Utility on Civilian, mind. Escorts still use Weapon slots because they use Military spec equipment. Though, I may allow a specific Utility Design action for a military hangar. Might be less effective or survivable.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears (WH40k Design Bureau)
- Thread starter DaLintyGuy
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
Backroom Deals (Turn Five) (Reward: Opens Political Channels with Yttreum)
Welp, here is something I made. Enjoy!
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Backroom Deal.
In a smoky room overlooking the far off light of a white dwarf sat a man with a great coat garnished with sutures of gold and black. These were prayers and supplications as well as blessings and commands. There had been a time when it was traditional for every new owner of it to leave his or her mark on it, to weave a thought or perhaps a wish in some unused part of the great coat. But that time had ended so long ago that there was no room anywhere else to put needle to thread in it. And the thought of taking one of the others out to make room for a new addition, if it ever had been considered, would have been seen as enough to be undeserving of it.
As such, all the man that smoked out of a pipe holding, of all things, a gnarled yellowed nail that glowed faintly yellow as it burned needed to be recognized as a Captain and Commander of his House was to wear it.
It marked the room he was on as his. As well as the Servitor at the other side of the room behind a long pressed carbonfiber table who was attentively waiting an order to mix alcoholic drinks as his. The wider walkaway and extensive hub around the room was also his. Including the space station orbiting a long defunct world; That is to say, the former and not the latter was his. The man couldn't for the life of Him figure out how to profit out of a dead world. The armed sailors waiting outside the room, smoking blabs of fat out of a similar pipe as their boss, too along with anyone working in this little known and habitually little traveled trade hub answered, worked and lived for House Minurva.
Which was his.
All his.
And if things kept going like they were going, this might just be ALL he had.
"You have absolutely no idea how wonderful it is to be able to have something worth selling back home," A rather thin man with wide dull teeth carved out of horn told the Head of Minurva as he gleefully smelled the rather pungent block of stimulant before putting it on a pipe and lighting it up, "Why I wasn't sure this station was still around or had anything worth buying if it were. You really came through for me Jaghai."
"My Grox do nothing for me if their shit is just lying around fertilizing the ground," The apparent Jakhai huffed a black smoke as he offered an empty cup to the Serving Servitor, who promptly filled it up with sweet Almasec. The House Head wasn't being needlessly vulgar or figurative either. As it happened, Minurva Grox had been bred and fed for countless generations to provide a luxury that had a somewhat voracious demand. This made them rather weak and fragile as the fucking animals went, quick to dying or getting sick, but it also made them quick to grow and process the stimulants out of the decomposite coming out of Yttreum's chemical plants. All of this resulted in an animal whose flesh, bone and fat could be smoked up for a quick fix. The number one delicacy, though, came from their feces at the last stages of their lives, when their bodies where too bleached up with malignant toxins for even their robust biology to keep going. Their shit was quite literally many times worth more in a pipe then whatever possible use it could have had as fertilizer. And that was what the thin man was happily holding and puffing.
Jaghai himself found their hard parts, like their teeth or their nails, to provide a smoother and less odorous experience but to each their own.
"Still, I am surprised that you were sure I'd be coming by," The other man in the room replied with a grin as dragged air through the dark block and into the pipe, "What with the Orks and the Heretics around."
"If it wasn't you, someone else eventually would have. This route isn't so secret anymore Thorus," The House head grunted as he drank deep of his cup and grunted with satisfaction as he let himself relax a little. It used to be that this was a smuggling lane, one of a few routes that the Minerva House used to move high value luxury items without having to worry about getting taxed too much. As time went by and other Houses found themselves in need of similar arrangements, Minurva found it prudent and more profitable to allow a few others to use it as well while charging "convenience fees" of their own for any that wanted to avoid the wider Imperium tax. Then the slow decline in the Latvia sector saw more and more traditional routes become more and more dangerous until previously unknown and secret Lanes like these were the only ones that were relatively safe. But by no means completely.
"Perhaps, perhaps," Thorus jovially agreed as he offered his cup to the Servitor and had it refilled, "But I don't think you came here all the way from Yttreum to bum around in a trade hub nor talk to me unless there was something...amiss with our arrangement."
The thin man still had a generally happy tone to him, but the eyes he was eyeing the Cartel head with were nothing if not cautious and calculating.
And instead of responding, Jakhai hummed and calmly drunk from his cup as he turned his chair around to keep looking at the space beyond the transparent plasteel that made up the far side wall. Beyond it, Thorus' personal merchant ship along with the rest of his caravan could be seen docked into the trade hub, The Celtiberian. Lights could be seen as men were moving products and items to and from the ships, the activity of men a tiny patchwork of ants from this side of the station.
"Your ships seems new," Jakhai finally ended up saying pointing at the Merchant Freighter. Indeed, there were many elements in it not seen in older more prestigious ships, like the somewhat oversized thrusters on it's astern and the weird arrangements of protuberances that now made it's sensor suite.
"Hoho, you've got a good eye friend. It was a personal favor from the Hegemon and no mistake," Thorus, instead of being ashamed at having ditched his previously centuries old family freighter, proudly proclaimed as he pointed at his new chariot. Jakhai privately shook his head at how weird these Calavans were getting.
"Your armsmen also seem to have new 'uniforms'," The House Leader further prodded his long time business contract. If Thorus noticed, he hid it well as he drank his cup before walking to the transparent wall and pointing at location near his ship where sailors clad in the new Preserver armor were guarding one of the entrances that were being loaded inside of an umbilical tunnel.
"Let's just say that once the troops in old Calavan started rolling out with the new pins and threads, that there were extra suits of the new Void Armors to go around. And being the loyal lad I am, I decided that instead of troubling our boys in the government over misplaced suits, that I could simply cover the cost and take them off everyone's hands," The merchant man crowed with pride. He kept looking at his men and his ship for a while longer before turning to the Cartel Leader and looking him in the eye.
"What of it?"
There was a tinge of danger behind the question, as however good friends Thorus and Jakhia might be everyone knew that piracy was only piracy if there was someone alive to complain about it afterwards. Otherwise it was salvaging.
Jakhia snorted; He wasn't that desperate yet.
"Yttreum's needs them." The Minurva House head said with a slight smile as Thorus backed away from the other man, as his hand slowly reached for bulge in the side of his pants.
"Not these ones Thorus," Jakhia laughed as Thorus tensed for a moment before unclenching in relief. He was worried there for a bit.
"Everyone with eyes can see that Calavan is somehow pulling warships out of their sleeves when all they used to produce were old freighters like the one you used to have," The House head shook his head his head as he refilled his drink, "And if news are to be believed, that they have made many in roads in military equipment."
"I.... don't know what to tell you Jak," Thorus awkwardly said as he went back to table to down pick up his drink, "The Hegemon and the Navy are practically reserving all of the military ships coming out of there. Getting my Freighter loaded with what I did was an enormous effort all on it's own."
"Tell me that you'll present the Hegemon with this," Jakhia said as he reached into his jacket and pulled a leather scroll stamped with the official Minurva Stamp in red wax.
"On behalf of Yttreum and it's governing body, House Minurva asks and commisions Calavan with ships fit for war, and armor for it's men." The Yttreium trader noble respectful intoned as he slid the scroll into the Calavan trader's hands.
"I can only promise that I'll try to deliver this Jakhia, but it's not as if I hold a great amount of influence with the Hegemon or the navy. I would be honestly surprised if the latter has even heard of me," Thorus dubiously replied as he pocketed the scroll inside his vest.
"Everyone is pressed in this time Thorus, I know. But at the very least, some of your Escort Carriers with your newfangled strike craft would go along way. Failing that, the new Void Armor your men wear would give us a little more peace of mind." Jakhia confessed to his business contact. Minurva wasn't a particularly strong House in Yttreum, but the fact that they had lanes leading to Calavan had given it a particular opportunity to exploit these troubling times. Which was honestly all that was keeping the Trader House from being torned apart by it's rivals now that they smelled blood.
"Either way, Minurva and Yttreum would be very thankful."
"....I'll keep that in mind," Thorus replied as he finished his drink and got up from the table sensing that their meeting was at an end.
"Oh and Thorus?" Jakhia said as the Calavan trader was walking towards the exit, "Take care."
This made the Calavan man briefly pause with confusion before the jacketed man chortled, "I still need your money."
Thorus chuckled as he knocked on the door for one of Jakhian's armed sailors to open the door for him.
'And I still need your shit."
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Backroom Deal.
In a smoky room overlooking the far off light of a white dwarf sat a man with a great coat garnished with sutures of gold and black. These were prayers and supplications as well as blessings and commands. There had been a time when it was traditional for every new owner of it to leave his or her mark on it, to weave a thought or perhaps a wish in some unused part of the great coat. But that time had ended so long ago that there was no room anywhere else to put needle to thread in it. And the thought of taking one of the others out to make room for a new addition, if it ever had been considered, would have been seen as enough to be undeserving of it.
As such, all the man that smoked out of a pipe holding, of all things, a gnarled yellowed nail that glowed faintly yellow as it burned needed to be recognized as a Captain and Commander of his House was to wear it.
It marked the room he was on as his. As well as the Servitor at the other side of the room behind a long pressed carbonfiber table who was attentively waiting an order to mix alcoholic drinks as his. The wider walkaway and extensive hub around the room was also his. Including the space station orbiting a long defunct world; That is to say, the former and not the latter was his. The man couldn't for the life of Him figure out how to profit out of a dead world. The armed sailors waiting outside the room, smoking blabs of fat out of a similar pipe as their boss, too along with anyone working in this little known and habitually little traveled trade hub answered, worked and lived for House Minurva.
Which was his.
All his.
And if things kept going like they were going, this might just be ALL he had.
"You have absolutely no idea how wonderful it is to be able to have something worth selling back home," A rather thin man with wide dull teeth carved out of horn told the Head of Minurva as he gleefully smelled the rather pungent block of stimulant before putting it on a pipe and lighting it up, "Why I wasn't sure this station was still around or had anything worth buying if it were. You really came through for me Jaghai."
"My Grox do nothing for me if their shit is just lying around fertilizing the ground," The apparent Jakhai huffed a black smoke as he offered an empty cup to the Serving Servitor, who promptly filled it up with sweet Almasec. The House Head wasn't being needlessly vulgar or figurative either. As it happened, Minurva Grox had been bred and fed for countless generations to provide a luxury that had a somewhat voracious demand. This made them rather weak and fragile as the fucking animals went, quick to dying or getting sick, but it also made them quick to grow and process the stimulants out of the decomposite coming out of Yttreum's chemical plants. All of this resulted in an animal whose flesh, bone and fat could be smoked up for a quick fix. The number one delicacy, though, came from their feces at the last stages of their lives, when their bodies where too bleached up with malignant toxins for even their robust biology to keep going. Their shit was quite literally many times worth more in a pipe then whatever possible use it could have had as fertilizer. And that was what the thin man was happily holding and puffing.
