Government Support: Unlimited
Budget: 200 Mobilizational Capacity
+50 for 2 More Months
The Asteroid Front:
AAR by Brevet Captain Fodla Ailin
After the sacrifice of the SAS Biter with the loss of all hands to the Alien Enemy the logical next strike for the outer system offensive operations conducted by the alien fleet was towards the Asteroid bases. The desire for captives in the initial boarding was broadly confirmed through enemy action, but so was the ability for hardened resistance at properly built-up areas to reduce the comparative disadvantages offered by local technologies. The attack happened just a few days after the loss of the Biter, with the rest of the mining ship crews organized into an improvised brigade-level command and placed into holding down the remainder of the station by Captain Daire Sionuir.
Available assets on board included sixty prototype Type-43OC suits that could rapidly be retrofitted along with several rationalized models of assault rifles for which ammunition could be procured locally without excessively complicated synthesis pathways. Limited training, ammunition, and drills for the majority of the mining crews precluded their use as main combatants but almost four thousand soldiers were available for the defense. Local armaments were able to make simple pressure-fed hydrogen-oxygen missiles using the surplus propellant available with a simplified guidance package cloned off drone systems and locally re-programed. Captain Sionuir believed that the aliens could be defeated by conventional arms and that given the size of their warship along with the AID's best estimates of troops' strength available the key to denying an enemy operational victory was the attrition of its naval infantry.
To that end initial combat started with the reduction of station-defensive belts through the use of laser fire as was expected, with most of the devices available lost. Exact readings of jamming capacity and capability have if anything proved to be less than expected, if more than enough to overwhelm the last-generation systems of the station, requiring a downlink to be established through tight beam laser communication. Camouflage operations and discardable covers did provide enough operational surprise to enable a missile attack to be conducted with important information learned from the exchange. Further, against prepared positions with the most capable armor available enemy forces can be shattered and driven back.
Dug in suits in station corridors under the command of Captain Sionuir managed to repulse the initial platoon that exhibited poor tactical coordination if anything. Inadequacies of checking corners, pre-firing to check for hardened positions, and general overconfidence led to initial ambushes as they were penetrating the outer corridor and living quarters 3, neutralizing ten hostiles, and forcing a rout. Enemy data-synchronization systems have also been found to be far weaker, as the troops seem to be dependent on hearing rather than proper modern displays, as later strikes from dug-in positions by even under-equipped crew managed to eliminate hostiles without any attention from the rest of the squad. Repulsing the initial assault cost around two hundred brave men, with over half of the Type 43s rendered combat ineffective but little was left of the alien platoon post penetration.
External cameras and belt-surveying equipment indicated the massing of the likely remainder of enemy forces in space for a second assault, relying on the cover of their warship to prevent an ambush in a state of heightened vulnerability. Captain Sionuir chose this moment as their period of greatest vulnerability, authorizing the launch of all improvised munitions as cover for a larger-scale counter-attack conducted while the enemy was in their moment of greatest vulnerability. The lack of good angles and weight of fire led to issues in the attack, with limited degradation of enemy forces, especially as many of the rifles available were insufficient to neutralize armor even with fully exposed enemy targets. Around a company-sized force was rendered combat ineffective for twice their number of far worse-equipped soldiers and Captain Sionuir.
Information on enemy point defense capacity has been one of the most important gains, with a peak defense rate followed by thermal slowdown neatly forming a guide for adequate penetration potential. All two hundred of the low-velocity missiles were degraded before impact, but the significant pause of craft support ensured that any alien boarding attempt was doomed to failure. The significant losses incurred along with sharp return laser fire once the missiles were gone cut down the soldiers willing to take the fight to the enemy. Worse, the alien ship has likely taken living captives for experimentation of the few survivors left drifting after the initial attack. Still, no further attacks have come and at least for now, the Station has held with the alien fleet asset disengaging.
Battles of Lunar City-One:
AAR by Major Eamon Slatara
Enemy force landings on the Lunar surface have come instead of a sprint to orbit with the fleet engaging in harsh reverse burns at greatly increased thrust to lower their time to target. The preparation timetable has allowed for the landing of sufficient infantry to defend the moon to the last but not enough tonnage has been moved to adequately build defenses capable of resisting an alien attack. Forces of volunteers have been gathered with the 14th Special Operations Brigade formed out of volunteer orbital forces, heroes from the terrestrial command, and those both trained and willing to martyr themselves for the defense of Dannan. This has still bought enough time for the rapid modification of Type-43OC suits for lunar combat with additional joint reinforcement and soldiers selected for their ability to lug the nearly five hundred kilogram suits.
