Ace Combat XCOM: Enemy Skies

OmegaS · Dec 15, 2019

Assuming we get the memo and form an intelligence unit next week, here's a take on what they would come up with regarding the aliens. Spoiler: "Not much, please get us something to work with before asking again."

From: IUN-PKF-XCOM-Intelligence
To: IUN-PKF-XCOM-HighCom
Att: IUN-PKF-XCOM-Usea, IUN-PKF-XCOM-Osea, IUN-PKF-XCOM-Anea, IUN-PKF-XCOM-Verusa, IUN-PKF-XCOM-Liaison Office
Subject: Intelligence Briefing, 2/7/2020

Report 1: Initial Speculation Regarding Primary Opposing Force's Strategic Goals and Capabilities
Before we begin, we must emphasis that all analysis possible at this time ultimately amounts to pure speculation. The invaders (hereby referred to as OpFor) are complete unknowns beyond what has been demonstrated on the battlefield, and we have had no meaningful communication with them outside of their monodirectional psionic broadcasts regarding their contempt of our defiance. As we have so far been unable to recover let alone access any form of computer systems, this is the best we have so far.

Force Numbers
Given the size of the OpFor' Mothership, it could easily house enough forces to simply blitz the world's military forces in a single operation. That OpFor have not done so indicates that they either do not have these forces, or that they are so contemptuous of our capabilities that they do not feel the need to do so. As the later option make any long term victory against them exceedingly unlikely, we have instead chosen to focus our efforts on the former. Supporting this theory, the most recent analysis by the Research Division of recovered OpFor wrecks show that their construction dates are overwhelmingly no more than 2 months prior to the start of hostilities, with the majority of the outliers consisting of craft from the first attack wave or piloted by their various Aces. Thus, we are led to believe that OpFor's forces predominantly consist of units that have been produced in situ, using the Motherships no doubt prodigious industrial capability to turn the resources harvested from debris cloud around it and hydrogen taken from Strangereal's oceans into combat platforms.

Industrial Capabilities
Speculation regarding OpFor's production limits would be just that; speculation. We do not know enough about their industrial methods make even the barest estimation, and they are all but certain to be in the process of expanding their capabilities, if only to expedite how much time it takes to bring the planet's infrastructure up to their standards after their assumed victory. This is supported by the increasing force numbers and total unit weight we are seeing each wave, as they either reactivate existing facilities or finish constructing new ones.

Force Capabilities
Despite their obvious technological advantage OpFor has over us, their ability to apply it has proven to be mixed at best. Their current roster appears to consist of craft that were originally designed for peer opponents in orbital combat, and their impressment into atmospheric use has diminished their performance substantially, particularly in regards to their effective combat range. The ability for kinetic weapons to shake them to pieces is an understandable design compromised once this is taken into account, but it is certain that OpFor will alter their production lines to address it. Other failings, such as drone programming, will also be addressed as time goes on, increasing their capabilities as we adapt to fight them.

While OpFor's possession of an equivalent of the Active Protection System was an unpleasant surprise, its initial effectiveness was greatly hampered by the failing of their ship's power generators. As this is certain to be the first thing they rectify, we must acquire direct counters, with the obvious move being to reverse engineer OpFor's own anti-shield weaponry. As analysis is still ongoing with those wrecks, so the complexity of this task is unknown at this time.

There has been much speculation regarding the grossly haphazard skill level of the OpFor's units. The drones have a ready made excuse of being hyper-optimised, but their manned craft are at times embarrassing to fly against. With only a handful of exceptions, OpFor pilots have so far demonstrated such a deficit of piloting skills that they would have never graduated from a Strangereal flight school, let alone sent onto the battlefield. Their Aces demonstrate that they are not, as an institution, complete novices in regards to atmospheric combat, so this shear disparity if frankly baffling from a conventional viewpoint. The current assumption, based on what Research Division has managed to work out, is that the majority of their man power consists of cloned servitors, which makes the skill shortfall due to either flaws in the mental programing or a simple lack of interest.

Strategic Aims
One of the open questions is why OpFor decided to begin the war immediately upon arrival, rather than linger in the outer system and build up their forces. We speculate that they were either unwilling or unable to do so, with factors ranging from internal political dynamics to some form of technical limitation. Assuming that OpFor is fundamentally sane (as we understand it), we believe that it was some form of physical limitation that forced them into 'rushing things', with our best guess being that the energy requirements of their drive system limited how much of their production capability could be utilized. However, this area is where we are least grounded by observed facts, making it easily possible that we are wrong. In all likelihood, we are unlikely to know for sure unless we somehow acquire testimony by their command elements or records of their deliberations, both of which are easier said than done.

Perhaps the greater question is why OpFor is fighting this war in the first place. In that regard, we have absolutely no firm basis to work from, with our own history providing no end of reasons to do so. Our knowledge of their society is in all practical terms negative, with human norms being inapplicable.

Conclusion
All of these factors together indicate that that the OpFor started the current war 'half cocked', without large reserves of well trained and well equipped forces. Their current forces are merely what could be fabricated in situ, and have no value attached to them outside of cold strategic calculus. Their Aces would then represent the standing military forces that were brought with them, and may or may not represent the quality of force that we would go up against if they were meaningfully reinforced. Assuming they maintain the will to fight, they will be able to sustain this war indefinitely, and unless we manage to force attrition on par with their production, they will grow increasingly more capable as time goes on.

Until we obtain meaningful sources of intelligence, all we can offer regarding OpFor is speculation. In the meantime, it is likely that we will accomplish more by monitoring potential collaborators, if only to know which state is the most likely to be become a puppet after Belka.

Simon_Jester · Dec 18, 2019

White Lightning

Recommended Listening: Dark Necessities,
by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Yeah, you don't know my mind
You don't know my kind
Dark necessities are part of my design
Tell the world that I've fallen from the sky...
Dark necessities are part of my design

You're a bit surprised to see a jet trainer, instead of a utility aircraft, being used to deliver the VIP. A Very Important Person whom the Yuktobanians have declined to identify except as "an Air Force general of great experience and stature." But with a sizeable share of X-COM USEA's early funding having come from the Yukes, you owe them, even if those resources are flowing to X-COM VERUSA now. If they want to send someone to meet you and your pilots in person, without much advance briefing, it is at most a slightly irregular request. So you agreed.

The Razgriz, being curious, a bit bored, and on high alert that stops them from getting too comfortable, come out with you to watch the visitor arrive. Their delta-wing plane is, like quite a few Yuke aircraft, colored white with red stars- but a brighter shade of white than usual. You recognize the matte white antiflash paint of a plane designed to operate around battlefields where burst- or even nuclear- warheads are being thrown around.

Identifying the plane takes you a moment, though. Needle-nosed, delta-winged, obviously a high-Mach interceptor from out of the old days... an Su-15, it must be. The Yukes still use a few of the old trainer variants, you hear.

The jet stops near where you stand on the flight line, with a crew rushing up to tend to the plane. The pilot clambers out easily- but stops, taking off his helmet, and assists them with his passenger. The figure riding in the rear seat of the interceptor is stooped, hunched- small and genderless in a flight suit and oxygen mask. They don't step away from the helping hands of the Selatapura ground crew until the pilot passes them a pair of canes. Then they begin to walk slowly, leaning on the canes, climbing into the cart that brings the Yukes closer.

The oldster takes off their helmet, shaking- her- head and gently patting at the small, tight bun made of her hair.

She looks vaguely familiar to you. Only vaguely. But the Razgriz, all in their own ways, lock eyes on her at once.

Blaze, quiet as ever, just eyes the little babushka with an expression you've seen many times before, in the past year.

The look of eagles, you've heard it called. And she looks back, with the same expression, despite clearly being only a shadow of whatever she once was. Something unspoken passes between them.

Pops' eyebrows rise. And Captain Bartlett sounds, for the first time since you've known him, actually shaken. "Am I imagining things, or did the Yukes send the White Witch?"

Archer, somehow still radiating an aura of greenness despite being over thirty with a kill count that could fill a large bus, turns to the older men. "Wait, who? What's wrong?"

He's never heard of her? But you have, and it clicks into place.

Marina Popova. Molniya One. The woman who tore through the Sounder Bay Crisis fifty years ago in a MiG-17, humiliating Osea's proxies in Leasath and ripping apart the Danern Island separatists, earning the fearful monicker 'White Lightning.'

She went on to carve a similar swath through the Osean Air Force over Kaluga, then became a grim terror for all arms of the Osean forces when the proxy wars started to go hot. The woman in the antiflash white Su-15 wove through the teeth of the Typhon missile defense network, again and again, sinking at least as many Osean warships as the Scinfaxi ever would. Shot down YB-350 Firebird strategic projection aircraft, three times, then destroyed the production line in the first laser-guided bombing attack in history. Crossed swords with the then-legendary Unicorn Squadron three times as well. And once when they were flying Osea's exotic new prototype superplane- the F-16A. Put an end to General Poe's plan to end the Hot War with XM-PLUTO nuclear ramjet missiles, by flying into the tunnels of the abandoned Mesa Plata silver mines and blowing apart the prototypes. The political- and literal- fallout from that had been one of the biggest arguments ever handed to the Osean peace movement.

The war had sputtered out after that, in part because the Osean Navy had grimly warned President Francis that Molniya One could put invasion fleets on the bottom of the Pacific faster than Osea could assemble them.

And come to think of it, Bartlett had joined the Air Force right around the time that trainers would have hit their peak of using "the Wicked Witch of the West" as a boogeywoman to scare nuggets with. Not that you can blame them, having seen the impact someone like Trigger can have in a war zone.

And the mystery surrounding the defense of Cinigrad in the Circum-Pacific War hadn't done anything to reduce the aura of her name. Or the uncertainty about whether she could still fly, after being shot down during the First Continental War in 1998. She might not look remotely fit for a dogfight as she is now, but something in the DNA of your Osean military training stirs, quietly, and can't help but wonder.

Maybe this will be how Eruseans look at Mobius One or Trigger when they're eighty years old.

She smiles and nods to you. "Long Caster, I presume…" Her eyes narrow. "And these are the Razgriz." The words are not a question.

Awkward. Yuktobania's greatest ace in living memory- who is still rumored to have been flying the Salyut planes, somehow. Though that rumor raises questions about how she survived a Salyut fighter crashing and going up in a fireball during her second engagement with Cyclops Squadron.

Blaze speaks calmly. "We are." Again, something unspoken passes between him and General Popova.

She leans on her canes a little harder. "...That war was a frightful waste."

And all the Razgriz nod, their leader again managing to be expressive with a mere two syllables.

"It was."

"A lot of my trainees didn't make it." She smiles sadly, and shakes her head. "Is…" she fumbles for the word. "Occupational hazard. I know. Have been there. Little Svetlana, at least, made it through the war."

Blaze remains, as always, calculating. Pops and Bartlett are older, too close to the days of her terror to speak to Popova without thinking. For once, it's Archer who doesn't hesitate.

"Svetlana?"

She smiles, looking genuinely proud. "My great-niece. With Wisna Squadron. Cruik Fortress- and Sudentor."

"I- remember her."

"She remembers you!" And there is a wicked humor in her eyes, suddenly, something that calls out to you, I may be old and toothless, but oh, what times I've had! "But so rude of me, to ignore your commander!"

Her apologies, in the following moments, aren't fulsome- but are gracious, and she certainly seems interested in the base, and your operations. The questions come fast, though the silent pilot at her elbow gently ushers her back into the cart to sit back down. Archer interjects a few times, Blaze twice, Pops once. Bartlett still seems to be calming back down.

"You have Pixy and the Three Strikes here, da?" She cackles, switching the cane in her right hand to her left and gesturing. "I would like to shake his hand."

"He's on leave right now, actually."

"Bold of you to put him there. Confident. I like that. Hmm… I wonder if I can stay long enough to see him. But Pixy! Good man! Just had to learn not to steal my colors." She smiles, waving a hand widely, a bit more vigorously than you'd expect when you first saw him. "Only met him in person the once, years ago! I hope he still likes his nickname! And also, wanted to ask… Cyclops Squadron is with you, but Wiseman, not on your roster. Where is he?"

You feel a still-fresh spike of pain, and force out the words. "Killed in the war."

She makes a wordless sound. "I'm sorry. He was very good." She shakes her head. "Who?"

"Shilage."

Her hand tightens on her cane, pale knuckles whitening a shade. "Ah-ha. Well, at least your boy is avenged, then." Her smile is like something off a shark, now, and you can tell that she's thinking at least as much of her own history as of Wiseman. Not that you blame her.

She turns- to Blaze, with the look of eagles spreading first on her face, then on his.

"You know. War is fucking shit-" she drops the curses as casually as Daniel would- "and you are always dancing with the Devil. But if you are very good- you make the Devil let you lead." And again the wicked smile, and for one of the few times you can remember, Blaze smiles back.

hYGP · Feb 1, 2020

[X] [Far Scrier] Aggressive
[X] [Snow] Authoritative
[X] [Rigel One] Nine Lives
[X] [ResearchB] Bulb Ship Analysis (60/???)
[X] [SP] Canon

The large metal fan lazily beat muggy air into Long Caster's uniform, which clung to himself in the sticky Selatapuran heat.

He knew why he had chosen such a miserable part of the base, one of the countless "milspec" "buildings" that "conformed to code" maybe twenty years ago when it was being conceived. Yellow stains littered themselves along the wall, hinting at nothing so much as the room's long and storied history of being completely and utterly shit.

God, the heat was getting to him. It was supposed to be wearing away at Far Scrier, but it was mostly working away at Long Caster and his formal uniform.

Finally, Far Scrier showed up at literally the last possible second before she would be late. Her uniform was only barely put together enough to avoid being called unkempt, hands stuck in her pockets, and hair exploding upwards in an impressive bedhead that was only technically in regulations.

"Lieutenant Far Scrier, reporting as ordered," she lazily saluted.

"Sit," Long Caster growled. Far Scrier blinked, and then languidly shuffled out her cheap, disintegrating folding chair and sat down.

"Lieutenant, do you know why I called you here?" he began.

"No, sir, I'm guessing you're going to tell me," she said back, leaning back in a pose that had to be an ab workout just to look more carefree.

Long Caster's eye twitched.

"I called you here because you had a responsibility as an AWACS. A responsibility to your military, a responsibility to your pilots, and a responsibility everyone in the battlefield that you personally decided to kill by marking them as a target. You owed it to every last one of them to make your judgements in the clearest state of mind possible. You derelicted your duty to every last one of them when you decided to get stoned on high alert."

Far Scrier's dead eyes coolly looked back.

"Do you understand the magnitude of your fuckup, Lieutenant Far Scrier?" Long Caster said, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes, yes," she airily responded, dismissively waving her hands.

Long Caster's hands went still.

A hot and gnawing fury pulsed through his body.

Did she not fucking understand what it meant to be an AWACS? To be the person deciding who was an ally, who was an enemy, and who was responsible in a blue on blue? To wake up in a cold sweat because oh god were those civilian tents at Shilage? Had she never felt that gut drop when he had to report Fox Two on a target Long Caster was only mostly sure was a target?

There was a word for what Long Caster was feeling.

That word was hatred.

"Lieutenant Far Scrier, I don't think you do," Long Caster said tightly, voice controlled by the fact that Long Caster physically could only express a tiny fraction of his anger. "The next thing you do after this conversation is going to be packing up your bags. As of this moment, you - no, I am stripping you of your rank and expelling you from every military I am an officer of."

Far Scrier jolted in shock, halfway aborting her slouch. From there, even gravity expressed its displeasure at her by sending her to the ground in a tangled heap.

"Huh?" she eloquently expressed from the floor.

"You heard me," Long Caster said. "Get the fuck out."

AWACS Far Scrier dismissed. Spare AWACS plane available.

The cool A/C in Long Caster's office improved Long Caster's mood somewhat, but his hands were still curling themselves into fists. The unpleasant gnawing sensation retreated to just his gut. Worse, his uniform had started sticking in that muggy heat.

Finally, Daniel Snow showed up in full dress - Long Caster blinked a moment, not used to seeing Daniel outside of his hoodie.

"Sir," he saluted sharply.

"Sit, officer Snow. I assume you know what you're here for?" Long Caster said, a little more sharply than he intended.

Daniel Snow nodded with a grim expression, and sat down.

"I understand it has to do with my f - uh - inappropriate conduct earlier this week, sir?" he asked.

"Yes, and you can expect a nice long chat with Pulford afterwards," Long Caster nodded.

Daniel sharply sucked in air.

"Shi - oh shi - fuhhhh," he fumbled.

Long Caster snerked. Daniel's old habits were dying hard, it appeared, and from the sheepish smile Daniel was wearing he knew it too.

"Listen, I get that old habits die hard. That said, you did make things harder for us with the swearing, so I'm going to tell you this: cut it out, understood? I know you got served a shit sandwich, but I have to ask you to respect the rules of the establishment," Long Caster said, unclenching his fists.

Daniel Snow awkwardly aborted a chuckle.

"Got it," he nodded, before blinking up - "uh, Commander Long Caster, sir."

"Well, so long as you don't do it again, I'll let you go chat with Commander Pulford," Long Caster smiled, leaning back.

Daniel Snow gulped.

Daniel Snow "relegated" to "detention center" (read: room with A/C and whatever passes for the internet nowadays) on "off-duty" hours. No restrictions on visiting hours.

World News

Surprisingly, the Commonwealth of Usean States are pulling together; it looks like the image of the Commonwealth teams restoring power to the continent is met with huge Commonwealth popularity in the member states, and so even without satellite communications they're starting to pull together.

In the ongoing Erusean Civil War, while the Free Erusean Remnants have completely splintered apart as an organized force, the Erusean Restorationist forces have been undergoing their own upheavals; more Erusean areas have broken off to create an alliance of Minor Erusean Republics, in addition to the Republic of Voslage continuing to carve out its own territory.

The Osean president has started making some very alarming comments - comments like the leaked recording where the President was heard saying "not needing the weak XCOM, and disregard the chickenshit bureaucrats in the IUN, we'll blow the hell out of Belka ourselves."

Eastern Osea's Mutual Defense Force appears to be more than show, as the Eastern Osean nations begin to band together in earnest; already, Sapin, Wielvakia, and the Nordlands have announced joint drilling.

With the spectre of another war on the Verusan continent looming on the horizon, the Sotoan Treaty Organization, Union of Yuktobanian Republics, and the Verusan Federation hold a conference to mediate tensions. According to Pulford, this conference is actually going shockingly well; it's unofficial, but Sotoa and Verusa appear to be cutting a deal that would ease their worries of Yuktobania's operation of the Gullfaxi, which might result in Sotoa cutting support for People's Republic of Kaluga.

