Shouldn't be, unless it got changed a lot after going through the propotype phase. It looked like this:
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Traveller, The Rise of Empire: A Naval Design, Procurement and Command Quest
- Thread starter 4WheelSword
- Start date
- Original Art Quest Sci-Fi
Shouldn't be, unless it got changed a lot after going through the propotype phase. It looked like this:
[x] Plan: Simple ships, ambitious stance
-[x] Carrier doctrine: fleet command and control; area denial; rely on carried craft and escorts for guns and protection
--[x] Write-in: report based on our previous war games and new info about when to favour interceptors versus other point-defence options
-[x] Write-in: develop a theory of war in space.
--[x] There is great interest and speculation about the Hermosan "mother-ship" design and new strategies. Encourage strategists throughout HSWS to participate in virtual war games and discussions and collate recommendations about: clouds of torpedo and missile drones; force disposition; our and Hermosa's vulnerability to jump-in-jump-out attacks
-[x] HSWS opinion on overall strategy:
--[x] Write-in: Encourage intelligence-gathering and civilian trade with Garda-Villis and Aslan. Seek knowledge, tech-transfer, etc. We should share our location and encourage their own traders and diplomats to visit us (Out of character, lol, the oligarchs might hate how this risks their safe monopolies)
--[x] Approach the Aslan about military coordination against Hermosa
--[x] Approach the Aslan about technology sharing agreements
--[x] Scout 'around the back' of Hermosa, in as much as we can, in order to assess the enemies depth
[x] Plan: Simple ships, ambitious stance, but strike carrier
-[x] Carrier doctrine: strike and ewar missions; fleet command and control; rely on carried craft and escorts for guns and protection
-[x] Rest same as Plan: Simple ships, ambitious stance
-[x] Carrier doctrine: fleet command and control; area denial; rely on carried craft and escorts for guns and protection
--[x] Write-in: report based on our previous war games and new info about when to favour interceptors versus other point-defence options
-[x] Write-in: develop a theory of war in space.
--[x] There is great interest and speculation about the Hermosan "mother-ship" design and new strategies. Encourage strategists throughout HSWS to participate in virtual war games and discussions and collate recommendations about: clouds of torpedo and missile drones; force disposition; our and Hermosa's vulnerability to jump-in-jump-out attacks
-[x] HSWS opinion on overall strategy:
--[x] Write-in: Encourage intelligence-gathering and civilian trade with Garda-Villis and Aslan. Seek knowledge, tech-transfer, etc. We should share our location and encourage their own traders and diplomats to visit us (Out of character, lol, the oligarchs might hate how this risks their safe monopolies)
--[x] Approach the Aslan about military coordination against Hermosa
--[x] Approach the Aslan about technology sharing agreements
--[x] Scout 'around the back' of Hermosa, in as much as we can, in order to assess the enemies depth
[x] Plan: Simple ships, ambitious stance, but strike carrier
-[x] Carrier doctrine: strike and ewar missions; fleet command and control; rely on carried craft and escorts for guns and protection
-[x] Rest same as Plan: Simple ships, ambitious stance
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Night
Widow Null
- Location
- Hoff
So far as we know no possible opponent besides the Aslan uses fighters, and an interceptor is an opportunity cost over a bomber. It comes down to the conception of a carrier; is it a defensive asset or a power-projection one?
And, well, the answer to that should always be the second. Fighters make headlines; bombers make history. Some level of EWAR capability is part of "see first, shoot first, win" so it could be excused, but until we have a need to fight hostile fighters then we should commit firmly to strike.
[X] Plan - Do Unto Others
-[X] Strike - requiring a specialised Attacker
-[X] Patrol - requiring a specialised EWAR Vehicle.
-[X] Other - Fleet Command and Control
-[X] We should be approaching the Aslan about military coordination against Hermosa
-[X] We should be approaching the Aslan and Xyri about technology sharing agreements
-[X] We should be scouting 'around the back' of Hermosa, in as much as we can, in order to assess the enemies depth
-[X] Other - It is too early for any sort of military co-ordination with Garda-Villis. Pursue diplomatic relations with Garda-Villis. Suggest an exchange of ambassadors and trade agreements. Seek clarity around their claimed sovereign territory and any allies / foes they may have, particularly whether they have any relations with Hermosa.