Defensive operations on the ground outside have been surrendered to focus on the fortification of the primary Lunar city, developing defenses on the outer rings and hardening supply dumps to a sufficient point that an alien attack could be resisted if they swung at the Lunar defenses rather than bypassing them. Local food production has started with the crews available ordered into the construction and expansion of the old tunnel system that protected the initial settlers once the lunar surface was cut off from re-supply. Primary operational plans have been to prioritize the defense of the tunnels over that of the surface, using buildings as points of fire in a prepared staggered defensive operation favoring overreaching hard points and flexible under-ground counter-attacks through the old mining tunnels.
Initial landing operations were conducted by the enemy fifty kilometers away from the primary settlement site with significant commitments of armor and vehicles along with at least four hundred VTOL craft counted through planetside telescopic images. The enemy's fear of point defenses was likely due to commander over-caution as they preferred to drop at a remote LZ over a rapid assault, favoring landing zone attacks where such assets are available to carry them out. Further, it has taken them four days to gather sufficient forces for the attack, possibly speaking to a limited quantity of orbital deployment capacity even if none of the suspected landing re-entry shells have been used. This force committed to a partially mechanized assault with many of the forces involved riding desant on their vehicles along with inside of them to speed up the approach.
First contact was made with B and C company of the 3rd Battalion on the surface, managing to repulse the enemies probing assault after light fires. The laser weapons available further seem to be incredibly poor for direct fire support, achieving pinning effect but negligible fragmentation or area damage effect. Casualties were taken but compared to 152 mm guns used in the same role they have been far lesser than expected. Poor suit mobility has hampered relocation operations from the first ring of buildings but they have still been conducted under significant load, moving forces to prepared positions for localized urban backhand attacks to take advantage of the lessons learned on the orbital stations. Limited commitments of nuclear charges were made to the first row of surface buildings, ensuring that nothing was left available to the invader.
Contact proceeded on that basis as further forces piled in, though to a lower grade than those observed on the SAS Biter or the Mining Station assaults. Their armor is practically irrelevant to 15mm fire and their morale is poor in response to pinning fire. Close contact has massively favored local forces as despite lacking mobility the close confines of the lunar cities have allowed for close contact. The alien enemy's carbines are far better suited for the environment but their wielders are not, being unable to handle any form of close contact. Several enlisted have made immediate guides on limb vulnerabilities in brawls, as the attackers are arguably easier to disable through orthogonal bending of the lower limbs and simple pulling grabs or flexion of the neck to at least a ninety-degree angle than even the use of knives.
The impact of alien fires has been more significant than expected for their lack of physical impact with significant degradation of forces in the first line of buildings, forcing the 3rd Battalion to be consolidated into a reinforced company. These have fought well, buying days allowing lines to be reformed at the second line of defense, leaving a few automated systems in the buildings in preparation for shock attacks being conducted at a larger scale front. Nuclear initiations were delayed by two hours, allowing enemy forces to take the positions before seventy new suns were born for an instant, vaporizing the defensive ring and turning them to rubble, but disrupting communications and creating sufficient dust clouds for further operations. Tunnel exits behind the force have been used for localized counter-attacks seizing enemy units from three directions, securing examples of technology in the dust storms along with twenty-three intact captives.
The initial fears of alien bombardment during the deceleration burn have turned out to be unfounded as their craft has been using a higher impulse thrust mode for the initial burn. Likely as part of their doctrine to minimize vulnerability profiles on the assault, high acceleration burns were used in the terminal approach after a coast bringing their fleet as a unified force sans one frigate into the orbit of the moon. Landings have proceeded at pace from that with significantly worse coordination than expected with loading taking longer than any comparable helicopter operation should. Initial deployments of alien forces have been counted with two divisions deployed from orbit.
Defenders dug into the moon have so far managed to hold against the attacks for three days with further fighting expected over the next week. Little can be done outside support by Department Four and AID intelligence forces. As long as fighting can continue on the moon, a likely significant portion of enemy forces are committed outside the planetary orbit with the forces too heavily engaged to manage a retreat action to recommit forces towards the planet. Launches to orbit are to be continued on an accelerated timetable to continue reinforcing the inner band of stations, providing personnel and missile systems to critical positions of orbital defense.
The strategic picture has only changed in that there have yet to be major impactors launched with operations entirely focused on the orbitals over terrestrial ones. With the dedicated troop ships and re-entry pods, the alien invasion must be aimed at taking Dannan itself but the commander has likely prioritized caution over rapid advancement, securing the outer orbitals and working inward. Over the next month, operations will be prepared to further harden defensive works and continue to mobilize the military and economy toward national defense. The lack of presence of impactors has allowed industry to continue its rapid growth bringing a tide of steel to local forces.
