Situation Foxtrot (SAO/Foxhole) [COMPLETE]

Alright, got a new edit of the plan. Removed '?' from intel center now that it's confirmed we need to keep building it, Committing to a siege of Foxcatcher as the plan is titled 'Fuck it, we ball'. Ideally we set up a siege that isn't disastrous, figure out what we need, and backfill from there to actually move the chains and pop the base.

Spector29 said:

[x] Plan: Fuck it, we ball
V1.0
BUNKER
-[x] Expand your bunker base with additional infrastructure to sustain larger troop numbers.
-[x] Expand a bunker base with Advanced Systems (Intel Center, Storm Cannon, Factories, et. cettera)
--[x] Continue Building Intel Center
-[x] Begin training Construction Teams to work under fire as Combat Engineers.
PERSONNEL
-[x] Go and recruit more personnel
--[x] Frontline recruitment: Go to the front and snag some blueberries! (Recruits 1d10+1 Orange personnel)
-[x] Commit training!
--[X] 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.
-[x] Begin operational planning for Something Big
--[x] Continue writing the Doctrine (Regimental)(3/10 complete)
-[x] Begin Operation Planning (+1 to all rolls when the next operation starts)
UPGRADES
-[x] Find a, uh, techmaid, and get some prototype kits by hook or by crook.
--[x] Byker Pitt Mattock: A shovel-and-pick combo, this allows for faster entrenchment of Tier 1 structures, but only one can be used per construction.
-[x] Get in touch with another regiment that does something you need (Discovers and improves relations with one random regiment inside the search group)
--[x] 22e Chemical Warfare
-[x] Requisition Material
--[x] Logistics Support: Flatbeds, Fuel, and other niceties.
-[x] Find a way to get your guys some quality of life upgrades so things suck less out here.
BRIGADE
-[x] Begin an active siege of Fortress Foxcatcher. You have them surrounded, now bring up the guns and start wearing them down.
-[x] Search for more regiments to add to the Brigade: you have to catch them all!
--[x] Signals

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Predators are hell to keep supplied. Not only do they use a unique shell type, that shell is artillery-sized and has to be shoulder lugged. And the engines on the thing only push it forward on a brew of petrol and gunpowder the Wardens dub "Enriched Oil".

If Zairman gets ahold of a Predator that Assault Battalion represents nothing less then the collective middle finger of the Warden faction being focused upon a target. And the Colonials will take it personally. (Or bug out and carpet the hex with AT mines.)

Tech thoughts: The Booker is not the most well appreciated Warden rifle. Burst fire and high magazine count look decent, but actual automatic fires are available and more useful in the defensive role where the Booker works best. On the other claw, being able to put a bayonet on the SitFox version makes it the deadliest close-in rifle. (Not looking forward to the goblins getting their Dusk storm rifle.)

Faster engineering with the mattock seems odd to me. I'm used to thinking of building as happening in a big blob of hammer and shovel wielding lunatics. Mostly it claims to speed up the least time-consuming part of base-building. I can see the use for preparing sapper trenches though.

Chieftains are well regarded, and for good reason. The 250mm can't shoot much further than you can spit, but chews up cracked concrete like nothing else. Do keep a sharp eye out for anti-tank mines.

Jesters are well named, because this variant is a joke . It isn't quite that bad, the armor is quite good for an SPG and rockets have excellent range. But the poor accuracy, awkward minimum range and underpowered projectiles make it a weak choice against the Chieftain imo (the 150mm shell does about triple the damage for twice the cost, and can get an MPF discount if we ever stop burning through 40mm crates).

Lord Necromancer said:

[X] Plan Follow Up Part 2

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You're a bit behind friend; that was a plan for a previous update.

Can I get a link to the docs with the status sheets and the like?

Reminder: This quest has Discord support on the PoptartProdigy server. Go there, talk to people and the author.

WestOrEast said:

Can I get a link to the docs with the status sheets and the like?

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Yeet

BritishGrenadier said:

So what do you think of the new naval stuff? And is it gonna spear in the story

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I rewrote the Naval tech tree once, and I'm sticking with that until the devs unfuck their naval update.

Spector29 said:

Logistic Support Requisition is the answer to "going over supply means death".

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As per the Operations Post, you don't need "more in-house logistics", you flat-out need more logistics regiments. This is also why you need to move fast on capturing Marban's- without rail support, you're going to be coming into this with only your artillery or your armor. The Folkvangr are a very heavy brigade by the current standards, but they've used that to make some very stunning successes. The question is, then, do players want to keep using it as a heavy brigade with all the massive piles of forethought that requires, or do they want to utilize parts of it as a more agile formation that lacks the ability to deliver such stunning successes?