[X] Plan - Do Unto Others
The nice thing about carriers is that if it turns out we need dedicated interceptors, we can design them later.
The nice thing about carriers is that if it turns out we need dedicated interceptors, we can design them later.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan - Do Unto Others
As far as we are aware of so far Hermosa does not use smallcraft of their own, while any interceptors we can currently make would only be capable of making a single interdiction pass at incoming ordnance due to even standard missiles having a higher thrust than what our pilots could handle.
As far as we are aware of so far Hermosa does not use smallcraft of their own, while any interceptors we can currently make would only be capable of making a single interdiction pass at incoming ordnance due to even standard missiles having a higher thrust than what our pilots could handle.
- Location
- Newer England
I think what you're missing in this scenario is that Heimdall is inherently an aggressive strategic posture on our end. Hermosa could, with the investment of some additional logistic support to their fleet, bypass Heimdall and drive through deep space directly to Cassalon. Home has already made that investment - the base in Heimdall places our fleet and their established anchorage within a single jump of Sinone and Equus, no additional bypass jumps necessary. If we have reason to believe there's risk of an attack from (-02, 01), we can scout it out or even add it to the normal rotation of the Scout flotilla. Hermosa is forced to assume there's always risk of an attack from Heimdall - they know we have a fleet there, and they know it can jump into their space faster than they can jump into ours. Heimdall is our fleet in being - as long as we have forces there, and Hermosa knows we have forces there, they're forced into a defensive posture to cover Equus and Sinone from the threat of Heimdall command going on the offensive.I think they could build up their forces in deep space beyond Equus, perhaps -2, 1. We would only see ships leaving Equus, but we cannot yet determine the destination of a ship from its jump flash, so we would not be able to tell if those ships were moving to a staging ground in deep space or if they were moving back into Hermosan space.
All they need is a few tankers in -2,1 and they can go from Equus to Cassalon, bypassing Heimdall, even if their motherships only have fuel for one jump at a time. The only warning we'd get would be potentially seeing fewer ships in Equus and Sinone, depending on the size of the Hermosan fleet and if they can fool our long-distance observers with dummy ships.
Even if we're able to effectively picket the deep space sectors with scouts then we'd still only get a few hours of warning.
My suggestion is that because it is fairly easy to concentrate all of your forces into an attack then you don't want your fleet distributed because then it can be defeated in detail by an attacker.
We could just keep the large fleet sitting on Home, but then our opponents can know where it is and plan around that. If it moves unpredictably then it is harder for them to predict how long it will be before we can reinforce an attacked location or counterattack.
If static defences like minefields and defence stations can slow down an attacking fleet for the weeks that are necessary for reinforcements to arrive then this is no longer required and then I think stationing fleets to support the static defences makes sense.
Overall, I don't think we have a good theory of war yet and we need to work that out if we want to survive or attack Hermosa. We should be thinking about what the jump mechanics mean for force concentration and we should be thinking about attacks like jumping in at missile or torpedo range, dumping a full load of missiles and jumping out again as fast as possible. We should be thinking about how we can detect and clear minefields, etc, etc.
That plays into the second part of your post - defeat in detail is a valid concern, but one that works for us more than Hermosa at present. If we have a fleet at Heimdall, they must maintain roughly equivalent defenses at both Equus and Sinone, or else risk opening their own forces to defeat in detail. Admittedly, by the same logic you could claim that we must have forces in Heimdall equivalent to both Equus and Sinone combined at risk of both systems attacking together. It's less of a risk, given the nature of FTL meaning they'll come in separated and strung out unless they (very visibly!) mass into one combined fleet beforehand, and frankly Heimdall as a system is wholly expendable if it looks like a losing fight. But that original chain of logic is where arms races originate from, and we're sure to be in one soon.