Training and construction commands have been committed to around-the-clock work on fortified works and tunnels, expanding the influence of defenses and ensuring that they cannot be easily overrun. Local forces are unlikely to exceed twenty million under arms with continued programs aimed more towards ensuring that they have adequate degrees of advanced training to build on early fundamentals drilled into them during education with most forces expected to reach near professional quality in a year if we can survive that long. The tail end of the mobilization has allowed the rest of the population to be focused on the war economy with the civilians accelerating mobilization as much as possible to provide the resources for increasing military spending. There just are not going to be adequately trained forces available for the large-scale counter-attacks that are envisaged but if enough time can be bought that can be fixed.
Immediate intelligence aspects of the bodies available have been published to AID analysis with a broader report expected in a few days. Dissection of bodies available on site has already started with the doctors assigned to the unit noting that the aliens require a degree of humidity, have weak skin, and generally weak physiques. Organ structures are unconventional and distributed with an inefficiently laid out heart with a degree of bleed-through of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. Further, their bodies have a negligible degree of redundancy with only minor parts having reserve organs that likely fulfill the same role. Skull weakness is endemic across the species with bones made of a lighter if still capable material more generally. Musculature variation is far wider with some having significant numbers of muscle groups while others are practically emaciated.
Body plans with a bipedal mode of locomotion that uses a tail to counterbalance a forward-facing main body, offering a lower tactical profile if at a far lower strength. The use of a tail for balance is an innovation but it prevents tight packing in armored vehicles, almost certainly reducing loads in their armored fighting vehicles to fire teams rather than squads. Coloration varies across several primary colors with no explanation for the patterns that are present offered. Most proteins in their bodies are conventional but there is not enough equipment for detailed scans much less the testing of compounds against receptors and other minute aspects. The largest breakthrough has, if anything, been the captives over the captured bodies as their biology is unexceptional and impossible to be deeply studied in the conditions available.
Cracking their language has been the most prioritized project with core loan words worked out through two parallel teams of six interpreters and a significant number of telepresence scientists. Work on this aspect has been far slower as their language bears little similarity to either Lirrir or any known planetary tongue, with each letter acting as a fully self-contained word. Basic dictionaries of three hundred terms have been made so far with that expected to increase over tenfold if the positions can be held for longer than a week with sociocultural context de-prioritized over a more general linguistic understanding. Intact equipment assessments have been another factor as several full sets have been analyzed, photographed, and scanned to provide a comprehensive standard of information for fighting the Alien Enemy.
All of their armor is power-assisted with a high-efficiency contractible weave that provides most of the force onto a rigid structure rather than more conventional hydraulics. Plating is concentrated on the front chest and head with comparatively little defense placed onto the tail outside of the life support and battery systems as it seems that they can flexibly access their equipment by bending the tail. This heavy plating is resistant to 15mm fire, but all cover for their sizable legs and arms is insufficient to resist 15mm fire on the primary aspect and likely insufficient to resist even older assault rifle fire in softer areas. There are two sets of armor in circulation as have been confirmed by other forces but the second set is yet to be captured or obtained in any significantly intact format.
The weaponry is far more varied and more capable than in previous examples as there is a variety of weapons even if they are all laser weapons. The basic "carbine" is significantly stronger than a synod example, firing at a four-per-second fire rate with around fifty percent greater power and double the penetration from an increased lens. The larger "assault rifle" is a two-shot-a-second conventional rifle, focused on ranged combat and capable of penetrating any armor currently in service and possibly through the side of current IFVs. A high fire rate heavy laser has also been seen if not yet captured, with high rates of fire and a similar penetration performance to the "carbine" if in a far larger package. Enemy armor has also been seen with effective supportive fires that have a greater penetrating impact if not one that has the same suppressive effect but little information is available on its capabilities.
Surge of Electronics Production: Surging up capacity as high as it can go will involve quadruple shifts on every fab to build up as much surplus as possible. These chips will effectively go to a series of strategic stockpiles to keep supplies going, with adequate rationing these might last for a year or two of military production if destroyed in the opening phases of the war. As long as the large fabs are functional there will be a constant tide of chips going into storage but that heavily depends on the ability to contest the orbits. Further, staying at a high pace of operations will make decentralization challenging. (39)
Trained personnel shortages have limited what could be done with the fabs available along with the issues in the conversion of otherwise civilian fabs to military purposes. Production has technically fallen this month with rapid gains expected across the next month with the establishment of more facilities and more warehouses for storing surplus production. Plans for further raising production have been delayed by the mobilization of all available experts capable of working in fabs, limiting alternative electronics projects but as long as the current system is working every month of production can provide six months of military-industrial use. Expansions will technically be made while production is underway but they are not expected to be significant.