Anea continues chugging along - no news appears to be good news, especially when the news is that Anean relations between the country and XCOM ANEA are greatly improving, no doubt thanks to intergroup coordination.

Stonehenge continues chugging along; the big problem is that it's literally in the middle of the fucking desert, which drives transportation costs of everything - including the superheavy equipment needed to really fix it.
Internal Construction Practices had some progress, before the main file bricked. Suddenly, the research team realized "oh shit that was the one copy motherfucker we have to start from scratch" - and that prompted another point: what the hell is up with XCOM's (lack of) documentation? (when we go to next week you'll have a chance to interact with this)
Bulb Ship Analysis completed. They discovered a few things, a few pieces of scrap that have strange properties and need to be studied later - and most consequentially, they discovered that the current "captive" alien from the bulb ship has completely different genetic markers from the fluid samples from the fighters. As in, different species level of difference. Needless to say, they sent this discovery over to the Alien Xenobiology team in Osea.
Hammer and Nail Doctrine is completed - the basic idea is that you use your aces as dogfighters and everybody else stands off about four to five kilometers out and snipe with EMLs. AWACS and raw pilot skill is how you avoid nailing your own fighters. I'm saving this for later because it's also where I introduce your three analysts and I want to get their voices right in a separate bit.

Word from the southern hemisphere of Osea is somehow even worse than the news from the northern half, in a very complicated fashion. Leasath has made noises of being willing and able to contribute a whole squadron of aces and superplanes, on the condition that Leasath be solely allowed to provide for the squadron and that XCOM prosecute and return a refugee and stolen technology. Aurelia, meanwhile, wants to levy a sanctions regime on Leasath and absolutely ban them from inserting their own group.

Pulford is calling a meeting about this, and there's no way Long Caster isn't invited, considering that Siegfried is hanging out on the base right now.

Long Caster will...
[] Side with Aurelia.
[] Side with Leasath.
[] Stay neutral.

hYGP · Feb 23, 2020

In light of the debriefing vote, I will reopen the choice between Leasath and Aurelia at the end of this post.

"Avril reporting in. We're making steady progress; right now we're focused on seeing how to schedule the superheavy machinery we need to really fix these big-ass guns. Honestly, the biggest thing holding up this project is the sheer difficulty of shipping everything out to the middle of this fucking desert. It'd really help if we had some better way of getting equipment out here, but apparently that just wasn't ever a priority.

That's all for us this week. Avril, signing out."

The first thing Long Caster heard, three corners away, is "GODDAMN PIECE OF SHIT GRUNDERCORP PC - ", and that's when Long Caster realized that things might not be going to plan.

Then, Long Caster blinked. That wasn't Daniel Snow's voice. It was too... coarse? Too high and low pitched? Whatever it was, the texture was wrong, and it made his fingers tingle a little, as he dragged his body forward. In fact, as he got closer (trying to ignore his rumbling stomach), Long Caster became pretty sure that -

What.

Long Caster rubbed his tired eyes, because he disbelieved what he's seeing.

Dr. Shen?

Alone at his desk?

Swearing?

"- and ugh, there's a reason we never should've used this complete garbage!" he finishes, unaware that there was someone else in the room. In all fairness to Dr. Shen, normally there wouldn't be at lunch time, but Long Caster had to fit the meeting in somewhere in the schedule.

"The stupid friggin' systems never work, and they always update at the worst possible time with the least helpful 'patches' that only end up installing more spyware that you have to tear out to get anywhere and then they have the gall to corrupt your files and they're just so completely backward that I don't understand why anyone would ever use them!"

Dr. Shen huffed and puffed a little bit, leaning forward on his desk. His hands twitched like they wanted to either slam the blue-screened lid down on the Grundercorp laptop or straight through the desk in front of him.

Long Caster took this moment to cough meaningfully.

Dr. Shen startled a little, before turning around.

"Sorry you had to see that, Commander Long Caster," Shen sheepishly apologizes. "I'm afraid I have to report some bad news - we've lost the majority of our notes on how to streamline our construction processes, and that's when we found out that XCOM doesn't really have backups," he reported. "That's why I'd suggest getting some of our people working on documenting and backing up our research so far, Commander."

Long Caster nodded.

"We'll have to start from scratch on this project, but we're fortunate that this sort of failure happened to a less...known problem," Shen sighed. "That's all I have to report," Shen said.

General Engineering Group
[] [GEG] Continue Research into Streamlined Construction Practices [0/30]
[] [GEG] Backfill Documentation [0/20]

"So, here's the thing about these Bulb Ships," Jasper began. "We're nearly certain these things are the alien C&C vehicles, just based on what happened in the battle footage, both from the Granada Plains and over Axel Bay."

"However," Charlie cut in, eyes twitching, "we found that there wasn't anything that seemed to act as radio receiver - it's possible that they used direct point-to-point tranmsissions, but we haven't found anything like that," he said.

"Obviously they didn't use any point-to-point transmissions, we would've seen it in the combat footage," Jasper sniped back.

On the left side of the table, Angus's hands reunite with his face in the way that only a long-suffering couple can. Georgie, on Jasper's right, kept reapplying the smile he has plastered onto his face like cheap wallpaper - and watching it peel just as quickly.

Long Caster leaned his head against his fist. "Gentlemen," he called. "We had a briefing?"

Jasper and Charlie snapped back to attention.

"Right, sir," Charlie started. "The point is, we didn't find radio equipment, but we're fairly sure they're communicating to their pilots somehow. It may have something to do with the wrecked machinery at the core of the ship, which we've seen something similar to it in all the alien fighters we've found. We've definitely confirmed that this wreckage has some strange reactions to live current; we predicted a magnetic field, but not one strong enough to levitate portions of the array off the table. We suspect it may have something to do with how the alien ships are able to stay airborne despite their ludicrous mass, and request permission to investigate, sir."

[] [ResearchB] Strange Machinery [0/???]
[] [ResearchB] Cyclonic Accelerators [0/60]
[] [ResearchB] Toroidal Energy Storage [0/??]
[] [ResearchB] Gun Ship Analysis [40/100]
[] [ResearchB] Alien Alloy Fabrication [20/160]
[] [ResearchB] Rejoin Research Team Alpha

"If you're done," Jasper began, annoyed grimace on his face, "then - "

"Sit down Jasper, you're making us look like idiots," Angus harshly cut in.

Affronted, Jasper turned to Long Caster, whose mask of disinterested stoicism attempted to conceal exactly how tired of everything he is.

Long Caster said nothing.

Smugly, Charlie took that as his motion to continue. "Even that machinery probably isn't our most important finding, according to our research team; the most important finding is that the alien sample in the Bulb Ship is actually completely genetically unrelated to the samples we got in the fighters. We've taken the liberty of sending that over our comms already, Commander," Charlie reported.

Jasper cut back in: "Without authorization? Commander, that sounds like something you should've been informed about, right? Isn't that insubordination?" he sing-songed.

Long Caster's fist morphed into a hand pinching his nose, his low headache making itself known.

"There wouldn't be a lot of meat to this allegation, you understand," Long Caster said. "And it would be a completely separate disciplinary hearing which you absolutely would not be privy to, do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir," Jasper said, expression radiating self-satisfaction.

Angus' shaking fists, by contrast, looked ready to commit Jasper's murder, as Georgie tried to make himself as small as possible, hands curled protectively over his head.

"Now, Charlie, it's been a long week," Long Caster said, meaningfully looking at Jasper's smug expression, "so I'd appreciate if you could tell us what that really means for us."

"Got it, sir. Mostly it means that we think there are more than one species of alien we encountered, and it gives us a better idea of what might actually be going on in the alien fighter, sir," Charlie nodded.

"Understood. Tactics team, your report?"

"My team's completed our initial doctrine, sir," Jasper said. "We call it Hammer and Nail Doctrine, and we believe it combines the most effective parts of our improvised doctrine together. Georgie?"

Literally unspooling from the ball that Georgie had cringed into, Georgie began: "Well, uh, based on many of our battles, but mostly the Battle of Granada Plains, we think that standoff weapons have had the greatest effect - compare, for example," he said, clicking forward on his laptop, "the effect of the ADMM barrages and dogfighting. A-although, that is an incredibly extreme comparison. There's a similar comparison in the Razgriz and Harpy squadron engagement, where Razgriz squadron used XLAAs with high effectiveness, sir."

"However, we can't have all of our attacks launched from long range - see the Battle of Selatapura Harbor to see what happens when we let alien fighters go unanswered, sir" he said, clicking back to that...first battle.

Seven fighters lost. Two dead.

"I understand," Long Caster said, heavily.

"That's why the second part of our strategy involves using aces to hold the attention of our enemies. We think our aces can, based off of the Razgriz engagement over the Granada Plains," Angus said. "That battle, and the battle over Axel Bay convinced us that enemy fighter groups depend heavily on their Bulb Ships to coordinate them in large groups. Take out the bulb ships, and the aliens tend to attack the nearest target."

"Add it all up," Jasper cut in, "and you have our Hammer and Nail doctrine. Our ace Nail troops nail our enemies in place with their own piloting skills, and the Hammer troops use long range weaponry like EMLs and XLAAs to hammer the aliens from long range. We can freely allocate Hammer and Nail troops according to the situation, without risking our relatively inexperienced Hammer troops. We think it's the best doctrine for our situation, Commander," Jasper said, eminently pleased with himself.

"So let me get this straight, you want the Hammer troops to fire unguided or low-responsiveness rounds into a dogfight with the Nail troops?" Long Caster said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well," Jasper said, "there's some - "

"Yeah, pretty much," Angus shrugged. "We talked with the aces beforehand, and they'll be fine. Besides, they've got you watching over them. That's enough margin of safety for me."

"For you, maybe, but not everyone!" Georgie hissed.

Everyone in the room turned to look at him.

Georgie shrunk back just as suddenly.

"Hm." Long Caster said noncommitally. "I also note that this doctrine depends on having lots of top-tier aces and battlefield vision, is this correct?"

"Well...yes, we thought those tradeoffs were worth it." Jasper said.

Hammer and Nail Doctrine:
[] [HND] Accept it.
[] [HND] Revise it for less ace dependence.
[] [HND] Revise it for less risk of friendly fire.
[] [HND] Revise it for less battlefield vision dependence.

Training and Tactics Department:
[] [TTD] Revise Hammer and Nail Doctrine.
[] [TTD] Train B-Tier Fighters.
[] [TTD] Full Analysis of the Battle of Granada Plains.
[] [TTD] Full Analysis of the Battle of Axel Bay.
[] [TTD] Full Analysis of the Battle of Selatapura Harbor.

Siegfried Debriefing

"No handcuffs? I've got to say, mate, this base is almost downright hospitable!" Siegfried laughed, southern accent bleeding through.

"Your...ah, former employers handcuffed you?" Long Caster asked, surprised.

"Yeah, along with beatings, starvation rations, and the occasional party for bloody brilliant work and all. Really, it was the Tinpot Dictator special," Siegfried shrugged, smirking.

"You say that like you've been through more than one," Long Caster carefully noted.

"Yeah, those Estovakians were frigid bastards, but at least Uncle Lorenz was there," he said, smile both never fading and never quite reaching his eyes. "'Course, I went straight from the bitter cold to a jungle hell, courtesy of the Belkan express delivery service, so, eh."

"...so what did you do for Estovakia and Leasath?" Long Caster asked.

"Eh, design a couple big planes and a couple cutting-edge ones. Flew one over, and she's a right beaut," he proudly said. "The Aigaion was kinda okay, the Gyges was some fine work, but god, there's nothing prettier than my little Gram."

"And can you tell us what you were doing in Leasath?" Long Caster asked.

"Mm, depends. Some of the crew were bludgers, but the others were pretty alright - then again, Navvie-boy is probably beating them all anyway so I might as well tell you. Leasath had me work with some bleeding-edge tech, stuff to do with microwave weapons, shielding, and making planes straight invisible, to slap onto some big fighters and throw down with someone, probably Aurelia," Siegfried said, expression completely unchanged.

"...I see. In which case, I won't force you to do anything; if you'd like, I can charter a plane for you to go home," Long Caster offered.

"Nah," Siegfried said, turning to look off into space. "Nowhere's really home for a bloke like me, except maybe the sky. I'd rather have something to do," he shrugged.

"I understand. Where would you like to be assigned to, then?" Long Caster nodded.

"Eh. Something that puts me either in a plane or making one," Siegfried shrugged.

[][Sieg] Assign Siegfried as an S-class Engineer, specialty Aerospace and Superweapon Design
[][Sieg] Assign Siegfried as a B-class Pilot

Which side does Long Caster initially favor?
[][Meet] Leasath
[][Meet] Aurelia
[][Meet] Neither

hYGP · Feb 25, 2020

huhYeahGoodPoint said:
IUN-PKF-XCOM Resources

Critical Statistics:
Total Industrial Capacity: 222,250 IC
Personnel: 1800
Base Locations: XCOM USEA, XCOM OSEA, XCOM ANEA, XCOM VERUSA
Overall Commander: Stephen Pulford

XCOM USEA:
Available Industrial Capacity: 74,000 IC
Local Industrial Capacity: 2400 [Planes] IC
Personnel: 400
Airbases:
Selatapura Air Command (shared with Selatapura International Airport)
Fort Grays Island Base

Commander: Long Caster
Allied Units: Osean SOUTHCOM, Gunther Bay Emergency Home Defense

Artificial Wonder: International Space Elevator "Lighthouse".

Alien Assets:
0 Alien Fighters.
4x Alien Gunships.
3x Alien Bulb Ships.
5020x Alien Alloys.

Spare Aircraft:
4x Su-33 Flanker
1x Su-37 Terminator
1x F-15 Eagle
1x F-35 Lightning II

XCOM ANEA:
Available Industrial Capacity: 21,700 IC
Personnel: 250
Airbases:
Gracemeria Air Force Base
Bartolemeo Fortress

Commander: Raynard Ball
Allied Units: Republic of Emmeria's Armed Forces, Kingdom of Nordennavic's Armed Forces.

XCOM OSEA:
Available Industrial Capacity: 47,950 IC
Personnel: 600
Airbases:
Oured Air Command

Commander: Kiara Crespo
Allied Units: Osean Self Defense Forces

XCOM VERUSA:
Available Industrial Capacity: 76,200 IC
Personnel: 600
Airbases:
The Red Corridor

Commander: Anton Smolaresk
Allied Units: Yuktobanian Army, Verusa's Federal Armed Forces

huhYeahGoodPoint said:
IUN-PKF-XCOM Nation Map

ANEA

Kingdom of Nordennavic

Kingdom of Nordennavic

Nordennavic is located on the northwest of the Anean continent, near the North Pole. As a result, much of the country is nearly permanently encased in ice, especially in the wake of the 1994XF04 Ulysses Disaster. Nordennavic's economy is greatly buoyed by its thriving machine industry, although its status as a net-food importer has Nordennavic constantly wary. Diplomatically, Nordennavic has remained staunchly neutral for centuries, and insists on having a military only for self-defensive purposes. Recently, it has absorbed many refugees over the course of the past decade, and has considered joining the Republic of Anea initiative, only to break apart when Emmerian and Estovakian tensions have boiled over.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 21,000

5,000 supporting population, quality of life

11,200 supplying XCOM ANEA

4,800 available

Energy Production: 92,000

84,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

5,000 supporting Population Quality of Life

3,000 available

Population (Est.): 5,000,000

Quality of Life: High

Degree of Support: 7/10

Militarism: 7/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Macmillan Heavy Industries

Republic of Emmeria

Republic of Emmeria

Emmeria is located on the western side of the Anean continent, close to the North Pole. Officially titled the Republic of Emmeria, it was founded in the mid 1500s by King Aurelius II. Between its natural highlands and high latitude, much of the land is barely fit for human habitation; the regions that are, however, is Anea's best breadbaskets. Naturally, this resulted in Emmeria becoming the preeminent superpower on the Anean continent, boasting a world-class economy and high-living standards throughout. Emmeria's economy is sustained through its wide variety of economic activities and trade. Emmeria's armed forces are considered in a class of their own with regards to combined arms doctrine, if not nearly the size of Osean or Yuktobanian militaries. One of the primary proponents of the Republic of Anea initiative, Emmeria withdrew due to Estovakian aggression. Having recently won the Emmerian-Estovakian War in 2015-2016, Emmeria's economy has largely been focused on internal rebuilding and supporting the Estovakian civilian government.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 101,000

80,000 supporting population, quality of life

10,500 supporting XCOM ANEA

10,500 available

Energy Production: 484,500

404,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

80,000 supporting Population quality of life

500 available

Population (Est.): 80,000,000

Quality of Life: High

Degree of Support: 6/10

Militarism: 3/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Talisman, a SS-tier ace.

Emmerian Combined Arms Doctrine

Federal Republic of Estovakia

Federal Republic of Estovakia

Estovakia is located on the eastern side of the Anean continent. Officially titled the Federal Republic of Estovakia, Estovakia has undergone much political turmoil recently. With even more of its land occupied by naturally mountainous terrain, Estovakia has even less habitable territory than Emmeria. However, absent any major disasters, Estovakia would have survived. Ulysses 1994XF04's Anean fragments obliterated that dream, destroying much of Estovakia's government and infrastructure. In the ensuing chaos, Estovakia broke out into near total warlordism for a period of seven to eight years, by which point in 2007 established military factions began to form in the ruins of Estovakia. However, these factions soon turned on themselves and began another grueling six or seven year long civil war, before finally unifying under the Eastern Front lead by the military junta of the Generals. In 2015-2016, they conducted a war against Emmeria which they very nearly won before being utterly routed by the Garuda Team's Talisman. Since then, Estovakia has been recuperating from nearly two straight decades of nigh-universal war footing in an incredibly harsh environment.

They are extremely grateful for XCOM ANEA's timely assistance in completing a geothermal plant several weeks ahead of schedule. Understandably, they will continue to focus on ensuring that their own citizens do not freeze; however, they are willing to donate materiel to XCOM's efforts.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 13,000

9,000 supporting population, quality of life

4,000 available

Energy Production: 70,000

52,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

15,000 supporting population quality of life

3,000 available

Population (Est.): 15,000,000

Quality of Life: Low

Degree of Support: 1 (4) /10

Militarism: 1/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Destroyed Superweapon Chandelier

Albastru-Electrice

Strigon Squadron Remnants

OSEA

Osean Federation

Osean Federation

Osea is located in central Osea. Officially titled the Osean Federation, Osea is one of the two strongest nations in the world, boasting both an economy and military with only a single peer. Spanning much of the Northern Hemisphere, Osea has nearly every clime imaginable within its borders, and has the population to match; moreover, most of its citizenry enjoy an extremely high standard of living on top of Osea's incredibly strong Defense Forces. It is a federal presidential republic.

