to the Confidential Affairs Office," Argo said, serious. "Nobody can hear us, there's no eavesdroppers, and most importantly there's no other ways in or out of this bunker.

"Right. Fuck. Okay," you muttered. "Where the hell do I begin."

"I generally suggest the front," Argo snarked.

"Well then. I'm probably dying then," you said, getting the big fish out of the way early. "American health care be like that when they see the big stack of zeroes in your account."

"And you know this, how?"

"Now we get up to the bit that's hard to explain. Sundowner told me."

Were Argo drinking a coffee, she'd have spewed it. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Big bad fatso himself let it slip. He saw his golden girl was on the stairway to heaven, and decided to intervene. Pulled me out of the game for a hot minute, gave me a choice. I work for him, he saves my life and plugs up the holes with some shiny new tech. I don't… I die."

"So you're inherently compromised and if we're cooking up any revenge plots, don't tell you."

"Got it in one," you said with a sad smile, pulling out a cigarette and lighting up. "Once I decided not to die, well, the bastard doesn't piss around putting me to work- and that's why I'm here."

"It'll be a cold day in hell before anyone wants to willingly work with Sundowner," Argo said, raising an eyebrow at you. "As it is, the rest of the players might lynch you and throw your tags into the Great Warden Dam reservoir if they find this out."

"Yeah, probably," you said, shrugging. "I wouldn't tell you this, if the job didn't come with an out from this shitty game."

"Excuse me?"

"Sundowner planned to pull the plug after a year, according to him. However, the backdoor got fucked up by Kayaba, the lead designer, and presumably the one who turned this into the damn death game. If we find him and shake the bastard down, Sundowner will chain him to a desk until he codes us a way out of here."

That earned a hard stare. "That'd be worth what Ki-bou told me, then. You want my help to find this guy?"

"Yeah. I know it's a big ask-"

"No it's not."

"Excuse me?" you asked, confused.

"It ain't a big ask, Orr. What this is, fundamentally, is you getting me to do what I do best: be a rat in the wall for everyone and everything. Ki-bou is a good headhunter, and I'm a good data collimator. We gotta keep this quiet, though."

"So Kayaba doesn't go to ground?" you asked.

"No, so he doesn't hide behind whatever poor sap he's been marinating this whole time. Think of it- you're Kayaba, there's some assholes hot on your trail, so you throw a sacrificial lamb out to distract the masses. Someone important, probably with some clout and some scandals. Someone like, say, you."

Shit. That would be bad- even with the Ukranians in your pocket, you still depended heavily on the civilian backline. In case of something like that, Hooker might back you up if you kowtowed to his dumb ass, but that wasn't a risk you'd consider sustainable.

"This is why I got a professional," you said finally, sighing deeply. "I'm not cut out for this."

"What, too much of a retrofuture apocalypse for you?" Argo laughed.

"I didn't believe Neuromancer was going to be gospel truth, no."

"Well then, you best start believing in cyberpunk dystopias, girl- you be living in one!" Argo said, before laughing. "I think we're done here- you need anything else?"

"Nope. Just this."

"Want to stay the night? I finally got around to building guest quarters."

"No thanks," you murmured demurely. "I'll crash up with the 64e."

The glint in Argo's eye made you regret saying that as soon as the last syllable slipped free.

///

It was some small hours later that you were curled up in Zairman's bed, alone. He'd be coming back on the night watch, circulating out Company Anton for Company Galina, but nobody here minded. Your relationship was accepted by the fellows of the armor regiment, even if there were some quiet mutters that you were coddling the group to keep your boy-toy safe. As if! Still, there was something intangible about this little room in the back of a W-pattern that made you smile, a little coal heater puttering away happily banishing the dying snow and damp from the room as you curled up under the wool blankets and bearskin top that made up the Colonel's bedding. Reaching over to pull the chain for the yellow bulb, you felt a slight tremor in your hand.

Odd-

The tremor progressed into a full spasm, throwing you down to the bed. Your body rebelled, violently shuddering for a minute, and a tortured gasp pried its way loose of you. What was that? It was like nothing you'd ever had before- a seizure? You'd never-

-another spasm, this time violent enough to snag the chain for the lamp and rip it down out of its' pull. Now you were in darkness, sweating cold fear as you tried to marshal yourself to call for help. Panic was pushing at the edge of your mind, but you shoved it down at swordpoint, frantically grasping at [A Caovish Reminder] in its sabre form to try and lever yourself out of the bed.