Munitions Plants: Expanding munitions production from the available plants will be a first step and essential for building up initial reserves. Decentralization of the workforce and equipment can be conducted at the same time to some challenge but it can still be done. New plants will be constructed to a camouflage standard with little view of them from orbit but there is fundamentally only so much that can be done. These will build up a supply of shells and missiles for the invasion with sufficient stockpiles for national defense in the short-medium term. (108)
Mass production of new shells has gone better than any expectation with over sixty discrete plants established across the planet. Most of the shells made are expected to be standard laser-burnup rounds with a heavy resistant coat and a limited payload but these are expected to be mixed in with more advanced ordinance. Secondary rounds to be mixed in for fire missions have started mass production ranging from cluster to nuclear munitions. Stocks of either will be more challenging to build up than simpler anti-laser munitions but even in two months, shell production is expected to reach sufficient levels for adequate support of mobile forces. MLRS and rocket production are expected to take longer but that can be compensated for by more primitive stockpiles and rudimentary unguided rounds manufactured at any printer and packed with simpler fuel compositions.
Artillery System Development: A cheap rationalized 152mm towed gun that can serve in artillery roles is going to be needed to hold down streets and serve as a cheap dual-purpose gun. The ability to fire anti-armor shells will be essential for direct-fire applications when batteries are inevitably overrun and it is unlikely that the alien enemy can bring enough tonnage of over-the-horizon counter-battery systems to punish the use of a towed system. The weight of shells alone will keep laser systems adequately suppressed and increase the rate of bleedthrough against enemy systems. (85)
A cheap and ugly six-ton mostly printable outside the barrel 152mm 40 caliber gun-howitzer has been designed and rushed into production. The capacity to make the barrels for it is still limited but it alone represents one of the few heavy guns available to current forces with four plants converted toward its production and six more in the process of establishment. Sufficient numbers of barrels for organic support for most divisional formations will not be available for another three months for the mobile force and nine months for the bulk of the army. More mobile MLRS systems built onto the Type 39 Truck have entered production alongside towed guns with a greater availability as all components of the modification can be printed. Shortages of trucks and munitions are expected to limit production more than anything else, at least for the next year as production increases.
Build Fortified Works in the Mouran Sector: The center of the population representing Tir Na Nog and the most settled of the island chains out to Mesta. Defending these islands will almost certainly see some of the heaviest urban combat and the harshest of fighting if the Enemy comes to destroy the population or the industries it supplies. Digging in efforts will focus on the fortification of the civilian population in structures with inter-building tunnels for rapid evacuation and local hard points in special overlooks in every city. The population will not surrender any of the urban areas without a fight and as long as they can function the majority of the military industry can remain functional. (107)
Mixed labor units under a military direction but with millions of civilian workers brought in from previously non-working youths have surged the construction efforts. Under-city tunnel construction has been something of the highest priority with metro networks modified into armored checkpoints capable of ferrying troops across neighborhoods in the cities. Railways have been reinforced with expanded cover and trains to deliver troops to localized hard points made to be challenging to assault. This has extended to the fortification of military bases with bunker networks built as quickly as possible, putting stress on the aggregate industry but offering several points with relative immunity to the bombardment capacity on display. Fortification of logistical infrastructure is still going to be underway for the next few months but there is only so much that can be done to reinforce bridges for bombardment.
Build Fortified Works in the Eastern Sector: The Launch ramp and sites around it are only notable for the location of the Bun naval yards, Airdocht, and Allcaile, offering something of a balance between rural and urban targets. Preserving the bulk of the orbital industry and missile industry will be important to keeping up the resistance and allowing for a large-scale counter-attack once the strategic initiative is seized back from the invader. Facilities here will mostly focus on local hard points, securing key routes and ensuring that none of the passes can be bypassed or easily assaulted. (26)
Due to the essential war production in the area and the lack of transport capacity to move millions in short order to the location, construction has gone far slower. Urban fortification programs have focused on ensuring that factory workers can be moved through underground tunnels to their work sites. Rural ones have largely been surrendered outside of the most critical facilities as there are not expected to be mobile forces to hold them. Digging will continue likely into the first landings if they happen at alternative points but there is fundamentally only so much that can be done in short order to fortify the area. The troops will not surrender the urban areas but it is almost certain that a concentrated force will be sufficient to effectively degrade any production assets.