In the wake of the Battle of Granada Plains, Osea has publicly aggrandized their accomplishments with the Arsenal Bird, while privately taking their Arsenal Bird off into a crash upgrade program. It appears as though they are dissatisfied with their recent showing. The looming threat of an alien-bolstered Belka is also reawakening old contingency plans.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 910,000

800,000 supporting population, quality of life

10,000 IC supporting Arsenal Bird Vigilance Refit

22,000 IC supporting XCOM OSEA

78,000 IC available

Energy Production: 4,627,000

3,640,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

800,000 supporting Population quality of life

180,000 supporting Osean Special Projects

7,000 available

Population (Est.): 800,000,000

Quality of Life: High

Degree of Support: 4/10

Militarism: 9/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

~~Grunder Industries~~

Basset Space Center

Arsenal Bird Vigilance

Monk 2 "Bodhi" - S-Tier ace.

???

Democratic People's Republic of Leasath

Democratic People's Republic of Leasath

The Democratic People's Republic of Leasath, or Leasath for short, is currently under the control of Diego Gaspar Navarro. Located near the tropical regions south of Osea, Leasath's fertile lands can support a significant population, but the current economic collapse and civil war has left the vast majority of its population poor and destitute.

General Diego Gasparro Navarro's tentative victory in the civil war promises to change the Leasathian's situation, but to what end is as of yet uncertain.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 20,000

12,000 supporting population quality of life

8,000 supporting ???

Energy Production: 125,000

80,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

28,000 supporting population quality of life

17,000 supporting ???

Population (Est.): 35,000,000

Quality of Life: Low

Degree of Support: 1/10

Militarism: 8/10

Alien Support: 1/10

Special Assets:

???

Federal Republic of Aurelia

Federal Republic of Aurelia

Aurelia, officially titled the Federal Republic of Aurelia, is located on the southern tip of the Osean continent. It is rich in natural resources and as a result, enjoys a disproportionate prosperity relative to its size. Aurelia employs a modestly-sized military mostly equipped with top-of-the-line equipment, and is one of the leading researchers in the cutting edge field of particle research.

Post Battle of Granada Plains, the Federal Republic of Aurelia is content to bask in the success of their pilots within XCOM OSEA while continuing to mobilize.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 43,000

30,000 supporting population quality of life

6,500 supporting XCOM OSEA

6,500 available

Energy Production: 224,500

172,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

50,000 supporting population

2,500 available

Population (Est.): 30,000,000

Quality of Life: High

Degree of Support: 6/10

Militarism: 5/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Biggest Aluminum supply

Cyclone Accelerators research

Falco 1 - a S tier ace

Gryphus 1 - an SS tier ace

Principality of Belka

Principality of Belka

Belka, or the Principality of Belka, is located in central Osea, bordering the Osean Federation to the east. A once-mighty industrial nation, the economic collapse of early 1990s and the Belkan War of 1995 brought the Principality of Belka low; stripped of its rich territories and an international pariah for being the only user of nuclear weapons on their own soil, Belka has made clear that it holds the rest of the world in as much disdain as the rest of world holds for it, and that Belka is perfectly comfortable holding grudges until the other party is dead. In the intervening two decades, the Belkan diaspora has rightly and wrongly received reputations for being malicious schemers, but also for an incredible technical capability.

Recently, they have allowed alien ships to land within their borders without contest. The aliens have not fired upon them either. Belkan rhetoric begins to ramp up in intensity; some warn of another Belkan War.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 65,000

50,000 supporting population quality of life

15,000 supporting ???

Energy Production: 330,000

260,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

55,000 supporting population quality of life

15,000 supporting ???

Population (Est.): 70,000,000

Quality of Life: Medium

Degree of Support: 0/10

Militarism: 7/10

Alien Support: 5/10

Special Assets:

Superweapon Wreck Excalibur

V2

Only uranium mines in the world

Aliens

Federation of Aboriginal Tribes of Osea

Federation of Aboriginal Tribes of Osea

FATO, or the Federation of Aboriginal Tribes of Osea, is located towards eastern Osea, bordering Belka to the west and the Nordland Confederacy to the east. Originally consisting of indigineous tribal nations who by strokes of good fortune managed to industrialize at a pace sufficient to keep up with would-be colonizers attacking into mountainous terrain, FATO has become an established power to be reckoned with; it was not until the Belkan War of 1995 that FATO truly found itself unable to resist Belkan advances. In the intervening years, FATO has focused on internal development, as well as closer diplomatic relations with the other eastern Osean nations to better secure FATO's interests against Osea and Yuktobania.

Belka's increasing aggression and alien assistance is driving them to seek closer ties and to similarly mobilize.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 34,500

30,000 supporting population quality of life

2,250 IC supporting XCOM OSEA

2,250 available

Energy Production: 169,750

138,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

30,000 supporting population quality of life

1,750 available

Population (Est.): 30,000,000

Quality of Life: High

Degree of Support: 5/10

Militarism: 5/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Only economical source of lithium in the world.

Kingdom of Gebet

Kingdom of Gebet

Gebet, officially titled the Kingdom of Gebet, was spun off from Belka's eastern territories in 1988. It is landlocked on all sides, surrounded by Recta to the south, Wielvak to the east, Belka to the west, and FATO to the north. In 1995, Gebet was reoccupied as part of the Belkan War, but was soon liberated; since then, the Kingdom of Gebet has focused on cultivating a stable trading partnership between Recta and FATO to the north and south, as well as a general effort to deepen ties with other eastern Osean nations.

Belka's increasing aggression is making these efforts take on a new and worried tone; diversification of investment into both XCOM OSEA and the Eastern Osean Mutual Defense Forces seems like a good investment to them.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 32,000

27,000 supporting population quality of life

2,500 supporting XCOM OSEA.

2,500 available

Energy Production: 154,500

128,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

25,000 supporting population quality of life

1,500 available

Population (Est.): 35,000,000

Quality of Life: Medium

Degree of Support: 4/10

Militarism: 5/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Republic of Recta

Republic of Recta

Recta, or Republic of Recta, was formed in 1988 during Belka's relinquishing of eastern territories; however, a strong current of Rectan independence has been charted from all the way back from 1970. It is a landlocked country, surrounded by Belka to the north and west, Ustio to the southwest, Ratio to the south, Wielvak to the east, and Gebet to the north. Since its indepedence, it has focused on internal development and vying for the position of political center-of-gravity among the eastern Osean nations.

Concerned with a resurgent Belka, Recta has begun exhibiting a greater deference in order to simply ensure that the Eastern Osean Mutual Defense Force and XCOM OSEA can defend the country against a steadily-less theoretical Belkan invasion.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 21,000

18,000 supporting population quality of life

1,500 to XCOM OSEA.

1,500 available

Energy Production: 105,000

84,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

20,000 supporting population quality of life

1,000 available

Population (Est.): 30,000,000

Quality of Life: Medium

Degree of Support: 4/10

Militarism: 4/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Republic of Ratio

Republic of Ratio

Ratio is a country on the eastern seaboard of Osea. Officially titled Republic of Ratio, it is bordered by Sapin to the south and west, Ustio to the west, Recta to the north, and Wielvakia to the north. With sea access, the Republic of Ratio is one of the stronger partners in the eastern Osean grouping; however, points of contention still exist between Ratio and Ustio over Ratio grabbing Ustio's eastern territories in 1991.

However, the looming specter of Belka is currently galvanizing the Republic of Ratio to seek closer ties anyway; while they may have contentions with Ustio, it is far preferable to survive a Belkan invasion without the western territories than it is to lose to a Belkan invasion.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 41,500

38,000 supporting population quality of life

1,750 IC supporting XCOM OSEA

1,750 available

Energy Production: 206,000

166,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

39,000 supporting population quality of life

1000 available

Population (Est.): 42,000,000

Quality of Life: Medium

Degree of Support: 5/10

Militarism: 5/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Republic of Ustio

Republic of Ustio

Ustio, officially titled Republic of Ustio, is a landlocked country formed when Belka spun off its eastern territories in 1988. As one of the primary belligerents in the 1995 Belkan War, the Ustian's hired Galm Team single-handedly turned the tide of the Belkan War in favor of the Allied Forces, including Ustio. Ustio's economy, however, remains largely agricultural and craftsman-based; startlingly little has changed in the intervening three decades between its formation and the present day. Diplomatically, it seeks closer ties with the rest of the Allied Forces in the Belkan conflict, but also seeks to become part of the nascent eastern Osean group.

Ustio's foreign policy has also taken a drastic shift towards international cooperation, due to finding itself right next to a suddenly confident and dangerously expansionistic Belka.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 16,000

14,000 supporting population quality of life

1,000 IC supporting XCOM OSEA

1,000 IC available

Energy Production: 88,000

64,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

20,000 supporting population quality of life

4,000 available

Population (Est.): 20,000,000

Quality of Life: Medium

Degree of Support: 4/10

Militarism: 7/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Kingdom of Sapin

Kingdom of Sapin

Sapin, or Kingdom of Sapin, is located on the Spring Sea, and the eastern seaboard of Osea. During the events of the Belkan economic collapse, Sapin expanded to include former Belkan territories, which Belka immediately claimed when it destroyed the Sapinish air force and put Sapin to retreat. After Sapin formed a coalition with Osea, Ustio, and Yuktobania to push back Belka, Sapin ended up reclaiming all the territory it had claimed from Belka. Since then Sapin has focused on building closer relationships with other eastern Osean countries to form a bloc. As one of the most prosperous countries in the hypothetical bloc, Sapin is very likely to end up the political center of the bloc.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 55,500

46,000 supporting population quality of life

4,750 IC supporting XCOM OSEA

4,750 IC available

Energy Production: 270,200

222,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

46,000 supporting population quality of life

2,200 available

Population (Est.): 46,000,000

Quality of Life: High

Degree of Support: 5/10

Militarism: 4/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Wielvakia

Wielvakia

Wielvakia is an eastern Osean country bordered by the Nordlands to the northeast, FATO to the north, Gebet to the northwest, Recta to the west, Ratio to the south, and the Spring Sea to the east. As one of the preeminent neutral parties in the Belkan War, Wielvakia was brought in to arbitrate the Lumen treaties; since then, Wielvakia has focused on capitalizing on its diplomatic reputation to begin forming the eastern Osean groups, and especially to become closer with the Nordlands. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 47,000

42,000 supporting population quality of life

800 IC supporting XCOM OSEA

3,200 IC available

Energy Production: 229,000

188,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

38,000 supporting population quality of life

3000 available

Population (Est.): 43,000,000

Quality of Life: Medium

Degree of Support: 5/10

Militarism: 4/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Confederation of Nordland

Confederation of Nordlands The Nordlands, officially titled the Confederation of the Nordlands, is located on the eastern coast of Osea, bordering the Spring Sea to the east, and FATO and Wielvakia to the west. Also called in as a neutral nation in the Lumen treaty negotiation, unlike Wielvakia the Confederation has focused on internal development and bringing its people up to a high standard of living. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 45,000

38,000 supporting population quality of life

4,900 IC supporting XCOM OSEA

2,100 available

Energy Production: 220,500

180,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

38,000 supporting population quality of life

2,500 available

Population (Est.): 38,000,000

Quality of Life: High

Degree of Support: 8/10

Militarism: 7/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Mercenary Ace Dormarch One, "Elcero", SSR-tier.

Democratic Federation of Wellow

Democratic Federation of Wellow

Wellow, officially titled the Democratic Federation of Wellow, is a scrupulously neutral nation in much the same tradition as Nordennavic; originally picked to host the G7 conference in 2007, the G7 conference was ultimately canceled due to a terrorist attack in a nearby bay. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 500

500 supporting population quality of life

0 available

Energy Production: 3000

2000 supporting Industrial Capacity

500 supporting population quality of life

500 available

Population (Est.): 50,000

Quality of Life: High

Degree of Support: 1/10

Militarism: 1/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

USEA

ERUSEA

Erusea

LOCKED EARLY GAME due to state of total warlordism and communications breakdown; the Erusean federal government has effectively totally ceased to exist.

GUNTHER BAY EMERGENCY ADMINISTRATION

Gunther Bay Emergency Administration

The Gunther Bay Emergency Administration is a "government" largely funded by foreign aid and designed to distribute aid and house refugees in the Gunther Bay Area. Recently the city has begun to move to draft a charter. Still, it is largely held together on Rosa Cossette D'Elise's raw charisma and Selatapura City's overburdened city bureaucracy. Consists of International Space Elevator, Selatapura City, and surrounding area. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 23,000

20,000 supporting population quality of life

3,000 available

Energy Production: 100,000,000

20,000 supporting population quality of life

60,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

The rest supporting lmao do whatever the fuck you want man

Population (Est.): 20,000,000

Quality of Life: High

Degree of Support: 9/10

Militarism: 5/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Tyler Island Space Launch Site

Artificial Wonder International Space Elevator Lighthouse

Provides 100,000 power to any installation capable of receiving microwave power.

Provides one-way radio communication to the 150 and 30 degree lines.

Rosa Cossette D'Elise

REPUBLIC OF VOSLAGE

Republic of Voslage

Formed as part of the rebellions that arose out of Erusea's total governmental collapse during the Lighthouse War, the Republic of Voslage broke off from Erusea as part of the popular will, and even now prepares to fight a two-way civil war for the right to exist. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 27,000

15,000 supporting population quality of life

12,000 available

Energy Production: LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION

75,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

10,000 supporting population quality of life

LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION available

Population (Est.): 15,000,000

Quality of Life: Medium

Degree of Support: 1/10

Militarism: 10/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Shilage Castle

Sol Squadron

ERUSEAN RESTORATION FORCES

Erusean Restoration Forces

The Erusean Restoration Forces seek to restore the Erusean country, conquests and all, while become the dominant power in Erusean politics by destroying the Free Erusean Remnants. Consists of Erusean Conservatives, runs most of country. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 80,000

25,000 supporting population quality of life

55,000 available

Energy Production: LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION

300,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

55,000 supporting population quality of life

LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION available

Population (Est.): 47,000,000

Quality of Life: Low

Degree of Support: 1/10

Militarism: 7/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Drone Factory Remnants

MINOR ERUSEAN REPUBLICS

Minor Erusean Republics

Formed out of breakaway states from both the Erusean Restorationist forces and anarchy reigning in formerly Free Erusean territory, these fledgling republics model themselves on pre-Erusean identities in the vein of Voslage. Currently lumped together due to low national coherence.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 12,000

10,000 supporting population quality of life

2,000 available

Energy Production: LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION

48,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

10,000 supporting population quality of life

LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION available

Population (Est.): 10,000,000

Quality of Life: Low

Degree of Support: 1/10

Militarism: 4/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Drone Factory Remnants

FREE ERUSEAN REMNANTS

Free Erusean Remnants

The Free Erusean Remnants consist of the radicals within the Erusean military that still exist, along with whatever they could scrounge up. Consists of (remaining) Erusean Radicals still holding out

The Free Erusean Remnants have collapsed as a coherent entity. Forget "army with a state" - it's thirteen competing corps and divisions squatting on pieces of land, all mutually hostile to each other. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 30,000

4,000 supporting population quality of life

26,000 available

Energy Production: LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION

172,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

10,000 supporting population quality of life

LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION available

Population (Est.): 30,000,000

Quality of Life: Low

Degree of Support: 0/10

Militarism: 9/10

Alien Support: 1/10

Special Assets:

Drone Factory Remnants

COMMONWEALTH OF USEAN STATES

Commonwealth of Usean States

The Commonwealth of Usean States, located across Central and Southern Usea, is a collective bargaining organization for Usean states as a whole when negotiating on the IUN. Recovering from the aftershocks of the Lighthouse War, the Lighthouse's reactivation has brought the fires of Usean Industry to incredible heights. The constituent states of the Commonwealth have ultimately fought nearly three wars in two decades: the Usean uprising, Continental War, and the Lighthouse War. Each has left its scar on the Usean populace. Also, in San Salvacion, Stonehenge awaits.

Recent instability in Erusea has, surprisingly enough, promoted a deeper cooepration between signatory states, tying the CUS into a tighter continental assembly.

General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 532,500

400,000 supporting population quality of life

66,250 IC supporting XCOM USEA

66,250 IC available

Energy Production: LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION

1,880,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

400,000 supporting population quality of life

LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION available

Population (Est.): 400,000,000

Quality of Life: High

Degree of Support: 6/10

Militarism: 3/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Stonehenge Ruins

UNITED KINGDOMS OF NORTH POINT

United Kingdoms of North Point

North Point, or the United Kingdoms of North Point, is an island nation off the northeastern short of Usea. Maintaining a steadfast neutral and isolationist policy, North Point once commanded a respectable military, but has slowly seen its military subsumed by the ISAF and IUN forces, throughout the Continental War and Lighthouse War. It maintains a respectable, if not remarkable industry for its size. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 45,500

30,000 supporting population quality of life

7,750 IC supporting XCOM USEA

7,750 IC available

Energy Production: LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION

140,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

30,000 supporting population quality of life

LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION available

Population (Est.): 30,000,000

Quality of Life: High

Degree of Support: 6/10

Militarism: 5/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Fortified Base Fortress Intolerance

COMMONAN COMMONWEALTH

Commonan Commonwealth Comona, or the Commonan Commonwealth, or the Comona Islands is less a central government and more a series of islands shrugging and deciding to adopt the moniker to promote their cooperation. Possessing formidable aerospace capabilities, the Comona Islands industry is largely based around tourism and the space launch sites the Comonas possess. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 1,500

1,000 supporting population quality of life

500 available

Energy Production: LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION

6,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

1,000 supporting population quality of life

LIGHTHOUSE CONNECTION available

Population (Est.): 1,000,000

Quality of Life: High

Degree of Support: 2/10

Militarism: 2/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Comona Island Observatories

Comona Space Launch Site

VERUSA

Union of Yuktobanian Republics

Union of Yuktobanian Republics

Yuktobania, or the Union of Yuktobanian Republics is located on the eastern and central parts of the Verusan continent. Its economic and military might is matched only by Osea, but its diplomatic efforts have not been met with anywhere near the same amount of effect. However, the Yuktobanians are cautioning you to act as per your charter and not the suggestions of the Oseans, else they may need to find an organization which will provide for the common defense. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 731,000

650,000 supporting population quality of life

56,700 IC towards XCOM VERUSA

24,300 IC available

Energy Production: 3,627,000

2,924,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

700,000 supporting population quality of life

3,000 available

Population (Est.): 700,000,000

Quality of Life: Medium

Degree of Support: 7/10

Militarism: 8/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Albatross Squadron?