"Ilya?" you tried to yell, to get the attention of the attendant who habitually stood by, taking in messages at all hours in the attached office. The word cracked and croaked in your throat, though, before you were captured in another spasm. As blackness overtook you, a shout echoed through your ears in a phantasmal haunt- and then a sudden void.

"Hurry! Doctor, you have five minutes before-

"-no sane cyberneticist-"

a brief drop of silence like rain

"-two out of five minutes have passed-"

"-black fucking ICE in here, bad juju-"

From the void crawled two faces- an older man, and a younger assistant. Your eyes were bleary, crusted with mucus, filled with cold and tears and un-working- but something about this felt true, like nothing you'd seen yet.

"I think the patient is coming up, Doctor," the assistant said, gulping.

"Fortunately, for this breed of neurosurgery, it does not matter," the elder said, smiling faintly. Flashing a penlight over your eyes, you squinted. "Yes, she's up."

"Are you sure she shouldn't be sedated?"

"I think my greatest masterpiece might be allowed to remember the name of her operating surgeon-" the man said, before a bellow elsewhere drowned him out.

"Sixty seconds!"

"The operation is complete you silicon-brained buffoon!" the doctor roared. "Now she'll never remember the name of-"

Blackness again, followed by a hissing sound, coming to a scream as you saw the colors and shapes of a NervGear boot-up sequence. Had you- had you been out of the game? What had Suneater done?

As you fell back into your body, you didn't know- the unknown the most terrifying thing of all.

///
VOTES
///

BUNKER
(Choose One Two Three)
[] Expand your bunker base with additional infrastructure to sustain larger troop numbers.
[] Expand your bunker base with Defensive Patterns (Requires techniques, vote to begin development)
-[] With small patterns (x0 to go to New Base Completion)
-[] With medium patterns (x2 to go to New Base Completion)
-[] With heavy patterns (x0 to go to New Base Completion)
-[] With artillery firing positions (x0 to go to New Base Completion)
-[] With infantry fighting positions (x0 to go to New Base Completion)
-[] With Modernist patterns (x2 to go to New Base Completion)
[] Begin developing Concrete (Write-in base to begin concrete development on)
[] Develop a new bunker base in a better location
-[] Write in hex and town/Relic, as well as distance to front line or intended purpose.
[] Get your builders to stop expanding the base for now.
[] Gift, Assign, or Abandon a bunker base.
-[] Write-in base by location.
[] Begin design for a new, planned base.
[] You don't need to build right now: put that time and manpower into the Brigade functions! (Grants one Brigade action)
[] Begin building temporary siegeworks to interdict a position or route.
[] Assign an Architect and Build Team elsewhere
-[] To the 163 Motor Rifle


PERSONNEL
(Choose One Two Three)
[] Go and recruit more personnel
-[] Mass recruitment: whatever you can get, get more of it! (Recruits 4d10+4 White personnel)
-[] Selective recruitment: Look for people who aren't clueless. The Logistics Union has a lot of folks. (Recruits 3d10+3 Green personnel)
-[] Picky recruitment: Get people who are at least as skilled as you are! (Recruits 2d10+2 Yellow personnel)
-[] Frontline recruitment: Go to the front and snag some blueberries! (Recruits 1d10+1 Orange personnel)
-[] Elite recruitment: Go find a group of lunatics, and shanghai them. (Recruits 1d10 Red personnel)
(You cannot recruit units of higher rating than yourself.)
[] Commit training!
-[] Vehicle training: Teach everyone drive good. Car goes on right hand side of road, revolutionary concept. Might as well also learn to drive a flatbed, or your Drummond if you're feeling nice.
-[] Rifle training: Everyone will spend time practicing the fine art of "bullet go plink"
-[] Administration Training: Basic delegation has been mastered, but the more officers you have the more the parts move. Therefore, figuring out how to grease the gears is important. (Cannot take with empty Admin Billets.
-[] Infantry Training: You've spent some time on the front, it sucks. Get better so it sucks less.
-[] Mobile Warfare Training: You know how to fight out of a truck bed. Now it's time to get good at that.
-[] Artillery Training: It is time to actually learn what the limitations of these guns are. It'll be expensive, but you need to know to keep mistakes from happening.
-[] Rocket Artillery Training: This is going to be an entirely different kettle of fish from the guns, and you need to respect that or it'll never pay off.
-[] Combat Vehicle Training: Your people know how to drive trucks and push guns, but the sort of work and operations needed to utilize an armored car or tank is completely outside your wheelhouse. Get some domestic tankers ready- you'll need them if you ever use armored contingents or self-propelled guns.
[] Extra work shifts
-[] More Scroop: Get everyone to do more rounds of scrooping at the scrap fields. You do your part, and more importantly, can use the B-mats to get useful stuff like more trucks or dedicated equipment.
-[] More Mines: Get everyone to do more rounds on the component mines and oil wells. Components mean R-mats, R-mats mean flatbeds, and more importantly: trains
-[] More Building: Put everyone to work on getting your bunker upgrades planned. If you don't have some planned, the bunker will get what the troops think it needs.
-[] Frontline Support: Put your people in the trenches on secondary duties: terminal logistics, machine guns, fortification, and other 'mostly safe' jobs to stiffen them up.
[] Begin operational planning for Something Big
-[] Start writing the Doctrine (Regimental)
-[] Start planning an Operation
--[] On Marban Hollow (Seaport/Water Logi hex)
--[] On Deadlands (MPF hex)
-[] Write-in Something Big.
[] Begin Operation Planning (+1 to all rolls when the next operation starts)
[] You have enough spare brain cells in this department: put some time and manpower into the Brigade functions! (Grants one Brigade action)