Retreat from the Orbitals: The blunt truth is that there is nothing up in the orbitals that can be held against a force of the enemy's capabilities. Instead of sacrificing thousands in a pointless defense every station and mine can be prepared to be destroyed in the retreat, ideally taking the enemy with them as nuclear retreat charges detonate. This will fill the orbit with debris and minimize what can be done after the war but for that, there needs to be an after the war. If the enemy has any manufacturing capacity, denying the lunar mines and metal reserves in low orbit will reduce what can be easily seized, minimizing what support can be surrendered. (93)
Volunteers have been called to defend the orbitals with tens of thousands of veterans answering the call to do their final duty in the defense of the planet. The remainder of Type 43 Orbital Combat variant suits have been modified for lunar service with a reinforced brigade sent to hold the lunar city to the last man, continuing resistance in the tunnel networks until over-run. Each squad is to be equipped with a nuclear charge to ensure that they cannot be captured and ensure that when the positions are lost the enemy will have nothing. Personnel evacuations for the moon have been prioritized with special forces tonnage directly replacing the old workers at the moon and orbits. The orbital cylinders have all been rigid to blow with small teams emplaced at each one to ensure that they cannot be seized without incurring a cost in lives and time, buying time for the defense of Dannan itself.
Anti-Orbital Gun Upgrades(1/2): Every large anti-orbital laser is technically obsolete even by domestic standards, much less the likely technologies used by the invader. Installing massive banks of high-energy polymer capacitors along with expanding the lasing media to allow for pulsed q-switch operation will involve comprehensive overhauls, massive commitments of scientific personnel, and the deployment of new technologies but it can be done. The oldest batteries will be modernized first incorporating every lesson from new technical programs that are available with follow-up programs underway the next month dedicated to increasing the strength of the defensive grid. (78)
Modernizations for the orbital guns have been rushed and done by parts as the significant overhauls have rendered portions of the defensive grid incapable of returning fire during the replacement. Practical seas of LN2 have been organized to cool the massive capacitor banks and their superconductors with new higher-efficiency lasing media installed. Lensing upgrades have been pushed to increase the durability of lenses for both service and bombardment. Each battery is expected to make a shot per five seconds of 1.5 GJ delivered over 0.5ms in fifty pulses to enemy targets. Frequency doublers were conservatively built into the batteries with an overall orange laser beam used for primary anti-orbital fires. Limitations in lensing are going to limit fire above lower orbit but each battery can now clear significant portions of the sky.
[]Decentralization of Chemical Industry: The chemical industry is core to maintaining the manufacturing of munitions and will be essential as the war drags on to destroy the enemy. The disruption of the production of chemicals will not inherently damage the production of most printed objects but the need to produce thousands of new chemical plants in bunker networks and at a smaller scale will place a strong emphasis on redundant production. If started now programs will not be finished until at least a month after the new year but they will allow for industries to keep running under the weight of moderate orbital bombardment. (-40 Mobilization Capacity for 3 Months)
[]Decentralization of Metallurgical Industries: HEA feedstocks need to be produced in large numbers to keep the printing economy going and the alloys are not the simplest to make in large quantities. Basic steelworks can be easily relocated underground and decentralized now that the cost of electricity is cheap and electrolytic processes for HEA production can be done with only a strong power input. Plants would have to be built around fortified reactors and combustion generators, as the electrolytic cells will be easier to replace than power production capacity. Islanding every power plant will introduce disruptions and civilian brownouts but out of all industries, the metallurgical one is the easiest to decentralize. (-30 Mobilization Capacity for 2 Months)
[]Decentralization of Armaments Industries: Shell production needs to be organically built up to wartime standards more than it needs to be relocated and shifted around. Instead of focusing on moving the old industries directly, new ones can start to be constructed at a rapid pace. Shells are comparatively simple to print and can be done at scale from several smaller newly established plants. These would each not be able to provide enough for sustained operations but if the Enemy's way of war is at all similar to our own they might be sufficient. The massive lead costs for such operations will be significant as new printing capacity will be rapidly constructed but it will be necessary for the war to come. (-50 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Decentralization of Electronic Industries: Shifting away electronics production for non-militarized nodes is not possible but high yield 2nm production is available and machinery for 500mm wafers has already achieved 95% yields without much issue. These machines can be moved to every strategically important location and fortified with clean rooms built into otherwise innocuous buildings. Camouflage can only go so far and this will degrade immediate production but once the industry is relocated and fortified there is unlikely to be a shortage of basic chipsets on which most military hardware operates. (-20 Mobilization Capacity for 6 Months) (Will Disrupt Production)