Jaghai himself found their hard parts, like their teeth or their nails, to provide a smoother and less odorous experience but to each their own.
"Still, I am surprised that you were sure I'd be coming by," The other man in the room replied with a grin as dragged air through the dark block and into the pipe, "What with the Orks and the Heretics around."
"If it wasn't you, someone else eventually would have. This route isn't so secret anymore Thorus," The House head grunted as he drank deep of his cup and grunted with satisfaction as he let himself relax a little. It used to be that this was a smuggling lane, one of a few routes that the Minerva House used to move high value luxury items without having to worry about getting taxed too much. As time went by and other Houses found themselves in need of similar arrangements, Minurva found it prudent and more profitable to allow a few others to use it as well while charging "convenience fees" of their own for any that wanted to avoid the wider Imperium tax. Then the slow decline in the Latvia sector saw more and more traditional routes become more and more dangerous until previously unknown and secret Lanes like these were the only ones that were relatively safe. But by no means completely.
"Perhaps, perhaps," Thorus jovially agreed as he offered his cup to the Servitor and had it refilled, "But I don't think you came here all the way from Yttreum to bum around in a trade hub nor talk to me unless there was something...amiss with our arrangement."
The thin man still had a generally happy tone to him, but the eyes he was eyeing the Cartel head with were nothing if not cautious and calculating.
And instead of responding, Jakhai hummed and calmly drunk from his cup as he turned his chair around to keep looking at the space beyond the transparent plasteel that made up the far side wall. Beyond it, Thorus' personal merchant ship along with the rest of his caravan could be seen docked into the trade hub, The Celtiberian. Lights could be seen as men were moving products and items to and from the ships, the activity of men a tiny patchwork of ants from this side of the station.
"Your ships seems new," Jakhai finally ended up saying pointing at the Merchant Freighter. Indeed, there were many elements in it not seen in older more prestigious ships, like the somewhat oversized thrusters on it's astern and the weird arrangements of protuberances that now made it's sensor suite.
"Hoho, you've got a good eye friend. It was a personal favor from the Hegemon and no mistake," Thorus, instead of being ashamed at having ditched his previously centuries old family freighter, proudly proclaimed as he pointed at his new chariot. Jakhai privately shook his head at how weird these Calavans were getting.
"Your armsmen also seem to have new 'uniforms'," The House Leader further prodded his long time business contract. If Thorus noticed, he hid it well as he drank his cup before walking to the transparent wall and pointing at location near his ship where sailors clad in the new Preserver armor were guarding one of the entrances that were being loaded inside of an umbilical tunnel.
"Let's just say that once the troops in old Calavan started rolling out with the new pins and threads, that there were extra suits of the new Void Armors to go around. And being the loyal lad I am, I decided that instead of troubling our boys in the government over misplaced suits, that I could simply cover the cost and take them off everyone's hands," The merchant man crowed with pride. He kept looking at his men and his ship for a while longer before turning to the Cartel Leader and looking him in the eye.
"What of it?"
There was a tinge of danger behind the question, as however good friends Thorus and Jakhia might be everyone knew that piracy was only piracy if there was someone alive to complain about it afterwards. Otherwise it was salvaging.
Jakhia snorted; He wasn't that desperate yet.
"Yttreum's needs them." The Minurva House head said with a slight smile as Thorus backed away from the other man, as his hand slowly reached for bulge in the side of his pants.
"Not these ones Thorus," Jakhia laughed as Thorus tensed for a moment before unclenching in relief. He was worried there for a bit.
"Everyone with eyes can see that Calavan is somehow pulling warships out of their sleeves when all they used to produce were old freighters like the one you used to have," The House head shook his head his head as he refilled his drink, "And if news are to be believed, that they have made many in roads in military equipment."
"I.... don't know what to tell you Jak," Thorus awkwardly said as he went back to table to down pick up his drink, "The Hegemon and the Navy are practically reserving all of the military ships coming out of there. Getting my Freighter loaded with what I did was an enormous effort all on it's own."
"Tell me that you'll present the Hegemon with this," Jakhia said as he reached into his jacket and pulled a leather scroll stamped with the official Minurva Stamp in red wax.
"On behalf of Yttreum and it's governing body, House Minurva asks and commisions Calavan with ships fit for war, and armor for it's men." The Yttreium trader noble respectful intoned as he slid the scroll into the Calavan trader's hands.
"I can only promise that I'll try to deliver this Jakhia, but it's not as if I hold a great amount of influence with the Hegemon or the navy. I would be honestly surprised if the latter has even heard of me," Thorus dubiously replied as he pocketed the scroll inside his vest.
"Everyone is pressed in this time Thorus, I know. But at the very least, some of your Escort Carriers with your newfangled strike craft would go along way. Failing that, the new Void Armor your men wear would give us a little more peace of mind." Jakhia confessed to his business contact. Minurva wasn't a particularly strong House in Yttreum, but the fact that they had lanes leading to Calavan had given it a particular opportunity to exploit these troubling times. Which was honestly all that was keeping the Trader House from being torned apart by it's rivals now that they smelled blood.
"Either way, Minurva and Yttreum would be very thankful."
"....I'll keep that in mind," Thorus replied as he finished his drink and got up from the table sensing that their meeting was at an end.
"Oh and Thorus?" Jakhia said as the Calavan trader was walking towards the exit, "Take care."
This made the Calavan man briefly pause with confusion before the jacketed man chortled, "I still need your money."
Thorus chuckled as he knocked on the door for one of Jakhian's armed sailors to open the door for him.
'And I still need your shit."
Interesting. Makes sense as well, that the previous "underground" would be used to attempt to avoid more traveled regions.
Pick yer poison:
A) A Friend in Need: Yttreum needs ships and equipment, more than Bagalog is willing or able to provide. [Allows for the playing of politics with your neighbor, bribing them into your sphere in exchange for Hulls]
B) Is a Friend Indeed: Calavar needs ships and equipment. It also has the machinery and labor to work over crippled ships. [Allows the buying of Imperial Navy hulls when Yttreum gains them in exchange for new Hulls]
Fezzes
Knight of King Stannis Baratheon
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
I'm starting to feel as though we should get a bit more general with some of our design actions. Like, propose a problem/outline and let it be solved with something appropriate, rather than proposing both problem and solution. For one it's a bit more immersive, but it also means we avoid things like the players going off on an impractical flight of fancy like going for servitor counterboarders rather than better marines, or driving into an entirely new direction with lances instead of taking the open path that we have an example for to study and recreate.
Rolls play a part, sure, but we're not exactly helping the bonuses. I'm not saying "stop trying to innovate", before anyone starts up. I'm just saying the QM clearly has a better idea of the goings on of his quest than we do, what with the combat servitors continually being mistaken for a whole counterboarding measure, so I reckon we should let him do what makes sense a bit more often.
Rolls play a part, sure, but we're not exactly helping the bonuses. I'm not saying "stop trying to innovate", before anyone starts up. I'm just saying the QM clearly has a better idea of the goings on of his quest than we do, what with the combat servitors continually being mistaken for a whole counterboarding measure, so I reckon we should let him do what makes sense a bit more often.
Ooooh damn, that's quite a hard choice there. B has the potential to be a better long term investment while A is a way better immediate investment.
Ergh, I think I will go with A)
It could be a whole counterboarding measure, but as an Addon it is closer to an "afterthought" rather than the bulk of the system.
I'd eye a full sized suite of Servitors with your current tech at 2M,4A, and not need a specific Design action.
Right you are then.
Crafter of War
The Dorf
- Location
- Bend
Ah, I was hoping to convince you against picking that one. Since if their loyalties can be brought by us, they can be brought by others. Oh well.
Well, yeah, but the other one is only going to show up when Yttreum has ship hulls to trade with us, not when we have spare ships to trade with them. I like having the initiative that the first one gives us.
There's also a slight policy difference between the two, where the former option is more charitable whereas the latter is a simple transaction.
Happerry
Bat out of Hell
- Location
- Kanto
My point was more then we've already got something so we aren't helpless then claiming that it'd be enough for everything. It has worked so far though, thankfully. Even if it wouldn't hurt to get a proper new housing design done sometime soon, and by wouldn't hurt I mean 'we probably should do it'.
I kinda want to make the next design phase be a fundamentals upgrade one, and get a new life support, new housing, new warp engine, and, hmm, probably a next generation shield design? Or a disruption weapon of some sort, lance or battery.
To be fair, I'm pretty sure everyone who was active in the quest back then remembers that it was originally a utility part that got converted into an add on to make it easier to fit onto our ships. We do have plenty of new faces as this quest grows who weren't around back then though.
And also to be fair, it is a counter-boarding measure, it's just... well, a counter boarding measure at the level of an add on, not a full component.
Edit : On another note, calling the kill-bots a 'flight of fancy' is a bit of a 'uuuuh' moment given that we've seen them working in multiple battle reports to drive off and generally happen to boarders. If they aren't perfect, well, neither are any of the rest of our first wave designs. I don't see why they get called out for needing to be upgraded past when everything else we made back then also needs an upgrade to a better version sooner or later.
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jwolfe_beta
Semi Genre-Savvy Overlord
- Location
- Canada
Well if nothing else here are some potential ideas that people can crib from/modify:
(Life support) 'Oasis' Life support system. By enhancing and expanding the air scrubbers from the minimalist designs present in merchant vessels, the Oasis can handle not only larger numbers of crew but can more easily filter and remove toxic gases created by battle damage and other accidents.
(Housing) 'Bastion' housing complex. Further experience with ship building has allowed for more effective placement of ratings and deckhands living space; giving better 'elbow room' while keeping mass and space costs low. As an additional benefit, this redesign includes security garrisons at vital locations (reactor, warp drive etc) to counter on-board rebellions or boarding attempts.
(Warp drive) 'Longstride' Warp engine. While the typical drive itilized in merchant shipping suffice, the minimal use of technology and advanced components to save costs caused them to have slow charge times, greatly limited speed through the Warp and not being suited for fast/emergency jumps. The Longstride was Calavar's first attempt at improving their engines to something closer to what is utilized on Imperial Navy ships.