As far as static defenses - call me a pessimist, but I have no faith in their ability hold off an attacker for weeks on their own unless you've poured so much effort into them that you may as well have built a whole new fleet for the cost; If nothing else they've got limited ability to respond to long range skirmishing and absolutely no ability to threaten a counterstrike. I'm not doubting there's utility there, but it's no replacement for a fleet garrison. The idea of combining the whole fleet into a single randomly-moving mass is far worse; It's fundamentally taking the issue of "what if the enemy targets somewhere undefended" and turning it into "We should make everywhere undefended and just hope we get lucky and the fleet ends up in the right spot". True, the enemy won't know how long it'll take you to reinforce if they've no idea where your fleet is. More importantly, they do know that you're wide open and incapable of defending until reinforced. It's basically worrying that if you defend yourself might lose, so instead you give the opponent free reign to do everything you'd want to defend against, and then hope the reinforcements will make it in time to catch them in the act. Maybe they do, maybe they don't, but either way you're guaranteeing the enemy can shoot up your system for free in the meantime. And that's before we get into the logistical issues: How much extra wear and tear is constantly moving around going to build up on the fleet? Where are you getting the spare parts and maintenance personnel for those repairs if you're not staying at a naval base? What about the fuel for all that jumping? If you constantly need to jump back to a fueling station, doesn't that make your unpredictable route pretty predictable? If a ship breaks down, does the whole fleet need to stay for repairs or do they leave it? What if it's while you're off hiding in deep space? It's just a whole extra layer of complexity, and it doesn't really add any value for all the risks.
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Dangerous to assume the operational range of the motherships or that they don't have tankers.
-2,1 is deep space, can we even effectively scout it? How would we know that our scouts are emerging anywhere near where the potential Hermosan fleet is?
And what's our play, anyway, that if Heimdall command sees anything that might be a combat vessel in -2,1 they immediately flip a coin and attack Equus or Sinone? Same question for if they see fewer than usual ships in Equus or Sinone.
And should the fleet attack Equus or Sinone and then stop or should it go to Hermosa? Will the Hermosans care about losing temporary control of Equus or Sinone if it means they can destroy a peer opponent by concentrating their fleet to destroy the people or industries of Cassalon or Home or both?
Feels like we need to tell Hermosa that that's what we're doing if we want to be on a hair-trigger like that. Then we're doing MAD, like I said.
They don't need to mass into one combined fleet beforehand, they can schedule to jump in at the same time and they'll have at most a few hours gap between first and last ship, regardless of how many systems they jump from.
If they jump in at range then they will probably have the time to group up before our fleet arrives.
No, the point of the hidden, grouped fleet is for retaliation, not reinforcement. The idea is that it attacks Hermosa with no or little warning if we are attacked. It moves so that our opponents cannot predict when or where it will strike.
Though, we could probably just keep the fleet moving randomly around Heimdall and it would still be difficult to trap it into an engagement and impossible to predict where it will jump to.
We don't know the trade-offs here. It depends on the mechanics of the quest.
A fleet-in-being is reliant on static defences that prevent you from sinking them in port. Hermosa is almost certainly stronger than us, which means that if we concentrate all our fleet in one place without any sort of "terrain advantage", then they'll concentrate their own fleet and destroy us there. They don't have to assume a defensive posture; they can take those two equal forces you conceptualize and throw them at Heimdall at the same time (or, well, within six hours of each other, which they will have time for if they jump into the outer system and then wait a while - and if we leave, then they get Heimdall and we lose our fleet in being).
They're not meant to do any of this. A minefield is inherently something that is applying friction in the Clausewitz sense to an attack; they're taking the defense stations we're building, increasing their firepower by a thousand times, and extending their reach over however distant the mines are from the station. This causes enough of a headache that you can't just pop in and out at the 100D limit, and if you try to throw everything at invading the system, you're hopefully going to take enough damage that when our relief force arrives, it's to fight an enemy that's already wounded. Skirmishing is a problem for anything we make; there's not much counter to someone kiting away and throwing torpedoes back at you (aside from just ignoring them). The counterstrike is done by the rest of the fleet showing up.
Also, mines are so, so, so goddamn cheap because Section doesn't make us pay for ordnance. We literally just need to pay for the minelayer, and the mines are free. In the hypothetical scenario where mines are worthless, we've barely cost ourselves anything.