Super Scinfaxi-class submarine Gullfaxi.

Verusan Federation

Verusan Federation

Verusa, officially titled the Verusan Federation, is a collection of Verusan states that decided to preemptively unify as a result of the Tyumen and Raikala Disputes, to present a unified front during negotiations. Delicately attempting to manage the balancing act between Yuktobania and the Sotoan Treaty Organization occupies the majority of the Verusan's political efforts; the rest largely goes into internal development. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 374,000

365,000 supporting population quality of life

4,500 IC supporting XCOM VERUSA

4,500 IC available

Energy Production: 1,896,000

1,496,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

400,000 supporting population quality of life

0 available

Population (Est.): 400,000,000

Quality of Life: Medium

Degree of Support: 6/10

Militarism: 7/10

Alien Support: 0/10

Special Assets:

Shabhaz One, the Sun Fighter

Sotoan Treaty Organization

Sotoan Treaty Organization

Sotoa, or the Sotoan Treaty Organization, is a group formed in the late-1960s formed to counteract the perceived-growing threat of the Union of Yuktobanian Republics. Located in western Verusa, it possesses a large population and equally large industry, but largely focuses on military buildup to counteract the hypothetical threat of the Yuktobanian invasion. Not even the result of the 2003 Raikala Election Verification Incident has deterred Sotoan caution; if anything, it has heightenend the Sotoan's caution and paranoia. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 262,000

240,000 supporting population quality of life

22,000 available

Energy Production: 1,246,000

1,048,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

195,000 supporting population quality of life

3,000 available

Population (Est.): 300,000,000

Quality of Life: Medium

Degree of Support: 1/10

Militarism: 5/10

Alien Support: 1/10

Special Assets:

Saif Two, Khawlah the Second

People's Republic of Kaluga

People's Republic of Kaluga

Kaluga, or the People's Republic of Kaluga, is located on the border of bay between Yuktobania, the Sotoan Treaty Organization, and the Verusan Federation. With significant portions of its military and economic capabilites destroyed in the Raikala incident, Kaluga has veen focused on mobilizing more and more, with no end in sight. General Stats:

Industrial Capacity: 55,000

30,000 supporting population

25,000 ???

Energy Production: 248,000

220,000 supporting Industrial Capacity

20,000 supporting population

8,000 ???

Population (Est.): 50,000,000

Quality of Life: Low

Degree of Support: 0/10

Militarism: 3/10

Alien Support: 1/10

Special Assets: ???

huhYeahGoodPoint said:
IUN-PKF-XCOM Personnel

Selatapura Air Force Base Pilots

HIGH ALERT

RAZGRIZ SQUADRON

Assignment: High Alert

Blaze Captain Pops Archer

SSR-tier ace pilot.
Plane: X-02A Wyvern

S-tier ace pilot.
Plane: X-02A Wyvern

Alternate Titles: Huckebein the Raven
S-tier pilot.
Plane: X-02A Wyvern

SS-tier ace pilot.
Plane: X-02A Wyvern.

MOBIUS SQUADRON

Assignment: High Alert

Mobius One Baker Mobius Three Mobius Four Mobius Five

Alternate Titles: The Ribbon Fighter, The Grim Reaper
SSR-tier ace pilot.
Plane: CFA-44 Nosferatu

S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

A-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

A-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

A-tier pilot.
Plane: F-35C Lightning II

MISCELLANEOUS FIGHTERS

Assignment: High Alert

Pixy Siegfried Molniya One

Alternate Titles: Solo Wing Pixy
SS-tier ace pilot.
SSR-tier Special Operative.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

B-tier ace pilot.

Plane: XFA-31 Fenrir Prototype

Alternate Titles: The White Lightning, The White Witch
~~Retired~~
SS-tier ace pilot.
Plane: ~~UNASSIGNED~~ "Your best spare craft, kid."
(note from Yuktobanian liason: do not sortie her unless the world is literally ending)

ACTIVE DUTY

WALTZ SQUADRON

Assignment: Hammer and Nail Deployment

Waltz 2 Azdaha 1 Azdaha 2

B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

A-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II.

A-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II.

RIGEL SQUADRON

Assignment: Hammer and Nail Deployment

Rigel 1 Rigel 2 Rigel 3 Rigel 4

S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

A-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

Formerly Zvezda 1.
B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

Formerly Zvezda 2.
B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

DRUID SQUADRON

Assignment: Hammer and Nail Deployment

Druid 1 Druid 2 Druid 3 Druid 4

B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-18E/F Super Hornet

B-tier pilot.
Plane: F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

B-tier pilot.
Plane: F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

B-tier pilot.
Plane: F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

EQUIPMENT/PILOTS UNAVAILABLE

STRIDER SQUADRON

Trigger Count Jaeger Huxian

Alternate Titles: Three Strikes, Strider One
SSR-tier ace pilot.
Plane: CFA-44 Nosferatu

Assignment: Hammer and Nail Deployment

SS-tier ace pilot.
Plane: F-22 Raptor

ON LEAVE

S-tier ace pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

ON LEAVE

S-tier ace pilot.
Plane: F-22 Raptor

ON LEAVE

INJURED

Waltz 1

A-tier pilot.
INJURED UNTIL: FEBRUARY 23rd

Fort Grays Island Base Pilots

HIGH ALERT

NONE

NONE

ACTIVE DUTY

CYCLOPS SQUADRON

Fencer Tailor Skald Lanza

SS-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

BARD SQUADRON

Assignment: Hammer and Nail Deployment

Bard 1 Bard 2 Bard 3 Bard 4

B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-16 Falcon.

B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-16 Falcon.

B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-16 Falcon.

B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-16 Falcon.

EQUIPMENT/PILOTS UNAVAILABLE

SALAMANDER FLIGHT

Fat Man Chaperone

S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

INJURED

NONE

No pilots injured.

Memorial Wall

XCOM USEA

Lucien Fitzpatrick. "Rigel 4". Perished in Operation Midnight Vigil.
Martin Laurent. "Skoll 1". Perished in Operation Midnight Vigil.
Barry Fitzpatrick. Assumed title, "Rigel 4". Perished In Operation Grey Dawn.

XCOM OSEA

Orson Adcock. "Snowflake 3". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Godfrey Matos. "Snowflake 4". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Fran Elridge. "Fairy 1". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Wen Jennings. "Fairy 2". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Kelsey Carman. "Fairy 3". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Wilbur Andrewson. "Fairy 4". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Greg Wilmer. "Gremlin 1". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Marcia William. "Gremlin 2". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Edward Kay. "Gremlin 3". Perishedin Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Hoyt Adams. "Gremlin 4". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Jaxson Castro. "Elf 1". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Magnolia Devereux. "Elf 2". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Jae Dickens. "Elf 3". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Sly Wallis. "Elf 4". Perished in Operation Twilight Sentinel.
Marlene Augustine. "Gryphus 4". Perished in Operation Low Moon.
Valentine Sheldon. "Thrush 1". Perished in Operation Low Moon.
Adriana Lyndon. "Thrush 3". Perished in Operation Low Moon.
Midge Menendez. "Kingfisher 1". Perished in Operation Low Moon.
Ralphie Lim. "Kingfisher 2". Perished in Operation Low Moon.
Giles Verity. "Kingfisher 3". Perished in Operation Low Moon.
Karl Hale. "Kraken 2". Perished in Operation Hollow Eve.
Kia Hoggard. "Kraken 3". Perished in Operation Hollow Eve.
Ela Hollins. "Kraken 4". Perished in Operation Hollow Eve.
David Bennet. "Snowflake 1." Perished in Operation Grey Dawn.
Amanda Nguyen. "Harpy 4." Perished in Operation Grey Dawn.

XCOM ANEA

Cianan Mayes. "Grendel 2". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Kaelyn Stephens. "Grendel 3". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Martha Simons. "Wallace 1". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Meadhbh Reeve. "Wallace 2". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Marianna Rickard. "Wallace 3". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Cheri Whinery. "Wallace 4". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Lorena Tuft. "Athel 1". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Cedar Sydney. "Athel 3". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Angelle Mac Niadh. "Edgar 1". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Beckah Gabrielson. "Edgar 2." Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Rearden Brody. "Edgar 3". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Carlyle McNeil. "Edgar 4". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Hildred Cooney. "Alfred 1". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Jemmy Randel. "Alfred 3". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Alysha Thrussel. "Edward 1". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Joanna Bisset. "Edward 3". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Happy Mullins. "Edward 4". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Callista Foster. "Beowulf 2". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Jerri McElligot. "Beowulf 3". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Luella Outlaw. "Beowulf 4". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Kemp McNeil. "Slaine 1". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Fletcher Bowman. "Slaine 2". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Alisha Kay. "Slaine 3". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.
Scotty MacFarlane. "Slaine 4". Perished in Operation Stone Hymn.

XCOM VERUSA

Ninel Isaev. "Buran 1". Perished in Operation Empty Salient.
Demyan Naumov."Buran 2". Perished in Operation Empty Salient.
Eva Ignatiev. "Buran 3". Perished in Operation Empty Salient.
Oleg Fyodorov. "Voin 3". Perished in Operation Empty Salient.
Balwinder Gadhavi. "Ratha 2." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.
Jyothi Tamboli. "Ratha 3." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.
Sridevi Patil. "Ratha 4." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.
Harshada Mishra. "Gada 1." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.
Surinder Korrapati. "Gada 3." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.
Ajay Kulkarni. "Gada 4." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.
Behruz Shirazi. "Rostam 1." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.
Sahar Hashemi. "Rostam 2." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.
Nargez Darzi. "Rostam 4." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.
Mozhdeh Rostami. "Arash 1." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.
Arezou Rostami. "Arash 2." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.
Jalal Charmichi. "Arash 3." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.
Ava Alinejad. "Arash 4." Perished in Operation Silent Vanguard.

Think Tanks

GENERAL RESEARCH DIVISION ALPHA

Total Personnel: 40 Scientists
Current Project: Alien Xenobiology [0/???]
Project Leader: Dr. Vahlen
ON JOINT ASSIGNMENT WITH XCOM OSEA

Dr. Moira Vahlen

Driven.
Prefers nonmilitary research.
Prefers xenoresearch.

GENERAL RESEARCH DIVISION BETA

Total Personnel: 40 Scientists
Current Project: Alien Bulb Ship Analysis [120/120]
Project Leader: Charlie Burns

Charlie Burns Audrey Jones

Risk-taker.
Aircraft designer.

Proud Aurelian patriot.
Particle physicist.

TRAINING AND TACTICS

Total Personnel: 15 Analysts.
Current Project: Hammer and Nail Deployment [15/15]
Project Leader: Jasper Rhodes

Jasper Rhodes Georgie Lang Angus Irwin

Decisive Aerial Battle advocate.
Osean analyst.

Fluid Theater advocate.
Commonan analyst.

AirLand Battle advocate.
Emmerian analyst.

Engineering Groups

GENERAL ENGINEERING GROUP

Total Personnel: 30 Engineers
Current Project: Streamlined Construction Practices [15/30]

Dr. Raymond Shen

SSR-tier engineer.
Perfectionist.

STONEHENGE GROUP

Total Personnel: 30 Engineers
Current Project: Stonehenge Technical Requirements Overdraft Stage 2 [70/200]
~~Side Project: Project Dove [0/10]~~ ON HOLD UNTIL RETURN TO SELATAPURA
ASSISTED BY XCOM ANEA

Maria McGuiness Avril Mead

Specialty: Applied electromagnetics.

Alternate Titles: The Scrap Queen
SSR-tier mechanic.

ADMINISTRATION

LOGISTICS DIVISION

Current Project: ON HOLD

INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT DIVISION

Total Personnel: 7 Logisticians. 20 Consultants (San Francisco Team).
IC Capacity: 0/70,000.

AIRCRAFT PROCUREMENT DIVISION

Total Personnel: 7 Logisticians.

SPECIAL REQUISITIONS DIVISION

Total Personnel: 6 Logisticians, Daniel Snow. 20 Consultants (San Miguel Team).
Current Project: Selatapura Base Defenses (12000/18000 IC invested).

Daniel Snow

Chief Logistician.
Swears like a sailor.

COMMAND STAFF

Total Personnel: 13 Personnel related to XCOM USEA.

Stephen Pulford Long Caster XO Bradford

XCOM Overall Commander.
Extremely formal.

XCOM USEA commander.
Player character.

Administrative assistant for Long Caster.
Oversees 10 other administrative aides.

HUMAN RESOURCES

Total Personnel: 15 HR staff. 20 Consultants (San Nicholas Team).
Assignment: HIRE EVERYONE

Adam Khatuna

Human Resources director.
Gentle.

SEARCH AND RESCUE

Active Teams: 0/1

Dachshund Team

Usean-based SAR team.
Killing time on the base.

ZANE CONSULTING

Team size: 20 each.
Available teams: 3

San Nicholas Team San Francisco Team San Miguel Team

Nic Zanoria. 20 Consultants.
Assignment: HR.

Zach McKay. 20 Consultants.
Assignment: Industrial Management Division.

Demaya Stevens. 20 Consultants.
Assignment: Special Projects Division.

Posting is open now.

Winning Votes:
[X] [GEG] Backfill Documentation [0/20]
[X] [ResearchB] Gun Ship Analysis [40/100]
[X] [HND] Revise it for less battlefield vision dependence.
[X] [TTD] Revise Hammer and Nail Doctrine.
[X][Sieg] Assign Siegfried as an S-class Engineer, specialty Aerospace and Superweapon Design
[X][Meet] Neither

Bradford showed up to Long Caster's office late on Saturday, handing Long Caster a tablet, before faintly collapsing into the folding chair opposite Long Caster.

"What am I looking at?" Long Caster asked, thumbing through the screen presented in front of him.

"Personnel management software, finally completed and integrated into our work systems," Bradford said, sagging into the chair.

"Can you give me the highlights?" Long Caster asked, trying to blink away his exhaustion.

"Yes, sir," Bradford sighed. "You have to take Rigel Squadron off the rotation. Nine Lives is heading down a really dark path, and frankly I'm worried that we might have to take away his access to belts and knives," Bradford said, eyes unfocused.

Long Caster sharply inhaled. "That bad?"

Bradford nodded, and continued. "You have to cut some of the Logistics Division workload down. They're about an inch from collectively keeling over dead at their station or totally burning out, and we'll be screwed if they do either. Tell them "no" on a couple of their pet projects, refund some governments, whatever, just tell them to take it easy because otherwise we'll really be screwed in about a week. Likewise, HR. Adam's a good kid, but he's way in over his head. Give him some time and stop asking for the whole galaxy and he'll grow into the role just fine," Bradford said, almost physically deflating.

"And you?" Long Caster pointedly asked.

"Yeah, less work wouldn't sound so bad. That said, I'm an XO. I'll live," he weakly insisted.

"Hm," Long Caster said.

IUN-PKF-XCOM Personnel

Selatapura Air Force Base Pilots

HIGH ALERT

RAZGRIZ SQUADRON

Assignment: High Alert
Overall Status: Peak Performance

Blaze Captain Pops Archer

SSR-tier ace pilot.
Plane: X-02A Wyvern
Status: Peak Performance
S-tier ace pilot.
Plane: X-02A Wyvern
Status: Ready
Alternate Titles: Huckebein the Raven
S-tier pilot.
Plane: X-02A Wyvern
Status: Ready
SS-tier ace pilot.
Plane: X-02A Wyvern.
Status: Peak Performance

MOBIUS SQUADRON

Assignment: High Alert
Overall Condition: Great

Mobius One Baker Mobius Three Mobius Four Mobius Five

Alternate Titles: The Ribbon Fighter, The Grim Reaper
SSR-tier ace pilot.
Plane: CFA-44 Nosferatu
Status: Peak Performance
S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Ready
A-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Ready
A-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Ready
A-tier pilot.
Plane: F-35C Lightning II
Status: Ready

MISCELLANEOUS FIGHTERS

Assignment: High Alert

Pixy Molniya One

Alternate Titles: Solo Wing Pixy
SS-tier ace pilot.
SSR-tier Special Operative.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Peak Performance
Alternate Titles: The White Lightning, The White Witch
~~Retired~~
SS-tier ace pilot.
Plane: ~~UNASSIGNED~~ "Your best spare craft, kid."
(note from Yuktobanian liason: do not sortie her unless the world is literally ending)
Status: Worryingly Eager

ACTIVE DUTY

WALTZ SQUADRON

Assignment: Hammer and Nail Deployment
Overall Condition: Thawing

Waltz 2 Azdaha 1 Azdaha 2

B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Capable
A-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II.
Status: Capable
A-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II.
Status: Ready

RIGEL SQUADRON

Assignment: Hammer and Nail Deployment
Status: Spent

Nine Lives Rigel 2 Rigel 3 Rigel 4

S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Depressive Fury
A-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Stressed
Formerly Zvezda 1.
B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Capable
Formerly Zvezda 2.
B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Capable

DRUID SQUADRON

Assignment: Hammer and Nail Deployment
Overall Condition: Recovering

Druid 1 Druid 2 Druid 3 Druid 4

B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-18E/F Super Hornet
Status: Recovering
B-tier pilot.
Plane: F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
Status: Recovering
B-tier pilot.
Plane: F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
Status: Recovering
B-tier pilot.
Plane: F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
Status: Recovering

EQUIPMENT/PILOTS UNAVAILABLE

STRIDER SQUADRON

Trigger Count Jaeger Huxian

Alternate Titles: Three Strikes, Strider One
SSR-tier ace pilot.
Plane: CFA-44 Nosferatu

Assignment: Hammer and Nail Deployment
Status: Peak Performance
SS-tier ace pilot.
Plane: F-22 Raptor

ON LEAVE
S-tier ace pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]

ON LEAVE
S-tier ace pilot.
Plane: F-22 Raptor

ON LEAVE

INJURED

Waltz 1

A-tier pilot.
INJURED UNTIL: FEBRUARY 23rd

Fort Grays Island Base Pilots

HIGH ALERT

NONE

NONE

ACTIVE DUTY

CYCLOPS SQUADRON

Assignment: Active Duty
Overall Condition: Weary

Fencer Tailor Skald Lanza

SS-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Weary
S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Weary
S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Dregs
S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Weary

BARD SQUADRON

Assignment: Hammer and Nail Deployment
Overall Condition: Weary

Bard 1 Bard 2 Bard 3 Bard 4

B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-16 Falcon.
Status: Weary
B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-16 Falcon.
Status: Weary
B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-16 Falcon.
Status: Weary
B-tier pilot.
Plane: F-16 Falcon.
Status: Weary

EQUIPMENT/PILOTS UNAVAILABLE

SALAMANDER FLIGHT

Fat Man Chaperone

S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Ready
S-tier pilot.
Plane: F-14X XCOM Hellcat II [EML]
Status: Ready

INJURED

NONE

No pilots injured.