Fezzes
Knight of King Stannis Baratheon
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
Random unrelated note, I feel like I keep ending up in disagreements with you across various quests. It's really weird, we practically always seem to look at things in opposing ways. At least, you know, worthy opponent and all.
Anyway, I call them that because they are. They're obviously a tech-intensive thing, requiring A being a fairly foreseeable cost of them given our circumstances, meaning that they're hard to install everywhere, which is insufficient when everywhere needs anti-boarding defences. Something more practical would be able to be put everywhere with much greater ease, providing superior coverage and more general defences by being more distributed. It also quite likely wouldn't be so limited that even the original intended design specifies that they can't support offensive action.
Just because they work, sometimes, doesn't mean they're a particularly good choice.
NeonLights
Formerly Reliable_2IC
- Location
- In shambles
The only thing I can think of that fits all of that criteria would be having an add-on that allows for more marines. Wouldn't be bad, but is less murderous and less expendable.
I could have done with a little more love for the IG, like have Leman Russ shoot that bigger Destroyer thing in the face right in the face or have the IG rally behind the SoB and SM.
Happerry
Bat out of Hell
- Location
- Kanto
It's not like 'better naval armsmen' would be much better, though? Not against hordes of either chaos slaves, whom are 100% more scared of what's behind them then in front of them, or against orks, which are, well, orks. They might not have been worse, granted, but it's pretty unlikely an equivalent attachment would be superior given that the limited space and headcounts involved in attachments bias towards individual quality. And if we're talking full on components instead, then we should compare the originally suggested full on kill bot component, not the add on version, and given neither full on killbot part nor full on armsmen part has been designed, we can both insist until time runs out that one would be better then the other and never actually have any proof.
Meanwhile, fire and forget the attachment killbots might be, but they're fire and forget that's happened to multiple boarding attempts in multiple battle reports against enemies that might just go 'ho ho ho dem humies think they be tough enough' verses any normal soldiers we could put out. And as an attachment, even if we get an anti-boarding life support/crew component, it's not like we're going to not be putting them on our new ships either to lead counter-assaults and break the teeth of enemy assaults with the scream of chain and rampaging robot.
...Also, hard to install everywhere? Wut? I know you're new to this quest, but you need to go reread more of the logs if that's what you think. They're installed on basically all of our ships because the the exact opposite is true, they've been damn cheap for the entire preceding quest, both in terms of slots because as an add on they can just be added on, in terms of refit time because add ons don't require the entire ship to go into the dock for refit, and in cost because 'oh hey I have three M left, what should I do with them' has consistently been answered as 'time to put killbots on more of our ships! it is cheap and convenient to do so, letting us use all our budget efficiently and they have been shown on screen to be good at killing boarders!'.
If they were actually hard to install, a lot less of our ships would be equipped with them then 'every single one of our main squadron ships besides the two Resolute-As', and they lack them only because I forget they did not have them already last build phase.
Costing in Artisan has been a lot cheaper then Manufacturing so far, really, if from the lack of things to spend it on as much as anything else. As such, the Servitor Defense Stations are still very arguably the main thing we want to spend it on given that the other two things we could spend it on are both specialist tools, and more then that specialty tools which are both generally meant to do the same thing. That thing being being 'provide a better anti-heavy defense solution'. Which given that most of our enemies so far have, er, not been heavy defense ships to put it lightly, and all our ships have to worry about boarding issues such that even if we had a crew component that goes 'put tanks on all our ships to run over boarders with proper armor!' it'd still probably be a good idea to give them SDS...
Well, the SDS has by no means hit the point of 'hard to pay for' yet.
Meanwhile, if we want to talk about canon uses of Murder-Servitors in boarding combat, are you aware that there's an entire component about outfitting your ship with them in the Rogue Trader RPG, as well as several canon types of them that were designed to supplement shipboard security/boarding parties, such as the Lathe Pattern Murder Servitor? Or the part where the Adeptus Mechanicus often uses combat Servitors as general infantry? (Or, in some cases, as de-facto armored vehicles) The Rogue Trader ship component was the direct original inspiration for the original suggested 'kill bot utility part' idea, in fact.
Or do that suggested life support design that is able to convert rooms into air-fuel bombs on demand to blow up enemy boarders.
Meanwhile, fire and forget the attachment killbots might be, but they're fire and forget that's happened to multiple boarding attempts in multiple battle reports against enemies that might just go 'ho ho ho dem humies think they be tough enough' verses any normal soldiers we could put out. And as an attachment, even if we get an anti-boarding life support/crew component, it's not like we're going to not be putting them on our new ships either to lead counter-assaults and break the teeth of enemy assaults with the scream of chain and rampaging robot.
...Also, hard to install everywhere? Wut? I know you're new to this quest, but you need to go reread more of the logs if that's what you think. They're installed on basically all of our ships because the the exact opposite is true, they've been damn cheap for the entire preceding quest, both in terms of slots because as an add on they can just be added on, in terms of refit time because add ons don't require the entire ship to go into the dock for refit, and in cost because 'oh hey I have three M left, what should I do with them' has consistently been answered as 'time to put killbots on more of our ships! it is cheap and convenient to do so, letting us use all our budget efficiently and they have been shown on screen to be good at killing boarders!'.
If they were actually hard to install, a lot less of our ships would be equipped with them then 'every single one of our main squadron ships besides the two Resolute-As', and they lack them only because I forget they did not have them already last build phase.
Costing in Artisan has been a lot cheaper then Manufacturing so far, really, if from the lack of things to spend it on as much as anything else. As such, the Servitor Defense Stations are still very arguably the main thing we want to spend it on given that the other two things we could spend it on are both specialist tools, and more then that specialty tools which are both generally meant to do the same thing. That thing being being 'provide a better anti-heavy defense solution'. Which given that most of our enemies so far have, er, not been heavy defense ships to put it lightly, and all our ships have to worry about boarding issues such that even if we had a crew component that goes 'put tanks on all our ships to run over boarders with proper armor!' it'd still probably be a good idea to give them SDS...
Well, the SDS has by no means hit the point of 'hard to pay for' yet.
Meanwhile, if we want to talk about canon uses of Murder-Servitors in boarding combat, are you aware that there's an entire component about outfitting your ship with them in the Rogue Trader RPG, as well as several canon types of them that were designed to supplement shipboard security/boarding parties, such as the Lathe Pattern Murder Servitor? Or the part where the Adeptus Mechanicus often uses combat Servitors as general infantry? (Or, in some cases, as de-facto armored vehicles) The Rogue Trader ship component was the direct original inspiration for the original suggested 'kill bot utility part' idea, in fact.
The current defense is already an add on though? While more naval armsmen isn't a bad idea to increase our baseline, we might as well go for a whole new housing component so we get a lot more naval armsmen instead of only a limited amount and better overall fortifications. If we're sticking with an attachment's worth of extra troops, that's very biased towards individual ability and capacity because of the limited headcount. So if we want another defense attachment it should probably be exo-frame troops or something akin, not just a handful of armsmen.
Or do that suggested life support design that is able to convert rooms into air-fuel bombs on demand to blow up enemy boarders.
Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
- Location
- At Home
Besides all of the above points, the Preserver Armor design has already improved the armsmen on our ships.
Turn Five Strategy Phase Results: Hulk, Homnan Purge, Lativa Patrols, Uniary Defense, Gehault Contact
Plan: Through the Warp & Diplomacy
With the successes of the past years the Admiralty authorized a period of consolidation. The death of Jawbreaka allowed for simple purgation of the Homnan worlds which would prevent new Warbosses from arising in that area while Uniary needed to be cleansed and it's manufactorums reactivated. Even with the predicted increase in productivity of the Calavan shipyards from the ongoing reconstruction such a source of modern materials was desirable.
That there were numerous Chaos aligned scouts looking into the system made the Admiralty wary, and so they deployed their best warships to the region.
1st Calavar Void Army: Central
(Secure control of the Hulk, recover technology)
Finding the Space Hulk once more was an exercise in patience as the Patrol Squadron and other shipping kept an eye out for unfamiliar contacts. First one and then another were found but these were false alarms. Even when the target, given the ident-phrase "Dark Home", was sighted for certain it warped away before the correct assets could be brought in.
But the Calavan forces only had to get lucky once. The destruction of most of the active Warp drives in the Hulk by a careful series of cannon shells despite intermittent and ineffective counter fire caused it to be tethered to the area rather than roam as it had. With a distinct area of operations set it was time for the infantry to do their job.
With the Profit of Skill providing overwatch and fire support the newly formed forces of the First Calavar Void Army were sent across to land on the random mass of the Dark Home. Shelter Exoskeletons disembarked down the ramps of Harbinger gunships, joining their fire with that of the turrets that bristled along the craft for this exact purpose. Towering Orks in leaky scrap suits howled with glee as they fire with reckless abandon: rockets corkscrewing into the ground and Calavan targets, streams of tracers darting both ways, and bodies being flung off the uneven mass by the impact of weaponry.
This minor group of greenskins were quickly dispatched as the second, third, and forth waves of Calavan soldiers were landed in the glow of far off stars to be greeted by their predecessors dotted with the emergence spires of the sealing foam used in their underlayers.
Pushing into the target vessel was more difficult as the environment necessarily became more constricted. Snarling Orks clashed with exoskeletons in fierce battles of strength, something the Orks were terrifyingly even in. But as dangerous as each greenskin was the Humans who fought them outnumbered them ten times over and where an Ork grappled with an exoskeleton over the remains of another the rest of the squad hacked at the alien with their own swords.
To the surprise of all involved, the Orks were the only enemies found on the wreck. Within the unfamiliar frigate stone faced Human soldiers met the new arrivals with distrust, bearing a dozen colors and markings under the symbol of their current master. Mercenaries, sworn levies, and troops seconded as "payment" to a Freeblade Knight.
This Knight was revealed to the Calavans as more than just a man when a squad travelling down the transfer halls in the ship came across a walker locked in combat with an equally massive monster. An Orkoid creature at fist look, further study showed the sickly taint of the Great Enemy across it's rippling hide even as an oversized chainsword hacked at the unnaturally durable hide. It was distinctly unsettling and awe inspiring in equal measure to see a machine that fought like a man rather than the simple movements of the Shelter exoskeletons, as the Knight wove away from bites and parried claw strikes with it's weapon. The addition of the firepower of several platoons of exoskeletons sent the foul thing scurrying back into the depths of the ship to avoid the righteous doom the defenders carried in their hands.