[]AI Allocation Systems: Inventory management and Industrial management AI have been a mainstay of the state sector of the economy but they can be pushed further. Military allocations for strategic plants can be brought onto the unified system with algorithms focused on the regional and cross-regional allocation of production on a set series of methods and print bases. These will cause oversupply by design and likely have some issues in allocation but several aspects of the economy can be pushed to full-scale mobilization. Every plant, factory, workshop, and mine can be coordinated and brought into one cohesive economic system. (-40 Mobilization Capacity) (+10 Mobilization Capacity per Month)
[]Expansion of Mining Industries: Material packets from the orbits are not going to continue forever and the belts have been cut off, with much of the expected material still needing to be processed in orbit. This will lead to material shortages in the short and long term necessitating the full-scale opening of old mines and resuming extraction industries. The available amounts of metals on the planet are limited and several resources will have to be rationed but otherwise, the economy has possible six months of material left, maybe extended to twelve with strong rationalization. (-30 Mobilization Capacity) (Construction Project)
[]Rapid Plutonium Production: Nuclear warheads are the great equalizer and with the insistence of the Enemy on banning them they represent a unique vulnerability. Plutonium-producing piles can be localized regionally with deuterated lithium further distributed. Standardized warhead production plants can be fortified and self-contained, each producing a paltry fifty warheads a month but over forty of them are planned. Production will take at least two months to start but a steady supply of nuclear warheads will provide further munition options to compensate for field expenditure. (-40 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Redundant Power Grids: There is no limit to the amount of petroleum and gas in the ground, especially with more modern methods of energy generation. Accepting that large-scale fusion and nuclear plants will become battlegrounds or be destroyed in the first days of the invasion, old combustion plants can be relocated and fortified with new ones constructed on a high-efficiency turbine basis. The development of hundreds of small plants built under disguise and with flue gas injection used to disguise it enough to keep military industries stable and supplied under a concentrated campaign. (-25 Mobilization Capacity for 6 Months)
[]Third Generation Infantry Equipment: The immediate lessons learned from lunar combat have shown several Enemy vulnerabilities that can be compounded on. The presence of softer elements of their suits leaves them vulnerable while the use of heavier rifles has required the re-thinking of current defensive measures. The alien rifle is impossible to armor against but sufficient protection against both the carbine and machine gun can be reached across the front aspect and head. Improving camera redundancy is also expected for the next generation design, improving visibility and combat performance no matter how outmatched the individual infantryman is. These modifications will likely take two months to reach production models but they will be essential for increasing force durability. (-20 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Restart Theoretical Infantry Programs: The alien designs have proven that powered armor can be done on a reasonable weight package with a significant expansion in capability. None of the technologies on display can be replicated to a large extent but something of a shittier version can be made with current techniques. Basic systems to improve mobility can be centered around the legs with a hardened frame made to allow for that to support the rest of the weight available. Durability and agility will suffer but the use of heavier equipment in close quarters has shown that the enemy can be out-concentrated and defeated with a sufficient concentration of forces. (-15 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Improvised Vehicle Programs: Any vehicle that can be produced can be militarized without much modification. Car plants that cannot be converted to more advanced platforms will be modified to accept self-propelled guns or even recoilless rifles to provide effective fire. The platforms themselves will only have expansive foam armor against enemy infantry weapons and a thermal imager for the commander and gunner. These technicals have a wealth of manuals written on their optimal employment and a source of mobile fires is still a source of mobile fires. (-15 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Continue Expanding AFV Production: UNISA is meeting its original targets but the teams that have pioneered plant expansion can be further subdivided to continue raising production. The new plants will take months to establish themselves but expanding them will bring localized production to several islands. This tide of metal will primarily focus on basic versions and fast conversions as much of the design can be iterated up with even a questionably skilled workforce. New factories are going to take months to set up and would only start spooling in four months but starting construction now will ensure a constant tide of armor, with over thirty thousand hulls a month expected by summer 45 AE. (-30 Mobilization Capacity for 4 Months)
[]Type 36 Alternative Variants: Simple conversions of Type 36 to mortar carriers and alternative transports have been done as a matter of course but the hull has significantly more capability. Making variations capable of mounting MLRS racks, anti-aircraft munitions, carrying munitions as pure transports, and heavier artillery on a mobile platform. Some have even proposed a front aspect-only 152mm gun variant, capable of firing full-scale anti-armor darts and heavier HE shells in a direct-fire role to compensate for a lack of proper armor. All of these will take time to work out and more time to establish conversions for but with the production of guns and electronics a greater limiting factor than hulls, production can be scaled even further on the same platform. (-25 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Expanded Air Force Funding: The aviation enterprises have managed to produce more Type 45 Fighter Bombers than expected but they still need more support to keep the pace of manufacturing. Programs to expand turbine and avionics manufacturing will be started now as fuselages are if anything easier to produce than other components of the airframe. Parallel programs for in-progress modernizations will be started to improve resilience after first contact with the threat is made planetside. Further, new munitions are almost certainly going to be needed to fight the enemy especially once a counter-offensive is in full swing and fire support is a necessary and consistent factor. (-20 Mobilization Capacity for 3 Months)