Think Tanks

GENERAL RESEARCH DIVISION ALPHA

Total Personnel: 40 Scientists
Current Project: Sectoid Xenobiology [180/160]
Project Leader: Dr. Vahlen
ON JOINT ASSIGNMENT WITH XCOM OSEA
Overall Condition: Ready

Dr. Moira Vahlen

Driven.
Prefers nonmilitary research.
Prefers xenoresearch.
Status: 120 hours/week
Dr. Vahlen notes: Don't worry about the numbers. This is exciting science.

GENERAL RESEARCH DIVISION BETA

Total Personnel: 40 Scientists
Current Project: Gun Ship Analysis [80/100]
Project Leader: Charlie Burns
Overall Condition: Ready

Charlie Burns Audrey Jones

Risk-taker.
Aircraft designer.
Status: 60 hours/week
Proud Aurelian patriot.
Particle physicist.
Status: 40 hours/week

TRAINING AND TACTICS

Total Personnel: 15 Analysts.
Current Project: Battlefield Vision Independence [0/??]
Project Leader: Jasper Rhodes
Overall Condition: Annoyed

Jasper Rhodes Georgie Lang Angus Irwin

Decisive Aerial Battle advocate.
Osean analyst.
Status: 50 hours/week
Fluid Theater advocate.
Commonan analyst.
Status: 70 hours/week
AirLand Battle advocate.
Emmerian analyst.
Status: 40 hours/week

Engineering Groups

GENERAL ENGINEERING GROUP

Total Personnel: 30 Engineers
Current Project: Backfilling Documentation [0/20]
Overall Condition: Ready

Dr. Raymond Shen

SSR-tier engineer.
Perfectionist.
Status: 80 hours/week

STONEHENGE GROUP

Total Personnel: 30 Engineers
Current Project: Stonehenge Technical Requirements Overdraft Stage 2 [70/200]
~~Side Project: Project Dove [0/10]~~ ON HOLD UNTIL RETURN TO SELATAPURA
ASSISTED BY XCOM ANEA
Overall Condition: Ready

Maria McGuiness Avril Mead

Specialty: Applied electromagnetics.
Status: 80 hours/week
Alternate Titles: The Scrap Queen
SSR-tier mechanic.
Status: 60 hours/week

ADMINISTRATION

LOGISTICS DIVISION

Current Project: ON HOLD
Overall Condition: Ragged

INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT DIVISION: Total Personnel: 7 Logisticians. 20 Consultants (San Francisco Team).
IC Capacity: 0/70,000.
Status: Ragged
AIRCRAFT PROCUREMENT DIVISION: Total Personnel: 7 Logisticians.
Status: Flagging
SPECIAL REQUISITIONS DIVISION: Total Personnel: 6 Logisticians, Daniel Snow. 20 Consultants (San Miguel Team).
Current Project: Selatapura Base Defenses (12000/18000 IC invested).
Status: Ragged

Daniel Snow

Chief Logistician.
Swears like a sailor.
Status: 120 hours/week

COMMAND STAFF

Total Personnel: 13 Personnel related to XCOM USEA.

Stephen Pulford Long Caster XO Bradford

XCOM Overall Commander.
Extremely formal.
Status: Not relevant for lower Commanders.
XCOM USEA commander.
Player character.
Status: 80 hours/week
Administrative assistant for Long Caster.
Oversees 10 other administrative aides.
Status: 80 hours/week

HUMAN RESOURCES

Total Personnel: 15 HR staff. 20 Consultants (San Nicholas Team).
Assignment: HIRE EVERYONE
Overall Condition: Swamped

Adam Khatuna

Human Resources director.
Gentle.
Status: 100 hours/week

SEARCH AND RESCUE

Active Teams: 0/1

Dachshund Team

Usean-based SAR team.
Killing time on the base.

ZANE CONSULTING

Team size: 20 each.
Available teams: 3

San Nicholas Team San Francisco Team San Miguel Team

Nic Zanoria. 20 Consultants.
Assignment: HR.
Status: Integrating
Zach McKay. 20 Consultants.
Assignment: Industrial Management Division.
Status: Integrating
Demaya Stevens. 20 Consultants.
Assignment: Special Projects Division.
Status: Integrating

"Sounds reasonable, Long Caster," Pulford nodded, along with most of the rest of the room. "Your compromise is accepted. We will accept the refugee and allow a Leasathian delegation to recover the stolen prototype. Makes us look reasonable, likely to ameliorate some of the issues, even though Aurelia's still going to be furious about aid money being stolen to build Leasathian weapons."

The World In Motion

"I ask you, noble Selatapurans, is this any way to treat your starving neighbor, whose great crime it was to be born a few miles in the wrong direction? Was this the outcome you wished for when you voted in your council members, that they might shun your families and friends? Is this not the 'safe harbor for mankind' that you so emblazon on the way to the Lighthouse?

"If you find this even the least bit displeased that the government borrows your voice to fight for something you don't believe in, join me in helping to tell these councillors exactly how mad we are. Thank you, and may the sea of the future remain ever calm!"

⎅⍜⋔⟒⌇⏁⟟☊⏃⏁⟟⍜⋏⟟⋏⌿⍀⍜☌⍀⟒⌇⌇

DARK EVENT: BELKAN DEFECTION

As of 0500 Osean Standard Time, the Principality of Belka has formally announced that they are collaborating with the alien visitors, who they declare to be a force for the weak and low, to lay waste to those who are strong and arrogant, the Belkan speaker claimed. They are friends, willing to offer aid to those most in need, so the Belkans claim. In fact, the Belkans claim, they will help set right previous wrongs, wrongs inflicted by the tyrannical Eastern Osean nations and most of all, the Osean Federation. Pursuant to this, unless the joint nations repatriate stolen land and agree to pay reparations for past wrongs, Belka will collect damages, with the help of their allied aliens.

They have set a deadline of Febraury 14th.

The stage is set for a Bloody Valentine.

⎅⍜⋔⟒⌇⏁⟟☊⏃⏁⟟⍜⋏⟟⋏⌿⍀⍜☌⍀⟒⌇⌇

This vote will be done by plan. Vote for Squadron Assignments - aka, where do you want to move squadrons. If you fail to specify what a squadron is doing, I will assume that you want to leave a squadron where they are.

hYGP · Feb 28, 2020

[X] Plan: Dark Necessities
-[X] Razgriz Squadron, keep on High Alert at Selatapura
-[X] Strider Squadron, move to High Alert at Selatapura when they return
-[X] Temporarily merge Salamander Flight with Waltz Squadron, producing a functional 5-ship formation.
-[X] Place "Waltz+Salamander" on Active Duty at Selatapura
-[X] Rigel Squadron, move to Off-Duty at Selatapura
-[X] Molniya One, move to Off-Duty but On Base at Selatapura (present but not assigned a combat aircraft)
-[X] Pixy, move to High Alert at Fort Grays
-[X] Mobius Squadron, move to Active Duty at Fort Grays
-[X] Cyclops Squadron, move to Off Duty at Fort Grays
-[X] Bard Squadron, move to Off Duty at Fort Grays

"So, Adam," Long Caster said, "tell me what you've cooked up for us last week."

"Of course, sir," Adam said, and if it wasn't for the distant look in his eyes Long Caster could almost believe that Adam was completely fine. "As you know, sir, a huge amount of effort went into making sure that the refugee agencies on the ground got organized in Dashau, but that's not to say our department wasn't hard at work last week as well," he said blithely, as if the hundred hour week wasn't responsible for the dark circles under Adam's eyes.

"As you said, the problem was that we simply had far too few people in every possible position, so I did my best to hire people to make up for that gap. The logisticians were getting way too bogged down doing supply chain management for a civilian group, no, market, so I hired and bought out companies, uh, distribushied, no, destrobuted, no, sorry, sir, the word's escaping me, but point is I got a bunch of them in a bunch of places, and then started hiring people to keep an eye on them."

+50 Supply Chain Management personnel, assigned to Industrial Management Division.

"Impressive work," Long Caster said.

"Hm-wuh?" Adam said, eyes still unfocused. "Sorry, was that all? Because we were busy doing a lot more than just that, sir," he said automatically.

"Then please, continue," Long Caster replied.

"Oh, yeah, right, sir. The next thing we did was to start putting out feelers to engineers and scientists around the world, especially Grunder scientists and engineers. Turns out we got there just in time, with a lot of cash in hand - the Grunder teams practically immediately jumped ship, especially their laser teams."

"Actually?" Long Caster said, blinking in shock.

"Yes, sir," Adam said, nodding. "It's taken the better par tof the week to bring them over to the city of Selatapura, and we'll need to set up labs, housing, and work assignments, but the scientists and engineers we brought here from across the world are pretty much good to go, sir," Adam nodded, seemingly forgetting to stop nodding before suddenly realizing, and shaking his head empty.

+50 Grunder Laser Scientists.
+100 Grunder General Scientists.
+200 General Scientists.
+100 Grunder Engineers.
+200 General Engineers.

"D-did you find time to figure out any notable talents?" Long Caster asks, struggling not to drop his jaw.

"No, sorry, sir," Adam grunted. "Getting this and the bigger hiring agency and keeping the consulting teams separate just in case we accidentally diluted workplace culture here was really hard, but we got it done. It'll probably take a week or two to fully integrate our new hires, but it's doable. The refugee agency also might need supervision, considering how much of it was just done on the fly, sir."

+60 Human Resources Personnel
+5 teams of 20 Consultants

"This is a helluva whopper you pulled off. Do you have anything else, or is that the cherry on the cake?" Long Caster asked.

Adam shook his head. "That's all, sir. Sorry," he said.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for, Adam," Long Caster said. "You've really gone above and beyond."

[] "Now come on, let's grab a burger or something. I'm hungry, and I'm betting you are too." (10 Focus, probable stress reduction)
[] "Dismissed, Adam."

As it turns out, when you let a specialist really cut loose, they can do some pretty cool stuff

Vote by plan on how you want to allocate these personnel; which teams they should join, or if they should spin off into their own team. You may also choose to give instructions to Adam, like "let go of X project" or "limit yourself to reasonable hours please".

Long Caster is currently at 30 Focus, with 120 Focus more in commitments.

To conduct a talent search, pay a variable amount of Focus to Find Talent. 25 Focus will find the obvious star-studded names; 200 Focus might find some of the real diamonds in the rough. More specificity will make this action more powerful.

You may also choose to Recruit Personnel, at a cost of 25 Focus per Recruitment action.

Organize XCOM will cost 100 Focus.

Mediate Disputes will cost variable Focus; the higher, the more effective.

CyberFemme · Feb 28, 2020

PROJECT PROPOSAL: THUNDERSTORM AIR SUPERIORITY FIGHTER

Commander, while we can extend our effectiveness against alien aerospacecraft through incremental doctrinal and technical improvements, closing the technological gap between our respective forces will be critical to achieving parity with the alien forces in the air. Our engineering teams have been practically foaming at the mouth since Dr. Vahlen completed her preliminary analysis of the Metallic Hydrogen Alloy used in the construction of alien craft, and generated a staggering amount of technical proposal for followup research.

Dr. Shen has been instrumental in culling the field to a series of projects that are most promising from a simultaneous development, performance, and manufacturing standpoint. The final result is the following preliminary design for an in-house air superiority fighter, designed from the ground up to take advantage of the nearly miraculous properties of MHA: the XAF-01 Thunderstorm.
In many ways this fighter is a throwback to the days of the OSEAN-Yuktobanian Cold war, when maneuver performance and top speed were still the primary concern of an aircraft's designers and stealth was a secondary consideration.

The rapid development cycle necessitated by the current conflict and our recent influx of Grunder researchers opens the door to reusing an existing design for our purposes. The ADF-10 achieved an unparalleled level of airborne super-maneuverability, however this came at the cost of significant trade offs. Notably, it was lightly armed and armored in order to keep the aircraft weight low enough not to overwhelm the structural integrity of it's air-frame and variable geometry wing mounts during aggressive maneuvering. The high g-loads also made it almost impossible to fly for a living pilot.

ADF-10 unmanned air superiority fighter, the basis of the Thunderstorm.

Nonetheless, it is an aircraft tailor made to engage alien forces. It's thin, swept wings reduce induced drag and increase maneuverability, allowing excellent energy retention through aggressive maneuvering. The variable geometry mechanisms in the wings also allow them to fold forward, greatly reducing drag at supersonic velocities, making it an excellent interceptor. It's aerodynamic characteristics are also fairly well understood by the researchers and engineers from Grunder now under our employ, reducing the difficulty of developing a flight control model. Finally, the hull is shaped so as to confer non-trivial stealth capability - which saves significant amounts of simulation on our part. Our engineers have come up with quite a litany of technical wizardry to overcome its issues and I encourage you to read them over. It really will be like nothing that's ever flown before.

Our engineering team has also taken into account the difficulty of such a crash-development program, and investigated options for outsourcing certain subsystems to outside contractors with a reputation for good work within the relevant fields. While this may cut into our monetary reserves, it would allow our research teams more time to focus on more... esoteric projects.

There are also a number of areas where the design team was unable to reach a consensus on the most optimal path of development. The relevant options are presented below for you to rule on based on your opinion of the technical and logistical trade-offs discussed therein. Our teams would like guidance on the aircraft's engine and flight control systems.

In response to both XCOM's need for a rugged, cheap, ultra-high thrust to weight engine for its first generation of homegrown anti-Alien fighter aircraft, as well as the opportunities afforded by the advent of room temperature thermoelectric superconductors in the form of Metallic Hydrogen Alloy; we propose the development of a new combined cycle hybrid electric turbo-ramrocket engine. It is composed of four parts: the intake, turboelectric fan/combustor, and nozzle.

The intake is responsible for delivering a smooth subsonic flow of air to the rest of the engine. To save on development costs we recommend the re-use of the X-02 Wyvern's diverterless scoop intake, which has already been optimized for both subsonic dogfighting performance, as well as supersonic sprint at Mach 2.5. Air from the intake flows into one of two chambers depending on operating conditions.

Above: 1 - Variable geometry pre-swirlers/shutters, 2 - Axial field electric motor/generator, 3 - Variable pitch fan, 4 - Swirler/fuel injector/flame holder, 5 - Combustion chamber, 6 - Convergent-divergent nozzle. Not pictured: nozzle with thrust vectoring vanes.

From rest to Mach 0.85, air flows into a rim-driven variable pitch electric fan - a so called 'exoskeletal' fan. Since thrust is generated through momentum exchange which is linearly proportional to exhaust velocity, but the kinetic energy imparted to an airstream is proportional to the square of its velocity, more thrust can be generated from a unit of input energy by a small acceleration of a large volume of air than from a large acceleration of a small volume of air (as in a turbojet). This allows the engine to achieve high thrust necessary for high-g maneuvers while retaining internal energy reserves sufficient to maintain said energy expenditures over the duration of a dogfight. In addition, the engine also doubles as an air brake, with the blades altering their angles of attack in order to act as a turbine without reversing the spin of the fan, permitting instantaneous throttle response without needing to slow down or speed up the relatively heavy permanent magnet rotor embedded in the fan's outer circumference.
The permanent magnet axial-field electric ring motor is based on Albastru-Electrice's MQ-101 electric ducted fans, upscaled and modified to use MHA superconductor windings.
The axial field motor is uniquely suited for aircraft propulsion applications, as it has a high inherent thrust to weight ratio due to the more intense and even magnetic fields it can generate compared to a radial field unit, while using less windings to do so. These strengths are enhanced by the use of MHS superconducting windings, which not only greatly enhance its efficiency and the strength of the magnetic fields it can generate (and thus the thrust to weight ratio) but also enables it to act as a stable magnetic bearing for the turbofan, preventing the rotor and stator from coming into physical contact, eliminating a major source of wear in conventional engines.
Normally, an electric motor's sustained power depends on its' size, with larger engines capable of generating greater peak power, but needing significant cooling systems that degrade overall thrust/weight ratio. The use of MHA electrothermal superconductors however both decreases the total heat generated due to their greater efficiency, and allows for passive heat rejection on par with what would otherwise require heavy active cooling systems, allowing for what is essentially the continuous delivery of the motor's peak power rating should the pilot desire it.

From Mach 0.85 to 2.5, the engine shift operation from turbo-electric to ramjet. At mach 0.85 the intake compression ratio becomes sufficient for efficient ramjet combustion. At this speed the variable geometry pre-swirlers mounted in front of the fan in order to reduce energy lost to the swirling of the fan exhaust by preemptively imparting counter-swirl switch to acting as shutters, and airflow is diverted away from the fan and into the ramjet placed in the turbofan's central cavity. Gaseous high pressure methane is injected into the centre of the airstream at the tip of swirl-inducer at the start of the ramjet tube which will turbulize the airflow and cause it to mix with the methane faster, before the air/fuel mixture passes over a flame holder which will ignite it. The mixture will continue to burn and mix as it makes its way through the combustion chamber, before the combustion products are finally ejected through a convergent-divergent nozzle to atmosphere. Throttle response in ramjet mode is relatively poor compared to that of the turboelectric mode, however the ramjet is envisioned as being used for straight line dashes between parts of the theatre of operations that require little maneuvering.

Energy to the turboelectric fan and methane to the ramjet are provided by a synergistic superconducting magnetic energy storage/pressurized gas tank. The structural integrity of the SMES solenoid coils is limited not by the tensile strength of the MHA they are constructed from, but the critical magnetic field strength beyond which they begin to deform. As such, the solenoid pulls double duty as the backing for a ultra-high-pressure methane tank taking up the interior of the solenoid. Liquid natural gas is pumped into the tank, and allowed to come up to room temperature, with the resulting high pressure gas pumped to the ramjet. We caution however that the exact amount of methane such a hybrid tank depends on the ultimate tensile strength of the MHA solenoid. Once that limit has been determined the exact amount of LNG that can be safely held can be determined.

[ ] Engineer Combined Cycle Turbo-Electric Ram-Rocket [0/???]
[ ] Outsource Combined Cycle Turbo-Electric Ram-Rocket to Albastru-Electrice (Electric Propulsion Division) [0/???] (Require Logistics: Industrial Liaison Group) (Result: Vântoase Fan/ram-jet)

(Stealthier but less performance than a turbojet, requires toroidal energy storage, faster to develop than the nuclear turbojet.)