A salute from the Knight led to the two sides formally introducing themselves. The Knight Scion, now known as Dervaius Noctris of the House of Noctris of the world Gotin in the Eostina Subsector that neighbored Lativa to the West, wasted no time in unveiling his plan as well as the danger that all aboard were in. The Hulk was irregular in it's Warp dives and so his frigate needed to be cut loose from the mass before the next dive by means of the plasma charges his Sacristans had already prepared. The predators of the Warp were forced to play by the rules of the Materium when inside the area of effect of the Gellar Field but they were endless and only gaining in number.
Odds that were insurmountable for the band of survivors were quite manageable for a fresh section of void equipped soldiers led by a quintet of Knights.
Dervaius was profuse in his thanks for the rescue of himself, his ship, and his retainers. The story of how he got in those circumstances was quite short: hired by a Rogue Trader nosing close to the Silent Stars that made up the southeast border of Lativa in search of archaeotech, had to make an emergency exit to avoid getting annihilated by a single Escort, and ended up in the Warp for a year or so before getting relieved by the Calavan forces.
When he heard about the state of the Subsector he simply nodded and volunteered his services. Some payment would be earned, of course, but his honor would let him do nothing else.
[Gain House Noctris Lance (Army Attachment): A Knight Paladin, three Knight Warglaives, and a Knight Armsman (an Armiger armed with weapons for supporting the Paladin, in this case a Punisher Cannon for infantry control and a trio of oversized rocket tubes equipped for wire guidance and capable of nuclear deployment) backed by a million or so soldiers hardened by constant combat against the denizens of the Warp.]
[2M in Army damage and suit maintenance]
3rd Naval Squadron + 1st & 2nd Bridgehead Armies + 3rd Calavar Infantry Army + 1st Crusade Defense Army North: Homnan League
(Proceed with the ongoing offensive)
The Ork infestation on the world Jawbreaka had claimed has been broken. New Orks spawn somewhat frequently but a minimal presence from the Alignment is proof against them for the immediate future.
With the amount of reinforcements that had been provided by the Admiralty the commander in the field made the decision to start independent operations in the theater in order to move the timetable forward faster and to move Crusade forces away from the Dark Star forces. None of the available targets stood out on the strategy level and so the first landing of the combined force was on Liawei. A world of jungles and deep seas that had once been a vacation spot for the rich and powerful to explore the natural vistas. Now it was a playground for the powerful Orks that now oppressed the local population and made sport of those who did not work satisfactorily.
The Crusade forces arrived in orbit with little warning, brushing aside the two scrapships that had been present for the Human force's arrival with little fuss. Harbinger transports dropped formations of Carapace armored infantry for the initial zone seizure to allow for the armies proper to get situated. Ambushing random bands of marauding greenskins turned to skirmishing for position which gave way to the defense of field fortifications that ended with methodical Human advances to take, secure, and hold territory. Daring infantry raids by the elite vanguard formations broke the varying security of work camps the Human inhabitants had been crowded into and held until relieved by coordinated offensives by the rest of the Crusade forces on the world.
But ill tidings came from without. To the north, within and near the former territory of WAAAGH!! Jawbreaka, new leaders were emerging. Gutrippa, a brutish bruiser that had been entrusted with the protection and "motivation" of the slaves, and Metalrenda, a former Mekboy of Whazzazzappa. Their forming fleets pillaged the former worlds of the Homnan League, clashing with each other and all comers alike as they vied for recruits, "recruits", and slaves to continue building their war machines. Many of these ships bit off more than they could chew and were set adrift in the void, either when a Metalrenda ship had it's complement of fighter-bombers overmatched by Furies or a Gutrippa assault corvette was shelled into molten oblivion by the recent plasma shells while making a run at the Armor of Hatred.
[Two new challengers have appeared in the ruins of WAAAGH!! Jawbreaka.
5M in ship repairs
Three of the five Homnan League worlds are reasonably well purged of ambient Orks]
1st Auxiliary Squadron + 2nd Torpedo Squadron + 1st & 2nd Crusade Assault Armies + 7th & 8th Crusade Guard Infantry Armies + 1st Aerial Combat Army: Shrine World Lativa
(Annihilate the Orks)
The Second Torpedo Squadron was special for it's method of construction. Paid for with donations large and small by the most religious of Calavar's population, their origin was commemorated on their hulls with the symbol of the Ecclesiarchy in secondary places. Such a fact caught the curiosity of the people of the Shrine World as the existence of armed warships under the banner of the Ecclesiarchy was prohibited by ancient agreements.
These ships had naturally gathered many of the more zealous of the Crusade's number into their crews simply because of the staunch belief in the increased purity of their cause. The purpose of the Crusade was holy, no one would deny that, but these were the ones that reveled in following the Imperial Creed and all it's tenets. Their ships resembled those of the Imperial Navy of old the most of all those hulls that had left Calavar's drydocks, coming the closest to being mobile armed cathedrals dedicated to the preservation of Faith and Humanity in these trying times.
Such tendencies only grew stronger once the Emperor's Daughters reviewed the crews and their ships and approved of their dedication. A handful of lesser Sisters, Militant and otherwise, volunteered to voyage with these lesser shrines to the Emperor to ensure that the devotion shown was not merely to be seen by Man and to nurture the crews sworn as such so that they did not falter in their duties.
Armed by the labors of their homeworld and protected in their Faith the twin Lights of the Second Torpedo Squadron set out into the void with a burning desire that dovetailed neatly with their given goal: cut the enemy's numbers.
The majority of the enemy vessels found were engaged with shells rather than the Torpedoes the two warships carried, trusting in their armor to blunt the return blows. A weaponized Space Hulk being prepared by a lucky Warboss for a random attack to that very particular place known as "anywhere but here" was dealt with by a single volley of ordnance, three nuclear blasts flooding the halls with superheated plasma and blowing several pieces off of the agglomerate mass through overpressure alone.
On the ground the situation was slightly different. The mobile Assault armies were well suited for reaving through dispersed Ork populations before either consolidating or changing the axis of their attack. In the skies above the Savior Multiroles enjoyed supremacy over the rare airframe the local Meks managed to slap together and roamed with near impunity to engage targets in support of the ground troops. The odd vehicle, Ork "settlements", and hitting Nobs with antivehicle lascannon when bored.
[Area remains pacified
2M in ship repairs, 2M in army repairs, 6M in ordnance costs
8th Crusade Infantry permanently detached]
1st Support Squadron + 2nd Naval Squadron + 1st Torpedo Squadron + 1st & 2nd Crusade Siege Armies + Calavar Holy Shield Army + 2nd Crusade Defense Army, [Forces Present: 1st Calavar Armored Army + 5th Bailafax Infantry Army + 2nd Calavar Infantry]: Uniary
(Aggressive Attack)
For the infantry and tankers on Uniary combat was best described as "typical". When the enemy was found there was no quarter or respite offered to either side. The victor of the smallest skirmish and the largest purge was whoever was left alive after the shooting and slashing stopped. Sometimes the Khornate cultists would break and flee, slithering through the cracks in their home Hive to escape the kill squads and tanks.
Very few made the mistake of stepping outside the confines of the Hives, where the intercity tunnels made evading the blocking forces difficult and the sulfurous wastes provided no cover against the Fusion Breaker of the Wages of Sin.
Yet not everything was looking up. Scouting vessels from the nearby cults were commonly spotted emerging on the edge of the system and warily eyeing the Crusade forces around Uniary before warping away. A disturbing development it was agreed as it implied independent confirmation. And if the Traitor forces were working together…
The Admiraly dispatched it's greatest force to safeguard the region. The newly built Long Arm with it's currently unique Lance capability, the Indomitable with it's armored gun decks, the Warrior as the first Spatha Pattern warship, and the Aegis Immortal which had been part of the original defenders of the Crusade. A great assemblage of heavy metal, poised precariously in that position of overmatching any other local production yet beneath the notice of most warships in the galaxy.
Hostile ships gathered at the edge of the system. Cultist fleets drew up their ranks and eyed the world with undisguised desire while keeping their other on their supposed allies. Khorne, Nurgle and Tzeentch; all were represented in this unlikely alliance of Chaos Undivided. The Primordial Truth was under threat and so all those pledged to the Ruinous Powers answered, for to stand alone was to die alone.
The Carmine Glory stood alone as the only available and acceptable offering to the campaign by the nearest Khornates as her attendants pushed back against the handful of ships still flowing in the aftermath of Legcutta's attack. A Firestorm in the symbols of Nurgle held nearby, staring balefully at the pack of barely restrained shipping that made up the bulk of the Traitor retribution fleet who in turn made regular passes at the trio of Tzeentchian ships that had joined and in reply threw a bolt of warpfire that had more in common with ship gunnery than psykery. Two Claymores under Nurgle's banner came from the Bastion of Kandahar.
A half dozen Raiders from Incleon rounded out the incoming fleet before the assorted mix of transports arrived.
[Combat Initiated
Enemy Forces:
1x Carmine Glory (minor damage)
14x Civilian Freighters (Khornate)
1x Bulk Hauler (Khornate)
1x Firestorm Frigate (Nurglite)
2x Claymore Corvettes (Nurglite)
2x Civilian Freighters (Tzeentchian)
1x Bulk Hauler (Tzeentchian)
6x Raiders (Incleon)
Friendly Forces:
Second Naval Squadron
-Indomitable-class Heavy Frigate
-Long Arm-class Heavy Frigate
-Warrior-class Corvette
-Resolute-class Corvette
-Escort Carrier
Support Squadron
-Ferryman-class Troopship
-Scorn-class Bombardment Ship
First Torpedo Squadron
-2x Castigation-class Torpedo Corvettes
Ground Forces (1st & 2nd Crusade Siege Armies + Calavar Holy Shield Army + 2nd Crusade Defense Army, 5th Bailafax Infantry, 2nd Calavar Infantry, 1st Calavar Armored)]
For their part the Crusade Squadron judged the enemy as they grew and agreed that victory would be difficult. Their goal was to be survival and to bleed the enemy, rather than immediately try to stop them.
The first act of the enemy was naturally to deploy their chaff to test the waters. Ten Khornate freighters started burning towards Uniary and the Crusade warships orbiting it, causing the captain of the Aegis Immortal to pull the Loyalist ships behind the world they were protecting and forcing the incoming enemies to give up the freedom of maneuver that came with operating in the deep void outside of planetary orbits.
After inserting into orbit above the Hive World the Khornate ships kept away from any pretenses and simply rushed towards the gathered Loyalists. What deck space they had available launched shuttles and assault boats ahead of the greater force to overwhelm the Furies of the Due Excise with targets. Most of these craft buzzed impotently around the Loyalist fleet in the absence of battle damage to take advantage of but some managed to grapple and cut into their targets before getting blown apart by the Harbingers that had been lofted by the Wages of Sin and Crusader's Conquest.