[]Next Generation Cargo Ships: Cargo hulls are going to experience significant attrition no matter how many optimistic opinions are held. Increasing the shipbuilding industry as rapidly as possible and building up stocks of ships that can be sufficiently filled with foam to ensure that no amount of laser fire can compromise overall buoyancy. In theory, they will still be disabled by laser fire from orbit, but that will not be enough to bring the hulls down. If all else fails, the still floating hulls can be towed back to a dock to receive new diesel engines that are made for modular mounting, allowing a rapid return to combat service. (-20 Mobilization Capacity for 3 Months)
[]Submersible Shipyards: Building large shipyards capable of building large numbers of submersible cargo transports represents a major technical challenge but one that can be met. Cargo hulls built around 25m radius hull sections with vertical doors are entirely technically possible with a submergence depth of one hundred meters expected during cargo-carrying operations. Quieting is not going to be sufficient for modern standards but a simplified nuclear power plant will be enough for the rapid transportation of cargoes to islands under siege. Building the boats is going to take most of a year for even initial production but starting it will come at significant industrial expense and the commitment of large printers. (-60 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Accelerate Submarine Construction: There are not enough submarine dockyards to significantly raise production, but some measures can still be taken to accelerate production. Section building machinery can be expanded to produce more equipment for new submarines while missile production can be increased to compensate for any deficiencies. The new boats are going to have more issues than previous examples and the reactor cores will be built to a lower standard but any mobile anti-orbital strength cannot be under-estimated. (-40 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Expand Type 41 Car Production: The Type 41 car is adequate for most military purposes and can be rapidly modified to carry sufficient armor to defend against small arms on the front aspect. Further, they can be modified as light carriers for 90mm mortars for frontal use along with ATGM systems. Greater numbers of vehicles can also improve local transport capacity, bringing a light component to the military and rationalizing conscript forces by giving them some form of transport. With the deficiency of heavy metal, some lighter machinery is going to be needed and the cars are if anything simple to produce. (-15 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Found the Defense Engineering Command: There will be a bounty of alien equipment that needs to be turned against the enemy. It is likely to continue to contribute equipment, armor, and heavier systems that can rapidly be adapted toward combat potential. The groups of multi-disciplinary engineers needed for the rapid iteration of reverse engineering programs along with rapid prototyping are more of a consolidation of personnel than any specific technical capacity use. The largest issues will be organizational as forming an entirely new department under strong time constraints poses several challenges. (-10 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Emergency Starch Reserves: Building up the surge capacity of generation three starch organisms will be essential for maintaining continuous resistance against the enemy. These will mostly be built in the old way with massive plots of organisms organized at the shore and harvested using the available surplus labor. Yields are not expected to be great and the flavoring factories will have to be moved to continuous operation but a massive reserve of calories can be built up if the fighting takes several years, buying time for smaller-scale systems to be constructed. (-15 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Quantum Computing Systems: Gathering quantum computing systems and developing the capacity of local scientists to break the Enemy's code will be a massive undertaking but one that can be done. The encryption systems are better than those used by the Synod but not overwhelmingly and with enough computing performance they can be overcome. Most of the systems will be built in discrete bunkers with support personnel nearby continuing signal decryption for as long as necessary. If the alien radio signals can be cracked and unified then further analysis of their language can begin allowing active agitation operations against the invader. (-25 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Build Fortified Works in the North-Western Sector: The Northwest of Tir Na Nog is the sector with several critical facilities and industries. The launch ramp is elsewhere along with several other bases and the majority of factories, but it was the primary front for the war itself and represents some of the richest areas of the planet. These islands are war-torn but they need to be fortified to sufficiently repel the enemy. Military bases are overwhelmingly located here and strikes against it will almost certainly be made to degrade military infrastructure. The fortification effort will focus on the rapid construction of tunnels and bunker networks, hardening the area and providing several fortified fallback points if sizable regions are lost. (-50 Mobilization Capacity) (Construction)