Commander, to transform the prodigious output of the Compact Airborne Nuclear Reactor previously proposed into propulsive force and electrical energy for an aircraft's on-oard systems, we propose the use of a relatively traditional turbojet architecture - in fact the high energy density of the fission fuel renders the turbojet's low fuel efficiency a moot point and allows the aircraft to spent time at supersonic velocities without severely curtailing its engagement time. This engine is composed of five parts: the intake, compressor, heat exchanger, turbine, and nozzle.

The intake is responsible for delivering a smooth subsonic flow of air to the rest of the engine. To save on development costs we recommend the re-use of the X-02 Wyvern's scoop intake, which has already been optimised for both subsonic dogfighting performance, as well as supersonic sprint at Mach 2.5.

Above: 1 - Variable inlet guide vanes, 2 - Rim driven compressor spool & support structure, 3 - Outer compressor spool axial field electric motor, 4 - Inner compressor spool radial field electric motor, 5 - Turbulent flow 'onion' heat exchanger, 6 - Compact airborne nuclear reactor, 7 - High pressure turbine axial field generator, 8 - High pressure rim driving turbine, 9 - High pressure turbine stator vanes, 10 - Variable pitch inner compressor blade actuation mechanisms.

A two spool counter-rotating electrical compressor compressed incoming air from the intake in order to boost the efficiency of the heat addition process (while the nuclear reactor provides a prodigious amount of heat on demand, increasing the efficiency of its conversion into thrust allows use a comparatively smaller reactor, with immediate benefits to maneuverability).
The use of counter-rotating compressor spool eliminates the stator vanes of a traditional compressor. This allows a reduction in the mass of the compressor by 50% compared to a traditional arrangement. This reduction in weight would have been overshadowed by the increased mechanical complexity if we were limited to conventional techniques, however the use of MHA superconducting electric motors has greatly expanded the design space of the engine. In this case, the outer rotor spool is driven by an axial field electric motor based, while the inner spools are driven by a radial field electric motor.
The electric motors act as magnetic bearings, preventing metal on metal contact between the compressor spools and the rest of the engine, greatly reducing maintenance requirements and increasing reliability. Cost is further reduced by the use of ceramic compressor blades rather than metallic superalloys for the high pressure area of the compressor. The outer spool blades are subject to compressive stress when in operation, which ceramics are far more tolerant of than the tensile stresses that a shaft driven compressor foil would experience. The inner compressor blades on the other hand use a more traditional Incoloy construction.
Compressor stall in such a design would typically be of some concern considering the relatively high pressure ratios involved, however a combination of bleed air and variable pitch vanes in the inner spool high pressure zone of the compressor (made possible due to the robust MHA actuators that can be mounted on a rotating spool) mitigate this risk to acceptable levels while keeping weight low.

The compressed high temperature air is then funneled through a corrosion resistant turbulent flow solid state heat exchanger that uses radially arranged steel 'onion layers' with MHA whisker cores connected to the surface of the nuclear reactor. Thus the use of heavy MHA is minimized and heat is efficiently transferred to the dense air passing through the heat exchanger.

The exhaust is then passed through a two single high pressure axial turbo generator, in what is essentially a reversed and truncated version of the high pressure compressor stage before being exhausted through a convergent divergent nozzle.

[ ] Engineer Thermo-Electric Turbojet [0/???]
[ ] Outsource Thermo-Electric Turbojet to Albastru-Electrice (Electric Propulsion Division) [0/???] (Requires Logistics: Industrial Liaison Group) (Result: Balaur Turbojet)

(Excellent performance, basically unlimited range and combat endurance, requires the development of an airbone nuclear reactor, political i M p L i C a T I o n S.)

Commander, the nearly miraculous properties of Metallic Hydrogen Alloys have unique application to the development of a fighter scale airborne nuclear reactor that could let us exploit the order of magnitude higher energy density of nuclear reactions for practical and safe aircraft propulsion for the first time.

While the use of nuclear energy for aircraft propulsion is not a new concept, explored to the level of non-propulsive airborne tests, issues with thrust/weight ratio and safety considerations have led to even behemoths like Estokavia's Aigaion airborne aircraft carrier to use conventional petrochemical fuel as their primary energy source.

In this context, MHA has several qualities that make it ideal for use as part of a compact, lightweight airborne nuclear reactor. It is highly resistant to mechanical damage, posseses high corrosion resistance, and it's melting temperature is well in excess of our ability to even test. Most importantly however is that it is an ideal moderator for nuclear reactions with it's combination of high density and light atom construction.

In a nuclear reactor, fission reactions produce high energy 'fast' neutrons which have a low chance of striking other fuel atoms and catalysing further fission reactions. Reactors 'thermalize' these neutrons, reducing the neutron velocity through atomic collisions with light weight atoms or molecules such as water or graphite which can efficiently absorb the kinetic energy of the fast neutrons without absorbing them. MHA is even more effective at thermalizing fast neutrons due to it's high density ensuring any neutrons passing through will strike a hydrogen atom, and as the hydrogen nucleus is comparable in mass to the impinging fast neutron, the neutron's momentum will be efficiently absorbed (in inelastic collisions, momentum absorbed is inversely proportional to difference in relative mass between the objects involved).
Furthermore MHA also function as a perfect form of radiation shielding for the same reasons listed above, being both a hyper dense material that fast neutrons cannot break out of, as well as being very efficient at reflecting them back.

Above: A - Reaction chamber, B - MHA backplate, C - Boron-carbide accordion, D - Control screw, E - MHA thermal whisker, F - Corrosion resistant radiator vane, G - Thermal insulation protecting electric screw actuator, H - MHA outer reactor vessel case, I - Electric screw motor, K - Motor control electronics.

With that in mind, we propose the development of a pressurized liquid fueled reactor that can be used as the thermal source for an electrically coupled turbojet. The reactor is an MHA pressure vessel containing an electro-mechanically actuated accordion of perforated boron-carbide disks tapped by a perforated MHA disk. In it's idle configuration, the accordion is fully expanded and the solution of fissile material dissolved in water is prevented from reaching criticality by the close spacing of the boron-carbide disks absorbing the majority of neutrons emitted. As more power output is desired, the acordeon can be collapsed incrementally, forcing the fissile solution into an unlined reaction chamber surrounded by MHA. The MHA will have a moderating effect, thermalizing fast neutrons that otherwise would escape, efficiently inducing a critical mass and starting a chain reaction. The heat generated will be evenly spread over the outside of the fuel chamber and can be routed through a heat exchanger to achieve the same role as combustor on a more traditional engine.

Passive safety is achieved by the melting of the boron accordion and reaction chamber piston backing which will allow liquified boron neutron poison to mix evenly with the fissile solution, bringing the nuclear chain reaction to a standstill. Furthermore, the solid MHA construction of the fuel chamber should easily survive a fall from operational altitude in case the aircraft is critically damaged - the only concern the design team has about the integrity of the fuel chamber comes from the alien plasma weapons themselves. We are not yet certain if a direct hit from a plasma weapon would rupture the fuel chamber, and a such propose the reactor be fitted with an ejection mechanism set to go off in case the on-board computer detects an imminent plasma strike against the aircraft. The reactor can then parachute to the ground where it can be recovered and refurbished.

[ ] Research Compact Airborne Nuclear Reactor [0/???]

(A critical part of the thermo-electric turbojet, has to be developed in-house.)

An aircraft's wings, empennage, and structure on average make up approximately a quarter of it's dry weight. For a fighter such as the F-22 Raptor, this amounts to just under 5000 kg.
Assuming an approximate (ie: me taking the wing area and eyeballing 'how many wings would it take to cover the whole exterior') surface area of 546 square metres and assuming that a 1mm thick skin of MHA is sufficient to withstand the aerodynamic forces exerted on the airframe, the total mass of such a monocoque dual purpose structural/aerodynamic surface, assuming MHA density of 22.59 kg/m3 (the density of Osmium), yields a structural mass of 12.4 kilograms. A 403 times reduction in the structural mass of the aircraft.
Not only will this improve an MHA Monocoque fighter's performance in every way that reducing weight improves an aircraft, but it's interior space will be unbroken by structural members, significantly expanding the design space, and allowing engineers more freedom in terms of retrofits in the future.
The MHA monocoque will also remove the need for dedicated heat exchanger for cooling the aircraft's components, as its thermal superconductivity makes the aircraft's entire surface into a heat exchanger.
The hull will also be essentially impervious to laser weapons, as the heat will be spread over the entire surface area, significantly diminishing the threat of Belkan laser weapons in the likely case that XCOM forces will need to face down alien collaborators.
Furthermore, a fully monocoque MHA skin would also be well suited to supersonic flight due to it's high corrosion resistance and ability to operate at very high temperatures without losing structural integrity (through lightweight thermal insulation would have to be used to isolate internal components from the outer hull in this case, and internal thermal sinks would have to be included). This supersonic flight capability may be especially useful for XCOM aircraft needing to intercept enemy fighters.

An MHA monocoque hull however does present certain unique challenges. The most serious is vibration: everything from weapons, to engines, to airflow has the potential to create a catastrophic resonance within the structure of the aircraft due to the vibrational conductance of the MHA. We have taken advantage of this fact to great effect against alien aircraft, using their impenetrable hulls to transmit blunt force directly to the components underneath, and we must take care not to see this technique turned against us.
Thorough vibrational analysis during the design phase is absolutely critical to ensure that the space within the hull does not create any resonant chambers. Furthermore all equipment must be anchored to the hull with vibration isolation mounts, and vibration damping systems must be on hand to absorb and mitigate the effects of vibrations that do occur.

The second major issue is stealth, or more accurately the lack thereof. MHA's nature as a superconductor makes it an ideal reflector of electromagnetic radiation including radio and microwave frequency waves used by aircraft for detection and targeting. This is not of significant concern when facing ET aircraft, however it presents a challenge against conventional peer opponents. It is not an insurmountable challenge however - as most modern fighters also feature a metallic skin as a requirement for supersonic flight.
RAM paint can alleviate the issue to a certain degree (most fighter aircraft today are after all composed primarily of radar reflective alloys) and careful shaping of the fighter's features can reduce its radar cross-section (RCS) to a level competitive with traditional fifth generation aircraft such as the SU-57.

[ ] Engineer MHA Monocoque Airframe [0/???]

Modern aircraft use hydraulic actuators to move the aircraft's control surfaces, landing gear, and high lift devices. These are typically made up of a central high pressure hydraulic pump routing hydraulic fluid to local pistons through high pressure metallic piping. The system is effective, but relatively heavy and difficult to maintain due to inevitable leakage. In recent years, the trend has been to move away from pure hydraulic actuator to electro-hydrostatic actuators (at least for backup flight control actuators).

Above: Electro-Hydrostatic Actuator used on F-35 tail plane.

Electro-hydrostatic actuators (EHAs) replace the centralized hydraulic pump with a distributed series of double acting positive displacement pistons driven by an electrical gear pump mounted directly to the piston. This has a number of advantages: the EHA unit can be quickly swapped out for maintenance, the heavy high pressure tubing and hydraulic fluid in them in eliminated, cleanliness is improved, development times are reduced (a single universal EHA can be designed for use on all the aircraft's control surfaces, compared to designing a full hydraulic system), and safety is improved (multiple independent actuators rather than relying on the central hydraulic pump).
Wide-scale implementation of EHA has yet to take place due to the relative youth of the technology and power/weight concerns for the gear pumps- an issue easily rectified by the use of MHA windings which can not only generate greater magnetic fields per unit weight, but can eliminate the need for any sort of mechanical support of the windings due to MHA's high strength).

However, it is the opinion of some of the engineering team that we would be better served in leap-frogging EHA technology to head directly to electromechanical actuators (EMA):

Above: Cutaway diagrams of several possible EMA setups.

EMA technology is an area of active basic research, however it is hampered by the total force electromechanical actuators can develop at this time as well as concerns about jamming and seizing of the gears. Whereas EHAs can use a hydraulic pump to move a little fluid at a time, an EMA must directly bear the force exerted by whatever mechanical linkage it's attached to, typically through a gear-box and worm gear rather than a hydraulic piston. With the advent of MHA we can design electric stepper motors that can generate the necessary torque. A fully EMA actuation system would bring all the advantages of an EMA system and expand on them. For instance weight could be further reduced due to the elimination of the hydraulic fluid, and maintenance would be greatly simplified for the same reason, while energy efficiency would be improved through the elimination of the unavoidable losses in pumping hydraulic fluid. EMAs offer greater potential performance than EHAs, but come with a higher development risk.

A final faction within our flight control group believes we would be better served by abandoning mechanical flight control entirely in favor of fluidic flight control.

Above: Blown air fluidic flight control.

Fluidic flight control entails the blowing of air over a surface in order to redirect the air stream - in theory it has many advantages over mechanical flight control surfaces including faster response, increased stealth (less edges for RADAR to scatter off of), lighter weight (no heavy actuators). In the past however, the most ready source of compressed air necessary for the functioning of such a system was the engine compressor, which reduced the performance of the engine. With the advent of MHAs however, we have new options for dealing with this issue. The most promising method our research team has put forward is the use of nitrogen stored as a supercritical fluid. Liquid nitrogen would be pumped into an MHA pressure vessel, then allowed to come to room temperature, avoiding the need for cryogenic refrigeration systems. This tank would then be tapped to produce a stream of high speed nitrogen that could be augmented with air drawn from the atmosphere in a sort of ram-rocket pump. The resulting air stream can then be routed through high pressure MHA pipes to blowing holes strategically placed all over the aircraft's fuselage to control the boundary layer. This would provide superior handling at low speed and allow for limited laminar flow at high and supersonic speeds. Furthermore, the expansion of the nitrogen gas is an endothermic process that removes heat from its surrounding environment, cooling the aircraft as it flies and allowing it to maintain a minimal thermal signature. The elimination of moving control surfaces further contributes to the aircraft's stealth by reducing the number of distinct straight lines for radar waves to scatter from.

Reference: https://www.slideshare.net/reyyandemir/aircraft-actuation-systems
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0954406217749869

[ ] Engineer Mature Electro-Hydrostatic Actuators [0/???]
[ ] Outsource Mature Electro-Hydrostatic Actuators to Albastru-Electrice (Flight Control Division) [0/???] (Require Logistics: Industrial Liaison Group)

(Good performance, easy to develop.)

[ ] Engineer Electromechanical Actuators [0/???]
[ ] Outsource Electro-Mechanical Actuators to Albastru-Electrice (Flight Control Division) [0/???] (Require Logistics: Industrial Liaison Group)

(Better performance, greater development risk.)

[ ] Research Fluidic Flight Control [0/???]
[ ] Outsource Fluidic Flight Control to NAE Systems (Breakthrough Research Division) [0/???] (Require Logistics: Industrial Liaison Group)

(Best performance, light, stealthy, mechanically simple, requires a fair bit of basic science to be done first = expensive and time consuming to develop.)
(Since BAE Systems have been working on this IRL, I thought I should just translate that to the Stangereal equivalent - Northpoint Aerospace Systems)

Most modern fighter aircraft use an electrical fly-by-wire flight control system where control signals are transmitted to actuators via electrical cables. Some limited implementation of fiber optic control signal transmission has also been done, with the advantage of decreased weight and decreased interference to onboard sensors.

Above: Basic principles of fly-by-wireless.

We propose going a step further, taking advantage of modern wireless transmission technologies well developed by the civilian market in order to eliminate the physical cabling associated with these control systems, resulting in a number of advantages:

Aircraft weight will be reduced due to the removal of several kilometers worth of composite wiring.
Maintenance requirements will be reduced through the elimination of faults associated with cabling and the extended troubleshooting process involved in the inspection and troubleshooting of such extensive wire networks.
Reduces the R&D load by greatly reducing the need for the design of wiring installation schemes and by expanding the design space through the elimination of wiring layout consideration when planning the internal layout of the aircraft.

Normally, an extensive use of wireless control systems would pose an unacceptable risk due to the threat of interference from external sources as well as increasing the noise floor for the aircraft's onboard sensors, however a MHA monocoque hull function as a Faraday cage. This isolates the internal wireless signals from external interference and keeps them contained inside the hull so as to not give away the aircraft's position via electromagnetic emission.

[ ] Develop Fly-by-Wireless Protocols and Hardware [0/???]
[ ] Outsource Fly-by-Wireless Protocols and Hardware to Macmillan Heavy Industries (Telecommunication Division) [0/???] (Require Logistics: Industrial Liaison Group)

One of the most often overlooked but most groundbreaking features of the F-35 is its sensor fusion and battlefield communication system. Unlike most super-planes that can look forward to limited production runs and careful deployment, the F-35 was designed to be the workhorse of the OSEAN air force, and it's software reflects that.
It's suite of radar and infra-red sensors is fully integrated together with it's communication system, allowing it to share targeting data with not just other fighters but ground and sea units. It is designed to become a part of a greater military force and holistically support allies in the battlespace. In terms of the complexity of utility of it's software systems, the F-35 is an Iphone among flip phones.
The vulnerability of XCOM's Hammer and Nail type doctrines lies exactly in the breakdown of identification and communication, due to both enemy action and environmental factors. The F-35's sensor and communication systems are tailor made to ameliorate these concerns by creating a distributed, self supporting sensor network that augments and even stands in for AWACS support under the above mentioned circumstances. It also allows more complex coordination between XCOM force elements, such as integration between XCOM fighter craft and land based AAA systems when fighting over friendly territory, or providing passive real time targeting data to Stonehenge intercontinental artillery while dog fighting over enemy territory.
Better yet, there exist official channels for the licensing of this technology, as the F-35 was designed from the outset as a export fighter for OSEAN allies.

Reference: https://www.aviationtoday.com/2018/09/04/f-35-data-fusion/

[ ] Aquire F-35 sensor Fusion and Battlefield Communication Suite from OSEAN Air Force [0/???] (Requires spending political capital/money.)

Above: Left - manufacturing upper body exoskeleton. Right - Hydrostatic g-suit, using passive fluid bladders to apply dynamic counter-pressure to the body.

One of the most severe gaps between our pilots and that of the aliens lies in our pilots inability to tolerate g-forces that seem trivial to the aliens. This 'acceleration gap' limits our pilots ability to maneuver aggressively, ceding a maneuvering advantage to the enemy.
Modern aircraft can be designed to withstand much greater g-loading than our pilots can withstand while remaining operational, so it is the pilot that we must focus on in order to close this acceleration gap.
Recent advances in flight suit technology such as passive liquid bladders, like those used by Mihaly Shilage during the battle of Farabati can cope with up to 7 G's comfortably for several minutes and up to 10 Gs in brief intervals - an improvement that brings pilot G-tolerance to just under what modern airframes are designed to tolerate, as well as the limit off beyond which audio communication becomes untenable with current pressurized mask technology.