Once inside there was little respite, as the shipboard marines had been issued new equipment as it became available. Self contained breathing equipment for combat independent of the atmosphere around them was standard on every soldier, while platoons of armsmen had a combat exoskeleton for support. Possessed cultists were a problem as they could usually make it through all but the most devastating volleys the ship security teams could manage to cut apart a handful of Calavan soldiers and disrupt the firing line for their fellows, but the number of boarders was low enough that those gains were marginal at best.
The ships coming behind were bracketed by a devastating array of gunnery. Bombers picked out two of the incoming sacrifices and blew their sterns apart in a pyrotechnic display of fuel ionized by atomic flares while the limited protection the ships mounted were of little use against the weapons aimed at them.
Regular volleys of shells blew out shields and penetrated armor as the Khornates edged closer to the Crusade forces on the bridge displays. Some of the oncoming ships spilled out of the loose formation because of internal damage, others crumpled inwards as structural beams gave out and the engines jackknifed the ship in half, while others plowed through the barrages with eager anticipation even as their menials were massacred in the front portions of the ship. Lance strikes from the Long Arm bored holes into its targets and caused variable amounts of damage due to the precise nature of Lances. Ranging from missing anything important to punching into the engineering spaces of an unlucky target.
The Loyalists cottoned onto the true intention of this first strike before it occurred, sending the Crusade force from a solid wall of gunnery into a blossoming swirl of evading ships. More angles were opened onto the enemy but the potential of that fact was tempered by the need to avoid the incoming ramming ships.
The Aegis of Hatred took a hit to her port side, gouging into the gun equipment on that side. She came off better than her opponent who had crumpled slightly at the hit and stopped maneuvering. The Wages of Sin tried to evade but gave it up as a bad job and instead took the "simple" option of unloading a Fusion Breaker shell into the looming enemy ship. It didn't fully destroy the Khornate freighter but it did do enough to off balance the remaining mass such that the prospective rammer missed.
Supposedly, the captain of the Aegis of Hatred looked at the damage to their ship and answered with a scoff. "These broken Traitors have less of a sense of self preservation than an Ork. At least the greenskins build their piles to do what they plan on doing. As reports come in from DamCon I want to be alerted as soon as they give a time frame for those guns to be brought back online."
What this did do was break the Loyalist formation, and the rest of the Khornate detachments were "graciously" given the chance to break their teeth on the grinder next. The Carmine Glory led the four Freighters and the Bulk Hauler around the curvature of the planet and into the combat zone as the Loyalists hunted down the remaining vanguards and their parasites.
Civilian or not the Bulk Hauler was still within shouting distance of a Light Cruiser and so it's bays were significantly larger and possessed better quality of strike craft than the chaff it had sent forward.
Yet even so the Crusade was not defenseless. A full volley of Torpedoes managed to sail past the majority of the launching combat craft before they reacted, changing from an offensive to defensive stance as their lord shouted demands and invective at them. One then two of the torpedoes were destroyed, followed by a third as the Carmine Glory burned to support the larger craft.
The last Indignant Pattern Void Ordnance struck the Bulk Cruiser slightly off center as the large ship futilely moved to avoid it. The typical wave of superheated gas quickly dissipated among the vast internal spaces of the civilian Hauler yet Humans were far more vulnerable to the wave than metals. The Prow mounted defense guns fell silent as the crews were either slain outright by heat or overpressure or suffered from the overwhelming heat while the foremost set of hangars suffered dozens of containment failures from the overpressure alone.
Somewhat smoothly, the Crusade force shifted to respond to the new attackers. The Indomitable, larger and more imposing than the Carmine Glory yet still weaker, and the newly birthed Long Arm squared off against the fallen warship. To avenge both the loss caused by it, and that of the desecration of the legacy of the ship it had once been.
At the same time, the rest of the Chaos fleet had sedately made their way into orbit of Uniary to cover the deployment of their ground forces. Cultists, Armor, and a handful of Daemons formed up on the plains of the Hive World before marching against the mostly Crusade controlled Hives.
The Bulk Hauler earned the combined ire of everything else in the flotilla. It's hangers would be a problem until killed, even with a third of them put out of action. Harbingers met the wave of shuttles and reaped a heavy toll on the light craft as they crossed paths. A considerable number of shuttles made contact with Crusade ships and spilled their loads of cultists and marines onto their decks.
Yet the battles for access to critical systems would take time to resolve as the cultists locked swords with murder servitors and exchanged fire with heavily armed strongpoints or tried to blow through naval grade bulkheads. Time that the Crusade ships would use to batter their nearly unprotected opponent.
Shells crossed in the void as the Carmine Glory fought for it's miserable existence. The Indomitable and the Long Arm held in formation, combining their fire to make the most of the weapons that could penetrate the Carmine's armor. As battered as she was, still bearing the scars of the wounds she had taken when she was seen off over Bailafax, the Carmine was still a dangerous foe.
Later it would be said that this fight was a reflection of the overall battle in microcosm. The much older warship, descended from a long line of naval tradition that started with the Great Crusade itself, against the steely eyed members of the next generation, who were in the process of forging their own traditions. Perhaps it wasn't entirely accurate but it was said nonetheless.
Standard solid shot was chased by the blue trails of Thermo-Cavitation shells in the process of activation. Their coatings of plasma were crushed between the solid bodies of the specialist shells and the coating of plasteel the Carmine was encased with, smoothing the impact of the shells. Once within the armor belt the overtaxed generators entered their fail-deadly state and erupted in a wave of energetic matter that melted and buckled the structure of the Carmine Glory.
Worse still were the blinking pulses of matter that streaked across the void at relativistic speeds. The rate of fire was much less yet each shot held far more energy. Armor was pushed aside with sprays of ejecta and small but noticeable radiation pulses came from each layer of resistance. Each pulse not caught by the Carmine's voids dug deep into her structure, hitting turret systems, fuel and atmosphere tanks, and power transfer systems.
The Indomitable withstood the return fire with stoic acceptance of the necessity of bringing low this hated foe of the Crusade fleets. Layered belts of armor slowed the incoming shells from the Carmine, keeping the detonations away from the central engineering spaces. The Indomitable took more hits to turrets simply because she had more, but they were correspondingly less of her overall broadside. Enough force to rearrange a mountain range was endured and answered in kind even as minor spot failures in the power grind were quickly set upon by engineering teams for correction.
A job complicated by remaining Chaos boarding holdouts aboard nearly the entire fleet and the need to redeploy ground troops to clear out the larger infections.
Even with the latest products of the minds of Calavar on hand the Carmine still took a lot of killing to finally be put down, from Lances, shellfire, and strike craft. She did not go quietly either but for all the wrong reasons. There was no one to protect, no cause to serve with these last salvos. Just adding to the killing.
A half hearted push by the Incleon Raiders to relieve the larger Khornate warship was held off by the lesser ships of the Loyalist force. Lacking the armor to survive in the face of the numerous macrocannons that turned their way the fast ships withdrew to prey on supply ships attempting to support the Loyalists.
With one section of the enemy defeated the Crusade forces withdrew slightly, leaving the battle to the ground forces while they studied the enemy's disposition. The numbers had evened out… But the Nurglites had two ships alike to the Carmine Glory. In their current state it would be extremely dangerous to fight them alone, discounting the rest of the Traitor fleet. In the other direction the Traitors were loathe to commit to battle against the proven strength of their enemy for any damage or losses could be ruinous as well as even the odds with their newly weakened Khornate rivals. Even assuming the Crusade fleet accepted battle rather than simply playing keep-away in the deep void.
Cultist armies put the Hives under siege. Something not helped by their lack of heavy equipment, leading the Bailafax Survivors to cheerfully note that this was some of the easiest fighting they had had. The Hives were not so ruined as to have their value as defenses lessened and the Traitor armies quickly turned to trickery and unconventional tactics to gain entry, from using their Ritual Site to carve a gash in the side of the Hive that supplied the Crusade's forces (a dozen Sisters held the line until a greater response could be marshaled, their Sister Superior slaying the would-be warlord in that first wave in personal combat and sending their retinue fleeing in fear to infect the masses behind with panic), sending raiding parties through any crack in the walls no matter how unsafe, and throwing Nurgle Daemons at the walls by catapult for lack of better ideas.
[Campaign Ongoing
Enemy Losses
14x Civilian Freighter
1x Bulk Hauler
1x Carmine Glory
Friendly Losses
Minor to Moderate Damage to All Ships (18M)
Ordnance and Strike Craft Losses (9M)]
1st Naval Squadron: Gehault
(Open formal diplomatic contact and attempt to lower tensions):
The arrival of a squadron of combat ships to the old Fleet Bastion was treated with suspicion. The patrolling squadrons of Escorts (mixed in all senses of the word, with Firestorms leading Swords and Swords leading Cobras while each ship had been maintained in accordance with the results they had individually achieved) shoaled protectively together around the Fleet Bastion itself.
Fleet Bastion Gehault had been a relatively recent addition to the Subsector. Massing more than four times as a Battleship it had served as a patrol and maintenance point for antipiracy operations and the close watch that had been kept for anything taking advantage of the ongoing lack of Imperial presence in the Silent Stars to strike against vulnerable Chartist shipping in the corner of the Subsector. Something that never could be proven to have ever happened.
Commodore Ajra Kelaman kept her command outside the Mandeville Point of the system primary, looking in at the Fleet Bastion as it orbited the planetoid it had been built above. An hourglass shaped structure, with an unsightly shape attached to the spindle.
The Grant of Hope did not deign to leave it's anchor, trusting in the weight of it's attendants to safeguard it. Seeing no point in deploying personally no doubt for a Lunar-class Cruiser outmassed the observing Calavan squadron by something like twenty times by itself.
After a short but terse standoff Commodore Kelaman managed to get her message across to the Rear Admiral of Gehault: Calavar was not looking to fight fellow Imperials in this war torn Subsector.
The Rear Admiral leapt on this declaration of friendship. If Calavar was looking to restore Imperial order to the region, then it would be best done under existing Imperial authority. And as the Imperial Navy was the one organization with the remit to operate interstellar warships in any number then it was only lawful that the Crusade be moved to the appropriate leadership where it could benefit from working with professional military leaders with long histories of successful operations for generations back.
In the privacy of her own mind, Kelaman could admit that it was the same deal Calavar had given to her neighbors: give of your substance and reap the rewards. Yet it was a sacrifice that could not be made for the Rear Admiral had achieved little over the years other than holding his little corner of the Subsector. As had been decided at the start of the Crusade…
Defense was untenable. Attack was the only option.