UPGRADES
(Choose One Two Three!)
[] Go out and get yourself a lieutenant! (You may have one per twenty Regiment members, minimum one)
-[] Teach them the way of the builder, as much as you know how that works. (Adds one action to Bunker)
-[] Teach them the way of the talker, so you don't have to do that crap! (Adds one action to Personnel)
-[] Teach them the way of the organizer, so you have more time to put out more fires (Adds one action to Upgrades)
[] Find a, uh, techmaid, and get some prototype kits by hook or by crook.
-[] Bonesaw Humerus: A shoulder-fired ARC/AT-RPG weapon with a monsterously heavy hollow charge: perfect for destroying tanks and not much else.
-[] Tannerbaush Optical Rangefinder: A large, tripod-mounted optical rangefinder with integral compass. Perfect for determining range and bearing from a position.
-[] Niska Mk. V Command Vehicle: A Niska Halftrack with the weapons mount and troop compartment removed, in exchange for a four-seat mobile command center with theatre radio, map board, and cable jacks for field telephones or to link into a Bunker Base switchboard.
-[] Devitt-Caine Mk. IV MMR: A Devitt light tank retrofit with an open turret to mount a Caine 60mm mortar. Superficially similar to an infantry mortar, the mechanized chassis provides many hidden advantages.
[] Requisition Material
-[] Logistics Support: Flatbeds, Fuel, and other niceties.
-[] Light Artillery: 40mm, Mortars, and other truck-pulled guns.
-[] Heavy Artillery: 120mm guns, Wasp's Nests, and other high-logistics artillery.
-[] Base Support: More concrete, more faster.
[] Get in touch with another regiment that does something you need (Discovers and improves relations with one random regiment inside the search group)
-[] Logistics
-[] Production
-[] Frontline Combat
-[] QRF
-[] Water Logistics
-[] Techmaids
-[] Partisans
-[] War Bureau
-[] Great Warden Railroad (GWRR)
-[] 58e Intelligence
-[] 26e Commando
-[] 14e Medical
-[] 22e Chemical Warfare
[] Find a way to get your guys some quality of life upgrades so things suck less out here.
[] Go talk to someone specific/Meet a Specific Regiment
-[] Write in named character or regiment number (this includes in-regiment characters)
[] You have enough spare equipment and kit: put some time and manpower into the Brigade functions! (Grants one Brigade action)


BRIGADE
(Choose One Two!)
[] Begin preparing for a gradual push
-[] Slowly, the noose tightens on Port of Rime. Get in, and do a little daily walking fire to keep them on their toes.
-[] Huntsfort taunts you, and you can get some scab garrison troops to hold things down while you reach out and take a nibble
-[] Invest and secure Crow's Nest: You want to eat it.
-[] Invest Foxcatcher through Frostmarch: You've got the armor and the guts, and you know this'll draw enough response for you to see what your Powers of Doctrine can do.
-[] Avenge the Navy, and put the boots to Wightwalk so you can have a hole of naval resupply.
-[] Time to go for the big one: Invest Foxcatcher, and begin the siege on a refinery town. (Locked, must take 2/4 approaches to the area first)
[] Search for more regiments to add to the Brigade: you have to catch them all!
-[] Write-in Regiment Number, CO, or name.
-[] Write-in Regiment Skillset: ex; Transhipment, Rail, Medical, Infantry, Armor, Artillery, Et Cettera.
[] Promote an officer to Brigade Staff
-[] Scout from another Regiment in the Brigade
-[] Write-in Officer Name.