Honestly, either is a decent call, as long as players decide to go one way and stick with it.

[X] Plan: We're so back.

7734 said:

As per the Operations Post, you don't need "more in-house logistics", you flat-out need more logistics regiments. This is also why you need to move fast on capturing Marban's- without rail support, you're going to be coming into this with only your artillery or your armor. The Folkvangr are a very heavy brigade by the current standards, but they've used that to make some very stunning successes. The question is, then, do players want to keep using it as a heavy brigade with all the massive piles of forethought that requires, or do they want to utilize parts of it as a more agile formation that lacks the ability to deliver such stunning successes?

Honestly, either is a decent call, as long as players decide to go one way and stick with it.

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So, the answer would be to draft them with a Brigade Action?

Spector29 said:

So, the answer would be to draft them with a Brigade Action?

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Yep. Since you've started Operations Planning, you can also recruit loose regiments next turn via Personnel actions, but this turn you need to use Brigade actions.

Changed plan to accommodate the correct action for recruiting logistics.

Spector29 said:

[x] Plan: Fuck it, we ball
V1.1
BUNKER
-[x] Expand your bunker base with additional infrastructure to sustain larger troop numbers.
-[x] Expand a bunker base with Advanced Systems (Intel Center, Storm Cannon, Factories, et. cettera)
--[x] Continue Building Intel Center
-[x] Begin training Construction Teams to work under fire as Combat Engineers.
PERSONNEL
-[x] Go and recruit more personnel
--[x] Frontline recruitment: Go to the front and snag some blueberries! (Recruits 1d10+1 Orange personnel)
-[x] Commit training!
--[X] 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.
-[x] Begin operational planning for Something Big
--[x] Continue writing the Doctrine (Regimental)(3/10 complete)
-[x] Begin Operation Planning (+1 to all rolls when the next operation starts)
UPGRADES
-[x] Find a, uh, techmaid, and get some prototype kits by hook or by crook.
--[x] Byker Pitt Mattock: A shovel-and-pick combo, this allows for faster entrenchment of Tier 1 structures, but only one can be used per construction.
-[x] Get in touch with another regiment that does something you need (Discovers and improves relations with one random regiment inside the search group)
--[x] 22e Chemical Warfare
-[x] Find a way to get your guys some quality of life upgrades so things suck less out here.
--[x] You have enough spare equipment and kit: put some time and manpower into the Brigade functions! (Grants one Brigade action)
BRIGADE
-[x] Begin an active siege of Fortress Foxcatcher. You have them surrounded, now bring up the guns and start wearing them down.
-[x] Search for more regiments to add to the Brigade: you have to catch them all!
--[x] Signals
--[x] Logistics

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[x] Plan: Fuck it, we ball

Spector29 said:

Changed plan to accommodate the correct action for recruiting logistics.

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From a discussion with the QM in Discord, let it be known: we're currently one point over logi cap, and deploying into Marban's Hollow for the Big One will put us at logi cap. And If I understand the rules right, adding a new logi regiment means we're going to need logi to support our logi, and that way lies madness.

That said, there are support regiment types (like signals, in your vote) that don't have any logistical draw, and might be worth looking into: see here.

FC Error said:

From a discussion with the QM in Discord, let it be known: we're currently one point over logi cap, and deploying into Marban's Hollow for the Big One will put us at logi cap. And If I understand the rules right, adding a new logi regiment means we're going to need logi to support our logi, and that way lies madness.

That said, there are support regiment types (like signals, in your vote) that don't have any logistical draw, and might be worth looking into: see here.

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From what I'm reading in the narrative, we need more brigade logistics. That's only going to happen with Logi regiments, or Railroads. I know very little about how viable hammering the 'moar rails' button is for getting the things we want, so I'm using the tool that I have, which is Brigade Actions to Get More Logi. If we have to hit the button one more time to get Logi - Logi support, so be it. The Mats Must Flow.

As an aside, the ones that don't use the Logi Cap appear to be:
Commandos
Intelligence
Naval
Signals Warfare
Commissariat

No idea what the player temperature on recruiting more commandos is, it seems like we've got an Intelligence deal lined up, I don't know what it costs to deploy Naval but the map of Marban's Hollow seems to indicate it'll only be super useful for base Able, We're picking up Signals, and I don't know what we'd do with a Commissariat except bump a Yellow unit to an Orange?