After the demand (for that was what it was, the Rear Admiral trying to entrap the Crusade into "joining" with the closed fist held high in case of refusal) was relayed to the High Command for rejection, the developing Yttreum-Gehault situation boiled over with Bagalog being seen over Yttreum. Leading to accusations of Yttreum using Bagalog technology to destroy their ship…
The demand from the deserters at Gehault sharpened in light of this new conflict. Though it stayed just shy of improper, as the Rear Admiral knew the drawbacks of opening a second front during a war. As well as the benefit of doing the same for your enemy...
[Relations momentarily normalized. Gehault's goals are incompatible with the Crusade's: a confrontation is inevitable. Sooner, rather than later.]
[GM Note: Kind of disappointed how the Indy/Arm/Carmine fight was written, I will look at any suggestions how to make that better. Or someone can write a different perspective on it and do it proper justice. The Registry will be updated tomorrow morning.
And that Order of Battle for Uniary. One squadron has four ships of four different classes. The most common class present had two ships in it. Man but I love player driven events...]
With the successes of the past years the Admiralty authorized a period of consolidation. The death of Jawbreaka allowed for simple purgation of the Homnan worlds which would prevent new Warbosses from arising in that area while Uniary needed to be cleansed and it's manufactorums reactivated. Even with the predicted increase in productivity of the Calavan shipyards from the ongoing reconstruction such a source of modern materials was desirable.
That there were numerous Chaos aligned scouts looking into the system made the Admiralty wary, and so they deployed their best warships to the region.
1st Calavar Void Army: Central
(Secure control of the Hulk, recover technology)
Finding the Space Hulk once more was an exercise in patience as the Patrol Squadron and other shipping kept an eye out for unfamiliar contacts. First one and then another were found but these were false alarms. Even when the target, given the ident-phrase "Dark Home", was sighted for certain it warped away before the correct assets could be brought in.
But the Calavan forces only had to get lucky once. The destruction of most of the active Warp drives in the Hulk by a careful series of cannon shells despite intermittent and ineffective counter fire caused it to be tethered to the area rather than roam as it had. With a distinct area of operations set it was time for the infantry to do their job.
With the Profit of Skill providing overwatch and fire support the newly formed forces of the First Calavar Void Army were sent across to land on the random mass of the Dark Home. Shelter Exoskeletons disembarked down the ramps of Harbinger gunships, joining their fire with that of the turrets that bristled along the craft for this exact purpose. Towering Orks in leaky scrap suits howled with glee as they fire with reckless abandon: rockets corkscrewing into the ground and Calavan targets, streams of tracers darting both ways, and bodies being flung off the uneven mass by the impact of weaponry.
This minor group of greenskins were quickly dispatched as the second, third, and forth waves of Calavan soldiers were landed in the glow of far off stars to be greeted by their predecessors dotted with the emergence spires of the sealing foam used in their underlayers.
Pushing into the target vessel was more difficult as the environment necessarily became more constricted. Snarling Orks clashed with exoskeletons in fierce battles of strength, something the Orks were terrifyingly even in. But as dangerous as each greenskin was the Humans who fought them outnumbered them ten times over and where an Ork grappled with an exoskeleton over the remains of another the rest of the squad hacked at the alien with their own swords.
To the surprise of all involved, the Orks were the only enemies found on the wreck. Within the unfamiliar frigate stone faced Human soldiers met the new arrivals with distrust, bearing a dozen colors and markings under the symbol of their current master. Mercenaries, sworn levies, and troops seconded as "payment" to a Freeblade Knight.
This Knight was revealed to the Calavans as more than just a man when a squad travelling down the transfer halls in the ship came across a walker locked in combat with an equally massive monster. An Orkoid creature at fist look, further study showed the sickly taint of the Great Enemy across it's rippling hide even as an oversized chainsword hacked at the unnaturally durable hide. It was distinctly unsettling and awe inspiring in equal measure to see a machine that fought like a man rather than the simple movements of the Shelter exoskeletons, as the Knight wove away from bites and parried claw strikes with it's weapon. The addition of the firepower of several platoons of exoskeletons sent the foul thing scurrying back into the depths of the ship to avoid the righteous doom the defenders carried in their hands.
A salute from the Knight led to the two sides formally introducing themselves. The Knight Scion, now known as Dervaius Noctris of the House of Noctris of the world Gotin in the Eostina Subsector that neighbored Lativa to the West, wasted no time in unveiling his plan as well as the danger that all aboard were in. The Hulk was irregular in it's Warp dives and so his frigate needed to be cut loose from the mass before the next dive by means of the plasma charges his Sacristans had already prepared. The predators of the Warp were forced to play by the rules of the Materium when inside the area of effect of the Gellar Field but they were endless and only gaining in number.
Odds that were insurmountable for the band of survivors were quite manageable for a fresh section of void equipped soldiers led by a quintet of Knights.
Dervaius was profuse in his thanks for the rescue of himself, his ship, and his retainers. The story of how he got in those circumstances was quite short: hired by a Rogue Trader nosing close to the Silent Stars that made up the southeast border of Lativa in search of archaeotech, had to make an emergency exit to avoid getting annihilated by a single Escort, and ended up in the Warp for a year or so before getting relieved by the Calavan forces.
When he heard about the state of the Subsector he simply nodded and volunteered his services. Some payment would be earned, of course, but his honor would let him do nothing else.
[Gain House Noctris Lance (Army Attachment): A Knight Paladin, three Knight Warglaives, and a Knight Armsman (an Armiger armed with weapons for supporting the Paladin, in this case a Punisher Cannon for infantry control and a trio of oversized rocket tubes equipped for wire guidance and capable of nuclear deployment) backed by a million or so soldiers hardened by constant combat against the denizens of the Warp.]
[2M in Army damage and suit maintenance]
3rd Naval Squadron + 1st & 2nd Bridgehead Armies + 3rd Calavar Infantry Army + 1st Crusade Defense Army North: Homnan League
(Proceed with the ongoing offensive)
The Ork infestation on the world Jawbreaka had claimed has been broken. New Orks spawn somewhat frequently but a minimal presence from the Alignment is proof against them for the immediate future.
With the amount of reinforcements that had been provided by the Admiralty the commander in the field made the decision to start independent operations in the theater in order to move the timetable forward faster and to move Crusade forces away from the Dark Star forces. None of the available targets stood out on the strategy level and so the first landing of the combined force was on Liawei. A world of jungles and deep seas that had once been a vacation spot for the rich and powerful to explore the natural vistas. Now it was a playground for the powerful Orks that now oppressed the local population and made sport of those who did not work satisfactorily.
The Crusade forces arrived in orbit with little warning, brushing aside the two scrapships that had been present for the Human force's arrival with little fuss. Harbinger transports dropped formations of Carapace armored infantry for the initial zone seizure to allow for the armies proper to get situated. Ambushing random bands of marauding greenskins turned to skirmishing for position which gave way to the defense of field fortifications that ended with methodical Human advances to take, secure, and hold territory. Daring infantry raids by the elite vanguard formations broke the varying security of work camps the Human inhabitants had been crowded into and held until relieved by coordinated offensives by the rest of the Crusade forces on the world.
But ill tidings came from without. To the north, within and near the former territory of WAAAGH!! Jawbreaka, new leaders were emerging. Gutrippa, a brutish bruiser that had been entrusted with the protection and "motivation" of the slaves, and Metalrenda, a former Mekboy of Whazzazzappa. Their forming fleets pillaged the former worlds of the Homnan League, clashing with each other and all comers alike as they vied for recruits, "recruits", and slaves to continue building their war machines. Many of these ships bit off more than they could chew and were set adrift in the void, either when a Metalrenda ship had it's complement of fighter-bombers overmatched by Furies or a Gutrippa assault corvette was shelled into molten oblivion by the recent plasma shells while making a run at the Armor of Hatred.
[Two new challengers have appeared in the ruins of WAAAGH!! Jawbreaka.
5M in ship repairs
Three of the five Homnan League worlds are reasonably well purged of ambient Orks]
1st Auxiliary Squadron + 2nd Torpedo Squadron + 1st & 2nd Crusade Assault Armies + 7th & 8th Crusade Guard Infantry Armies + 1st Aerial Combat Army: Shrine World Lativa
(Annihilate the Orks)
The Second Torpedo Squadron was special for it's method of construction. Paid for with donations large and small by the most religious of Calavar's population, their origin was commemorated on their hulls with the symbol of the Ecclesiarchy in secondary places. Such a fact caught the curiosity of the people of the Shrine World as the existence of armed warships under the banner of the Ecclesiarchy was prohibited by ancient agreements.
These ships had naturally gathered many of the more zealous of the Crusade's number into their crews simply because of the staunch belief in the increased purity of their cause. The purpose of the Crusade was holy, no one would deny that, but these were the ones that reveled in following the Imperial Creed and all it's tenets. Their ships resembled those of the Imperial Navy of old the most of all those hulls that had left Calavar's drydocks, coming the closest to being mobile armed cathedrals dedicated to the preservation of Faith and Humanity in these trying times.
Such tendencies only grew stronger once the Emperor's Daughters reviewed the crews and their ships and approved of their dedication. A handful of lesser Sisters, Militant and otherwise, volunteered to voyage with these lesser shrines to the Emperor to ensure that the devotion shown was not merely to be seen by Man and to nurture the crews sworn as such so that they did not falter in their duties.
Armed by the labors of their homeworld and protected in their Faith the twin Lights of the Second Torpedo Squadron set out into the void with a burning desire that dovetailed neatly with their given goal: cut the enemy's numbers.
The majority of the enemy vessels found were engaged with shells rather than the Torpedoes the two warships carried, trusting in their armor to blunt the return blows. A weaponized Space Hulk being prepared by a lucky Warboss for a random attack to that very particular place known as "anywhere but here" was dealt with by a single volley of ordnance, three nuclear blasts flooding the halls with superheated plasma and blowing several pieces off of the agglomerate mass through overpressure alone.
On the ground the situation was slightly different. The mobile Assault armies were well suited for reaving through dispersed Ork populations before either consolidating or changing the axis of their attack. In the skies above the Savior Multiroles enjoyed supremacy over the rare airframe the local Meks managed to slap together and roamed with near impunity to engage targets in support of the ground troops. The odd vehicle, Ork "settlements", and hitting Nobs with antivehicle lascannon when bored.