Unfortunately, to contest the aliens, we require nothing less than a doubling in the sustained g-load a pilot can tolerate, with a minimum capacity of 20 Gs.
Replacing the compressive fluid bladders with full lower body immersion will increase the maximum sustainable g-load, and the pilot's arms and head can be supported with an upper-body exoskeleton based on commercially available units used in manufacturing and construction. Both innovations will result in a rise in the weight of the pilot's suit and ancilary equipment, however given significant weight savings in other areas of the aircraft due to the implementation of MHAs, this is acceptable. Such a system can conceivably be used to raise the tolerable G-load to 15 G's (by comparison, a typical car crash will generate about 12 Gs of acceleration for those involved). At this point the traditional 40 PSI high pressure oxygen mask must be modified as well in order to provide gas at higher pressure to offset the increased difficulty of breathing that will result from the hydrostatic support of the suit. At these pressures, there is a real danger of decompression sickness and the air supply system must be improved to provide air at a variable controlled pressure depending on the instantaneous g-load.

Reference: https://www.fzt.haw-hamburg.de/pers/Scholz/dglr/hh/text_2010_01_28_Pilot_G-protection.pdf

[ ] Engineer Powered Liquid Suspension G-Suit [0/???]

(I totally made up the part obout this being what Mihaly used, but it seemed reasonable.)

While standoff missiles remain a preferred choice in engaging alien fighters, the missile interdiction capabilities displayed by Flowing Guard Unbreakable and the history of fighters having to fall back on on-board cannons after exhausting their missile stocks have convinced XCOM high command of the need for a direct fire gun as part of the Thunderstorm's primary armament. With the relative success that traditional cannons have achieved against alien fighters via second order vibrational effects, a philosophy of "hit them harder to break them faster" seems the most optimal path forward at this juncture.

Modern electromagnetic weaponry is capable of providing the necessary projectile energies, however the limitations of off the shelf designs (high recoil, slow rate of fire, size and weight) make them unattractive for general use. We have even made hasty upgrades to such devices with MHAs in order to reduce their procurement and operational cost, however lack of time has precluded the utilization of MHA's properties to their fullest. As such, we propose the development of a family of electromagnetic launchers designed from the outset to utilize the properties of MHAs:

Superconductivity allows the use of less power per projectile launched due to the increase in electromechanical coupling efficiency.
Durability allows for rapid firing without destruction or warping of the rails.
Thermal superconductivity allows for easy and rapid cooling of railgun and ancillary electrical equipment, facilitating high rate of fire.
High yield strength eliminates the need for a separate armature to brace the rails against electromagnetic pressure developed between the rails when firing, resulting in a significant mass savings.

The decision to pursue an "all-electric" aircraft for the Thunderbird project also provides a major increase in the available power that can be diverted to such a weapon, reducing capacitor bank mass, and increasing rate of fire. Furthermore, the elimination of shell casings is another source of mass reduction (through somewhat offset by the greater mass of ancillary electrical equipment) and eliminates the possibility of ammunition cook-off in case of a fire.

Given the requirements of the Synergistic Aircraft Family proposed as proposed in the TECHNICAL AND DOCTRINAL PATHWAYS TO AEROSPACE SUPERIORITY OF XCOM FORCES V.2, we will require three weapons to be developed:

Auto-Railgun (ARG) - A high rate of fire cannon optimized for close range combat encountered by Gun Fighters. Possible upgrades include an electromagnetic terminal guidance ring and flight software integration for transverse recoil damping that can deflect bullets as they emerge from the barrel to better track the enemy. The possibility of MHA-tipped penetrators is also intriguing but requires further testing. (Equivalent to the shotgun in XCOM)

Burst-Railgun (BRG) - An autocannon replacement designed to be deployed on Missile and Electronic fighters are a backup weapon that can nonetheless swiftly dispatch alien fighters. (Equivalent to the Assault Rifle in XCOM)

Lance Railgun (LRG) - An updated version of modern long range EMA for use by Artillery fighters, sacrificing rate of fire for range and stopping power. Possible upgrades include acceleration-hardened shell guidance packages, and MHA tipped penetrators.

Electromagnetic Launch System (ELS) - More of an electromagnetic catapult than a true weapon system, the ELS is designed to be deployed with the Missile fighter in order to increase the starting energy of a missile (and thus the probability to hit) and decrease missile mass by eliminating the need for a solid booster in order to increase magazine size.

[ ] Engineer Thunderbolt Series EMA Weapons [0/???]
[ ] Outsource Thunderbolt Series EMA Weapons to Albastru-Electrice (Electromagnetic Weapons Division) [0/???] (Requires Logistics: Industrial Liaison Group)

Phew, that was a mission to type out.
Now I need some input from the DM: @huhYeahGoodPoint

Do all the techs above make sense and fit with what you had in mind?
Is it ok to split up the aircraft's development up this way? Traditionally, fighters are some of the largest research projects in XCOM, and I figured splitting them up into a bunch of smaller ones would be more interesting instead of having a big protect just plod along there forever.
Is outsourcing projects like that a viable strategy?
If yes to all of the above, can you attach costs to the above projects?

Nixeu · Feb 29, 2020

Much as I really hate dropping a story in the middle of a vote, this one has a limited shelf-life, and it does kinda relate to some of our discussion. I haven't touched up the dialog as much as I'd like, but hey, maybe Siegfried was playing up the accent with the Commander to help convince him he'd come from Leasath. Thanks as per usual @Simon_Jester and @huhYeahGoodPoint for beta-reading an earlier draft, and @Icipall for the inevitable corrections.

Rambling aside, I present:

Birds of a Feather

Charlie Burns pursed his lips in a silent whistle as he watched the incoming aircraft land. It was beautiful, how smoothly it managed that vertical landing. Came down like a feather. Barely even a bump in the landing gear's suspension. Either that pilot is insanely good at what he does, or that plane is incredibly well made. And how exactly does that VTOL work, anyways? Well, I guess there's only one way to find out... Charlie was already grinning as he made his way down to the landing pad, looking forward to having a talk with the pilot. Hopefully, they knew their plane well enough to answer his questions.
----

Siegfried von Drache turned the engines off as he finished taxiing into the hangar, then relaxed into the piloting chair he'd been in for the last several hours and closed his eyes with a sigh. Nearly home free, now, he thought to himself tiredly. Despite his rest-stop at the facility his cousin ran, Siegfried was still not the best of shape, after months of intense work and a flight that long. Just one last hurdle to overcome. I need to convince them I'm worth keeping around, even if Leasath puts pressure on them. Shouldn't be too hard, between the dirt I have on Navarro and my resume.

He smiled to himself at that thought. It was a fairly impressive resume. Project leader on four different aerial warships, and on one next-gen super-plane. Fairly exceptional, for a 29 year old college "dropout" who was abducted before he could get his degree. Might even be able to get some references, if any of his coworkers from Estovakia were still alive. God, he hoped they were okay...

Enough stalling, Siegfried. The sooner you leave this cockpit, the sooner you can get yourself into a bunk.
----

Charlie managed to time things well, apparently. He'd made it to the hangar in-time to catch the pilot taking his flight helmet off. The pilot shook out his shaggy mane of platinum-blond hair, likely relieved to finally let it breathe a bit after the long flight. The man's face was all flat planes and sharp edges, extending even to the sharp, almost feral look in his eyes. Not an old man, by any means, but not quite a young man, either. Something about the face rang a faint bell in his memory. He'd seen that face somewhere before, or maybe one close to it...in a book, perhaps? Well, it would probably come to him.

Charlie walked up to the man, ignoring the glares from the security guards silently telling him to get out of their way and let them escort this person of unknown origin to a cell. While Charlie did understand their point, the best place to talk about a plane's design was when you could take a look at it. Who knew how long it would be before the big-wigs would let this guy be in the same place as this magnificent aircraft? Besides, XCOM weren't about to fire their lead aircraft designer in the middle of a war. They couldn't afford to. That meant he could usually get away with the occasional stunt.

"Damn, but that is a sleek design," Charlie said, trying to break the ice. Pilots usually liked bragging about their planes, if you gave them a reason to. He stuck out his hand to the pilot. "That landing was slick, too. I'm Charlie Burns, I design planes for XCOM. How exactly did you manage a maneuver like that, Mister...?" Burns trailed off, his tone inquiring.

The man took up Charlie on the offered handshake. "von Drache. Siegfried von Drache. And the landing function is automated, so I can't really take credit for that," he said, then flashed a small grin. "Well, I guess I did do a touch of work on it, albeit most on the hardware and simulation side. So I guess I can take some credit. We added it as a standard, pre-programmed vocal command, at Navarro's request. Said it would really help wow potential customers and sponsors."

Another designer! Charlie'd hit the jackpot. "Huh. I guess I can see that-wait, " Charlie said, as what Siegfried has said finally registered "'von Drache'? As in Drachen Works?" Charlie Burns realized where he'd seen Siegfried's face before. He looked remarkably like his grandfather, Gunther von Drache, whose designs had pushed the limits of plane endurance to extreme heights, for his time, setting several records. Charlie had seen a photo of him before, one taken to commemorate the first successful non-stop flight from Estovakia to Aurelia, in several of his textbooks back in college.

Siegfried laughed. "You betcha. My dad's Siegmund von Drache, in-fact. And yeah, I know, he and his family are all supposed to be dead. It's a long story."

"Siegmund von Drache? The one who worked on the Hresvelgr?"

"Against his will. But yes. I haven't seen him in years, though. Haven't had a chance to go home, ever since I left for college after the winter break. Years ago, now. Without delving too deeply into it, I got...drafted, shall we say, for a project in Estovakia during spring break."

That, too, set off a faint recollection in Charlie's mind. "Estovakia...you said your name was Siegfried, right? You wouldn't have happened to have worked with a young woman named Bernadine von Hildebrand on the Gyges, by any chance?"

Charlie didn't even see Siegfried move. Suddenly, he found his shoulders in an iron grip, and a pair of blazing ice-blue eyes staring into his. He heard the clicks of safeties being flicked off all around them, but Siegfried didn't seem to notice. "How do you know her? Is she alive? Safe? Free? What happened to the rest of them that worked on that project?

"I worked with her once, when I was at Macmillan," Charlie said, carefully. "She's one hell of a project manager. Said she learned a lot of it from that project, and that you were central to it. She joined the company after the war. Everyone who worked on the Aigaion and related projects could basically take their pick of aeronautics companies after the war. She chose Macmillan. As far as I know, she's doing just fine. From what I've heard from an old friend of mine, pretty much all of the people involved in the Aigaion project have been hired by XCOM ANEA for a project to produce more aerial warships, to fight the aliens. So she's probably working at a secure black site, guarded by some of XCOM's best soldiers. Bernadine, and the others you worked with, are arguably safer than we are. Especially given all the guns pointed at us right now. Might be a good idea to let go of me, before either of us get shot."

Siegfried let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob as he let go of Charlie and leaned back against his plane, one hand covering his face. "Alive. They're alive. And probably making a damn good living off their knowledge and training, to boot!" The relief in Siegfried's subsequent laughter was palpable, and the tears that leaked past the hand covering his face were equally of released stress and of joy.

By the time Siegfried got a hold of himself, Charlie had somehow managed to reassure the guards that Siegfried was not a threat, and that it would be fine for them both to stay in the hangar a while longer. Siegfried was grinning from ear-to-ear when he finally turned to look at Charlie again, and the sharpness in his gaze was almost entirely gone. "I was abducted and taken to Leasath shortly after the Aigaion went down," he said, answering Charlie's unsaid question. "For all I knew, they'd been executed or enslaved by the Emmerians, or by our Estovakian overlords. Me and them had a rocky start, admittedly, but the lot of us had all become as close as family by the war's end. Navvie kept me too busy to spend much time investigate what had happened to them. Thanks, Mr. Burns. I really needed to hear that."

"Charlie, please. Mr. Burns is my father. And if you want to thank me, you could start by explaining how exactly that VTOL system works."

"Oh, it's a simple enough bit of engineering, mate. It's only a combination of 3D thrust vectoring on the left and right turbines, and a way of redirecting the output of the central thruster into a pair of vents on the bottom of the plane. Vectoring the thrust on those bad boys enables some rather impressive tricks. I can't say it can stop and turn on a dime, but you can get damn close if you use the bottom vents to break, switch to hover mode, turn, and then exit hover fast enough.

"How the hell did you manage to pull that off? Stopping that suddenly would put a lot of stress on the frame, especially on the wings."

Siegfried chuckled. "That was certainly a tricky problem. The secret's underneath the outer paneling at the base of the wings. We'll need to take her apart a bit if you want to take a gander at it. If you've got the tools, though, I'd be willing to have a go at opening it up."

Charlie was already looking for a toolbox before he finished his sentence.
----

Several days later...

Charlie Burns yawned as he made his way to his workspace from his quarters. He'd been up late last night, filling out and filing paperwork. Admin might not have been able to fire him over the episode with Siegfried and the XFA-31, but they sure as hell seemed determined to drown him in paperwork over it.

Given all the uproar over the incoming armies of refugees, it took over 16 hours for XCOM's leadership to realize that Siegfried hadn't been moved to a holding cell. By that point, the two of them had disassembled the XFA-31 down to a skeletal frame, though the parts had been very carefully laid out in such a way that it was easily reassembled by Engineering in a couple of hours.

He and Siegfried had been found slumped and asleep in a set of reclining chairs that they'd somehow found and brought into the hangar. While it was all a bit of a blur at that point, he thought they'd both passed out around the same time, during a conversation about...the merits and drawbacks of using off-the-shelf hardware? Something like that. They'd taken "breaks" for food (and caffeine), which they'd had to leave the hangar to get, but they usually spent those breaks talking shop. Without the aid of schematics, of course. They were both too experienced to make such a rookie error as to mix food and documents, and risk damaging their notes.

And boy, had they taken notes. According to one of the engineers that was called in to clean up after them, "it looked like a small blizzard of paper had blown through the hangar." They'd been so busy disassembling, examining, brainstorming, and bouncing ideas off one another that they'd ended up leaving hand-written notes and roughly sketched design schematics on just about every convenient flat surface in the hangar. This was mostly due to the lack of tablets and other design tools in the hangar, which had forced them to go old-school.

Still, they'd produced a lot of material...which was a mixed blessing. Charlie whistled timelessly to himself as he unlocked the door to his work area. Which currently rather resembled that vivid description of the hangar. Apparently, due to the refugee crisis, they didn't have anywhere else to put all the notes and schematics. Allegedly. He suspected this was mostly another subtly attempted punishment on one of his superiors' part. But since Charlie would have wanted to keep an eye on them himself anyway, he wasn't going to complain.

The largest and most detailed of the schematics was currently occupying a table next to his volumetric display, which he used for 3D modeling. One side, the one he was currently working with, illustrated the current design of the XFA-31, both external and internal. In the margins of that schematic, and on the back of the large piece of butcher paper were a number of possible changes and improvements. Their main focus had been improving the plane's currently lackluster armament. In his idle moments, he'd been trying to translate the schematic into a 3-D model, which would be the first step in modifying the weapon mounts. While the display did make things a lot easier, modeling was still taking him longer than he'd have liked, at least partially because he was doing it in his free-time. Still, translating the 2D schematics into 3D was more difficult than he'd expected. Especially since Siegfried was currently busy elsewhere, and thus unable to spare much time to help out.

He'd organized the other sketches into two basic groups. One was for the sketches they'd made of possible improvements to the F-14X based on the VTOL-system derived breaking and hovering capabilities of the XFA-31. They were admittedly rather rough sketches, but he was fairly sure they could pull it off, and keep the production process fairly simple to boot. Wouldn't be quite as agile as the XFA-31, of course, for multiple reasons, and it might require some control system alterations and programming work, in addition to the obvious airframe alterations. But it could be done. Similar ideas could probably be applied to modify most any other plane, too.

Other designs bore some resemblance to the Aigaion and its sister craft, but with a number of structural alterations. Many of them having been produced by Siegfried, he wasn't entirely sure what all of the alterations were meant to improve on or do, and he was pretty sure they'd either screwed up on the scales they wrote down on several of the sketches, or they were feeling...ambitious, to be kind to their over-caffeinated selves.

The written notes were generally either innocuous (reminders, tangential ideas), or incredibly cryptic. The latter category contained phrases like "with sufficient velocity, anything is possible", or consisted of a set of complex equations about sheering forces and stress, followed by the phrase "air-cushioned VTOL will not save your stupidly massive plane from the square-cube law" circled several times. The records of their feverish and often somewhat unhinged brainstorming sessions were of widely varying coherency and legibility. Some of the papers were basically unreadable, or had large sections crossed out. Once he actually managed to fill out all the paperwork needed to request forming a joint team with Siegfried, and get the Commander's attention for long enough, Siegfried might be able to decipher some of his own sloppily written notes, but until then, they went to the "possibly trash" pile. Of course, getting him in here to work on that might take a little while.

When the two of them had finally woken up around half a day later, they were both in hot water. Charlie had gotten more heat than Siegfried, since Siegfried wasn't an XCOM employee yet. Given all the work they'd produced, however, Charlie's official punishment didn't go much beyond a major chewing out for revealing XCOM designs to an unknown individual of somewhat dubious origins, taking a serious risk in talking to someone who hadn't been cleared yet, and various other issues. Admin was making his life harder than it needed to be, of course, but that was par for the course, and he was well aware that his antics often made his superiors' jobs harder.

Still, Charlie really hoped he could manage to get Siegfried's help on his projects at some point soon. The guy might be a bit grim and intense at times, but he was an absolutely brilliant designer, with a wealth experience in designing and troubleshooting cutting-edge systems. There were very few people in Charlie's generation that he considered to be his peer in aircraft design, but Siegfried was definitely in that club.

After their brainstorming session, Siegfried had been moved to a holding cell while he was sleeping. While he was passed out, the base's security personnel followed up on the mutual acquaintance who was mentioned. Ms. von Hildebrand was, after seeing a picture and hearing some audio of his voice, quite willing to vouch for Siegfried's identity and tell them about his past in Estovakia. Several others involved were also called, all of whom corroborated her story, and vouched for his identity. Shortly thereafter, the base received a notice from XCOM ANEA that, should they decide not to hire Siegfried, ANEA's Science Division would greatly appreciate sending him their way. Shortly after a meeting with the Commander, he'd been hired to work for XCOM USEA.