We can't afford a full fleet garrison at every location. We're almost at the cap on number of pilots, meaning we're not able to make more jump-capable ships. That's a big part of why I started looking at "what can we do to defend while we wait for the fleet to arrive" in the first place. If we want to defend places against Hermosan raiding, we need something that doesn't require pilots and is very cheap.
That said, I'm not a fan of random jumping. There is something to be said for doing a shell game of "where's the fleet?" but the added overhead is just not worth it. If MAD is so important, then we should put a ship with a very long jump range in an empty sector, load it up with nuclear bombardment torpedoes, and then leave it there with orders to end all life on Hermosa if we don't check in every five years. We could manage four jumps, I think, which puts us far enough out to be almost certainly undetectable. To defend the fleet, there's a simpler expedient of just surrounding our anchorage in mines; if someone wants to attack us they have to pass through the field and eat all the torpedoes before actually fighting the combined fleet.
- Location
- Newer England
I'm not saying the Hermosans can't attack through deep space, but the route inherently requires more time and more supplies than a one jump offensive. They'd be in a worse logistical situation and at risk of their supply line being cut by the Heimdall fleet that is already present and threatening the systems they'd be based out of and relying on for supplies. Fair point on deep space; I had been thinking there was some 'route' we'd be watching, but if you can just jump anywhere in the sector scouting it is probably not helpful. That said, we are currently scouting Equus and Sinone for a reason, the same as Hermosa is scouting Heimdall. If we see a build up, that info on the Hermosan's posture that gets passed up to the admiralty. We see a drawdown, or a rotation, or even no change at all, same thing. It's not "Flip a coin to start the war", it's knowing your enemy. If we do see anything suspicous, that's something that gets fed into decision making and used to prepare for whatever the Hermosans might be up to, sneak attack or not.
If the Hermosans do pull off this proposed sneak attack somehow then, sure, the Heimdal fleet probably won't attack before they get a courier to hear about it; what they actually do depends on the ROE and the warplans, which we haven't written yet. The proposed "Hide the entire fleet somewhere and YOLO into enemy systems after they've razed ours" doesn't exactly prevent the sneak attack either, though. The key elements are that the fleet in Heimdall:
1. Serves as a base for our scouting missions; We're forewarned of any strange fleet movements and the Hermosans can't easily blind us without simply launching a full assault on Heimdall and starting the war normally.
2. Serves as a threat to prevent such a sneak attack; If we have a fleet on the Hermosan border, they need to dedicate resources to defending against them. Any resources put into garrisoning Sinone are resources that can't be put into attacking us. And how do they know we won't do this same surprise attack if their defenses are ever drawn down?
3. Serves as a base for our own offensives, should they come to pass
Someone more knowledgable in the system can correct me here, but I'm under the impression that jump travel is inherently somewhat variable in time and space; even on of our fleets, jumping from the same point in the same system at the same time will end up arriving somewhat separated and strung out over the course of 12+ hours. I would expect that attempting to do the same things between two incoming forces from different systems would likely lead to the fleets arriving separately.
The core issue is that that's not what MAD means; MAD is nonexistent in our current situation. No side has the capability to guarantee the other will be destroyed, we simply each have conventional warfleets that can be used in a conventional offensive. If you say "I won't defend my systems, I'll just attack you if I get hit" there's nothing that prevents the enemy from just using their fleet to defend their systems from your fleet. Then they can send some token force to hit your unguarded systems, and when you counterattack they have their own fleet around to stop yours, so there's nothing Mutual or Assured about that destruction. Of course you can then start defending your systems so they need a larger force to hit you, at which point you've just fully admitted you're doing conventional warfare which is exactly the current situation. Keeping the fleet moving around randomly in that scenario is just ensuring it's never in a position to defend anything.
My argument is that the way jump travel currently works means you can easily concentrate your forces into an attack that the defender cannot reinforce because they can't tell where you're going or why and they can't outpace you.
This means that you cannot defend against a peer-level enemy unless static defences can make up the gap enough that a small garrison + defences can resist a large fleet. If a peer-level enemy can't stop your concentrated fleet then it can assure destruction.