EDIT: In regards to Railroads: It looks like we've got Rail support for Foxcatcher through The King's Artillery that terminates at Weathering Halls. No idea if we need to hit the button to build it closer to Foxcatcher. But if we want to pivot west to hit our objectives in five turns, I don't see how it's possible to get rail over there. It looks like we're attacking from the wrong side of the hex (relative to our rail logi, not speaking about our actual manuverability)

Alright, I have finally gotten some time to actually catch up again! And to add on to that QM said specifically if we overextend beyond the reach of our logistics (anything beyond the scope of the plan) we'd lose the rail bonus. With logistical regiments, if we add any more we start to require dedicated logistics for every two logi regiments while they currently support themselves, which would actually just leave us at exactly the same supply situation. Adding another one beyond that would give us two more supply though, as the needed dedicated logi for logi is always rounded down.

Now, one possible solution to this to be considered is to use water logistics as well as they can supply five logistical regiments instead of the two for a regular logi. It would probably be extremely cursed, but its something to consider.

Fireiy said:

Alright, I have finally gotten some time to actually catch up again! And to add on to that QM said specifically if we overextend beyond the reach of our logistics (anything beyond the scope of the plan) we'd lose the rail bonus. With logistical regiments, if we add any more we start to require dedicated logistics for every two logi regiments while they currently support themselves, which would actually just leave us at exactly the same supply situation. Adding another one beyond that would give us two more supply though, as the needed dedicated logi for logi is always rounded down.

Now, one possible solution to this to be considered is to use water logistics as well as they can supply five logistical regiments instead of the two for a regular logi. It would probably be extremely cursed, but its something to consider.

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It looks like we've got Port of Rime as a possible port to resupply from, but I don't know how close the Water Logi would have to be to count. Also don't have any idea how safe those waters actually are. Naval for Marban's Hollow looks like a dubious prospect at best.

7734 said:

-- w/ red hash: Rail line
-- w/o red hash: Sea line

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And here I was thinking we had sea trains speeding across the waves. More seriously, the campaign objective, Deadland is the hex directly underneath Callahan, right? So we'll be closing off the northeast approach to it with the Hollow. Makes sense and if we can get Foxcatcher in time that will leave the eastern half of the Hollow ripe for plucking at some later date.

A quick update on supply, our QM made a small error when calculating it. We are actually currently at exactly enough supply, with rails available. They will not be available at Marban Hollow at the moment.

Now, as to my plan and reasonings behind it. Feedback and opinions are welcome.

I don't think we need to be investing into infrastructure for more troops or QoL right now, we're just about finishing up a massive intelligence Center which is a massive improvement compared to our old base. Instead I think we should start work on designing a player port and bunker base to defend it over in Viper Pit in order to support our operation into Marban Hollow.

Looking at our current billets, we are short 8 troops to fill in a second mortar battery. Continuing to recruit orange rated troops should be fine, though I do really want to do administration training to get more NCOs which could delay getting that online, but more delegation should help with everything including other training. The other most relevant training would be the obvious rocket artillery mobile warfare and... vehicle training? You're still available? That's probably not a good sign... rifle and infantry training are fundamental things as well that are more useful for the 40mms and combat engineers than the other artillery billets. Combat vehicle training is entirely useless right now unless we get some, of which our options are armored cars with a 40mm and prototype rocket tanks.

Getting another action is always the highest priority thing to do, but I'm unsure on what to grab between personnel and upgrades. As we have a lot of room for more training and probably are going to keep wanting more recruits while still working on the doctrine and planning for the next operation, I've decided to put it into personnel. It being in upgrades would be useful primarily for talking to more regiments. Other than that I want to talk to a water logistics regiment in order to get their support for the upcoming operation as well as the Great Warden Rail Road so we can handle building a whole new rail line to Marban Hollow. Shifting around supplies over there is going to be utter hell without both of their help.

While we can continue to attack here to take out Fort Foxcatcher if we want to, it is a entirely unnecessary objective with the current lines being capable of being manned by garrison troops. We've been warned by the QM that Foxcatcher is a tough nut to crack and that we want to have finished taking all those positions in Marban Hollow in six weeks time. Unless you're after combat experience at a fairly large expense, I don't think attacking Foxcatcher is a good idea. There is certainly worth in training up our majority yellow rated troops though. Instead I would like to get a signals unit as well as upgrade our medical detachment to a full medical regiment.