Unfortunately, he wasn't currently available to sort through his notes. He was currently the only one on the base that really understood the complexities of the XFA-31's controls. As such, Siegfried was currently tied up teaching another, more experienced pilot how to fly it, and also demonstrating what it could do in mock combat. He'd picked up some interesting maneuvers from the test-pilots, apparently. The XFA-31's extreme maneuverability was enough to narrow the gap between Siegfried and some more experienced pilots, though certainly not enough to let him take on anyone much more skilled. Still, he was currently the only one who could pilot a plane that even remotely matched the X-Ray fighters' maneuverability.

I wonder how he's doing over there? Charlie thought idly.

----
Siegfried was in a real bind at the moment. His opponent had been a mercenary for as long as Siegfried had been alive, if not longer, tempered in one of the bloodiest wars in living memory, and wingman to one of the most famous pilots in history. Siegfried might have the more maneuverable plane, but his opponent could make even a mediocre or out-of-date plane perform like a current-gen model. And he was flying Charlie's damn modernized F-14. It wasn't the XFA-31's equal on a technical level, but it was more than good enough for his opponent to have him on the ropes, and keep him there.

While the Gram he was flying might be able to dance through sky, its weaponry was, frankly, anemic. Terrible at long distances except against ships or ground targets, with good options at medium range and minimal options at close range, it left much to be desired. Up against opponents like this one, his best bet was to try and take advantage of his maneuverability and evade long enough line up a perfect shot. That was the only way he'd be hitting this particular foe, as he'd learned on previous encounters. Getting drawn into knife-range was a losing proposition. He wasn't sure if he could evade much longer, though. The enemy was pushing hard, damn him...

And that was when his opponent pulled a seemingly impossible maneuver, hauling the nose of his plane through the air in a way that simply shouldn't be possible, ending up coming at him from head-on and above. His opponent splattered Siegfried's plane with virtual paintballs, painting the plane on his HUD with several dozen splotches of red. Had they been real bullets, he'd be full of holes right now. Damn. At least I lasted 5 minutes this time, he thought to himself. That was better than he'd ever managed before. He made for the ground, and threw his plane into hover before landing on the tarmac like a butterfly landing on a flower. At least something he'd designed worked well.

His opponent's landing was smooth as silk, even if it wasn't VTOL. That red wing of his flashed in the sunlight. That damn paint-job...those flashes of red had almost been taunting him during their practice sessions. He was sure Pixy was doing it deliberately, just to make the point that Siegfried would need to get a lot better if he wanted to even scratch that red wing. Like he didn't already know that. That taunting, like much of what the opposing pilot did, was meant to test how Siegfried reacted, and correct any mistakes made...usually by the same method a fencing tutor would demonstrate a hole in a student's guard.

"You're getting better, kid," Pixy said, once they'd both gotten onto the pavement and gotten their helmets off. "At evasion, anyway. That plane of yours really does move impressively well, even if the missile loadout isn't up to snuff."

"Which, of course, is why you usually take me out with only your bloody guns," Siegfried said, frustrated with his performance. "If you were in a more advanced plane, like Trigger and Mobius' Nosferatus or the Ragriz's Wyverns, I wouldn't last a minute up there, even with you taking it easy on me."

"Now that's just selling yourself short, kid," Pixy said, grinning. "You'd last at least 90 seconds, minimum. Not more than 120, though."

"Oh, thanks. That makes me feel so much better."

Pixy laughed at that, then sobered. "Seriously, kid. If you had more combat experience, you'd be a real terror in that plane. As it stands, I'd bet on you, if you went up against most of Mobius Squadron's members, one-on-one. Not Baker or the Ribbon, of course, but the rest of them just wouldn't be able to keep up with you and your plane. You clearly understand it. Hell, I think you likely know it better than pretty much anyone else on this base can claim to know their plane."

"Thanks. But the Gram will still probably shine more in more experienced hands," Siegfried said, then sighed. "I wish we could have made the controls more intuitive. I wouldn't be having to take so long to teach you how to work them."

"You really are prone to being too hard on yourself, Siegfried," Pixy said, shaking his head. "It's an incomplete test plane that wasn't meant to be flown without serious computer aids. Of course the controls are complex. And I'm fairly sure I'll be confident in taking it for a test flight in a few more days. That should make it easier for you to shift over to R&D. I do hope you'll come back to the combat side from time-to-time, though. You've got talent, even if you're still green. And, in my experience, aircraft designers and engineers who can fly are often pretty scary in the air."

"I know. My piloting teacher over in Estovakia was admittedly a better pilot than he was a designer, but he knew his way around a wrench as well as a cockpit. Got shot down over the Round Table by Cipher, actually, but managed to survive it."

"Really?" Pixy seemed a bit interested. "Might have been a part of that fight, actually. Who taught you?"

"Lorenz Riedel. Better known as Gault 7 at the time, though he went by Feniks in the Estovakian Civil War and Emmerian-Estovakian War. He got shot down a second time, trying to defend the Aerial Fleet from Talisman. Not sure if he managed to evade Ol' Man Death a second time, or..."

"Ah...Gault 7, huh?" Pixy's gaze became distant, lost in his memories. "I remember him. Met him once before the war, actually. Seemed like an incredibly loyal man. So he ended up in Estovakia after the war, huh? I'd heard rumors in Belkan ex-pat circles about a former pilot gathering experts for some big project there. That was him, I'm guessing?"

"Yes. He kept us together, lead us, made us all feel like one big family. The gang has gotten back together over in ANEA, or so I'm told. I'll admit, I was considering going back to them. But I think I'll stay here, at least for now."

"Really?" Pixy said. "Why might that be? Sounds like you and them are close."

"Oh, we're as tight as can be. But, frankly, I think I've taught them enough for them to get by, and I think you guys need my expertise more. I'll keep in-touch with them, maybe advise if they need it, though I doubt they will. I've already taught them most of what I know about large-scale flight, and what little I picked up in Leasath isn't worth mentioning. I didn't give that project my all. Mostly coasted on my experience, especially since the guys I was working with were utter drongos. Maneuverability is my passion, not aerial warships. I know how to make them, but they're not quite as fun to design. Though making them maneuverable is certainly a challenge worth my time."

"Besides," he said, smiling as he remembered his recent episode with a certain aircraft designer, "Charlie Burns is damn good. I haven't met many blokes outside my family, blood or adopted, that can keep up with me as well as he can. And they all had years to get to know me. He's a bit of a mouthy git, but I think he and I make a good team. Our different viewpoints and experiences make our collaboration greater than the sum of its parts.

"No, so long as the Commander is willing to let me stay here, I will. Between learning from you, and being able to work with Charlie, I think this is where my skills are needed most. Besides," he said, grinning, "you buggers here at USEA have the one of the biggest budgets in XCOM, and access to the Lighthouse. Who else is going to be willing to fund my experiments with that heat-shedding platinum-iridium alloy I came up with ages ago?"
----

I pretty much knocked most of this out over the course of ten or so hours, shortly after the game started by up, though I've had to do so rewrites over time, especially on the second half. Still, this one really grabbed my muse and refused to let go. Enough that it also jumped the queue.

The Bernadine von Hildebrand mentioned is actually a character from a story stuck in limbo at the moment. The stories keep mutating and shifting away from her, for some reason. But I'll figure out a good story involving her and the others working on Project Gaia at some point. I hope.

Siegfried and Pixy have a slightly odd relationship, since Lorenz, Siegfried's mentor in piloting, was a part of AWWNB, and had mentioned Pixy on various occasions. Throw in Pixy's status as Cipher's ex-wingman, (Siegmund, Siegfried's father, feels he owes Cipher for taking down the Hresvelgr), and it's not surprising that Siegfried feels a fair amount of admiration for him. Pixy, meanwhile, finds Siegfried reminds him of his past mistakes, but does his best not to let that color their relationship too much.

The Gram going to Leasath does neatly free Siegfried up to work on projects. I mostly write this before that decision, as a "this is what Siegfried got up to while assigned as a High Alert pilot" sort of thing.

Edit: Various edits, thanks @Icipall

Simon_Jester · Feb 29, 2020

Firebird

Leveraging work done on airborne nuclear reactors in the late 1950s, the YB-350 "Firebird" strategic projection aircraft was designed for extremely long-duration missions. Whereas conventional bombers were designed to sortie, strike a target, and hopefully return, the Firebird was intended to exert continuous pressure. Propulsion was provided by a set of six contra-rotating propeller pairs, powered by electric motors that ran off the aircraft's nuclear reactor. Needing no conventional fuel, the YB-350 was capable of remaining airborne for days if not weeks, and armed with exceptional ability to disrupt and penetrate air defense networks. Intended for eventual mass production, this class of outsized flying wings prefigured a variety of other heavier aerial cruiser designs, such as the vastly larger Belkan XB-0 command cruiser.

Although capable of dropping conventional bombs, the Firebird was mainly designed to deploy a variety of tactical air-launched cruise missile weaponry, including the beam-riding "Artemis" and television-guided "Argus" missile, but its most prominent weapon system was the distinctive "Jupiter" missile. These multistage missiles were designed to devastate air defense radars over a wide area, creating vulnerabilities in enemy defense networks. After an initial rocket boost, their ramjet sustainer engines would carry them to speeds and altitudes that made the Jupiter nearly impossible to intercept. This would be followed by an extreme high-altitude zoom climb. At the apex of this climb, the Jupiter's powerful burst warhead, modified to generate an electromagnetic pulse, would detonate, damaging or disabling radars and other electronics over a wide area.

Obviously, such a formidable craft presented a valuable target for enemy interceptors and long range surface to air missiles. As such, the YB-350 carried a variety of defensive capabilities.

Firstly, the sheer size of the bomber permitted the 'parasite fighter' concepts investigated by the Osean Air Force in the 1940s and '50s to be brought to fruition, in the form of a six-ship squadron of F-5 Tiger IIs that flew directly off the Firebird. This escort force could discourage enemy dogfighters from approaching. However, Firebirds did not always operate with their F-5 escorts, as adverse weather circumstances could make retrieval of the fighters extremely hazardous.

However, the YB-350 also had defensive capabilities of its own. For crude close-in self-defense, the Firebird carried several remotely controlled .50 caliber and 20mm autocannon turrets, as well, but the most formidable capability aboard the Firebird was its maser system The electrical energy budget of the Firebird's reactor permitted testing and installation of an exotic maser antenna grid. The maser, while only moderately effective at inflicting structural damage on aircraft and missiles, could be tuned to utterly jam nearly any known radar system.

This enabled the Firebird to defend itself very effectively against actively emitting radar systems, foiling most known long range AA missiles. It was found in combat that not only did radar-guided missiles suffer against the maser jamming system, but heat-seeking missiles almost exclusively homed in on the nuclear reactor's coolant air exhausts, which ran significantly hotter than the motors driving the propellers. Since the exhaust ports were ruggedly constructed, highly insensitive to damage, and protected by reinforced gratings, they acted in effect as a pair of thermal decoys.

Combat performance in the 1970 "Hot War" against Yuktobania initially suggested that the Firebird, promoted by President Francis as part of his vaunted secret plan to win the war in Kaluga, was every bit as effective as expected. Cruise missile attacks caused great disruption to Yuktobanian defensive positions and military fleets. The Jupiter missile was especially effective at paralyzing enemy air and naval assets, opening holes that could be exploited by conventional forces.

However, the tide of war began to turn as the Yuktobanians developed more effective counter-strategies for fighting the YB-350. Four of the massive strategic projection aircraft were shot down during the war, and a long-range air raid flying off one of the surviving Yuktobanian aircraft carriers, led by infamous Yuktobanian ace Marina Popova, destroyed the Ypsilon Plant that manufactured the aircraft.

The Osean Air Force might have resumed production if not for unrelated events, even so. After the disastrous radiation release caused around Mount Spearhead by General Poe's unilateral and reckless launch of an XK-Pluto missile, President Francis opened peace negotiations. Journalists soon discovered and revealed the true nature of XK-Pluto, though, causing an explosive scandal. As peace talks proceeded, the rising Osean pacifist faction made abolition of nuclear-powered weapons platforms one of the core demands of their movement, along with the end of conscription and a withdrawal from the war in Kaluga. As a result, the surviving YB-350s were grounded in 1971, and officially retired and scrapped over a three year period from 1973-76 under the McGruber Administration. Components of Firebird #6, designated OAS Eagle, are on display at the Air Force Museum in Kalifia Province, approximately 100 kilometers northeast of November City.

hYGP · Mar 1, 2020

Simon_Jester said:
[X] Plan The Bureaucracy Is Expanding
-[X] Disposition of the scientists
--[X] Send 100 scientists (no Grunder please) to join Research Division Alpha (Xenobiology), now working on Sectoid xenobiology in Osea.
--[X] Send 100 scientists (mix of regular and Grunder) to join Research Division Beta (Alien Technical Analysis) under Charlie Burns, now working on the analysis of the alien six-gun ship
--[X] Assign 150 scientists (mix of regular and Grunder, including all Grunder laser scientists) to form Research Division Gamma (High Energy Physics) under Audrey Jones to research Cyclonic Accelerators
-[X] Disposition of the engineers:
--[X] 85 engineers (mostly regular) to join Engineering Division Able (General Engineering) under Dr. Shen to help with Backfill Documentation.
--[X] 85 engineers (mostly regular) to join Engineeering Division Baker (Stonehenge) under Maria McGuiness and Avril Mead to help with the Stonehenge analysis.
--[X] Assign 110 engineers (mostly Grunder) to form Engineering Division Charlie (Aerospace Engineering) under Siegfried to work on Streamlined Construction Practices.
--[jk] For symmetry, propose to rename Research Division Beta "Siegfried." No, seriously, don't do that.
-[X] Disposition of the five consultant teams: 2 for the Emergency Relief Organization, 1 for Special Requisitions, 1 for Aircraft Procurement, 1 to help XO Bradford with the administrative and command staff work.
-[X] Focus Expenditures:
--[X] Organize X-COM (100 Focus):
---[X] Restructure Engineering and Research divisions to funnel reports and chain of command through their respective directors (Shen and Vahlen). Audrey Jones will serve as Acting Research Director until Dr. Vahlen returns from Osea.
---[X] Make sure the directors get a staff and aren't drowned in paperwork. We don't want Vahlen getting grumpy that the job is cutting TOO much into her autopsy time.
--[X] "Now come on, let's grab a burger or something. I'm hungry, and I'm betting you are too." (10 Focus, probable stress reduction)
--[X] Search for talent among the new-hire scientists and engineers (40 Focus)
--[] Informal statement of intent: At the appropriate voting time, plan to vote for "Outreach to EOMDO and indicate willingness to provide some degree of support against a joint Belkan-alien attack." (50 Focus)

The burger place was a little unusual for Long Caster; he was used to burger places being one or two stories tall, not part of a much bigger skyscraper shopping complex. Still, he had heard that this place had some pretty good burgers, and with international money starting to flow through the city, some burger places were still operating for Osean expats. Supposedly.

The burger wasn't half bad either; despite the size of the patty the inside was still fairly juicy without undercooking the inside or overcooking the outside. The rest of the burger was nothing to write home about; certainly, Long Caster had tasted better and more innovative sauces on the burger.

For what it did, though, it was pretty good.

Next to him, Adam quietly ate his own burger, sneaking glances over at Long Caster as Adam demolished his own burger.

"You must've been hungrier than I thought," Long Caster neutrally remarks, chewing another bite of the burger.

"Ah, no, well, sir, it's just a thing I do," Adam sheepishly said. "I can eat slower if you want?"

Long Caster shrugged. "It's not that important to me, Adam. Eat however fast you want."

"Oh, uh, alright, sir," Adam said.

"Actually, that reminds me. Adam, we're off duty right now. Why do you keep calling me sir?" Long Caster asked.

"That's because, uh, oh, right," Adam said, suddenly blinking.

"Oh right what?" Long Caster asked.

"I forgot that you were Osean, and that Oseans do things differently," Adam sheepishly said.

"Wait, so what did you think I meant?" Long Caster said, lightly surprised.

"I, uh, thought that you meant you wanted to tell me I did a poor job in a semi-public setting - it's sort of an Usean business thing, where you want to tell someone off politely but you also want to make a point, if you can sort of understand what I'm getting at?"

"Oh, no, this isn't that at all. I just thought that you looked stressed and tired, and I knew that getting a good burger with friends always helped with me out with that," Long Caster said, gesturing with his burger.

"Oh, thank goodness," Adam said, relaxing. "That's a relief."

"Don't worry about it," Long Caster said, waving him off.

Both of them chewed on their burgers in silence.

"Hey, Long Caster?" Adam said.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem."

A casual cross-reference of names to news articles reveals nothing earthshattering; only a few names that really showed up news articles. Mavis Theodora, who was the lead engineer and project manager on Grunder's recent Gigafactory. Van Gonzalez, responsible for putting a portion of the Verusan Warren Network, which as she explains it, was a network of trains and depots punching through the infamous Verusan mountain ranges. Gilbert Carlson, one of the few nuclear engineers around in the age of the Lighthouse's boundless solar power.

Really, Long Caster can't help but feel somewhat disappointed, despite objectively finding quite a few good people and reallocating accordingly. Somehow he just expected, more? XCOM's standards for good work were really starting to screw with him.

The first thing Daniel Snow surprises Long Caster with is a beard. Long Caster didn't know that Daniel Snow grew a beard, nor that it would be so...wispy.

"Right, boss, we got a few things done," he said, rubbing his beard. "We got some of the defenses set up for our sector of Selatapura, and while I wouldn't say it's completely invurenable - wait, no, impenegarble, gah, whatever," he said, wildly gesturing his hands," I'd say it's pretty good. We got the planes in, even with a little bit of a mix-up when I was going a little loopy last week," he said, making a cuckoo motion with his fingers, "so all of our pilots are equipped with a 5th gen plane or the XCOM Hellcat. The other thing we've done in the past week is put up housing for about five hundred thousand people - well, I say put up, but that's not quite right, what we really did was some patch renovations here and completely bulldozing other houses to put in prefabs there, whatever - so we're on track to complete most of our goals, assuming we keep things up. Any questions, comments, concerns, boss?"

Long Caster simply looks at Daniel Snow, whose eyes are unfocusing snapping back to attention every few seconds. Long Caster looks at Daniel Snow, whose fists are clenched tight enough to turn his dark skinned hands sheet white.

Yeah, Long Caster's got something to say to Daniel Snow.

Logistics time! This week you have 74,000 General IC, and 2,400 Planes IC. Selatapuran Base Defenses are set to complete this week with already invested IC.

Vote by plan on procurements, IC Budget, Time Budget, and Directives. Unspent IC will be spent by nations contributing to the XCOM project.

I also fixed the problem where your F-14X purchases didn't show up; they did, I just forgot to update the front page.

Ace Combat XCOM: Enemy Skies

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