This means that you cannot defend against a peer-level enemy unless static defences can make up the gap enough that a small garrison + defences can resist a large fleet. If a peer-level enemy can't stop your concentrated fleet then it can assure destruction.
- Location
- Newer England
We do have those static defenses; we've got our fleet anchorage with its guns and its fighters, and we have more Modern Defense Stations in the yards already. But the point of the fleet-in-being isn't that it can't be sunk, its that it forces the opponent to work around its presence. As long as we're in Heimdall, we have a knife poised at the Hermosan border, and the Hermosans are forced to try and mitigate the risk of it being used. In practice I expect this to take the form of needing larger garrisons on their border systems; our latest intel paints the Hermosans as a roughly peer opponent (sans any unquantified tech differences), so I don't expect we'll be seeing those forces in a form that can decisively attack Heimdall; they'll need static defenses too! More importantly, any effort invested into counteracting Heimdal is effort not invested into threatening the rest of Home space, and ultimately if we must surrender Heimdall all we lose is a mining base and an offensive springboard. Any situation where we see ourselves pushed out of Heimdall is one where we wouldn't be able to take advantage of that springboard to begin with.
I'm not trying to say static defenses aren't helpful, this was just in response to the claim that they need to be able to "slow down an attacking fleet for the weeks that are necessary for reinforcements to arrive then [Single Roving Deathball fleet doctrine] is no longer required and then I think stationing fleets to support the static defences makes sense", where if the mines alone can't hold for weeks then we need to give up on garrisoning systems entirely. The idea is simply that you can't have static defenses without a mobile component, otherwise the enemy can sit outside of your static defenses and plink in with impunity. The counter to skirmishing is to be threatening - if the skirmisher has to account for the risk of being chased down by the garrison (and remember our ships appear to be faster than the Hermosans!), or even if we just get close enough to skirmish back and send our own max-range torpedoes in return, that's a much worse proposition than if they can simply jump in at a distance and dump their magazines at a space station incapable of dodging fire or shooting back.
We don't need a full fleet at every system; we have our limits, which is part of why we're looking into static defenses in the first place. But any system that's worth defending is worth defending with some form of mobile garrison, and those garrisons should be a core component of our defensive strategy. Static defenses can only harm the enemy if they choose to engage with them, and nothing is immune to being bypassed or defeated; It doesn't matter how many minefields you place around a base if there's no-one in it capable of fighting.
0t4n1z3r019
Member of the HAFPTG
- Location
- Philippines
[X] Plan - Do Unto Others
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I would note that according to the system codes, Hermosa and its colony Sinone are listed as being tech level 10 while we are currently at 8 and most of the way into 9. The Aslan and Garda-Villas are also listed at TL10 for reference, so tech sharing with either should serve equally well for advancing us though I am personally of far greater caution on approaching Garda-Villas with how much larger than us their polity must be.
Speaking of population Hermosa's population is magnitude 7 which is equal to our own while Sinone is magnitude 5, also of note is that Hermosa is a water world with no significant land masses. If they don't possess any other planets we may actually outnumber them in terms of pilots if we're getting the full amount possible from Cassalon, that being magnitude 7 as well despite the nuclear launches. They do have larger dockyards than us though.
Speaking of population Hermosa's population is magnitude 7 which is equal to our own while Sinone is magnitude 5, also of note is that Hermosa is a water world with no significant land masses. If they don't possess any other planets we may actually outnumber them in terms of pilots if we're getting the full amount possible from Cassalon, that being magnitude 7 as well despite the nuclear launches. They do have larger dockyards than us though.
9-7: Aslan Negotiations
4WheelSword
The original N-body Problem
- Pronouns
- It/She/They
While there are many questions, the first is simple; What missions are planned for? Strike - requiring a specialised Attacker, Patrol - requiring a specialised EWAR Vehicle, Other - Fleet Command and Control.
In the mean time, what is the HSWS's position? We should be approaching the Aslan about military coordination against Hermosa, We should be approaching the Aslan and Xyri about technology sharing agreements, We should be scouting 'around the back' of Hermosa, in as much as we can, in order to assess the enemies depth, It is too early for any sort of military co-ordination with Garda-Villis. Pursue diplomatic relations with Garda-Villis. Suggest an exchange of ambassadors and trade agreements. Seek clarity around their claimed sovereign territory and any allies / foes they may have, particularly whether they have any relations with Hermosa.