[Area remains pacified
2M in ship repairs, 2M in army repairs, 6M in ordnance costs
8th Crusade Infantry permanently detached]
1st Support Squadron + 2nd Naval Squadron + 1st Torpedo Squadron + 1st & 2nd Crusade Siege Armies + Calavar Holy Shield Army + 2nd Crusade Defense Army, [Forces Present: 1st Calavar Armored Army + 5th Bailafax Infantry Army + 2nd Calavar Infantry]: Uniary
(Aggressive Attack)
For the infantry and tankers on Uniary combat was best described as "typical". When the enemy was found there was no quarter or respite offered to either side. The victor of the smallest skirmish and the largest purge was whoever was left alive after the shooting and slashing stopped. Sometimes the Khornate cultists would break and flee, slithering through the cracks in their home Hive to escape the kill squads and tanks.
Very few made the mistake of stepping outside the confines of the Hives, where the intercity tunnels made evading the blocking forces difficult and the sulfurous wastes provided no cover against the Fusion Breaker of the Wages of Sin.
Yet not everything was looking up. Scouting vessels from the nearby cults were commonly spotted emerging on the edge of the system and warily eyeing the Crusade forces around Uniary before warping away. A disturbing development it was agreed as it implied independent confirmation. And if the Traitor forces were working together…
The Admiraly dispatched it's greatest force to safeguard the region. The newly built Long Arm with it's currently unique Lance capability, the Indomitable with it's armored gun decks, the Warrior as the first Spatha Pattern warship, and the Aegis Immortal which had been part of the original defenders of the Crusade. A great assemblage of heavy metal, poised precariously in that position of overmatching any other local production yet beneath the notice of most warships in the galaxy.
Hostile ships gathered at the edge of the system. Cultist fleets drew up their ranks and eyed the world with undisguised desire while keeping their other on their supposed allies. Khorne, Nurgle and Tzeentch; all were represented in this unlikely alliance of Chaos Undivided. The Primordial Truth was under threat and so all those pledged to the Ruinous Powers answered, for to stand alone was to die alone.
The Carmine Glory stood alone as the only available and acceptable offering to the campaign by the nearest Khornates as her attendants pushed back against the handful of ships still flowing in the aftermath of Legcutta's attack. A Firestorm in the symbols of Nurgle held nearby, staring balefully at the pack of barely restrained shipping that made up the bulk of the Traitor retribution fleet who in turn made regular passes at the trio of Tzeentchian ships that had joined and in reply threw a bolt of warpfire that had more in common with ship gunnery than psykery. Two Claymores under Nurgle's banner came from the Bastion of Kandahar.
A half dozen Raiders from Incleon rounded out the incoming fleet before the assorted mix of transports arrived.
[Combat Initiated
Enemy Forces:
1x Carmine Glory (minor damage)
14x Civilian Freighters (Khornate)
1x Bulk Hauler (Khornate)
1x Firestorm Frigate (Nurglite)
2x Claymore Corvettes (Nurglite)
2x Civilian Freighters (Tzeentchian)
1x Bulk Hauler (Tzeentchian)
6x Raiders (Incleon)
Friendly Forces:
Second Naval Squadron
-Indomitable-class Heavy Frigate
-Long Arm-class Heavy Frigate
-Warrior-class Corvette
-Resolute-class Corvette
-Escort Carrier
Support Squadron
-Ferryman-class Troopship
-Scorn-class Bombardment Ship
First Torpedo Squadron
-2x Castigation-class Torpedo Corvettes
Ground Forces (1st & 2nd Crusade Siege Armies + Calavar Holy Shield Army + 2nd Crusade Defense Army, 5th Bailafax Infantry, 2nd Calavar Infantry, 1st Calavar Armored)]
For their part the Crusade Squadron judged the enemy as they grew and agreed that victory would be difficult. Their goal was to be survival and to bleed the enemy, rather than immediately try to stop them.
The first act of the enemy was naturally to deploy their chaff to test the waters. Ten Khornate freighters started burning towards Uniary and the Crusade warships orbiting it, causing the captain of the Aegis Immortal to pull the Loyalist ships behind the world they were protecting and forcing the incoming enemies to give up the freedom of maneuver that came with operating in the deep void outside of planetary orbits.
After inserting into orbit above the Hive World the Khornate ships kept away from any pretenses and simply rushed towards the gathered Loyalists. What deck space they had available launched shuttles and assault boats ahead of the greater force to overwhelm the Furies of the Due Excise with targets. Most of these craft buzzed impotently around the Loyalist fleet in the absence of battle damage to take advantage of but some managed to grapple and cut into their targets before getting blown apart by the Harbingers that had been lofted by the Wages of Sin and Crusader's Conquest.
Once inside there was little respite, as the shipboard marines had been issued new equipment as it became available. Self contained breathing equipment for combat independent of the atmosphere around them was standard on every soldier, while platoons of armsmen had a combat exoskeleton for support. Possessed cultists were a problem as they could usually make it through all but the most devastating volleys the ship security teams could manage to cut apart a handful of Calavan soldiers and disrupt the firing line for their fellows, but the number of boarders was low enough that those gains were marginal at best.
The ships coming behind were bracketed by a devastating array of gunnery. Bombers picked out two of the incoming sacrifices and blew their sterns apart in a pyrotechnic display of fuel ionized by atomic flares while the limited protection the ships mounted were of little use against the weapons aimed at them.
Regular volleys of shells blew out shields and penetrated armor as the Khornates edged closer to the Crusade forces on the bridge displays. Some of the oncoming ships spilled out of the loose formation because of internal damage, others crumpled inwards as structural beams gave out and the engines jackknifed the ship in half, while others plowed through the barrages with eager anticipation even as their menials were massacred in the front portions of the ship. Lance strikes from the Long Arm bored holes into its targets and caused variable amounts of damage due to the precise nature of Lances. Ranging from missing anything important to punching into the engineering spaces of an unlucky target.
The Loyalists cottoned onto the true intention of this first strike before it occurred, sending the Crusade force from a solid wall of gunnery into a blossoming swirl of evading ships. More angles were opened onto the enemy but the potential of that fact was tempered by the need to avoid the incoming ramming ships.
The Aegis of Hatred took a hit to her port side, gouging into the gun equipment on that side. She came off better than her opponent who had crumpled slightly at the hit and stopped maneuvering. The Wages of Sin tried to evade but gave it up as a bad job and instead took the "simple" option of unloading a Fusion Breaker shell into the looming enemy ship. It didn't fully destroy the Khornate freighter but it did do enough to off balance the remaining mass such that the prospective rammer missed.
Supposedly, the captain of the Aegis of Hatred looked at the damage to their ship and answered with a scoff. "These broken Traitors have less of a sense of self preservation than an Ork. At least the greenskins build their piles to do what they plan on doing. As reports come in from DamCon I want to be alerted as soon as they give a time frame for those guns to be brought back online."
What this did do was break the Loyalist formation, and the rest of the Khornate detachments were "graciously" given the chance to break their teeth on the grinder next. The Carmine Glory led the four Freighters and the Bulk Hauler around the curvature of the planet and into the combat zone as the Loyalists hunted down the remaining vanguards and their parasites.
Civilian or not the Bulk Hauler was still within shouting distance of a Light Cruiser and so it's bays were significantly larger and possessed better quality of strike craft than the chaff it had sent forward.
Yet even so the Crusade was not defenseless. A full volley of Torpedoes managed to sail past the majority of the launching combat craft before they reacted, changing from an offensive to defensive stance as their lord shouted demands and invective at them. One then two of the torpedoes were destroyed, followed by a third as the Carmine Glory burned to support the larger craft.
The last Indignant Pattern Void Ordnance struck the Bulk Cruiser slightly off center as the large ship futilely moved to avoid it. The typical wave of superheated gas quickly dissipated among the vast internal spaces of the civilian Hauler yet Humans were far more vulnerable to the wave than metals. The Prow mounted defense guns fell silent as the crews were either slain outright by heat or overpressure or suffered from the overwhelming heat while the foremost set of hangars suffered dozens of containment failures from the overpressure alone.
Somewhat smoothly, the Crusade force shifted to respond to the new attackers. The Indomitable, larger and more imposing than the Carmine Glory yet still weaker, and the newly birthed Long Arm squared off against the fallen warship. To avenge both the loss caused by it, and that of the desecration of the legacy of the ship it had once been.
At the same time, the rest of the Chaos fleet had sedately made their way into orbit of Uniary to cover the deployment of their ground forces. Cultists, Armor, and a handful of Daemons formed up on the plains of the Hive World before marching against the mostly Crusade controlled Hives.
The Bulk Hauler earned the combined ire of everything else in the flotilla. It's hangers would be a problem until killed, even with a third of them put out of action. Harbingers met the wave of shuttles and reaped a heavy toll on the light craft as they crossed paths. A considerable number of shuttles made contact with Crusade ships and spilled their loads of cultists and marines onto their decks.
Yet the battles for access to critical systems would take time to resolve as the cultists locked swords with murder servitors and exchanged fire with heavily armed strongpoints or tried to blow through naval grade bulkheads. Time that the Crusade ships would use to batter their nearly unprotected opponent.
Shells crossed in the void as the Carmine Glory fought for it's miserable existence. The Indomitable and the Long Arm held in formation, combining their fire to make the most of the weapons that could penetrate the Carmine's armor. As battered as she was, still bearing the scars of the wounds she had taken when she was seen off over Bailafax, the Carmine was still a dangerous foe.
Later it would be said that this fight was a reflection of the overall battle in microcosm. The much older warship, descended from a long line of naval tradition that started with the Great Crusade itself, against the steely eyed members of the next generation, who were in the process of forging their own traditions. Perhaps it wasn't entirely accurate but it was said nonetheless.
Standard solid shot was chased by the blue trails of Thermo-Cavitation shells in the process of activation. Their coatings of plasma were crushed between the solid bodies of the specialist shells and the coating of plasteel the Carmine was encased with, smoothing the impact of the shells. Once within the armor belt the overtaxed generators entered their fail-deadly state and erupted in a wave of energetic matter that melted and buckled the structure of the Carmine Glory.
Worse still were the blinking pulses of matter that streaked across the void at relativistic speeds. The rate of fire was much less yet each shot held far more energy. Armor was pushed aside with sprays of ejecta and small but noticeable radiation pulses came from each layer of resistance. Each pulse not caught by the Carmine's voids dug deep into her structure, hitting turret systems, fuel and atmosphere tanks, and power transfer systems.