[]Build Fortified Works in the Southern Sector: The cities across the south have been mostly close allies during the war with less developed territories and cities but vast tracts of land. Significant portions of planetary mining are in the South where the richest fields have been located along with the majority of petrochemical reserves. Defending the mines and smaller cities will be more challenging but it can still be done if programs are focused on the construction of rural tunnels, and hardened points, and ensuring that local resistance can continue even if formal organized resistance is driven away. (-40 Mobilization Capacity) (Construction)
[]Domestic Morale Programs: Resilience is expected from the general public and the army but that alone cannot hold together a nation in a war expected to kill tens of millions optimistically. The internet and internal networks can be tuned to improve support for the war with algorithms built in to eliminate several morale vulnerabilities. Reporting is still expected to be accurate in the broadest sense but every civilian needs to have in mind a theory of victory and how it can be accomplished even in the darkest hours of the Authority. Significant casualties will degrade morale but as long as every Seelie alive knows that the government will continue resistance to the last soldier morale is unlikely to entirely break. (-20 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Reinforce Internal Networks: Ensuring that most devices cannot read alien agitation and have it influence them will be essential. Software updates as something of a digital traceable IFF will be implemented to improve redundancy to enemy attacks on most devices along with moving to new standards of communication. Gains are not expected to come quickly but organizing a few thousand programmers to update the most commonly used systems to reduce the impact of alien agitation programs can save a significant degree of problems later. This is technically a resumption of the panopticon and would be unpopular if the situation was less dire but it needs to be done to eliminate the opportunity for the enemy to compromise current systems. (-15 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Department Six Evaluations: Starting positive testing of current commands, politicians, and organizations with evaluators pretending to be collaborators needs to start to eliminate resistance. Electronic back doors will be used to tempt critical figures to organize alien efforts on the planet with a following deployment of AID teams for their rapid neutralization on immediately implemented treason charges. Any susceptibility to the enemy needs to be cracked down on now or it will morph into a larger problem. For those who are curious and fail to report it a removal from an essential position will have to follow as constant testing will be essential for rooting out the worst spies and collaborators early. (-25 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Organize Department Eight: The alien language is partially known and their radios are similar in principle if with slightly altered functions to domestic ones. The mass broadcast of propaganda reports on every battle and the futility of their struggle can be started especially as more information is available. It may even be possible to encourage defectors through adequate use of informational control and constantly generated content. Providing the enemy with fresh lines of entertainment along with some political content alone can serve to undermine the morale of the force and it can be done on a minimal budget as the study of the Enemy is already underway. (-15 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Modernize the Space Fleet: The Daring and River class ships are obsolete useless machines that can accomplish little but there are several modifications each of the hulls can receive to do something useful. Excess crew habitation will be cut off in the yards and massive racks of basic short-range chemical-fueled missiles will be mounted with simple high-velocity kinetic warheads and a degree of lateral redundancy to protect against point defense on all ships. Drives are to be replaced with crude open-cycle gas core reactors scavenged from parts of the frigate program with limited radiation protection or defense capacity. None of the ships are likely to last outside of their initial passes, but they may be able to destroy critical alien fleet assets. (-30 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Refund the Applied Chemistry Department: Alien proteins have been scanned and analyzed and while so far little understanding has been made of their metabolism their neurological system is far more vulnerable. New-generation compounds can start being developed immediately to target their signaling systems and degrade force capability by forcing a higher pace of refits and cleaning. Sticking agents are going to be hard to develop without terrestrial armor examples but basic signal inhibitors can at least disable the enemy temporarily to increase rear-line attrition. Initial target compounds will be practically selected blindly with production certain to only slowly follow but in six months more advanced capabilities will be available. (-20 Mobilization Capacity)
[]Anti-Orbital Gun Upgrades(2/2): Continued modernization of the remaining batteries is going to cause gaps in coverage and significant issues in defending the planet if the Aliens make a sprint for the landing but it needs to be done. Battery effectiveness is massively increased from the upgrade package and if the time can be secured then low orbit can remain a significant threat to the Alien Enemy in sectors of relative control. Upgrades are going to be carried out in the same way as previously, with local sites dependent on the overall power grid as a temporary measure until more permanent power generation capacity can be established for each fortified complex. (-35 Mobilization Capacity)
12-Hour Moratorium Vote by Plan