One other possible direction would be to go heavily into getting more logistics regiments so we can support more regiments in total, but that is a very expensive thing to try. I would prefer having temporary regiments added onto the operation instead if we can manage to get a water logistics regiment to supply a player port for the assault on Marban Hollow, though they would likely be unable to supply us into the Deadlands for the obvious reason of land being in the way. I am also unsure of how sound trying to pour in more shirts would be for the assaults on forts A and B considering the chokepoints they're at, but at the very least they would be able to help hold the flanks of the salient as the brigade pushes forward.

[X] Plan Internal Screaming
Bunker
-[X] Begin design for a new, planned base.
--[X] Player Port in Viper Pit to support the Marban Hollow Operation
--[X] Bunker Base in Viper Pit to defend the Player Port
-[X] Begin training Construction Teams to work under fire as Combat Engineers.
Personnel
-[X] Go and recruit more personnel
--[X] Frontline recruitment: Go to the front and snag some blueberries! (Recruits 1d10+1 Orange personnel)
-[X] Commit training!
--[X] 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.
-[X] Begin operational planning for Something Big
--[X] Continue writing the Doctrine (Regimental)(3/10 complete)
--[X] Start planning an Operation
---[X] As per the Argo Plan of Battle: Marbans, then following through to Deadlands.
Upgrades
-[X] Go out and get yourself a lieutenant! (You may have one per twenty Regiment members, minimum one)
--[X] Teach them the way of the talker, so you don't have to do that crap! (Adds one action to Personnel)
-[X] Find a, uh, techmaid, and get some prototype kits by hook or by crook.
--[X] You have enough spare equipment and kit: put some time and manpower into the Brigade functions! (Grants one Brigade action)
-[X] Get in touch with another regiment that does something you need (Discovers and improves relations with one random regiment inside the search group)
--[X] Water Logistics
--[X] Great Warden Railroad (GWRR)
Brigade
-[X] Search for more regiments to add to the Brigade: you have to catch them all!
--[X] Signals
--[X] Medical

[X] Fireiy

[X] Plan Internal Screaming

Fireiy said:

--[X] Player Port in Viper Pit to support the Marban Hollow Operation
--[X] Bunker Base in Viper Pit to defend the Player Port

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Isnt there a player port already?

Murks74 said:

Isnt there a player port already?

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Okay so yes and no. I'll do a quick detail map to explain.



Here's the problem. Port Tabasco has three issues in it's current location. Issue one, it's on the wrong side of the river, you'd have to cycle over the bridges. Issue two, it's north of Kirknell. Can't spell Logi Hell without Kirknell- the place is built into the cliffs on three tiers plus the 'basement' tier with the Seaport, and navigating it in a vehicle is an exercise in frustration. @kelllogo will back me up, we've done enough logi in that benighted deathtrap. Issue three, it's about a thirty kilometer jog off the jumping-off point, through Fort Viper. Which is a one-way street, unless you want to park your truck in the graveyard from loosing control, or plow off the side of the island and consign your cargo to the river.

The best option here is to just build the rail spur or the player port. Every other option is just concentrated misery.

edit: oh and you're on gravel roads a decent bit too, which just really doesn't help.

7734 said:

Can't spell Logi Hell without Kirknell- the place is built into the cliffs on three tiers plus the 'basement' tier with the Seaport, and navigating it in a vehicle is an exercise in frustration. @kelllogo will back me up, we've done enough logi in that benighted deathtrap.

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Can confirm. Kirknell's streets are laid out in such a way that trying to drive towards your destination ends up sending your truck down a switchback to a one-way road to Fort Viper. Plus a dose of "you are in a maze of twisty little streets, all alike". 2/10 Logi Hub, still better than Brodytown.

[The "good" Warden Logi Hubs are Great Warden Dam (can actually drive in loops around the place), Scrying Belt (large central plaza), and to a lesser extent The King (mercifully short drive from the seaport, but still an eternal traffic jam).]

Port Tabasco was situated there because there was a good amount of space to hold parking lots and cliffside to line up Ironships. Sitfox's scale tweaks give Wardens a wider range of options for ports. The map suggests Tabasco is instead a sprawling facility network, which can chew up space like nothing else if the operators want the layout to make any sense at all.

[X] Fireiy

Foxcatcher is annoying, but I concur that trying to burn it down would consume too much material and tempo for the burned husk we would seize from it. Getting a Signals group to keep our new Intel Center humming along strikes me as an excellent idea.

[X] Plan Internal Screaming

I'll need to catch up on everything, although I vaguelly remember a glorious mix of absurd success followed by a huge cockup cascade, partially of our own making, and then politics skmehow favoring us anyways. For now I'll toss an approval vote at Fireiy.

[X] Plan Internal Screaming