Available Budget: 598.725MCr
Current Dockyard Usage: 18,000Dtons
Capital Considerations - Carrier Battle
With a plan to craft a carrier that specialises in long range patrol and strike, utilising EWAR and strike platforms to extend the capabilities of the fleet while also providing command, control and communications to an entire Task Force, the architects and designers get to work. First off; designing those small craft.
While the F-40 strike bomber exists and is demonstrably capable as a long range, multi-role, CAS capable ship it is likely not the ideal for a true space carrier. After all, those capabilities use for strike in the vacuum of space can be found in a much smaller - and less defensible - platform which would reduce the size and scope of the hangers required. However, every decision is a trade off and thus we must prioritise what is required for the particular specialised role.
The strike fighter should be: (Choose Two to prioritise)
[ ] Capable of high-speed attack runs using a chemical rocket booster
[ ] Capable of defending itself against interceptors
[ ] Capable of multiple attack runs before returning to rearm
[ ] Capable of resisting enemy fire with armour
[ ] Capable of approaching an enemy with stealth
[ ] Capable of - write in
The EWAR craft will, presumably, be built off of the same platform with some of those same capabilities cut or reconfigured in order to ensure that it can both carry a package of capable sensors and conduct operations alongside a strike package. After all, a bomber without EWAR cover is just a dead bird by some accounts.
Approaching the Aslan
New orders are dispatched to the diplomatic mission on Keoiri, a sealed packet that contains all the requirements from negotiations that Home hungers for. The diplomats approach their contacts in the Aslan government - at least, those low enough on the rung to be on Keoiri rather than on whatever the Aslan main world is. It takes months to get a clear answer out of them, but once it's had its immediately transmitted back to Home. The proposal is two-fold:
- First, that Home will be enabled in hiring several capable Aslan warships and their crews as 'mercenaries'. The Aslan have no interest in getting directly involved in a conflict that is, by their count, six parsecs from the edge of their own space; however, they are also aware that their military is constantly hungry for fighting, honour and the chance to win accolades. They offer a handful of 1,000 ton 'cruisers' and their accompanying crews, so long as Home is willing to pay costs plus a bonus on top for the benefit of their service. The Aslan suggest 200Mcr per cruiser per year of service (or part thereof) with the HSWS
- Secondly, the Aslan are more than willing to provide Home with advanced technology and the knowledge with which to make use of it in developing new and more advanced fleet capabilities. of course, this will come with a price - land. Cassalon is still recovering from the devastation of war, but Aslan men are hungry for stakes. The award of several land grants on Cassalon, to be cleansed and redeveloped into something more suitable to their new inhabitants, would be of great benefit to the Aslan peoples. However, the Aslan diplomats are also more than aware of how contentious this option is - they are more than willing to wait for an answer. Home has all the time it needs to decide.
What is the HSWS response? (select all that apply)
[ ] We need those ships. Hire all three available to increase the number of hulls available to the service, they'll make fine escorts.
[ ] We should approach Cassalon about land grants for the Aslan, in order to improve everyone's defences.
[ ] We should counter-offer land grants on Home. We cannot guarantee that Cassalon will agree, after all.
[ ] Other response - write in.
Scouting About
While the Interstellar Surveyors (and the supply ship) are busy running scouting missions into Hermosan space, the Deep Space Surveyors take the opportunity to load up on Drop Tanks and head out into the deep black. Over the course of several months they slowly but surely extend the range of what can be considered known space, until we finally have definite confirmation of (most) of what lies beyond Hermosa.
Come 15y00m00w, we will have a little over 4kMcr and more than 7k dtons of yard space. How should it be filled?
[ ] Additional Interstellar Cruiser Refits (355Mcr each, 7 remain)
[ ] Another CFA (1280-1490Mcr based on variant)
[ ] Assess the vaibility of using this space for a capital carrier
[ ] Other - write in.