The Indomitable withstood the return fire with stoic acceptance of the necessity of bringing low this hated foe of the Crusade fleets. Layered belts of armor slowed the incoming shells from the Carmine, keeping the detonations away from the central engineering spaces. The Indomitable took more hits to turrets simply because she had more, but they were correspondingly less of her overall broadside. Enough force to rearrange a mountain range was endured and answered in kind even as minor spot failures in the power grind were quickly set upon by engineering teams for correction.
A job complicated by remaining Chaos boarding holdouts aboard nearly the entire fleet and the need to redeploy ground troops to clear out the larger infections.
Even with the latest products of the minds of Calavar on hand the Carmine still took a lot of killing to finally be put down, from Lances, shellfire, and strike craft. She did not go quietly either but for all the wrong reasons. There was no one to protect, no cause to serve with these last salvos. Just adding to the killing.
A half hearted push by the Incleon Raiders to relieve the larger Khornate warship was held off by the lesser ships of the Loyalist force. Lacking the armor to survive in the face of the numerous macrocannons that turned their way the fast ships withdrew to prey on supply ships attempting to support the Loyalists.
With one section of the enemy defeated the Crusade forces withdrew slightly, leaving the battle to the ground forces while they studied the enemy's disposition. The numbers had evened out… But the Nurglites had two ships alike to the Carmine Glory. In their current state it would be extremely dangerous to fight them alone, discounting the rest of the Traitor fleet. In the other direction the Traitors were loathe to commit to battle against the proven strength of their enemy for any damage or losses could be ruinous as well as even the odds with their newly weakened Khornate rivals. Even assuming the Crusade fleet accepted battle rather than simply playing keep-away in the deep void.
Cultist armies put the Hives under siege. Something not helped by their lack of heavy equipment, leading the Bailafax Survivors to cheerfully note that this was some of the easiest fighting they had had. The Hives were not so ruined as to have their value as defenses lessened and the Traitor armies quickly turned to trickery and unconventional tactics to gain entry, from using their Ritual Site to carve a gash in the side of the Hive that supplied the Crusade's forces (a dozen Sisters held the line until a greater response could be marshaled, their Sister Superior slaying the would-be warlord in that first wave in personal combat and sending their retinue fleeing in fear to infect the masses behind with panic), sending raiding parties through any crack in the walls no matter how unsafe, and throwing Nurgle Daemons at the walls by catapult for lack of better ideas.
[Campaign Ongoing
Enemy Losses
14x Civilian Freighter
1x Bulk Hauler
1x Carmine Glory
Friendly Losses
Minor to Moderate Damage to All Ships (18M)
Ordnance and Strike Craft Losses (9M)]
1st Naval Squadron: Gehault
(Open formal diplomatic contact and attempt to lower tensions):
The arrival of a squadron of combat ships to the old Fleet Bastion was treated with suspicion. The patrolling squadrons of Escorts (mixed in all senses of the word, with Firestorms leading Swords and Swords leading Cobras while each ship had been maintained in accordance with the results they had individually achieved) shoaled protectively together around the Fleet Bastion itself.
Fleet Bastion Gehault had been a relatively recent addition to the Subsector. Massing more than four times as a Battleship it had served as a patrol and maintenance point for antipiracy operations and the close watch that had been kept for anything taking advantage of the ongoing lack of Imperial presence in the Silent Stars to strike against vulnerable Chartist shipping in the corner of the Subsector. Something that never could be proven to have ever happened.
Commodore Ajra Kelaman kept her command outside the Mandeville Point of the system primary, looking in at the Fleet Bastion as it orbited the planetoid it had been built above. An hourglass shaped structure, with an unsightly shape attached to the spindle.
The Grant of Hope did not deign to leave it's anchor, trusting in the weight of it's attendants to safeguard it. Seeing no point in deploying personally no doubt for a Lunar-class Cruiser outmassed the observing Calavan squadron by something like twenty times by itself.
After a short but terse standoff Commodore Kelaman managed to get her message across to the Rear Admiral of Gehault: Calavar was not looking to fight fellow Imperials in this war torn Subsector.
The Rear Admiral leapt on this declaration of friendship. If Calavar was looking to restore Imperial order to the region, then it would be best done under existing Imperial authority. And as the Imperial Navy was the one organization with the remit to operate interstellar warships in any number then it was only lawful that the Crusade be moved to the appropriate leadership where it could benefit from working with professional military leaders with long histories of successful operations for generations back.
In the privacy of her own mind, Kelaman could admit that it was the same deal Calavar had given to her neighbors: give of your substance and reap the rewards. Yet it was a sacrifice that could not be made for the Rear Admiral had achieved little over the years other than holding his little corner of the Subsector. As had been decided at the start of the Crusade…
Defense was untenable. Attack was the only option.
After the demand (for that was what it was, the Rear Admiral trying to entrap the Crusade into "joining" with the closed fist held high in case of refusal) was relayed to the High Command for rejection, the developing Yttreum-Gehault situation boiled over with Bagalog being seen over Yttreum. Leading to accusations of Yttreum using Bagalog technology to destroy their ship…
The demand from the deserters at Gehault sharpened in light of this new conflict. Though it stayed just shy of improper, as the Rear Admiral knew the drawbacks of opening a second front during a war. As well as the benefit of doing the same for your enemy...
[Relations momentarily normalized. Gehault's goals are incompatible with the Crusade's: a confrontation is inevitable. Sooner, rather than later.]
[GM Note: Kind of disappointed how the Indy/Arm/Carmine fight was written, I will look at any suggestions how to make that better. Or someone can write a different perspective on it and do it proper justice. The Registry will be updated tomorrow morning.
And that Order of Battle for Uniary. One squadron has four ships of four different classes. The most common class present had two ships in it. Man but I love player driven events...]
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Fezzes
Knight of King Stannis Baratheon
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
If anything, human life is more expendable in the 40K universe.
I'm not going to bow to a condescending display of veterancy. Just leave that at home next time, it's aggravating even if you didn't mean it, which I choose to believe you didn't.
Regardless, it seems like 9 of our 21 listed ships have Servitor Defence Bays, from what I can tell. 7 from refits and 2 because those classes inherently come with them. That's not 'practically all'. It's less than half.
What makes it difficult is that it costs A, which we only have 10 of a turn and which we're splitting between lances, that, and Thermo-Cavitation Shells. Given that we really do want lances since they're an important part of naval doctrine and I feel you're underestimating them, and that we may want a reasonable quantity of the shells, that's a tug of war (har) that we wouldn't have if our anti-boarding defences didn't require A.
Rogue Traders and the Adeptus Mechanicus are not good examples of widely-applicable designs. Those are both groups known for hoarding the best and hardest to make stuff for themselves.
In any case, the point isn't that I want the Servitors upgraded/replaced. It's that they were an example of us taking a problem and then overspecifying a solution that resulted in a product we would've had more success with if it was something we left more leeway for the QM on, or just went more general in, err, general. Like, say, better marines in guard posts, which wouldn't have given a penalty to the roll and may even have given a bonus for being a simple and easy to enact solution. Or the decision to specify particle cannon lances instead of the tried and true method we had a working example of to study and apply.
I don't know what motivated either decision, though I'm gaining an understanding where the first one is concerned. But I see them as needless inefficiency that looks accidental, that we can easily keep in check for the future.
weyyy, update.
I feel like I should weigh in on this. For one, me having to make up everything would make it much harder for me to deliver the quest, though new players can certainly just lobby for a certain field being better. That I'd be fine with doing a bit of work for.
But the Circular Accelerator Lance? Sure it got a penalty for being strange but it unlocked new fields of inquiry because it was atypical. Making the setting that much more interesting as it gives flavor to the Subsector in the future when comparing it to it's neighbors.
The Servitors? They provide capability purely Human forces do not possess, that of troops without morale to break that are capable in melee against Orks and Possessed cultists.
So there are reasons behind what people chose and the fluff is an important part of the game for several reasons.
Crafter of War
The Dorf
- Location
- Bend
Woot! We just decimated everything that the Khornates had. Unfortunately, it appears that they still have heavier ships, and depending on how it works, we might not be able to pull back the damaged ships for repairs until we either win this battle or switch out with other ships.
Fezzes
Knight of King Stannis Baratheon
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
Hmm, that's a good point, actually. I'd assumed a different take on this, but I was evidently wrong. I guess my ideal would be some manner of balance, but I'd certainly prefer occasional bad calls to killing/slowing the quest. Maybe if the stakes got upped I'd be pissed, but for now we can afford it. I'm not gonna push for something the QM doesn't want, so I'll back down. Though I'll disagree/defend myself on two small points.
It's not so much "new players" as "people who don't speak tech". Saying it's the latter just stigmatises new players and makes them not want to participate because they're clearly thought of as idiots so they doubt they're going to get respect for themselves or their ideas. That's partially derived from something I literally just experienced a couple of posts ago.
As for the other, I get that people have reasons. I'm not some arrogant git who believes he's the only thinking man in a world of sheep. I just didn't know what the reasoning was. Being different didn't seem like a good enough reason, but it was believable. A mistake was also believable, perhaps someone not knowing how IN lances work. I certainly don't remember their mechanics offhand.
Yeah, that Firestorm frigate has me a bit nervy. We had enough trouble with an IN standard corvette. Two, plus a frigate? I can't see us taking that without stripping our other fronts to the bone, or a good run of upgrades.
Wonder if the Carmine Glory has enough pieces left for us to study or if it'll be too corrupted to try to do so.
Also... well, a good thing we got confirmation about the IN remnant being incompatible with us. We need to investigate Bagalog. Especially the explorator and to see if we can gain favor from the loyalist AdMech by telling them about the Explorator being so... free, with sharing knowledge.
And we need to gain a alliance with Yttreum sooner or later.
Also... well, a good thing we got confirmation about the IN remnant being incompatible with us. We need to investigate Bagalog. Especially the explorator and to see if we can gain favor from the loyalist AdMech by telling them about the Explorator being so... free, with sharing knowledge.
And we need to gain a alliance with Yttreum sooner or later.
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The Carmine fight was an event within a fight. And, as an event, it was the climax of the fight. As I see it, what was the problem? It itself lacked a climax.
The moment when the battle between the Carmine and our two frigates was decided, when it was only a downhill curve of death with the peak of it being the Raider's last hoorrah to save the ship could have been dramatized more. As it was, it read more like an outstanding event in an after action report which, to be fair, the post essentially is.
But yes, the fleet was mostly winning before they took to fight the Carmine, and it's inclusion in the battle didn't have enough tension to have a climax.
It's corpse should be usable with effort, though obviously you need to secure the system in order to benefit from it.
Hm. Good point. I'll try to fix that.