Please present votes as plans. Voting opens at
Night
Widow Null
- Location
- Hoff
Some of these synergize, and some of them don't. Above all, remember that the purpose of a strike craft is to put weight on target. If it will not work to get payloads into hostile hulls, don't do it.
At the moment we don't know of any interceptors unless we fight the Aslan, which this...well it's not intended to do and we're kinda trying to make friends right now so hopefully that doesn't turn into a problem. It might help against missile-based point defenses but I'm not even sure that's an option.
The booster and the armor are both obvious defensive choices that would either work with being able to make multiple runs, though armor might be better depending on reusability of the booster. Stealth and the booster might work together, combining a stealthy approach with a final sprint. Then again I'm also not sure how much stealth we can achieve against someone one TL higher?
At the moment we don't know of any interceptors unless we fight the Aslan, which this...well it's not intended to do and we're kinda trying to make friends right now so hopefully that doesn't turn into a problem. It might help against missile-based point defenses but I'm not even sure that's an option.
The booster and the armor are both obvious defensive choices that would either work with being able to make multiple runs, though armor might be better depending on reusability of the booster. Stealth and the booster might work together, combining a stealthy approach with a final sprint. Then again I'm also not sure how much stealth we can achieve against someone one TL higher?
The easiest way to do this is to directly attack it, and in that case, we need to skew that fight to our advantage. Thus, mines.
Per the latest update (which wasn't out when you posted), they have a significant tech advantage; there's a LOT of goodies which unlock at TL10. If they are as indicated, I think we could be at risk of a decapitation strike in Heimdall.
To be clear, "slow down an attacking fleet" when I meant it didn't mean that they'd be able to completely oppose everything the Hermosans would throw at us. Instead, they'd fill one of two purposes:
- Against a small incursion, they'd throw enough torpedoes at the targets to completely destroy them, like what happened to the HSWS Heimdall.
- Against a large incursion, they'd throw enough torpedoes that they take significant losses in the initial push. This forces the aggressors to slow down and try and destroy our torpedo control bunkers (presumably dug deep into the surface of a body) from outside the range of the minefield, or accept further casualties; if they want to use the location as an anchorage for soft-skinned ships or move in an invasion fleet, they need to first clear the mines or else risk a high-value target going poof from a mine that randomly activates and targets a troopship. Sure, they've "won", but they can't immediately springboard off of Heimdall to attack a different system.
I get where you're coming from, and agree with the concern, but I don't think a mobile component helps in the way you think it does.
If one force is accelerating away, and the other force is chasing it, then the force being chased is at a kinematic advantage for launching torpedoes - they can deploy them from "further away" because the chasers, from the torpedo's frame of reference, getting closer, while any torpedoes launched by the chasers have to speed up to catch a fleeing target. Skirmishing and kiting is, as far as I can tell, only counterable by either having a layered defence where the outer line is either untargetable or flexible, thus forcing an aggressor to get within kiting range, or for targets to somehow being survivable enough to weather max-range torpedoes.
Yeah, I agree that's a problem, but I do think that's solveable.
First of all, a torpedo minefield-defence station combo isn't like a defence station alone. Using some crude ASCII art to schematically convey how they'd be laid out, it looks something like this:
Code:
(I)
* * * * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * * *
(S)Also, we can make our defence stations resilient. For example, we can use a mix of:[/S]
- Covering them in armour and point defences, and surround them with fighter wings (this is our current approach)
- Building them as hardened underground bunkers on a nearby planetoid insead of free-floating stations
- Having decoy stations that appear to be the ones ordering torpedo launches, but are instead just empty balloons with a repeater antenna
- Making them small jump-boats that order a torpedo launch and then immediately jump out of the system
As for today's vote, I suggest:
- Definitely NOT giving the Aslan land
- I'd like the carrier to be a bit bigger than 7000 tons - ideally a reused 8000 ton hull for the construction speed bonuses - so for now we should build things we can do quickly and cheaply. That means IC refits and, my personal quest, a couple of minelayers based on the interstellar conveyors.
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I agree with chemical booster and multiple runs. Armor is pointless on fighters. Size alone makes them fragile and armouring them is prohibitive in terms of weight.
Nah. What sort of imperial power would we be if we gave our land away?